Emerging Theology

Outwardly focused religious life

2012-01-07T21:48:00.000+11:00

Organised religion requires an inflow of money to keep the system going. It has largely done this through the giving of its members who gather on Sundays or on other days of the week. When the people flow dries up so does the money flow unless it can rely on the income derived from property, investments etc.

My observation is that much church life is about gathering people (the shrinking few) and trying to get more out of them both in commitment to the organisation and in financial terms.

The gathering I think has to focus on inspiring the living of life to the full, of providing opportunities for creativity, for reflection, for education, spiritual reflection and growth, for helping people to find ways to change the world together and so on. If there is a paid or ordained person I think their role has to be as a facilitator rather than as a provider of religious services. The gathering has to act like a springboard for sending people out to a life lived more fully rather than sending them on another mission strategy for getting people back in the church.

The key difference here for me is the difference between inward focused religious life and outwardly focused religious life. Unfortunately I think whether we have churches organised around one leader or supported by a resource minister we can be still maintaining the inward focused flow. So often the flow from the church is disillusioned hurt people like a trail of blood from a wounded dying animal rather than a flow like a river of life nourishing the world.

2012-01-05T00:45:00.000+11:00

The church is dead. Long live the church!

Fresh expressions or last gasps?

It seems to me that much of what people who congregate as Christians do or what is classed as mission only appeals to less than 5% of the Australian population. Much of what goes on is merely attracting people from other denominations. One example (among many) is of more conservative minded people drifting to more conservative minded congregations and more liberal minded people drifting to more liberal minded congregations. Some may be attracted in from a non-religious background but the amount of disillusioned believers leaving seems to be growing even faster. If a congregation or denomination or 'the church' is concerned about its impact, the uncontested space of the 95% might be where it could focus its efforts and resources for the greatest rewards.

Meanwhile, I think every church, every congregation, has to de-construct what it is, why it exists, what it does, how it holds power, its history, its place in society, its view of 'the truth', what it represents, how it relates to people who do not want to believe or people who do not want to be part of organised religion and so on. There may be a lot to let go of including ideas about God and notions of what is truth and who and what defines truth and letting go of the things we do, that we hold to but which work against what we really want to express. For example baptism and communion in the way we practice them may be more exclusive than inclusive.

In recent years congregations have been encouraged to come up with quick vision statements and medium to long tem strategies, but I think we need to sit for a while in case the vision statement or strategy is built on ways of being church and believing that not only those beyond the church cannot relate to but even those still within the life of the church cannot relate to.

I really enjoy the congregation that I am currently committed to. It is the Bushland Chapel at Helensburgh, New South Wales http://bushlandchapel.net/. I enjoy Sunday gatherings there because what goes on enables me to reflect on stories of lived life and biblical stories and other stories. I think that ‘the church’ could become something different in the world and a means of transformation in society when instead of telling people what to believe and how to behave it creates space for people to reflect, to develop their own beliefs, to be creative and then to trust people to do what they want to do and the choices they make about living. Somewhere in here I think is a way that those of us who are still connected with the church could engage more creatively and authentically with the 95%.

(photo: Church of Ireland, Crookhaven, Co. Cork, Ireland

Will Fundamentalism eventually triumph?

2011-11-29T23:23:00.001+11:00

I read something in Greta Vosper's book 'With or without God' that really got my attention. Greta quoted Lloyd Geering who in an article titled ‘Fundamentalism: the Challenge to the Secular World’ (www.religion-online.org) quoted Kirsopp Lake who in 1925 (86 years ago) predicted that the church is shrinking from the left. He said that the fundamentalists (the right) will eventually triumph in the church. They will drive the 'experimentalists ' (the radicals) out of the church and then reabsorb the 'Institutionalists' (liberals) who under pressure will become more orthodox.

This got my attention because it was 86 years ago and was a prediction about the future and is exactly what I think is happening today. Will fundamentalism eventually triumph? I hope not and I don’t want to be forced out of the church.

Lake said that it was more difficult for experimentalists to establish a viable identity because they had no firm belief structure. It is much easier for fundamentalists and conservatives to brand their version of Christianity. They know what they are on about and can articulate it clearly and quickly because it is made up of rigid doctrines and dogma. The challenge for those of us who hold less rigid views, those who want to experiment, is to find ways to brand Christianity differently than the branding done by more theologically conservative and fundamentalist Christians. This branding has to stand apart from the branding of fundamentalists and reflect a definite direction, not rigid, not dogmatic, but meaningful, inclusive, authentic, spiritually enriching, life enhancing, passionately committed to loving action, to social justice, to mercy, to forgiveness and to making this a better world.

