Eikon Church - Little Rock, AR

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Archives > May, 2010

cityView: jerusalem greer Posted by 05.28.2010 9:35 am

cityView blog series

I am exhausted. Despite my Zoloft regimine and the ice cream I had to eat last night and my Sweet Man who does his best to love on me, I am exhausted. The reasons are all wound up in this thing we call Daily Life, so I will not bore you with the details of them because they are essentially no different than all the reasons you are probably exhausted as well. But still the tears are very close to the surface today and so I am going to lean on my old crutch for this post: Pictures.
I think in images. It is how I am wired, so here are some images from my life and a few thoughts on my faith to go with them.

cityView jerusalem greer

I have always believed. Always. I cannot remember a moment of my life when I did not have faith. I have no great conversion story, which is often embarrassing to me in Christian circles. I am a lousy converter. No drama here to shake someone into belief themselves.

cityView jerusalem greer

Prayer to me is constant. Like a heart beat. Life feet on the payment. It is as natural as breathing. In and out, in and out. I think this is because I have always assumed that God was with me. Listening to all my thoughts regardless of whether or not they are addressed to Him. And as far as I can tell he loves me anyway. Fiercely even.
This is why I get pissed when I am told I must have a quiet time. As if God was in a closet waiting on me to visit him.

cityView jerusalem greer

Hope is like a giant purse that I carry around with me, filling it up with the bits and pieces of my life and the lives of those around me. It is a deep pit and it is a mess. Broken pencils, gum wrappers and loose change rattle around on the bottom of it.
But somehow I manage to find what I need each time I go searching.

cityView jerusalem greer

Community is something I cannot live without. And something that frustrates me to no end. And yet I love fiercely still.

cityView jerusalem greer

The best things in my life found me. I did not seek them out. In fact the story of my life is the harder I try the less likely I am to succeed. I blame and thank God simultaneously for this.

cityView jerusalem greer

I have only one piece of advice. Rest is necessary. God said.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 5 Comments »



cityView: rich wiebe Posted by 05.26.2010 8:47 am

cityView blog series

When the opportunity to write this piece arrived in my inbox I jumped at the chance; easy enough, I thought. Then I realized it would, indeed, bring me a difficult task: editing the terribly confounding mass; expressing the seemingly inexpressible in 500 words or less. Forgive me if I go astray of your connotations of faith, or religion.

As spiritual seekers we seem to come to a point in our lives where we ask of the expanse before us: “why?” In my mind a religion provides a framework for finding an answer to this question and prescribe a method one can employ to bring meaning to their life. Zen buddhism provides the framework I can comprehend and put into use with every action I take and decision I have to make.

I think that Buddha or Jesus probably walked this earth. I think that I am just a person. I do not know what exists beyond my perception, it very well may be God as expressed in Christianity. But, I do know what my existence thus far has shown me. What I make of the understanding I infer from my past experience is up to me.

If I take a moment, while not caught up in my mind’s negative perceptions, to understand the mind’s object I know it is beneficial to address it with love and compassion. The object of mind can also be seen with fear and loathing. How do I choose to see? It seems apparent, from experience with this world, that resentment and anger do not have much positive benefit. While fear may bring about an occasional burst of necessary adrenaline to help remove me from a dangerous situation, there are no wolves or bears at my door. The existence, then, of fear is a matter of perception. I find it quite possible, if not guaranteed, that we all have the same emotions brought about by our perceptions.

What, then, could it be that brings about the capacity to have sympathetic responses to the sufferings or joys of others? Looking into the eyes of the people I speak with I can see that they are human. Knowing they have the same capacity for love and fear I can have compassion for their situation. When our similar nature is viewed on a grander scale, it seem possible that we are of the same mind. This capacity to empathize is what I see as the spiritual component of our existence.

Having a deeply abiding love and compassion for others, their creations, and the manifestations of our world seem to me to be the very good way to travel through this life. Sadness and fear may come and go, but with compassion they can be overcome.

May your travels in this life be safe and happy.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 9 Comments »



cityView: darren huckey Posted by 05.21.2010 9:18 am

cityView blog series

The Men of the Great Assembly said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah (m.Avot 1:1)

The above quote from the Mishnah (the Oral Law of Judaism) is, in essence, a recapitulation of the words of our Master in Matthew 28:18-20. There are three components: 1) Authority, 2) Discipleship, 3) Observance. Unfortunately, I have to leave this unattended. However, we could write volumes on the parallels of these two passages.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of discovering the Jewishness of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, placing him back into his Jewish (and Biblical) context. It has allowed us to take Jewish passages, such as the one above and help us contextualize the message of our Master. But only recently has this discovery moved from the hypothetical to the tangible. And, as people come to these realizations, there are Messianic groups popping up all over the world.

So, what’s all the fuss? In a nutshell, people are rediscovering the rich Jewish heritage of Jesus and his disciples (including Paul), which point to a more Hebraic context and understanding of the New Testament. And this “new perspective” is freeing people from the paralyzing fear of “legalism” within the body of Messiah. Dallas Willard spoke well when he said:

“Currently we are not only saved by grace; we are paralyzed by it. We find it hard to see that grace is not opposed to effort, but is opposed to earning. Earning and effort are not the same thing. Earning is an attitude, and grace is definitely opposed to that. But it is not opposed to effort.”

In this new paradigm on Jesus and his Apostles there is freedom, and it is transforming lives and I believe it will transform our world. Here are a few things this new understanding is changing. We are realizing:

That Jesus & his Apostles (including Paul) were observant Jews their entire lives, and highly esteemed and lived by the Law of Moses, understanding it in its proper context of guidance for the spiritually resurrected, rather than salvation of the lost.

That Christ’s message of the Kingdom affects not just our theological perspective, but our lifestyle.

There is more to our faith than salvation (spiritual conception).

That the commandments of God (the Law of Moses) are not in opposition to the Gospel or the work of Christ.

That Paul’s gospel is not in opposition to the Law.

That εργων νομου is not equivalent to מיצות.

That the Gospel is more than a creed, or belief system, but a life of repentance and a call to holiness which affects the world around us.

That, as one philosopher said, “We can only possess what we experience.” Hence, living out the biblical expressions of faith actually endear us to a deeper understanding and relationship with the Almighty.

That “living like Jesus” is more than wearing a bracelet. It’s discipleship that makes us want to live like our Master, not an attempt at earning our salvation.

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Posted in cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 3 Comments »



cityView: sarah orsborn Posted by 05.19.2010 8:07 am

cityView blog series

About three years ago, my husband and I set out on a course that completely revolutionized our faith. We were sitting in our car when we heard No Impact Man being interviewed on NPR. Now the author of a book and star of a documentary, he was just a guy trying to live in NYC with his family with little to no net environmental impact, and blogging all the way. As we began to examine the ways our lives impact our environment, we discovered Rob Bell’s book Velvet Elvis. We started listening to Bell’s sermons via iTunes. We discovered Brian McLaren’s book The Secret Message of Jesus. And through these authors we discovered the thing which completely changed our way of believing: Jesus didn’t come just so we could go away to some heavenly kingdom when we die, but so we can help make that heavenly kingdom a reality here on earth, right now. When Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is at hand” He literally meant right here and right now. The kingdom where God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven, the New Jerusalem, is exploding into our reality starting with the resurrection and Jesus’ defeat of death. And we have the honor of being asked to participate in God’s project of renewing all things.

In Genesis 2, when God puts Adam in the Garden of Eden and tells him to work and take care of this creation, the Hebrew verbs “to work” and “to take care of” are words used almost exclusively elsewhere to describe the worship of God. When we take care of creation, we are worshipping its Creator.

Rather than treat this planet as someplace disposable we’re leaving when we go to heaven, we believe we have a divine assignment to care for our environment and everything in it. One area of our lives in which this is most visible is the way we eat. And we believe food is literally a spiritual issue! Many of Jesus’ teachings took place in the context of a meal, whether it was the feeding of the 5,000, Mary anointing His feet with perfume and tears, the Last Supper, or the seaside breakfast He prepared for His disciples following His resurrection, when some of them didn’t recognize Him until they broke bread together. I think a case could be made that some of the times we can best see Jesus are when we are sharing a meal with others.

