Sundays:
9:15 a.m. Sunday School at the Community Christian Church of
Springfield, 4806 E. Cherry, Springfield, Mo. A discussion of
progressive Christian ideas that will lead up to the writing of our
first constitution and by-laws and opening the charter of our founding
members on our second anniversary on Aug. 1, 2010. The first discussion
in this series seeks to answer the question: "
Who is Jesus to us?" (weekly)
10:30 a.m. Church worship service at Community
Christian Church of Springfield, 4806 E. Cherry, Springfield, Mo.
(weekly)
Mondays:
8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Every 2nd Monday and 3rd Tuesday:
Crosslines food distribution at 1710 E. Chestnut Expwy, Springfield,
Mo.
May 1st Springfield's very first
Coffee Party! From 1 p.m. till 5 or 6 p.m. Music, speeches by professors, union organizers, environmentalists and a preacher! Music by Paul Thomlinson, Bob Ranney and Seth Merritt!
Tuesdays:
8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every 2nd Monday and 3rd Tuesday:
Crosslines food distribution at 1710 E. Chestnut Expwy, Springfield,
Mo.
6 p.m. Choir practice at the Community Christian Church of
Springfield, 4806 E. Cherry, Springfield, Mo. (weekly)
7:15 p.m. "Living the
Questions 2" This series is DVD based with a 20 minute video
presentation by the most famous biblical scholars alive today, followed
by a 30 minute to an hour discussion of their presentation at the
Community Christian Church of Springfield, 4806 E. Cherry, Springfield,
Mo. (weekly)
Thursdays:
10:30 a.m. Feed the homeless and the hungry at Bill's Place,
424 E. Commercial, Springfield, Mo. (weekly)
5:30 p.m. Starting in mid April a
chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous will be held on Thursday nights at the
Community Christian Church of Springfield, 4806 E. Cherry, Springfield,
Mo. (weekly)
Ministries
Crosslines
An agency of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks provides assistance
to distressed families and individuals in need.
The Center for
Progressive Christianity
Created to reach out to those for whom organized religion has proved
ineffectual, irrelevant, or repressive, as well as to those who have
given up on or are unacquainted with it.
The Kitchen and Bill's
Place
Their mission is to create a place where persons, especially the poor,
are welcomed and cared for with dignity and compassion in the
Springfield area.
International Council of Community Churches
As people devoted to following Christ the ICCC is committed to
community, to treasuring diversity, and to living their faith in
service and love.
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Their mission is to articulate the biblical call to social justice,
inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals,
communities, the church and the world.
The Church Door
The Journey towards self understanding
During the spring and early summer of 2010 we’ll be spending some time
working out just what sort of faith community we see ourselves as both
being and becoming. An essay will be offered for discussion each
week. The essay may be written by me, or another member of our
community or it may come from a printed source. The essay is intended
to be a discussion starter, not as an intended conclusion. Our goal is
to be ready to give approval to a constitution and judicatory documents
in time for our second anniversary which will be on August 1, 2010.
March 28 Who is Jesus to us?
I grew up in a small Kentucky town where everyone I knew, so far as I
knew, was one flavor of Christian or another. Just as English (or a
certain form of it) will always be my native and most comfortable
tongue, Christianity will always be my first and most comfortable form
of religious expression. The words of Jesus as they are expressed in
the gospels are more familiar to me than anything I could possibly
study or learn in the remainder of my life.
And so, even though I have
long given up on any claim of exclusivity in my faith tradition, Jesus
is the primary symbol and spokesperson of my faith. I have come to
recognize that there is valuable spiritual insight in the teachings of
other world religions. I have also painfully accepted that much of
what is presented as being “Jesus” in the gospels is actually the
creation of the early church. Still, even the words of the early
church take their place next to what can be known of the historical
Jesus as being of great value as a source of insight and guidance.
