Emerging Thoughts

I have landed, in more ways than one.

I am back home after a full, thought provoking, prayerful, and at times painful weekend.
It all made much more sense after reading Phyllis Tickle's book, The Great Emergence, upon which the three days of sessions in Memphis were based.

In her book Tickle examines major cultural and historical shifts that occur about every 500 years that prompt a response and reshaping of Christianity. The most recent upheaval was during the Reformation. (This is a less than Cliff Note version...) We are now entering that next time of upheaval, which has been called The Great Emergence, and while Protestantism came out of the Reformation, no name other than Emerging (not to be confused with Emergent) has been given to the form of Christianity resulting from the current cultural shifts. More recently perhaps also referred to by some as Missional Churches responding to a Post Modern Culture.

I am still trying to process what that all means, but have landed solidly in the space of committing myself to following Christ as best I can, taking His commandments seriously and paying close attention to what the New Testament has to say. I would say I am a mid line emergent, not nearly as far left as some, but trying to walk very carefully in the way of Jesus. Humility and service to the poor (both poor in spirit and poverty stricken) are two attributes of how I see that being lived out. It probably puts me into a non-fundamentalist, more moderate theology with Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo as writers worth reading and speakers worth listening to. I know some may view them as left, but believe me, there are plenty to the left of them.

I did make it back for a prayer meeting tonight involving a non-traditional church plant in our community, and God has seemingly landed me there as well. This is a church that would specifically minister to the poor in our community, the poor that don't yet know Jesus. I have sensed God calling me to this, but with upcoming writing commitments it didn't look like it was going to fit. Now that that has taken care of itself, I find myself firmly landing back in that place of church planting, so it will be interesting to see what other doors God opens and closes over the next few weeks and months.

I am glad to be home with my family. I thank God for His love.

Peace.

Random Thoughts...

I have many, many thoughts swirling through my head that I want to share...here are a few; I will explore them more as time permits. There is a marathon being run today in Memphis, and I have been told if I don't get where I'm going by eight, then forget it, I have to wait for 11,000 runners to get across an intersection that is between where I am now and the church, so this will be brief.

• The message of Christ is the message of Christ, but there are many ways of expressing that message.
• God really did make me the way I am and it's totally OK to be who I am, whether that is sanctioned by others or not. We will never agree with everyone, or make everyone happy.
• I am in a space at this event where I feel at peace and am worshipping within a sacred space.
• I have made new friends.
• I can't think of a better place to be than here going through my latest painful growth spurt.
• There are others who feel like they are square pegs who have tried to fit into round holes in their faith life; I am not alone.
• It is safe to ask questions, groan, pray and struggle with aspects of the journey we are on; there are fellow travellers.
• I wish my guys could be here.

A day of peace in this advent season to you, my friends.

The Great Emergence

I didn't get much sleep last night. About four hours. Part of it was getting up at three to get ready to come to Memphis where I am participating in an event called, The Great Emergence. Phyllis Tickle is leading the event about the Emergent Church. I am here to learn, listen and worship.

Yesterday was also a difficult day in my writing life. I spoke with my team at AMG about the cover and title of the Bible Study, and prevailed with a couple of minor tweaks. The title will be UnDoing Church: Discovering Faith and the Not Your Mother's Bible Study will be the segueway (in prominent letters) on the back to what the book is all about: Being, not going to church. They are also working on new cover art that I will get to review. I am so happy and relieved about this.

But then I learned that my publisher for my pregnancy book had grave concerns about some of my blog posts and learned late this evening that they withdrew my contract. I know no details about how that conversation went, just that I am deeply grieved that it happened. I am sad, but will search for what the message for me is in this. In a few days I guess I will be more ready to reflect on this.

Peace.

Blogging is Taking Over My Life :)

Blogging has taken over my life. It is 11:08 am and I am still here in my jammies, but I value and so appreciate the conversation.

As you are aware if you have been reading along for awhile, I struggle, vent, fall down, get up and generally rant and rave about issues I am passionate about, which recently include faith, politics and faith and politics together (as in how does one influence the other?).

On the faith front, I have been exploring the Emergent Church movement, which makes some people nervous, others hostile, and yet others really excited. Everyone has an opinion, and as I hope you know, I value them all here. I just decided to attend an event in Memphis called The Great Emergence the first weekend in December. I hope that it will impact my prayer and discernment for a non-traditional church plant that some of us at my home church are involved in. I am passionate about sharing the love of Christ with others, and the week after next will also be attending the National Outreach Convention in San Diego. It was through that organization's publication, Outreach Magazine, that I discovered the Faith in Action Campaign.

Politics. I never really considered myself a political activist, but perhaps having an opinion and being willing to share it openly has made me one. The catalyst for my sharing came from receiving one too many mudslinging, name calling emails, that I ended up muttering about on ad infinitum with my husband. His suggestion was rather than react defensively, I go on the offense, so I guess that is what I have done, by stating my opinions, which I hope don't become offensive in the wrong way.

But check this out: an editor from a web site noticed (My meta tags must be leading people to my site) and I got the following email:
Subject: RE: Politics Message: Hi,My name is Tia and I am an editor at Opposing Views. I came across your site, liked what I read, and wanted to introduce us because we both write about political issues. Opposingviews.com is a debate site where experts go head-to-head on a variety of topics. With Election Day approaching, our experts are discussing some of the most interesting and high-profile ballot initiatives from across the U.S. I encourage you to check out those of interest…I believe you and your visitors will appreciate these debates and might want to weigh in with votes or comments. If you like our site, I would appreciate it if you blog about us or give us a link to the debates. You can create a profile page giving readers information and links to your site. Or, if it is easier, I can do this for you. In the near future we’ll add a blogosphere section to each debate so we can directly feature outside blogs like yours.Thanks for the time and consideration. Let me know if you have any questions or recommendations for experts or debates. Sincerely,Tia www.opposingviews.com.

I went to their site and it looks interesting. Which is another reason it will be going on noon soon and all I have done is blogged, read other blogs and tried to figure out how to post links to blogs I like on my blog. I had to email my web gal for help with that one. I am a total techno peasant.

Which brings up the complicated inter-relationship of faith and politics. Should one influence the other? Does my pastor have it right by abstaining from voting as a peaceful way of protest? What about writing in a candidate instead? Should the government take over where the church has failed? How can we do this perhaps on a more grass roots level in our communities (for example the Faith in Action Campaign?) and do you ultimately believe as does my husband's faith that he grew up in but doesn't follow, that God has already selected the next president, so why bother?

OK. I need to get dressed, do some errands, forget the laundry, and yikes, I do have book writing related work to do, not to mention some church outreach business. But I am way hooked on this. Oh Boy. Now when I need to work on a book, I guess I will have to go where I can't get Internet...

Peace.