In our lives, this means eating food that is grown with respect to the planet, the workers who grow and harvest it, and the food itself. One interesting thing I have learned about Jews like Jesus is that when they pray before a meal, they do so in order to bless God for His provision, not to ask Him to bless their food. To have food to eat at all is to already be blessed. To choose food that is produced in a way that respects all of creation is to turn eating itself into an act of thankfulness and worship, even as we anticipate a joyous feast in God’s coming kingdom.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 9 Comments »



cityView: tom hudson Posted by 05.18.2010 9:09 am

cityView blog series

If you want to believe the world was created 6,000 years ago, and some guy crammed two each of five million species onto a boat less than 500 feet long for forty days, and another guy was revived after being dead for three days, after his blood pooled and separated, after rigor mortis came and went, after his brain was deprived of oxygen for 72 hours … go for it. I don’t have the energy to refute premodern cosmologies and annoyingly persistent tribal mythologies.

But at least consider that four hundred years ago, the earth was flat and located at the center of the universe, and the delusional jerk who touted something different, something threatening, was convicted of heresy.

If you want to believe God is all good and simultaneously all-powerful, yet also that bad things happen…enjoy. I’m not sure how to illuminate your and your holy book’s self-contradictions.

But if you want to think a little brown guy named Yeshua, as reported in your book, was onto something valuable – maybe even seriously earth-shaping truths…and you want to follow his teachings…that intrigues me.

For in a world where there are no epistemologically sound indicators of the nature of God, all I care about are results: things I can see. And Jesus produced results. But he was a bit of a delusional jerk too, and certainly threatening and heretical, and he got what was coming to him, as did Galileo after him, for similar reasons.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to be Jewish back then, perpetually waiting for the Messiah to come fix everything.

I also cannot imagine being contemporary Christian, believing that the Messiah has finished at least most of his work, and that everything that matters is taken care of. When I look at the world, I see that most everything I care about is not taken care of.

“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” Clearly, Jesus cared about results. But I’m not sure he believed everything was tidy when he checked out either. Indeed, he commanded his followers to pick up where he left off. And some say that the (passivity-breeding, remarkably pre-messianic) notion that he will return to fix everything again is up for interpretation.

Like Jesus, I expect his followers to be concerned with results. Yet among Christians, and in areas of the country strongly influenced by Christians, we see the highest rates of divorce, infidelity, murder, STDs, teen pregnancy, single parent homes, infant mortality, and obesity. We see the poorest health care systems, least high school graduation, strongest socioeconomic stratification, and legislated bigotry, much of which Christians legitimize with scripture.

I don’t blame social maladies on Christianity, but suggest that contemporary Christians are not concerned with the results Jesus prioritized. And I don’t need to champion my personal socialist Jesus for that to be apparent.

I am also not set against believing in some God. If I choose to, it will not be because I think God exists, but because such belief yields results that matter.

But until Christians bear fruit, I feel compelled to cast my lot with the jerks. I take up arms with heretical jackasses who think everything is not alright. I fight for the powerless, even at the expense of those in power. I want to make comfortable people squirm, and comfort those who want to change the world.

And behold. Sometimes the world really does change shape.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 5 Comments »



cityView: amy bradley-hole Posted by 05.17.2010 2:48 pm

cityView blog series

I was recently on a floating trip on a river. It was a pretty pleasant river, but it had its fair share of rapids and rocky patches. And unbeknownst to me, there was a huge waterfall just around one of its bends. I saw it and started panicking, scared I was going to plunge over the edge and crash and burn. But at the last minute, someone on the bank saw me, and stuck a huge branch out towards me. I could save myself from the waterfall by just jumping off my raft and grabbing hold. But I didn’t. I froze, because I didn’t want to risk missing the branch completely and falling into cold, roiling water. How stupid was that? I was going to risk certain harm for uncertain safety, simply because I was afraid of what was in between.

