A Church for the 21st Century
June 17, 2009 by Stephen Schneider
When I invited our Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, to speak to us at Grace as part of our Centennial, I left her with the question: “What does it mean to be a church for the 21st century?”
A Church for the 21st Century
When I invited our Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, to speak to us at Grace as part of our Centennial, I left her with the question: “What does it mean to be a church for the 21st century?”
Those who were present on June 7th for her inspired and engaging conversation carried away your own collection of thoughts and impressions of the day. For those unable to be there, I am sharing a few of my favorite quotations from her remarks.
Mission
“We are now a church focused on mission.”
“Someone has said: ‘The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning. That is who we are.’”
Sharing Faith
“Episcopalians are beginning to learn how to tell their faith story in a way that invites people into relationship in the same way that they are willing to tell about their latest restaurant discovery. Few of us are afraid to tell people about that!”
“We live in a society that’s deeply hungry for the transcendent values of our faith.”
“Now we need to go out there and befriend people. And it’s not such hard work. It’s a blessing.”
Our Language and Liturgy
“Mission right now looks like a focus on communications and evangelism, teaching about Christ as we know Christ in language and image and metaphors and music that new generations understand and that’s not always Elizabethan English!”
“We need a greater willingness to experiment liturgically. . . . The prayer book that some of us still call new actually sounds pretty dated to many people today. . . It went a long, long way to addressing issues of language. . . . We need to keep on doing that work. It needs to be done in every age. . . . To present the good news . . in language and images that can be appropriated by people in a different culture; because 2009 is a different culture from 1979. Music, image, metaphor that speaks to people today. We have to keep wrestling with that. That is how people internalize their faith.”
Global Mission
“International mission around the Anglican Communion is thriving. . . . We’re developing a more deeply incarnate relationship. I know that Grace has many connections around the globe and desires to have more. . . . [This building of relationships] needs to be mutual. . . It needs to be a process of discovery: to discovery what it is we can learn from people who live and work and worship in a very different environment.”
Sabbath
“The great radical development of Judaism was Sabbath. The Puritans destroyed it, at least as we inherited that work ethic tradition. We’ve lost the ability to spend time in the presence of God and not doing something. I think that’s a piece of our countercultural message to the larger society. Stewarding our time.”
During the next several months our Vestry will reflect on her remarks to us as we finalize our Mission Plan for the 21st Century. I invite you to share with me any of your thoughts or ideas about the mission and ministry of Grace Memorial which have come to you as a result of her visit.
Have a relaxing and renewing summer.
Stephen Schneider
June 17, 2009
In: Church
Because ++Bishop Shori invites Episcopalians to create relationsips with others while living out their faith, as a member of Grace, I have committed to doing this in two new ways: 1. worshiping one Sunday a month at Grace in spite of working a job Sunday--I'll find a monthly replacement. 2. Campaigning for campaign funds (and community organizing) for Jason Renaud's City Councilman campaign against Dan Saltzman, representing a clear choice of Christ- Centered values over status quo in Portland's political arena.