Epiphany, January 6th, 2010
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you in this New Year! I write this on the day known traditionally in the Church as the Feast of the Epiphany, which at one time ranked with Easter and Pentecost as one of the three principal Christian festivals. Epiphany was a time for celebrating God’s manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, symbolized by the visit of the magi, the baptism of Jesus being celebrated on the first Sunday after Epiphany.
Today, I believe, the Church is experiencing another epiphany. Many have referred to this modern day epiphany as ‘Emerging Christianity’ or ‘Emerging Spirit’. Sometimes it is simply called “The Great Emergence”. Here I share some thoughts, based on a talk I gave at a special meeting of our Siloam Church Council called by our Chair, Teresa Stoyle, this past October. It is based on research I have done over the last couple of years, and particularly draws on the work of one of the most important writers in this field, Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, (Baker Books, Grand Rapids Michigan, 2008.)
What is Emerging Church or Emerging Christianity? Basically the Great Emergence is the name we give to the current upheaval that is happening all across western culture and to some extent even globally. It tries to name something that happens every five hundred years.
According to Anglican Bishop Mark Dyer, every 500 years the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale. We are living through one such rummage sale right now. All you need to do is go back in history and you will see that every 500 years or so, the church ‑and the world‑ experience huge social, political, economic, and cultural shifts. (By the way, this is a phenomenon that appears in Judaism and Islam too. If you look at these religions, you will see that there is a similar cycling.)
To be succinct, it would seem that it takes 500 years for us to encrust everything we love about the faith and turn it into a hard shell and then break out of it again. Scholars have identified at least five such rummage sales or upheavals in history:
1. TODAY – THE GREAT EMERGENCE
2. Martin Luther – October 1517. The Great Reformation.
3. The Great Schism. 1051. The separation of Roman or Latin Christianity as each goes their own ways.
4. Fall of Rome and Gregory the Great (b.540) and Benedict (500) and the rise of Monasticism.
5. The Great Transformation = the change of the eras – the end of the Axiel Age and the beginning of the Common Era.
These rummage sales, tsunamis or upheavals (whatever you want to call them) involve a total shift in how society exists. This shift can be seen in society, religion, economics, politics and culture. When there’s a rummage sale, everything in experience changes. Indeed, a change occurs in everything that has informed life up until now.
This is where we are today. Everything has changed. For example, think about some of the changes that have taken place in the last 100 years or so. In 1900, 14 % of our population lived in cities. Our grandparents were rooted in the country. They grew their own food. They worshipped in the same little country church their parents or grandparents had built and worshipped in. They walked to school with the kids from their church and often they married the girl or boy next door. Mom was a stay-at-home Mom. There was no such thing as Sunday shopping or ball games or hockey on Sundays. Instead Sunday lunch was spent down the road at Grandma’s house, where Grandma would often quiz the grandchildren on what they had learned at Sunday School. With the coming of the automobile, however, Grandma eventually lost her kingdom of influence and church attendance dropped off dramatically. But back in 1900 most people were still rooted and grounded in the country, in the church and in the local rural community. Today, in 2010, over 82% of the population live in cities.
Back then what the preacher said on Sunday morning was seldom challenged (probably not a good thing!) and for the most part it was also the only place people learned the faith. Today we have what is often referred to as “Watercooler Theology”, which simply means that public opinion is more important than what the preacher has to say. What gets discussed at work around the watercooler or on the net has greater impact on people. It also leads to an exchange of ideas and practices among people of different denominations and even people of different religious backgrounds.
Back in 1900 nearly everyone lived in a traditional family arrangement. The nuclear family consisting of Dad, Mom and the kids was the norm. Today slightly more than half of us do not live in the traditional family unit. (With the advent of the Pill in 1960, families are smaller too. More women are in the workforce as well.)
Back then Dad worked the land or had a job in town that carried him through his whole life. Today people not only change jobs but careers on a regular basis. Experts tell us that our children and grandchildren can expect to have as many as six different careers (not just six different jobs) in their lifetimes.
Today we live in a world of emergent-economics. What this means is that our economic problems are everybody’s problems. (We saw this just a year and a half ago when the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States led to an economic recession of global proportions, resulting in the near collapse of the auto industry, the loss of jobs and the ruin of many lives.) What this means is that the world is indeed flat and we had better get used to it.
Back in 1900 -- before everyone had cars, radios, television sets, computers, cell phones and i-pods – information traveled much more slowly. Computers have changed all that. In the last year we have witnessed the power of one of the latest inventions -- the Pedaflop - a machine that can manage a quadrillion different computations in only one second! We are inundated with information! In fact, when we come home at night we are exhausted from all the information we get during the day. Yet the very first thing many of us do is head for the computer for more information! (I confess, I am a computer junkie too!)
I could name many other examples of how life has changed. The point is that the Great Emergence is affecting every part of life. Emergent Christianity is simply the form of Christianity that is coming out of this upheaval.
What does this revolutionary evolution mean for the church? Basically it means that what we are going through is normal. Every 500 years of so the Church holds a gigantic rummage sale, so that whatever has held pride of place before gets shoved out of that place of pride. But it does not die. For example, the Roman Catholic Church did not die with the Reformation. It simply had to give pride of place to Protestantism. This is true of the previous upheavals in history too. With the fall of Rome around 500 C.E., the traditions of the Ancient Church did not die. In fact, we still use the ancient writings and recite the ancient creeds of the early Apostolic Church. So what existed before did not die. It’s just that Ancient Christianity had to give way to the new movement.
In the same way that will happen now. We do not know who we are but we do know that we are post-denominational and post-Protestant. Emergent Christianity will dominate in the next 30 years. It’s all the way across the board. What held hegemony before did not die.
The most important question facing us right today, Tickle says, is: What now is our authority? Who now is going to tell us how to live? Remember the Protestant Reformation replaced a flesh and blood pope with a paper one: the Bible. Now we find ourselves asking again, “Where is authority?” Indeed, this is the central question every time we have such tsunamis.
According to Tickle, there are always at least two or three subordinate questions that accompany such upheavals. In our case there are at least three such questions--
1) What does it mean to be a human being? What do we define as being human consciousness? This was the urgent question behind the Terry Shivo case in Florida. Even the US Congress debated as to whether there was anybody in that body of Terry Shivo.
2) The second question has to do with the Theology of Religion. In other words, how can we as devout Christians live in a world where there are other devout people of other religions that are antithetical to our own? How can we live in a polity where people are equally committed to their faith without inviting a situation of social distress?
3) The third question has to do with the doctrine of the Atonement. How can an omnipotent God be so powerless as to not be able to come up with any way less horrible to redeem us than the brutal death of his Son? How can we call such a God Abba or Father? This may be offensive to many, but it is an important question, especially to people of this emerging generation and we need to take it seriously. (By the way the doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement is a relatively recent addition to our faith. It is only 1000 years old, originating with St. Anselm of Canterbury.)
The reality is that sometimes when we rummage around in the attic we find that there are things that need to be tossed or at least questioned and revised. The good news is that sometimes we also discover a treasure that we had forgotten or didn’t even know existed, and so we bring it out from the attic, dust it off, and give it a place of honour. This is what is happening in the Emerging Church. (While much more certainly needs to be done, a good example of this happening at Siloam is the initial steps that have been taken this past year to create a Healing Ministry, something that was extremely important to Jesus and his first followers in the early church.)
What is the time frame for such upheavals or tsunamis? In other words, how long is this Great Emergence thing going to last? Scholars tell us that there is always a period of about 150 years, a period called a tick up period or what we might term a peri-emergent period. In our own case this tick up period began about 1850, with the work of an English chemist and physicist, Michael Faraday, who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Although Faraday never intended to launch an attack on the belief in the authority of scripture, his was in fact the first of many challenges to the doctrine of sola scriptura, or what we know as the authority of scripture.
Following the tick-up period there is normally a 100 year period where we try to figure out where we are. This is where we are right now. Then there are 200 years of stasis, although it probably doesn’t feel like that when you are living through such a period.
As I said, scholars feel that our peri-emergence is probably over. Most think it ended on September 11th, 2001. So we are now in that 100 year period where we are trying to figure out where we are.