Fundamentalism: the Challenge to the Secular World by Lloyd Geering

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2732&C=2437p?title=2732&C=2437

2011-11-09T23:28:00.000+11:00

Today, I was thinking about the spiritual journey a number of us went on in a study group during my last two years as a minister at St. John's Uniting Church, Neutral Bay (Sydney). The journey can only be followed by looking back.

There was no strategic plan to cover all the books listed below, there was no predetermined destination, no outcomes or key performance indicators. Rather it was a journey of exploration, leading from one book to another, like island hopping as we ventured further and further out to sea away from our port of origin.

Along the way not only did we read books, we met Brian McLaren in person in North Sydney, watched Pete Rollins on Vimeo, had a Skype session with Samir Selmanovic from New York and we often saw Reza Aslan interviewed on ABC (Australia). We were enriched by the journey and very challenged by it.

It made me realise that just there is always more to learn about the people who inhabit this planet, the need for a just an equitable world in which to live, an ability to include one's 'enemies' as well as one's 'neighbours', to learn from all people, to really question the way we do 'our religion', to make meaning for today, to live in the present moment, to live without fear, that there is always more to learn about that whom we call God and lots more. One major thing it taught me is that there is a depth of faith to discover beyond the religious harbours we seek to find safety in.

I have included the books, authors and some web links below.

Everything must change: Jesus, Global crisis and a revolution of hope’ by Brian McLaren http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/books/brians-books/

‘The secret message of Jesus’ by Brian McLaren http://www.brianmclaren.net/

‘The fidelity of betrayal: towards a church beyond belief’ by Peter Rollins http://peterrollins.net/

‘It’s really all about God’ by Samir Selmanovic http://www.samirselmanovic.com/

‘No god but God’ by Reza Aslan http://www.rezaaslan.com/nogodbutgod.html

The Rural Reverend: Carp's Cornered and the rhetoric of hate

2011-07-30T13:30:00.000+10:00

The Rural Reverend: Carp's Cornered and the rhetoric of hate: "Up here in National Party heartland, things are hotting up in regard to the proposed price on carbon. The NP faithful are going into overdri..."

Everything, Something, Nothing: The modern novel and the New Atheism - ABC Religion & Ethics - Opinion

2011-07-06T00:41:00.000+10:00

Everything, Something, Nothing: The modern novel and the New Atheism - ABC Religion & Ethics - Opinion

Jesus Christ Superstar

2011-06-14T00:22:00.000+10:00

On Saturday I saw the musical Jesus Christ Superstar for the first time and I was very impressed. It was an excellent production by Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts. It was full of passion and terrific performances in singing, dancing and acting.

Seemingly, it was first performed forty years ago in 1971. I'm older than that. It has been around for a long time so why haven't I seen it before now? I think it was performed in Ireland for the first time at the beginning of 1973 and I remember that there were protests about it when it came to Cork. Some people were still protesting it again in 2003 when it was performed in Cork. Was it those 1970s protests that put me off? I'm sure that at the time the protests acted as the best publicity.

As I watched the performance I thought about the protests.What was all the fuss about? Why were some who claim to be followers of Jesus so threatened by it? I imagined that the protesters could have been part of the script. It would be interesting to place a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar within another musical or play a bit like the plot of the film 'Jesus of Montreal' (1989). The protesters adding more calls of 'blasphemy' would only enhance the script and bring into sharper focus how we can use religion as a negative, oppressive and controlling force in people's lives today just as it was back in the time of Jesus. Perhaps it has been done already.

Just as Jesus challenged the religion of his day so the religion of our day needs to be challenged. We want to challenge people beyond our definitions of the church with the message of Jesus but will we let people 'beyond' or 'outside' the church challenge us with the message of Jesus? Shall we let them speak (or sing, dance and act) or shall we seek to silence them just as we seek to silence those within the church who raise questions and see things differently?

The world before us

2011-05-04T00:03:00.001+10:00

I was driving to Sydney the week before Easter and found myself singing a chorus from my childhood except that I was singing a line the wrong way round and I realised that I was expressing how my theology has changed. Of course this would be heresy to some Christians but for me it is a very important fundamental shift.

What was the chorus? Answer: I have decided to follow Jesus. The original version goes like this: I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. The cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back. The line I had reversed was being sung like this: the cross behind us, the world before us...

