Emerging Women

Since we have a fifth Tuesday this month, I thought we could have this final discussion on Justice in the Burbs by Will and Lisa Samson be more personal and fun.

One of my favorite stories in the book involved how the fictional family turned Halloween into a time to reach out to the stressed out neighbors. They served bowls of hot chili to the families as they came by trick or treating which was much welcomed by those who hadn’t had time to grab a bite to eat before the kids pulled them out the door on the quest for candy. They realized that Halloween is the one night of the year when they were guaranteed to encounter their neighbors and so were able to reconnect and reestablish relationships that had slipped in the busyness of life.

I loved that, using Halloween not to preach at people but to connect as friends in community. So what do you all do with Halloween? Has it ever been a chance for missional involvement? What are ways that we can help make it a time to connect with neighbors?

I know as Emerging Women we have created lists of our recommended reading for each other (see sidebar). These have been helpful for others as they seek to understand what Emerging Women are reading. But those lists contain mostly non-fiction. There is nothing wrong with that, but I was recently asked what sort of fiction would Emerging Women recommend. So since I had no idea, I thought it would be most appropriate to open that question up to the group here. What sorts of fiction books would you, as a woman involved in the emerging church conversation, recommended to others (especially other emerging women)?

Once again I want to highlight a few of the posts from around the blogosphere from Emerging Women. If you have a post that you think should be included in this round-up, please email it to emergingwomen (at) gmail (dot) com.

Amy reflects on what it may take to change ingrained stereotypes.

The Justice and Compassion blog takes a look at the complex issues involved with Female Genital Mutilation.

Heather writes on desiring to develop an incarnational view of the spirituality of the body.

Sarah ponders the connection between church planting and telling the story of Christ.

And if you haven’t seen them yet, a number of Emerging Women (and friends) contributed to this month’s Synchroblog on “A Christian Response to Halloween,” including Sally, Sonja, Erin, and me (Julie).

Have fun exploring these posts!

At this point in our discussion of Will and Lisa Samson’s Justice in the Burbs, I want to bring up the issue of what stands in the way of our engaging in justice. If we as Christians have been called to act justly and to “be Jesus” to those around us, it is obvious that we have not done a perfect job at this. In fact some people don’t even know about justice and others go to churches that preach against it. Justice isn’t happening as it should in the church today. So what stands in our way? What prevents us from doing justice, what excuses to we give?

Do we not know what we should be doing?
Do we not know what needs to be done?
Are we afraid of what others will think?
Are we afraid for our safety?
Are we to busy?
Do we think acting justly is too inconvenient or expensive?
Do we just not care?

Let’s have an honest and open discussion about what prevents us from acting justly. Sometimes we ca talk about justice but never understand it in the context of our lives. I hope this discussion can help place justice within that context.

Just a few posts to highlight this week from Emerging Women bloggers in our weekly round-up. As always, please send in links if you think there is a post that should be featured in the round-up. to emergingwomen (at) gmail (dot) com.

Jemila and Betsy both have articles currently up at The Ooze.

Geoff at Amateur Theology posed the question “what does Christian feminism look like?” Makeesha responded at Swinging from the Vine and I replied at onehandclapping.

Over at A Church for Starving Artists, Jan explores the boundaries of helping care for and intervening with other people’s kids.

And Deb at Another Unfinished Symphony reflects on gratefulness.

Enjoy!

A friend’s father came up with an amazing idea to raise money to help support the efforts of the “Save Darfur” Coalition. Their mission is to raise public awareness of the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of the people in the Darfur region. For more information check out this blog post and the newly launched Dark For Darfur website!!