we are swimming to the other side

At the annual Calvin Worship Symposium on Saturday my overwhelming impression was the diversity of organizations (faith traditions) and individual seekers after the LORD. All the energy that goes into maintaining boundaries and enforcing difference could better be spend building bridges and sharing experiences in an effort to see God more clearly, follow him more nearly and love him more dearly, as the lyric goes.

If you were to ask a sample of the attendees, men and women of all ages and home countries/states, what is Christianity is all about, chances are that a few shared practices or at least beliefs would emerge, but beyond that there is likely to be a wide range in depth and breadth of understanding. For some just a few rigid facts hold the religion together, for others the spirit of the thing trumps the details or letter of the law. So for them membership is not to belong to one building, but to the fellowship of all believers.

The closing worship service and communion were majestic in sights and sounds and scale, but underneath all that one can still listen for the still small voice of God.

the little creatures of this world, too

Spotted outside my kitchen window at the edge of my neighbors' land: 'live' trap meant for ridding the town of rabbits, or at least his corner or it. But now detaining a squirrel who appears to have frozen to death in the subzero winds that have come in the past 36 hours... What would Francis of Assisi say now?

Of course this is nothing compared to the meat industry as parodied online at www.themeatrix.com


Then there is the Preface, Old MacDonald's Factory Farm by C. David Coates

Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative --and fatal-- health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cads praying for "Peace on Earth."

During sermon of Jan 13 (and again 20th): the subdued lighting of a dark morning is overbalanced by the stunning brightness of the LCD lamp.

Maybe it is my sweet-tooth for eye-candy, but my mind kept drifting over to the static image on the wall, rather than to mull the words.

Seated on this morning in the last row gave the feeling of great distance from the sermon. Maybe that is by contrast to my customary location closer up. But I just wonder if there is a connection between physical distance and psychological distancing.

WWJD: contrasting the modern conveniences of our time to that of the early house churches gives one pause to think if we have richer engagement or just more sensory channels for distraction and disengagement.

Bundle of observations to begin 2013

:: Red Herring of Christmas?

Maybe it took over during the dark days of the Industrial Revolution to bring a little cheer to the masses, but whatever the motive and opportunity, somehow the main trajectory of Christianity to dwell on the Holy Week, death and resurrection has been overshadowed by the bright and shiny Christmas story. Of course the advent of God among his people (and attention to Epiphany, therefore) is important and necessary step that makes

possible the main story of public ministry and outcome. But surely the modern day conflation of the birth with ritual gift exchange is disproportionate to larger themes of Christian life and learning. How might the year look with a subdued or otherwise demoted celebration of Christmas? Isn’t it time to get back to the teaching/instruction of Jesus & the model he demonstrated in deeds? All the rest is distraction, dissipation or prone to temptation.

:: Time Presses DownCould it be an artifact of middle age to begin to see people, places and events as part of an expanded timeline, rather than as something contained and defined in the present moment alone? This wider consciousness includes some awareness of the contingent, temporary and uncertain nature of proceedings, too. So, for example, it occurred to me that the Sunday morning worship consists of a few paid participants leading the word and song. But that the attendance from one week to the next ebbs and flows according to willing people who otherwise are not obligated to be elsewhere. In other words, the communal experience of worship is dependent on the willing participation and appearance of all those who occupy the pews from one week tothe next; some weeks are full but others are somewhat sparse. And while it seems unlikely, still there is a possibility on a given week that schedules conflict for almost everyone, with the result that the benches sit practically empty, as one imagines of the huge houses of worship in Europe.

:: Dour Christians?What does a follower of The Christ look like in the course of daily life; in the arc of a lifetime? Popular portrayals including things like: selflessness, plain speaking and presentation-of-self, earnest and optimistic, but also more on the side of seriousness than on the side of levity? Is clear vision and dedicated action compatible with a light heart? Or must a True Believer embrace the lack of beauty and respect and go forward with a heart that is heavy; or at least is not light. One thinks of the images of a jolly friar, the vat quantities of abbey-brewed beer and wine, and the joy of balanced amounts of manual labor among parishioners and monks.

:: Revelation includes “shock and awe” rhythm and textureBut perhaps it is best to wrestle with these passages in the same way as any other pages in the Bible: to ask of the text what the message (upshot) is; ask how it helps us to understand the core of Christian thinking and action about drawing nearer to God in love, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. From that standpoint, Revelations means that God remains committed to his people (expanded to include more than Jews alone) andthat people should continue to love each other, even in trying times.

:: Balancing “Citizen” and “Pilgrim”Most of one’s waking week and lifetime is lived outside of the Word of God. The weekly worship service normally includes a few passages given as Liturgy. And some people do Bible study alone and with otherson a weekly basis, too. But still the majority of conscious time is spend outside The Word. How would it be the other way around, though? Imagine spending most of one’s  moment to moment awareness steeped in the stories, people and places of The Bible and only enter into concerns of The World once per week for an hour on Sunday mornings (or Friday night at parties, for instance)? Surely times would look very different under these reversed conditions.

:: Trend in communal worship services

The order of worship that each denomination follows probably stems from a time before the Protestant Reformation to the time before the East and West split occurred in the Catholic Church, and before that to the Order of Service at synagogue, since house churches of Primitive Christianity often began with Jews seeking the ways of Rabbi Jesus. So the language shifted from local languages of the house church to the official language of the Roman government after Constantine I. Thereafter Latin prevailed until unofficial and later official edition of the Bible were produced and in use at church services and homes. Finally in the 1960s, after Vatican II, services went from Latin into local languages. The result was to make the distant, mysterious, exotic language of worship become something closer to lived experience.

