the emerging church is like…

(these are some thoughts I prepared for an interview [an commented on], most of which I didn’t say, nor was shown, but I thought, hey why not post it.)

…it is like a renegade stage production. Several of us have been given a role and consumes, but the clothes didn’t fit right, and we didn’t like our lines. We are not getting rid of the scrip, just the producers who have made it into a bad play, and we’re movin’ out of the fancy theater to wherever we can find.

…it is like taking blinders off. Evangelical had tunnel vision, looking toward the ground, only trying to save souls and build bigger and bigger churches, and thinking they were the only ones. the emerging church takes off these blinders, and sees that there are a bunch of people with them (Lutherans, Methodist, Episcopal, Catholics), and they look behind and remember the past the good and the bad.

…it is like recovering from a hundred year amnesia. Main evangelicals can’t think past 20 to 50 years ago. But the church has been going on for 2000 years, and a lot has happened, for good and bad. The EC is trying to remember its past, so it can live into the future. The reason the Da Vinci Code has made such a stir is that many Christians simply don’t know their own history, so when someone comes along and tells a compelling story, it fills in this vacuum left by forgetting out past.

…it is not merely looking backward, but also to around, not just in America, but all over the world to see what is happening. The EC is looking toward the Taize community in France where Catholics and Protestants are gathering to pray for peace around the world…it is looking to the Global South to learn about how faith can work against exploitation, and care for those with AIDS.

… seeing God’s work as much bigger, not just saving our souls, but extending peace, justice, and love all over the world. The emerging church movement is asking again, What is salvation? not just of my soul.