Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Disconnected? Our relationship with the Tradition
As previously mentioned, I attended the first of the futurechurch conference's evening sessions tonight. It was entitled "Disconnected? Our relationship with the Tradition".
For those that don't want to read the whole text, my thoughts in brief:
First of all was Steve Taylor's Auckland book launch. That was good. I bought a copy of the book. I need the beer to go with it.
The session was 'animated' (I don't like the terminology) by Margaret Mayman from St Andrews on the Terrace (Wellington) and Steve Taylor from Opawa Baptist (Christchurch). After they introduced some threads people were able to come and contribute their ideas.
Margaret
Margaret mentioned some sources of alienation from the church: fundamentalism, exclusionism, dogmatism, abuse, liturgical fascism and institutionalism. Perhaps it was just the shape of my notes, but there seems to be an awful lot of -isms that people are holding to ridiculously tightly.I could immediately relate to the idea of alienation -- I knew no-one there and averaged about 25 years younger than the rest of the group!
She posited an idea about what constitutes the main ideas of community.
a) Gather
b) Tell stories
c) Break bread
During the course of the evening these ideas were critiqued, sometimes strongly. The concepts of contested/-ing traditions became central. She also introduced what became a key term, "life-giving". We quickly decided what was life-giving for some was anathema for others.
Steve
Steve opened with a clip from Whale Rider in which Paikea and Koru discuss ancestory whilst Koru tries to start an old outboard motor. I haven't the motivation to go into detail, but this also became a central theme.I resonated with the clip: a radical, dangerous and subversive re-imagining of the tradition. However, someone wise pointed out that it is only a movie...In real life the motor was likely to continue to not start, or perhaps blow up, taking some of the livelihood of the family with it. The knotted rope would probably jam the engine or break again. "We may have to disconnect [from the tradition]. We have have to blow it up." Which of these three narratives is most useful for us? Other suggestions?
The question of who validates emergent worship -- theologically and in pracis -- was an important one raised at several points. My question was, what on earth is the "Book of Order" whose mention received such a poor response?
Validation is one for continued thought. Some of the ideas put forward by various speakers were: the community it serves, traditions, etc. Near the end of the evening someone asked which categories we can critique it by. Good question. Steve suggested the idea of a DJ finding the correct mix for his/her congregation.
Finally, I want to stress that, although I think I've captured the main flow of the evening, there are many voices, stories and viewpoints represented that I couldn't capture...And that isn't the point of this post anyway. Please enjoy my perspective and accept my apologies for missed views or misconstrued comments.
There are several other sessions (details here) and this one was certianly worthwhile. Perhaps I'll see you tomorrow night when NZ Metaphors in Theology is discussed.
Craig (mars-hill) Wednesday, October 12, 2005
1 Comments:
Just a note: I went to two other conference sessions: NZ Metaphors in Theology and Strange bedfellows? evangelicals and progressive christians.
