holy hijinks from the 2-10 gathering: Who is that masked man?

 Today at the third day fresno gathering, I was praying for God to bless Dina B's  socks off..and it was literally answered!!

 And...Keltic Ken, our beloved younger "elder elder" was able to come today (after missing last week due to his first chemo treatment, first time he has missed since 1867).  He says not to let the mask fool you; he is feeling good.
 Oh, I said i would post Ken's killer sermon from a few years ago, but it has gone offline, as has his infamous "Pagan Days" sermon.  Ken, can you find the audio?  We can add to your page here.

BTW, I am wearing the "Fred Booker" memorial vest.  We just found it; it was what Fred wore as parking lot greeter when we met at Roeding Elementary..he was amazing at that gig.
He is know wearing something a little whiter, I hear.

Here's Fred making friends in  Haiti on one of our trips:












Those were only two of the highlights and highjinks.

 Some  more of the  elements in flow of the gathering today are recounted below.
I love how the Spirit connects these things.
It's enough to make a pastor-type give up "planning worship"  (and "steering cats") for Lent...and beyond.

We played two songs (from two eras) from The Violet Burning, a band  we brought to church once

(Hear frontman Michael Pritzl's sermon he gave for us here), and to  Neighborhood Thrift last year.
We prayed for the band.

1)"Song of the Harlot"
We are so thankful for the word "whore" in this song..powerful!

Here's  Michael  introducing the Scripture and story of the song,  before an acoustic version:

Here's the bilingual fan video of the song we projected:

Here's my review of the album this song came from:

shimmering, vulnerable, evocative, provocative : my amazon review of The Violet Burning's "Strength"

We mentioned the next Violet Burning album, and how full of psalms it was.
Here's my review:

the most listenable "unlistenable" album ever made

The early demos to this album included a good and honest song ("Fever") that contained a "forbidden
word:...yes, a rougher word than "whore."  Just recently, the band is selling the uncensored version of that song for the first time in years.   Think it's ready for church?


2)"Made for You"" the finale song to their recent 3-album project:
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We prayed for Pam Brown pastor/apostle of our new sister church (new to the network, but the church dates back to 1925).

Sonya and I got to pray with her in Kansas City this week..you'll like her!

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Some great discussion on the recent pastors and tipping issue.
See:

 pastor refuses tip and blames God
 

Pastor Apologizes For Snide Remark On Meal Receipt

 

Stats Don't Show that Christians (and Pastors) are Bad Tippers, but We Must Reverse the Stereotype

 

 Why Are Christians Such Bad Tippers?

 

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To top it off, we showed this Mitchell and Webb episode below-- "Bad Vicar"--- (not for the religiously faint of heart. I wonder if any other church on the planet has played this!)/
The video is also here on my Facebook, for easy sharing

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Oh, among the manna and snacks at the "meating" part of the meeting, look what Dina brought us from Hong Kong:

 

I had a laughing date once......