Phone Booth Churches?

In early April, I attended the annual spring Convocation at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves (of St. Louis), and listened to lectures given by the world-renown Phyllis Tickle and famous scholar, teacher, writer, and speaker Diana Butler Bass (both of whom have their own websites, yah).

[If you have not had a chance to do so, I recommend that you now read Bass's books:  especially A People's History of Christianity and Christianity for the Rest of Us.]

It was interesting to hear both women speak (with some differing perspectives) on the same topic: "Church Next". Apparently, they've done this a whole lot -- speak at the same conference, in the same city, and in the same speaking order (in fact, they did the exact thing a month before with a bunch of Episcopal bishops).

Phyllis Tickle gave what I'm told was a typical Tickle Talk -- informative, provocative, far too generalized. She gave us a sweeping overview of social and cultural changes within (I want to say) 45 minutes, going from the beginning of Time through to the 21st century, projecting into (dare I say) the 25th century. One central point that I remember from the talk was her emphasis on how people in general are not religious in the old way. We must be aware of the virtuality vs physicality of the worship experience in the 21st century, Tickle said. To back this up, she cited that in 2009, 70 million people experienced worship virtually (although she did not state a source). Tickle suggested that given the rising number of people who would prefer the virtual worship experience, such as worshiping at secondlife.com, church praxis and polity must change to reflect this new virtuality.

After hearing Tickle speak, as a conference attendee, as someone who used to work in an Episcopal seminary, and as a practicing, faithful United Methodist, I was more intrigued by some of the issues (questions, statistics, history) that Bass raised in her talks.

Most significantly, I loved her phone booth story. The gist of it is this:

Back in the old days, before iPhones and Blackberrys and Droids, there was thing invention called the phone booth. People used these small cubicles that had been set up in public places so that they could make phone calls, to communicate with one another. Nowadays, unless you were in London or somewhere in the U.K., you probably won't see a phone booth much. You'd be hard-pressed to find a phone booth in an airport. And a phone call will definitely cost more than 10 cents. If we were to chart the development and usage of public phone booths in the U.S., it would be in decline... way, way down.

Do we then look at that chart, gasp, and say that Communication is dead? Talking is no more? Does that trend mean that people no longer communicate with one another?


If anything, we are bombarded with multiple ways of communicating with one another. We communicate in and through so many different modes, languages, forums, and media that sometimes we forget how to be in solitude and in quiet. Our teens now "talk" more with two thumbs (on a blackberry) and one pointer-finger (on an iPhone) than we did sitting in a phone booth. The more handheld devices there are in the world, the more we are bombarded with options for communicating with one another.

Let's take the phone booth example and think about it in terms of God's church.

There are a lot of churches that are experiencing "membership hemorrhages". They might say this is an erosion of religion, think that we are witnessing the end of religion, that we are suffering from deadened faith. Statistics that are cited often proclaim that there is a "downward drift of congregational vitality", and that people no longer believe in God.

So there is a desire to pull people back into these cavernous cathedrals and empty parish halls. In the Vietnamese National Caucus of the UMC, and of the Southern Baptist Convention, enormous effort is put into designing annual conferences and conventions that address issues irrelevant to the contemporary Christians' daily faith. When the youth don't come, and when the young professionals don't attend, the leaders of these organized institutions bemoan the fact that the young people no longer believe in God or church.


Bass began her talk by citing some very interesting statistics (drawn from Pew US Religious Landscape, ARIS, FACT, Gallap, Barna, and others), and at the outset cautioned us to read these numbers with care and awareness of the context and cultural changes that these quantitative numbers often conceal. She reminded us, rightly so, to remember that any data which might point toward an erosion of belief in God might also be a result of terrible poll-taking practices. More importantly, we must be aware of contexts.

Truth is, people have more choices in how to worship, and they are seeking more choices in how to worship God. Generative Christianity, or Emergent Christianity, is less about the death of the institutional church, is less about the decline of organized institutions with dogma and budgets, and is more about the emergence of new forms, new traditions of religion.

Or, better put, it is about a return to the original definition of RELIGIO, what Bass describes as a return to the experience of the Divine. People are attempting to go outside of the language, rites, rituals, and forms of traditional religion... seeking, searching. For us, now, we need to recover the insights our ancestors had in order to move forward. "Church Next" means we need to turn back  in order to move ahead. It does not mean we do the exact same things our ancestors did, cautioned Bass. We do not build phone booths to increase/improve communication. Not bigger ones, not air-conditioned ones. Not even ones with digitized phone books and Powerpoint screens.

One of the statistics that Bass presented was about faith mixing. The stats indicated that 35% of people polled attend multiple places of worship. (I would be in that 35%.) They attend multiple places of worship in order to meet their religious and spiritual needs; many attend because of spouses who practice different faiths.