Again, it is important to stress that we are in a pattern. You and I did not cause this. What is happening in the Church today is not our fault. In many ways we are simply re-enacting the first century of the Christian Church. Remember that in the first century there was a church at Antioch, which represented a fresh expression of church. There was also the Jerusalem Church, which represented the inherited, established Christianity. Jerusalem was good, but the energy was at Antioch, just as the energy today is not so much in inherited Christianity but in its new emergent expression. Like the early Church, we also have our debates. Today we are argue about homosexuality. Back then the two churches argued about circumcision. They also argued about whether a rabbi could be ordained. We have had – and in some Christian denominations – continue to have similar debates today.
Where is the Emergent Church or Emerging Christianity going? No one knows for sure, but there are some clear visible contours that we can describe. I list them in point form below:
1) First, this thing is radically Jesus oriented ‑ takes the position that he meant what he said!!
2) It is very communal, even to the point that 1/4 of it is involved in a form monasticism.
3) Emergence is non hierarchal.
4) It is post‑denominational ‑ this new and emerging Christianity is a conversation being conducted by people of diverse cultures and points of reference, as well as from widely divergent Christian backgrounds.
5) It is largely based in virtual reality, not in bricks and mortar and therefore organizes itself on the net.
6) It looks back and dips back ardently to the first through the third centuries and is passionate about those characteristics that sustained the people in those early days of persecution. It then seeks to incorporate those characteristics into itself. Diana Butler Bass identifies 10 Signs of Renewal in the Emerging Church, which we looked at in our worship services in the winter and spring of 2009:
* Hospitality
* Discernment
* Healing
* Contemplation
* Testimony
* Diversity
* Justice
* Worship
* Reflection
* Beauty
7) Emergent Christianity/Church is interested in theologies of religion that get rid of Christian particularity/exclusivity.
8) Where does Ultimate Authority lie for emergent Christians? Most will sometimes choose to say either "in scripture" or "in the community." More often the answer will be "in scripture and the community."
Thus, when pinned down and forced to answer the question, "What is Emergent or Emerging Church?" most who are part of it will answer that it is “a conversation.” And it is vitally important that we at Siloam continue to participate in this conversation. These are exciting times for the Church, but the questions we face are challenging ones. Let us pray that we do not shrink away from them but instead, with God’s grace, engage them with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul.”
Blessings to you as we continue our journey in this New Year,
Sheila
Lead Minister and Minister of Worship & Pastoral Care
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Outreach Opportunities
Now that the holiday “rush” is over, it is time to give thanks.
Thanks to those who spent hours knitting mitts, hats and scarves throughout the year so our Mitten Tree would look beautiful and warm the hearts of those who received them.
Thanks for the many times you have remembered the food cart and brought items to share with those who struggle during these stressful economic times.
Thanks for the numerous toiletries, paper goods, clothing and children's items that helped to brighten someone's Christmas and gave then hope.
Thanks for those who chose the “Outreach Option” during Siloam's Turkey Drive. You will help provide many Wednesday dinners at Dundas United Street Centre Church! Our “sister church” will know that those at Siloam support their weekly efforts.
Thanks to those who offer their time to cook and serve on hospitality teams, offering a kind word or smile to the less fortunate. Your deeds instill peace and fellowship within our community.
Thanks to the many folks at Siloam who work diligently on our behalf.... serving on committees, ...planning events, ....forecasting our needs, ....ensuring that our property is well cared for, ...sharing their talents in music, drama and teaching. Each of you help to make a difference at Siloam and for that we are grateful.
Thanks to our wonderful staff! What would we do without you?
THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!!!
The ELUCO Food Bank
Needs Your Support
The ELUCO (East London United Church Outreach) Food Bank needs your support to fill the cupboard.
Bring your donations to the Church and place them in the shopping cart. Here's what we need ......
Pasta - spaghetti preferred
Canned Goods - especially vegetables, stew, tuna, salmon, meats
Beverages - tea, instant coffee, powdered milk
Peanut butter, jell-o, cheese slices, margarine, breakfast cereal
Dish soap and toiletries |
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