Everything Old Is New Again

It has been said that for every year we live, a single year becomes a smaller percentage of the life that we have lived. This idea supports the perception that the older we get the more quickly time passes. Perception at times defies explanation, but this is one that might work.

Through the magic of cable news, the passing of Senator Kennedy has occasioned another tsunami of historic images–images that bring us a nostalgic connection with our own past. Every photograph or newsreel seems to call us to a moment in our own lives when the world was different. And so were we.

Those of us who engage in parish ministry jump on a slowly moving train like some sort of spiritual drifter moving from one place to another. What we often fail to understand is that the journey has begun long before we hopped on. It will continue far past the location from which we depart it. For the duration of our “ride” we place our particular stamp upon the historic images that other generations will view with only slight curiosity. It is interesting to look at the past. Our history gives us a sense of where we’ve been, but it only begins to live when we find our own blueprint for a new future.

Our predecessors at North Church took bold steps of faith during the Great Depression to respond to the needs of the world around them. In the waning days of the Roaring 20’s, the North End of Middletown, New York was a burgeoning community of railroad workers and their families, a lively bustling industrial area that needed a spiritual center. Today that same neighborhood is bustling with the pulse of ethnic, racial, and religious diversity, a place where English is perhaps a second language, a place sadly lacking in terms of industry or employment, but one that still needs a spiritual center.

To re-create the North Church that “was” is an exercise in futility. In order to do that we would need to return to the Middletown that “was.” Each generation must take bold steps to address the possible irrelevance of what we do. For the Congregationalists in the North End eighty years ago, it meant climbing a high hill with stones and mortar to create a space from which to express some Good News. It meant becoming a social center and an environment where struggling parents found help and hope as they raised their young ones in an uncertain world. It was a place that reminded them that there was something greater, something outside of themselves that gave them meaning in a world that was turned upside down through economic hardship and another world war.

This is a day of new beginnings, time to remember and move on . . . . The world that “was” may seem to be gone, but human need is the same as it has always been. The gospel is no longer housed in stones and mortar where people put on their Sunday best and climb the steps. The Good News is alive and well and its presence is known in a “tweet” on Twitter, or in a Facebook status entry. Ancient truths live just as comfortably in cyberspace as they do in a wooden pulpit. It’s not a matter of “either/or.” It is a “both/and.”

Identity and Inclusion

     Emergent Christians are known for an inclusive message, one that invites everyone to the table; one that affirms many journeys and experiences. The affirmation of these other journeys, however, does not preclude a sense of one’s own identity. While we affirm the rights of others to hold positions that differ from our own, we do not surrender our own affirmations.
    “Here we stand” can be misinterpreted to mean “We’re right and you’re wrong; we’re good and you’re bad.” An “us vs. them” mentality is not a constructive way to engage with those who disagree. It is not a contest to see who can score the most points. It is not a matter of who has the most persuasive debate. It is finding the validity of one’s own journey and the living of that journey in an authentic and faithful way.
     I affirm, respect, and honor the rights of others to hold ideas that differ from my own, but that does not imply that I affirm their conclusions; only that it is their privilege to have them.   I affirm, respect, and honor freedom of speech, and as others speak freely I will also.

Progressive, Inclusive Gospel

     Progressive Christianity begs the big questions. What is God calling us to do in this community? How do we bring renewal to an aging congregation? What is the best stewardship of our building, our resources, our traditions, and our heritage? How do we overcome the odds and begin to turn the corner? Do we just maintain the status quo until we run out of people and resources or do we create something entirely new? What is that new thing and how do we do it?
     A related question might be, “What kind of gospel do we preach?” Is it one that is inclusive, and do we open our doors to our “neighbor” who might be of a different culture, language, or personal challenge? Are we ready and willing to invite all people to the table as full partners in ministry without regard to religious background, sexual orientation, gender, or socio-economic status?
     Our faith community has partially answered that question by beginning a process of discernment with a view to adopting a statement that will qualify us as an Open and Affirming congregation in the United Church of Christ. Initiative for this process has orginiated from the pews rather than the pulpit. It expresses a desire to reach a hand of fellowship toward those who feel disenfranchised by other faith communities for any reason at all. Though the current discussion involves specific issues related to the gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgendered community, the work of openness and affirmation embraces much more than that. It has to do with removing any and all barriers to a broadly diverse and multi-cultural community. For progressive, emergent Christians this is a vital mission and one that we embrace with conviction.
     Some will say that such a discussion is motivated by a political agenda. There is indeed an agenda, but it is rather one of justice, peace, morality, and witness. Jesus spoke of a man who was beaten, robbed and left for dead by the side of the road. First a priest and then a Levite walked past, and when they saw him lying there in each instance they passed by on the far side of the road to avoid any contact with him. Finally a Samaritan, a person of mixed background from a different culture and possibly a somewhat divergent religious practice, stopped and tended to the man’s wounds. Once he had bandaged him, he placed him in an inn and paid for his lodging for an important time of recovery and healing.
     Between the Samaritan and the injured man there was never a question of background or human condition; only a need that was met by one who took seriously the command to care for one’s neighbor as one would care for one’s self. The good news is that it is just . . .that . . . simple.