PHOTO SHOOT POSTPONED...

Hey all,

Just a quick post to let everybody know that the photo shoot/picnic we were planning to do this Saturday with the Towns family has been pushed back. The mother's schedule got rearranged a bit, so we'll try again to do this probably in 2-3 weeks... I'll keep everybody in the loop.

Have a great Halloween!

- Adam

Double Rainbow All the Way

I can't believe how many of you haven't seen this. It was the theme for Craig and Jim's birthday party. Turn the sound on and don't be sippin' any liquids. Probably NSFW.

This Weekend's Gathering...

Hey all,

This weekend's gathering will be our last free-flow dialogue before we dig into Richard Rohr's The Naked Now. We'll be using Life In Abundance International's recent documentary, This Is My Home, to kick off our discussion tomorrow.

This is my HOME (movie trailer) from Life in Abundance on Vimeo.

This Is My Home is a hopeful film that joins children and youth rising out of their poverty and life on the harsh streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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ALSO, Debbie & Sheri will be gracing us with another amazing culinary creation (Lentil Soup w/ Sausage, perhaps). So, if you're able, please plan to bring either a side dish or a dessert to add to the spread, AND leave a comment on this post with what you're bringing so we can all plan accordingly.

Looking forward to it!

Advent: Joy

Hey all,

I wanted to go ahead and get a digital version of our time together up on the blog for everybody to peruse. I have really enjoyed taking in each others' responses, and I hope you will too.

For those who weren't able to make it, we spent some time discussing various perspectives on what 'joy' might be. For many of us, the word itself feels sort of antiquated; it's not one that we toss around in everyday conversation very often. What does it mean that Jesus' coming to our world brought joy? It seems that in contrast to the fleeting nature of 'happiness', 'joy' inherently has an element of fulfillment... that when we experience joy we're communing with the core of who/what God created us to be and take in. It comes in myriad moments and forms. It seems to be independent of happiness, quite often. It can also be a mindset and/or discipline (see the previous post by Carrie).

We then shifted our discussion to Rob Bell's Jesus is Difficult: Beatifully Angry sermon. We spent some time recounting Rob's point about how identifying the things in the world that make us beautifully angry can often give us insight into how God wired us individually and what he wants us to address in this world. Ultimately it seems that when we identify and address the things that make us angry, we end up finding another way to create and experience joy/fulfillment for ourselves and the people around us.

We wrapped up the evening with an "ideation session." The session progressed through three questions, the results of which are reproduced in the images below. [click to enlarge]

1. How have you/do you experience joy?


2. What makes you [beautifully] angry?


3. What are you going to do with your beautiful anger to find/create joy?

Chili Dinner This Sunday!

Hey folks,

If you're able to make it this Sunday, you get to look forward to Debbie & Sheri's world famous White Chicken Chili!

Let's all bring something to round out the rest of the meal, if we can. Here are some ideas of what will be needed:

- chili toppings
- cornbread
- biscuits, etc
- desserts

Leave a comment here with what you plan to bring so we don't end up with 52 biscuits and no cheese (we NEED cheese:)

*Photo credit - "PotteryBarn Part Deux (Terri)"

Progression of Community

Hey everybody,

I was reflecting on Sunday's conversation regarding the first installment of Rob Bell's Jesus Is Difficult series on Gossip, and I had some thoughts/questions I'd like to throw out to the group...


We've touched on these ideas before, but I want open up the discussion again on our [Emerging Desert's] progression of community. One thing that struck me about the conversation on Sunday (or the portion I was able to observe) was that a number of people identified the assumption of closeness in Rob's main points. That is to say, his teaching about how to deal with conflict and thus gossip hinged on an assumption of relational maturity or closeness. I think we have/are/will continue to witness a beautiful evolution of community within EmDes, but I still sense that there is plenty of ground to cover in deepening our relationships. Or to frame it another way, Rob's talk about conflict resolution, etc. made me wonder if we, as a community, are deep enough into each other's lives to even merit that depth of conflict resolution if one should arise (which really hasn't yet to my knowledge). Does that even make sense?

To offer an answer to my own silly question: I think we're getting there. Like I said, a number of us have committed to doing this journey together, and much progress has been made. But we still have a way to go, I think. So I guess the wrap-up questions are these:

- Is our ongoing progression of community something that simply takes time (so we should just keep doing what we're doing), OR is there some increased level of intentionality that would be good for us to collectively put into action?

- If we lean towards "doing more," what would that look like for us as a group? Of course there's a individual aspect to all of this, but should we add an element to our weekly gatherings in which we some how make ourselves more known to each other (whatever that might mean), or would that feel too forced?

Any and all thoughts are greatly welcome!

Pumpkin Cookies.

You asked, I deliver.

(It feels a bit strange to post a cookie recipe on this blog, but I guess if everything is spiritual, then it's ok?)

Anywho, by popular request:

Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
(mix together)

add dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

* bake for 8-9 minutes in 375 degree oven *

Frosting:

2 Tbsp. brewed coffee
6 Tbsp. butter softened
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups powdered sugar

What's Coming Up + VOTE For Our Next Read

_

Alrighty, we are about to finish off Siljander's A Deadly Misunderstanding, which brings us to a transition of sorts. Last week, Sarah G-ski offered the excellent idea of mixing things up and using a podcast medium to guide our discussion for a few weeks while we sort out our next collective book. Based on the positive response from everybody, we're going to go ahead with that approach.

The podcast that's been selected is Rob Bell's four-part teaching series titled "Jesus is Difficult," which he delivered to Mars Hill a few years ago.

In the meantime, based on last week's discussion I have placed a poll here on the blog in the upper right-hand corner. Please cast your vote for one of the following books:

The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See
by Richard Rohr

Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging & Traditional
by Jim Belcher

Life In Abundance Benefit Dinner...

Attention everybody:

As some of you may know, Life In Abundance International will be having a Fall Benefit Dinner here in AZ on Sunday, October 11th. Some folks from Emerging Desert pooled some funds to help sponsor the event, and accordingly there are seats available for anybody that is interested!

It will be a great night, so please contact Adam ( adam [dot] bamford {at} gmail [dot] com ) ASAP if you'd like to attend. Here are the details:

Sunday, October 11th

5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Phoenix Zoo

Stone House Pavilion

455 N. Galvin Parkway

Formal invitation below...

Bee Bee Queue

You certainly don't have to call him Papa, but just so you know, most people do. He's been gracious enough to open his home/pool/bbq for us to gather. Should be a great time. Adam posted a map and directions over there (and down a bit, "next gathering") >>>>>

I'm posting this little nugget so that us regulars can semi-coordinate what food to bring to make it an official EmDes meal. And you know those never disappoint.

No Gathering This Week & THE NEW BOOK!

_

ALRIGHT!! Just to get it up here on the blog as well... There will be no gathering tomorrow (Sun. July 5th) due to rampant out-of-town-ness and holidays, etc.

We will be meeting next week out in Gilbert for our final week of free-flow conversation before we dig into our new discussion book. (Heather's dad, Bryan, is graciously opening up his house + pool for our cohort while we allow the Schroeder's a chance to get their feet under themselves following their travels). More details to come...

Speaking of our new book - it's been decided!:

A Deadly Misunderstanding by Mark D. Siljander

After 20 votes (way to go everybody!), Siljander's book came out on top by a narrow two-vote margin. So, if you're interested in reading along with the cohort, go ahead and pick-up/order your copy soon as we plan to kick-off the book discussion during our July 19th gathering.

It also seems like it would make sense to declare Bell & Golden's, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, our "next-next" book so that we won't have to go through this whole process again in a few months:-) Objections/comments?

See you next week in Gilbert!

Let's Vote on Our Next Book!

Alright! Building on Sarah's post from a few weeks ago, let's go ahead and vote on what our next discussion book will be. We've got four books to select from here (and if anybody would really like to add another, let me know).

PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE IN THE POLL ON THE SIDEBAR TO THE RIGHT: --->

In no particular order...

Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

A Deadly Misunderstanding by Mark D. Siljander

So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore by Jacobsen & Coleman

Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell & Don Golden

Apparently... We're still alive. And the emergent video contest.

Wonderful conversation on Sunday on why we're still alive. Everyone's passionate responses revealed too much to write. But what really came out was the beauty of a group of people that desires to follow Jesus and not let anything stop that. It's great to have met such a group!

I am announcing the first ever Emergent Video Contest. What is that you ask?

I am going to ask any group that considers itself emergent or emerging to submit a two minute video showing what their gatherings are like. This is meant to show that we're not cohesive at all. We're a ragtag group of Jesus people who have many different expressions. Someone said on Sunday that essentially the tag emergent is nothing but a group of people engaging in a conversation, and this is true. I think a good way to show what this means is to show the differences in groups that consider themselves emerging/emergent.

Every contest has rules, so here's mine: It must be substantive. We need to get an idea of how your group works when we see your video. Also, include some sort of contact info at the end (your website, address, twitter, whatever). Anyone have any more criteria? Let me know.

Interested in participating? Ask me how! If everyone is comfortable with it, we'll do some sort of video of our group. But mainly I need help getting the word out and setting up a easy way to collect videos (any techie people out there?).

Oh, and the contest part. Well, contests require incentive. Can anyone think of someplace that would be willing to donate something that would be of value of a group of people as a prize? I'm thinking that there would be a random drawing for a winner.

Lastly, if you think this is a terrible idea to begin with, let me know and it might get 86ed.

Are We Dead Yet?

There's been a LOT of hubbub around the death of emergent. Is it real?

Everyone probably knows this started with Nick Feidler talking about the great disappointment. As someone who has been in the conversation for a while (although in the closet), but new to being involved, I can't say I see what everyone's talking about.

But there are points. How do we grow? How do we go beyond a conversation and into action?

Maybe this is the next point to what we were talking about as our introductions a few weeks ago, why are you here. Maybe a better question is, where is it going?

I think what Nick's counterpart, Josh, said is really key. The emergent church is dead because the church is dead. Or, at least some forms of it. But it's the deep communities, the fellowship, the groups of people living Christ out in the world and working together to understand more and more what that means. That is thriving, and I think the emergent conversation has done a lot to facilitate that.

Any thoughts? Let's hash it out in the comments!

Recap 6.02.09

One of the greatest parts of our ongoing conversation is when we get to hear about each others' journeys. We briefly did this by commenting on what keeps us coming back to EmDes, or what drew us in the first place. The only part I remember about this is that Adam said it was a little like crack. Yeah I wrote that down, soooo....I had to type it.

On wrapping up Shane's book (though I have no business even writing that phrase: a bit behind I am), we got on to the subject of excommunication. Oh is this a fun topic. We quickly found out that semantics play a big part in how each of us understands this term, and then of course the ideas that flow from that understanding. Neither of the two extremes are desirable: a community that is destroyed by a person or a person's influence, nor a person that is essentially destroyed by their own community by being "cast out". I'll stop here because I speak in great ignorance: I'd like us to research this further bringing Shane's voice into better light via some other voices and theologies. ...to be continued...?

Another subject/question came up (from our beloved Ron G-ski) while wrapping up our second Shane Claiborne book - "Can a Christian become a politician in good conscience?" It seems Shane's answer would be no, but I don't believe as a group we unanimously agree. I'm not sure if we were able to answer this for ourselves with any further clarity, but it is an interesting question in light of some of Shane's perspectives regarding the context of Jesus' time, and what Jesus seemed to stand for and against.

It seems as a community we are trying to wrestle to that next level of vulnerability. We're at least seeing vulnerability as the primary obstacle to what we would want in church/community: Adam redeemed his crack comment by asking a fantastic question...one that I think starts to chip away at these vulnerability problems. (paraphrasing) "Is there a way to achieve vulnerability across gender lines?"

Oooooh, good one. We're so used to the fact that if you want to go "deep", go to the "next level", that you must break into male and female groups. And though there are good reasons for this that most of us could recite, shouldn't we wonder if we're not crippling community growth right out of the cocoon? It just so happens that a good friend of ours recently touched on this. I would highly recommend giving that link a go.

