one way that i have seen a service done, and have enjoyed it is, The only light in the room was candles buring. We had a couple of stations set up to where, one you could have a private communion your way, another area to focos on a certain prayer need, empty space for those who just want to walk around and pray. There was just someone on the acustic leading worship. It was realy good. We had the freedom to pray and worship however we felt.

chancey ~ I hate to admit it but -with the exception of the days of solitude and the prayer beads- all that other stuff is  a little to "New Age-y" for me. There is something sacred about a church service. -think about it -has it changed all that much since it began? -I  know variations -but ultimately the same structure. -maybe I'm being ignorant...

Ask Nelz, he has some great ideas which all involve holograms and glass walls . . . and lunacy.

The best advice I could give to someone about to start grad school. Hmmm. There are at least 2 things that jump to mind very quickly. The first may not apply to you, it depends on where you are going to be at. The second is just a practical application of advice already given at the undergrad level.

1. Community is going to be very important while in graduate school. More than ever will it be important to have not just friends, but colleagues to discuss things over with. Some assignments, lectures, and/or texts are too dificult to tackle alone. Talking out loud with others is an amazing thing to help clarify in your mind, and in those listening (you'll benefit from their dialogue too, whohoo). When talking about the philosophy of time, Augustine said, "When no one is around, I can explain it clearly, but when someone is around, I find it hard to know where to begin."

2. Be OCD about getting your assignments in order. You just can't write a paper in a day and get away with it at the grad level (and if you can, maybe you should've chosen a better school). I'm talking about figuring out how many pages you need to read a day for each class for the entire semester. Plan for papers and finals to be due the same day, it's not uncommon. Be ready to read a whole book in preparation for one class session. You have to have texts read before class, it's essential. Not only will you fall behind, but you won't be able to interact during class; this does not do much to impress your professor about your abilities either.

I hope I haven't scared you, but just be ready to take everything much more seriously. Again, make sure you are purposeful about the community thing. Plan study groups (and actually study) that meet often and not just before an exam. Where are you going to start? What are you going to study? Hope this has been helpful.

Chancey -your'e just good people. I miss hangin w ya kid -we shall hang this week. k?!

I saw a communion service once where while they were passing out the elements they sang the song Worthy is the Lamb and showed clips of Christ being beaten a crucified from Gobson's The Passion of the Christ. To have that visual made the significance of the elements come alive with a much more tangible importance that day. Love ya Chance!

hey chancey...i wanted to tell you this but got your voice mail...i don't think you will ever know how much of a difference you make in people's lives around you.  thanks for being my friend! i love yah!

hey how goes it chance? long time no talk, how've you been? we're doing a "turning tide live" theme for the graduation party this year, it should be more or less funny seeing as we had an awesome improv and skit teacher eh? lol well hope all is well in the chancey world, the irish world is quite well, i'm off to find more 4 leaf clovers to hide my pot of gold. bye bye

~Georgie

one time for a church service we projected this huge red, green and blue picture of jesus onto the stage and that's all you could see. it was very unique.

Read your post sometimes, never commented before. Stumbled in from Jordan's site...I went to Bible college for a while (not for like 3 days...I'm close to graduating) and wanted to do XA campus ministry. I've studied a lot about this postmodern society and mmethods of minstry...then I moved away from the Bible belt to the center the unchurched in downtown Seattle...and while I'd love to go to a comfortable unique artsy service the thing I've seen is that so much of that just feels fake. Sure some of these guys have punctured more holes in their head than I can comprehend...but they know when they're being handled. They know when goody goody from the midwest is trying to "reach them by communicating on 'their' level". I saw a bunch of kids doing some "coffee house" street ministry thing downtown - we got spit on (I stopped to talk to them). Pray, be real, honest, truthful, hard to hear, gospel...live it...feed the homeless, hug the crazies, touch the homosexuals - be Jesus show Jesus...I think God will just make the rest fall into place. Our generation of ministers needs to make sure we focus on the "Who", namely Jesus, of ministry instead of what and how...or we'll end up just like the church today...caught up with programs and plans. Postmodernism will be gone before we know it just like modernism - and all we'll have to show for it are churches with coffee bars and really cool art on the walls.

or um I mean, I went to a service a while back and several people had their dogs under their chairs (totally freaked me out, I accidently kicked what I thought was a really ugly furry coat...and then it licked me) - you know, kill two birds with one stone. Walk to church, walk the dog...that was cool.

drop it like its hot!