The Church in DC

For anyone in the vicinity of Capitol Hill, Ben Doggett at Care Company has put together a very useful guide to resources for the homeless in that area. If you are homeless, meet with others who are, or are part of a church that has or would like to have a connection with people on the street, this is good stuff to have. The image is not the best, but you can read it just by printing these files. Or stop by Care Co and I'm sure they can provide you with a stack.

This weekend, as part of the Fairfax, VA city "Spotlight on the Arts" , Truro Church is hosting the First Annual Spring Arts Festival. One of the highlights of the event will be actor Bruce Kuhn's dramatic presentation tonight (Friday 4/30) at 8pm of "Tales of Tolstoy" . Suggested donations $15, $10 for children. Kuhn, like the more famous (as far as I know) Max Mclean (who has done Broadway performances of The Screwtape Letters and The Gospel of Mark with the Fellowship for the Performing Arts) is part of a movement urging the church to rediscover the sense of drama in Scripture. Kuhn also does dramatic performances of Luke and Acts, as well as The Cotton Patch Gospel. On Saturday, he gives a "Word by Heart" training. Word by Heart training is described on Kuhn's website thusly: "Using the tools of an actor and exegete, students imaginatively see what those eyewitnesses saw and say what they meant. If successful, what we ‘see’ will spa...

In my community group, we are interspersing discussions of spiritual disciplines with our Bible study on Exodus. One member, who led our discussion of worship as a discipline, is a Calvin College alumna. About a month ago, she alerted us to a workshop that Calvin’s “Worship Apprentices” were putting on during their spring break. The worship workshop just so happened to be at Washington Community Fellowship, my fiancée’s and my morning church, so the two of us and our Calvin friend, took out a weeknight to see what we could see. The Worship Apprentices are a team of ten students at Calvin who plan and lead worship services for the school, study the theology of worship, dedicate themselves to practice it, and teach others about it. They begin the school year with a two-week intensive training and work all year, with heavy involvement in the well-known Calvin Worship Symposium (where every participant proves that they love God through their willingness to travel to Grand Rapid...

The Post is hosting a meeting on its religion coverage next Tuesday. Even if you don't have anything in particular to tell the reporters, it's a good opportunity to hear about things going on in churches and communities across the city... The Washington Post is hosting a Town Hall Meeting on April 20, 6-8pm, on the coverage of religion and faith. Post staff writers and editors discuss the impact of religion on government, politics and social issues followed by a Q&A session. If you would like to attend this meeting in D.C. Public Library, 3935 Benning Rd., NE, email jonesdj@washpost.com.

Howard University School of Law Gospel Choir has a concert today. One of my home church members will be singing. Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 Time: 7:30pm - 9:00pm Location: Howard University School of Law Dunbarton Chapel Street: 2900 Van Ness Street, NW (Two blocks from the Van Ness/UDC Metro) Praise God and enjoy!

He is risen indeed! Happy Easter. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apo...