Gaga Mass

Tonight at Community of Travelers, we actually had a Gaga Mass. What's that? I'm glad you asked, dear reader. Pastor Megan rewrote the words to some of Lady Gaga's hit songs, such as "Paparazzi" and "Telephone". Not only were the words rewritten, the songs were made acoustic and performed with just a guitar, a piano, and some passionate singing. My favorite song was "Bad Romance", mainly because this is the one the congregation sang the best.



I think if we had more practice at the other ones, we would have rocked them hard too :)

This week's discussion was on strength and vulnerability. I had no idea, but apparently God didn't tell Jesus that Jesus is God's son until long after he told everybody else (Pastor Megan talks about it starting at 0:31). I'm sure we've all been there, where everybody knows something and you're the only one who hasn't heard it from the horse's mouth, but what an intense thing to have to hear second hand!



Back to the discussion- Pastor Megan pointed out that this was a moment of both incredible strength and vulnerability for Jesus, since he had this incredible interaction with God in front of others. Pastor Megan likened it to meeting a birth father for the first time.... in front of a bunch of your followers. Talk about vulnerable! One member of the congregation pointed out (and it really resonated with me) that Lady Gaga herself is both strong and vulnerable. She puts herself out there for the world to see, regardless of what others will think of her. Some make fun of her and try to tear her down, some idolize her and put her on a pedestal. But the thing is, she's true to herself. And that can be really hard to do in a world where everybody can watch your every move via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

If you need more Gaga, here's Pastor Megan's YouTube site.

Bob Dylan Church Service- Yep, You Read That Right

Bob Dylan Church Service. If somebody said this combination of words in a normal conversation you'd probably assume they were confused, but that is exactly what we had at Community of Travelers tonight. Pastor Megan rewrote the words to some of Dylan's best songs, such as "Times They Are a-Changing" and invited us to sing along. I'm a sucker for good music, so I really got a kick out of this service. I've posted a video of one of the songs below for your viewing pleasure.



At CoT, we don't have a sermon. Instead, we have an activity or discussion where we talk about the gospel and we get to ask any questions we want. Tonight, we had a discussion on the sort of life God wants us to live. The gospel says he wants us to be perfect, but Pastor Megan brought up some interesting points of what perfection actually means (perfection part starts at 3:23).



It was uplifting- the short version is that God wants us to be the best we can be, which is different from the strict "you should do everything God says in the Bible" message you expect to hear on a Sunday (along with a wagging finger from the pastor, of course). I don't know about you, but I have a habit of setting unrealistic expectations on myself. The takeaway from tonight was that you don't have to be perfect. In fact, nobody's perfect. All you can do is your best, whatever that means for you. Whatever happens, whatever mistakes occur along the way, it's part of the journey. You're doing a-ok with whatever you've got going on.

If you want to read more, here's Pastor Megan's post about the service.