Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

Reappropriating, Reclaiming, & Recreating - Diana Butler Bass & Kevin Ward

”…The intentional congregation is non-geographical, and those who attend choose to do so for a particular reason. Intentional churches welcome lay participation, are not clerical or hierarchical, are creative with music and worship, and de-emphasize doctrinal uniformity. Intentional congregations, however, do not draw members primarily because of programs and are not primarily seeker oriented. People come because the church lays out a theologically meaningful (but not dogmatic) vision in worship and Christian formation, giving them the ability to see their work, relationships, and the world with spiritual insight. Intentional congregations draw newcomers because of something transcendent -- a connection with God embodied in the spiritual practices of a distinct tradition in the context of particular community. They are pilgrim congregations -- communities that practice faith in the world yet live at some tension with the surrounding culture.

The higher the sense of cultural tension, the greater the sense of spiritual journey or pilgrimage. With a clear call to living as a pilgrim, congregations attract members who take faith seriously and engage in distinctive spiritual practices to enrich their journey and deepen their connection to God. This spiritual purposefulness breeds congregational vitality. A committed core of spiritual practitioners will reach out and bring in new members who, in turn, embrace the practices and continue the cycle.

Mainline congregations are appropriating, reclaiming, and recreating their own traditions in imaginative and innovative ways…”

Quote by Diana Butler Bass,

Adapted and excerpted from In STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY: A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH IN COMMUNITY (Jossey-Bass, 2002). Bass suggests that a new kind of mainline Protestant congregation is emerging in America.

Is it possible new kinds of Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist (etc) churches in NZ will emerge reinvigorated and reconnected (to the deep wells of a Christian tradition, bigger and richer than their own alone) into a cultural context that has changed hugely in the last 50-years, and will be further changed by 2015 - a date New Zealander Kevin Ward sees as significant for NZ mainline denominations. Click on his name for a series of articles written by Kevin, including an interesting one on Christchurch churches and one titled What Makes and Effective Church? (A more detailed essay on Spreydon Baptist has been published in the NZ Baptist Research Journal). Kevin was a much-appreciated keynote speaker at a small "unconference" I organised a few years ago to explore possible ways forward.

Simply Christian

Paul writes – In the concluding paragraph of his latest book, Simply Christian, N.T. (‘Tom’) Wright neatly (perhaps too neatly!) describes something of a Christian ethos and way of being in the world for the sake of the world. He utilises categories he explores in his book (e.g. “spirituality):

In some ways it feels a bit idealistic, but perhaps it’s aspirational? Something we aspire to and grapple with in the everydayness of our own lives, living, and struggles.

There’s a sense in which Wright’s statements contrast the on-the-ground realities that we are only slowly becoming, only slowly working out and owning the implications of our identity (in Christ) and thus roles in the world. I think I would want to read Wright’s statements in parallel with (at least) the first chapter of Timothy Radcliffe’s book, What is the Point of Being a Christian?

“…Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamour for vengeance. Made for relationships, we insist upon our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is [often despite the evidence] dawning. That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us” (p. 237).

Reflecting on Church

“…Gordon Lynch, in Understanding Theology and Popular Culture, argues that since film viewing is one of “the practices of everyday life,” it may not only “serve religious functions in contemporary society” but may also be the resource for “a missiological response to popular culture” or even “a medium for theological reflection” (21). Lynch suggests that religions have three “functions”: first, a social function that offers an experience of community with “shared beliefs and values that provide a structure for their everyday lives”; second, an existential/hermeneutical function that offers resources (like myths, rituals, narratives) for helping people “to live with a sense of identity, meaning, and purpose”; and a transcendent function that “provides a medium through which people are able to experience ‘God,’ the numinous or the transcendent” (28).” (Gordon Matties)

Paul writes – Matties, reflecting on Lynch’s writing, provides a helpful ‘grid’ that we can overlay congregational life; overlay it with the intention of questioning and reviewing some of our core reasons for being church together. Substituting Lynch’s use of the word “religion” with church we get the following.

Church needs to have:

1.        A social function that offers an experience of community with “shared beliefs and values that provide a structure for their everyday lives”;

2.        An existential/hermeneutical function that offers resources (like myths, rituals, narratives) for helping people “to live with a sense of identity, meaning, and purpose”;

3.        A transcendent function that “provides a medium through which people are able to experience ‘God,’ the numinous or the transcendent”

One question then becomes, “how well are we doing?” Another good question is, “what nourishes this functionality, i.e. what is the place of “practices”?

