Come to The Little Feast

Come to The Little Feast:
a springtime celebration of creation, creativity, and the Creator
with the Church of the Beloved
featuring Tara Ward, Tom Sine, Christine Sine, Eric Hanson, ...
• Friday evening May 14th, 7-9pm at Rosewood Manor,
8104 220th St SW, Edmonds, WA 98026 (http://belovedschurch.org/)
• Saturday May 15th, 9.30am-3pm at St. Alban's Episcopal Church,
21405 82nd Place West, Edmonds, WA 98026 (http://www.stalbansedmonds.org/)

The first time I heard the term "emergent theology" it was in the context of the systematic theology of Donald L. Gelpi, S.J., author of Experiencing God: A Theology of Human Emergence (Paulist Press), Charism and Sacrament, The Gracing of Human Experience, and most recently Encountering Jesus Christ: Rethinking Christological Faith and Commitment (Marquette, 2009). At the University of Notre Dame and later at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Don Gelpi has explored an informed understanding of experience of the holy Spirit in the lives of believers - and how we live that out in personal transformation and in community. Conversion he once defined as the taking of responsibility for an area of one's own growth and development, be it moral/ethical, affective (emotional), cognitive (intellectual), or - mediating between the others - religious.

More recently the term "emergent theology" has been used in the 'emerging church' movement, and at conferences such as "The Church in the 21st Century" sponsored by the Washington National Cathedral College of Preachers in May 2007 - and documented in books: The New Conspirators by Tom Sine, The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle, Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass, ...

What has been happening lately is the emergence of new ways of 'doing church' - new forms of community (see Tom Sine's book for five useful categories), new forms of worship, new music (http://belovedschurch.org/hope), and new relationships between emerging congregations and more traditional established church bodies and organizations.

So much for the technical stuff. What is happening is a celebration!

A celebration of creation, creativity, and the Creator - a Little Feast (just a day after the Ascension) ... beginning in the big old living room of Rosewood Manor, with an evening of 'the round' - a collaboration of improvisatory musical, visual, and culinary artists... and continuing with a blessing and gathering prayer at St Albans the next morning, followed by four thought- and conversation- stimulating presentations - by resource folk from inside and outside our own communities - along with workshops led by artists, musicians and prayerful folk from Beloved and St Albans.

Thanks to early support from Bishop Greg and the diocese of Olympia we are off to a good start. We expect we will need to chip in about twelve bucks each for food and incidentals. We will be welcoming all who attend.

Speaking of welcomes... in the fall, come join us for another celebration, A Hundred Thousand Welcomes, exploring Celtic Christian spirituality with Tom Cashman and Carla Pryne, October 22-23, 2010, again at Rosewood Manor and under the big brown roof of St Albans Edmonds...

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