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In the next week or so City Reformed will be moving its offices from Suite 204 at 160 N Craig St. to 3524 Blvd of the Allies.

This is a great move for our church.
We are excited about our new office. Let me give you some of the perks:
-2x the size of our existing office
-A sink (its the simple things that make life so nice)
-a big storage closet, as opposed to a big storage office….
-Much better parking, did I mention it’s free
-better class space
-A chance to make our office look a bit more presentable

Why does getting a new office matter?
Moving to this new space allows us to save money by hosting events in the office that otherwise would have either not taken place, or would have cost us rental money. In our current office we were forced to rent for any event over 20 people, and this caused a dilemma, it was not very wise to invest in furniture if it would not be used, but without furniture the space was less useful, meaning that there was less reason to make it seem presentable. Currently our office is minimally functional. Some people might be thinking that spending money on office furniture is kind of silly, but in reality we are simply trying to make our office reflect our church culture, we want it to be a warn and inviting place where people can get to know each other. In addition if you went to someone’s home and they made you sit on the floor, it might be quaint the first time, but after a while, if they were never finished moving in, you’d start to wonder if this family had some tie to penndot.

What does this mean in the coming weeks?
Most of the people that go to City Reformed have moved in the last few years, so many people understand some of the hassles of moving: packing, transferring services, and trying to find things when you unpack.
With the new office we are going to be moving all of our computers, or library, and all of our paperwork and other stuff to the new office. Much of the furniture in our present office is not owned by us and that means that we will also be purchasing furniture so that when you come into the new office you don’t see Matt or I, sitting on a milk crate in the middle of the floor, typing away at a computer which is sitting on an empty moving box.

This also means that our lines of communication will be hindered for a few days, we are hoping to have much of the move accomplished by sometime next week. Our plan is to have the internet and phones setup next Wednesday, but we might hit some snags. If you send an email next week and we haven’t responded by the end of that week, we would ask that you resend the message.

What does this mean in the long term?
At our church we have three categories of events: small group events (1-20 people), medium size events (20-60 people), and all church events. Our current office was only useful for small group events, so this meant everything was rented for medium events and all church events. Our new space will be able to fill this role of being used for medium sized events.

In the end it’s not about offices with better lighting, or new furniture, it’s about Jesus. Would you pray with us that this new office would be another tool that we can use to extend grace to each other, and to those people who have not yet met Jesus.

Last Saturday my wife, Jo, and a friend of ours went to see “Burn After Reading” the new Coen Brothers film. I would consider myself a decent Coen Brothers fan, I really loved O’ Brother, and the Hudsucker Proxy, and thought that their portrayal of evil in No Country For Old Men was really fascinating, though I can’t say that I have seen every film they have made.

About a month ago I saw a trailer for Burn After Reading, I thought trailer was really interesting, maybe it was because of the elbow song that the trailer utilized or maybe it was really interesting cast, or maybe a bit of both.
–Minor Spoiler Alert—
I have to say that on one level I was entirely disappointed with the film. All but one character was so flawed and warped that they were inaccessible. The one exception was Richard Jenkins’ portrayal of gym manager and ex orthodox priest, Ted Treffon. At the same time after some contemplation I came to appreciate the film, but something that I assume the Coen Brothers did not intend to portray. At a different level the film gave glimpses into how mean and twisted people really are, At one point McDormand’s character is willing to commit treason for a chance to reinvent herself with a tummy tuck. I had a campus Chaplin one time point out the fact that the reason we don’t sin more is not for lack of desire but lack of opportunity, and Burn After Reading shows what happens when people are given the opportunity to sin.

Here is what bugged me about the film:

* The lack of any one to associate or relate with in the film
* The over the top, and at times caricature-ish, portrayals by McDormand, and Swinton.
* The acceptance that adultery is the accepted standard in marriage
* The fact that the thing that made this movie funny was that fact that everyone lied and cheated on everyone else.
* The wrap up way the film ended, with certain people entirely in the clear, and others dead or ruined. This might be the thing that bugged me the most. People are murdered and exploited but in the end they are cleared. The film would have been much more poetic and thought provoking if it had ended with the interaction between Malkovich and Jenkins. Instead things that could not be should not have been easily wrapped up were, and thus the audience at some level was told to go away seeing the vile events which the film portrays as more acceptance.

Here is what I did like about the film:

* Malkovich as an ex-cia agent in the midst of a mid-life crisis, was probably his most ‘normal’ character, and a few times I did care about what happened to him.
* The un-glamorous and accurate way sexual sin and their consequences are portrayed. A bit with McDormand, but especially when Clooney’s character is himself betrayed.
* The architecture of the film. The Sets were at times better than the characters, which might be why Clooney’s character was obsessed with the grain of hardwood in each location, even the Coen Brothers knew the Georgetown location of the film was the best part of the film

In the end I have come away from the film with a sense of despair, for the film’s characters and for anyone who lives likes them. On the way home our friend told us that she know lots of people who relationships closely matched the film’s.

I grieve the most for McDormand’s character. She is a woman who is unhappy, and not matter what, cannot help but seek to fill the voids in her life. The saddest part is that she fills them fills them with men and a pursuit of reinventing herself, though I have a suspicion that even with the surgery that character would be just as lonely and selfish as before the surgery. I would not recommend this film to most people. But I will say if you believe that everyone is totally twisted, you might at least have some way to deal with the way that humanity is portrayed. In the strictest sense this film has no redemptive theme what so ever, but at some time you see how much you need the light when you have bashed your shins in total darkness.