Spirit and New Forms
An update about the church where I serve…
I came from a world where the job of the spiritual leader was to have the last word. What do you do when you have the last word? Well, you explain it. Teach it. Unpack it. Believe it. Behave it. Despite what that world said, it was form-driven. The form was the end of the story.
I began to carve out space where the spiritual leader's job wasn't the last word but simply one of the words. Yes, important, but not necessarily the last word. What do you do when you have important words but not the last word? You explore. Dialogue. Share with others. Invite others. It's spirit-driven. Spirit is the beginning of the story.
Form isn't bad; it's just that a fearful, anxiety-ridden religion will always make it something that it isn't, namely, sacred.
One time Jesus was asked about a particular religious practice. "Hey, why don't you do it this way?" Don't miss what he said, "People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." —Matthew 9:17
A new spirit works best in a new form.
Animated by a new spirit thing, I am making a shift with my current faith community. We might characterize the new spirit thing by saying it's…
-A tribe uninterested in tribalism.
-Understanding power in light of the forgiveness offered by a homeless, brown-skinned man executed in a state-sponsored act of violence.
-Finding in him a better way to be human (and a better way to be God.)
-Interpreting his death in terms of his solidarity with us, his resurrection in terms of God's validation of this solidarity.
-Uninterested in violent atonement theories.
-Uninterested in exclusivity.
-Uninterested in a love attached to conditions because we know conditional love isn't love at all.
-Committed to seeing our neighbor regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual identity, or political persuasion-for we know it's there that we see ourselves.
The form is 3-pronged…
-Digital passive content (e.g., a weekly video, podcast, etc.)
-Digital interactive content (e.g., chatroom, insta-stories, tik tok, clubhouse audio, zoom groups, etc.)
-In-person activities (e.g., weekly small groups, first Sunday of the month all faith community serving opportunities, brunches on months with 5th Sundays, and annual retreats, conferences, camps, trips, etc.)
You may have noticed I didn't mention weekly Sunday gatherings. That's because we're moving away from that “form.” Between the amount of money we spend for rent and the amount of energy it takes to setup/teardown (and so many of us going virtual in so many other areas of life), it just no longer seems like the best system for us.
And we're okay with that. Because the form isn't sacred, it's just form.
Stay tuned if you don’t have a space to gather with other people in person and online. Consider pluggin’ in. Be open to new ideas. Maybe this new change will give you enough space to consider being a part of a faith community again.
