soupablog

"If I only had a ball of string, a rock and some tape" — Rev. MacGyver

I'm reposting two fun iPhone snapshots from Tim Snyder at the new Netzer Co-op digs at First English Lutheran in Austin. Jonny Baker might need to further repost for one of his Worship Tricks.

Tim writes: "…This is why you shouldn't worship in a box -- well not literally anyways.

PROBLEM: Worship is designed and set-up. With the final touches in place, we discovered a slight problem — no remote to control the Keynote slide show as we utilize rear projection while worshiping inside a "box" of transfiguration white sheet (our dwelling place for Jesus). How will we ever control the computer placed outside the box while worshipping inside the box?

Solution: Call in Rev. MacGyver (Tim and Ryan with their powers combined)

RESULT: A ball of string, a rock and tape are acquired. We throw the ball of string up and over the rafters of the church and dangle a rock guided by other strings suspended from the pew to create a pully mechanism. One end will be in the box — the other will suspend a rock above the space bar of the the computer outside the box.

Brilliant.

stations of the cross

two of my stations of the cross from last year.
i miss that harmony guitar.
photographed by reallivepreacher

Station 10: Jesus is Crucified (detail on right)

Station 14: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb (detail on right)

i'm available by commission to finish the other twelve.

lunchblog: child of the wind

Was thinking about incomplete projects today.
All our best-intentioned efforts.

Things I've said 'yes' to — because I'm wired to say 'yes' …
then set aside for many reasons.  play, pause. play, pause.

Not so much aborted because the thing didn't have merit,
but maybe more because something else had more merit.

Not so much ignored because of entropy,
but maybe more because I have too many plates spinning on sticks.

Not so much started because saying 'yes' was
modeled as a child in my artist-mom and fix-it-all-dad,
though that's in there somewhere.

Not so much started because my identity
is too enmeshed in seeking approval of others,
though the tendency to be a pleaser is in there as well.

And it reminded me of this stations of the cross project.
I only have two stations completed (the two above are
further along than when this shot was taken).

I allowed myself to give up the project for now because
it was already used in context with another group stations project.
And maybe because they weren't being
    executed the way I had envisioned.

Now they're sitting in a corner of an unused room gathering dust.
And I no longer have the drive to complete the project. for now.

Maybe

Maybe when the seasons turn cool and Ordinary Time gives way
to the rhythmic sway of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent
    maybe then I'll be inspired.

It of course brings up questions of the agency of the
Holy Spirit in the Christ-follower's life.
Are we to truly be children of the Wind?
Breeze-Flexible, Malleable, willing to follow the Wild Goose?
Yes, ¿no?

Then:

Is artistic inspiration extractable from spiritual in-spiration?
In-filling In-dwelling In-breathing?

And is this a cop-out?
    I just didn't feel inspired today. Or yesterday for that matter.

Or is it soul-care for the over-burdened, a lesson for the weary,
cardinal direction for the wayward dabbler?

and then there's the home-front:

the deck that's falling apart;
the soil beneath my dead lawn that's
starting to crack from dehydration;

a thousand points of shame to own and be
embarrassed about mostly when relatives come to visit.
lack of landscaping. dehydrated lawn. cracked
foundation. peeling paint. dilapidated deck.
do i own these failures more than others?
how do these not kill you all? nagging failures…
when it comes to labor, it's in much worse form
to pull the "i'm just not inspired" card.

there's always the "i'm tired" card.

i ramble.

(Post)Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 14

labyrinth site as of 5:55pm 041608, shot from the west

the hour growing late,
pregnant
with this project, with possibilities,
i lifted the front edge of my
tee-shirt to form a chalky cloth sling

i piled in hands full of
fist-sized limestone
three, nine, thirty-eight,
and i labored to stand,
grabbing my back,
looking and feeling
like a last-trimester mama -
and i laughed out loud.
this father of four births,
four umbilical incisions,
four afterbirths,
and one miscarriage,
waddling over to this
birthing site,
pacing in artistic anticipation,
wondering and worrying
about this strange,
forthcoming delivery

so many strong women
in my life,
many of them mothers,
and some of them
wing-waiting

i figured they'd all
laugh out loud
(perhaps my twin-bearing
mom the loudest)
to see me wrestle and
wrangle and huff

i came around
to where i'd left off

i couldn't gracefully
set my quarry upon the earth
so i squatted
and, valsalva,
let the stones

fall

a little lower than the angels

had the earth tonight been water
the concentric rippled labyrinth
might have serv'd witness enough

to the father son and holy ghost.

prs 041608

labyrinth site as of 8:20pm 041608, shot from the east

labyrinth, texas style

i couldn't help myself: i started forming the switchbacks.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 12

this kind of captures last sunday.
the music makes the first part seem less stultifying.

like i said earlier, the first draft was too small.
not unlike the stonehenge in this is spinal tap :)

hats off to the kids at church
and to abigail (10) our camera person

songs by little ol' me.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 11

labyrinth update
fun stuff; we had our first work day on Sunday.

i have more to post about the topic sometime soon.
i have some video footage abigail took that i need to edit down.

but bottom line: the labyrinth course was too small when executed.
36' will work in flat terazzo or level pavers, but not in rock-lined footpaths.
lesson learned.

thanks to everyone who came and helped on the first draft. we got a section of the circle finished — based on completing about 80 degrees out of 360 in one hour.

second, larger draft coming soon.

i almost don't have it in me to ask the kids to volunteer again.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Samuel inquires as to whether Jesse has another son

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 09 - projecting into the near future

lenten preparations can be like painting

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 07

John McJilton and I walked out to the labyrinth site tonight. Gordon and Lexie and John's kids came out a little later. We got the dog-tie in the ground around sunset. Took three of us taking turns turning the metal corkscrew into the limestone-infested ground. We measured the circumference with the line, which was rewarding for me.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 06

here is the end of the prayer path; the edge of the property.

this is the site for the labyrinth. near the altar and fire ring.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 05

 

Gordon shows the prayer walk, circa 2006.

This is the path that leads to the labyrinth site.

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 04

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 03

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 02

Lentenblog 2008 :: Labyrinth 01

Lentenblog 2008 :: Esperando a Samuel

[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] lentenblog moleskine 040707 Station XIII

[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] lentenblog moleskine 040607 Stations IX — XII

On Good Friday 2007 we had a candlelight vespers service that concluded with the congregation walking —candles in hand— down the prayer path which ended at this knee-high cairn of an altar where each dropped a stone onto the pile; all along the pathway gordon had nailed up stations of the cross. Click below to see a little gallery.

[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] lentenblog moleskine 040507 Stations VII & VIII

we ask why these mile markers are highlighted.

we ask what we could've done.

we ask where would we have been.

a strange fraternity.

[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] lentenblog moleskine 040407 Stations V & VI

where were the twelve on the road up to the ballad tree?

i like the shifty-eyed guys in the background.

[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] lentenblog moleskine 040307 Stations III & IV

still: a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest.

[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] lentenblog moleskine 040207 Stations I & II

Of course, Jesus also instituted foot-washing, but most chose not to adopt that as a recurring symbol of faith.

[Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007] lentenblog moleskine 040107 Palm Sunday

The Holy Week — the Via Crucis — begins with a red-carpet crowd, as Gordon's sermon pointed out this morning. Onlookers, well-wishers, gawkers, rubber-neckers, bit players and co-stars. But the donkey-colt-enthroned Christ asks, "Who can follow me?" Can I? Can you? Where will we be when the dust settles and the Nazarene carpenter is nail-pierced and hanging on a tree?

lentenblog moleskine 033107 Third Floor Con Prisa

yesterday's lentenblog post facto

lentenblog moleskine 033007 the importance of margins

i picked up a used copy of Godric, and am starting to read it again. i enjoyed it immensely the first time 'round. I suppose Buechner is in my top ten list of authors, easily.

Welcome RLP and Moleskinerie readers

Soupablog welcomes Moleskinerie readers; one of my favorite websites just featured the lentenblog sketches in its 'featured artist of the week' posting. I feel honored, thanks Armand and Kikkerland.

And as I mentioned before, welcome to Real Live Preacher readers as well. What a rewarding collaboration — I hope the lentenblog is only the first of many artists Gordon features on his RLP gallery; I can't wait to see who he gets next :) (no pressure, g)

Have a blessed Holy Week. Peace. - paul

To read my narrative for the Moleskinerie entry, click here.

click here to visit the lentenblog microgallery at RLP

lentenblog moleskine 032907 blue rodeo: blessed are the peacemakers

lentenblog moleskine 032807 when abbots go bad

So they have this little café & bakery on Bainbridge Island, the Blackbird, that made these little hand-shaped cookies cookies made in the shape of a hand. After i did the hand-construct sketch on the left margin, i was reminded of said cookies. Which caused me to hum 'Blackbird' in my head while i was tracing the labyrinth. (The Beatles' version was stuck in my head, not Over The Rhine's) now the birdcage on the right makes more sense, eh? then i imagined this labyrinth black market where street-corner preachers gone bad would open their trenchcoats to reveal an assortment of polaroids showing 7-, 9-, and 11-circuit labyrinths for sale, cheap. Brooklyn Bridge cheap.

