Posted by Helen on: 05.20.2008 /
After missing a few for various reasons, I made it to the Chicago Up/rooted meeting last night. This time it was a small group - there were six of us. It turned out I was the only person present who doesn’t go to Wicker Park Grace. I wasn’t the only atheist/almost-atheist: Nick was there too.
The topic was Brian McLaren’s event last month, Everything Must Change. (I’ve already written about that here and here) It turns out we all went to the event, although that wasn’t a requirement for attending this Up/rooted meeting.
I asked what people were doing differently since then. Nanette said she was thinking about the violence in typical framing stories of our culture. She’s struggling with why so many of them have the good people winning by using violence and being stronger than the evil side. We talked about framing stories a lot, how many of them are ‘domination’ framing stories, to use Brian’s term. This story says “Because I am good (and you are not), it’s right for me to gain control over you in any way that works and then hold onto that control” In the book and event Brian talks about how this framing story has been adopted by Western countries and many Christians yet it’s not the framing story of Jesus. We touched on how this framing story relates to the attitude of some politicians towards other countries.
Because we were talking about stories we talked about how Rebecca and I like stories with resolution and happy endings. At first I thought maybe Rebecca was saying everyone wants that, which hasn’t been my experience with other people. But then she made comment acknowledging that different people want different things. Jessica - who I hadn’t spoken with before and really enjoyed - said she has only ever liked ‘real’ stores because she doesn’t want to use stories to help her escape from ‘real life’. I don’t like stories which echo the tragedies of real life because if I am to encounter tragedy - which I will, because it’s real - I’d rather encounter those in real life and real people than in stories about people who don’t exist. This difference in what we like to read fascinated me. Jake, who I also hadn’t spoken with before and very much enjoyed hearing from, talked about how horror movies now don’t necessarily have good winning at the end - sometimes evil does. And he talked about stories that have no big picture resolution, like Saturday by Ian McEwan. I haven’t read that particular book but I’ve noticed how modern fiction often ends without ‘resolving’ in the traditional way.
Jessica said that cultures without all these books and movies we have (like one she’s been in in Morocco) seem happier than we do - are they really a good thing? Rebecca argued that they are if the stories inspire us in good ways; and that we need story; and that that all cultures do have framing stories.
Rebecca brought up a question Jake asked during the conference that I evidently missed. I thought it was an excellent question: “If everything must change, why are we having this event in a traditional church building that makes some of us uncomfortable [Jake used a stronger term] because it reminds us it was probably built by slaves/underpaid workers” When I brought up not liking the worship Jake commented how again that seemed part of the old system to him. It was interesting that he was not super-enthusiastic about the worship but for a different reason from mine.
I asked Nick why he went to the event, since he’s an atheist. He said he was curious about it, and it was mostly what he expected. I asked him if he was glad he went or whether he’d say it was a waste of time. He said he was mostly glad.
I said I’ve been more mindful of when I’m wasteful since the event. In general all of us agreed that what Brian presented was not new to us. I asked if it was new for anyone and others said, yes, it definitely was for some people at the event.
Jake and Nick pointed out that Brian didn’t have any specific answers for people who wanted to get specific. Which I’d already noticed. I see him as casting a vision and wanting to motivate people so they’ll go work out their own specifics. I think it’s valid to ask whether that is working. We didn’t discuss that last night; it’s just something that I’ve wondered about.
Jessica said she’s been wondering why a church needs a life coach since the event (one of the main presenters at the event, Linnea, is a life coach). Jessica asked me a little about my church experience and when I talked about it a bit she said “Why can’t people be allowed to have their own experiences??” And Rebecca agreed and said for her that’s fundamental to the Emerging Christian movement - that people are allowed to have their own experiences. That we are all asking questions and searching together. Rather than the more traditional approach where everyone is pushed to have the same answers. Nanette said she likes the idea of us all having small stories but the big story is an unknown.
We closed with the Walt Whitman passage we closed with last time I was there. At the last meeting I attended we chose that from a list of options. Evidently the group has stuck with it.
I was glad I went last night. It was a fun conversation and I enjoyed meeting Jessica and Jake.
(Note: this is how I think the conversation went last night. If I’ve misrepresented or misconstrued anyone’s comments, my apologies and please set me straight in the comments.)
Comment by: Jason Horton
1*hic* good night then?
No, it sounds like a very interesting conversation. It is also good to see you renewing your focus and reminding us about Everything Must Change.
Comment by: Helen
2I only drank herbal tea, I promise… :)