God is in this Place?

The movement of the Spirit that is stirring moderate and progressive congregations, whether they have historically identified themselves with evangelical or mainline Protestantism, is taking form as emergent and missional communities of faith. These terms denote the reality that empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit, parts of the church are bursting through old boundaries, emerging from their shells so that they might engage in world transforming ministries. As this happens, these communities are looking again at their core identities and practices, to discern whether they can support this new work of the Spirit, so that both church and society might be transformed.

As the church adapts and moves forward, it will need to stop and engage in acts of introspection. In the course of this work of self-study, the church might be well-served by considering what the stranger might see in our communities? Consider what the person, who doesn’t know much if anything about the God church folk claim to worship, sees and hears if they should walk into the typical mainline Protestant church. Will they feel welcome and safe? Or, will they find the culture and the environment of the church to be foreign and strange? Beyond the person who has little exposure to the church’s theology and practices, we might consider other persons who venture into the community. There are any number of boundary issues that need to be considered -- gender, age, ethnicity, language, socio-economic, and cultural differences that impact one’s experience of God and the church.

When the stranger enters the community of faith, does what they hear and see suggest that the denizens of the church are, in the words of Paul, “out of your mind?” Or, do they hear and experience a message that discloses the secrets of their hearts, so that in response to their encounter in this place they fall before God in worship? Or to put it a bit differently, is it possible, that the stranger might enter into the church and declare: God is in this place (1 Corinthians 14:20-25). For many progressive/mainline churches this might seem like an odd expectation, but why is that? Why can’t we expect God’s Spirit to move in such a way that lives are changed dramatically due to their encounter with God?

This is the question that haunts the church in an age of wars and rumors of wars, an age of hate speech, drive-by shootings, growing intolerance, terrorism, bombings, and kidnappings. How do we bear witness to God’s grace and love and presence in this context? The questions become even more daunting because religious people seem to be stirring up much of the heat, while more moderate and progressive voices seem to get lost in the shuffle. Indeed, the news that is heard from pulpit and pew isn’t always good. Whether it’s “fire and brimstone” or bewailing lost influence, it often seems as if the church has lost sight of its mission. And yet the church possesses good news. This is news that if it is shared will resonate with the hearts of people who face such a wearying barrage of negativity. There are people out there, some who will enter and some who will never enter – at least not without a gentle invitation – into our houses of worship, who are looking for words of hope and peace. They want to worship a God who will open up the secrets of their hearts so that might find in God a source of healing grace. And so the question remains, if the stranger walks into the church what will she or he find? What will it take for them to say: God is in this place?

Excerpted from The Gifts of Love (unpublished mss.)

Memphis Church Preservation -- Sighings

As a historian I hate to see the loss of historic buildings, because they offer insight into periods of time (though there are periods of architectural style that might benefit from being forgotten -- i.e. the 1970s).  As a pastor I recognize the importance of making sure that scarce dollars go to ministry and not preserving aesthetics, for the sake of preserving them.  In recent years churches have gotten caught in a bind as they no longer have the funds to keep up properties, but are prevented from demolishing them or selling them because of historic landmark status or community heritage groups.  So, what to do?  Martin Marty helps us wrestle with the problem in today's issue of Sightings. 

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Sightings 1/24/2011

Memphis Church Preservation

- Martin E. Marty

This season it’s Memphis. Last season it was in some city near you. Next season it will be a challenge in your city, or, if you “have” one, in your denomination. “It” refers to what in my eyes is one of the sad insolubles on the “public religion” front. Making sense of these “its” and “insolubles” elicits a story. This time it is in the Wall Street Journal, where Timothy W. Martin tells of conflict over a church building that, in the eyes of its last few surviving members, cannot survive, and Memphis Heritage, an organization which seeks to prevent destruction of historic and aesthetic properties.

