Gathering In Light (Page 47)

Christ Is Risen: He is Risen Indeed

Happy Easter to all of you. Christ is Risen. Today, I have enjoyed Resurrection Sunday with its time of rest before church, the wonderful service, singing and communion at the Mennonite church where we attend; the fabulous dinner we shared with our housemates, our good friend Cate, and Emily’s

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Maundy Thursday (House) Worship/Prayer Service

A few days ago Emily and I had the idea to invite some friends over to hang out Thursday, tonight, to kick off Emily’s spring break (she rarely stays up past 9pm on a school night). Then I thought that because it was Maundy Thursday it would be great

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#7 Wess (but I’m the actual real person)

So I thought I’d google my name today – wess – (oh, notice the 2 S’s that’s key) and see where I am at on the cool factor! In other words the closer to the top of the page on google you are the “cooler” you are. Well it

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Quakers and Coffee

A few weeks ago I decided to create a few new names for some of my favorite coffee drinks just for fun. I work at Fuller’s Bookstore, and attached is a really great coffee shop ingenuously named “Coffee by the Books.” What this means for me is a steady

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Dress Down Friday | Anne Lamott, Grindhouse, Ok Computer and Twitter

Well despite my ibook going down on me yesterday it’s been a good week. Emily, Cate and I all went to see Anne Lamott at All Saints Church on Wednesday. Her new book “Grace (Eventually)” came out. If you ever get a chance to see her in person it’

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Sad day for my ibook G4

Well – I my ibook G4 kicked the can today. Or so I think – I am going to take it into the genius bar tomorrow at the apple store – but it looks like it’s going to require some serious cash for repairs. As far as I know it’s a

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Trends within the Convergent Friends Conversation

Last week I went to a Friends conference (FWCC) in Rhode Island, and have already talked about it at some length. But the point of this short post was to point out a number of trends, or characteristics that I saw beginning to frame the overall conversation of convergent Friends.

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Burnside Review: Lovedrug – Everything Starts Where It Ends

Burnside Writers Collective has written a worthy review ofLovedrug’s new album – Everything Starts Where It Ends. Even though I am friends with a couple of the guys in the band I really like Lovedrug’s music and their new album. This review shows I am not the only one.

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Making Our Homes Centers of Missional Activity

My good friend and collegue JR Rozko recently wrote an article for Mere Mission called Missional Home Makers. In it he discusses the importance of turning our homes into centers for missional activity in our neighborhoods and activities. Instead of focusing all our attention on the inward care of the

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Elvis Perkins @ the Echo: Already Looks Like A Classic

This past Friday night I went to see Elvis Perkins with Emily, Cate and Bob. Recently, I found out about Perkins through Paste Magazine. Their review concluded with a statement that grabbed my attention. They said though this guy hasn’t been around long, and it may be too early

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FAQ: Are There Modern Day Prophets?

Frequently Asked Questions (of a theologian) is a series I do from time to time as a means of answering good questions that come across my desk. Sometimes I answer the questions, sometimes others do, if you’re interested in seeing some other Q & A’s check it out

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Dress Down Fridays | Video Edition: Chris Rock, Bionic Burgers and GodTube

This week I’ve got some really funny videos here. First, thanks JR for sending this link of a video with Chris Rock talking about some of the differences between Hilary and Obama. If you find yourself craving a McDonald’s burger, consider ordering the Bionic Burger. It has a

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An Emergent Manifesto Of Hope: A Brief Review

A couple days back I purchased all my books for next quarter (or at least most of them) and one I am really excited about is “An Emergent Manifesto of Hope” coedited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. The book is a collection of essays from emerging church leaders, the

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Online Communities and Radical Reformation Perspectives

Today the Urban Connection of the Mennonite Mission Network has published an article on web communities. I am really excited about the article, Online Finds: Web Leads to Real Communiy by Ryan Miller, for a couple reasons. First it shows that the Anabaptists are also asking questions about the global

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Winds of the Spirit: Convergent Friends Workshop (Providence 2007)

As most of you know by now I spent the end of last week in Providence Rhode Island helping with a workshop about convergent Friends. I wanted to give an overview of what we did there so that those of you who are curious can be in the know. There

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Back from the East – Almost

I made it back from Providence mainly in one piece; every flight I took, both on thursday and Saturday, was at least one hour late so that was fairly stressful. The conference itself was wonderful, and I met some incredible people there. I have a lot more to say about

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I am Heading (Providence) Rhode Island: FWCC Convergent Friends Conference

This weekend I have a great opportunity to spend some time with a group of ecumenical Quakers. I am flying to Providence Rhode Island to participate in the Friends World Committee for Consultation, an ecumenical group of Friends who have been trying to help bridge the gap between the various

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Transitioning in A Global Information Age: Questions For Church Traditions

As a follow up to my reflections on Quaker Heritage Day I wanted to post a list of Questions I’ve been thinking about, many of which came because our travels to the north and many because of what I have been studying over the past quarter. The Church in

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Dress Down Fridays | Relient K, Arcade Fire, Lovedrug and Other New Albums

There’s not left for me to say this week, I’ve said a lot already and have a really busy next week and a half. This coming Thursday I am flying out to FWCC to help lead a workshop on “convergent Friends,” which I am really excited about but

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Learning a New Language While Building a House: Reflections on Quaker Heritage Day

Psa. 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. This past weekend my wife and I visited Berkeley California for a gathering called “Quaker Heritage Day.” It’s not unlike any

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Virb Social Network Goes Live (and Kills Myspace)

Okay – so myspace isn’t dead yet, but won’t it be amazing when it is? I can’t stand it. In fact, as soon as enough of my friends join virb, I will consider deleting myspace for good. But in the meantime, Virb has gone public and you really

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Video of Bono’s Acceptance Speech For NAACP Award

JR Woodward has posted a video of Bono accepting the NACCP Award and it’s definitely worth the watch. A couple quotes from the video are, “Love thy neighbor is not a piece of advice but a command.” “Whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is or even if

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Review of Relient K’s New Album: Five Score and Seven Years Ago (Or Has it Been that Long?)

Relient K’s new album, Five Score and Seven Years came out today [you can read more here] and is currently in 6th place on Itunes. I’m kicking myself currently because I’ve been wanting to write about the album for a while and give a preview of what

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Precarious Peace and Quaker Testimonies: Two New Books

I just received in the mail yesterday two new books from Quaker Life for me to review and I am really excited about both books. The first is called “A Precarious Peace: Yoderian Explorations on Theology, Knowledge and Identity,” by Chris K. Huebner. Huebner is a professor of theology and

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Britain Yearly Meeting Blog Is Up and Almost Running

John Fitzgerald from Britain Yearly Meeting has set up a blog for this year’s yearly gathering and has invited Simon, Jez and me to be the ‘official bloggers’ of the event. John said, “This should be a great way of expanding the experience of Yearly Meeting to reach those