Category: faith

What is emergent?

what is emergent?

There continues to be a great discussion across the Interwebs as folks try to nail-down exactly what it means to be “emergent.”

Folks are coming into the conversation from all different places in their lives, as well as at different points in the emerging conversation.

Some people have been discussing emerging Christianity since the 1960’s (or before); some have been in the the discussion for 15 to 20+ years; some picked up the discussion circa 1997 when the initial discussions were taking place that ultimately led to the formation of Emergent Village; others listened in at various points along the way and started to align themselves with the emergent conversation in more recent years (myself included); and still others are on the “outside” hearing criticism from various folks and groups and wondering what its all about.
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10 (additional) spiritual lessons from U2

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been reading “We Get to Carry Each Other – The Gospel According to U2.” A great read from Greg Garrett (who also wrote “Stories from the Edge – A Theology of Grief).

As a closing section in the book, Greg shares 10 spiritual lessons we can learn from U2.

I thought I’d share an additional 10 that I’ve learned along my journey as well. So here they are, in no particular order…
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The church is only a church when…

“The church is the church only when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

ht theopoetic musings

We get to carry each other

Serving at the Mission

I’m reading the new book “We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel according to U2” (by Greg Garrett) right now and it talks a lot about community and how the band has always emphasized helping those around us and the privilege we have to actually GET to carry each other. Yet for some reason we seem to think its a burden to build community, to open up to others, to share and serve.

How different (my) our outlook and lives could be if we saw serving and loving others is actually a privilege – a calling – a purpose in our lives…
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Laundry Love Project :: additional notes

Next Laundry Love Project - July 25th

A few additional notes…

After our “surprise” visit to the Glenn Heights Wash and Dry last month, we requested permission from the owner in order to post flyers and such letting people know we would be offering free laundry on the last Saturday of the month.

While we weren’t able to talk with the owner directly, we were told she wasn’t interested via another employee. It was frustrating, but we pushed ahead and decided to go wash our own laundry and then simply offer free laundry for those around us.
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Laundry Love Project :: You’re FREE!

With two Laundry Love Projects under our belt, we are quickly realizing that while the concept itself is sometimes hard to understand in English, it’s even harder to explain to those speaking Spanish (or other languages).

We had twice as many Spanish-only families this month as last month and we found it increasingly difficult to communicate with them throughout the two hours. (It’s nice to see that a smile and friendly gestures can still cross cultural and language barriers.)
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