What has up/rooted.city been up to?

So, we've had three gatherings of the up/rooted.city type and I haven't told you about any of them.


Yet.


First, let me tell you that we're going to meet again on Monday, December 8 at 7:00 at Wicker Park Grace, which can be found at 1741 N. Western. We'd love to see anyone who has an inkling of interest in meeting up with folks who are interested in talking about opening up God's kingdom to all people, not just the ones who believe the same things we do.


Now, I'm going to give a list of quotes from our various gatherings, since I really should be doing my homework.


September discussion:


"I used to have a passion for being an evangelical Christian and then I had a passion for being a post-modern Christian and now I wish I could just reclaim some of that passion."


"The way the faith has been presented is shallow. So the way I see emergence is looking back into the depth of tradition."


"Yearning for a deeper or more real experience of God and community and how this covenant is played out in real life.


"Young folks already believe they can pick and choose and would never dream of feeling oppressed by a "modern" church who insists on all or nothing belief."


"If Jews interpreted the New Testament you would pretty much have Unitarianism."


Brian McLaren:


Emergence arises from two impulses: anxiety over the decline of Mainline Protestant, Catholic and Evangelical communities and folks who just stopped liking going to church.


When Bolger and Gibbs looked at churches that seemed to be attracting young people they found that style of worship was not the most dominant common characteristic. Instead, most shared a desire to fulfill the idea of "on Earth as it is in Heaven."


Phyllis Tickle defined emergence as a desire to share spiritual resources.


Emergence can be viewed as the new outer ring of a tree rather than just another slice of a finite pie.


Pre-modern, Modern and Emergent can be defined by the evolution of literacy: Pre-modern is a time of no books (no literacy), Modern has books (literate), Post-Modern has screens and hyper-text (multi-literate).


"This building [Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago] evokes continuity with the medieval era."


Modern Christianity has been getting less and less formal, like digging a basement - Eastern Orthodox to Roman Catholic and Anglican to Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist to Baptists to Pentecostals to House, cell and storefront churches. Interestingly, the early church started in the basement.


Theology Pub:


Actually, I don't really have any quotes from the Theology Pub. It was a loud, hot and crowded event full of people that wanted to talk about opening up God's kingdom to all people, not just the ones who believe the same things we do. It was pretty cool. I ended up buying a copy of Nadia Bolz-Weber's book and I'm looking forward to the end of the quarter so I actually read it.


So, join us on December 8. Bring some cookies. Or celery. Or just your soul. We'll talk about stuff. It'll be good.


Go Gently,
Rebecca