The Art and Sound of Bridge Worship

The little rowdy church my family calls home is somewhat notorious for our loud, gut-wrenching honest songs. I have seen many, many people pass through on a Sunday who have come to see us as if we are a circus sideshow. It doesn't bother me, nor anyone else at The Bridge. We welcome anyone who comes to join us, whether for one curious Sunday or whatever.

Having said that, I am sometimes conscious of how we must look and sound to the traveling-thru tourist. We are in danger of appearing as a spectacle, as an indulgent group of angsty, chaotic souls who holler out our pain to the Almighty for the sake of drama and adrenalin. I don't blame anyone who makes that conclusion based on one cursory drive-by of a Bridge service on Sunday morning.

Enter videographer Craig Spinks. Craig and his wife Sarah came through Portland a few months ago. They are doing a tour of the US, filming people along the way about all things faith and spirit. He interviewed Todd and Angie Fadel, the creative force behind the roar of Bridge worship. I think Craig captured the spirit of The Bridge music sound with his interview and filmed glimpses of how we are whether anyone is looking or not.


I’ve visited The Bridge a handful of times the past 5 or 6 years and each time I’ve been surprised by how my soul responds to the music. The lyrics resonate with me. The unpolished arrangements invite me in, imperfections and all. The volume is cranked to 11 and I feel at home. Todd and Angie’s style of worship is certainly not for everyone, but that’s just the thing…their style of worship works for the community they pastor, not the other way around - Craig Spinks of Recycle Your Faith


{Click the link on to see Craig's video snapshot with Todd and Angie and of a Bridge Sunday service. (Keep an eye out for the bass player. That's my Jerry!)}


I loved his interview with the Fadel's, albeit I think it was way too short! I know Craig likes to keep his videos to soundbites for the Soundbite Generation. If the bit he provides teases your appetite for me, there are other interviews, print and video, floating around the web. There is for sure a kind of pioneering vibe on Angie and Todd that has very much shaped The Bridge. This can be credited to the founding pastors of The Bridge, Ken and Deborah Loyd, both of whom helped create and lead The Bridge for about a decade before moving on. Our rambunctious fellowship is currently pastored by Angie, Geoff Neill and Donna Van Horn wil be ordained in February.

Yesterday's Beauty: Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...

A new cyber friend of mine from the digital way station known as Communitas Collective wrote this recently on his blog in regard to the simmering down of bloggy rants and essays concerning the mass disenchantment with all-things-church:

...within the past year and a half or so, the blog posts have become fewer, and the comments are less frequent, too. There's still activity, but it is not quite as furious. Some of the most prolific bloggers started "taking breaks" or even "saying goodbye", because they wanted to focus more on real-life stuff. And even the more dedicated bloggers among us admitted that it is sometimes more difficult to come up with something meaningful to write. As we pondered these things in our conversation, someone summed it up: "Maybe people are getting tired of just talking about this.    - from Losing My Religion

I have the noticed the same thing in the blog circles I run in and most notably in my own writing. "I'm getting tired of writing about it."

Hot Creativity Streak

I somehow caught the art bug about four years ago. Specifically, the craft of collage. Collage is simply a jumble of images made from paper or other media and put together to create a new image. It is a whole of many parts.


Doing collage provides me several kinds of outlets.  Firstly, it's a wonderful creative outlet. I can turn loose my inner artist, who is a messy six-year old with glue in her hair and paint on her nose, and let her lead my uptight adult self into the open meadows of creativity. Total fun.


Collage art also provides me a space of time to center down and meditate. Art and prayer are close friends who have known one another for a long time. I'm only just now realizing that.


Here is a preview of some of the collage work I've been doing this past month. When I've reached ten pieces, I'll be setting up shop on Etsy.  And if you don't know about Etsy, well then, it's one of the coolest most creative sites on the net. If you like handmade, affordable art, check them out!

Preventing Child Trafficking : The Story of One Abolitionist

"I didn't plan to do this, but everyone said, 'You need to build a school!'" said my friend Joanie to the group of women gathered in my living room.

"And so I started a school.