I have often described myself as a religious hybrid. I am a United Methodist lay speaker who loves the rites of the Episcopal church who has roots in the CMA church as well as the Southern Baptist contemporary worship scene. When I lived in CA, I worshiped with Episcopalians during mid-week chapel, and I worshiped with an intergenerational, multi-ethnic, multi-racial UMC on weekends. Since my arrival in St. Louis, I have attended services with Lutherans, Evangelicals, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Baptists.

Some might say that I am a diluted Methodist, a bifurcated member of the UMC. Some of my more conservative relatives probably pray for my soul regularly since they think I've lost my foundational faith.

I stand by my religious hybridity. I have membership in a UMC, but I am enriched by worshiping with other faith communities. I hold onto core faith values as described in the UMC Book of Discipline, and relish the concrete practices of other denominations that allow me to uplift my complex and diverse understanding of discipleship and spirituality. I have a creed. I tithe and pledge to my church. Therefore, I am even more careful in seeking a faith community that allows me to imagine (re-traditioning?) the past and recreate (re-interpret/remember) the future.

Two Sundays ago, I had the opportunity to worship at a nondenom megachurch somewhere near Grand Rapids, MI. This church calls itself a cornerstone church, and recently built a $12 million structure. Driving into the parking lot, I get the sense that I'm going to the mall. There are parking lot attendants directing traffic in between orange cones. Entering the building, I see a booth for Guest Services, and I see a Coffee Bar. There are restrooms for men and women almost every 500 yards, just like in an airport and even better than a mall. I see people seated at round tables like in food courts of shopping centers, and it feels like I'm not even at church. Then it hits me. That's the whole point! They wanted me to feel like I'm NOT in church, that I can be relaxed and comfortable, not like I'm in a stuffy cathedral or worship house. The greeter at the door to the worship center tells me we can bring in our coffees because the worship center has chairs with cupholders in the arms just like a theater.

It would be unfair and hypocritical for me to make disparaging comments about this particular church, because clearly thousands of Michigan residents love this church. They worship here, they actively participate, and they pledge to this church. This is where they come for a worship experience, and for community. They see this church as a "step up" from the old, empty, cavernous cathedrals (in fact, the preacher that day compared Cornerstone to a cathedral in England, noting how nobody worships in cathedrals, but Cornerstone was thriving and increasing in numbers.)

That Sunday, I felt like I walked into a $12 million phone booth. I did not even feel like I was entering a sacred space for worship. The service was over one hour long, and there was not one reading from scripture.  As long as no one tells me this is the one place, the only way, the only option for me as a faithful Christian to practice my faith, then I can understand that there are others who appreciate this phone booth church.

Clearly, in regard to worship experiences, we all have our own preferences. We worship, we pray, we sing, we eat together, we break bread together, and we re-member who we are as God's children. And children like to play in different phone booths.

MOCRA: Good Friday Exhibit

Two weeks ago, as part of Holy Week, I attended a fantastic art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art on the SLU campus. 

Good Friday: The Suffering Christ in Contemporary Art is an exclusive exhibit shown nowhere else in the country, and it is an eye opening experience that will rip your heart out and boggle your mind. More importantly, seeing the exhibit will make you engage in some critical thinking and analysis (something I could use and fortunately enjoy).

Here is a description of the exhibit from MOCRA: 

Suffering, Passion, and Unconditional Love: Good Friday was originally presented in Spring 2009 as the second of two exhibitions cel­ebrating MOCRA’s fifteenth anniversary. The exhibition includes works by over 30 artists of diverse backgrounds who have used the events of the day of Jesus’ death as inspira­tion for their own reflections on such themes as faith, suffering, loss, compassion, and unconditional love. The selected works are drawn from the MOCRA collection and works on long-term loan, and employ a wide range of media from painting and sculpture to fiber arts. Some works em­ploy familiar images such as Hans Holbein’s The Dead Christ in the Tomb (1521), or Heinrich Hoffmann’s Jesus in the Garden of Gethse­mane (1890), while others make use of traditional devotions such as the Stations of the Cross. Many of the artists translate the events of Jesus’ Passion to contemporary situations and draw forth a variety of insights, from the personal to the political.

 

In addition to the exhibit, I attended a lecture by the Director of MOCRA, Father Terry Dempsey, S.J., graduate of the GTU and of JSTB in Berkeley (yay!). The lecture addressed the question of relevance of the image(s) of the suffering Christ in contemporary world. I think for the majority of us, and for me especially, the answer was a resounding YES. The more intriguing discussions were about the issues of HOW relevant, in WHAT WAYS relevant, for WHAT REASON(S), etc....

