Text:
Luke
21: 5-6
5When some
were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and
gifts dedicated to God, [Jesus] said, 6“As for these things that you
see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will
be thrown down.”
In last Sunday's scriptures, the prophets and Jesus were critiquing the ways
people worshiped. In today’s brief verses
from Luke we hear Jesus predicting the destruction of the lavishly adorned
Temple, the locus of Jewish worship. According to the writer of
Luke, Jesus foresaw that even the ancient, imposing Temple was
ephemeral—and as Jesus will intimate later in the same chapter, institutions
are especially vulnerable during periods of social upheaval.
We, too, live in a time when the demise of religious practices and
institutions are widely predicted. Every
day another article announces that Christianity is dying, that 8,000 to 10,000
church doors will close this year in the U.S., that the Millennials are leaving
the church in droves, that more and more young adults identify as spiritual but
not religious and fewer and fewer Americans attend religious services, that one
in five adults have no religious affiliation and nearly 1 in 3 adults under 30 are
religiously unaffiliated.
Why,
you might have wondered, would anyone START a new church in such an
unpropitious climate? Isn’t that as foolish as starting
a local newspaper or buying a Blockbuster franchise these days?
IF
you insist on starting a new church in Mobile, Alabama, surely you’d be smart enough
to know that only conservative Christians are still interested in church. Surely you’d pitch your church to folks who
want assurances that the Bible has clear answers for all life’s questions and
then you’d provide those answers. Surely
you’d craft an invitation to people that sounds welcoming but would make
certain people wonder if they’d really be included, which would then insure
that you could exclude some while only seeming to include everyone. Surely you’d have a normal (that is, male)
pastor and use words and images that reinforce a patriarchal culture. And surely you’d create emotionally charged
worship services pulsating with praise band music and MC’d by a charismatic
young preacher.
Oops.
Instead,
you and I have set out to offer a liberal and liberating Gospel to Mobilians. Consider this diagram in which the
horizontal axis represents people in our community who self-identify as
nonreligious on one extreme and highly religious on the other. Intersecting that axis is a vertical line running from highly
progressive to highly conservative:*
PROGRESSIVE
I
I
NOT
RELIGIOUS -------------- I------------ RELIGIOUS
I
I
CONSERVATIVE
In 2009 the first participants of Open
Table were drawn mainly from the few nonreligious progressives in our city, represented in the upper left quadrant. Although
progressive religious people (upper right) would have been in some ways our
ideal target audience, most “religious” people are already active in church and
my aim was not to siphon off members from existing churches. Instead, I felt that some nonreligious folks might
still think of themselves as spiritual, and perhaps some nonreligious progressives might
value a community working toward social transformation together. I also thought current Christian theology
could be translated in ways that made sense to postmoderns. I certainly wasn’t
setting a trap for nonreligious progressives out of a desire to save someone’s soul. I just believed there were people with a
religious-y zeal for changing the world and spiritual impulses to fuel them,
and I thought these people might be surprised to hear ways Christian
theology—influenced by science and other world religions—was evolving and expanding. I
pitched Open Table to the very people who were least likely to darken (or
brighten!) our doors. I welcomed religious progressives, of course,
but I thought my primary audience would identify as nonreligous/spiritual and progressive. And our earliest members came from this
section.
I
hoped to have access to religious conservatives, since that is by far the largest
demographic group in our culture, but I knew my own journey from conservative
evangelicalism to Christian progressivism took years. I knew people in the lower right quadrant would have
to be especially hearty and patient to hang with us long enough to “get”
us and get something from us. Also, since
including LGBT folks in our faith community was a nonnegotiable for me, and
since most conservatives in our culture do not affirm LGBT people (though that’s
changing!), I thought we’d be unlikely to attract many from the lower right quadrant. But in some ways I
was wrong about that, and I’m glad I was. (As far as
I know, we have not attracted anyone who is anti-religion and conservative.)
