Options

There are any number of words I could have selected for today's "good word." Maybe my choice was dictated by the barrage of election ads coming my way these days. Each candidate offers me a "better option." Perhaps it's a recent experience of dressing a four-year-old for school. Her options needed to include more than just the shorts and t-shirt offered by daddy. (Although that was her final choice in the matter, much to daddy's delight!)

All our lives we're presented with options. Options are good things.

In my job I'm often asked for "the answer." And even when I have several good options to offer, my questioner wants me to make the judgement for him or her and just tell them the one, best way to proceed.

One of the big pieces in my department is study. I'm in the business of offering options for folks who want to learn something or who need to study something. Questions come from adult class teachers, or pastors or new priesthood ordinands. Years ago, when I first came to this job, the questions tended to be posed something like this:
When and where is the next temple school course being offered for this or that required credit?

My response was never a direct one. I'd be more inclined to ask them:
What is it you need to learn? What do you want to study?

And then I'd start to look for options. I'm happy to say that things have changed as my callers these day are much more open to hearing the various possibilities and selecting the one or more that work best for them in their various situations.

In just the last couple of weeks I've had conversations with people who will be ordering the home study version of their priesthood office course, but will be working together with another elder in her congregation to review the course and to work on ministry plans together, applying what they'll discuss as they study to the situation in their own congregation.

Another coordinator has a couple of courses running. One of them was opened to all members of the congregation who wanted to share in the study. Some will take credit; others will not. That group is meeting in a home mid-week. But for their second course, most will do the home study questions, then meet all together with the coordinator for a final discussion session and sign-off to obtain the credit.

I just saw a notice that a third congregation is holding a full-blown temple school weekend with a qualified instructor. They've sent out the announcement so that others who want to come can join their class.

And finally, a Sunday morning adult class will use temple school material as their main study book for the entire next semester. They haven't decided whether or not to give/take credit for it.

So there you are-- several viable options for using temple school materials (available from Herald House directly: call 1-800-767-8181 to order and obtain any more information you need).

Call me for more suggestions if you want to branch out into other study materials. I've got options for you.

Posted by Marion

Post-Congregational II

Since writing about post-congregational folks in this blog a month ago, I have had several private email or personal conversations with people who are themselves, post-congregational. I have also continued to ponder the phenomenon. The following observations are simply more musings on the subject.

• Many post-congregational people do not appear to be post-denominational, although some probably are.

• Many post-congregational people are connected to each other by various webs; actual or virtual, including social media such as Twitter and facebook, plus other electronic media like blog networks and email. Others are not connected.

• Some post-congregational people get together physically from time to time at locations such as campgrounds for reunions or other gathering events. Friends who are in congregations join with them there.

• Post-congregational people often disregard previous generations’ social conventions or ‘the old rules’.

• How post-congregational people feel about traditional sacraments is unknown, but may be somewhat ambivalent. (I would like to know.)

• How post-congregational people will relate to World Church, Mission Centres or congregations in the long-term remains unknown, but the relationship seems to me somewhat tenuous. This may vary by generation. For example post-congregational Baby Boomers may have different church allegiances than those in Generation X or the Millennials; not better or worse, just different.

• What percentage of post-congregational people support the church financially is unknown, but the fact that some do tells us that they still feel a great sense of connection.

• Like many others, post-congregational people really do appear to be deeply ‘spiritual but not religious.’

• Some post-congregationals may be inclined to connect to the church electronically for discipleship formation. As was pointed out in a comment to the previous post, the Unitarian Universalist Church already provides resources for that on their website and has for many years. If we are to continue reaching out to these folks, we may need to do the same.

• Are Post-congregational members part of the ‘Emergent church?’ Probably yes. They are certainly part of the post-modern age.

• The number of post-congregational members appears to be increasing while the number of those actively connected to a congregation seems to be decreasing.

Once again, the purpose of this conversation is an effort to reach a clearer understanding and not to judge people’s decisions or positions. Your comments on the subject are invited, especially if you are post-congregational or know someone who is.

Posted by Carman

Doors

I recently had opportunity to watch Tim Burton’s 2010 adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland. The book and film are absolutely full of wonderful metaphors for life. Watching this version, however, one scene particularly caught my attention. Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole and finds herself trapped in the Hall of Doors. There are doors of varying sizes and shapes, but all of them are locked. Alice can look through a keyhole and see the magical and mysterious world beyond; she just can’t get there. If she could only unlock those doors!

As I watched that scene, I remembered so many conversations with people over the years who felt there had to be a greater life beyond what they were currently experiencing. They knew it was there, they could imagine it and perhaps even see it, but the doors were locked and they just couldn’t reach it. How frustrating!

After working her way around the room and trying each door, Alice finda a key that mysteriously appears on a little table. Alice tries all the doors again, but the key does not unlock any of them. Then she pulls back a curtain and finds a tiny door she had not noticed before. The key does fit in this door and it opens, but now a new problem appears; Alice is too big to go through! This leads to the little bottle of shrinking medicine which makes her smaller, and the little cake which makes her bigger. After a lot of trying, Alice is able to get out through the little door into the world where she longs to be.

