emerging mosaic

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I remember learning the song soon and very soon when I was a little kid coming up in the church. I remember discovering the sentiment in it was used by white Christians to placate blacks during slavery telling them that their reward, their release from oppression,  would come soon, in the next life, at the end of eternity.

Now I hear it again from the emergent conversation. Scott McKnight has an interesting post about conversations he is having with emergent leaders types (all white and male with the exception of a spouse) at the National Pastors Conference. He reports from his conversation that they are serious about theology and the intersection of

All this group of folks care about is theology …..They’re really into the intersection of theology, culture, and praxis.

When someone (Rick of new life emerging) commented as I have that the conversation was lacking

“conversation” from minority voices– like African Americans or the feminist perspective. (Yes, I know how white dudes roll their eyes when confronted with this reality) This seems mainly like an evangelical group who is “high” on the next best thing.

He was tagged as griping. Can you say "shut down the conversation." Another commenter said this

I can understand the frustration with the seeming fruitlessness, the overemphasis on talking, the lack of diversity, etc. But things take time.

I remember hearing this just wait two years ago when I first started raising these questions. Soon and very soon. Now I’m not trying to take on Scott or any of the other emergent leaders he mentioned. They are clearly more theologically sophisticated than me. But as person of color trying to emerge into Christian practice beyond the modern and postmodern hoopla I am stuck with these questions:

How long before it isn’t griping to call the emergent conversation to account for its stated values?
How long before we see real evidence of the intersection between theology and praxis? I mean beyond candles and worship stuff.
How long before it is time to expect something more than talk?

I hear a rising chorus of Soon and very soon and I say

How long emergent? How long?

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Chris Monroe over at Paradoxology has posted some of his lunch conversation with George Barna who said

the emergent movement (when compared with the "revolutionaries" he had been studying) was rather insignificant

Is it possible that after all the hype in the media and news coverage the impact of the emergent movement/conversation will be insignificant? If its true is there anything to be done about it? What’s the measure of significance that Barna uses? What’s the measure of significance that those of us in the emerging church conversation use? (fair to say that my measure is praxis)

These are some lingering questions I have from this post.

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As we close out black history month I thought I’d offer Howard Thurman some quotes to ponder for the rest of the year

During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often
under the guise of patriotism.

A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.

Follow the grain in your own wood.

At the core of life is a hard purposefulness, a determination to live.

To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it. 

Commitment means that it is possible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a purpose or cause, a movement
or an ideal, which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies.  

Fate is the raw materials of experience. They come uninvited and often unanticipated. Destiny is what a man does with these raw materials

Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.

A man has to ask himself two questions–
First. Where am I going?
Second. Who will go with me?
If you ever get the questions in the wrong order you are in big trouble 

He who fears is literally delivered to destruction.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

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Technorati Tags: black-history, diversity, howard_thurman, spiritual-practice

Is the emergent conversation coming apart and drifting into neophilia? Kester Brewin introduced the concept of neophilia in a series of posts on his blog

‘Neophilia’ -being in love with newness for newness’ sake. Neophilia is a revolutionary mode. It tries to effect quick change, but fails to settle on sustainable, deep-rooted solutions as it flits from one ’saviour’ to the next.

I wonder if Doug Pagitt decision to no longer  share ideas on this blog, and Mark Driscoll ripping into Brian Mclaren A Prologue and Rant by Mark Driscoll, are signs that the emergent church conversation is moving through the stages described in the book Brewin referenced on the subject of Neophilia ‘The neophiliacs: A study of the revolution in English life in the fifties and sixties. I think we may be seeing the beginning of the EC conversation moving into the Stage 3:The Frustration Stage.

As usual Kester has brought his practical insight and useful resources to bear on the global emerging church conversation.

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Yesterday I picked up N.T. Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is in preparation for my talk a the next emergent west Michigan "conversation Wednesday".  The quote that caught my attention.

"We cannot assume that by saying the word Jesus," "still less the word Christ, we are automatically in touch with the real Jesus who talked in first-century Palestine." Even less are we automatically in touch with "the Jesus who … is the same yesterday, today and forever."  

Then today I came across this quote on Jazz Theologian from James Cone’s (often thought of as the father of black theology) book God of the Oppressed 

 "If twentieth-century Christians are to speak the truth for their socio historical situation, they cannot merely repeat the story of what Jesus did and said in Palestine, as if it were self-interpreting for us today. Truth is more than the retelling of the biblical story. Truth is the divine happening that invades our contemporary situation, revealing the meaning of the past for the present so that we are made new creatures for the future."

