Shhh...
Don’t tell the conservatives. Or the liberals, for that matter. There is a movement going on in both America and the world. This movement isn’t a loud one, not yet. It’s not coercive or destructive; it’s not really that controversial or shocking, which means you won’t see it everyday on your 6 o’clock news like it was an Iraq car-bomb or a Wall Street scandal. It’s a movement of truth in our churches and our lives, which carries with it legitimization and its own brand of excitement. But people can’t hear it yet because this truth isn’t coming trough talking heads, but from a mighty wind. Shhh….can you hear the breeze?
If you tell the conservatives that their churches will changes, they’ll throw the Book at you – all 35 lbs. of their New Inspirational Devotional Discipleship Ecclesiastical Study Student Worship Bible. They’ll use names in it that haven’t been said for centuries. They may write books about you without even talking to you. And if you tell the liberals, they’ll throw the book at you – all 35 lbs. of state and local constitutions and laws. They will also tell you to be quiet, that the merging of theology and public life, of religion and the everyday has no place in society and will bring about no good change. Unless they can bottle it and use it as political holy water – then they’re in. But neither side can hear the sound of the wind over the anger in their own voices.
The quiet movement that has become known as Emergent is capturing the hearts and minds of more and more people. But it’s not a political tool or formaldehyde for the church. It’s not a fad or an activity or a ritual. It’s not the ‘New Coke’ for contemporary Christian exiles or the ‘old traditions’ for the Biblically based. As public icon Brian McLaren summed up: “It’s white people finally understanding what Dr. King was talking about.”
As one who attended (albeit briefly) the Emergent Convention in Nashville last week, I saw the beauty of a theology that takes seriously ideas of social justice, personal spiritual diversity, and community wholeness. It was more than a breath of fresh air – it was a hurricane of change to my still soul. Anyone who attended could feel the wind changing directions, if not for their own personal salvation, for the future of the church and Jesus’ kingdom of God.
This wind will quietly sweep across mountains and molehills, plains and prairies in the US. It’s blowing across Europe and Latin American with unpredictable force. But its strength has been and will be like the gentle prodding of a mother whose son is on the high-dive for the first time: she’s not pushing him off, but she knows he needs to take the plunge. She’ll even get on the adjacent board and jump at the same time if he wants, if he’s willing to discover the mystery of the deep.
The future of Emergent was discussed during the week as the planners and pilgrims wonder what will happen in terms of gatherings and goings on. Amazingly, that will be left up to each individual who finds a home in this messy, inconsistent, beautiful, just, inspirational, incarnational, diverse, mysterious, upstart, grass-roots, theological, Biblical, open movement. Each person who carries out the message of Dr. King, the sacrifice of Mother Teresa, the love of Christ or the openness of God will carry out the message that is Emergent. Whether they do it with the silence of a light summer wind or the fury of a spring tornado is yet to be seen. But shhh…listen. The wind is blowing.
If you tell the conservatives that their churches will changes, they’ll throw the Book at you – all 35 lbs. of their New Inspirational Devotional Discipleship Ecclesiastical Study Student Worship Bible. They’ll use names in it that haven’t been said for centuries. They may write books about you without even talking to you. And if you tell the liberals, they’ll throw the book at you – all 35 lbs. of state and local constitutions and laws. They will also tell you to be quiet, that the merging of theology and public life, of religion and the everyday has no place in society and will bring about no good change. Unless they can bottle it and use it as political holy water – then they’re in. But neither side can hear the sound of the wind over the anger in their own voices.
The quiet movement that has become known as Emergent is capturing the hearts and minds of more and more people. But it’s not a political tool or formaldehyde for the church. It’s not a fad or an activity or a ritual. It’s not the ‘New Coke’ for contemporary Christian exiles or the ‘old traditions’ for the Biblically based. As public icon Brian McLaren summed up: “It’s white people finally understanding what Dr. King was talking about.”
As one who attended (albeit briefly) the Emergent Convention in Nashville last week, I saw the beauty of a theology that takes seriously ideas of social justice, personal spiritual diversity, and community wholeness. It was more than a breath of fresh air – it was a hurricane of change to my still soul. Anyone who attended could feel the wind changing directions, if not for their own personal salvation, for the future of the church and Jesus’ kingdom of God.
This wind will quietly sweep across mountains and molehills, plains and prairies in the US. It’s blowing across Europe and Latin American with unpredictable force. But its strength has been and will be like the gentle prodding of a mother whose son is on the high-dive for the first time: she’s not pushing him off, but she knows he needs to take the plunge. She’ll even get on the adjacent board and jump at the same time if he wants, if he’s willing to discover the mystery of the deep.
The future of Emergent was discussed during the week as the planners and pilgrims wonder what will happen in terms of gatherings and goings on. Amazingly, that will be left up to each individual who finds a home in this messy, inconsistent, beautiful, just, inspirational, incarnational, diverse, mysterious, upstart, grass-roots, theological, Biblical, open movement. Each person who carries out the message of Dr. King, the sacrifice of Mother Teresa, the love of Christ or the openness of God will carry out the message that is Emergent. Whether they do it with the silence of a light summer wind or the fury of a spring tornado is yet to be seen. But shhh…listen. The wind is blowing.
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