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From the Editor
Now that I have moved from parish ministry
into chaplaincy, I find myself missing the
discipline of writing a light-but-thoughtful
essay for the church newsletter every two
weeks. Most of them were written in haste
and instantly forgettable, but sometimes the
Holy Spirit would grab hold of one and it
would ripple through the congregation, and
beyond, in unexpected ways.
I regularly exchanged newsletters with many
cherished colleagues, a practice which helped
us to
stay in touch and share some of our joys and
struggles in the parish setting. The
"Pastors Porch" (an essay by Kyle Childress
provided the name) section of the EP web-site
gathers such newsletter
essays (and the occasional sermon) by parish
pastors. Reading these essays by fellow EP
endorsers is a bit like reading a note from a
friend: take some time to sit and visit on the
porch!
John McFadden, editor
New Book from EP's Beth Newman
Fellow EP member Beth Newman's book
Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God
andother Strangers is now available from
Brazos Press. The book is the most recent
addition to the Ekklesia Project's
"Christian Practice of Everyday Life""
series.
Beth offers a theological and cultural
analysis of hospitality, arguing that worship
itself is
participation in divine hospitality--a
hospitality that
affects our economic, political, and private
lives. Her
message that hospitality calls us to live in
the true
marks of the church--one, holy, catholic, and
apostolic-
-is vital in a world separated by national,
racial, and
ecclesial divisions. It will challenge
Christians to move
beyond coffee fellowship hours to live out God's
radical hospitality.
Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche, had this to
say about
Beth's book: "If we open our hearts to the
stranger,
we
will open our hearts to what is strange
within us. This precious book shows a way to
peace and to unity inside us and around us,
for the church and for the world."
Meet the EP
Kristin Söderberg, from Sundsvall,
Sweden, recently joined the EP after
discovering our website and reading it “with
great interest.” Before discovering EP,
Kristin had read a lot of both Hauerwas and
Yoder. She currently studies theology in
Umeå University where William Cavanaugh’s
Theopolitical Imagination has been one
of their projects. Kristin is a 49 year old
mother. Recently one of her children received
a kidney transplant, “So there has been a lot
of thinking about life and death and what is
going on with us, as humans, and in the world
and how to understand our Lord.” We are
delighted to have her as a new member of EP.
Gathering News
Gathering 2007 now has its own page on the EP Website. You might
want to
bookmark it as we hope to add updates as soon as
they are available.
A WORD OF THANKS FROM THE TREASURER
I offer my sincere thanks and a hearty “well
done” to all of you who rose to the challenge
given in last month’s newsletter regarding
your endorsement commitment to give
financially to EP. We received more gifts
last month than we received for the whole
year in 2006! From January 1 through March
15, contributions have totaled $3,080. The
modest organizational part
of EP operates on a shoestring budget,
therefore every dollar counts and is
accounted for. As always, e-mail me directly
if you have a question about our finances
(mjbowling@indy.rr.com).
The Heart of Christian Peacemaking
Especially for those of you in the Midwest,
we would
like to bring to your attention two important
gatherings.
On March 24th, the Catholic Peace Fellowship
will host it’s annual conference,
“Neither Right
Nor Left: The Heart of Christian
Peacemaking.” The
conference will feature Jim Forest and Tom
Cornell,
the original cofounders of CPF; Michael
Baxter, CPF
national secretary, Joshua Casteel, Iraq War
Vet and
conscientious objector who will have just
returned
from the Vatican, and Farah Marie
Mokhtareizadeh, an
Iranian-American Catholic activist. It will
be followed,
on March 25-26th by the annual Midwest
Catholic
Workers’ Resistance retreat. Both events
will be
held in South Bend, Indiana. For more
information,
visit the CPF
website.
EP-Friendly Conference Announcement
If you have been keeping up with the
conversations floating around concerning the
New Monasticism or if you have attended one
of their “Schools for Conversion”, you'll know that
many of the folk involved are EP endorsers. Therefore
we're pleased to point you to a
conference entitled, “Inhabiting the Church :
New Monasticism and God’s Revolution”. The
event will be hosted by Englewood Christian
Church in Indianapolis. The dates are June
1st and 2nd. Registration materials and
conference details are available here.
Space and free housing are really limited so
as the heralds of consumerist advertising
often say, “Act now!”
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