The next old thing...?

A feeling...

I've felt in my gut for awhile that there is a change of wind a coming in the emerging conversation - turn unlikely corners and you'll catch a teasing glimpse... listen in and you'll hear a faint song on the breeze, turn your face towards it and you'll smell the scent of earth rather than the tang of the sea, the call of settling rather than the desire to sail...

Or as Galadrial might have said... The world is changing. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was lost is being found and much that will be is calling to us from the future...

Maybe it's just me, i don't think this the next big thing, i think this is the next old thing...

The fast...

Deconstruction is good. It shouts STOP! Stuck in the desert, barren, bereft, our faith resembling atheism, the ending of faith in the God we've created. It is the time of Lent, the time of reflection, the time of fast. It allows us to see the idols of our ideas and ideals and tear them down... to look behind the curtain and find the man rather than the all powerful Oz, to readjust and take our cultural and Christ bearings.

But after the initial flush, the gorging on the low hanging fruit of our theology, our church forms, our cultural emeshment and our practices it becomes less and less easy to maintain the momentum. The labels get longer as we redefine ourselves. Hurts heal. New and old truths and practices are discovered, the excitment of the door back into engaged faith takes it.

Is it time for the blue pill or the red one... Will we stay in the adventure and find out just how deep our faith is by plunging in fully or will we continue to trail our toe in the water, convincing ourselves that this is just a bad dream that one day we'll wake up from?

The feast...

Like a flower growing up through a crack in the derelict and deserted parking lot, faith is beginning to blossom again, life is returning. I'm reminded of Jesus words on a right time for fasting and a right time for feasting...

"The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees made a practice of fasting. Some people confronted Jesus: "Why do the followers of John and the Pharisees take on the discipline of fasting, but your followers don't?"

Jesus said, "When you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!"

A season of celebration. A season of feasting. A season of construction. A season of Kingdom come and coming..?

Do you feel it too? What glimpses of it can you see? feel? smell? touch?

Comments

[Makeesha]

yep, it's called maturity :) not "back to" or "into" but growth up and out, reaching flexing breathing...in out in out

[Paul]

thanks Mak, so this is what maturity feels like... no wonder i couldn't recognise it ;)

[Jason Clark]

I hope so Paul, there does seem to be a gentle wind, in the sails

[Paul]

Thanks Jase, here's to fair wind to sail with and clear stars to steer by...

[Laura Anne]

At the moment, I feel a time of fasting rather than feasting. But I do think that change is not coming, but already happening. The words that I was reminded of recently were from

Isaiah 43:18 - 'It is already happening, look don't you see it?'

[Patrick]

My feeling is that the emerging conversation is at the point where it has said what's wrong with the old, and it has offered a lot of liturgical suggestions for the sake of change.

But, to really mature, and to establish itself as something more than yet another fleeting moment in Evangelical re-assessment, it will need to take on more positive contributions theologically.

Less emphasis on dissatisfaction and more on what's post post-evangelicalism, what's post post-modernity. Taking new views on classic doctrines that reflect new actions in missional environments.

I see this in some of the newer emerging books, such as Listening to the Beliefs of the Emerging Church. Pagitt and Kimball's thoughts, to me especially, were opening up new vistas.

That partially explains the kerfuffle with Driscoll. The movement is starting to stretch past liturgical changes and expressions of discontent with Baby Boomer churches and starting to explore what it all means theologically. Those willing to stretch more are pressing the emerging theology to the next step. Driscoll, and others, are liturgically emerging but holding to classical theology and so are drawing the line in the sand.

Maturity indeed. Folks don't like to see the young ones grow up.

[Paul]

Thanks Laura Anne - I like your Isaiah quote, that's an inspiring thought, for both fasters and feeders :)

[Paul]

Thanks Patrick, yep I agree with you, altho i suspect this is more than just about growing up theologically (altho that plays a large part). I think there needs to be some concrete laid down, altho we have a suspicion of institutionalism i think we need to do precisely that - even if that means for some people orientating around a deinstitutionalised institution ;).

Of course I am showing my cards here but one of the things i value most about the deep church conversation is that it offers a way of being, of going forward and practicing that is beginning to happen in reality already.

But more of that later... :)

[Laura Anne]

Oops. Right book, right chapter, wrong verse. Make that Isaiah 43:19. Sorry!!!

[Jonathan Brink]

Well said brother. I feel it in my bones too.

[Paul]

Thanks Laura Anne for the correction :)

[Paul]

Thanks Jonathan, much appreciated!

[Sue]

I feel it to. I'm reminded of it when I think of certain people I know online who have been taken out of the church system for a season or nine, to walk alone with God, in great difficulty and loneliness at times, and to learn to hear his voice for themselves and to walk in more freedom apart from the system of religious obligation. Now, several of these people are sensing the time is right to return to a Sunday morning meeting. The difference is, now they can differentiate between things of man and things of God, between the system and the freedom we all have. Awesome :)

[Paul]

Thanks Sue, yes, that is a great example :)