Arbitrary Marks

This entry is filed under “personal” because it isn’t my typical analytical approach to a topic. So, keep in mind I won’t be weighing the pros and cons of the Emerging movement or analyzing theology, in what follows.

Micah’s Porch is a new Unitarian Universalist endeavor in the city of Chicago and last night I went to one of the mid-week meetings, to check it out. On Division Street in Wicker Park, at a bar called “Phyllis’ Musical Inn”, about twenty-five people, mostly in their twenties and thirties, met to talk about “News from the Spiritual Underground.” My wife and I sat down, ordered a 312, and chatted with the couple next to us. The lighting was dim, and what I assume was local artwork hung on the halls: I kept being distracted by painted skateboards that showed, among other scenes, a half nude woman with a gun in her mouth.

At one point before the meeting began, a local tamale vendor came through, carrying his wares in a plastic cooler. We bought some–six for five dollars–and peeled them out of their Ziploc bags and corn husk wrappings, letting the steam warm our frozen hands. (The night was warmer than recently, though, as the temperatures had climbed into the low twenties during the day.)

Eventually a band consisting of a drummer, guitarist and lead female vocalist, began, singing pop music cover songs with vaguely religious messages. (Live’s “Heaven” was one I remember.) Then Rev. David Owen-O’Quill stood up and gave a brief introduction about who the speaker would be. “Speaker” is a loose term. Rather, Owen-O’Quill and this individual had a conversation about his life story. I did not write down his name, but he is a military chaplain, and a Zen Buddhist Unitarian Universalist.

The discussion came out of a question someone asked at an earlier meeting–”If there is only one god, then why are there so many religions?” Instead of lecturing on philosophy of religious pluralism or reading from different scriptures, the two men talked about a journey from Pentecostalism to Deism to Zen to Unitarian Universalism, and making peace with god’s call on your life.

Then the band played again–this time U2 * and one original work by the guitarist, who, I hear, is going to be a contestant on “Bulgarian Idol.” At that point, we returned to our conversations and drinks. The entire evening lasted from around 8 PM to 9:30 PM. I’m not sure how long others stayed–I had a Sanskrit midterm today so I wanted to leave in order to get up early this morning.

Whether all evenings at Micah’s Porch look like this one, I don’t know.  And what the future holds for the emerging church is another mystery–when will they meet in their own building rather than rotating through bars, what will the small groups be, will they move to Sundays, and how will all of these changes impact the atmosphere of the community?

I’ll go back, for the primary reason that I think the group is being formed–the community. As a philosophy student and practicing Unitarian Universalist, I didn’t encounter radically new concepts last night, nor did I expect to. And if I’m going based on the Protestant model that religious community centers around a sermon, preferably a lengthy one with lots of citations, then Micah’s Porch is a failure. But, whatever my views about knowledge may be–and they’re still undergoing revision–I do think that conversation and perspective exchange is a crucial part of how we access reality (leaving aside ontology for now).

Yeah, so that’s my report on the Emerging UU Church in Chicago. Comments?

*One slightly analytical comment–I enjoy U2 as much as the next person, but why is Bono the fourth member of the Trinity? Especially in a Unitarian Church…?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Personal, Unitarian Universalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Email me at arbitrary [dot] marks [at] gmail [dot] com if you think a discussion should be re-opened.