Hey, Kandra and I just put up a bunch of pictures from our camping trip last August. During these dreary days of winter, I thought a few memories of a perfect weekend for camping would be just the thing we need!

Check out the pictures of our recent trip to the Moterių ir vaikų centras “Nendrė.” We basically passed out some food to the parents and gave gifts to all of the children. It was a great time and we had a blast doing it.

Tell me what you think of the gallery. I don’t know why the images are displayed in that 5-1-5-1 pattern. I will check on it though.

Also, I have ordered the podcasting module for the site so hopefully in about 3 weeks we will be podcasting in both Lithuanian and English. We will record them on separate channels so Lithuanian speakers don’t have to sit through the English and vice-versa.

Peace!

Kavinė „Pakeliui“

27 Balandis 2007 19:00 - 23:00

Raimondos Kirijanovienės koncertas

Raimonda atliks savo kūrybos dainas. Visiems patiks jos dainos ir tai su kokia dvasia ji jas atlieka. Koncertas prasidės 20.00 val. Tačiau jūsų laukiame jau nuo 19.00 valandos. Ateikite pailsėti, atsigerti puodelį kavos ir pasidžiaugti gera muzika. Koncertas nemokamas!

Raimonda will be playing and singing some of the songs she has written. Everyone will enjoy her songs and the spirit in which she sings them. The concert will start around 8:00, but feel free to come as early as seven and relax and enjoy a cup of coffee. The concert is free!

I would like to tell you about a special event we had at our church on Good Friday evening. We wanted people to experience in as personal and participative a way as possible, the suffering that Jesus went through on that great and terrible day.

We had two rooms. The first room was a contemplation and music room (see picture) where people viewed images of Jesus’ suffering, the poor and homeless, sang an occasional song, read Scriptures from the gospel accounts and other thought provoking texts as well, like poetry. They faded in and out. We kept them fast enough to keep their interest, but slow enough to allow them to contemplate. In the background was a guy playing an acoustic guitar quietly.

People were taken from this room to our main gathering room where we normally have church. This area had several stations which I will describe in detail below. We had the group stand around the table/station and the guide stood behind them and read from a prepared text. We basically followed Matthew’s account, but we inserted from Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 some verses at appropriate times. During the whole time in this main room we had a song playing: Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet by Jars of Clay. It is a very catchy and memorable tune.

Station One: Jesus was condemned. Here we read the account of Pilot’s caving in to the crowd and declaring he is innocent of this man’s blood. Each person washed their hands in slightly red water. There was a rope that bound Jesus’ hands perhaps, and a gavel representing the sentencing we all handed down.

Station Two: Jesus was scourged and mocked. There was a scarlet piece of cloth that the soldiers mocked him with. There were thorns there that each person was encouraged to touch, and pictures of a whip, as well as some branches to give it a more realistic feel.

Station Three: Jesus receives his cross and Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry it for him. There were rocks on this table that we asked people to carry which symbolized, not just the weight of the cross, but the weight of our sin.

Station Four: The crucifixion of Jesus. Here we basically had 3 areas.

1. The first was a table where we had three large nails and a candle representing that we rejected Jesus as the light of the world.

   

2. The second was an actual cross where we carried our rocks to. We used our rocks to pound a nail into the cross and then left our rocks there, symbolizing that we nailed Jesus to the cross but that we leave our sins there at the cross.
3. The third was a common work of symbolic art. Basically we dipped our hands in paint and put the paint on a piece of linen in the shape of the cross This symbolized that we all had a hand in Jesus death. This is eventually going to be a piece of art for our church.

Station Five: The death of Jesus. We went into a small room and read some verses of Scripture and tasted the wine vinegar that Jesus tasted and then turned off the lights as even the lights of heaven mourned the death of the Savior. We stood there in total darkness until it was too uncomfortable.

Station Six: The burial of Jesus. At this station we looked at a wrapped body lying on a table. We read the scriptures and were told to think about the death of Jesus and the suffering that he endured and then also to go home and wait.

Response: This table was for response, where people wrote in our journal, on papers that they left there, or took with them about their reaction to the event.

About 60+ people went through and everyone that we talked to had a most favorable reaction.

The follow-up on Sunday was that we had the strips of linen on the cross and I let them cut a piece of the linen cloth because, you know, Jesus doesn’t really need it anymore!

Thanks for praying for this event it went better than I had planned.

Blessings,

David

Bažnyčia “Kelyje” maloniai kviečia jus į didžiojo penktadienio renginį.

Asmeniškas prisilietimas prie Jėzaus kančios kelio

patirk tai…….apmąstyk…….pasikeisk

balandžio 6 d.
19:00 val.
Krivūlės 12A

Dar informacijos: www.kelyje.net

Kelyje is please to invite you to our Good Friday Gathering.

It will be a personal experience focused on Jesus’ suffering

Good Friday
April 6
7:00 p.m.
Krivūlės 12A

For more information: www.kelyje.net