Characteristics of Local Christian Community
Classically, three terms have been used to describe the nature of "the
local church." It is a place of: leiturgia - worship, koinonia - community,
and diaconia - service. Christian congregations viewed themselves as communities
called and gathered principally for worship; and dispersed
to serve others.
Vosper envisages a church with different characteristics. A church without
theism is a church where worship is no longer central. It involves Christians
who are focused on "human community" and committed to "service"
as a by-product.
Several weeks ago, we considered a question for small group discussion.
What is there about Vosper's "Christian" community (we asked)
that offers something other social institutions cannot provide as well
as, and perhaps better? Now, again we need to ask this question.
In what ways are Vosper's "Christian" community unique?
Vosper sees it as a community centred on social justice, with a focus on
sacred-values that are both human and spiritual in nature. Her community
exists as a centre committed to human and institutional transformation
and a place of civil conversation dedicated to engaging important issues
and serving the common good.
For the sake of argument, I have to ask at this point - are there not other
social, political and cultural organizations in our society also dedicated
to these end? What gives the church a credible reason for being?
Is not the "transcendent dimension" of Christian community the
one big thing that makes the church unique? Vosper, however, no longer
sees this as necessary.
Is this "transcendent" dimension something the general public
really dislikes or rejects about the church?
Instead of jettisoning the one characteristic that really makes Christian
community different might we not instead ask - are we adequately honouring
and presenting this transcendent dimension effectively in the way we live
as "church?"
Public Perceptions of "the church"
Vosper quotes from a recent United Church of Canada survey which sought
to discover general attitudes about certain words associated with "church."
Negative "church" words included: - hell, sacrifice, confession,
sin, commitment, offerings, holy, Jesus...
Positive "church" words included: - caring, sharing, friendship,
giving, support, teaching children good values.
- (source) United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit market research www.emergingspirit.ca
(Dec. 20, 2007)
Frankly, I too am turned off by some of these words; but I am inspired
by others.
While Vosper provides a source for this information, I would have liked
her to explain in the body of this chapter the actual audiences of her
market research. Are these audiences of committed members? disaffected
members? totally uninvolved people? Unless I know more about the actual
people surveyed, the results mean very little to me.
"Re-packaging the church"
Vosper quotes Leonard Sweet (Soul Tsunami, Zondervan. 1999) who believes
the contemporary church must adapt itself to the reality of post-modernism
and move from operating "as it was" to "riding the cultural
wave."
To do this, she says we need to learn from others; and especially from
evangelicals who seem to have studied modern culture more extensively and
learned from them more effectively than any other Christian grouping.
From evangelicals, she believes, we must adopt more "user-friendly"
forms of hospitality and the use of modern technology. We need to appeal
especially to the younger generations who seem generally alienated by our
once-successful but now outmoded "mainline" operational styles.
We need to devise multiple ways of allowing people to enter our community:
to engage with one another, find meaning, belonging and participation in
order to serve more effectively in it.
Vosper supports some current trends whereby church committees are morphing
into "ministries" and volunteer opportunities are presented in
ways that encourage people to match their spiritual gifts with those congregational
ministries through which they can more effectively offer their service.
Integrity for Liberal Christians
Vosper criticizes liberal Christians for their lack of integrity. In this
regard, she respects conservative Christians because - even though she
disagrees with their theology - she admires their attempts to "walk
the talk." Liberal Christians, she maintains, tend to believe one
thing and live another; and there is a profound resulting contradiction
that needs to be addressed.
We need to discard the remaining words of hymns, creeds, sermons, and liturgies
that we no longer accept. At the same time we need to find and use words
that better describe what we do accept. Clean up the hymns, she says! "If
it can't be said in the pulpit it shouldn't be sung in the pew"
Affirming the Liberal Inheritance
Liberal churches have always been open to contemporary critical scholarship
and have not separated worship and education. Liberal churches have often
been in the vanguard of creating new forms of community, and in our time,
that may mean "post-Christian community."
Worship, in the liberal tradition, has often been more egalitarian. That
means, we have tended to focus on a 'level playing field' with everyone
and their views included. If she had her druthers, Vosper would focus primarily
on Sunday morning discussion groups.
A Closing Insight:
"Church, or whatever it comes to be called, could be a place where
we reflect and process our life experiences with others in ways that encourage
us to become compassionate, just and loving human beings" (p. 311)
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Questions for Group Discussion:
1. Discuss Vosper's comment (p. 313) "We who move beyond the traditional
boundaries of Christianity are often thought of as not believing in anything"
2. Name and discuss "beliefs that divide" and "beliefs that
unite"
Feedback from Group Discussion:
As centrist to liberal Christians -
- we seem to talk more about what we no longer believe than about what
we do believe. We need to work more on the positive and move beyond the
negative.
- "recovering Christians may get bogged down in the issues of the
past while healing Christians get on with their lives..."
- we are very much in the "process" of change. It is understandable
that not everything we say now is what we will be saying sometime in the
future; this may seem like we "don't believe in anything" but
that is not necessarily so.
- sometimes it is better to be silent and appear uncommitted than to be
"overly verbal" at times like this.
- critical thinking is always thinking "in process" toward greater
clarity. A wise person once said - "As I grow older, I have fewer
answers and more questions..." and that is something to ponder.
- do some people consider us non-believers? So be it. We are proud to be
diverse, inclusive and open to new ways of thinking and of following the
Spirit as we understand it!
- It's OK not to believe a lot of things - because a many things we once
believed are no longer valid.
- new perspectives are what we seek, not new beliefs.
- we use the language we know, at present, but there are other ways of
knowing (filters of understanding) we need to respect in others, even if
we do not always agree with what they say. Our purpose should be to engage
in continuing dialogue, not to try to get everyone to agree, or follow
uniform patterns.
- what comes out of this process of discernment may indeed surprise us.
- we have an opportunity to focus on what unites, not what divides us -
"original blessing" not "original sin"
- several participants called attention to the new PBS (2 hour) program
"The Bible's Buried Secrets" - an excellent presentation on new
insights on the Bible provided by modern archeology. (We need to find out
if this program also appears on Youtube or other electronic services.)
The evening concluded with a most thoughtful summary meditation "When Nothing Is Certain, Anything is Possible", was presented by Marjory Gibson, a veteran of our Monday Night studies. |
