These days, I’m pondering the nature of theological reflection in light of my interactions with my sixteen month old grandson. Every day he learns more words and repeats his favorite words over and over again. In the spirit of liturgical language and congregational litanies, he repeats the words “monkey,” “moon,” “star,” “car,” “truck,” and “clock” as many as hundred times a day. I am sure that some of his repetition, especially in the first few minutes of the day, is... Read more
No American in his or her right mind would walk into this new year without some trepidation. Election years are alwasy raucous, not to mention tenuous; but 2012 promises to out-do even some of the best of them. Christendom is dead. May it ever and always remain so. Few things have burdened me more over my many years than the tendency, up until fairly recently, of some of my fellow Christians to claim one political position or another as the absolute will of... Read more
With the New Year upon us, it is the time for New Years resolutions. These have become sort of a joke in our society for the propensity for being dropped in a few months or weeks or days. However this does not stop the marketing machine in America. You can expect to get an assortment of opportunities for gym memberships or dietary supplements in the next week (I have already gotten several) with specials such as waived entrance fees and... Read more
“It takes a village to raise a child,” or so the African proverb suggests. By way of introduction, I’m one of those unfamiliar people Doug mentioned when he introduced this blog almost a month ago now. What excites me the most about this blog is the rich diversity of voices that are present in the collective conversation. I’ll be contributing from where I stand and while my vantage point has much common ground with many of the other contributors, I’ll... Read more
This is the third post in my exploration of Improvisational Christianity. You may want to catch up by reading the first two posts: 1. Improvisational Christianity: I Hope You Like Me 2. Saturday Night Live, Modernity and Stories The first rule of improv we looked at last week was “Tell a Story.” This week we look at the second rule I learned as an improviser: Rule #2 – Everyone Plays. Deeply embedded in this rule is that improvisation is supposed... Read more
Did you have a nice Christmas? Everyone asks you that. It’s a sort of conversation filler to use between Christmas and New Year’s since it’s too early to say “Happy New Year” yet. So let me ask you a different question. Did you have Christmas? In other words, did Christmas come for you? In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the cable channels are full of children’s shows, done in everything from claymation to CGI, in which the basic plot... Read more
Then – My Need For the Emergent Village By way of introduction, here is the thumbnail version of my spiritual trek in 2 sentences. I could likely write a book about it but it echos many of the stories I’ve read from emergent writers. So many of you could write the book too and have! I grew up in a conservative evangelical church, encountered the Holy Spirit in my 30’s. My husband and I planted a Vineyard church and after 10... Read more
Since the first Christmas was likely in April it won’t be too inappropriate for this to be a few days late. After all, it is called a night “around” Christmas. (Spoken to the cadence of “T’was The Night Before Christmas” duh!) It was a night around Christmas, in a crowded old cave With camels and horses and cattle she laid Knocked up by the Spirit, baby daddy beside Psycho girl in some trouble, or maybe she lied No time... Read more
Over the last dozen years Emergent Village has hosted conversations with Theologians. The idea is to put practioners in conversation with theoreticians. The conversations have spanned a wide spectrum of perspectives. The 2012 conversation will be with Process Theologians January 31-Feb 2, 2012 at Clairmont School of Theology in the Los Angeles area. You may not be familiar with Process thought, or may have written it off, or may be an adherent. Regardless you are invited to this conversation. Bruce... Read more
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