Tribe of Los Angeles

Article in Washington Post on SK3000:

Read the whole thing but here is a quote from it:

Over two days, representatives from nearly 30 emergent Jewish and Christian worship groups talked about abandoning traditional worship in search of a more personal connection with God that they said they can't find in temple or church. They also shared their vision with more traditional Jewish leaders who hope this new "emergent Judaism" might help bring young Jews back at least to some style of worship.

"We've got to learn from what our Christian colleagues are doing," said Shawn Landres, with Synagogue 3000, a progressive Jewish think tank that set up the meeting at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute about 45 miles north of Los Angeles. "We told them, 'You guys are maybe five to 10 years ahead of us, and we want to know what you did right and what you did wrong,'" he said.

MLK

I've been reading a lot of Martin Luther King's writings and sermons and especially today though I should highlight two passages from two different sermons. One much more personal but both deeply moving to me. We have so much still to learn from from Martin. Had he not been killed he would be 77 this month. And how much we could use his mentoring, spiritual leadership and political voice today.

- Tim C

"And what I’m doing in this struggle, along with many others, grows out of my feeling that the preacher must be concerned about the whole man. Not merely his soul, but his body. It’s all right to talk about heaven. I talk about it because I believe firmly in immortality. But you’ve got to talk about the earth. It’s all right to talk about long white robes over yonder, but I want a suit and some shoes to wear down here. It’s all right to talk about the streets flowing with milk and honey in heaven, but I want some food to eat down here. It’s even all right to talk about the new Jerusalem. But one day we must begin to talk about the new Chicago, the new Atlanta, the new New York, the new America.              And any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls                of men (Well) and is not concerned about the slums that cripple                the souls—the economic conditions that stagnate the soul (Yes)                and the city governments that may damn the soul—is a dry, dead,                do-nothing religion (Yes, Amen) in need of new blood."

And from another sermon, this very personal story:

"But I never will forget one night very late. It was around midnight. And you can have some strange experiences at midnight. (Yes,                sir) I had been out meeting with the steering committee all that night. And I came home, and my wife was in the bed and I immediately crawled into bed to get some rest to get up early the next morning to try to keep things going. And immediately the telephone started ringing and I picked it up. On the other end was an ugly voice.

That voice said to me, in substance, "Nigger, we are tired of you and your mess now. And if you aren’t out of this town in three days, we’re going to blow your brains out and blow up your house." (Lord Jesus)             

I’d heard these things before, but for some reason that night it got to me. I turned over and I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep. (Yes) I was frustrated, bewildered.

And then I got up and went back to the kitchen and I started warming some coffee, thinking that coffee would give me a little relief. And then I started thinking about many things. I pulled back on the theology and philosophy that I had just studied in the universities, trying to give philosophical and theological reasons for the existence and the reality of sin and evil, but the answer didn’t quite come there.

I sat there and thought about a beautiful little daughter who had just been born about a month earlier. We have four children now, but we only had one then. She was the darling of my life. I’d come in night after night and see that little gentle smile. And I sat at that table thinking about that little girl and thinking about the fact that she could be taken away from me any minute. (Go ahead)         

And I started thinking about a dedicated, devoted, and loyal wife                who was over there asleep. (Yes) And she could be taken from me, or I could be taken from her. And I got to the point that I couldn’t take it any longer; I was weak. (Yes)

               

Something said to me, you can’t call on Daddy now, he’s                up in Atlanta a hundred and seventy-five miles away. (Yes)                You can’t even call on Mama now. (My Lord) You’ve                got to call on that something in that person that your Daddy used                to tell you about. (Yes) That power that can make a way out                of no way. (Yes)

And I discovered then that religion had                to become real to me and I had to know God for myself. (Yes,                sir) And I bowed down over that cup of coffee—I never will                forget it. (Yes, sir) And oh yes, I prayed a prayer and I                prayed out loud that night. (Yes)

I said, "Lord, I’m                down here trying to do what’s right. (Yes) I think I’m                right; I think the cause that we represent is right. (Yes)                But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak now; I’m faltering;                I’m losing my courage. (Yes) And I can’t let the people see me like this because if they see me weak and losing my courage, they will begin to get weak." (Yes) I wanted                tomorrow morning to be able to go before the executive board with                a smile on my face.

               

And it seemed at that moment that I could hear an inner voice saying                to me, (Yes) "Martin Luther, (Yes) stand up for                righteousness, (Yes) stand up for justice, (Yes) stand                up for truth. (Yes) And lo I will be with you, (Yes)                even until the end of the world."

               

And I’ll tell you, I’ve seen the lightning flash. I’ve heard the thunder roll. I felt sin- breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No, never alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me, (Never) never to leave me alone."

As threatened an bomb was detonated on Dr. King's front porch 3 days later. No one in his family was killed, and King later said: "My religious experience a few nights before gave me the strength to face it."

On Epiphany and Epiphanies

Here is the "Quote of the Day" from author Lauren Winner on Epiphany...here is an excerpt but read the whole thing:

-- Tim

"Epiphany — the word comes from the Greek for manifestation, or to appear or to show forth — is the season the church devotes to seeing who Jesus is. Many churches begin their observance of Epiphany with a recitation or even reenactment of the three wise men bringing their gifts to the baby Jesus.

The gifts help us to see who Jesus is: gold is a gift one gives a king; frankincense, a special incense with curative powers that was used by the Israelites in front of the Tent of Meeting, shows us that Jesus is the true tent of meeting, the place we go to meet God; and myrrh, an embalming resin used to prepare bodies for burial, shows us that Jesus was born to die.

The wise men's gifts, in other words, make something about Jesus manifest — and the wise men themselves, as the first people who will take word of Jesus to a larger audience, show forth the infant king to their corner of the world."

During Epiphany, churches also read about Jesus' baptism, a dramatic event at which God "showed forth" something of Jesus' uniqueness. This time of year, I am often reminded of a minor character in the movie Amistad, a slave who becomes a Christian; after coming to faith, he sees crosses everywhere he looks. That is what Epiphany invites us into: a new kind of seeing...

Epiphany is a season of Light. After we have packed away the Christmas lights with which we strung our trees, we find the church calendar giving us still more time and space to consider Jesus, the Light of the World, and to consider the way that we might get our own lights out from under all those bushels, and manifest Jesus to the world. When you think about it, it is a little odd that evangelical churches, on the whole, do so little with Epiphany, because the season is a great time to introduce ourselves and the world to who Jesus is!"

Overworked

From Google video: Funny to see this typically Western problem from a Chinese perspective:

SK3000

Here is a press release that mentions Tribe and Rebecca, and the Emergent/SK3000 conversations, as pointed to by Jesus Creed:

LOS ANGELES, MINNEAPOLIS — Synagogue 3000 (S3K) and Emergent have announced a ground-breaking meeting to connect Jewish and Christian leaders who are experimenting with innovative congregations and trying to push beyond the traditional categories of “left” and “right.”

In their first-ever formal gathering, emerging leaders from across the United States will confer during the inaugural session of the S3K Leadership Network’s Working Group on Emergent Sacred Communities, which takes place January 16-17, 2006, at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, California. They will share experiences and exchange ideas about reinventing the meaning and practice of community in their respective faith traditions.

Prominent Emergent Christian theologian Brian McLaren (A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy) has met with Synagogue 3000’s leadership three times in recent months to discuss shared concerns, particularly surrounding attempts by younger Christians and Jews to express their spiritual commitments through social justice. “We have so much common ground on so many levels,” he notes. “We face similar problems in the present, we have common hopes for the future, and we draw from shared resources in our heritage. I’m thrilled with the possibility of developing friendship and collaboration in ways that help God’s dreams come true for our synagogues, churches, and world.”

S3K and Emergent will convene pioneering rabbis, pastors, artists, and leaders who are reaching out to the unaffiliated and others who are not attracted to mainstream congregations. An open discussion with leading clergy in mainstream synagogues will address the relationship between the congregational establishment and emerging groups. An evening lecture program will feature Emergent scholar Ryan K. Bolger (Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures), in dialogue with two renowned experts on religion and generational change, Steven M. Cohen (The Jew Within) and Wade Clark Roof (A Generation of Seekers, Spiritual Marketplace, Bridging Divided Worlds)

S3K Senior Fellow Lawrence A. Hoffman (Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life, forthcoming) stressed the importance of building committed religious identity through conversation across faith lines. “We inhabit an epic moment,” he said, “nothing short of a genuine spiritual awakening. It offers us an opportunity unique to all of human history: a chance for Jews and Christians to do God’s work together, not just locally, but nationally, community by community, in shared witness to our two respective faiths.”

According to Emergent-U.S. National Coordinator Tony Jones (The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life), this meeting has historic possibilities. “As emerging Christian leaders have been pushing through the polarities of left and right in an effort to find a new, third way, we’ve been desperate to find partners for that quest,” he said. “It’s with great joy and promise that we partner with the leaders of S3K to talk about the future and God’s Kingdom.”

Not only are many Jewish religious communities looking to the experiences of Christian innovators, especially in the context of worship that engages the unaffiliated, but they are seeing a similar paradigm shift from the Baby Boomer individualistic seeker mode to an emergent Generation X/post-GenX search for spirituality in community. S3K Director of Research Shawn Landres (After The Passion is Gone: American Religious Consequences), himself a GenXer active in an emergent Jewish congregation, said, “We hope to learn from their experience and also to build bridges by engaging and challenging one another.”

Synagogue 3000 (http://www.synagogue3000.org) is a catalyst for excellence, empowering congregations and communities to create synagogues that are sacred and vital centers of Jewish life. Its purpose is to make synagogues compelling moral and spiritual centers– sacred communities–for the twenty-first century. From offices located at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and the Hebrew Union College in New York, the S3K staff has created a national congregational leadership network and is developing a synagogue studies institute. The S3K Leadership Network comprises two working groups, one on Spiritual Leadership and the other on Emergent Sacred Communities.

Emergent (http://www.emergentvillage.com) gathers reflective practitioners and engaged scholars for conversation and missional action around the issues of Christian theology, practice,
spirituality, justice and church life. The network developed in the 1990’s and includes a wide range of Christian leaders from progressive evangelical, mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic backgrounds.

Participants:

Rabbi Daniel Alter
Denver East Minyan @ DAT
Denver, Colorado
http://dem.denverjewish.com

Julia Andelman
(*) Elie Kaunfer
Kehilat Hadar
New York, New York
http://www.kehilathadar.org

Rabbi Andy Bachman
Brooklyn Jews
Brooklyn, New York
http://www.brooklynjews.org

Dr. Ryan K. Bolger
Fuller Theological Seminary
Pasadena, California
http://thebolgblog.typepad.com

Rev. Troy Bronsink
Capital View Community Fellowship
Coordinator, Atlanta Emergent cohort
Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.churchasart.org
http://atlantaemergence.blogspot.com
http://gatheringmusic.blogspot.com

Rabbi Sharon Brous
IKAR
Los Angeles, California
http://www.ikar-la.org

Rabbi Menachem Cohen
Mitziut
B’nai Hamidbar - Black Rock JCC
Chicago, Illinois
http:/www.mitziut.org
http://www.metatronics.net/burn/

Rev. Scott Collins-Jones
Woodland Presbyterian Church
Coordinator, Philadelphia Emergent cohort
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://www.woodlandpres.com
http://www.phillyemergent.com
http://scjtoday.typepad.com

Rabbi Shir-Yaakov Feinstein-Feit
Kol Zimrah
New York, New York
http://www.kolzimrah.info

Dr. Dwight Friesen, D.Min
Quest: A Christ Commons
Mars Hill Graduate School
Seattle, Washington
http://www.quest.nu
http://www.dwightfriesen.com
http://dwightfriesen.blog.com

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg
Panim Hadashot
Seattle, Washington
http://www.panimhadashot.com

Lauren Grabelle Hermann
Kol Tzedek
West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://www.kol-tzedek.org

(*) Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah/The National Synagogue
Washington, District of Columbia
http://www.thenationalsynagogue.org

Rev. Tony Jones
Emergent US National Coordinator
Minneapolis, Minnesota / Princeton, New Jersey
http://www.emergentvillage.com
http://theoblogy.blogspot.com

(*) Rabbi Elana Kanter
The New Shul
Scottsdale, Arizona
http://www.thenewshul.org

Rev. Tim Keel
Jacob’s Well
Kansas City, Missouri
http://www.jacobswellchurch.org
http://jacobswellchurch.org/tim/

Rev. Heather Kirk-Davidoff
Kittamaqundi Community Church
Emerging Women Leaders
Columbia, Maryland
http://www.kc-church.com
http://www.emergingwomenleaders.org

Margie Klein
Kavod House
Boston, Massachusetts
http://www.kavodhouse.com

J. Shawn Landres
Synagogue 3000
Los Angeles, California
http://www.synagogue3000.org
http://religion-society.blogspot.com

Amichai Lau-Lavie
Storahtelling/RituaLAB
New York, New York
http://www.storahtelling.org

Rabbi Shoshana Leis
Congregation Tehillah
Riverdale, New York
http://www.congregationtehillah.org

Rabbi Jeremy Morrison
The Riverway Project/Temple Israel
Boston, Massachusetts
http://www.riverwayproject.org

Rev. Doug Pagitt
Solomon’s Porch
Minneapolis, Minnesota
http://www.solomonsporch.com
http://pagitt.typepad.com

Rev. Nanette Sawyer
Wicker Park Grace
Chicago, Illinois
http://www.wickerparkgrace.net
http://www.wickerparkgrace.net/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=1

Rev. Rebecca ver Straten-McSparran
Tribe of LA
Los Angeles, California
http://www.tribela.com
http://tribela.typepad.com

Rev. Dieter Zander
BayMarin Community Church
San Rafael, California
http://www.baymarin.org

(*) S3K Emergent Working Group member, but unable to attend in January.