meeting tomorrow!

Just a reminder that we're meeting tomorrow at 5 pm at the Fuddrucker's on Gibson. Different location, but same food!

Hope to see many of you all there.

Meeting this Tuesday!

Don't forget that our regular meeting is happening this Tuesday evening at Fuddrucker's on I 25. Hope to see you there!

Movin' on up

On the social networking ladder there were things like livejournal, then blogger, then myspace (we skipped some) and now facebook and twitter. We don't have a twitter yet but that sounds like a fantastic idea now that I think about it.

In any case, we do now have a facebook page for discussion purposes. Please feel free to join it and join in on the discussion.

Last night we talked a bit about what the emergent group can be for us. Hopefully the facebook group will allow us to get outside the box of the 3rd Tuesday of the month meeting some and make connections with others in other ways.

Here's the link!

Meeting tonight!

We're a few hours away from another awesome meeting at Fuddrucker's! Hope to see you there!

Meeting tomorrow!

Just a reminder that we will be meeting again tomorrow at the Fuddrucker's on I-25 at 5 pm for our monthly gathering. We had a great turnout last month, hope you all can make it again!

meeting!!!

Life snuck up on me and the reminder meeting announcement is coming later than anticipated. Don't forget we're meeting tomorrow at 5 pm at the Fuddrucker's on I-25 by Century Rio. We'll probably debrief the conference, so be prepared!

Hope to see you all tomorrow!!! :-)

A Question in the Aftermath of the Conference

I, too, enjoyed the whole experience of the Emergent conference in which we not all only attended, but participated in.

What is it at the conference that really spoke to you after you have now had a couple of days to ruminate a little?

For me, there was a point that McLaren made in his presentation where he suggested that new questions have yet to be formed and asked in the future, perhaps even now, that either conservative or liberal Christianity has yet to deal with. I guess this paraphrased statement spoke to me because I think that I may already be asking some of those questions myself.

Also, I really enjoyed being able to hear what all of you had to say in our table discussions. It reinforced my personal conviction of how limited my own life-observations really are, and thus opened me up to new possibilities beyond my own personal experiences. Being human can be very limiting in many respects, can't it?

I'm looking forward to seeing you next week,

Chris.

Best. Conference. Ever.

I stole that blunt, "single word with a period" writing style from Billy when he Facebooked, "Worst. Move. Ever." one day. Some of you may know what I'm talking about.

I have to tell you, Friday and Saturday created some sort of internal, spiritual shift within me that cause what would normally be a grouchy "this is too early in the morning" Sunday to lead worship at my church in Edgewood, into a morning of calmness, internal peace, joy and an overall sense of feeling like "everything is going to be okay." I felt very "at home" at the conference, like I was revisiting an environment similar to my West Coast liberal past (although I remain a West Coast liberal at heart) yet instead of pagans and massive intoxication it was Jesus and centering prayer and spiritual wisdom I've only read in books but now experienced the power of being in the room with the authors themselves hearing their voices. It was good for me in many ways. I loved all of it.

Looking forward to March 31st and Fudruckers (watch how you spell that one!!). It's the one on Pan American by Jefferson, right?

I was also feeling this weekend that we're really becoming a little family, don'tcha think?

Troy

Spare Conference Admissions

Hey everyone! I just got a call this evening from Rev. Judy Romero-Oak, a retired pastor. She said she has a friend whose husband is sick, and as a result, neither her friend nor her husband will be able to go to the Emerging Church Conference this week, and they want to give away their admissions.

So there are two conference admissions up for grabs! If anyone knows someone who can use them, please let me know ASAP so I can call Judy.

Thanks!
David

Emergent Conference Next Week

I'm so excited about the conference next week. I can't believe it's already here.

I was wondering if we were going to rendezvous somewhere as a group or if we'll "do our own thing" individually. Was there any discussion on this?

Rhett Smith: Having a feedback loop when you speak

Hello everyone,

I though I’d include the link to the Blog I mentioned at last nights gathering. It was great sharing with all of you last night. Linked in the blog is another great article on using Twitter while you are speaking.

Enjoy!

http://rhettsmith.com/2009/02/24/do-you-have-a-feedback-loop-when-you-speak/

Tara

Happy Shrove Tuesday

Let them eat (pan) CAKEs. I only learned about Shrove Tuesday this week from our Cohort Sister, Alli. What a great tradition! I have never experienced it in any church I've ever attended (all 2 of them).

What's the history behind the tradition?

Meeting on Tuesday!

Don't forget that we have a meeting this Tuesday evening at Joe's place/Carraro's on Vassar just south of Central at 5 pm! What could be better than an emergent meeting and Mardi Gras?

Unfortunately I will not be able to make it because of work requirements involving cooking lots and lots of pancakes for people, but I hope a good time is had by all!

Registration Forms for Conference!

