THREE THINGS.... Three reasons to study the book The Church Cracked Open

Here are three good reasons to read The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for Beloved Community by Stephanie Spellers.

1. The church has entered into a time of massive transformation and everyone is invited to participate. Do you remember seeing or hearing about the Left Behind series some years back? It was based on Matthew 24:40-41(also found in Luke): "Then two men will be in a field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left." (I do not recommend the movie or the book series, by the way.) I have been thinking of this passage lately as I reflect on the church's history leading up to this moment and to the infinite number of possibilities that are before it. The impetus of the Left Behind movie was fear; fear of God's retribution, of being "left behind" on the Day of Judgment: Get with the program or be left behind! Far from the fictional "Left Behind," the theme is playing out in real life for the church at this moment: It is being left behind, not by God, but by a post-Christian culture. There is no amount of playing with the statistics to deny this reality. But there is another kind of left behind that we might focus on and that is how the decline of the church is forcing self-examination and leading to transformation, to something new. I have been participating in the Becoming Beloved Community Wisdom Practice Circles via Zoom since last spring. The circle is made up largely of laity with a few clergy and a number of people who still call the Episcopal Church home but no longer find the worship fulfilling or relevant - they do church in the circle each week - and report that it meets their needs far more at this point. I find this an interesting phenomenon. The circle has no set liturgy but it is based on the four-fold path of Becoming Beloved Community as set forth by +Michael Curry, the Episcopal Presiding Bishop. This fall it is clear that the text, The Church Cracked Open is a companion in the work of transforming Christian community within the practice circles. Each day, as a member of the clergy, I am stretched as I explore the edges of tradition and traditional piety where the tears are showing and new threads are being woven through. It is unfamiliar to me and not always comfortable. So I try to relax as I identify my own rigid concepts and replace anxiety with curiosity. Instead of being afraid of what it means to be left behind in this great period of transformation I think that it might be more useful if we choose to be actively engaged in the Big Change. The Church Cracked Open helps us see ourselves not as victims of either our past or the cultural forces shaping the present moment but rather invites us into the possibilities of the future/now as full participants.  

2. The questions we are asking are more important than the certainty we think we need. Quotes from The Church Cracked Open:

"Those who are cowards will ask, "Is it safe?"

Those who are political will ask, "Is it expedient?"

Those who are vain will ask, "Is it popular?"

But those who have a conscience will ask, "Is it right?" (Paul Washington, black priest and activist, d.1987) (p. 83). 

Which question do I ask?

".... a whole cloud of witnesses: faithful people who risked and lost in the eyes of the world but gained a glimpse of God's beloved community. They can teach us now, if we are willing to listen and if we want beloved community more than peace, propriety, and protection. They are whispering and calling. Now is the hour. Let it crack. Let it go." (p. 86)  

What do we want?

"Followers of Jesus don't stand still, and we don't stay at the center waiting for centripetal force to draw all the people and resources inside to us. We go out beyond comfort, knowing and certainty. We go when and where the Holy Spirit sends us." (p. 130)  

Are we willing to move beyond the comfortable and the familiar? 

"What cost am I/are we willing to bear?" (p. 104)

3. Contemplation and Action are the two poles of the evolving church. Wherein Word and Table have been, and remain today, as the two poles of Episcopal weekly liturgy for the last 50 years as established by the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, it appears to me that the evolving "church" (not in the traditional sense) is gravitating toward the poles of contemplation and action. Fr. Richard Rohr, as only one example, set these two poles spinning with his long-time and hugely popular and transformative website: The Center for Contemplation and Action. This is to say that Word and Table are central to the life of the established Church and are important for those who attend worship and are not open to debate. But those who hold to a broader sense of spirituality, who do not attend worship or belong to a parish, and are not wed to the tradition and significance of Word and Table by choice, are also choosing spiritual and religious expressions that embrace Contemplation and Action as the two poles by which they find meaning. The Church Cracked Open is an invitation to think, to contemplate, both individually and communally, about the moorings of our institution and why they no longer hold for a large segment of the culture. It is also an invitation to move into action; which may be as simple as participation in a book study or the more strenuous effort of writing the book.

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena +