Now, you might be wondering what the Emergent Church has to do with being Catholic, aren't they a Protestant group? And aren't they kind of off the deep end of liberalism? Don't worry, this all connects! 
So a couple of years ago I was hanging out at borders, ya, I do that quite often, and happened to pick up a book called "The Younger Evangelicals" by Robert Webber. It describes some of the trends for younger people within the Evangelical church, things like a longing for community, especially an intergenerational one, a resurgence of art in worship, concern for the poor, and a realization that the "road to the future runs through the past." As I was reading, the little voice kept going off in my head, "That is me! That is how I think! Someone actually understands!"
I later discovered "A New Kind of Christian" by Brian McLaren as well as a number of other writers within the Emergent Movement like Rob Bell and Donald Miller. I know there are lots of people out there who will disagree with a lot of what these guys say, but I was drawn to them as I felt they were putting into words things I was already thinking, but didn't know how to express.
I learned a lot through these books. I began to appreciate the mystery of faith. While learning all I can is good, it is also good to just step back sometimes and just rest. To know that God is so much bigger, that I can't possibly know it all and that is ok. It is good to just sit and appreciate the immenseness and mystery of it all. They talked about liturgical worship and the traditions of the past and I began to appreciate those even more. I began to think about what it means for God's Kingdom to come and for His will to be done, in the here and now, not just in the future.
In so many ways I am postmodern. I don't think it is a bod thing, just different. And these authors spoke both to my head and to my heart.
 How it all Began |
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