ADVENT

I grew up in a church that would never call itself liturgical. But there were certain things we did every week and certain things we did every year. It was a rarity that anything would interupt a "liturgy" like the carols and candles service or the Christmas Cantata or the Thanksgiving bag outreach, or the annual car show. there was just certain things we did. We never celebrated Advent, at least not with that name. We never lit candles or had colors besides red and green inside the church at Christmas time ( There was an exception. One year we did blue and white.)

As a young church planter I have gone back and forth on making this ancient-future expression of faith a meaningful part of our new church liturgy. We are going to give it try. Typically, about the time I think I'm stepping outside the box and being really progressive I find out I'm only doing what everybody else is.

Am I Emergent?

I'm almost done reading Tony Jones' most recent book. In it, Tony suggests that being a little emergent is similar to being a little pregnant. He suggests either you are or you aren't. Generally I'm pretty uncomfortable with the labels I wear, and as far as those emergent go I have been rather content to be the kind, understanding, but not ready to buy in, eavesdropper. My friends inside the conversation reassure me that I deffinently am emergent while my more traditional friends reassure me that I'm not. I found this tongue in cheek article by Sarah Bessey at www.theooze.com and it felt pretty condemning. I pretty much fit the bill except except for the liberal politics, clunky glasses and having an accent.

Tony's book is insightful and informative; a very fair insiders view of this enigma that is the emerging church. I like most of the dispatches (there are twenty). Yet some I would like to understand better - before I embrace or reject them. Perhaps I could just be a little emergent.

The most difficult one for me as a church planter, besides the one describing truth, was #17...

Emergents start new churchs to save their own faith, not necessarily as an outreach strategy.

I have a hard time describing church planting and excluding the concept of church planting as an outreach strategy... yet I identify with the idea that my faith needed some saving and doing church different has been part of that. How do I reach out to others... whose faith needs saving?

I am still not sure... What is an emergent? Am I one? How do we do church different?