A Bible Crash Course
March 9, 2008
Bible-Crash-Course, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
Email magyardomo@gmail.com for more info!
“On Church Attendance and Avoidance” by the Barna Group
March 4, 2008
New Statistics on Church Attendance and Avoidance
An interesting blog post, doing a deep Christian delve into some surprising statistics!
The fact that millions of people are now involved in multiple faith communities – for instance, attending a conventional church one week, a house church the next, and interacting with an online faith community in-between – has rendered the standard measures of “churched” and “unchurched” much less precise?
QUIZ  
Which of these groups do you fit into?
Unattached
Intermittents
Homebodies
Blenders
Conventionals
Tony Jones’ Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier
March 2, 2008
The word is out. If you want a primer on the “emerging” church, read Tony Jones’ The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. It’s a great overview for posterity and for people today who are wondering what this phenomenon is all about.
Tony is the national coordinator of Emergent Village and has been part of evolution of the “new kind of Christian” conversation for more than a decade. In person, he’s an engaging, passionate, self-proclaimed provocateur – and The New Christians conveys his unique voice. Its super readable and maps out vast expanses of this new frontier, including cultural context, theological markers, and case studies of real-life characters and locales.
I personally found the book quite resonant. There were paragraphs that echoed sentiments I’d written about in seminary and undergraduate religion classes (e.g. Weber and the commodification of religion, the notion that we all interpret the Bible). There were parts that recalled conversations I’ve had and sections that described places I’ve visited (e.g. Church of the Apostles in Seattle, Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis).
If I wanted a family member or friend to understand why I’m part of this movement, I would recommend this book as a roadmap. For those I’ve never met, I commend it too.
Finally, on Tony’s travels through this new frontier, it seems he brought along a sieve and sifted gold nuggets out of flowing streams and muddy riverbanks. He calls these little nuggets his “dispatches” and all twenty are precious. Here are my fave five:
Dispatch 1: Emergents find little importance in the discrete differences between the various flavors of Christianity. Instead, they practice a generous orthodoxy that appreciates the contributions of all Christian movements.
Dispatch 12: Emergents embrace the whole Bible, the glory and the pathos.
Dispatch 16: Emergents believe that church should function more like an open-source network and less like a hierarchy or bureaucracy.
Dispatch 17: Emergents start new churches to save their own faith, not necessarily as an outreach strategy.
Dispatch 20: Emergents believe that church should be just as beautiful and messy as life.
Anglimergent
February 17, 2008
Here is a new ‘ning’ (I think that’s short for social networking site) for Anglimerents. Phyllis Tickle says that as the Great Emergence comes, there will be some of us who will be “hyphenated”… living between two world. So far there are Presbymergents, Luthemergents, etc. As a cradle Episcopalian, I’m an Anglimergent. You can click on the graphic below to join.
Transmission Tonight – CHANGE OF PLANS
January 16, 2008
Katherine had to postpone her house blessing due to medical incident (please keep her in your prayers!).
So, we’ll be meeting tonight at Bowie’s place @ 7pm
Please email transmissionchurch@gmail.com if you need further directions.
This evening we’ll be looking at -
* ourselves – owning less, not being owned by our consumption desires
* our city and world – looking at the scandal of domestic poverty in the USA
* and doing something – bring non-perishables that we’ll donate to a food bank
I know this is last minute, but if you are at home before Transmission tonight, look through your cupboards and pull out any non-perishable food that you bought and just haven’t eaten – and bring it tonight. Bowie will transport our offerings to a local food pantry.
There are too many hungry in NYC and the food pantries are running low.
All items to be donated must be:
* In their original, unopened packages
* Within the expiration date on the package
* In plastic jars or containers, not glass
RITUAL PLANNED with a little help from:
* Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
* Sabbath ideas from Wayne Muller
* Jonny Baker’s Worship Tricks
* Christian Churches Together
CCT News Release
January 15, 2008
Here is a news release about the Christian Churches Together meeting Bowie attended last week.
Please especially note these “Scripture Soundbites” on poverty, compiled by Ron Sider –
In remembrance of the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, Dr. Ron Sider of Evangelicals For Social Action, a CCT participant, provided “God, the Poor and Us: Forty Biblical Reminders,” 40 biblical texts that highlight God’s special concern for poor people. The document is available here.
Wallis & Sider Book Giveaway
January 11, 2008
Dear friends, I have received free copies of two Jim Wallis and one Ron Sider book through my involvement with CCT. I would be happy to share them with people interested in the important perspectives of these two progressive evangelicals.
