Wow I am really behind in blogging here.... a quick run-down of updates - in February we had a great weekend road-trip to Virginia Beach to spend time with our good friends Oscar and Anna Richardson at the Chesapeake Vineyard, play two services in one day and spend a few hours at the beach! Also in February we led worship at Bon Air Baptist Church and Third Presbyterian Church here in Richmond, and we played at the coffee house at Centenary United Methodist Church. The rest of February and most of March were spent getting ready to go in the studio to record our fourth full-length album - which we are right now in the middle of! In the meantime Kim and I led worship for the Trinity Assembly of God's women's retreat in Williamsburg, and we just played on the stage at Sycamore Rouge this past Friday. Oh, and of course we are preparing for the annual Rock 4 Life benefit concert. So, that is why I have not been blogging much.... but I am going to try and keep up better!

Grace & peace,

Jeanine

We’re leading worship at a weekend retreat at Richmond Hill starting today, and through a friend’s blog I found a wonderful reflection on the Lord’s Prayer out of a book by Roland Rollheiser:

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father … who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn, and those who, by victim of circumstances, bear the heat of the day.

Who art in heaven … where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last arid the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of being will be well.

Hallowed be thy name … may we always acknowledge your holiness, respecting your ways and not our ways, your standards and not our standards. May the reverence we give your name pull us out of the selfishness that prevents us from seeing the pain of our neighbor.

Your kingdom come … help us to create a world where, beyond our own needs and hurts, we will do justice, love tenderly, and walk humbly with you and each other.

Your will be done … open our freedom to let you in so that the complete mutuality that characterizes your life might flow through our veins and thus the life that we help generate may radiate your equal love for all and your special love for the poor.

On earth as in heaven … may the work of our hands, the temples and structures we build in this world, reflect the temple and the structure of your glory so that the joy, graciousness, tenderness, and justice of heaven will show forth within all of our structures on earth.

Give … life and love to us and help us to see always everything as gift. Help us to know that nothing comes to us by right arid that we must give because we have been given to. Help us realize that we must give to the poor, not because they need it, but ‘because our own health depends upon our giving to them.

Us … the truly plural us. Give not just to our own but to everyone, including those who are very different from the narrow us. Give your gifts to all of us equally.

This day … not tomorrow. Do not let us push things off into some indefinite future so that we can continue to live justified lives in the face of injustice because we can make good excuses for our inactivity.

Our daily bread … so that each person in the world may have enough food, enough clean water, enough clean air, adequate health care, and sufficient access to education so as to have the sustenance for a healthy life. Teach us to give from our sustenance and not just from our surplus. And forgive us our trespasses … forgive us our blindness toward our neighbor, our own self pre-occupation, our racism, our sexism, and our incurable propensity to worry only about ourselves and our own. Forgive us our capacity to watch the evening news and do nothing about it.

As we forgive those who trespass against us .. .help us to forgive those who victimize us. Help us to mellow out in spirit, to not grow bitter with age, to forgive the imperfect parents and systems that wounded, cursed and ignored us.

And do not put us to the test … do not judge us only by whether we have fed the hungry, given clothing to the naked, visited the sick, or tried to mend the systems that victimized the poor. Spare us this test for none of us can stand before your Gospel scrutiny. Give us, instead, more days to mend our ways, our selfishness, and our systems.

But deliver us from evil … that is, from the blindness that lets us continue to participate in anonymous systems within which we need not see who gets less as we get more.

Yesterday we played at one of our favorite venues, The Positive Vibe Cafe. For those of you not familiar with is, the Positive Vibe Cafe is a restaurant here in Richmond that trains people with disabilities for work in the restaurant world. Their food is amazing, as is the atmosphere, the staff, the service - the entire package. We play there several times a year, and yesterday we played at their fourth anniversary celebration - an all-day shindig with no fewer than nine bands taking turns throughout the day. Besides the fact that it was a wonderful celebration, with great crowds throughout the day and as always fantastic food, what I loved most was seeing so many people show up, be there, and be a part of this amazing initiative. All bands that played play there on a semi-regular basis as well, donating their time, and it felt like coming home and celebrating with family and friends. Every once in a while, things just….work…. and this was one of those times.

When we played at Short Pump Town Center a few weeks ago I realized we really have a band full of troopers.... I mean, I don't know many bands, and especially string players in bands, that would play a two-hour show outdoors in the heart of winter when it's close to freezing. Our own Chris Johnston and Jonathan Warren, however, did just that, and sounded great to boot. Below are some pictures from the Short Pump Christmas show!

