Meta Cafe is Tonight!

Well, I spent the early evening yesterday testing network connections and making final arrangements for tonight’s relaunch of Meta Cafe.  Everything is coming together once again, and I’m really excited for the night to finally get here. 

For those of you new to Meta Cafe, we’re going to be offering a whole slew of things at Grace from 8:00 to 12:00.  No programing–just you, some friends, and a good time.  Here are just a few of the things we’re going to serve up tonight for you:

• the Cafe will be open, selling coffee and cappucinos, as well as an assortment of hot and cold drinks.
• Our cafe area is also a wi-fi hotspot, so if you have a lap top, you’re welcome to connect to the web–why not write a blog post from Meta Cafe?
• The cafe/lobby area will have several seating areas on hand with various board and table top games. 
• The volleyball net will be on hand in the gym if sitting around and sipping a latte isn’t your speed. 
• Rock Band will be playing on one of our plasma T.V’s in the lobby.
• Wii Sports or Mario Kart will be on the other lobby T.V.
• Halo 3 on 2 networked 60″ plasmas will be held in main auditorium.
• Call of Duty 4 networked between two projectors will be on offer in the children’s wing of the church.

So if you’re looking for something to do on a Friday night, there’s something for everyone here, whether you want to kick back and relax in the cafe, serve it up on the volleyball court, or try your hand at Rock Band and Call of Duty 4. 

A reminder–Meta Cafe is an 18 and over event–teens looking for a similar experience should come out to Surge, a monthly event with live music, sports and games held at Grace every third Sunday night of the month. 

With all of that out of the way, I’ll see you tonight sometime between 8 and midnight!  If you make it out, leave a comment below and let us know how it went!

 

Meta Cafe Relaunches

Well…it’s been too long friends, but I’m pleased to announce that Meta Cafe will be relaunching as a monthly event starting Friday May 2nd. 

Starting next month we’ll be hosting Meta Cafe every 1st Friday of the month, from 8 p.m. to midnight.  The night is designed to give you a place to connect and meet new people in the Erie area in a fun, social space. 

You can make the night as involved or laid back as you like–grab a latte at our coffee bar and surf the web on your laptop via our free wireless internet hotspot.  If you’re feeling a little more sociable, you can grab a table and play some games with friends (or strangers even!), pick up the drum sticks and jam on Rock Band, or try a game of Wii Tennis on our two 42″ Plasma TVs.  In addition, we’ll be hosting Volleyball freeplay in our gym, and LAN Halo 3 games in multiple rooms throughout the building. 

So mark the date–May 2nd and bring a friend! The first Friday of the month just got a whole lot more interesting. 

Check out the photos from our last Meta Cafe event.

Looking for directions to Meta Cafe?  Start here.

 

 

Thanks For Coming to Meta Cafe

Hey, Thanks to all of you who came out last Friday night.  Our open house was a great success because of you.  I met so many new people and saw some new connections being made this weekend, which is very cool. 

Remember, the cafe can be used for internet access from 9-5, Monday to Friday, and if you’d like to set up a study group or meeting there, simply call the church office and request a date and time from Annie and we’ll have a team member come and open up the building for you. 

Stay tuned right here for more information on when the next Meta Cafe event will be held–but in the mean time, here are some pics from last Friday’s get together.

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Welcome To Meta Cafe!

Hey, thanks for coming out tonight!  Hopefully you’re reading this from the brand new space that is Meta Cafe, located just outside of Erie in McKean township.  I just wanted to take a moment to welcome you on behalf of the Meta Cafe team as well as Grace Church, and let you know a little bit of what’s going on. 

First of all, everything you eat and drink tonight is on us.  It’s our way of saying thank you for coming out to our open house and grand opening event. 

Secondly, feel free to wander around and check out the new building.  The cafe is only one part of Grace’s brand new facility, and we’ve got a lot going on in all parts of the building. If you’d like to learn a little more about how this place came to be, head across the hall to our A2 classroom, where we’ve got a DVD running that details the history of Grace Church.  You can also pick up a guest DVD to find out about some other events and ministries that Grace Church offers. 

Now, be sure to check out our blog posts and events for you tonight!  First off, check out this month’s discussion post–our hope is that it might cause you to think and open up a conversation with those around you at the cafe.  Use it as a tool to begin a dialogue with someone new here at Meta Cafe!

We’ve also got two very cool contests running tonight–our Blog Highlight event and our Blog Scavenger Hunt–each gives you the chance to win a gift bag with some cool stuff including an iTunes gift card. 

If surfing the internet and blogging isn’t your style, we’ve got plenty of games and casual entertainment happening in our cafe and lobby area tonight.  Our table top games are located at…you guessed it…the tables!  Gather a couple of friends and relax.  If you don’t know how to play a certain game that you see and would like to learn, someone from our team will be glad to teach you. 

