up/rooted.west update

Hey up/rooted friends!

Last week up/rooted.west gathered in Winfield to watch the 30 Days episode "Muslims & America" and discuss the issues with the help of Pastor Fred Nelson from Redeemer Lutheran. The show was provocative, and the conversation was wide-ranging. Fred pointed out that there are big difference between Muslims living in Western countries and Muslims in Islamic countries. We discussed some of the differences of belief between Christians & Muslims, including the big question of whether or not we worship the same God (interestingly, we learned that Muslims don't believe we can know God's character at all, only his will as expressed in the Koran - so it's difficult so say whether Allah and Yahweh share similar characteristics ). From there the conversation ranged into how to reach out to Muslims and whether a Muslim-Christian convert could continue to pray at the mosque while directing their prayers to Jesus instead. While we didn't settle on any definite answers to these questions, I think we all learned something new.

We have a lot of exciting up/rooted gatherings coming up. Don't forget about the innaugural meetings this week of up/rooted.north (Wednesday, Jan 31, 7pm at Life on the Vine in Long Grove) and up/rooted.south (Thursday, February 1, 6:30pm at Aurelios in Mokena).

We'll also be having a special joint gathering in February with Doug Pagitt (pastor of Solomon's Porch, founder of Emergent Village, and author of Church Re-Imagined), who was with us back in September as well. This time we'll host him in the north suburbs at Life on the Vine on Tuesday, February 27, at 7pm.

Also, towards the end of March up/rooted.west will likely be hosting another gathering with Brian McLaren out at Northern Seminary. We're still finalizing the details on that, so stay tuned.

And we've been talking with a representative with Bread for the World and the ONE Campaign about speaking with us sometime in the next few months as well. She'll be able to share with us more about the Millennium Development Goals and give us practical action steps that we can take if we're concerned about those kinds of justice issues. We're still working on finalizing the dates and location for that event as well.

Oh, and ladies, don't forget to register for the Emerging Women Midwest Gathering coming up March 16-18 out at the Stronghold Conference Center in Oregon, IL (only about 2 hours west of Chicago). This will be a great experience that you won't want to miss.

So yeah, it's going to be a great couple of months. Hope you all can make it out for at least a few of these events. See you there!

Blessings,


-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator