I guess the highlight of the day for me was listening to Karen Ward from Church of the Apostles (COTA), an Episcopalian/Lutheran emerging church plant in the Fremont neighbourhood – or neighborhood, I suppose ;-) – of Seattle. Karen’s community is part of the New Monasticism that would also include The Order of Mission, and so it was good to be able to hear of the journey they are on at Fremont Abbey, where Karen is Abbess.
The biggest event in Fremont is the Summer Solstice festival, followed by the Winter Solstice celebrations. It is a context many Christians would find themselves uncomfortable in, but COTA gets involved with their neighbours, participating and actually facilitating in the community events. This is, of course, no different from earlier, European Christians’ engagement with the pagan festivals that became Christmas and Easter; and while I am aware that some Christians believe that we should not participate in such ‘pagan’ events – in my view because they fail to understand that REDEMPTION is the heart of our message – most of the Church does. Christmas and Easter are ‘safe’ because the issues were wrestled-with so long ago; Summer and Winter Solstice are not ‘safe,’ but…in this, COTA sets a fantastic example for us to rediscover. At the same time, those involved in COTA self-consciously place themselves in the Christian tradition, taking the historical Church calendar as their primary measure of days, weeks, and seasons…
Miscellaneous things:
Stations of the Resurrection (as well as the more familiar Stations of the Cross)…
catechumenal groups (“more hard-core than Alpha”!)…
being a Eucharistic people: God has taken us, blessed us, broken us, and gives us away…
the lectionary text is “what the church eats”: where do you see yourself in this text; how is it asking you to change?
Missional Monastic things:
COTA Rule:
relationships, rhythm, conversation, creativity, sacrament, service…
COTA Postures (I love the idea of Postures – of how we stand in relation to God and our neighbour):
presence and awareness…availability and vulnerability…attentiveness and mindfulness…wonder and expectancy…
COTA Practices:
daily prayer and supplication…sabbath and re-creation…feasting and fasting…pilgrimage and accompaniment…tithing and alms-giving…reconciliation and consolation…confession and forgiveness…justice and kindness…thankfulness and praise…charity and love…
The language is different from that of TOM, but many of the ideas are the same – though there is plenty here I want to learn from. I guess the key for anyone looking to establish an Abbey or Order is that you have to observe your own values and practices, then name them and live up to what you name yourself. Importing a package will prove hard, and unfruitful (as opposed to the organic approach, which is also hard, but – I hope, and believe – fruitful). But we have much to learn together; and “the construction of a variety of local theologies” (David Bosch) does not preclude cross-fertilisation: in fact, it relies on it!
blah…emerging church tour , Karen Ward , new monasticism , emerging church , mission
No comments:
Post a Comment