Christmas At War

On the 17th we are going to look at Jesus birth through a different lens. Instead of Christmas cards and Silent Night or even the Gospel accounts of his birth we are going to explore what the book of Revelation says about it. In Revelation we find a spiritual war in Heaven and on earth sorrounding the birth of Jesus. The God of the universe took the battle into the heart of his enemies teritory when he took on flesh as a little baby. We spent time brainstorming around this subject in two areas: what are the typical depictions of Christmas and what might be some parralels to this other way of viewing Jesus birth. Here were some of the ideas:


Traditional Christmas Ideas

Art:
Christmas Cards
Candy Canes on tables
Ornaments on tables
Norman Rockwell or Currier and Ives Artwork

Video Clips:
Charlie Brown Christmas
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Elf
A Christmas Story (You'll Shoot Your Eye Out)
Cingular Commercial spoofing A Christmas Story (You'll Run the Bill Up)
Colbert Report - Nativity Scene Interview Area
The Nativity Story Trailer
Talladega Nights Clips – Praying to Baby Jesus

Music:
Rob Thomas - New York City Christmas
Goo Goo Dolls - Better Days
Silent Night
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Angels We Have Heard on High
Oh Holy Night
Away in a Manger

Other:
Have people share about their Christmas traditions

Non-Traditional Christmas Ideas

Songs:
The Killers new Christmas song
Sufjan Stevens new Christmas 5-disc set
Unveil - Rebecca St. James
Wonder As You Wander
Onward Christian Soldiers
Here I Am to Worship
One Small Child – David Meece

Video Clips
Saturday Night Live - TV Funhouse Charlie Brown Chrstmas Spoof with Jesus
Maybe something froma movie with a hero making a daring raid into the center of enemy territory - kinda like Rambo? Other ideas?

We could use any other art ideas you have. Thanks for taking a few minutes to consider ways we can make our worship gatherings better, more of an expression of our community as a whole and a place people can encounter God.

Meet DR: Who Is God?

On December 3rd, Rachael will be leading a special praise-focused gathering Who Is God? We'll be looking at the many names of God found in the Old Testament, helping us explore the character of God.

Some ideas we have already:

“What if God was One of Us?” Song by Joan Osborn We'll be using an (old) book about The Names of God Check out www.rejesus.co.uk

• Show how different cultures worship God
• Man on the Street Video. Asking people “Who is God?”

• You are Holy/Prince of Peace (worship song)
• Some other worship song with the names of God that we can't think of

• Let people express their view of God creatively...draw, sculpt, paint, etc.
• Lots o' scripture & responsive readings

Meet DR: Who Will You Be?

On December 10th, Colin will be continuing the "Meet Damascus Road" series with Who Will You Be? We'll be looking at what Jesus says is possible when we follow him. Are we just supposed to believe in Jesus, or can we actually believe what Jesus believed? What are some practical ways we can join God in transforming our lives?
I'm looking mainly for illustrations of people changing in big ways or of people trying to change but always falling back into their old ways...

Some ideas we have already:

::Movies:: Ella Enchanted Princess Dairies Devil Wears Prada Blow When a Man Loves a Women Castaway – slow change over time American History X X-Men 3: Good/Evil gene – Jean Grey Hulk – transformation “Avengers” Movies (hulk) Smallville (I know, I know, it's a TV show)

::Music::
Keane “Change” song
“Trading My Sorrows” - unrealistic transformation
“Mocking Bird” – Derek Webb
“Everything I Hate”

::Other::
Remodeling/Constructing a building (Truman redoes the White House)
Testimony of transformation
Coal to a diamond

Meet DR: Who Are They?

On Novemember 26th, Brad will continue our "Meet Damascus Road" series with Who Are They? We'll be taking a look at how we interact with the people around us. Are we loving? Are we tactful? How do we form meaningful friendships?

