Here is one of the latest comments I received on one of my blog entries...
Anonymous said...
"I've been trying recently to read about the Emerging/Emergent church movement, and I keep bumping into one question I just can't seem to answer: What questions is the movement trying to answer that have not been addressed by the Catholic Church for hundreds of years? Things like being "missional" and raising up in followers a lived, "monastic" type faith are par for the course in Catholicism, fully expected and fully effective. The key difference seems to me similar to the key break between Catholicism and Protestantism: How do we interpret the Bible? Should interpretation be left to men who have had years of graduate training in theological study and traditional interpretation, or should untrained individuals with access to nothing but translations of the text be allowed to read any portion out of context and declare it authoritative?
I don't mean to sound aggressive. I really don't. I just don't understand why Protestantism has felt as though it has to come up with a new style of church for every new generation. There have been liturgical Protestants, Evangelical Protestants, and Emergent Protestants, just to name a few, but all the while, somehow, the Catholic Church has still managed to attract members from all walks of life to unity through the Eucharist with a bond of theology that is understood to be True. It still has, by far, more members than all Protestant denominations combined, and I can't help but feel like the different types of Protestant churches only increase the division and hostility among the Body of Christ.
I'm not really comfortable posting my email address on here or anything, but I'd really love to get a response from you somehow, so if you could maybe post a response reply or a response entry, that'd be really cool.
Thanks for responding if you do, and thanks for reading this even if you don't."
I love these questions! Thank you so much for taking the time to think through and pose them! First, let me say that some of my favorite friends are evangelical Catholics. I am continually humbled by their faith and the way they live their lives for Christ. I have attended Catholic mass many times over the years.
I agree with you that the division among churches/denominations makes it difficult for outsiders to view all of us as one church. It totally bums me out that we are so competitive among ourselves, and that we would speak poorly of one another. I believe that God grieves over our petty differences.
You are right! The Emergent movement has many similarities to the Catholic Church. In my experience, the emerging church desires to put focus back on being a "missional" church, and it seeks to combine the ancient traditions of our faith with new ways of expressing it. The funny thing about the emergent church is that no two of them are the same. It is hard to actually define it.
In my case, I am a young woman in the church who loves God, and wants to be a part of a church that has true passion and vision for reaching the lost and serving the less fortunate. Personally, I connect with and experience God through music and creative arts. I am passionate about creating sacred spaces that help others focus on God's Word and in prayer. It doesn't matter to me whether they are Catholic or Protestant. I believe there are things about all churches that need serious thought and re-consideration. That is why I love being a part of this conversation!
As for your question about needing to redefine church for new generations, I see your point. However, I believe that you can be relevant to today's culture while standing firm on the absolutes of the Christian faith. My biggest issue with today's churches of all kinds is their lack of acceptance of the younger generations and the way they express themselves.
I plan on writing a new entry this week about your question of who is qualified to teach God's Word. So, please check that out.
What it all comes down to is this...I love my Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope they will love me the same. My prayer is that we would put our differences aside and strive to know and love God with all that we are and serve Him and His people for the rest of our lives here on earth.
Thanks again for your comment. Please keep up the conversation!
In His Grace,
Kristi
1 comment:
Hi again Kristi! I wrote that comment to you, and it's been awhile since I've had a chance to write to you!
I was talking with a pastor at a PCA church awhile ago about what it means to be a "missional" church, and he told me that it implies an understanding of "evangelization" that encompasses our entire lives, not just what we say. It's more about building relationships with people and waiting for conversations to happen, if they do at all, only when initiated by someone else. And I can see how a lot of Protestant churches seem to have gotten away from that approach, but it seems to me that the Catholic Church has used this approach all along. We're not about beating people over the heads with our Bibles, but we ARE about loving them exactly as they are. We do outright condemn particular actions as sinful, but we fight ardently against the culture that encourages us to hate the person who gave into the temptation as much as we hate the sin itself. Are your church and mine really any different in that respect?
When you describe yourself and what you are most passionate about, it kind of surprises me that you haven't found a home in the Catholic Church. It doesn't seem to me that it gets any more passionate in terms of service to the Church than people who are willing to make lifelong vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience so that they are able to go anywhere at any moment to serve whomever needs them most. And the whole of Mass is suffused with music and creative artwork is all over most chapels. As for sacred spaces, that's pretty much the entire focus of the design of chapels. Have you had experiences with Catholic Mass before? If so, what were they like? I only ask because a lot of the things you describe are passions of mine as well and I really have found myself at home with the Church of Rome.
In terms of the acceptance of young people within the Church, have you heard of LifeTeen? You can read more about it at www.lifeteen.com and I think it's a really good example of how the Catholic Church is working to incorporate the ways young people want to express themselves within the context of holy music and liturgy. I'd love to know what you think about it sometime.
I'd also still love to hear your thoughts about who is qualified to interpret the Scriptures, but since it's clearly been a long time since I've read your site, I can't very well throw stones about how long it's taken you to write about it!
I love my Protestant brothers and sisters as well, but as an aspiring theologian, I do still see value in our differences because I think they can lead us closer to an understanding of Truth. For that reason, I'd rather we not simply leave them behind, but through open dialogue, come to understand them better every day.
Thanks for your comments, and I'll look forward to reading more of them!
-Joanna
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