Call and Response

Why I grow lettuce (sometimes)

2008-10-15T10:57:00.001-04:00

I hate gardening. I pretty much hate any kind of hard physical work.I do like pretty flower beds. So some effort is necessary on that front, although admittedly my husband does 99% of landscape maintenance because he does not hate gardening and actually seems to enjoy it.Flower beds and lawns are much more expensive than the dirt or gravel yards that my grandparents had up until the 1950s, but

Beloved Community, Troy Bronsink cont.

2008-10-11T15:48:00.003-04:00

Artists and activists are moving into the empty space where they can experience love.Challenge is not to acquire more and more, but to receive what the universe is giving.Troy began his talk with a song on guitar and ended it with the same and then a q and a session. Unfortunately being late afternoon there were not that many questions.

Beloved Community, Troy Bronsink cont.

2008-10-11T15:19:00.004-04:00

Evangelicals are now longing for a third space to talk about social justice. Willow Creek has now learned that their formation was not working like they believed it would. Mainline churches are now looking at people as capital, not as possibilities for following the spirit into the future.We don't pause.Knowledge management, get a group of ideas, to organize together, get experts to find out the

Beloved Community, Troy Bronsink

2008-10-11T15:07:00.003-04:00

Emergent Community, beloved community, joining hands.Grew up in Charlotte, NC megachurch, conservative, somewhat pentacostal. Attended Liberty U. Participated in YoungLife, had a spiritual director, with ideas about silence, discernment, etc. Being around people who are different than you can give you ideas about what is truly good news. In Washington State, discovered Presbyterianism, ideas

Beloved Community, Fred Plumer

2008-10-11T14:11:00.004-04:00

We may be in the midst of transitional churches into the death of "traditional' christianity which will make way for the new way of living into the teachings of Jesus.

Beloved Community, Fred Plumer cont.

2008-10-11T13:44:00.003-04:00

Spiritual practices have to go along with ethical implications of the teachings of Jesus. Create opportunities for people to take the teachings of Jesus and walk into them. How we treat eachother, the stranger, the enemy. How leadership is created and operates. How sexuality and gender is navigated without relying on cultural taboos to enforce our behavior. How to be fully spiritual and fully

Beloved Community, Fred Plumer cont.

2008-10-11T13:35:00.004-04:00

How can churches of the future change and still stay true to their Christian roots?Focus on experiential spirituality. Practices rather than expression. Expression requires conformity. Holy moments, touching on the wholeness of life. Celebrations of life: art, silence, singing, dancing, drumming. No more sermons, using ancient rituals of Christianity and other traditions. Active participations,

Beloved Community, Fred Plumer, cont.

2008-10-11T13:28:00.004-04:00

Purpose of church is to transform people, to dissolve their self-constructed walls, to dispel their illusions, and to change their lives.Black and white tv to hdtv in color.Why in the hell does anybody go to church?There is a hunger for spirituality. Zukav, Tolle, sold millions of books.People are seeking ways of living more intentional, ethical, sustainable lives.Beyond religion, people are

Beloved Community, Fred Plumer, cont.

2008-10-11T13:21:00.003-04:00

What will the future church look like?We have lost our way. Built to Last, a book for business but highlighted exceptional and long-lasting organizations. The long-lasting ones had 3 things in common:1. Everyone understood the fundamental reason for the organizations existenceWe no longer know what the church is supposed to be. The author of the book now consults with mega-churches. When we have

Beloved Community Conference-Fred Plumer

2008-10-11T13:14:00.003-04:00

"Creating Progressive Communities of Faith"Mainline churces are aging and dying. Trying to help churches enter the 21st century. Wondering if we are rearranging the chairs on the titanic. There is no magic bullet but we are in the midst of a big change. Phyllis Tickle-500 year rummage sale, church in the midst of it right now. All types of church are losing members as a whole, but in evangelical

Beloved Community Conference Saturday Morning

2008-10-11T11:18:00.003-04:00

This morning at the Beloved Community Conference, we began with some fellowship and coffee and good networking time. Then we got to hear from Peter Laarman, from Progressive Christians Uniting. His topic was "Mercy and Truth Will Meet: What it Takes to Be a Movement That Matters."He began talking about our current economic crisis, and how it might be a good thing for Christians in that it will

Awesome Video about Obama

2008-02-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

I was for Edwards, but that's over, and I feel that I am really more drawn to Obama at this point anyway. I just want a candidate that will change the way things are going in this country. It seems like most people believe Obama can do that. I hope so. I found this by will.i.am that I really found beautiful and inspiring. Video and statement originally from http://www.dipdive.com/.The Yes We Can

Why I haven't been blogging

2007-07-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

I exhaust easily under the pressure to be interesting.

House

2007-01-19T20:11:00.000-05:00

We bought a house! This has been quite the saga, mostly taking place over the Christmas Holidays. I am just starting to resurface a bit, but plan to post some of the chronology, in case anyone is curious how a seminarian and teacher come to own property in a fairly decent neighborhood with almost no money in the bank. I mostly blogged the progress in constant emails to my mom. So I will go back

Trees

2007-01-05T11:59:00.000-05:00

The trees outside my window are stark against the white sky. Their brownness and stickness is all there is, except for a few dried used up leaves left hanging there, not even worthy of joining the pile at the bottom of the hill. This time of year I can see streetlights through the nature preserve behind our apartment when the trees sway back and forth. It is a tiny bit of nature that is preserved

Links Grab Bag.

2006-12-03T19:34:00.000-05:00

I decided to go through my bookmarks which have accumulated over several years and post some of them I found interesting. It's a grab bag because I am too tired to annotate, but all are safe for work.UCC Disabilities MinistriesUCC Congregational VitalityThoughtful Christian Sunday School LessonsI really want a cabinOut in ScriptureWhere I take Belly DancingAtlanta UU Cohousing ProjectCool Old

Enneagram

2006-11-19T19:45:00.001-05:00

Here are a couple enneagram types found in my family. I'll post more when I get more to take the test. I am enjoying reading about the different types and how they affect our lives:Scale (%) results: Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism 86% Type 2 Helpfulness 60% Type 3 Image Focus 69% Type 4 Hypersensitivity 41% Type 5 Detachment 62% Type 6 Anxiety

Treatise on Atonement, p. 187-192

2006-11-04T13:26:00.000-05:00

Suppose we alter the circumstance of the father and his ten children: suppose the father has provisions enough for the whole, and his object in the bestowing of it upon them is to cause the greatest possible happiness among his children. Which way would good sense and parental affection choose, either to feed five to the

Treatise on Atonement p. 184-186

2006-11-04T12:56:00.000-05:00

Against these statements I argue, if, in order for the greatest possible happiness to exist, the greatest possible misery must also exist, I wish to reverse the subject. Then the proposition would stand thus, in order for the greatest possible evil to exist the greatest possible good must exist. Then, if God, in his universal plan, has produced as much good as was possible, lie lias also produced

Treatise on Atonement p. 182-183

2006-11-04T12:42:00.000-05:00

Part III.THE CONSEQUENCES OF ATONEMENT TO MANKIND.______CHAPTER I.THEIR UNIVERSALITY.IN this last inquiry, I must be a little more lengthy than in either of the former, but I hope not to be too tedious. What I shall contend for, as the consequences of atonement, is the universal holiness and happiness of mankind, in the final issue of the Redeemer's process. In doing this I will —First. Make a

The Christian Left

2006-11-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting take on progressive Christianity on wikipedia.Also, there were quite a few protesters present for Bush's trip to south Georgia in the last week. Articles are here, and here, and video here. I got a photo attachment of the Statesboro protest from a friend, and there were some nice "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" signs, etc. I think that the fact that the president is being protested

How to Find Other Progressive Christians

2006-11-01T23:08:00.000-05:00

Here are some good ways to find other progressive Christians if you feel like a lone ranger out there:At Meetup.com, you can find people with similar interests on all sorts of topics. After you sign up, sift through the religious topics, then click on the ones that interest you, and enter your zip code. If a group is not formed in your area yet, you can put up your info on the page for those

What am I at...once a month now?

2006-11-01T23:04:00.000-05:00

I admit it...seminary has been kicking my butt! Well, not just seminary, but work, home life, everything. I am burning the candle at about a hundred ends. But I am inspired to post again based on my increased private journaling of late. And I am chock-full of ideas. So look for some activity in the days to come, maybe even some later tonight! And now that I've promised that, I have to keep it

UCC/UUA Dialogue at Andover Newton

2006-09-29T21:05:00.000-04:00

I thought this was interesting news:http://www.ants.edu/about/news/2006/102506ucc-uua.htm

If they say that about Atlanta, imagine what they say about where I'm from...

2006-08-16T13:29:00.000-04:00

This just hurts my feelings.