Alright, alright, enough with the terrible allegory already. No, I haven’t been on a float trip lately. But yes, I have been about to crash and burn. And yes, in the midst of all the chaos, someone handed me a lifeline. And YES, I freaked out about it. I kept calling this awesome opportunity my “leap of faith.” Whenever I discussed my situation with anyone, I focused on the “leap” part. It was all about my fear, and the fall, and how much it would hurt if I screwed it up. My language and thought process was quite negative. This leap of faith was a scary thing, indeed.

And then one day, that little voice I hear (which, for me, yes, is Jesus, and who, by the way, is a little West Indian guy in tight pants who sits on my shoulder, but that’s a whole other story) said to me “But you’re forgetting the FAITH part.”

Wow. And so I was. I was all terror, no trust.

There I was, the girl who’s always smugly thinking about how strong her faith is, how solid her relationship with Christ is, forgetting to have any faith at all. I was forgetting to shut up already about the negatives. I was only thinking about the bad that could happen, and forgetting the wonderful ways in which my life could change. They just seemed, like that branch, too far away to be real. So when I took a minute to pause and hand it over to my higher power, I was able to see the beautiful glimpses of faith and grace that surrounded me. I have a family who has my back. I’ve got a community full of the most amazing friends right here in Little Rock who are my support system. I’ve got a church home where I can go to get recharged. And yes, I have a relationship with Jesus. What more could I need? And why, for Heaven’s sake, was I afraid of a little ol’ leap?

So what did I end up doing, you ask? I jumped, of course. And it felt fabulous. And how did it turn out, you wonder? I don’t know. I’m still in mid-air. But at least I know that, as I’m flying, I’m being lifted by faith.

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Posted in blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock, theology | 1 Comment »



cityView: 10 faith perspectives beyond the walls of eikon Posted by 05.12.2010 8:03 am

cityView blog series

faith is everywhere. or lack of faith. or a little faith. regardless of which it is, there’s a bigger conversation occurring in our city than just a single church or a single faith perspective. instead of becoming an insular community, we hope that eikon can be a place that listens to & engages in the broader faith conversation in our city.

with that said, we’re excited to announce a new blog series, cityView, in which we’ll take a shot at doing just that. over the next several weeks, we’ll be hearing from 10 people from around the greater little rock area who will be sharing their faith perspective. views will range from traditional and progressive christian to buddhist to jewish to atheist and all places in between.

no one has been prompted or been asked to push any kind of agenda, but rather open-endedly asked to share their unfiltered view of faith. our goal isn’t to present viewpoints that we necessarily agree with or that assume a particular worldview. ultimately, we want to offer a platform for the larger faith conversation that’s occurring in our city. simply put, we want to be a part of that conversation.

beginning this  friday, we’ll begin to hear these perspectives. we hope that it gives us all a foot in the door, so to speak, to an engaging and worthwhile faith conversation that happens in offices and front porches and online and other churches and bars in and around little rock.

so, look out for these posts and take an opportunity to engage. check back friday for our first post.

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Posted in announcements, blog stuff, cityview, core values, culture, little rock | No Comments »



help support lauren and cure international Posted by 05.07.2010 7:58 am

cure international

EDITORIAL NOTE: One of the values we have here at Eikon is putting our money where our mouth is. No doubt, we have limited financial resources and aren’t able to give to every person or organization, but we certainly want to help out when we have the opportunity and ability. One of the people in our community, Lauren Stephens, has the opportunity to travel with Cure International to Uganda this summer. It’s an incredible organization and opportunity for Lauren, but it comes at a steep cost. So, I asked Lauren to write a little about the trip and what it will take to get here there. Eikon is going to make a significant gift (well, for our little church anyway), but we want to invite you to contribute as well. If you want to give through Eikon, simply write a check to Eikon Church and in the memo line put Lauren Stephens – Uganda. *100%* of those funds will go to this specific cause. Mail the check to:

Eikon Church
2501 Kavanaugh Blvd, Unit B
Little Rock, AR 72205

Thanks!