There was no question, said Fr. Dempsey, that the "ongoing vitality of the images of the death of Christ has not ended" in contemporary art. In fact, artists continue to use the images of the suffering Christ to generate controversy, in protest, in solidarity, for consolation, and for ambiguity. Fr. Dempsey's lecture offered several art samples for each category and I was fascinated. Some I had seen before; many others were brand new to me though they were pieces created by artists many, many years before. 

One example was "Piss Christ" by the artist Andres Serrano -- a photo of which I have added to the beginning of this blogpost. Without knowing anything about this piece, seeing it for the first time, you would think it is a sepia photograph of the crucifix. And you would be wrong (as I was). It is a photograph of the crucifix submerged in the artist's urine. If you were alive and attentive in 1989, you would know about the controversy (read about it briefly here on wiki) generated by this piece of art. 

Or, take for example, the piece "Execution of Christ" by the Gao Brothers in 2009. In this piece, the figure of Christ is standing in front of a firing squad, and all the soldiers not only look like Chairman Mao, but they are all Maos. Artistic controversy at its best! The image of the Suffering Christ as political controversy, as provocateur, as artistic expression being inhibited, flaunted, censored, limitless... 

Other interesting points that the lecture touched upon, and which I continued to mull over for days after attending the exhibit: 

• Why use primarily Christian images to express protest against violence and injustice, death and destruction?
• Artists are recasting images of suffering Christ to address issues of racism, discrimination, inequality, injustice --> how are we called to respond to these images?
• If these images are to provoke in us a desire for change... are we listening to them? How are we attending to these calls? 
• What are some concrete actions that you or I can take in response to these works of art that are inspiring political responses to remedy conditions through social and political action? 
• Many works of art, such as Eleanor Dickinson's 1988 piece "Crucifixion of Dountes" elevates the everyday person to monumental scales, claiming that the average person has value and attention must be paid, and calls us to stand in solidarity at the foot of the cross that each person has to bear -- so, in our daily witness, are there folks that we know who are being crucified and with whom we need to stand in solidarity? 

Many of the pieces that Father Dempsey included in his talk were from different religious traditions, such as Dinh Q. Le's 1997 untitled piece depicting the face of Buddha split by the pieta image of the Crucifixion of Christ, or Marc Chagall's 1938 piece "The White Crucifixion" (in which the figure of Christ is depicted not as a redeemer but as a sympathetic observer/brother of the atrocities enacted on the Jews during the Holocaust). In this piece, who else would we say could stand in the place of the "sympathetic" observer?

Truly these images of the suffering Christ transcend the traditions with which we've become familiar. As Father Dempsey said, these images "speak to the heart of all humanity regardless of the religious tradition".

The question I was left pondering was this, especially now that we are in Easter season: How do we move beyond the image of the suffering Christ, beyond Good Friday, and look toward Easter, the risen Christ?

Remember Who You Are

"So the next time you say the Baptismal Covenant, remember who you are and whose you are, and remember that God who calls you also gives you all you need to respond faithfully." - The Rev. Dr. Ruth Meyers, Hodges Haynes Professor of Liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California

See full article "Baptismal Covenant and Commitment"

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 8

Christian proclamation of hope in a world of separation


Our prayer intentions come full circle on Day 8 when we pray that the spirit of the Beatitudes will overcome the spirit of this world. Christians carry the hope that all things are being made new in a new order established by Christ. This enables Christians to be bearers of hope and artisans of reconciliation in the midst of wars, poverty, discrimination, and other contexts where human beings suffer and creation is groaning.


Scripture

Ezekiel 37:1-14, I will open your graves.
Psalm 104:24-34, You renew the face of the earth.
Revelation 21:1-5a, I am making all things new.
Matthew 5:1-12, Blessed are you...


Meditation

As reflected upon in meditations of previous days, Christians live in the midst of a world which is marked by various kinds of division and alienation. Yet the stance of the church remains one of hope, grounded not in what human beings can do, but in the power and abiding desire of God to transform fracture and fragmentation into unity and wholeness.

Christian hope lives on even in the midst of profound suffering because it is born out of the steadfast love of God revealed on the cross of Christ. Hope rises with Jesus from the tomb, as death and the forces of death are overcome; it spreads with the sending of the Holy Spirit, which renews the face of the earth. The risen Christ is the beginning of a new and authentic life. His resurrection announces the end of the old order and sows the seeds of a new eternal creation, where all will be reconciled in him and God will be all in all.

“See, I am making all things new.” Christian hope begins with the renewal of creation, such that it fulfils God's original intention in the act of creating. In Revelation 21, God's new beginning ends the sin, divisions and finitude of the world, transfiguring creation so that it can take part in God's glory and share in God's eternity.

When Christians gather to pray for unity, they are motivated and sustained by this hope. The strength of prayer for unity is the strength which comes from God's renewal of the created world; its wisdom, that of the Holy Spirit which breathes new life on dry bones; its integrity, that of opening ourselves completely to the will of God, to be transformed into instruments of the unity Christ wills for his disciples.


