Emergent Brethren

Ryan Braught sent the following as a Christmas card to those following his church plant. I was so impressed by it that I want to share it with the world:

In 9 BC the following inscription was written on a stone in the area of Priene …

The providence, which has ordered the whole of our life, showing concern and zeal, has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by giving to it Augustus, by filling him with virtue for doing the work of a benefactor among men, and by sending him, as it were, a savior for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create order everywhere. The birthday of the GOD AUGUSUTS – was the beginning of the good news of glad tidings that have come to men through him.

Just a few years later, a group of shepherds received this message on one particular illuminating night …

Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly, there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “glory to God in the highest and on earth peace with men of good will”.

It’s impossible for me to read these two statements, and walk away without a clear sense that from it’s beginning, the announcement of the good news of the coming of God in Christ, subverted the perceived gods of the world. Caesar was in charge – it was his world – and though the wrong seemed oft so strong – he was the ruler yet. And in Caesar they had hope. Yet, the good news of Jesus proclaimed tidings of joy for all people in a way that Caesar’s never could. Today, we still proclaim Christ’s tiding in this Advent Season … the world thinks of Caesar very little.

But Caesar is not gone.

As I think about Advent I wonder “what is the challenge of Christ’s news today?” There are still plenty of things (and also perhaps people) that promise salvation. We place our hopes at their feet. Some of them speak to us through the walkways of the local Shopping Center … others call out to us from a podium in front of a White House. The work that we do (especially the work of ministry) has a sneaky way of disguising its Caesar-like identity. I know it has captured me more than once.

But, Jesus is still here too – and still challenging and subverting Caesar.

Our Advent faith is an Easter faith. It is grounded in the reality of a moment where the powers of sin, death, and evil all ganged up together and still met their match. Jesus stands over and above all Caesar’s … it is to Him we look … it is in Him we place our hope and trust..

All Hail King Jesus!!!

(Thanks to Chris Backert and the Ecclesia Network for the bulk of the above text)

(Thanks to Chris Backert and the Ecclesia Network for the bulk of the above text)

Aloha friends,

The Church of the Brethren will no longer financially support the hosting of this website. But, I have found a way to keep it going.

I want to again thank everyone who has posted or read the material here. I think there’s some really good stuff here that should be kept available for the future.

Also, if there is someone who would like to start writing for EmergentBrethren, please send me an email. You can find my email address under the tab: Contact Us. I would love to chat about the offer.

Blessings to you,
Jeff

Administrator

Today, I read in Newsline (see below) that Art Gish was killed in a farming accident at the age of 70. What a saint and prophet we’ve lost! I first got to know Art at NYC in 1971. He was one of the speakers. I thought he was nuts! I didn’t understand what it meant to be a radical Christian at the time. As NYC ended, he gave me a ride to Pennsylvania. Over several hours, we got to talk and I realized that he’s just a normal person with a lot of passion.

A few years later, Bethany Seminary flew me from La Verne College to be on campus to check the seminary out for a few days. Art and Peggy invited me and the other La Verne students over for lunch. I was really hungry and was disappointed when I learned they were serving soup. Until this time, I had only had the “Campbells” variety. By the time I finished my soup, I was stuffed! It was fantastic, with all the fresh vegetables and other ingredients that Peggy put in.

Art and I haven’t had much contact over the years since then. But knowing how he loved Jesus, and how his faith moved him towards “radicalism”, I’ve been touched and inspired!

Thanks, God, for saints like, Art!

Jeff

ART GISH (1939-2010) REMEMBERED AS A PROPHET FOR PEACE

Church of the Brethren peacemaker and activist Arthur G. (Art) Gish, 70, died in a farming accident yesterday morning when his tractor rolled while he was working on his farm in Athens County, Ohio.

Gish and his wife, Peggy, have been organic farmers, life-long workers for peace, and members of the New Covenant Fellowship in Athens, Ohio, a communal church affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. Peggy Gish currently is serving with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Iraq.

“We have lost a person important to the Church of the Brethren who has been a visible witness to Christ’s peace around the world,” said Stan Noffsinger, the church’s general secretary, remembering Gish’s strong witness for active Christian peacemaking. “It is a true loss to the church and the thousands of people he served…. We mourn this loss.”

“He has been a formative influence for so many people,” said Bob Gross, executive director of On Earth Peace. Gross and his family were part of the New Covenant community along with the Gish family for some years beginning in the 1970s.

Gish is remembered for his participation in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the protest movement against war in the 1970s, and for his work for peace in the Middle East in more recent decades. He was a speaker, preacher, and writer with “incisive and frequently controversial views,” as characterized in an interview with “Messenger” magazine published on Aug. 13, 1970. Up until recently he had worked in the Middle East for periods of time with Christian Peacemaker Teams, beginning in 1995, often as a part of the CPT teams in the West Bank city of Hebron and in the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani.

Some of you know Ryan Braught personally, and others know him through this writing here on Emergent Brethren. About once a week, he sends out a prayer request list to several people. In his latest, he names that his church plant is just about to celebrate its first birthday. I think this is a significant event! Please join me and others in praying for Ryan and the new church that Christ has called him to plant.

This is his latest prayer request list:

Hey all,

Ryan

You can learn more about Veritas at their website.

Jeff

Just wanted to let the Emergent Brethren community that you can download some great tunes on Noise Trade from the Veritas Community. Last summer we produced a CD with original music from several musicians within our community. We called the CD “Music From Our Community”. We were finally able to upload several of the Tracks on Noise Trade and now you can download some great Veritas music. So go to www.noisetrade.com/veritaspa for some great music, share with your friends about the music and Veritas via Social Networking media (Twitter, Facebook, etc…) and if you feel so led you can also support our Veritas community by donating when you download the music.