The Registration forms have to be sent together with individual payments. So the site of the registration form is:
http://www.cacradicalgrace.org/conferences/emer/registration.php

Click on Group Registration Kit
Our Group Name is: Emergent ABQ
Our Group Leader is: Todd Seelau

You can either drop them off at Trinity UMC (off of Carlisle and Silver), St. John's UMC (Mark on the envelope "Attn. Todd Seelau" please), or call me at 321-9817 and I can come pick them up. :) Lets try to have them no later than Monday the 16th.

Oh and I almost forgot... There is a post-conference on Monday from 8:30-12:00 that cost an extra $25 (that's the suggested donation anyway) This is optional.

Here's the site if you want to view the the post conference details:
http://www.cacradicalgrace.org/conferences/emer/post.php

Emergent Conference in March

So, I just noticed we're a mere 3 weeks away from the deadline of being able to pay the standard rate to attend this conference March 20-22, before the price gets jacked up. Are we going to attempt to go as a group to get the group rate? That would save about $40 or so per person. But I imagine EVERYONE in this group would have to commit to attending the conference in order for us to do that (a minimum of 10 people). I still have yet to call the Center for Action and Contemplation to ask about volunteering to work the event, which I assume gets you in free (but would you really be able to participate or would you be busy working?).

Then there's also the issue that I, personally, wouldn't be able to volunteer for Sunday the 22nd as it conflicts with other "home church commitments" in Edgewood.

Just checking in with everyone. Comments?

Thanks,
Troy

Follow up thoughts from last night

Hi all,

I mentioned an article during the discussion last night. Here is the article:
http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=4607

How about that for keeping one another accountable in the area of giving!

Revisiting the question posted last night about how the church should/can respond to the economic situation, I had this quick thought. We started to address it last night, but stress often comes with financial hardship. So, another way the church can respond is to pay special attention to dealing with stress and providing resources for folks to deal with stress.

Meeting on Tuesday!

Don't forget that we're meeting this Tuesday at 5 pm at Brickyard Pizza on Central. I'm looking forward to some great discussion as usual. Hope to see you all there!

Good article on postmodernism from The Reporter

I read this interesting take on Postmodernism and the church.

http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=4662

I love this quote in one of the first paragraphs, " We're and organic community in which relationship is the tie that binds, not doctrine. The more you build relationship across difference, the more difference becomes OK."

Your thoughts?

Understanding One Another

Recently, I was reading one theologian's critique of another's ideas concerning a very intriguing topic which many postmoderns can readily identify with (I won't mention the topic so as to stay on the point I want to address).

At the beginning of my faith journey, at that point where I became aware of the idea that there could possibly be something going on beyond my own existential purview, I entered the Christian faith with a fairly sizable naivete. I assumed that there was Christianity, period, and not the multifarious religious scene I have now become quite adept to. While it didn't take me too long to figure out that there were many expressions of this faith that could be adopted, I had already fallen into the trap that there was only one valid take on the matter. This produced not only grief in my own spiritual development, but in those of others in my midst as well.

From this newly conceived and appropriated notion, issued a multitude of possibilities. Before I knew it, even though my own particularized conception of faith in Jesus Christ was still in its infant form, I was being challenged to rethink several of the stances I had already assimmilated from the specific tradition of Christianity I was already familiar with. I now realized I had a new problem: what appeared to be true at first glance was now open to serious scrutiny by many others bearing the name of Jesus, along with my own new questions that were popping up within my own mind.

Back to the theologians. I think that because I have now traversed much of the expansive perspectival divide (which seems to be still growing as far as I can tell) in terms of how Christianity is seen and lived out by so many with "competing" views, I can also now better sense when two theologians are discussing opposing points and are doing so without even considering that they may not be speaking the same language in terms of the meanings they are pouring into their words and then, subsequently, attempting to convey their very precise and nuanced ideas. And so they both go back and forth, back and forth, to no discernable or profitable end as best as I can tell (except, perhaps, in their own eyes).

Isn't this something all of us Christians, or, more broadly speaking, humans do on a regular basis with one another? How often do we stop to think about the real likelihood that we are not all as universally or generically situated in light of the many contributing and influencial forces that help in determining, at least in a parial way, what we are becoming like in very discriminate ways? I wanted to, somehow, sit these two people down and offer them what little perspective I might be able to (at least try to help them to see a little more cleary that which their own very specific disciplines wouldn't let them see) on how they might be misunderstanding one another from an outsider's point of view. Then, at least, their arguing might produce more intellegible results for those attempting to take in what they were attempting to communicate to each other.

Through this incident, I find that I myelf need to make more concerted efforts which are necessary in not only trying to communicate more cleary with others, but also to really give them my focused attention while at the same time remembering that there is so much more involved than meets the eye to the persons they already are in themselves. Have you experienced this kind of relational awakening before with the attending humility (or embarrassment) it produces?