Wii Sports and Rock Band are open for you to enjoy as well, but please be mindful of other people and let them take a turn if you see that there are folks waiting to play behind you.  If you don’t have a full group of four, invite someone you don’t know to join you–you may make a new friend!

Volleyball is happening in the gym, located down the hall.  It’s freeplay, so please don’t hesitate to go in and join a team.  If there’s already six aside, figure out a rotation, or form a team of six on your own to jump in after the next game!

Finally, we’ve got several Halo 3 hotspots as well.  Our four Xbox 360’s are networked together–two in the worship center, one just off the cafe in our commons area, and another down in the children’s wing.  Again, please be mindful of (and friendly to) others who are waiting to play.  If you’re unsure where to find one of our Halo rooms, please refer to the maps we’ve provided at the info center, or ask one of our team.

Thanks so much for coming out and being a part of Meta Cafe!  Enjoy your time tonight, and leave us a comment to let us know you were here!

–the Meta Cafe team

 

Blog Highlight Event

Welcome!  We’re running a special live blogging event tonight at Meta Cafe, and you have a chance to win a great bag of goodies including one of two iTunes gift cards we’re giving away if you participate. 

We’ve taken a look around at some of the blogs on our blog roll and highlighted three entries for you to read (remember, if you’d like your blog on Meta Cafe’s blogroll, simply email blusky@grace-erie.org with your name and url).  All you have to do is read the posts and vote on your favorite!  On the table in front of you is a card.  Fill out your name, your email, and the blog post that you found the most interesting, and place it in the basket marked “Blog Highlight Event”. 

At the end of Meta Cafe, we’ll count up the votes and then randomly select a winner from among those who voted for the most popular blog.  So get reading, and then cast your vote!

Our three blog posts for this month are as follows:

1. The Weekend Gamer–Brian highlights why exactly it is that he plays games, and asks the question, why do you play video games?
2. Losing My Religion–Jason talks him and his wife becoming pregnant with their fourth child, and having faith in God through their experience.
3. Danielle’s Xanga–Danielle shares about life in a cubicle, and gives some helpful tips she found about how to deal with being “a cubey”.

 

Blog Scavenger Hunt

Just in case you still think there’s nothing to do at Meta Cafe (and if that’s what you’re really thinking…um…have you looked around? ), we’ve put together a little live blogging event for you to sink your teeth in.  It’s our blog scavenger hunt, and it may end up winning you some cool stuff, including a 25$ iTunes gift card!

Here’s what you need to do.  We’ll ask you five questions below–the answers to said questions can be found by looking on the blogs in the Meta Cafe Blogroll.  All the posts from which the answers come have been posted sometime between November 1st and today, so you won’t have to search too far back. 

In front of you on the tables you’ll find cards with room for the answers to the five questions.  Write in your solutions as well as your name and email, and then drop it into the basket that’s marked “Blog Scavenger Hunt” in the cafe.  At 11 p.m., we’ll randomly select a winner out of all the entries we receive that have all five questions answered correctly.

That person will receive a gift bag including an iTunes gift card.  Here are the questions:

1. Grace Pastors–which baseball great did Mike identify with as he oversaw Grace’s Thanksgiving outreach to feed 700 families in the Erie community?
2. Jushaf2fly’s Xanga–what do big fluffy snowflakes make Dave want to do?
3. the Pure Interest–on the traditional road trip to Maryland, what does Brian always ask for when they pull into a gas station?
4. the Weekend Gamer–What song is Brian stuck on in Rock Band?
5. Aaron Lundberg’s Xanga–of his almost 30 years on this earth, how many of them has Aaron spent attending Grace Church?

Remember, get those answers in before 11 p.m., when we’ll draw out one winner from all eligible entries!

 

Meeting the Needs of Those Around Us

I love Erie.  It’s an interesting place to live.  Though frequently complained about amongst ourselves like a family member who gets on our nerves but whom we still love, when the press maligns it, we’re quick to defend it.  It has charm, with a unique community and special attractions.  It’s diverse, and even enjoys a special place in our nation as a home to international refugees from all over the world.  I came to live here permanently in 2003.  I found and married my wife here.  I’m quite fond of the place, actually.

But besides the obvious weather factor, Erie has some unique challenges.  It’s a city with an above average poverty level–a place where one out of every four children lives below the poverty line.  It’s a place that has seen our businesses pack up and leave to go to other cities or even overseas in the past decade.  It’s a city that is desperately in need of the kind of altruism we all experienced last month. 

But though financial aid is vital, Erie is mostly in need of people who will give of themselves, who will stop when they see a need and act upon it, who are willing to put the needs of others before their own, and who will commit to literally and practically “defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and love the alien, giving him food and clothing.” (Deut. 10:1

Consider this text out of the gospel of Mark:

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

 ”What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
      The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

 ”Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

What I find interesting about this passage is that Jesus’ disciples were too busy to have time to meet a passing need.  They were so focused on themselves and their own agendas of the moment, that they literally told Bartimaeus to shut up.  They were doing ministry, but they had missed the practical need that lay right in front of them.