What is interesting about that scene is how much work Alice has to do to reach her goal. She tries hard, pulling on all the doors; all locked. She finds the key and tries them all again, still locked! She finds a new door she has not noticed before, and unlocks it, but is too big to fit through. She drinks the magic potion and as she shrinks, her clothes become suddenly too big for her (another metaphor) and she leaves most of them behind. At last, she is able to reach this strange new world where great adventures await.

How clever was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the mathematician and Anglican clergyman writing as Lewis Carroll! How like life his fantasy is! When we want to achieve our goals in the midst of unlikely scenarios, It takes hard work to find the right door and open it. We may even have to try new things, shrink egos, grow courage, and shed our fears and cultural limitations.

Alice in Wonderland was originally composed as a story for three young girls that Dodgson knew and loved. At this level, the story works well. Tim Burton re-envisions Alice as a young woman in her late teens with all kinds of pressures, and in this scenario, the story is pure magic. It makes me hope to be able to watch the film with each of my granddaughters when the time is right. Like all great art, however, the story has something to say to each of us. I highly recommend this film, available on DVD and in 3D if you choose. And by the way, for all you diehard fans, Johnny Depp is brilliant as the Hatter.

Posted by Carman

Post-Congregational

There is a very interesting phenomenon going on these days. It keeps growing, and pushing its way into my consciousness and I can no longer ignore it. For the sake of this discussion, I will refer to this as a “post-congregational” development.

Have you noticed how many people there are these days who are church members that clearly value their denominational membership but are not part of a congregation? I find this a very interesting development. Such a situation would have been almost unthinkable a mere 50 years ago. Such people would have been dismissed as back-sliders, or apostates. In many denominations their names would have been (and still are) removed from the membership records. Now, however, there are thousands of people in this situation.

No description of this group will fit everyone, and those I am talking about here may be merely a subgroup of a larger movement, but what I have observed is that many congregationless people continue to have a real relationship with the church, and sometimes on more than one level. For example, some truly love the world church, its leadership, or its theological positions, and want to be part of a body that seeks to become a world-wide, prophetic movement. Others value the fellowship and sense of community they find at reunions or family camps. Many may even contribute tithing to the church, they simply do not attend a congregation.

When I ask such people why they do not participate in a local church, there are often a variety of reasons given. In some cases, people’s lives may have taken them to a place where there is no congregation near (or near enough), however such people are in the minority. Whether you can accept it or not, the answer I hear most often is that the congregational programming “simply does not meet my needs.” When I probe a little deeper, often people report having attended once and feeling unwelcome, not included, or centred out. Young adults in this age group sometimes tell me there was nobody else their age. Often such people are unwilling to give a congregation a second chance.

Lest you write this group off too quickly as “flakey” or self-absorbed,” let me hasten to add that, in my experience, these are usually deeply spiritual people. It is not unusual for such people to feel they have grown spiritually to a point where they will not waste their time on programming they see as inadequate.

My purpose here is not at all to judge this phenomenon or the people whom it represents, but rather to highlight the need to understand it. The point is simply that there are a lot of people who might now be described as post-congregational. They are denomination members who don’t have a local church, and are no longer looking for one. In fact, in any given Eastern Canadian city, there are far more members who do not attend a congregation than people who do! Is this the future? Are we moving into a post-congregational age? What might that look like? How would it operate? I confess, I do not know the answers, but I find the phenomenon fascinating!

Posted by Carman

Choices

Do you agree with me that this appears to be a "season of choices"? Maybe it's always, and maybe it's just all those election signs lining my every route these days that are bringing it to my attention, but it seems to me that I'm being faced with an inordinate number of choices to be made these days.

If only it were as simple as "chicken or ham" or potatoes "mashed, baked or scalloped" or even do I want my pumpkin as soup, pie, cheesecake or squares. But no, life is full of very hard choices! For example, in regards all those election signs. I'd be very pleased to be offered a choice among several qualified candidates. Instead I'm offered a choice among several angry or spiteful politicians. I do wish, especially around my city council table, for some people who offer a possibility of civility and cooperation, some indication of a willingness to listen and to compromise. I can't imagine how our town can move into an uncertain future without it.

We had an interesting discussion here last week about the rationale for using Fair Trade coffee. I appreciated Rod Downing's post with some help to make the best choice there. And I very much wanted to note Joan Thompson's post about making ethical choices whenever I make a decision to purchase something.

Here's what she said: I think about this "fair trade" concept in other areas as well. For almost everything I purchase, I have the choice between purchasing it from a store which offers lower prices - but which does so because it insists on lower wages all along the supply chain. Or I can willingly shop at another store, pay a higher price, but know that more fair wages have been paid all along the chain. I hope that some day I can make all my purchases ethical ones.

This was a good reminder for me that not all my choices are frivolous ones and that I need to make myself as informed or enlightened or careful as I can be in those times when it is possible to make my choice responsibly.

So tell us, dear readers, are there choices you're thinking about? What issues are giving you pause to reflect today about making ethical choices?

Posted by Marion

Accretion

ac·cre·tion [uh-kree-shuh n]
an added part; addition: The last part of the legend is a later accretion.

Accretion is a new word for me, however I find its meaning very helpful. I came across this word in the book In God’s Presence by N Graham Standish. In an early chapter, the author explains the difference between tradition and accretion, and how we often confuse the two.

Tradition has to do with the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, usually by word of mouth or by practice. In other words, tradition represents a long established practice. Accretion, on the other hand, has to do with elements that are added to our practice that are not actually part of the original. Given enough time, however, we often come to see the more recent material as also being part of our original traditions; hence the confusion.

As an interesting example, singing psalms or hymns in worship is an ancient practice that goes back to King David and beyond, and can rightly be said to be part of both Jewish and Christian tradition. (Both Mark’s and Matthew’s gospels refer to Jesus and his disciples singing a hymn together at the end of the Passover meal we call the Last Supper. See Mark 14:26 or Matt 26:30. ) On the other hand, the songs or hymns we currently sing are all accretions.

Another example is the playing of musical instruments in church, which is a relatively recent accretion. In the early 19th century, with the exception of cathedrals or very large structures, churches generally did not use instruments, and almost all church singing was performed a cappella, i.e. without instruments or “chapel style”. Presumably this is the reason that, when the Kirtland Temple was built in Ohio in the 1830s, no musical instrument was installed. Within 50 years, however, a new and controversial idea was sweeping churches: pipe organs! Consequently, when the Auditorium was built in the 1930s and after, a magnificent pipe organ was included in the structure.

Initially, the use of organs in worship was very controversial with some people wanting them while others disdained the new additions. Some churches even split over the issue. While pipe organs had been around for centuries, they were simply not widely accepted for church use. By the beginning of the 20th century, however, the instrument was becoming popular and was even proclaimed by some to be “the instrument of the church.”

In our day, some see the pipe organ (or the more recent electric organ) as being part of church tradition. It is not. It is, in fact, a recent accretion, having been in general use by churches for a mere 150 years. Singing songs in worship is traditional. The songs we use and the instruments that accompany them are merely a matter of popular choice.

Posted by Carman

News

News bombards us from every angle, every day it seems: good news, bad news, old news, even sillly news. (I read somewhere that for a certain demographic, The Comedy Network's Daily Show is their main source of news!) Then there are the news junkies who must have their constant stream of breaking news, delivered by their source of choice be it CBC, CNN, Fox, Newsworld...

I think some of us get so swamped with all this "news overload" that we just check out and stop hearing or paying attention. I know lots of people who claim to never read a newspaper or listen to any news, good or bad, on radio or television. For them, it's considered self preservation.

I know I meet folks in my travels who claim NOT to have heard what I thought was well announced, well publicized, thoroughly covered in multiple ways with e-mail, Weekly Announcements, brochures, flyers, posters, facebook, newsletters, blog stories...and yet, somehow -- they missed it.

I hope we can all make good news choices. And I think it really does require us to make a choice as to how we'll stay informed about the news we really need to hear about.

One good choice, if you like to stay informed about what's going on in the Church, and what's coming your way that you can really, really use is the Ten Minute News!

No kidding! I just read the September issue here (http://cofchrist.org/news/10min/) and it is chockablock FULL of great stuff. Coming events, ideas for study groups, world mission news and information you don't want to miss.

Make it a habit, every month to check in with the Ten Minute News, whether you read a hard copy or subscribe to the electronic version or just check in at the web site. You'll be glad you did.

And so will I; I love it when you're well-informed.

Roots

Tomorrow I'm off to Erie Beach Reunion. For as long as I can remember well into my young adulthood I did every reunion and youth camp held there. I've got all the Erie Beach thunderstorm memories and I can share tales of the "great flood" of '55 or '66 or whenever.

I went to junior high camp, then senior high camp and then was a counselor at both levels. I remember when the "old dorm" was "the new dorm." As a child in a tent, I was awakened by the deep tones of JC Stewart booming over the grounds on the very advanced PA system.

I was one of the passionate seventeen-year olds who wrote to the Regional Office about some perceived wrong done or planned for our beloved reunion grounds. Since then, as an adminstrator, I've been on the receiving end of similar pleas.

Through the years, I've been to other beloved grounds, experienced other folks' passionate connection to their roots, enjoyed the welcome of many camps and reunions. I've been considering how locked in I am to my early learnings as I'm preparing to preach at the first Sunday evening service.

No question my very early communities shaped the individual I became. Where does my identity become my own? At what point do I choose my path? As I'm thinking of my "identity and my calling" I'm wondering just how rooted am I in the individual formed and shaped and directed by those early days?

More later as I experience the 2009 Erie Beach Reunion.