The Gospel of the Coffee Bean

February 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Roasted_coffee_beans

[ I'm taking a break today from the "Slow Church and the Urgency of Justice" series, which should return in the next couple of days] There's a chapter in the forthcoming book that John and I are calling "Taste and See that the Lord is Good."  Here's a snapshot of the basic theme of the chapter: God created us to flourish and to know the joy of life.  Just as something is lost in the taste and experience of a fast food meal, so too a key part of what is lost in the industrialization of Christianity is the joy of being together, of knowing and being known in community.  Industrialized … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Eucharist, What is Slow Church? Leave a Comment

Engaged with our Neighbors’ Struggles Against Injustice

February 7, 2013 By 2 Comments
Neighborhood

This is the fourth post in an ongoing series on “Slow Church and the Urgency of Justice“ (Link goes to the initial post in the series). In yesterday's post, I began an argument for beginning to seek justice by being committed to a local church community.  Today, I want to continue that argument by exploring the role of place as we seek justice. Our local church congregations are essential for us in seeking justice, because they are rooted in a particular place, although I must hasten to add that many churches have very shallow roots in the places where they exist.  For churches … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Justice, Place 2 Comments

Learning how to live justly (and how to seek justice)

February 6, 2013 By 3 Comments
Piltown_Church

This is the third post in an ongoing series on “Slow Church and the Urgency of Justice“ (Link goes to the initial post in the series). Yesterday, in unpacking Walter Brueggemann's definition of justice, I emphasized his point that essential to the process of doing justice is being part of a covenanted community that is seeking to live justly together.  Today, I want to dig a little bit deeper into why I believe that the local faith community is essential to the pursuit of justice.  First, a reminder that the primary question that I am dealing with in this series is that of the urgency … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Justice 3 Comments

What is Justice?

February 5, 2013 By 1 Comment
breuggemann

This is the second post in an ongoing series on "Slow Church and the Urgency of Justice" (Link goes to the initial post in the series). To begin our exploration of the relationship between Slow Church and justice, we need a solid definition of justice. I have the opportunity during Lent this year to speak at Church of the Redeemer Episcopal Church in Cincinnati as part of their lecture series on the theme of Sabbath (details on this event are forthcoming here on this blog). Walter Brueggemann is also speaking in this same series, and I have been told that his talks in the series will be … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Justice 1 Comment

Reading and Discussing Books in our Churches

February 3, 2013 By 1 Comment
deeper-cvr

John's church (Evangelical Quaker) and mine (Independent Christian Church) are very different, but one thing we share in common is the practice of reading and discussing books together.  One way that this practice takes shape in John's church is a monthly book club that is presently reading and discussing books that were featured in John's book (co-written with Jordan Green and Dan Gibson) Besides the Bible: 100 Books that Have, Should, or Will Create Christian Culture. Here at Englewood, we have a variety of settings in which books are read and discussed from classes during the Sunday … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books, Community 1 Comment

Becoming the Exploited Ones?

January 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The-Art-of-the-Commonplace

I re-encountered these passages from Wendell Berry's book THE ART OF THE COMMONPLACE this weekend. (Caveat: Berry uses the terms "redskin" and the n-word, in ways that explore the demeaning tone that these words carried -- and still carry.  Berry's economic point is clear, but I am conflicted about his use of these loaded terms) Read from "But we know..." on page 36 to "the industrial systems of Europe" page 37: Start after the asterisks on page 42 through the end of the chapter:   Berry's point is clear -- and one that John and I make in the SLOW CHURCH book -- … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Economics Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment

Who Will You Grow Old With?

December 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Panera-Bread

Editor's Note: The simplest questions are often the most profound. They are also the ones we often forget to ask. Those were just a couple of my thoughts after reading this excellent post from Scott Emery, who writes about creation, community, and commission from Phoenix, New York. This post originally appeared on Scott's blog. It seems like a great addition to the Slow Church conversation, and I'm grateful to Scott for letting us post it here. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment