By Molly T. Marshall
A visitor showed up at church a couple of weeks ago unannounced. She had recently begun to rear her very young grandchildren, in addition to the young girl she had adopted, and wanted them to receive Christian nurture.
Thankfully an attentive person noticed her trying to navigate the halls of church with her three small charges and assisted her. After finding the right places for them, her new guide found her a cup of coffee and warm conversation.
She returned this week and came to Sunday school, not surprisingly, with the one who had invited her.
Will she become a regular part of this community within the larger congregation? That will depend upon self-giving hospitality of a class where “thick relations” already sustain members in need — often taxing resources –as well as what she is seeking.
Many of us follow the writings of Phyllis Tickle, thoughtful interpreter of culture and Christian identity. As the founding editor of the religion department at Publisher’s Weekly, she has been uniquely positioned as an astute observer of American Christianity, with all of its shifting contours.
Her most recent work, Emergence Christianity, follows up her earlier work, The Great Emergence, which helped offer language about how persons become a part of Christian community. Rather than believing and behaving before belonging, the pattern she sketched was “belong-behave-believe” as one finds one’s life within the new narrative of Christian gatherings.
This pattern calls for intentionality in creating community, and we surely know that this is what persons are seeking — even if they do not explicitly name it as congregational life. N.T Wright suggests that the human intuition that “we were made for one another” is an echo of the voice of God in our midst.
Emergence Christianity traces contemporary pursuits of Christian community, although Tickle wisely notes that it is no more “than a dispatch from the field” as dynamic change continues. Most interesting is the photographic report she includes in the book — much like the family tree in the middle of older versions of the Bible.
The photos reflect an aggressive belief in inclusivity. Diversity is a marker of these communities.
A sense of transcendence and historic connection with tradition matters even amidst the wildly creative expressions of worship. The desire to sacramentalize urban experiences explodes “walls” of church and recognizes that God is to be found in all things, an Ignatian insight.
Other photos portray eclectic visual arts, revealing the extent to which new communities include resources from other traditions — icons from Orthodox churches, symbols from Celtic spirituality and liturgical colors. The longing for beauty is integral to longing for God and honors believers as embodied persons with senses to be fully deployed in gathering for worship.
These communities find many ways to use space. A food pantry may occupy the same space as the Eucharistic meal — a significant and appropriate congruence. Being nourished at Christ’s table prompts concrete action that ensures others are also fed.
Striving to be disciplined communities, some employ a “rule of life” to assist persons in becoming rooted as faithful followers of Jesus. Further, liturgical resources from Anglican, Orthodox or Catholic communions grant order and theological progression for the celebration of worship.
Interestingly, sophisticated technology makes accessible these ancient templates. Cyber church can create community in a world accustomed to virtual relationships. Yet, tactile experiences as persons gather sustain the incarnational reality of the body of Christ.
After reflecting on our visitor’s presence last Sunday, a class member said, “It is time for us to have a party.” Inviting a person to belong to Christian community is surely worth celebrating.