I decided today that I needed an adventure, so I walked from my hotel to
the conference site, wonderful walk, only a little more than 2.5 miles. Course
it also meant walking back. But that was good too. I should really do that
more often.
Today I made the choice to go to the second venue. The first two speakers
at Central Lutheran were both ones who have voices I struggle to listen to.
Sorry, but that's the way it is. Besides, Lillian Daniel was at Westminster
Presbyterian. So, off I went. Lillian was joined by John Bell who did the
liturgy for opening worship, wearing a powder blue jacket, pink shirt and aqua
tie. Those Glaswegians! At least it wasn't paisley. Lillian preached on Noah's
Ark and it was amazing. I loved her depiction of the whole story with her usual
sardonic wit. But she astutely pointed out that the only words Noah speaks in
the whole story were words of cursing his son who saw him in his drunken
nakedness. Kind of startling for someone who lives over 900 years. But the
thought that I need to dwell on a bit was a connection back to the Garden of
Eden story - it made sense, trust me. And that was in her comment "were they
kicked out of the garden, or set free?" Back to Noah, "were they rescued when
the boat hit land or were they stranded?" I'm going to have to sit with that
one for a while.
She then lectured on "Who's Asking?" (Are we answering questions that
nobody's asking?) It was a continuation of her work with the SBNR group
(spiritual but not religious) and also with the NONEs (those who answer the
religious affiliation with none) Part of her thesis is that we were taught to
preach in a world where there weren't so many nones. And that our relevance is
suspect, especially when we define ourselves by what we don't believe instead of
what we do believe. And that the mainline has been reluctant to talk about what
it is we believe, wanting to be as open as possible. And we have also bought
into a consumer mentality, saying that the church is here to meet your needs.
What about the church is to form you in the faith? A somewhat sobering
talk.
After a break, we came back for John Bell's lecture. I love John, actually
worked with him for a brief time, many years ago. As liturgist he is exactly
what I would like to see us emulate in our setting. The hymns he taught were
powerful, but unique and sometimes even startling. I think we need more of
him. Unfortunately the lecture he gave was the same one he gave at CTS that a
team from Aldersgate went to hear. I remembered the stories, could have told
them myself, and most of the thrust of the argument. Which is agree with, by
the way. It was all about unleashing the imagination in preaching and worship.
Imagination has a bad rap in many people's minds, and John says we need to
correct that assumption. Amen.
After lunch (I went to a Potbelly's (along with most of downtown
Minneapolis) and had a sandwich that I misheard a simple question and thought I
was getting hot mustard, but instead was getting the nuclear option - jalapenos
and some sauce that is designed to remove paint from cars, I think) I went to
worship with Michael Slaughter from Ginghamsburg UMC, only to hear a sermon I
heard at Conference on Our Life Together back in February. Again a very
relevant message, about being a missional church. Mike argues that our focus
should not be on getting more people into the church, but getting church people
out into the world. Amen.
Then I went to a workshop on something called the narrative lectionary.
Rolf Jacobson teaches Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St Paul MN and he and
some colleagues have created a new lectionary based on the fact that the Revised
Common Lectionary does not present the flow of the Christian story in order, but
pulls pieces and parts in no particular order. He said that the thinking for
the RCL was based on the assumption that folks knew the story and the story was
supported by the culture. But since the Christian Narrative is not supported by
the culture and folks no longer know the ebb and flow of the history of the
people of God. So a new telling of the story needs to be done. They begin in
September and go to the end of May and begin with Creation and end with
Pentecost. It is a four year cycle, two readings each Sunday with a designated
preaching text. I'm not sure what happens in the summer. But my biggest
question is what do we do with folks who don't attend every single week, and
therefore still are missing the flow of the story. But I do have some sympathy
with the idea. I have broken away from the lectionary anyway and so maybe am
not straining against that cage like so many others. But it is something to
consider
Evening worship tonight was Rolf Jacobson preaching on Caught between Can't
and Can't Not based on Psalm 137, which is a troublesome psalm to say the
least. A wide range of emotion and pain expressed, vengeance clearly proclaimed
at the end. A hard text to preach, I commended him for wrestling with it. Who
are we and whose are we, what is within us and what can transform us. John Bell
was liturgist, they certainly work him hard when he is here and rightly
so!
A day of ups and downs, but I am certainly ready for more!
Love you,
Derek
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