Prayer

Gracious God, you are with us always, amidst suffering and turmoil, and will be to the end of time. Help us to be a people deeply imbued with hope, living out the beatitudes, serving the unity you desire. Amen.


Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 7

Christians face to face with a plurality of religions


Day 7 finds Christians confronted with pluralism praying for their unity in God. Without that unity it will be difficult to build a kingdom of peace with all men and women of good will.


Scripture

Isaiah 25:6-9, This is the Lord for whom we have waited.
Psalm 117 (116):1-2, Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Romans 2:12-16, The doers of the law will be justified.
Mark 7:24-30, For saying this, you may go home happy.


Meditation

Nearly every day we hear of violence in different parts of the world between followers of different faiths. We learn that Korea, however, is a place where different faiths-Buddhist, Christian, Confucian-mostly coexist in peace.

The prophet Isaiah speaks of all tears being wiped away and a rich feast for all people and nations! One day, asserts the prophet, all the peoples of the earth will praise God and rejoice in the salvation he offers. The Lord “for whom we have waited” is the host at the eternal feast.

When Jesus meets a non-Jewish woman who pleads for healing for her daughter he initially refuses to help her. The woman persists: “even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” Jesus affirms her insight into his mission to Jews and non-Jews alike, and sends her on her way with the promise of healing for her daughter.

The churches are committed to dialogue in the cause of Christian unity. In recent years, dialogue has also developed between people of other faiths, particularly those “of the Book” (Judaism, Islam). And if we listen carefully to our neighbors of other faiths, can we learn something more of the inclusiveness of God's love for all people, and of his kingdom?

Dialogue with other Christians should not lead to a loss of a particular Christian identity but to joy as we obey Jesus' prayer that we become one, as he is one with the Father. Unity will not come today or even tomorrow; but together, with other believers, we walk towards that final, common destiny of love and salvation.


Prayer

Lord our God, we thank you for the wisdom we gain from your scriptures. Grant us the courage to open our hearts and our minds to neighbors of other Christian confessions and of other faiths; the grace to overcome barriers of indifference, prejudice or hate; and a vision of the last days, when Christians might walk together towards that final feast, when tears and dissension will be overcome through love. Amen.


Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 6

Christians face to face with disease and suffering


On Day 6 we remember in prayer all those who suffer and those who serve them. The psalms help us to see that language of crying out to God in pain or in anger can be an expression of a deep and faithful relationship with God. The merciful response of Christians to the plight of those who suffer is a sign of the kingdom. Together Christian churches can make a difference in helping to obtain for the sick the support they need, both material and spiritual.


Scripture

II Kings 20:1-6, Remember me, O Lord!
Psalm 22:1-11,Why have you forsaken me?
James 5:13-15, The prayer of faith will save the sick.
Mark 10:46-52, Jesus asked: What do you want me to do for you?


Meditation

Common to all our still separated churches is the awareness of our Lord's compassion for the sick. Christians have always followed his example, by healing the sick and caring not only for the souls but also the bodies of God's children.

The deep rooted faith of Hezekiah supports him through sickness. In a time of sorrow, he finds words to remind God of his grace. Yes, those who are suffering might even use words from the Bible to cry out or struggle with God: Why have you forsaken me? When an honest relationship with God is well established, grounded in language of faithfulness and thankfulness in good times, it creates space also for a language to express sorrow, pain or anger in prayer when necessary.

The sick are subjects of faith, as the disciples must learn in the story of the gospel of Mark. The disciples who wanted to prevent the blind man getting near Jesus have to become the messengers of the Lord's caring response: Come, he is calling you.

It is only when the disciples bring the sick man to Jesus that they come to understand what Jesus wants. A healing community can grow when the sick experience the presence of God through a mutual relationship with their sisters and brothers in Christ.


Prayer

God, listen to people when they cry to you in sickness and pain .May the healthy thank you and serve the sick with loving hearts and open hands. God, let all of us live in your grace and providence, becoming a truly healing community and praising you together. Amen.



Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 5

Christians face to face with discrimination and social prejudice

On Day 5 we pray for the cessation of prejudice and discrimination that mark our societies today. As we recognize that our dignity comes from God, our unity as Christians witnesses to the unity of the one who creates each of us as a unique being of God’s love. The kingdom that we are called to build up is one of justice and love that respects difference because in Christ we are all one.


Scripture

Isaiah 58:6-12, Do not hide yourself from your own kin.
Psalm 133, How good it is when kindred live in unity.
Galatians 3:26-29, You are all one in Christ Jesus.
Luke 18:9-14, To some who trusted in their own righteousness.


