Finding My Place

What a great weekend sabbath I had in the midst of my sabbatical! I had an amazing time of rest and renewal with one of my closest friends, Andrea, in Scottsbluff, NE. The best part of the weekend was that I was able to do some important personal work in finding my way in the midst of my spiritual explorations in the emerging communities. A huge piece of this started with an email exchange I had with Karen Ward. I expressed my frustration about my failure to find a non-creedal branch of the emerging movement. I finally asked point blank: "Is there a place in the emerging cultures for those of us who are non-creedal." She said, "Yes", and then encouraged me to start a UCCmergent site through the http://www.facebook.com website. I don't know much about this form of electronic communty, but I immediately created the website as a sort of hook in the water. Karen also referred me to a UCC pastor in Scottsdale, AZ. We'll see if those of us non-creedally oriented emerging folk can find each other. This whole experience has raised a red flag for me about the emergent movement. It seems - like many of us including myself - that their rhetoric about authenticity and commitment to dialogue and narrative is much more limited than you might first realize. The movement has been so dominated by white, middle class, heterosexual males who come at this from a place of privilege. I'm still wondering about their ability to connect with marginalized communities. I am so thankful for Karen Ward's presence because she brings an awareness to the movement (i.e. gender and race issues) that would probably otherwise gone unaddressed. Anyway, it feels like I am finding my way into some form of authentic emergent community. I thank you readers for wrestling with me on this issue. I'm sure there are times when you would have liked to say, "Move on, Craig." I feel like I finally am. I just had to work through these issues before I could move on. This week (and probably next week as well) I'll spend most of my time exploring the work of Richard Foster regarding spiritual formation. I'll start with his book "Celebration of Discipline". I have lots of wonderful meetings this week with a variety of folks who will add many things to my journey. I'm particularly excited about the possibility of finding a spiritual diretor this week. I've been without one since 2004. We'll see Wednesday if the spirit is leading me back to this important form of work. Til next time...