Back Talk Lake Highlands

Faith on Tap searches for a new location

Heard from Rev. Brent Barry today, and the news of Bailey's First & 10 closing was a shock to the Faith on Tap crew when they got wind of it yesterday afternoon. He's calling around trying to find a new place, and welcomes suggestions from neighbors.

We'll keep you updated once the new spot is named.

Losing our religion: Save gas — worship here

I chuckled when I saw those words on the marquee of Episcopal Church of the Ascension when I visited to interview Rev. Kai Ryan. At the time, gas prices were about $1.50 more per gallon than they are today.

But beyond the cost of gasoline and the investment it takes to drive 15, 30, 45 minutes to attend a place of worship, I had to wonder: Is there an advantage to attending a church in your own neighborhood? Should we feel some sort of responsibility to our neighborhood churches and the changes they are (hopefully) trying to make in the communities in which we live?

I liked what Rev. John Thornton of Lake Highlands United Methodist had to say: “I think the church on the corner probably tends to be more aware of their community and their situation, and may offer them some connections, both spiritually and with their neighbors, that they may not get in the church across the freeway. The other thing about that is to be a part of the community and help strengthen the community through a church on a corner that’s trying to do that.”

Holiday shopping? Never too early

Lake Highlands Presbyterian Women will host Corner Market 2008 this Saturday, November 8th from 9am to 4pm. Located at LH Presbyterian Church, 8525 Audelia Road at Northwest Highway, this annual event features more than 40 vendor booths filled with crafts, jewelry, homemade baked goods, and holiday gift items. Proceeds from the market and from a quilt raffle will support missions and outreach programs.

Losing our religion: Faith on Tap

In my interview with Rev. Anne Cameron of Lake Highlands Presbyterian Church, some of the discussion centered on taking God outside of church walls in unconventional ways. She told me about neighborhood resident Brent Barry, a Presbyterian minister in between assignments who heads up a monthly study called Faith on Tap at Bailey’s First & 10 in Lakewood.

When I talked to Barry this week, he told me he received an e-mail from a friend recently. In the midst of the message, the friend said of Barry’s latest ministry: “I would think you would want to be above reproach.”

Barry sighs. “It was one of those days,” he says, explaining that he couldn’t help retorting: “As soon as Jesus gets out of the bar, I’ll leave, too.”

Losing our religion: Books that pastors read

I interviewed more than 25 clergy for November's cover stories, and most of those interviews took place in their studies. As you can imagine, when talking about the present and future of churches with ministers who are surrounded by books, it's inevitable for some of those books to be discussed.

Here are just a few that were mentioned (and a couple generously loaned to me, which I plan to return as soon as I read them):

I interviewed more than 25 clergy for November's cover stories, and most of those interviews took place in their studies. As you can imagine, when talking about the present and future of churches with ministers who are surrounded by books, it's inevitable for some of those books to be discussed.

Here are just a few that were mentioned (and a couple generously loaned to me, which I plan to return as soon as I read them):

Losing our religion: Is liturgy the 'new' hip thing?

One interesting theme that kept popping up as I talked to pastors of mainline churches for November’s cover story was that they are seeing an increase of young worshippers returning to their liturgical services.

"The emerging generation — they love Jesus but not the church," says Rev. John Thornton of Lake Highlands United Methodist. He believes young people are seeking, and that they want to find a church service that fits their style, but that style is not necessarily contemporary. "We’re having younger couples slip in the back and coming to traditional worship," he says.

I have my own theories about this, being a Gen X-er or Buster or whatever you want to call it. I found myself gravitating toward liturgy and “high church” during college, weary from the emotionalism and showiness of upbeat contemporary services. The only thing I could figure is that since my generation grew up in the postmodern era of relativism, we yearn for the historic, for traditions that have spanned centuries.

To paraphrase author Sarah Raymond of “Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation”, 20- and 30-somethings grew up watching MTV. They know it’s fake. They don’t want houses of worship resembling the entertainment world because if they’re going to spend our time in church, they want to know that it’s authentic.

