In a few days I'll be headed to Melbourne, Australia for the Victoria Conference Camp Meeting (which is actually 2+ hours drive north of Melbourne, I'm told). I'm looking forward to making new friends there, as well as reconnecting with old friends. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates about that (provided I have some internet access).
From Melbourne I'm traveling to East and Central Africa. First to Mombasa, Kenya for the Amahoro Conference and then to Bujumbura, Burundi with a few friends. I cannot begin to describe how excited and grateful I am.
Spectrum and the re-church
network will together be hosting a summer reading group. We will be
blogging our way through Deep
Church by Jim Belcher. In this book, Belcher maps out, in a
very accessible way, the critiques made of the traditional church by
those in the emergent movement and the criticisms of the emergent
movement that has ensued from the traditionalists in response. He
attempts to articulate a third alternative between the two approaches to
being and doing church. We are hoping that reading this book together
will be a good way to come to a better understanding of the emergent
movement, but also to thoughtfully discuss the important issues that are
raised in it in the context of the Adventist community.
My dear friend, Samir Selmanovic, has just published his first book entitled, It's Really All About God (buy on Amazon) and what a way to start. This is not a review...that will be coming soon. But I will tell you that this is a radical, peaceful vision of the force for good that religion can and should be in the world, told through the intimate, personal lenses of someone who hase expereinced so much of the good and bad of religion.
There is a review at the Spectrum website by my friend, Brenton Reading. You can read that here.
The blurb I wrote for inside the front cover says this:
“Samir has written a book that reads like an extended poem; an ode to life. Where others see only the darkness and destructiveness of religion, Samir sees beauty and hope. Where others see only competition and violence, Samir sees synergy and life. And his vision is no simple syncretism; a blending of all religions into one inoffensive ‘smoothie’ of goodness and light. This book is a celebration of postmodern ‘otherness’ of the first order. It will inspire you, frustrate you, maybe even anger you. Samir will not answer all your questions or tell you exactly what to do next. But if you’ve ever felt that nagging deep in your soul that God is lurking just beneath the surface in places you have least expected, you need to read this book!”
I will write a review here after I get a chance to read it again.
Please go buy this book and read it. In the meantime, check out this short video of Samir talking about his book.
It’s hard to believe…but, summer is here. And with summer comes time spent with great books. So, re-church is announcing a Summer Reading Group. We will be blogging through What Would Jesus Deconstruct?,
by John D. Caputo. This is an enjoyable and challenge jaunt into
postmodernism, Derridian deconstruction and the gospel. Caputo has a
playful, sharp and ironic style that is sure to rub us the wrong way
and spark some great conversation.
There are 6 chapters and we will blog one chapter a week for six
weeks, starting July 13, so you have time to get the book and start
reading. Our bloggers will be:
Please drop a comment at the re-church blog
if you plan to read along with us. The blogs will be posted there and
we invite your comments, questions, challenges and insights. This will
be a much more enjoyable experience if you participate in the comments.
Please invite anyone you know that might be interested in this group and lets have some fun this summer reading together.
We had some delays in producing the DVDs from Beyond Evandalism with
Peter Rollins, but they are now shipping. As proof of that see photos
here and below.
Here’s how to order:
This set of 5 DVDs costs $45 + $5 shipping.
Please make checks out to: “Hollywood SDA Church” and mail to:
Hollywood Adventist Church
1711 N Van Ness Ave
Hollywood, CA 90028
The set includes 3 DVDs of Peter Rollins’ main sessions, plus 2 DVDs containing the 4 responses.
Jürgen Moltmann is one of the most influential theologians of our time. A generation from now people will look back and refer to him the way many of us today refer to Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and others.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you're like me and are passionate about the intersection of academic theology and the life of the church, you should do whatever it takes to be at this event.
There is only room for 300 participants, so sign up today. I'm registered and I know of several others from the re-church network who will be there as well, so we'll definitely have a re-church meet up while we're there.
This Friday night, from 7-9 pm, I'll be at Claremont School of Theology for meeting entitled, "Transforming the Church." Tony Jones, of Emergent Village, will be present. Tony writes a little bit about this event on his blog, here. My friend, Trisha Famisaran is working on this initiative in her role at Claremont's Center for Process Studies.
I hope you'll consider joining in the conversation. It's going to be challenging and provocative. It's an important conversation for some of us in the Adventist Church and the re-church network.
Beyond Evandalism - the re-church gathering featuring Peter Rollins - will begin at the Hollywood Adventist Church in just a few hours. I get very excited every time I look over the list of nearly 80 people who will join us for the next day and a half.
I will be blogging the event over at the Spectrum Blog, so be sure to check in over there for updates.
And those of you who are coming, thank you so much and I'll see you soon.
The Walla Walla University chaplain, Paddy McCoy, has invited me to do a short interview, by Skype, at the Friday night vespers service. He sent over some really great questions about our congregation's theology and self-understanding, how we think about ministry in a post-Christian world and God's live among us. I'm really excited about this. I've only got about 8-10 min, but we do the best we can with what we have.
If you want to listen in, I understand they have a live streaming video feed of their worship service. The service starts at 8:00 pm. I will go on around 8:20 pm.
Click here after 8:00 pm and it should work. You will need QuickTime Player, or some equivalent video player. Hope you can join us.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.... The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
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