up/rooted

First 2012 cohort event - "Evangelism in the Inventive Age"

2012-02-01T00:12:00.000-06:00

We’re hosting Doug Pagitt for a discussion on “Evangelism in the Inventive Age” for our first 2012 event.

Mon, Feb 13th 6:30pm – 8pm
Overflow Coffee Bar, 1550 S. State Street, Chicago south loop location

Overflow Coffee Bar is run by a missional community church team; their space is utilized by 3 other churches, a community resource center, yoga classes and an arts institute in the launch phase.

Directions, details and RSVP here -Please do RSVP so we can prepare the coffee shop staff for our group size.

This event is free, but we’d love it if you showed our hosts some love by ordering a fair trade coffee or other drink – if your budget permits.

Hope to see you there!
Kristine Socall
Now blogging

Twitter:
As me @KristineSocall
As Cohort Event Planner @chicagocohort
Social entrepreneur @gifteddreamers @soakparty and @smallthingsmttr

2011-02-25T11:35:00.000-06:00

This Friday, Feb 26th, 2011 at 7pm, come share and discuss, visions, dreams, thoughts on church and faith, call, with other emergent, new monastic, mystical theological types seeking community of the Kingdom in church and world.

Bring a dish to share, and we will break bread together.

All are also invited to Evening Prayer with the Community of Holy Trinity at 7 p.m, meeting at the old parsonage of Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1510 W. Elmdale, Chicago.

Please RSVP via facebook or reply email.

Holiday party

2010-11-26T23:04:00.001-06:00

Join us Sat, Dec 11th @ 7:30pm at St. Paul's Lutheran Church (515 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton, IL) for an Elf movie/cookies/cocoa party!

We're going to laugh our faces off watching Elf & then stuff our faces with Christmas cookies and hot cocoa...."and snuggle" (must watch the movie to understand)!

Bring a dozen or two Christmas cookies, wear a Christmas sweater (ugly or not), and feel free to come wearing flannel PJ pants and slippers (or whatever else you'd like to wear)....and we will be taking pictures for posterity of course!

:-)

Bring a friend, or two, or three, or your kids, or your neighbor's kids!

See you soon!

The Parable of the Unexpected Guest

2010-11-10T23:11:00.001-06:00

NOVEMBER:
Join us at Gino's East Pizza in downtown Wheaton on Thurs, Nov 18th at 6:30pm. We'll be discussion discipleship and providing feedback to David Zimmerman on his (soon-to-be-published) manuscript "The Parable of the Unexpected Guest". It's a quick read and intended to frame the discipleship conversation. If you'll be attending, please let us know so we can send you the manuscript to read in advance.

DECEMBER:
For our December meeting, we have 3 options that we are proposing to the group:
1) Thurs, Dec 9 6:30pm at Gino's Pizza in Wheaton discussing Bonhoeffer's "Life Together"
2) Fri, Dec 10th 7pm Wheaton Center Towers Clubhouse - Watching the movie Elf
3) Sat, Dec 11th volunteering at the Outreach Community Center's Christmas Store in Carol Stream

OCTOBER Summary:
Last month, we gathered to discuss the question, "When does the Christian life begin?" We asked three people to tell their stories. The rules were fairly simple: our experience is not your experience – so don't feel judged if things differ and please withhold judgment until the whole story is on the table. It is easy to write people off because they don't start where you started or don't draw the conclusions you would have, but, in reality, discussing real people's lives, things are not always simple and not always as easily concluded.

Mark Williamson began the evening framing his experience by pointing to the Sacrament of Baptism as the start of his faith journey. For Mark, his life in Christ started before he could say or do anything. Before he was someone “worthy” and before he had performed a single good deed, in his baptism God accepted him. For Mark, the Christian life did not start with a decision he made -- it started as an act of God. It started in the faith of his family and of his church but most importantly it started with a God who loves us before we are lovable. His tradition (Lutheran-ELCA) baptizes infants (and people of any age who haven't been baptized before) and he was himself baptized as an infant and brought up within the church. Fast-forwarding from his early childhood to high school, he recounted a story of being brought to a mega-church event by a friend – an outreach “Target” night. Apparently Mark had a bulls-eye on him. They played games, broke into groups by school, and then gathered for a concluding worship service. Near the end, the speaker asked everyone to pray a particular prayer which he led. Mark followed as he was told, after concluding the speaker asked everyone who prayed the prayer to stand up. So Mark did. As it turns out he had prayed some form of the traditional Sinner's Prayer and was sent to the back to discuss what it means to be a Christian. Mark commented to us, “But I already was a Christian.” He had been baptized, taught the Scriptures, been confirmed in the church, and given himself to the faith – before walking into that church.

Patrick Green then shared his story with us. He told us that he knows when it was clear to him that he was a part of the Christian life, but that it must have started earlier. He told us of his isolation in high school and that he was lonely. In the end he joined the drama club for various reasons and made friends there. The majority of the club was involved in church and split about equally between two congregations. Pat recalls one day he decided to go to church. The decision between the two congregations was easy, one was closer and he had to ride his bicycle. So he put on his finest clothes, a suit, and peddled his way to church – with an enormous bible in his backpack. He got there and discovered himself overdressed and unsure how he fit in. But the pastor, a polio survivor with serious physical challenges gave a message that showed a beauty and love within the faith. He was shuffled off to the youth program, but, according to Pat, that guy was a complete jerk. He continued to attend and after a while shifted to the other congregation because, “the girls were cuter” where he met a different youth pastor and felt more welcomed. From there he went off to college to be a pastor, and ended up in youth ministry himself. He remembers when he knew that he was living the Christian life. One of the girls in his ministry was pregnant. The senior pastor and the church board indicated that she was banned from the ministry so as to not set a bad example. After some debate, Pat quit on the spot. For Pat the Christian life started at some point, but all the events leading him up to this decision, when totaled, do not seem to add up to any definitive starting point."

Kristine Socall then shared her story, a story without a definite point in time to look back upon and say - there is where her Christian life began. What existed was merely an ongoing series of pivotal faith moments drawing her closer to God. Her earliest faith memory is an experience at the age of 5 when she shared her understanding of the Gospel ("a description of Heaven and Hell, where do you want to go, then just say this prayer-kind of Gospel....) with her Jewish neighbor and then recited the Sinner's prayer with him. A few years later, while sharing the "Gospel" with another neighbor, and being called into the house to do the dishes, she responded, “I am about my Father's business.” Needless to say, the spiritual transformation towards humility came a bit later. She went to a Christian school for part of her elementary education years, but eventually ended up in a public jr. high school where she was mocked and bullied to tears on a daily basis, which continued mostly through high school. However, when she was alone a few of her classmates would approach her with questions about faith. She would answer them as best she could, but later her responses were further used as tools of ridicule. She felt unwelcome and unloved – set off rather than set apart from everyone around her. However, she was filled with an increasing desire to know God and to help broken people like herself. She went off to a Christian college; yet, though theology was a option, she majored in organizational relations, having been told by a family member, “What do you call theology majors? ...Unemployed.” During her life she has been baptized 3 times, once as a child and twice as an adult. But while those later events marked spaces of doubt and uncertainty in her faith and came from a desire "to be sure", they do not mark a change in her dedication or passion for the faith. For her, if the Christian life had a particular event or point of beginning, it is beyond her memories. She has not known a time in life without knowing God and talking to Him during the times when she had no one else to talk to.

What's your story? We'd love to dialogue with you!

Emerging Perspectives: When Does the Christian Life Begin?

2010-10-06T12:37:00.004-05:00

October 14th @7pm, up/rooted.west is back at Gino's in Wheaton for a roundtable (usually it's a round table, depends where they seat us) on the question "When Does the Christian Life Begin?" Spoiler alert: there won't be just one answer. We'll have Kristine Socall, Pat Green, and myself each talking about the story of our own Christian origins, inviting others to interact with these personal stories, and possibly sharing bits from their own, along the way. Our goal again won't be to try to settle on the right one--and as ground rules for the discussion, we'll take care not to judge the authenticity of anyone's coming to faith (and this isn't just a warm-up for some sort of altar call at the end either)--but rather to struggle with and hopefully appreciate the diversity of these stories and stand in greater awe of the God who gathers us in to the family of Christ with more agility and grace than we can pin down into a program or system.

So come and join us; no preparation or experience required. Nor does your Christian life have to have begun already--maybe that'll even be one of the responses to this question... Just come with a hunger to know God more deeply, and an appetite for pizza too.

Mark
up/rooted.west co-leader

Music and Culture Making with Bill Mallonee at Reimagine Worship

2010-09-16T08:41:00.005-05:00

[Here's an invitation from Fred at Redeemer. I'm definitely not going to miss this. --Mark (up/rooted.west)]

Hey Up/Rooted friends!,

We're excited to announce our next Reimagine Worship gathering at Redeemer in Park Ridge, Friday, September 24 @7pm. Bill Mallonee - the lyrical and musical voice behind the Americana/indie band Vigilantes of Love - will our very special musical guest. Paste Music Magazine, in a 2006 poll of writers and artists, listed this Athens, Ga.-based musician as #65 in their "100 Best Living Songwriters." He has performed with such artists as Buddy Miller, Mark Olsen (the Jayhawks), Bruce Cockburn, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, REM, Sufjan Stevens, Derek Webb, North Mississippi Allstars, Pedro the Lion, Denison Witmer, Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket, and the Gin Blossoms. With a career that dates back to the late '80s, Mallonee has recorded 23 CDs and has steadily garnered critical acclaim in both Christian and secular media.

As our theme for the evening, we'll be exploring some of the intersections between the church and the culture at large. To quote the author Andy Crouch, "It is not enough to condemn culture, nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture, copy culture or consume culture. The only way to change culture is to create culture." That task puts a Christian artist like Bill Mallonee on the leading edge of culture creation. We'll hear Bill's music and his reflections on what it means to be a Christian, an artist, and a culture-maker, plus take time for some discussion in small groups.

As usual, along with plenty of good conversation, we'll also have great coffee and snacks to go with it.

This promises to be another memorable and significant evening, so spread the news to your friends and join us at Reimagine Worship.

Fred Nelson

Author Sean Gladding - 9/9 @8pm "The Story of God, the Story of Us"

2010-08-31T17:25:00.003-05:00

Join us Sept 9th @8pm - "The Story of God, the Story of Us" -
with author Sean Gladding.
RSVP via facebook or reply email
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wheaton, IL
Doors open at 7:30, free refreshments and Q&A to follow event

Before the Bible was a book it was flesh and blood. Join author and storyteller, Sean Gladding, as he presents the story of creation, helping us hear it as Israelite exiles would have as they gathered around a fire by the rivers of Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E. The story of creation is chapter one of Sean's new book, The Story of God, the Story of Us: Getting Lost and Found in the Bible (IVP 2010), which has grown out of years of telling the overarching Story of Scripture to large groups and small gatherings throughout the United States and internationally as well.

How did we get here? That question has haunted all kinds of people ever since, well, we got here. Sometimes they're wringing their hands over the origins of the universe: how did we (the human race) get here (on a planet with a breathable atmosphere)? But just as often they're asking a more urgent, more desperate question: How did I wind up in this particular place, with this particular pain? And more important: where do I go from here?

Sean Gladding wrestles with those questions--and others--in all their cosmic and existential dimensions in his book The Story of God, the Story of Us. Thursday, September 9, he'll lead us through the biblical story of creation--not from the vantage point of an ivory tower or a bully pulpit, but from a campfire outside the walls of Babylon, where faithful Jews, to whom God had promised land and all its benefits, wondered where God had gone -wondered how they had gotten to this place of despair. Their story is more like our story than we often think; and God's story speaks to us as profoundly as it spoke to them.

Says the author: "What I always hope people walk away with is a desire to go read the text again, with others, and for people to hear the Story that is healing, invitational and that leads to life, rather than one that creates division, wounding and isolation."

About Sean: Sean Gladding spent several years in Houston, Texas, where he was co-pastor of Mercy Street, an initiative by Chapelwood United Methodist Church for "church wounded" people, as well as people in drug and alcohol recovery. He now resides in Lexington, Kentucky, at Communality, a missional community that serves as one of the host "schools for conversion" for the New Monasticism.

“Sean Gladding invites us to hear God’s story anew—to hear it as our own story—and to let it direct us toward the beloved community we’re made to be. Listen to him. Commit this story to memory. Tell it to your kids. Let it direct your life.”
--Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, author and new monastic

Cool As God Made Us (up/rooted.west wrap-up)

2010-08-20T09:20:00.006-05:00

When I was a kid, my mom told me, "If you want to be cool, just be the wonderful, unique person God made you to be." Well, alright, she never said that. But she should have. Somebody's mom probably said that. Anyhow, last night at up/rooted.west, I started the discussion by bringing in Brett McCracken's recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal called "The Perils of 'Wannabe Cool' Christianity," since this has been one of the many critiques lobbed at the emerging church--that emergents are just the coolest kids on the Christian playground. Look at those thick-frame glasses! Check out his super long goatee! Can you believe her dreadlocks! And they're all meeting in a bar! It's all so emerging!

While we weren't too enthused by McCracken's quick write-off of the emerging movement (he says it has "fizzled" for two oddly contradictory reasons: that it "was too 'let's rethink everything' radical'" and that its animating impulse was merely to "rehabilitate Christianity's image and make it 'cool.'"), who can take issue with his conclusion that for younger generations, "when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real?"

Actually, correct me if I'm wrong, but I have been under the impression that that was the impulse that got this emergent thing going in the first place. Not a quest for a hipper church, but a desire for a more honest and authentic one. As Tony Jones recounts the history of at least his stream of this thing (in chapter 2 of The New Christians), a host of young male rising-star pastors were assembled by the Leadership Network to figure out how to make Christianity hip for Generation X, but they ended up asking all these deeper questions about the nature of the the church and the essence of the gospel, and were rather critical of the American evangelical marketing machine.

That said, I would guess that for those emerging church leaders who were reared in the "golden era" of evangelical youth ministry, it's probably a struggle to jettison the preoccupation with staying on the edge, image-wise. It is always easier to get the people out of slavery than to get the slavery out the people, whatever the captivity in question may be. For my part, I'm Lutheran and I'm pretty sure the last time we had an issue with being too hip was circa 1530 in Germany. (Praise God for a great sense of humor if our rich theology and practice suddenly becomes retro-hip.)

We also finished our discussion series on Peter Rollins's The Orthodox Heretic last night with a couple pithy parables called "The Father's Approval" and "Overthrowing the Emperor." Having seen Peter Rollins in person, in a bar in Wrigleyville with many hip-looking people, it should be conceded that objectively speaking, his is cool. Good thing we emergents aren't keen on objectivity.

Next month, we are privileged to host special guest Sean Gladding, author of The Story of God, The Story of Us (IVP, 2010), in town for the Christian Community Development Association conference. Make note, it'll be on the second, not the third Thursday: September 9th at 8pm (gather at 7:30).

"Sean is a British Texan living in Kentucky whose thing is dramatizing the metanarrative of Scripture. His new book surveys the Bible in twelve chapters set in three different locales--for the Old Testament, a fireside gathering of a Jewish exile community in Babylon, where a rabbi reminds them of the promises of God while they fret over why God has abandoned them; for the Gospels and Epistles, an ekklesia in an urban commercial center, explaining this odd new celebratory sect to a merchant over a series of dinners; for the Revelation, that merchant's underground ekklesia, hidden for fear of persecution, explaining to two tentative followers of the Way why Christians stand in defiance of the Roman empire."

As you can see here at his IVP book page, Sean also has a bald head and a long goatee. Whether that is, for him, cool, only his Creator knows.

Mark

up/rooted.west co-leader

Peter Rollins and his parables

2010-07-13T21:31:00.004-05:00

Join us this Thursday, 7/15 @ 6:30pm at Gino's East Pizza in downtown Wheaton for more Rollin's parable discussion! Also, if you might be interested in an up/rooted lunchtime downtown loop meeting time, let us know! We're getting ready to launch a virtual cohort discussion group as well!

-------------------------------------------------

Last month, we began a discussion on Peter Rollin's book “The Orthodox Heretic and Other Impossible Tales”. We selected three parables for discussion from the first section “Beyond Belief”: Chapter 3) Translating the Word; Chapter 4) Turning the Other Cheek, and Chapter 9) The Invisible Prophet.

The first parable, Translating the Word, recounts a woman who was commissioned by God to dedicate her life to the distribution and translation of the Word of God. To achieve this she sells all she owned and spends years of her life living on the streets begging for money and working odd jobs so that she can afford a printing press and qualified translators. One disaster after another happens and each time she gives away all the funds she collected to aid in the needs of people here and now. At the end of her life she is able to get the funds, hire the translators, and print Bibles. The parable ends saying she appeared to have fulfilled her commission not once, but many times.

Our discussion opened with a question, “Did she feel a failure until the very end?” She willingly gave away the funds to help those in need, but this put her further away from the “goal” of a printed translated text. From there we asked, “Did she ever feel a success?” For some present it was a feeling granted at the completion of the first printed text, for others it was a feeling she never received for there are always more who could receive. It was here our discussion was moved by greater attention to the text. She was called to spend her life on this task. It was not something God asked her to finish quickly so that she could do something else later. I will leave you with a question we did not get to ask, “Is this a lifestyle that God calls some towards, or is this lifestyle Christianity itself?”

The second parable we read, Turning the Other Cheek, was a recounting of Matthew 5. Our reading of this retelling had Jesus dividing the hearers into two groups – the oppressed and the oppressors. To one group he said carry the pack a second mile and to the other he said my witness to you is those who carry for you. To one group he said do not resist evil men but pray for their salvation, to the other he said, those to whom you do evil and they only respond with righteous love are my witness unto you.

The text in this format is bracing. Our discussion quickly took these sayings as defining groups who are powerful and who are powerless. We began by looking to place ourselves within the narrative. We realized through our discussion that we do not fit nicely into either category. Living within the richest county in the state we ought to remember our place as the oppressors, but we also give of ourselves in service to others. Thus sometimes we waffle back and forth between the two. Another of us held some problem with the categories, it is not the oppressed who choose of their own will to carry for a second mile but the free. The one who chooses to be a servant may be exploited, but their choice empowers them to be less than oppressed. As a group, however, we worried a bit over legislating freedom for the oppressed from our comfortable chairs surrounded by an abundance of food. What do you think?

The final parable we read, The Invisible Prophet, was about a prophet whose message was rendered void by the Adversary for it chose to make her beautiful beyond measure. She inspired the painters to paint, the poets to muse, and the crowds to assemble, but they heard nothing of her message for the words were so marvelous to behold. She died a popular star, but not one had listened to her call of repentance.

We began this discussion with an aside on modern worship practices. One of us shared a remark about a church where they had compelling teaching, reverent reflection upon God's grace, and the best Jesus show in town. The final element of the list being amongst the most planned out. We asked what this means for our understanding of worship that so much focus goes into the entertaining aspects? An awkward silence followed. From there one of us asked if this prophet might be creation itself? We are all so accustomed to the splendor of creation that we don't see it as a prophetic witness to God's goodness. We all too often ignore it. Another asked if this prophet was not the Bible itself, for all the beauty of its poetry or the romance of God's love we hear not the calls to justice – its voice condemning our sin. From here we also asked about what great beauty is hidden within the ugliness of the cross of Christ. What do you think, are we so distracted by beauty that even its absence drives us to distraction?

Regards,

Pat Riehecky

Brief me-ness: When the season is right, I am a graduate theology student at Wheaton College; when it is not, I am a UNIX Administrator. My perspective is informed by the writings of Kierkegaard, Tillich, and Levinas as well as lectures from Daniel Block, Douglas Moo, Daniel Treier, and Kevin VanHooser. I have known the name that is above any other since I could talk, but it took me some time to accept His guidance. The theological questions that haunt me revolve around the meaning of Christianity, the theology of a name, and retelling the Bible as the story of God's romantic passionate love for His creation. In short, I guess you could say I am interested in a counter narrative of grace stretching from Genesis to Revelation.

Young Adults Speak Out Artistic Expression Event

2010-06-08T19:26:00.002-05:00

In February of 2009 a new emerging community in Lockport, Illinois tried something new. We sat in a circle with about a dozen teens with some pizza and talked about what they wanted this community to become. It started off with radical inclusiveness - something like "Pizza Party meets group therapy" and we talk about life's issues honestly and openly. This new group of teens and young adults became known as YASO (Young Adults Speak Out)

This Saturday, June 12, the University of St Francis at 500 Wilcox Street in Joliet will be sponsoring YASO's first artistic expression fund raiser in their main auditorium from 7 until 10 PM. There is no admission fee and the auditorium seats 250 people. Teens and young adults will be expressing themselves through interpretive dance, song, slam poetry, and monologues on stage. In the lobby area there will be paintings, sketchings, and photography on display reflecting the hearts of a generation. In between performances, anonymous letters written by teens and young adults in the area will be read aloud. These are stories of pain, darkness and hope.

