Monthly Archives

May 2021

TIME FOR A RUMMAGE SALE

Dear Gather Family and Friends,

In her 2008 book The Great Emergence, the late (also great) Phyllis Tickle described the Church’s “500-Year Rummage Sale,” proposing that every five centuries or so the Church enters a period of housekeeping, deciding what should be kept and what should be discarded. History bears her out, too, with the last rummage sale happening 500 years ago with the Protestant Reformation.

Now we’re on the verge of another reformation, and for those who insist things must remain as they have been, the idea can be very frightening because they are observing their preferred way of thinking in its last days. For the rest of us, however, that’s not such a bad thing because the whole Pentecostal concept of a radically cross-cultural, liberating gospel is—has always been—a last days theology. Peter’s Acts 2 sermon nails this: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh” (italics mine).

Many conflate “last days” with “end of time.” Others leap to the Second Coming. But the prophetic idea is closer to Tickle’s rummage sale. A new era is dawning—“the end of the age” is how Jesus put it—when the Holy Spirit shakes everything up. We saw this with the original Pentecost, with the great East-West schism of 1054, and with Luther’s reforms of 1517, when Bibles became printed in every language and people articulated their faith in new ways. Now, 500 years later, we’re seeing the emergence of a new dialect that accentuates unconditional love and open invitation, the ushering in of ecstatically inclusive communities where no one is denied or denigrated. We are witnessing a Third Pentecost.

Pentecost then, now, and in the next move of the Spirit—these are thrilling ideas connected by one core principle: all means all. We’ll spend our next time together looking at what this Third Pentecost is really about and how we participate in it. Our final installment in our Hearts on Fire series happens this Thursday at 7:30pm CDT. We look forward to being together for this great discussion!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85086032936

Meeting ID: 850 8603 2936
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+13126266799,,85086032936# US (Chicago)

 

See you on Thursday!

Blessings,
Pastor Tim

We need your help!

As we think about the future of Gather, please let us know what gifts you bring and would like to share with the community. There are many roles that have to come together to make Gather happen every week. This includes setup, technical support, worship, managing handouts and information, coordinating drinks, and teardown. We need your help. Please let us know what type of service you’d be interested in!

Watch God Work,
Tim & Shea

As we prepare to become a vibrant worshipping community, we invite you to enjoy a Spotify playlist that captures the kind of worship we hope to embrace. Give it a spin while you’re driving. Make it your workout jam. Add it to your devotional time. Most of all, feel yourself becoming part of a sacred village of believers who love their God and one another!
Check out the Gather Worship Playlist here.

A Movement is (Re)Born

Dear Gather Friends and Family,

Under a blue street sign that bears the name “Azusa,” in a boisterous LA neighborhood just northeast of downtown, a smaller square brown sign reads, “AZUSA ST. MISSION. Site of the Azusa St. Revival from 1906-1931. Cradle of the Worldwide Pentecostal Movement.” Like Peter and the other disciples in the Upper Room, Azusa marks a fresh outpouring of the Spirit that says, “This is that” which Joel spoke of. What birthed the Early Church movement in first century Jerusalem is what ushered in the rebirth of Pentecostalism in 20th century America.

 

There was a longing in the US for this movement to be one that would bring together the social and the spiritual, so that the injustices of racism and gender oppression would be overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit in this “New Jerusalem.” After a few short years, the movement stalled. However, from Azusa Street, Pentecostalism has spread and continues to spread worldwide. It is the fastest growing part of Christianity globally, especially, in the Global South. It seems the Spirit continues to speak, to move, and to create fresh moments of being reborn.

 

But there are important lessons to be learned along the way. The success stories are many, along with many cautionary tales of how trying to “catch lightning in a bottle” and attempting to harness the unpredictable—ungovernable—power of the Holy Spirit can become a self-defeating project. And all of this is important for those of us who are convinced the Spirit is moving in fresh ways, taking our faith into new and uncharted waters. What can we learn from our past to equip us to meet the demands God is placing on us in our own time?

 

Join our study Thursday night at 7:30p CDT as we trace the Pentecostal movement in the US from the spirituals of the enslaved, to the revivals of the Great Awakenings, and finally to Azusa Street. The Spirit is marked by movement; it is her modus operandi. May we feel and be moved by her presence!

 

Peace and blessings,

Shea Watts

Virtual Pastor

Join Zoom Study here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85086032936
Meeting ID: 850 8603 2936
Or dial 1-312-626-6799 using the same meeting ID.

PS: And plan now to join us for our three-year anniversary celebration and Pentecost worship experience this Sunday at 5p CDT on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCldChQ-w8vS1vkbSDyyxLOQ.

We need your help!

As we think about the future of Gather, please let us know what gifts you bring and would like to share with the community. There are many roles that have to come together to make Gather happen every week. This includes setup, technical support, worship, managing handouts and information, coordinating drinks, and teardown. We need your help. Please let us know what type of service you’d be interested in!

Watch God Work,
Tim & Shea

As we prepare to become a vibrant worshipping community, we invite you to enjoy a Spotify playlist that captures the kind of worship we hope to embrace. Give it a spin while you’re driving. Make it your workout jam. Add it to your devotional time. Most of all, feel yourself becoming part of a sacred village of believers who love their God and one another!
Check out the Gather Worship Playlist here.

WHAT IS THIS?

Dear Gatherers,

As with Christmas and Easter, once a year Christians celebrate a signal event in our history: the descent of the Holy Spirit recounted in Acts 2. And just as we recall with awe the angelic announcement of a coming savior or the death-defying triumph of an empty tomb, we return to an overcrowded attic in Jerusalem to marvel at a supernatural demonstration unlike anything ever seen. Roaring winds, dancing flames, people speaking languages they’ve never known, a layman preaching one of the most influential sermons on record—all of this occurring to a motley crew of peasants with hick accents and country ways. It’s really an extraordinary and beautiful thing!

But we can become so inured to the details in this story we lose touch with its essence. The first Pentecost is, above all else, a tale of empowerment. It shows us what happens when a tiny community of faith insurgents dares to trust God’s promises. Peter didn’t show up for service in the Upper Room with a sermon on his iPad. He hadn’t done the exegesis and research needed to contextualize Joel’s vision of a great spiritual outpouring on all people (starting with a ragtag bunch of Galileans). They hadn’t worked out all the liturgical details. They were there together, waiting, watching, looking for something they’d never encountered before. Long before that day, Peter and his friends had been living for the moment when the Spirit would break through bad religion and political oppression and social constraints. When it happened, they knew exactly what was going on.

“This is that which the prophet Joel was talking about!” Peter told them. And what is the “this” in his proclamation? What does “this” mean? What does “this” do? What is the power behind the special effects? We’ll dig into some very rich and rewarding ground with Part Two of our “Hearts on Fire” series, as we revisit the first Pentecost. We gather this Thursday at 7:30 CDT and look forward to seeing you!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85086032936
Meeting ID: 850 8603 2936
Or dial 1-312-626-6799 using the same meeting ID.

Peace and blessings,
Pastor Tim

We need your help!

As we think about the future of Gather, please let us know what gifts you bring and would like to share with the community. There are many roles that have to come together to make Gather happen every week. This includes setup, technical support, worship, managing handouts and information, coordinating drinks, and teardown. We need your help. Please let us know what type of service you’d be interested in!

Watch God Work,
Tim & Shea

As we prepare to become a vibrant worshipping community, we invite you to enjoy a Spotify playlist that captures the kind of worship we hope to embrace. Give it a spin while you’re driving. Make it your workout jam. Add it to your devotional time. Most of all, feel yourself becoming part of a sacred village of believers who love their God and one another!
Check out the Gather Worship Playlist here.