Posts Tagged ‘New Church’

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Finding A Way To Be Who God Wants Us To Be

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

The words, “The most courageous thing we can ever do is to be who God created us to be” challenge.  We spend so much time skirting around that very “trueness” of God’s intention for our lives.  The good news of course is that God’s intention is who He has already created you to be!  These words of Anne Lamott get right to it:

We begin to find and become ourselves when we notice how we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be. The only problem is that there is also so much other stuff, typically fixations with how people perceive us, how to get more of the things that we think will make us happy, and with keeping our weight down. So the real issue is how do we gently stop being who we aren’t? How do we relieve ourselves of the false fronts of people-pleasing and affectation, the obsessive need for power and security, the backpack of old pain, and the psychic Spanx that keeps us smaller and contained?

Here’s how I became myself: mess, failure, mistakes, disappointments, and extensive reading; limbo, indecision, setbacks, addiction, public embarrassment, and endless conversations with my best women friends; the loss of people without whom I could not live, the loss of pets that left me reeling, dizzying betrayals but much greater loyalty, and overall, choosing as my motto William Blake’s line that we are here to learn to endure the beams of love.

And God is for us in that endeavor, a fact lost in many religious circles.  He not only remains steadfastly for us in that endeavor but modeled the journey himself … no small miracle… in Christ, “God as a human being.” (True Christianity 538)  More interested in our character than in our comfort, there may just be place to rest for you there.   Knowing that with mess, comes the answer. He lives it.  So can we.

 

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An Alternative Orthodoxy

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

An alternative orthodoxy fashions a deep connection between faith and life. It is about a faith far more concerned with a sincere living of the Christian experience than being “right” in the intellectual sense. Such an orientation rarely takes umbrage over different theological perspectives but instead finds the necessary disquiet in the suffering of life and seeks to draw alongside of that very suffering.

We are then to mirror Christ’s journey in our small human way, a journey He did not seek in order to “become greatest in heaven … or to become the least.”  What then was Christ’s goal?  ”All He wanted was for everyone to make something of themselves and be saved.”  (Heavenly Secrets 1820) The focus then was “other.”

That is why is it is so important to consistently refocus … refocus … refocus on service towards others.  It is interesting to note how a good theological brouhaha will quickly draw 100′s.  A call to serve will draw, well, something we can count on two hands.  It is not that ideas are unimportant. They are opening of the Way.  Words shapes worlds. But those words, as is often my experience, sit untethered to the very ground they are to give form to, masquerading as the work of Christianity.

Groups like Inter-faith Housing Alliance remind me of what actually it is to be a Christian.

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What does it mean to be “Born Again?”

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

What does the term “Born Again” mean in the New Church?

First, it does not connote a particular denomination or political perspective. What it does connote is God’s Life being born anew in us, a Life that is actually ever-present.  We however get to decide the degree to which that Life manifests itself in this world.

“People who are born from the Lord, that is, who are reborn, receive the Lord’s life.  [That] life is Divine Love, or love for the whole human race, and the desire to save the whole human race and all its member’s forever.”  (Heavenly Secrets, #1803)

We then come to see faith differently, moving away from “Churchianity” to the wider embrace of “Christianity” -  ”a lifestyle—a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving.”

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Evil vs. Normal

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

Reading yesterday an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, I came across this beautiful line. “… the disquieting reality is that the conflict was between not good and evil, but good and normal. The brute racism that today seems like mass social insanity was a “way of life” practiced by ordinary “good” people.”   The concept that the battle lies not in the good vs. the evil but in the good vs. the normal deserves attention!

Normalcy held for centuries slavery was justified, even justified by the bible. Much of Christian apologetics for slavery arose from such renowned seminaries as those located at Harvard and Princeton.  And yet we look back on that time and the Civil Rights battle that ensued in the 1960′s …. just a few generations removed …. and see racism largely as a period of “mass social insanity.”

