Fasting from music
A few short weeks ago we had a fast from music. Our pastor was doing a message series on the business of religion: tithing, Sabbath, and fasting.
We were supposed to do this earlier in the winter, but a major snow storm caused us to cancel church that Sunday. Nobody was coming out of their houses that weekend.
What I liked
I kind of enjoyed not being up front that Sunday. It felt like it gave me a chance to connect with the people in the congregation. I’m still relatively new so it was nice to spend some time with people, especially when it was time to connect with each other.
We also had a special emphasis on the visual arts. One of our congregational members started our service by painting up on the stage. She had spent some time reading through the passage of “Anna at the temple” in Luke 2:26-40 as she prepared prior to coming on Sunday.
Many other people also had an opportunity to express their creative side by painting on our community canvas. And by that I mean this…people were able to express a visual image of something on their hearts, as praise or prayer, on the same canvas. We also had a prayer chain going with some vibrant colors.
It was good to see people express worship in another way as a community besides music.
What it revealed
During our pastor’s message he talked about what fasting would bring out in us. One of those things is the ugliness that lies deep within us.
For me, although I enjoyed taking some pictures of what was going on in the service and the gift of visual arts…I felt anxiety. Actually, I felt a lot of it.
You see, I’m only part-time at the church as the worship director, but I feel this huge sense of responsibility to be there every Sunday.
Maybe part of that stems from the difficulty I faced in high school when our church was being torn apart. Many of our leaders left, but I felt the obligation to stay.
Maybe part of that stems from the kinds of cultural expectations that are imposed on me from the Korean culture. There are a lot of responsibilities expected out of the older son. In my case, I’m the only son, so my mother responds me of what I’m expected to do fairly often.
But whatever the reason, I realized I needed to let God worked out this issue in my life. It’s probably the reason why I have a hard time resting or taking a break.
Lesson
The purpose of fasting is to set aside an intentional time in our lives to seek out God, gain clarity, and to prepare for God’s plan in our lives. But it can also reveal our addictions, our pain, and our desperate need for Jesus.
I want to encourage you to take a day or even a lunch hour to fast and seek God. I pray God will bless your time with His presence and refresh your soul.
Share your story and your life…
Sincerely,
Peter Park
Blogger/Worship Leader/Speaker
peterpark@redemptionboulevard.com
(800) 453-3284
© 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
Getting creative with Katie Holley – Part 5
Breakthrough year…
At the beginning of this year, I had a bit of a breakthrough with my journaling, and it resulted in me entering probably the most prolific creative period of my life so far.
I’ve completed three journals this year, and am on my way to finishing my fourth. In January, I committed to keeping one book to encompass my whole life [notes, meetings, schedule, journal, art, thoughts, prayers, confessions, angst, poetry, quotes - all of it].
Tools of the trade…
I carry my journal with me everywhere, and usually have a small bag of art supplies. I journal wherever I am, whenever I need to.
There are days that I go without doing anything in it, and there are days that I do four or five pages in a row. There are pages that are just blue ballpoint pen, notes from a meeting, notes about productions at church, to-do lists.
There are pages that are layers and layers of paint that I worked on over a period of days. There are pages that I think are beautiful that I like to share with the world on my lil’ blog, quiet + world + creative, then there are deeply personal pages that no one will ever see, and there are super ugly pages that I’m tempted to rip out!
But like I said, my goal is to capture my life in a book; ugly pages are a part of that some days!
© 2010, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
Getting creative with Katie Holley – Part 4
Journals…Art Journals…
My art journal is probably my biggest proponent of “process” in my life. I’ve kept journals on and off since high school, but about three years ago, started to get serious about keeping up with the process of documenting my life.
I quickly found that writing wasn’t my preferred way of capturing. Like I said before, God has gifted me with a unique view on the world, so a lot of times my take on life has less to do with words and more to do with mood, motion, movement and feeling.
The butterfly page is one of my most recent favorites that shows just that; to anyone else glancing at the page, its a pretty page full of butterflies, and the logo of a restaurant taped in.
In my world, though, that painting, the movement and colors of the butterflies, all represent different things that took place during an event at that particular restaurant.
I’ll always know that without having write “Dear Diary, Today …”, you know? Looking at those butterflies takes me back to a precise moment that I felt was important enough to document.
Anyone can art journal…
Art journaling is really just the act of putting a visual expression to your story. Supplies vary, depending on your style, on what you like to use. I love using acrylics, and don’t do a lot of collage; other people’s journals look a lot like scrapbooks.
If you’re stuck on how to start, try searching for ‘art journaling’ on Google or YouTube. There are a growing number of resources available.
I fully believe in the weight of the visual component in life, so I love that my life has already been well documented in the visual realm [and I'm only 24 - if I keep journaling at the pace I've been this year, I'll be able to fill 90 books by the time I'm 40] [which is insane].
© 2010, Peter Park. All rights reserved.