This weekend we played three concerts in three days - and they were all different enough to warrant their own blog entry. So here we go: Friday December 12 - Hospital Hospitality House, a fantastic place next to MCV Hospital downtown where families of patients and patients on waiting lists for transplants can stay. It's a wonderful place, but also can be a very lonely place around the holidays. We try to go every year, take the entire band, and give a Christmas concert for the guests - and bring dinner. It's always a wonderful evening, but also somewhat sobering - and this year was no exception. Several Offering friends came along to help cook dinner, bring home-baked desserts, and just help out. A fellow worship leader and friend, Christy Short, came with her twin girls and besides bringing some yummy desserts and sodas they also took pictures (a few of which you will see below), video, and Christy joined us for a verse on Silent Night! Two of the sobering aspects: I spoke with a gentleman who is trying to get on the list for a transplant liver. He's a Vietnam vet, has suffered from PTSD and a long list of other ailments, but the most beautiful thing was to see the love between him and his wife of 32 years. Secondly, Pacita, one of our violinists (who actually played bass that night) was in a extremely serious car accident in September and almost did not survive. Her son stayed at HHH while she was fighting for her life at MCV. Pacita is still recovering, but she is making tremendous progress and shared with the residents at HHH how much it meant to her to be able to play there. Needless to say, we as a band, and as her friends, are grateful with her!


Pacita sharing at HHH

This coming Saturday we are playing our last outdoors Christmas show of the season - with a forecast of sun (YAY) and cold (low 40's for a high) - at Short Pump Town Center. Low 40's is not necessarily that cold when you are walking or moving around, but it can get fairly chilly-feeling when you are singing and playing music! We're really looking forward to it, though, because it always is such a fun concert: a beautiful outdoor shopping mall with a huge Christmas tree that we actually face while we play, the middle of the Christmas season and everyone is looking forward to Christmas, and usually a great turn-out because it is a fun place to come hear live music. Oh, and did I mention there is a Starbucks right next to our stage....... :).... that definitely helps!

Comfort and Joy,

Jeanine

We just started all our Christmas shows for the season, and especially the coming week is, shall we say...... CRAZY???? Between December 6-14 we give no fewer than SIX shows in eight days :). Yesterday we played at the annual tree lighting at the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center. It started snowing halfway through the program, which was - next to Santa arriving on a fire truck - easily the most magical moment of the night! Today we play a concert for the troops at Fort Lee Military Base - several people have volunteered to bake cookies so we're bringing home-baked Christmas-goodies along to serve before and after the event. This coming Tuesday we're playing a last-minute gig at Spiritual Shots, Friday we're at the Hospital Hospitality House, Saturday December 13 we play at Short Pump Town Center, and Sunday December 14 we're at McGuire VA Hospital. And that is just this week....... This, to me, is Christmas..... sharing the gift of music, and the gift of God's love through that music. It's a lot of work and long days and nights - but there is no way I'd rather celebrate! I'll post updates, pics, and perhaps even some videos later tonight or tomorrow!

Comfort and joy,

Jeanine

We are already planning for next year's Rock 4 Life benefit concert - the students at Thomas Dale High School just picked the cause: World Hunger. And if you did not realize how huge an issue that is, check out this site. Hard to believe, and hitting hard.

Jeanine

We have a separate blog for Arts in the Alley, but it's becoming such a crucial part of who we are that I want to mention it here as well. The basic idea: "Take a downtown alley. You know, one of those that runs behind things and tends to collect weeds, and trash, and graffiti. Spend a day cleaning it up (removing weeds, and trash, and graffiti), and the next day throw an arts festival in the same alley, with live music, art on display, and mural painting. We did our first one this past August, cleaned up two downtown Richmond alleys, and painted no fewer than 26 murals in those alleys. Who “we” are? A group of Richmond artists – musicians, graphic designers, photographers, painters – and residents who want to make a small but tangible difference in this city. Some of us were born and raised here – some came from other parts of the country or even different countries. We live in the city, in the counties, north and south of the River. We all love Richmond and want to do our part to make it an even better place." We did our first two alleys - Walnut Alley and Whitlock Alley in Shockoe Bottom - in August, and we had more than 150 volunteers over the course of the weekend, cleaned two alleys, and painted 26 different murals.

