Well, it's been a rather hectic week here in Omaha...what did I hear and see over the weekend?
Had a rather interesting conversation with the Rev. Bruce Van Blair about the woman whom Jesus meets at a well. On Darkwood Brew last evening Rev. Van Blair and myself were talking about this story: in the middle of a dusty day Jesus meets a woman who engages him in conversation. This conversation takes place in Samaria, an area just northwest of Israel in the day, and reveals a lot about what Jesus seems to be about. Of course, it is a story, and one that has huge theological implications for us these days. According to Rev. Van Blair (and I think he is spot-on here), Jesus believes his call in life is to do the work of his father, and this work, at least according to this story, is to bring together all the people of the world.
There is much in this story that we did not get to talk about, but what we did talk about was pretty interesting...that is, God is not about separating people into various groups or factions--people do that, and what God does is to try and bring us all together. Again. (Presumably, we start out together, and work to distinguish ourselves.) Difference--however, does not seem to mean that we cannot all be part of God's plan...so to eradicate difference and distinction is not the point of our life together. The point rather seems to be how we can get together even if people choose to live differently that we do.
We have inherited from our Enlightment forebearers some kind of idea like "tolerance." And, as a political ideal, for people of relative homogeneity, tolerance works well for most people. (Some people, it seems, have trouble with this, but at least the "wars" have been battles in media and pulpits rather than about bombs and guns.) What we have discovered, especially since 9/11, is that "tolerance" is not enough when that homogeneity doesn't exist.
What I mean is this: there is not enough difference between your average Democrat or Republican to go to war over. There is relative homogeneity. (Do you really think it matters who is elected President? I mean, some money might shift around, and some people might be better off with one or another elected, but I'm still going to have to mow my grass, and love my children no matter who sits in the oval office.) I can "tolerate" anyone as President because most of my life doesn't radically change. But, now, as the world has shown itself to be more vast than we ever imagined...well, there are some real differences, real changes would have ot be made, and "tolerance" is not enough.
We have to learn to live with each other, to curb some desires, behaviors, and beliefs so that we can keep ourselves from killing each other. I think the role of women in society is a classic case where this will play itself out. As the USA, we do business with countries that do not believe women are capable of handling tough and difficult decisions in the public arena. Sarah Palin's competency aside, would you rather live in world where she cannot even pretend to be a legitimate politician? Would you feel better if you lived in a world where only certain men, born into a certain class and wealth, could make decisions for all of us? Yet, we have to live and work with countries where this is true. Women--just because they are women--are not allowed a voice in the public debate about anything, not even things related to women. Is this right? Should we care? Should we tolerate it? We tolerate it enough to make a few business deals, but the cracks of toleration are beginning to show through...
We need something else, and Jesus seems to suggest in his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well there is something else. The Spirit of God. Only when we understand and live with the Spirit of God in all of us, will we begin to live together in the peace and prosperity for which we long. In other words, we talk, engage, and live with each other not because we "tolerate" their choices, but rather because we cherish their Spirit. (Which is really God's Spirit in them.) And we see--a little bit maybe--what God is all about for us. And maybe women get to take off their burquas, and maybe other women don't wear their underwear in public, and maybe men respect women no matter what they wear...regardless it happens not because we tolerate difference, but rather because we cherish those who are different.
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
Your Blog Steward
- Scott Frederickson
- I am more and more convinced that most congregations die from a staggering lack of imagination. Let's change that. Let's imagine a creative future with God and each other together. Drop me a line on email or leave a comment if you have thoughts on God, Jesus, congregations, the church or whatever.... I look forward to our conversations.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
It's a Mystery to Me
30 years ago a college classmate was writing his senior thesis on the topic of Televangelism preachers, the Moral Majority, and the election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States. He asked me, as one of his classmates, if I would proofread his essay. I did...but I told him he'd owe me a beer when it was over. Being a tee-totaler, he gave me a six-pack of Diet Coke. He died recently, but I still think about his essay when I read just about anything about Christianity on the internet. Simply put: I JUST DON'T GET IT.
It is a complete mystery to me why people write, say, and think about the things they do in relation to the Christian faith. I have had almost none of the experiences that seem seminal to all of the bloggers, writers, editors, speakers, and publishers of what passes for Christian religion on the internet. (Now, I realize there is almost everything on the internet, but I am taklking about popular stuff like the Huffington Post, Patheos, Fox News, NBC News, Salon, and even Religious News Service.) For me, 99% of the time they might as well be writing about another religion, because what they all seemed to have experienced as Christianity-- I just missed out on, I guess.
Which brings me back to that thesis. Although I owned a TV, had voted in the election, and even heard of the Moral Majority (I actually met Jerry Falwell in 1981), I didn't experience Christianity that way, and never thought of that stuff as much more than a fad. I still don't. I am still firmly convinced--and convinced even moreso every time I hear or read from Frank Schaeffer--that the Evengelical, literalist, fudementalist Christianity developed in this country about 120 years ago will be little more than a footnote to the entire history of Christianity. I mean, I read a lot of blogs, a lot of books, and talk to a lot of people these days about Christianity...but I don't believe that type of Christianity will last. God will last. The people of God will last. Maybe a few things will last...but probably not as much more than historical curiosities.
If you ask my I think this popular type of Christianity won't be around it's because it doesn't seem to be about what the God who made heaven and earth, the God who loved enough to raise Jesus from the dead, the God who cares enough to send an Advocate. The Triune God I confess just seems so far removed from what I hear, read, and see these days. (If they even care to consider God at all. Progressives are the worst at this. They can write lines and lines of text without considering what God might or might not wish. Drives me nuts, because I know many of them, and they are good people. But as good as they are as motivators, community-builders, and people who make this world a better place, they are not good theologians. Of course, they are too busy making a real difference in the world to worry about it. That's why they have me. I do the worrying.)
I wasn't raised in evangelical, fundemental Christianity. I was raised in the "classic Christian" tradition (I heard Joseph Sittler use that phrase in an interview, and it makes much more sense than "mainstream," especially for those of us who were politically and socially liberal, and theologically trained to the point of nausea. You don't have to be liberal to be a classic Christian, but you do have to be theologically trained.) So, people who come from different places of Christianity talk about their experiences in worship as youth, as young adults in congregations, and now as writers in blogs, and I have no idea what they are talking about. It simply was not anything I experienced.
You see, what I remember from worship is power of a God who seems to be about loving us in spite of our best intentions to not make that possible. (I am fully aware that I might have missed what others heard as condemnation. Or, as one of my friends told me the day we were confirmed--"Scott, you see things the rest of don't. Maybe we shouldn't sleep through church.") I am not saying my experience was definitive, nor necessarily unique (my wife, for example, seems to have had my kind of experiences, and she was raised 1400 miles from me.) I am saying, however, that I do not understand so much of what I read about Christianity these days. There is another way to be Christian than what I see and hear these days...and much of what I read and hear these days about Christianity is a flat-out mystery to me.
But maybe that's the point...maybe when Paul says we are "stewards of God's mysteries" what he's talking about is not some "things" we don't understand, but rather, that we are taking care of (stewarding) the people who God has made. The people who are--in the end--mysteries of God.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
It is a complete mystery to me why people write, say, and think about the things they do in relation to the Christian faith. I have had almost none of the experiences that seem seminal to all of the bloggers, writers, editors, speakers, and publishers of what passes for Christian religion on the internet. (Now, I realize there is almost everything on the internet, but I am taklking about popular stuff like the Huffington Post, Patheos, Fox News, NBC News, Salon, and even Religious News Service.) For me, 99% of the time they might as well be writing about another religion, because what they all seemed to have experienced as Christianity-- I just missed out on, I guess.
Which brings me back to that thesis. Although I owned a TV, had voted in the election, and even heard of the Moral Majority (I actually met Jerry Falwell in 1981), I didn't experience Christianity that way, and never thought of that stuff as much more than a fad. I still don't. I am still firmly convinced--and convinced even moreso every time I hear or read from Frank Schaeffer--that the Evengelical, literalist, fudementalist Christianity developed in this country about 120 years ago will be little more than a footnote to the entire history of Christianity. I mean, I read a lot of blogs, a lot of books, and talk to a lot of people these days about Christianity...but I don't believe that type of Christianity will last. God will last. The people of God will last. Maybe a few things will last...but probably not as much more than historical curiosities.
If you ask my I think this popular type of Christianity won't be around it's because it doesn't seem to be about what the God who made heaven and earth, the God who loved enough to raise Jesus from the dead, the God who cares enough to send an Advocate. The Triune God I confess just seems so far removed from what I hear, read, and see these days. (If they even care to consider God at all. Progressives are the worst at this. They can write lines and lines of text without considering what God might or might not wish. Drives me nuts, because I know many of them, and they are good people. But as good as they are as motivators, community-builders, and people who make this world a better place, they are not good theologians. Of course, they are too busy making a real difference in the world to worry about it. That's why they have me. I do the worrying.)
