CCC Gainesville | Blog
What is the meaning of the lamppost, why Journey to the Lamppost?
“When she was about seven, her best friend got lost one day. The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark. She was very frightened. Finally a policemen stopped to help her. He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, “You could let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here.”
And that is why I have always stayed so close to mine–because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home.”
Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies, Some Thoughts on Faith (pg 55)
We hope you are all enjoying your summer. While you are planning your summer vacations and road trips to the beach we wanted to give you some family music resources. I say family because most of this music can and is enjoyed by the whole family. Thanks to my husband I am well aware that there is some really bad sounding children’s music out there. Here you will find some child-friendly music, that even adults will enjoy.
You might recognize this wonderful music company already. Seeds was started when a worship minister was asked to write a few songs for his church’s VBS to help children memorize bible verses. The songs were catchy, well-crafted and came right from scripture. There are 7 total volumes and each is packed with new verses that will get everyone singing them all day long. You can also go to their website to get downloads for children for more resources to help children with each verse, including PDF memory cards.
http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net/kids-stuff/
Rain for Roots is one of the most beautiful children’s CD’s you will ever encounter. With female vocalists like; Sandra McCracken, Elle Holcomb, Flo Paris and Katie Bowser you can’t go wrong on this folk-sounding CD. It has the feel of a lullaby and is based on a Sally Lloyd-Jones baby bible, Hug-a-Bible.
The Spares, Glory and Grace
This album is one of our family favorites. You might feel as though you are in a worship service led by Allison Krauss. It is actually designed to follow a liturgical service order. There is a call to worship, confession and assurance. This album was born out of the following verses that shape its “service” order
Matthew 11:28-3: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [ESV]
Isaiah 6:5-7: And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” [ESV]
While this is not a children’s CD it is a gentle, beautiful worship album, including several songs we sing in our own worship services each Sunday. What is so wonderful is that it follows a traditional order of service through music, so it is comfortable and uplifting.
You can test it out here first http://thespares.bandcamp.com/album/glory-and-grace
This album was written with families in mind. Its not your normal cheesy kids music that sends music critics running the the other direction. Forever home is a delightful CD that focuses on God’s Big Story, “From Abraham to David and Paul”. Its full of biblical truths with a rhythm that will keep you going all day long.
Enjoy Your Summer Listening!
Thank you to the RUF students who joined some of our leaders for a work project at the church Saturday, June 14th, coordinated by Dan Doran. We were able to clean all of the windows in the church (inside and out), in addition to replacing some lights in the sanctuary using a scissor lift.
A special thank you to Comfort Temp for letting us borrow the lift!
A team of deacons and a pastoral intern also made progress on outfitting the building with WiFi. Thank you to everyone for your time and effort!
“The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is a great literary resource when teaching children to think critically. Its use of symbolism is profound, even for the ages of 8 and 9 year olds. In my teaching experience with it, I have used this particular text to not so much teach symbolism, but to teach children to visualize what they are reading. If you think about it, all letters, words, and sentences are just symbols we have given meaning to form certain sounds and ideas. My struggling students were particularly able to practice visualizing techniques with great success while reading this novel. I think it is because it is so descriptive with its characters, setting, and conflict, yet not overbearing so as to hinder the reader from grasping what the story is about. And there is the rub. By understanding the story, through visualization, my readers where not only able to comprehend what was going on, but enjoy what it is they were reading. Always when we arrive at the first meeting of Aslan in the book, I have my students draw what it is they “see” from the book in that scene. I am not so much worried about how well they draw, or how well they sketch that scene, but I am more interested in them explaining to me, in their own words, what it is they see. What sounds do they hear? What things they might smell? What is the temperature like outside at that moment? Its in these moments a teacher can informally assess 1) if the child has comprehended what they have read 2) They have practiced the skill of visualizing the text, and 3) They can have their thinking extended by asking “How” and “Why” questions in relation to the text.
In the end, it always makes for a great story to read out loud with my students. Their use of different voices for the different characters, as well as their facial expressions, serves as just another way to practice visualization, but also to just have fun reading a good book 🙂 ”
Make sure you turn up for the discussion at 9 AM on June 30.
This summer, we are reading book two of the seven-part series, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a wonderful read. Come join the discussion June 30th at 9am! If you haven’t started the book, you still have two weeks to join in on the church-wide summer “one read“, and it’s super cheap on Amazon ($0.01 used).
I could list several reasons why you should consider reading this book, and why we should value any book discussion, but I will propose one simple argument: Stories are indispensable to our understanding of creation, and we can grow as readers (and as story tellers) when we work together within a story’s context. So how could this high fantasy work help us grow as adults? Consider Lewis’ preface to Lucy:
I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather.
Reading literature takes time and a certain amount of attention that’s easily lost in our society’s pace. When we enter into a narrative, we are compelled to value the details – to retain small bits of information that convey larger themes and bear significance when threaded through the greater story. When I read, it’s generally shorter articles or essays based loosely around current events. Taking a step out of what’s current and diving into a timeless classic like this one can renew our ability to think creatively. Whether you read for pleasure, to satisfy a summer reading list, or not at all, take some time in the next two weeks to give The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a chance! There’s no reason to rush to finish before the 30th, but let the upcoming group discussion be a catalyst that pushes you into this story.
The thought of reading fantasy literature together might stretch you. I’ve thought to myself, aren’t these books for children? J.R.R. Tolkien, contemporary of C.S. Lewis and author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, among others, helped frame for me an appreciation of high fantasy in his essay On Fairy Stories:
It is true that in recent times fairy-stories have usually been written or “adapted” for children.
But so may music be, or verse, or novels, or history, or scientific manuals. It is a dangerous
process, even when it is necessary. It is indeed only saved from disaster by the fact that the arts
and sciences are not as a whole relegated to the nursery; the nursery and schoolroom are merely
given such tastes and glimpses of the adult thing as seem fit for them in adult opinion (often
much mistaken). Any one of these things would, if left altogether in the nursery, become gravely
impaired. So would a beautiful table, a good picture, or a useful machine (such as a microscope),
be defaced or broken, if it were left long unregarded in a schoolroom. Fairy-stories banished in
this way, cut off from a full adult art, would in the end be ruined; indeed in so far as they have
been so banished, they have been ruined.The value of fairy-stories is thus not, in my opinion, to be found by considering children in
particular. Collections of fairy-stories are, in fact, by nature attics and lumber-rooms, only by
temporary and local custom play-rooms. Their contents are disordered, and often battered, a
jumble of different dates, purposes, and tastes; but among them may occasionally be found a
thing of permanent virtue: an old work of art, not too much damaged, that only stupidity would
ever have stuffed away.
Shall we read it, then? Starting Sunday, June 16th, we’ve got two weeks to get started. I think you’ll find it a quick and enjoyable read. When we come together on Sunday, June 30th, at 9am (before corporate worship), Todd Best will lead us to explore the text through discussion. The adult education team will also have some news for us about what expect in the fall!
