One for the road...: A leaf that never knew it was part of a tree: a personal reflection about emergent/emerging church and my faith journey... (part III)

I have been asked to submit a piece for consideration to be published in new Emergent (UK) Magazine. This is final part (III), well all the best things come in trilogies. You can read Part I here and Part II here. I’d really appreciate your honest feedback/comments/discussion on anything that you think would improve this (content/readability/structure etc).

Finding a forest called emergent?

“I think I should speak now (why won't you talk to me)
I can't seem to speak now (you never talk to me)
My words won't come out right (what are you thinking)
I feel like I'm drowning (What are you feeling)
I'm feeling weak now (why won't you talk to me)
But I can't show my weakness (you never talk to me
I sometimes wonder (what are you thinking)
Where do we go from here (what are you feeling)” Keep Talking, Pink Floyd

As I said in the introduction it is hard to point at the emerging church, it is not so much a denomination or a movement but rather a collective co-operative complement, exploring theology and practice. It is therefore hard to point attribute how I first began to engage in that conversation. I suspect it was a stumble in cyberspace or a tip-off from a friend that led me to find that the whispers I heard in me were in full blown conversation, I realised that this leaf had discovered the following ways of seeing the trees.

One of powerful things that struck me about emerging church was the desire to see Jesus at the heart of life, faith, theology and practice. Indeed in the argument in these post-modern times as to the question what is truth, the emergent church offers a powerful apologetic that truth is not a what, truth is a who, the fully man fully God Jesus Christ.  We know so little about this Truth that so much of the conversation is centred on exploring Jesus as God revealed, Jesus as God living, breathing, interacting incarnate – the model of how to live in the world.  In our image obsessed world it is the image of Christ on the cross the defining symbol of faith, of unpacking all that it means.  Jesus through his works, words and wounds as the model/mentor/method of the missio dei (the mission of God). This continual Jesus centring is the heartbeat of what much of the emerging church conversation is about and underlies so many of its other values.  That’s not to say it is an unitarian belief, the trinity is fully represented but there is a definite emphasis on Christology.

One of the many things that I appreciate about the emerging church conversation is the respect and regard so many people have for the scriptures.  The bible is not seen as answer book, although it does contain answers, or as a weapon in a war on secularism, although it does need to be handled with care.  In reading the bible I think one of the strengths that the emerging church brings is in trying to use narrative theology, in reading the bible as the story of God revealed in relationship rather than as systematic topics.  It is the difference between being able to dismantle a car into its component parts and actually being able to take the car for a drive, it is not that the former is not useful, it is, but the latter is fulfilling the purpose of the car.  Or put another way without the context of the narrative it would be like coming into a film half way through, I would understand some parts, glean others by annoyingly whispering questions to my neighbour but whole arcs of character and story would have passed me by.  It is with narrative that such threads that run through the bible as sin, redemption, transformation, worship, economic and social justice, love, care for the poor, generosity, mercy, grace, restoration and renewal of creation get woven together.  These are not separate disparate concepts but are part of not only God’s revelation but also the mission that Jesus is on, a mission that he invites us to participate in, with and through him.

The centrality of Jesus and the enfolding story of the revelation and mission of God in scripture is the invitation that we are not casual observers, or spectators on the sidelines but invited, called, to be participants with God.  The emerging church is clear that mission is a non-negotiable, it is the very hub of the story, God involved, God incarnate, God inviting, and God co-missioning Christians to be his ambassadors/agents/architects/agitators /activists.  The idea of leaving mission to specialists (i.e. evangelists) is swept away – all the gifts that God has given us, all the communities and relationships we find ourselves in our opportunities for God’s love to be shown.  It raises the question what is the gospel, clearly salvation is good news but how else are Christians good news?  How do we bless the people around us as we are blessed by God?  How do we love people as we are loved by God?  How do we care for people and places in a long term sustainable way?  How are we co-working with the Holy Spirit not just in the transformation of souls but people, institutions, environments, structures and places?  These are not just questions for intellectual enlightenment but questions that arise out of a desire to love God and love in neighbours in thought, word and deed.

The final one that I want to mention in this article is the delight that the emerging church finds in the oldest right to the newest forms of church.  This love and respect for the church, for learning, sharing, encouraging each other is something that echoed my heart.  This value of deep ecclesiology is about no longer comparing the best of our denomination with the worst of all others, but about comparing our bests and our worsts, of learning that no one has a monopoly on right practices or right doctrines.  In Jesus, our differences look a lot smaller and our commonality so much more.  That is not to say we should gloss over our differences instead I think they are to be celebrated as part of the diverse work of creation, it will take all sorts of churches to reach all sorts of people and to try and reduce church to a monotone ecclesiology does sound for making a very beautiful bride to me.

A tree hugging finale?

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.  Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all.  But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. -  William Blake, 1799, The Letters

I have tried in the piece to explore something of my own personal encounters with the emerging church.  My own journey from a narrow to a generous orthodoxy, through questions, doubts, searching and sitting in the seat of the learner.  These qualities remain which may mean I am getting more generous by the day or just more amazed how sharply into focus some things come whilst others start to blur again.  The emerging church has its share of frustrating conversations, it can feel like its all talk and no action or action and no talk and constructive criticism is I think much needed and welcomed.  It doesn’t have all the answers or all the questions either and in that sense it will always be emerging rather than ever arriving.

If it is true that it is as much about the journey as the destination then as a leaf I am glad to have explored the history of why I believe what I believe and I am glad as well that I have a present and a future infused and infected by a creative loving God of hope for me and for all the world in which I live.  To that end emergent church does reconnect intimately this leaf to the tree and life of His-story.