Advent Conspiracy

Hi, me again.... sorry, I just have too much time on my hands these days. :)

Two weekends ago, I had the fortunate opportunity to visit Imago Dei, a church in Portland. (is it just me or did you hear Matt and Christi just yell "Go Portland!") It is an AMAZING community doing some amazing things to say the least. I won't go through all the cool things I saw and read... but I did want to introduce to you a couple of really amazing websites to check out. Imago Dei is one of three churches/pastors that have spearheaded something called the Advent Conspiracy. I will embed the promo video in this post so you can get a quick handle on what its all about.



I would love to talk more about this, as a class, in our small groups, over dinner... whatever. Its worth the time and the dialogue. For sure. Its worth THINKING about. PONDERING about the meaning of Christmas. We talk about the "meaning" of Christmas all the time. Its en vogue to do so in church of course. But seriously, have you ever really thought about it? I have to admit I haven't. Have you ever stopped to really think about why you give, what you give and who you give to? Again, I haven't. Until now. And to be honest, this is hard for me to think about. I like giving gifts. I like making my list out of what I want, and who I want to get for. I love opening wrapped gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. LOVE IT. And there really isn't anything wrong with that - AT ALL.

But... WHAT IF those wrapped gifts were something handmade, used, or bought from an organization that supports the least of these, the lost, and the forgotten around the world? WHAT IF I actually sat down to think, really think about the gift I give to my niece (instead of the mad rush to Big Lots for a plastic Dora the Explorer dress up kit for 10.99??)? WHAT IF I decided to make her some dress up jewelry from pasta and/or used beads from a thrift store because I KNOW she loves dressing up? WHAT IF I gave the gift of my time and/or talent to a dear friend, instead of the vest that I bought on clearance 3 months ago (knowing she has about 5 of them in her closet already)? WHAT IF I bought tickets to a Suns game to take my husband out and enjoy the evening together instead of getting him another camouflage mesh hat? WHAT IF I gave my neighbor some coupons for free babysitting so she and her hubby could go out together or she could get some alone time on the town? WHAT IF I took a tithing of my Christmas budget and supported a child or provided a new water well for a village?

IF I did that, I would be SPENDING LESS (fighting the consumerism cancer that is overtaking our culture), but GIVING MORE (of myself, my time, my talent, my friendship). And I think Jesus would really jive with that. The point of Christmas? The meaning? It was the giving of His life... not just his actual physical life on the Cross, but his life of 33 years of serving, giving, loving, teaching. What if we all embraced more of HIS way of celebrating the season and less of our way?

If you read enough through the following websites... this isn't about numbers (except for that one part about how much stinking money we Americans spend this ONE time of the year). It isn't a legalistic formula for being more Christ-like. Its about RETHINKING why we give, what we give, how we give and to whom we give. Its about reconditioning ourselves to know that checking someone off the Christmas list doesn't mean we really GAVE something meaningful or lasting. Its about getting creative and seeking to give more of ourselves to others and less stuff. Hey, I like stuff... don't think this is a cake walk for me, either. Its tough. Its been way easier to just NOT THINK about any of this and go about my merry way this season. Trust me, I am still tempted to do so. But deep inside I know I need to change, and I want to change. And this is a great resource to help me on this journey. Check it out!



Here is the site:

ADVENT CONSPIRACY


COMING SOON.......

Ok, now that this is on the table, lets talk!!!! Lets brainstorm ways we can incorporate the mantra of "worship fully. spend less. give more. love all." into our personal lives, the life of our Fresh Grounds Community, the city of Phoenix and even the world! Some of us are blessed with ingenious creativity, and some of us could spend 365 days a year trying to come up with one alternative/creative/useful gift idea. So, please help the rest of us, you creative ones (um, yes Jess I am talking to you girl!). Lets pool our ideas, thoughts, experiments, experiences and see what we can come up with............

Check out RETHINKING CHRISTMAS to see what I am talking about....

FreshList

Ok, so I am in Texas now for a few weeks visiting my mom.... which means I have some help with the girls.... which means I can finally blog some things that I have been wanting to for a long, long time... which means this could be really long. We'll see. :)

First up.... THE FRESH LIST:

Ok, it doesn't have to be called the FreshList... but I thought it was catchy. Some of us have been talking about doing some sort of craigslist-type thing on this site and with our class. I think we started dialoging about this at the camping trip or even further back. And with Christmas around the corner, this could be really timely.

