Christianity for the Rest of Us

Index	"The Rest of Us"	Chapters Summary	Discussion Notes	Close
The Rest of Us?
On a recent trip to Baltimore, Maryland, I was sitting in my assigned seat on the plane reading the first chapter of the book - Christianity for the Rest of Us” when I felt the eyes of my fellow seatmate upon me. Wanting to finish Chapter 1 and 2 so I would not fall behind in the readings, I pretended not to notice. Finally, the pressure of the stare became too much and I lifted my eyes up from the book and with a look of inquiry turned to my seatmate who promptly blurted out the question “Who are the Rest of Us?” Not only was I taken completely by surprise at his question but I was also rendered speechless (yes, it does happen!). I then had to admit to him that I honestly did not know (for a type A personality this is akin to admitting we indeed, do not know everything, and is cause for much inner angst) as I was only a few pages into the first chapter of the book. With a look of disappointment, he went back to reading his newspaper. I continued reading my book with the overwhelming feeling that I had somehow let both of us down. So, my opening to today’s book study attempts to answer the question “who ARE the “rest of us” that Diana Butler Bass refers to?” First and foremost, we are all pilgrims on a spiritual journey. We seek not only to understand the Gospels contained in the Bible but the Gospel of Tolerance and Love as well. For is that not one of the most important lessons Jesus taught? To love one’s brother as oneself? Our form of “evangelism” is the hospitality we extend by welcoming and providing fellowship to all pilgrims on their journey, wherever they may hail from. Most of us, disenfranchised by our previous place of worship, with its penchant for bounded-set communities, have come from a different theology than the one we are in now. We are people that believe that all religions are valid paths to God and that “no one way is the true way”. This is something you’ll see reflected in the words of many mainline/liberal theologians like Borg, or Spong, each of whom we have studied here at St. David’s. Each of us seeks our own path to God and we provide support to each other on our journey. We do not judge whether one person’s path is more valid than another’s. We are grounded in the middle. That is we exist between the secular skepticism of mainline liberals and fundamentalism. Like Bass, we long to see the church as a comprehensive space that is hospitable for sinners — between exclusivism and secularized inclusivism. We believe that the primary job of a church is to be a spiritual community that forms people together in faith and our faith message is a message of humility, service, graciousness, love, and Christian practice. It is not shouted from a pulpit or emblazoned on t-shirts to see but often quiet and thus overlooked. It is not radical, but enduring. We embrace the tenets of what Bass calls the new village church, by revering tradition but not being bound by traditionalism. We focus on remembering our sacred traditions through preaching, teaching, and sacraments. We practice living the way of Jesus not just preaching it. We value and seek wisdom, not certainty: and are strong enough and comfortable enough to deal with ambiguity. We are a community that follows and leads each other to God. As Bishop John Spong writes "I would like the church to be a place where the questions of people are honored rather than a place where we have all the answers. The church has to get out of propaganda. The future will involve us in more interfaith dialogue. ... We cannot say we have the only truth." Together we believe that wisdom is found through a life of knowing God. As Queen Noor of Jordan once said "As believers we all have an opportunity and moral obligation to recognize our spiritual common ground; to rise above our differences; to combat prejudice and intolerance." So – who are the Rest of Us? We are people of God who share Bass’ vision of what “Christianity for the Rest of Us” might be about: “Transformation is the promise at the heart of the Christian life…Christianity for the rest of us is not about personal salvation, not about getting everybody else saved, or about the politics of exclusion and moral purity. Christianity for the rest of us is the promise of transformation - that, by God’s mercy, we can be different, our congregations can be different, and our world can be different.” If this is indeed, her vision of the “Rest of Us”, then I am pleased to count myself among them and offer to throw my pebble into the mainstream/liberal pond and stand confident that its ever widening ripple will reach around the world. Amen. Deb Charnuski
Summary Notes -
Ch 3. The New Village Church. Dianne Bass has made a brilliant metaphor "Village Church". In the introductory chapters reviewed before, she developed this understanding and mourned its passing along with the "village" of which it was an integral part. In this chapter she observes that the present emergent church she observes across her nation is the village church returned. It is much the same in Canada. She is thoroughly embedded in the American experience and has a foot in each camp. This of course makes her a most valuable observer. She was raised in the mainline community and refound her religiou footing in the evangelical community. She teaches in the seminaries of both. It has been an assumption of the American religious community that "liberalism" is unsuccessful and so somehow "wrong" and that "conservatism" is highly successful and so "right". It was her experience as a member of Trinity Episcopal in Santa Barbara, California, as well as her wide knowledge of church history that caused her to investigate this resurgence of the mainline and to write this book. Trinity had failed she observed to the degree they had become "secular" and given up their spirituality. They had newly succeeded by answering the spiritual needs of their people, and achieved this within their own tradition, and indeed by a renewed appreciation of their Episcopal traditions. They combined as did the old village church, aspects of religion and spirituality for their congregants. There are cycles she observes between religious emphasis (order) and spirituality (ecstasy). Much of the present course is a cycle from the order of the 60's to the present emphasis on spirituality. She points out a Newsweek poll in 2005 where just 9% defined themselves as religious, 24% spiritual not religious, 84% spiritual and 55% both. Reginald Bibby of the U of Lethbridge, in Restless Gods, The Renaissance of Religion in Canada, noticed the changing stats in Canada in the later part of the last century. In the 1990's 88% of Canadian adults and 80% of teens identified themselves with religion although they did not participate except for rites of passage. He comments upon the American use of economic market models being less applicable in Canada. Bibby observes that the evangelical conservatives tend to be more active in their church participation. The conservatives did not decline but held 8% in the population. In the 1990's, the mainline churches bottomed out their decline at about 15%. He reports that 1 in 3 is growing, 1 in 3 is declining, and 1 in 3 are steady. We shall refer to his works from time to time in this study to relate our circumstances to those reported by Bass in the USA. Berger polled Canadians on this "surge" in spirituality and reports 26% had increased their interest in things spiritual. 