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.