And what does normalcy hold as justified today that we will look back on …. a few generations removed ….and see in that same light?

I have hints about what those issues might be but not sure, predictive knowledge.   And this is what I think I know.  The role of a church is to continue to speak to the world and those marginalized in it.  The role of a church, prophetically, is to offer, as is often said, painful rebuke and unwavering hope, a critique that MUST start with healthy self criticism.  The role of a church is to consistently point towards love and the knowledge that grows from that place.  As Emanuel Swedenborg noted over 200 years ago, “Anyone who lives a life of love for others knows EVERYTHING there is to know about faith.”  (Heavenly Secrets 1798)  Amen to that brother!

 

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Taking the Bible Very Seriously, Not Literally

Tuesday, September 25th, 2012

We are called to take the Bible very seriously but not literally.

In the Western mind, a mind dominated by facts and argument, that is challenging to grasp.  We often approach God’s Word with those exacting lenses, believing that if not every bit of it holds literally true, the Bible can then be dismissed in its entirety.

However the Bible from the very start was written poetically.  It speaks of Adam and Eve giving birth to two sons, Cain and Abel, who then marry.  That progression defies logic, i.e. if the first human beings gave birth to the next two, where did those wives come from?

Traditionally, Christianity has been very comfortable with a more poetic reading of the Bible.  Look at the 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Each is a slightly different account of Christ’s life.  Their inclusion in the canon clearly speaks to a people comfortable with “knowledge in the round.”  They did not need one definitive account of His life.  Somehow they knew God was bigger was that.  The New Church is part of the heritage.

Holding the Bible poetically is the path of most resistance.  It is easy on one hand to dismiss the Bible in its entirety.  It is every bit as easy to hide in the literal words as a fundamentalist.  Both are simple “either/ or” solutions.  What God asks however is for us to inhabit the text, to live in it, to wrestle with it, to challenge it, to be challenged by it.   That is not easy but it engages us in an incredible spiritual conversation thousands of years old, opening us to blessings all around.

 

 

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Where is the fringe and what is the frontier?

Monday, September 17th, 2012

Change comes when we stand with one foot in the known and one in the unknown.  All in the known, a change looses any sense of urgency.  All in the unknown and we are a rudderless ship.  The spiritual life takes parts of the known and the unknown.

The times we find ourselves in are endlessly fascinating I think because it feels so much part of both, complete with the joyful anticipation and anxious dread such moments bring.  ”The Fringe”, spiritually, is movement away from the deep hierarchies of organized, institutional faith into flatter structures.  I don’t believe it to be a collapse narrative as one author phrased it.  But it is transformation narrative.

Denominational debates obsessed with theological correctness will look increasingly suffocating and out of touch.  Expect less and less involvement, tolerance and support from parishioners for partisanship within the church walls. Religions of movement – hopefully of which the New Church will be one – however will grow, all part of a meta narrative in which “What do you believe?” becomes increasingly displaced by “How do we serve?”  That very question places us out on the frontier, on that thin, anxious and playful edge between the known and the unknown.  A place to light a fire for others to follow.

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Belief or Belonging?

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Many people talk of a basic tension growing within Christianity in 2012. That tension may come to down to this idea – “I want to be part of a Church that stands FOR something but does not stand AGAINST other people.”  Tricky!  A ticklish issue, one Christ wrestled with.  One growing as the traditional forms of faith shift.  Much of it connects to the question – does the life of faith start with “belief” or “belonging”?

The “belief” argument goes like this.  It must all start with belief.  That is the key differentiator.  Proper belief gives rise to well lived life.  Without belief squared away churches are no more than social clubs, unanchored institutions buffeted by the waves of culture.  Christ was clear on principle.  So should we be.

The “belonging” argument follows a different track.  Christianity is about belonging to ever widening circles of community.  As those circles widen, of course they will encircle those for whom traditional belief is a challenge but who are looking for a sense of belonging in the world as well as a life of higher purpose.  Christ was comfortable with outliers. So should we.

What of the New Church?  As I understand it, it would be this.  You can have no true “belief” without first creating a senses of “belonging.”  Here is how Emanuel Swedenborg phrased it: “The knowledge of spiritual realities becomes nothing more than objects of memory when the people who are adept at them have no love for others.” (Secrets of Heaven, 1197)  Belief then is just a “dead object,” lacking any connection to great purposes of love, conscience and LIFE. Restated, hold onto belief as the sole criteria, belief becomes merely superficial ornamentation, “Belonging” can be so much more!  And have no worry for those want a challenge – the “belonging” game is many times more difficult to play than the “belief” game.  That is because you have to BE the truth, not just think it, not just speak it.

 

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Can we stand for something?

Sunday, July 15th, 2012

In a recent editorial piece in the New York Times, titled “Can Liberal Christianity be Saved?” Ross Douthat wrote of the demise of both centers of Christianity – liberal and conservative in the form of the Episcopal and Catholic churches.  He pointedly remarked, “The most successful Christian bodies have often been politically conservative but theologically shallow, preaching a gospel of health and wealth rather than the full New Testament message.”  The article clearly calls for a revisiting of sorts, for a reappraisal as Christianity attempts to find its legs again.

There are those in the “reappraisal” business, a line of work hopefully this congregation has joined.  Look at these words by Greg Boyd of Woodland Hills Church in Minnesota, a pastor aware of NewChurch LIVE.

“We want to do all we can do to help mobilize and spread this rising movement of kingdom people who are rethinking what it means to be a “Christian,” what it means to have “faith,” and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We want to join others in imaginatively exploring the shape that post-Christendom discipleship and the post-Christendom Church might take. And we want to join others in boldly rethinking everything Christians have always assumed they already knew. To recover the self-sacrificial revelation of God in Christ, and to advance the servant kingdom he inaugurated, it is time for us all to take a fresh look at everything.” 

I love the concept of “boldly rethinking” because it closely ties in with the concept of repentance.  That journey however is difficult.  As noted by Dounthat we all yearn at a superficial level for the “health and wealth” messages that abound.   They feel good.  They call us to claim what we “deserve.”  They are entertaining.  Such messages are frankly easier to preach, easier to sell.  In their froth, they avail us of little.

So can we stand for something?  The answer obviously is yes.  And unfortunately, in my humble opinion, we take stands on cultural issues that we then hold as issues at the core of Christianity – a General George Custer like mistake of planting our flag in territory of questionable value.  Taking a stand is not about worship forms, keeping women out of ministry or taking a stand about limiting the rights of homosexuals.   If the litmus test is “Did Christ speak on these issues in the four Gospels?”, one is left with the conclusion, that in these issues remaining unaddressed by Christ, they cannot be the core issues of Christianity.   Human suffering is.  New Church theology reflects that same New Testament perspective. Of course we are called to think clearly and make informed decisions for ourselves but that is different than holding these issues as core markers for adherence to the Christian life.

So where we do we take a stand?

