Eikon Church - Little Rock, AR

Loading...

Archives > church

cityView: rich wiebe Posted by Ryan Byrd 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.



cityView: 10 faith perspectives beyond the walls of eikon Posted by Ryan Byrd 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.



point/counterpoint week 4: politics audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 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!



tell me the story: announcing our upcoming series ‘prose’ Posted by Ryan Byrd 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!



point/counterpoint week 3: war audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 04.29.2010 8:04 am

point/counterpoint

a couple weeks ago, we kicked off our new series called point/counterpoint. in it, we’re tackling some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consists of two speakers who present opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker uses the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it isn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

once again this past sunday, two speakers engaged in a great conversation about war. on the affirmative side of the the issue was brent buie and on the oppositional side was tad delay.

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 brent and tad.

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.

so, if you missed this past sunday, there’s always this week! we’ll be engaging a conversation about politics. specifically, our speakers will be exploring whether or not the most important values of jesus are more compatible with republican values or democratic values. it should be fun, needless to say. :) as always, we meet at 6 pm on sunday nights at the r street community church’s building (more info). see you there!



point/counterpoint week 2: death penalty audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 04.21.2010 7:57 am

point/counterpoint

last week, we kicked off our new series called point/counterpoint. in it, we’re tackling some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consists of two speakers who present opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker uses the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it isn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

sunday, two speakers engaged in a great conversation about the death penalty. on the affirmative side of the the issue was chris abrams, a husband/father/christian from north little rock, and on the oppositional side was me (ryan byrd).

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 to engage with an intelligent, well spoken person like chris and we were all able to engage in a helpful question-and-answer time.

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.

our apologies for the poor sound quality. at the last second, we had some technical glitches with our sound board and it led to unfortunately low volumes.

so, if you missed this past sunday, there’s always this week! we’ll be engaging a conversation about what the bible says about war. as always, we meet at 6 pm on sunday nights at the r street community church’s building (more info). see you there!



point/counterpoint week 1: homosexuality audio Posted by Ryan Byrd 04.14.2010 8:07 am

point/counterpoint

a few days ago, we kicked off our new series called point/counterpoint. in it, we’re tackling some hotly-debated topics: homosexuality, the death penalty, war and politics. the format consists of two speakers who present opposing viewpoints of a topic. each speaker uses the bible as their primary starting point to present their viewpoint. ultimately, our goal isn’t to “tell you the answers”, but to present two thought-out, bible-centric options to guide your own thinking. it isn’t a debate or an argument or a one-up kind of thing, but rather, a healthy, balanced presentation of the issues.

sunday, two speakers launched the series with a great conversation about homosexuality. on the “traditional” side of the the issue was todd erickson, an eikon regular, and on the biblically-affirming side was randy mccain, pastor of open door community church.

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. both speakers were incredibly well spoken and we were all able to engage in a helpful question-and-answer time.

we hope to have our podcast up and running very soon, but in the meantime, we thought we’d just post it here.

so, if you missed this past sunday, there’s always this week! we’ll be engaging a conversation about what the bible says about the death penalty. as always, we meet at 6 pm on sunday nights at the r street community church’s building (more info). see you there!



an invitation to join us for easter Posted by Ryan Byrd 04.01.2010 8:05 am

easter jesus eikon

we’re just a month into our weekly gatherings and so far, things have continued to progress and people continue to connect. one of the many milestones of our new community is sharing together in a time of worship for our first easter.

this sunday (april 4), we acknowledge this particularly important time of anticipation and celebration for people who follow in the way of jesus. easter marks the season in which we specifically reflect on the death and eventual resurrection of christ. easter is a time of renewal and restoration of the places where we find pain and hurt and decay and death. new life begins at easter. hope is restored. people are renewed. the broken is made whole. and we at eikon certainly hope to celebrate these things this sunday.

as always, we’ll gather at 6 pm at 1900 n. university ave. (r street community church’s building). the gathering will be a sort of interactive time of worship that centers around the stations of the cross (in a kind of a modern, re-imagined way). in addition to hearing from me (ryan), we’ll also be hearing perspectives from both kim roth and john hardin, so it should be a good chance to hear a few different perspectives. so, we think it will be a unique experience worth participating in.