Joanie is a career missionary who has lived in southeast Asia nearly all her adult life. I first met Joanie when we were both involved with Youth With a Mission in Hong Kong back in the late 80's to early 90's. We were Christian volunteer workers with YWAM's Vietnamese refugee services. I eventually left HK to return to the States; Joanie moved to Viet Nam where she lived for over a decade. In that time she was focused on helping train national Christians in the task of teaching children about Jesus. She also planted churches. Seriously.

How God Still Messes up My Religion

A couple of weeks ago I asked my readers for input about whether or not it was time to change the name of this blog. I was surprised with the large response, from comments on this blog, at Facebook (where all of my posts also appear) as well as the numerous opinions you sent me by email. To each person who took the time and effort to chime in, I thank you! Now, drumroll please as I announce my decision...

The Abolition of Selling Kids

January 2010 is National Slavery & Human Trafficking Awareness Month

President Obama has just begun a month-plus of awareness events on human trafficking with a proclamation declaring January 2010 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. All of these events will culminate in the annual celebration of National Freedom Day on February 1st. Likewise many state and city governments, along with civil society, are taking time to acknowledge and focus on human trafficking as we begin the new decade.

(from Not For Sale, an organization devoted to the abolition of global slavery)

Life is Now

Much of my adulthood has been a state of continual anticipation for the real stuff to kick into gear out there somewhere in the elusive future. I'll truly reach the apex of who I am Out There somewhere in the inaccessible Tomorrowland. It has been an exercise mostly of futility, waiting for the flesh of today and the phantom of tomorrow to intersect.

An Ordinary Man : Jim, the Sewing Machine Repairman

"I've been doing this for forty years," said the repairman. "Portland is the number one city in the world for household sewing machines. No where else per capita are more machines sold." He paused as if for dramatic effect, his wiry frame casually postured with the not-in-a-hurry so familiar in small town establishments. But this was not a small town sewing machine repair shop; this was Portland, crowded eastside Portland where traffic snarls easily and rushed shopkeepers get grumpy with impatient customers. But not this man, and not this customer. Neither one of us were in a hurry and so the stories flowed as I let one man retell his life's work as the carcass of my dying machine laid between us.

"I suppose it's because of the weather," he continued. "We have so much rain. What are people going to do? They're gonna sew," he said, "that's what they're gonna do."

Meet Jim. A 64-year old sewing machine specialist who has been in the sewing machine business for just about his entire adult life.

When Atheists Pray

PostSecret is a an online art project that has evolved into one of the most beloved sites in the entire English-speaking internet universe. Participants created homemade postcards and submit a secret about their life. The founder of Post Secret, Frank Warren, posts new secrets at his site every Sunday. And, with the phenomenal resonance of his collaborative cyber art project, he has managed to publish several books showcasing some of the collection.

This is the postcard that caught my eye today.

Whenever I hear about an atheist or agnostic admitting they pray {at times} I become inspired. Just as there exists herds of Christian beliefists who insist that God is found there way and there way only {Christocentric} - and it is this kind of blind insistence that creates an arrogant swagger in the public forums of debate and inquiry -  there most certainly exists tribes of closed-minded disbelievers who are equally hard-nosed with their ideology that superstitious belief in God is a bad idea. The notion that there is a Higher Being who created all things and knows who you are is as ludicrous to consider as the idea of a Flying Spaghetti Monster.

And so, when a person who has anchored themselves with a godless worldview takes a posture of prayer when sorrow overwhelms them, this to me is a vivid portrait of that under-rated human attribute that does not get enough press time:  Humility.
For me, there are times when I am overtaken with rationalism and science that challenges me to the possibility that though my faith has shaped me into the woman I am today, what if it's a fairytale? What if the stories of Jesus are overinflated, mythical gossip that was skillfully manipulated by those in power to serve the greater good?  {for humans apparently do need to believe in something!}

When I allow myself to step into those shadows of doubt, I can run and defend myself with rigid zeal, or I can confront it and allow my roots of faith be tested. Let the forces of anti-theism and agnosticism attempt to uproot my worldview from the ground of my soul. Is this a fancy way of defending  being wishy-washy?  Or is it a humble response to the uncertainty of the Great Beyond?

I don't know. But when I see an atheist pray, I'm emboldened to look into the face of doubt and let myself not pray. This is a different kind of faith, a prayerless prayer that God, who cannot be measured nor empirically proved, is not skittish about the ambiguity of people of faith like me.