I wasn't raised in evangelical, fundemental Christianity. I was raised in the "classic Christian" tradition (I heard Joseph Sittler use that phrase in an interview, and it makes much more sense than "mainstream," especially for those of us who were politically and socially liberal, and theologically trained to the point of nausea. You don't have to be liberal to be a classic Christian, but you do have to be theologically trained.) So, people who come from different places of Christianity talk about their experiences in worship as youth, as young adults in congregations, and now as writers in blogs, and I have no idea what they are talking about. It simply was not anything I experienced.
You see, what I remember from worship is power of a God who seems to be about loving us in spite of our best intentions to not make that possible. (I am fully aware that I might have missed what others heard as condemnation. Or, as one of my friends told me the day we were confirmed--"Scott, you see things the rest of don't. Maybe we shouldn't sleep through church.") I am not saying my experience was definitive, nor necessarily unique (my wife, for example, seems to have had my kind of experiences, and she was raised 1400 miles from me.) I am saying, however, that I do not understand so much of what I read about Christianity these days. There is another way to be Christian than what I see and hear these days...and much of what I read and hear these days about Christianity is a flat-out mystery to me.
But maybe that's the point...maybe when Paul says we are "stewards of God's mysteries" what he's talking about is not some "things" we don't understand, but rather, that we are taking care of (stewarding) the people who God has made. The people who are--in the end--mysteries of God.
May your tables be full and your conversations be true.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
On Gun Deaths...another time
I have to admit it seems like I blog a lot of gun deaths...and that can't be good for our souls. But first my disclaimer: I own guns. I have lived in the "gun culture" all my life. Guns are the most dangerous things I own...except for my Bibles.
The people I know who defend their "right" to own a gun defend it for one of two reasons: One, because it is a "right." (No blogger I have read over the past few days about the tragedy in Aurora, CO because of a very fast and deadly gun has dealt enough with this issue. That is, until the USA decides to rescind the 2nd Amendment we have to deal with the legacy of a group of guys who thought that having a few muskets around would make for a better country. It may have. And it may be that having some citizens around with very fast and deadly guns makes for a better country...unless it does not. But we have over 300 million people in this country--Norway has about 5 million as a comparison, about the size of one of our medium states like Minnesota--that are covered by the 2nd Amendment--whatever it means. And freedom isn't free if you take away even the most extreme options. Some people are comfortable with taking those away, apparently our current politicians are not. But in either case, if you are going to convince my family and friends about gun-control, you have to convince them that they don't have that right--as an American citizen--to that gun.) Secondly, we tend to believe the gun makes us more honest. (and no blogger has dealt with this.)
You see, all gun owners I've ever known...from my grandfather to my best friends to me all know one reality: in order for something to live, something else has to die. If you cannot believe that--even at its most extreme--you'll have a tough time understanding why people own guns. This idea, of course, has led to escalating violence throughout the course of human history. Although there have been a few Camelot-like eras, most of human history has been demarcated by violence. How, for example, did the Roman Empire fall? Did they just turn over the keys to the city? Was there an orientation for the new leaders? How did the Constitution become written? Violence is one option in a world where death is coming for you. (And it is coming, medical technology aside, does anything really think they will live forever?)
So in that world of impending death, my family and friends buy insurance and they buy guns...just in case they can put death at bay for a little while. (Of course we can't, but we don't tell the insurance agents or gun sellers that their products are a waste of money...we are too enculturated for that.) So, if you wish to talk about this to those of us in the gun culture, what are you going to offer in place of our self-delusional self protection that we have? What other response can you offer to violence other than more violence?
Here is where our Christian faith needs to take over. To realize there is another response to violence besides more violence...but here's the thing: you have to die yourself for that option. You can see why that option is not so popular, and we even have Jesus who showed us how it could be done...and even more importantly, promised us that violence will end.
