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June 21, 2006
> 2:38 PM
the emerging catholic church > recap I've been thinking about this stuff a lot lately - what we're doing, for example, as vbcc, Catholicism, the ancient faith, how they all relate, etc. I had reason to go back to something I wrote last year as a series of 3 posts on the emerging church which was also turned into a collected article for Next-Wave. As I was reading it over the last part, on what I was calling the emerging catholic church, stood out to me again. I still see this happening. It may even be more pronounced that it was then, along with some of the other phenomena. I thought it might be interesting to throw this back out there. I've broken it up a bit and added the beginning and end lists. Maybe this will connect with some of you. Bases touched... - Emerging Church - Catholicism - Ancient Faith - Liturgy - Liturgical prayer - Tradition - Monasticism - Mysticism - Eucharist - Organic Church - Leadership There has been some evolution going on since all this started happening. We haven't all stayed in the same place. Just because some of us left something and started something for one reason doesn't mean we've remained static in our reasoning. If we remain open, we evolve, we think, we listen, and things change. There are people out there using candles and so forth in their "services" because young folk like that kind of thing and they want to be relevant. There are also people who use candles, and incense from time to time, icons, etc. because of the deep theological symbolism. There actually are small, "insignificant," emerging communities who haven't thrown out every baby with every tub of old dirty bathwater. We think and pray over these things. We study and work these things out and struggle through them, and we come to conclusions about things. There are churches started by people who've pulled out of denominations, or maybe to the very edge of them, who still value Truth as it has always been handed down in the ancient catholic tradition - the universally held truths of the church from the beginning. - post-protestant - is a good term for this bunch. There is still a good bit of sola scriptura, old line protestantism in the mix. In this newer world, though, there is an embracing of all things Christian and not just one chapter. Not everyone in the whole phenomenon has resonated with this ancient catholic thing, but many have and are. I personally see this as a further evolution on the whole simple/organic thing. I think it's the result of adding a theological compass to that phenomenon. - deep theological thought going on - deeper waters There is more of a holistic view. In other words, there's not just Martin Luther and Zwingli to take into consideration, but also, and perhaps more, there is St. Ignatius of Antioch, Origen, Tertullian and Basil. There are the many monastic renewal movements starting in the 6th century and on through the middle ages. There is the deep and ancient tradition of Christian Mysticism which has been handed down and which still exists today in many Catholic monasteries. Perhaps St. Patrick and many of the Celtic missional monastic tradition could be mentioned as highly influential of this stream. There is a virtual liturgical renewal going on right now, not so much in the Roman Catholic Church or even in the Anglican or Orthodox arenas necessarily, but in the emerging church. A real deep appreciation of a liturgical lifestyle is emerging in many of these communities. There is a huge surge of liturgical prayer going on - praying prayers from a prayer book - prayers that have been prayed by our Christian forebears for 2,000 years. There is a very deep reconsideration of Sacramental spirituality running through this camp. Communion (Eucharist) is once again being taken up as a central focus of meeting life. Sermons aren't as important, but rather, teaching and other gifts flow in the natural life of the community, as they pray together and live together and meet together. So, the natural and the organic flows side by side with the liturgical - very interesting. So you have a non hierarchical, more flat and relationally based leadership structure, but there IS leadership. You have meetings that are both formal (in the liturgy sense - where certain prayers and responses are used - sacraments, etc.) and informal (not necessarily robes and standing and sitting - usually in a living room with snacks and drinks). There is teaching but not necessarily in the form of prepared sermons from one person. It might only happen in the course of a discussion on the Scripture used in tonight's evening prayer or reading of the lectionary. There is also a moving away from hard-core protestant beliefs such as "sola scriptura" - that the Bible is the only authority for life. Sacred Tradition is also becoming something people look to. Things to overcome for some... - lack of being "relevant" - repetitive worship practices - sacramental mindset - value of tradition - structure - lack of entertainment - the feeling that nothing is happening - possible protestant guilt for being too Catholic - where to stop with the tradition thing - logical conclusions run amuck! technorati tags > emerging church, catholicism, liturgy, sacramental theology, monasticism, mysticism, organic church, leadership, ancient-future Labels: catholic, emerging church, monasticism 0 Comments:| permalink | e-mail me | 
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