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Sunday Night Prayer Meetin'
Feb. 11th, 2008 08:41 amDearest congregation,
Many churches have a Sunday in September called Homecoming, when the congregation, who over the summer has scattered off to vacations and visits, returns "home" to the church.
We are not a church. We are, when we congregate, a congregation. And we are, when we congregate, a special group of people, who by our example to each other, our abiding love for each other, and by holding each other to account, inspire ourselves to be our best. We are, as we live our lives, each a beacon and an example for ourselves, each other, and anyone else who cares to check us out, of humans doing a great job at humaning.
My crowd in Los Angeles has been a bit scattered in the years I've been here. A group of amazing people, I have not often experienced our LA crowd as an amazing group of people in totality. Now there are new ones of you whom I'd like to being into community with me and with each other, and so I am creating an event for us all to encounter and engage each other.
It is time to come together and make the most of what we offer to ourselves and others when we be an amazing group of people. I hereby declare February 17th our Homecoming, and Sunday Night Prayer Meetin' our regularly scheduled opportunity to congregate.
At least once per month, Andrew Schwartz and I will hold a prayer meetin' at our apartment in West Hollywood. Anyone is welcome to come, and bring people you want to share with us, after 4PM. We'll get a sense of the rhythm of things and be able to declare a closing time within the first few meetin's. And knowing that this will take place with regularity will, in my hopes, create a grounding (It's my shindig, so of course it's grounding!) pole around which we can again gel as the magnificent sum-greater-than-its-parts that we are (How's that for mixed up physics metaphors?).
Sunday Night Prayer Meetin' is different than my community's events thus far: TNF or Monster Truck Pull or Kung Fu Night.
What is it?
1. It is a sober event. There's some need in this corner of the community for us to provide a more sober space in which to be together, and I am down with that. We do great things when we drink, we do great things when we don't. Let this be a space in which we don't drink or do drugs.
2. It is a non-sexual event. C'mon people, it's a prayer-meetin'. I'll let you know when I gather the satanists at my place too.
3. It is a collaborative event. There's a sermon each time, and we will tell it to each other. For the 17th, the topic is "If you don't love yourself, how can we love you?" Bring to us your thoughts, concerns, fears, needs, requests for support, and anything else you can think of on this subject. We can help each other to be even more self-loving, which just ups the ante in terms of the freakin' fantastic love we give to each other.
4. It's a potluck event. I'll make tea and probably cookies. Bring anything you want to make sure to have there, or just yourself.
5. I think there should be a fifth item in this list. Let's see . . . .
Ah yes! This is a choose-your-own-adventure event. You make it what you want it to be (except drunken and sexy). If you're bored or you want to experience this or that, well, go to it, darling! You're the author, with everyone else, of the story that we'll tell at any particular time.
So . . . bring anyone you'd like to share with us, bring some juice or chips or just a slice of sweet air, and come to 1000 North Ogden Dr. #6 90046 on Sunday, February 17th, after 4PM.
Let's get to that loving each other part!
Many churches have a Sunday in September called Homecoming, when the congregation, who over the summer has scattered off to vacations and visits, returns "home" to the church.
We are not a church. We are, when we congregate, a congregation. And we are, when we congregate, a special group of people, who by our example to each other, our abiding love for each other, and by holding each other to account, inspire ourselves to be our best. We are, as we live our lives, each a beacon and an example for ourselves, each other, and anyone else who cares to check us out, of humans doing a great job at humaning.
My crowd in Los Angeles has been a bit scattered in the years I've been here. A group of amazing people, I have not often experienced our LA crowd as an amazing group of people in totality. Now there are new ones of you whom I'd like to being into community with me and with each other, and so I am creating an event for us all to encounter and engage each other.
It is time to come together and make the most of what we offer to ourselves and others when we be an amazing group of people. I hereby declare February 17th our Homecoming, and Sunday Night Prayer Meetin' our regularly scheduled opportunity to congregate.
At least once per month, Andrew Schwartz and I will hold a prayer meetin' at our apartment in West Hollywood. Anyone is welcome to come, and bring people you want to share with us, after 4PM. We'll get a sense of the rhythm of things and be able to declare a closing time within the first few meetin's. And knowing that this will take place with regularity will, in my hopes, create a grounding (It's my shindig, so of course it's grounding!) pole around which we can again gel as the magnificent sum-greater-than-its-parts that we are (How's that for mixed up physics metaphors?).
Sunday Night Prayer Meetin' is different than my community's events thus far: TNF or Monster Truck Pull or Kung Fu Night.
What is it?
1. It is a sober event. There's some need in this corner of the community for us to provide a more sober space in which to be together, and I am down with that. We do great things when we drink, we do great things when we don't. Let this be a space in which we don't drink or do drugs.
2. It is a non-sexual event. C'mon people, it's a prayer-meetin'. I'll let you know when I gather the satanists at my place too.
3. It is a collaborative event. There's a sermon each time, and we will tell it to each other. For the 17th, the topic is "If you don't love yourself, how can we love you?" Bring to us your thoughts, concerns, fears, needs, requests for support, and anything else you can think of on this subject. We can help each other to be even more self-loving, which just ups the ante in terms of the freakin' fantastic love we give to each other.
4. It's a potluck event. I'll make tea and probably cookies. Bring anything you want to make sure to have there, or just yourself.
5. I think there should be a fifth item in this list. Let's see . . . .
Ah yes! This is a choose-your-own-adventure event. You make it what you want it to be (except drunken and sexy). If you're bored or you want to experience this or that, well, go to it, darling! You're the author, with everyone else, of the story that we'll tell at any particular time.
So . . . bring anyone you'd like to share with us, bring some juice or chips or just a slice of sweet air, and come to 1000 North Ogden Dr. #6 90046 on Sunday, February 17th, after 4PM.
Let's get to that loving each other part!
