Memorable Dreams #3 (Mr. French Wants Me Dead)

The final recurrent bad dream from my childhood that I'm going to share involves two TV actors from, I guess, the early 1970s. Sebastian Cabot played Mr. French on the show Family Affair, which I loved to watch each week and later in reruns. Peter Graves played Jim Phelps on the original Mission: Impossible TV show. My older brother and sister liked it and I just caught portions of it from time to time.

In the dream - and like the Martin Luther King Jr. dream, I had this one many times - I would be alone in one of the bedrooms of our house in Burlington, NC. My parents were in the den down the hall. The Mission: Impossible guy would walk in and pull out a Star Trek styled "phaser" and shoot some sort of beam of light at my throat that made it impossible for me to scream for help. Then Mr. French would enter the room carrying a syringe with which he would give me some sort of shot that, I guess, would kill me. I always woke up before he gave me the shot.

Was it all rooted in fear of shots at an age where I got all my vaccinations? Why did I think lovable Mr. French from Family Affair wanted me dead? Who knows. But that dream is forever etched in my head.

Memorable Dreams #2 (I Had A Dream)

The Frito Bandito was a one time only dream, but there was another dream that plagued me for years as a child. It gets laughs now when I tell people about it, but as a child it scared me to death.

Martin Luther King Jr. used to chase me around in my house with his mouth unnaturally wide open.

Now I was five and a half years old when King was assasinated and I guess I probably saw him on the news a lot then. I don't remember when the dreams began, but they were really scary.

In the dream I would be sitting in my room reading or something and I'd see a shadow out in the hallway. I'd look up and Martin Luther King, Jr. would slowly walk into my room with his mouth ten times too wide open. You could have put a bowling ball in that mouth!

I would run away from him, but no matter where I hid, he would find me. I couldn't scream for help. I'd try and nothing would come out. And he just kept coming after me with that huge open mouth.

That was the worst recurrent nightmare of my childhood. I hope recounting it doesn't trigger me dreaming it again tonight.

Maybe Melody will let us sleep with the lights on just in case.

Memorable Dreams #1

I can't remember how old I was for sure, but we still lived in Burlington, NC. So I was probably 10 to 12 years old. Fritos Cornchips had a series of popular commercials then featuring the Frito Bandito. Here is a picture of the commercial's cartoon character.

He always sang, "Ai, yai,yai, yai... I am the Frito Bandito".

One night I had a dream about the Frito Bandito that I remember very clearly to this day. I was trapped inside a pinball machine, hiding behind those things that light up and ring when they're hit. I was being shot at and chased all over the pinball machine by the Frito Bandito.

Scary stuff, man.

Hope Community Church band

Hope Community Church band, originally uploaded by Chip & Melody.

The worship band at our church.

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

I am rarely moved as deeply as I was while watching this little video. Literally, tears were streaming down my cheeks. Wow.

U2charist?

U2 Rocks the House (of God)
Bono inspires worship with an edge.
(by Elizabeth Diffin, Christianity Today Online)

Where the Streets Have No Name. Beautiful Day. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Yahweh. For fans of the Irish band U2, these are familiar rock songs. But to a growing number of Christians, they're becoming tunes for worship, and for the Eucharist.

Services using U2's music, commonly called U2charist, were begun by Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. The services combine the music of the rock band with traditional communion. They focus on a message of global reconciliation, justice, and care for neighbors as advocated by Bono, the lead singer of U2. Bono, a dedicated Christian, is also a global ambassador for Millennium Development Goals, a movement by the United Nations to eradicate poverty and disease by the year 2015.

U2charist first took hold in the U.S. at St. George's Episcopal Church in York Harbor, Maine, drawing 130 people. Many of those in attendance were in a younger demographic and did not usually attend the church. Since then, dozens of the services have been held worldwide in churches of many denominations.

In a U2charist service, the liturgy remains the same, although the music is markedly different. U2 songs are repurposed as the opening hymn, song of praise, sermon response, and offertory. Most of the songs are seen as metaphors, with lyrics that are layered with meaning.

"In church, you hear [the music] in a different way. It's like new," said Natalie Williams, a 17-year-old who attended a U2charist at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

Eric Johnson, who attended the service at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Lakeland, Florida, had no doubt about the effectiveness of the music.

"The crowd, the enthusiasm, the energy—I felt like the Holy Spirit was in the room. The message was getting through, and we were worshiping together," he said.

The offerings that are collected at U2charists go to charities fighting extreme poverty and AIDS, as worked out in an agreement with the band's publishing company. Paige Blair, rector of St. George's, estimates that more than $36,000 has been raised from the U2charist services for the cause.

"People are learning there is something they can do to change the world," she said. "And they leave feeling that they really can."

At St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Encinitas, California, the U2charist service was well-received by young and old alike. Teens connected to the "hip factor," while adults found deeper meaning in the music.

At St. Andrew's, the service drew a crowd that compares to normal Christmas or Easter attendance. St. George's is beginning a U2charist team to help others implement the service. And this year, a U2charist service will be broadcast in Great Britain on Easter Sunday.

"It spread like wildfire," Blair said. "We're giving people a way to engage their faith in a meaningful way."

And letting them rock out at the same time.