What’s up? I’ve been lurking for a bit, checking things out. I have a couple of associations with folks here, and have been urged to add a voice.

Most notably, I recently responded to Bruce Reyes-Chow’s article he posted in the Outlook. To this point, I’ve only shared it with Bruce and blogged about it. Here’s my foray into a more public arena. But I thought I’d throw out to y’all and see what bounces back. If you haven’t seen Bruce’s article check it out before you read on, since I refer to some of the things he wrote.

Okay, so you read it? Skimmed it? Glanced at it? Good deal– here are my thoughts:

I found Bruce’s article in The Outlook incredibly helpful. For one, he has crystallized the “Postmodern” church—as much as something postmodern can be fixed—succinctly. Secondly, he has pushed me with the challenge of how to out myself as a postmodern.

I am serving an established congregation of folks who understand what the gospel is about; I believe Bruce summed it up with the simple phrase, “Jesus loves us.” This understanding, of course, transcends cultural shifts. And yet, while we have moments of postmodernity that creep into our worship, we are still mostly modern in how we shape our worship.

I recall when going before the presbytery to make the move from Inquirer to Candidate, one of the questions I was to answer had something to do with my understanding of the foundation of Christian faith. To me there was a simple answer to that question: Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Likewise, love your neighbor as yourself.” After briefly expounding upon this text, I eventually got the nod to move forward in my process. This core teaching of Jesus’ remains the core of my theological understanding. I keep looking for more theologically deep explanations for faith, but I continue to land right back there.

That’s why I’m so happy to be serving with the congregation of Noble Road. They understand that this is the meaning and purpose of the gospel: know the hold grace has on your life and respond in kind in the world. What I’ve discovered about these folks, though, is that many of them have put the proverbial cart before the horse. Many of the folks relish doing the work of the gospel without necessarily embracing the gospel. Or, maybe another way of stating that is that they are much more ready to serve their neighbor than to make affirmations of faith. The various articles of faith about God, Christ, and Spirit, which have been handed down to us in the Confessions do not resonate with them. And the more I intersect with them in their lives and in our lives together in
the community, the less convinced I am that parsing faith/theology past the great commandment really matters to folks.

Being church—especially the church at worship—is so much about speaking and saying words prepared by someone else; so much about about singing familiar, if not sentimental, songs to antiquated music; and, so often, a relatively rote exercise. (Obviously, this is not the case in point all the time, nor is it true that these forms of worship are always dry.)

I’ve recently rediscovered the importance of the assembled congregational body. Early, early on a Sunday morning towards the end of February, a storm system came through the area that left a coating of ice on everything. I received a call from one of our elders stating that she would not be able to get to church and had called other folks to caution them not to try to get out because it was simply too slippery and dangerous. After speaking with her I called around and eventually made the really difficult decision to cancel worship. So, on the spot we created and initiated a call-off-worship- because-of-ice phone tree. It was a weird call to make. And all day that Sunday I felt off-kilter.

A week and a half later, at a Bible study, the folks there each shared how off-putting not being in worship was for them; for the day and for the week. I shared that story with others and they had the same reaction.

Worship matters! As one of the bible study folks said recalling a conversation with a former pastor:

This pastor once said, ‘Sunday mornings are not about recharging your batteries, it’s about praising God.’ And I had to tell him, I’m sorry—and I understand what you are saying—but while I come to worship God, it is about recharging my batteries and getting my whole self in proper perspective for the week to come.” She followed that up by saying, “For me, Sunday is not the last day of the weekend, it is definitely the first day of the week. It sets the week for me.

This is a lot of narrative to swing back to Bruce’s point about being a Postmodern. His challenge for me is to take the bold steps so many of you have already done to change and experiment with this ever-important day/event (worship), to make it relevant and authentic and worshipful and energizing, for and within contemporary culture. The life of the church that accompanies our worship is already taking steps to be more friendly to the lives of folks {their lives outside the church, of course, having already co-joined with Postmodernity}.

I still haven’t yet figured out how to integrate the call to emerge into what the Spirit is leading us, but I am hearing and understanding the call to experiment, so that we may widen the ways we meet God on the journey. And I think this is partially what defines me as Postmodern.

Alright–I dove in. Hopefully I haven’t drowned you with words.