S3K Emergent Reflections #3 -- Godtalk sneaks in the back door

I don't know if this was intentional in the planning of the event, but it worked out brilliantly. The explicit focus of the gathering dealt with congregational change in the light of culture. Because that was the main text there was little overt expectation or pressure on the many subtexts of the event, e.g. the content of specifically religious or theological dialogue. Because of this, discussions of our theological perspectives popped up everywhere, but with little positioning or defensiveness. I offer some examples, some shared in a group, some shared informally. Some of the things I heard the Jews say was that they were inspired by Christian worship (I never knew that committed Jews ever visited Christian churches) . I heard some Jews comment that the Christians at this event frequently talked about God, remarking that they themselves rarely talked specifically about God. One rabbi talked about Jesus and the Romans with great insight (I didn't know Jews knew so much about Jesus!). I heard Christians say they envied the deep connection the Jews had with their tradition, how they raised their kids in the faith, how they created and maintained a Jewish culture for their people. It became readily apparent how secular we Western Christians are -- the Jews at this event continually invoked blessings and sayings at many points of the day (We Christians were at a loss when it was time to confer an after-dinner blessing). Both Jews and Christians shared frequently about Hebrew characters in the Bible. More formally, both groups shared in the devotional reading of Scripture and the singing of simple Hebrew and English praise songs or chants. Inspiring!

Emergent (Christians) could not have been better represented... (I didn't know the other groups before this meeting, so I cannot speak of how they related to their constituency). Each of these emerging Christian voices had struggled with congregational angst in the late nineties; they had already wrestled with issues of church and culture, and they came to solid theological conclusions several years ago. Who better to represent the Christians than these? Tony Jones was very clear and direct in his theological language, he opened with a teaching on Jesus and his interaction with the Jews of his day, and connected those interactions to issues of community today. Doug Pagitt's extroverted nature, his charisma, and his welcoming heart drew a few of the young men and women rabbis to himself. So cool! I was not at the session where Dwight Friesen discussed 'Orthoparadoxology' but both pastors and rabbis kept referring to his conceptualization throughout the event (awesome to see those outside the Christian community benefit from Dwight's complex thinking). Dieter Zander came with his pastor colleague from BayMarin, David Cobia. Dieter, pastor of the first 'Gen X' service back in 1986, has been part of most of these conversations for the past twenty years and has seen it all. Nanette Sawyer and Heather Kirk-Davidoff added a more mainline perspective to new forms of Christian community, which was particularly helpful. I had never met Troy Bronsink from Atlanta, but he offered insightful theological contributions throughout the event. Maybe my favorite moment of the whole seminar was when Tim Keel shared spontaneously about Samuel and Eli and their connection to our current situation. After he finished there was a hushed silence in the room, and then, quite spontaneously, one of the Jewish elders spoke a few words of Hebrew (or were they Yiddish?) affirming Tim by saying the 'rabbi has spoken wisely' or something to that affect. Powerful stuff. I still get goosebumps.

On Monday, I will post my final musings on the event and the pictures...

Technorati Tags: Emergent, Emerging_Church, S3K, Synagogue 3000

Comments

[Dana Ames]

This is so incredibly Awesome!!!

Dana

[Alan Hirsch]

Sounds great Ryan. I would have liked to be there. I wonder how they would have coped with me though? Being a Jewish follower of Jesus and all. Curious....

Have a great new year!

[Mike]

Keel gave me a full briefing on what happened in L.A. - fascinating. I have made more than 20 trips to the middle east and have had wonderful faith encounters with the kind of Jewish believers you have described. This is a great development. Blessings on you for helping this to happen. Peace and Joy.

[Ryan]

Yes, it was over-the-top cool!!

[Terry Rosenberg]

Hi all,

I hope I'm doing this right - I have never posted anything on a blog before. At the age of 56 I'm lucky that I know what a blog is! As Chair of the S3K Board, I was delighted to be invited to the meeting and as far as I'm concerned, I witnessed a miracle. I don't believe that such a meeting would have been possible as little as 30 years ago. How very little we actually understand about each other, and how often it is that we operate on assumptions that are patently false. To gather together more frequently, to share our commonalities and learn about each other's religious beliefs and practices would, I believe, change the world. I can't thank you enough for joining us, for sharing your wisdom and your heart so honestly and openly, and for your warmth and deep generosity of spirit. I hope this is just the first of many such gatherings.

With gratitude and respect,
Terry Rosenberg

[Alan Hirsch]

I wanna be there next time.