The City and Congregation Workgroup
Meeting Highlights
- First Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
July 2, 2002 - Second Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
September 27, 2002 - Third Meeting
Los Angeles, CA
November 6 - 10, 2002 - Fourth Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
February 7, 2003 - Fifth Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
March 7, 2003 - Sixth Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
May 1, 2003
First Meeting
Charlottesville, VA
July 2, 2002
Narrative
by John Kiess
On July 2, the Project on Lived Theology hosted the first of a series of dinner conversations on the role of 'lived theology' in Charlottesville, drawing together an eclectic mix of local pastors, community workers, students, and professors. Convening at the Colonnade Club on the grounds of the University of Virginia, the group enjoyed discussion on a number of topics, from local perceptions of the church to ongoing faith-based community development initiatives. The dinner was the first local attempt of its kind to bring together different theological voices across historically entrenched barriers of race, class, and education for the specific purpose of healing and understanding.
The dinner series—and the more formal, monthly workgroup sessions that will follow—were inspired both by the success of the previous three workgroups and the clear need to root the sprawling questions of lived theology in America to a particular community, a distinct theatre where the daily drama of lived theological experience takes place. When we began to consider the city of Charlottesville as such a theatre, we discovered that 'lived theology' could involve much more than the deepening of academic inquiry or the sophistication of community workers' self-understanding; writing and performing 'lived theology' could foster a shared space to peacefully negotiate the complexities and tensions of a divided and embittered city.
The success of the first dinner gives us hope that together, pastors, activists, students, and theologians can collectively engage the past, repenting and confessing as hearts are led, and prayerfully begin to construct a theology of these unique streets, placing the century-old traditions of Christianity in dynamic conversation with the local particularities of this southern town. How, we might ask, is Christ taking shape among us, here in this place, where privilege and poverty stand in such close but unchanging proximity? How is Christ taking shape among us in a city that has dislocated African American families in the name of urban renewal? How is Christ taking shape among us when a billion dollar university extends its reach into once stable family neighborhoods? How is Christ taking shape among us when His church divides as it eats the bread and drinks the wine? To these and other questions we are devoting our thoughts and energies.