Open
Table’s first participants probably labeled themselves as liberals or
progressives, though I must apologize for using unhelpful and divisive labels to
make a point. Many had left the church
years before because Christianity had become a list of fourteen impossible things
you had to believe before breakfast—instead of a path of peace, of way of
compassion, a yearning for the More. I was
gambling that even in Mobile there would be people who might love being
included in a faith community that loved and lived the big questions, hungered for
the challenge of a more expansive theology, longed for companions for the
journey, and hoped to include folks that others might exclude. Many of our founding members were surprised
to find themselves back in church and some were embarrassed to tell friends and
family where they were spending their Sunday evenings. That first group of Open
Table participants appreciated finding a haven for progressives in an
overwhelmingly conservative culture.
Once
Open Table began advertising, we reached new folks whom we were thrilled to
include and love—but who had different backgrounds and needs and expectations
of church and ways of reading the Bible.
These new members were less interested in rethinking Church and
reimaging God—and were more interested in finding a safe and supportive faith
community.
I
kept assuring the first group that they really could ditch the dogma and
stretch their concepts of God and appreciate the Bible’s metaphors and exercise
their faith through political protest. Then
I had to assure the second and subsequent groups that we truly are a Christian
communion and our bottom line is Jesus’ bottom line: loving God and neighbor. Perhaps that is when we started becoming a
real congregation rather than a single interest group, because the labels
couldn’t contain us and the layers of diversity continued to be peeled back to expose the hard but rewarding work of community formation.
Recently
I’ve dusted off a book from seminary titled Worlds
Within A Congregation: Dealing With Theological Diversity.[i]
The author, W. Paul Jones, pleads for what he calls “internal ecumenism” (20). As you know, ecumenism is the call to
Christians of different denominations to find common ground. But Jones is saying that in every
congregation there are people with diverse theologies who have to learn to talk
a common language and work toward common purposes. He even believes that theological diversity
within a particular congregation is not only normal but should be celebrated and
encouraged. To better understand our own
lens on the world and to appreciate others’ differing theology, we'll consider Jones' five basic theological worldviews—which account for many of our worship
preferences.
His
book contains a 62-question inventory that helps readers recognize their own
theological worlds. But because of limited time, we’re going to cheat. I’ll simply describe these 5 world
views and ask you to spend some time deciding which of these categories best captures your primary theological view.
Later we’ll divide into groups and experience prayer in a way that might
be most comfortable to persons in that particular theological group. Paul Jones
believes that the more you’re aware of the variety of theological perspectives
in your church and the clearer you are about your own “theological foundation,”
“the less threatened [you] will be by others’ theologies (21).
These
five theological worlds are not mutually exclusive, of course. You may visit all of them from time to time, but you might identify most strongly with one or two.
Let
me walk you through the 5 theological worldviews. Note that this is not a list of what you
believe and which doctrines you ascribe to.
After reading about each of the worldviews, you’ll move to the prayer
station assigned to your primary worldview and follow the directions for that
prayer station. Your group will conclude with a small group communion experience.
5 Theological Worlds
(Descriptions
of the world and the liturgy are from Jones, pp. 145-150. The interactive prayer activities are mine.)
1. Your theological world: Your
journey is from isolation to unity. Key
question: Where am I? You have feelings of
separation or longing leading to mystery, unity, and peace.
The
liturgy of world one: Best experienced in an atmosphere of mystery,
with a taste for candles and receding shadows. Sacred experience touches the
outer edges of knowing and being. Even a
quiet, darkened, peaceful room will do. Liturgy is valued more for its poetry than
its concepts. When leaving, the
worshiper wants to have experienced centered silence, periods of timeless peace
with a promised wholeness.
Your
prayer: Sit comfortably before the unifying Christ Candle,
noticing the movement of the flame or your own breathing. Recall that the oxygen that fills your lungs
also feeds that flame. Let your gentle breathing be your prayer.
2. Your theological world: Your
journey is from oppression to liberation.
Key question: What can be done?
Feelings of anger and frustration lead to vision, commitment,
focus.
