Tensions Within Movement

I haven’t written for a few days, so it’s good to be back. The last few days have been full of good things (Dad getting out of ICU despite some lingering respiratory issues and a viewing of the consciousness-raising “Sicko”) and bad (our Corolla getting swiped by an unknown vehicle in a parking lot of a grocery store). Nevertheless, I’m still standing. I finally pushed through the rest of Robert Webber’s “Listening to the Beliefs of the Emerging Churches”. As I alluded to a couple of days ago, this book has been the greatest challenge for me to date in my explorations. A huge part of this is that it was incredibly difficult for me to resonate with several of the authors. At least three of the five contributors held Scripture as the final voice of authority – advocating for a position of closed revelation (“we know everything we need to know about the essence and nature of God as it has already been revealed through Scripture”). I hold the Holy Spirit in higher reverence than the Scriptures and believe we live in a time of continued revelation (that “God is still speaking” – as the motto of my own denomination - the United Church of Christ suggests). While a part of me was glad to see that the emergent movement seemed to contain such a wonderfully rich sense of diversity, I wonder if the emergent movement truly does. It felt like there were at least 2 contributors that at least one of the contributors would have said “are not Christian” due to the generous and gracious nature of their orthodoxy. I guess my hope is that through continued dialogue and conversations these awkward tensions might be broached. Of course, I have to realize that these tensions have existed since the earliest days of the church (see the arguments between Paul and the Pillars of Jerusalem regarding circumcision and table fellowship). From the book, I could see a splintering of the movement in the next 5-10 years as some (Driscoll, Burke, and Kimball) would advocate for theological litmus tests (i.e. a particular view of Scripture and profession of one of the historic creeds) for those who would like to use the term emergent. We shall see what the future holds. In the meantime, after 6 weeks of reading texts almost exclusively devoted to the emerging culture, I’m going to start reading more texts related specifically to worship issues. Of course I hope to engage them through the lens of the emerging culture. I look forward to this next stage of exploration. Til next time…

Colleagues

In most of my postings to date, I've focused on the written materials that I've interacted with. I've largely downplayed the one on one meetings I've had with local folks involved in the movement. I thought tonight I would take this opportunity to briefly discuss my first week of meetings with emergent folks I've met here in Denver and highlight a couple learnings/insights I've drawn from these meetings. In the past three days I've met with a wide variety of folks: Becky Pierson (a former United Methodist preacher's kid who recently completed a seminary education at Denver Seminary) and James Mills (a Baptist by background with extensive experience in church starts and various aspects of parish ministry) from the emergent movement here in Denver; and Ashley Seaman (a PCUSA clergy colleague who co-facilitates an emergent gathering in Denver. What a wonderful cross section of folks these individuals represent. Let me share a couple insights I had as a result of these meetings. First, from these conversations I found that many folks in the movement share my passionate desire to transcend the narrow generational focus usually associated w/ the emerging movement. Second, I found that most folks who are passionate about the movement are VERY well-read, theologically-grounded individuals. Clearly the postmodern/emergent movement has incredible spiritual depth as these leaders all embodied. Third, each individual has very personal - very profound story that led them to explore the postmodern/emerging culture (i.e. stories of pain, frustration, isolation, and/or alienation with the institutional church). Fourth, these individuals have an incredible sense of integrity about them and their vision of ministry. To say they have their priorities straight would be a colossal understatement! It was a privilege to share a piece of my spiritual journey with each of them. And fifth, there is an incredible sense of optimism in each of them about the future of the church (or perhaps I should more accurately say "the body of Christ" - for each of them was realistic about the challenges facing the existing institutional church). I walked away from each of these four meetings with an increased sense of excitement and energy about the possibilties that lie before us in the 21st Century. What an amazing and blessed time it is to be called to do ministry. It was wonderful to add these 4 voices to the 5 voices I'm currently hearing in Webber's "Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches" for each of these 4 voices brought perspectives and insights that were not previously touched upon in Webber's book. I look forward to continuing ministerial relationships with these individuals (and others that I have met in previous weeks) as we prayerfully support the emerging ministries with which we are involved. Til next time...

Ouch!