hope to see you there!



announcing CONNECT: an eikon worship gathering Posted by Ryan Byrd 01.06.2010 8:45 am

connect an eikon worship gathering

avoiding all cliché, 2009 was a great year for eikon and we’ve got a decent feeling that 2010 is going to be even better. over the last several months of the past year, we connected several times for worship gatherings, concluding the year with a shared time of advent. as we forge ahead in the new year, we have a whole new slate of gatherings to help foster our ever-growing community.

we’re excited to announce CONNECT: an eikon worship gathering. on sunday, january 17 at 6:00 pm, we’ll be gathering, once again, at sticky fingerz (see map here).

for those who have joined us at our past worship gatherings, you’ll notice we’ve expressed ourselves in a number of ways including the following: engaging in conversation, singing, listening, sharing stories, praying, eating, drinking, watching, hearing, thinking and, ultimately, connecting with god and each other. one of our values in regards to our gatherings is that we want to create a sense of familiarity, but not predictability. so, for this gathering, while you’ll notice many of the same elements as those in the past, we will certainly be employing some new modes of expression and connection. namely, this gathering will be much more conversational and talkback-driven.

along with the commitment of avoiding the creation of a rut, another value is that our times of worship don’t center around a single person or a single way of engaging in worship. often, the church has rallied around a singular “climax” to the service: the sermon. whereas we absolutely believe that the sermon can be transformative and deeply engaging, we want to also let the voices of our community be heard and shared on a regular basis. so, we’re excited to offer a time of voluntary feedback and idea-sharing. through a guided conversation, we’ll connect in a shared time of insight and reflection on god and what it means to engage in this thing called community.

as with our other gatherings, we’re excited to once again offer free, quality childcare. we’ll have some more info very soon here on the blog about childcare and how you can RSVP your children for those services.

so, mark your calendars, invite some friends, retweet this, put it on facebook. this should be an incredible night to CONNECT with both god and each other.

see you on sunday, the 17th at sticky fingerz!



altView: holly ballard Posted by Ryan Byrd 11.16.2009 8:03 am

altView

I don’t know what I believe. That’s kind of a relief, actually, as it’s taken me about seven years to say. Since my fundamentalist upbringing never left a lot of room for doubt, I spent a lot of time bottling up the truth, which was that I no longer knew what capital-T Truth was. Admitting this to myself was difficult enough, but I also found myself faced with a somehow more daunting dilemma: how do I continue to function honestly in the Christian community without people I love rejecting me or—worse—worrying about me? Each time I would come close to exposing the true nature of my (un)belief, I could think only of a time when I had been kept up at night in anguish over a lost soul. What did I do now that that lost soul was me?

My initial solution was not to abandon my challenging but ultimately comfortable beliefs. Instead, I began reading trendy Christian books that pecked at the problem of faith but never really gave me room to doubt. I also tried a couple of newer, less-traditional churches that offered a far cry from the “as together we stand and sing” services of my youth. I was disappointed to find beneath the exciting packaging only the same suffocating space. Throughout this process, I continued trying to keep everyone convinced I wasn’t undergoing a crisis of faith; you may be unsurprised to hear I eventually gave up on the whole thing altogether.

But the whole thing, it turns out, didn’t give up on me. When I didn’t know what else to do, I turned away from institutions and to the only thing that ever consistently made sense to me. That was, and remains, love. The majority of what I’d call worship in the last few years has been simply connecting with other people, namely Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, three men who I’m convinced were wrongfully convicted of murder and who have spent the last 16 years of their lives in prison. The steps that brought me to this case and the relationships I have forged since are nothing if not spiritual.

It seems to me that every act of love, no matter how small, is an act of worship. My current beliefs about spirituality can, I suppose, best be summed up by a fairly blasphemous thought that occurred to me one morning as I was driving home from a night drinking with friends: it was the most worshipful few hours I’d had in a very long time.

It happened that Sunday morning as it often happens to me now. When all is quiet, the sorrows and joys of the day sometimes transform into tiny prayers I didn’t realize I intended to say until they’ve already materialized. I’m still not sure who I’m talking to, but the interconnectedness of all things constantly draws me back to something bigger. And—get this—I actually believe I’ve found a place where I can openly and honestly figure out the rest.