Service Project: Community New Start

Saturday, May 2
10:20 am - 1:20 pm
H.S. & M.S. Students
(And Parents)

We will meet in the Church Office parking lot at 10:20 am (5900 Southwest Parkway, 78735), and we will then drive to the St. John neighborhood where we will be serving Community New Start by playing kickball and providing lunch for their students. It's a really good time to not only get to know students and parents at All Saints better, but to also get to know students of different ages and backgrounds from us.

Pick up will be back at the Church Office parking lot.

Please RSVP to Taylor by Friday, April 31.

For those who want to know more information regarding the swine flu epidemic, we are in contact with Community New Start and a task force of doctors that are looking into the East Austin area. We will have more definitive information by tomorrow afternoon.

UPDATE: We are good for tomorrow.

Chillin' & Grillin' Photos

Here are some photos from Sunday night's Chillin' & Grillin' Extravaganza.

Chillin' & Grillin' Party, Sunday, April 26

No, not that kind of grill.

As some of you know, we are having a large scale get together this Sunday. Here is some extra information that is copied from the evite:

5:45 - 8:00 pm
High School & Middle School FAMILIES & FRIENDS
Location: Horton's Home (3105 Point O' Woods, 78735)

"As Spring time ends (even though it really only lasts about 1 month in Texas), and Summer begins, we want to celebrate by getting together, eating, playing, and enjoying one another's company. So, we are having an "extravaganza" for our Middle School and High School students, their families, and their friends.

We will be grilling burgers, bratwursts, chicken breasts, and a few veggie patties. We will also be providing the drinks and some side items. However, if each family could bring one side item or dessert that would be greatly appreciated.

In addition to the food, we will have some different games, like corn hole, washers, bocce ball, etc. All of these ingredients come together to make this "extravaganza."

Please feel free to invite FRIENDS & FAMILY, and you are welcome to come and go as you please. But, mostly come."

Would You Rather...

...have everywhere you walk be like walking on a trampoline, or everywhere you swam be like swimming in pudding?

What's it going to be?

L'Abri England

As many of you know, one of All Saints' Pastors, Greg Grooms, spent many years working for a ministry called L'Abri. It is a wonderful ministry started by Francis Schaeffer, where "students," Christian and non-Christian alike, travel to Switzerland, England, etc. (wherever there is a L'Abri house) and study different aspects of the Christian faith.

One of my dear friends, a student from Davidson, had the privilege of attending L'Abri in England during the Fall of 2008. He is an incredible amateur film maker, and he spliced together a short film that captures the essence of what happens there.

I understand that only a few of you would be able to go to L'Abri anytime soon. So, this is not an effort to advertise it to you all (although if any of you were interested in attending, I would be more than happy to give you more information); I just wanted to continue to practice the idea of introducing our friends to our friends.

So, take a look at Jeff Tolly's video, and tell me what you think.

A Star Is Born

Check out Jack's debut on the streets of Paris.

Article - "The Mercy of God in a Broken World"

At All Saints, we are a group of people who, on the outside, seem to have everything put together. We dress well, smell good (at least I think we do), and, for the most part, are nice to people. Most people would call us privileged (and in many ways, that is absolutely true). With these "rose colored" views of ourselves, we can sometimes think that we are better than we actually are, and that we should have mercy on the "less fortunate" or "tougher" areas.

Jean Larroux, who is pictured above, wrote an article dealing with this very subject. He is a pastor of Lagniappe Church in Bay St. Louis, MS, an area that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. In his article, he argues that we need to take a good look at ourselves, so that we can understand who we are, and subsequently know how gracious God is to us.

Here is the article:

"I had always considered myself to be fairly handsome. I knew that I was being a bit generous to myself, but hey, it was me. There were moments when I knew that I could stand to lose a few pounds here and there. My jeans would feel a bit snug—I’d just figure the dryer shrunk them (keep in mind they were two years old). The notches on my belt kept moving out to cleaner, unused notches leaving the inner ones distressed and worn out like the collar of an old shirt. I was, as my friend Jeffrey Lancaster says, “body dismorphic”—I saw myself as thinner than I actually was. That self-misperception was about to change."

To read the rest of the article, click here.

What do you all think of this article? What would an accurate view of ourselves entail?

Lyrical Analysis - "Ten Dead Dogs"

I don't care much for a lot of Alternative Rock, but one of my favorite bands is Wild Sweet Orange. They are a new band that is gaining steam, partly because they have such enticing lyrics. One of their songs, I thought, would be good for discussion: "Ten Dead Dogs" from their album called We Have Cause To Be Uneasy. While the title may seem morbid, the song has nothing to do with dogs that are dying, but rather, it points to the way we interpret God's will and plan in our lives and in the lives of others.

Here are the lyrics:

"I saw ten dead dogs on the side of the road
driving late last night to your apartment
and I thought it was an omen
so I headed on back home and
walked in circles 'round my room
alone.

O my God, is this really what you want?
Would you tell us if it's not?
And could you rewrite the plot
and come and get us?
Yeah, come and get us.

Shivering cold, I woke up in water
and wrapped myself around the toilet seat.
I spoke in tongues and took all my clothes off.
The tops of my fingers
touched the tops of my toes

O my God, is this really what you want?
Would you tell us if it's not?
And could you rewrite the plot
and come and get us?
Cause we can't stop doing
what we think we want,
even though we know it's not.
This place is merely a subplot
to come and get us.

I've never felt this way before.
Am I running away from what
I've always been running towards.
Belief, believe in me, cause I don't know
if reason's ever gonna see why love
would come to die,
to leave.

O my God, is this really what you want?
Would you tell us if it's not?
And could you rewrite the plot
and come and get us?
Cause we can't stop doing
what we think we want,
even though we know it's not.
This place is merely a subplot
to come and get us.

I watched the sky turn from blue
to black to red and yellow too
before the purple dawn was filling up my room.
And for a brief moment,
I heard the whole earth groaning
like there was something
that it needed me to do"

What do you all think about this song?
What do you think it is trying to say?
What's right / wrong with the chief message of the song?

Also, here is a link to listen to the song.