If you've read my posts to date, you've probably realized I am almost annoyingly positive in my response to most of the works I've engaged. It's rare for me to walk away from a book, movie, production, etc with a predominantly negative response. Having said that, it's time for me to break my streak of positive reviews and put forth the HUGE, PAINFUL struggles I've had with Robert Webber's book "Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches". I should have known I would be in trouble from the title alone. I had not encountered anything in emergent culture that suggested "churches" had "beliefs". Rather, the predominate ethos is that individuals within faith communities have beliefs that are shaped by their experience within the larger community. Second, the structure of the book itself gave me HUGE pause. Let me tell you what I mean. The book is actually a series of articles written by five participants: Karen Ward, Doug Pagitt, Dan Kimball, John Burke, and Mark Driscoll. There is a topic for each chapter (i.e. chapter one is titled "The Emerging Church & Biblicist Theology"). Each chapter then has one of the five participants write a primary response to the topic. Each of the other four contributors then respond to the primary article. There were two disturbing patterns. First, in each section all of the white men come first and the woman of color is relegating to the end. Second, each section begins with the three most traditionally conservative men; the more progressive voices are relegated to the end of each chapter. This structure undermines any perception that this is a balanced exploration of the movement as it is set up so that the white male conservatives set the tone to which the rest of the group responds. I've finished the first two chapters and have had major concerns. It seems that Mark Driscoll and John Burke both defined their faith exclusively through the lens of Scripture. They rarely if ever factor in a personal experience of God into their theological statements. Doug Pagitt points this out when he notes that it might be helpful to start one's missional efforts not on the basis of an appeal to Scripture but by first facilitating a connection with God (76). I also appreciated Karen Ward's attempt to balance the appeals to Scripture with the awareness that it is helpful to reach people discover the ways in which God's story intersects with their own (79). There was even a moment when I had to put the book down and walk away in complete exasperation. This was when Mark Driscoll rebuted the notion that all faiths have a similar moral compass to which they appeal. Mark wrote, "... each time I am forced to remove my shoes before passing through a metal detector because there is a fear that an advocate of radical Islam may have explosives in their shoes ... [I am reminded that] the moral code of all religions is not the same" (71). I believe the group Mark meant to refer to was "terrorists" rather than "radical Islamic" folks. Nevertheless, his shocking religious and cultural insensitivities further reminded me why so many folks in this post-Christian, postmodern age have a trouble with Christians. I am sooooo glad that I did not read this book early in my process of exploration of the emergent movement. If I had, I might have aborted my studies and walked away. I only hope that others seeking to explore the emergent movement will not find this book too early in their process. I'll trudge through the rest of the book and see what glimmers of insight I can find. The best part of the experience thusfar has been the stark reminder of the major differences we face within both the movement and the body of Christ. Til next time...

Historical Perspective Helpful

I just finished Paul Bradshaw’s “Early Christian Worship: A Basic Introduction to Ideas & Practices”. I found the work VERY helpful – especially for pastors of existing churches attempting to introduce emergent ideas into the faith community. Let me explain why I say that. Whenever almost any change regarding worship is brought up, one of the most common responses/mantras we encounter is: “We’ve never done it that way before!” Often the response is put forth as a statement intending to suggest that we (the Christian community) have never done it that way before. What is really meant, however, is that we (the local church) have never done it that way in the past 10-20 years. To help give us a better sense of perspective on worship practices, Bradshaw’s book takes us back to the first five centuries of the Christian tradition and shows ways that Christian practices have in fact evolved. This means that the practices we might recognize today as Baptism or Communion didn’t exist in exactly the same form we observe them today. Lots of factors (culture, geography, theological orientation) shaped the way these rites evolved over the years. Some of the forms we have adopted over the past 2,000 years have changed significantly (and for reasons most folks in the pews have no clue about). Ironically, many of the things that today are viewed as innovations are actually a return to historic practices. By getting the facts out to members in our existing churches, we can perhaps reduce some levels of anxiety and hopefully deepen the worship experiences of our members – whether they participate in traditional or emergent worship experiences! I think Bradshaw’s book would be a helpful resource in helping get out some of those facts. I would recommend it for use as a tool of spiritual formation for all faith communities (note: the postmodernist in me prevented me from saying “an educational tool” for reasons explored in my blog earlier this week). For those of you tracking my father’s condition following his heart attack last week, he remains in ICU. His signs have stabilized a bit. I’ll let you know when he makes it out of ICU. I’m not sure where my studies will take me next. Check back tomorrow to find out. Til next time…

Early Christian Worship

It feels good to return after a day off. I've had a pleasant surprise this summer in terms of the way I am worshipping. Originally I expected to visit a different worshipping community each week in order to experience as many different worship experiences as possible. While such an approach might have sounded good in theory, I realized early on that it wouldn't do much for my soul. Given the fact that many of the emergent experiences and gatherings take place at various times throughout the week, I decided early in my sabbatical to find one community which would be my primary worshipping community during my time in an area. While in Spokane, my community was Westminster United Church of Christ. This morning, I found my Denver worshipping community. For the sake of privacy (mine and theirs), I'll leave the community unnamed until the end of summer. Needless to say, it feels great to have a spiritual community to call home for the next 2 months! This afternoon I added a new dimension to my sabbatical studies. I started Paul Bradshaw's book "Early Christian Worship". I've only finished the first two sections on Baptism and the Eucharist, and I've already come to deeply appreciate the book's wisdom. As a pastor serving an ecumenical church with members from a variety of faith traditions, the book does a beautiful job explaining how factors like geography (East vs. West), history (pre- vs. post-Constantianian realities), and culture shaped the evolution of sacramental practices. I particularly liked his discussion on the emergence of the practice of baptizing infants. This discussion will be of great help in better explaining the practice to folks from Baptist traditions. From an emerging cultural perspective, I especially like his discussion of the Eucharist. Bradshaw does a nice job of explaining how the deletion of a meal in conjunction with Communion altered the nature of the sacrament (i.e. "There is a world of difference betweenenjoying fellowship around a table at an evening meal and rising early in the morning in order to engage in a hasty ritual act before setting out for work" - p 43). This discussion helped me better understand why so many emergent worshipping communities have come to incorporate a meal in conjunction with their worship gathering. I'm looking forward to enjoying the last third of Bradshaw's book which covers practices involving the observance of liturgical time. On a personal note, while my father remains in ICU, there are postive signs today as his vital signs continue to stabilize. Thanks for your continued prayers. Til next time...