New Perspective Added

Today I started Jim Kitchens' book "The Postmodern Parish". Right away Jim gave me another perspective to factor in my reflections: the phrase post-Christian. While I had encountered the phrase numerous times before, I had not encountered it in such a manner that it was explicitly linked with the issues post-modernism and the emerging culture. The connection was very helpful. Let me tell you why I say that. Living in a post-Christian time basically implies that we live in a period with Christianity has lost its place of power and priviledge within the larger society. In many ways it represents a return to the times before Emperor Constantine gave Christianity a place of power and priviledge within the Roman Empire in the fourth century - a status that Christianity has largely enjoyed in Western societies since that time. I actually see this return as a positive thing as I believe it will bring us back to our spiritual roots as a countercultural movement rather than an expression of the dominant culture. Kitchens quotes Loren Mead as saying because of this shift from the Christian to Post-Christian era we now minister in a time that "has more in common with the apostolic era than it has with the church['s hayday] of the 1950's" (17). This observation will bring a whole new level of insight when I next read the Epistles. Having read just the first two chapters of Kitchens' book, I have already been impressed with his ability to move from the abstract/theological to the concrete/practical. He writes, for instance, that in the Postmodern/Post-Christian/Postdenominational age, "spiritual formation will need to replace education as our model of Christian nurture" (28) - a subtle, but crucial distinction in meeting the emerging needs of the 21st Century. I see this distinction as representing a move away content (i.e. programs) toward actual practices of the faith. He also succintly captures the challenge worship facilitators face these days when he writes, "The postmodern collapse of reliance on reason alone gives rise to people who want to engage their senses and their intuition as well as their reason when they encounter God" (13). In these instances and several other places you can see that Kitchens spiritual gift is one of translation as he constantly moves from the realm of academia to the practice of ministry. For that I am grateful! In the second half of his book Kitchens will use his own church to provide a case study of how a body transitions from a modern to postmodern orientation (something I said I was looking for in my post two days ago). I'll share with you tomorrow how this exploration goes. Tonight I'm off to connect with some emergent folks here in Denver through a gathering called the Theology Pub. That should give me fodder for reflection tomorrow as well. Til next time...