To dance or not to dance...

It has been some time since my last blog. I have been crazy busy with work, planning Advent and Christmas services, getting my new house in order, and preparing for a baby! Yep! The Sclafani's are having a little bambino! Can you believe it! I wish I had the time to tell everyone in person, but I don't! So if you didn't know...now you do!

So you can see why it has been a bit difficult finding time to blog.

With all that has been going on things have been exciting and tiring. One thing I have found is that dancing is a great form of expression - even when you feel as if you cannot dance. There is something about the physical movement of the body and it's ability to give praise as David danced before the Lord! Well I am not much of a dancer, but sometimes it is out of my control and when I found out about the miracle of this new baby I couldn't stop! My dance wasn't one of great skill or technique, but one of praise, awe, and glory to God!

It felt so good to do! I hope and pray that this holiday season might bring you wonderful times in which you can do nothing but dance for joy!

And with that...

Here is a little something for you to laugh at that has some "impressive" dance moves! Just click the link below and enjoy!

"DANCE CLIP"

Clark Griswald Eat Your Heart Out!

It's that time of year when the house gets decorated with all things Christmas. And in Lynnwood sometimes it can get a little over the top. Now that we live in Seattle we thought we would bring a little Lynnwood to our new hood. Click here to see our home video of our house at Christmas time HOUSE LIGHTS!

Enjoy!

Body Prayer Pt. 1

I have just started reading a book by Doug Pagitt called Body Prayer The Posture of Intimacy with God. It has to do with the idea of connecting with God with your body [physically] and your soul [spiritually/relationally] Last night we at The Mix! tryed the "prayer of willingness." This is when you stand, leanning over at the waist as far as you can without moving your feet, letting your sholders, arms, neck, and head all fall forward and hang very loosely - kind of like a ragdoll. The ideas is that of allowing our body to physically represent are willingness to submet to God. The students were excited to learn something new with prayer. It took a bit to get people focused, but overall I thing this is going to be a great book for exploring new ways to connect with God. Here is the prayer that we prayed together [which is also from the book]...

In the Extraordinary that is you,
I breathe.
I breathe and I bend.
I breathe and I bend and I dream
Of seeing your will clearly,
Of following you easily,
Of hearing
Finales to the world's worries
And beginnings to untold stories
Until those whispers are rumbled,
When they resound as Truth echoed by all cells,
I submit to you.

Bono and U2 ask God some Tough Questions

Here is another article about U2 and their faith. I thought it was interesting. Especially Bono's thoughts on faith lived out with or without social action. It also has Bono's take/explanation about the meaning of the song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Check it out by clicking here u2 article.

Speaking of relevant...

If you have not read the headline interview of Bono in the latest issues of Rollingstone Magazine you have got to. There is a whole section on spirituality, his upbringing, his musical influences, and more. In other words, this interview looks at Bono's culture, his soul, and the influence the Biblical text and Christian Church has had on him. It is quite facinating! You can read it by clicking here
BONO INERVIEW.

Relevant

Hey if you have not experienced Relevant Magazine I highly recommend it, but even better is there website! I have had a subscription to there magazine for two years now and love it. Both the site and magazine have great news, articles, resources for spiritual thought and contemplation. They also have great reviews on movies, music, books, and more. But the newest thing they have added is Relevant TV. It is a great way to learn new music, see the videos, and it it much better than kcms. So far this morning, as I write I heard/saw U2, Reliant K, Postal Service, Coldplay, and David Crowder. And what is really cool is that you can have Relavant TV on while you continue your web surfing! Anyways, that is enough of a plug. I hope you like it. You can go to it by clicking here RELEVANT.

I WANT IT THAT WAY!

The newest boy band it out! Have you seen there new video? Talk about the effects of culture! Turn up the volume on your computer, CLICK HERE, and enjoy!

The Latest From U2...

Many of you know that I love U2. Well did you know that U2 is branching out to do children's music? It is very fun. You got to hear it!

Check it out by clicking HERE.

Hope you like!

Sad and Tragic...

Today I am mourning the unexpected passing of Kyle Lake, author of Understanding God's Will and (re)Understanding Prayer, and pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, TX [where David Crowder and Chris Seay are from]. He died yesterday morning after a tragic electrocution accident while leading a baptism service. Only 33 years old, he is survived by his wife and three young children.

Although I didn't know Kyle personally, I found him to be an amazing pastor, educator, writer, and learner. He was involved in Emergent and many other progressive ministries. I can't imaging all the emotions that his family, friends, and congregation are going through. Please join me in praying for the Lake family and all effected by this tragic loss...

COOL ILLUSION!

YOU GOT TO TRY THIS OUT!

CLICK HERE COOL ILLUSION!

Where is righteousness?

So I have been wrestling with the idea of righteousness and what it means to live in a way that would be described Biblically as righteous. Charles Finney [an old school evangelist] believes that revivals do not come from praying then down from God and he doesn't believe that they are miracles. He says we don't have to convince God to bring revivals that He wants everyone to be saved. He basically says that revival doesn't come until we [the Christians] get on fire for God and start living righteous lives. That when our lives start radically changing for Christ others will start to do the same. In other words, Finney says revivals don't start in the other they start with me. That has been a challenge for me to chew on.

When I think of righteous living I think of pride, cockyness, strong attitudes, no-it-alls, etc. But that is not what Scripture means. Righteous living is humbly coming to God and saying "search me and know me and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting" it is confession, it is wisdom, it is distinguishing good from evil and choosing good. Doesn't Scripture say that God always provides us with a way out of our sinful temptations?

Proverbs 21:3 [niv] says this... "to do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice"

This was and odd scripture to me. But I read it in some other translations and looked at it closer. I love the way this is translated differently...

Proverbs 21:3 [the message] says this... "clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far mroe to God than religious performance."

This has made me think of our culture, of church, and trends that have come about lately and thought how caught up we have been in "experience" and creating atmospheres for people to "feel" things. I think at times they can be manipulative.

Worship can be the same way. I don't think God cares so much about us having this one "Sunday Worship Experience" as he does about our lives being transformed on a daily basis to be more and more like Him. That we become loving neighbors, that we become people of justice, who love mercy, that we become lights to people around us.

What a revival might look like then would be more like a church body as a whole committing to daily confessing, renewal and being filled with the Holy Spirit to live out the image of God to our world. It would be the transformation that starts to occur through Christ in our lives that would take our worship experiences to a whole new level.

"clean living before God" and "justice with our neighbors" sounds a lot like "love God and love your neighbors as yourself" and meaning "far more to God than religious performance" sounds a lot like "this is the greatest of all the commandments"

Know that I am not promoting legalistic living, but living that humbly approaches God regularly through confession - a breathing out of the junk of life, and filling - the breathing in of the Holy Spirit throughout the day.

I want to re-live over and over again the beauty, glory, and awe of living out God's call to me to live a righteous life. I want to know how to do so through His Word, and how to be faithful to that within my culture.

A song that has been on my heart along with these ponderings is...

Knowing You

(words and music by Graham Kendrick)

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now compared to this.

Chorus:
Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you,
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, you’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord


Now my heart’s desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness

Chorus: (repeat)

Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know you in your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord

So with you to live and never die

Chorus: (repeat)

+ + + + + + +

This has been some of my ponderings of late. Let me know what your think...

May forgiveness, mercy, grace, and love through Christ be with you today.

DJ

What will they think of next?

Check out my DJ.

Reflections on worship...

More thoughts on worship by James Torrance...

"Worship is a narrative and symbolic activity, meant to evoke response."

"The role of symbol in worship is not to convey doctrine or promote ideology, but to provoke an encounter between God and God’s people."

I love the concept of worship as narrative...the telling of or singing of the story of God. I love the idea of an encounter between God and humanity!

Today was the first time I led worship just me and my guitar and one vocalist. I was nervous and lacking some confidence. Some of my insecurities started to come out not having my band/team with me. "What would happen if people really see me, hear me, and find that it/I am lacking?" was the question. Another was "could I do this [leading worship] in such a way that would not be distracting to others?"

I was reminded of these two quotes. Worship is not about me as the leader, musician, singer, etc. it is about telling, re-telling, and remembering the story/narrative of the Gospel. And in doing so we are drawn into a place of response. The "here I am send me" response of Isaiah. God was gracious and by His Holy Spirit I was able to help in the faciliting of re-telling of the story. As a result, we had a wonderful encounter with God!

Tomorrow is Sunday and I have much to praise God for! I pray that you all have the opportunity to respond once again to the narrative of the Gospel as told through a time of intimate/corporate worship!

A NEW LOOK...

I got bored with the look of my blog so I did some changes. I know...the wonderful Bridget had this template for some time, but the reality is that this is the only other one that I really like within the templates blogger offers, and she isn't using it any more. So, here it is. I like it much better.

And with the change comes a re-newed desire to post more regularly. Easier said than done, but that is the hope. So stay tuned! Thanks to you all who have come to read my thoughts. I think I am going to be posting some thought on a book I am reading by Doug Pagitt. It is called "preaching re-imagined"

More to come on worship as well...

Also, I am doing some interesting studies on the spiritual disciplines. This is a link to a blog written by Brian McLaren that I thought was awesome check it out here. It is on "Spiritual Formation in a Postmodern Context." You will have to scroll to the bottom of the blog to get to it. It is worth the read.

Thoughts on worship...

So just in case you had not heard I recently became the interim pastor of worship on top of my other responsibilities at my church. This has been an incredible experience. I have always loved worship and have been completely blessed to have been apart of different churchs all with incredible worship leaders. I have also been active in the creating of worship services with these great leaders. But it is a totally different experience when you are the leader of these worship experiences. And the spiritual battles that come with this position is great. Last week was my first time leading in this role and during the second service for some reason the strap on the guitar I was using would not stay on. I know this sounds like nothing big, but when you are standing and moving around and rocking out and your strap falls off it is very hard to hold the guitar in place for long. But that wasn't even it...the second time it fell off while I was fighting to hold up the guitar (at a bit of an angle) I some how cut my thumb. So I am not only trying to hold this guitar but my finger is bleeding as I strum. And if that was not enough...the blood was getting on the strings which was slowly making the guitar go out of tune!!! BATTLE TIME I TELL YOU BATTLE TIME!!

The amazing thing was that I have found no one that noticed! Well except my wife :) But everyone was very encouraging of the worship time! Now that is God through His Holy Spirit at work. You see, I am learning more and more now by experience that worship is not much about my words, instrument playing, tone, etc. but it is all about coming to a place in which I simply give God my full attention heart, mind, strength, and soul. As distracted as I felt, my desire to give God praise never changed, in fact I was fighting for it, not just for me, but also for the congregation. That was all I could do. And the more a reflect on it the more I see how God was honored even in the midst of what was chaos. And isn't that what our life is like? Honoring God in the midst of the chaos and things of life! I think so!

Here is a quote I found on worship I have been meditating on.

"Worship is enacting God’s story to a world that has lost its story."

by James Torrance

I have asked my self "Self...what is it that makes us loose the story of God in our lives?" The answer for me is that I get consumed/distracted by the chaos and forget that God is there in the midst of my story! Worship is a place in which we can come together and collectively re-focus and re-memeber the truth of God. It re-minds me that even when the "straps of life" are falling off and the "bleeding" we go through hurts and stains, we can still go through it and not loose our desire to worship God in the midst of it!

I'd love any thoughts on this...

May you be aware of God's presence in your story today!

The Trip to the Island...

So last week I mentioned Jen and I went to beautiful Whidbey Island with our small group. Here are some pictures from the trip! It was so great, relaxing, and fun. Dean even took us out sailing! Great food, great fellowship, God's creation, what more could you ask for? Well the only thing missing was one family. Adam and Sara Haulter and there beautiful little girl Lola! But other than that...what more do you need! Hope you enjoy the pictures!















