(use your mouse to click on the highlighted words and phrases - a link will take you to further information)
We continue to be in a time of change in the church.
But today's change is different from the change that began in the 60s and 70s with Vatican II, formation of the ALC and then ELCA, ordaining women, and more laity involvement. It is not continuation of change within the church. Today's change is fundamentally different - today's change is outside the church.
60s and 70s - change within the church
Let me backtrack to those changes in the 60s in order to show how comprehensive this is for all the church around the globe as well as in each congregation. Vatican II can be identified as a fundamental center point and a way to summarize the changes in the church that began in the 60s. Secular newspapers and public radio identify the significant change it brought to all churches and to the world - ending emphasis on a denomination as the only true church (Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, etc.), opening the window to recognize Christians in many forms, worship in the language of the people, emphasis on Scripture, all of church including sermons and worship to be relevant to people on the issues of the day, etc. All this change centered mainly within the church. We matured as church bodies, talking with each other between denominations, many denominations ordaining women and all denominations involving nonordained in worship, Lutherans of all ethnic backgrounds uniting in one body, and seeking the worship and message of the church to be more relevant and meaningful to daily life.
Today's change - taking us outside the church
In the same way, today's change is just as comprehensive around the globe effecting every congregation and, with the addition this change also effects each individual in significant ways. Again there is significant Roman Catholic involvement in leading and understanding this change. Pope Francis may well be identified today as the fundamental center point and way to summarize the change happening God is up to in our world today. This change is NOT within the church, but taking the church OUTSIDE into the world. It is change for each individual in our daily life calling the individual Christian and the local congregation outside of ourselves into relationships with a much larger, diverse world. Pope Francis' election was a huge surprise and turning point as the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European pope since the Syrian Gregory III, who died in 741. It is seen in his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, concern for the poor, and commitment to interfaith dialogue. Just in this last week of April, 2016 Pope Francis emphasized the danger of seeing church as the pastor's work and called attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in the world and in the larger church He continually addresses daily life outside the church as in last year's Encyclical On Care for our Common Home calling every individual to care for the earth and in this year's Apostolic Exhortation On Love in the Family calling us to act with nonjudgmental mercy in care for every human relationship. .
What is happening?
The Pope gets the media attention, but the voices are countless and from every denomination and from nondenominational and independent voices. The Holy Spirit is clearly at work but for us the clarity is slowly unfolding. And our resistance is high. For this time it is not a fine tuning of church structure and mechanics, as significant as that is. No, this time it is even deeper, it is a call to everyone of us, each individual, you, I, each of us are to BE CHURCH - in our relationship and unity with each other, in our witness and service to the world, and in the depth and authenticity of our lifelong walk with Jesus. Nearly all the themes are the same stating that what is happening today - is:
What it looks like
It happened during the children's message - on Easter Sunday. A toddler, not yet two, saw his chance. While others were busy hunting for the "Alleluia" hidden in the Sanctuary, he decided to explore the Sanctuary itself. What is that room behind the altar? And that ramp leading down from it, that looked like a great place to run. Soon more eyes were focus on him, than on "Alleluia".
Since that toddler's name is, Mark Ziemer, my grandson, I wondered at people's reactions to his distraction. It's hardly the attitude toward the sanctuary with which I grew up as described in my previous blog. "Cute", "lively", "refreshing" were the words I heard. The church has changed. What we expect and want - deeply - is not strict correctness and proper behavior, but we want people of all ages, being themselves, and loved into living as God's children.
Where I see it taking us
It's in Kam and Sam (my first blog), and also in Abby, Whitney, Jacqueline, Kaylie, and James. That's this year's 9th graders with whom I'm spending a week in the Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness along with their parents. The most effective time, energy, effort, and life is spent not in telling people what to believe and think but to authentically seek and listen to God with others and to develop a community and process that holds us accountable to what God is calling us to be and do.
This "newer church", where the Spirit is taking us, is not in reciting correct teachings - that did work well in "Old Church". But today it is in lifelong relationships, delighting in God's creation, listening to God, reflecting and discerning with others, and seeking in that context to better see the needs and opportunities around us through the eyes of Jesus and to respond to them with the heart of Jesus.
But today's change is different from the change that began in the 60s and 70s with Vatican II, formation of the ALC and then ELCA, ordaining women, and more laity involvement. It is not continuation of change within the church. Today's change is fundamentally different - today's change is outside the church.
