Looking and listening for emerging theologies

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

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

Samir Selmanovic — learning to love well

Space for Gathering and Reflection

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

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

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

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..

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