Terry Chapman's - Sabbath Journey

the exile plan...

On this morning's walk 

there were many young cedars 

bent over by the weight of the snow.  

But with one slight touch 

the burden fell and 

they sprung back to life.  

I long for such a touch.

I am heavy in heart as I consider the unfolding conversation with the PC(USA).  News flash... the church is broken and everyone therein.  So in order to fix this brokenness some want to form a "more faithful church so we can focus more on mission" and not be so "distracted by our brokenness" so that we can "build an ecumenical consensus with the majority of Christian around the world." etc. etc.

And the God of the wound weeps.... And I feel the burden of exile in exile... from the world and the church

Here are a few thoughts to add to the conversation:

Our Book of Order states:  “The church affirms ‘Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda,’ that is, the church reformed, always reforming’ also (not Latin in the book of Order) “secundum verbum dei”  - "according the the Word of God."  As if to claim a higher ground for their particular point of view some claim this as the centering hermeneutic.  But what is intended here is a christological and not a bibliological centering, thus the capital W in Word. In no way does this diminish the importance of the revealed and accepted canonical text.  But the text is not the center,  Christ is.  And Christ is revealed not only in scripture as it speaks to the church from the past but also from the future as Christ ushers in the Reign of God’s peace and justice.  The Book of Order goes on (I don’t hear this quoted as much in the conversations) to add “...and the call of the Spirit.”  Now the wind is blowing in a direction that may not be nailed down by text or by those who desperately long for a closed wound and a settled consensus.

I recall the words of Carl Jung, "God enters through the wound," and also Pete Rollins book, The Fidelity of Betrayal. Speaking about the Bible, literalism, interpretation, and a host of other bible-related things, Pete writes, "The words of the text, like Christ, are wounded." I thought this was an interesting “christological hermeneutic,” a way of moving toward both an approach to, and an understanding of, the biblical text.

Rather than expecting a clear path, with a rarified dogmatic faithfulness, and clear ecumenical consensus, Rollins argues that the text, God, faith etc. lead us not to clarity but approach and hold something that is always "frustratingly elusive," it is not a new thought, but it is nice to be reminded of in a fresh way the core reformed understanding of “semper reformanda" (always reforming or more accurately always being reformed).”   

Rollins continues, "The claim that the Bible is the Word of God, whether true or not, makes sense only if it refers to the source of the gaps between the words; or more precisely, the source of the irreducible Gap within the words themselves. God's word is thus testified to indirectly by the parallactical nature of the text itself, being communicated by the rich, weaving web of wounded words that testify to the happening of a divine event." (p. 57) In my conversations with people in the emerging church I have found much more tolerance of what seems like ambiguity in this approach to the bible.

Will further divisions (as in a non-geographic synod, or a general splintering of the denomination) in the church heal our wounds so we can get on with mission?  

For me the crux of the matter lies in these questions:  Is the future of the church as it anticipates and participates in the reign of God dependent on closing the wounds?  Or are the wounds we carry a mark of our faithfulness to the God who is the wound?  I’m inclined to believe the latter reflects the “call of the Spirit” that is blowing through the PC(USA) today.

Full of Hope But Not of Optimism

As I read this quote from Margaret Wheatley this morning I felt a strong resonance with her assessment of the state of the world ... and yes the church.

I'll sit for a while in the silence and reflect on what this means for me, for us, for faith, hope and love.

“I need to warn you that I’m not cheerful anymore. I have no interest in being optimistic; I just want us to be together and explore what this time together might be. It’s like we’re on the Titanic. I feel that my own function in this situation is (for I don’t believe that our civilization is strong enough to see us through this time and that this is a time of dissolution and unraveling) to see if we can get more people on the lifeboats.”

taken from a talk given by Margaret Wheatley at the May 10, 2002 Thought Leader Gathering, San Francisco, CA

Missional Transformation

I am very excited about the emergence of the various mission groups at our church.  A large number of people are getting involved in hands on mission service.  I know its only a beginning but it's  a huge leap from where we were just two years ago.  The biggest challenge that we will face is how to be open to the transformation of our lives through "mission."  In other words how do we move from doing mission to being missional?

Maybe it is the kind of transformation that cannot be scripted or programed, as in - "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  

Yet I wonder what steps are need to nurture a transition from doing mission to being mission.  I think that it may like moving from service to justice.  I found this list of ways to tell the difference at Fuller’s  Youth Ministry site:

There are several ways to identify the differences between service and justice.

• Service makes us feel like a “great savior” who rescues the broken. Justice means God does the rescuing, but often he works through the united power of his great and diverse community to do it.

• Service often dehumanizes (even if only subtly) those who are labeled the “receivers.” Justice restores human dignity by creating an environment in which all involved “give” and “receive” in a spirit of reciprocal learning and mutual ministry.

• Service is something we do FOR others. Justice is something we do WITH others.

• Service is an event. Justice is a lifestyle.

• Service expects results immediately. Justice hopes for results some time soon but recognizes that systemic change takes time.

• The goal of service is to help others. The goal of justice is to remove obstacles so others can help themselves.

• Service focuses on what our own ministry can accomplish. Justice focuses on how we can work with other ministries to accomplish even more.

• Service is serving food at the local homeless shelter. Justice means asking why people are hungry and homeless in the first place and then doing something about it.