January up/rooted.west recap

We had a great discussion over deep dish pizza and beer at up/rooted.west last Monday. A dozen of us gathered at Gino's East in Wheaton to talk about the first couple of sections in Brian McLaren's latest book, Everything Must Change. We talked about framing stories - about how Brian's intent with this book is not to give us a list of action steps, but to first help us change our whole way of thinking about the problems facing this world. We talked about the value of deconstruction and whether it can go too far. We talked about the bigness of the gospel, and how it includes both the hope of heaven and hope for this world. We talked about trying to decipher Brian's systems diagram and about what we can do about the big problems in our world. We talked about the difficulty of living in the suburbs and what important gospel issues we are often blinded to as a result. We also spent some time getting to know one another and just enjoying the company.

We will continue this conversation over the next few months in preparation (and follow-up) to Brian's Everything Must Change Tour coming here to Chicago in early April (don't forget to register!). My hope is that this will be a transformative conversation where we can find ways to participate in this revolution of hope. We are at the front edge of a movement here, and I am eager to see it take shape and move forward as we pursue God's dreams for this world. As Gandhi famously said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

Our next discussion will be on Monday, February 18 from 7-9pm at the same Gino's East in Wheaton. We'll be moving on to the next two sections of the book, chapters 10-18, though you won't have any trouble jumping into the conversation even if you haven't read them yet.

Hope to see you there!

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator