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Post Date: 7/20/2009 The question of suffering has many answers, but few are simple and even fewer satisfy. That was the takeaway from a lecture by the Rev. Dr. Steve Danzey in the third installment of the Theology Live lecture series. “You know what the problem is, said Danzey, assisting priest at Church of the Redeemer in Irving. “The problem is, we say that God is all powerful and we also affirm that God is all good. But terrible things happen. So either God is not all good or God is not all powerful. There is a problem somewhere in there; hence the problem of suffering.” Stipulating that much of the world’s suffering is brought about by human actions, Dr. Danzey explored how a variety of faith and philosophies see the question. For example, Plato and and Socrates: “For them the whole way to escape the problem … was just basically to say that ignorance was the cause of suffering.” Their answer, he said, was the gaining of knowledge and wisdom. Dr. Danzey explored the views of Hinduism, Buddhism and Western rationalism as well. The rationalist, he said, says the world is the way it is and it’s our task to change our perception of it. “The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The rationalist says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.” Speaking of glassware, Dr. Danzey said, “I think what most of us tend to do, when we are faced with this question and this topic, we just basically grab a beer, maybe two or three of them, and we eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Christians, he said, see suffering differently. Some say it’s punishment from God; others that it is caused by God to make us stronger. Still others say it’s a way of making the grace of God more sure and effective to the person who suffers. Most Christians do agree, he said, that God is not indifferent to suffering and that He suffers with us. The best evidence for that, he said, is Jesus, who, in turn, made suffering a focus of his ministry. “It’s really interesting that Jesus gives as much attention to the alleviation of emotional and physical pain and suffering as he does to spiritual suffering,” Dr. Danzey said. “He heals the sick, who are suffering in the body, mind or spirit. And he instructs his church, his followers, to do the very same thing.” That’s why, Danzey said, “Most Christians are concerned about suffering, and they want to alleviate it.” But, in the end, he said, “Suffering is a mystery. “There is no clear, concise answer as to why God continues to allow suffering in the world. And I have to admit that in the face of intense suffering — especially when innocents are involved, when it’s the weak and the pure and the innocent — I’m bewildered. I think all of us are. Because then it seems that God is silent. “So Christianity responds, I think, by saying in the end it’s not a set of answers to our questions or even a list of propositional truths. The essence of Christianity is that God has come to us in Christ, and that the gift we are given is not an answer to the problem, but we are given God himself.”
Post Date: 6/10/2009 Dr. Billy Abraham led off this year’s Theology Live series with some advice about making money. “Go for it,” he said. His June 1 lecture at The Gingerman pub in Uptown was called “The Economy,” but the SMU theology professor went beyond the recent headlines and headaches. “God is Lord of every element of human existence,” Dr. Abraham said, “God is going to be the God of even our economic life.” But Scripture, he said, doesn’t tell us how to run our economies. “It would nice if God would sort of tell us directly how to sort all this out, but the fact of the matter is God doesn’t,” he said, “It’s up to us … .” He warned against more state control, saying “governments have turned out, in my judgment, to be bad at that kind of work.” In order to be successful, he said, capitalism needs plenty of other things in place: laws that protect investors and property owners, an efficient bureaucracy, and “relatively decent people.” He invoked John Wesley, who said to make all the money you can, save all you can, and give all you can, starting with the Church. Then the professor offered his audience of more than 200 a “simple proposal:” “I look out here and I see there are very skillful people. Some of you are making a lot of money or you’re going to make a lot of money. And I say, ‘Go for it.’ And I say don’t feel guilty any longer about it. … Make as much as you can in an honest and fair manner. And then, one day, what I want you to do is call me. … I’ll find places where you can use your skills and where you can put what you’ve been given in your talents in creation in ways that will be, I think, a real honor to God and will really, really serve the needs of the poor and those who are desperately in need of help.”
Post Date: 1/23/2009
Issue date: From Volume 2008, Issue 9 - 9 2008
So when he felt moved to plant a “church within a church,” a more contemporary version of the traditional service at the venerable Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, he didn’t hesitate to heed the call. “The existing church wasn’t sure what to make of it,” Johnston reflects. “It might not have been possible if I hadn’t been a parishioner for 14 years — they knew they could trust me.” The Church of the Incarnation is more than 100 years old and with more than 3,000 parishioners, one of the largest Episcopal churches in the country. It’s situated between downtown Dallas’ center of commerce and the city’s most affluent neighborhoods; an area that has recently boomed with developments catering to young professionals. “I think the feeling was that we were called to reach out to our neighborhood,” Johnston says. “Young people were pouring into the area, but we weren’t connecting with them.” At the time, the church was running the Alpha Course, a 10-week program that explores the Christian faith. “There was a disconnect when those students tried to come into the church,” Johnston says. With its ancient liturgy based service presented within the church’s imposing stone architecture, it was difficult for some to make the connection between their experiences inside the church, with their daily lives outside. The church had tried a more contemporary service copied from a similar service at a New York City parish, but it was not flourishing. The timing was right to try something new. Working toward his ordination Johnston had served at London’s progressive Holy Trinity Church in Brompton. “I got to watch how an Anglican church can do many more things than the Episcopal Church USA does in a nation where even fewer people attend church,” he says. Holy Trinity Brompton is where the popular Alpha Course originated. “I went to a church planting program and I learned about that. And I started working on the model for planting a church within Incarnation while there,” Johnston says. Having already done much of the research, upon returning to Dallas Johnston began doing small focus groups to better understand the people he would be trying to reach. He researched what kind of music they listened to as well and asked them what they expected of a church. He met with a friend who established a contemporary service at a nearby Methodist church who told him that 90 percent of that program’s budget was spent on music. He set about getting the funding needed for equipment, including large screens to project song lyrics. “We said we’re going to do what it takes,” Johnston says. “Our church as a whole is known for its beautiful worship. I said ‘Let’s take that into a new genre.’” He used that explanation to help him raise funds. Once the plan for the church was established it was time to spread the word. Johnston turned to friends within the church who had an advertising design firm, Almighty Inc., to help him brand and market the new church. The name “UpTown” plays off of the name of the church’s neighborhood and the promise of what the service will deliver. Working with the design firm Johnston and his team of lay volunteers developed newspaper and magazine ads along with direct mail postcards targeted to neighborhood residents. They also included a kiosk at a nearby shopping center focusing on establishing the brand image for UpTown as well as its series of relevant sermon topics. Among the topics promoted, “Love, Sex and Marriage,” “Fear of Future, Failure and Commitment” and “Overcoming Overload” were designed specifically to address the issues that young people deal with today. In December 2004, UpTown Church of the Incarnation opened its doors and has since grown to two services weekly. The main church spent $80,000 to retrofit its chapel so that UpTown’s screens and other modern devices could be completely invisible when that service was not operating. The meeting of the ancient with the modern is the hallmark of UpTown. The music features traditional hymns that have been re-arranged for a mixed contemporary sound. In addition to a streamlined Episcopal Communion service with scriptures and responsive Psalm readings, Johnston’s sermons focus on current topics often presented as series over several weeks. “Pseudo-altar call” The Nicene Creed is pronounced with the pastor reminding the congregation that it has been used by Christians through the ages and is said around the world today. During communion, offered to all baptized Christians, everyone is invited to pray with prayer ministers stationed throughout the chapel during communion time. “A pseudo-altar call,” Johnston explains. While clergy wear a stole during communion, they do not fully vest. After the Sunday morning service, there is always a lunch date at a local restaurant where attendees can discuss the scriptures and sermon more in depth. Following the Sunday evening service a group will often gather for an impromptu dinner. Johnston sees UpTown as three streams coming together. “We are sacramental. We believe in the ancient practices of worship since before the New Testament canon was even put together. We are strong on the Word — Episcopalians will say it is Word and Sacrament; we focus on scripture. And we are Spirit led. We look for opportunities to emphasize being open to the Spirit. We emphasize a dynamic relationship with God.” For the future Johnston is hoping to “be big enough to be effective.” But, perhaps, the most important thing he could do has already been done — bringing together the beauty and continuity of ancient Protestant worship with the relevance of a contemporary focus. “One of the best compliments I ever received was from a guy who grew up Episcopalian but was attending a Bible church,” Johnston says. “He told me that UpTown was ‘a train wreck between a Bible church and sacramental liturgy.’ He loved it.” View this on the Church Executive Magazine website
Issue date: Monday, July 28, 2008 at 01:22AM We could hardly believe our good fortune. When I let an English friend know that we needed off-campus accommodation because we were bringing our children with us to the Lambeth Conference, I soon received an email from the Chaplain of the King’s School in Canterbury offering us his house while he and his family were away in It is no ordinary house but part of a medieval compound just near the walls of the Cathedral which is attached to the original ruined priory of St. Augustine of Canterbury. King Charles I and Henrietta Maria spent part of their honeymoon in the chamber over the entrance gate. Our children, Caroline & Peter, like the house less for its beauty or historic character than for the trampoline in the walled garden, the opportunities for Frisbee with Mum and Dad in the quadrangle, and, best of all – wonder of wonders – 220 channels on a widescreen TV. The view from one side of the house is the great Cathedral of Canterbury, golden in the evening sunshine, its tremendous tower a kind of perfection, absolute in its authority, the cynosure of a galaxy of Cathedrals, the matriarch of a vast spiritual family now 75 or 80 million in number, the third largest communion in the history of the earth. Canterbury as a place has been the centre of the English spiritual project since 597 when Augustine arrived here to organize the already centuries-old British churches and coordinate and extend their mission under the oversight of the Bishop of Rome. This was not the beginning of the Anglicanism or of the challenges of living as part of a world church. Nearly 300 years earlier, a delegation of British bishops had gone to the Council of Arles, in France, to address the problem of a heretical bishop named Donatus. But Canterbury became the center of the English spiritual tradition and this small island’s great work of world Evangelism. In the centuries to come Chaucer would celebrate this Cathedral`s pilgrims, T.S. Eliot the murder at her bosom. This week the old empress has once again called home to her skirts the bishops which she has scattered across the earth, home from Madagascar, from the Himalayas, from the high Arctic and the Antipodes, home from Sarawak, Kalamazoo and the Gambia. And here they are, a living index of the church catholic in lawn sleeves and convocation robes. It is no imperial durbar, however, despite the scale and pomp of the gathering. Every morning we gather in groups of six or seven to read the Gospel of John and to share something of our lives and burdens. My group is not atypical, consisting of three South Seas bishops, among them the Primate of Melanesia, Sir Ellison Pogo, Bishop Kerr-Wilson of Qu`Appelle, the Coadjutor Bishop of Virginia, the Bishops of Oxford, England, and Willochra, Australia, and a friend of thirty years` standing, John Gibault, the Director of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches in Geneva. It is a spiritual event in which politics is an unwelcome intrusion but one which cannot be ignored. We go from Bible study most morning to discussion groups of 40 where, in my group at least, the bishops never fail to impress me with their spiritual seriousness and concern for the mission of the Church. Most are anxious about the outcome of the Conference which hasn`t yet addressed the most controversial issues before it. Those subjects are to be engaged this week. At the opening service the 650 bishops processed in the great doors of the Cathedral, down the long nave, up and up from one level to the next, and finally through the narrow door into the choir to their stalls. The Cathedral is so big that even from where I sat in the choir, the front of the building was still out of view. Looking east, I could see in the distance, at the highest elevation, framed by an arch, the only mitred figure in the building, the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, seated on the throne of Augustine, surrounded by his chaplains, looking in his beard like an icon of Christ Pantocrator. It seemed surreal until a small group of Solomon Islanders, members of the Melanesian Brotherhood (seven of whose religious order were martyred in 2003) processed the Gospel. Diminutive in their traditional grass skirts, a lead by a member of the Brotherhood playing a pan pipe, they carried the gilded Gospel book of Canterbury Cathedral in a small ceremonial boat, down from the hands of the Archbishop, down past the bishops in their finery, out through the narrow door into the sunlit nave to proclaim the Gospel from the Compass Rose inlayed in the floor of the transept. Their joy and sincerity seemed to reveal the spiritual truth of the occasion. What God through Augustine has done! I couldn`t help but think of the words of Isaiah 55, `` So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. `` St. Augustine’s original abbey sits a couple of hundred yards away outside the walls of the Cathedral. Today it is an untidy assemblage of walls, some surprisingly high, sketching out the perimeter of the ancient complex and its larger rooms which St. Augustine built on top of three existing Saxon churches. It is difficult to imagine the world of St. Augustine`s 40 monks, so much has been lost, but the secrets those stones retain have a power to fascinate. Very old buildings are like languages: they absorb every insult to their dignity and pick the pockets of those who would destroy them, growing richer as the years go by. Today Augustine`s priory is a palimpsest, a document written, partly erased and overwritten, and testifies not to the ruin of a single community but to the ruin of succession of communities which built and rebuilt in different architectural styles, one atop the ruins of the next. A single patch of wall can have ten or more sorts of stone and brick, and three or four architectural styles. This is a good place from which to participate in the Lambeth Conference which is trying to build something new while living in the ruins of a succession of spiritual communities. As everyone knows, we are in crisis, and what at one time seemed primarily an abstract problem of theological coherence has caused the Anglican Communion to begin to break up. It is an unprecedented situation which the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has decided needs an unprecedented response. Gone is the approach of the last hundred years of Lambeth Conferences, which developed, debated and voted on large numbers of substantive resolutions in a parliament of bishops. In the Archbishop`s view, resolutions (notably Resolution 1.10 of the last Lambeth Conference which addressed the blessing of same sex unions and bishops invading each other’s jurisdictions) only heighten tensions in the Communion and are rarely put into action. In its place he has instituted a heavily managed process of small group discussions on prescribed topics, interspersed with optional lectures and presentations on related (and unrelated) topics. Interestingly, the Archbishop has by a tour de force single-handedly altered the balance of power between his own office and that of the Lambeth Conference. For his power is now no longer simply one of invitation to the bishops to a conference which he hosts. It is one in which he now decides what the bishops can and cannot do when they gather. This is easy to exaggerate, and I know the Archbishop has no lust for power, but it is worth observing, if only as a footnote. To my knowledge, the only person who has called the Archbishop`s bluff, and that affectionately and only by implication, was that wise observer of the Anglican scene, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, who, in a sparsely attended `self-select` session on the Windsor Report on Wednesday, teasingly observed that the main difference between the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the Archbishop of Canterbury was that the Archbishop of Canterbury exercised infinitely more power over his bishops. The Archbishop knows full well that he is taking a serious risk in structuring the Conference this way. In my view he is entirely correct in recognizing the need to bring about a change of heart in the bishops if the Communion is to remain together. Not a few bishops have become entrenched and (in a few instances) embittered by living through so many years of conflict, much of it internal to their dioceses. The Archbishop spoke persuasively in the retreat which started the conference of our need to find ourselves in another `place, ` with a new way of seeing things and a much greater level of trust. How else can we live in a Communion which involves mutual and voluntary submission in deciding controversial matters and abiding by those decisions? I don`t think his coup is significant, both because it is obviously an emergency measure and because the Archbishop himself has called for an overhaul of the central institutions of the Communion to make them more coherent in the service of a global mission. While in his Presidential Address the Archbishop poured scorn on `Western` modes of decision-making, and failed to point out the critical and overwhelmingly positive contributions the resolutions of previous Lambeth Conferences have made to the Communion`s life, I think he was merely trying to persuade the bishops of the need for a healing process at this Conference only. He has already initiated this overhaul by striking a Windsor Continuation Group which notably a few days ago called for the creation of a Faith and Order Commission, which body may well be endorsed in the final statement of this Conference at the end of the week. Also, intriguingly, it has called for a Principles of Canon Law Project. The Archbishop has made plain his hope that the Conference will give a clear endorsement of the Anglican Covenant process. It can hardly avoid doing so, given the urgency of our situation and the lack of credible alternative ways forward. If the Conference ended today, it could well be regarded as one of historic importance in its recognition that the existing central institutions of the Communion cannot hold us together and that major reforms must go forward. But we are only at the end of the first week. My prayer is that the week ahead will bring an act of the Holy Spirit to deepen our conversion to Christ, to open hearts and minds, and to help us forgive one another our past injuries so that we may move on together into that changed ‘space’ of which the Archbishop has spoken. The situation appears to be fragile but the old stones outside my window suggest otherwise. It is important that we move forward together, not least because we have become inward-looking and preoccupied with internal quarrels. One African bishop in my discussion group expressed in forceful terms the need for us not to get so absorbed with our own ecclesial problems that we forget the poor and those who have never heard the Gospel. Nobody dared contradict him because we knew he was right. Whether we will be given the mind and will to make the required sacrifices remains to be seen. So do pray hard for us this week for the cleansing and freshening breeze of the Holy Spirit to do what only He can, that the spiritual movement we call Anglicanism may stop holding its breath and enjoy a fresh start and a new day. View this on the Saskatchewan Diocese website
Issue date: 7/2/08 Section: Religion Dallas Morning News colleage Clay Zeigler files this item: "Most of us love things unintelligently, excessively and unrealistically," David Naugle said Tuesday evening in the finale of the Theology Live lecture series offered by The Uptown Church. The Dallas Baptist University professor warned that many people look in the wrong places to satisfy what he called "our cavernous hunger for happiness." He likened them to disoriented football players running for the wrong end zone. "Genuine happiness," he said, "was originally God's idea." It comes, he said, through faith. "Bottom line, it's belief over misery," he told the crowd at The Ginger Man pub in Uptown. "Reordered love," he said, "becomes the distinctive mark ... for the Christian." View this blog on the Dallas Morning News website
Issue date: 6/24/08 Section: Religion Clay Zeigler, a colleague at the Dallas Morning News, files this report on a distinctive looking pastor's talk on evil and suffering: Name a look that's harder to pull off than jeans and a priest's collar. Greg Methvin did it Monday night, sunglasses on his head. His audience was those assembled for the third installment of The Uptown Church's Theology Live lecture series, held each June at The Ginger Man pub. His topic was suffering. "God didn't create evil at all," said Mr. Methvin, vicar at Christ Church Plano. "But in order to get what He wanted, He created the possibility of evil to occur." He then cited examples from the Garden of Eden to New Orleans post-Katrina to the scene of Sunday's fatal car accident in Plano. In his each case, he said, "someone did a knuckleheaded thing ... and there were heavy, heavy consequences." He also offered these thoughts: That suffering can improve us; that it isn't the last word, given the certainty of heaven; and that Christians don't suffer alone. But his most popular observation, given the venue, was that even things that can be abused, such as alcohol and the Internet, are not of themselves evil. "There is no evil in your beer," the former Baptist minister said. The series, designed to be inviting to potential newcomers, concludes Tuesday, July 1, at 7 p.m., when Dr. David Naugle of Dallas Baptist University speaks on "Tainted Love." View this blog on the Dallas Morning News website
Issue date: 6/19/08 Section: Religion Here are the basics: U2 EUCHARIST
View this blog on the Dallas Morning News website
Issue date: 6/17/08 Section: Religion DMN local news assistant editor Clay Zeigler gives us an account of the latest installment of the Uptown Church's Theology After showing that hypocrisy is more complicated than simply failing to practice what youpreach, Mr. Johnston discussed hypocrisy as opposed to moral weakness. In turning to hypocrisy and the Church, he urged the crowd at The Ginger Man pub to separate Christ from Christians; and he warned them they can't expect perfection from the latter. "The Church is populated by people who are not morally perfect," he said. After listing some of the sad chapters in Church history, he said, "Christians have to be willing to confess and apologize." The annual series, designed to expose potential newcomers to theology, continues Monday at The Ginger Man, 2718 Boll St., with a talk on suffering by the Rev. Greg Methvin of Christ Church Anglican, Plano. View this blog on the Dallas Morning News website
Issue date: 6/3/08 Section: Religion Ale and the Almighty were reunited Monday night in the first of four Theology Live events organized by The Uptown View this blog on the Dallas Morning News website
Issue date: 5/13/08 THEOLOGY LIVE 2008: ALE AND THE ALMIGHTY Uptown, Dallas, Texas......Uptown Church, a ministry of Church of the Incarnation, announces their annual THEOLOGY LIVE event at the Ginger Man Pub, Monday nights in June. Hot theological topics like “Religion & Politics” are presented by guest speakers in the comfort of the beer gardens. Monday nights in June, from 7pm-9pm. Event begins with short discourse by the speaker on the scheduled topic. After a short break a round of Q&A takes place ending with a few short remarks, and raffles for door prizes provided by the Ginger Man. Afterwards many stay to further discuss / debate the topic(s) at hand. Ginger Man Pub, 2718 Boll Street, Uptown near the Quadrangle June 2: Religion & Politics June 9: Tainted Love June 16: Hypocrisy & the Church --SPECIAL SUNDAY EVENT June 22: EUCHARIST WITH U2 MUSIC-- June 22: Suffering U2 Eucharist Details: On Sunday, June 22nd at 7pm at Church of the Incarnation, join Uptown Church for the U2 Eucharist—an authentic Eucharist service using the music and lyrics of U2, performed with a live band. The first U2 Eucharist, September of 2006 was wildly successful with a record capacity crowd, and greeted with great reviews from the media. ### For media information regarding the event or any particular night in the series, please contact Steven Hall at 214.537.1928 or email him at stevenmhall[at]gmail.com. Media wishing to attend and review the event will receive a voucher for a drink of your choice on us. For media details regarding U2 EUCHARIST 2008, please contact Justin Brooks, Worship Music Leader for Uptown, at jbrooks[at]incarnation.org. Issue date: 9/19/06 Section: Entertainment6 Music fans have always known that Bono, of alternative rock band U2, has a wee bit of a God complex. It's a good thing he wasn't in Dallas on Sunday. Uptown Church, a more casual branch of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, prides itself on using its services to blend The weirdest part of the service was that it worked. It worked quite beautifully, actually. Reverend George E. Councell, Bishop of New Jersey, has said that U2 conveys "the message of the Gospel more effectively than bishops and theologians." Bono is hailed by many to be a modern day, non-secular saint. It only makes sense that his words could seamlessly fit into any religious service. The songs featured in the service will come as no surprise to U2 fans. "Beautiful Day," "All Because of You," "40," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Bad," "Yahweh," "Where The Streets Have No Name, " and "I Will Follow" rounded out the Eucharist. While they weren't Bono and The Edge, the band performing the songs was very impressive. Uptown Church's Father Bob Johnston gave the sermon. He first addressed the number one question on the parish's minds: Why? "U2 has scripture in their works… they include biblical genres and themes," Johnston said. "Their songs contain imagery of heaven and hell. They have a prophetic voice that challenges people." "They've committed their work to God in an industry that needs God very much." Many sources were referenced in the sermon, including Donald Miller's book "Blue Like Jazz." Johnston addressed the fact that numerous barriers get in the way of people coming to God, one of which is the church.
Johnston then moved on to suggest that God's grace is not what we deserve, but what we need. "I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. … It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace," Bono says in an exerpt from the new book by Michka Assayas, "Bono in Conversation." "I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity… I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled… It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven." The final point in the sermon was nailed home when Johnston stressed that we should have the peace of God within us, and have no peace with the world around us as it exists today. The well-known "Love thy neighbor" lesson was addressed as well. "In today's global community, our neighbors are not just next door. They are everywhere in our global community. … To love our neighbor is at the heart of what God calls us to be." On that note, the offering was sent around with the revelation that the money would not be going to the church, but rather to World Vision, a partner with the ONE campaign, which Bono champions. ONE strives to fight extreme poverty and AIDS. Overall, the morning was faith affirming and eye opening. The Christian lessons that can lean towards the lofty were brought down to a level that was not only understandable, but easy on the ears. View this article on the original website 10:10 AM CDT on Thursday, July 13, 2006 Uptown: Program aims to break down barriers that some feel So a priest walks into a bar, looking to teach a little theology. Honest. The Rev. Bob Johnston and members of the young Uptown Church took their beliefs to the neighborhood Ginger Man pub for an early-summer program called Theology Live. "It shows a little bit that we're not your typical church," Father Johnston said. That's for sure. The offspring of Episcopal Church of the Incarnation and the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, Uptown Church tries to carry the gospel good news to the Uptown community – largely 20- and 30-somethings with "a lot of resistance to institutional religion." "We've found there's a fine distinction between those who are un-churched and those who are de-churched," Father Johnston said. "We've found a lot of people who are de-churched. They have background and experience with a church. But they aren't connecting with it for some reason." So Theology Live was born. "It's a way to reach out to our neighborhood," said Father Johnston, ordained two years ago and brought to Church of the Incarnation to start Uptown Church. "There's a barrier some people have with churches. There's baggage." And the Ginger Man "is a very comfortable place for people," he said. "We do little surveys at the end of the night, and we'd get comments like, 'Not ready to step foot in a church, but we're glad you come to us.' " Those who venture into Uptown Church, no longer housed within Church of the Incarnation but a Sunday morning tenant of a Seventh-day Adventist church across Cambrick Street, find a place decidedly modern but with a dose of the ancient, too. "I wear clerical shirts but no vestments," Father Johnston said. "The music is more like contemporary Christian – it's stuff with a beat. "We want, and the people want, the roots and heritage of our faith, but in a way that connects where we are today," he said. That combination works for Kent and Susan Wittman, who began attending Church of the Incarnation, met some people at Uptown and moved across the street with the new congregation. Ms. Wittman said she enjoys Uptown's upbeat music and informality but occasionally slips back to Incarnation for its traditional worship. Uptown Church also emphasizes its small "Growth Groups" to build communal relationships. The groups, with 15 to 20 members each, gather at members' homes for a meal, worship, study and prayer every other week. The modern changes have helped the young church grow. And it affirms what Father Johnston witnessed during an internship in London. "You see what's going on with religion there, where only about 4 percent of the population goes to church on a Sunday. But you see some churches that really reach out to people, and every service is packed." E-mail myoung@dallasnews.com View this article on the original website
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Q: You began your first Uptown sermon by saying you "weren't cool enough for the room." What made you say that?
Bob Johnston does not shy away from change. He accepted a calling to the Episcopal Priesthood that had been persistent, and left a position with the largest patent law firm in Dallas, uprooted his wife from a medical practice and, ultimately moved his family to London where he would do his final training before ordination.
Sweden.
Church of the Incarnation's ministry known as Uptown @ Incarnation. The church has done this kind of service before, and the demand was there for a repeat.
Live lecture series. Monday's was a talk on hypocrisy by Uptown's own Rev. Bob Johnston.
Church. The lecture series, staged on Monday nights in June for several years, is held at The Gingerman, a beer-fancier's bar off McKinney Avenue. The idea is to attract newcomers to the church without them having to venture inside. Monday's speaker was Southern Methodist University's Dr. Billy Abraham, who spoke on religion and politics. His thesis was that nations have three options with regard to religion: to establish a secular state, designate a state religion, or do something else. That something else, Dr. Abraham said, is designing what he called a civil religion, and is the approach used by the United States. Our civil religion, he said, features a loving God who wants us to be happy and successful and to treat one another fairly and justly. Our religion even has its own prophets, he said, such as Lincoln and King, holidays (the Fourth of July and Memorial Day) and sacred places like Arlington National Cemetery. The series continues Monday at 7 p.m. with Dr. Davey Naugle of Dallas Baptist University, whose lecture is called "Tainted Love."
the ancient form of worship known as the Eucharist with modern elements, such as contemporary music. They cemented that reputation Sunday by focusing their entire service on the music of U2. Songs from albums such as "The Joshua Tree" and "How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" were sung in the place of hymns, and the sermon was devoted to the teachings and preachings of Bono.
"Religion got in the way of God," Bono said at the National Prayer Breakfast in February.