Meditation

In the beginning, human beings created in the image of God were but one in his hand. Sin, however, entered the hearts of men and women and since then we have built up all kinds of prejudice. In his earthly ministry, Jesus showed himself to be particularly sensitive regarding the common humanity of all men and women. He continually denounced discrimination of all sorts and the pride which some of his contemporaries derived from it.

Psalm 133 compares the joy of a life shared with sisters and brothers to the goodness of a precious oil or the dew of Hermon. We are given to taste this joy with our sisters and brothers, each time we let go of our confessional prejudices within our ecumenical gatherings.

The restoration of the unity of all humankind is the common mission of all Christians. Together they must struggle against all discrimination. It is also their common hope because all are one in Christ and there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, man or woman.


Prayer

Lord help us to recognize the discrimination and exclusion which damage societies. Direct our gaze and help us to recognize our own prejudices. Teach us to banish all contempt and to taste the joy of living together in unity. Amen.

Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 4

Christians face to face with ecological crisis

The intention of Day 4 prays that Christians will realize that only together will they be able to protect the gifts that God gives us in creation, the air that we breathe, the earth that bears fruit and the creation that glorifies its maker.

Scripture

Genesis 1:31-2:3, God saw everything he had made and it was very good.
Psalm148:1-5, He commanded and they were created.
Romans 8:18-23, The destruction of creation.
Matthew13:31-32,The smallest of all the seeds.


Meditation

God created our world with wisdom and love and God saw that it was good. Today however the world is confronted with a serious ecological crisis. The earth is suffering from global warming as a result of our excessive consumption of energy. The extent of forested area on our planet has diminished while the deserts are spreading ever faster. Three quarters of ocean life has already disappeared. Every day more than one hundred living species die out. With the apostle Paul we can affirm: creation has been delivered into the power of destruction, it groans as in the pains of childbirth.

We cannot deny that human beings bear a heavy responsibility for environmental destruction. Together Christians must do their utmost to save creation. Before the immensity of this task, they must unite their efforts. It is only together that they can protect the work of the creator.

Christ shows great respect even for the smallest of all the seeds. With the biblical vision of creation as affirmation, Christians can contribute with one voice to the present reflection on the future of our planet.


Prayer

God our Creator, the world was created by your Word and you saw that it was good. But today we are spreading death and destroying our environment. Grant that we may repent of our greed; help us to care for all that you have made. Together, we desire to protect your creation. Amen.

Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 3

Christians face to face with economic injustice and poverty

Day 3 will offer a meditation on the great disparity between the rich and the poor. Our relationship to money, our attitude toward the poor, is a gauge of our discipleship in the following of Jesus, who came among us to set us free and to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to slaves and justice for all.


Scripture

Leviticus 25:8-14, The jubilee which liberates.
Psalm 146, (145), The Lord executes justice for the oppressed.
1 Timothy 6:9-10, The love of money is the root of all evil.
Luke 4:16-21, Jesus and the jubilee as liberation.

Meditation

We pray for the kingdom of God to arrive. Today the world community is confronted with the growing precariousness of labor and its consequences. The idolatry of the market (profit), like the love of money appears as ‘the root of all evil'. What can and must the churches do in this context? Let us look at the biblical theme of jubilee which Jesus evoked to define his ministry.

According to the Leviticus text, during the jubilee, liberation was to be proclaimed. The jubilee implied a community ethic, the freeing of slaves and their return home, the restoration of financial rights and the cancellation of debts. For the victims of unjust social structures, this meant the restitution of law and of their means of existence.

The priorities of today's world, in which ‘more money' is seen as goal of life, can only lead to death. As churches, we are called to counter this by living together in the spirit of jubilee and following Christ. As Christians experience the healing of their divisions they become more sensitive to other divisions which wound humanity and creation.


Prayer

God of justice, there are places in this world overflowing with food but others where there is not enough and where the hungry and the sick are many.

God of peace, there are those in this world who profit from violence and war and others who because of war and violence are forced to leave their homes and become refugees.

God of compassion, help us to understand that we cannot live by money alone but that we can live by the word of God, help us to understand that we cannot attain life and true prosperity except by loving God and obeying his will and his teaching. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 2

Christians face to face with war and violence

On Day 2 the churches will pray for an overcoming and end to war and violence. We pray that as disciples of the Prince of Peace, Christians in the midst of conflicts can bring about a reconciliation rooted in hope.


Scripture

Isaiah 2:1-4, They shall no longer learn war.
Psalm 74:18-23, Do not forget the life of your poor forever.
I Peter 2:21-25, His wounds have healed you.
Matthew 5:38-48, Pray for those who persecute you.


Meditation

War and violence are still major obstacles to that unity willed by God for humanity and are the result of unhealed division which exists inside ourselves, and of the human arrogance which prevents us from recovering the real foundation of our existence.

