Returning to Things I Love

Friends, I am returning to things I have cherished all or most of my life. I care deeply about these three things and I want them back. These are all things that I have given too little of a care, that ends now. For all time, I will be known as one who has deep affinity for: Church, Reading and Amy Grant.

1. Church

We have found a church in Cambridge!!!! After many months of going back and forth between two spectacular churches Brett and I have decided to attend the Cambridge location of the Greater Boston Vineyard. We love the services and the people who attend the church. We are excited about all the opportunities the church affords to work in the community. They love art and community and worship and authenticity and multiculturalism and justice and so so so many things we love too. It feels good to have a place that may someday feel like home. Brett and I have never really done the whole 'we have a church home' thing since we got married. We both loved and served our church in Davis together. So, technically we've had the same church home. However, we are making this church decision together, and it feels very different and adventuresome. I am excited about getting to know people from the area and having friends who are not only 23-30 years old. I am thankful to Jesus for providing a place where we feel at peace and can worship with ease. The church exterior is nothing too special - tan brick, which would look special in California, but not in New England. However, the interior is truly magnificent. The church used to be a home to a local Catholic Church, though for some reason or other the membership dwindled and the building was sold to the Vineyard. They reconfigured the sanctuary so the congregation faces the back of the original building and enters/mingles through the alter area. The church service literally occurs in the narthex - an image I read about in seminary about how church really occurs in the area where people are meeting and catching up - in the narthex. A member of the church took some of these, you can find more at (http://flickr.com/photos/radioflyer007/page55/)

2. Amy Grant.

Now I know that many scoff and roll-eyes at the fallen Christian Music Diva. Something about her moral decisions over the last few years have made some church-going folk turn their backs of this pop-Christian celeb - shame. All that aside, Brett and I have been foraging through our house trying to find her Christmas CDs - always an Arnold staple during the holidays. Ms. Grant has a special place in our home. Before Brett and I were dating he would "just happen" to come over to my house with his roommate/friend Matt who was dating a roommate of mine, Joy. Brett would pass the time watching Letterman or amusing me by lip-syncing and dancing to Amy's rendition of El Shaddai. So, after much searching I have found her and welcome her back with open arms. She is now delighting our holiday ears.





3. Reading

I can't wait to read again. I have been into reading for pleasure more since moving out to Mass. But, while I am cramming for tests to finish this final class and struggling to focus on writing/conceptualizing my thesis I sit with longing for novels. I love fiction. I love love love it. All types of stories - maybe that's why I like therapy so much, it consists primarily of stories. Well, I read a blog/column by the pastor of the Vineyard church Dave, and I couldn't agree more. He put what I believe about reading so succinctly. And in doing so, pretty much sealed the deal with Brett and my continued investment at his church. Here's a blurb for all our enjoyment:

I have a theory about why we want to read books-why we want to read them, not why we actually might read a given book. We want to read books because reading books is a unique kind of fun. There's a unique pleasure in reading something longer than this column, of connecting with another consciousness in a sustained way, and that strikes me as being a pleasure that connects to what it means to be alive.
...
One of my favorite questions to ask my friends is, "What are you reading?" Now a lot of my friends don't read very much at all, and there's nothing wrong with spending time on, say, people. But for those in my circle who do take the odd hour here or there, there are always books about God or church in some form, but that's a subject for another day. Men, in particular, tend to abandon reading fiction (too trivial) in favor of job-related or general non-fiction. And there's no shame in that, but today let us praise trivial books-most fiction, for instance. Let us praise books you don't have to read, that promise you nothing more than the most primary reason we read at all-not so much to be informed as to connect, to-in the words of Shadowlands-know that we're not alone. ((to read more see: http://www.bostonvineyard.org/davescolumns/dec06/))

Amen Brother!

Here are a few books I intend to read when this crazy thing called grad-school is completely finished: (If you have any more suggestions on good fiction/non-fiction reading I would love love love to hear from you!)

I'll end with the immortal words of Brett's favorite fiction writer: Mark Twain.

"Good friends, good books: this is the ideal life."

Erin.