Welcome Back…
3 07 2008This writer has taken a bit of a break from contributing to EP, brought on primarily by fatigue over promoting the Church Basement Roadshow (my review here… go watch it in your neighborhood!) as well as a celebration-rich end of June: my wedding anniversary and my son’s birthday fall within a day of each other.
While I’ve been away from the laptop in this capacity, however, there seems to be no love lost for conversation about the intermarriage of pentecostal expression and the emerging church as a mood within Christianity as a whole. While skepticism may still be the default response within emerging church circles to charismatic movements like the Assemblies of God, there continues to be a palpable interest on both sides of the proverbial fence about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a person or community breaking free from established forms. Having met people from liberal, moderate and conservative camps, this inclination toward a genuine responsiveness to the Spirit seems to be a common thread, one I am confident can hold us together as we emerge as a meta-community into the new century, and into a more integrated followership of Jesus.
The most recent sign of a pentecostal renaissance within the emerging church, or vice-versa, is an invitation I received to participate in Azuza Remixed, described by its’ editor Brian LePort as ” a group blog dedicated to pentecostal theology, praxis, and history.” I will be representing the emerging church stream in this conversation, and truly hope I’m not exposed as a two-bit hack in the company of the intellectual giants who are also contributing. The blog launches on July 14, and I encourage you to check it out.
In the meantime, enjoy some Horshack.
Categories : Emergent, conversation, pentecost
The cafe has since lost its’ lease in the larger scheme to gentrify the neighborhood by pushing in franchise productions. It was replaced by a high-end antique store and a St.Arbucks popped up magically across the street. What was lost, however, was not merely a hip, independent coffee house to the inevitability of big business. On a different, more personal level, I lost the freedom inherent in discovering the raw, untamed love of a Creator-God, the beauty of truly believing that he will remain within me as I remain within him in a powerful and present way. I lost my religion to the cultural apprehension and insecurity of an American brand of Christianity that didn’t really know what to do with the street-level manifestations of a philosophical postmodern shift. Not knowing what to do, we tend to either shame the behavior of what threatens our way of life (i.e., bohemians, democrats, queer people, etc.) or shore up the credibility of our own position by circling the wagons (i.e., position statements, manifestos, articles of belief that move beyond Jesus and even Paul and into the minutiae of life - a new law to replace a messy, grace-filled spirituality).