The Man in charge... Captain Dean Peterson















Zachary Patrick















Me and my beautiful wife Jen
















Christel Peterson & my wife Jen





















Todd & Jill Patrick and son Zachary















Darryl & Anne Brackett















Bryce & Rachel Schober

The DMB in the place to be!

The Red Sled, The Brown Bomb, and the Italian Stallion


The DMB from afar...


Dave up close and personal...


Me and my beautiful wife Jen...


The Gorge before the show and the sunset...


The Gorge at sunset...
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So after a great Sunday at church Jen and I were off on an other adventure this time to the Gorge in George Washington. This is about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive on 3+ if you are driving in my sweet old red sled [87 Subaru GL 4WD Wagon]. It was a gorgeous day and as we made our way the temperature continued to grow. Eastern Washington is HOT! We arrived at about 5pm set up our tent - which is Jen's parents old tent from like 1910. It is little, brown, beige, and has the old camping/campfire smell - but hey it works! After setting up, we packed our bags and made the walk to the amphitheatre. It takes about 30 minutes with all the crowds, security, and ticket checks, but once you get there you just set down your blanket, stake your spot, and get comfortable. Jen made pesto pasta with grilled veggies and chicken that was smashing. And we splurged and bought an enormous lemonade slurpy for dessert and to keep cool! Around 7pm the North Mississippi Allstars took the stage. They weren't my favorite, but were pretty cool, kind of a mix of styles from rock to funk and a little southern groove too! It was a great warm up to start the night! But we came to here Dave and Dave showed up! This is my 3rd time seeing the Dave Matthews Band and the second time at the Gorge and I must say it again. They know how to JAM!

Here is how the show went down...

Sunday - Aug 21 2005 Gorge Amphitheatre

Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel
Dream Girl
Hello Again
Lover Lay Down
Bartender
Louisiana Bayou
Grey Street
Out Of My Hands
Say Goodbye
Drive In Drive Out
Hunger For The Great Light
Dancing Nancies
Warehouse
Blackbird
Dreaming Tree [tease]
All Along The Watchtower
__________________

#40[Tease]
Crush
What You Are

Some of my favorites of the night were Drive in Drive out, Dream Girl, Hunger for the Great Light, Blackbird, and All Along the Watchtower. It was so beautiful out there. And the crowd was great minus the about 20,000,000 bowls of pot we second hand smoked or maybe that is why everything was so good : )

I BIG THANKS TO KMTT THE MOUNTAIN!!! For hooking us up with these tickets!

Seattle Summer Concert Scene!

So as stated in earlier posts I got the opportunity to go to Coldplay! It was wonderful. My love for the band and there music was lifted to an even higher level. My next concert event will occur on Sunday. We are going to the Gorge for the Dave Matthews Band concert! We won these tickets from a cd release party at Kells Irish Pub put on by KMTT the Mountain our favorite radio station! We can't wait! And then in a week or so BUMBERSHOOT! This is an event we look forward to every year. This year John Butler Trio, Marc Brussard, Maktub, Trey Anastasion, Citizen Pope, Digable Planets, Common, Ani Difranco, Talib Kweli, Hothouse Flowers, Dashboard Confessionals, and more! Oh how I love the summer concert scene in Seattle! Today I am off to Whidbey Island with my couples group to a friends cabin for some fun in the sun! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Fix You!

I LOVE THIS SONG!

"Fix You" by Coldplay

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

High up above or down below
when you too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what your worth

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears streaming down your face
I promise you will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face and

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Coldplay Concert!

So Jen and I were blessed to get to go see Coldplay in concert last night! And I have got to say that IT WAS AWESOME! I got some great pictures and some great videos. They ended the show with the song "Fix You" and Chris ended it with some special "Washington Lyrics" that were very cool. Once I figure out how to add videos I will share it with you. But for now here are some pictures for your imagination! Enjoy!