[ sing along if you believe in freedom! ]

A few early-morning thoughts. Not really connected in any special way. :)

The final evening in Austin our group had a talent show, and a few guys from Oberlin College (in Northeast Ohio) performed a sort of talking/singing/dancing/piano and mandolin-playing piece about a sort of "despair-to-hope" experience with the college's dining hall service deemed the "Fourth Meal." David, who is a really cool guy heading off to seminary in Chicago this upcoming fall, told of the students' love for -- but also disappointment in -- the service, especially because they rationed only 3 mozarella sticks per student, and apparently, David wanted more. Oberlin College students are admitted hardcore and committed public protesters, so I guess he and some other students had a sit-in at the cafeteria, singing a chorus that I'm finding myself humming along to at work. Crazy. I may e-mail him to see if they have audio of this song so I can post it on this site. It is just so funny and definitely 'epic' in the sense that it had everyone's arms around each other while we repeated, "Sing along...if you believe in freedom!" I mean, it was about mozzarella sticks! But anyway, that's what the title of this blog entry is all about. Praise God for random, eclectic and talented guys from Oberlin College. Oh yeah, David was eventually allocated 6 mozzarella sticks.

***

Life is a process, and I need to embrace that, I think. I can't begin to understand the intricacies of this world or of people all around me without recognizing that this journey is undoubtedly a process to savor. A process in which to be stretched and grown and challenged. A road that will be bumpy in seeing a world that is not yet completely whole, but also a journey grounded and urged forward by the movement of God in this world.

Like the pastor we met during our emerging church workshop said, spiritual transformation among communities is so, so important. Jim definitely has a passion for that city and for living out communal faith in Austin.

It was good to visit an emerging church in Austin. Surfing their Web site has also been helpful. Their mission statement is really interesting -- I wish Jim had passed out the extended version to our group. But anyway, the emerging church is intriguing to me. Sometime soon I'm hoping to travel to Cleveland to check out another EC. I mean, you really have to wonder if this is how we'll 'do church' in the next century.

One thing that surprised me about the EC is that sacraments are highly regarded and practiced. More about that later, probably.

***

In one sermon this week, the pastor talked about a picture she found recently -- a photo of her father holding out one hand -- one hand firmly providing balance enough for the feet and weight of his two year-old daughter (the woman).

She was surprised, not necessarily because her father could hold her entire body with one hand, but because she had her arms lifted in the air and a huge grin on her face, seemingly proclaiming something like, "Look at Daddy and me, world!"

She made such a cool transition to the freedom we have in Christ -- secure in the the gospel and empowered to confidence in the power and strength of Jesus.

It sort of reminds me of Paul's proclamation in Romans 8, like a lot of things have been lately:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." (v. 15)

We can have that kind of relationship with God. Wow.

We can have an Abba-cry that yearns for and finds security and freedom in a resurrected Christ.

I'm pretty sure that most one year-olds wouldn't have had that much excitement in the support only one of their parent's hands, but you know, she painted a cool picture of what our freedom and joy in Christ can look like.

-Jessie