Paul writes – The preface of Dave’s book Re-Enchanting Christianity begins with these great words – words that have appeared in this blog before – “Everyday People are Straying Away from the Church and Going Back to God.” Lenny Bruce.
The final key-note address Dave gave at Ministry School was titled: Nourishing Community in a Fragmented World. In the talk he addressed broad issues around how church communities might provide vital sustenance for 21st century spiritual pilgrims; how might they be able to connect with the rising wave of churchless spirituality; And, finally, how can churches offer and regenerate a sense of belonging in a ‘homeless’, disjointed world? In addition parish churches as “borderless communities” was another theme; as was the “social capital” of parish churches.
Again, there was some very useful thinking offered, together with lots of examples from Dave’s own church community – St. Luke’s – and others that he was familiar with. There was a really useful pastoral thread running through the talk. This appeared to resonate well with the audience; they being mostly pastors doing the same kind of work in their respective communities.
The other really useful dimension was Dave’s commentary around the need to “re-spirit” or “re-enchant” liturgy (this followed on really nicely from a well supported informal workshop on how to remain faithful to the liturgical inheritance of the Anglican Church – at which a really interesting question was asked: “if we’re talking about “(church) communities without borders” and “churches without ‘border control’” where then do practices such as baptism and confirmation fit?), while at the same time re-invigorating and bringing it into conversation with (popular) culture; thus enabling it to both engage and resource the everyday realities and needs of people’s lives. I hesitate to use the word “relevancy”, but in part that is what it’s about. Good liturgy should form and also engage people and their everyday contexts, longings, hopes, suffering etc. For more on the theme I recommend Re-Enchanting Christianity, in particular, chapter 1 “Behind the Mask of Certainty”; chapter 3 “Progressive Orthodoxy”; chapter 5 “Is There Anyone There: Re-Enchanting God-talk”, and chapter 12 “Re-Spiriting Church”.
He also put up a couple of useful “visuals” – one was the “Breathing Space Autumn Programme – 2009” (attached below as a PDF), and the other was some key features or contours of "
· Kingdom-focused rather than church centered.
· Focused around spirituality rather than solely apologetics (i.e. the rational).
· Dialogical in approach and engaged in genuine conversation [and deep listening].
· Wholistic in scope – it transcends the old dualisms: Body / Mind / Spirit.
· Rooted in community – the incarnating of divine hospitality.
Here are a few quotes:
“Being a spiritual community in the community for the community is another way of saying that churches are called to be priestly communities – not requiring that everyone join us (though very happy if some do), but willing to be a catalyst for healing and hope in the world, spreading a culture of liberation and life...”
“...This is not a time, however, for defensiveness on the part of the church, or for licking of wounds. Rather, we are faced with a wonderful opportunity to rethink and reinterpret the faith; to connect with churchless spirituality, looking at what the Christian tradition can contribute to the twenty-first century spiritual pilgrimage, and also trying to see what we can learn from others outside the church. Instead of pulling up the drawbridge, we must recognize the exciting times we are living in, and respond to the new challenges and opportunities with imagination and hope...”
“...In the eyes of many people, the church is no more than an empty, archaic structure. It means nothing to them. Like a derelict ruin, it may have some historic interest, but it is an irrelevance to their daily lives and concerns, let alone their deeper spiritual aspirations. So sadly, those people who sense such spiritual aspirations hardly ever dream of turning to the church for guidance or spiritual sustenance. The church, for them, is about beliefs and rituals that are limiting and have no bearing on their lives, or resonance with the deeper longings of the soul...”
“...The present challenge, it seems to me, is to shift from extrinsic faith to intrinsic faith. This deeper experience of faith is not based on unconscious family inheritance, religious routine, external performance of rituals or automatic church attendance. Rather, this new experience of faith is based on an existential grappling with the reality of the living God….who seeks continual and dynamic incarnation in creation, society and human consciousness.’ We cannot save our churches through better budgeting, or slicker publicity, or seeker services, or more direct evangelism, or more technology, or less technology, or good-old-back- to-the-Bible preaching. The future hinges on a constant reinterpretation of and re-engagement with, the spiritual heart of Christian tradition...”
The two earlier posts in this series can be found here and here. Also useful are Dave’s two sermons from St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Cambridge NZ. They can be found via here.
Peter Carrell shares some thoughts from Dave's day in Nelson.
http://anglicandownunder.blogspot.com/2009/09/dave-tomlinson-visits-nelson.html
Posted by: Paul Fromont | Saturday, 12 September 2009 at 02:19 PM