Here's to you, sidewalk preachers, cookie cutters, cactus-burners, lightpole leaners, labyrinthine dreamers.

Let the day begin.

lentenblog moleskine 032707 God's living room

what if our universe was simply a calderesque plaything in the living room of God

lentenblog moleskine 032607 graven

thanks for stopping by, especially new visitors to soupablog via real live preacher's post today. these lentenblog sketches will continue through easter, possibly beyond, and will be an official part of the via crucis 2007: holy week & easter grid blog — this won't affect you, gentle soupablog reader, except that the lentenblog subject lines will have a grid blog moniker prepended to it. and i'll be linking to other gridbloggers' posts.

thanks to national public radio, i have "ankle injuries" by fujiya & miyagi stuck in my head.

lentenblog moleskine 032507 austin playground

i made it back up to susan and tom's after working a bit yesterday back in town. (sorry TJ, we'll have to get coffee some other night; i'm toast after driving to and from austin twice in one weekend). the kids were playing at this playground today with their cousins in from chicago, and we took photos of them and i drew this little sketch and painted it right there while amy and her brother were chatting at the picnic table.

Afternoon, Mr. Borthick. I believe a telegram arrived for you this morning.

lentenblog moleskine 032407 - St. Gregory & St. Godric

while driving up to austin with the kids, i started realizing i had way too much work to do, so amy graciously allowed me to return to san antonio. in the process, had to run a package to my friend, Greg, at a smoky cigar club, and stayed to hear my old friend and groomsman Chris Taylor (and the Bleeding Hearts Club Band) play a great set. Above is shown the table where St. Greg was holding court, and drinking a glass of Riesling. Chris is one of the most soulful white guys i know.

This photo was taken by my old friend Mercy Steel.

lentenblog moleskine 032307 warehouse

lentenblog note

i'll be in austin this weekend, but will be attempting to scan and post my blog entries from the road. if you don't hear from me until sunday, it's only because I didn't have access to a scanner. grace & peace. paul

lentenblog moleskine 032207 fountain pens and slowing down

had a good dinner with gordon at double dave's tonight and the whole fountain pen thing [above] came out of that conversation. gordon produced two great fountain pens out of his high-tech backpack and i pulled my staedtler pens out of my pencil case*, and we had a mutual ink admiration society thing going on. i've always admired fountain pens and ink wells and levenger and the whole return-to-letters vibe (my friend david galbreath, who turned me on to moleskine journals in the late 1990s, uses [or used] a fountain pen regularly), but fountain pens explode on me all the time.

so here's to david and gordon and all my other fountain pen friends: (are there other soupablog readers who swear by their nibs? Commentevous!)

*speaking of my pencil case, Chelsea, the thing in last night's sketch was supposed to be a chrome-plated hasp on my pencil box:

lentenblog moleskine 032107 iesu

click here for detail

lentenblog moleskine 032007 houston street

passionate about

I'll post today's lunchtime moleskine sketch tomorrow, because I left my sketchbook up at the studio tonight. oooopth.

i had two really good "bookends" to my day happen in my office today.

this morning, really early, the guys i meet with on tuesday morning (TGIMWoTM) met inside my office since it was drizzling. we talked passionately about passion. what our passions were. our wives' and friends' passions. what gets in the way of doing what we really want to do. or that which God wants us to do. chris helped me shed light on a personal discovery, personal change,  in which i am eschewing large paintings in favor of creating these smaller journal-sketches as my primary medium. even if it's (especially since it's) not as marketable or commodifiable.  i've noticed you guys out there, both in real life and in blog life, commenting on and interacting with the sketches in a way that you never, ever did with the huge (cumbersome, frustrating, expensive) paintings. chris understood this right away. i didn't. as a detached observer, he could see that my [acrylic] paintings, both in scale and content and context, were much more impersonal when contrasted to the smaller, hand-held (or flatbed scannable) journal sketches. i guess he noticed how they 'fit' me in a way the paintings never did. i didn't really 'get' that until this morning.

the evening, i was able to talk about graphic design as a career and a little about the print production process to a class of grad students from Incarnate Word University who came by the studios. my spring intern steven was there to assist and did a good job. talking to student groups is something i'm passionate about, but it's like reciting poetry or playing an acoustic gig at a restaurant*: all of those get-up-in-front-of-people things leave me very ambivalent. stage fright mixed with the compulsion to fight the stage fears and go on and get up there and share. the class went very well, i think, once i got over myself. i think the astute ones came away with something in the process as well.

i hope your lent is going well and that you are finding yourself a few steps closer to Christ and his cross.

*(which, by the way, jeff deverter and i did earlier this month, but i don't think i blogged about it)

lentenblog moleskine 031907b waitress station