TLR Newsletter: May 28, 2009

TLR Vision Frame - DRAFT 1

Last Friday night twelve of us from TLR got together at Steve Hayner's house. Our purpose was to have a conversation about a vision for TLR. We reminiced, made fun of ourselves, and had an all around great conversation. While we talked Steve took notes.  We then locked him in a room until he finally produced the following draft of a vision statement for TLR.  

Well, now it is time for the wider community to have a debate about it!  We will begin this debate online and then the TLR twelve will get back together (sort of like on Super Friends).  You are invited to join the conversation by reading, reflecting and then posting your comments.  What words work and which ones don't?  Do you have an alternative you want to propose?  

VISION FRAME (draft #1)

Who are we?

~ an unlikely, unexpected, unedited, unfearful, unfunded UN-CHURCH (with our very own un-pastor :) ~

What do we value?

Dreaming

Wrestling

Journeying

Experimenting

Creating

Emerging

Welcoming

Connecting

Sharing

Why are we doing this?

We believe that God is calling us to: 

emerge from what we have experienced as dying institutions 

wrestle afresh with life and faith

love friend and stranger

engage the scriptures in dynamic, collaborative ways

experiment with new patterns of worship, community and service

connect our stories with God's bigger story

How are we living out our faith?

In order to nurture our relationships with God, with one another, and with Jesus' work in the world, we....

         .....gently welcome one another into an open, thoughtful, diverse and transparent community

         .....joyfully gather for Spirit-guided worship which includes organic music, creative encounter of scripture, authentic connection with Christ and one another at the Table, and fearless prayer

         .....creatively enage the manifold gifts of our community in expressions of faith which are as original as our lives.  

          .....lovingly connect to the Grant Park neighborhood and to the world far beyond

The Living Room is....

           .....simplicity on the other side of complexity

           .....more about being "with" than speaking "to"

           .....experimentation without anxiety 

           .....a place of grace in a wounded world

           .....healing food for hungry hearts

           ......a wide journey in a suspended, local space

           ......raw life and naked wonder

COMMENT AWAY!!!!!!!!!

TLR 2009 Resolutions:

So, last night at TLR we participated in the American cultural tradition of making resolutions for the new year.  In some ways last night was an exercise similar to Yom Kippur: we reflected upon our past year and dreamt together for the new year.  The following is a list of resolutions  we made for 2009.  Since I'm the one writing this post I've also included my personal commentary about what we discussed.  I invite you to read and make your own comments!

• We resolve to be a community of ALL peoples.  We had a lively conversation about how we need to be more open and conscientious of opposing theological and political viewpoints.  We want TLR to be a community where liberals and conservatives, people who watch PBS and Fox News, etc, can gather around the communion table of our Lord.  We do not want to privilege any one perspective, rather we want to create what our friend Peter Rollins calls "suspended space".  Someone threw out the idea of creating a 'stump speech' that someone says every week before we begin our conversation.  Others threw out the idea of intentionally inviting and creating partnerships with those who are different from us (Tom likes the idea of doing a service project together).  We also discussed our need to be welcoming to families with children (thanks Amelia!) by providing child care.  What other ideas are out there?

• We resolve to engage a variety of worship forms.  Many people commented on the need for our worship gatherings to engage ritual and liturgy.  We also talked about centering prayer and the idea of creating original indigenous liturgies.  Tom threw out the idea that we could have a menu of choices to choose from on any given Sunday, such as: 1. TLR Improv Night: an improvised, unscripted conversation about a biblical text and/or relevant issue of faith and life; 2. TLR Jam-Session: a night dedicated to the art of music; 3. TLR Ritual: either borrow from the great liturgical traditions and/or create an original liturgy that speaks specifically to TLR; 4. TLR Speaks: inviting an outside speaker to talk with us about a relevant issue for our community; 5. TLR Serves: devoting an evening together to serve those with need.  We also spoke of the need for starting a spiritual recovery group that meets during the week.  We also resolve to be verbose and overly academic and delve deeper into the personal stories of participants.   

