I appreciated this post by my friend and fellow Atlatan, Will Hinton:

I pray that tomorrow Christians will not be known for their “righteous indignation” or for their apocalyptic pronouncements. I pray that Christians will be known for their love. Love for our neighbors. Love for our enemies. And love for our elected national leaders.”

and I also appreciate this perspective on voting in the interest of the “other” by my friend from Concord, NC, Anthony Smith :

Voting, as it is oftentimes seen by historically marginalized groups, is a precious gift. It is not seen, within the language game of the prophetic black church, as a form of violence. That voting is seen as means of violence can only come from Christians who don’t know what it is like to be without the gift. This is why the loudest voices for political disengagement on Gospel grounds tend to be of lighter hue. It is another form of advantage to eschew voting. I profoundly agree with Christians engaging in anti-imperial practices or pro-kingdom activities that give sign to another world in our midst.

This is bound to be an encouraging or demoralizing day for our minority brothers and sisters.  May we Anglos find the courage to understand what this might mean for so many who are in this with us! So sing it with me,

“They will know we are Christians by our

participation in the new creation,

by our participation in the new creation,

by our participation in the new creation.”

Okay, I’ll grant you that its not the catchiest rendition…

Imagine the chaos that ensued when, this sect of Jews following ‘Yashua’ (Jesus, literally the same name as Joshua, meaning Saving One), waited the designated 50 days after Passover and were then interrupted by synchronicity of multiple language, sharing, and neighboring. ‘All because the Spirit inspired them. Pentecost was not planned, programmed, or strategic on the part of the community of Jesus… Pentecost is the name we place on the happening that occurred amidst a Jewish holiday of Shavuot- marking the giving of the Torah (10 commandments and the rest of Jewish Law) to Moses, and book-ending the two main harvests of their early agrarian culture (barley after Passover and wheat 50 days later). Pentecost interrupted that community with new Laws and new cycles. And the Spirit of Jesus accomplished this interruption by re-introducing a multi-culturallism (that was already around them, but had grown flat and unacknowledged) and agnecy (shared responsibility in making, crafting, doing, speaking). It put everyone, across their differences, in play.

Kelley showed me this video last week, about Amy Krouse and the community she was joined by, and I was blown away. The DIY/indie craft world is filled with innovators who “make stuff.” And this story of Amy is what i imagine the feeling of Pentecost being as opposed to “the greatest church service ever” which is how I traditionally grew up imagining Pentecost. It’s a great metaphor to replace the flattened idea of church. Every one was “in play” at the church’s first Pentecost. People were around because of their media-socio-cultural practices (Jewish pilgrimages were made to Jerusalem 50 days after passover). They were a heterogeneous mix, not the same subculture. And a new “thing” emerged. The Jesus story became a story of a people at Pentecost- it was a “beckoning of the lovely.”

“Thank you, Tom, Trey, Amy and others.”

The Re:CONNECT weekend was an invention of Nate Ledbetter, Melvine Bray, and Leroy Barber and myself. We wanted folks in Atlanta to meet other people doing justice and to learn about justice/social community work. The weekend rocked! We had a panel discussion on Friday night and the panelists included (I’ll add more as I have their blogs):

Rusty Prichard : Evangelical Environmental Network

Mark Anthony: Pastor, Jesus for Justice

Carlos: Mentoring and Public Speaking

Daniel Hombrich: INnocence Atlanta

Nate Ledbetter: Charis Housing

Deborah: Mothers and children

Chris Capehard: ROOV.com

They described their work and they answered questions including:

1. How do others’ passions contribute to the reach and focus of your ministry?
2. How do you meet Jesus in doing your work?
3. What has your work taught you about engaging civil government?
4. How do local neighbors and the contexts of individual neighborhoods play a roll in the kind of ministry you do?
5. How do church congregations help or hinder the work you feel called to?

The next night we had Shane Claiborn, Chris Haw, and Scott and Jay from The Psalters come and perform “Jesus for President.” It was an unbelievable synthesis of narative theology, liberation theology, political imagination, and John Howard Yoder with some deep country Tennessee thrown in. I felt like I was simultaniously at a Tom Wait’s show, a Toni Morrison poetry reading, Walter Bruggemann seminary class, and post modern theatre. My friends Ryan and Holly Sharp also known as the Cobalt Season, were the artists behind the book design and the multimedia support- they nailed it!

The whole weekend was a huge success. The AJC wrote about it, we had folks from Auburn and Columbia, SC. And we had a huge crew of volunteers from the Atlanta Emergent Cohort, Marietta Presbyterian Church, and Mission Year.

If you’re from the ATL go to Re-CONNECT.us and keep the movement going!

$7 cover for one person or $10 for couple or family.  Bring food and drinks.  7pm-9pm ish.

you can preview their music at his myspace and Holly’s art at her blog.