Excited? Does this mean that Ur and CT have fully embraced the emergent community? This is troubling.

I'll be there!

I will be following your reporting of this event since I live in California and do not have the access to such an august assembly of...whats the term that Mr. Bosher's uses...ah, yes, here we go...
"...we've invited some of the most innovative thinkers and leaders..."

"Innovative thinkers and leaders..."
Hmmm...
[pondering]
"Innovative thinkers and leaders..."
Why would he use those terms...
Why would he...
and why do those descriptions make me itch?
Hmmm...
"Innovative thinkers and leaders..."

Yeah...classic marketing phrase...but why would he use those terms with this particular group of people...why?
I wouldn't use them, but then again, I'm not selling anything I would want anyone to buy into, either.
Interesting...going to be thinking about this some more.

Oh yes, one other thing...
Darren King, just in case you've think I've forgotten you, I haven't.
I'm still working on my paper for Pagan Christianity...but, I'm stuck right now in Medieval Germany.
There are some questions that I've come to that need answering before I can proceed.

What I want to know is what's "shifted" at Willow? Are they pointing student ministry (and other Willow ministries) in a new direction?

Enquiring minds want to know. I'll be watching.

as i was watching the clip, what kept going through my head was, "i can't wait to read rdm's comments on this..." - and then i get to the comments page - and he's the first one on the list! :)

i know it sounds arrogant to say something like this, but i'd like you all to listen to me for just a second:

this video, this seminar, these issues all point to one thing: we need to determine exactly what the gospel is.

does the gospel mean that God required something to die before He could forgive us? if it does, i would argue that - true or not - people today, especially in 21st century America, can never understand it. and if the gospel is based on something we can never understand ... what good is it?

does the gospel mean that, because we are imperfect, God is completely justified if He decides we need to be burned forever and ever?

has a gospel entirely based on "shedding blood" become so foreign to society today - a society which has no concept of animal sacrifice or a kind of living that forces us to get our hands dirty - that it's essentilly dead?

please - don't respond with verses that say, "but the bible says ...". we all know what the bible says. the problem is that our minds are so used to a paradigm in which we speak and hear churchy, theological words so much that we move right past our presuppositions without even thinking twice. i got an email today from someone that said, "i just pray they can realize that Jesus' burden is light" - how can we say that? if accepting Jesus means i have to reach the point where i believe i deserved to die because i'm imperfect - and i'm not even on death row here on earth - then there are tremendous hurdles to sharing the message.

none of this says that 21st century society is right, and x-thousand years of previous human history are all wrong. it just says that the rules have changed to the point where i believe the message is incomprehensible.

and if it's incomprehensible, then what good is it?

rdm, save me a seat. get one for melody, too.

mike rucker
fairburn, georgia, usa
mikerucker.wordpress.com

url, i'm not sure you want to print this one...

after i posted my previous comment, i believe that God directed me (either that, or maybe it was just gas...) to this verse:

"But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness."

pow. right between my eyes. everything i've been wrestling with the last ten years or so.

you know what this means? that no matter how good my reasoning is, i'm not going to find a gospel i can "understand." if i could understand it, i would be a man that could boast. i would have knowledge that didn't puffeth up.

you know what else i think it means? that all our attempts to make the gospel more palatable, and all of our slick packaging and the way we incorporate forty-seven eight by ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows into our church productions might just be ... might just be ... like some people say ...

... doing number one into a strong breeze.

people, i believe i stand convicted in front of all of you today. i've never gotten to the meaning of the cross because i cannot get there when i try to figure it out. my job - our job - is doubly difficult today because the author of hebrews could say, "without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins," and his readers might be able to nod their heads. i can't. the mission fields of 21st century america won't have a clue.

ouch.

my head hurts.

i puzzled til my puzzler was sore. i met the enemy and he was me.

maybe the first reformation was to tell us all we needed was the gospel.

maybe the second one will be to nail down what it is (pun intended), and get back to it.

i'll have to think about this a little more...

mike rucker
fairburn, georgia, usa

If anyone has used the Just Walk Across the Room evangelism series by Willow you will understand that they are buying the whole emergent theology lock, stock and barrel. It's very good stuff, but Bill calls sin "mistakes". Ahhh, sin and mistakes seems to "miss the mark" in equivalence.

interesting, i will be there checking things out.