At this point we're going to take a little break from the book work and let it free flow for a while. I think some Nooma's, some Laundry Love brainstorming, and a dash of "let's just be who we are, which happens to be church" would go great this summer with Jim's beer. What do you think?

(G-ski's - that was me winking at you, asking you to bring a Nooma if you're comin'. If not, we'll all talk about you behind your backs)

made me think of our group

No Gathering This Week...

Hey all,

Just wanted to communicate that there will be no Emerging Desert gathering tomorrow. We're taking a break as a good portion of the cohort is at the Emerging Church Conference at the Center for Action & Contemplation in New Mexico this weekend.

We'll pick up where we left off next weekend on March 29th. Cheers!

Recap - 2.15.09

Hey everybody,

Good discussion tonight even though we missed a number of the regulars (even the Macs couldn't make it due to Jacob's hefty school workload [Jake, I can't decide between a "dweeb" joke or a "geek" joke here. Boom! Roasted.)

In line with our agreed-upon meeting rhythm, this week was centered on another one of our "free-flow" conversations. We mixed things up a bit by starting off with a collective listening of a recent Third Way Faith Podcast by Shane Hipps & Zach Lind entitled, The iGeneration (Archive Episode #7 1.6.09). This particular podcast explores the rise of narcissism [excessive interest in oneself] in our popular culture, especially as it relates to our digital-lives. Shane Hipps generally proposes that the wide-spread crazes of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogging, etc. have serious implications on how we as individuals view ourselves, as well as how we as Christians live humbly and relationally.

Hipps points to a study that was conducted across multiple university campuses that tracks the levels of narcissism among our culture over time. The study reportedly saw a remarkable rise in narcissism beginning with the generation that was born in 1982 and thereafter. The correlation is then made between these generations' adolescent years and the launch of these wildly popular social networking Web realities that are now woven into the fabric of everyday life for millions around the globe. During the podcast, Zach offered the observation that "... everybody has that [self-focus] whether you're aware of it or not, and the blogs that I like the least are those that don't know that shadow's there."

The range of our ensuing discussion went something like this:

- Various folks shared their own encounters/experiences with the rise of narcissism among some of those around us who are heavily engaged in these online mediums (another example was even raised regarding pastors whose pious Twittering seems to clash against their role of being a humble leader)

- A number of folks provided countering views that described the many benefits that have been made possible by these Web 2.0 forums. (Take the emerging church movement for example, which has been sustained, promoted, and catalyzed largely in this digital realm)

- The point was made that while Hipps did make strong statements regarding the downsides of these digital mediums, he did not contend that they are categorically harmful. Rather, he is arguing for believers to be mindful of the subconscious effects these mediums carry so that we can be intentional in how we approach them.

- Another point was made about "intentions"... that examining our intentions for engaging in these forums is helpful in tempering our involvement and/or adjusting how we view our participation.

- All agreed that these digital mediums are no substitution for face-to-face interaction, and that by acknowledging this, we are called to be doubly focused on fostering in-person relationships as a community of believers.

- The conversation later shifted to applying the concept of narcissism to the emerging church, which is apparently a common critique from social conservatives. (Parallels were made to the social-gospel adherents...)

- We wrestled with the question, "Can narcissism extend beyond the individual and exist among a collective body of people?", i.e., is their a distinction between "I" and "we" views? [I missed a good portion of this part of the talk, and I'd love to hear more from somebody on this].

I know I've left out A LOT of points that were raised (sorry!). Please jump in the comments, and fill in the gaps that I've left open...

ON THE HORIZON:
- It's not too late to register for the Emerging Church Conference being held in Albuquerque, NM in late March. If you want to jump in at the group rate, you need to let Debbie know by this coming Wed.

- Next week, we're back with Jesus for President. Our discussion will be based on the remainder of Section 1.

Recap - 2.8.09

Tonight, we dove into our first discussion of Mr. Claiborne's Jesus for President.  Props to Tom for sporting the logo on a shirt.  Actually, what's the next highest honor beyond props?  Anyway, I have already digressed.