I posted on a related subject a while ago – here.

Book Meme

Paul writes – Bob Carlton “book memed” me, so how could I refuse, given that we both have Parker Palmer’s book, Let Your Life Speak included in our response to question 1. You can read Bob’s response to the questions here. Others have done the same thing around the globe. Simon Holt is the latest one that I’ve seen. His is here. Chris Monroe (Desert Pastor) is another, here. Mr Jamieson, consider yourself "memed."

1.      (One) Two book(s) that changed your life: Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak; Paul’s letter to the Romans.

2.      One book that you’ve read more than once: New Testament

3.      One book you’d want on a desert island: I don’t intend this be “naff”, but I’d want The Bible. If I had to take an additional book it would either be St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises or Terrence Kardong’s Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary.  Preferably it would be all three, as each promises the invitation to an adventure, a journey even when stuck upon a desert island.

4.      One book that made you laugh: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.

5.      One book that made you cry: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

6.      One book you wish had been written: Can’t think of one.

7.      One book you wish had never been written: Sadly a very large % of “Christianity- lite” books in Christian bookshops. Poor theology, poor biblical understanding, and poor hermeneutical practice.

8.      One book you’re currently reading: Radical Then, Radical Now: Being Jewish by Jonathan Sachs.

9.      One book you’ve been meaning to read: Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul by Tony Hendra.

10. One book you’d like to write: Something that popularly brings Christian spirituality into conversation with contemporary culture(s) and the deep human desire to become increasingly whole, authentic, human, alive and free.

Trust Births Possibility

Paul writes – While we might want to express the following sentiment in words having to do with trust, faith, faithfulness, obedience, God’s care etc, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832;German poet, dramatist, and philosopher) captures an important insight into the ways of grace…

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself (i.e. says “yes to God!”), then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no [person] could have dreamed would have come [their] way…”

The Care of Souls - The Heart Rediscovered: Hope for Leadership Transformation

Paul notes that - Wendy Wright has written a very useful essay titled, The Heart Rediscovered: Hope for Leadership Transformation.

Excerpts below:

Eugene Peterson writes that:

“…The primary sense of cura in Latin is “care,” with undertones of “cure.” The soul is the essence of the human personality. The cure of souls, then, is the scripture-directed, prayer-shaped care that is devoted to persons singly or in groups, in settings sacred and profane. It is a determination to work at the center, to concentrate on the essential.

However, pastors also need to return to the center, to concentrate on the essential in their own lives. Ministering persons also need soul care. Counseling can play an important role in helping men and women to get in touch with the deeper personal issues they bring with them into ministry, issues which, unattended, drain off energy and create deep fissures of loneliness and anxiety within the individual. However, attending to the soul is also vital.

This deep and prayerful listening helps us in turn to listen for the God-presence within the congregation and to direct people’s attention to who God is for them, and what God is doing in their lives.

Then we are returning to our true work of soul care. Jesus says that his father is at work and that he, Jesus, does the works of his father in heaven. In the same way, we learn the art and develop the gift of spiritual discernment—seeing God at work and colaboring with God. This changes how we see and do ministry. We stop running the church and begin tending to the cure of souls…”

Read Wendy’s full essay here.

Hope for Established Congregations? – Diana Butler Bass.

Paul writes – Some of you might have recently noted a very helpful comment from Richard Bass. Richard is Director of Publishing for the US-based Alban Institute (Thanks for dropping by Richard). Richard is also the husband of Diana Butler Bass, and Diana, as I’m discovering, has written some very insightful books such as The Practicing Congregation. I don’t presently have any of her books, and may have to wait patiently until her latest – Christianity for the Rest of Us – is published later in the year.

Meantime, here’s an excerpt from an interview with Butler-Bass that I unearthed recently. You can read the full interview here.

“…What these Protestant congregations are doing is saying we were effectively secularized in the 1960s and 1970s. We were much more interested in cultural questions -- being modern or relevant, being cutting edge. We lost our grounding within the larger sense of Christian tradition and spirituality. They're getting back to basics in that way. They're going back to Bible study. They're going back to small groups. They're going back to centering prayer. And by going back to what was, in a sense, best about themselves four, three, four, five hundred years ago, they're beginning to find new life…”

And this from the book that I’ve linked to above (source of the quote was Richard Kew)

"Practicing congregations experience new vibrancy through a reappropriation of historic Christian practices, and a sustained communal engagement with Christian narrative" (Page 14).

