Some Reflections

On Sunday my parents celebrated 50 years of marriage with a party attended by upwards of 40 people, including my most favourite aunt. She and I danced around one another with greetings and snatches of conversation, smiling through the crowd, and touching hands in passing, waiting for an opportunity which only came late in the afternoon. Finally, we drew our chairs close together signifying our unavailability to others, leaned close, speaking low and intensely, firing off questions and information, both of us welcoming the rare opportunity to share deeply the things in our hearts.

Living the Text was, a similar kind of conversation, but writ large. I imagine that we have all caught glimpses through the crowd, of those who are exploring new ways of communicating the gospel, nodding in recognition, chatting only in passing, but I certainly have felt frustrated by the lack of opportunity for deep discussion with those gifted in post-modern engagement. To be aware of forms that are passing into disuse or ineffectiveness is one thing, but lacking guidelines for more useful engagement is debilitating. I am also wary of the strident, aggressive tone that is sometimes used by post-modern practitioners so I valued this rare opportunity to hear from a respectful practitioner the why and the how of his approach, and having the opportunity to ask the “but” questions, that often plague me as I read. Theologising these practices was particularly helpful to me, demonstrating not only faithfulness, but also scholarship.

Intuitively, I have been exploring without having a technical name for them, many of the approaches that Steve modelled. I understand better now why some sermons flew and others crashed. I have been known to pull out a notebook in a cinema to capture a moment in a new movie which I then DJ, either by juxtaposing or amplifying. I have used image based preaching, hesitating to use multiple images, but I would like to experiment using a wider range. Most of my sermons involve congregational input but this could be done far more, using some of the rules of engagement, especially giving the comments of the “friendly stranger” rather than one’s own. Last year I told the story of the rich young ruler from the perspective of his older sister, but my ending let it down. Today, I would be more inclined let the story stand.

Each time that I reflect back on the course content something different impresses me. Today, I am wrestling with the notion of hospitality, of how to treat questions hospitably, how to allow room for many voices, and how to gather as a community around a text in such a way that spaces for the marginalised are created. At the fore mentioned party, several of my relations, who are mostly nominal Catholics, inquired about my studies, both fascinated at the concept, and disappointed at my departure from “the faith”. I was challenged to receive their questions hospitably, to engage generously with whatever had stirred their curiosity, trusting the Spirit to breathe life. Some surprising conversations ensued.

All the theory in the world would probably not have achieved what the experiences of encountering the life in the text did for me. Experiential learning is not age specific. On Tuesday I was quite undone by Brian McLaren’s sermon on the woman caught in adultery, in particular, her experience of being dragged before a group of religious men, treated to legalism and shame in the name of God, only to be saved by the compassion and holiness of Jesus. It resonated rather more deeply than was comfortable with my own painful experience of some male church leaders over the past year, so courtesy of a vivid imagination I experienced considerable distress, but I also engaged with Jesus in a cathartic way, enabling significant healing. The Bible lives!

In evangelical churches such as my own, we describe ourselves as “people of the Book”, an identity of which we are proud, but somehow, we flatten out what is a living, breathing gift, into doctrine and law, failing to be disturbed by the discrepancy between our professed reverence and the lived reality of our communities. I could not honestly describe the tone on most Sunday mornings, or in many of our small groups, as being one of anticipation of meeting together in a significant way, with one another, and with the Living God through his text and Spirit. I find that deeply sad. This course has reignited my desire for a deep corporate engagement with the Bible.

Sometimes teaching operates as a form of permission giving, in this case, being given fresh permission to listen long, rather than to defend, and to dignify all people by trusting that the Spirit is at work with them. I have often commented that pastoral care allows me the privilege of hearing amazing insights given by the Spirit as people, especially those who are on the fringes, engage with the Bible and the One who gives it, so it is exciting to consider what it might mean for a church community if we learn to listen, giving some of these rarely heard voices, space. Which brings me to one gnawing question, the question of power.

The elephant in the room that churches hate to discuss is power; who holds it, who shares it, and who is trying to get a hold of it. Pastors and preachers who appear at the pulpit have power, a power recognised even by small children, so what will happen if this space is opened up for numerous voices? In many, perhaps most, contexts and for some preachers, this will be risky business. I guess that is not new! My question is how leaders foster a healthy/safe climate in a community as it gathers around the text. It seems to me that the process of only repeating another person’s comment, rather than giving our own, is a valuable discipline. It trains us to listen, it generates conversation between those who are not naturally drawn to friendship, and it encourages each person to look expectantly for the evidences of the Spirit. I wonder what else contributes to a safe climate? There is such potential in this gathering around the text, as evidenced by each of our class discussions where something fresh came to life through our multitude of voices. God spoke to us, praise be to him!