take and eat (part 2)

I've had my follow-up reflections to Sara Miles' "take this bread" on my backburner for weeks now.  Finally getting around to finishing it up!  (I kind of cheated - used a lot of text I had already written for a school report - apologies for it reading that way, just figured I'd share...)

Earlier, I reflected on Sara's experience of the mystery of the Eucharist as what drew her in.  Now I want to reflect on her experience of church leading out from that moment.  I call this experience an "exercise in prophetic imagination" (not directly related to the Bruggeman book, which I haven't read but am sure it's awesome.)


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Drawing In (Chapter 8 – Histories)
Mainline Protestant churches often get so preoccupied with programs and liturgy that they don’t often notice the new people that can walk through the doors searching for something that speaks anew. Even current church members can get locked into the "same way" of doing things, where the prophetic imagination is lost.
Sara was drawn into the church because of a vibrant and expressive liturgy. She explains that the pastors of the church she started attending saw themselves as “messengers and prophets, with a call to save the church from its mindlessly rote worship, its autopilot traditions, and deadening clericalism” (77-78). The liturgy was led by a mixture of laypeople, giving a great visible symbol of the priesthood of all believers. Detailed explanations preceded all elements of liturgy, so that newcomers and outsiders would not be lost. Above all of these elements in liturgy is intentionality with the Eucharist focusing on radical inclusivity and focus on feeding strangers. This weekly practice is what drew Sara in and what she sees as a focal point for the church.

Discovering Prophetic Imagination (Chapter 11 – Good Works)
Prophetic imagination means seeking out the need in the community and the proper response of the congregation. Seeing the poverty and hunger in her community, Sara felt a call to create a food pantry out of the church. She believed this was an extension of the centrality of the Eucharist. With this vision, the next step was communication with the congregation. Sara found it frustrating that a church so open to unique liturgy was so resistant to actually living out such a project at first (109). She found support in another church member who became frustrated that the church was terrified of people who were not like them, opting to only do church meals for those currently in the church (110). They crafted a vision for the program, explaining it as “another way of being church—though one that didn’t demand belief or expect people to pray. It wasn’t a social service program but a service, modeled on the liturgy of the Eucharist,” (113).
The process became messy once Sara tried to draw the congregation into the idea. She met a lot of resistance from staff and church members after proposing the idea, largely centered around the dangers of homeless people in a sacred church building (117).

Navigating Prophetic Imagination (Chapter 14 – Gleaners)
Sara’s church became a vibrant place for ministry for the first months of its existence. Her prophetic imagination was becoming a reality. However, growing pains emerged soon as the pantry sought identity and its relationship to the congregation. Sara speaks of the constant struggle of offering a safe refuge versus maintaining a small community of the church (141).
Sara received several emails from congregants and church staff who were growing more and more uncomfortable with the effects of homeless people hanging around (150). There were also issues with the growing numbers at the pantry and thus growing frustrations and problems. They decided to press onward with the trust that God would provide. A defining moment comes at the anniversary of the food bank as volunteers and guests gather for a celebration of the Eucharist. They gather and sing in a moment that gave a lot of encouragement and hope for the food bank.
Radical visions of church can often get lost in conversation. We forget the calling to take risks for the sake of being prophets of Christ's love.

Prophetic Imagination in the Church (Chapter 18 – Manna, Chapter 19 – Misfits)
The food pantry began to grow as new days of the week were added to feed more people. Sara’s calling into this new ministry led her to work with congregational development to help churches look at creating food pantries. She explains frustrations with the constant unwillingness to take on new ministries: “It was as if the very habits of churchgoing had stripped away people’s capacity to take authority and do things on their own.” (204).

Sara had initially discovered church because of the willingness of the church to accept something new, her drive to create something new, and the growing community of volunteers and guests that were creating this new vision for church. A new community had been built alongside the church through the people Sara encountered. She describes their vision for church: “They wanted, in fact, church: not the kind where you sit obediently and listen to someone tell you how to behave but the kind where you discover responsibility, purpose, meaning…where they could find community.” (214).

All those involved with the food pantry found Sara’s church to be their church. Although many were not members, they still saw the initiative Sara’s prophetic imagination formed as their church. The ability to seek out new ways of expressing church to outsiders was the initial move that led to this exciting new ministry.
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The Holy Spirit breathes through the church constantly.  When we fail to acknowledge the new opportunities God is putting in our path, we are failing to take risks for the working of the Holy Spirit.  A church should remain open to transformation.  A church should be radically hospitable in drawing in those with the power to lead the church in prophetic imagination.  May we be willing to risk and hope for the new things God is calling us to in the church and beyond!

take and eat (part 1)

I'll start this one out with a joke!

