peace

As to non-religious followers of Jesus: he peopled his first community with some pretty irreligious types! Someday there will be a great feast, and I think we’ll all be surprised by those with whom we sit!

I do not say that all speech and discourse in the church about “community” is suspect, but I do say that some of it is. There is so much projection that goes on theology, and this would be no exception. All of us know we are alone in the universe before God, and very often in the world. So the church offers “community” – fine and good; part of its design. But before you know it, you have in fact a “tribe” – your word – instead of a “community.” I have even heard someone in my local vineyard, speaking about tithing, say “this is [your way] of saying that you are with us.” Gee, and I was told it had to do with following something God had commanded. Go back and read that quote with the “with us emphasized in your mind. Truly “tribal” thinking, about who is “with” us [and who, I suppose, are against us?]. What are some other applications? Well, you’ve got “single’s ministries” that lay rules upon adult believing singles about “biblical dating” that have, essentially, nothing to do with biblical commands and everything to do with the projection onto the singles the fears of the leadership – or perhaps the memory of their own single days – onto people, sometimes with good but sometimes with disastrous results. I know of men who have been rebuked in these kinds of circles for having coffee with a lady outside of some church elder’s purview. How about apologetics? Show me a man’s apologetics and I will tell you 80% of the time in two guesses what his formative experiences in the church were like. If someone cannot see the cross because a dinosaur bone is blocking the view, we must like Paul be prepared to answer the man out of his well – not eliminate this guy with a smirk from our tribe because he is “intellectual” and we are “of the heart” or something. HE WILL NEVER GET TO THAT PLACE OF THE HEART if the way is not shown to him. The same Paul who said “the Greeks seeks wisdom and the Jews a sign, but we preach Christ” answered betimes the Jews with signs, and the Greeks with wisdom. And then preached Christ. When I grow up I want to be capable of all three. I want to be a shapeshifter for Him that can be what is needed for whatever I will find. Many Christian groups – like the quakers – have traditions and practices that were formed because of the circumstances of their time. It is a crashing non sequiter that this applies to individuals as well.

i identify with much of what you said. of course the quaker movement has deeply impacted my own tribe (vineyard), and i have been learning community and spiritual direction in their tradition as of late.

the contemplative practices and spiritual disciplines are at the heart of where i am as well

Being inspired by the life stories of people from the past within the Christian tradition has impacted me = John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Simone Weil and Savonarola are a few of mine…the Quakers would be an example of one movement.

The Christian meditation movement which has been inspired by John Cassian ‘conferences’and the Rule of St Benedict has helped try to follow a pattern of daily contemplative practice and appreciation of spiritual disciplines

a few random musings in response to your questions

all the best

Rodney