Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:18-19
Rebekah and I often talk about spiritual things. It’s not so much that we deliberately slip into the spiritual mode, or decide to “talk church,” or think to ourselves, “You know what, we need to have a conversation about faith….” No, it’s far more natural than that, more along the lines of there is no distinction between our lives and our spiritual lives. Faith comes up because it has become the filter through which we both see and experience our daily lives.
Yesterday, I believe it was over supper, we found ourselves talking about what’s become known as “The Emergent Church Movement.” Here’s short explanation, for those who don’t recognize what “emergent church” means (this is not from a text-book, just my personal take on it):
The Emergent Church Movement is an attempt to:
- Understand some of the new – “emerging” – ideas regarding forms of worship…
- Understand how these practices resonate with people who otherwise might not attend church…
- Identify common threads of experience and the theological meaning attached to these practices.
We talked about the tendency of faith communities to say, “That worked for them, we should try this here.” or “Maybe we could attract more people if we did _______ (insert “emergent” idea here).”
However, truly emergent practice is a response to the Spirit in any given local setting. The moment we try to attach “rules” to what “emergent” is supposed to look like, then it is – by definition – not emergent anymore!
“We have to be open to the Spirit where we are,” Rebekah said. “We need to be constantly asking the question, “Is our worship authentic?” and “Are we moving forward or simply marking time?”
Of course, any given community of faith is going to have a variety of participants, and public worship is more about coming together in the presence of God than crafting a “state of the art” experience.
Ultimately, any congregation that honestly desires to grow in faith and offer praise to God is potentially an “emergent” community. We just have to be open to God, and make sure that we are worshipping the Lord rather than worshipping our traditions.
I am so blessed to be in a church that values authentic worship… and in a marriage where our spiritual life is always worth talking about – DEREK
“Truly emergent practice is a response to the Spirit in any given local setting.” Love that line. Unfortunately, it has seemed to me that the Emergent Church has gone from movement to brand to label, and often from Spirit to politics. It was a predictable pattern, I guess. But with Rebekah, I resonate with the openness to the Spirit and the commitment to authenticity. Something vital “emerges” there. I think it’s just faithful.
You’re right, Jesse. “Faithful” is a simple concept, and should always be at the heart of our spiritual practice. If all we did was to focus on being faithful, then we’d be a long way along the road to wholeness….
I have a problem with the unspoken assumption of “emergent” that the Church has somehow not been manifest in its fulness from the day of Pentecost.
My understanding of “emergent” is that the idea of growing and reforming in response to God’s constant initiative is (at best) always a work in progress. When the church is static then it is failing to embrace its promise…
“there is no distinction between our lives and our spiritual lives.” – Preach it Brother – let us pray that we all live like that. Jesus, God, the Spirit should always be in our conversations and while that put us on display for the world to see, it also opens hearts. If you live like that, God puts people in your path to see what He looks like. Even in “work” settings where God topics are not to be discussed, you can invite God to be part of those dicussions. For the most part you will find people who are eager to soak up God’s perspective.
“truly emergent practice is a response to the Spirit in any given local setting.” YES!! Emergent being the current name for a movement, a people, being open to going were the Spirit leads. Emergent is not better, or even new, but like another part of the same body (I Cor 12) trying to reach out and react to a needy world where people are at this moment in history. “Emergent” people have been around forever – Thank God for that.
Excellent comment, Gail – thanks!
Totally in agreement with you all throughout this post. Our lives should be lived faithfully and spiritually and authentically – there really should be no separation between ‘normal’ life and ‘spiritual’ life. This is something I have been thinking through quite a bit of late.
You are also spot on with the need to remain open to the voice of the Spirit in the setting in which we find ourselves in, in our own communities, with the people God has called us to work with – instead of merely attempting to replicate what appears to be working elsewhere. What a shame – as we risk limiting God’s creativity and will when we do this. Sadly – I have been guilty of this in the past. Still – we live and learn and move on – thankfully 🙂
Great post – thank you!
Jo
Thanks for the comment(s) – very insightful and on the ball
– D