When I look at a lot of Christianity it seems to have turned its back on this world in which we live. It's focus is on the world to come. Some Christians appear to uncritically follow the symbol of a cross, they have exchanged living life to the full for a narrow version of the message of Jesus. Suppose we were to see the cross as the beginning or the spring board for living life rather than the end. After all don't we turn on Easter Sunday from an empty cross and an empty tomb in the power of the resurrection to follow where the Spirit leads us in life?

The cross is symbolic of a God who suffers with humanity, with all creation and who frees us to live the life we were created to live. With the cross behind us, with the foundation of that theology, a theology grounded in the suffering and death of Jesus we focus firmly on making this world a better place. The cross behind us. the world before us...

Looking and listening for emerging theologies

2011-03-19T22:03:00.001+11:00

I think that one of the hardest things for us leaders in the church to do is to humbly look at and listen to what is going on outside the church (or even outside our particular denomination). Could there be emerging theologies brewing outside the church which are consistent with the stories of Jesus and being given life by the Spirit? Do we only consider that which is arising from within recognised Christian denominations as emerging theology?

If you search on the internet you will see that there are many male church leaders forcefully speaking and writing against what is emerging within the church. Why is this? Are they afraid that Christians will be led astray once more or are they afraid of losing power or what? I am not surprised at this because this has been the history of the church. Church history has been written by the victors, not the losers. The victors being those who exercised power and excluded others with an alternative view or theology. Often these were excommunicated from the church or from a particular denomination. Theological view points were enforced by threat of death and by the use of armed forces. Writings were burned along with their authors. Thus we have had a suppression of female voices, alternative voices, minority voices, prophetic voices etc. So when I see this debate going on within the church I just think here we go again.

Rather than defending the truth at all costs, would it not be more in line with following Jesus to take a more humble approach? If we are so set in our beliefs as being right may we not be in danger of not following the Spirit in this day? My experience has been that there are many people outside the church who do not consider themselves as Christian but who are engaging with the teaching of Jesus and living this out in their lives. Surely how we live is more important than what we believe or at least what we believe must be lived out not just believed? Unfortunately many of us live out what we believe the gospel to be in a violent way and unaware of the violence we do to others. Is this the gospel of Jesus we are living out or is it the gospel eclipsed by ego, power and the desire to control? How different might the church be if we emphasised living out love and if we looked and listened beyond the church to what may be emerging?

Creating space for gathering and reflecting

2011-03-03T14:45:00.001+11:00

Creating space for gathering and reflection

Recently, I and another person were speaking at the North Sydney monthly Business Network Lunch associated with the Uniting Church. The title for our presentation was ‘Holding space for change’. This particular meeting had the highest turn out of female attendees ever. I asked a few of the women why they had come to this particular meeting. It was the title and the different descriptions of space used in the advertising that had captured their imagination; words such as: community space, sacred space, liminal space, suspended space and neutral space. In our presentation we also spoke about safe space, shared space, uncontested space, and cyber space. The words had resonated with their own desires to enter a space which would enable them to explore and open up to possibilities. By using particular language we were able to create a space for reflection.

Samir Selmanovic — learning to love well

2011-02-28T22:36:00.000+11:00

Samir Selmanovic — learning to love well

Space for Gathering and Reflection

2011-02-24T11:07:00.000+11:00

In Lieven Boeve's book 'Interrupting Tradition: An Essay on Christian Faith in a Postmodern Context', Lieven looks at the future possibilities for the church. Faced with declining attendances while at the same time a growing interest in spirituality outside the church, Lieven suggests three ways that the church may go. The church could retreat into absolutism, authoritarianism and fundamentalism, or it could embrace the marketisation of religion and compete alongside every other religion and spiritual idea, or the church can create space for gathering and reflection, a rich seed bed from which new forms of church may flourish.

I like the idea of churches creating space for people to gather and reflect. To be a place where people gather, the church must be a welcoming place not just for some people, not just for the people who think like us, but even for people who do not think like us. This is very challenging for me. It means that when I gather with people whose ideas and beliefs I do not share, I need to suspend those ideas and beliefs for a time, to put them to the side, and step into a space where I can be open to other people, to see beyond our differences, and to find openings where together we can proceed further in relationship with one another, and where together we can tackle the issues and challenges we face in this world at this time.