Similarly of dress styles (a little more casual) and sermon style (increasingly conversational), there seems to be a trend to reduce the gap between experience in The World and experience in Worship. The question then is how far can the shift away from bounded, sacred space and toward informal, stream of (consumer) consciousness: will one style come to colonize the other so that The World includes the heart of Jesus interpersonally, or the reverse in which The World takes over the environment of church activity, intention and experience?

:: Hunger for meaning (own perspective on the world) & significance (received meaningfulness)

One of the defining characteristics of humans is to make meaning of one’s present circumstances and the motivation to intend meanings in one’s prospective circumstances. In this arena, it could be that one can satisfy this urge best by having a wide assortment of concepts, experiences and visual exposure (sort of a personal gray matter database), as well as practice in talking with others about such things. Many people both expand their world of experience and gain practice with the terms by going to college. Traveling has long been seen as a form of life-learning, as well. So there may be some real differences between a person lacking the stimulation of college or travel (or voracious reading and/or discussions; purposeful and structured Internet browsing, watching, reading and engaging others, too) and a person who has all those things at a typical level, or at an extensive level; namely, that the person with the benefit of these experiences/education may be expected to have more ways and more models for finding or making meaning from the circumstances that he or she faces on the path of life.

Looking for one subset of learning, what difference might there be for a person who actively seeks answers of the Bible and the people, places and things of Christian (Jewish, Muslim) history and culture, on the one hand, and a person who does not seek answers to these things. If the same generalization is true from above, then the difference results in the Big Learner having more tools for making meaning than the Small Learner. The former has a wider vision, a deeper understanding, and has more pieces to build a picture of the subject than the other person. In short, it is easier to detect connections, see patterns and understand relationships when you have a big pool of experience to draw from than when your pool of learning is restricted. Thinking like a mathematician, what is the trend as you increase the volume of learning to the Nth degree, approaching infinity (that is infinite knowledge and connections of languages, ideas, events): will the ability to make meaning also grow until everything is connected and all is one? Or is there some moment before that point corresponding to some sort of Enlightenment?

spiritual growth: consumer, producer, bricoleur?

The opening lines to the welcome meeting in grad school included something like, "as undergraduates you were consumers of scholarly writings, but now you will learn to produce this work for others to read." This distinction between consumer/reader/listener/student and producer/author/maker applies equally well to Sunday morning worship experiences: most sit back and expect to receive some truths, or some beauty and mystery. But a few set forward, on the edge of the seat or are poised ready to jot ideas and margin notes to the words sung or spoken. Those interactive worshipers constitute a third category: neither consumer entirely, nor fully ready to take the podium and hold forth on a subject. Maybe the best word for those who go beyond just listening is 'bricoleur'. This term was readapted by Claude Levi-Straus to mean the way that people creatively take the things found in their environment and use them for whatever purpose is at hand. In today's Internet language this is the idea of 'repurposing' a tool or material in a way different to what it originally was intended for. So while a brick was meant for building with mortar, it can also be piled up to form a temporary base for grilling over hot coals.And while a paper milk carton holds milk. Later the bright design may be used for craft or decorative purpose. Just so with the words and images of a worship service: when an active listener takes them from the confines of the worship hall out into the world of one's lived experience, sometimes a creative bricolage results: the old idea takes on new meaning or insight in the new situation.

Normally a person wends his or her way to the weekly worship and cycles through a similar routine of stand up, sit down, sing, sing, sing. A certain satisfaction comes from finding things week to week much the same; expectations are fulfilled, appetites are satisfied instead of merely being whetted to make one's hunger grow stronger. Taking the role of consumer who comes to the place of worship in order to pick something up, all attention is directed outward and forward, looking out for the desired elements. And yet, what if things are quite the reverse; as Leo Tolstoy's title declares, The Kingdom of God is within You.

The Lord's Prayer's pray says ...[and may it be that] Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. So if this kingdom of God is within you, then the Sunday worshipers are misdirecting their gaze. Instead of looking in front of them to the person in the pulpit or the singer near the altar space, the congregants would do better to look inside themselves! Assembling for weekly shared praise and thanksgiving should not be about taking one's seat and sitting back to consume what has been prepared. Instead it should be more like a potluck feast, in which all attending will have prepared something to share; and for the communal benefit. If we cannot all be producers, at least we all can be bricoleurs who take the elements of our lives and readapt them for use in the work of building spiritual growth in ourselves and others.

In other words, practically everybody is accustomed to attending church with the expectation that "it" [the thing they may be actively searching for, or the thing that motivated them long ago to begin seeking and now is only the echo of that original seeking cry] can be found in the time and place of a particular sanctuary during the worship service. In other words, the "it" that they seek is assumed to be external and requires looking to the front of the sanctuary. But suppose all these externals of the Order of Service and the design of the interior spaces merely are a kind of scaffolding that arranges the flow of experience and participation such that a person has an entryway into an interior place of reflection and risking and resolving to hold a certain attitude and enact certain plans or a readiness to seize certain opportunities when they should arise. What if the whole institutional worshiping exercise is something of a mirror to one's own heart? That is, what if the kingdom of God is within you? In that case, all the externals are in support of that greater and ultimate site of spiritual construction: one's heart (and mind)? Church, then, is not a place to go for answers, but merely the arrangement of equipment and tools and mentors that can help each person to do their own workout. Church is not for spectators but for players; not for consumers but for producers and bricoleurs; it is for participating. It is as George Fox wrote in his 1660 autobiography: each person has the authority and wherewithal to engage with God and his or her Neighbor; to grow in these relationships by a heart of love.