Grieving-Believing-Perceiving
Series Anchor: the
image above
Frames: Grieving,
Believing, Perceiving
Thread:
September
9—Grieving
The time of grieving is already upon us. Leonard Sweet
tells us that the generations of those who are middle-aged or older (baby
boomers, builders, and more and more even Gen X-ers) have become immigrants in
our own land. We no longer speak the native language.
The image that came to my mind when I think of the
situation of the Church is that of a family working desperately to keep the
beloved old jalopy running. The floor boards are rusting through, the gauges no
longer register. They don’t even make replacement parts any more. But those
difficulties notwithstanding, they will work tirelessly to keep the flivver
sputtering along. The problem we face is not just keeping the car running. The
fact of the matter is that even if it runs, the coming generations do not want
to get into that rusty, smelly, clunky old car. The new native generations have
different values. They want to drive their own kind of vehicles, not make-do
with ours.
And so we grieve the beloved old car. We cherish the
memories of kisses stolen in the back seat, of the family vacations, the
driver’s licenses earned driving this faithful steed. But we are faced with a
time when we must decide whether we will devote our limited resources to
keeping the rust at bay and hoping the belts don’t break, or if it is time
instead to look toward investing in new transportation. Even when the need is
apparent, it is heart-rending to call the tow-truck and let the wrecker taker
it away.
Matthew 23:37-24:2
‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets
and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your
children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not
willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not
see me again until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.”’
As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his
disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. Then he asked
them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be
left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’
Jeremiah 8: 18-22
My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
my heart is sick.
Hark, the cry of my poor people
from far and wide in the land:
‘Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?’
(‘Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?’)
‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.’
For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people
not been restored?
September 16—
Believing
The solid ground of John Dorhauer’s “Believing” section
is to remind us what the real values we must hold on to are. To use the image
above, it is the road we travel upon that is of ultimate importance, not the
means of transportation we take. For us in the UCC, that way is incarnated in
the ongoing testament of a still-speaking God, and in the extravagant welcome
of all travelers upon this road. It is the Way of Jesus that we are on, not the
way of the Church. This road takes us into a hurting and tearful world that needs
to hear our proclamation of welcome and renewal. There are many ways of traveling
upon this road (even as there are parallel routes and other highways that God
is guiding people upon). It is the traveling, not the method of traveling that
is our ultimate calling.
John 14:1-7
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith in me as well. In God’s
house there are many dwelling places; otherwise, how could I have told you that
I was going to prepare a place for you? I am indeed going to prepare a place
for you, and then I will come back to take you with me, that where I am there
you may be as well. You know the way that leads to where I am going.” Thomas
replied, “But we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” Jesus
told him, “I myself am the way—I am Truth, and I am Life. No one comes to Abba
God but through me. If you really knew me, you would know Abba God also. From
this point on, you know Abba God and you have seen God.
September 23—
Perceiving
Who are the prophets and mystics in our midst? I chose an
image of a spaceship from the scifi series “Firefly” to embody this idea. Just
as the designer of the old Ford might have no concept of a means to travel
between the stars, there are those visionaries who can imagine it. Science
fiction visionaries have cast their visions upon the waters of our culture and
drawn us into many transformations. While I don’t think that the Firefly ship
is an accurate representation of what star travel may eventually be like, it is
precisely the ability to dream that we need to take us into an unformed future.
This is the time to dream, to listen, and to watch. The prophet Isaiah brings
this same word in the midst of the interminable exile: I am doing a new thing,
do you not perceive it? We never will until we are ready and willing to dream
of a time of homecoming and restoration.
Isaiah 43: 18-20
Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it Springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people.
Highlights from John Dorhauer’s
Annual Meeting Address
Prologue
I.
Be prepared to fail and fail often
1.
the paradigm has shifted
2.
we need to take the kind of risks that others are unwilling to take
3.
in so doing we will fail, but we will learn important lessons
II.
We bring the gift of experimentation
1.
We are risk-takers
We
have three major tasks in this time: Grieving – Believing – Perceiving
Grieving
I. There
is and will be plenty to grieve about
1.
Churches are closing
2.
Churches are struggling financially
3.
Pastors are losing benefits, salaries, and even their employment
4.
This pattern will only continue in the future
II.
This is nothing short of a second Reformation in our time
1. The models,
structures, and ways of being church which have fed the missional life of the
church for the last 500 years cannot sustain that mission in the coming 500
years
2. Those coming
behind us (who faith will be kept alive by the Holy Spirit} will no longer look
to the structures and institutions and ways of being church that we know in
order to feed their missional zeal.
III. This is not
to be feared
1. Trust the power and movement of
the Holy Spirit
2. God’s Spirit has not abandoned
any of us
Believing
I.
We need to shift away from answering these kinds of questions:
1.”How do we preserve the
institutional identity of the UCC?”
2.
“How do we preserve the institutional identity of our local church?”
3. “How do we
maintain a budget that affords us and allows us the opportunity to sustain a
called, ordained pastor, a building and property?”
II.
We need to ask this question:
1. “How does the
unique proclamation of the Gospel owned and claimed by the UCC continue to be
proclaimed in such a way that lives are transformed?”
III. The unique
nature of our Gospel proclamation
1. Michael
Kinnamon (General Secretary of the National Council of Churches) says: “Denominations exist in order to
perpetuate an aspect of the Gospel that
without that denomination would be imperiled of extinction or diminishment.”
2. Claiming our
UCC core values:
a. The continuing testament of a
still-speaking God
b. An extravagant welcome that
believes “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are
welcome here”
c. believing these 2 core values
still have the power to change and transform lives
d. the proclamation of the embodiment
of God’s justice and love is what we are called to maintain
3. Our focus is
on our fundamental belief and core values, making sure that what we do and the
resources we steward are used to perpetuate that aspect of the Gospel that
without the UCC is in danger of extinction or diminishment
Perceiving
I. Practice
perceiving, discerning, slowing down, stepping back, and looking forward
1. Trusting that where the Spirit
moves we will follow
2. It is time to
call for the shamans and spiritual directors whose way of perceiving has not
often been valued in the life of the church
a. when they speak we
shall ever and again be willing to take some risks
b. being prepared to
fail and fail often
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