This is YASO's first engagement in their Society's Forgotten Children Silent no More campaign. The messages they want to send through their art regards:

Real Life
Hurt and Pain
Acceptance
How society Treats Them
Criminally and Sexually Abused Children
Change
Profiling and Assumptions
Family, Friends, Cutting, Death, and other real life topics they live with every day.
Trust
Hope and Grace

The people they want to hear this message are:

Adults
People With the Power to Affect Change
Parents
"Perfect Life People"
Judgmental Bastards
Teachers
Fellow Freaks
Doubters
People who are like "Rawr"
Pastors and Churches
The Hopeless
People who are hurting
Those in Society who NEED to hear what they don’t want to hear.

Due to the nature of some of the content, it may not be appropriate for people under the age 13.

The most important aspect of this event is for their voice to be heard and the message of their hearts shared. In regards to fundraising, there will be an opportunity to donate and much of the physical artwork will be up for silent auction. All YASO folks are unpaid volunteers and all proceeds are used for relief supplies and resources for teens and young adults with needs.

For more information about the event, please contact Patrick Green at 815-905-0185 or email him at patrick (at) lifebridgeonline (dot) org.

For more information about the YASO story, please check out our article on the Emergent Village Weblog.

"He told them many things in parables": up/rooted.west this summer

2010-06-03T15:33:00.004-05:00

At our May gathering, we wrapped up discussion of Tony Jones's The New Christians. Next up, since the few of us who were at the Peter Rollins Insurrection tour back in April were happily left in a parabolic state of mind by that experience, we'd like to take up Rollins's The Orthodox Heretic and Other Impossible Tales. I notice from the blog archives here (before my time) that this won't be up/rooted.west's first discussion of a Rollins book--the group read How (Not) to Speak of God a few years back--but if you haven't had any exposure to Peter's distinctive way of "a/theologizing" yet, his latest collection of parables should serve as a fine introduction. Inspired by Jesus' own method of teaching, these creative new parables similarly reveal and conceal at the same time, pointing us to a God who is so much more than our statements about God.

But if that doesn't sound intriguing enough, think of it as story time. Everybody loves story time, right? We'll have the book on hand and will pick out a couple to read aloud--they're short and pithy and I believe meant to be told in that way. So that means you don't have to read anything ahead of time, and securing a copy of the book yourself is optional.

We're sticking at Gino's, at least for June (maybe we'll picnic it later in the summer), but please note we're switching from the 2nd Thursday of the month to the 3rd. So we'll gather next on June 17th. Drop in between 6:30-7pm; the conversation starts at 7.

Peace,

Mark

up/rooteded.west co-leader

The (Alleged) Difference Between Emergent and Emerging, and the Stewardship of Words

2010-04-17T08:28:00.003-05:00

At the Peter Rollins event last week in Wrigleyville some rumblings reached me from somewhere that it might be best to avoid “emerging” language in the little commercial Kris and I offered for up/rooted. That was well and good since the guiding image of the “Insurrection” was a fist, not a leaf (and really, in an insurrection, a leaf intimidates no one). But that brief message of caution reignited some thoughts I’ve been mulling over at least since the Dan Kimball/Skye Jethani “retrospective” on the emerging church at Wheaton College back in January.

I only made it to the second part of that talk, which was mostly Jethani, but the part that stuck with me was the effort to distinguish “emerging” from “emergent” by virtue of the kinds of questions with which one or one’s community is wrestling. You can see Skye standing in front of a Powerpoint slide here at Kimbell’s blog—and I believe he was getting this from another source I didn’t note—but as you can see, according to this schema, if you are mainly dealing with questions of style, evangelism, culture, mission, or church, you are “emerging,” but if you go beyond this into a preoccupation with questions about “gospel” and “world” you are “emergent” (and likely involved on some level with Emergent Village).

Now, I’m all for clarity, but separating out emerg-ing (the sheep?) from emerg-ent (the goats?) is getting a little out of hand. We’re only trying to have a conversation here. Mostly what is revealed to me afresh wherever I find this emergent/emerging distinction being drawn is the deep-seated need so many Evangelical Protestant Christians have to draw a line between in and out, true and false, even when the parties involved, emerging and emergent, are, respectively, not-organized and only loosely networked (sans doctrinal statement or magisterium). No doubt, some (not too-tight) brackets are helpful with certain tasks (e.g. understanding confessional/ecclesial traditions), but here we have to wonder if the brackets have become idols (“bracketolatry?”).

Come to think of it, it’s largely this impulse that makes me ill-at-ease being Protestant while highly committed to being reforming (in my case, named after Luther, to his displeasure). It seems to me the particular temptation of Protestant Christianity is to accomplish purity, originality, apostolicity etc. through separation—through an ever-more precise (if imagined) placing of the brackets. In contrast, the particular calling, and burden, of reforming movements within the Christian church, as they advocate for change, is to maintain and insist upon their own catholicity and apostolicity, even while “conservative” elements of the moment are engaged in excommunicating them from the institution or separating themselves to restore the “original” church.

It is never an easy thing to insist that you belong and believe you belong to a group when voices are saying you do not belong. It has been hard from the start for Christians to affirm their basic continuity and unity with Israel, the tree into which they have been grafted through Christ (Rom 9-11; Eph 2); it has been hard for churches of the Reformation to affirm their catholicity with the church of Rome; and now on a much smaller (and seemingly more abstract) level, the challenge is being posed to emergents (folks networked through Emergent Village) to maintain that they are in the same amorphous emerging phenomenon, without distinction.

Lest this problem all sound so six months ago (that’s like fifty years in the emerging conversation), I’m fully aware from Kimbell and others (all invested in this thing longer than I) that some folks are intentionally leaving behind emergent/emerging/emergence language altogether. Here I can only say that this betrays the worst kind of linguistic stewardship. I personally love words very much and I am saddened to see them used, scratched up, and thrown in the landfill like so many burned CDs. I think something very similar happened in the case of “liberation theology” in the 1970s and 80s. North American Christians imported it from Latin America, branded it, jammed to it for awhile, and when they decided it was too Marxist-sounding, trashed it (cf. “Disco Sucks!), leaving the very gospel-central word liberation tainted and suspect. Emerging is a good word, particularly wedded as it is to a rich organic motif, so compatible with the agricultural ethos of the Bible. I really think it’s a keeper.

We can never be too aware that the setting in which we live and operate here in the North American church—at least in its Protestant expressions—is compulsively schismatic and faddish. If we are looking for something to reject, I suggest we reject that particular ugly aspect of our inheritance, and concentrate instead on living into Jesus’ prayer “that we may all be one” (John 17).

Mark

Thanks for all the fish

2010-04-14T20:48:00.002-05:00

Good evening, good people. This is Rebecca speaking to you. I know my voice has gotten unfamiliar to most of you at this point because of the extended hiatus of up/rooted.city. I have two things to talk with you about tonight.

1. I'm sorry to have to say that in working out the priorities of what I spend my time on, I will have to lovingly prune out most emergent events and my role as a local leader (or at least point person) of the emergent movement. I need the time to focus on my family (my sister-in-law just birthed my first niece plus, you know, the new husband) and my job at Safe Families, which allows me to work for systemic change for vulnerable kids by revitalizing the big-c Church. How cool is that job, huh?

That being said, I'm looking for someone who is willing to plan monthly cohort meetings, as well as to build the network of local emergent practitioners and events. I found that I loved calling up random pastors and writers and saying, "I coordinate the local Emergent Village cohort; would you like to meet me for coffee?" It was great to hear their stories and even better to have that knowledge in order to share with others who are new to the movement and just having that shiny feeling of not being the only crazy one out there who thinks that Jesus should be followed in new ways.

If you are interested in taking over this role for the city (the Western suburbs have some neat things going on already), please email me at rebica at aol dot com and we'll set up coffee to talk about it. :-) For those of you who liked getting my summaries about drinking tea, you are welcome to follow me at my personal blog Wild Rumpus or at the blog I co-host for folks in interfaith relationships called Fifty Percenters.

This has been an amazing experience for me and I'll still be around to see where God takes us now. I still proudly self-identify as emergent and believe that all of the work done toward making God accessible to everyone is necessary and good. Thank you to all of you who have walked any part of my path so far with me.

2. Also, there is a great opportunity to hear Brian McLaren speak this weekend. It's only $30 for a day-long event and lunch is included. The details are below and I really think you should take advantage of this opportunity to gather with like-minded folks.

Brian McLaren @ LaSalle Street Church
April 17 & 18, 2010 | (Sat. & Sunday)

APRIL 17: One-day Conference w/ McLaren ($30 per person, lunch provided)
10 am – 4:30 pm | Cornerstone Center, Leslie Hall | 1111 N. Wells, Chicago
Register online at www.lasallestreetchurch.org

APRIL 18: Worship Gatherings 9 & 11 am | LSC Sanctuary | 1136 N. LaSalle, Chicago

The LOST episode at Reimagine Worship, Redeemer

2010-04-12T09:52:00.005-05:00

Here's the latest announcement from Redeemer. I can't believe I'm going to miss this after watching every episode of Lost for 5 1/2 seasons. N.T. Wright at Wheaton College (registration full, don't try it) better be good... --Mark

We're excited to announce that our next Reimagine Worship gathering will be Friday, April 16 @7pm. We'll be welcoming back Aracely Bock as our special musical guest, along with (we think, not sure yet) some of her musician friends from Jesus People USA.

As our theme for the evening, we'll be exploring some of the recurring spiritual themes in the hit TV series LOST. We'll probably show a video clip or two and feed off of that, so you don't already have to be a fan of the show to participate. We're looking to make connections and correlations between the Christian faith and the spiritual questions of LOST, without pre-judging what the show's writers intend by it. For example, we may explore the whole notion of how people are "lost" in all kinds of ways. And, like the show itself, there are almost certainly going to be more questions than answers!

Once again, this promises to be a memorable and meaningful evening. As usual, we'll have plenty of time for some conversation and great coffee and snacks.

Belong. Believe. Be Yourself.

up/rooted.west April gathering: Insurrection!

2010-04-05T11:14:00.002-05:00

Hey all, sorry for not posting a March wrap-up on here. We had a great conversation on the middle chapters of the Jones book, and got to meet a few new people--about as many folks gathered around those two round tables as you can have and still all be on the same page.

As for what was said or what page that was: hard to remember at this point. We'll wrap up the book discussion on The New Christians (Chaps 5-6) back at Gino's on Thursday, May 13 (also the festival of the Ascension, that special day when we acknowledge that the Resurrected Jesus has some serious hops).

And speaking of hops, our April 8 gathering for the west group coincides with The Insurrection Tour featuring Peter Rollins and friends at Trace Bar in Wrigleyville. Enough of us wanted to go and hear Peter while he's in town & fraternize with other emerging rabble rousers from the wider area...so that's the main event. Go RSVP here on Facebook if you haven't already--helps if they know how many to expect. Doors 7pm; Event 8pm. Parking near Trace is likely scarce--I'm taking the train--but if someone wants to organize come carpooling, go for it.

See you Thursday night.

Christ is Risen!

Mark

Upcoming Events

2010-03-02T20:18:00.009-06:00

Some upcoming events you should know about!!

March 5-6
Mission on your Doorstep
hosted by Wheaton Bible Church, sponsored by World Relief
Sat keynote speakers: Noel Castellanos (CEO, CCDA) and Soong-Chan Rah (Board Member, CCDA)

Sundays @ 6pm in Lisle starting March 14
hosted by Kris Socall - up/rooted.west co-coordinator
Intro Centering prayer/3-way Listening/Storytelling
for 18-30'somethings
email kristine (at) gifteddreamers (dot) com for location/details

March 11th @6:30ish
Gino's East downtown Wheaton
up/rooted.west discussion
Read Chp 3-4 The New Christians by Tony Jones (or not....)

March 20th 8:30am - 3:30pm
Listening prayer workshop
led by Ted Kallman from Mars Hill Bible Church in MI

April 8th 7:00 - 10:00pm (Trace Bar, Wrigleyville)
Peter Rollins Insurrection tour
Video to check out

April 9-10
Forge Missional Imaginations Conference
hosted by Wheaton College

April 17
Brian McLaren @ Lasalle Street Church

Beginning Now - volunteer registration for
Chicago's Green Festival at Navy Pier

If you'd like to add anything to this list, please post a comment!

Reimagine Worship at Redeemer: Alt Worship UK

2010-02-23T23:21:00.003-06:00

An invitation from Fred Nelson at Redeemer Church, Park Ridge:

We're excited to announce that our next Reimagine Worship gathering will be Friday, February 26 @7pm. This month we'll be experiencing some of the sights and sounds of the Alt Worship scene in the UK.

Following the Alt Worship ethos, there will be plenty of time for relaxing to music, meditation, prayer, communion, conversation, and interesting visuals.

Since this will a new approach for us, we're thinking that the evening will be a bit more loosely structured than usual. We're still working on themes and narrowing down the bewildering number of options available to us. At present, we're not planning on having a guest worship band for the evening: there should be plenty of other things to occupy us!

What is alt worship? One website puts it this way: Alternative worship tries to give people "tools" for honest encounters with God. "Tools" might mean prayer, pens and paper, a video loop, something to eat, someone to talk to, Holy Communion, or anything else that can help us to meet God in some way. But the tools used in alternative worship have one important characteristic - they don't lead to predetermined outcomes. That is to say, alternative worship seeks to bring God and the participant together - but not to predetermine what the outcome of the meeting might be. This is essential to protect the genuineness of the encounter. The absence of pressure, or concern for specific "results," encourages openness to God. Amazing encounters may follow.

This promises to be another memorable and meaningful evening. As usual, we'll have plenty of time for some conversation and great coffee and snacks.

Belong. Believe. Be Yourself. Be There!

Redeemer Church
1006 Gillick Street
Park Ridge, Illinois 60068

Are Emergents Creedal? West Cohort Feb. Wrap-Up

2010-02-18T08:40:00.002-06:00

Last week Thursday, the uprooted.west cohort gathered at Gino's East back in its familiar "garage" space where, happily, there was no trouble at all hearing each other. Great to have some new folks again to join us in exploring the "frontier" of the emerging church with the help of Tony Jones's book.

I think I said at the end that we'd be discussing Chapter 3 at our March gathering, but now that I see it's on the shorter side, let's make that Chapters 3-4.

Much of our conversation last week revolved around what Jones calls at different points the "squishiness" or "slipperiness" of the emergent movement. If what emergent Christians share is indeed an "ethos, a vibe, a sensibility" (p.39), and--in lieu of membership of doctrine--the binding force of friendship (p.56), well, the question that keeps arising is: "Is that enough?"

We spent some time identifying some of the recurring emergent characteristics that connected with our own experience. Especially prominent was a penchant for eclecticism, possibly stemming from the diversity of church forms present in our own backgrounds. There is a real hunger to experience the wideness of the Church by being in touch with various expressions of it at the same time and having relationships spread across denominational/confessional lines. The lingering issue I'd love to continue to explore here is: How do we belong somewhere and to a particular community while retaining a healthy sense of this larger belonging? How do we preserve a healthy sense of restlessness, and perhaps of being misfits, without diminishing commitment to a particular people, place, and mission?

We spent a little time on the brief history of Emergent Village as recounted from Tony Jones's (by no means exclusive) perspective. Another trait of emergents that stood out here is an inability to limit a conversation about the future and mission of the church to matters of techniques, trends, generational hooks, "being relevant," etc. Sooner or later, Christians are going to talk theology and when they recognize their own biases--and the Bible's biases--in the process, things get very interesting and the commitment to friendship becomes that much more important.

Finally, I raised the question of whether, or to what extent, emergents are creedal Christians since this is something of a hot topic right now. My own take on this is simply to say that I am, and since I am not immune to doubt, I value being part of a faith community that can also be found confessing the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, among other things, to pick up the slack in my own faith. However, I am completely at ease with others in my cohort answering this question differently, or coming from communities that answer this question differently, and see no reason why an open network like Emergent Village should feel compelled to formally state its orthodoxy or lack thereof.

One parallel I am seeing just now--and this may have something to do with how hospitable the emergent movement has felt for artists and the creatively gifted--is with the longstanding tradition of discomfort among evangelicals with art, which always has trouble--you might say downright resists--proving either its orthodoxy or its efficacy as a tool for evangelism. Is the emergent church creedal? Is a painting creedal? Is the emergent church missional? Must a good novel contain an altar call?

Well, love to hear your thoughts on this here or at a cohort near you. Peace,

Mark
uprooted.west co-leader

The Ordinary Radicals

2010-02-02T15:01:00.001-06:00

I recently got an invitation to this event. It looks really interesting.

So, yesterday, I got a facebook note from "The Ordinary Radicals" saying, in essence, "Is there anyone in Chicago who's willing to host Jamie Moffett so he can show his documentary in your church at a discounted rate?" Rather impetuously, I accepted the offer, and so we are showing this documentary at United Church.

If you're wondering "What is The Ordinary Radicals?" I've got a link for ya here. It's a documentary about various Christian communities around the country and what they are doing. It's about breaking stereotypes, seeking new ways of living, music, politics, spirituality, and other good stuff. If you're marginally interested in any of the above, even if you're not Christian, I think you'll find it interesting at the very least. The music is good too.

Jamie Moffett (the director) will lead a Q&A/Discussion period after the show. Please feel free to join in. The more perspectives, the better.

On another note, as I have promised to help pay part of Jamie's travel costs, and as the church can't afford to pay him, we're going to be taking up a collection. I'd suggest a $5-$10 donation. If you can't scrape that together, don't let it stop you. If you're feeling generous, the church and I would be deeply grateful.

So, if can come, please come. If you can bring friends, colleagues, or others along, all the better. I'm really hoping for a nice big diverse crowd.

If you're interested, here's the logistics:
Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: United Church of Rogers Park
Street: 1545 Morse Ave
City/Town: Chicago, IL

Suggested emergent books

2010-02-01T14:12:00.003-06:00

The moderator of the Pc(USA) church - who just happens to self-identify as emergent - just posted his list of suggested emergent reading. Find it here. Come on back after you've lokoed at it and tell us what you think? Are there any must-reads that he is missing?

Dan Kimball lectures at Wheaton College

2010-01-16T22:35:00.009-06:00

This looks good...and free. --Mark

The Emerging Church: Origins, Doctrine, Truth, Mission from an Insider Perspective

Wheaton College's Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE) welcomes Dan Kimball to campus to speak on “The Emerging Church: Origins, Doctrine, Truth, Mission from an Insider Perspective.” Kimball is a leading voice in the Emerging Church movement and author of numerous books on the topic, including his most recent book, They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations. He is co-founder of the Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, where he serves as a Mission and Teaching Pastor.

Kimball will be presenting on Tuesday, January 19 at 7pm and Skye Jethani will be leading a response and open forum on Wednesday, January 20 at 4pm. Both events are free and open to public and will be held in room 339 of Blanchard Hall, located at 501 College Avenue in Wheaton (campus map). For more information, call the CACE office at 630.752.5886 or visit www.christianethics.org.

up/rooted.west January wrap-up

2010-01-16T13:44:00.006-06:00

A couple nights ago thirteen of us got together at Muldoon's Pub for the first up/rooted.west gathering in several months. Ostensibly we were to discuss the first chapter of Tony Jones's The New Christians, but as a lot of new connections and reconnections were being made (and most didn't have a copy yet), the book discussion will really begin in February.

Patrick Green, pastor of Lifebridge in Lockport, came for the first time along with several new friends from his community. Pastor Mark Borgetti from Our Savior's in Naperville also came by to check the group out. Good to see familiar up/rooted faces as well.

It was atypically loud in the pub (duh, you might say...but really, louder than usual), so conversation was mostly limited to one's half of the long table, but still it was good to make some new acquaintances and learn about how church is being embodied across some quite different communities. In case anyone out there would still benefit by being moderately shocked at an expression of God's church meeting in a pub, please be shocked now; we're moving over to Gino's East next time where we have a predictably quieter space, a big round table, and you can still order a beer if such is your thirst.

That next gathering will be February 11 (sticking with the 2nd Thursday pattern). Gino's is a block away at 315 W. Front St. in Wheaton. Come at 6:30-ish if you want to order pizza and all that; then we can actually start the discussion at 7pm. Also we wrap up (officially) at 8:30pm, but linger as you like of course.

Peace be with you, and if you are still searching for a trustworthy place to give to support the recovery in Haiti, I commend my denomination's channel for emergency aid: ELCA Disaster Response. 100% will go to aid the people affected.

Mark Williamson
up/rooted.west co-coordinator

Crisis in Haiti

2010-01-15T09:10:00.002-06:00

There will be a free conference call TODAY at 11AM PST with World Vision's President Rich Stearns, Willow Creek Community Church Pastor Bill Hybels and Max Lucado on the Haiti crisis and how we can be responding.