This is exactly the kind of theological dialog that i think can happen if the emergent church will expand its theological framework to include  African American and other non Anglo theologians.

Can it happen? Will it happen? Only the shadow knows….

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I’ve been asking myself this question for  a while now. Steve argue posted his impressions of Randall Jelks talk at Calvin College’s January series prompted these thoughts.

He quotes Jelks

I am not free if my sister is not free.
I am not free if my brother is not free.
I am not free if my neighbor is not free

I’ll borrow a page from that Jelks’ book African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids and say this;

• the emerging church cannot emerge if it doesn’t see confronting the issue of racism and racial reconciliation as an central to its mission.
• the emerging church cannot emerge until it engages God’s mandate to "practice Pentecost" (see Anthony Smith)
• the emerging church cannot emerge until it is actively pursuing the spiritual practice racial reconciliation.
  

racial reconciliation as missional value

One of the values of the emerging church ( as posited by emergent) is to practice the way of Jesus. Jesus started his ministry with a declaration of his mission to bring justice and relief from oppression.(Luke 4:18-19Luke 4:18-19
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
18 . “The Lord's Spirit has come to me, because he has chosen me to tell the good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to free everyone who suffers, ¹⁹ and to say, ‘This is the year the Lord has chosen.’ ”

racial reconciliation as biblical imperative

This makes me think that the emerging church will really begin to emerge when we act on the patterns of Jesus and we "do life together" in a ways that gives social justice, inclusion and praxis as much play as theology & epistemology.

racial reconciliation as spiritual practice

I’m not judging the emerging church, emergent or anyone connected with it. But I do yearn for something more from the emerging church. I think as a community we need to pursue racial reconciliation as spiritual practice. To quote Thurman

Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers. The Search for Common Ground

We can start by broadening the theological framework to include non European theological contributions. We can pursue intentional trans racial relationships in the conversation. We can organize emerging church events which focus and providing opportunities for these kinds of relationship to develop. We can listen not defensively but humbly to each other stories paying close attention to the post-colonial story. We need to act not talk just about inclusion.Then we might emerge into the image painted in this poem.

If I knew you  and you knew me,
And of each of us could clearly see
By the inner light divine,
The meaning of your life and mine,
I am sure that we would differ less,
And clasp our hands in  friendliness
If I knew you and you knew me

At Church Next Sunday (author unknown)

Its like this "no praxis no peace." If we don’t have a generous orthopraxis then we can really have peace in the church, emerging or not.

What do you think? take the poll

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Technorati Tags: african_american, christianity, emergent, emerging_church, orthopraxis, racial_reconciliation

Maurice Broaddus has been continuing the conversation about my post emergent post cross pollinating on his message board. There have been some interesting thoughts added to the conversation. Thought I’d post some and my responses here.

Dark-skinned theologians???…wait…but…but….isn’t Jesus that pale-white, blue-eyed guy with the shag haircut from the seventies?
Laura 

post-emergent. Is that like post-post modern?

Yeah, I’m kinda on the fence with this one as well. I’ve noticed the all-talk-no-action mentality, and the "we’re here to please everybody" kinda mentality, and the fad-ish mentality… the "we like this because it’s new". I’ve also noticed that a lot of the emergent movement has been born out of the church-burned, which, you know what? If you got burned by a church and you want to go on and do church differently, as long as you’re not contradicting the life and words of Christ, you have at it! It’s better than turning your back on God because of what’s happened to you. An awful lot of the emergent movement is simply an accepting that we’re stumbling and bumbling through this walk and we don’t always get it right. We haven’t gotten it right and we still won’t get it right, but we’ll at least try to do better than we have.

So I don’t have big qualms with the movement as a whole… it’d be difficult too, as it’s a little bit nebulous for that. I do have issues with a couple of people that I’ve met who call themselves "emergent Christian" who are really just trying to reconcile their beliefs with what they really would RATHER being doing. But the movement as a whole? No big issues.

~Crystal

I fail to see how terms such as "white, male and academic" are significant here unless Andre places more importance on race, sex, and IQ than the content of the conversation.

