The Post Modern Preacher

The membership gap that exists in most mainline churches from youth leaving high school and not returning until they have their children needing RE is being addressed in a new manner. There is a movement called the emerging church with a methodology that speaks to those of us GenXers who are now feeling the need for spiritual community as we've grown out of the youthful romantic angst as we've moved from My So-Called Life and X files defining our existance to Lost and Grey's Anatomy. The mystery and wonder has changed from Mulder's poster of the UFO and "I want to believe" to the unknowing and terror of mystery and humor being disfunctional peer relations instead of disfunctional fillial relations.

The emergent church movement exists as a means to have a return to networked right relation religious groups. Some of you may have heard of these as house churches, some written of in the Christian Century as reclaimed urban churches like Jacob's Well. This is an unappologetic faith where folk aren't afraid to deconstruct teachings or pray unabashadly in the same space.

This plays part in alt worship. How do we find meaning in the trappings that the boom generation left the church over? There is a need to bring relevancy to worship as liturgics have been stagnant for quite some time. There needs to be an attunement to popular culture and the message of salvation needs to be in words that the seeker can understand.

"Through me is the way into the doleful city; through me the way into the eternal pain; through me the way among the people lost. Justice moved my High Maker; Divine Power made me, Wisdom supreme and Primal Love. Before me were no things created, but Eternal; and eternal I endure: abandon all hope, ye who enter." - Dante's Inferno, the description on the entrance to the gates of Hell

I've been working through the idea of suffering being inherent to the human condition but it really does begin far before human conciousness. Dante saw that suffering and estrangement lasted through all time as well. Suffering isn't seperate from existance, it is part of the great existance and it is where the lost go. Power creates suffering. Justice gives suffering. Wisdom and Love cause suffering. It is beautiful to see that humanity's good is not given mercy in this condemnation. We all suffer and we all cause suffering as part of existing and it is working through our suffering that we can ultimatly be redeemed. Dante's journey was fraught with peril and many times he despaired and feared but at the urging of his Beatrice he moved on toward salvation. God wasn't his redeamer. A childish crush was his redemption. Happiness would be with this pure love that existed in his dreams.

The UUA and the UCC are great at having historic nondialogs.
How about in the 200th anniversary over our split we posture and we make jokes about the silver and we choose not to speak on anything of importance.

Rev. Dr. John Burhens was the only one to speak on anything controversial. Why do we ordain ministry when we don't baptize our members. What does that say for our sacraments and who our denomination values.

I'm struggling with the lack of prophetic voice in our movement. I'm tired of religious regret when we should fully embrace our faith. According to Bill Sinkford in his address to the NY state Convention of Universalists, "The work of Unitarian Universalism is about saving souls."
From the service of the living tradition in 2005

Remember, and never let anyone forget, that you are not ordained to become just some under-glorified business manager of a local religious franchise, measuring your ministry's worth in numbers or in bottom lines. And your churches' role and function is never merely to serve as just another perennially under-funded non-profit agency in town. The Church's reason for being is to make real the Beloved Community on earth, nothing less. And your office, in all its varied forms, exists to embody the work of that ideal, nothing less.

The covenant, the covenant, the covenant, UU theologian James Luther Adams insisted, is the great glowing coal at the heart of our Free Church tradition. Preach the covenant, binding us one with another and with our God.

Preach the covenant then, first and last, binding us as one with the world beyond our walls, in all its woundedness and imperfection.

Preach the covenant, binding us, yes! to Channing's faith and to Murray 's dream, to Theodore's fire, and to Olympia 's courage; binding us, binding us always, to Jim Reeb's immortal heart.

Preach to us the covenant bravely and fearlessly, my new colleagues, and in your preaching know that you will be forever blessed in the sight of that which causes the sparrow to fly and the lilies of the field to bloom. Preach the covenant, binding us with the Sacred Center of life: whose love is finally our only doctrine, whose quest for truth remains our precious sacrament, and whose service is evermore our fervent and lasting prayer.