Dialing instructions

Becky Johnson

2010-01-07T09:43:00.009-06:00

Friday, January 15th @7pm

Redeemer Church in Park Ridge will be welcoming Becky Johnson as a special musical guest, along with some of her musician friends - Izzy Hermosillo, Nathan Ykema, and Jonathan Fries. Becky is a worship leader at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, and a member of the increasingly popular band Beckon Q.

The theme for the evening is - get this! - "the devil." We're going to explore what Scripture says, what people are saying, and what we're thinking about the figure of the devil these days. Lots to talk about!

As usual, we'll have plenty of time for some conversation and great coffee and snacks.

Questions? Send an email to redeemeroffice@comcast.net or call 847-823-3634.

Next uprooted west gathering in Wheaton

2010-01-05T21:19:00.006-06:00

After a brief hiatus, up/rooted.west is back in session on Thursday, January 14th at 7pm at Muldoon's Pub, 133 Front St. in Wheaton. Randy Harper is taking a step back as co-coordinator for a bit and I (Mark Williamson) am stepping up to co-lead with Kristine Socall, who's been a part of this cohort for several years and is even featured in the YouTube video on cohorts at emergentvillage.com (I checked that out the other night and spotted her!).

I think we'll make a dynamic team, one that is quite representative of the diversity and convergence that is the emergent church. Kristine comes from a charismatic/non-denominational background and is also a Benedictine Oblate. She'll graduate in a year with her MBA Economic Development and is currently involved with launching a missional community hub in the Naperville area with Willow Creek's Axis. She's passionate about building community and creating experiences that foster transformation.

I'm a Lutheran pastor in Wheaton, with significant formative experiences in evangelical communities like Willow Creek where I went to Student Impact in the mid 90s and studied abroad at Oak Hill Theological College (an evangelical Anglican seminary) in London. I have a particular passion for helping to heal the liberal/conservative, mainline/evangelical split in American Christianity which I find to be terribly unhealthy. I think I got sucked into the emergent movement as soon as I came across the phrases "generous orthodoxy" and "generative friendship." Sounds like church to me.

Whether you've had any exposure to this movement at all or are just getting your feet wet, I think our series at up/rooted.west through the winter/spring will be a fine (re)introduction. We're going to be using Tony Jones's The New Christians to stoke the conversation; I think it does a splendid job of getting across both the history and ethos of this whole emergent thing, and has some good humor mixed in as well. Why don't you read the intro and first chapter if you can get to it in the next couple weeks. If you don't, by all means come anyway, and introduce yourself.

Hope to see you there & Happy 2010,

Mark Williamson

Charter for Compassion

2009-12-28T13:23:00.001-06:00

I learned from one of my favorite bloggers, Baraka, that the Charter for Compassion has become a reality. It was the wish expressed by Karen Armstrong when she was selected as a TED Prize Winner:

I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.

I remember reading about the process in a fantastic post written by my friend Mike two years ago.

The Charter for Compassion was unveiled on November 12th and is available for all to sign and affirm, online and in their lives. I have signed it because it resonates so much with my spiritual practice that seeks justice and compassion (to feel with) on both a systemic level and a personal level (the second is harder than the first, for me).

In Mike's post, he writes about immigration but his words are applicable to foster care or education or any number of societal ills that are perpetuated by institutions. He writes:

Would you say "Well the law's the law," or would you say "Laws can change, and this one needs to, because justice and compassion ought never to be opposed to one another"?

I think Karen Armstrong says something similar when she writes:

"I say that religion isn’t about believing things. It’s ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.”

It seems to me she is saying that whatever unseen thing into which we put our faith is important to each of us as fuel for our spirit but what we do with that energy is even more important. And no one would claim that we are called to act selfishly when we experience these intimations of holiness and sacredness.

I am excited to see that one of the paragraphs of the Charter addresses our participation in systems of injustice like sweatshops and harmful farming techniques.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

This is the area where I am working the hardest on a personal level, committing to buying organic and fair-trade food(chocolate is a recent tough addition to the list) and buying all of my clothing second-hand or from scrupulous vendors. I will think about how I can live more deeply in accordance with this Charter, which I think accurately describes what God wants for my life.

Please learn more about the Charter below and here and then consider spreading the word to your networks.

Tonight!

2009-12-07T10:48:00.001-06:00

Hello good people doing good things out there in the world!

I have a favor to ask.

Tonight, several people are driving in through the snow of the suburbs to attend our up/rooted.city meeting with the hopes of meeting Christians who won't be mean to them. They are just dipping their toes into this emergent stuff and I'd love to have a large welcoming committee for them.

If you have ever thought to yourself, "Wow, I've been meaning to go," consider making tonight the night. Don't let the snow hold you back from folks in need.

7:00 at 1741 N. Western. We'll provide the tea. You consider providing some snacks. God will be there.

Thanks,
Rebecca

Church profile: First Lutheran Church of the Trinity

2009-12-02T08:38:00.008-06:00

So, the benefit of being unemployed is that, in an effort to expand my network, I get to meet with all sorts of interesting people. I decided that while I was doing this, I would work on behalf of up/rooted and find some leaders of spiritual communities that might not self-identify as "emergent" but who are walking down the same types of paths toward God. If you know any of these folks, please send their contact info my way and I'll try to have a little coffee and write up a profile for you, the readers of this blog.

Yesterday, I had lunch with Tom Gaulke, the pastor at First Lutheran Church of the Trinity. Tom is probably around my age (late 20s, early 30s) and speaks with that slightly twitchy passion that I have come to associate with folks who have seriously bought into Jesus's commandment to give up their wealth and serve the poor. It's like the personality equivalent of the giant pores on a nun's face: who needs uber-refined social skills when there's work to do? I find that my life is much better when I interact regularly with folks like this. It's like they have gotten to a point where their self-confidence in being a loved child of God lets them be more vulnerably themselves with other people rather than spending all of their energy on controlling their image. He smiles a lot above his clerical short-sleeve maroon button-down shirt and ducks his head boyishly when he realizes he has talked for awhile on one subject.

One of the topics that he is was clearly quite passionate about was the Monday afternoon study group. He told me that an extremely diverse group of about 8 people gather every week to study primary source theology. You know, Augustan and the like. They meet at noon since a lot of folks work afternoon or night shifts so evenings are not available to them. His twitchiness got super-intense as he talked about his excitement that these folks - most of whom don't have formal educations - are doing graduate-level study about how people throughout history have thought about God. I knew that I could recommend this community when he said, "There is this elitism in seminary that I hate. It's like people believe that they have learned the right way to follow God and then they become pastors to teach others how to do it that way." This girl is a sucker for flat social networks.

The church is located in Bridgeport, which has a local history of being an Irish Catholic enclave and does, in fact, house the Daleys. However, Bridgeport is also in the top five neighborhoods in the city for diversity and so the rest of the population that isn't wealthy, white and Catholic end up needing churches like First Trinity. Tom ended up there as a supply preacher while he was studying for his MDiv and made a connection with the congregation which led him to stay on after graduation even though the congregation had been without a pastor for 12 years. He is currently bi-vocational and works a second job to afford to lead this community. I don't necessarily agree that all pastors should live in penury and we had a lively discussion about it but I have to say he was somewhat persuasive when he pointed out that if he made what others starting pastors make, he's earning three times what his parishioners earn and that's a major justice issue. I'm not in his camp on this one yet, but that particular bit of truth got me one step closer.

The church runs a clothing pantry and has an intentional community of about 15 people living in the building itself. The Sunday services are traditional liturgy with hymns and gospel music but the people Tom described were a variety of spiritual identities and cultural backgrounds. He pointed out that the mess of human need and diversity in this community is similar to the mess of the stable in Bethlehem and it is only in that mess that God can be born.

Powerful stuff.

You can get more information about First Trinity at their Facebook website here. If you have trouble accessing their site, email us and we'll get you connected. You can also take a look at Tom's blog here to get a sense for the types of sermons he preaches.

Respectfully,
Rebecca

Yes, but what do you teach?

2009-11-17T11:35:00.000-06:00

Each fall a different set of students from Wheaton College (sometimes called the “Evangelical Harvard”) comes to study us at St. Paul Lutheran Church because of our “open and affirming” stance toward gays and lesbians. Needless to say, we offer the minority report on this matter in socially conservative Wheaton, so naturally we provide a valuable service for students needing to track down “the other side” for their research papers. (I do wish they would visit us more often for non-homework related reasons…)

This year, after I finished outlining about four different rationales folks in the congregation might be working with that have led them to a belief in unrestricted inclusion of gay Christians, as well as acknowledged continuing voices of dissent or discomfort in the congregation, one of the three inquiring students in my office, a young woman, asked, “Yes, but what do you teach?”

I admit I was a little stunned by her directness. She wasn’t asking what I believed personally; she was asking what I, as a pastor, teach to be true, and I had to stop and ask myself if I had somehow abdicated my duty by, in fact, not having really taught anything about “the church’s response to homosexuality” in the sort of top-down way she was suggesting. Mostly the other pastor and I both just give out tools for biblical interpretation and ethical reflection, and then facilitate conversation as the people have at it. So I said something to that effect, and then I think we were all a bit struck—or at least I was—with having unexpectedly hit on what is really a much more profound difference between us than our respective positions on homosexuality, namely, the question of how much authority a pastor is supposed to have and how he/she is expected to wield it.

Having spent a significant portion of my growing-up years in Evangelical Protestant environments and working in one now (contextually speaking), I believe this to be one of the most significant, if underappreciated, differences between how Evangelicals and mainliners operate. The popular understanding that Evangelical “Bible churches” are more committed to the truths of the Bible than their mainline counterparts is, if not a ruse entirely, highly exaggerated. What they are committed to most of all is entrusting their “teaching pastors” with the authority to determine and expound the Bible’s answers to whatever people want answered. Evidence abounds that this approach both attracts high numbers and exiles into the world an inordinate number of wounded sheep (not to mention a propensity for outright schism).

That said, we should be careful not to imagine this tendency only exists in one branch of the Christian family. In my own denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, it isn’t difficult to find congregations that are still following an inherited “Herr Pastor” model (probably not accompanied by much success retaining younger generations…), and there are significant elements in the church, for example, among the evangelical catholic block, that are longing for a stronger “teaching” authority—from pastors, but just as importantly, from bishops—to resolve the confusion over human sexuality, a confusion they perceive as being brought on by laity gone wild. Again, the deeper confusion here when Lutherans are found demanding more clarity on what “the Church teaches” is where this mysterious capital “C” Church is (Chicago? St. Louis? Wittenberg? The pastor’s office?).

Truly, one can justifiably lose patience on the other end, with a church full of moderators who don’t seem to be making much use of their seminary training. But I would rather err on that side any day. There is, of course, a better way of teaching that equips the baptized to humbly discover the answers, or something approximating answers, themselves. If the result looks like chaos rather than consensus, well, then let’s let God handle that—I hear God is pretty good at bringing order out of chaos.

Rev. Mark Williamson
Associate Pastor
St. Paul Lutheran Church
Wheaton, IL

Update and a question

2009-11-11T17:24:00.001-06:00

Good afternoon, good people. We had a great meeting on Monday night with some neat conversations between a couple who are starting a new spiritual community in the south Loop by (gasp) listening and being non-threatening without an agenda, an atheist who finds community that he needs at an emergent church, a Christian with a new take on Predestination, a pastor who started a new spiritual community by (gasp) listening and being non-threatening without an agenda and me. It was a delight to eat homemade Chinese five-spice WHO bread (wheat, honey, oat) with blueberry jam and peanut butter together with warm tea on a cool fall evening. Please join us for our next discussion night on December 7 at 7:00.

Also, I'm beginning to think that, as the facilitator of this local cohort, I might be able to offer you folks more than just discussion nights. If you would take a minute and respond to this post by telling me what you'd like to see more of, I'll do my best to accommodate the spiritual needs of the community. Would you like more author's events? More theology pubs? Volunteers opportunities? Stuff I haven't thought of? Do you like having something to read before you come? Do you like a more open format? This is your chance to help me be a resource to you. I have been so welcomed and supported by the Emergent community and I really want to provide that for others through these events. Please let me know what you're thinking. You can leave a comment on this post or send me an email at rebica at aol dot com.

Thanks. I hope to see you soon.

More It's Really All About God.

2009-11-03T20:39:00.000-06:00

Hi, folks. One of our cohort members has written a review of Samir Salmonovic's book, It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian. Although she wasn't able to make the discussion we publicized earlier, she has some good things to say. Find the review here.

I will try to post some thoughts from his talk a little later.

Navigate - November 10-12

2009-11-02T20:32:00.003-06:00

Hi, folks. This time, a leader of another cohort has just alerted me to a conference that might appeal to you. In her words, she describes it as:

a conference targeted on helping hyphenateds (emergent minded folks who are apart of mainline denominations) find their way in the emerging, post-modern context. The conference is called Navigate and will be Nov. 10-12 in Florence, KY. The cost of the conference is $200 and includes leaders such as Dan Kimball, David Kinnaman , Lilly Lewin, Troy Bronsink and many others.

There are scholarships available and you can download their flyer here and visit the website here.

Playing for Change - November 3

2009-11-01T20:28:00.002-06:00

Hi, folks. A member of our cohort just alerted me to a project called Playing for Change.Their website describes them:

Musicians from different cultures uniting together for the common purpose of peace through music is a powerful statement. For the past four years Playing For Change has traveled the world with a mobile recording studio and cameras in search of such inspiration. Throughout the journey we created a family of over 100 musicians from all walks of life. We connect these musicians together with "Songs Around The World." The Playing For Change Band is the next chapter in our story. Now people everywhere can witness first hand the transformational power of music and love that comes from the Playing For Change Band.

This looks really interesting and sounds even better. They will be playing on Tuesday, November 3 at the Park West and you can look at their website to get more information about tickets here.

It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian

2009-10-22T10:03:00.002-05:00

Come hear a great author, Samir Salmanovic, speak about his new book. It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian

Sunday, Oct 25, 5:00-6:00 pm
Wicker Park Grace
1741 N. Western
Chicago, IL

Samir Selmanovic will talk about his new book, It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian

Watch a short video here: Samir on YouTube

Best selling author Karen Armstrong wrote about his book, "Samir Selmanovic is asking the right questions at the right time, and refusing the consolations of certainty at a time when strident orthodoxies--atheist as well as religious--are perilously dividing us."

I look forward to seeing you there. Also, I'm currently at the CCDA conference and blogging about the experience and how it relates to Emergent Christianity. Check it our here if you're interested.

Overflow Coffee Bar

2009-10-13T15:05:00.002-05:00

Hi folks.

I recently had lunch with Amanda Neely, who is looking to start up a Christian community around an art-centered non-profit coffee bar. She seems pretty neat and is definitely committed to this calling. Although she's not ready to label the project "emergent," I assured her that it was still something we were willing to let people know about because emergent is more about how we interact with people who see the world differently than we do than about closing up into a small band of rebel fighters who have to defend ourselves from anyone who isn't us. In our conversation, it was clear that Amanda believed in building community through relationships and letting God take it from there. I'm a big fan of that.

This is the information that she sent me to share with you all.

Attention: South Loop Residents, Students and Workers

Looking for people in the South Loop who are seeking to be part of a community that's changing the world? A new non-profit coffee shop is starting in the South Loop with a mission to change the world. We're looking for like-minded people who would love to be part of this from the beginning (small commitment, big commitment, and inbetween). Want more information? Visit www.neelyjourney.blogspot.com or send us an email at info(at)overflowcoffeebar(dot)org.

Let me know if you have any questions that I can answer by leaving a comment.

-Rebecca

nuChristian by Russell Rathbun

2009-10-12T12:44:00.001-05:00

For the first time ever, a publisher read something I wrote and asked if I would be willing to read an advanced copy of a book and make a review on my blog. Pretty cool, huh?

So, the author is a guy named Russell Rathbun and I have met him before. I wrote about it on this blog. Then, he had come to Chicago with his co-pastor Debbie Blue and one of their congregants, Linda Buturian. I bought and read both of the women's books but, for some reason, was not drawn to Russell's book, even though my pastor and several other folks that I know liked it quite a bit.

The publisher tells me this about Russell:

Russell Rathbun, MDiv, is a founding minister with Debbie Blue of House of Mercy, a pioneering emergent church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rathbun is also the author of Mid rash on the Juanitos (Cathedral Hill Press, 2009) and the critically-acclaimed Post-Rapture Radio (Jossey-Bass, 2008). He lives with his wife, two kids, and dog KoKo in St. Paul.

At the time I met them all, I wrote this about him:

Russell started out the conversation by describing their church, which they formed when they got out of seminary because they wanted a church where they would actually want to attend and that their friends, who were artists and stuff, would also want to attend. Russell, who looked like he would fit in quite well in Wicker Park with his black cowboy shirt with embroidered banjos and funky glasses, pointed out that their church had been around for 12 years, which is ancient for an emergent church.

I liked watching the energy of the two pastors: Russell and Debbie. Both were a little twitchy and awkward. Obviously, they wanted to be there and had such beautiful, honest and vulnerable things to say. But, part of that honesty and vulnerability involved allowing themselves to be the self-proclaimed introverts that they are, even in front of a group of strangers. As someone who has been trained to pull out my most charismatic identity when addressing groups of people, I admire their courage to simply be themselves.

Now, Russel has written a book as a response to David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons' book, unChristian. I haven't read the first book, but Russell has written this small chapbook to be part of the conversation that unChristian has started.

The basic premise of unChristian is to look at detailed survey data and determine how non-Christians in their late teens to early 30s perceive Christianity. Although I have my reservations about Barna statistics, the method is one with which this little University of Chicago graduate is very comfortable: ask a bunch of multiple-choice questions to a huge bunch of people. Then, figure out trends in the data.

What Kinnaman and Lyons figure out is that Christianity has a huge image problem amongst young adults. This is not a surprise to many of us. As a Christian from this demographic, I constantly encounter people who are clearly surprised and intrigued by the inclusive religion I practice that fully acknowledges that human beings are imperfect and that God doesn't really seem inclined to change that, even after someone has made a profession of faith. Christians who practice in a religion that preaches rules and that conversion will fix everything that is wrong in your life tend to be pretty loud, dominating mass media with TV shows, guest appearances on conservative talk shows, books and advertisements for megachurches. Folks like the people at my church are quieter and have smaller in population size. Kinnaman and Lyons document this imbalance of awareness by documented public opinion. They find that non-Christians in their late teens to early 30s think that "Christians are only interested in 'saving souls;' they are hypocritical, anti-homosexual, sheltered, too political and judgmental." Russell seeks to explain these complaints to more traditional Christians and suggest some ways to counter them. The book is entitled nuChristian and is available here.

What is most valuable about this book is the perspective that Russell is taking (I suppose using correct journalism means that I should use his last name. But I've met the guy! It feels weird. I'm going to go ahead and keep breaking the rules.) Russell is not writing this book for people who do not like the church. He is not trying to convince anyone they are wrong for thinking such things. He is also not writing for an audience full of emergent Christians: preaching to the choir, as it were. Russell seems to be trying to explain to folks like his own father what is going on with this new generation of young people and to insert his own experiences as a pastor to these folks as illustration for how these young people can best be assisted in living lives that are more spiritually fulfilled. Personally, this book is most useful to me as a resource to hand to someone I love who is a Christian but who just doesn't understand why I am so excited about emergence.

I think it is most useful as that kind of resource because Russell speaks the language of more traditional Christians. I think he must be in his 40s (about a decade older than the folks he is writing about) and he traveled the traditional path to pastorhood, even though he started a ground-breaking church once he graduated from seminary. I don't know how to say this but the rationale behind a lot of the things he says is very Jesus-y. Also, his vocabulary sets up a dichotomy of spiritual identity. He talks about Christians and non-Christians. I am much more comfortable with talking about spiritual identity as a continuum since I believe that we're all moving forward and backward on our paths in relationship to God. To create an arbitrary milestone that everyone has to have crossed and can never go back to in the form of saying the words, "Now I follow Christ" seems unnecessarily exclusionist to me. But I am not the target audience of this book. Folks who have never tried to wrap their heads around that idea (and many other emergent ideas like how culture affects church life or Christianity as something other than a rules-based religion) are the audience of this book. And I think Russell reaches out to those folks well because I can't connect with some of mechanics he uses to get his message across. I am too deeply entrenched in the post-Modern mindset that he is describing to be an effective translator. It's like listening to your own voice mail. The things Russell says are accurate just like it is actually my voice talking but because it coming from a different context, I get agitated at its unfamiliarity. However, my agitation is the price I pay for recommending this book as a resource to Modern-thinking folks about why emergents are the way they are.

My father read "Chapter 6: Sheltered from God's Children" and brought up what I think is the only weakness in the book's focus. He said, "I can't tell if Russell wants me to be more like a nuChristian or not." nuChristian is Russell's word for folks who identify as Christian but who are part of the post-modern generation and, therefore, different than Christians that have come before. My dad's confusion is totally understandable. To Russell's credit, he publishes a conversation he had with his father and it turns out the generational misunderstanding is common.