Fundamentalism, Poverty and Education

2010-11-10T10:23:00.002+11:00

In our study group we're just finishing off reading 'No god but God' by Reza Aslan www.rezaaslan.com and have been thinking about the relationship between fundamentalism, poverty and education.
One way fundamentalism seems to thrive is amongst people who have been impoverished by non-democratic government and denied access to basic secular education, while at the same time receiving an overdose of narrow religious dogma. Reza Aslan says that the more we try to forcefully stamp out fundamentalism, the more it will grow and if we ignore it, it will take over. So what alternatives do we have?
I'm wondering whether lifting poverty levels and increasing education availability would help to diminish the supply of people fundamentalist groups seek to recruit? How can we, as nations looking in on situations where human rights and democratic
government are denied, assist in raising poverty levels and access to education?

Violence and Religion

2010-10-10T00:00:00.001+11:00

I spent most of the day making notes for our study group on Reza Aslan's book 'No god but God: the origins, evolution and future of Islam'. This week we are reading chapter seven which is entitled 'In the footsteps of the martyrs'. The chapter is a summary of Shi'ism from its origins in bloody and tragic circumstances to the revolution in Iran and the war between between Iran and Iraq during which tens of thousands of children were killed as martyrs, thus the title of the chapter 'In the footsteps of the martyrs'.

In December, North Sydney Council is holding an Interfaith Forum on raising awareness of issues of violence in the home. In preparation a few of us had a discussion during the week and we talked about how biblical texts can be used to trap women within the cycle of violence. One such text being: 'take up your cross and follow me'. Some women have applied this text to themselves or have it applied to them by male church leaders in such a way that they regard having to live with a violent partner as being the cross they must bear as a good Christian and their lot for life.

When we men (male religious leaders) allow this to happen it is like we are allowing Christ to be crucified twice (to speak in theological terms) or in non theological terms that we men are not taking responsibility to let other men know in the strongest terms possible that violence against women and children in any form is wrong and totally unacceptable.

Violence and religion has had a long history and much human violence is attributed to God. Shall we continue to go along with the status quo, the acceptance of the relationship between violence and religion or shall we in all religions reject violence as attributable to God and dare to question our own interpretations of our sacred texts?

Justice on earth as it is in heaven

2010-10-01T12:24:00.001+10:00

I commented on the post 'The preacher and the slave' on Pete Rollins' blog and included my comment plus the link to Pete's post below.

Irish Bog Cotton

I like to listen to the American folk song 'Owensboro' brought to recent life by Natalie Merchant about the people considered thrash working in a mill in Owensboro, Kentucky. They learn to spin and spoon but never get a proper education. Dressed in rags, and surviving on the basics, their lives are compared to the fine clothes and pearls of the people of the town. The saddest words for me come at the end: 'But when that day of judgement comes they'll have to share their pretty things.' Again it seems that the only hope these people were given was that in heaven the injustices and inequity of this world would be redressed and yet they probably were taught to pray each day...may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..

http://peterrollins.net/blog/?p=1193&cpage=1#comment-7481

Religious Knowledge Quiz

2010-09-29T17:19:00.000+10:00

Check out this link to see how you compare to Americans in a test on religious knowledge.

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

Jesus and Drop the Debt

2010-09-17T23:05:00.001+10:00

“Debt is an efficient tool. It ensures access to other peoples’ raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms… Market saturation ensues, reducing exporters’ income to a bare minimum while the North enjoys huge savings.”

Susan George, A Fate Worse Than Debt, (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990)

When we talk about debts in church we are usually referring to how we have sinned against God and against one another. Jesus told a parable about a manager who was accused of squandering his master's property and then of dishonesty for how he significantly reduced what his master's debtors owed. However, to our surprise the master commends the manager for his shrewd actions. Somewhere in this parable is a hint that forgiveness involves real action. Forgiving debts is not just about forgiving those who have sinned against us as individuals and saying,"I forgive you". Forgiving debts is also a matter of justice and that dropping the debt of the debt-ridden poorest nations of the world is about real forgiveness.

www.jubileeaustralia.org

Monotheism and People Control

2010-09-16T22:21:00.002+10:00

Yes, I believe in God or perhaps more correctly I believe that there is that which we name God (as distinct from there is a God) but I think that every single human being has a different opinion of what God is or what God is like. So while people say, "I believe in God", I'd have to ask what is that God like to you? What exactly do you believe about that God? When I hear the descriptions people make about the God they imagine or when they express their beliefs, I wonder if it is the same God that I imagine. I wonder where these beliefs came from and why people hold them so preciously especially if the person is quite dogmatic about what they believe to be the truth about God and that I must believe it if I am to have any hope of salvation.