In this case, Union Avenue Methodist Church is featured. The roof and walls of the building are falling and failing. Only forty church members are left in this congregation after most Union Avenue members moved to the suburbs decades ago, and they cannot begin to fund restoration and preservation, to say nothing of other needs which make strong demands on them and their church's mission. To the rescue came CVS Caremark Corporation, which is paying, or ready to pay, good money to raze the building and put the space to new CVS purposes. Memphis Heritage stepped in to prevent the changes, but now tempers, legal fees, and civic controversy rise. No surprise there.

What to do? From this distance, neither church, corporation, nor preservationists are natural villains. They are all caught between forces they cannot control. The building does not display aesthetic merit—pardon me, good Union Avenue folk—with its boxy look and plastered-on flat pillars. But removing it would disrupt preservation efforts for those who are working to restore the neighborhood. Can the locals profit from the experience which has analogues in countless urban (and sometimes rural) settings? We have known and cheered groups like Inspired Partnerships in Chicago, and Partners for Sacred Places nationally, and we have seen them put energy into addressing the issue.

From where might funds come? Weekly you will read of debates as to whether tax money can be used. Mention that and you get into church-state issues and citizen concern over taxes for anything. What about the host denomination? Not much luck: if it is doing any fair part of its mission, it’s broke. What about non-denominations? Too dispersed, not focused, not obligated, distracted by their own legitimate agendas. Former members? They are long gone over the hills of Tennessee to greener pastures for church life. Present members? Pastor Mark Matheny knows that most of the forty are aged or aging, without great financial means, and they, too, support living missions rather than vestiges of earlier ones. Matheny complains that Memphis Heritage came along with too little, too late. Philanthropists who care about the appearance of a city? Groups like Inspired Partnerships and Partners for Sacred Places scare up some dollars from some of them, but too little.

Tour Europe, including the English and French countrysides and you can see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of empty churches of dead congregations, buildings whose aesthetic and historic value exceeds that of the church in Memphis. No CVS is on hand to rescue them. They fall into the ground, through the centuries. Anyone who has a way out of these preservation plights: speak up, and pay up. Pastor Matheny has his own perspective, which he sees as biblical: “If you look through the New Testament, it says next to nothing abut the preservation of buildings.” It says nothing. Still, if we have cared about sacred places and spaces and memory and hope, we can regret, and we can shed a tear.

References

Timothy W. Martin, "From Pews to Prescriptions: Fight Over Fading Church's Sale to CVS Reflects Woes of Urban Congregations," Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2011.

Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at http://www.illuminos.com/.

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Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Adventurous Theology #8: Making It Up as You Go Along (Bruce Epperly)

The Book of Acts tells the amazing story of how a small group of Jesus' followers are empowered to take the message of God's grace to the world.  There is something about this story that leads onlookers to conclude that they're in the process of "turning the world upside down."  As we move through this story, with increasing rapidity, we come to Paul's missions to the Gentile world.  There we see God working in powerful ways through him and his companions.  I invite you to share in this meditation provided by Bruce Epperly. 

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Adventurous Theology #8:

Making It Up as You Go Along

Acts 13:1-17:15

Bruce G. Epperly

These chapters and the whole of the Acts of the Apostles could be summarized by the words, “these people who have been turning the world upside down.” (Acts 17:6) Mysticism and mission turn our lives around and set us on unexpected adventures that change us and the communities of which we are a part. When the Spirit touches us, we begin to embody Paul’s words in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” This “world” can be described in terms of whatever limits we, or others, have placed on ourselves, our communities, or God’s movements in our lives.

Creative transformation becomes a day to day experience, once we open to the movements of the Spirit. Small steps of spiritual growth lead to larger steps as a whole new world of possibility opens up for us. When we pause and open to God’s Spirit, God is able to present us with larger possibilities for ourselves and our world. Acts moves at a dizzying pace as the once local Christian movement becomes global. Our lives expand in new directions, with new energies and new insights, when we open the door to divine possibility.