60s and 70s - change within the church
Let me backtrack to those changes in the 60s in order to show how comprehensive this is for all the church around the globe as well as in each congregation. Vatican II can be identified as a fundamental center point and a way to summarize the changes in the church that began in the 60s. Secular newspapers and public radio identify the significant change it brought to all churches and to the world - ending emphasis on a denomination as the only true church (Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, etc.), opening the window to recognize Christians in many forms, worship in the language of the people, emphasis on Scripture, all of church including sermons and worship to be relevant to people on the issues of the day, etc. All this change centered mainly within the church. We matured as church bodies, talking with each other between denominations, many denominations ordaining women and all denominations involving nonordained in worship, Lutherans of all ethnic backgrounds uniting in one body, and seeking the worship and message of the church to be more relevant and meaningful to daily life.
Today's change - taking us outside the church
In the same way, today's change is just as comprehensive around the globe effecting every congregation and, with the addition this change also effects each individual in significant ways. Again there is significant Roman Catholic involvement in leading and understanding this change. Pope Francis may well be identified today as the fundamental center point and way to summarize the change happening God is up to in our world today. This change is NOT within the church, but taking the church OUTSIDE into the world. It is change for each individual in our daily life calling the individual Christian and the local congregation outside of ourselves into relationships with a much larger, diverse world. Pope Francis' election was a huge surprise and turning point as the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European pope since the Syrian Gregory III, who died in 741. It is seen in his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, concern for the poor, and commitment to interfaith dialogue. Just in this last week of April, 2016 Pope Francis emphasized the danger of seeing church as the pastor's work and called attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in the world and in the larger church He continually addresses daily life outside the church as in last year's Encyclical On Care for our Common Home calling every individual to care for the earth and in this year's Apostolic Exhortation On Love in the Family calling us to act with nonjudgmental mercy in care for every human relationship. .
What is happening?
The Pope gets the media attention, but the voices are countless and from every denomination and from nondenominational and independent voices. The Holy Spirit is clearly at work but for us the clarity is slowly unfolding. And our resistance is high. For this time it is not a fine tuning of church structure and mechanics, as significant as that is. No, this time it is even deeper, it is a call to everyone of us, each individual, you, I, each of us are to BE CHURCH - in our relationship and unity with each other, in our witness and service to the world, and in the depth and authenticity of our lifelong walk with Jesus. Nearly all the themes are the same stating that what is happening today - is:
- a major change such as only happens every 500 years, (Phyllis Tickle)
- learning to pray, act, and believe what Jesus taught us - Thy Kingdom Come, (Reggie McNeall)
- being rather than doing church - externally focused, developing people, sharing leadership, (Leadership Network)
- becoming "missional" = the mission has a church, (Alan Hirsch)
- emphasizing discipleship = making disciples who make disciples, (Verge or 3DM, Mike Breen)
- using technology with young adults leading the way, (Vibrant Faith)
- connecting to a global church and learning to walk and learn together, (accompaniment),
What it looks like
It happened during the children's message - on Easter Sunday. A toddler, not yet two, saw his chance. While others were busy hunting for the "Alleluia" hidden in the Sanctuary, he decided to explore the Sanctuary itself. What is that room behind the altar? And that ramp leading down from it, that looked like a great place to run. Soon more eyes were focus on him, than on "Alleluia".
Since that toddler's name is, Mark Ziemer, my grandson, I wondered at people's reactions to his distraction. It's hardly the attitude toward the sanctuary with which I grew up as described in my previous blog. "Cute", "lively", "refreshing" were the words I heard. The church has changed. What we expect and want - deeply - is not strict correctness and proper behavior, but we want people of all ages, being themselves, and loved into living as God's children.
Where I see it taking us
It's in Kam and Sam (my first blog), and also in Abby, Whitney, Jacqueline, Kaylie, and James. That's this year's 9th graders with whom I'm spending a week in the Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness along with their parents. The most effective time, energy, effort, and life is spent not in telling people what to believe and think but to authentically seek and listen to God with others and to develop a community and process that holds us accountable to what God is calling us to be and do.
This "newer church", where the Spirit is taking us, is not in reciting correct teachings - that did work well in "Old Church". But today it is in lifelong relationships, delighting in God's creation, listening to God, reflecting and discerning with others, and seeking in that context to better see the needs and opportunities around us through the eyes of Jesus and to respond to them with the heart of Jesus.