Korean Christians long to put an end separation between North Korea and South Korea and to see peace established elsewhere in the world. The instability which prevails represents not only the pain of the one remaining nation in the world which is still divided; it also symbolizes the mechanisms of division, hostility and vengeance which plague humanity.

What can bring an end to this cycle of war and violence? Jesus shows us the power which can stop the vicious cycle of war and violence. To his disciples he teaches the renunciation of violence (Matthew 26: 51-52). Jesus reveals the truth about human violence. Faithful to the Father, he dies on the cross to save us from sin and death. Jesus' violent death marks the beginning of a new creation which nails human sin, violence and war to this very cross. He teaches the reestablishment of God's creation, hope and faith in the final coming of new heavens and a new earth. This hope encourages us to persevere in the search for Christian unity and in the struggle against all forms of war and violence.


Prayer

Lord, who gave yourself on the cross for the unity of all humankind, we offer up to you our human nature marred by egoism, arrogance, vanity and anger. Reach out to us with compassion and take care of your people, so that we may enjoy the peace and joy integral to the order of your creation .May all Christians work together to bring about your justice. Give us the courage to help others to bear their cross, rather than putting our own on their shoulders. Amen.

2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 1

Christian communities face to face with old and new divisions

Flowing from the central text taken from Ezekiel, our reflection during the “eight days” of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity brings us to a deeper awareness of how the unity of the church is also for the sake of the renewal of human community. With this awareness comes a grave responsibility: that all those who confess Christ as Lord should seek to fulfil his prayer “that they may all be one so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17: 21). This is why the eight days begin with a reflection on the unity of Christians.

Contemplating our doctrinal divisions, and our scandalous history of separation - and sometimes even hatred - among Christians, we pray that the God who breathes the Spirit of life into dry bones, and who moulds in his hands our unity amidst diversity, will breathe life and reconciliation upon our dryness and division today. On this and each of the eight days, we are invited to pray for situations in our world where reconciliation is needed, especially attentive to the role that the unity of Christians will play in bringing about this reconciliation.


Scripture

Ezekiel 37:15-19, 22-24a, One in your hand.
Psalm 103:8-13, 18, The Lord is merciful and gracious, ... abounding in steadfast love.
1 Corinthians 3:3-7, 21-23, Jealousy and quarreling among you... you belong to Christ.
John 17:17-21, That they may all be one… so that the world may believe.


Meditation

Christians are called to be instruments of God's reconciling love in a world marked by separation and alienation. Baptized and professing faith in the crucified and risen Christ, we are a people who belong to Christ, a people sent forth to be Christ's body in and for the world. Christ prayed for this for his disciples: may they be one, so that the world may believe.

Divisions between Christians on fundamental matters of faith and discipleship seriously wound our ability to witness before the world. In Korea, as in many other nations, the Christian gospel was brought by conflicting voices, speaking a discordant proclamation of the Good News. There is a temptation to see current divisions as a natural legacy of our Christian history, rather than as an internal contradiction of the message that God has reconciled the world in Christ.

Ezekiel's vision of two sticks, inscribed with the names of the divided kingdoms of ancient Israel, becoming one in God's hand, is a powerful image of the power of God to bring about reconciliation. It is a highly evocative metaphor for divided Christians, prefiguring the source of reconciliation found at the heart of the Christian proclamation itself. On the two pieces of wood which form the cross of Christ, the Lord of history takes upon himself the wounds and divisions of humanity. In the totality of Jesus' gift of himself on the cross, he holds together human sin and God's redemptive steadfast love. To be a Christian is to be baptized into this death, through which the Lord, in his boundless mercy, etches the names of wounded humanity onto the wood of the cross, restoring our relationship with God and with each other.

Christian unity is a communion grounded in our belonging to Christ, to God. Prayer for Christian unity is an acknowledgment of our trust in God, an opening of ourselves fully to that Spirit. Linked to our other efforts for unity-dialogue, common witness and mission-prayer for unity is a privileged instrument through which the Holy Spirit is making that reconciliation in Christ visibly manifest.


Prayer

God of compassion, you have loved and forgiven us in Christ, and sought to reconcile the entire human race in that redeeming love. Look with favor upon us, who work and pray for the unity of divided Christian communities. Grant us the experience of being brothers and sisters in your love. May we be one, one in your hand. Amen.

Introduction to Theme: "That they may become one in your hand"

"The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2009 is rooted in the experience of the churches in Korea. In their context of national division these churches have turned for inspiration to the prophet Ezekiel, who also lived in a tragically divided nation and longed for the unity of his people.