Speaking of imagination, I sometimes wonder whether monotheism, the idea that there is only one God, has been employed as a way to control people. Dara Molloy in his book 'The Globalisation of God' says, "With the emergence of monotheism came the discovery of a new political tool by which people could be managed. That tool is what we now call dogma. Dogma is the exaltation of an opinion or hypothesis into a belief to which others must subscribe." (Molloy, Dara, 'The Globalisation of God', Co. Galway, Aisling Publications, 2009; p.46). The primary dogma being that there is only one God.

How has this one belief effected the world? How has this one belief been used by religious and political leaders in people control? More reflections on monotheism to come...

Attracted to Polytheism

2010-09-15T11:33:00.000+10:00

I find myself attracted to Polytheism because of its tolerance of diversity of belief, its total connectivity to nature and respect for the environment, its sense of mystery, the spirituality of the everyday existence, and the lack of dogmatic beliefs, formal creeds and institutionalised religion common to Monotheistic religions. I wonder if the person and practices of Jesus has more in common with Polytheism than Christian denominations acknowledge. The stories of Jesus and the mystery of the Spirit seem to exude a freedom of expression and experience and wonder in relating both to the mystery of that which we name God and to the lives we live on a daily basis. To me this spirituality seems much more attractive and real and personal than the religion of reciting creeds and making orthodox confessions of faith. More to come...

Jihad - just war not holy war

2010-09-13T17:50:00.003+10:00

According to Reza Aslan the doctrine of jihad differentiated between rules for warfare pre-Islam and under Islam, the difference being that there were categories of people one was not allowed to kill women and children, monks, Rabbis, the elderly and any other non-combatants and there were rules on torture, treatment of dead bodies, rape, property, prisoners etc which have become incorporated into modern international laws of war.

A just war was in response to injustice, a response to the aggression of others and never instigated by a follower of Muhammad.

Buy a Quran

2010-09-08T22:20:00.003+10:00

Why not buy and read a copy of the Quran in response to the disrespectful and inflammatory actions of burning the Quran in Florida, and also celebrate the end of Ramadan on Friday?

Bothered by the Bible

2010-09-03T22:14:00.001+10:00

I came across this quote yesterday as I was preparing a sermon on Luke 14:25-33:
'It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.' Mark Twain

Jesus was talking to the large crowds of people who were travelling with him and he said some extremely disturbing things: Who ever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even life itself, cannot be my disciple... Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple... none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

I'm not sure whether I understand this or not but it certainly bothers me. I don't think telling people who come to church on Father's Day in Australia this Sunday that if one doesn't hate one's father one cannot be Jesus' disciple.

I guess Jesus was emphasising the real cost of his own life as he goes on 'the way' and that anyone who chooses to follow him ought to consider the possibility that it might cost of one's own life.

It sounds like the warning the leader of a terrorist organisation might give to her or his followers. Perhaps Jesus was exaggerating to make a point or perhaps Jesus was highlighting the fact that grace does not come cheap, or perhaps we'll never really be able to understand it. It's pretty heavy stuff and it bothers me.

Atheism

2010-09-02T14:07:00.001+10:00

Sadly, Irish actor Mick Lalley died on 31 August. Seemingly he regarded himself as an atheist and religion as nonsense and Codology' (Irish slang). The words that he is most associated with are "Well Holy God' which he regularly delivered in the television series Glenroe.

Surely being anti-religion does not always mean that one is anti-God? What kinds of God are our religions creating? Have we made a god of religion?

Looking forward to hearing from people who cherish the name atheist.

Statistics

2010-09-01T13:25:00.001+10:00

With the election in Australia dragging on for eleven days now and all sorts of arguements in the media and coming from political parties about who really has won the right to govern Australia it reminds me that the same statistics can be used to support opposite points of view such as in the debate on climate change and whether the economic outlook is brightening or becoming more gloomy. It seems to be the same when we approach the holy books such as the Bible or Quran. We use them to support our position on any subject.
Is there a way for us to negotiate meaning beyond statistical evidence and individual texts?

Emerging Church and the brain washed people of God

2010-04-22T20:28:00.001+10:00

I have been wondering a little more intentionally lately about why people allow themselves to be dictated to by churches who still treat women as being lesser to men in the church. These churches say that women and women are equal but men and women have different roles. However, men can preach to women but women cannot preach to men. In some churches women are no longer allowed to be elders.
How can men make their partners attend churches like these? Why do men allow male clergy to get away with this kind of discrimination? Why do women go along with it? Why would parents want to bring their children up in this sort of environment? Is there something else controlling them? Fear? Fear that if they leave they will lose their salvation or that they are not good Christian women or men? Could this be a form of brain washing? How could people be tricked into thinking this is the gospel?
Has anyone left this kind of church and discovered that they are still loved by God?