“The Emerging Church…Emerging from
What?”
Spirit of Peace UCC
February 17, 2008
John 3: 1-17
Rev. Jean Morrow
I do love when the story of
Nicodemus from the Gospel of John comes up in the lectionary. There is something for everyone in this
story. There is emotion and passion to
feed the heart. There are subtleties,
literary nuances, give and take in dialogue to tickle the intellect. There is enough word play, misunderstanding,
irony and love woven through this very rich text to capture every reader’s interest.
This morning, I want to
nominate Nicodemus as Patron Saint of the UCC.
Many people think that Doubting Thomas is the Patron Saint, but this
morning Thomas needs to move over to make room for Nicodemus. Here we find a highly educated man…a respected
leader in the synagogue, a member of the most devout order of Judaism, a Pharisee… this upstanding member of the community
is going by dark of night to talk with a strange prophet who has wandered into
town. He would be wiser not to go at
all, not to risk tarnishing his reputation in any way…but his heart is
searching…there is something in this itinerant preacher’s teachings and actions
that have spoken to Nicodemus’ heart…and he longs to know more…so he goes to
see Jesus.
And when they talk, Nicodemus
steps out of the comfort zone of his old faith world into a new dimension of
faith…a whole new faith world…and in the give and take between them, Nicodemus
attempts to live between the old and the new…he attempts to hold onto and live
into the tension that is sometimes created between heart and mind…and it is that
openness to believe that God might be working in new ways, that courage to
explore, that willingness to live in the tension of old and new, of heart and
intellect …it is for those reasons that is he has earned the status of patron
saint of the UCC…at least for me.
This past week I was
fortunate enough to travel to Chamberlain for a UCC Pastor’s retreat and one of
our presenters was Dr. Randi Walker, professor of church history from PSR. She was my seminary professor for UCC history.
Dr. Walker has recently
published a book entitled “Evolution of a UCC Style” and during her workshops,
she reminded us of our history. Some of
it was basic. She reminded us that the
church that existed in the first century didn’t fit for the fifth century…and
the church of the fifth century didn’t fit in the fifteenth century. The church of the 1950s didn’t fit in the
1980s…and perhaps the church of the 1980s doesn’t fit now. The church has always been evolving. She encouraged us to remember that the
Reformation opened the door for ongoing reform…it wasn’t a one-time-only
occurrence. And she lectured at some
length about the important way the historic roots of the UCC reacted to the
outcome of the Reformation.
According to Dr. Walker, the
Reformation brought about a great proliferation of theologies…but that
proliferation seemed to fuel the Christian community’s inclination to enforce
uniformity of both belief and practice…the end result being increased violence
in the Christian community. By the end
of the 17th century, two movements arose, both fostered from the
weariness and frustration associated with dogmatic in-fighting and violence. Historians have named one movement the
Enlightenment and the other movement Pietism.
The Enlightenment centered in human reason or the intellect, if you
will, and Pietism centered in human feeling, or the heart.
Though they came at religion
and the world from two different perspectives, interestingly enough, both movements
shared similarities. They both had a
high regard for human experience as a source of truth and authority…they both
considered nature God’s other book, a place of revelation…they both rejected
unexamined claims for the authority of dogma…both rejected or at least
critiqued the connection of church and state…both saw Christian character
rather than creedal confession as the measure of one’s faithfulness to the
Gospel…and both influenced the traditions of the United Church of Christ. Dr. Walker asserted that theologians from all
four historic roots attempted to hold the essence and tension of these two
movements together. Head
and heart, reason and feeling.
I share all of this as a
backdrop because, with Saint Nicodemus as my guide and the UCC as my foundation,
I have been lately feeding my curiosity of the new while holding on to the
old. Over the past several years, there
have been articles sprinkled throughout magazines like Sojourners, Christian Century
and The Progressive Christian, about
the “emerging church” or the emergent movement within the church.
If you have the opportunity
to visit with young seminarians…and by
young, I mean the under 30 somethings, many will talk
eagerly about the “emerging” church and are quick to suggest that we over 30 somethings won’t recognize the church of the future. In my 50 something way, I find myself
building a little wall of resistance…but, at the same time, I am curious about
their vision of how we are called together as God’s people. Their world, their approach to the world and possibly
their approach to the world as “Christians” is different than mine.
How different? I’m not entirely sure, but let me demonstrate
why I think there is a difference.
How many people here, like
me, were born before 1963? We are the
oldest people in the room…and my guess is that sometimes we feel like
immigrants in our fast moving, fast changing world. We still have one foot in
the old world…the one we grew up in.
But, when it comes to church, we are the natives. We know what’s expected and how it
works. We actually know and use words
like pews, chancel, narthex, steeple, liturgy and Eucharist. Bulletin is a church word. Unchurched folks
are more likely to call them programs.
How many of you were born
after 1984? You are the natives to this new,
fast-paced world. You have grown up in a
culture that is more technological, more pluralistic, and more unchurched with more negative attitudes towards the
church. So, many in your age group are
immigrants when they come into a church.
They may have only been in churches for weddings and funerals. Not attending church doesn’t mean their
thirst for authentic spiritual lives is any less than anyone else’s…but they
may not turn to the church to explore their questions or have their spiritual
needs met.
How many of you were born
between 1963 and 1984? More than likely,
you have a foot in both worlds…which, I am guessing, is both enriching and
confusing.
The reason I picked the years
1963 and 1984 is because of an article I read that suggested that these two
years provide markers in time for contemporary cultural change. In 1963, I bet we all had the same
telephone. It was black, with a dial and
it stayed in one location. If you wanted
to use it, you went to it. And we used
it for one purpose…to talk. No texting,
no Itunes, no watching movies, no making movies, no taking
pictures…you talked.
But, it was also in 1963, in
a small town in
1984 is a little more
random. I think that was the year I got
my first computer, on my desk, at work…it changed my life. Though there wasn’t internet at that time…and
we weren’t even networked…I loved my computer…and I think you understand that
time does not allow me to innumerate the ways the world… and the ways we engage
the world…have changed since then.
Though our experiences are
different, we all have spiritual longings, needs and questions. So, what kind of worshipping communities are
emerging from the 1984s and younger? You
get a feel for this movement by just listening to the names of some of their…dare
I say?...churches.
There is The Living Room, Solomon’s Porch, The Ooze, Tribal Generation, Axxess, Matthew’s House, Levi’s Table, Headspace, The
Landing Place, Ikon, ReImagine,
the Warehouse, and an interesting one located in
There is quite a bit written
about the emerging church. I would like
to offer two perspectives or definitions, taken from the book “Emerging
Churches.”
Mark Scandrette
of the ReImagine! community
in
“Emerging Church” authors
Gibbs and Bolger offer this definition:
Emerging churches 1.) identify with the life of
Jesus; 2.) transform the secular realm, and 3.) live highly communal lives.
Because of these three activities, they 4.) welcome the stranger, 5.) serve
with generosity, 6.) create as created beings, 7.) lead as a body, and 8.) take part
in spiritual activities.
These quotes give you an idea
of how the emerging church is understood from within. I read an article by an emerging church
planter who said that with the emergent church one doesn’t need a building, but
rather a place to gather…in cafes, living rooms, parks, parking lots; there
should be no dualism between secular and sacred; there is a sharing of gifts
and experiences; music is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, but should authentically
reflect those who gather. One of the
most interesting things this person said was they embody what is called an
ancient-future faith; they often sustain themselves through ancient spiritual
practices that were concealed and obscured during the Reformation and
Enlightenment eras. Like labyrinth
walking, perhaps? Like Ash Wednesday
rituals?
Another writer said that
those participating in the emerging church movement do not want to suppress
their hearts to only give expression to their faith through intellect…and they
don’t want to suppress their intellect to only give expression to their faith
through their hearts. They long for a wholistic, whole-person, whole-being experience of God upon
which they will base and build their faith.
We are back to Nicodemus and the UCC, aren’t we? This sense of whole-person,
whole-being, head and heart? And,
a lot of what I read sounded a great deal like us, the community of Spirit of
Peace UCC.
I’ve often thought of us as a
transformational church…transforming our lives and the world around us through
a way of life shown to us by Jesus…and I’ve thought of
us as a evolutionary church…evolving as the culture around us changes and
evolves. But now, I am thinking we could
embrace the descriptor emerging.
Emerging from what? Emerging from
our deep biblical history…emerging from our deep denominational history that
honors a world that is changing and a God who is present and at work within
that change, emerging from our current culture.
That’s a lot to hold together.
We are emerging our way…which
might be a UCC way…which is to grow and extend the established church in new
ways while honoring and respecting the old ways…but we are emerging and we are
trying to be present to and listen to how God is calling us into this new day
in new ways.
The natives in our new world
will find communities of meaning somewhere, because the desire for authentic
faith is growing in waves around us. Our
particular way of faith…holding head and heart, old and new together…and
ancient-future faith…is beginning to be heard again and is being explored
again. We are well-poised to be a
community that has something life-transforming to offer…and it is my greatest
hope that we keep our hearts and heads open to the Spirit that is alive and
growing in new ways around us and that, like Nicodemus, we are willing to take
some risks to invite that Spirit into our lives and the life of this church.
May the Spirit move deeply within each of us and deeply in this community.