Our Retreat was a lot of fun, lots of snow, lots of family time and our time of worship, conversation and prayer was a perfect diversion from real life. But I am in post-retreat coma, the head is in a complete daze. Come on diet mt. dew, do your thing!

I read this and it got me thinking this morning.
http://www.anewkindofchristian.com/archives/000271.html is a revealing article/response of Brian McLaren to a critique of the emerging church written in Christianity Today.

I resonate with a lot of what Brian has to say and the way in which he says it. And the longer I journey in this story known as "emerging church", I am realizing that its fundamentally not about doing church differently, but about trying to understand the Gospel and live it out without the parameters placed on it by modernism and traditional evangelicalism. It has more to do with Gospel than it does church. Our 1st question ought not to be "How should we worship? or teach?" or "Where should we meet?", but rather, "What does it mean to really be a follower of Christ?" That is the question that I am interested in. And out of that will flow the neccesary structures to build His Kingdom on earth. What I know is that the Gospel is not strictly about a place called heaven and hell, but rather I think its the Way to live and find your reality in. Its the experience of Kingdom Come in the now, and which certainly will find its fulfillment in the "not yet". Kindom is ultimate reality, just living with and near people and inviting them to the Kingdom experience is what Gospel means to me and its the most fulfilling journey I've ever been in or will ever find. It is the reason why I exist at all.

Please pray for Palmer. He is beginning 6 weeks of treatment (chemo/radiation) that are 5 times a week in order to shrink the tumor. Then he will have 6 weeks off of treatment leading to surgery to remove it. He is in a lot of pain now, and the treatments will most certainly debilitate the energy that he presently has. Over these next 6 weeks, I am calling for a fast for Palmer on Wednesdays. You can fast and pray in whatever form you are called to, but our brother needs us and this is a call that we need to answer. Feel free to email me with any questions, cmarsh01@fuse.net.

peace,