February 2014

In This Issue

Gathering 2014 Speakers and Preachers
Slow Church Conference
New Endorsers
New on BLOGOS
Call for Documentary Films
Northwest Regional EP Gathering
Signs of the Times: Groaning and Flourishing

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Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

Gathering Speakers and Preachers

Our plenary speakers this summer are Norman Wirzba, Ched Myers, and Philip Bess. Bill McKibben will also be contributing with a video presentation recorded specifically for the gathering. Norman Wirzba will give us his deep insights into the nature of creation, Ched Myers will be presenting on how we can respond to the ecological crisis by doing "watershed discipleship," and Philip Bess, an architecture professor at Notre Dame, will call us to a pre-industrial vision of cities as places to organize common life toward human and ecological flourishing.

Worship is always key to the Ekklesia Project and our preachers are as important as our plenary speakers. This year we will have the word opened for us by Jesse Schuman Larkins, Sally Youngquist, and Jim McCoy. Workshops will address topics both practical and theological including the spirituality of creation and how to deal with "losing" in local fights to save creation.

A new feature at the gathering this year will be a documentary film festival. Instead of simply imaging how the church can care for creation we are inviting Christian communities from around the country to share what they are doing through film.

We expect this gathering to fill up quickly so mark your calendars now for July 10-12 and look for registration to open in March or April.

(When Brent Laytham mistakenly announced in an earlier newsletter that Fred Bahnson would be a speaker, Fred graciously pointed out that he hadn't been asked. Fred regrets family commitments will prevent him from participating in the Gathering. We'll regret his absence, but we celebrate his commitments.)

The Slow Church Conference

A conversation curated by Chris Smith and John Pattison, co-authors of the Slow Church book (coming June 2014, IVP / Praxis Books)

Registration and More Details: http://SlowChurchConference.com

When: April 3-5, 2014 (Thursday evening through Saturday lunch)Where: Englewood Christian Church / Indianapolis

Cost: $99 (Early Bird, through Feb. 7); $149 (Feb. 8 and later)
NEW: Starting Feb 8, we will be offering a Student Rate of $99!
(Students should use promotion code: STUDENT2014 )

This price includes 6 locally-sourced meals during the conference.

Keynote Speakers Include: Christine Pohl, David Fitch, Phil Kenneson, Carol Johnston

NEW ENDORSERS:

We welcome (or welcome back to electronic access) all the new (or old) friends!

Elliot Haught (Durham)

Michael Foley (Pittsburgh)

Thomas Parker (Milligan College)

Keith Edwards (CA)

Everett Christianson (MN)

Justin Jarvis (CA)

Mark Blanton (NC)

Nancy Raabe (WI)

New on BLOGOS:

"Luminous Darkness"

by Debra Dean Murphy

5 Feb 2014

Epiphany 5A

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 5:13-16

Who among those who have read the gospels does not know that Christ has made all human suffering his own? Origen, "On Prayer"

On Sunday, when I read that Philip Seymour Hoffman had died, my breath caught a little. I didn't know him, of course, though I've admired every performance of his I've seen. (Oh, the power of cinema to make us feel like we know the actors we love-indeed to make us love them in the first place.) Hoffman was an actor of astonishing intuition and virtuosity. As one writer put it, "he could nail a part in one punch, summoning the richness of an entire life in the smallest gesture."

To read the rest click here.

Creation Care Film Festival: Submit Now!

Is your congregation doing something to care for creation? Have you dedicated an outreach team to cleaning up after an oil spill? Have you turned your church kitchen into a distribution point for local farmers? Are you offering support to activists fighting the Keystone XL pipeline? We want you to witness to the work to which your community has been called in answering the ecological crisis. This year the Ekklesia Project will be holding its first film festival with videos telling the stories of Christian communities (churches, new monastic communities, seminaries, etc.) working to care for creation.

You don't need to be a professional filmmaker. We are simply looking for stories told through the medium of video. If you have a phone video camera and a computer you may have all the equipment you need to share your community's story.

The top ten films submitted will be shown at the Ekklesia Project gathering this summer.

The filmmaker and a representative from the community in the film will attend the gathering for free with both travel and registration covered!

Start your cameras rolling and let communities doing extraordinary creation care work know about the festival. Visit EkklesiaProject.org/filmfest for details.

NORTHWEST REGIONAL EKKLESIA PROJECT MEETING 2014

Happiness, Health, and Beauty:

The Christian Life in Everyday Terms

This year Debra Dean Murphy will lead our gathering in order to explore Christian discipleship through the lens of three "everyday" yet theologically rich terms: happiness, health, and beauty. We'll look at what it means to flourish together in the goodness of God (happiness); the intrinsic connection between Eucharistic bread and human bodies (health); and "the disposition to benevolence" that names the central call on our lives personally and corporately (beauty).

Kenton Presbyterian Church

2115 North Lombard Street

Portland, OR 97217

Registration cost is $20. Send registration payment to:

Ekklesia NW

c/o Church of the Servant King

5825 N. Willamette Blvd.

Portland, OR 97203

For more information (scholarships, lodging, etc.) contact Michael Munk

(michael@wipfandstock.com)

Signs of the Times

Groaning and Flourishing: Gathered by Our Creator's Care

by Ragan Sutterfield

"This July the Ekklesia Project will be gathering to discern together how the church can respond to the ecological crisis. While we celebrate small steps like church gardens and green energy, but we know too that God is calling us to live out our lives in a radically alternative kingdom that goes beyond simple sustainability. Our aim in this gathering is to go far deeper than most of the conversation on "greening" the church. We want this to be a time of struggle, confession, and ultimately our hope in Christ and his triumphant reign."