June Meeting Recap

We had a record high attendance of 13! Not bad for our third meeting. J.D., Phillip, Alan & Rachel, and Steve & Susan came for the first time. Kasey got the conversation going by talking about her growing interest (okay, pun intended) in community gardening. From there we touched on the ethics of working with neighborhood associations (is it better to ask forgiveness or permission?), various sources of free gardening advice and stuff, the impact of high energy costs on our neighborhoods, how to minister to neighbors who are on the brink of losing their homes (Phillip said that about 18% are already there locally), and how emerging churches and non-emerging churches are equipped to deal with the changes we are seeing in our culture.

If I left out a theme, please post a comment to add it to the list.

Steve suggested some websites related to community gardening:
http://www.pathtofreedom.com/ - urban homesteading
http://www.freecycle.org/ - source of free stuff
http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites.html - source of low cost or free stuff

Terry mentioned that his church has a ministry providing free furniture to families in need. Contact Terry at terryc_11855@verizon.net if you have furniture to donate, if you know of any sources of free furniture, or if you know of any families in need. There is always a demand for children’s furniture.

If you want to stay in touch with Alan & Rachel Howell after they return to Montepuez, Mozambique in mid-July, their blog is http://howellsinmoz.blogspot.com/, their email is Africahowells@yahoo.com and their team web is http://www.makuateam.org/

If you are interested in learning more about David Hawkins’ Power vs. Force, email Joseph at whitner@sbcglobal.net Also, Joseph is going to work up a PowerPoint presentation about his model of integrative spirituality. E-mail Joseph for more information.

Next time: Kasey and/or J.D. will get the conversation started by discussing how history is always written by the victors and what liberation theology can teach us. J. D. suggests these readings on liberation theology:
-The Powers trilogy of Walter Wink
-The Co-liberation thought of Brian McLaren in Everything Must Change
-Miguel de la Torre Reading the Bible from the Margins and Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins
-A series by Fortress Press called A People's History of Christianity
-Christ and Empire by Joerg Rieger
-Jesus and Empire and The Message of the Kingdom by Richard Horsley
-Also, James Cone, Desmond Tutu, Leonardo and Clovis Boff, Oscar Romero, and Gustavo Gutierrez.

It should be a great conversation. See you July 31st.

WALL-E‘s Biblical Themes

After watching WALL-E with my daughter’s family on Friday, we agreed that several of the plot lines had ties back to the Bible. (WARNING – possible plot spoilers ahead….)

First, there are ties to the Genesis account of the flood: Mankind is saved by escaping a flood (of garbage) on a large (space) ship. Those on the ship send out a (robotic) dove, which brings back evidence of earth’s renewed plant life, initiating the process of re-populating the earth.

Then there is the obviously feminine character (robot) E.V.E., whose determination to follow “the directive” falters only once, happily with fewer consequences than in the Genesis account. And mankind, who has been lulled into over-consumption by all the technology provided by the “Buy-N-Large” corporation, is gently-but-prophetically interrupted back to reality, and back into action, by WALL-E.

Perhaps I’ve been influenced by the thirteen chapters of Wright’s Surprised by Hope I have finished so far, but I also saw elements of Revelation 21’s new earth in the film’s closing scene and the images of rebuilding that appeared with the final credits.

So, did we see everything? Did we read too much into it? Go see the movie yourself and let me know what you think.

N. T. Wright

If you missed seeing N.T. Wright on the Colbert Report, here is the link:

http://www.spike.com/video/2995361?cmpnid=716&pt=sr&refsite=7103

Check it out!

Next Meeting - June 26, 2008

Our next meeting will be June 26th at 7:00 PM at It's a Grind, 4152 W. Spring Creek Pkwy in Plano. That's just west of Coit Road on Spring Creek Pkwy.

What we are reading - May meeting recap

Ron made some of us a bit envious by telling of his recent trip to Lake Livingston where he enjoyed some time to read and relax. With that inspiration, we went around the circle and here is what cohort members say they have been reading:
The Shack by William Young
The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now by Tolle
Reinventing the Sacred by Stuart Kauffman
Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder
The Spirituality of Imperfection by Kurtz and Ketcham
Women's Way of Knowing by Belenky, et.al.
Sex God by Rob Bell
The New Christians by Tony Jones
Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt
Hearing God by Dallas Willard
Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren

That led to an interesting discussion of where we see emergence appearing in our culture.

Kasey suggested that we keep reading and sharing and see where that discussion takes us for our next meeting on June 26. Her suggestion sounded great, so keep reading and bring your thoughts to the next meeting. Thanks, Kasey!

Church Basement Roadshow comes to Texas

Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette are bringing their new project, the Church Basement Roadshow, to Texas in July. Here is the schedule:

Wednesday July 16 in Fort Worth at eucatastrophe
Friday July 18 in Dallas at Journey
Saturday July 19 in Austin at Journey Imperfect Faith Community
Sunday July 20 in Houston at Ecclesia

For more information see http://churchbasementroadshow.com/