You may have noticed the emerging-Winnipeg gang planning a soiré this Monday evening the 12th. Jamie always seems to try and get in a French word here and there… details as announced at Emergent Voyageurs. This is only the second gathering of a loose-knit group from all over… the first one having been a blast, and more pub than theology.
On Thursday 15th at 8:00PM, there’s a Theology Pub evening at Buccacino’s. This one is a bit more established as a monthly event, and is run by St. Benedict’s Table, a local Anglican congregation where we’ve been known to hang out casually. The venue not being an actual pub, the gathering is actually called “Theology by the Glass.” Topic for this one is a Christianity Today interview with Steve Bell from June. In the interview, Steve blasts the present crop of Christian songwriters pretty badly (and with good reason, in my view), so it should be an interresting time for that reason — and because Steve actually attends at SBT. They do have great music there, and it goes against the flow.
Whether or not you can make either of these events, I do commend the interview to you for reflection or online discussion… especially if you can identify with this snippet from it: in Steve’s words,
I get very upset about this whole thing. I have a very difficult time going to church because I can barely get through the worship part. And I’m finding that there’s more of us than you think. People are feeling like, “What’s wrong with me? I hate this music.” Well, that’s because it’s not sustaining music. It’s not leading us into the mystery of God—or the mystery of humanity and human interaction and suffering and joy.
Man, I’m there.
Hmmm, I wonder if there is any point in doing Monday. Are you coming to both? I know they are different focuses, but wonder if it might be difficult to draw people to two events in such a short time. What do you think?
Peace,
Jamie
I would be able to make it for tuesday if no one is interested in monday. BUt I think it would be a shame to cancel one for the other. I would love to hit both, but I only get 2 free evenings a week… if everyone would rather hit buccacinoe’s then I’ll do my best to be there, and bid a fond farewell to the pasta at the OSF…
Dan-D from Canada
Wow, What a site. I just found you, honestly I will need to return to read more. There is a lot here that catches my eyes. My husband and I left our church after over 7 years of burnout. We are now churchless and much to our surprise have not been swallowed up by either Satan or insanity. Will be back…
Dan, forge ahead, my man; I think enough people have confirmed. The SBT event is not the same type or the same crowd, so there may be no overlap besides me; just a coincidence they fell in the same week. One of the perks of this being my blog about whatever occurs to me is that I get to mention both events in the same breath because they overlap in my life and corner of the universe: this overlap may not actually occur for anyone else. I hear via email that there’s some confusion about what I wrote, so I would simply clarify with the foregoing plus the suggestion that any negative sentiment toward either event is being read into what I said and is not actually there on my part.
Jane,
Welcome here… a lot of us are waking up and saying “no” to the question, “Would you like to overcommit your life to Christ?” We’ve realized it isn’t what he wants either. I suspect you may have stumbled upon a certain degree of kindred spirit, and I hope that as you look around, you’ll make yourself at home, kick back, and plug into the discussion via comments. I am confident you’ll find yourself connecting with people in similar situations to yours not only here but in many of the places I link. Not sure how long you’ve been churchless, but I’m confident you’ll find that you’re not as alone as you might have first thought.
Gratia vobis et pax,
If anyone hasn’t heard Steve’s music, be sure to check it out. A very fresh sound, deep lyrics coming from a deep well. http://www.signpostmusic.com .. and I’ll post a link to one of my favorites on my blog today..