14% had decreased and 60% were the same. Respecting the phenomena of resurgent spirituality Bibby says: The fact that so many people today openly acknowledge their spiritual needs points, it seems to me, to a desire for something or someone that can satisfy deep and personal longings. Why else do so many Canadians, young and older so readily express needs that are specifically "spiritual" in nature? Even though they often have difficulty expressing exactly what those needs are, what is clear is that large numbers of people feel compelled to reach out beyond themselves - perhaps in the process providing still another signal of transcendence." p 175 Bass observes that these new communities form a "trinity of vitality ... tradition, practice and wisdom" and gives an example of each. These 3 she diagrams make a path for individuals and congregations to God. Tradition. Although the people coming into these churches are often not previously connected with that particular tradition, they earnestly adopt it. Younger, newer pastors connect the new with the old. They are hungry for a knowledge of church history. Practice. These congregations challenged the stereotype of faith, by "emphasizing acceptance instead of doctrinal purity and diversity rather than uniformity." Wisdom. These emergent churchs are studying their religion. They are comfortable with ambiguity. They are more interested in the questions than in the answers. For these, "...wisdom was a spiritual gift whereby thinking (the head) and knowing (the heart) joined and opened the way to God. They insisted that certain things remain in the realm of mystery, and that Christian character calls for humility in understanding the ways of God." Ch 4. Finding Home. A characteristic Bass found in these resurgent churches is the way they welcomed people into their congregations that were in various ways religiously homeless. The "broken was made whole". "On my journey, the vast majority of people I met did not grow up in the churches they currently attend. For almost everyone, their spiritual and personal quests had taken them away from their childhood faiths - if if they had any - through periods of longing, questioning, and a sustained search to "find home."" Exiles. She describes as "spiritual refugees" those that grew up in other traditions than their new homes. Immigrants. Among these new churches are those where immigrants have brought the distant familiar into their new country. Sometimes even being a "double immigrant" having changed denomination as well as country. Converts. As in any church renewal story is the experience of conversion. For those without religious experience before, they often experience for the first time the divine forgiveness in the company of other Christians. "Conversion is not a single prayer. Conversion is pilgrimage". The new churchs take this seriously and frequently organize the education of their new Christians. They are new "family". Villagers. Here, she describes the folks who "have been on a journey while staying put." These congregations often "took a tragedy and created redemption." Here people joined in fellowship and experienced what Bass best describes as "a new village church". "They are pilgrims traveling together to God, creating new homes and families along the way."
Summary of Discussion Notes after Small Groups
Question 1 - Are you "spiritual" or "religious" or both? - A mixture of the two seems more the case. - Religion in churches seems merely the aspects of social interaction as spirituality becomes communal from its essential personal nature. - Spirituality includes the experiencing of other faiths - when we visit and are invited into other faith communities, the experience of their "religion" is often for us "spiritual". Examples would include experiencing Ramadan with Muslims or participating in a First Nations spirit event. - Perhaps spiritual experience is rare and special and religious experience is familar routine. Spirituality is not thinking, it's where you are and deep inside you. -The difference between the two involves wonder, feelings, nature, relation to desire. Religion is institutional at one end and a reinforcing agency of spirituality on the other. -The community provides means of spiritual connectivity. "I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my god but my god eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three." ... Marjorie keeps this in her glasscase. Question 2 - Are you a seeker or a finder or both? - We are both. - There seems an inner longing. - It is a cycle. When we find answers they raise new questions and the cycle repeats. - Science and religion don't clash. Both seek answers. - Too be a seeker is in some context, to be a heretic. -Dorothy recounted a story from university. I had lost my advisor while working towards my degree on clinical psychology. During this time I went to a sensitivity training workshop. One exercise was to relax, pose yourself a question, and visualize an answer. As I entered into the exercise, sure enough, a visualization appeared. Well, it was an old man high on a mountain. So I told him all my troubles but instead of answering me he asked me a question, "What was all the fuss about?". So I happily skipped down my imagined mountain. The very next day, I was given a new advisor. - The oppostite of faith was not doubt but certainty. - From "The Age of Enlightenment", certainty is not a proof of truth.
Welcoming God
We are here, as part of a religious community To welcome you into our hearts and minds As we seek answers to our questions May this be a welcoming and safe place For those who are seekers and finders And to those who are strangers Let our time together be rich in love and understanding And may we continue to support and guide each other As we journey together And may you always offer a guiding hand To shepherd us on our spiritual journey Deb Charnuski

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