The Ekklesia Project
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   December 2009   
IN THIS ISSUE....

*The Hope of All The World

*Gathering 2010: Dates!

*The Politics of Advent

*Your 2009 Contributions


Fourth Week of Advent Reflection
 
It was a tough November at the school where I work. First, a beloved adjunct took sick, really sick. Doctors could not explain why he lay comatose week after week in the ICU. Then a student died, a man who had been a role model if not father figure to many of our younger students. The seminary was reeling as the calendar turned to the first week of Advent.
 
I walked into class and started the way I have every year at this time. We sang "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Something clicked. Here we stand where Israel stood: battered but not abandoned, sorrowful but not despairing. Even now, even before Emmanuel comes again, even in the valley of the shadow of death, we can rejoice. My school needed the commanding invitation of Advent to rejoice--in spite of circumstances, in spite of grief--that in Christ God is with us. Rejoice!
 
Brent Laytham
Hope"The Hope of All The World": The EP Responds

Stanley Hauerwas opens the commentary on
President Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech
in Oslo.  Hauerwas is joined in commentary by
Tobias Winright, Stan Wilson, and Joe Boyd.

We invite you to join in this conversation by
contributing sermons, blogs, newsletter columns and other pieces you have already written in
the course of your teaching and preaching.  Or
comment on one of the posted reflections.

Join the EP in witnessing God-centered, ecclesially-centered, peaceful, political speech in these days when Christians the world over await anew the birth of the One who truly is the Hope of all the world.
Gathering 2010: Save the Dates!

The dates are set for Gathering 2010. We plan to meet on the campus of DePaul University here in Chicago July 6-8. This is a Tuesday to Thursday, which allows attendees from out of town to connect the Gathering with the long holiday weekend. We hope to have new details and registration instructions next month.
Raphael
     The Politics of Advent

  Advent is the season of waiting and hope, a
  time
that can be construed as quiet
  anticipation (no
matter how frenzied our lives
  can be, the four weeks
before Christmas). 
  Our bLOGOS contributors,
however,
  demonstrate that the readings for the
Advent
  season are anything but calm, mild, and

  silent.  They bring to life the power that
  pulses
through the gospel readings this
  season.  The story
of Advent is the story of
  those
who bear the weight of Empire, of
  women, of the Spirit, and the politics of
  pregnancy.  And though it is a story of those
  under
oppression, it is equally a story of joy,
  joy, joy, joy

  Add your comments to those already posted. 

If you haven't yet done so, add an RRS feed to
bLOGOS in your browser, in order to keep abreast of new posts and comments.  Just click on the "subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" link at the bottom of the bLOGOS page.
A Call for Contributions

As the year draws to a close, we invite you again to contribute, as you can, to the ongoing financial needs of the Ekklesia Project.  After a year or so in the red, we are hopeful that the EP will once again break even in 2009.  Even a contribution of $25 from a broad base of endorsers and others would help us achieve that goal!  We remain pleased with the services of Entango who makes it easy for you to donate online (Entango is an organization that works only with not-for-profits).  Or, if you prefer, checks can be mailed to the EP care of our treasurer Michael Bowling at 57 N. Rural St., Indianapolis, IN  46201.

Early in 2010, our newly formed finance committee will issue an annual report, giving you a sense of our income and expenses as well as an account of our activities for 2009 and those in the works for 2010 and beyond.  We will update you on the new series of EP pamphlets in the works, the ongoing progress of the Congregational Formation Initiative, and more.  Thank you in advance for your support.
 


Trecy Lysaught