I hope that all of you are excited about the Mill Creek Town Festival, which arrives the weekend of July 7-8. This will be the second year in which we get a booth at the festival and mingle with our community at large. It’s really a lot of fun. We’ll meet a ton of people. Laugh a lot. Talk about Pathways. Eat great food. Who wouldn’t want to hang out at something like that?

We really don’t want our booth to be “about us”. It would be easy to “sell ourselves” as that is what most of the booths around us will be doing for their busnesses. What we hope to do is focus on what we, as a church community, want to be about - and that is simply bringing REDEMPTION into the world in which we live. That will be highlighted this year through our silent auction in which we donate 100% of the money contributed to Hoops of Hope.

Hoops of Hope is simple. People raise money to shoot a whole bunch of free throws at a local basketball court. The money raised is sent to World Vision who, in partnership with Hoops of Hope, is building an AIDS clinic in Zambia this year. Last year, a school was built through the money raised by kids playing basketball. In all, $120,000 has been raised to house and support children who have been effected by the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Our students will be participating in this, along with students from around the country, on December 1st, which is World AIDS Day.

If you are interested in more information or want to work with us in this endeavor, just drop us a line. We’re excited about the Festival, but even more excited about making a difference in our world.

I found this piece in an editorial in the East Valley Tribune (AZ). I thought it captured quite a bit of truth.

‘TEN COMMANDMENTS’ FOR RELIGIONS AROUND THE WORLD
1. The Golden Rule — Know it, Love it, Live it.

2. The people struggling to keep or rediscover their faith are more important than the buildings where they might gather to worship.

3. No sane God commands followers to randomly kill and terrorize innocent civilians or nonbelievers. And there’s no point to worshipping an insane deity.

4. A diploma on the wall or the title of “reverend,” “rabbi” or “imam” alone does not make you a minister of God.

5. Clerics shall never abuse the trust of their parishioners — financially, sexually or emotionally.

6. Everyone shall respect your right to carry the message of your faith to nonbelievers. You shall respect the right of nonbelievers to not listen, even in public spaces.

7. To be moral, humans must be free to choose. Forcing your religious will on other people makes them less than human.

8. Many people consider worship to be the most serious commitment of their lives. But there’s nothing wrong with people who worship because they think it’s fun.

9. Piety is no substitute for good works.

10. Love and unity wins over far more converts than hate and discord.

In July and August, I’m going to lead the study on film and theology. As I’m thinking through how this will look, the purpose of the study is not going to be to use a few movie clips here and there to illustrate some points or Bible verses I want to reinforce.

Rather, each week, everyone will be asked to watch a film ahead of time with an understanding that all truth is God’s truth. We will be asked to bring that perspective to our discussion and share how we experienced truth in each film. We will then grapple with how those truths might be congruent, or incongruent, with the understandings we have of the Christian faith and Scriptures.

So, I’d love to hear from you as we are planning this. What films come to mind that you think might be good for us to experience in this study?

Last night my family went to the opening of an art show in downtown Seattle. There were only between 35-40 people there and rubbing shoulders with the CEO of REI and the President of the National Parks Conservation Association is not something we regularly do, but we are friends of the photographers whose pictures were on display.

The pictures were taken by a father and his two sons at various National Parks around the United States. They were taken while on vacation and doing what they really enjoy - spending time together as a family and taking photographs. Now, the photos are being used to bring awareness to people about the need to preserve our National Parks. There is something beautiful that takes place when what you love collides with great purpose.

My prayer is that everyone could somehow capture that in their lives. Art with Purpose.

Want a cultural perspective? “The Stranger” is Seattle’s underground newspaper. They sent 30 writers to 30 churches and slapped them all into one article.

A word of caution: If you are offended by non-believers mocking the church or strong language, don’t bother reading the story. It will offend you. Personally, these things don’t offend me at all. If you read between the lines, we can learn a lot about what keeps our culture from taking Jesus seriously.

We found this on the internet today.

Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue testing the strength and robustness of the candy as a species.

To this end, I hold M&M duels.

Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the “loser,” and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round. I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theatre of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world. Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment.

When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 USA, along with a 3×5 card reading:

“Please use this M&M for breeding purposes.”

This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this “grant money.” I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion.

-author unknown

I came across this quote yesterday and felt compelled to share…

I tell you, the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.
- Vincent van Gogh

Okay, how foolish am I to try to dive into a summer series on relationships and think that we can cover “love” in a single week? That was my first thought as we began building the messages. The reality is that “love” is simply the umbrella under which the rest of the characteristics of healthy relationships fall. Which means that every week this summer, whether we are talking about confrontation or forgiveness or humility, we are really talking about practical ways in which love is expressed.

I hope that this weekend we can begin to understand what Peter was saying. We are sinful, broken people and yet, when we love one another in the way God intended, it transcends our brokenness. It shines the brilliance of God’s image within us, giving just a glimpse of God’s true reflection.

I guess this concept is echoed in the Pathways postcards we send out to our community that says, “No Perfect People Allowed”. We are not expected to be perfect here. I make mistakes. You make mistakes. We will say things that offend. We will respond in ways that we wish we would not. But when LOVE is prevalent in all things, God is honored in spite of our imperfection. LOVE WINS!

Give a quick shout out to someone in your life who has modeled this for you. How have they demonstrated this kind of love that overshadows their flaws? How can the rest of our community learn from their example?