I do
not believe that Christianity is more right or better than other world
religions but it is the religion from which I view other world
religions. Like a person hiking through a mountain range, I can
appreciate and be inspired by the view of all of the great mountains
around me but I can only stand on one of them at a time and it is from
the perspective of the mountain on which I am standing that I can see
all of the others. Jesus is then, metaphorically and practically, the
rock on which I take my stand and from which and through which I seek
to find meaning in the teachings of Buddha, Mohammed, Zoroaster, the
traditions of Judaism, Hinduism and the eastern wisdom traditions.
While I accept the language of the church and do not necessarily cringe
at the use of terms which do not have meaning for me, I seek to be
careful in my own thinking and speech not to turn the teachings of
Jesus into an idol or icon. The traditional church has abandoned the
message of Jesus in favor of a magical message about Jesus and I reject
that part of my own heritage in favor of a renewed focus on the
teachings of the Jesus who was an example of grace, love and courage.
I do not believe that Jesus was, in any sense, God. I believe that the
early church used the term “son of God” for many of the same reasons
that King David was called a “son of God” and in defiance of the Roman
Empire’s tradition of calling their emperor a “son of God.”
I believe
that in his teachings and in his life Jesus demonstrated a remarkable
and nearly unique “God consciousness,” that is, an awareness of the
character, ethics and heart of the Divine. I believe that if we could
have asked him about this that he might have replied in much the same
way that the Buddha is said to have answered the question when he was
asked if he was a god. The Buddha said, “I am a finger pointing at the
moon. I am not the moon, I am just a finger pointing at the moon.”
I
believe that the teachings of Jesus form the central core of my own
attempts at attaining to a meaningful spiritual journey and a
meaningful life. I believe that the root meaning of salvation is to be
made whole as a human being in relationship to our Creator and in that
sense and that sense only does Jesus offer us a pathway to salvation.
I reject all magical and superstitious attributions to either Jesus or
religious symbols or rituals.
I further believe that my attempts at
being a disciple of Jesus or to live in closer harmony with his
teachings is aided immeasurably by regular worship and study with other
persons of similar motivation and that I am not likely to make progress
in the spiritual life outside of that kind of community.
I struggle,
in part, about holding onto religious language which has a commonly
accepted meaning in most of the religious world when I do not ascribe
to those beliefs. Hence, I wonder about the use of the word
“Christian” or “Christ” if not given the opportunity to be clear about
my own meaning of those words apart from the definition brought to
those words by others.
This is not what everyone else is expected to
believe about Jesus. This is just what I believe and I look forward to
hearing what others think.
Living the Questions 2
LtQ2 is an open-minded alternative to studies that attempt to give
participants all the answers and instead strives to create an
environment where participants can interact with one another in
exploring what's next for Christianity. Comprised of 21 sessions, LtQ2
may be offered in sequence or as three independent flights of seven
units each: Invitation to Journey, Reclaiming the World and Call to
Covenant. Like its prequel, LtQ2 includes downloadable and printable
leader and participant guides with weekly readings and discussion
questions. Each session may be conducted in one hour or expanded to
include a meal and personal sharing. The 20-minute video segments
include conversations with leading voices of faith, sermon and lecture
clips, digital stories illustrating aspects of an evolving faith, and
concrete spiritual practices and disciplines. The flexible DVD and
resource materials can be used in variety of class, retreat, and other
formats.
LtQ2 features all the contributors from the original Living
the Questions: Nancy Ammerman, John Bell, Marcus Borg, Minerva Carcaño,
John B. Cobb, Jr., John Dominic Crossan, Lloyd Geering, Culver "Bill"
Nelson, Siyoung Park , Stephen Patterson, Tex Sample, John Shelby Spong
and Emilie Townes. In addition, LtQ2 also features Rita Nakashima
Brock, Walter Brueggemann, Ron Buford, Yvette Flunder, James Forbes,
Matthew Fox, Hans Küng, Amy-Jill Levine, Megan McKenna, Rebecca Ann
Parker, Helen Prejean, Barbara Rossing, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,
Bernard Brandon Scott, Rick Ufford-Chase, Winnie Varghese and Mel White.
