In a tradition that started with our Decade of Grace celebration in 2016, we've enjoyed giving out special awards during the past several Members’ Meetings. Any good award needs a creative name, so we've named them the Barnie Awards
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We, the Karis Church elders, grieve for the citizens of Charlottesville, Virginia. We are saddened by the tragic weekend they experienced there. We are saddened for our nation. We weep for, and with, our brothers and sisters of color. We long for the day when people of all nations will gather before the throne of the Lamb in worship.
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Recently I introduced myself to a pastor I hadn't yet had the privilege of meeting. I told him I was with Karis. He responded, "Oh, yeah - the 'In The City, For The City' folks!" That was deeply encouraging to me. Although we are in no way perfect, and we have so far we need to go, that slogan has been far more than words for us.
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Porterbrook Learning Fall 2017 Launch
Have you ever wanted to go deeper in your missional, theological, and doctrinal understanding and activity? Ever desired to attend seminary but couldn't find the time or money? Do you learn better through conversation more than the classroom? Porterbrook Learning may be right for you.
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At Karis, we regularly refer to the church as a family. From a social science perspective, the family social unit has the primal function of providing for its members. Just as parents bear the responsibility of meeting the needs of their children, the church has a weighty responsibility for her members. When we commit to becoming part of this rag-tag family of Karis, we are saying, “Your needs are my needs. My needs are your needs.” There is so much responsibility there. But, oh by grace, there is also comfort and security. This is the Church; the way God designed it to be.
Read MoreThis is the sixth post in our blog series by Karis Women on Galatians 5:22, check out the rest of the series here.
As the mammoth ship was sinking into the bone chilling North-Atlantic waters that dark and fateful night, distress rockets exploded into the sky. The sounds of pandemonium and sheer terror could be heard over the buckling, twisting steel. In the midst of chaos, a troupe of eight men began to play a serene, unearthly melody. Giving up their places in the lifeboats, these musicians played faithfully until their untimely end. The sweet, soft sounds could be heard in the distance; echoing on the cold, unforgiving waters.
The song that they were playing in those last hours no one knows for sure, but it has been rumored throughout the years that the song the musicians were playing was the song, “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” This last April the 12th, will mark 104 years since that inauspicious night, when the Titanic sank into the Atlantic, killing over one thousand passengers.
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To say that the relationship between the church and the arts is complicated ... well, that’s putting it mildly.
Hundreds of years ago, the church was where all the best art was made. Many of the great paintings, sculptures and musical masterpieces that have survived across the generations were created for use among God’s people.
All of that goodwill seems to have been spent. Art is something that’s received or rejected on a very personal level, so it can be hard to create art for or in the church. If we don’t like it, we don’t find it valuable.
It can seem like a luxury. We recognize that we have limited resources and investing time, energy or money in the arts seems like putting a stained-glass window on a lifeboat.
And when we do engage the arts, we often do it poorly. We make “cool” and “relevant” our guiding values, rather than “honest” or “nuanced” and end up creating cheap knock-offs of art and music that has already existed in secular culture for years.
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