The Future of God is Amongst the People of God

Paul writes - It just struck me this morning in relation to a kind of ‘mantra’ I’ve adopted from Baptist Consultant, Alan Roxburgh – “the future of God is amongst the people of God” – that this ‘future’ becomes possible in the now, to the degree that “we” in a particular congregation arrange our lives for transformation. This could include the following: 

·        Permission experimentation; Protect and nourish hope – the hope of new possibilities; Ride the leading edge of grace;

·        Allow change to happen (even when that pushes them out of our comfort-zones);

·        Worship.

·        Explore their passions, their inclinations, and their giftedness; they exercise them in ways that are God-trusting and God-loving.

·        Are grounded in a lived response of gratitude toward God, and gratitude for one another.

·        Listen deeply to one another and to God at work amongst us;

·        Read Scripture slowly together from a posture of vulnerability and openness, allowing our questions, our imaginations, our experiences, and our emotions to be touched by both the narrative as a whole, and the texts individually. We become Scripture-shaped (see my notes from the Michael Casey ‘conference’. See also these posts here and here, for example.

·        Underpin their lives with communal and individual practices that “train us” (cf. St Paul’s metaphor about athletes training in 1 Cor. 9:25).

·        Are discerning of, and responsive toward God who woos and invites us on a journey together. Are thus, discerning of the wind of the Spirit blowing amongst them and beyond them (Mike Riddell’s story of his dog Baxter is one of the images that comes to mind. If you have the Lion edition of Sacred Journey, pages 18-19).

·        Embrace more fully and deeply their identity in Christ, their identity as church – as a local expression of the people of God. For many that will mean growing in knowledge of what it means to be the church. What are we called to be? Why does church exist; what is the purpose of church?

On Busyness by Janet Ruffing, RSM

Paul writes – Janet Ruffing has been an accompanying voice in my development as a spiritual director. She has some outstanding insights, insights mined from a rich experience of practice and learning.

Here’s an excerpt from Resisting the Demon of Busyness, a book by Ruffing, published by Fordham University Press in 1995. It reminded me of a recent conversation on multi-tasking with a wise old Cistercian Priest and Monk – Fr. John. Ruffing’s offering on busyness is wise. I hope that I can heed it more often than not.

Sourced from Church of the Savior’s blog – Inward / Outward

“Resisting the demon of busyness requires choices we would prefer not to make, and if we should succeed in making them, I can guarantee they will go unrewarded in both the secular and religious cultures in which we participate.

If we’re honest, we admit to ourselves that there’s something about all this busyness that we love. We like it this way, despite our half-hearted protests to the contrary. If we’re as busy as we pretend to be, then we’re too busy to allow ourselves to be affected by the pain and suffering of our world. We’re too busy to be addressed personally by the social, political or ecological disasters occurring in our relationships.

We are too busy to listen to our own feelings or those of others. Our busyness insulates from care and from compassion. Our busyness deadens our feelings and numbs our responses. The expectation that we must be busy all the time feels as if it is an external expectation, with the result that we don’t recognize that it is also self-generated in collusion with the culture.

I become flighty with so many things to attend to, moving from one thing to another, sometimes intuitively, sometimes impulsively and unreflectively. By this time, I am divided in my consciousness. It requires a different kind of discipline not to allow my attention to get caught in these ways.

Community – Dave Andrews

Paul writes - I discovered what follows when looking for information on Dave Andrews’ Compassionate Community Work. Jason Clark in a sermon on church expressed the view that “community is something that happens indirectly” i.e. it is a corollary of church, secondary to church rather than former. It flows out of being church.

I agree to a point, but note that few churches manage to develop and deepen the experience of community that should flow out of church belonging. Perhaps this is simply the natural consequence of how we are church – church belonging is voluntary, expectations of belonging are few, and there is often a lack of intentionality Monday through Saturday…? Perhaps it also has to do with an absence of shared outward ministry and mission around which a community can form in the service of others?

I wonder if this longing for intentionality is one of the motives behind an increase in nu-monasticism, and intentional missional orders & communities?

Andrew’s includes the following quotes in his introduction.

In his study of Basic Communities, David Clark says:

Community (is) essentially a sentiment which people have about themselves in relation to themselves: a sentiment expressed in action, but still basically a feeling. People have many feelings, but there are two essentials for the existence of community: a sense of significance and sense of solidarity. The strength of community within any given group is determined by the degree to which its members experience both a sense of solidarity and a sense of significance within it.

In his book on community, psychologist Scott Peck said: