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
Showing posts with label discussions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discussions. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Update from the city
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:
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.
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:Brian McLaren respond on Andrew's blog.
“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”
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.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Josiah Community
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?
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?
Friday, March 14, 2008
Something to read for the city gathering
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
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
Friday, March 09, 2007
Where is the intersection of Urban and Emergent?
Yesterday I had an excellent conversation with Chris Brooks at the Caribou Coffee in Wheaton. Chris is the Pastor of Family Life at River City Community Church, an urban multi-ethnic faith community in inner-city Chicago.
He came to me with a difficult question: where is the intersection of the urban church and the emerging church? Do the two worlds intersect, and if so, why is it so hard to find much evidence of this intermingling on either side?
I suspect there are many answers. In large part it's probably because the emerging church conversation is so decentralized and amorphous. It only consists of what the participants bring to it, and thus far, not many of the participants have been from an indigenously urban context. (Though I suspect this needs some definition. For instance, both Wicker Park Grace and Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler are indigenously urban emerging churches, and yet I'm not sure they're quite what Chris had in mind.) At any rate, this is a gap in the emerging church conversation that sorely needs to be filled, and I wonder if up/rooted can play some role in filling it.
So I'm throwing this out there for conversation, and I really want to encourage the readers of this blog to participate:
Have you seen intersections of the urban church with the emerging church? If so, where? What do they already share in common? How can each enrich the other? And what needs to be done to continue merging the two?
He came to me with a difficult question: where is the intersection of the urban church and the emerging church? Do the two worlds intersect, and if so, why is it so hard to find much evidence of this intermingling on either side?
I suspect there are many answers. In large part it's probably because the emerging church conversation is so decentralized and amorphous. It only consists of what the participants bring to it, and thus far, not many of the participants have been from an indigenously urban context. (Though I suspect this needs some definition. For instance, both Wicker Park Grace and Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler are indigenously urban emerging churches, and yet I'm not sure they're quite what Chris had in mind.) At any rate, this is a gap in the emerging church conversation that sorely needs to be filled, and I wonder if up/rooted can play some role in filling it.
So I'm throwing this out there for conversation, and I really want to encourage the readers of this blog to participate:
Have you seen intersections of the urban church with the emerging church? If so, where? What do they already share in common? How can each enrich the other? And what needs to be done to continue merging the two?
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