This website explores how the the thoughts and theology from the book, The Promise of Despair, might be lived out in the worship practices and life of a congregation.  The congregation sharing its journey is a small, creative, mostly older, urban congregation in Minneapolis, that is undergoing big shifts in how they do church. (Learn more about the church here).  

This congregation is endeavoring to live into the theological perspective represented in this book.  To this end, what you’ll find here is a blog of this little church’s journey, some sermons by Andrew Root (the author of The Promise of Despair and member of the church) and by the pastor, (Kara Root), and, what may perhaps be most helpful to you, some of the worship practices and liturgies this congregation has used to live into this theological reality.  Please feel free to use any of these practices--they are, of course, context specific and will need to be adapted (everything does).  But they have as central this theological idea that God encounters us in our despair, and therefore somehow a church might actually do/live into this theological reality.  (If you do adapt and use some of the ideas, please share with us how you used them!)

Most of these practices and sermons come from a Saturday night service the church has every second and fourth weekend (they do church on Sunday every other week--that’s another story you can read about on Kara’s blog).  Some are submitted by seminary students, or shared by other ministers.  (If you have a practice that think could be included here, please let us know!)

We hope this website might give you some handles as you wrestle with the book The Promise of Despair, and seek to live into the hope of God’s presence in despair in your own congregation.

                                                                                                                                        Andy & Kara

click HERE to read a excerpt