God is Faithful

Yesterday at our church we celebrated our 10 year anniversary and became an established church (instead of a church plant).   I took about 100 photos; this one made me laugh...

Jesus Calms the Storm

Performed at the MCC Outdoor Service on the Riverfront. Bridget is the sail in the front, Gayle tells the story, Cotter is Jesus in the boat, and Jordan & Lucas churn up some waves.

He said to His disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

They were terrified and asked each other, " Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey Him!"

Bubble Blowing Contest

Even though the bubble gum they used for this contest wasn't the greatest, they still had fun just because they were together at a picnic in the summer. Things like that are always true of the people at Monroe Community Church.

ArtPrize 2010

One of the things that makes Grand Rapids one of the Coolest Cities to live in is Artprize. This is the second year of Artprize and our church, Monroe Community Church, is once again a venue. Many of us spent the whole day this past Saturday helping the artists whose work we are showing set up. So exciting!

I took this from up in the lift.

Yesterday in church, Pastor Henry interviewed Brian Whitfield during church and talked with him about his Artprize piece, "Midnight Sunday Morning." He talked about John 17:6-18 where Jesus prayed for his disciples to be in the world, not of the world. Brian's piece, influence by Picasso's cubism, shows images of jazz musicians in a Saturday night club morphing into singers in church on Sunday morning. The line does not always seem clear between the two.

Incidentally, Brian is the graphic designer behind the coolest cities logo! Grand Rapids really is one of these - I wasn't making it up!

Over the next few weeks, I'll feature more of the work we are showing at MCC.

Good Friday

Photo by Julie Briggs

Last night, we went to church and went through the stations of the cross that some of the small groups in our church had set up. It was a good way to remember Jesus' sacrifice during this week before Easter. Our small group did the station where Jesus was condemned to death as found in John 19. We showed Jesus with the crown of thorns and a purple robe. Since the person viewing the station was in Pilate's shoes, we had a gavel and a bowl of water where they would stand. For the angry crowd who was shouting "Crucify" I took photos of angry faces of people at church and we printed them in B&W and put them all over the backdrop with mirrors interspersed throughout. It was sobering to think how it was our anger that condemned Him.