DAD: It seems that there are a lot of differences. In some ways you are saying to be able to reach out and minister to these new generations, I have to change my theology.
ME: I don't think I'm saying that.
DAD: It sounds like it. I have to change what I think about homosexuality , abortion, politics, the Bible, salvation . . . [laughs]. . . about the belief in absolute truth.
ME: That does seem like a lot of things. But I am not saying that you have to change what you think about these things. I am just suggesting what I think most postmoderns think about these subjects. And I am not trying to suggest that they all think the same way on any particular subject, I am trying to talk more about how they approach things.

I'm looking for a final quote where Russell clears this all up and there isn't one since the way we approach things is often entangled in what we believe. So, folks with Modern perspectives like our dads are always going to feel that if their approach has to change, so will their beliefs and it is always scary to consider one's beliefs changing since then we will probably have to change the way we live our lives, which is always uncomfortable. And isn't changing the way we live our lives equivalent to changing our approach to things?

It's a difficult task to resolve that circularity of intent and I do not blame Russell for being unable to do so. There were several brilliant moments in the book where he put concepts into words with a clarity I envied. Because of that, I do recommend the book as a great resource for folks outside of the movement or the generation or for folks inside the movement or from the post-Modern generation who need some help in translating their experiences.

-Rebecca

Charter for Compassion.

2009-09-22T22:27:00.003-05:00

One of our group members pointed out the Charter for Compassion, that has a live event full of Nobel Laureates on November 12. I know I'M a sucker for interfaith, but this seems very consistent with much of the emergent movement's ideals. I particularly liked that it affirmed that all religions are NOT alike. Check it out and then stop back here and write a comment with what you thought.

Upcoming up/rooted events

2009-09-21T10:18:00.002-05:00

There are three points on our agenda today, good people.

1. Tomorrow night (Tuesday), the fabulous Nadia Bolz-Weber will be in town and hosting a theology pub. I'm not sure what the agenda is for the evening but it's part of a conference with the excellent Phyllis Tickle. The event is free but they'll pass a hat to cover costs at some point. Theology pubs are a great way to meet other folks who are searching to follow Jesus in new ways or folks who are just curious about the emergent movement. I'd love to see you there. It will be held at Tommy Nevins Pub (1450 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL) from 6:00 to 8:30.

2. up/rooted.city will be meeting again on October 6 at 7:00 at Wicker Park Grace (1741 N. Western, Chicago, IL). This is another opportunity to meet other folks who are exploring this new spiritual opportunity. As a basic agenda for the evening, let's read the introduction to Julie Clawson's new book, Everyday Justice. I've attached the document but it's also available at the website for the book. With that as a starting point, we'll share our own stories, ask our own questions and try to find the beginnings of the answers. Everyone is welcome: both the familiar folks and those whose curiosity has been newly sparked. I look forward to seeing folks again after a summer apart. (OK, maybe a little more than a summer.)

3. Well, I kind of stole my own thunder. I wanted to let you know that our very own Julie Clawson has written her first book and it has just been released. Julie and her husband Mike were crucial to organizing the Chicagoland emergent cohorts (see #2) and Julie is a sought-after speaker for communities that are furthering emerging thoughts and practice. The book is available on Amazon and mine is already on its way. Buying the book not only edifies you and supports the Clawson family, it also communicates to publishing houses that authors like Julie can make money for them and might result in more books like this. Economics is fun!

As always, please forward this information along to anyone who might be interested in these topics. We haven't gotten many fresh email addresses for the list lately (my bad) so I want to make sure that folks who are new to the movement know that we're here to support them and learn from them.

up/rooted.city to reunite as well!

2009-07-19T21:09:00.000-05:00

When will up-rooted.city meet again to share their stories, you ask? At first I wasn't sure. I'm getting married during Labor Day weekend and so I'm loathe to plan something before then since I have no idea if a shinysatin bow explosion might need my immediate attention. But you all are irresistible!

So, let's gather on Tuesday, August 18 at 7:00 at Wicker Park Grace (1741 N. Western, Chicago IL). We won't have a topic for the evening; we'll simply get to know each other again and to welcome and be welcomed by anyone who is new to the group. If you have questions about emergent Christianity, bring them. We'll practice a little group think to get them answered or, at least, explored.

If anyone wants to volunteer to be my second and run the meeting in case I have a bridal meltdown, I would really appreciate it. Let me know if you're willing.

Finally, we'd like to update our mailing list so if you are not on it, please use the link in the sidebar to email us and tell us about your interest to be included.

up/rooted.west to reunite with the Clawsons

2009-07-17T21:05:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, August 12 at 6:30, we will be gathering at the Village Tavern in Carol Stream www.villagetavernandgrill.com (291 S. Schmale). Mike and Julie Clawson are in town and we'd love to gather around them and hear about their adventures in Austin, as well as to share our stories with each other to build community and explore our experiences with emergent Christianity.

Newcomers are definitely welcome and you do not need to live in the western suburbs in order to attend.

A Christianity Worth Believing

2009-07-15T18:15:00.002-05:00

This upcoming Tuesday, July 21 at 7:00, Wicker Park Grace (1741 N. Western, Chicago IL) will be hosting Doug Pagitt for his "A Christianity Worth Believing" Live event. This is a totally free event although books will be available for purchase. More info can be found here.

"Doug Pagitt and Erik Johnson are spreading the Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive and Well faith in homes, churches, bars, coffee shops and public meeting spaces around the country.

Live Occurrences are part one-man show (but there are two of us), part revival, part book reading, part hootenanny, and part communal gathering.

The 2-hour Live Occurrences include readings from the book, music - original and covers, video, spoken-word poetry, impassioned invitations to be part of the common good.

Live Occurrences are specially formulated for the Left-out, Left-behind and Let-down, and will be suitable for one and all regardless of background."

Please feel free to forward this info to anyone who might be interested. (As an aside, please feel free to tell people to send us an email to be added to our mailing list to hear about other events like this.)

April 27th Meeting in Wheaton

2009-04-19T21:24:00.001-05:00

Just a reminder that up/rooted.west will be meeting at Muldoons Pub in Wheaton, IL on Monday, April 27th at 7pm. Please do RSVP so we can save you a seat!! There is no set discussion topic - we will just be having some community time! Thank you Randy for hosting last month's group as I was buried with grad school homework assignments.

Be prepared for some upcoming changes for up/rooted.west. We're sensing a need for a change in what we're doing. The time for discussion seems to be fading and we're gearing up for some action. If you are jazzed about the idea of an interfaith/nonfaith group of people coordinating their efforts towards building community and meeting local needs, let me know! We'd love to invite you into the planning discussions!

Also, if you haven't yet heard about what Andrew Marin is doing in Chicago, I highly recommend checking out his foundation and newly released book by IVP, called Love is an Orientation. If you're in the burbs, he'll be speaking at Wheaton Academy the next two Thursday nights at 7pm. Registration is requested (it's free to attend). Hope to see you there!!

Many blessings on your journey!
Kris Socall
up/rooted.west co-coordinator
navigating the complexity of simplicy

Worth a read

2009-01-13T08:57:00.002-06:00

I want to draw your attention to a discussion going on over at Erika Haub's blog (a daily read of mine). Until very recently, when she and her family made the very difficult choice to move, Erika has been living in South Central LA, trying to obey God by giving up her wealth and follow Jesus into the midst of the poor. Her gifted insight communicated with the immediacy of the blog makes the intense joys and struggles of that kind of commitment more real than any retrospective memoir could ever be.

Recently, she wrote about folks she knows who do not feel at home in traditional churches. The comments this has elicited are worth every minute you spend with them.

The community that has formed around Erika is like the best of what I envision up/rooted meetings to be. Familiar folks and strangers feel safe enough to tell their stories, support one another and ask questions that propel all of us further along whatever we're on.

I'll be back soon with a date for the next up/rooted.city meeting. I miss you guys!

What has up/rooted.city been up to?

2008-11-26T22:59:00.002-06:00

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

busy lately? take some time out with us for dinner and discussion!

2008-11-08T17:23:00.003-06:00

Spiritual disciplines, grad school homework, funerals, hurting friends, a full-time job, working out, serving projects, family drama, and my own personal drama sure do keep my time occupied - as I'm sure for you as well! I'm not sure how Americans stay sane considering our lifestyles that keep us hopping and always occupied - sometimes even good spiritual activities just seem like another appointment block on my Outlook calendar. It's one of the reasons why the regular practice of Sabbath has been crucial for my life. There is a time for work, for play and for rest and God is with me through all the sacred ordinariness of life. Although, at times, I am simply overwhelmed with the world's crises and injustices that just seem to be never ending and there is still much work to be done. Learning how to recharge and find balance is critical!

I heard a woman speak last night about an experience she had in an orphanage in Ghana. She walked into a concrete warehouse open room filled with hundreds of crying, crawling and walking infants under 3 years old. Being overwhelmed with the desire to pick one up, to comfort at least just one affection-starved child, she asked if she could hold one. She was stunned by the response - "No, don't! They'll get used to being held and they'll cry even more and it will make it even worse! But, come here, let us show you something."

They took her to a room off to the side of the open warehouse where she could smell sweet perfume coming from under the door. They cracked the door open where she could see an older white-haired woman sitting on a mat on the floor, surrounded by candles and sweet perfume oils. This woman was holding one baby, massaging its back with perfumed oil and the baby had a wide-eyed look of ecstasy - soaking it all in! She was told that each baby gets two hours each week in the "holding room of intense compassion".

You may not have the capacity to hold the entire world's pain in your arms, but to whom are you called to offer love, compassion and holding? To whomever that is, I encourage you to do it intensely and surround yourselves with people who will support your arms when they become too heavy to hold anymore!

up/rooted.west will be meeting on the third Tuesday, Nov 18 and Dec 16 at 6:45pm, hosted at Randy Harper's home: 1950 Manchester Rd., Wheaton. We'll offer a free dinner, so please RSVP if you'll be able to make it so the cooks can be prepared. November's discussion will be an open forum and in December we'll tackle 1/3 of Phyllis Tickle's new book, The Great Emergence.

We hope that our discussion group and community of friends can offer hope and encouragement to despairing or weary Kingdom laborers, stimulate theological thought, inspire you with new ideas for how to be the church in your context and that our dreams and visions of what is possible will bounce off each other and grow exponentially as we share!

I pray that you are enjoying God and the divine work He has invited you into and that your life is filled with fellow God-lovers and laborers who will encourage your journey when you become weary! Wherever the disciples went, they encouraged one another. May we strive to do the same today as we are no less in need of encouragement!

Blessings on your journey,
Kristine Socall

…navigating the complexity of simplicity @
http://gifteddreamers.blogspot.com

2008-10-27T10:25:00.000-05:00

Instead of meeting to have a discussion this month and next, the city branch of up/rooted is going to attend some speaking events en masse. Of course, everyone from anywhere in the Chicagoland area is invited.

Tonight is Brian McLaren and Diana Butler Bass speaking at 7:00 at Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. More details are available at http://www.mccormick.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=536&Itemid=583

Next Sunday, November 2nd we'll be meeting for a "Theology Pub" at the Bar Louie on Printer's Row (47 Polk St.) from 6:00 to 8:00. Join hostess Nadia Bolz-Weber (House for All Sinners and Saints, Denver, Co. Author of Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television) for a Theology Pub featuring Becky Garrison (Religious satirist and author, Rising From the Ashes: Re-thinking Church), Doug Gay (University of Glasgow, Author, Alternative Worship: Resources from and for the Emerging Church), Nannette Sawyer (Wicker Park Grace, Author Hospitality: The Sacred Art), and Ryan Bolger (Fuller Seminary, Author Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures). Meet these folks. Chat. Have books signed. Drink beer.

I hope I'll see many of you at one of these events.

Rebecca

Amber

2008-10-13T13:28:00.000-05:00

Of all men, I am most blessed. I have a beautiful wife whose heart is deep. I have wonderful young children who are beginning to find their own character and sense of self. And I have a God who loves me. A part of this profound blessing I feel is the great privilege to live across the road from a Forest Preserve. There is not a day that goes by that I fail to look over at God's amazing creation there--and, at times, enjoy the advantage of taking time there. Usually, my family and I will walk in the Preserve. Sometimes we'll bike it. And there are a handful of moments when I make my way there alone. Today was one of those occasions.
As I sat reading a good book in a grove of trees, I chanced upon an interesting convergence. There, in that grove of quietly invincible oaks, my eyes discovered that the tallest tree was also the most beautiful. It occurred to me that many eyes and many legs must have looked at and walked past that old tree. I wondered how many had noticed its amazing color at this time of year. (As I am fashioning these thoughts in the middle of a Midwest October, it won't take you long to ascertain why its beauty right now exceeds even its loveliest green when spring and summer shake hands in their passing of one another.)
Now, in my color-blindness, I am attuned to my limitations at being able to certify the color I perceived it to be, but I'll still stab at it. Taken as a whole, I'd have to say that the tree's leaves were the most attractive shade of amber, but that's not to say that I failed to see the hues of gorgeous orange and scarlet highlights. From top to bottom, this old oak was mesmerizing. Awe-striking, really.
And it's just as I had taken the whole tree in that a deep truth occurred to me. What is it about me that is most drawn to this tree NOW--as the season brings something about it to an end. Shouldn't a sensible person most admire it when it is at its greenest--when it is its most ALIVE? And while meditating on this last thought, I stopped to reconsider why I had not taken note of the tree during any one of the hundred other times I had been there.You see, it wasn't until I saw its color that I would end up taking notice of its character. From the same vantage-point of where I sat in October, the same tree exists as only one among about a million in June. While I could have probably seen that it reached further into the heavens than the rest, it's just that at its greenest the oak doesn't STAND OUT, it just stands up. Yes, it's when something in it is dying that I begin to realize how alive it is.
While I am no arborist, I would bet my neighbor's last paycheck that that tree has stood in that spot for 80-100 years. Slowly but certainly, it has grown into the patriarch of all the trees around it. But in order for it to be the wisest and strongest of those trees, it has had to abide and persist through many dozens of deaths. It has had to steadily give up a part of itself. The turning of those beautiful amber leaves were a striking display in nature of a God principle. The principle of turning. Jesus once said to those who might want to follow Him: “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must TURN from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it" (Matthew 16:24-25--nlt). Turning displays life more than any human action or event. While it certainly is emblematic of the release of the past; more than that, it is only by giving up the things we have had hanging about us or on us for too long(even if we consider them beautiful) that we can make space for new life.Some of you are at an amber point in your life. And while it may be difficult to freely release what you've known for a while, know that WE ARE OUR MOST BEAUTIFUL WHEN WE ARE MAKING SPACE FOR GOD'S NEW LIFE. It is then that we are most alive and most striking. Then--and only then--will we know that we have turned. Our amber will display our color and our character.

Event: Evangelicals and Empire

2008-10-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

This Wednesday will be a very interesting gathering in Wheaton about evangelicals and empire. It is hosted by Bruce Benson and Peter Heltzel, some good friends of mine. Please check it out.

Evangelicals and Empire

Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 7:30 PM
Kresge Room, Edmond Chapel
featuring authors of Evangelicals and Empire

Dr. Benson: "Evangelicalism: The Contested Church."

Dr. Heltzel: "Hope Against Hope: Prophetic Black Evangelicalism from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Barack Obama."

Bruce Ellis Benson is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Wheaton College (IL). He is the author of Graven Ideologies: Nietzsche, Derrida and Marion on Modern Idolatry and Pious Nietzsche: Decadence and Dionysian Faith. He is co-editor of The Phenomenology of Prayer, Hermeneutics at the Crossroads, Transforming Philosophy and Religion: Love's Wisdom, and Evangelicals and Empire. His areas of research include continental philosophy of religion, Nietzsche, and political theology.

Peter Goodwin Heltzel is Assistant Professor of Theology at New York Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he holds theological degrees from Wheaton College (BA), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Boston University (Ph.D.). He is a Co-Founder of New York Faith and Justice and the Envision Conference. His book Jesus and Justice: Evangelicals, Race and American Politics will be out this Spring with Yale University Press. Edited volumes include Theology in Global Context (T&T Clark, 2004) and The Chalice Introduction to Disciples Theology (Chalice Press, 2008). He lives in New York City with his wife Sarah who is an opera singer

---

Evangelicals and Empire

Edited by Bruce Ellis Benson and Peter Goodwin Heltzel

This groundbreaking collection considers empire from a global perspective, exploring the role of evangelicals in political, social, and economic engagement at a time when empire is alternately denounced and embraced. It brings noted thinkers from a range of evangelical perspectives together to engage the most explosive and discussed theorists of empire in the first decade of the twenty-first century--Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Using their work as a springboard, the contributors grapple with the concept of empire and how evangelicalism should operate in the world of empire.

Contributors to the volume include Jim Wallis
Helene Slessarev-Jamir, James K. A. Smith, John Milbank, Donald W. Dayton,
Mark Lewis Taylor, Amos Yong, Michael S. Horton, John Franke and Catherine Keller.

"Powerful, urgent, and rigorous. Evangelicals and Empire's diverse voices combine solid scholarship and moral passion to produce a challenging rethinking of what it means to be evangelical."--Ronald J. Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action

"Evangelicals and Empire is a significant book because it deals with religious groups that are usually identified with the politics of empire. Helping the reader understand the deeper reasons for the connection of empire and religion, the essays in this book come together to provide a truly invaluable resource for our time as they flesh out alternative resources that resist empire within the evangelical traditions. The future belongs to such efforts that seek to identify new horizons for the interplay of religion and politics."--Joerg Rieger, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

CCDA and Theology Pub

2008-09-05T15:45:00.000-05:00

As summer draws to a close and we get back into our "serious" lives, we have some very exciting opportunities to get together and build our community by teaching and learning from one another.

You've already heard about the up/rooted discussions taking place on September 17 and 23 and the free workshop on October 18.

We've also just confirmed a Theology Pub, hosted by Nadia Bolz-Weber, who I met recently when she was in town for a conference. I want to say that she's an amazon of energy, passion and charm and I REALLY hope she takes that in the best possible way. :-) She's from House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, Co. and the author of Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television.

It takes place on Sunday, November 2 from 6 to 8 at the Bar Louie on Printer's Row, which is 47 W. Polk St in Chicago. There will be beer. And God. And brains. Not zombie brains. Talky brains.

Because joining her are all of her famous author friends:

Pete Rollins - How (Not) To Speak of God and The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief
Becky Garrison - Rising From the Ashes: Re-thinking Church
Doug Gay - Alternative Worship: Resources from and for the Emerging Church
Nannette Sawyer - Hospitality: The Sacred Art
Ryan Bolger - Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures

You have one of these books. If not, get one. Bring it to be singed. Or signed. Or just bring yourself. It'll be great.

On a more get-out-of-town vein, wouldn't it be nice to visit Miami as it starts to get colder but before all the snowbirds settle themselves back in their nests? How about the end of October? The 22nd to the 26th to be exact? It happens to be my birthday on the 25th so if you happen to be in Miami at that time, you can . . .you know . . . give me a present or something.

But why would we both be in Miami at the end of October?

The Christian Community Development Association (CCDA), that's why. Some of you know that I found my way to the emerging movement from the social justice direction, having grown up visiting Lawndale Community Church and Mendenhall, MI through my parents' involvement from a young age. (Those are the incarnational ministries of Wayne Gordon and John Perkins, respectively.) CCDA is a community of folks who have moved into or moved back into the most forgotten neighborhoods in our country to be more like Jesus by surrounding themselves with the poor and working on their behalf. These are some amazing folks who have doing this for 30 years. Emerging folks have a lot to learn about authenticity and love from their experience.

The conference in Miami is one of the least expensive conference of it's kind at only $80 for students and $155 for everyone else. This year, Brian McLaren is one of the key-note speakers, so we're really trying to make emerging folks away of this really amazing experience.

Please check out the conference website for more details. I listed some of the break-out sessions that you might be interested in below. Thanks for reading this far. I'm so excited to get back in the swing of things again.

Go Gently,
Rebecca

Jesus for President

A workshop to provoke the political imagination.

Shane Claiborne

Saturday, October 25

3:00pm - 4:15pm

Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers

Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we want as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do. Through exposition of biblical prayers, Shane and Jonathan provide concrete examples of how a life of prayer fuels social engagement and the work of justice.

Shane Claiborne & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Thursday, October 23

3:00pm - 4:15pm

Pre-emptive Peacemaking

Conflicts arise in the context of individual and group stories. Most conflicts fit in a handful of story patterns. Jesus told and lived an alternate story that redeems these other stories.

