Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Reading and Thinking

I am currently reading a book by Richard Rohr called Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an age of Anxiety. My friend Marcy who comments now and then upon my posts recommended it to me because she did not have time to read it herself. She heard Father Rohr speak at a conference that she attended.

I am hoping to work through the book chapter by chapter as I read it and I hope we can have some interesting and meaningful dialogue along the way. The book is broken into three parts and part one is titled The Current Dilemma and chapter one is titled The Postmodern Opportunity.

To start right off I found the title of the chapter intriguing because I feel that most of the evangelical community the mainline evangelical community would rather think of this as "The Postmodern Problem". Now I may be putting words into the mouths of some evangelicals out there but I think that the majority do not grasp the Emergent Church and Postmodernism. But I believe we will address that as we move further into the book.

One of the first things that Rohr does in chapter one is address why we should look at Saint Francis and use him as a guide for further study and growth. Rohr writes

"...Francis stepped into a Church that seems to have been largely out of touch with the masses. But he trusted a deeper voice and a bigger truth. He sought one clear center and moved out from there. The one clear centerpiece was the Incarnate Jesus. He understood everything else from a personalized reference point. ...Francis found his one firm spot on which to stand and from which he could move his world. He did this in at least three clear ways. First, he walked into the prayer-depths of his own traditon, as opposed to mere religious repetitions of old formulas. Second, he sought direction in the mirror of creation itself, as opposed to mental and fabricated ideas or ideals. And, most radically, he looked to the undesirable of his society... for an understanding of how God transforms us."

I found this passage most interesting as Rohr highlights how Saint Francis found his center in Jesus not in the Church that seemed out of touch with society anyway. This is a substantial point for me because I find myself fighting against the Church and spending most of my time complaining that they are to controlled by the orthodoxy and rules that control all that they do. So I opted to step back out of Church and while I continue to meet with friends on a regular basis for fellowship and discussion I have not been part of an organized congregation for a long time now. The writings in this book have made me wonder if perhaps I have made the wrong choice and perhaps I would have been better off staying within the Church and focusing myself on Jesus and letting that fill me as opposed to breaking away. The food for thought in this book is meaty and I am looking forward to chewing off more and trying to digest it. I hope some good conversation can come of it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an interesting book for sure. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it as well.

To be honest, I have often felt the same way as you have. Should I be in a church, should I leave a church, should I care about church?

I have been in mainline churches, charismatic churches, house churches, baptist churches, non-denominational churches, black churches, white churches, mixed churches, inner-city churches, suburban churches... the list goes on.

Here is the conclusion that I have come to: 1) the church is not defined ultimately by a building or a name. In other words, it's the Bride of Christ. So where, how, when, size - it all doesn't matter. It is what it is. 2)stepping out of an "organized" church into one that is not "organized" is still really just going to another "organized" church. For instance, the house church I was part of, we still knew when we were meeting, we knew who was speaking, we knew who the leader(s) was/were, etc. It was still organized. It was more organic - to some extent.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the book. I hope it spurs great thought and discussion. Most importantly, I hope that by reading it, you find yourself most in love with the Jesus who St. Francis was completely devoted to.

Unknown said...

I was so excited to see you're blogging about this book! I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it. I have to admit my horror, though, to read this sentence "Marcy recommended the book to me because she didn't have time to read it" because I've actually read it probably three times! LOL (Saying I don't have time to read is like saying I don't have time to breathe.) What I actually wanted was someone other than me (translate - smarter?) to read the book so I could pick their brain about it. And you have granted my wish. I shall be watching the blog closely over the next few weeks.

One of the sayings that stuck with me from this book (not sure if it's attributed to St. Francis or not) is this: The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better. I've been pondering that one for a while; not sure exactly what it means for me in my current situation. I'm kind of in the same place as Lance, that my organized church world has shrunk to a handful of people I meet on a Saturday night. For the moment I feel that's where I'm supposed to be, but at the same time I've got my head up and eyes open because who knows what may be around the corner.

I guess I'm incurable in that regard.

Thanks, Lance for doing this!