Reading NT Wright and using emergent-speak does seem to be a pre-requisite to credibility with the leaders of emergent. They don’t seem to value ideals or counterpoints of those who don’t share their lingo. However, the initial statement has nothing to do with "White Europeans" or their "theological framework". To insinuate that is racist. Language is not a product of skin color.

Diversity is at the core of emergent. Diversity in theology, practice, etc. But racial diversity is something I dismiss as outright racism. As if a person’s skin color, hair color, or eye color makes them special. It’s not our differences that bind us together, but our similarities. As long as we continue to make our differences the focal point of our relationships, we’ll never function together as one body. I propose we abandon "diversity" speak and learn to work together for a common purpose without regard to race, ethnicity, or nationality.

green19

Pointing out the skin color over and above the topic of "the conversation" goes beyond identifying the group.  It assumes that because of the color of their skin, or racial heritage,  their product will somehow be less than useful for anyone else.  It also assumes an inherent bias toward non-whites by anyone involved in the conversation.  This is pre-judging without sufficient evidence. 

If I said that the NBA is 99% black therefore I’ll not watch the NBA nor have anything to do with it, I would be labeled a racist outright.  The same logic should be applied to your statement.

Additionally, the bible was written by non-blacks.  By the same logic the bible is not useful or meaningfully to people of african heritage or black skin.  Therefore no black or african-american should subscribe to any bible-believing religion.

The issue of "diversity" as it is used in politics is hardly cherry picking.  It is a morbid failure that should be obvious to any critical thinker without a political agenda.   The rest of your statement lacks merit.

We don’t need black men in "the conversation" we need godly men.  We don’t need representation of all races, ethnic groups, or nations, in the conversation, we need godly people.  (On an unrelated topic, we need the views of the ungodly as well).  To suggest that because the majority of emergent is white, therefore you don’t have a voice, is just plain silly.  You and I are talking, there’s your voice.  What, do you want to talk to Tony Jones or Mclaren?  Guess what, I’m white and they don’t bother talking to me.   (I don’t read NT Wright, and I’m a horrible writer.  I don’t blame them for not hunting me down and featuring me in their latest book).  You’re already IN the conversation, we just don’t agree.  I could care less that you’re black.  I could care less that I’m white.  I don’t wear my culture on my sleeve.  I don’t give a *expletive* about my heritage. My identity isn’t as important as the identity of "the body".

You want to know my personal rant?  "Get rid of the *expletive* racist *expletive*  and we’ll be able to see each other as people instead of skin". Problem solved. (and maurice calls me an idealist pfffttt)

green19

Green: Your posts are wonderfully idealistic and I am grateful for that. However I just don’t see that as the reality. Maybe I’ve been in this conversation too long and become to cynical.

Let me clarify what I’m saying. I’m not using diversity in they way it is used in politics, I’m using the way it is expressed in scripture. Jesus great commission is to go make Jesus followers of every people group. So if a people group (race or culture) is missing from the conversation are we being true to that calling? Are we really emerging into a new kind of church/christian?
Reading the emergent order as posted on emergent village there is a stated commitment to diversity beyond theology and practice.

[b]"To build friendships across racial, ethnic, economic and other boundaries"[/b]

So I’m not inserting anything that isn’t already there.

I’m not making race the only issue. What I am saying is by virtue of the participants the  conversation undeniably takes on a particular tone and perspective. That’s true of any conversation. Beyond that, I am suggesting this; if the conversation can’t be enriched by having people outside of the dominant culture participate, then at least those folks should take time to look at the theological contributions of some folks outside the dominant culture to enrich the conversation.

maybe I’m wrong but the world isn’t color (culture) blind. Race may be a social construct and a horribly destructive one at that but to just say it doesn’t or shouldn’t factor into our understanding of the cultural context in church the church is emerging creates a huge blind spot (pun intended). Frankly I don’t want it to be color (culture) blind I want the conversation to be color (culture) rich.

You have the ability to say race doesn’t matter to you because you are white. In order to understand the problem or race and why I think racial reconciliation has to be a part of the emerging church conversation you will need to broaden your understanding or race and racism. There are elements of white privilege and power that you may not be aware of at work that make you way of thinking though wonderfully idealistic somewhat disconnected from the reality of those around you who aren’t white and aren’t interested in ignoring our heritage (or have the luxury of doing so). This is why I believe Brian McLaren has said we need to revisit the post-colonial story.

I am enjoying hearing your thoughts its adds to my perspective.

Andre

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I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It’s a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” — Albert Einstein

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