soft opening

A new coffee shop very recently opened in the strip center just to the south of the church. I'm encouraged by the spirit that would lead a person to open her own coffee shop equidistant from two reasonably convenient outposts of Starbuck's. Because of my bizarre Lent and Holy Week schedule, I've only made it there once, but I plan to be a regular customer. My first coffee wasn't perfect, but that's OK. They are getting their act together, not planning their grand opening until May. By then they should get the bugs out. Ooops, let's hope that is not literal, like the pink stuff at their corporate competitor.

So this is my own soft opening. As someone who has written somewhat easily if not always well since childhood -- I remember beginning my first novel at age eight -- I'm surprised at how daunting this project is. With all the drivel that floats around the ether on blogs -- and let me add that there is also a stunning amount of excellence in the blogosphere --  it can't be the worst or the most embarrassing. But there is something intimidating in the thought that once something is posted, there it is for all the world to see. So, here goes my toe in the water. There will undoubtedly be some tinkering going on as I learn what I am doing.

Why now? Well, there are several reasons.

1. Our church is having a capital campaign. This is what inspired me to get with the project. But I hope it will be much more than about the capital campaign. A capital campaign is a major fund raising effort in this case to build a playground for our children and future children, to retire debt, and to endow a fund to take care of present and future repairs of our facilities.  We are hoping to inspire people to pledge toward this project to get rid of the burdens of debt and deferred maintenance that typically hold a parish back from walking forward into the dreams God has for us. And the playground is to bless the witness of our children, whose joyful play is a much better example of God's rejoicing in all creation than our most earnest adult work. I want to tell the stories that will inspire all of us.

2. During the Great Fifty Days of Easter I want to explore the Acts of the Apostles, the story of the beginnings of our church as the apostles, empowered by the Holy Spirit, lived into their ordination by Jesus to be Christ to the world. It is a great adventure story peopled by colorful characters, and as part of our "We Love to Tell the Story" project, I want all our people to know this story and dare to live into it.

3. I want to hold up the commandment to celebrate the Sabbath. I do pretty darned well with the other nine commandments but violate this one on a regular basis. God commands us to rest and play and rejoice in God's creation with fully 1/7 of our time. I'm working on it, though so far I am not able to take it in one 24 hour chunk. But I want to explore sabbath time and to be held accountable for it. If I go too long without posting to this subject, you can call me on it. And I want to celebrate play, which I also do not do all that well. That's why there are a couple of silly components to this. I love to cook and play with food and give others delight with it, so that's why there is a chicken category. It does seem like it's mostly chicken. And I love to read, so I'll subject you to what is delighting me (or not) in the literary world.

That is probably more than enough for my soft opening. I remember reading a piece by Amy Tan in which she said, "I write to find out what I think." Maybe that is reason enough. Or maybe I write to find out what I treasure.