"Holy Habits" may need to be looked at so that new habits and practices can bring the life of the body to the front.
A normative narrowing of religious experience feeds and has fed mainline Protestant practices. This narrowing had devoured much liturgical/theological space for "otherness" or nonconforming modes of religious life. Ironically this same penchant for limiting what is legitimate religious experience and expression is starting to feed on the very churches that nurtured those mentalities for so long. Mainline churches are shrinking and struggling to find our way in increasingly secular and diverse contexts. Those who yearn for religious community today are not tending toward mainline churches. The rise of nondenominational megachurches, the growing popularity of more informal worship styles, the increased embrace of contemplative practices, and new appropriations of Eastern religious sensitivities are just some traces in churches and in the broader culture of the quest for worship/practice to be more than an intellectual exercise. The biases of Western mentalities of belief and intellect leave the institutions that were formed in these orientations wondering how to adapt. We are being consumed by our own appetite for religious conformity. Churches have serious questions about who and what the church is in today's shifting religious landscape.
I don't find this disturbing. Rather, it is a a reminder that we need to look up and look around. We do not need to change - simply to change. That is irresponsible. But we need to lift up our eyes and see the many ways that God gathers people to make up the body of Christ. We need to see where there are pieces of vitality that come in various forms and shapes and practices. Nondenominational churches may be growing by leaps and bounds - but that growth does not mean all is good. Having said that, it may mean that they have something to offer. Too quickly I think we begin to think we must jump into another way to worship - give up this and take on that. Well...let's talk and let's look and lets experience what is different and why it "works" (whatever that means). I will always say, let me listen to what is being offered - let me hear if the Good News is proclaimed and brought to life among the people. I deliberately mention the Good News, because there are plenty of ways of moving plenty of people to do plenty of things - without a bit of Good News being offered as the sustaining food for life. Something-less-than-Good-News is really, really quite attractive. So our task to enter into a journey of healing and wholeness is a holy experience that we do not need fear. Connection: The horizon of the church stretches farther than we can imagine. Therefore, fear not and venture into that which is not known - or home - or the way you want it. There - out there - we may find what can become a part of new life within the congregations of our lives. Within the strangeness of all who gather in your name, O God, give us courage and patience to look for the Good News that will pull us into life eternal. Amen. |
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