Although Christine Sine of Mustard Seed Associates was this morning's featured speaker, and did a fine job (along with her husband) of giving us an overview of Celtic spirituality and the sense of rhythm that characterizes it, the worship, led by Barry Taylor with help from the gang at Tribe of Los Angeles, seemed to be what made the morning, and maybe even more.  In a word, it was profound.   Check it out:

Download barry_taylor_3.WMV

This unique time of rhythmic worship flowed into and out of a meaningful time of communion, where participants had set-up four totally different communion "stations" where we could partake of the Eucharist together.  Spencer had encouraged us to feel free during this time to sing or dance or be still or prophesy or whatever.  I was providing a video link for the online video conference that was going on, as well as interacting with some of the online folks during all of this.  And here's what blew my mind:  two of us who were online actually received and shared prophetic words!  It was a first for me -- prophesying during a video conferencing session!   Whoa!

Each afternoon, after the "labs" are over (about 1pm), a variety of "field trips" are offered.  Whether it's a visit to an "alternative" art museum, spending time at a nearby monastery, or hangin' out with the homeless of Venice and having "spacebag" communion with them (*a spacebag is a gallon box of cheap wine), there's been plenty of opportunity for stretching and learning and loving.

Compared with the field trips I've just mentioned, the one I led today may seem rather boring -- but in fact, was very meaningful and worthwhile.  We traveled into the center of L.A. to Azusa Pacific University's urban center to meet with New Testament professor and scholar, Lynn Losie.  Why?  To talk about the New Testament's witness to what "discipleship" is meant to be, and how modern Christians have tended to redefined it.  Dr. Losie is one of the New Testament editors for the Word Biblical Commentary series, contributed to the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, and is a pretty cool guy.

We shared theology and table fellowship with one another, and finally headed back to Venice Beach well-fed and content. 

Who the #&@! is Chris Marrow?

She (or he) has been advertised on the Soularize line-up for weeks as one of the "facilitators", but of course -- without any bio links.  All I know is that Chris is scheduled to lead the Theology Pub "lab" today, and since I love theology, I decided I'll take the risk and attend.

(stay tuned for part 2)

In addition to the excellent musicians that Barry Taylor had playing with him this morning, I was especially moved by this really talented guy -- Dominic -- whom Barry invited to share his prophetic/poetic gift with all of us during his set.  Check it out and tell me what you think:

Download barry_taylor_2.WMV

Heather Reynolds, of God's Golden Acre in South Africa, was our featured speaker for this morning's general session.  Authentic and compassionate, Heather was well-received by all.

Her encouragement for America? To live-out a life of repentance and of doing all in our power to effect restitution, and then it will be that America will receive forgiveness, which in turn will finally end in true and lasting freedom.  Oh, and one more thing... to stop living such self-absorbed lives, without regard for the poor and hungry and hurting children of the world.

The afternoon was a great time of making new friends and putting faces to long-known online friends.  One of the greatest highlights was hookin' up with Charlie Wear of Next-Wave, and John O'Keefe of Ginkworld (that's the three of us in the photo).  Along with Malcomb Hawker of TheOoze, the three of them are kind of like the holy trinity of emerging church webmasters. Anyway, it was an outstanding experience sharing together (for about an hour), and I thank God for each of these men.

Maybe some of whatever they've "got" will rub off on me and Paradoxology. 

A little background about this clip:

In this morning's Theology Pub (one of several "labs", consisting of 8-20 people each, Todd Hunter was facilitating a continued discussion about "conversion" and "kingdom."  We had been discussing how a duality existed, perpetuated by Evangelicalism, which sought to separate these two rather than seeing them unified -- as the gospels give witness.  I had asked Todd if he could talk about how misunderstandings about "grace" had reinforced this dualism.  And  here is part of his answer:

Download todd_hunter_on_grace.WMV

After you watch this, leave some of your own thoughts on the subject.

Todd Hunter spoke in this morning's first general session on the topic of "conversion and kingdom".  Here's a clip of him introducing his primary focus:

The gospel "OF" Jesus is amazingly simple and straightforward:

Mark 1:14-15 (NRSV)   Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

Todd pointed out the fact that the following words do not appear in the gospel "OF" Jesus:

sin

blood

death

sacrifice

cross

resurrection.

These are words/concepts constituting the gospel "ABOUT" Jesus -- albeit, very important -- but not part of the gospel "OF" Jesus that Mark and others have borne witness to.

What do you make of this distinction and it's implications?

Soularize begins

Yep!  I'm hittin' the road today for Soularize.

This will be the first time I've attended one of these events (shhh! don't tell Spencer), and I'm definitely looking forward to the extended conversations and just hangin' with people -- including folks from TheOoze that I've yet to meet in person.

I'll be blogging, of course, and will keep you posted from day to day.