If you have been to our house and had the unfortunate opportunity of viewing our garage, you would know that we have some stuff laying around (ok a lot of stuff) that isn't of use to us just now. We have done a few garage sales trying to pare down and simplify and organize our lives. But mostly we are too lazy to load it all up and take it to Goodwill or set up another garage sale. But what if one of you could use that Waring juicer? Or the bumbo seat for the kiddo? A couple of months ago Matt and Christi were at our house and I said something about not having a microwave. Christi said, "Oh, hey we have one sitting in our closet. The apartment has a built-in so we don't need it." And whala.... I had me a microwave oven just like that.

So, I wanted to just throw this opportunity out there.... I know some need to sell some stuff like furniture, or other things. Some may just want to unload some "junk" (aka someone else's treasure). Others may want to just loan some things out (baby equipment etc...). The FreshList could be a place for any and all of that. Shoot, we could even barter for things/services too.

And you know what? This is Biblical. Its what the New Testament Church did... they shared, they took care of each other, they served each other. And I think we can do that too, even in our independece-worshipping, self-serving culture. We in the Fresh Grounds class are all more or less in the same stages of life.... some a little ahead and some a little behind certain milestones... but all walking the same direction. So let's share the journey!

But it takes some humility too... this isn't just about some of us saying "hey, I have a box of candles and sconces I want to get rid of... anyone interested?" You have to be willing to share the need or want as well. Don't be shy to ask... there is no pressure here. If someone can provide your need or want... whether free or for a reasonable price, there you go. If none of us can fit the bill, then head over to Craigslist or Ebay. This is just a special way we can grow even closer as the Body, don't you think?

Ok, thats all I have folks... Does anyone know how to practically flesh this out on our blog? Should we have a weekly post, or maybe twice a month with a list of needs/wants or things offered? I would be more than willing to combine it all and post the lists periodically, but if any of your web gurus out there have a better idea/way of doing this, I am all ears.. or eyes.. or fingers? Whatever. :)

Peace -

Chelsea

Bobby

~ just another adorable up-and-coming fresh grounds studmuffin ~ i must say, fresh grounders make pretty babies. 

~ Chelsea

Autumn's Baby Shower

It was so fun to get together with all the ladies! Girls, we really need to just hang more, don't ya think? I hear the guys had a successful "man night" as well.

Bonding with Grandma already! :) 

um, just ask Jason. :)

Jessica's mad puzzle making skills... wow!

the decadence

God's explicit revelation, faith, and post-modernism

I recently had a short conversation with some non-believing friends of mine about the apparent existence of God... or lack thereof. One of them e-mailed us all a link to a video on YouTube called "God Only SEEMS Non-Existent!" which sparked the conversation. The video essentially takes a satirical attitude towards Christianity in relation to the fact that God doesn't explicitly (see: blatantly, obviously) reveal Himself to mankind, "forcing" us to believe in Him through faith. I chose not to post it on this blog to avoid any confusion, but feel free to Google it if you're curious.

One of my friends said that he saw no benefit to mankind from God's explicit revelation, but that instead it would just confuse us all the more. I took his statement to the next level and suggested that if God explicitly revealed himself to mankind, it would only cause men to rebel against him even MORE and actually negatively affect His mission. And this is why:

We live in a postmodern society in which it's okay for every individual to believe whatever they want, and nobody else can suggest to them otherwise. We are driving towards utter relativism in which there can be no absolute truth, because any statement of the sort tends to result in the response: "Well that works for you, but that's not for me." And God be with anyone who attempts to suggest that individual is "wrong." People that do that are simply "arrogant."

The fact is, people generally don't like being forced to do, or believe, things. Admittedly, I am guilty of this at times. So think about it: What would happen if God came down from the heavens, appeared in the sky before the entire earth and said, "Behold, I am God! Worship me!" I think it would cause people to rebel and disobey Him even more than they might have in their ignorance of His existence, merely because they lose their right to choose what to believe in.

Maybe that's why God gave us freewill and the opportunity to choose, because ultimately it is better for us. Maybe faith is His gift to us to help us experience Him wholly based upon our view of His character and what He has done. As my friend asked, what benefit is it to us to believe in Him because of explicit revelation? Am I more blessed through a relationship with a God I know because He desired a relationship with me, or a God I know because He forced a relationship with me?

What do you all think?

-Scott

PS: God promises one day He will explicitly reveal Himself to mankind, but for those that don't know Him, it doesn't look to be a pleasant day (see: the book of Revelation). I'm wary to wish for that day to come too soon.

Another one for the calendar!

