Now, admittedly, this description sounds like
anything but what I encounter in my ministry as a rural ministry developer. I
am very cognizant that I work with and support people within contexts so
overladden with traditions and mysterious expectations that I walk the
proverbial landmine field as I make the ministry developer journey. Memories and
traditions are held tight and dear.
Ask any “member” and he or she can tell you how
the psalms are always read and the tunes of the various service music, without
deviation—or more accurately, how they are NOT, when you inadvertently cross
the lines of traditions and expectations. The tradition may be so engrained in
fact, that many members may even not realize that there are dozens of
alternative service music tunes or even half a dozen ways a church might read
its lectionary psalms. Traditions and memories provide the structures for
gathering as if they were the official rubrics and canons of the church.
Sounds like anything but the “emergent” church
of which the media and Christian church are discussing, doesn’t it? But is it
really? Yes, the rural family church is filled with traditions and
institutional trappings. It offers a needed certainty on which people can
depend in this ever-changing world. The church serves as the “safe place” from
the social, financial and political upset that seems to surround our fragile
world. Go to church; find predictability. Go to church; find blessed assurance.
Go to church; find respite in this world of change.
But the commonalities with the “emergent” church
also are evident: simplicity; authenticity; community.
We are simple folk who appreciate simple
pleasures. Family gatherings and church gatherings are at the core of our
social and personal lives. Material wants and needs are low on our lists of
priorities behind family and community well being. We function as part of the
church community, not as individuals with individual wants and needs.
We also accept the person, just as he or she is,
with all of his or her idiosyncrasies. In fact, if we thought about it more,
that is why we may even love him or her so much: because of whom he or she is. Authentic
acceptance and acceptance of authenticity are givens.
And there is no doubt about community. People
may use the saying, “It takes a village” to indicate the need for a supportive
community, but it also is a truth in its reverse. People in the village church
know that they can rely on the village to support, nurture and companion them.
The village is a given element in the world in which they live and worship. The
village and the church are so intertwined, hey can be difficult, if not
impossible, to separate.
Similarly, mission, outreach and church are
overlapping circles of activity and energy that are indistinguishable from the
others. The lines are blurred and they have little or no relevance. You do what
you do, because that is who you are. You do what you do, because you care. You
do what you do, because we are all members of the same community of Christ.
So is this emergent church or not? Time will
tell, but if you notice, there is a cycle to religious and cultural history.
Call it nostalgia if you want, but we just may be returning to the days of
community and simplicity of 40 and 50 years ago. And the village church that
never changed may be simply ahead of the curve.
Theresa
