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Where the Emerging Church is headed
#1
The delusion described by Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter two is underway........

March 10 - Feeling the beat: The spiritual side of drum circles

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satel lite? pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c= MGArticle&cid=1173350135588&path=! news&s=1045855934842

Offer an odd assortment of drums to 21 enthusiastic novices, and meditative tranquillity would seem an unlikely possibility.

The quiet path to inner peace looks more like a parade route.

With the skill of a seasoned grand marshal, Cory Blake takes the discordant pieces and leads the group into an amazingly alluring beat.

Listen for a few minutes and you understand why shamans use drums to lure themselves into trances.

"It's a contemplative tradition," Blake says of the drum circle he's leading. "It speaks directly to the intelligence of the body."

It also speaks to the simplicity of a good beat -- and the way something as simple as a hand brushed against the skin of a conga drum can transcend denominational and cultural boundaries.

This group enjoying the nuances of ancient African music amid just a touch of New Age quirkiness is pure middle class. The sounds resonate in the comfy confines of the parish hall at the Church of the Holy Comforter, home to an Episcopal congregation in Richmond's West End.

"A drum circle really is what it says it is," says Regena Stith. "It's a gathering of people in a circle with drums."

It's all congas and bongos and frame drums. Most are played with hands, though a few require the pound of a mallet. When the mood's right, Blake accentuates the sounds with the subtle infusion of an African kalimba, an Australian didgeridoo or an agogo bell. The tings, twangs and occasional chant give the evening the full world-music experience.

"It's really a very ancient form of expression," Stith says of the drum circle she started. "You move out of your head."

Drum circles have been used to instill a sense of community in groups for decades. There are workshops, seminars and organized retreats throughout the country. You can spend thousands of dollars in a weekend learning to lead a formal gathering and buying your own drums. Or you can drop a dollar or two into a basket, borrow a drum and play along at a place such as Holy Comforter.

"There's an interesting meditative quality," church member Bruce MacAlister says of the drum circle. Once the music starts spreading through the room, "you don't have a chance to have your head full of other stuff."

"It's a lot of people coalescing around an idea," said his wife, Kathy.

The idea, Blake says, is learning to find yourself in the music. "People talk about altered states. I think the one we walk around in is altered. I think wonder is the original state."



Comment From Understand The Times:
This article is a must read if you want to understand where the Emerging Church is headed. New Age mysticism based on pagan religious practices is now being introduced in churches that are called "Christian." While the practices that are described in this article are not yet mainstream in the emergent movement, it will only be a matter of time. The delusion described by Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter two is underway.





Sincerely,
Roger Oakland



Understand The Times, International



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