Brian McLaren

Saturday, October 25

3:00pm - 4:15pm

Urban Monasticism in the 21st Century

This session will address the critical place of the Desert Father of North Africa and a contemplative spirituality to building effective church communities in Western urban culture today. We will consider the radical power of silence, solitude, and a "Rule of Life" to slow both us and our people down. Moreover, we will consider its long term impact on our community development efforts today.

Pete Scazzero

Thursday, October 23

3:00pm - 4:15pm

Global Shalom: Not just for us

This workshop focuses on the reality that a peaceful and just existence cannot be experienced by only one portion of our world's population. In order for there truly to be Shalom, it cannot be limited to one nation, one ethnicity or one religion.

Brandon Sipes & Curt Luthye

Saturday, October 25

1:00pm - 2:15pm

Uniting and Mobilizing the Church to End Poverty

Fighting poverty has become a test of our faith and a social justice imperative of our time. Today the number of Americans living in poverty is almost identical to 1968, the tragic year Dr. King was assassinated. Since this tragic turning point in history, our nation has experienced 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, lacking both the bold leadership and national resolve to redress the root causes of poverty in America and around the world. This workshop will explore how you can best engage and mobilize your church and community to put the issue of poverty on the top of the national agenda and hold elected officials accountable to a bold anti-poverty agenda. The workshop will also provide practical ways to unite and engage your church in advocacy that addresses the root causes of poverty in America, including through the Mobilization to End Poverty on April 27-29 2009.

Adam Taylor

Saturday, October 25

3:00pm - 4:15pm

Militarism & Poverty: The Cost of War

Four decades ago, King spoke prophetically to the inextricable relationship between America's militarism, and the plight of its poor. As the current war approaches a trillion dollars, it's imperative that the Church examine this costly and egregious relationship, and seek to bear witness to God's shalom in the world today.

Craig Wong & Bob Kaiser

Saturday, October 25

1:00pm - 2:15pm

Prayer, Peace and the Poor

We will be talking about the importance of prayer (individual and corporate) when serving the poor. We hope to show how prayer and practical service filled with love and mercy will lead toward peace - with ourselves, our clients, our neighbors and our community.

Hector Alicea & Chris Ramsey

Friday, October 24

3:00pm - 4:15pm

Organizing Faith Communities for Environmental Justice

Lisa Sharon Harper and Rachel Anderson will share the story of how these sister grassroots urban movements came to be and what they are doing to organize faith communities for environmental justice. Motivated by the theology of Shalom, New York Faith & Justice is collaborating with faith communities and grassroots environmental justice agencies in New York City to organize a faith-based movement for environmental justice. The Boston Faith and Justice Network is equipping a rising movement of Christians committed to raising awareness and pressing for environmental sustainability for the global poor, starting with fair trade. There will be time for questions and answers.

Rachel Anderson & Lisa Harper

Friday, October 24

3:00pm - 4:15pm

God's Official Political Party

2008-09-04T15:42:00.002-05:00

Over the past few weeks, my daily personal experience in listening to God speak through the Bible has uncovered a great deal about national leadership. Most of my encounter with the Bible over this time has centered-in upon the lives and leadership approaches of two kings—a man named Saul and another one named David who both led the nation of Israel over 3000 years ago.Of course, I’d be the first to recognize that the political environment they lived in and the one we see in our own culture are two very different worlds. Saul never had to get elected and David never ran a TV campaign ad. Neither of them had to come up with a catchy slogan or pick a vice-king for their administration’s ticket. They didn’t arise out of political parties or ever experience tracking polls. CNN and Fox didn’t exist—so the scrutiny on these leaders was of a whole different sort.All that being said, these recent biographical studies in Israel’s first two kings have been a profound help to me as a backdrop to what’s going on in our culture today. (Remember the old saying: Fail to learn from history and you’re doomed to repeat it.) For the first time in my lifetime, the political world is touching full force on things beyond legislation, policy, and political platforms. The societal and spiritual ramifications of this year’s election are obviously higher than I can recall. Faith—a once taboo topic in the American cultural dialogue—is now very much at the center of the conversation. The issue of race is one of the driving forces behind the choices Americans face. Gender is a chief point of discussion. Generational issues form debate lines as to what is better—older ways or newer approaches. Even the political parties themselves—while seemingly energized—are at a crossroads since unquestioned party loyalties have almost become a total thing of the past. (This is a good development in my opinion, by the way.) People seem to be making choices less because of a party label and more because of what a candidate or movement represents in belief, conviction, and character. (Insert your own “No Duh, that’s the way it’s supposed to be” reaction to all of this.)In Saul and David's cases, neither were Republican, Democrat, independent, or Green. Both of them entered their role in national leadership like rock stars. (Sen. Obama wasn’t the first.) Both of them were bold mavericks (Sen. McCain wasn’t the first.) Both of them began their leadership roles at young ages. (Gov. Palin and Sen. Obama weren’t the first.) Both of them were war heroes. (Sen. McCain wasn’t the first.) Both of them were swept into power because of the people’s concern over national defense. (Sen. Biden and Sen. McCain weren’t the first.) Both of them started out quoting the ancient sacred Scriptures as a guiding force to how God held a leader and their nation responsible for living inside His ways. (God's ways pave the pathway to the best versions of our lives and our nation. Both Saul and David were anointed as a savior of sorts to a nation in profound turmoil. (Sound familiar?)In 3000 years since the two kings, some things haven’t changed. While we are seeing history in the making here in 21st-century America, it’s not new stuff. America is just following the generational trajectory of what happens when cultures make right or wrong choices about what's most important. We feel it currently only because this kind of reality has always existed in human affairs. You see, when things feel not-quite-right in the lives of everyday people just like you and me, we begin looking for a leader to march us out of the morass that will engulf us if we don’t move out soon.Neighbors, we’re at a cultural crossroads today. Our tenuous dependence upon the resources of those who don’t love us out in the wider world make some of us nervous. Our fears that our planet's ecological sustainability is deteriorating as we speak because of the speed of our culture lead us to a crossroad. Race and gender realities are no more removed from the national soul today than in the intense days of the Civil Rights movement. We just use a different language about it all, today. The involvement of the faith community within the public square is at stake. We are not at a Democrat vs. Republican crossroad. We are at the crossroads of who America is going to become. As a pastor, I don’t say this to scare or for the purpose of hyperbole, but to simply state a truth.The two different leadership trajectories of Saul and David led their nation to two drastically different outcomes. Saul was a miserable failure--a man who relied upon his own wisdom and strength--and ended up destroying the most sacred values of that people. David--albeit an imperfect man--restored the things that were most sacred to God and the people. And brought that nation and culture into a whole new reality—even adding immeasurably to the moral and cultural beauty and traditions that he had been handed at birth. He made his world better because God was free to shake him up inside of the inner world of his soul.Just moments before David’s meteoric rise to leadership would begin, the Scriptures explained what the most critical ingredient inside a person is such that GOD IS FREED TO CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH THEM: “Don’t judge by appearance or height…the Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but THE LORD LOOKS AT THE HEART” (1 Samuel 16:7—nlt).The heart.A leader’s heart. A nation’s heart. YOUR heart. And mine.This year’s election represents something deep and important about our culture—but only because it represents something deep and important about you and me. And that’s not a political reality—it’s a soulful one.Who are you becoming? Who is your family becoming? What kind of culture is Mokena fashioning in our classrooms, bedrooms, halls of justice, and churches...on park benches, judicial benches, and the athletic benches of our children? Who are we becoming? What are we calling important that really doesn't matter? What are we ignoring that will save us from becoming one more culture among many who litter history books with their slow demise instead of becoming "a city on a hill"? WHO ARE WE BECOMING?The voting booth in November won’t determine the final answer to these questions—you and I will. God looks at the heart of things—so, then, so should we. Imagine a political party built on the platform of the heart. God's heart. That's where God establishes His party.More to come on this…

2008-09-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

RECAP of AUGUST meeting

Up/rooted.west met at Randy Harper's house on Tuesday August 5, just before Mike and Julie Clawson packed up to leave for Texas. We so greatly appreciate what Mike and Julie have meant to us over the past few years. They have exerted much effort (and lost much sleep) in order to help move forward the emerging church discussion, to network many sojourners with other travelers on this journey, as well as introduced difficult, but important questions for Christ followers to reflect and act upon. Thank you and keep it up! Let us know how we can encourage you!

The topic for our last meeting was the relationship of poverty and the poor to Christ's ministry and the gospel. We read chapter 3 from the book "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger", by Ron Sider, a long-time Christian activist for progressive issues. This chapter asked the basic question of whether God has a preference for the poor and it delved into what Christ's ministry and message have to say about poverty and issues of justice. We had a lively discussion that started off as we related our own past experiences of what we've heard preached in our Christian communities and commonly held Christian views (assumptions) related to poverty. We shared our experiences of reaching out to others in need, while also distinguishing between the more common practice of charity versus justice while truly seeking to know and understand the poor we come across. A common theme of the discussion related to the lack of voice and the sense of powerlessness that those in poverty feel. There is also a great need to participate in empathic listening of the stories of those struggling in poverty, entering into a two-way transformational relationship. We must recognize that we are capable of having a "God-complex" when we do charity or extend mercy and act justly and to think it is our job to "save" the poor; rather, we are called to love – in words and actions – this looks differently in every context.

We also spoke eagerly of our desire, as a group, to seek opportunities to put what we discuss and learn into action in future up/rooted.west gatherings – which is why for our September meeting, we'll be combining further discussion on poverty with a 1 hour serving opportunity at Feed My Starving Children (more info below).

NEXT MEETING – Tuesday, September 23, 7pm
Discussion & Serving at "Feed My Starving Children" – FMSC – a non-profit organization in Aurora that ships food around the world to starving children.

Meet up at Caribou Coffee at 7pm sharp, near the intersection of Ogden and North Aurora Rd., then we'll carpool together to FMSC.

OCTOBER Meeting – Saturday, October 18th - 8:30 am – 2pm
FREE Workshop held at Sacred Heart Monastery in Lisle, IL (On Maple Ave just West of Rt 53)
"Living Ordinary Life with Extraordinary Love"

Experience the goodness of Benedictine life, a workshop for men and women of all ages and put on by the Benedictine sisters of Sacred Heart.

St. Benedict wrote a set of guidelines or a Rule, about 1500 years ago that has guided monastic life for men and women across the ages. Today, there are monastic and new monastic communities following his rule, as well as Protestant monasteries following these guidelines.

Come find out what these ancient practices have to do with the future of Christ followers living in community – city community, suburban community, apartment community –anywhere!

To Register: send email to up/rooted (link in the sidebar) with your name, address and phone# - that's all!

Schedule of the Day:
8:30 am Registration, Coffee & Rolls
9 am Lectio Divina – Reading and Praying with the Sunday Gospel
9:15 am Sharing about Lectio
9:45 am Benedict and his values
10:30 am Tour of the monastery
11:30 am Eucharist
12:00 Lunch (no cost – will be provided)
12:45 pm Outdoor walk – Leisure with God and nature on beautiful monastery grounds
1:45 pm Applying Benedictine Life in the every day world
2:00 pm Conclusion

August and September city gatherings

2008-08-29T13:34:00.000-05:00

Hello good people,

Last week, 5 of us gathered around candles in the air conditioning to discuss the definition of emergence. Two folks were brand new to the group and to the movement and it was fantastic to have them there. As they discussed their experience, they described a church service that they had observed that involved a different kind of worship space with different seating. They quickly followed-up with the question, "Do people who call themselves emergent a line somewhere? How far inter-faith do they go?"

I love questions like this since I get to talk about how there is no way to answer that question. My delight in the movement comes from the fact that the movement's main effort goes into making sure that people at all points of the inter-faith spectrum feel welcome and valuable.

We talked a lot about centered sets and bounded sets, comparing an evangelical picture of the cross being a fixed point on a road to the emergent picture of a well that we wander away from but always come back to.

One of our familiar participants talked about her experience with emergence being a turning away from the "personal" gospel or an abandonment of the compulsion to "save" souls which allowed her imagination to be set free.

It was a beautiful conversation, full of laughter and eye-contact and the gentle pattern of bodies sitting forward to listen and sitting back to hear.

We have our next meeting on Wednesday, September 17 at 7:30. We'll meet at Wicker Park Grace, which is still located at 1741 N. Western in Chicago. I'll send out a reminder before then with a topic for study. If you have suggestions, I'm more than happy to give them precedence. Please feel welcome if you've been every week, if you've come once or twice or if you are completely new to the conversation.

Go Gently,
Rebecca

summary of up/rooted.city July 16, 2008

2008-08-08T16:53:00.002-05:00

To continue my lessons in the humility of leadership, I learned at this gathering the lesson we learn every four years at the political conventions: people that are drawn to leadership roles often hold more extreme interests than regular people.

In this case, I wanted to talk about diversity in the emerging movement and why some people flaunt the label, while others eschew it or cannot obtain it.

I brought a CD of Dr. John Kinney from the SCUPE conference (available here). Pastor Kinney is an phenomenally articulate African-American man who says the exact same things that many of the phenomenally articulate and visible people labeled Emergent say. Yet to most of the world, he is simply another black preacher.

So, I played the portion of the sermon that was painfully obviously advocating emergent theology about our non-hierarchical relationship with God and how this should manifest itself in non-hierarchical relationships with each other. This was an attempt to back up my argument that folks from marginalized groups don't get a lot of attention from this movement of ours.

With that proof of my premise resounding, I tried to start a conversation about why some people get to be Emergin and other people don't with the group.

But they were having none of it.

They kept talking about the actual theological idea presented and not the process issue that I wanted to talk about.

Oh, I tried to pull them back "on topic" but they kept talking about how best to serve the people that showed up at their churches.

And that's when I admitted to myself that non-hierarchical leadership is valuable for precisely this reason. Folks get to use the group time for discussion that's actually valuable to them.

So, this month, we're meeting on Wednesday night at 7:30 at Wicker Park Grace (1741 N. Western). We'll have a discussion based around the idea of emergence 101 and see where that goes.

For preparation, feel free to check out this blog post by Mike Clawson, Wikipedia, or my excerpts from the Emerging Manifesto of Hope but your individual experiences and studies in this movement (even if you're just a beginner) will be just as valuable.

I look forward to seeing both familiar and new faces on Wednesday night.

Go Gently,
Rebecca

A new kind of tithing

2008-08-08T16:15:00.001-05:00

As you know, my emergent church, Wicker Park Grace, is trying to find different ways to financially sustain itself as part of our mission to be welcoming to people who were hurt by churches in their past. We're trying to make it easy for them to get back on the path of moving toward God through Jesus by not parroting the fundraising tactics of traditional churches since that so easily makes people defensive.

Also, as part of our mission to engage the artistic community in Chicago, we've let a Second City student troupe use our space to practice and they're donating a show in return.

These two activites of my church are coming together in a fundraising event on Tuesday night. I'd love it if any of you wanted to come. For $25 you get a Second City improv show, alcoholic beverages and fancy restaurant-grade hors devours. (Fair warning, though, because this isn't your grandma's church, we're comfortable with some degree of adult humor.)

If you can't make it but want to support us anyway, we're also taking donations. Either way, it will really help out my church and the new, non-threatening direction we're trying to take spirituality.

More information about the Sketch Comedy Bonanza and the link to buy tickets online is here.

I consider this to be a new kind of tithing since the spiritual practice of it revolves just as much around giving our time and transforming our relationships just as much as it involves our money.

We're still new at this. Want to be part of the experiment?

Go Gently,
Rebecca

"Theology of Poverty" up/rooted.west - Aug 5th @7pm

2008-07-25T15:56:00.004-05:00

The next up/rooted.west meeting will be hosted at Randy Harper's home (one of up/rooted.west's new co-coordinators) on Tuesday, August 5th @ 7PM at 1950 Manchester Rd., Wheaton 60187. We'll be discussing a "theology of poverty" and chapter 3 of the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (email us for that chapter if you'd like it electronically).

Also, we'll be saying good-bye to Mike and Julie Clawson as they'll be moving to Texas a few days later :-( They've been an incredible asset to the up/rooted conversations and wonderful people to learn from! Please join us in a discussion of a theology of poverty and our practical response here in the Western suburbs of Chicago!

I look forward to continuing the relationships!
Kris Socall
up/rooted.west co-coordinator
Navigating Paths of Spirituality

Rent Party: A Skiffle of Sorts

2008-07-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

One of our local Presbymergent churches is hosting a fundraising concert, since it is "not about guilt and obligation" and is trying to figure out new ways to funds our operations than, you know, passing the offering plate.

July 12th at 8:00pm
at 1741 N. Western Ave.

Phone: 312-399-2081

In the tradition of those who have laid the path before us, Wicker Park Grace will be holding a
Rent Party: A Skiffle of Sorts

Door Fee: $15
(free food and drink!)

Historically, to pay rising rents in neighborhoods that were filing up with people moving north in the Great Migration, folks would ask a few musician friends to play in the living rooms of their apartments, asked a few other friends to make some food and mixed up a little gin in the bathtub.

Charging admission at the door generated cash to pay the rent and a party whose celebratory energy burst from the intimate setting for all comers. Rent parties were a quintessential example of communities of people joining together to work towards mutual benefit.

Wicker Park Grace will carry on this historical tradition on July 12th with an evening of music & art, food & drink, conversation & dance.

Performing will be:

Rob Clearfield & At This Point We Don't Have the Luxury of Silence

Kate Haralson

Dave Spaulding with The Moves

Ira Gamerman w/ songs from the band, Even So

Michael Mc Bride

If you can't come, you can still contribute to the effort here.

up/rooted.city - summary of last meeting and announcement of the next

2008-07-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

Hey folks. Just touching base with you to let you know that we'd love for you to gather at Wicker Park Grace (1741 N. Western Avenue) on Wednesday, July 16 at 7:30. (Yeah. Mondays got bad for me.) It's been two months since we've seen each other and I'm looking forward to folks coming who want to connect for the first time with other people who are invested in learning how following Jesus can be made relevant to our post-modern culture. I'm also looking forward to seeing again the folks that have come once or twice or three times already to the monthly meetings we've been having since October.

Bring snacks if you've got 'em or your good humor if you don't.

Last time we got together, we discussed the recent Everything Must Change tour stop in Chicago. A mix of folks that had been to the event, read the book and had no exposure were all part of the conversation. We ranged over several topics but a few stood out enough for me to write them down.

We started with the question, "Has anyone done anything different since attending?" One participant said that she'd been thinking about our cultural framing stories since attending. Her eyes were open lately to the number of movies in which battles are won through brute force. The moral of these stories (TLOTR and Narnia come to mind) is that it's OK to win using violence because we're the good guys. This is so different from the non-violent subversion that Jesus demonstrated and preached about.

We talked about the difficulty in making movies and telling stories that glorify Jesus-style victories but worried that they don't fit the "Excitement paradigm" that are culture is addicted to. We noted that there ARE movies that tell the subversive story but that they don't do very well at the box office.

As the conversation moved on, we noted that the conference seemed aimed at "cloistered church people" and that although Brian McLaren painted the big picture well, we were frustrated with the the lack of practical suggestions. The conference was more a primer for opening people's eyes than anything else. We agreed that this was fine except that this left a void for those of us interested in going deeper.

This brought up the discomfort that many of us had that the presentation seemed a little like one long commercial for the "church coach" business that was being touted at intervals. We questioned the need for a church coach but brought up both pros and cons for the issue.

We had a great group and they were especially gracious to me in the energy void I was living in after my brother's three-day traditional Hindu wedding. I'm looking forward to seeing a similarly great group next Wednesday.

Unfortunately, the Church Basement Roadshow isn't swinging through Chicago, so I thought we might focus our conversation on people who are saying Emergent things and doing Emergent acts without the label. In other words, who out there is emerging from their Christian traditions in similar ways that we are but who are not converging with our "small band of rebel fighters"? I'll bring a CD to listen and respond to if we want and if anyone else want to contribute some articles or suggestions, I'll be happy to send them around next weekend with anything else I find.

Thanks,
Rebecca

up/rooted.west picnic - June 23

2008-06-01T15:15:00.000-05:00

We had a great discussion a few weeks ago at up/rooted.west as we talked about the question of racial diversity in the emerging church. The conversation was wide ranging (too much to summarize really), though we all agreed that what is needed first and foremost is more effort to "relocate" our lives into more diverse settings in whatever ways we are able.

Anyhow, our next up/rooted.west get together will be an informal potluck picnic/get-to-know-you event at Northside Park in Wheaton from 6:00-8:30pm on Monday, June 23rd. If you haven't been to an up/rooted event yet, or if it's been a while, this would be a great time to plug-in, as we will simply be hanging out, having fun, and spending some time sharing our stories. Bring food for yourself, and some to share if you're able (there are grills available if anyone wants to bring some dogs or burgers), though if you're not able, feel free to show up anyway.

Hope to see you there!

Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

up/rooted.west discussion on race & the emerging church next Tuesday (May 20)

2008-05-12T23:10:00.000-05:00

Are you ready for a difficult but important discussion?

