Tuesday, March 14, 2006

View From the Yellow Chair: Rediscovered Treasure

Two years before I first heard the words, ”emergent church” or understood that I am thoroughly postmodern, I attended a lecture on the history of Christian Education. I listened attentively and came up with a statement to ponder. I showed the lecturer the statement and she nodded, concurring with some of the ideas, but I don’t believe she had a context to place it in. I certainly didn’t either, until now, at The Portico. I recently re-discovered the scribbled document, tweaked it, and append it here for your rumination and percolation.

WHAT IF

we gain a portfolio of spiritual resources
so that we are content

without insisting on answers now
or trying to be like the church down the street
or choosing stagnation

and enter a season when we wait
and practice discernment
in order to hear God’s voice
above our own voices, then

beginning with the gifts already among us
and the needs for mercy and justice already visible around us,

make a covenant of willingness to together
experience some discomfort
as we enact our community’s understanding of the revealed purpose of God.

Forgetting What to Expect

Sunday was wonderful. Most Sundays are, when I look carefully. In a neighboring town that morning I led a semi-satisfying worship service based on traditional themes with a nod to our friend, Mr. Barclay, while my thoroughly pomo style came shining through. The transitions between parts of the service seemed to gain a life of their own, which was fortunate, because halfway through the sermon the congregants responded as if they didn’t know anything about Lent or preparing spiritually for Easter. So as I gave it thought on my way home, I concluded that those sweet folk no doubt determined I had been flown in especially from another planet.

When I reached The Portico that afternoon, it was to find that there had been no visitors to our labyrinth, and as a result, a very blue Pastor Rodger. And then as we were beginning worship a visitor walked in! And he asked questions during the sermon! We were so thrilled. He didn’t run off immediately after and talked with several of us before leaving. And then –joy! - who should show up on our doorstep but our friends Daisy and Tim. We had not seen them since last July when they stopped by during our hamburger feast. Things had improved for them greatly until Tim was recently laid off. Again, we were thrilled to see them, and Rodger recalled the filled backpacks we had been inspired to create following their first visit. So modest though they were, we did have some resources to help them through the next couple of days, anyway.

All of this to remind me (us!) that after all the talking we’ve been doing about how amazing, great, surprising, providential, and wholly un-quantifiable God is, we forget to expect, to LOOK for the surprising and providential and reassuring. Lately we’ve been worrying. We’ve known from the beginning that there would probably be “generations” at Portico, and our first generation has come and moved on in our first year. A significant portion of the folks who have worshiped with us has moved on with our blessings. At the same time, a significant portion of us remain, committed to creating a safe place where together we ask and examine questions that matter, sometimes agreeing to disagree and being ok with that, accepting the habitation of diversity. Living in the questions means there are not always answers and therefore, no lines to draw. Postmodern community may just thrive when there is a willingness to keep definitions flexible and some questions unanswered (at least no answer that reads like a restrictive, finite dictionary definition) so the ground is not firm enough for drawing lines and constructing boundaries that divide us. As The Portico matures, our work includes identifying common ground for our community to inhabit.