A Sound of Thunder

Can you feel it? A deep rumbling coming from the very foundations of the Church. A change is on its way - a movement of God to usher his people into deeper relationship and deeper truth. Some are calling it the Next Reformation - just as the modern era ushered in the end of the domination of the Roman Catholic religion and the entry into denominational, charismatic expressions of Church, now the modern era has ended and we are being ushered into the post-modern. While the modern Church sought to erect artificial walls, structures and organizations (i.e. denominations) and started to "do church" instead of "be church", the post-modern now seeks to breaks those artificual structures apart - to effect relationships in place of divisions. Some people also use the image of a brand new generation of Church that is the process of Emerging - the state of being Emergent.

There is a kind of freedom involved - a step away from being religionists and toward being simply Christian. That is to say human, flawed, sinful - and yet forgiven, redeemed and related both to God and to each other. Instead of sunday-morning preaching (where a large group of people get together inside the walls of a building in order to act as audience while one person talks about what is on his or her heart) being the primary mode of expounding truth, the emphasis is starting to become focused on a conversation (a dialogue between two or more people that allows for the hearts of all involved to be expressed equally)- perhaps one that meanders throughout the week through emails or blogs, or by getting together with friends over dinner or coffee.

For just about a year now, I have been a part of "The Feast", which is an informal gathering of Christian people who just want to get together over coffee, sing some songs and talk about what is on our hearts this week. It has been remarkable to me how much more I get out of that simple meeting than I do out of sunday services at "church". Not that God is not moving within that community, but there is a feeling of boxiness about it. We have a great pastor who has a lot of really good things to say, but more often than not what is being preached on sunday doesn't meet me where I am at that day. Sometimes it meets me where I was at a month ago, or where I will be a month from now, and that's the problem - what is on my heart now needs to be addressed right now, and that can only happen through organic conversation among equals.

A few nights ago Lisa and I had our close friends, the Petries (Anna and Richard) over for steak and stuff (my new found BBQing skills we put to the test, but I rose to the challenge), and it was so good to just be able to (as Richard said) "let it all hang out." To talk about things that were going on in our lives - work, play, church, etc, all of it culminating in SNL's The Best of Will Ferrell Volume 1 ("I've got a fever.. and the only prescription is more cowbell! Say it babies!").

Over the past little while we have also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with our friends the Coles (Ron, Colleen, Megan and Ashley), hanging out, watching movies, having coffee, eating chilli or trying to coax some semblance of service out of little seaside eateries. But most of all talking. There is a feeling of acceptance there - where we can say whatever we feel like saying, and they just listen. No judgements, no attempts at correction - just conversation. It felt so good to be able to just drawl on about our marital difficulties, fights and general dysfunction, or our sordid family histories and pasts (some of it, I will admit, is rather shocking) and NOT to get the usual knee-jerk reaction. Instead it is a feeling of knowing familiarity that says "yeah, we've been there too, in fact we're STILL there." That, to me, is what the idea of the conversation is all about.

We all have places in which we are right and strong, and places where we are wrong and weak. Conversation allows for us to understand where another soul is at in their walk and also be understood by others without having to become defensive about it. It allows for the ability to CHOOSE the right paths instead of being forced down them through shame and unacceptance of where we are right now. Richard said something quite insightly when speaking of a mutual friend - he said that though he did not always understand or agree with everything said by our friend, he chose to love him anyway, because "I see Christ in him."

So now the church of the modern era has a choice to make in the face of this oncoming shift into the post-modern era. The institution can choose to embrace God's deeper revelations and break down its own walls in preparation for the shaking of its foundation. Or it can build higher walls and large pillars and stubbornly hold onto an instituation that clearly (attendance in denominational churches has been dropping sharply since the 1970's) is in its death throes, and be broken in the upheaval.

This is starting to happen for me in a very personal way - my community is starting to be shaken in a very real and sometimes startling way. The cracks are starting to show in our walls and in our pillars, and the question remains - what will we do about it?