Some ideas we have already:

::Movies::

SAVED!
-Converting the alt girl
-"I am full of Christ's love!" throws Bible
NOOMA: Megaphone
Patch Adams: Robin Williams character's counselor doesn't actually listen to him
The Big Kahuna
Jesus Camp (Documentary) Showing mini-evangelists honing their skills

::Music::
How to Save to a Life

::Other::
Testimony – someone's friendship

Black Letter Gospel: Falling Into Humility

On October 8th Ryan will be speaking as we continue our Black Letter Gospel Series.

Topic: They fell down before him

We'll be looking at instances in the Gospels dealing with a fear of God/understanding our appropriate position in relation to Jesus.

Here are some ideas/concepts to brainstorm:
We don’t understand how to be humble in today’s society

There are some things that produce an appropriate fear in us that is right and true.


Skits:
Announcements – People moving higher than each other

Prayer time:
Start with kneeling posture
Period of prayer: silent, pastoral, Lord’s Prayer

Video Clip
– People not acting humble:
Anchorman – “I’m sort of a big deal”
Bewitched – Nicole Kidman doesn’t recognize Will Ferrel as a famous guy.
Office episode – Michael Scott donated the wing of that building

– Understand appropriate ways to act
Last Samurai – rules for dealing with authority, when he meets the emperor
Hero – rules for entering into the emperor's throne room

Music:
?
We're pretty much open to some ideas here.

Brainstorm away everyone!

Black Letter Gospel: Silent Wisdom

On October 1st, Tim will be speaking as we continue our
Black Letter Gospel Series.

Topic: His words silenced them.

We'll be looking at instances in the Gospels when wise leaders of the day tried to trip Jesus up with word traps and verbal sparring, but he silenced them with just a few words.

Here are some ideas/concepts to brainstorm:
The cheapness of words/how easy it is to have speak/share your opinion:
Ridiculous blogs that have some fame to them

Video Ideas:
Nooma – Noise


Moments of Speechlessness
Wall Street’s “Greed is Good” Speech
Good will Hunting – Professor and Janitor: “this is so easy for me”
Proof?


Dumb Answers Montage:
SNL – Debbie Downer
Arrested Development
The Office
SNL – The Lovers





Music:
Speechless – Steven Curtis Chapman (as a meditation song or closer)
Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield
Switchfoot – If our music is adding to the noise, then turn it off
Adding to the Noise – from the beautiful letdown
Mockingbird – Derek Webb
Silence is Easy – Starsailor

Have at it!

Black Letter Gospel: Organic Worship

On September 24th Ryan Miller will be speaking as we continue our
Black Letter Gospel Series.

Topic: Their reaction to Jesus was worship.

We'll be looking at instances in the Gospels when people reacted to meeting/seeing/hearing Jesus by worshiping him.

Here are some ideas/concepts to brainstorm:
The idea that for Israel, the temple was the big deal – it was totally culturally weird and different for them to worship Jesus. It went against their normal cultural reaction.

What about today? When is it culturally okay to act a certain way and when is it not?

• A commercial where an employee boos (like he’s at a football game) when his boss says something he doesn’t like in a meeting
• A video of a guy singing Hit me Baby, One More Time at the top of his lungs
• A video of someone wearing headphones and singing loudly in a public place
• The scene in Singing in the Rain where Gene Kelly is singing and dancing in the rain
• An SNL sketch spoofing West Side Story where Norm MacDonald's character doesn't understand why everyone keeps singing adancingind instead of fighting.
• A scene from a musical where the romantic leads are loudly singing of their love inches away from each other's face.

Music Suggestions:

• Heart of Worship
• I Will Not Be Silent

Scripture suggestions:

• The very rocks will cry out in worship

Comment away with your suggestions!

Black Letter Gospel (Weeks 1 and 2)

We're starting a new series based on Don Evert's book "God in the Flesh" called The Black Letter Gospel. The series will assemble a view of Jesus based on the "stage directions" of the Gospel story, ways people reacted to what he did and said. Weeks one and two are coming up soon! Post your ideas below....

Simply Following Jesus (9/10)
God is invisible, but Jesus is not. So Jesus shows us things no one else can. The New Testament is saturated with Jesus. Paul says over and over again to remember Jesus. Perhaps Jesus really is all we need to know. We can be simpletons who simply want to know Jesus and remember him accurately.
Think of: examples of simpleness, ways we have distorted our view of Jesus, examples of how being too complex or sophisticated can miss the point, etc...

