World as Parish

I've been thinking lately about the differences in ministry in John and Charles Wesley's day, and the present age. Is what happens through social media at any level near what George Whitefield and John Wesley stirred up when they took to the fields to preach?

Why am I thinking about such an analogy? Well, quite simple really. If you read back in this blog you'll find this little post about the start of a church community through the use of Facebook.

John Wesley found himself stirring up things quite a bit in his day. He often took advantage of invitations to fill a pulpit to preach messages that conflicted the hearers. The established Church of England had become a place for people of wealth and position, but the average man rarely stepped a foot across the sanctuary threshold.

That led to his rather unorthodox practice of preaching in fields, and public spaces on many occasion. Not only did he preach, but he even conducted Eucharistic celebrations to serve the gathered people.

What do some outside the box priests and congregants do today?
They do "Church outside the church". Sometimes to skid row. Sometimes in the subways.
They take rituals of meaning to the people instead of waiting for the people to come to them.

During John Wesley's life he spend a great deal of time visiting the sick and prisoners as well as encouraging members of the Methodist classes to do so. His admonition, "Do all the good you can, as often as you can to as many people as you can for as long as you can."  With more people claiming to be spiritual but not religious, institutional chaplains are more likely to encounter people with a need for someone to listen and offer a ministry of compassionate presence. In my own continuing discernment process I have run toward, away and then returned to this significant place of ministry, recognizing that as a chaplain, I serve from the place of my own spiritual strength, not with an intent to change the existing set of beliefs, only to help the other name them and find strength for their journey.

John was known for his intense daily schedule and his ability to maintain correspondence with a vast number of people both in and outside the Methodist Movement. He was a giant in the field of mentoring in the Christian life for both men and women. He wrote tracts that were published to help the preachers and class leaders, to equip them for their work of forming faithful disciples.

What do we do today?

BLOG! Self-publishing has become easier than ever.

We no longer even have to spend money on paper, ink or printing labor.

All a person really needs to begin to form a community online is to spend time on the computer, and engage with other people.

Being open to the Divine Dance and relevant relationships that the Holy Spirit may be inviting us into seems, at least to me, to be the key.

But one little item still seems incomplete...

Human beings need tangible human contact.

While all this online communication helps create familiarity, when the world around you begins to fall apart at the seams, most people need all their available senses to be engaged. The touch of a hand, the calm presence of another person sitting across a cup of tea or coffee. Even someone that will be moved to offer a prayer of intercession. These things cannot be fulfilled through an online community.

And in this respect, I think that John Wesley would urge each of us to find ways to commune often around a table, with Chalice and Paten, as well as Scripture to complete the work of growing in grace and giftedness to the Glory of God.

How that looks on the ground might look like one of these in the New Monasticism or in might look more like this gathering around the table in Brooklyn.

One thing I am pretty certain of. The missional focus will look beyond just the individual's needs and wants. The missional focus for the core of any such group will have a passionate interest is doing more than "hatching, matching, and dispatching" of people to "meet their maker" at the end of human life, and it won't be entirely consumed in what simply makes the members feel comfortable. It will be a place where people become proficient in listening to the Holy as She whispers and swirls among the people gathered.This kind of community will be a fountain of healing and holy living, inviting all who are thirsty to drink from the well of the Living Water.

Just my thoughts...

What do you think?

A is

A is for August

and Ants all around!

B is for Barbara

hunting them down.

Summers in the desert have always included ant invasions.

I suppose those earthquakes that I sleep through shake things loose just enough to give them entry.

Thinking of earthquakes.... seems that we may have forgotten that Haiti still has large numbers of it's citizens living in make shift emergency type shelters, two and half years after their devastating earthquake. Now, to add insult to their vast injuries, tropical storm Isaac is bearing down on the island nation.

C is for cranes
folded and strung


Last August we began an Origami crane folding project. We collected donations for Haiti's rebuilding efforts through the Episcopal Relief and Development. I taught children and adults about the Japanese folk tradition that when someone folds one thousand cranes, their wish would be granted by a crane. Our folding would become a body prayer, a form of art as prayer. The folded cranes would be a visible sign of the community in prayer for the people of Haiti. The time that it would take to reach the goal of one thousand, a reminder of the long process of rebuilding which our Haitian Brothers and Sisters would have to endure. 

The goal of folding 1000 Cranes, as prayers of peace for the people of Haiti was completed in April, just after Easter...

But there is not yet a great arising from the devastation, no Communal Resurrection yet for Haiti.

Most reliable sources say that it will likely take ten years to rebuild the country, perhaps longer..if ever.

C is for cranes
folded and strung
D is for one Thousand DONE.

E is for eternity
the time it takes to rebuild a nation.

F ..feeling forgotten
G is for God
H is poor Haiti
which calls up to the heavens
WHAT HAVE WE DONE?!?!

I is for Isaac
Horrible Hurricane barreling down.

Unfortunate nation. Why must mother nature hit you while you're still down?
 
The People of Haiti are still struggling along.

Our attention has drifted away to other projects; Nets for Life to eradicate malaria.

I worry about ants invading my kitchen.

The people of Haiti, barely aware of the brutal force heading their way, make due day by day without permanent housing, running water, and still carry with them the grief of loosing family, friends, and livelihood.

J is for Jesus
Sent from the Father

King of Kings
Lord of Lords
Merciful savior
Near to us through others
Open our hearts to be servants
People of love
Quick to respond
Reacting with kindness, compassion and love .
Send us your Spirit
Topple our grasping

Unite us in service
Victorious Christus
Warm our cooling passions