Jeanine

a few pictures:

I am not a very prolific writer - I usually co-write, and enjoy that very much, but it kind of has to be the right time and place and environment. This past week I have been recuperating from eye surgery - nothing serious, but annoying at best and painful at worst. Plus, I look like I went five rounds with Muhammad Ali :). So, I have been hesitant to go out in public without big, prescription sunglasses. And that made me think - I feel self-conscious about my face bruising..... but on the inside of me, my soul, my heart - there's all kinds of bruises. Some self-inflicted by sin, some through others, life, experiences. What that all means? I have some ideas, No answers though. But I am hoping to start writing a song about it. I'll let you know.....

Jeanine

The past two weeks have been, let’s say, frustrating. One of the reasons you have not seen as many posts from me…. is that our internet (and our home phones), thanks to Comcast, has been MIA for the better part of two weeks. I have learned how to live at Starbucks, how to squeeze in 3 hours of work into 30 minutes of online-time, and I am frustrated! Never before have I realized how much I depend on internet access. And how frustrating it is to not have it.

Jeanine

A week from now, Offering will be spearheading the third annual Christmas in July marathon/food drive. Summers are always hard for Food Banks, but especially this year with the economic downturn and rising gas- and food prices. We’re playing two Christmas music concerts - one Friday July 25 before the Richmond Braves baseball game, the other a true marathon from 1-10 pm on Saturday July 26 at The Positive Vibe Cafe. Both places will be decorated to the hilt for Christmas, and we will be playing Christmas music. All day long. And encouraging people to bring non-perishable food items like peanut butter, canned tuna, canned vegetables, pasta, cereal, and pasta sauce. For $20 you can help a family that has a hard time feeding their children. If you live in or near Richmond, please do some grocery shopping and join us next week. If you don’t, consider making a donation to your local Food Bank.

Jeanine

Yesterday's blogger for the 40 day fast: Euphrony. This blog really hit home - it's about hospice care, and my dad died because of cancer last year. He was a "stranger in a strange land" - a Dutch citizen who would spend the winter months of his retirement in Florida. He came to his beloved Sunshine State - primarily because I, his youngest daughter who lives in Richmond VA, could come spend Christmas with him - one last time, and he died there in January of 2007. The wonderful people of Hope Hospice in Fort Myers FL made those last gut-wrenching weeks a little more livable, a little easier.

Jeanine

Today is my day in the 40 day fast and my team blogger is Jonathan. Click here to read his post. I am not a mom. Yesterday I turned 41, my husband and I have been married for ten years, and so far we have been unable to conceive. These past few months, though, we have made the decision to try and adopt a little girl, possibly from China. And even though I still do not know what it feels like to be a mom, I am starting to look at children in a different way. What if this were my child? What if this was happening to my child and I could not protect it? A true story: “Panida*, a 14-year-old girl from rural Northern Thailand, had just finished her 8th grade studies and hoped to spend her summer break earning some extra money. Panida thought that the potential earnings from a summer job could bring her family some stability. Her family needed the funds badly: Her father had died and her mother was stricken with AIDS. When a local man approached her offering a wellpaying job that would last four months, she accepted. However, the man’s intentions were never to give her a job: He instead took Panida through a border checkpoint into Malaysia, where he sold her to a local brothel owner. The brothel owner told Panida that he had paid an enormous sum for her, and that she must reimburse him by selling her body to the brothel’s many customers. She was told that she would have to service five to 10 customers a night and that if she failed to meet her quota or refused customers, she would be beaten and abused. Panida was locked in her new living quarters – a house crowded with other trafficking victims, secured by guards, barred windows and doors that locked from the outside. Terrified, Panida awaited her first rape.” What if this were my daughter? What if I could not protect her? My organization for today is the International Justice Mission (IJM), a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression. They advocate for victims when they are left without one: little girls sold into prostitution, widows whose homes get taken away, people sold into slavery to replay small debts. IJM was able to intervene in Panida’s tragedy. Here’s the rest of the story: “However, on the very night on which Panida was to be sold for the first time, Malaysian police, prompted to action by information provided through IJM undercover investigations, entered the brothel and released Panida and 94 other trafficking victims. An IJM caseworker contacted Panida’s mother in Thailand, who was overjoyed to hear that her daughter was safe. IJM paid the cost to reunite Panida and her mother and to sponsor Panida’s continuing education. Panida is now home again.” Today, I will be fasting and praying for children affected by injustice – war, slavery, oppression. For children like Panida, who could have been mine. For perhaps my daughter. I hope you will join me.

Jeanine