In the story, I often quoted Robin Lovin, Southern Methodist University ethics professor and former dean of Perkins School of Theology. His words conveyed a similar explanation: “Certainly it’s true that I think people are looking for an experience in worship that doesn’t just duplicate what they get when they turn on the television, so we may be going through a cycle where more traditional styles of worship are becoming prominent.”

But Lovin also explains that the trend, once again, has something to do with life cycles: “You had a generation that clearly didn’t want to go to their father’s church, but they now have children of their own, and as happens in this kind of cycle, all of a sudden the old ways of worship are new again for a young adult who has not experienced this form of liturgy.”

Losing our religion: The blog conversation

If it hasn't already, the November edition of the Advocate should arrive at your front door sometime soon. Some of you have already noticed and read the cover story on neighborhood places of worship. I know this because the letters already have begun coming in, conveying everything from why we shouldn't have done the story in the first place to reasons for attendance decline that we didn't explore.

We welcome your letters, and encourage you to write us with any feedback (send them to [email protected]). I may even discuss some of your thoughts on the Back Talk blog over the next couple of weeks. Also on the blog in coming days, I'll be sharing bits and pieces from the interviews that didn't quite fit into the story. If you're so inclined, I hope you'll join the conversation with your comments.

McCree Esprit this Sunday

It's time again for the ever popular McCree Esprit, the neighborhood event hosted by St. James, Highlands Presby, Lake Highlands and Highlands Christian churches on the corner of...McCree, of course. Sunday, October 12th, 4 to 6 pm. Look for the gazillion pumpkins scattered between Audelia and Aldwick.

This is always such a fun event, totally kid - AND PET friendly. At 5 pm, the traditional pet blessing and pet costume contest will take place. We've had our dog Deuce and our bird 19 blessed many times over the years. (I don't have the heart to break it to Priestess Bubba that the blessings haven't really been working. But perhaps this year Dracula Deuce will win the costume contest. Just look at those eyes...creepy!).

No matter, it's great fun because there's also bounce houses, a balloon artist, fire trucks, face painting, a kiddy train, carnival games, a stuffed animal adoption (I couldn't make this stuff up), a big screen t.v. showing the Cowboy game, food and drink to purchase for pennies, and perhaps the worlds greatest cake walk. All this for the price of one non-perishable food item per person, proceeds going to the White Rock Center of Hope.

Citizen journalists we appreciate (need) you

Over the weekend Keri Mitchell and I attended a Blog/New Media Expo in Las Vegas. I am sure we will sporadically share our newfound wisdom with you over future days and weeks, but for now I’d like to touch on one important thing I derived from the experience:

I learned that in order to have an outstanding neighborhood blog, you have to have outstanding folks out in the neighborhood writing regular, interesting, super-local posts. Advocate has a stellar editorial staff, if I do say so myself.  But we are but a very few people putting out five neighborhood magazines every month, plus the occasional special addition. While we want to be all over the place covering news for Back Talk, we can’t be more than one place at a time — or should I say we haven’t figured out how to yet. 

That brings me back to my aforementioned assessment — we need the Carol Tolers, JJ Pairs and Bill Kennedys. We are so very fortunate to have these citizen journalists, who help us keep our finger on the pulse of Lake Highlands and do a great job of writing about it.

St. James celebrates 40 years

I went out for a run ‘round Lake Highlands tonight — usually when I hit my last mile I’m at the bottom of McCree and Audelia and focusing on the daunting hill ahead. But tonight was exceptional —the sun was just setting, the air was cooler than it’s been in what seems like forever, and the church bells at St. James Episcopal were ringing. It was so sweet I turned off my iPod.
The small church, at least aesthetically, is all that a church should be. It is architecturally striking in an old-fashioned, inviting way that is a far cry from the mega-churches that seem so popular these days. I’ve never been inside St. James. I can’t even claim to personally know any members. But I sure like the looks of the place. Anyway, all this loveliness reminded me of an e-mail I received a few days ago telling us that St. James is celebrating 40 years this Saturday, Sept. 20, which would make it a great time for anyone who wants to to drop by and check it out.