You are invited to join us at up/rooted.west next Tuesday (not Monday) May 20 from 7-9pm at the Gino's East in downtown Wheaton for a honest and open discussion on the issue of race and the emerging church. The emerging church has often been accused of merely being another movement by white suburbanites. Whether or not that is true, the reality is that none of us want it to be only that. So let's come together to talk about what needs to be done to make sure that diversity is happening, and what in our own lives or communities needs to change to make sure it does.

It hasn't been confirmed yet, but we are also hoping to be joined by a few friends from ERAC/CE in SE Michigan, and Crossroads Anti-Racism Team here in Chicago to help us have this conversation. I hope that you will also join us and contribute your experiences and questions to the dialogue.

BTW, there have been a number of good posts out there on this topic recently. I'd encourage browsing a few of them in preparation for next Monday:

Rebecca (our up/rooted.city coordinator) has posted two reflections on this topic, here and here. They're a must read.

Steve Knight (Charlotte, NC cohort leader) has a great post with links to many other articles up at the Emergent Village blog.

See you there!

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

P.S. Don't forget that up/rooted.south will be meeting this Thursday (May 15) at 7pm in Mokena to talk about Compassion International and about networking in the Chicago area for social justice efforts; Emerging:SeWi will also be kicking off in Kenosha that same night; and up/rooted.city will be meeting next Monday (May 19) at Wicker Park Grace for a follow-up to the Everything Must Change Tour.

Racial diversity and the emerging church

2008-05-12T22:32:00.000-05:00

up/rooted/west is discussing racial diversity on May 20 (see sidebar for details). I wrote this post for my own blog but I thought it would be appropriate to re-post here. Please feel free to comment here or at the original post, where there is already a conversation starting.

My church prays in Spanish even when none of our Spanish-speaking members are there. Sometimes we sing one of the Taize vespers in Spanish. Often, that doesn’t work very well. People start mumbling. They are confused by having to use the line of text further away from the notes than the English words and they are uncomfortable with having to form their mouths around syllables that don’t mean anything to them. Our Spanish-speakers members aren’t our strongest singers so the mumbling drowns out the people that are pleading with God - for once corporately - in the language of their hearts and childhoods and families.

But we keep doing it as part of our liturgy. We do it even when no one is there who benefits from a familiar language other than English. We do it because we benefit as a community. We benefit as a community because it makes us into a welcoming community and a welcoming community is a community that is more aligned with the plan God has for us than a community that stays within its comfort zone, which is really just water that is rapidly becoming stagnant.

A dominant aspect of the Evangelical movement that swept through our country for the last 30 years was something called a “homogenous church growth strategy.” Basically, pastors recognized that if they wanted their churches to grow (for whatever reason), like attracts like. No pastor would say that different people didn’t need Jesus, just that all people would be happier with Jesus if they worshipped alongside people who were similar to them in culture, language and socio-economic status. In our country, those three characteristics added together equate to race. So, the white Evangelical movement grew by making itself attractive to other white people. The music sounded like Top 40 pop songs. The liturgy was a familiar blend of 30ish-minute sermon, music and corporate prayers. The food served at Fellowship hour and at events was comfortably suburban. The energy was calm, reserved, and professional. The dress was casual but not too casual. Since these were all trappings of a lifestyle that white people were already comfortable with, churches gained new members who almost always happened to be white.

The emergent movement is about identifying church traditions that were formed during the Modern era and replacing them with practices that are more appropriate to the Post-modern era that we are currently living in.

I think we’ve done a good job as a movement. We’re re-examining doctrine. We’re reframing the requirements to be part of the club. We’re flattening our hierarchies.

But, as a movement, we have not yet replaced the homogenous church growth strategy with a new paradigm.

On Thursday, I met with Professor Soong-Chan Rah at North Park University. He’s been fairly critical of the emergent movement on this issue and I think he’s right. We had a good and somewhat casual introductory conversation and then he said something that made me reach into my bag and take out my notebook. He said:

The emergent church feels like a perpetuation of white privilege and that has to be the first thing to go.

He cited that overwhelmingly white pastors and writers get media attention and book contracts when churches that are doing the exact same work but that are led by non-white pastors get ignored. He didn’t need to tell me that my own church is an exception in the movement for being willing to be messy, uncomfortable and awkward by moving out of our comfort zone to make worship something that appeals to more than just white people: to mumble in our attempts to be a welcoming community. Any study done of churches that claim to be emergent are going to show that they’re over 90% white. My own experience of trying to start a conversation by working some of my email networks, asking them to read and comment on my first post regarding race and the emergent movement got no response. Not one comment. I put the less effort soliciting comments on the quilt I made and got 8 responses. No response?

I know what people say in response: we’re a movement that grows through attraction, not prosyletization. But who is it we’re trying to attract when we make decisions about our practices? Usually, it’s people who already like what we like. For instance, the ancient futures movement goes back into history to find relevant practices today. But whose history? Are we plumbing the depths of Coptic traditions, a definitively African form of Christianity? Professor Rah has found evidence to support the opposite.

Other people will say that they can’t control who the publishers give contracts to. But that’s the white privilege talking; thinking inside the box. Why not say to publishers, “I’m flattered that you want me to write this book. Do you mind if I co-author it with my non-white colleague who knows just as much about the topic?” or “I will write this book for you if you also give a contract to my non-white colleague,” or “You know what? I’m flattered but my non-white colleague knows more about this than I do.” Foot-washing is not just something that is done with a hand-towel and a basin.

My church hasn’t gotten it right yet. When we focus a discussion on immigration issues, attendance goes down and, I’ll admit it, I’m part of that problem. But, as a movement, we cannot be afraid that our attendance will decrease. The Kingdom of God is multi-cultural. The Post-modern world is multi-cultural.

If our churches are not multi-cultural, then they are neither reflective of the Kingdom of God nor Post-modern.

We cannot simply wait for non-white folks to come to us. They would only be tokens if we did. We must go out and get them, welcome them, and let them change the agenda so that it more accurately reflects the concerns of the entire Post-modern Kingdom of God, not just the white post-Evangelical, post-Christendom, post-colonial folks. Alternately, we should consider going to them, submitting to their leadership and learning about emergence from folks that have arguably been in the midst of it longer than the white folks have.

Professor Rah pointed out that the emergent movement still has hope that it will not be left behind in a stagnant pool of its own homogeneity because our conversations and writings pay lip service to pluralism. We have the foundational support to change our paradigm if we’re willing to mumble a little.

But are we?

SE Wisconsin Cohort Kick-off

2008-05-07T21:50:00.000-05:00

After a little initial confusion on my part, we are now ready to kick off the first meeting of the new SE Wisconsin/NE Illinois Emergent Cohort. The first meeting of Emerging:SeWi will be Thursday, May 15th, at the Harborside Common Grounds, 5159 6th Avenue in Kenosha, Wisconsin at 7pm. This cohort is especially for anyone in Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties in Wisconsin, Northern Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois, or anyone else in that area who wants to join the conversation. If you're up that way, I hope you can make it, or spread the word if you know anyone in the area.

For more info email the coordinator, Glenn Hager at sewi@emergingconversation.com and also be sure to join the Facebook group.

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

up/rooted.west April Recap

2008-04-29T16:01:00.000-05:00

We had a thought provoking wrap-up discussion to Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change Tour and book last night at the Gino's East in downtown Wheaton. We started by asking if everything must change, how will that be accomplished? Where do we start? What can we do, specifically, practically? And is it just hopeless to think that our small efforts are really going to make much difference ultimately in the face of such a broken, suicidal system?

We share a number of specific steps that several of us have taken, from buying more ethically, to eating organic or vegetarian as much as possible, to reducing consumption. We talked about getting veggie oil conversions on cars, and speculated about whether someone in the west suburbs could set up an operation to make it easier for people to do the conversions and get access to used veggie oil. We talked about the difficulty of even knowing what options are out there for living more ethically and making a difference, and about the need to start collecting information and websites to make them more accessible. Our up/rooted.south group has had the idea of collecting information about all the local social justice/missional projects around the Chicago area that people can plug into, and our up/rooted.west group talked about possibly doing something similar with ethical buying websites & stores - just collecting a database of resources.

We also veered a little bit into the theoretical/theological as we wondered how to balance hope in the kingdom as a present reality versus a recognition that we cannot bring the kingdom about through our own efforts and ingenuity. Jen Pare suggested that we needed an "active pessimism", i.e. a pessimism about our ability to bring about ultimate justice or compassion through government or activism or whatever, but at the same time a dedication to serve and be active anyway. In other words, we need to do our part and be faithful to living out the message of the kingdom, even if when it all seems utterly fruitless.

We also talked about upcoming plans for up/rooted over the summer, and it was suggested that perhaps we'd like to take several "field trips" to visit missional projects around the area. In other words, to go and observe and even participate in whatever ministries of compassion and justice that we are familiar with. If you have any ideas or suggestions bring them or up/rooted.west (or email them to us at uprooted.chicago@gmail.com) during the next couple of months, and perhaps we can plan something for July and/or August.

For June we decided to have another communal cook-out where we can share more of our stories and reconnect on those personal levels. However, before that for our May gathering we want to discuss the topic of racial diversity in the emerging church. Our up/rooted.city coordinator, Rebecca, recently posted on this topic at her blog following the SCUPE conference, and the theme was then also picked up over at the Emergent Village weblog. I'd definitely recommend reading these posts in preparation for the gathering.

I'm also a bit uncomfortable about just having a bunch of white suburbanites sitting around talking about race, so I want to especially encourage those of your in our up/rooted network who are minorities to please make it a point to join us this time if you're at all able. We need your voices and your experience. Or, if you're not a minority, but you know of someone who is and who would understand and resonate with the emerging church church conversation, please invite them to join us as well.

We will meet Tuesday, May 20 @ 7pm at the Gino's East in downtown Wheaton again. Hope you can join us for this important conversation.

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

Debbie Blue, Russell Rathbun and Linda Buturian

2008-04-24T16:21:00.001-05:00

Hello emerging folks. Doesn't it feel good to identify with that word in this season of emergence? Buds from barren sticks, you know?

Last week, we had a phenomenal gathering of 17 folks, 3 speakers and 4 people that knew the speakers. Our speakers were Debbie Blue, Russell Rathbun and Linda Buturian, all members of the House of Mercy up in St. Paul, all folks that have books available at Cathedral Hill Press.

Russell started out the conversation by describing their church, which they formed when they got out of seminary because they wanted a church where they would actually want to attend and that their friends, who were artists and stuff, would also want to attend. Russell, who looked like he would fit in quite well in Wicker Park with his black cowboy shirt with embroidered banjos and funky glasses, pointed out that their church had been around for 12 years, which is ancient for an emergent church.

I liked watching the energy of the two pastors: Russell and Debbie. Both were a little twitchy and awkward. Obviously, they wanted to be there and had such beautiful, honest and vulnerable things to say. But, part of that honesty and vulnerability involved allowing themselves to be the self-proclaimed introverts that they are, even in front of a group of strangers. As someone who has been trained to pull out my most charismatic identity when addressing groups of people, I admire their courage to simply be themselves.

Debbie read first from her book, From Stone to Living Word, and I was impressed by the clarity and originality that she wrote about Biblical interpretation as idolatry and then about love. It's so easy to say the same old Hallmark-card-for-the-rest-of-us things about love and I felt like Debbie really avoided that. She even wrote that it felt corny to even talk about love, "like I'm young and I don't know anything." She also said that love wasn't "consistently positive regard" because "who could live with anyone and feel that?" I bought a copy of the book even though I haven't read a book that wasn't for class since last August.

Russell read from his book, Post-Rapture Radio, a novel that at one point describes a hipster pastor in a mocking tone and I want to give Russell the benefit of the doubt that he read that with utter awareness of the irony. The excerpt he read was beautifully written and my church's resident atheist loved the whole book when he read it.

Finally, Linda read from her book that had only been released the week before. She lives in an "intentional cul-de-sac" with Debbie's family and a couple of others and her book, World Gone Beautiful, is a collection of memoirs from that experience. Her reading resonated with me the most because I think her neuroses are probably the most like mine. At one point she described feeling like "the world is a model airplane that I must assemble in the dark" while she lay awake being unable to fall asleep. I think this might have been one of the first times she's read from this work publicly since she kept laughing to remember the events that was reading about. That connection of the words to the actual events rather than connecting the words to a particular way to tell a story effectively was utterly charming. The words themselves were also terribly vulnerable and lovely. I bought a copy of her book also.

They wrapped up their presentation by talking a little bit more about their church and how they find relevance in traditional worship by singing old hymns with irony and discussing how they find success because their people are "allowed, encouraged and required to poke fun at the structures" of the church. They answered great questions and hung around for a long time to talk with folks after we formally closed.

Next month's meeting will be on Monday, May 19 at 7:00 at Wicker Park Grace (click on the link in the sidebar for directions). We're going to focus our discussion on the talks that Brian McLaren gave here in the area but everyone is welcome to join us, even those that didn't attend.

-Rebecca

Won't you be my neighbor?

2008-04-23T08:33:00.000-05:00

One of the delights of the Everything Must Change tour was meeting so many people who have been on the up/rooted mailing list, but haven't been able to make it to the city meetings. They invariably revealed themselves when they saw my nametag and said, "Oh, you're the one who writes so much about tea!"

I'm touched that my informal and somewhat whimsical writing style is enjoyed by so many people. I've developed it over the years on my blog, Wild Rumpus, which I started when "an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for [Princess]Max and [s]he sailed off through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are," otherwise known as Orcas Island, off the coast of Washington state.

It's more of a narrative blog than most blogs run by Emergent cohort facilitators, so probably only 1 out of every 8 posts is about any particularly emerging topic. The others are about quilting and living in the city and looking for community.

However, yesterday, I posted about racial reconciliation and the emerging movement. I think it's crucial that we make the membrane that surrounds the movement more permeable to non-white folks. But this is not necessarily true for all the leaders in the movement and has some major obstacles to realization. I'd welcome a conversation of people from all modes of thought over on my blog. If you have a minute, will you make the trip and leave a comment?

Thanks,
Rebecca

Upcoming up/rooted meetings

2008-04-08T16:35:00.001-05:00

We have a lot of exciting things coming up in the wake of the Everything Must Change Tour, not least of which is the formation of a new Wheaton College student cohort, and the re-formation of our up/rooted.south group. We're also hoping to shortly put together an Evanston branch and a new Southeastern Wisconsin cohort if you happen to be in that neck of the woods. (If you are interested in being a part of this, send an email to Justin Worley at Emerging.SeWi@gmail.com.)

Here are the gatherings that are coming up for this next month:

up/rooted.south will be meeting this Thursday, April 10 @ 7pm at Grace Fellowship Church in Mokena for a follow-up discussion on the ideas presented at the conference this weekend.

up/rooted.city will be hosting a special evening with authors/emerging pastors Russell Rathbun and Debbie Blue next Wednesday, April 16 @ 7pm at Wicker Park Grace .

up/rooted.west is meeting at the Gino's East in downtown Wheaton and will be brainstorming how to put the ideas of Everything Must Change into practical action on the last Monday of this month, April 28 @ 7pm.

up/rooted.north currently meets every week on Thursdays @ 7:30pm at the Barnes and Noble in Lincolnshire.

Rebuilding Eden is a special cohort just for college students that meets at the Wheaton College dining hall (Todd Beamer Student Center) every Saturday @ 12:30pm, and is currently discussing the Everything Must Change book.

Everything Must Change Tour Round-up

2008-04-07T13:03:00.002-05:00

As you all know, this past weekend was the Everything Must Change Tour in Chicago. Here are some articles and reviews on other blogs that you should check out if you're interested:

First an article written just before the conference in Oak Park's Wednesday Journal that I was interviewed for.

As usual Helen has a great play-by-play review of the conference. (And she gets the credit for the picture. I forgot to bring my camera.)

Also check out some of Jason's raw notes on the sessions.

Chad Farrand, leader of the Mid-Michigan cohort, has a good recap of his experience as well.

And for a totally unique, very personal take in her usual "wonderfully rambling" style, check out Rebecca's posts.

Also, regardless of whether you were there, you can contribute to this revolution and share ideas about how to bring real change over at the Everything Must Change web community.

And if you live near Seattle, Kansas City, Goshen IN, or New York City, or know someone who does, it's not too late to sign up to attend the Tour.

UPDATE: I've now posted my own review.

up/rooted.west March update

2008-03-29T10:22:00.001-05:00

A half-dozen of us met again at Gino's East in Wheaton this past Monday to discuss the central sections of Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change (chapers 19-30). Having reframed Jesus' message in terms of not just personal forgiveness and hope for the afterlife, but also one of global transformation in this world, Brian then applies this message to what he believes are the three biggest crises we face today: crises of security, prosperity and equity.

Our discussion began by reminding ourselves that Brian's main task throughout the book is not really to give us a laundry list of ways to fix all these problems. Instead the point of the book is to first change our way of looking at the problems in the first place, to see them through the lens of Jesus' story rather than the lenses provided to us by this world. For instance, we talked about how many of Brian's approaches in the book don't really fit into the typical Left-Right, Democrat-Republican categories that usually tend to only want to tweak the existing system, rather than seeing how the whole the thing is broken and suicidal and in need of something radically different (something Jesus called the Kingdom of God).

We also asked whether these issues - questions of violence, of environmentally destructive consumerism, and gross economic inequalities - could actually be talked about in the kind of churches we were familiar with. Since four of us attend emerging churches, one is currently de-churched, and the other is a pastor at a liberal mainline church, we granted that most of us probably could at least have the conversation; however we also recognized that these topics would have been totally off-limits or completely misunderstood at some of our former churches. And the mainline pastor admitted that even in his church where most of the folks would consider themselves "liberals" there were many topics raised by the book that still would have been considered either too extreme or would have gone completely over their heads - again speaking to the fact that Jesus' framing story doesn't fit well into our conventional categories.

Each of us expressed at one point a desire for more specifics in this book on how to actually bring about change, despite the fact that this was not Brian's purpose. If "everything must change" then we want to know where to start. That's what we want to talk about next month both as a conclusion to our discussion of this book and as a follow-up to Brian's Everything Must Change Tour coming to Chicago next weekend (it's still not too late to register and there's a new special student rate of only $35!) We want to get into specific, practical ways each of us can join this "revolution of hope" that Brian writes about. So come, once more to Gino's East in Wheaton on Monday, April 28 at 7pm and help us brainstorm how we can change our world. (Oh, and also read the final section of Brian's book, chapters 31-34, to help spur your thinking.)

See you then (and hopefully next weekend too!)

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

Update from the city

2008-03-27T10:13:00.001-05:00

On Monday I put my quilting down long enough to head over to Wicker Park Grace for our March up/rooted.city meeting. (Did I mention I'm on Spring Break? I'm still in my pajamas!) Six of us met up there to discuss the first chapter of Everything Must Change. I think it's terribly neat that the two new folks, Chris and Maria, knew each other from other places but hadn't known they would be in the same place that night. It demonstrates to me just how pervasive this emerging movement might become.

We had a great discussion about the first chapter and our speculations about the rest of the book, which were tempered and bolstered by those folks who had actually read the rest of the book.

We talked about the historical pattern that the small band of rebel fighters grow to become the dominant force in society, which spurs a new band of rebels to splinter away, fight for the right to exist and ultimately grow to be the dominant force of society. We talked about Constantine and about Christianity being a prophetic voice from the margins. We talked about Shane Claiborne and whether we are called to drop out of society or to reform it. We sat in remorse for a little while over that fact that examining our lives on any level shows that every act hurts another person in some way. Walking on concrete, wearing clothes, using toilet paper.

Those of us that haven't read the book yet wondered if it would actually show us hope, actually show us how Christianity can help us change how we live our lives and maybe the world.

John sent me a follow-up email pointing to an Emergent Village post addressing these concerns here. It refers folks over to Andrew Jones' blog (I love the internet) but summarizes it saying:

Andrew’s three concerns [about Everything Must Change] were:

“The apparent absence of the CHURCH as God’s primary instrument in accomplishing his mission on earth — and the gaping hole in [Everything Must Change] where the example of equality and justice in the early church of Acts 2-4 should have been”

“The apparent absence of HOPE in your view of future things … the afterlife, resurrection of the dead, etc.”

“An uncritical appraisal of the liberation theology movement from Latin America … [Everything Must Change] appears almost giddy and accepting without reservation”

Brian McLaren respond on Andrew's blog.

As usual, our conversation ranged around several other topics as the spirit and our hearts led us but I spent only a small amount of time taking notes. We did talk a little about charity vs. justice, whether the emerging movement should stick to internet posts rather than book contracts, the relationship between economic theory and broken human nature, and what issue exactly it was that sent us from conventional church to the emerging church.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, April 16. Yup, not a Monday this month. We're hosting the Reverends Debbie Blue and Russell Rathbun (if the poetry of their names does not draw you in, I don't know what will). Their church, House of Mercy, is emerging in St. Paul, MN and has the delightful tag line for their Sunday services stating, "you should come, it's not that bad." Of course, I wish they had used a semi-colon in there, but not all of us are blessed to have been high school English teachers at some point our lives, so I won't judge. Regardless, come and eat the snacks we all bring, drink Wicker Park Grace's tea and listen to their stories and possibly a little bit from their books, both published and upcoming.

