Last fall
in a post on sojo.net (the Sojourners web
page), Tom Ehrich, an Episcopal priest, wrote about eight things he thought the
church needed to say. It was an
intriguing list. It included saying the
name “Jesus,” knowing that Christians may mean some different things in evoking
his name. Also acknowledging our diversity,
he thought we should be willing to share why we believe in God, and tell
stories about the difference God makes in our lives. The church should not only speak, it should
listen. We should connect our faith with
how we are leading our lives. We should
talk about what we see going on in the world.
Finally, Ehrich wrote that we should speak of hope and of joy.
I like this
list a lot. Though the new year is
already a month old, we might resolve to speak of such things this year and
beyond.
I would add
some items to the conversation. Ehrich
framed many of the items he identified in terms of Christians talking to other
Christians. He was not precluding wider
conversations, particularly as he discussed speaking of hope and of joy. There were a couple of other things I read
last year that also say something to me about what the church needs to discuss,
particularly with those in the wider culture.
For me, faith supports experimental
exploration, imaginative conjecture, experiential probes (Michael Eigen, Faith
and Transformation, vii). How does
Christian faith support that kind of openness and adventure in living, and why
is it that for so long the church has given the impression that faith closes us
off rather than opens us up?
We need a religious view that embraces
nature and does not fear science (Gary Snyder, Back on the Fire,
70). How does our Christian faith
embrace nature and work with the findings of science? Far too many people equate faith with a
rejection of science, and it is often those speaking for Christian faith that
perpetuate that view. The church needs
voices that embrace faith and science.
One of my
hopes for this new year is that such important conversations will deepen and
widen.
With Faith and With Feathers,
David
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