If you would like a copy of the books below, please email epiphany.ny@gmail.com with your request and postal address. You do not need to be a regular attendee of Transmission, or even anyone I’ve ever met before.
Blessings, Bowie
Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America
by Ronald J. Sider
God’s Politics: A New Vision for Faith and Politics in America
“Why the Right Gets is Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It”
by Jim Wallis
The Call to Conversion (Revised and Updated)
“Why Faith Is Always Personal but Never Private”
by Jim Wallis
CCT Quotables
January 9, 2008
My favorite quotes from last night and today…
“To see yourself as you truly are is a greater miracle than raising from the dead.”
- Father Leonid Kishkovsky, Director of External Affairs and Interchurch Relations for the Orthodox Church in America, quoting a Desert Father
“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
- African Proverb, made popular in Ecumenical circles by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches
“… in the presence of plenty and all he asks for is crumbs.”
- Dr. William Shaw, President of the National Baptist Convention, USA, preaching on Lazarus and the rich man
“Movements are what turn the impossible into the inevitable.”
- Jim Wallis, Editor-in-Chief/Chief Executive Officer of Sojourners
“We’re not doing it because we want them to be Catholic, but because we are Catholic.”
- Fr. John Adams, President of SOME (So Others Might Eat), in response to a question about proselytizing and serving the poor
“An expression of the church on special assignment with the poor.”
- World Vision self definition
“I know the LORD will get justice for the poor and will defend the needy in court.”
- Psalm 140:12
Meeting with Christian Churches Together
January 8, 2008
One of the hats I wear as an “ecumenical Episcopalian” (my third “e” identifier would probably be “emerging”) is as a member of the standing committee for Christian Churches Together, the broadest ecumenical group in our nation’s history.
Today I arrived in Baltimore for the CCT Annual Meeting, which includes a day in DC addressing domestic poverty (see the CCT Statement of Poverty that was passed by consensus last year) and discernment about how we can evangelize together. Yup, you heard that right!
This meeting also has personal meaning for me, because it was at last year’s gathering in Pasadena that I met the Rev. Dr. Peter Heltzel, who lives ten blocks from me in West Harlem, and at whose party in April I met my (now) husband, George! Goes to show you never can tell.
Come to think of it, I also met Samir Selmanovic at last year’s meeting, who has since moved to NYC, is in the process of starting Faith House, an interfaith community in Manhattan.
I am also excited that two other women from exciting NYC organizations are here this year: Lisa Sharon Harper from New York Faith & Justice and Onleilove Alston from the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary.
Please read a little about this group on their website (www.christianchurchestogether.org) and keep us in your prayers this week.
Thanks and blessings, Bowie
Stand With Sex Workers on Mon. / ‘Lessons & Carols’ on Wed.
December 15, 2007
Monday, Dec. 17th – International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
Transmission, PONY, $pread, and friends teamed up this April to plan Easter at Avalon, which celebrated the role of Mary Magdalene in Christian and Sex Worker history. This Monday, we’ve been invited to stand together again.
“December 17th is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Join $pread and SWANK (Sex Worker Action New york) on Monday for a candlelight vigil to honor and mourn the sex workers who have died this year and raise awareness of the violence faced by our community. Current and former sex workers, friends and allies all welcome.”
5-7 pm (Bowie will be there at 5). On the steps of Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY. Wear red or bring a red umbrella.
Wednesday, Dec 19th – Transmission: Lessons & Carols
Five days before Christmas, come sing carols and listen to lessons that tell us the story of Advent and Christmas! The service of ‘Lessons and Carols’ has been celebrated since the late 1800′s and we will be sure to include some processing around, incense, and a bidding prayer to add extra cheer.
There are nine lessons and nine carols. Please email bowie at epiphany.ny@gmail.com if you would like to read a lesson, re-write a lesson (or do some other creative rendition thereof), accompany a carol, or do a performance of one!
Cookies, treats, dinner items, beverages, plus your friends & loved ones are most welcome! Location TBA
BAZAAR – looking for Christmas gifts? Buy a subscription to $pread Magazine: Illuminating the Sex Industry. Or check out Thistle Farms. Thistle Farms products are made with the most natural products available whenever possible. Magdalene is a recovery community for women with a criminal history of prostitution and addiction. Thistle Farms is a non-profit business. All proceeds go directly to the program and the women.