even disagreement.
If you attended an Anglican, Lutheran or a Charismatic church here in L. A. and visited one of those congregations in a different part of the country, it is very possible that your experience would not be that different. Those expressions of the Christian faith are designed to provide an experience of continuity. This is not true of Emergent gatherings. Not only is each Loft gathering different from week to week, but it would be very different than any other such gathering around North America. Emergent gatherings in Texas, Minnesota, British Colombia, North Carolina and New York are as different from each other as they are similar. This is due precisely to the nature of emergence thought! The complex system( congregation) is comprised of the smaller and organic material and organisms that give rise to it.
What this means in practice is that
only 60-80 % of any Loft gathering is prescripted. The songs, scriptures, prayers and conversation starters are planned. Depending on who is present that week and what they bring to the table, the conversation takes on a life of its own. There is no guarantee that everyone will agree, come to the same conclusion or leave with the same“ take away.”
Each gathering is a live event that emerges from the elements( stories, experiences, contributions) that individuals
Wherever you go, there you are.
A friend shared this Buddhist concept with me while we discussed the lengths to which people go to be whole. They will run miles for that fulfillment, only to discover that there’ s no way of getting away from their entire selves. The fears and hurts travel with them during the ongoing search for happiness and peace. Yet one day they realize: it’ s all right here.
I spent many years on that search, pushing to be that faithful giver and servant. I thought I had found the answers in the mega-churches, only to find the main point was about overcoming sins and reaching out for material blessings. When I moved back to L. A., I knew I needed more. It took me a year and a half. That’ s when I found The Loft.( Or perhaps The Loft found me.)
While I still had reservations, I was intrigued. I wanted to know more about a church that wanted to transform the view of faith through conversation in an evolving community. The prospect of setting fire to the layers of beliefs that had made me numb to my own realities felt ultimately empowering.
As a Lofter, I’ m beginning to embrace my faith for where it is – with its limitations and questions – as opposed to where I think it should and can be. I have begun to feel a certain peace in understanding the true meaning of Psalm 46:10:‘ Be still, and know that I am God.’
— Monee Fields-White
who are present provide and which take on a life of their own to form the larger and more complex thing called the community. This community then turns to the environment outside the walls and seeks to engage and interact with our
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neighborhoods, work spaces and relational networks.
It is certainly a different way to do and be the church. The hope is that by interacting with our unique cultural environment in West LA, that a new conversation will begin and that faith will emerge.
Bo Sanders is Westwood’ s Minister to Children and Youth and one of the staff leaders of The Loft. bosanders @ westwoodumc. org