The language of engagement

Ephesians 4:11-13

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

As our learning community met this week, one of the common themes we encountered was the lack of clarity and uniformity in the language we use to engage with others.

Words move in and out of fashion as culture changes and, to engage effectively, we must be conversant with the language peculiar to the group we are encountering - not so that we can emit trendy sound bytes but so that we can converse intelligently with those around.

Currently, communities are increasingly concerned with health and well being - our church halls are filled with diet and exercise groups and local authority employees speak of the health and well being of communities and seek ways to deliver programmes that contribute positively to those facets of life.

While the last thing we need in local congregations is another programme or activity that taps into this agenda, it is possible to embrace the language, promoting Spiritual health and well being as part of the holistic care for our community.

Gauging the Spiritual health of the body of Christ and encouraging faith communities to care for souls wherever their daily life and work is focussed allows us to remain conversant with our communities and to be concerned with their concerns, building up the body of Christ, heart, mind and soul, releasing all those different gifts and growing together in community.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast*

Matthew 16:21-23

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

I recently spent 5 days on a cruise ship with 50 other women clergy exploring the paradigm shifts that have changed the culture around us leaving the church scrabbling to somehow catch up and find a new place in this changing landscape.

Now, safely back on dry land, journeying through the season of Lent, I'm rediscovering the same dilemma in the disciples as they accompanied Jesus on the way to Jerusalem:

Jesus kept on speaking of his impending suffering and death but the disciples had a whole other notion of Messiah-ship, so they failed to understand. Then. They did, however, have that unequivocal teaching of Jesus echoing in their minds when they needed it most.

It's that kind of challenge that makes transitioning so difficult in many churches today. We tweak what we are doing to try and be a bit more culturally relevant. We put on more and better programmes designed to better feed those who are there and attract those who are not. But, for many, both in the church and outside the church, their notion of church, formed over years of positive and negative experiences is so ingrained that other possibilities are inconceivable. Changing the cultural imagination takes much longer than changing programmes.

But now is the time to make a start. Now, when there are enough signs of decline to make us desperate enough to act yet enough life left to make transition possible. Now, when God is calling the church into a whole new age of discovery and adventure, a whole re-imagining of what it means to be disciples. Now is the time to engage with the out of date culture that is perpetuated in the church while at the same time engaging with the vastly different culture that exists beyond th sanctuary walls. It is time to pick up the mantle and be disciples with Jesus' mandate ringing in our ears: Go into all the world and make disciples.

(*The title of the RevGalBlogPals Continuing Ed event January 2016, BE9)

What we think we know...

In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.

T S Elliot

As the children of God journeyed through the wilderness, they were accompanied by visible signs of God's presence, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. These signs dictated when they should be on the move and when they should stay put.

As time went on, Moses built the Ark of the Covenant to house the Ten Commandments and to symbolise God's faithful presence accompanying the people in all their wandering.

Eventually, Solomon built a temple to house the presence of the Lord and the priests administered and interpreted the things of God.

Even today, priests and ministers are perceived to preside over the Spirit of God in our communities and in the world, operating programmes out of buildings erected for that purpose. Even when the programme involves moving out of the sanctuary, still it is regulated and controlled by the professional whose job it is to keep all things "in good order".

This phase of Path of Renewal invests in those paid staff, ministers used to operating within the confines of buildings and parishes wherein the Spirt of God is contained. The challenge and call is not to abandon those places where, despite our best efforts at containment, God's spirit is yet able to emerge and impact lives - but also to risk venturing out, seeking and acknowledging the presence of God's Spirit in all the unlikely places, not least in the children whom God calls beloved.

Acts 7:48-50

Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands; as the prophet says,

‘Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hand make all these things?’

God is in our sanctuaries but is not confined there.

God inhabits the street corners, the playing fields, the dog parks of our communities - and more - God inhabits the lives of those who frequent those places in our neighbourhood.

Our calling is to be faithful in serving the affairs of the Spirit manifest in our buildings but also to recognise and promote the activity of God's Spirit that roams freely in our world, changing lives without programme or plan or even expectation.

Our calling is to be awake to those signs of the Spirit at work, to celebrate lives changed and purpose rediscovered, to lay down our need to corral and control, sharing the wonder that God continues to dwell in the life of the world.

Unlearning what we think we know and learning all those new things that Christ sought to reveal and continues to unfold to us by the Spirit - those are the tasks that will take us further along a Path of Renewal.

We have not been this way before...

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” 
― Rainer Maria Rilke

As the Path of Renewal Pilot Project gets underway, it seems like we're having to wind everything back. To navigate a course for which no map has been drawn and to discover, not answers, but the questions that we should be asking. That demands a huge adjustment for folk used to initiating and driving. Our default mode is to get things up and running, to step out hoping that others will follow in our wake.

But being involved in the Mission of God, requires, above all, discernment. The kind of discernment that involves stepping back, listening carefully and waiting. Not an easy place to be, not a comfortable environment from which to invite others to join us.

Once again, we find inspiration, community and encouragement in stories.

Stories of the people of God throughout the ages who embarked on journeys to destinations they could only dream about along paths they had yet to discover. 

Stories of the unlikely companions Jesus invited to accompany him on a journey and the surprising encounters they had on the way.

And stories of our communities, places where we see God already at work and the excitement of discerning God's spirit in people and in places we could never have imagined.

The story is still being written, questions still being formed as the Spirit weaves a new narrative, forging an intricate pattern of mystery and intrigue, of daring and invitation, a call to lay down our sat navs so that we can be diverted from our pre conceived notions into a whole new realm of possibility.

We have not been this way before so we make space to listen to the voice of God's spirit who greets us in stillness and sits with us awhile until we have gleaned the first steps of the new path and, above all, have tuned in to the slow work of love and of grace, markers for journey ahead.

Light on the path

Ezra 3:10-13

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel;

and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”

And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.

Having set myself the challenge to blog the Narrative Lectionary as a spiritual discipline during Advent, I encountered passages of Scripture not normally associated with that Liturgical season, appreciating the new perspective that they brought to familiar themes.

These verses in Ezra also struck a chord for Path of Renewal.

Although, on the whole, there is excitement about the potential for the Pilot, as time wears on, it is anticipated that both those reactions modelled by the priests and the people - shouts of joy, enthusiastic response, alongside a longing for the old days, when attractional church seemed to work, are bound to emerge.

There is lots of positivity and encouragement, goodwill and  momentum around the Path of Renewal just now, but what about when the first hurdles are encountered?

Without totally destroying the mood of optimism that is present, what about when the going gets a bit more difficult?

The voices of those who long for the old ways that are subdued for now won't always be hushed. Tthe cynics will be waiting in the wings.

And, often, we take more notice of critics than advocates.

So our grounding, our faith, our ability to return to the reasons we have been motivated for and called to this project will need revisiting frequently.

When it becomes difficult to distinguish the weeping from the shouts for joy, may we discern a path of renewal that builds on all that was good while forging a way forward alongside God.

Journeying with Scripture, be it those familiar and well loved passages or words revealed in a new light will be an important discipline along the way.

Daring to risk

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and blood,

and moved into the neighborhood.

We saw the glory with our own eyes,

the one-of-a-kind glory,

like Father, like Son,

Generous inside and out,

true from start to finish.

Our visits around the country, with congregations involved in discerning whether the Path of Renewal is right for them at this time are almost complete.

Next week, we meet to choose the pilot congregations.

This stage has been positive and encouraging : so many parishes are enthusiastic about engaging with God in mission and, in particular, about being part of a project that promises companionship along the way.

Many of the congregations we have met have affirmed that engaging with the questions raised so far has helped them to reflect on where they are and consider possibilities of where God might be leading them - and so, for them, the journey has already begun.

There is a desire to equip and resource Christians to share their faith in their daily lives

Congregations have expressed how they have felt valued by being included in the discernment process, countering the isolation that many experience.

There has been excitement about the possibility of being involved in a national project, the opportunity of journeying with others, sharing insights and encouragement and daring each other to take risks, as well as the acknowledgement that, even in "failure", or when outcomes are not as anticipated, there is much to be learned.

Although some folk have, understandably, been frustrated by the lack of a specific programme or even measurable outcomes, many others have welcomed the notion of the path of renewal in their communities being shaped by context and by the unpredictable spirit of God.

There are signs that God is already renewing communities throughout Scotland and that many congregations have gifts and skills to be involved in that.

In transitional terms, as described by William Bridges, many of the leaders in congregations who will participate in Path of Renewal have already embraced or are close to embracing the ending of one thing and are preparing the enter the Neutral Zone that will lead to new beginnings. It's a messy, challenging but extremely creative place to be, where support and encouragement is key. But it is also a place full of opportunity to discern God at work in the neighbourhood.

We look forward to continuing the journey together with God.

Where is God

Diana Butler Bass, in "Grounded," talks of the demolishing of the three tier world in which God exists in heaven, humans exist on earth and, further down, there is an underworld that we hope to avoid.

This perspective was largely laid to rest after the first and second world wars when, in the rubble, folk were asking: "Where is God?" It was clear that only a God who would be alongside people in their suffering, not some remote being far removed from reality, would make any sense at all in a world changed beyond recognition.

This weekend, as senseless acts of terrorism were unleashed on Baghdad, Beirut and Paris, once again, we confront the question:Where is God?"and, once again,we see God in the ashes and the rubble, in emergency and relief workers, in fleeing and frightened refugees. Hell is no longer a place to be avoided. Hell stalks the lives of countless men, women and children caught up in violence perpetrated by fellow human beings, often in the name of religion. Religion itself has become a term that, rather than drawing people together in community and in a quest for God, has become largely associated with extremism and barbarity. But if Hell is no longer remote, neither is Heaven where the remote, benign God was deemed to dwell. Glimpses of heaven, too, are found among the carnage. In those who protected others. In those who opened their homes to strangers, offering a place to rest and find safety. In those who headed toward danger to rescue and comfort victims. Only a God who is present in all that afflicts our world makes any sense today. We have no use for a God who is so far removed as to be uninvolved in human suffering. Many folk, who have not already rejected any notion of God out of hand, yearn for a God whose presence can be discerned in the here and now, in the unfathomable horrors of life and, in the very ordinary routine of everyday. A God who is not far off but all around us is the God with whom humans want to connect to fill the void that many experience in their spiritual quest, a quest that pervades every day, in times of communal mourning and in the mundanity of life. Those who seek to find meaning in Spiritual things are employing very different questions and means of discovery, searching for an intimacy with God that was previously largely unimagined or reserved for a few. Today, those who seek God, seek a God who is within reach, intimately involved in the experience of human life. And as the quest for God and for spiritual connectedness is changing, so too, must our language about this God shift and change and connect with the questions that folk are now asking. Unless we are to leave God inert in the carnage of human tragedy, we must find a new way to speak of and reveal a God who is closer than our breathing, a God who leaks out in our tears, a God who surprises us with glimpses of light in our darkness, a God who weeps with us.