A church bus of Presbyterians drove off a cliff one day (greatest opener ever).  When they all walked up to St. Pete in heaven, he welcomed them and brought them inside the gates.  "Heaven is divided into floors based on denomination.  Presbyterians are on the 4th floor, so please file in the elevator and I'll take you up!" The crowd followed St. Pete inside the elevator and it began to move (use your imagination for what the elevator music would have been). "Oh I almost forgot," exclaimed St. Pete, "When we're passing the 3rd floor, DON'T MAKE A NOISE." With confused faces, the Presbyterians followed suit until the doors finally opened on the 4th floor and the filed out.  One of them asked St. Pete what that was all about and he said, "well you see, the Baptists are on the 3rd floor, and they think they're the only ones here!"

Apologies to my Baptist friends!  Know I love you all dearly!  I use this joke not to rip on them, but rather to encourage the notion that ALL Christians tend to think in this manner from time to time.  We tend to think we are the epitome of Christendom.  Those of us who have grown up in the church tend to forget that there are people out there who haven't.  Understandings of salvation aside, there is a distinct church culture among us that acts more like an insider club than radical followers of Christ's message.  We tend to forget those among us that are seeking and wishing for a place to exercise their questions of faith.

Now, I point out these "unchurched" NOT in the sense it is often used: "save them so they don't go to hell," but rather, to encourage my fellow church folk that by NOT acknowledging such people, you are NOT practicing hospitality and more importantly, you are NOT allowing them to come in and transform the church as the spirit leads them.

Enter "Take This Bread" by Sara Miles

Sara Miles, a lesbian left-wing journalist who grew up atheist, wrote this "spiritual memoir of a twenty-first-century Christian" to speak of her experience with God.  Growing up, she speaks of an education based in physical experience and questioning, which led her to distrust dogma (14).  Out of this, it's not hard to understand why someone like her would have grown up with a bad taste in her mouth for "the church" that told her exactly what she should believe instead of encouraging her questions and doubts.

This is the story of so many in our culture: questions and doubts.  By avoiding these questions and doubts, are we not avoiding encouraging a deeper understanding of the gospel?  Have we forgotten the glory of the mysteries of God?

One day, Sara walked into a church in time for Communion, the Eucharist.  It was in this moment she experienced Christianity in a way she couldn't explain.  She writes: "There was the immediacy of communion at St. Gregory's, unmediated by altar rails, the raw physicality of that mystical meal.  There was an invitation to jump in rather than official entrance requirements.  There was the suggestion that God could be located in experienced, sensed through bodies, tasted in food; that my body was connected literally and mysteriously to other bodies and loved without reason" (64).  The physical components and mystical nature of Communion are what drew her into the Christian faith.  There was a recognition that Christianity was about humans, in flesh in blood, on earth to feed one another.  There is also a recognition of mystery in this moment, a desire to pursue and dwell within the great mysteries of God's love.  

The Breaking of bread as a lens to experience God's mysteries is nothing new.  Even in Scripture, the risen Christ was not recognized by his disciples until after the breaking of bread:

"When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’" -Luke 24:30-32

The disciples do not gain an immediate understanding of all things Christianity at this moment.  They simply recognize it is Christ.  This causes them to question their state, "could that have been Christ that caused us to desire more?" We encounter a recognition of physicality and mystery in this moment.  It's a dichotomy that only urges our continued questioning guided by faith, not our dogma and assertions of absolute truth.  Sara explains her state following that first Eucharist: "I went to church, heart pounding, and tried to figure out why"(64).  Deep down, are us "churched" folk not the exact same way?  Every day, a quest to understand the deeper mysteries of faith?

The Eucharist is central to worship at BSM.  When those gathered come to receive the bread and juice, they are told that they ARE welcome to this table and that there IS enough grace (bread) to go around.  They are encouraged to take big chunks of bread.  They do so because they desire this physicality of the body of Christ and wish to seek the deeper mysteries of God.

When we get in "churchy" mode and forget to allow the working of questioning and doubt...when we don't allow the broken bread to work it's mysteries within us and others...when we tell people we have God figured out and forget to allow others in our midst...when we forget that the physical notion of bread is an invitation to feed others in our midst...we do a great disservice to the kingdom of God!

During this season of lent, may we be intentional about the meaning of the Eucharist.

*I will be posting more thoughts on this book later!