Jesus on the other hand was never too busy to stop in the moment and meet the needs of those around them.  His heart was with the oppressed, the weak, those in need, and he was acutely sensitive and aware where others were not. 

Where do we fit into this spectrum?  Are we more like the disciples, oblivous to the hurting, hungry, and weary around us, or are we more like Christ, with a passion and commitment to help those in need? 

As you enjoy Meta Cafe tonight, stop for a moment and consider the blessings that God has given to you.  How can you pour out those blessings into the lives of the people around you?  How can we look to serve our community better and meet the needs that we see?

Take some time if you like and begin a conversation with others around you at the cafe.  You might consider the following questions as a starting point:

1. Is there someone in your life who is struggling emotionally, physically, or financially?  If so, what can you do to serve them and show the love of God to them? 
2. What, in your opinion, is Erie’s most pressing need?
3. What steps can you take to get involved in practically meeting that need?

Feel free to comment below and let the staff here at Meta Cafe know what direction your discussion went.  What is Erie’s biggest concern or community need at present?

 

Dec. 7th–Meta Cafe Grand Opening and Open House

On Friday December 7th we’re hosting the grand opening of Meta Cafe from 8:00 pm to midnight.  The entirety of the event is free and open to the public.  Here’s what will be happening at this special kick off event:

• Coffee and Desserts–we’re bringing in local shops to provide specialty coffee and desserts for our Cafe.  Everything will be complimentary for this grand opening event, so come and enjoy some great food and drink, on us!
• The Cafe is a Wi-Fi hotspot, so bring your laptop and connect with other bloggers in the Erie area. 

If you like, you can drink coffee, eat dessert, and surf the web all night–we won’t stop you.  But if you’re looking for something more to do, we’ve got plenty going on in and around the cafe:

• We’ll be hosting live blogging events during the evening.  Spend time checking out our featured blogs, and cast your vote for your favorite (If you’d like your blog featured at Meta Cafe, you can request to be added to the blogroll at blusky@grace-erie.org).   Participate in our online scavenger hunt for a chance to win some neat swag.  You can also join our Meta Cafe chatroom and connect with everyone in the Cafe at once. 
• In addition to those online activities, the Meta Cafe blog will be updated on December 7th with a discussion post.  You can use our topic to kickstart a conversation in the chatroom or in person. 
• Rock Band Karaoke–out on the plasma TV in the lobby, we’ll be hosting Karaoke, Rock Band style!  Pick a song and an instrument (vocals, guitar, bass, or drums) and jam away–you can simply sing like old school karaoke, or you can form a band with up to three other people to jam along with you!  It’s fun and incredibly easy to pick up.  Check out the setlist of available songs.
• Halo 3 freeplay and tournament–Just outside the Cafe area, we’re sponsoring a Halo 3 event out in the Commons.  Come freeplay on our 58″ High Def Plasma Screens from 8:00-10:00, or form a team of four and sign up for our bracketed tournament that starts at 10:00.
• Volleyball–that’s right, if you’re not not into blogging, karaoke or video games, there’s still something for you to do.  The net will be set up in the gym and you can jump on a team and play casually from 8:00-9:00 and 10:00 to midnight.  You can also sign up for our tournament which will run from 10:00-11:00. 

In addition to all this, there will be plenty of board and card games available for you to check out and play with your friends at our many tables or couches in the Cafe, and you’ll be able to take a self guided tour of our new facility, with different T.V.’s highlighting the various areas all around the building. 

We’re expecting quite a few people, and no matter what your interests are, we’re confident that you’ll find something fun to do and meet some new people from the Erie area while you’re at it.  And this is just the beginning.  So come on out to our new facilities at Grace Church on Grubb Road, and we’ll see you on the 7th!

 

Welcome to the Meta Cafe blog

 

Welcome to the companion blog to Erie’s new Meta Cafe! What is Meta Cafe? Well, we should probably start with the definition of meta:

Meta

1. (from Greek: μετά = “after”, “beyond”, “with”), is a prefix used in English in order to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter.
2. A prefix meaning a later, more comprehensive, transcending, or more highly organized version of something.
3. beyond or after; metamorphosis

In a sense, Meta Cafe is all of those things. It’s a place for us to connect, to dialogue, to hang out. It’s part coffee house, part wi-fi lounge. But it’s also so much more than that. It’s a place to feel comfortable. It’s what happens when the virtual space intersects with the actual here and now. It’s cafe 2.o.

This blog serves as a virtual home for Grace Church’s Meta Cafe, located in Erie, Pennsylvania. From it, you can find out the normal opening and closing times of the cafe, and see blog entries and pictures of our events. This will also be the launch pad for monthly topics of discussion for those who visit Meta Cafe. So go ahead–grab a drink, have a seat, and relax.