Come check it out! Sounds like a fun community event.... and I am going to have a "booth" there for my photography (along with nearly 120 other visual artists), so please come out and hang out with us if you can!! :) 

Saturday, October 11, 2008 ~ 5-10pm

~ Chelsea

(Again, click on the image for a larger view)

This one's for the girls.....

HI Fresh Grounds Ladies (and anyone else that you might want to forward this to)!! Here is a little invite to the jewelry party I am having at my house. Ruby is a friend of mine from our days living in Berlin (she and her hubby were there with the same company John works for). She is an amazing jewelry designer and I love her stuff so much. Her prices are awesome and her creativity is really great. She is trying to get her business going here in a new town (and new country for her - she is from South Africa) and I would love to support her (I know all too well how difficult it is starting a creative business from scratch in a new town!). She will be setting up in my house displaying all of her pieces and there will be snacks/finger foods and drinks available. Come just to hang out and "window shop" or come ready to get some serious holiday shopping taken care of for the women in your life! Or come just to freshen up your own jewelry collection. Regardless, it will be a fun time. You can just come and go as you please on Saturday afternoon, November 1. Invite your friends, relatives, neighbors.. I just need a head-count by about October 28 so we can have enough food and drinks for all! Email me if you have any questions! I have attached some pictures of Ruby's stuff  - these are just some of my fave's and a tiny sampling of her variety. I think you can click on the picture for a larger view.

~ Chelsea

What if church were like the Colbert Report?

Bring Back the Young Adults and 20-Somethings (The Holy Hiatus)
What if church were like the Colbert Report?

Posted on: 06/08/2008
by John Carlisle

Imagine a typical Sunday morning in the house of four single, unrelated roommates in their 20s. All four grew up in Christian homes, attending church every Sunday with their families. All four graduated from college and have respectable jobs that keep them busy 45-50 hours per week, Monday through Friday. On this morning, the four find themselves doing quite different things. Dizzied and stumbling around, one of them wakes up and begins to nurse a hangover after a night of binge partying. Another leaves to go to his second job, in retail, because his 9-to-5 isn’t quite enough for him to pay off his college debt and pay the rent. The third begins thumbing on an Xbox controller, zoning into a virtual world. The fourth – only the fourth – gets dressed and leaves to go to church. Almost everyone in ministry will agree that there’s something wrong with this picture.

This troubling vignette illustrates a problem that churches have been trying to reverse for decades. LifeWay Research found that of Christians between the ages of 23 and 30, 70 percent “drop out” of going to church for at least a year between the ages of 18-22. A sizable number spend more than a year away. Common reasons for the temporary, if not permanent, departure from the Church include lifestyle changes and frequent moving; pastoral disdain or disagreement; and political, ideological and theological disagreement with church positions.

Justin Anderson, lead pastor at Praxis Church in Tempe, Ariz., makes a startlingly sharp claim: “Overall, the Church is declining and my guess would be that the decline crosses age groups.” Anderson says that most churches have failed to provide the relevancy in the Gospel to keep people, regardless of age, connected to it. But an emphasis on people in their 20s exists at Praxis Church. It’s a church plant of the rapidly growing Acts 29 Network, a group of churches that puts 20-somethings at the crux of their evangelism because they’re the toughest group to reach, says Jonathan Herron, lead pastor at Catalyst Church in Kent, Ohio. Herron and other Acts 29 pastors figure if they can reach this group, they can reach anyone – which leads to a logical conclusion that the 20-somethings are the toughest to reel in. ..........

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE.

Would love to get some feedback and conversation about this article! Feel free to get the conversation going in the comments section. Also, Justin Anderson, who was quoted in the last paragraph copied above, is the speaker at the next Men's Fuel Breakfast on September 13.

~ Steve W.

Prayer Conference

Hey! For those who were in church yesterday, I thought it would be cool to hear about the different prayer workshops that you went to and how you were challenged. I'm excited to see how God continues to use prayer along with our availability within the church and our relationships. Matt and I went to the Listening Prayer workshop w/the Berean class teacher. I think we were the youngest ones there but it was so cool to learn from those who have so much wisdom and have walked before us. He had a cool insight on journaling and using scripture by taking a passage, summarizing it, then applying it to your life. I've journaled a lot but haven't done it quite like that so am excited to try it out. Overall, it was a great reminder that we serve a creative God (like Daniel Henderson spoke about) and it's ok to find creative ways to pray and seek Him. Anyone else learn anything?

Dave and JJ Heller

Dave and JJ Heller are a young married couple, who are from Phoenix.
The are brilliant musical artists and beautiful people.
If you've heard them and can chime in, please post a comment.

They have been living in Nashville for some time now and, like some of you, are expecting their first child.

