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.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Overflow Coffee Bar
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.
Let me know if you have any questions that I can answer by leaving a comment.
-Rebecca
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
Monday, October 12, 2009
nuChristian by Russell Rathbun
nuChristian.jpg)
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.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.
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.
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.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?
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.
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
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Charter for Compassion.
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.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Upcoming up/rooted events
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.
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.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
up/rooted.city to reunite as well!
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.
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.
Friday, July 17, 2009
up/rooted.west to reunite with the Clawsons
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.
Newcomers are definitely welcome and you do not need to live in the western suburbs in order to attend.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A Christianity Worth Believing
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.)
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."
Sunday, April 19, 2009
April 27th Meeting in Wheaton
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
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
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Worth a read
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
What has up/rooted.city been up to?
So, we've had three gatherings of the up/rooted.city type and I haven't told you about any of them.
Yet.
First, let me tell you that we're going to meet again on Monday, December 8 at 7:00 at Wicker Park Grace, which can be found at 1741 N. Western. We'd love to see anyone who has an inkling of interest in meeting up with folks who are interested in talking about opening up God's kingdom to all people, not just the ones who believe the same things we do.
Now, I'm going to give a list of quotes from our various gatherings, since I really should be doing my homework.
September discussion:
"I used to have a passion for being an evangelical Christian and then I had a passion for being a post-modern Christian and now I wish I could just reclaim some of that passion."
"The way the faith has been presented is shallow. So the way I see emergence is looking back into the depth of tradition."
"Yearning for a deeper or more real experience of God and community and how this covenant is played out in real life.
"Young folks already believe they can pick and choose and would never dream of feeling oppressed by a "modern" church who insists on all or nothing belief."
"If Jews interpreted the New Testament you would pretty much have Unitarianism."
Brian McLaren:
Emergence arises from two impulses: anxiety over the decline of Mainline Protestant, Catholic and Evangelical communities and folks who just stopped liking going to church.
When Bolger and Gibbs looked at churches that seemed to be attracting young people they found that style of worship was not the most dominant common characteristic. Instead, most shared a desire to fulfill the idea of "on Earth as it is in Heaven."
Phyllis Tickle defined emergence as a desire to share spiritual resources.
Emergence can be viewed as the new outer ring of a tree rather than just another slice of a finite pie.
Pre-modern, Modern and Emergent can be defined by the evolution of literacy: Pre-modern is a time of no books (no literacy), Modern has books (literate), Post-Modern has screens and hyper-text (multi-literate).
"This building [Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago] evokes continuity with the medieval era."
Modern Christianity has been getting less and less formal, like digging a basement - Eastern Orthodox to Roman Catholic and Anglican to Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist to Baptists to Pentecostals to House, cell and storefront churches. Interestingly, the early church started in the basement.
Theology Pub:
Actually, I don't really have any quotes from the Theology Pub. It was a loud, hot and crowded event full of people that wanted to talk about opening up God's kingdom to all people, not just the ones who believe the same things we do. It was pretty cool. I ended up buying a copy of Nadia Bolz-Weber's book and I'm looking forward to the end of the quarter so I actually read it.
So, join us on December 8. Bring some cookies. Or celery. Or just your soul. We'll talk about stuff. It'll be good.
Go Gently,
Rebecca
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
Saturday, November 08, 2008
busy lately? take some time out with us for dinner and discussion!
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
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
Monday, October 27, 2008
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
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
Monday, October 13, 2008
Amber
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.
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.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Event: Evangelicals and Empire
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
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
Friday, September 05, 2008
CCDA and Theology Pub
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:
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
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
Thursday, September 04, 2008
God's Official Political Party
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…
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
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
Friday, August 29, 2008
August and September city gatherings
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
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
Friday, August 08, 2008
summary of up/rooted.city July 16, 2008
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
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
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