Josiah Community

2008-03-19T12:46:00.000-05:00

Hey folks, this is Rebecca from the up/rooted.city cohort.

One of the things I've been doing lately that isn't school or up.rooted is working with a group of folks to develop an intentional community condo development. I was brought into the whole thing by my roommate in Africa, Arloa Sutter. Basically, we're converting a warehouse in North Lawndale to about 45 condos that people will own individually. However, the condos will be design to encourage interaction with neighbors: kitchen windows facing into hallways, "front porches," lots of common areas and a community cooking and dining area where folks will rotate cooking for anyone that doesn't want to eat mac and cheese in front of the TV every night. I like the combination of privacy and community since I can always retreat to my condo but have the freedom to knock on people's doors if I need them.

All decisions of the community will be made by consensus. When I apply what I've been learning in my poli-sci classes, this means that the status quo regarding community life will be hard to overturn once we get going. I see this as a good thing since I'm one of about 8-15 people that are the core group of ground-floor decision-makers. We'd love to see this number get bigger, though. Our next meeting is April 30.

This will be a Christian community, however, we haven't set in concrete how that is defined. Since I'm involved, I'm hoping to sway the group toward an inclusive, emerging definition of Christian. More folks like me involved with this project early on will make this more likely. (hint, hint)

One of my major concerns in these discussions is that we emphasize relationships rather than rules. While I'm happy to sit down over coffee with a neighbor to discuss my lifestyle choices, I'm not at all interested in being held "accountable" by my neighbors for them. So, if the idea of being surrounded by other Christians and their tendency to judge gives you the willies, please be assured that I have those same willies (or heebie-jeebies, whatever you want to call them) and I'm working to make sure that doesn't happen in our earliest conversations.

Our community will be made up of whoever shows up and the culture will reflect those folks. How cool would it be to have a building full of emerging folks?

All sorts of information is available at the blog. www.josiahcommunity.blogspot.com Or you can email me about it personally at rebica at aol dot com.

The other major element of this project is that a major portion of the community space will be dedicated to a non-profit that facilitates theological study, often in the form of folks taking sabbaticals. There will be a hostel available in the building for these folks that will spend half their day working in the community, and half of their days studying.

Optimistically, condos will be ready for moving in in a little over a year. I see this as an experiment in living within the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth by living in community in the midst of urban community development.

Want to do something a little radical and join me?

Not Too Late to Register!

2008-03-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

Good news! The deadline for registering for the reduced rate for Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change Tour on April 4-5 has been extended until the day before the conference, April 3rd. So if you forgot to sign-up this weekend, you can still do so for under $100. Click here to register.

Hope to see you there!

Something to read for the city gathering

2008-03-14T23:52:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

For those of you considering attending the up.rooted.city gathering a week from Monday (and please feel free even if you’ve never been and even if you don’t live in the city), let’s try to read the first chapter of Brian McLaren’s new book, Everything Must Change. You can find it on line for free at Barnes and Noble . We’ll let that start the discussion and take it from there.

Please feel free to bring snacks but it is also fine to just bring yourself.

Go Gently,
Rebecca

Recap of up/rooted.city 2/25/08

2008-03-09T21:18:00.004-05:00

On the morning of our last up/rooted.city gathering, I got on the bus to head south to school and was greeted by the bus driver calling, "Welcome to the Happy Bus!" Each stop got a new name: "Happy Financial Place!" "Happy Franklin!" He also had a variety of phrases that he regaled us with through the speaker system:

Don't let nobody steal your joy.
Don't complain about your job. Oatmeal is better than no meal.
Don't let nobody steal your j-o-y. (The second time he spelled it out.)

I couldn't help but smile and feel a little bit like I'd just taken off the roller skates as I walked away from the bus at "Happy State Street!" It was a good way to start a day that culminated in our February cohort gathering. We had a smaller group this month but still some new faces, specifically Eric, our second Moody-ite, and Rachel, who is considering Div schools and had some experience with Quakers to bring to the group. Susan, Nick, Nanette, John and I rounded out the mix.

We started the evening asking and answering the question, "How is emerging defined?" with a follow-up question regarding the future of the movement and whether or not someday we'll set down an "Emerging" theology. Although I recoiled in horror at that idea, the other members of the group were able to discuss it with tact and grace. We talked about paradigm shifts, big E's and little e's, and asked if it was a post-evangelical movement with some mainline elements or a post-mainline movement with some evangelical soundings, as Marcus Borg asserts.

I have the words, "Brueggemann" and "dialogic perspectivism" written in my journal but I'll be danged if I could tell you what that means.

We did talk about the flat social network of the emerging movement and discussed whether or not Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt and Brian McLaren are leaders simply because they have book contracts. We speculated that in the same way folks at Moody all get painted with the same brush, so might emerging folks.

We landed on the concept of making space for conversations as a major element of the emerging movement and asked what should we do with people that don't want to have the conversation. This caused us to reflect on our own tendencies toward hubris and we talked briefly about arrogant progressives and our need to keep humility at our center as a movement.

Today, I went to a meeting about an intentional community that I'm working as part of a group to get started as a new condo development. I offered a guy named Chris a ride home from the meeting and in the getting-to-know-you conversation, he asked, "So what else do you do?" I mentioned that I facilitated the up.rooted.city cohort and his face lit up as he said, "I just sent you an email! When's the next meeting?" My car was a tiny little Happy Bus at that moment.

Our next meeting will be Monday, March 24 at 7:00 at Wicker Park Grace, which can be found for a little while longer at 1741 N. Western. Snacks will be welcome, as well as warm and imperfect souls.

I'll send out a reminder email (hopefully sometime before the day of the gathering) with some readings to get us started on a topic.

Go Gently,
Rebecca

up/rooted.west February update

2008-02-29T15:22:00.002-06:00

Sorry it's taken me a week and a half to get this update out. Between traveling to Texas for a grad school interview, and getting our house ready to sell so we can move next summer I've had very little time to catch up on cohort stuff.

up/rooted.west met on Presidents Day in downtown Wheaton to discuss two more sections of Brian McLaren's book, Everything Must Change. This section dealt specifically with two views of Jesus, which Brian contrasts to show how the "conventional" view is often an accomplice to the destructive systems that have cause the global crises we see around us, while what he calls the "emerging" view can actually help to heal some of these problems. (You'll have to read the book to get the details on these two views.) We had some excellent discussion and even debate, as not everyone in the group was sold on Brian's ideas, or on the dichotomy he appears to set up between the two views. Some felt he was overemphasizing the critique of "empire" found in the gospels, making it more significant than it is, or reading it into passages when it isn't actually there. Others suggested however that Brian was emphasizing those themes because they were relevant to the topic of global crises even if he wouldn't say that they are the only things the gospel is about.

The discussion also drifted into many other questions and topics, some related to the book, and some that grew out of the discussion itself. As with all good conversations, it was free flowing, respectful, and diverse. We closed with a "lectio divina" style reflection where each person shared one thing from the discussion that they would be taking away with them. It was good to hear how the Spirit spoke to each person differently in the course of the evening.

I hope you'll join us for our next round of discussion on this book when we'll tackle the central three sections (chapters 19-30) that deal with the three interlocking systems (Security, Prosperity, and Equity) that Brian believes are at the heart of the global crises facing our world. We will meet once again at Gino's East in downtown Wheaton on Monday, March 24 at 7pm.

Also, don't forget that Brian's Everything Must Change Tour will be coming to Chicago on April 4-5. The deadline for the lower $99 price has been extended till March 15, so you still have time to register. Click here to do so.

After the Tour we will meet again in April for one more book discussion on the final section and, more importantly, to brainstorm more specific ways that we can put the ideas of this book into practical action. The expectation is that we will be joined at that meeting by a good number of first-timers who will hopefully connect with up/rooted at the conference. I'd like to use the momentum of that event, as well as from our discussion over these past few months, to launch a revolution of active engagement with global and local justice issues among our communities all over the Chicago area, and I think our April cohort meeting would be a great place to kick that off.

So yeah, hope to see you for the discussion March 24, and again at the conference the week after that!

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted.west co-coordinator

Emerging Church in Indy

2008-02-21T11:29:00.001-06:00

Indy.com recently had an article featuring the emerging church in Indianapolis, Indiana, highlighting four emerging churches as well as our friend Sarah Notton (pictured on the right), founder of the Indianapolis Emergent Cohort and one of our co-conspirators for the Midwest Emergent Gathering we did here in Chicago this past summer. It's good to see the conversation flourishing in our neighbor to the south!

Can't we all just get along?

2008-02-18T19:30:00.003-06:00

Whether you've been around the dialogue between the emerging church and the evangelical church a lot or a little, you've noticed there can be some sharp disagreements. There are quarrels about the role of the church, definitions of success, theology of the atonement, salvation, the Kingdom of God, mission, understandings of the Bible, truth and more.

For those trying to navigate the changes in our culture and in the church, we find quite the maze to sort through. Must everything change? Is there a war on Truth? It seems the emerging church and evangelicalism are antithetical; if you're one you can't be the other. There are many emerging voices tearing down evangelicalism as nothing more than American consumerism and individualism, and many evangelical voices decrying the emerging church as having left orthodox Christianity behind.

If you're looking for a thoughtful gathering without all the rhetoric on just what all the fuss is about, up/rooted.north is hosting a 10-week discussion on evangelicalism and the emerging church: not just on the differences, but also how the emerging movement is closely linked to evangelicalism historically and theologically.

We will be meeting on Thursday nights beginning February 28^th, at 7:30pm in the Barnes and Noble at 920 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Lincolnshire. We’ll be in the little coffee shop area. Our gatherings will be led by fellow up/rooted.north-er, Dustin Underwood. If you’re an evangelical, emerging, a bit confused, or all of the above, come listen, learn and add your thoughts. Hope to see you next Thursday in Lincolnshire!

Jon Berbaum, coordinator of up/rooted.north

up/rooted.west this Monday, Feb 18

2008-02-15T01:23:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder that up/rooted.west will be gathering this coming Monday, February 18 for part 2 of our discussion of Brian McLaren's new book, Everything Must Change. We'll be discussing chapters 10-18, but even if you haven't read you should have no trouble diving into the conversation.

We'll be meeting at 7pm at the Gino's East Pizzeria in downtown Wheaton. You don't have to get food, but if you'd like to, bring $5-10 bucks for pizza.

Hope to see you there!

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

Summary of January up/rooted.city gathering

2008-02-08T10:09:00.000-06:00

I love the rotating nature of attendance in the community that we are forming. 10 folks gathered on a Monday night: some male, some female; some Jewish, some Greek; some religious, some not; some new to up/rooted, some new to the new people. All of us slave to something, all of us free in some way.

We drank tea and ate Garrett's popcorn while conversation started with how we are trying to live out our spirituality and went a variety of places from there. We kept coming back to the ideas of "obligation" and "practice" and what those two concepts meant for us in a post-modern context while still being faithful with what many of us feel we're commnaded to do.

Our next meeting will be Monday, February 25th at 7:00. We'll be meeting at Wicker Park Grace (1741 N. Western). We'd love to share the wealth of hospitality opportunities. If you'd like to bring a snack for the group, please do. It's always a delight to see what different people love to feed their friends.

January up/rooted.city recap

2008-02-04T15:28:00.000-06:00

BTW, Helen has an excellent (as usual) recap of this past month's up/rooted.city gathering over at the Conversation at the Edge blog.

Here's an excerpt:

Nick, an atheist, and Anachim, an Emergent Jewish Rabbi, were back. I was glad I wasn’t the only not-Christian in the group. Not because the Christians have been other than welcoming to those of us who aren’t. Rather, because I like the diversity and challenge of friendly conversation between people whose beliefs are different.

After introductions we talked about ‘practising’ which was partly because I’d asked Rebecca if we could. I’ve been thinking lately about how Off The Map is practice-based rather than belief-based and how glad I am about that. It’s in practising that I often find common ground with people whose beliefs are different.

Go check out the rest.

January up/rooted.west recap

2008-01-28T12:26:00.000-06:00

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

Announcing up/rooted.rockford!!!

2008-01-16T16:17:00.000-06:00

A few months back I encouraged you all to think about helping us multiply new cohorts and branches of up/rooted around the greater Chicago area. Several of you responded to that asking whether something could happen in Rockford, and as it turns out, a discussion group was already meeting in Rockford, led by Dan Hinz. Dan enthusiastically agreed to partner with us and open the discussion group to anyone who is interested, so I am pleased to announced the beginning of up/rooted.rockford!

The first meeting will be next Wednesday, January 23rd at 1:30pm at Meg's Daily Grind (coffee shop) on Alpine and Guilford in Rockford. Right now, the group is just connecting and talking a lot about what it means to be the church here in Rockford (and bringing to the table what is happening in their local ministries, encouraging each other, etc). Everyone is welcome (especially if you're already in the Rockford area). And stay tuned for email and blog updates from Dan about future Rockford gatherings too.

I'm excited to see this conversation multiply! I hope you are too.

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

Summary of December up/rooted.city gathering

2008-01-10T10:35:00.000-06:00

On Monday, December 17, 12 of us gathered at Wicker Park Grace to drink mulled cider, eat a variety of cookie that involved cinnamon and create a safe space for discussion regarding the use of liturgy (The Lord's Prayer) in these meetings and our unique characteristic of being attractive to agnostics, atheists and folks of other faiths. That last category included Menachem, who identified himself as part of the emerging Judaism movement, which was super-cool to hear about, in my book. We also spent a good portion of time telling the stories of our lives to strengthen the community that we're creating.

It has been awhile since the meeting (almost a month), so this summary will lack a certain immediacy in the retelling. Helen wrote about it in a much more timely fashion here. I haven't read it yet because I didn't want it to color my own report, but Helen's always interesting and reliable in her perspective.

These are the quotes (possibly paraphrased) that I wrote down during the meeting. I think they represent well the flow of the conversation.

"A concatenation of words can't offend. It offends as a symbol." -Steve about the Lord's Prayer

"We're pursuing truth. It shouldn't surprise us that atheists come." -James

"The word truth, I try to stay away from because so many Christians use it to describe absolute belief rather than their experiences." -Helen

"What if we called it the Lord's Poem?" -Lyndi

"Liturgy inevitably draws a line. Why do people recite words together?" -Nanette

"How can we better serve each other and love God? How can we be human together?" -Lyndi

"I want to say, 'Your church would have a really hard time with me,' but I shouldn't because you're [indicating the group] part of your church." -Helen

The major ideas that I got from the conversation were that we all valued the group for creating a space for theological conversation but at the same time, many Christians liked that the conversation could tie together it's loose ends at the end of the meeting with an affirmation that something, probably God, connected us together in a common purpose. The atheists, agnostics, and others present were extremely gracious in their desire not to "take that affirmation away from us" but in retrospect, I personally don't like the divide that creates in the group. I have a real desire for the group to be organic in its purpose, forming naturally around the people that compose it. And the reality is that although up/rooted has some very Christian statements of purpose as it's founding principles, this city branch of it is composed of people that are not necessarily Christian. Doug Pagitt talked at the Midwest Emergent Gathering ( audio here) about how the adoption of two Hispanic kids into his family changed the family as well as the lives of the kids. He used this personal anecdote as a metaphor for the emerging church. I think that if we believe in a generous orthodoxy, we must not simply tolerate and make space for those that do not claim Christ as a leader, but embrace them as truly family, changing each other as we meet and are vulnerable in telling our stories, expressing our opinions and asking our questions. (Did you notice how many of the quotes that struck me were questions?) If we believe that a loving God is at the center and that we're all simply on different paths heading toward the same goal, we should be able to trust that -through our thirst- she'll keep us traveling in the right direction regardless of who we find to travel with on the journey.

So, some suggestion of possible alternatives to reciting the Lord's Prayer at the end of meetings involve:
- acknowledging that not all present necessarily agree but asking their indulgence as the rest of us pray
- ending in some sort of silent, personal prayer
- reciting something else

There were probably others but grad school is really getting in the way of my ability to remember them. I'm really sorry. Please add what's missing in any comments to the post on the up/rooted website.

We tried the silent prayer and although we didn't discuss it, I was personally dissatisfied with it. It didn't give quite the sense of "tying up the loose ends" of the discussion, as James said. I'd love to try the recitation of other words. Please suggest possible texts (secular and religious) that are more inclusive either in the comments section of this post or in an email to me. I'll figure out a way to let the group vote on which ones are best once I've received some suggestions.

I am so thankful for the role this up/rooted.city group is playing in my life. I am itching for our next meeting, which won't be until Monday, January 28 because of the MLK holiday. We'll be meeting again at Wicker Park Grace, which is located at 1741 N. Western and we'll start at 7:00 with the intent that folks will be able to start heading back home around 9:00.

-Rebecca

up/rooted.west book discussion - January 21

2008-01-09T17:17:00.000-06:00

We will be starting our discussion of Brian McLaren's new book, Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, this month at up/rooted.west in preparation for the Everything Must Change Tour coming to our fair city at the beginning of April (and no, it's not too late to sign up to volunteer for the Tour, and definitely not too late to register if you just want to attend - don't delay or you'll miss the cheap tickets!) The issues dealt with in this book are hugely important and I'm excited to be part of the revolution of hope that Brian writes about. This discussion will be one way of participating in this revolution.

The book discussion will be on Monday, January 21st at 7pm at the Ginos East Pizzeria in downtown Wheaton (easily accessible from the Wheaton Metra stop for those who want to come in from the city). Eating is not mandatory, but bring a few bucks if you'd like to join in on the pizza. We will start this month by reading and discussing the first two sections of the book, chapters 1-9, however, even if you don't get a chance to read come anyway as I'm sure the conversation will be accessible to all. We will continue our discussion of the rest of the book over the next several months, so there will be plenty of chances to catch up later as well.

Hope to see you there!

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

Shift Student Ministries Conference

2007-12-27T15:48:00.000-06:00

One of the advantages of living here in Chicago is the various events and opportunities that often happen in our neck of the woods. One such opportunity is the Shift Student Ministries Conference at Willow Creek on April 9-11. While I know many of you are probably already planning to attend Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change Tour the weekend before that (April 4-5) if you are specifically involved in youth ministries you'll want to also consider attending this excellent event. Note too that while this event is primarily for adult youth workers, there is also a student track for teen leaders within your ministries.

The organizers of this conferences are clearly tuned in to the emerging conversation as evidenced by their fantastic line-up of speakers and breakout leaders, including:

Brian McLaren
Mark Yaconelli
Shane Claiborne
Kara Powell
Dan Kimball
Scot McKnight

You can find out more by going to the main conference website or click here to register. Also, if you are part of our up/rooted network (i.e. if you get our email updates) please email me for a $50 discount code (good until 2/26, not valid for Student rates). We are partnering with this event to help promote it through up/rooted (so spread the word) and we will also be hosting a lunch discussion/networking time for any conference goers who are interested in finding out more about up/rooted or about Emergent cohorts in general. If you'd be willing to help me put that on, please let me know.

-Mike

up/rooted Holiday Party!

2007-12-08T15:08:00.000-06:00

Everyone is invited to our first ever up/rooted Holiday Party, Wednesday, December 19th from 7pm – 9pm!

FREE FOOD
Heavy hor d'oevres, desserts and drinks will be provided free. But, please RSVP via email (uprooted.chicago@gmail.com) so the cook (me) can make enough (or not too much) food and desserts.

PLEASE BRING
Normally, we'd ask you to bring food or drinks to share, but in light of the Food Bank Crisis that's going on in the U.S., please bring canned goods or boxed food items, baby diapers, or other toiletries and I will be taking them to the nearest food bank.

GIFT EXCHANGE
We'll also be doing a white elephant gift exchange (no more than $5) so bring something you found in your attic, at a thrift store or in your grandparent's basement!

HIDEOUS HOLIDAY OUTFIT CONTEST
There will also be a contest and prizes for the most hideous holiday sweater or holiday outfit worn to the party! Dumpster diving is also another source of hideous, or to some folks—fashionable, holiday outfits.

LOCATION:
The party will be hosted at 5515 EAST LAKE DR, UNIT B, LISLE, IL 60532.

This apt is located just 7 minutes from the Lisle train station (express trains leave from downtown). Please call Kristine Socall at 630-963-0529 or Mike Clawson at 630-742-4062 if you need to be picked up from the train station.

It's also just a 5 minute drive West of I-355, just south of I-88, exit at Maple Ave from I-355. After you exit 355, go West past IL Rt 53 and turn L (South) on East Lake Dr. (also called Patton if you go North). After the turn, you will look for the second place to turn Rt, and the building will be immediately on your left. A Visitor Parking lot is available if you keep going straight past the building. DO NOT park in any spot that has a numbered sign post in front of it.

Please call me at 630.963.0529 if you need directions and I'll try to recruit some volunteers to be out in the lot to help everyone find their way.

Blessings upon you and your community during this season of celebrating God and each other!

Kristine Socall
up/rooted.west co-coordinator

up/rooted.west recap: Kingdom & Empire

2007-12-03T22:02:00.000-06:00

We had an excellent discussion this past Monday at up/rooted.west as nine of us gathered at Wheaton College for a discussion of the political implications of Jesus' gospel of the kingdom of God. Chico Fajardo-Heflin from the Reba Place community and his wife Tatiana (one of the earliest members of up/rooted.west from way back in the day) came out from Evanston to guide us through the topic.

He began by leading us through some of the Roman rhetoric about Caesar Augustus that is paralleled in the gospel accounts (which I was happy to borrow for my advent sermon this past Sunday) - for instance, the way that Mark's Passion narrative is structured to exactly mirror a Roman coronation ceremony. We talked about how the gospel message was intended as an explicit challenge to the imperial imagination of Jesus' day, and how Jesus came to establish a new community, a different kind of "empire" - one of peace, justice and self-sacrifice rather than domination and the violent use of power.

From there our conversation naturally took a turn into the implications for living out the gospel in our own day. We talked about what exactly the "empire" is in our day - agreeing that it is far bigger than just a nation-state like America - that it actually encompasses the whole system of global capitalism that we are all immersed in. We also debated whether Jesus' call to create a new community, a new polis (the root of the word "political"), should encourage or discourage direct involvement in the political and economic structures of our own day. Should we avoid the subtle seduction of empire by withdrawing as much as possible from the systems that surround us, and instead create a new and separate community centered on the values of the God's kingdom; or is it possible to "fix" the empire through political processes, or at the very least, utilize such processes to help mitigate the evils caused by empire? (There was significant but friendly disagreement within the group on this issue, and it was fun to hash the question out together.)

Both Chico and I brought in a number of books for recommended reading on the topic. Some of these included Brian McLaren's new book, Everything Must Change, as well as several Anabaptist authors such as Ulrich Duchrow and Donald Kraybill. One the specific topic of how the early Christian message was a challenge to the imperial systems of the ancient world, we'd also recommend Richard Horsley's Jesus and Empire, Dominic Crossan's God and Empire, or Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat's Colossians Remixed.

Speaking of Brian's new book, we will begin an extended discussion of it after the New Year at up/rooted.west. Since it's a long book that touches on a wide variety of topics we will spread our discussion of it out over several months, leading up to Brian's Everything Must Change Tour here in Chicago on April 4-5. For January (exact date and location TBD) let's read and discuss the first two Parts of the book (chapters 1-9).

In December, on Wednesday the 19th, we are going to have a first for up/rooted: a Christmas Party! Kristine Socall will be hosting and more details will soon follow. This isn't just for up/rooted.west either, all of you are invited, especially those of you who haven't been with us for a long, long while. (Yes, that includes you Matt ;) - and Erin too if you're home from Calvin.) This will be a chance to re-connect, catch-up with old and new friends, and have a little holiday fun. Stay tuned for details and I'll hope to see you there!

Another up/rooted.city summary

2007-11-26T00:41:00.000-06:00

BTW, Helen has an excellent summary of the most recent up/rooted.city gathering over at the Conversation at the Edge blog. Check it out!

Trying Not To Be Boneheads - November up/rooted.city summary

2007-11-23T18:32:00.000-06:00

This month's meeting of up/rooted.city was definitely a balm for my soul. I had spent the day cranky and living inside my head, replaying angry thoughts and worrying about the future. However, once I arrived at Wicker Park Grace, I was pulled out of my head because the other folks that were there invited me into their hearts as they told their stories.

Twelve of us shared apples, celery, caramel sauce, peanut butter and apple juice for a little over two hours as we talked. Four of us had attended the first meeting but eight of us were brand new to the gathering and the new dynamic was interesting and good. I liked hearing that all of the attendees were brought to the meeting through the internet somehow and that many folks were meeting with each other independently for lunch.

The long-distance award goes to Bill, Helen's dad, who came all the way from Oxford, England to meet with us. Bill said many interesting things, but I was most intrigued by the logic of one of his statements. He pointed out that since church attendance is so much higher in the US than in the UK, it's reasonable to assume that Christians have a fair amount of influence on the policy that the US makes. He then talked a little bit about our continued use of capital punishment, which he believes is barbaric. He pointed out that capital punishment must have the support of Christians in the US since we are such a large majority and he questioned how that could be when God commands us to have mercy as we have been shown mercy. His voice was an intriguing addition to the group.

The group included an atheist, an almost atheist, an agnostic, a former neo-gnostic, a couple of pastors, former and current evangelicals, former and current mainline protestants, and folks who are still looking for a way to describe their faiths. Beautifully, all of us are actively examining ourselves and the world for God. Over the course of the evening, we built trust with each other, telling stories and asking questions. I particularly appreciated Helen's good questions. We talked about literalism in biblical interpretation, the use of Christian music in schools as an art form, manipulation as evangelism, the teaching of some churches that "doubt is bad" and the funding of church plants, in addition to other topics.

The best question asked, in my mind, came from Steve, the self-proclaimed "atheist husband" of Lainie, who asked, "Wouldn't it be a more enjoyable world to live in if the Christian message that was heard came from Christians who weren't boneheads?"

Amen, brother. I think that's probably something everyone can get behind.

Out next meeting is Monday, December 17 at 7:00 at Wicker Park Grace. I look forward to the balm a new mix of people will bring in a holiday season that can be particularly hard for humans as we try to figure out how to follow God and celebrate Jesus in authentic ways.

-Rebecca

up/rooted city meeting on Monday, November 19 at 7:00

2007-11-13T19:29:00.000-06:00

I'm excited to announce that our second meeting of of up/rooted city will take place on Monday, November 19.  We'll gather at 7:00 for tea and stories.

Wicker Park Grace
@ Acme Art Works
1741 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

It's our intention to repeat our agenda from last month since it was so successful.  We'll continue getting to know one another, asking and answering questions of each other and creating a community of folks in the city who are interested in this new kind of Christianity and how we are living our lives through it.

There were lots of you out there who expressed disappointment that you weren't able to make it last time.  We look forward to seeing you on Monday, as well as those of you who were able to attend in October.

Please email me if you have any questions either at this address or at rebica (at) aol (dot) com.

In Service,
Rebecca

McLaren's "Everything Must Change Tour" Coming to Chicago - Volunteers Needed!

2007-11-04T15:01:00.000-06:00

You may have already heard that Brian McLaren will be spending the first part of this next year touring eleven major cities to talk about ideas related to his new book, "Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope". The Tour will be coming to Chicago April 4-5, a Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, at the First United Church of Oak Park.

At the conference Brian and others will attempt to answer some of the following questions:

- What does it mean, in today’s world, to be a follower of God in the way of Jesus?
- What does it mean to be a faith community engaged in the holistic, integral mission of God in our world today?
- How do we, as individuals and faith communities, respond faithfully to the crises facing our world?
- What is our duty to God, ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our enemies, and our planet in light of Jesus’ radical message of the kingdom of God?
- How can we engage in personal formation and theological reformulation for global transformation?

Click here for more details about the Tour, or here for a short video by Brian with 7 reasons why you should come.

An Important Opportunity for up/rooted

This Tour is an exciting opportunity for our Emergent cohort to help connect even more people into the conversation here in Chicago, and also to help form new cohort discussions in other locations around the upper Midwest. Brian has graciously agreed to let us use his Tour as a chance to promote up/rooted and other cohorts - we will have a sign-up table, and a chance to speak from the front and invite the attendees to connect with a group near them (or form one if one doesn't already exist).

In return we want to help Brian with logistical, behind-the-scenes stuff for his Tour, basically to extend hospitality to Brian when he visits our city and also take some ownership for this event. That is why I am actively recruiting you (yes, you) to volunteer to help at the Tour. You won't have to miss much of the Tour, just give an hour or two of your time to help with things like registration, airport shuttles, worship music, food prep, IT Techs, etc.

As a thank-you for helping you will receive the following:
1) A reduced registration rate of $79
2) A private cohorts breakfast with Brian on Saturday morning of the conference
3) A free copy of the book (if you don't already have one)

If you are interested in being a volunteer, please let me know. (Email me at uprooted.chicago@gmail.com as soon as you can.) We need anywhere from 12-20 volunteers, so please step up if you are able.

And we of course need everyone to help spread the word about the Tour in your spheres of influence - at church, school, denominational headquarters, etc. You can download postcards and posters for your blog or to print here.

The goal of all this is to play a small part in spurring on this Revolution of Hope. I'm excited for this opportunity to partner with Brian, and I hope you will join us.

Summary of the first up/rooted city gathering

2007-10-28T00:35:00.000-05:00

Hello emerging world!

Our first gathering of the city branch of up/rooted took place a couple of weeks ago now at Wicker Park Grace here in the city and after that initial inevitable stab of nervousness that no one was going to come, I felt really good about the experience.

Nine of us from the city and Mike from the suburbs sat around a pink-clad table in assorted chairs to eat hummus, apples with caramel dipping sauce, chips and cookies and to drink coffee and an array of tea. Once our kinship as creatures of flesh was established, we got down to the business of establishing kinship as creatures of experience. Mike spent a little time explaining the mission of up/rooted, deferring to me like he was speaking out of turn, but I hope that I clearly communicated that I was very comfortable with him in the role of teacher (he is a pastor after all) and that I am uncomfortable being much more to the group than a facilitator.

I have a degree in English and History because I believe profoundly that stories have power. Usually I engage with them in written form in books or on blogs or face to face with one other person over tea or on a road trip. However, this cohort is giving me a chance to experience people's stories in a new way. We spent almost an hour and a half taking turns widdershins around the table telling our stories of where we have been and where we hoped to go as a result of this kind of gathering.

We had folks from mainline protestant churches, folks in leadership at evangelical churches, folks who don't affiliate themselves with a church at all. Several folks shared my story of having their lives - forgive me - uprooted as they began to see that following God did not have to mean what they had always been told that it did.

As we concluded the evening, we decided that we wanted to continue with this format in the near future as we coagulate as a group, leaving the door open to different formats as time goes on.

We'll be having out next meeting on Monday, November 19. I'm working on a different venue, possibly bLEnd, but the fall back will be Wicker Park. I'll update you all as soon as I've got something nailed down.

I welcome any additions or corrections that anyone has about our gathering. I'm excited about what is forming here. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.

-Rebecca

up/rooted.west, Nov 26 - Kingdom & Empire

2007-10-27T15:38:00.000-05:00

Up/rooted.west will be meeting again on Monday, November 26 for practical/theological discussion of "Kingdom & Empire". We live in a world not dissimilar to the one Jesus lived in - where our lives and imaginations are often determined by the systems and narratives of "empire" (in Jesus' case, Rome, in our own, the "empire" of America or, more broadly, that of global capitalism). If Jesus proclamation of the "kingdom of God" was an explicit challenge to the imperial imagination of his own day, what implications does his message then have for us in our 21st century context? More specifically, what does this mean for how we engage with the systems and powers of government and the marketplace?

You don't have to have read anything ahead of time to join in the discussion and share your perspectives. However, if you'd like to study up I'd recommend this article from the Christian Century for a good overview. Or, for the more ambitious, read Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat or Jesus & Empire by Richard Horsley.

UPDATE: We will be joined by Chico Fajardo-Heflin of Reba Place Fellowship in Evanston who has been studying these issues and living out their implications in his own life for several years. He has graciously offered to help lead our discussion.

We will meet at the Beamer Center at Wheaton College at 7pm on Monday, November 26. (We'll just take whatever space is available when we get there; go to the lower level and just follow the signs.)

See you then!

Mike Clawson
up/rooted.west co-coordinator

Multiplying Cohorts

2007-10-24T20:07:00.000-05:00

up/rooted.city, our new downtown cohort, got off to a great start last week thanks to Rebecca Murphy who coordinated the evening, Nanette Sawyer, who hosted us at Wicker Park Grace, and all the others who came to share their stories and contribute to the conversation. I can't wait to see what "emerges" from this new network of friendships.

In many ways up/rooted.city is the result of a vision that I and many others share for multiplying these kind of conversations in the Chicago area and around the country (and the world). I am convinced that we are at the leading edge of a global spiritual revolution, and as with all revolutions, it begins with small groups of like-minded people gathering to share passions and ideas. Out of this are birthed friendships and networks that can change the world in both large and small ways.

That is why up/rooted exists, and it is why I would like to see even more cohorts birthed out of it. Right now we have groups meeting in the north suburbs, the west suburbs, and down in the city (some steps have also been made towards a south suburban group, but nothing consistent has developed there yet). We have also helped birth a cohort in Eastern Iowa.

However, there is so much more potential for new groups. Right now there are no cohorts at all in Wisconsin and some of you from there have driven down to attend up/rooted. Why not start a Madison, Milwaukee, or Southeastern Wisconsin cohort? We also have folks that occasionally drive from Chicago Heights and even Valparaiso to attend cohort meetings. Why not instead start a Northwest Indiana cohort? Or perhaps some of you are or know students at UofI or ISU or Bradley. Why not help get an Urbana-Champaign or Bloomington-Normal or Peoria cohort started? Or maybe you're not anywhere near Chicago but would like our advice on how start something where you're at. We'd be glad to help.

It honestly doesn't take much to start a cohort. All you need is three or more people, one of whom is willing to coordinate a day, a place, and a topic every one to three months, and then just start spreading the word to friends, pastors and others who might be interested (flyers at local colleges or coffee shops can be surprisingly effective as well). Beyond that, we can lend you the use of the up/rooted website and email list (or help you create your own) so you can start promoting your events on the web. I can also get you set up on the EmergentVillage.com cohorts listing so that others in your area looking for this kind of conversation will find you.

If you share this vision for multiplying the conversation, are outside of or on the fringes of the Chicago area, and are possibly interested in helping to start something in your area, please let me know. Just email me at uprooted.chicago@gmail.com and we can start talking about the possibilities.

I can't wait to see how this revolution grows!

uprooted.city quotes

2007-10-18T19:17:00.000-05:00

We had a great time at uprooted.city the other night. I'll let Rebecca write the real summary. However I wanted to share a few fun quotes that "emerged" from the conversation:

"We get together, eat, have communion, complain... sometimes we complain centered around the Bible."

- James describing his faith community

"They're all there to find their Christian mate because they didn't get them at Moody."

- Rebecca describing a church she had experienced

"It was a young church, so we had to download the Statement of Faith and sign on the dotted line."

- Rebecca, on this same church

"Methemergent... Emergemeth... Emerthodist"

- Matt and others trying to think of a mash-up name for Emergent Methodists

Brian McLaren Summary

2007-10-18T11:06:00.000-05:00

Helen Mildenhall attended Brian McLaren's talk at Dominican University the other night and wrote an excellent review at the Conversation at the Edge blog. Here's her description of the night, and here's her notes from Brian's talk.

Cynicism & Hope Conference at Reba Place

2007-10-12T16:30:00.000-05:00

Almost missed this one... Reba Place Fellowship in Evanston, IL (north burbs) is hosting a conference entitled Cynicism & Hope: Reclaiming Discipleship in a Post-Democratic Society on November 2-3.

Cost is $40 or $30 for students.

They describe the conference as follows:

How do we live out God's call to prophetic witness in an apathetic and disempowered society?

How can we learn from others who have remained faithful to Jesus' radical call in the midst of failure?

How can art, prayer and other forms of everyday resistance nourish our hope for the kingdom of God?

Join academics, activists and members of our communities as they share their work through the lens of cynicism and hope. Our vision is to provide a space for frustrated, justice-minded Christians who, like us, feel trapped by the current political situation but long to be part of meaningful action for change.

You can see a list of speakers and workshops as well as register at the conference website.

Podcast of up/rooted w/Spencer Burke & co.

2007-10-12T15:53:00.000-05:00

Here are the links to the podcast of our event a few weeks ago with Spencer Burke, Neil Cole & Alan Hirsch on "Missional: Has it been shrink-wrapped too?"

Part 1

Part 2

Spencer is also offering a pre-Soularize feedlive event this Thursday, Oct 18th at 8pm CST with Ori Brafman author of “The Starfish and the Spider” at http://soularize.net/feedlive

Brian McLaren Coming to Chicago

2007-10-07T13:04:00.000-05:00

In case you hadn't heard, Brian McLaren will be coming to Chicago next week. You will have two opportunities to hear him speak if you so desire:

The first event is a discussion and book signing for his new book "Everything Must Change" at the Borders in Wheaton on Monday, October 15 at 7:30pm. This will be our up/rooted.west event for this month (though we won't have any personal discussion time with Brian besides the public book signing). Come on out at 7pm to connect with the cohort and then we'll stay for the book signing together.

The second event is the following Tuesday evening (October 16) at Dominican University in River Forest at 7:30pm. Brian will be speaking as part of a special lecture series on the topic of Truth Telling in Christian America: Globalization, Poverty and the Environment. It is open to the public, though tickets are $10 (free for Dominican students, faculty and staff).

Of course, you may also remember that we've also planned our up/rooted.city kick-off for that same Tuesday night (Oct 16), at 7pm in Wicker Park. (We set our dates before we knew Brian was coming to town.) If you're down in the city I certainly hope you'll consider coming to that and helping us get off to a good start (if you want to know what Brian will be talking about, I'm sure a lot of it will be in his book.) However, if you're not in the city, or if you really just can't pass up the chance to go hear Brian in person, the Dominican event is definitely a good option too. We hope to make up/rooted.city a regular (monthly?) thing, so even if you miss the kick-off you can always join us for future events.

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

Coming Soon: up/rooted.city!!!

2007-09-30T16:52:00.000-05:00

I'm excited to announce that at long last and due to popular demand, we will be kicking off UP/ROOTED.CITY, our downtown Chicago branch of the cohort, on Tuesday, October 16 at 7pm. We will be meeting at Wicker Park Grace, in the Acme Art Works building at 1741 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60647.

Come join us for good conversation, to share our stories, and to help participate in this emerging revolution of faith. If you are in or near the city then bring yourself and bring a friend. Or, if you are out in the suburbs, then tell a friend who lives further in.

Hope to see you at the kick-off!

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator
up-rooted.com

P.S. If you are able to help us advertise by putting flyers up at schools or churches (especially in the downtown area) please let me know and I will send you a .pdf flyer.

Recap: up/rooted.west w/Spencer Burke & friends

2007-09-30T01:18:00.000-05:00

Hey up/rooted,

Despite traffic difficulties that prevented a few of our panelists from being there, we had a great time the other night with Spencer Burke, Neil Cole, and Alan Hirsch out at up/rooted.west. Spencer kicked off the night talking about question of whether "missional" has been shrink-wrapped too. Has it become a product, a system, a hip label, a means for church planters and others to earn a paycheck, etc.?

Of course, this led into a whole mess of other questions, mostly relating to the dangers of institutionalized Christianity. Here's just a sample that came both from the presenters and from the audience:

Does a desire to earn a paycheck get in the way of actually being missional?
Is it bad for publishers to try and make money off a new term like "missional"? What are the alternatives?
What happens when Sunday morning is no longer sacred in society, when it's just another day of commerce? Will that change how we do church?
Why do we assume that one pastor can meet every need in a church, and even teach to every person (despite age, intelligence, etc.) on every necessary topic (e.g. relationships, money, spiritual growth, doctrine, etc.)? Can we imagine other, less top-down models?
Are pastors in imminent danger of being downsized because of the realities of our post-christian culture?
(From Rebecca in the audience): Is our concern over this question of missional being shrink-wrapped because we like to think of ourselves as "different", "rebellious", and "alternative"? Are we afraid of our ideas becoming popular and accepted? Is that why we keep inventing new concepts and terminology whenever an old one gets "shrink-wrapped"?
How do we keep this missional movement from calcifying and becoming dogmatic? How do we continue to grow, change, "emerge", etc.?

Of course, many other things were talked about in and around these issues. True to form, Spencer was an excellent provocateur, giving us much to chew on and not being afraid of making us a little uncomfortable. Neil and Alan were fantastic as well.

Anyhow, if you missed it we'll have a link to the video webcast shortly. Check back here later.

-Mike Clawson
up/rooted co-coordinator

P.S. We have some exciting news about our next up/rooted gathering. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Helen has a good review of the event at the Conversation at the Edge blog too.

Live webcast of upcoming up/rooted

2007-09-25T19:02:00.000-05:00

I hope you're all planning to attend our panel discussion this Thursday with Spencer Burke and friends. However, if you just can't make it, you can log-on to a live, interactive webcast at 7pm CST on Thursday by going to http://soularize.net/feedlive.