Little Beginnings

Had a great weekend with my friend in New York... was great to talk, laugh, EAT, go to the theatre, remember old times. In just a few short days, that fellowship time, renewed my heart and I am ready to begin again.

These little beginnings are what I'd like to know in my spirit life. I know that each day is new ... I mean, I know this intellectually. But I want this truth experientially.

From my friend I received unconditional love, encouragement, empathy, appreciation, and more. I know that God can do this for me... to me... with me. Every day. It's a breath. It's faith.

My Brain is Firing Off

I'm doing FB and Twitter and in just a week of Emergent news, my brain is firing off like crazy. My book list just got 5 books longer by going to The Well. And then, I just had to check out tweets from Ashton Kutcher & the Mrs. about The Shack! And then... and then... and now, it's already moving into the night hours.

OK. Slow down. One book at a time.

But then, my bible study tonight was fabulous. These folks just signed up for what they thought would be a "traditional" study of Philippians and I'm introducing them to koinonia! And before I even read the post about the Indwelling Christ, the last half of our class was about Knowing Christ intimately, being "In Christ," and allowing the Holy Spirit to really do an authentic circumcision of the heart. Paul's desire to "know Christ" was complete and total. It was his mantra.

There's just this tremendous synchronicity going on my heart... my soul... my mind. It's all good. But ... it's fast!

Studying All Things Emergent

Well, I've started doing what I love to do: reading everything I can get my hands on that will catch me up to what is happening in this "Emergent" & "Emerging" "postmodern" Christian movement. I am so enjoying this process. Of course, I'm always so envious as I roam the web finding blogs and websites and lists of places where Emergent worship is already happening: cities pretty much but not all. And so, there's hope for this little Maryland town too. :-)

So, here's what I've read or I'm reading (also can see my list of want to reads on Facebook's Virtual Bookshelf app):

• The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle (perfect introduction to the movement along with overview of the great cataclysms in our church past)
• The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier by Tony Jones (Emergent Village head honcho - a loose cohort of emergent communities around the country ... and a few out of the country)
• Reading now ... an older title of Tickle's called Prayer is a Place. I love her writing style/voice. She speaks directly to me.
  
• Waiting in the wings: It: How Church Leaders Can Get It and Keep It by Greg Groeschel. I'm not sure where he fits into all this yet. I'm pretty sure he's not "emergent" but I think he's worth reading.
  
• And then I think I'm ready to go back to McLaren... whose books I bought 2 years ago, but I wasn't ready ... or didn't have the framework I have now to read them. So, I have Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope; and A Generous Orthodoxy
• Also, on my bookshelf, two titles by Erwin Raphael McManus: The Barbarian Way and The Unstoppable Force... but I'm not sure how he fits into this framework yet either.
  

And then I wonder about other voices out there ... Dan Allender at Mars Hill Graduate School (for it was Allender who introduced me to "Story" some five years ago) and The Shack guys who intrigued me, not so much by the book itself but the process by which the book evolved and how their questions about "what is church?" have become their own type of phenomenon. Do they all interweave somewhere out in the ether? I really don't know.

Since I'm not able to have a conversation with any of these folks in person, I'll be satisfied for now with the books and the Word and my time with the Lord Himself. And maybe after I get the lay of the land, I'll enter some virtual conversations. We'll see.

I just know I want something more from my worship experience. I want to be free in my "church community." I want to be myself ... who reads all kinds of books and watches all kinds of movies and sometimes even blows it in a big way language-wise. I want to ask hard questions of myself and others. I only want one litmus test for my faith: knowing Jesus and Him crucified & resurrected for me. I want a place ... a fellowship... a desire for a true koinonia has been birthed in me through my study of Philippians.... where we can follow the "way of Jesus" together in love and humility and trust.