For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you--or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. [Romans 1:11-12]

engageMKE gathering: hosted by Erik Koepnick

Friday, July 19
7:00pm
2338 E. Malvern Pl, Milwaukee, 53207

come engage with a group of young people, and those young in spirit, as we seek to create a community focused on mission in Milwaukee. No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here - and there's a way for you to get involved.

Let's deepen our faith together by engaging our commitment to make God's love known through service.

Dessert, beer, wine, and n/a beverages will be provided :)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [2 Cor. 3:17]

so, what do we stand for?

this is our next step: to name our vision and mission.

recently, I've been reading Phyllis Tickle's "Emergence Christianity", in it she gives this movement a history, first naming the reformation pattern and showing how that pattern appears to be currently in motion. in her describing our current "semi-millenial tsunami of change" she writes, “we are citizens living within the great emergence, and as Christians of whatever stripe, we are watching the formation of a new presentation of the faith” (p. 28), and declares, “we can be its passive medium or its active architects” (p. 23).

i like that: “active architects.”

now, there are many different kinds of architects and architecture. the world has its Zaha Hadids and Santiago Calatravas, but it also has its Ricks and the over 1.5 million people of Orangi Town. these stories make me wonder what each architect would say when asked about their motivations for building. some might say “art” while others “survival,” and in between there would be countless more reasons. some have access to any and all resources, while others have what they can manage to find.

so, back to the point at hand: if we choose to be active architects in this religio-cultural revolution, what kind of architects are we? what are we building, and why? and from where do we gather our resources for this work?

just as there are many kinds of architecture – I mean look out at your neighborhood! – there are also many kinds of Christianity, and many kinds of faith traditions, and many kinds of belief and unbelief in God.

so it is important that we define who we are in all of this. and I’m a big believer in integrity, so in this project, I’m not looking to build a funky façade to draw people into the same old, close-minded, set-in-our-ways, faith community.

instead, let’s build together a shelter for hope, a place where we can do justice, and from which we can draw our strength, but also a place to bring our vulnerabilities, a place where we can stand sure, but also where we can question, and let the walls be willing and flexible, like the walls of our hearts, created to be opened and eased wider and wider so that many might feel at home there, but also challenged to make the whole world a home.

so, think about it. pray about it long and hard. take your time, and follow your spirit wherever it might flow.

what kind of architect are you?

what are you building, and why?

where do you gather your resources ?

engage with me.

be well - ekay

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? [Isa 43.19]

this is the first post of a new--and hopefully collaborative--blog which seeks to offer reflections on the connections between faith and practice, theologies and real lives. in drawing from diverse perspectives, i/we hope to make a space for asking real questions, for exploring deep engagement with social justice, and for critiquing powers and privileges that perpetuate injustice and suffering in the world.

for me, my Christian heritage has taught me that life

is to be lived abundantly and

i am to practice spreading love without limitation,

yet as a queer person the greatest challenges

to my living faithfully have come from other so-called Christians.

whereas Christianities of the past have taught us to say "no,"

the Spirit moves me to say "yes."

Whereas the world is constantly in the process

of being divided into insiders and outsiders,

haves and have-nots,

powerful and disempowered,

I declare my faithful allegiance to

Jesus Christ who stands for

all of us who occupy the margins,

who refuse to collaborate with

the powers and principalities that

lay their foundations on the backs of

those who suffer; for those of us who

believe firstly in

love,

then grace,

mercy,

peace,

justice,

and

hope.

for so long God has been encouraging us to get beyond our own established limitations in order to bring about the creative possibilities that lay just beyond the edges, outside even the margins, past the horizon, and all around us...let's see what's out there.

engage with me

be well - EJK