Comment

Comment by Mary Beth Martin on February 14, 2012 at 12:12pm

Hi! Great to make contact with you! I saw you at Phyllis Tickle's talk but didn't get over to introduce myself. Yes, she is inspirational. How refreshing to hear the historical perspective, but how awe-some is the responsibility of knowing it and trying to do something positive in our little lives. I have a small group of people who share this interest here in S.A. Wish I lived closer to the Cathedral as it appears there is a larger population there who share The Emergence perspective. Do you have any suggestions for me on getting more involved, even with a fairly tight schedule?

Comment by Fr. Thomas Beasley+ on February 13, 2012 at 8:05pm

Hi, Mary,

     How did you like Phyllis Tickle? What a fantastic kick-off to an exciting year of the Cathedral's School, don't you think?

Comment by Mary Beth Martin on January 6, 2012 at 7:26pm

Hello, fellow Jax-area Episcopal believers in positive change in the Christian church. I am brand new here and have only been in the Episcopal church for about 2 years. I'm in St. Augustine at Trinity and loving it. I just discovered Anglimergent altho I've been reading McLaren and others with great interest for over a year. I also just discovered that Phyllis Tickle is coming to Jacksonville and so have registered for her talk next Saturday. I'm wondering if any of you will be attending also. Thanks for being there. Look forward to hearing from you.

Comment by Fr. Thomas Beasley+ on September 29, 2010 at 4:23am

An excellent followup to the Episcopal Village East Conversation is the commentary by Ian Mobsby, a C of E priest and member of Anglimergent found here: http://emergingchurch.info/reflection/ianmobsby/deconstruct.htm

Comment by Fr. Thomas Beasley+ on September 28, 2010 at 5:41pm

I returned home from the Diocese of Maryland Sunday where I participated in the Episcopal Village East Conversation. Brian McLaren was our keynote speaker and made an interesting recommendation, based on a metaphor he learned at Yellow Stone National Park. It seems that new life follows forest fires and, in fact, depends on the fire for its birth. Brian went on to say that the church is like the forest; it too needs the fire for new life too occur.
An interesting suggestion that was presented was that churches that are technically dead, only hanging on by their portfolios, should be closed and their portfolios placed in an account for new life to occur -- e.g. fresh expressions. Brian went on to say that this means that the old church doesn't die, it just reinvents itself.
Obviously, this would be a hard pill to swallow for those who belong to the church scheduled for closing. However, if the point that the church wasn't really dieing, just being given a new birth could be presented to the members of the church to be closed in such a way that they could see themselves as mid-wives in the new berthing process, it might be an acceptable action. Any thoughts?!!?