  1. God’s Word: That there is a revelation higher than ourselves that we must look to guidance.  We are blessed in the New Church to have a revelation that calls us to see revelation far more broadly than many formal theologies but that is not “anything goes” but instead a “go and search.”  For me the hierarchy flows from the Bible, to New Church Theology, to everything else, (including Douthat’s article).  The imperative is to keep first-things-first.
  2. Piercing the Illusion: Ouch!  … but yes I have to say it.  We have to piece our illusions/ self delusions of what we hold as right and wrong – the core work of repentance.  Our ego gets it wrong all the time.  Please read my previous blog on the Penn State football scandal for an example of why those illusions are so badly in need of puncturing.
  3. Establishing a Church that is an Authentic Alternative: We can use cultural allusions but I think the stand is to be in some areas counter-cultural.  Christ’s call is both be different and to be difference maker, humbly and with the most grace we can muster.
  4. Reaching Out: It is about loving service looking outward – the self-sacrificial love that forms the very core of Christianity.   One immense fear for this church as for all churches is that we forget this core principle, and slide slowly towards a concern about ourselves as the relationship between God – Pastor – Congregation becomes divided along “Producer” and “Consumer” lines.   One immense hope is that we create the opposite!
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What I have found is that if I don’t take a personal stand on the above four, I become spiritually “sloppy”, more concerned with entertainment than transformation.  Shane Claiborne’s words ring in my ear.  ”If we loose this generation, it won’t be because we did not entertain them.  It will be because we did not challenge them.”    So here is to the challenge, here is to taking the right kind of stand.
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Eternity in Our DNA

Sunday, July 8th, 2012

Eternity is in our DNA.  ”Everyone is created to live to eternity … [to] be conjoined with God.”  (Divine Providence, 324)  The challenge is that eternity  appears exhausting.  Who wants an eternity of traffic jams, bad coffee, and global warming?

But those temporal concerns are NOT eternity.

Eternity is that love and connection that fills our life with meaning and purpose.  I know with our children, as each one arrived, we were struck by the feeling that they had ALWAYS been with us. And would always be regardless of the ebb and flow of life.  The same has been true of my relationship with my wife.  There is something both impossible and inevitable about it all.  There is no way we should be able to discover these deeply loving relationships given how much they fly in the face of a great deal of human experience but we do, and when we do, it appears that was the way it was always meant to be.  Impossible and Inevitable.  Welcome to eternity, an eternity that should free us to have one heck of a good day!


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Do We Know Maybe It Is Time?

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

Do we know maybe it is time?

Do we know that the greatest of spiritual gifts is freedom?  The ability to choose to love. The ability to do. And yet we think it is the time to debate, to argue, to accuse.  So we fall in love with agenda and position, and not each other and God.  These words of CS Lewis land uncomfortably.

“There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God Himself…as if the good Lord had nothing to do but exist!  There have been some who were so occupied in spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ. Man!  Ye see it in smaller matters. Did ye ever know a lover of books that with all his first editions and signed copies had lost the power to read them? Or an organizer of charities that had lost all love for the poor?  It is the subtlest of all the snares.”

So, what if we took God’s dare and created?  What if we saw God’s Word not as us waiting for Him to act but as Him waiting for us to act?   What if we took Him at His Word?  Take care of the stranger (Old Testament).  Do not be afraid (New Testament).  Hatred and charity cannot exist together. (New Church Theology)

We often make religion so small.  And the Spirit yet is so big.  The implications of incarnated faith immense.  The scope breathtaking.  The words transformational.  And we cram all that grandeur down into small, petty boxes – with labels like women’s ordination, adultery, homosexuality, worship style.  Those mysteriously and tragically morphed into “the work” of church.   And it is hard to see those as Christ’s issues.   He welcomed and embraced women’s voices in a way uncategorically revolutionary for that time and culture.  He saved a woman caught in adultery.  He got people to put the rocks of judgment down.  He never directly addressed homosexuality.  And He preached outdoors, in a robe, from a boat, on a mountain, in a synagogue, using props and people, and jokes and smiles and clear statements of right and wrong.   Believe in Him as God or not, this guy could bring it.

And that is what the New Church celebrates.  We shouldn’t celebrate the “small boxes” and see them as God’s work for this church.

Do we know then, maybe it is time?  Maybe time to raise our hand?  That is the beauty I think of church in the future.   For this amazing group of parishioners at NewChurch LIVE, just look at the Women’s Ministry, Care Ministry, Strength, Breathing Room Foundation, PTSD Support, Retreat to the Catskills, Community Service etc…..  Those are all running because someone, a person, simply said, “Maybe it is time.”  And then they raised their hand.

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