So we read through page 44, which is about halfway through the first section of the book.  Some logistics here - we will be going through half of one section of the book, every other week.  So on 2/22/09 we should have read through the first section.  We'll watch Nooma's, bring some guest speakers, and condone other shenanigans on the "off" weeks.  I'll update our group calendar (see below, to the right), so if things change or you forget, just check back here.

We discussed the layout of the book.  Some said that it was distracting, (which part do I look at first!?!?), and some said that it bred a creative approach to reading and/or understanding.  The parties that disagreed on this issue created factions and then settled it over violent thumb wars.  Let's just say the creative people won, with the cheating "Russian Attack" move.  Second digression...damn.   

We discussed how the OT has seemingly been positive or promoting towards entities of government.  With all the laws, judges, kings, kingdoms, and governments, found within it, one could assume that God has sanctioned all of these as his instruments.  And yet Shane seems to paint a picture slighted to the contrary. 

We all seemed to agree that the manner in which Shane does this is very refreshing.  He takes a very large and multi-dimensional story (that is the OT) and pares it down into synthesis with Jesus' story in less than 60 multi-colored pages. 

This naturally led to the discussion of how we interact with our own political systems.  We talked about our different upbringings and influence, what we've believed in the past, some of what we believe now.  The overall sentiment was that the dialogue that comes from political discussions can be rich and rewarding, and yet most of the time their outcome is the opposite.  We talked about how facebook jabs, blog attacks, and media blitzes all represent the low road. 

We talked a little about retreating from politics and nationalism due to the above issues.  Wendy brought some hope in how she facilitates progressive and productive political discussions.  Adam said that he'd share a link to some of what Shane Hipps has been up to that addresses this.  Sorry to give you an action item in these meeting minutes Dr. Bamford. 

Well, that does it.  Please feel free to add more or tell me to stop putting words in your mouth.  I'm finding that it's an interesting challenge to publish our discussion without disturbing our group's chi.  You know, the chi.  Let me know if you have thoughts about this.  Yard out. 

Recap - 1.25.09

I'm going to try and recap each Sunday discussion as best I can, for those people who cannot make it.  This will certainly be easier when we get back into a more framed discussion (by the way, see our book link on the main page - there's still time to get it, read, and be ready with colorful commentary come Feb. 8th). 

Please comment on these sections with additions, subtractions, or rephrasing that might help capture the essence of our conversation.  I'm going to try and put it as succinctly as possible without missing the spirit of the night.   

Our freeform discussion has ranged through many topics, spiritual and not so spiritual (depending on who you ask).  This week we picked up where we last left off on the discussion of prayer.  Some of our questions included -

*why do we pray the way we do (in terms of formalities)?
*do we believe God will always answer every prayer?
*does the quantity of people praying for something change God's response, in either content or timing?

With respect to the experiences of the community, a few have shared events that have shaped our lives to which we can attributes God's intervention, movement or presence. 

In general, many of us are moving away from "the way we used to pray", or at least examining the ways in which we were taught to pray.  These habits (some good, some bad, and some neither) undoubtedly affect our view of the relationship we have with God.

It was brought up that our culture has a huge influence on our prayer patterns.  As trained consumers, it's difficult to shed the habit of constantly asking and recieving.  Contemplative prayer and meditation were discussed, though we did not delve too deeply into these subjects.

We then discussed a bit about tithing.  There was some agreement that we've enjoyed being able to free up our finances to give to those in our community who are in real need.  There is a great amount of efficiency in this as there is little to no overhead.  **An additional thought to this (Jim mentioned his brewing) - if we were to tithe to a church, nobody would raise an eyebrow at the purchase of donuts, coffee, etc.  And, how much more genuine is someone that creates something with his own hands to share with the group?  There is something truly beautiful about what we share amongst all.  But I digress into editorial..

Okay, that'll do it for now.  I know I missed some nuances, (specific ones that I really enjoyed) but I'm trying to keep this in the short sweetness.