Discussion - December 7th

We are meeting to discuss emergent thinker Phyillis Tickle and her videos at: http://www.thegreatemergence.com/VideoDiscussion. Anyone is welcome to the conversation (even if you haven't seen the videos or ever heard of Phyillis Tickle). We will meet at the Global Gallery Coffee Shop on North High St. from 3:00-5:00.

Just something to think about...

Nancy sent this in an email to me, and I asked her if I could post it on the blog for discussion by everyone in the group. Please offer whatever feedback or ideas you would like - Jesse

"I have thought a lot about what [Nick] prayed last Sunday night
regarding that maybe our group becoming a bit complacent and that we don’t seem to be blogging as much (although in your prayer you said that might not matter and you could be right). But it made me really sad. I just checked and there is no new posting on what is happening this Sunday yet.

With that thought in mind, I wondered if we might as a group really pray about direction and how we can be a light in our very unstable and uncertain world right now.

I e-mailed my nephew a fairly long e-mail and here is a portion of what has been on my mind…

In the loss of my evangelical belief system and foundation, I am coming to realize how difficult it is to love and worship God without it. Do I need to develop a workable belief system again? What do I really believe? What do I really know? This requires a blind trust that God will pull, teach and connect me to beliefs that continually evolve and perhaps change over time…Am I ok with that? This is radical and problematic for most because then it potentially could become all about one individual’s interpretation and perception of God—“cherry picking” so to speak. Can I trust and have faith that the One True God is revealing himself to me?” And so I ask…Can we trust that as a group God is revealing himself to us collectively? How united are we on what we think? Do we need to be united or is it better that we
do not get caught up on anyone’s collection of beliefs (perhaps there is a balance there)?

These are just a few thoughts and perhaps one of you could put something close on the blog. It’s kind of a “where are we now as a group and what do we think” blog or
discussion. Just something to think about."

Celebration of the Faithful

Hi everyone. It looks like there is enough interest, so let's gather Sunday at 5:00 for a simple worship service and meal (leftovers are fine). We'll meet at 1270 Courtland Ave.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Sunday, November 30th Roll Call

Hi everyone. We need to decide if we would like to gather this Sunday for a Celebration. There has been some talk of a simple meal (of leftovers?) and a simple prayer/worship service. Please comment below if you would like to and be able to attend something on Sunday afternoon or evening. If there is enough interest we can start trying to find a place to meet.

Thanks!

Sunday, November 23--Discussion

Hi folks,

This week our discussion will be focusing on the broad and often controversial theme of human sexuality. It seems to me that we live in a culture that is both hyper-sexual (i.e. advertising, movies, TV, music, etc.) and anti-sexual (mostly in terms of our explicitly articulated societal/religious mores). Mostly the healthy middle ground seems to get lost. Unfortunately, in my experience, the church is afraid or unwilling to take on this topic, which leaves many people of faith trying to fend for themselves. So here are some questions to get you thinking/discussing:


1) How do you define sex/sexuality?

2) How do we confuse and conflate physicality, intimacy, and sexuality and where do they legitimately overlap?

3)What guidelines/principles/etc. should Christians be operating under (or at least considering) with respect to sexuality?

Of course, these are only prompts and we can go where the group wants. Feel free to comment ahead of time if you so desire.

We'll meet again at the Global Gallery (3535 N. High St.) in Clintonville at 3:00.

See you there!

Saturday Nov. 15 Super-fun night

This week is a super-fun week. We will be meeting at our house (Adam and Kara Newby) to play games and generally hang out with each other at 7pm on Saturday night. Everyone is welcome. Just bring any game you might want to play. We have Scrabble, Risk, Clue, and Rook.

You can find the address on the right side of this page under "Our next meeting ..."

Sunday November 9 Discussion

Hi everyone! Here are the details for this weekend's discussion:

We will be talking about the relationship between God's sovereignty, God's will, and the role of our faith and choices. Should offer lots of great opportunities for us to share different challenges we are currently facing and some bigger questions about God and faith. Thanks Nancy for suggesting this topic and offering to lead the discussion!

We will meet at Global Gallery on 3535 N. High St (google map here) in Clintonville at 3:00pm. See ya there!

In the next few days....

(This was sent out by our old pastor, Greg Newton. I loved it so much I decided to post here)

Love God with your whole being.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Vote your conscience (or don't vote if that's your conscience).

Accept that brothers and sisters have others ways of viewing political matters which you may never understand,
but they are still your brothers and sisters.

The Kingdom of God is much more important than even our country and its institutions.

Our hope is in the love of God.

Our identity is in Christ.

We all are sinners in need of grace.

Let us love,
be peacemakers,
cast out fear,
be humble,
keep the unity of the Spirit,
and focus on following Jesus.

Sharing devotional methods

First off, let me say I really enjoyed our Celebration yesterday. One thing that kept coming up is that some of us (myself included) feel a need to have a greater devotional life. I know some of you have passed some stuff around, and I thought maybe we could list some of them here to help people. In the words of Thomas Kempis, from The Imitation of Christ, "Not everyone can have the same devotion. One exactly suits this person, another that." So, let's share some ideas and help each other find practices that will work well for each of us.

Please comment and post some successful devotional practices you have done in your life that might benefit other people.

Planning Camping - Input Please

Ok - camping details as of now: Fri/Sat Oct. 31/Nov. 1 - Red Brush Cottage near Mohican St. Park and Loudenville, OH. Thank you to everyone who has paid their share thus far - almost all the money has been collected. Some things that still need to be decided/discussed:

• Carpooling? Who is leaving/returning when? We need to let the owners know when we will arrive on Friday (no sooner than 4pm) and check out Sunday is 12pm.
  
• Food? Kel and I found a great little cafe in Loudenville last time we were there. It's fairly inexpensive and would be good for at least one night out - ideas for the rest of food? Everyone bring your own snacks? One person in charge and everyone contribute $$?
  
• Activities - obviously, at least one good hike in the park. Also, the cabin has a fire pit and a hot tub. But if there are any other ideas for fun games or activities, please chime in.
  
• Sleeping arrangements - there are 3 beds and a few couches, so some people will need to bring a sleeping bag or air mattress.
• Sunday Nov. 2 discussion plans? Will we cancel/postpone this meeting? Or those in Columbus still get together?
  

Alright- throw in your ideas so we can all know what to expect -

Celebration 10/26

Nick and I will be holding this month's celebration (a few hours of community worship followed by a meal) at our house, 1270 Courtland Ave., Columbus OH. We will start at 5 pm.

For the food, we thought it would be fun to do a "cracker party," meaning all the food will be things that go on crackers (although, some people should probably bring fruit and vegtables and drinks, which don't have to go on crackers). We did this kind of thing a few years ago and it was actually pretty cool. Have you ever wanted to try one of those recipes that are on the back of ritz boxes? Well, now is your chance. If we do it right it can actually be a really good and filling meal. So...starting dreaming up things to put on crackers.

If you plan to come, please let us know what you plan on bringing by commenting on this post.

Sunday Discussion... On The Island Of La Grande Jatte

This Sunday, we will be meeting at the Topiary Garden in downtown Columbus at 3:00.

Here is a link to a map. Let's meet at the entrance at the Northwest corner close to the parking for the Main Library.

The loose topic of discussion is Faith and Politics. Now I realize that entire foundations have been created based on that topic and we won't be able to do it justice in a mere two hours.

Perhaps a better approach may be this: Below are links to several recent and relavent political and faith resources, some of which have been forwarded around, others of which may be new or just interesting. Perhaps three or four of us could assume ownership of one of the resources or something similar and present a short summary to the group. I think this would be part informative and part discussion generating.

The Faith Life of the Party, Left

The Faith Life of the Party, Right

Energy, Consumerism, and the Economic Crisis

Churches out of Politics

Friedman: Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Ten Reasons

The Green Bible (!?!)

These are just a couple of things I've been looking through, there are obviously countless more. If you have something to share, post a link so if we have time to expose ourselves to it before the meeting we can. If you know you want to present something, share so we know what to look at. Thoughts?

I don't feel trained in the tools for how do intelligintly deal with so many of the complex issues of the ongoing debate (literally: 9:54 Wed. eve). I for one would love hearing not only what information you discover and want to share with the group, but how you process that as a Christian.

Where does Biblical truth fit into $700 Billion bailout packages?

How does God involve his will with who is president?

Is America supposed to be a "city on a hill?"

Would rather be governed by a smart Turk than a dumb Christian? (Martin Luthor would)

What are local issues you know of that we should be aware of?

If you need another reason to come, the Topiary Garden itself is quite the wonder of the world: It is the only topiary interpretation of a painting in existence. It is based on Georges Seurat's Famous post impressionist painting, A Sunday On The Island Of La Grande Jatte.

Now that's maverick.

Camping Decision / Details

So the details for camping have finally been made. We have the Red Brush Cottage reserved for Friday and Saturday night (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1). It has three bedrooms, hot tub, fire ring and is near Mohican State Park which has nice hiking, as well as Loudenville, OH which is a cute little town with good food and shops.

Everyone and anyone is welcome to join us. I'll be emailing those that I know are interested individually to get a sense of who will be staying at the cabin and when, in order to divide up the cost. But anyone is welcome to join for just one night, or just for hiking. If you have ideas for games or other fun things to do throughout the weekend, please post them here.

This should be a really fun time to hang out and relax together - I'm looking forward to it!

New Global Gallery Location

Just a quick FYI - if you haven't heard, Global Gallery moved their German Village location north to 3535 N. High St. If you drop by our meetings every now and then, be sure to not come to German Village, but follow us to the new location in Clintonville. We'll be meeting there tomorrow (Oct. 5) from 3pm-5pm.

Film, Faith & Philosophy #3

Hey all,

Its time for another installment of Faith, Film, and Philosphy! For anyone who is interested, I am having people over the evening of Saturday, October 11th at 7:00 to watch and discuss an in-depth interview of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

This film is one of the most compelling I’ve seen recently and am looking forward to sharing it with you. I had heard a lot about him in the past but was mesmerized by the power of his presence and spoken word. The last film we watched together, “Constantine’s Sword” focused on the sad history of religiously inspired militarism in the West. Tutu’s work in contrast points to the way Christian theology can be a transformative force towards peace and non-violence.

My address is 1212 Summit Street and I live on the corner of Fifth Ave
and Summit. Parking is available on the street but if you have any
trouble there is some room behind my duplex as well. My number is
(937) 572-2751.

Feel free to bring snacks if you like but don’t feel obligated. I will have lots of popcorn!:)

till then,
Julia Sullivan