Three days 'til lift-off, and on to Scotland, so the past week has been pretty much given over to refining the details of the trip--little things, like hotels, when does the train go there, getting Lisa to Rome. One of the happy turns of event is that I'll be preaching next Sunday at the parish church in Iona (the same one Pastor Steve preached in when he was in Scotland) as our friend, Syd Graham will be in Edinburgh, at the beginning of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly. It will be good to share worship with those folk as a part of my Iona experience.
Which leads to the more or less substantive reflection of the past several days. On Sunday, we worshipped at First English Lutheran Church (North Ballard location.) There were four baptisms - all from the same family!-and as always in Lutheran worship, the celebration of the Lord's Table. The service there is more "contemporary" as that word has come to be used in the context of protestant worship--a "band" with guitars, keyboard, drums. It was all fine....But
the thing I find myself most longing for as I am now, what, 1/8 of the way into this, is the connection to a community I know, and who knows ME. How hard it is to be an anonymous worshipper, and how hard to truly appreciate what is going on in a Sunday service when you really feel like you're sitting in someone else's living room, listening in on their personal stories. To be sure, the scripture, the songs, the words of the Eucharist and baptism, are all shared in common, but it's the nuances, the cadences,that vary and create the real warp and weave of a congregation's soul.
My provisional conclusion: there is something truly to be celebrated in the uniqueness of each congregation. How tragic it would be if we became something like McDonald's--absolutely predictable, adequately palatable, but without really KNOWING who's sitting next to you, and without the wondrous variety that makes life so sweet!
I hope the first conversations with Jose Irizarry brought some interesting thoughts to some minds. Next time I write will most likely be en route or IN Scotland, so keep me in your prayers for safe travel---as you'll be in mine!
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Here are the notes (provided by Linda Boldt) of our discussion with Jose Irizzary on May 15:
Notes from the Sabbatical Discussion on 5/15/05 with Dr. Jose Irizzary:
WHO ARE WE?
Dr. Irizzary distributed a handout which listed the three key questions to be discussed in these meetings: 1) Who are we as a church and do we really need a change?
2) How does the world we are called to serve look like and how do we relate to this world as Christ’s Church?
3) In what ways do we speak about our mission and how do we interpret our ministry choices as expressions of Christian faithfulness?
Today’s discussion will focus on discerning who we are.
MAJOR CLAIMS OF LOREN MEAD’S ONCE AND FUTURE CHURCH:
The purpose of the church is to do mission. Worship, education, and everything else prepare us to do mission.
The Apostolic Paradigm was the reality when the culture outside of the meeting place was hostile to the church. Mission therefore was to the community just outside the door.
The Christendom Paradigm was the reality when the state adopted Christianity as its official religion. With no clear distinction between church and state, the mission frontier was “out there” beyond the borders of the state.
The Emerging Paradigm is the current reality, where the surrounding culture/state is ambivalent toward the church. In these times, some churches isolate themselves from the world (us vs them). Other churches become indistinguishable from the world around them.
UNWORKABLE RESPONSES TO SHIFTING PARADIGM
Dr. Irizzary articulated three responses that churches make to the changing paradigm. These responses occur in isolating as well as engaging churches.
1) Cultural Captivity- Churches become captives of the surrounding culture, either by adopting anything from the culture that will help the church survive- big screen TVs, pop music, etc. Or, churches become “fortresses” where people “hide” from the threatening world around them. In churches that do engage the world, their mission looks the same as any other social service agency. Neither type of church knows how to relate to the world around it.
2) Irrelevance of teaching from Scripture- The way we talk about the Bible is unlike the way we talk about other subjects. Here, Dr. Irizzary disagrees with Loren Mead’s assertion that lay people should become the theologians of the church. The good thing about the Reformation, he says, was that the Bible was placed in the hands of the ordinary, unschooled Christian. The bad thing about the Reformation was that the Bible was placed in the hands of the ordinary, unschooled Christian. Dr. Irizzary argues that because of lay people’s lack of scholarship, our Biblical illiteracy, the way we talk about the Bible is simplistic and uninformed. Meanwhile, we rely on scholarship, expert opinion, and sophisticated thought in most other areas of discussion.
3) Collapse of ministry strategies. Blue Laws are gone. Congregations don’t have the support of of the surrounding culture to encourage and reinforce participation in church. We compete with other loyalties for the hearts and time and resources of people. Likewise, the “fountain” effect of mission work is broken. No longer do local churches cheerfully give their money to the denominational pool, so the denomination can shower the church infrastructure and mission work with financial support. Consequently, denominations have less and less resources to work with or give back to the churches for local mission. (Dr. Irizzary also noted in passing that we don’t pay enough attention to the assets(talents, skills) that our members bring to the ministry. This may be a valuable topic for our lay-ministry oriented congregation to discuss further.)
TENSION IS GOOD
Dr. Irizzary demonstrated the concept of tension, noting that when there are opposite forces, just the right amount of tension is necessary to keep things in balance. Tension on a guitar string, for example. Strings that are too tight will break, while strings that are too loose are not in tune. Tension is good, as long as it keep the opposing forces in balance. He asked participants to think about our place on the continuum between several tensions, reminding us that both ends of each continuum are valuable, but that the best place to be is in the middle.
Congregations that find themselves in crisis or conflict or at one extreme or another are understood to be at a “Learning Point”. It is important to understand that when a congregation finds itself at one extreme, it may require over-compensating to bring the congregation back into balance. It is also important to understand that when planning changes, a congregation must be honest about what resources are available and not over-reach.
Dr. Irizzary left us with the following continuums and an assignment to do some personal reflection on where we think MPC falls on these continuums. We will begin with a discussion of our thoughts at our next meeting.
Participants thanked Dr. Irizzary for his leadership. After the meeting the Sabbatical Steering Team met for reflection.
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