Patty13
September 29th, 2008, 12:36 PM
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By JAMES MCGINNIS
Bucks County Courier Times
If you thought sitting through Sunday services was painful, consider this:
Penny Quinn was at church Sunday, having a ball and chain etched onto skin.
“On a scale of one to ten, I'd have to give it an eight,” the Philadelphian said, trying not to scream or blaspheme. Not a good place for that here — in the Journey Church of Falls Township.
The Christian Missionary and Alliance Church and its young, new pastor, the Rev. Tim Hickman, held a “tattoo party,” though it hardly shocked the members of this unconventional congregation.
Visitors found church pews replaced with sofas, coffee tables, billiards and aromatic candles. They sipped coffee and tea. And no one asked for a donation.
The list of "music for meditation' included the Beatles' "Nowhere Man' and Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder's "Rise.'
And few preachers end a prayer service with the words: “Please feel free to hang out. We're going to put on football. I think we'll have a pool tournament.”
On Sunday, they talked Leviticus.
On Oct. 27, they'll talk Ridley Scott.
“Russell Crowe in Gladiator said "What we do in life echoes an eternity.' As Christ's followers, how does our view of this world in conjunction with eternity shape how we live?” asks a church bulletin.
Then, Nov. 10, comes Nietzsche's: “The real struggle is not with knowledge of the world beyond us, but the knowledge of that world within us.”
All of it is geared to welcoming a younger crowd, and of the 60 some in attendance Sunday most were under age 30.
Laurie Cook of Easton and her boyfriend, Kevin Emele of Phillipsburg, N.J., drove more than an hour to attend. She was getting a tattoo of star. He was not as daring.
“My reason for getting the tattoo was just for the creativity of it. I wanted to design it,” Cook said.
Emele was considering a tattoo in honor of his late grandfather. “I'd want to get something, maybe a cross and his name, honoring him,” he added.
With a tattoo of roses wrapped in a white pearl ribbon, Tracy Bennett of Middletown honored her grandmother. “I thought about this for many years,” she said of the design. “I'm following in my granny's footsteps as a cosmetician. I'm getting my license this month.”
Mel Myers of Levittown also designed her own tattoo — the image of a bright red seed giving way to a budding flower. “Creativity is what gives me a reason for living. It gives my life meaning,” she said.
Hickman, 29, said they hosted the tattoo party in order to send a message that everyone should be welcomed into church.
“Many people have been wronged by a church, made to feel like they don't belong or aren't accepted,” he said. He asked people to meditate on whether getting a tattoo was sinful. Leviticus states that “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor any print marks upon you.” But it also warns against trimming your hair and you can't “eat any meat with the blood still in it.”
“We at this church have a great respect for scripture,” he said. “If we truly believed this was wrong, we would never do it.”
Hickman called on those getting tattoos to share the meaning behind the mark. “Tattoos generally have a story and many of those stories are beautiful stories full of meaning. We want to hear those stories,” he said.
LINK (http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-09292008-1597987.html)
By JAMES MCGINNIS
Bucks County Courier Times
If you thought sitting through Sunday services was painful, consider this:
Penny Quinn was at church Sunday, having a ball and chain etched onto skin.
“On a scale of one to ten, I'd have to give it an eight,” the Philadelphian said, trying not to scream or blaspheme. Not a good place for that here — in the Journey Church of Falls Township.
The Christian Missionary and Alliance Church and its young, new pastor, the Rev. Tim Hickman, held a “tattoo party,” though it hardly shocked the members of this unconventional congregation.
Visitors found church pews replaced with sofas, coffee tables, billiards and aromatic candles. They sipped coffee and tea. And no one asked for a donation.
The list of "music for meditation' included the Beatles' "Nowhere Man' and Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder's "Rise.'
And few preachers end a prayer service with the words: “Please feel free to hang out. We're going to put on football. I think we'll have a pool tournament.”
On Sunday, they talked Leviticus.
On Oct. 27, they'll talk Ridley Scott.
“Russell Crowe in Gladiator said "What we do in life echoes an eternity.' As Christ's followers, how does our view of this world in conjunction with eternity shape how we live?” asks a church bulletin.
Then, Nov. 10, comes Nietzsche's: “The real struggle is not with knowledge of the world beyond us, but the knowledge of that world within us.”
All of it is geared to welcoming a younger crowd, and of the 60 some in attendance Sunday most were under age 30.
Laurie Cook of Easton and her boyfriend, Kevin Emele of Phillipsburg, N.J., drove more than an hour to attend. She was getting a tattoo of star. He was not as daring.
“My reason for getting the tattoo was just for the creativity of it. I wanted to design it,” Cook said.
Emele was considering a tattoo in honor of his late grandfather. “I'd want to get something, maybe a cross and his name, honoring him,” he added.
With a tattoo of roses wrapped in a white pearl ribbon, Tracy Bennett of Middletown honored her grandmother. “I thought about this for many years,” she said of the design. “I'm following in my granny's footsteps as a cosmetician. I'm getting my license this month.”
Mel Myers of Levittown also designed her own tattoo — the image of a bright red seed giving way to a budding flower. “Creativity is what gives me a reason for living. It gives my life meaning,” she said.
Hickman, 29, said they hosted the tattoo party in order to send a message that everyone should be welcomed into church.
“Many people have been wronged by a church, made to feel like they don't belong or aren't accepted,” he said. He asked people to meditate on whether getting a tattoo was sinful. Leviticus states that “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor any print marks upon you.” But it also warns against trimming your hair and you can't “eat any meat with the blood still in it.”
“We at this church have a great respect for scripture,” he said. “If we truly believed this was wrong, we would never do it.”
Hickman called on those getting tattoos to share the meaning behind the mark. “Tattoos generally have a story and many of those stories are beautiful stories full of meaning. We want to hear those stories,” he said.
LINK (http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-09292008-1597987.html)