• We resolve to be connected into the Grant Park neighborhood.  Six months ago we began a "test drive" of meeting in an old church that the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta owns.  At first, I was wary of meeting here - would meeting in a sanctuary negatively change the ethos of our young community?  I have been pleasantly surprised that it hasn't.  In fact, it has been very beneficial for us!  So, now that we have conviction about our location we want to become connected into the fabric of our neighborhood.  We discussed our need to be actively involved in the Grant Park Neighborhood Association and the Grant Park Parents Network.  We also reaffirmed our desire to start a coffee shop in our sanctuary space, which is a defined need in the neighborhood.  The Mission Program Grant Tom is applying for will help with the start up costs for this project.  It is our hope that this coffee shop will become a welcoming "third place" in Grant Park and provide a modest source of income to help sustain our collective.  

"Remember no man is a failure who has a friend" - Clarence, the angel from It's A Wonderful Life

Last night was one of those nights that I won't forget easily.  Let me tell you the story: 

So, a week and a half ago TLR celebrated Christmas by singing some original compositions of traditional Christmas carols at The Thinking Man tavern.  Click here to read and hear renditions of our gaiety.  It was tons of fun!  I remember fondly buying almost 20 people from TLR a shot (a red headed slut).  We drank it, slammed it and sang loudly a carol that confused those drinking at the tavern.  But they put up with us and even laughed with us as we made fools of ourselves (the apostle Paul would be proud!). 

OK, I'll admit that doing this fed my desire that TLR would do things that are original, weird and challenging.  It was sooo much fun singing carols in a public place like a pub.  It was fun to drink while celebrating Christ's birth... 

But... something equally as radical occurred last night in a little country church one hour west of this infamous pub.  I serve this little country church as their preacher and they have an identity crisis.  Some are enamored with the mega-church and all its entrapments.  I came from that world, hence one of the reasons I was hired.  They got someone whom they thought could grow the church and well, I got a steady paycheck.  Seemed like a win-win situation to me :)  But what of God... was this simply a business transaction or was there a movement of the holy spirit (the "bruhah", or breath of God)?  

Last night, I renewed my hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Why? Here's one reason: I heard a retired southern preacher (Harry) tell me about the civil rights struggle in the south saying, "you don't know how bad it was".  He told me a story about how when Hank Aaron was reaching toward the home run record that there were members of Harry's congregation, with guns by their side, that said they will "kill that nigger".  The grimace on his face showed the years of hardship he endured.  He was the one of a few pastors who signed his name to the Atlanta Manfesto. 

I saw last night members of this very traditional congregation cry and give thanks for a Christmas Eve service that was NOT formal, but rather informally gathered around a fireplace (yes, they have a fireplace IN their sanctuary - pics later).  I organized the worship service and had planned on moving folks immediately from our worship service to a time of fellowship. HOWEVER, when we ended everyone wanted to talk!  Now wait a minute... this is something I expect when I arrive on Sunday night at TLR.  I mean come on, we say that we are an "open-source faith community".  But, wait... can this kind of spontaneous conversation happen outside of a hip, cool, overly educated community like TLR???  

I had to swallow my pride and say "yes" last night.  Thanks be to God.   

tnevdA: a reversal of the traditional 25 day countdown to Christmas

Join us on Monday, November 24th, 7-9pm for tnevdA - featuring special guest Peter Rollins!!

"Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forward." Soren Kierkegaard

Think of the greatest possible holiday moment, the Christmas of your dreams.  Now walk back a day into the lack of that moment.  Take another step back into postponed pleasure, into that place of wishing, hoping, longing.  Take step after step... day after day.... backward. Back into loss, into hopelessness, into the empty.  

Step backward twenty-five long days and sit, and wait, and watch.  Become like a wild and free animal in the meadow staring alone long and deep.  Breathe, be aware...

