intersections

Cobalt Season kicks off Hollywood concert series

Ryan Sharp of The Cobalt Season talks with members of the Hollywood Adventist Church (click to enlarge) Photo by Kathy Khoo.

We had a great time with The Cobalt Season on Thursday night. About 50 friends and strangers gathered in at the church for a wonderful concert. For more pictures check out the church's Picasa album. All photos are by Kathy Khoo.

We were also graced by two songs from Corrinne May, to open the night. Corrinne will be playing a full concert (the second in our series) on May 29. Stay tuned for more....

How do you relate to Communion?

Each week I write a short column in the church bulletin called, The Pastor's Journal. Here's what I wrote this week. What are your thoughts?

It's Communion again. I don't know about you but the increased frequency of this celebration is beginning to have its effect on me. Approximately six months ago I asked the congregation, just before the sermon, what you would think of having communion more regularly. To my surprise, applause spontaneously broke out.

The reason it surprised me is that I grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist Church that had an ambivalent relationship with the Communion Meal. It always seemed to me that the attendance at church went down significantly on Communion Sabbath. I never understood exactly why. I eventually concluded that it had something to do with the heavy guilt message that usually accompanied the ritual. Many Adventists I know confess that Communion means little to them. On the other hand, I have met other Christians that wouldn't know how to relate to their Christian experience apart from Communion. How do you relate to Communion?

I wonder how you're responding to the increased frequency of Communion? Some of you have approached me to say that you really appreciate it and that it adds a kind of stability to our worship life. I would welcome your input if you care to share. I'd love to hear from you.

In the meantime, I hope that as we talk today about the presence and absence of God in the teaching of John 14:15-21, that your participation at the Lord's Table today will mediate the presence of God to you in a very real and meaningful way.

Meeting with Councilmember Tom LaBonge

There were ten people in our group that visited with Councilmember Tom LaBonge today in his City Hall office - 8 members of the church, Joe Hari, our LA Voice organizer and Man One, our artist. It was a good meeting and we really enjoyed the conversation about the Crossroads @ HOLLYWOOD mural project. We showed he and his staff the draft sketch and Mr. LaBonge made some constructive comments and suggestions.

We also learned a little bit about the process we would have to go through to get our mural approved (not an easy process either). We now need to think about what our next steps will be. I was really proud of our group who has worked so hard on this project. Here's a soundbyte from Alburn Binkley's opening comments:

"The Crossroads Mural project is our latest "gift" that we wish to present to the community around us.  Sitting as a welcome sign to the City Council District 4, the Crossroads Mural will greet residents and visitors alike to a district whose commercial and social growth reflects our own."

Really involving the church in the community

For two years the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church has been working alongside an amazing community organization called LA Voice. LA Voice is one local affiliate of the PICO National Network.

PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities.
With more than 1,000 member institutions representing one million families in 150 cities and 17 states, PICO is one of the largest community-based efforts in the United States. Together we are lifting up a new vision for America that unites people across region, race, class, and religion
From The PICO Network about page.

Our affiliate works very hard on the issues that affect our members. In Hollywood we are particularly focused on the issues of homelessness and affordable housing but around the city our work includes youth violence, citizenship, public safety, health care and education. Our organization is comprised of 25 members congregations across the city. And we are growing. Recent additions to our organizing work includes the largest synagogue in the Western US - Stephen S. Wise Temple.

The video above was created by our church media team to help explain to our own members what LA Voice is and how this work is the work of the gospel in our community. LA Voice is now using this video to help explain their work to other congregations, foundations, and others in the community.

We have been very blessed, as a congregation, to participate in God's work in our community. I would encourage any Adventist congregation to get involved in this vital work by visiting the PICO website and see if there is an affiliate in your town or city.

Cross posted at the Spectrum Blog.

UPDATE: Mireya Pena, the Hollywood Church's leader of our community organizing work, has written a really good post about her perspective on this work. You can read it at our church's community blog - We Are Hollywood.

SONscreen fun

Click picture to enlarge

Well, SONscreen Film Festival turned out to be a great time. I got to meet people I've never met, reconnect with friends from around the country, and basically be inspired by an emerging crowd of young, talented filmmakers. We saw some really inspiring stuff along the way.

Of course, the highlight of the weekend for me was watching our worship team lead worship for the gathered group of festival-goers. I really enjoyed the opportunity to speak to the group and I think my message went over pretty well. I hope some of you that heard it might interact with it here. If you weren't at SONscreen, you can download the audio file below. I'd love to hear what you think.

Telling Our Stories (right click to "Save As") | More photos after the jump

See Stephen Eyer's post on Adventist Filmmaker.com

UPDATE: Here's another report by Adrian James from La Sierra University on the Spectrum Collegiate Blog.

2008 Songkran Festival in Hollywood this Sunday

This Sunday, April 13, is the 5th Annual Songkran Thai New Year Festival. The festivities - which include lots of amazing Thai food (of course), cultural music and dancing - start at 8:00 am with a 5K run/walk and last until approximately 7:00 pm. The stretch of Hollywood Boulevard from Western to Normandie is literally transformed into a Thai city street.

An additional feature this year is the First Los Angeles International Curry Festival. This, from the Thai CDC website:

The Thai New Year's Day Songkran Festival in Los Angeles is the largest and the most popular Thai celebration outside of Thailand.  Every year this festival will attract more than 30,000 people (and the number is still increasing!) from around the world to experience the colorful Thai traditions and also the tasty and authentic Thai food.  The participants are always amazed by the beautiful parade, the world largest Pad Thai noodle demonstration, Thai classical dances, music, and more!

Crossroads @ HOLLYWOOD mural update...and more

Yesterday we had our second community input workshop. It wasn't as well attended as the first one - maybe 15 people. Man One was on hand with the first draft of the design. We don't have images to show online just yet of the design, but I can tell you that it is impressive. This guy is one amazing artist.

We've added a new page to the Crossroads @ HOLLYWOOD blog. It's an FAQ written by the team that is leading this project. It's well worded and I think really points out the missional quality of what we're doing here. Be sure to check it out. And subscribe to the RSS feed for the Crossroads @ HOLLYWOOD blog for all the updates we post there.

In other related news...

LA vs. WAR
There is an art exhibit happening this week called LA vs. War. You can read more about it here. Man One and the Crewest Gallery will be taking part in this.

It's this Thursday, April 10 through Sunday, April 13 downtown at...

The Firehouse
710 S. Santa Fe Avenue
Los Angeles CA 90021

    All ages are welcome and admission is free. See also myspace.com/lavswar

The Arts in Los Angeles
On Thursday, April 17, Man One will be part of a conversation at the Getty Center entitled "The Arts in Los Angeles, 1997-2007", moderated by Patt Morrison of the LA Times and KPCC. This event is also free but reservations are required (click here). Parking is something like $7.

I'm speaking at the SONscreen Film Festival

 

A week from today starts the annual SONscreen Film Festival at the Adventist Media Center in Simi Valley, California. This is festival bring Adventist Filmmakers together from all over the country and I would assume, from around the world.

My church and I are quite involved this year. Our worship team has been asked to lead the Sabbath morning worship and they asked me to give the message. If you're in the area you are invited to join in the worship service from approximately 10:00 am to Noon (all Sabbath AM activities are free and open to the public).

At least one of our members has an entry in the juried show and an entry in the pro show. There may be others of our members with entries as well.

It's an honor to be speaking on Sabbath. I hope I'll see some of you there.

Announcing and Enacting Peace

I have an article in the recent Special Issue of the Adventist Review called Beatitudes Project 2. This is the second time the Review has done this special project. I've been privileged to be involved both times. This issue is composed of theological reflection, poetry and narrative. Two of my good friends, Tompaul Wheeler and Nathan Brown both have articles in the same issue.

My piece is on the beatitude "blessed are the peacemakers" and is entitled "Announcing and Enacting Peace." If you are a subscriber to the Review you probably already have this issue. If you have an online subscription to the Review you can access my article here and the whole issue here.

If you have none of the above, you can download a PDF of my article by clicking here.

Tick-Tock

This is a music video preview from the forthcoming CD/DVD release by Cobalt Season. As I mentioned below, Cobalt Season will be performing at the Hollywood Adventist Church on Thursday, April 24. Click here for concert details.