Perspective

As I thought about the differing versions of the Christmas story in the gospels of Matthew and Luke as discussed by Carman recently, I began to think about perspectives. (you can find that blog here.) Last year I was injured and unable to play my usual “old timer’s” hockey. When playing, the game seemed fast and challenging for me as a goalie. Then when I was confined to the role of “spectator”, somehow the game took on a whole new perspective. It was neither fast nor was it as challenging from that perspective. (No wonder we don’t have fans!)

This change of viewpoint has given me pause on many occasions and caused me to try to see the world from the perspective of others. I am particularly impressed with the special Christmas efforts of Hamilton’s “Blue Christmas” and Barrie’s “Purple Christmas”. Are they not seeing our holiday season from a different vantage point and thus providing a much-needed ministry?

I need to work on my perspectives. Whether it is the single, aging adult whose world becomes smaller and self-focused or the young families with their busy schedules and not attending church activities, there are many viewpoints that differ from mine, which I must take time to consider.

The Master teacher was constantly calling his disciples to see their world and their community members from a different points of view. Whether tax collectors, outcast women or thieves beside him on the cross, he loved, forgave, healed and reconciled.

As we come to the end of another year and approach a new one, may we seek out new perspectives and do so with the Mission of Christ in our hearts and minds.

Doug Bolger

Introvert

I'm in a bit of a confessional mood today I guess. Today I'm going to share something that isn't exactly a secret but that not everyone entirely "gets" about me: I'm a radical, off-the-charts
introvert

This week as I’m thinking about sharing some information on spirituality types with the folks at Port Elgin next weekend, my thinking has led me into the territory of personality types. Psychologists Katherine Briggs and Isabelle Briggs-Myers major body of work provided me lots of helpful stuff back in a previous life teaching management concepts and has continued to be most helpful in knowing myself and others generally. The Spiritual Types model is based on the same research.

Just briefly, one and only one area of interest is the Extroversion/Introversion characteristic. The terms are used somewhat differently than most folks do who refer to people of particular social aptitude or shyness, or just volume of communication by the terms extrovert or introvert. Myers-Briggs are speaking about where or how one gets her energy.

Extroverts get energy from other people. They love being in crowds. They have and enjoy lots of friends. And if they’re not with their friends, they’re loving being with whomever they’re with. My granddaughter Tiona is just such a person. Even at her tender age of not-quite-five, she can work a crowd like nobody’s business. Waiting on the sidewalk outside her big brother’s school choir concert she quickly surveyed every other kid near her size, knew all their names and ages, had shared her name and details of her upcoming birthday, let everyone know she will be starting school soon and enquired of their academic status—attending? Yes/no? Which school? etc., etc.

Introverts need alone time to find energy. While they may be quite socially adept, not necessarily shy with strangers, enjoy a party with the best of them (when their energy levels are high) and even have decent public speaking skills, they become tired from those activities and will need some alone time to re-energize. Talking with just one or two people feels more comfortable. They’ll prefer to be alone if the company isn’t interesting or engaging. Re-booting the energy levels is preferable to draining one’s battery on small talk or not-so-necessary interaction. Sometimes they’ll even turn down an opportunity to be with someone or ones they really enjoy and love being with if their energy is low.

In North America, at least, introverts are in the minority. We often need to protect ourselves from the majority expectations that “everyone” is or wants to be extroverted. That just is not so.

A couple of good sources of information or help on the topics are these: Quiet: The Power of Introverts and Introverted Church If this is new for you I recommend you take a look around you. Do you recognize any of these descriptors in your friends and family—maybe even yourself? Think about it. It might explain a lot.

Posted by Marion

Tension

There is a certain tension in the universe. It is both around us and within us. We are part of it. The planets and stars spin in their orbit, held in place by forces we cannot see and can barely understand. Space is vast. The edge of it, if there is one, is beyond our ability to see with even the most powerful telescopes humans have yet devised. Looking at the galaxy, it appears random, and yet there is order.

In our planet’s orbit it is no different. The earth on which we are totally dependent is somehow held in suspension between the gravitational pull of the sun and the outward expansion of the universe. Attraction and propulsion are constantly at work. The balance of these two delicate but irresistible forces is what allows the earth to continue its present existence. Were the attraction to win, the earth would be consumed in the sun’s fiery heat. Were propulsion to overcome, the planet would become another frozen mass hurtling through space.

As unlikely as it seems, the earth is held in the exact position, with the correct balance of heat and cold, wet and dry, gaseousness and solidity that allows life to occur. There are scientists who study the stars and planets of the universe in search of understanding, seeking places where life might exist. I have read that some such searchers have come to opinion that, of the millions of stars and planets in the galaxy, there may be as few as three places where such life may even be possible. It is a wonderful tension we live in.

It may be an appropriate metaphor for our life and the human quest for God. We are held in a tension between knowing and unknowing, seeing and not seeing, belief and doubt. There is, in our souls, our spiritual DNA if there is such a thing, this gravitational attraction that constantly pulls us toward God, that makes us search and long for unity with that divine force that is the very centre of our universe. And yet there is something that also holds us at bay. Something propels us constantly outward, further, seeking more and greater understanding in our search for truth, wisdom, and understanding. The road to transformation indeed travels both inward and outward.