Both prophet and priest, Ezekiel was called by God at the young age of 30. Working from 594 through 571 BC, he was greatly influenced by the religious and political reforms which King Josiah had begun in 621 BC. King Josiah had sought to eliminate the destructive legacy of the earlier Assyrian conquest of Judah, through reforms which restored the law and the true worship of the God of Israel. But after Josiah's death in battle, his son King Jehoiakim paid homage to Egypt and worship to a variety of gods flourished. Prophets daring to criticize Jehoiakim were brutally suppressed: Uriah was executed and Jeremiah banished. After the Babylonian invasion and destruction of the temple in 587 BC the leaders and craftsmen of the nation – the young Ezekiel among them – were captured and taken to Babylon. There Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, criticized the “prophets” who were offering unrealistic hopes, and because of this had to endure the hostility and contempt of his fellow Israelites in exile.

Yet in such great suffering, Ezekiel's love for his people only grew. He criticized leaders who acted against God's commandments and sought to guide the people back to God, emphasizing God's faithfulness to God's covenant and solidarity with God's people. Above all, in this apparently hopeless situation Ezekiel did not despair but proclaimed a message of hope: God's original intention for the renewal and the unity of God's people may yet be realized. Ezekiel was encouraged in his efforts by two visions, the first being the familiar vision of the valley of dry bones which, through the action of God's Spirit, are restored from death to life (Ezekiel 37: 1-14).

This year's week of prayer materials are based on Ezekiel's second vision which depicts two pieces of wood, symbolizing the two kingdoms into which Israel had been divided. The names of the tribes in each of the divided kingdoms (two of the original twelve in the North, and ten in the South) are written upon the pieces of wood, which are then brought together again into one (Ezekiel 37: 15-23).

According to Ezekiel the division of the people reflected - and resulted from – their sinfulness and alienation from God. They may become again one people by renouncing their sins, undergoing conversion, and returning to God. Yet ultimately it is God who unites God's people by purifying, renewing and liberating them from their divisions. For Ezekiel this unity is not simply the joining of previously divided groups; it is rather a new creation, the birth of a new people which should be a sign of hope to other peoples and indeed to all of humanity.

The theme of hope is also expressed in another text which is dear to the churches in Korea. Revelation 21:3-4 points to the purification of God's people, to embody the true peace, reconciliation, and unity which is to be found where God dwells: “He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more…”

It is these biblical themes – unity as God's intention for God's people; unity as God's gift, but requiring conversion and renewal; unity as a new creation; and the hope that God's people may yet be one – which have inspired the Korean churches in offering these 2009 Week of Prayer materials."

Also visit the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle. This week, we pray for Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Western Sahara, Tunisia.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

This Sunday, January 18th, kicks off the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity gives Christians an annual opportunity to continue their quest for the unity they already share in Christ. It is also a time to gather in praise of the Triune God and to deepen the understanding of the ecumenical movement. By joining in this annual celebration Christians raise their voices, hands and hearts to God seeking the fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus, the Son of God, “that they all may be one.”

The Church Unity Octave, a forerunner of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, was developed by Father Paul Wattson, SA, at Graymoor in Garrison, New York, and was first observed at Graymoor from January 18-25, 1908. Today, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity invites the whole Christian community throughout the world to pray in communion with the prayer of Jesus “that they all may be one” (John 17:21).

In 1966, the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Secretariat (now Council) for Promoting Christian Unity began collaborating as a common international text for worldwide usage. Since 1968 these international texts, which are based on themes proposed by ecumenical groups around the world, have been developed, adapted and published for use in the United States by the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute.

The Week of Prayer also invites those who participate to use it as an opportunity to examine the effectiveness of the ecumenical movement in seeking to end the divisions among Christians. From the smallest to the largest communities, from all cultures, races and language groups, from all the baptized to all those in ordained ministry, the Week of Prayer is also an opportunity to ask examine the level of support they have given to this important movement in the life of the Church. An accounting of each Christian's discipleship and faithfulness to the proclamation of the Gospel — the good news of reconciliation — can be taken every year during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Go to Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute for suggestions on how to observe this Week. They have the full history of how all this began, an explanation of this year's theme ("That they may become one in your hand"), homiletic notes, poster order forms, etc.

If you want the shortened versions and more resources, the World Council of Churches also provides a great PDF document prepared by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, a Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches. I think this document can be saved and redistributed.

Each of these sites offers ideas we can use to reflect and meditate on the meaning of Unity in God. I've looked at the daily meditations and scriptures chosen for each day of the week provided by Graymoor and I'm excited. Check it out here!

Pennies for Peace

So despite the fact that I lost my copy of Three Cups of Tea, I was able to get online to browse the website of Pennies for Peace.

What is the Power of a Penny?

The penny, 1% of a dollar, is symbolic of the '1% of Gross Domestic Product' goal set by the United Nations. The goal was for wealthy countries to give foreign aid to impoverished nations each year. Pennies for Peace teaches children the rewards of sharing and working together to bring hope and educational opportunities to children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A penny in the United States is virtually worthless, but in Pakistan and Afghanistan a penny buys a pencil and opens the door to literacy.