• Amish people (simplicity is better)
• Hobbits in LOTR are simple but useful
• Simon Birch
• Kids Say the Darndest Things
• We spend more time working now than we did before "time-saving devices"
• Project Runway (simple, sleek designs always win)
• Real Simple Magazine
• Simple, organic foods vs. chemical additive foods (display nutrition facts of each)
• Animaniacs song "Be Careful what you eat"
• Forest Gump - good soldier cause he's a little simple
• "30 Days" TV show - when LA people go to Kirksville
• Rob Bell's NOOMA "Rich"

Distorted views of Jesus

• Jesus doll from Dogma
• Lip-synced Jesus video from 70's
• Conan O'brien Jesus dolls
• SNL Jesus TV funhouse
• Bumper stickers "jesus is a republican"

Complexity can be bad

• blue collar workers vs. white collar (blue collar make right choices...in a movie somewhere?)
• Saved! movie
• Jesus loves porn stars

Seized by Amazement/Unity (9/17)
Are we bored with Jesus and his stories? Do we drink in the strangeness and holiness of his life? Do we feel like Jesus' teachings are too simple, and we have to move on to meaty theology to get to the good stuff? Perhaps if we learn how to appreciate our strange, captivating Jesus, we'll be drawn into a natural unity.
Think of: things that always draw our attention, ways things lose their appeal when they get old, things Jesus did that really seem weird, caricatures of famous people, situations that force unity

Things we're naturally captivated by:

• Nature always makes people stare (Grand Canyon)
• Fire
• Grizzly Man – captivated by bears

Stereotypes:

• Ronald Reagan is a movie star – running for president
• Back the Future – Reagan
• Legally Blond – stereotyped as stupid; Martha Stewart was a model and stock broker

Getting bored with old things:

• Kids x-mas presents; get bored by “new” presents; Toy Story

Weird things Jesus did that should captivate us:

• “cut off your hand”; hanging out with the prostitutes, etc ; people broke through houses to see him ; give Cesar what is his ;

• Motorcycle Diaries (touches people without gloves)
• Lost: Jack takes charge (people drawn together)
  
• Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock) (people drawn together)
  
• News clips of people being thrown together in odd circumstances
  
• Alien movies; where alien invaders bring humanity together (ID4, Signs, Battlestar Galactica)

Rock: Life in the Little Things

On August 13th we'll be finishing our Elements series with a talk on setting patterns in life by paying attention to the little things. Using the imagery of building our lives on the rock (Matt 7:24), we'll be looking at how to avoid waiting for something big and dramatic to happen before we change the way we live.



Looking for ideas involving:

• Clips of the ends of movies where some dramatic life change happens
• Songs about life being boring or mundane
• Illustrations of how what we do with a little translates into what we do with much
• Illustration of someone stuck in a rut

Post your thoughts!

Elemental Faith

We're about to begin a new series on some of the key images in the Bible. We're going to explore Fire, Bread and Water (I think). We've done some preliminary brainstorming on Fire and Bread. Here's what we're thinking:

7/30 Fire: Growing Through Struggle and Pain - looking at the fact that struggles, pain and hardship are a part of life. There not a sign that you're doing something wrong, or you don't have enough faith. And Christianity doesn't answer all our questions and make us comfortable and happy. But our faith does give us a context for living...and we realize that "our light, momentary afflictions are preparing us for an eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. 4:17)

We're thinking we'll do a creative service on this one - not a gathering with a specific message/teacher.

Creative:
Explaining the God is a potter we are the clay image with Liz unpacking it and maybe even throwing some pottery during the service.
Some sort of testimony or rough stuff happening to someone - maybe Tim?

