8/25/2022

8/25/2022

Dear Friends in Christ,

This week I stumbled across an article from 2014 on a lecture the late religion expert, author Phyllis Tickle gave, in which she asks the question, “What is the future of faith?” Tickle talked about the fact that no one knows for sure what Christianity will look like, and used history to demonstrate why she believed it was in the midst of a major shift (for more about Phyllis Tickle and her work see here).

Every 500 years or so Christianity has undergone a major upheaval to accommodate the changing needs of society that are no longer met by the old answers. Five hundred years ago it was the reformation which birthed Protestantism. Five hundred years before that the Church experienced the great Schism when it split into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. And five hundred years before that was the decline and fall of the Roman Empire which led to what Tickle calls the Great Transformation. This means that we are overdue for the next upheaval, which according to Tickle is already underway, and which scholars call the Great Emergence.

Tickle emphasizes that it is not the core beliefs of Christianity that change, but the way they are presented and practiced. The old beliefs don’t go away, they are simply reconfigured. Sort of like the way Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law of Moses which had shaped Jewish principles and practices for centuries, but to fulfil it; to reconfigure it: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Matthews 5:17.

Changes in society, both scientific advances and social advancements, have changed the way we view the world and understand our place in it, and our understanding of God and scripture. One of the characteristics of emergent Christians is that they are “deeply narrative” and invested in justice. Saint Anna’s already demonstrates many characteristics of an emergent Church. We care deeply about enacting justice in our world and fighting the poverty and discrimination which oppress our neighbors. We demonstrate that every time we volunteer to help the students and staff of Kimball Elementary school, write checks for school supplies and uniforms, donate food and diapers to Hope House in Brentwood, participate in programs such as Sacred Ground, and in so many other ways. As St. Francis said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” In the quote from Matthew I cited earlier, Jesus goes on to say, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” There is work to do my friends, we are doing it, and I feel blessed I get to do this work with you.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+