Month: April 2011

Pastor David Owen O’Quill of Micah’s Porch preaching about how we do church.  Thank you to Rev. Tony Lorenzen of Pathways Church for making it available.

What is the reason for your church’s existence?

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

Brethren = All Men?

I know some UUs who would throw you out the window if Brethren includes brothers and sisters and your language doesn’t reflect that.

Thank you for the warning. We will stay away from all breakables. And pharmacists. And haters of Keanu Reeves.

Unless they have a pickup, in which case, we’ll take our chances. We always need people with pickups. 

I did not know what God is like until a friendly word came to me in an hour of need—And it was God I heard. I did not know what God is like until I heard love’s feet on errands of God’s mercy go up and down life’s street. I did not know what God is like until I felt a hand clasp mine and lift me when alone I had no strength to stand. I think I know what God is like for I have seen the face of God’s son looking at me from all the human race. ~James Dillet Freeman

Are sisters welcome?

I’m interested in a missional way of doing church but I’m no one’s brother.  Please advise.

Answer: As the inquirer notes, Brethren and Sistren would perhaps be the more accurate terminology, however the webmaster is slightly dyslexic and she kept writing it as Brethren and Cistern, which confused all of the rainwater-collecting activists who kept arriving at the site. The other two original members, who both identify as male, begged her to change the name of the group to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mission, being good second-wave feminists themselves, but being a third-wave feminist and a die-hard fan of the Blues Brothers, she refused to let only boys have the name, finally justifying it on the basis that “Brethren” is AraHebTin for “one who breathes” which is what they all need to do, as they are a Family of Spirit, and everyone knows that “Spirit” and “Breath” share the same etymology. Except she typed it as entomology and then we were back to the whole dyslexic thing. Please don’t ask her to write about eschatology. 

And for the other commenters on this topic, no, the Red Pill Brethren is not affiliated with the Plymouth Brethren, the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, nor the Brethren of the Croatian Dragon, though an argument could be made for an affiliation, or at least an affection, with the Moravian Brethren, though then people start arguing about fake historical ties, and really, being missional is about getting past that stuff in order to get some work done.

We do, however, retain the right to claim relationship with the Brethren of the Coast.

Why “Red Pill?” Why “Brethren?”

Who Are the Red Pill Brethren?

The Red Pill Brethren are Unitarian Universalists who each had a pivotal “red pill” moment when they had to choose between continuing to see church as most of the rest of society sees it, or see it as the mission-centered force it can be.

They chose the red pill and the humbling task of envisioning church not as something you invite people to, but something that is sent out to serve the world, being missionaries in what often feels like a foreign culture.

They are fellow members of this passion; they are kin in the Missio Dei.

Were they to meet, as the joke says, at the sign in heaven that says, “Heaven, Hell, or Discussion of Heaven or Hell,” they would all head for the same place:

Hell.

To help bring others out.