Wednesday, February 14, 2007

A Very COOL Lent

It's only one week until Lent. I don't normally send pre-Lent greetings, but I thought I'd let you know about something CoolPeopleCare is doing in regards to Lent this year.

My friend, Dixon Kinser, is encouraging his faith community, St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Nashville), to try a proactive Lent this year. So, instead of using the 40 days before Easter to NOT do something (drink Diet Coke, eat chocolate, steal), he's challenging folks to actually DO something positive each day.

As a model of what can be done, we'll be focusing the content of our 5 Minutes of Caring articles on this idea.

So, if folks at your church want to get together and try to actually care for 5 minutes each day as a Lenten discipline, we're here to help. We've got a special page set up that explains what's going on, and if people from your faith community want to join in, let me know and we'll add your name to the list of people participating.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Thursday Night Dante ... an alternative theology pub

Cohortistas,

I'm trying an experiment. I've always been intrigued by the whole "Theology Pub" thing I see a number of "emerging" folks doing, and thought I'd give it a shot myself here in Nashville.

The setting: David-Kidd Bookstore Café at Green Hills.
The time: Thursday Evenings at 7:30
The text: Dante's Divine Comedy-- translation by Mark Musa (individual volumes available for as little as a penny on Amazon.com, plus shipping of course)
The format: We read one canto per week together, and talk about what it says and what it might mean for our lives
The agenda: Read, eat, talk, challenge, grow. 90 minutes max. Then go home or wherever the next place is for you.
The launch: February 22
The partners in crime: Rob Rexroat and anyone else who wants to try this
The intended audience: Folks who like Italian medieval and Renaissance stuff, people who don't like reading much, poetry geeks, and perhaps a few Christians. As of now, we have two Christians... help find the others!
The journey: We start in Hell for 33 weeks or so, then to Purgatory for another 33 weeks, then to Paradise for 34 more.
What to expect: Hell identifies sin that besets you. Purgatory is about growing in spiritual vision and grace. Paradise is about living from the deep well of God's abundant and transforming love. It's not about the places, the torments, the trials or the rewards. It's about the journey, and a God who's out to save us.

If you haven't read the Divine Comedy, but you always knew you should, here's a book club (if you want to call it that) where the amount of weekly reading is low, but the amount of learning and growth might be pretty high. Even if you come sporadically, or just once.

Let me know if you're interested. Or just show up next Thursday and/or succeeding Thursdays at Davis-Kidd.

Peace in Christ,

Taylor Burton-Edwards

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Good Discussion on Thursday

Hey all,

I thought we had a good discussion on Thursday, at our meeting. I was glad to hear some folks voice their thoughts on the topic. I want to encourage everyone to continue to do that. I noticed that some folks were more in a listening mode. While I appreciate that, it seemed that newer folks had a lot to say. I would (honestly) have loved to hear from the regulars more.

Would anyone like to share their thoughts or comments about evangelism, pluralism, or whatever here on the blog? Or link to their own blogs if you are talking about it there?