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Crossing the Divide: Race, Racism and the Body of Christ
EP Summer Gathering , July 7-9, Depaul University
We approach this year's gathering in great
hope, believing that the church has been
given adequate and even abundant gifts which
make unity possible across the false
divisions of race.
We hope to explore some of those gifts and
celebrate the practices of the congregations
among us who are being formed graciously into
a new body. We are also asking endorsers and
guests to help us closely examine our own
practices and institutions in order to expose
and heal hidden wounds. We plan on worshiping
and singing together, and on listening to one
another as we encounter a difficult moral issue.
Confirmed speakers or preachers include James
Lewis and Mike Budde, but we will soon
announce many more.
As always we offer our time together in
service of the church and pray that our
efforts will contribute to its unity.
Stan Wilson, planning committee chair
bLOGOS
Fear, Threat, Scandal and a Journey toward Love
This month, we welcome Jessie Shuman
Larkins
to the bLOGOS rotation. In her Christmas
season post, Jessie reflects on the power
of a baby to threaten all that we hold dear -
whether it be in Bethlehem or in the
contemporary question of adoption. On the
World Day of Peace (January 1), Brian
Volck
takes
us beyond football to the work of the
Sant' Egidio community, the annunciation, and
the intellectual embarrassment of the
incarnation. Randy Cooper ends the season
with a reflection on telephones,
technology, and community.
Our
contributors continue to pair
their reflections with compelling images for
further meditation and challenge. Debra Dean
Murphyturns
us toward Lent today, with
Gwyneth Leech's depiction of the 8th station
of the Cross. As you begin to prepare for
Lent, may you find these images and messages
worthy of meditation. We look forward to
your company as we journey through this
upcoming pilgrimage of prayer and penitence,
discipline and discovery.
Meet the EP
Victor Hinojosa
Victor Hinojosa is helping to plan
this year's summer gathering on breaking
racial barriers. Victor teaches political
science in the Honors College at Baylor
University.
A graduate seminar with John
Howard Yoder began his conversion to the
peace church tradition and his journey with
the Anabaptists. He found in the EP a
community of friends committed to living
life, and doing church, differently. He
appreciates the resources the project
provides and the ways he is helped, and
challenged, in the effort to be ever more
faithful. Victor and his wife, Lynne, a
literature professor at Baylor, and their
growing family have been attending EP
gatherings since 2000 and are a part of the
EP community in Waco. He finds the summer
gathering a crucial time of renewal and
energy for the year to come and is excited to
be a part of planning this year's
program.
Friends of EP
Theologs and Others
While we hope bLOGOS is the first blog
you turn to when looking for a vision of
radical discipleship in the here and now, we
would also invite
you to drop in and visit our friends:
- Theolog
is the new blog hosted by The Christian
Century;
- We have always appreciated the work of
The
Matthews House Project (note their new
URL); and
- At The Other
Journal you'll find U2, psychopathology,
and an interview with Bill Cavanaugh, among
other things.
Look for more links to
fellow-traveller organizations in upcoming
newsletters.
Regional Gathering: Portland, Oregon
February 29th and March 1
There will be a Northwest Regional Ekklesia
Project
gathering in Portland, Oregon. The topic
will be on
Inhabiting The Church: Ecclesial
Discussions
in New
Monasticism. If you're interested,
pick up the book
by the same name from our friends at Wipf and
Stock. The speakers will be Jonathan
Wilson-
Hartgrove, Tim Otto, and Jon Stock. The
dates are
Feb. 29th & Mar. 1.
Sessions will be: Friday evening
Saturday mid-morning
Saturday late afternoon
Details are being worked out for the exact
location and
times. For news, updates and registration
information
contact Michael
Munk.
From the Editor
Now that I am out of the parish setting and
no longer preaching on a regular basis, I
have a hard time granting myself permission
to purchase Bible commentaries, particularly
if they threaten to get me hooked on a series
that would challenge the limits of both my
budget and bookshelf.
But I am
intrigued
by the new Brazos
Theological Commentary
on the Bible series. In his introduction
to Matthew
Stanley Hauerwas states
his hope that "the reader will read the
commentary the way they read a novel," and I
found myself doing exactly that. How
refreshing to not have the text sliced and
diced, exegeted and exposited into academic
sound bites! As a pastor I tried to
encourage my members to read each Gospel
through in a single sitting, advice that few
likely heeded: this commentary invites the
reader to surrender to the power of the
narrative in the company of a wise and
thoughtful friend. Hauerwas puts
scholarship
under Matthew's discipline, rather than the
other way round. If the other authors in the
series do the same, I may need to clear more
space on my shelves.
John McFadden, editor
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