I will leave it to the reader to ponder this tension. For me, and for now, it is a wonderful place to be.

Posted by Carman

Emergent

It has become somewhat commonplace these days to hear or read references to emergent or emerging churches. One may also hear the term, the emergent church movement from time to time. I have read articles that refer to this phenomenon with great enthusiasm, and I have also heard speakers dismiss it as “nonsense” or “wishful thinking.” For me, the problem was, I really didn’t understand what people were talking about! Oh, emergent clearly means something that is emerging, but what?

It was time to do a little research. Consequently, I borrowed a book from Marion’s bulging bookshelf. The book is The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle, one of the leading writers on this subject along with Brian McLaren. I must hasten to say that reading one book does not make me an expert on this or any other subject. Truth be told, it probably doesn’t even qualify me to write this blog post, however I am happy to share with you what I have learned.

It turns out that the emergent church movement or ‘conversation’ is related to the changes affecting our entire society, especially the transition from modern to post-modern life. It is connected to the sometimes unsettling adjustments each of us feel but sometimes have a hard time identifying or explaining. In a sense it reminds me of the mistrust of consumer ‘brands’ we have seen over the past number of years, with many people opting to buy generic products. In the case of churches, the mistrust may not be so much for the brand, but for how those brands have traditionally behaved or what they have believed. There is a blurring of theological boundaries, with various churches endorsing views that typically characterize other faith groups. In a sense, there appears to be a kind of ‘meeting in the middle’ of a variety of faith experiences.

A number of rapidly growing church movements have been identified with the term emergent, such as Calvary Chapels and the Vineyard network; however emergent churches are appearing across the faith spectrum. Emerging churches may be nominally Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Anabaptist or any variety of others.

How important is this? I confess, I really don’t know, but Tickle thinks it is big, comparing it to a new Reformation, or the medieval emergence of Protestantism and the resulting re-imagining of the Roman Catholic Church. That is big! Is she right or is it merely wishful thinking? I suspect it will take a few more decades to find out.

In the meantime, if you would like to know more about the Emergent Church movement, Tickle’s book is a great place to start.

Posted by Carman

Hope

In his newest book, A Door Set Open, Grounding Change in Mission and Hope, Peter Steinke notes that all congregations are facing challenges brought about by rapid change. Steinke seeks to apply family systems theory to churches in order to understand the forces that beset congregations, and to learn how to deal with them.

Steinke shares insights learned from consulting with more than 200 churches in eight denominations. In the introduction to the book, he lists fourteen responses he believes contribute to the challenge of change. The list is preceded by the comment that Steinke has found the first three to have been present in every case he has studied. Those three are quoted below. The first two of the three have intrigued and encouraged me; first one, then the second.

¨ Without mature and motivated leaders, little happens.
¨ Resistance to change is far less intense and protracted when change is made for the sake of
mission.
¨ How emotional processes are understood and handled plays a major role in outcomes.

The thing about change is that it isn’t easy. Even if the current results are poor, it seems easier to try harder doing what we have always done than it does to try some new approach. The problem is, if we keep doing what we have always done, we will get the same result. Or as you may have heard it said, “If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we’ve always got!” Trying harder at doing these things is a formula for frustration leading to feelings of failure and guilt. There has to be a better way.

But there is hope to be found in the first three items in Steinke’s list. There is hope provided by mature and motivated leaders. Fortunately in CEM we have such people. I am encouraged that resistance to change is less when done for the sake of mission, because mission is what we are about. And finally, we can all be heartened that understanding how to deal with emotional issues helps solve problems we each face in our congregations. We need to learn that too.

I began reading A Door Set Open about a month ago, but life got busy and I have had trouble getting back to finish the book. There is much food for thought here, and clearly much to learn. I think it is time I got back to reading this book, and I think I had best start again from the beginning!

Posted by Carman

Levels

I have often been struck by the way faith seems to work on many different levels, whether so subtle that we are unaware of it, or so profound that we are lost in wonder at the majesty of our beliefs. Either way, there can be no doubt that our faith and beliefs matter to us.

Even among those who take their faith very seriously, people do not believe the same. Some people’s faith in God is based on a literal understand of scriptural propositions. Others’ beliefs may be much more ethereal, but those concepts will be every bit as important to those who hold those positions. Isn’t it interesting that faith matters so much to both of them?

There is one potential problem in using the term “levels” to describe this phenomenon. What we are discussing is nothing like peeling an onion, for instance, because that might imply that one type of faith was somehow deeper than the other and that is not my intent. Who am I to judge that? I know people in both camps, and their faith works for them. Oh, they may look at each other somewhat askance, but their suspicion of each other’s faith is not the point here. Each believes, and that faith matters. They may understand the nature of God differently; they may approach the Divine in dissimilar ways and have different ways of communing with the Sacred Presence, but for each of them, their faith makes their life richer and more meaningful.

Isn’t it interesting that faith in God works for people, even though they conceive of God quite differently from each other? It is simply another miracle of the divine-human encounter.