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
The people I know who defend their "right" to own a gun defend it for one of two reasons: One, because it is a "right." (No blogger I have read over the past few days about the tragedy in Aurora, CO because of a very fast and deadly gun has dealt enough with this issue. That is, until the USA decides to rescind the 2nd Amendment we have to deal with the legacy of a group of guys who thought that having a few muskets around would make for a better country. It may have. And it may be that having some citizens around with very fast and deadly guns makes for a better country...unless it does not. But we have over 300 million people in this country--Norway has about 5 million as a comparison, about the size of one of our medium states like Minnesota--that are covered by the 2nd Amendment--whatever it means. And freedom isn't free if you take away even the most extreme options. Some people are comfortable with taking those away, apparently our current politicians are not. But in either case, if you are going to convince my family and friends about gun-control, you have to convince them that they don't have that right--as an American citizen--to that gun.) Secondly, we tend to believe the gun makes us more honest. (and no blogger has dealt with this.)
You see, all gun owners I've ever known...from my grandfather to my best friends to me all know one reality: in order for something to live, something else has to die. If you cannot believe that--even at its most extreme--you'll have a tough time understanding why people own guns. This idea, of course, has led to escalating violence throughout the course of human history. Although there have been a few Camelot-like eras, most of human history has been demarcated by violence. How, for example, did the Roman Empire fall? Did they just turn over the keys to the city? Was there an orientation for the new leaders? How did the Constitution become written? Violence is one option in a world where death is coming for you. (And it is coming, medical technology aside, does anything really think they will live forever?)
So in that world of impending death, my family and friends buy insurance and they buy guns...just in case they can put death at bay for a little while. (Of course we can't, but we don't tell the insurance agents or gun sellers that their products are a waste of money...we are too enculturated for that.) So, if you wish to talk about this to those of us in the gun culture, what are you going to offer in place of our self-delusional self protection that we have? What other response can you offer to violence other than more violence?
Here is where our Christian faith needs to take over. To realize there is another response to violence besides more violence...but here's the thing: you have to die yourself for that option. You can see why that option is not so popular, and we even have Jesus who showed us how it could be done...and even more importantly, promised us that violence will end.
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Week in Review, July 16-23, 2012
(editor's note: each Monday morning, I will review some of the ways I saw God in action over the past week. Although I live in Omaha, NE, I travel across the country, and get a chance to see how God moves around on a pretty regular basis. I can't tell if this will be helpful to anyone but me.)
One of the highlights of the week is INGLORIOUS PASTERS, a weekly podcast that is just gettting started. Myself, along with Teaching Elder Mark Davis of Heartland Presbyterian Church, Clive IA, are starting up a new ministry on the internet. IP--with its direct borrowing from Quentin Tarantino's movie Inglorious Basterds--is a podcast about current theology, historical theology, and biblical theology. In short, it's about theology. I have to say, Mark is truly one of the greatest gifts to my life. We've known each other for about 8 years now, and I continue to learn from him every time we talk or I read some of his stuff. The guy thinks about things, and he thinks well and from a theological point-of-view. He and I just about agree on everything, and where we differ is some of the most interesting places of conversation. He almost always believes in the best of everyone else, and the worst about himself...I am not burdened with such modesty. You can catch samples of our work on our Facebook page--and as we get the hang of it-- we hope to branch out in distribution.
This past week we recorded some conversations on "Predestination: It Could be Worse." As a Lutheran I have had exactly zero conversations about that topic over the years, as we are not too big on that framing of the concept. (We tend to use "election" or "vocation" as ways to get to talk about God's initial, or prevenient, grace.) But I did learn that I love Psalm 8 a lot. Probably for the "bulwark."
My second favorite part of the week came in finding a YouTube video of the Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler ("The Debonair Giant"). Recorded over 30 years ago, his insights were refreshing to hear, as so much of what he said then we try to say now, and so much more inelegantly. I never had a class from him (he was retired fully when I came along), but we did take in a few lectures on the Pentateuch together. (He was auditing, I think.) The world he lived in no longer exists, and the style and type of theology he knew (he calls himself a "classic Christian" which is a term nowadays we couldn't even begin to wrap our minds around) no longer is in vogue...but what he knew? Well, truth never goes out of style, even if it is hidden.
Lastly, I saw some mission in action. You can't do anything with youth these days without some type of "servant event." Getting kids and young adults out into the world to serve is practically a requirement for youth events these days. So I saw some kids tie-dye some shirts. In and of itself, nothing too spectacular, however, they were tie-dyed for other kids. In other words, somebody created something and gave it away. This is God in action.
You see, if I send a group of kids to go paint your house, there isn't too much I am asking of the kids. They are basically free labor for a project to be done. Although there may be a bit of creativity in how one paints a house, the colors, the style, everything about it is determined by everyone BUT the kids. They are just the people who paint. You can see why "mission-fatigue" sets in...it's not really mission, it's free labor and people get tired from labor. Painting a house may be missional, but it is not because you paint, but because you share in the life of someone else while you are painting. To end a project with a half-painted house and a new friend is way more missional that to end a project with a fully painted house and not even knowing the home-owners name. Habitat for Humanity is NOT mission--it's labor, and even Karl Marx would know that.
