Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God

We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

 I Cor.1: 23-24

            The church must change or die. There is a Great Emergence

in the church and there is a hopeful future if we are to understand what is to come. But we must have a healthy faith.

            These are statements written about ‘the church’ in the last fifteen years. And also we do not wish to face it as a religious body the reality is these changes are already occurring not based on what we like or do not like, but because people are choosing what the church of the future will be.

            Phyllis Tickle’s “The Great Emergence” states that about every 500 years or so the change has what is called a ‘rummage sale’ a cleaning out of the old and a welcoming of the new—ideas, ways of worship, governance and membership structures but what is foundational for the church is that Christ Jesus is shared in faith. However this ‘rummage sale’ occurs, it does not only affect one or two congregations, but several churches and then even more in a ripple effect because it also effects literacy which leads more or less directly to the technology and world exploration and trade.

            This is key to our understanding of church today and what may emerge in the years ahead and we must not be afraid for what will emerge will not be right or wrong but different.

            This is especially true of the United Church in 2015. General Council 41 authorized the Comprehensive Review Task Group to put everything on the table within the structures of the church. Their report has been released and discussions are flowing what the possibilities might be because of their recommendations brought forward. As congregations/ boards/ presbyteries and conferences discuss the recommendations, there is much hope and fear of what is unknown.

            But, as Tickle states—the rummage sale has to happen in order that there are new possibilities of the Spirit which will lead us into the next 90 years.

REFLECTION:

Does holding a rummage sale image help you or hinder your idea of the church’s history? What do you see as positive when the church looks at itself and sees its emerging need to change?

What do you see as important for changing the church in structure and governance?

PRAYER

Loving God we pray for our churches- across denominations and around the world as there is much transition and change and hope placed in what was done before and what your Spirit will begin in us.

Show us what you would have us do just as you guide us and lead us on our personal paths of faith. Amen.

Phyllis Tickle The Great Emergence:How Christianity is Changing and Why. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books,2008. Chapter 1

www.united-church.ca    Comprehensive Review Task Group report “United in God’s Work”