the brick store pub

While I thought I might post more broadly on the presentations from today, I really feel the need to instead write about tonight's meeting of the Atlanta Emergent Cohort at the Brick Store Pub. You may recall from yesterday that I had dinner at the Brick Store last night. Well, I returned there this evening in all my borderline E/I to attend a "theology on tap". (Note - I think the Roman Catholic's own the copyright on "theology on tap" so I'm sure it wasn't called that. It was however theology with beer, two of my favorites, so I was most certainly in.) I have several thoughts on this evening so I'll list them below with brief explanations.

1 - Religious celebrity does not a pompous person make. I was fortunate enough this evening to be invited into a conversation of 8 by Doug Pagitt of Solomon's Porch and to walk into a one on one conversation with Karen Ward of Church of the Apostles. While they were both on hand to be "experts" they were equally gracious and eager to share the stage with those of us who, for whatever reason, find themselves looking up to them as gurus. I was really blessed by the conversations I had this evening; which leads me to the following

2 - Reformation is the "worst possible term" for the Emergent movement. Better, according to Doug Pagitt, are revolution, evolution, and convection. More about that at his presentation tomorrow.

3 - The key question for mainliners looking to empower lay leadership is, "what is your ministry going to be at St. Swithens?" Fantastic, Finally the freakin' language to speak. My passion, for those of you who don't know, is empowering others to exercise their passions. What a great question I now have. New members, or those who are new to me, will probably all get a variation on this theme; what can you do based on your spiritual gifts to enthrone the kingdom of God here today.

4 - My generation, while not into long-term requirements, will, without a doubt, sign up for time limited commitments. We need a core group to plan for our Lenten programming, won't you join us? Advent is fast approaching, would you like to help out for 6 weeks? Yes, yes, and yes. Now, how does this translate to a vestry term of 2 to 3 years?

5 - These Emergent folk really are friends. They'd like nothing more than to get together, have a beer (or some coffee) and chat theology. Yet they are amazingly gracious with their time to allow us to pick their brains and ask questions they've been asked over and over again. Still, they need their time. Walking back tonight I happened upon Brian and Diana having coffee at Starbucks, and I wasn't bitter. I was glad the two old friends were taking the time to reconnect. I was glad that they knew their boundary and knew when to say "no". What a good model.

Day 1 has me so pumped it'll be hard to go to bed, but knowing what Day 2 promises, I might rush off to dream land anyway. Thanks for checking in, I'll catch you tomorrow.