Anyhow, I am sitting in worship and some kids come up with a story about how they went and met the kids through the Boys and Girls Club. After a day they left, went and made the kids they had met a tie-dyed tshirt, and come back for another day of work and play. That's mission. The shirts were made by the kids for the kids because of the kids. That's how God works. Those shirts were gifts. God's mission--contrary to popular belief--isn't just about getting things done, God's mission is getting to know the strangers name.
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
One of the highlights of the week is INGLORIOUS PASTERS, a weekly podcast that is just gettting started. Myself, along with Teaching Elder Mark Davis of Heartland Presbyterian Church, Clive IA, are starting up a new ministry on the internet. IP--with its direct borrowing from Quentin Tarantino's movie Inglorious Basterds--is a podcast about current theology, historical theology, and biblical theology. In short, it's about theology. I have to say, Mark is truly one of the greatest gifts to my life. We've known each other for about 8 years now, and I continue to learn from him every time we talk or I read some of his stuff. The guy thinks about things, and he thinks well and from a theological point-of-view. He and I just about agree on everything, and where we differ is some of the most interesting places of conversation. He almost always believes in the best of everyone else, and the worst about himself...I am not burdened with such modesty. You can catch samples of our work on our Facebook page--and as we get the hang of it-- we hope to branch out in distribution.
This past week we recorded some conversations on "Predestination: It Could be Worse." As a Lutheran I have had exactly zero conversations about that topic over the years, as we are not too big on that framing of the concept. (We tend to use "election" or "vocation" as ways to get to talk about God's initial, or prevenient, grace.) But I did learn that I love Psalm 8 a lot. Probably for the "bulwark."
My second favorite part of the week came in finding a YouTube video of the Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler ("The Debonair Giant"). Recorded over 30 years ago, his insights were refreshing to hear, as so much of what he said then we try to say now, and so much more inelegantly. I never had a class from him (he was retired fully when I came along), but we did take in a few lectures on the Pentateuch together. (He was auditing, I think.) The world he lived in no longer exists, and the style and type of theology he knew (he calls himself a "classic Christian" which is a term nowadays we couldn't even begin to wrap our minds around) no longer is in vogue...but what he knew? Well, truth never goes out of style, even if it is hidden.
Lastly, I saw some mission in action. You can't do anything with youth these days without some type of "servant event." Getting kids and young adults out into the world to serve is practically a requirement for youth events these days. So I saw some kids tie-dye some shirts. In and of itself, nothing too spectacular, however, they were tie-dyed for other kids. In other words, somebody created something and gave it away. This is God in action.
You see, if I send a group of kids to go paint your house, there isn't too much I am asking of the kids. They are basically free labor for a project to be done. Although there may be a bit of creativity in how one paints a house, the colors, the style, everything about it is determined by everyone BUT the kids. They are just the people who paint. You can see why "mission-fatigue" sets in...it's not really mission, it's free labor and people get tired from labor. Painting a house may be missional, but it is not because you paint, but because you share in the life of someone else while you are painting. To end a project with a half-painted house and a new friend is way more missional that to end a project with a fully painted house and not even knowing the home-owners name. Habitat for Humanity is NOT mission--it's labor, and even Karl Marx would know that.
Anyhow, I am sitting in worship and some kids come up with a story about how they went and met the kids through the Boys and Girls Club. After a day they left, went and made the kids they had met a tie-dyed tshirt, and come back for another day of work and play. That's mission. The shirts were made by the kids for the kids because of the kids. That's how God works. Those shirts were gifts. God's mission--contrary to popular belief--isn't just about getting things done, God's mission is getting to know the strangers name.
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Missional Church and Convergence Christiantiy, part IV
(see parts I-III below)
To finish up this little overview of some of the promising work I see in convergence Christianity from my perspective as a missional church theologian, I want to highlight an intriguing metaphor from convergence Christianity and to offer a prayer. In neither case do I envision convergence Christianity to be lacking or wanting, but rather I am hopeful for where it seems to be flowing. There is no question to my mind that I would want to float in that water; whether folks in convergence Christianity would want me to? I cannot say...