Be sure to take advantage of the temporary (10 weeks) free download of their upcoming cd release!

Enjoy,

steve

Bizarre Living or Living Bizarrely?

Hi friends! So one of the things some of us mentioned when brainstorming about a class blog was how it would be nice to have a place to continue deeper discussions from our Sundays together. So, this is my attempt to initiate just such a conversation. 

Awhile back (I seem to have lost all sense of time... a month ago? 6 weeks? 2 week? I have no idea), Brad Elgen spoke about living "bizarrely" for God. His message was taken from the story about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.  ( you can find and listen to the message HERE ) It was an amazing message. And I find myself thinking about some of his questions, comments, observations and application points every couple of days even now. Honestly, that rarely happens to me. But I feel the need to really unpack this topic and I don't want to fall into the typical "oh-my-gosh-that-was-so-convicting-i-need-to-change-my-life" Sunday and then "back-to-the-ole-routine-cause-i-just-don't-know-where-to-go-from-here" Monday ritual. 

So I find myself telling people about this message over and over.... in hopes of unpacking it even more, brainstorming with others about HOW we can live differently within our culture. Sure, I could pack up and fly to Calcutta, India tomorrow and live in the slums and love on the desperate children and that would be quite different (well, theoretically I could.... if it wasn't for the husband and two children thing :). But what I struggle with is how to live intentionally differently WITHIN my own culture, socioeconomic class, neighborhood, and community. 

I suspect many of you feel the same way, so lets talk about it! Lets brainstorm and "spur one another on to love and good deeds," like God desires us to do. Disclaimer: This isn't about comparing ourselves to others, judging, or feeling judged.... please, this is about challenging each other to move closer to the heart of God and His passion for people... each of us have ideas that could trigger other ideas and thoughts and that is how we can spur each other on! 

So here is the question: 

What are some PRACTICAL ways you can live differently or bizzarely (aka NOT the "norm", living so that people actually have to stop and ask why? what? how? you are doing/living like you are):

~ in your neighborhood or apartment complex?

~ in your work place?

~ in your relationships with non-believers? 

~ in your family? 

John and I came up with just a couple of ideas so far (but have yet to implement them): 

~ We want to look for some elderly couples, widows, single moms in our neighborhood and offer to do their lawn for them. 

~ John has talked to an older man who lives alone in the condos across the street from us and wants to have him over for dinner sometime and just be a friend. 

Thanks for reading and please do share!!!! ~ Chelsea

PS: If you are an author on this blog, you can log in and edit this post and add your own thoughts/answers/suggestions/ideas below mine. If you don't want to do that, you can just leave your thoughts and answers in the "comments" section below this post. But regardless please do post! I know we can learn so much from each other! 

Camping Photos

Hi All! We got back from 5 days in southwest CO two nights ago and I am finally getting around to editing the camping photos and posting them online. 

I am uploading them to a Picasa online (public) album so everyone can view them all and download any or all of them.  I uploaded them as smaller files than the original files because if I had uploaded the full files you wouldn't see them for weeks. :) I do believe the size I uploaded them as is large enough for 4x6's or even 5x7's but for anything larger, just contact me for the full file and I will email it to you or put them on a CD if there are many of them. 

Click on the following link for the photos: 

Fresh Grounds Camping Trip Photo Album

Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks!! 

~ Chelsea

By the way Chelsae, this Blog looks great. Thanks for all the hard work!!

Hello Everyone! Jason and I are leaving for vacation tomorrow morning. We will be gone all week but will be back for Church on Sunday. Hope you all have a good week. Talk to you when we get back.
Autumn

The Camping Trip

Welcome!

Welcome to the new Fresh Grounds Blog! We hope this will be a special place of connection and involvement for us all... something to deepen and enrich our sense of community. We hope it is a place to share the highs and lows of life and to simply just walk through life together. 

This blog is open to any of the Fresh Grounds class members who want to participate. If you are interested in posting pictures, thoughts, discussions, questions or just a funny story from your day, email Chelsea at info@chelseahudson.com and include your email address and any blog or website links you want to add to our blog roll. As soon as you are added as an author, you will be able to sign into google/blogger and post away. If you are not interested in posting, you are welcome to participate via the comments sections in each post. We hope to have some great discussions going in the near future, so please do visit this blog and contribute for us all! 

I will probably be sending out a "how to" email via Christi to the class with some ideas on how to post and organize the posts from various authors etc. so stay tuned!

_______________________________________

Also, coming soon........................ Lots and lots of pics from the Fresh Grounds Camping Trip!