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IN THIS ISSUE....
New on bLOGOS
Meet the EP: Steve and Emmy Stanley
Book Review: Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision by N.T. Wright
Salt of the Earth: A Christian Seasons Calendar
So, What's New With You?
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The days are coming...
 Rejoice! Advent is
upon us, a new
liturgical year that
opens with the
following words in
the revised common
lectionary:
"The days are
coming, says the
LORD, when I will
fulfill the promise
I made to the house
of Israel and Judah.
In those days, in
that time, I will raise
up for David a just
shoot; he shall do
what is right and
just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe and Jerusalem shall dwell secure; this is what they shall call her: "The LORD our justice."" (Jer. 33:14-16)
May this Advent be a time of renewal of hope and vision for you, your congregations, and the Ekklesia Project as we follow this LORD whose grace incarnates itself in our lives and world in such unimaginable ways.
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New on bLOGOS:
Ultimate Imagination
by Doug Lee
 "Some years ago, a friend of ours who was a major
player on the Nigerian
political scene nearly met an
untimely death but survived. After
confronting his
mortality-his end, Takai abandoned his ascendant
career
trajectory and told his children that they would
receive no inheritance
from him. Their inheritance
would now come in the form of a ministry he
would
establish to care for needy widows and orphans. Today
that
ministry cares for and brings together hundreds
of Christians and
Muslims in fractured northern
Nigeria." Read More
Religious But Not Spiritual
by Debra Dean Murphy
"I have recently (re)discovered how prevalent
"Spiritual But Not Religious" devotees are on college campuses, even
(especially?) church-related ones. Yet no matter the age group or
demographic, this business of shedding the "baggage of doctrine and
religion" is what it's all about: snubbing dogma and its perceived
strictures, rejecting all forms of religion, especially the organized
kind.
 But I'm with Bill Cavanaugh
on this one: "being against organized religion is like being against
organized hospitals." Institutions will always be subject to corruption
and silliness, fraud and ineptitude, since they are comprised of people
who . . . well, since they are comprised of people."
Read More
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Meet the EP: Steve and Emmy Stanley
Steve and Emmy Stanley live in Rogers Park, a north-side
neighborhood of Chicago. Steve serves as a co-pastor of the "Church
without Walls" which worships on Sunday mornings at the Lawrence House in the Uptown
neighborhood (near the famous Aragon Ballroom).
Steve also serves at Evanston
Mennonite Church
which holds worship on Sunday evenings. Emmy in the meantime is an active partner,
homemaker, folk music student and local volunteer.
In 2004, after 24 years as pastor at Danville Community
Church of God in central Illinois, Steve and Emmy moved to Durham, NC for a year
of discovery at Duke Divinity School, where he explored issues of ecclesial
practice and witness - especially in areas of peacemaking and racial
understanding. Steve first learned about
EP through the helpful mentoring of James Lewis of Anderson University. "He gave me a lot to read at the time - and
most of it was from EP people." Because they
have since re-located to Chicago, Steve and Emmy have been fortunate to regularly
attend EP Gatherings.
Now in Chicago,
Steve serves at the "Church without Walls," a non-denominational racially
diverse church that is located at the Lawrence House, a 370-unit building in
Uptown. Though this once elegant
structure has seen better days, it now is home for a generous, compassionate Christian
fellowship engaged in practices of mutual caring, sharing of resources and
hospitality. Steve says, "I'm learning a
great deal about what 'being the church' can mean in an urban setting -- or anywhere
for that matter." Church members have recently
undertaken leadership in the formation of the Lawrence House Tenants
Organization and are currently working on a larger community effort to preserve
and secure decent, affordable housing.
Steve and Emmy are grateful to be a part of the larger EP
community. "How hopeful it is for us to
share in this journey -- to learn from others how God is working in His people
and how the church is always finding again how to live out what it believes."
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Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision
by N.T.Wright
While I can't keep up with all of N.T. Wright's writing anymore, I did
get sucked into his new book, Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision
(IVP Academic, 2009). Maybe it is beca use the work is a bit more polemical than
usual, as this
volume is a direct response to critics like John Piper. Nevertheless, it makes for some fun reading.
Here is one example: "Again and again the writers from a variety of
backgrounds have assumed ... that the central question of all
is, 'What must I
do to be saved?' or (Luther's way of putting it) 'How can I find a gracious
God?' or, 'How can I enter a right relationship with God?' Discovering
that God is gracious,
rather than a distant bureaucrat or a dangerous tyrant,
is the good news that constantly surprises and refreshes us. But we
are not the
center of the universe. God is not circling around
us. We are circling around
Him. It may look, from our point of view, as though 'me and my salvation' are
the be-all and end-
all of Christianity. But the real point is, I believe, that
the salvation of human beings, though of course extremely important for those
human beings, is part of a larger purpose. We are in orbit around God and his
purposes, not the other way around. If the Reformation tradition had treated
the Gospels as equally important to the Epistles, this mistake might never have
happened. But it has, and we must deal with it. The earth, and we with it, go
around the sun of God and his cosmic purposes." (23-24)
Reviewed by Jon Stock
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Salt of the Earth - A Christian Seasons Calendar 2009-2010
Once again our friends at  University
Hills Congregation in Vancouver are
offering their beautiful calendar of
the Christian seasons. This unique
calendar opens with the season of
Advent and turns not with
the
twelve months but with the rhythm
of the Christian seasons: Advent,
Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy
Week, Easter and the Season after
Pentecost, providing an opportunity
to "live into" the Christian liturgical
calendar. To learn more or order
copies, visit the calendar web site.
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So, What's New With You?
We're still sorting out ways in which our newsletter can deepen friendships within the EP. One idea I keep pondering is that it could serve as a vehicle through which we share with one another what we have been up to lately. What book are we writing or have we just published? For what conference or event are we preparing remarks, and why do we have passion for the topic we will address? In other words, how can we share thoughts and ideas that will promote constructive dialogue among friends that will help all of us to be more faithful and constructive, and guide us in advancing God's purposes? I would like to make "what are Epers up to?" a regular feature of the newsletter, so please drop me a line to tell me what you are thinking about and working on these days.
John McFadden, editor
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