Choices

In my last Blog, Oh, the Temptation …, I ended it with the following observation: “In the end, while mumbling below my breath, it all revolves around choice and to my frustration, I do not remember Jesus ever pushing someone through a door, merely pointing out that there were and are many doors on the journey of our lives…” Since writing that I have further thought about the challenge that poses for us – those in the demographic to which the Emerging Spirit Campaign is focused, and more generally about the larger generational reality that the research illustrates.

Locutus of Borg

So, a few reminders, for me as much as anyone: We are a group of men and women who long for something to which to commit, to believe, to trust, to be vulnerable in a world in which such characteristics stand in tension. We live in a time and place in which the individual is celebrated, and the corporate is shunned. Perhaps this may seem like a stretch, but I have always wondered about the evilness of the Borg in Star Trek‘s imagining of the future … often when the Borg spoke in one voice or communicated within the community the sound has often reminded me of Corporate Prayer within the United Church of Canada. Though I find great strength in hearing people speak the New Creed in unison, I also realise is sounds A LOT like the Borg … a derisive pop culture reference that is also something for which we yearn. So the other reminder is that we really do not trust the institutions, primarily religious, as the places in which to seek. So, of course, the United Church of Canada through research and insight discerned that the Emerging Spirit demographic was looking for the very things which we claim to provide: safe space to seek without judgement.

So the point of this review has been in respect to choice. I have and do often challenge our institution in ways such as, are we actually welcoming? Do we actually live out the hospitality we talk about? Are we ready for the change that new people bring? And, to be honest, the jury is out, but at least there is a level of engagement that seems willing to wrestle with the questions… What I am wondering, however, is whether or not those who are on the periphery, who fall within the loose parameters identified in the Emerging Spirit demographic, who are watching and perhaps considering opting in are open to challenge? Do we want to hear about our own choices and whether we, ourselves, are in a place of inertia: either in movement or paralysis?

Testing is a funny thing for people who are seeking. It requires more than just choice, it also requires action. I do not claim to know what a good outcome necessarily means in this respect: does it mean committing? Does it mean stepping away? Does it mean engaging with generational issues that require listening? Does it mean avoiding being further hurt by theologies and ideologies that might feel destructive? And somewhere in the tension is that choice…

I do not know who you are, who is reading this and may fall within either the age of the Emerging Spirit demographic or resonate with the data, though perhaps not the amount of times you’ve been around the Sun, but if you are reading this and are seeking, I wonder what test stands before you? And, if you have been tested, have you been able to discern what next? The fact is that the data, the research is all valuable – but what I do not think it does is challenge those on the periphery. Without opt in, without the choice to engage, there will be no United Church of Canada in 20 years … is that a bad thing? I have opinions, but I do not think it is an either/or clear-cut future. Whoever/Whatever the church will be all depends on who is at the table … there will always be the open table; it just might look very different depending on who joins the meal. And so, I pray you well in your tests and reflections – we are in the season of Lent, filled with waiting, thinking, dying and resurrection … the future could very well look bright and perhaps you might need shades …