—————————————————————————

I will be going to Uganda, Africa with CURE International July 26 – August 10. CURE International is a non-profit organization that has established hospitals in five different countries in Africa, two in the Middle East also in Honduras, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. CURE has seen 1 million patients and performed 70,000 life-transforming surgeries. The hospital in Uganda specializes in the treatment of children with cleft palate, hydrocephalus, club foot, spinal deformities, and other crippling orthopedic conditions. Along with the treatment of these beautiful children they also educate the parents and families on living healthier lives with the resources they have.

I have chosen to go into the nursing field because I have found that my passion is to help others and to try to make a difference in the world. I want to go on this mission trip so that I can be a very small part of what will be a turning point in these children’s lives of living without fear of them and their families being ridiculed for what their culture calls a curse but is a medical condition that can be remedied. While there, I will have the opportunity to be in the operating room observing, but mainly working with the children who are recovering from the surgeries, spending time with the families serving them food and offering support, and also with the children before their operations and their brothers and sisters. We will also take five days to travel with a mobile clinic to reach out to surrounding villages and communities to offer basic healthcare needs.

In order to go and be given this opportunity I need to raise a total of $3800. I am coming up on a few deadlines. The first being $2000 by May 15th, next one is on May 26th to have $900 and the final payment of $900 will be due on June 26th. The funds raised will cover the majority of the costs for me but it also covers a portion of what it takes to get supplies there and helps keep the hospital functioning such as food, medicine, beds, etc…

-Lauren Stephens

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Posted in core values, information, missions, social justice, theology | 1 Comment »



point/counterpoint week 4: politics audio Posted by 05.06.2010 5:58 pm

point/counterpoint

this past sunday, we wrapped up a series called point/counterpoint. in it, we tackled some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consisted of two speakers who presented opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker used the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal wasn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it wasn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

this past sunday, two speakers engaged in a great conversation about politics. the basic premise was whether or not the core values of jesus were more compatible with democratic values or republican values. presenting the democratic point-of-view was r street community church pastor mark currey and presenting the republican stance was our very own derek blaylock.

the conversation was really great and, at minimum, got a lot of people thinking, examining their inherent viewpoints and engaging in conversations after the gathering. i was glad we got to hear from two intelligent, well spoken people like mark and derek.

as mentioned previously, we hope to have our podcast up and running very soon, but in the meantime, we thought we’d just post it here. you can listen to it in the player or you can download it by clicking here.

if you’ve been looking for an opportunity to come hang out with us at eikon, there’s a great chance to do it in the coming weeks. this coming sunday (may 9), we’ll be talking about biblical egalitarianism in honor of mother’s day. the following week (may 16), we’re really excited to be kicking off a brand new series called prose: writing the story of community. you can find more about that series by clicking here.

hope to see you soon!

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Posted in core values, gatherings, information, leadership, theology, worship | 2 Comments »



tell me the story: announcing our upcoming series ‘prose’ Posted by 05.03.2010 8:03 am

prose sermon series

where did you come from? what made you the person you are now? who shaped you? what life circumstances deeply molded your worldviews? what moments of crisis made you reorder the world around you? how have you wrestled with spirituality and truth and this whole god thing?

simply put, what is your story?

we’re very excited to announce that our upcoming series, prose: writing the story of community, asks this very question. what is your story?

beginning may 16, we’ll begin to hear the stories of not only the people who are a part of this faith community called eikon, but the bigger community of little rock. each week, we’ll hear the stories of 2 or 3 different people. we’ll discover where they came from, what has shaped them, how faith has impacted their stories and many other questions.

in addition, we’ll be compiling written pieces each week that will be distributed as booklets that contain both artwork & writing. throughout the series, we’ll be asking both our speakers and any others to submit art and written pieces to be a part of the booklets. we’ll give more details about how to submit pieces in the next several days.

so, mark your calendars and do your best to join us for this series. we’re convinced that people connect better with each other and with god when we learn the stories of others. so, see you on may 16!

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Posted in announcements, art, core values, events, gatherings, information, photography, theology, worship | 1 Comment »