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...

2 Facets of Community Life to Factor In

I just finished Jim Kitchens' book "The Postmodern Parish: New Ministry for a New Era". There was a whole lot of GREAT material in the book. I thought I would focus on two areas that Kitchens emphasized that really struck a chord with me. The first has to do with an area that is foundational for communities seeking to adjust to postmodern culture: spiritual formation. In stating the case for a move away from the traditional/modern emphasis on programs and knowledge toward an emerging/postmodern emphasis on feeling and experience, Kitchens observes: "It's not information that they [postmodern folks] need, but formation" (61). Well said, Jim. "So what does formation look like in the life of a faith community?" you might wonder. "Formation," Kitchens would respond, "is as much about developing Christian disciplines and practices as it is about gaining knowledge about the Christian tradition. So it will focus," he concludes, "on learning to pray and to pratice Christian hospitality as much as on learning about the Trinity and the Incarnation" (61). One of my favorite suggestions Kitchens made regards how we can incorporate spiritual formation into our so-called new member classes (62-63). The second area I found helpful (and unique in my readings to date) is his emphasis on the adoption of a discernment model to help guide the life of the community. "Discernment is atractive to postmoderns," Kitchens writes, "because of its appeal to the whole person and the whole community" (90). He notes that parliamentary procedure (a favorite practice of the mainlines) was established upon the principles (and assumption of) an adversarial relationship. By adopting a discernment model for decision-making, a faith community could move away from this adversarial way of being. Unfortunately Kitchens didn't make any recommendations for a particular model of discernment to use so this will open a new avenue of exploration for me later this summer. I mentioned in yesterday's post I would be attending an emergent discussion group last night called the Theology Pub so I'll take a moment and mention a couple of reflections I had about the experience. The group of 12 was a little older than some emergent gatherings (members ages ranged from 25-40). The group was pretty homogenous (only two persons of color were present). Half of the group was either clergy or seminary students; the other half lay persons. The group had a topic to explore for the evening (suffering) and was lead by a talented facilitator (Sarah). There were two things that struck me about the emergent discussion group. First, I was struck by how little personal information was shared in the context of the discussion (of course 1/3 of the group was there for the first time so trust and relationship hadn't been built yet). Much of the discussion either stayed at the abstract level or occasional generic case studies were used to make a point. Second, I was impressed by how vulnerable people were willing to be about matters of theology. Given the fact that the group didn't know each other very well (and the fact that the group was made up of members from widely divergent faith traditions including everything from Seventh Day Adventists, Evangelicals, Lutherans, and Mennonites), folks were amazingly candid about their struggles to reconcile their understanding of God with the nature of suffering. There were no egos or judgement involved in the conversation. Just open, honest, and safe conversation. This aspect of the evening was emerging culture at its best. While this may not have been an emergent worship gathering, the evening was definitely full of the presence and Spirit of God! In terms of update on my father's condition, dad is still in ICU. There have been some positive signs over the past 24 hours. I'm hoping he'll make it out of ICU by Sunday. Thanks so much for your continued prayers for him and my family. Til next time...