tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4986911153107257224.post8705896102825350009..comments2013-06-11T12:18:31.810-07:00Comments on Thoughts and prayers...: Anxious AdventAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14358576928669850895noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4986911153107257224.post-2124153523571582662011-11-27T22:50:01.200-08:002011-11-27T22:50:01.200-08:00Mike, thanks for totally speaking my mind, this so...Mike, thanks for totally speaking my mind, this sort of thing has been BUGGING me for YEARS and I am glad you REALLY LAID IT OUT.<br /><br />The Church is waiting all the time because it is stuck in the wrong age. The culture (what is valued) has moved on, and the Church cannot engage the way it used to because the cultural “language” (how things are done in 2011, what is appealing) is too different. All you have to do is watch how young people operate vs. everyone else and the differences are STARK, far more than when I was a kid. I am sure you know this.<br /> <br />At the “risk” of being more honest & controversial as you rightly suggest, I have felt and witnessed the same undercurrents in our Church for several years. Even before the economic collapse, our church and culture have been diverging for some time; the Great Recession has only made the rift wider, laying many things bare. Good-hearted UCC people are either (mostly) oblivious to/bewildered by the chasm between church and culture, or for the few who are aware everything is changing, these folks are not in a place where their awareness of the new spiritual/cultural/political/environmental advent now at hand can be clearly seen and heard. Their voices are too isolated, too lost, often silent. Pastors & leaders I sense get this are in congs that are too conventional, progressive but not outwardly-focused, sadly distracted by mere survival, tension, and egos. They, & lay intentionals like me are seemingly all alone in longing to spiritually build what Gen X+, Y, and +++ are seeking, having the will but not the means, partners, or support to invent the response to our shifting cultural values. Too many churches think that progressive conventional religion is all that we need, and that is just not the case. It is not 1950 anymore. We may no longer call for and challenge to what is needed (much less wait in Advent), we can now only engage with, live into who we are in God, and create in community spiritual wholeness in the new age. People don’t respond to externally-issued challenge in this age, they long for meaning, internally-resonant experience, relationships, and honouring engagement. Authority is over in our new age, we now meet as peers and collaborate, craft a faith to grow the light of God within all.<br /><br />What scares me is the Church is filled with a silent microcosm of the same OWS-symbolized disconnect plaguing our society today, leaving me to wonder if it is even able to heal the rifts and bring grace, all wrung out as you wisely observe. Unless the church mends its own internal chasms, it can’t begin to do that for society. BUT if it can, perhaps in doing so, it will learn so as to teach. If anyone is listening by then.<br /><br />So perhaps to get there we turn to God and our own Spirit, and ask Diana Butler Bass' new questions:<br />WHOSE are we? Who are we IN GOD? Who is God IN US? Through us? WHAT am I supposed to DO with that<<-- to ENGAGE? HOW am I to BELOVE in the 21st century Inventive Age?<br />Perhaps the answers are the path out of OWS frustration & impatience.<br /><br />Does the Church need to be Occupied? The propped-up structure, approach to culture, the idea of what ministry was, perhaps. Churches more structured and secret/hierarchical than ours, hell yes. The postmoderns are presently ending religion.<br /><br />God is doing a New Thing, as we once headlined an annual meeting not too many years ago. Maybe there is just enough passion out there to Advent it here in our community.<br /><br />Sorry this is too long. You hit a nerve, I apologize for hijacking. I hope I read you correctly, seeming to be as frustrated as I am. I hope I didn’t take your theme where it warn’t goin. Peace bro!Ben von Ullrichnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4986911153107257224.post-30711804658607459792011-11-26T22:27:41.274-08:002011-11-26T22:27:41.274-08:00Thank you for your words. I struggle to find my ro...Thank you for your words. I struggle to find my role in responding/acting on the crises we face--to not be paralyzed by the enormity of the task and the guilt that most of the problems are of our own making. It is encouraging to hear the truth so clearly spoken.Kathy Dawsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090462259352395384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4986911153107257224.post-36551885665526124562011-11-25T21:22:41.421-08:002011-11-25T21:22:41.421-08:00I'm in the same quandary as I prepare for Sund...I'm in the same quandary as I prepare for Sunday. Your naming it is very helpful.Jan Van Peltnoreply@blogger.com