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.