The metaphor I have noticed that convergence Christianity uses which seems to have a great future is "wilderness." Wilderness, and all that it implies, seems to be key to any understanding of convergence. The first thing to note about the wilderness metaphor is that is cannot be controlled by humans. The second humans gain control of anything it ceases to be wilderness. Convergence Christianity holds that God, not human capacity and ability, creates the world in which we live, move, and have our being. From our human perspective, since we do not have control, this looks like wilderness.
So whether the venture is the Wild Goose Festival in the actual forests of North Carolina, or into the internet such as Darkwood Brew, convergence Christianity seems to happen in the wilderness. Dr. Elnes makes a great point in highlighting the importance of wilderness to the history of Judaism and Christianity, and he carries that metaphor into his current ministry. I think this shows great promise.
One thing I have learned over the past 25 years is that the world seems more wild each and every year. Sometimes, when I am out in some of the remotest places of this country, life seems more organized and tame than when I am here at home in the city living with about 20,000 students and another 1 million or so of my closest friends. The world seems crazy, at times even threatening, even more so dangerous...and convergence Christianity seems to say--well, that's where we meet. In the wilderness, because that's where we live...Taking seriously the world we live in (this is the deep appreciation of creation), and engaging the wildness of it all, still finding God and faith in that wildness, and then using that wildness to create new realities, new possibilities, and new relationships...well, that wilderness seems to be a great place to meet. A great place to have a prairie table.
My prayer for convergence Christianity is that is stays of God. Whenever we engage is convergence we engage from our gracious faith and gifts from God, to God, and with God. The emergent Church stuff of a few years ago never did much for me because it always seemed to be about God, rather than of God. That is, it made God the object of all the new and creative emergent stuff, it rarely seemed to get around to understanding that God was the author, painter, sculptor, talker, leader, sharer, or emerger...it was alway about how we humans could best express ourselves to God, rather than how we can understand how God expresses God's life and being to us. I pray convergence Christianity stays of God, that it continues to live and breathe as convergence because God is convergence. And that idea, seems solid to me...
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
To finish up this little overview of some of the promising work I see in convergence Christianity from my perspective as a missional church theologian, I want to highlight an intriguing metaphor from convergence Christianity and to offer a prayer. In neither case do I envision convergence Christianity to be lacking or wanting, but rather I am hopeful for where it seems to be flowing. There is no question to my mind that I would want to float in that water; whether folks in convergence Christianity would want me to? I cannot say...
The metaphor I have noticed that convergence Christianity uses which seems to have a great future is "wilderness." Wilderness, and all that it implies, seems to be key to any understanding of convergence. The first thing to note about the wilderness metaphor is that is cannot be controlled by humans. The second humans gain control of anything it ceases to be wilderness. Convergence Christianity holds that God, not human capacity and ability, creates the world in which we live, move, and have our being. From our human perspective, since we do not have control, this looks like wilderness.
So whether the venture is the Wild Goose Festival in the actual forests of North Carolina, or into the internet such as Darkwood Brew, convergence Christianity seems to happen in the wilderness. Dr. Elnes makes a great point in highlighting the importance of wilderness to the history of Judaism and Christianity, and he carries that metaphor into his current ministry. I think this shows great promise.
One thing I have learned over the past 25 years is that the world seems more wild each and every year. Sometimes, when I am out in some of the remotest places of this country, life seems more organized and tame than when I am here at home in the city living with about 20,000 students and another 1 million or so of my closest friends. The world seems crazy, at times even threatening, even more so dangerous...and convergence Christianity seems to say--well, that's where we meet. In the wilderness, because that's where we live...Taking seriously the world we live in (this is the deep appreciation of creation), and engaging the wildness of it all, still finding God and faith in that wildness, and then using that wildness to create new realities, new possibilities, and new relationships...well, that wilderness seems to be a great place to meet. A great place to have a prairie table.
My prayer for convergence Christianity is that is stays of God. Whenever we engage is convergence we engage from our gracious faith and gifts from God, to God, and with God. The emergent Church stuff of a few years ago never did much for me because it always seemed to be about God, rather than of God. That is, it made God the object of all the new and creative emergent stuff, it rarely seemed to get around to understanding that God was the author, painter, sculptor, talker, leader, sharer, or emerger...it was alway about how we humans could best express ourselves to God, rather than how we can understand how God expresses God's life and being to us. I pray convergence Christianity stays of God, that it continues to live and breathe as convergence because God is convergence. And that idea, seems solid to me...
May your tables be full, and your conversations be true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)