Authentic Christianity?
I’ve just been reading an article in the Catholic e-zine Eureka Street with the title “In bed with the secular spirit” ( go to article here). It begins with a quote from a Catholic college teacher bemoaning “Some of my students turn to Madonna for spiritual inspiration … and they’re not thinking of the mother of Jesus”. In response to this, the author explores what it means to be on a spiritual search in a secular age which has developed a culture of authenticity. You need to read it for yourself. I was stimulated to make two responses, one more surface response to the teacher quoted, but the other arising from a deeper place within.
The immediate response was to say to the teacher, “How are you exploring this issue with your students?”. The underlying tone of her comment suggested to me that deep down the teacher wanted to say to her students that they were on the wrong path. But I want to say that rather than becoming exasperated with those who seem to be seeking spiritual guidance or nurture in what we might (falsely) claim to be secular places, we need to be exploring with them both their questions and the answers they seem to be getting from such sources. What hope, what meaning, what insight about life, what understanding of God are they discovering in Madonna? Let’s join them on that journey and we all may learn from each other about deeper things.
But my other response, coming from my own search, is to say that alongside this journeying with people, we need to be able to say what we have discovered that is authentic for us. For me, that is the search to discover what is uniquely Christian. What is it about the life of Jesus that, if lived out in my life or the communities of faith in which I belong, would make a difference – a difference that would not otherwise be present? This came into focus last Sunday as my wife and I led worship with minister Leanne at Blackwood Uniting. The gospel reading for the day was a series of images that Jesus gave us about the kingdom of heaven (with apologies to those who find “kingdom” language unhelpful – but that’s what Matthew has Jesus call it in his gospel). As we explored those images in worship, we were challenged to find one key word that encapsulated our understanding of God’s kingdom. I listened to all the responses that came from congregation members and wondered which of them was unique i.e. do we Christians have an exclusive handle on love, compassion, justice, etc.? For the record, the word I offered was “hope” but I’m still exploring in my mind why I thought that was the critical answer.
Journeying with others on the spiritual quest is vital, no matter how we would judge their sources. But even more vital is that we carry with us, and share appropriately the sources, questions, and answers that are leading us towards what we hope is an authentic following of Jesus.
Posted by Rob
Go Doggies (but not at the expense of the Cats!)
If you are a footy follower you will know that the Western Bulldogs have vastly improved their game this season. I know they lost against Carlton on the weekend – and to Geelong a few weeks ago. But they have been playing well and they are now third on the premiership ladder. Their coach and fans would have to be pleased with this after last season’s dismal finish where they did not win a game after round 15. Today I received the Leading Teams Newsletter and discovered that since December last year they have been working with the Bulldogs (you can read about it here). So what, you might say? Well, last year Leading Teams worked extensively with the Cats – and look where it got them. I wrote about this here, after reading an article in The Age that told of the positive effects on the Geelong players on hearing ”home truths” from each other. On their web site, Leading Teams state their mission as the following:
to improve organisation performance by aligning teams and developing leaders. We develop leaders who behave in a manner that will have a positive impact on their peers and their organisation.
You have to wonder what their secret to such amazing success is. I bet it has to do with changing the culture. Understanding it, first. Then knowing how to change the parts of it that dont help and how to work with the parts that do, to bring improvement. One of the favourite maxims of this office is “Culture eats strategy everyday for breakfast”. It hardly matters what the plan is, if understanding the effect of the culture of the organisation is not taken in to account. Understanding “the culture” is not easy because it is usually hidden – it’s the taken for granted way we do things around here, the unwritten code that everybody kind of knows. It is usually accepted, unquestioned and unreflected upon.
More insight into what Leading Teams do with groups they work with came from another article ( theleadingmen1 )from The Age where it was revealed that the first thing that is done to help teams re-define their cultures is to nut out a “trademark”. This becomes the reference point for the work that follows. A team states how it thinks it is viewed and then how it wants to be viewed – what sort of team they want to be? From this standards are set. Peer assessments, where team members and leaders tell each other what they want each other to start doing, keep doing and stop doing are also an important part of the process. I wonder what trademark your team would choose? For that matter, I wonder what my team, the MRN would choose as our trademark? Think i’ll go and ask.
Posted by Louise
Being spaces
Just back from another meeting in the cafe on the corner. Dont know why we dont just move our offices down there. It’s becoming more like a “home away from home”. Especially since they’ve put in lovely comfy sofa chairs to lounge in. And it is a much nicer office away form the office, believe me! Trendwatching.com call these third places “being spaces” and describe them as “commercial living room-like settings in the public space” whose purpose is to accomodate consumers “outside of the home and office, becoming a relevant and useful part of their daily lives, offering them surprise, discovery, empathy, transformation. A place to lounge, hang out, try things out, work, or relax. Or all this at once.” (full article here) Imagine if we could describe churches like this! Church being relevant and useful – that is not hard to imagine; surprise, empathy, discovery and transformation – that happening at church is not too big a leap of the imagination either but a place to lounge, hang out, relax, try things out … now that’s getting a bit harder to picture. There’d be no pews in sight, that’d be for sure! Some churches are already taking up the challenge of creating a “third place” (neutral, relational, comfortable space) within their domain – you will have heard of cafes that are also churches, and perhaps of a play zone for children - but what about a gym, a laundromat, an art gallery or a greenhouse? You can read about some churches who are offering these kinds of third places in this Leadership Network article: third20place
Getting the washing dry at this time of the year when you work all day is a real problem. Let me know when your church has set up a laundromat and I’ll plan to have a meeting there each week!
Cheers, Louise
Faster Pastor
I’m just about to be off to another Ministry of Pastor working group meeting. At the moment we are working on tools to help Presbyteries assess the core competencies that are required before anyone can begin working in a position of Pastor. The core competencies have to do with being able to demonstrate an understanding of the Basis of Union, Uniting Church polity and ethos and the Code of Ethics. You probably already know that the Ministry of Pastor was a decision made at the 11th Assembly (2007). Basically, this proposal was a simplification of all the lay specified ministries that have been in existence since the beginning of the Uniting Church. If you are interested you can find out all about the Specified Ministry of Pastor here
Being involved in this work has got me thinking a lot about the meaning of Ordination. I used to think of the Ordained as kind of like the guardians of ”the Faith” – those who protected the unique tenet’s of, in our case, orthodox Uniting Church-ness. It seems though that Pastors (a Specified Lay Ministry) are going to be required to have these skills also. What do you think Ordination means? If you are Ordained – what does it mean to you? Love to hear what you think!
Ciao for now, Louise
Working to keep warm
It’s a cold and sunny winter’s day here in Adelaide so those of us that are in the office are working hard to keep warm. Rob and I have just been to a meeting to plan an “emerging church” event for March next year. It is all very exciting and it wont be long before all will be able to be revealed so keep your ears to the ground. Ian, our team leader is in Texas learning how to reign in his team (see picture). That’s him on the huge horned beast. We are a wild bunch so I’m not sure that his latest training will actually do the trick. This week for example, Lyn and Ernest are living it up in the Phillipines. Cant wait to hear their stories. One of the places they visited was the community who live on a rubbish dump on Smokey Mountain. They are accompanying the Big Year Out group and making sure that they have plenty of adventures to freak the already anxious parents out (like sleeping with scorpions). Matt’s gone AOL (that’s like AWOL only he does have leave). The Rural Ministry Team are busy plotting their next weekend away – I think they call it a School of Ministry. The next one will be in Minlaton on August 2nd. Who knows what the rest of the team are up to but you can be sure it will be good!
posted by Louise
