How The Center Got to be The Center
Hey Tablers – a joyous springtime to you all! My favorite days of the year – when the new poplar leaves, iridescent with indescribable green, make their annual appearance. It makes me giddy…or at least as close as I get to giddy. And, during those same days, a student that just graduated from Booth University College (someone whose grad photos I had taken only days earlier), died unexpectedly while traveling with friends. It is beyond us to comprehend the sweep of life, and yet we have a tremendous drive to find ways to make meaning of such disparate events. We need to figure out how to proceed, and some days its just…complicated.
Our talky bits these past weeks have a been a consideration of the nature of the “meaning maps” we use to navigate our world; their value, their limitations, their location within both the wider culture and within the sub-culture of Christian history and religion. Last week we mused about how both the center and the edges of such maps have great value, even though they are incredibly different from one another. This week we’ll spend a bit of time considering how the center of the “Christian meaning map” came to be the center. My hope is that this exploration will provide both some of that “new green” kind of hope, as well as permission to keep on with the sometimes distressing (but always essential!) process of updating our meaning maps.
Just a reminder -we’re fast approaching the time when we will change which day and time we gather for the summer. We will begin meeting at 6:30 Wednesday evenings starting on May 25th. Our last Sunday gathering before the summer will be on May 15th. That would be next Sunday. There will be no Sunday gathering on May 22nd.
At the other end of the of the summer, we will resume Sunday morning gatherings on September 11th. There will be no Wednesday gathering on September 7th. For more details, or just to be reminded, check the web site. As far as location goes, assume it’s staying as is for the summer. If that changes, I promise we’ll let you know.
I look forward to being with you.
Peace,
Tim Plett