Paul and his colleagues are “chosen” for an adventure in good news sharing. As the 1 Corinthians 12 image of the body of Christ proclaims, all followers of Jesus – and I believe all persons - are chosen and have many vocations. But, Divine Creative Wisdom can work in unique and powerful ways in certain persons’ lives. The God in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28) is not a homogeneous force, but more active in some places than others. This is a result, I believe, of both divine call and human response, of divine and human choice and creativity. Our responses over a lifetime enable God to be more active in our lives. In Paul’s case, his Jewish legal background, intellectual acumen, and fidelity to the faith of his parents, made him a unique vehicle of divine grace. The power that energized his persecution was transformed to give energy to his proclamation and inclusion of the Gentile world.

Still, it is important to note that although Paul’s primary mission was to Gentile world, he still affirmed his Jewish roots. God moved through his life as a Jewish person, not a person in general. His message to the Gentiles finds its gravitas in the faith of his parents. Revelation is always universal, but it is also situational and personal. Paul’s words in Romans, chapters 9-11, reflect his belief that God’s covenantal love for the Jewish people still stands, despite the failure of some to accept Jesus as Messiah. Paul’s warmth toward, and affirmation of, his Jewish roots is an antidote to anti-Judaism in scripture and Christian practice. Words like “the Jews” as used throughout the gospels and even in Acts are misleading and inaccurate when used to describe certain Jewish persons’ disbelief: Jesus’ first followers were Jewish and throughout Acts, Jewish men and women proclaim the good news and accept God’s revelation in Christ. One of most important obligations we have as Christians is to challenge anti-Judaism as a “theological hate crime” whenever it is invoked.

Throughout Acts, chapters 13 to 17, God’s Spirit moves quietly, yet persistently, coming to Jesus’ followers through intuitions (Acts 16:7) and visions (Acts 16:9) that both caution and inspire. These “sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26) emerge from the world of dreams, hunches, synchronicities, visions, and paranormal experiences. While persons today may – and should often – be inclined to be skeptical or at least questioning of such experiences, the experience of countless people indicates that there is a web of revelation, democratic in nature, that touches each person. If God, moment by moment, seeks to inspire us with possibilities congruent with our particular situation, then divine inspiration may include both intuitive glimpses of the interdependent web of life as well as guidance and energy. These are not supernatural but part of deeper naturalism in which God is moving through all things, and all things dynamically connected with one another. Paranormal experiences may emerge from our attentiveness to or the graceful breaking through of the dynamic interconnectedness of life, always shaping our experience in its depths.

The presence of the Spirit gives us confidence in times of stress. The Spirit reminds us that the world is larger than our particular situation or health condition. Paul and Silas pray and sing hymns to God as witness to a larger vision of life that cannot be encompassed or limited by prison walls. (Acts 16:25) Their experience reminds me of the gentle courage revealed in the hymn “How Can I Keep from Singing?” – Tyrants may try to silence protest, disease may weaken the body, but the Spirit shows us a far horizon whose pathway and destination is Love. Surely, this quiet and persistent Spirit sustained and inspired Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, Martin Luther King in the Birmingham Jail, Mahatma Gandhi in his fasts and imprisonment. When we sing, we “pray twice” and give witness to God’s grace in the midst of strife and illness. With the Spirit as our companion, there is always something more to us and to the world than meets the eye. Open to God’s Spirit, we discover resources for healing, courage, and confidence in every moment of life.

Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of 17 books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living and Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry.

Transforming Acts: Adventurous Theology for the Twenty-first Century (Bruce Epperly)

For Disciples, the Book of Acts, has been a central text.  Early Disciple leaders like Alexander Campbell looked to it for a model of church life and expansion.  Acts has also become a key text for the missional movement, and I have looked to it as a guide for our congregation's expansion of ministry in the community.  So, I was pleased when Bruce Epperly suggested writing a series of columns on this most important text.  With this post, we begin a journey through Acts!

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Transforming Acts:

Adventurous Theology for the Twenty-first Century

Bruce G. Epperly

Annie Dillard advised people attending church to put on crash helmets and wear seats belt in the pews because what we invoke in church is life-changing and life-shaking. God, like Aslan the Christ-figure described in C.S. Lewis’Chronicles of Narnia, is not tame, but transforming, lively, and awesome. When God shows up in the confluence of divine call and human response, surprises abound. The fourteen billion year and one hundred billion galaxy adventure of our universe should fill us with awe and wonder, not only at the grandeur of the universe but the Creative Wisdom that brought forth – still brings forth - majestic galaxies and the intricacy of our own bodies, minds, and spirits.

Over the next several weeks, I will be reflecting on Acts of the Apostles as a primer for today’s adventurous Christians. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel proclaimed that one of the primary religious virtues is “radical amazement” and this sense of amazement is what we find throughout Acts of the Apostles. Some suggest that Acts of the Apostles is an idealized account of what the church can be when it is truly spirit-centered; others see Acts as a description of the honeymoon period of the church, when the church was unfettered, free, and open to divine surprises at every turn. Still, Acts of the Apostles is an important text for Christians today. It is an invitation to a holy adventure in which we expect great things from God and great things from ourselves. It is an open door to experiencing beauty, wonder, and miracle in our own lives. Our universe is far from domesticated and leaps of quantum energy enliven our own lives and the world around us. Today’s churches need to be surprised and set free to find God in the most expected places, including within the church itself.

The author of Psalm 8 captured the wonder of the universe long before the first moon landing or photographs from the Hubble telescope.

O Lord, Our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You set your glory above the heavens….

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

The moon and the stars you have established;

What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

Mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,

And crowned them with glory and honor.

In the immensity of the universe, in which our solar system is but a dot, God is working in our lives, giving us the gifts of creativity, artistry, technology, and spirituality. A great God, beyond imagination, is moving in our little world, is calling us to be partners in the creative process. Despite its cosmic insignificance, our little world is the portal to the divinity who makes holy all planets and galaxies.

I believe that Acts of the Apostles is a guidepost for adventurous living and a challenge to Christians to open their imaginations and hearts to God’s presence, moving in the cosmos, our congregations, our lives, and the planet. Acts presents us with a Spirit-filled world and invites us to embrace a Spirit-centered life of prayer, healing, hospitality, adventure, diversity, and justice-seeking.

I see Acts of the Apostles as a post-modern gospel, describing a church at the margins, making it up as it goes along, open to astonishment and new ways of seeing God’s presence in the world. The margins for these first people of the Way of Jesus were also the frontiers of faith. Just as the Spirit is unfettered, so too is the Way of Jesus that takes us into all the world and embraces creation in all its diversity of race, culture, religious practice, and life style. Our parents in the faith balanced fidelity to the God of Jesus Christ with an awareness of religious and cultural pluralism. They knew they had to break through their own parochial understandings of God to be faithful to God. They knew that they had to relativize – and challenge – the Laws of God given to Moses to follow in God’s new pathways of the Spirit. In the spirit of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, they did not reject God’s covenant with the Jewish people, but saw that evolving covenant as unfettered and all-embracing, welcoming and declaring “clean” all the nations of the earth. That is our calling, too – to embrace the past as we awaken to new dimensions of fidelity for our time.

So, be ready for a spiritual adventure! Strap on your safety belt as you open yourself to God’s vision for our time, reflected in the transforming words of Acts of the Apostles. God is still moving in our world; God is still speaking in our lives; God’s faithfulness is everlasting and God’s mercies are new every morning. We need not be afraid of pluralism, for God is our companion as we faithfully and creatively respond to wondrous diversity of human culture and spirituality. We can become the people of the Way – the everyday mystics, healers, and visionaries – as we venture forth into the frontiers of the twenty-first century.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His  Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected 2009 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.    His most recent book is From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship and Music in the Small Church, written with Daryl Hollinger.