The
liturgy of world two: You are uneasy with mystery, silence. You want to hear prophetic, challenging
declarations and calls to action. Rather
than a vision of transcending differences, World 2 people must enter boldly
into the cleavages of good and evil, rich and poor, working for a new earth
here and now. The worship space would have pamphlets, posters, bulletin
boards, and sign-up sheets. (Or the worship
space might ideally be a park where the homeless gather for food, and holy communion
is the peanut butter sandwiches the church blesses and shares with the hungry
ones. See Rev. Jerry Herships' ministry with AfterHours Denver.**)
Your
prayer: With the paper and markers provided, create
protest posters for a cause your group chooses and as a way to pray for justice. Choose the slogans on your posters
thoughtfully, prayerfully.
3. Your theological world: Your
journey is from insignificance to belovedness. Key question: Who am I? Feelings of emptiness and invisibility yield
to feelings of belonging, assertiveness, self-realization.
Liturgy
of world three: Worship is a
warm, gentle family event with lots of story sharing, lots of affirmation,
nurture. The mood is upbeat. Worship has
happened for world 3 people when they leave feeling “I was fully myself today.”
Your
prayer:
In your small group, let each person
tell a story about a worship experience that he/she has had. This might be a positive or negative
experience. Offer thanks for opportunities to come together for spiritual nurture.
4. Your theological world. You
journey from failure to acceptance. Key question: Who or what can restore
me? Feelings of guilt, conscience give
way to feelings of being accepted, adopted, claimed, forgiven.
Liturgy
of world four: Worshipers believe confession is good for the soul and
prefer scriptures and sermons about repentance and forgiveness which rest upon
Christ’s atonement. Favorite hymns are
the “I” ones because salvation or spiritual growth is primarily an individual
rather than communal experience. “I once
was lost, but now am found, twas blind but now I see.”
Your
prayer:
Reflect on the events of this day. Recall
words you’ve said, thoughts, behaviors and interactions you’ve had, things you
have failed to do. Write on a slip of paper provided something you regret doing
or not doing. Now try to regard that imperfect act or attitude in the way that
the Divine Source of Compassion might.
Imagine a loving voice speaking forgiveness to you. Now burn that piece of paper and give thanks
for God’s grace that lets us learn from the past and move forward into a fresh
future.
5. Your theological world: Moves from
survival to integrity. Key question: Can I make it? Key feelings: Being overwhelmed
and weary give way to feelings of strength, hope.
Liturgy
of world five: The music of blues and jazz captures the mood
of this world. The prayers of the people
that rise from the week’s pains and struggles are crucial in worship life of
group 5. And the prayers focus on asking
for strength to endure. The music helps
worshipers to let go of the pain. Just as life itself is often without much
pattern, the worship service just flows, is not rigidly structured.
Your
prayer:
Write collaboratively some additional verses to “We Shall Overcome.” When several verses have been added, discuss
in your group what these additional verses mean to you, maybe sharing a story
from your own life to explain why you wanted to add a particular verse. Then
sing together these two original verses, below, and the new verses you’ve
composed.
We
shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome some day.
Oh
deep in my heart, I do believe. We shall
overcome some day.
We
shall live in peace, we shall live in peace, we shall live in peace
some
day.
Oh
deep in my heart, I do believe. We shall
live in peace some day.
SHARING IN
HOLY COMMUNION
At
the sound of the chimes, the groups will conclude their prayers of different
types and someone in each group will, in their own words and maybe with help
from the group, relate the story of the last supper Jesus shared with his
followers. Pause for a silent prayer of
thanks for the life of Jesus that lives on through us. Then share the bread and cup at your prayer
station with one another in whatever way you wish.
[i] Jones,
W. Paul. Worlds Within A Congregation: Dealing With Theological Diversity. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000.
* I borrowed this diagram from a recent discussion session of UCC clergy and laity meeting for Extravagant UCC in Cleveland.
** See an example of such a ministry at https://www.facebook.com/pages/AfterHours-Denver/100700400022534 .
* I borrowed this diagram from a recent discussion session of UCC clergy and laity meeting for Extravagant UCC in Cleveland.
** See an example of such a ministry at https://www.facebook.com/pages/AfterHours-Denver/100700400022534 .
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