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Monday, November 28, 2005
I've caused enough trouble over the issue of Emergent distinctives. So I'll try another way below, that of asking how Emergent helps, what value it has for the kingdom, for people, and so on.
Last weekend's EMO meeting was passionate. I'll try to "report" on the session later (as if I need to, with this fabulously comprehensive write-up by Sivin!). For now, I'm hoping the Emergent Network and its humble forums will (continue to) be a source of blessing to:
The reflecting church-goer who feels confused, bored, a little frustrated or just plain tired with the Christian sub-culture she's lived for the past few years/decades, and she's wondering if others feel the same way, if there are "solutions" or avenues. Or maybe she doesn't know it, but she's seeking a different way of understanding church and the Christian life and she wants to know what others are saying, feeling, pondering. Or to meet different people from different churches who share similar concerns.
The less-than-satisfied pastor who wants to know what his church-members and even those "outside the church" are thinking (about life, about religion and all the problems, hopes, fears between these two), who has this nagging suspicion that what he preaches may not be impacting his audience in a kingdom-ushering way, despite what their hand-shakes and polite smiles might communicate.
The Christian employee who senses an incongruity between the world of dog-eat-dog he's a part of at least five days a week and the world of Jesus-loves-you that he joins a few hours every weekend, but is reluctant to say anything out of embarassment, a feeling of inappropriateness or fear of being labelled "unspiritual", "overly money-minded" or some such ungodly title (especially if everyone in church manifest a quality of spiritual character he/she has simply NO affinity with).
The college student or Christian thinker who's been bombarded (I think that's a word Collin and Jamie used last Saturday) with questions, insinuations and criticisms of the church, of Jesus, of the very idea of religion and yet refuses (or is unable) to go on the intellectual offensive, as she reasons that maybe reason is over-rated in such dialogues.
The Christian social worker who longs for the church to do more to combat poverty, injustice, pollution, ecological damage but doesn't know how to make these issues sound like they deserve a hearing, who wants to find some way to connect Hands with Heart but feels maybe some Head-talk is necessary (for focus and clarity's sake), who longs for a time/space to represent the voices of those who are unlikely to experience clean clothes, let alone air-conditioning, that these voices may share something our middle-class Christian thinking/leadership/ministry seldom wrestle with.
The disgruntled church council member or serving layperson who can't share many ideas in church board meetings before being reminded that "the way things are" is synonymous with "the way things should always be", who wonders if he's simply weird or eccentric or just plain "anti-establishment" (like what's suggested by the looks some of the church elders give him), who wishes to help the younger generation in his church who are showing signs of discontent cum disconnection with "what goes on in church".
The Christian theologian/philosopher (wannabee or world-famous) who knows he needs to take a break from the ivory tower of abstract theorizing, from the "black & white" of Right-Wrong, Biblical-UnBiblical, Orthodox-UnOrthodox and listen to the hard real intense inexplicable pain and pleasures of people, especially those who don't often get a chance to speak. This same thinker may even get a chance to "test" his reverred theologies in the marketplace of dialogue, counter-perspectives, doubt and/or contrary data (especially in the lives of people). He may want to learn to live with theological ambiguity or at least meet a few others who get along well enough without needing a conclusion or a firm answer to every theological conumdrum.
The avid reader who's curious about the church's response and/or involvement with the latest philosophies and literature, who's interested to know how something like post-colonialism or magical realism impacts the average Sunday worshipper (if at all).
The victim of church abuse or friend/loved-one of, e.g., a homosexual (or, most recently, a tran-sexual) who, not unlike her friend/family member, has nowhere "public yet safe" to go with her questions and maybe clenched-fist charges against the perceived ill treatment by the church.
(To be continued...)
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