Music:
A lot of Rich Mullins songs apply: Bound to Come Some Trouble,
Verge of a Miracle, The Agony and the Glory, Damascus Road.
Refiners Fire
Potter's Hands

Movies:
Magnolia
Rocky Balboa trailer
Dumb and Dumber (two people that don't have a whole lot going for them but are still happy)

8/6 Bread: Learning a Raw Reliance on God - talking about the Jews wandering around in the desert and how they learned to depend so desperately on God. How are we like this today? What distracts us from sensing our dependence on God? Why are we so resistant to be vulnerable? How can we live lives of raw reliance on God?

Creative:
Either challenge people to fast beforehand and break the fast on Sunday evening with some bread or challenge them to fast the week after to experience a small part of relying on God.

Music:
If You Want to Go Back to Egypt - Keith Green

Again - we could use a lot of ideas so post away!

The End of Parables

This Sunday we're polishing off our Parables of the Kingdom series. We've explored what Jesus has had to say about his cor emessage: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, repent. This Sunday we're looking at the Parable of the Talents and doing a little recap of where we've been. Brad is going to unpack the parable of the Talents for us and explore being "good and faithful servants" and Ryan will recap what Jesus has said about the Kingdom of Heaven. Here are some of the ideas for Sunday:

General Ideas:
Use the Brick Testament again (lego illustrations of parables and Jesus illustrations)
Do the gathering in sections - with Brad starting off, then maybe some prayer, meditiation and worship and then do the recap followed by discussion?

Movie Clips:
Pay it Forward (Using what you have been given for the greater good)
Hoosiers (doing a lot with a little)
Billy Madison (someone who didn't use his gifts at all and then had to fix it)

Worship Songs:
Something about how God has blessed or given us so much maybe?

Well, that's all the ideas we had at our meeting. Any help on the blog would be much appreciated!

Stolen by Success and Pick-pocketed by the Past

We have to focus in on the next two weeks worship services: the 25th on Success and the 2nd on the Past.

Here are the basic ideas:

Success is focused on how much we allow our career and success financially to drive our identity. Most of the message revolves around workplace and monetary struggles. Here were some of our ideas from the brainstorming session:

Video Clips
Office Space or The Office
Enterprise Rent-a-Car Commercial (with guy renting a nice car to appear successful at his high school reunion)
The Family Man
Fun with Dick and Jane
Greed
Dickie Roberts Former Child Star
American Inventor (people giving up everything to pursue thie invention)
Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion (similar idea to Enterprise commercial)

Art
Office items/keepsakes/rewards on tables

Concepts/Illustrations
Pat Tillman quitting the Arizona Cardinals to join the military
Dave Chappelle walking away from a $50 million tv contract to figure out his life
Monopoly
Psych Experiment about following someone successful
Inward vs. Outward success - how do we gauge it?

The Past revolves around how old hurts and guilt can continue to define us today. Here were some of our ideas:

Video Clips
The Lion King (Simba running from his past)
Harry Potter
Good Will Hunting (It's not your fault)
The Shipping News (Kevin Spacey's whole life is shaped by a traumatic experience during his childhood)
The Truman Show
Spiderman (Uncle Ben dies, goes on a killing rampage)
GATTACA (future world where everyone is genetically engineed except for the main character)
Memento (short term memory loss character)
The Woodsman (about the life of a child molester and how his crimes continue to haunt him)
My Name is Earl (The whole show is about trying to right the wrongs in the past)
24 (Jack is always haunted by his past - he can't let go...)
LOST (people not trusting each other)

Music
Eastmountainsouth - Ghost
Evanesence - My Immortal
Mike and the Mechanics - The Living Years
Pearl Jam - Gone

Art
Yearbook photos on the table

Worship Tunes that could work each week:
Casting Crowns “Who am I?” (possible series theme song)
He knows my name
Enough

Worship Songs!

We want to figure out what worship songs you guys like and know. Here's my contribution to get us started. Are there some of these you hate? Some you love? What else do you hate or love?

1. All Bow Down
2. Be Glorified
3. Blessed Be Your Name
4. Draw Me Close
5. Enough
6. Forever
7. God of Wonders
8. Grace Flows Down
9. Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing)
10. Holy is the Lord
11. How Great is Our God
12. In Christ Alone
13. Isaiah 43
14. Indescribable
15. Lord Over All
16. Make a Joyful Noise
17. My Glorious
18. Not To Us
19. Open the Eyes of my Heart
20. Our Love is Loud
21. Rain Down
22. Speak to Me
23. Surrender
24. We Fall Down
25. When I Think About the Lord
26. Those Who Trust
27. Your Love is Extravagant
28. Sit Awhile

And Ryan's favorites (that are unique from my list):

1. Give us clean hands
2. Come home running
3. The wondrous cross
4. What a wonderful maker
5. He knows my name
6. I need you (Jars of Clay)
7. Everything (Lifehouse)
8. All Because of You (U2)
9. Before there was time
10. Facedown
11. Who am I?
12. I can only imagine

Post your opinion!

Parable of Workers in Vineyard (6/4)

This week Ryan will be talking about the "Parable of the workers in the vineyard." He is already using a video clip from Les Mis, and a video based on "What's so Amazing about Grace-visual companion". Plus we're going to use some images from that same book to put on the tables. And it's communion Sunday, so we will end with that.

Generally, we want the evening to set up the idea of fairness...how we want things/expect things to be fair. Here are some more ideas:

Opener:
Show some of Bess' pictures from Africa, read part of the email and pray for her

Setup:
Recap idea of kingdom of heaven
Announcements
Some kind of responsive reading or liturgical prayer

Movies:

Video clips about fairness - maybe especially between siblings, since that is where the message is going to start:

Cheaper by the Dozen
*The Brady Bunch* -"Marsha, Marsha, Marsha..."
The Grinch

Maybe a Christmas scene with kids


Worship Music: - move energetic to more contemplative

*Your Love is Amazing
*Grace Like Rain
*Come Home Running

Not To Us?
Grace Flows Down?
You Are So Good To Me
I Will Not Forget You
Enough

He Knows My Name
Our Love Is Loud
Make A Joyful Noise/I Will Not be Silent

Those Who Trust
The Wondrous Cross

Songs about life being fair or unfair?

Put in your two cents! Post a comment!

Parables Brainstorm

We're trying to come up with ideas for the next two Sunday nights on parables...Post comments with any additional ideas!


Mustard Seed and Yeast (5/21)

• show difference between leavened and unleavened bread
• show pics of mustard plant or get mustard seeds
• Illustrate with examples of grassroots movements
• something about one person making a difference....or starting with one person and spreading to many (Pay It Forward, Forest Gump running, Teach for America)
• A Virus (takes over cells) Matrix clip about humanity being a virus

Pearl of Great Price and Hidden Treasure (5/28)

• Illustrations of things of incredible value
• Movies that show someone training for a goal, sacrificing for a goal
• Something with a hidden treasure (pirates?), buried treasure, or elaborate plans to steal something
• Mission Impossible, Oceans 11/12
• Music: "everything" Lifehouse, "I Surrender", "You are beautiful my sweet sweet song"

April 30th Worship (example)

We showed "Exorcism of Emily Rose" last Friday and want to continue that theme by talking about the spiritual world. Brad is going to talk about how we interact (or don't) with the spiritual world in our culture. Some ideas:

• Show clip from "Exorcism of Emily Rose" talking about how her possession will help others see the reality of the spiritual realm
• Stories of Jesus casting out demons in New Testament (which ones?)
• Excerpts from Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
• Song ideas? (We had none...)
• We could put quotes about the spiritual world on the tables

How we can use this blog

Damascus Road is about journeying together to figure out what it means to follow Jesus in today's world. Our main worship gathering on Sunday nights shouldn't be limited to a few people sharing through teaching or music, while the majority sit motionless and passively take it all in.

Instead, worship should be about everyone bringing what they have to worship God. For some reason, we tend to emphasize teaching and music as more "useful" gifts to share, but to focus on these is to exclude other gifts and viewpoints.

We don't want to reduce our worship gathering to a sterile event planned by an elite group. We hope it can be a fluid interaction between unique people of God.

So, we can use this space to brainstorm upcoming gatherings, discuss what we need to address as a community, critique past events and express creative ideas regarding worship.