I just came back from the Episcopal Village Mission Event. A very interesting and wonderful way to spend 2 days. The presentation or purpose was to talk about Anglimergence - or how the Anglican Church can embrace the Emergent Movement happening in Christianity in our post-modern culture. In other words, how can the Episcopal Church embrace a culture of Seekers who don't believe they can find God in a church that has existed for hundreds of years? How can those of us who love the rich traditions and are inspired by centuries of beliefs, creeds, prayers and practices open up (or break open) our church doors (and our prayer books) and truly Welcome All.
I love the Episcopal Church precisely because it does proclaim All Are Welcome - and it is meant. But how do you extend welcome to people who have stepped into a church for the first time and people who do not want to step into church for the first time due to negative presupposition? How do you share the Eucharist with people who aren't at the table? How do you become the alive body of Christ, the living, breathing Church to an Emergent Generation - the Facebook generation of relationship? How do you do this and keep in tandem your creeds of belief and liturgical tradition?
First let me say this about the conference - for me personally I have been totally excited to go. I have been reading about the Emergent Church and Fresh Expressions for about 3-4 years and every time I have a chance to hear Diana Butler Bass, Phyllis Tickle or Brian MacLaren speak - I go. This was my first opportunity to hear Brian MacLaren and he was great.
Second - for me I had the blessing of running into priests who have radically changed my life and my relationship with God and I had the time to sit down with one of them in particular and thank her. I also had an opportunity to meet up with some fellow DIFs (Deacons-In-Formation) that I just met recently who are further in their journey than myself and it was great to assess this conference from a Deacon's point of view.
Third - from the DIF point of view (in my humble opinion) - this is exciting because this is part of the work of Deacons. This is who we are - this is our call. Go out into the community and find those who are on the margins and invite them to join into relationship with God. Go into the church and help in worship in a way that you educate the parish as to the needs of the community; ask them to pray for those in need and lead them out into the community to share their story and invite their new neighbors to be in relationship with God and a community of Believers. Now don't get me wrong - there is more to the call, the action of social justice is not to be forgotten - we need to mobilize and care for the needy, the marginalized, the weak. But not only do we need to feed the physically hungry, we also need to feed the spiritually hungry. There is bread and then there is The Bread of Life (the body of Christ, the bread of heaven).
What surprised me the most from the conference is that Deacons were not brought up once in the conversation. It was asked if there was a Deacon present to help with Eucharist - but there were no case studies, no evidence of any Diaconal movement in these pioneer and pilgrim missions. I have said to some friends I feel that if God had called me to the Priesthood I would have been a missionary but I have never felt called to be a missionary. I couldn't always make sense of that statement - I wonder if I can now. God has called me as a Deacon because I do have a heart for Mission - not just mission in the sense of Outreach, but also Mission in the sense of bringing the Word of God to those who have never heard it and those who haven't heard it in a way they can make God's story their story. God has called me as a Deacon because He has put in my heart the desire to set the table for All God's people and to help find those people so that the Church can invite them to the table. My church friends laugh at me because I love the Eucharist at Christmas and Easter - and I wish it was that way every Sunday. I wish we had lines out the door and Eucharist took more time than the sermon. I wish every 7 days the whole world stopped what they were "DOING" and became still and were just BEINGs who came to the Lord's Table and filled with His spirit. Of course then my wish becomes that they live their whole life in the Spirit and it carried into every moment of their day. Dream Big!
"In the name of Jesus Christ, you are to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick , and the lonely." (BCP pg 543 Ordination: Deacon) Who are the poor in spirit that do not know their Creator, who are the weak in knowledge of their Redeemer, who are the sick at heart because they have a place to fill in their core that only the Holy Spirit can accomplish, who are the lonely in this world that want a community to accept their authentic selves - their selves without their titles, labels, coverings and worldly image - their true self that wants to embrace a way to love and worship their Lord and Savior?
The answer to that my friends is my call - to find my brothers and sisters who are lost or weary or lonely, who are scared, abused or victimized, who have toiled and are broken, who have sinned and feel forgotten, who have tried to fill their aching hearts with addictions and compulsions instead of their Creator that they seek, who have left institutional Church because they didn't feel welcomed or accepted, who have dismissed a relationship with God because they didn't find God in church. I have the blessing of sharing my life in the Spirit and inviting my neighbors to journey with me.
It seemed to me the presumption of this conference was that Priests must do this all alone. When do they have the time? How is a priest supposed to provide Worship, Pastoral Care, Education, Fellowship, provide programming, uplift and nourish leaders, attend to spiritual formation and shepherd a large congregation - AND then, breathe with me now - go out into the community and find all those who haven't come in the door and nourish them also.
To me I feel we are poised at a perfect opportunity to bring back into the life of the church the ancient ways of being with God, to bring back in the wandering people of God and to better express ourselves as the kingdom of God on earth. There are a lot of voices and distractions in this world, I want to be a part of the choir that is singing the praises of God. So many churches have already begun this work of exploring the Spirit and their work is exciting and fruitful and most important Spirit filled with Jesus the Christ at the center. The Church is not a building, the Church is you and me.
And just in case I make no sense at all - check out this video which highlights Fresh Expressions in the UK.
See you in church!
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