We have the honor of welcoming theologian Peter Rollins, and local artists as we enter a time of tnevdA - a reversal of the traditional 25 day countdown to Christmas.  We are hosting this event with Atlanta Emergent Cohort.      

The Living Room meets at the old Georgia Avenue Church, on the corner of Georgia Avenue and Grant Street in Grant Park.  Our physical address is: 645 Grant Street SE, Atlanta, GA 30315.  Street parking only.  

TLR is Evicted??

This past Sunday night we had a little fun at TLR: We held our worship gather outside in front of the old Georgia Avenue Church - where we have been meeting for the past couple months.  So, before everyone arrived we threw our couches, chairs and lazy boys out on the curb to make it look like we had been evicted from the church due to not paying our rent.  Why?  Because we were hosting a group of students (led by our very own Emily Martin) from Columbia Theological Seminary who shared with us reflections on the post-exilic text of Nehemiah 2 (where Nehemiah asks the king to go to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the walls that had been destroyed during the exile).  

We talked about what it means for our community to become rooted to a particular place after being nomadic this past year.  There was a resounding affirmation by all who attended that for TLR "church" is people, not a building.  The building we are meeting in now is an historic traditional church... but we are seeking to hold in tension the need to see this building as simply an adequate facility for us to gather and be protected from the elements, while at the same time recognizing that this is a sacred space that has been worshipped in for over 100 years.  Our conversation included the sharing of an interesting idea: Grant Park is in need of a coffee shop - what if we opened one?  

Ideas, ideas, ideas.... the conversation continues as we continue to gain new insight into God's call upon our young and thriving community.  

I Love You

NOTE: This was re-printed with permission from Scott, an active friend of The Living Room.  

Since I've been coming to The Living Room I've been somewhat apprehensive to embrace Jesus as a god and even God himself (or herself).  I've just been burned so many time in my life by dysfunctional religious people and I'm sick of it.  You'd think I'd learn my lesson and not come back to any church but I just can't seem to let go that there is something bigger than us in the universe.  

Anyway, I've asked for your prayers that I somehow experience God so I'll have something to hang on.  Tom has been good counsel as well as my friend Wendy (she doesn't come to TLR but is a friend of it and recommended it to me originally).  Some of it has been helpful but most of it is batted down by my own anger and biases towards the church (even as organic as The Living Room is).  

Last week I shared with Tom that I don't think I work hard enough to find God... but my counter argument is always, "Well why should I?  God is all powerful... he/she can do all the work, I'm tired of trying."  Tom said  that could very well be part of my problem and that also I might be closer to God if I tried to serve others.  

I've always been service minded and Tom let me know of a few places I could be involved with.  Even thinking about it has energized me some (mainly more that I get to help someone than anything else).  

Anyway, after talking with Tom I went home to where I now live in Decatur.  The dogs needed to go out and we have this groovy backyard to let them run around in (it's more like a grotto than anything else, very cool, vines everywhere, really shaded).  I was watching them run around and I looked up in the trees for a moment and saw something hanging down from the branches.

After looking at it for a while, it appeared to be two pieces of bark stuck together by some *really* strong cobweb (I tugged on it and it didn't instantly snap like your average cobweb does).  The two pieces of bark were stuck together to... look like a cross and it seemed to be hanging there in suspended animation.  

I need to make something clear, I gave up on "Signs and wonders" years ago.  I was convinced that they didn't happen anymore and they especially didn't happen to me so I approached this "cross" with a lot of pondering and skepticism, but I'm also open to the fact that this could really be a nice "I love you" from God.  But regardless, it's been something to think about that's for sure.

It's been two days since I initially saw it and I was sure that with all the wind and rain we'd have that it'd be on the ground somewhere.  But lo' and behold, it's still hanging there by this industrial strength cobweb.  So this morning I snapped a few shots of it and thought I'd share what I saw.

Once again, I don't know if this was by God or not but regardless, it got me thinking and wondering.