The mission of Central Asia Institute (CAI) focuses on community-based education, especially for girls. A 5th grade education for girls improves not only the basic indices of health for her and her family, she will also spread the value of education within her community. Literacy, for both boys and girls, provides better economic opportunities in the future and neutralizes the power of despot mullahs and other extremist leaders

To read more about the program, and/or to participate, go here.

Three Cups of Tea: in the airport

While delayed at the airport (on my way to snowy white Christmas in the midwest), I picked up for the first time a copy of Three Cups of Tea. I usually read books rather quickly (I read Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in one sitting), but this one has taken me a long time to read -- because I keep crying. Every page, something makes me tear up. And I hate doing that in public. It's one thing to read a book on the plane, but it's another when I've got tears running down my face and I'm sniffling like I have a cold.

So, I haven't finished the book, but so far it is an incredible read. It's been out for a while, and I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't read it sooner. But it is an amazing. I recommend it wholeheartedly. Please read it. If you don't have a copy, please visit their website to purchase a book instead of buying elsewhere. It helps support their cause. When I get done, I'll post more about Three Cups of Tea.

Also, from their website, I learned about Pennies for Peace. That's a project I'd like to think on -- and hopefully participate in even though I don't teach a class of students.

More to come in the new year...

Taking a "Family Vacation"

Some random albeit not entirely unrelated thoughts about family from the HATbox:

This morning, I heard a sermon about redefining family. Well, actually, the homily raised many important questions and touched upon plenty of hard issues for us to deal with -- not just family. However, I focused on the redefinition of family b/c the sermon I heard this past Sunday asked me to think about (re)defining Community. (What are the different kinds of communities that we can think of...? Someone mentioned Facebook!)

And, the seminary where I work and the Church (universal) that I belong to seem to think this whole "community" thing is a good idea. Plus, the church where I worship and serve has been (re)envisioning and grappling with how to be in community with one another.

The scripture for this morning's homily was taken from the Gospel according to Luke -- the one where Jesus's mother and brothers sent a messenger to Jesus asking to be let into the 'in' crowd and Jesus rebuffs them by saying those who follow his word are his family.

Radical shift in definition of family here. The definition is not one man, one woman, 1.5 child. It's not two men or two women and 2 adopted children. It's not even grandma, grandpa, grandchildren. Not even auntie, uncle and a horde of kids. So what is family? How do we define it? How do we shift our current definitions of family?

During the sermon, we were asked to consider the story from the perspective of Jesus' mother and brothers. How would we feel if we were suddenly left out of the elite crowd? Suddenly we don't have the backstage passes anymore. We don't have "family only" access to the Star of the show. So what happens when we feel short-shrifted? How do we blur the boundaries to make the "family circles" a bit more permeable?

Here's the thing, though. Jesus' mother and brothers wanted in. What if I don't want in? Sometimes, I just plain don't want to be in community. Certain days, I'm not ready or willing to "commune" with anyone. Makes it even harder when I have constant reminders of how we are all a part of Christ's extended family.

Sometimes, the need to be a part becomes a request to become apart. In those moments, those permeable boundaries seem absolutely necessary.

But, careful. Otherwise we endanger ourselves. We run the risk of creating irreparable chasms and schisms in Christ's family.

Last Thursday, I had a tough conversation with several friends. We tackled some Big Questions, with a lot of passion, about church, faith, and God. I'm not quite sure that we "settled" anything, or if anything can be settled, and as we parted ways I felt as if we left with some lingering uneasiness still in the air. That evening was difficult. I think we pushed the boundaries quite a bit and we discovered certain things about each other that forced us to consider "are we family?"

In the end though, I feel that we are still OK. That is, we still break bread together because we still share core values and believe in one God and do serve faithfully our Great Commission. We live out our baptismal covenants. We believe in one another and trust in one God.

It's just that sometimes, we really, really need that "family" vacation.

Doesn't everybody love HAT?

Today, I am my own enemy. Actually, I was reminded that I could very well be someone else's enemy. Me? Enemy? I love all peoples! Ah, but what if other people find it hard to love me?

I wondered: who stays up at night hating me with every fiber of their being? Who in their right minds (or wrong minds) is thinking that I'm the enemy that needs their love? Who finds it difficult to love me? Who wants to read me I Cor 13, citing passages about unconditional love because they dislike me so much?

I can think of many people right this very minute (at least two, for certain) who might think I'm a liberal nut. And perhaps they still love me despite that "flaw." There are probably quite a few who find my world views, my religious view, my cultural perspectives, and my political preferences slightly more than aggravating. These people probably pray for me every night (perhaps not in kindness though surely in earnestness).

What do I do about that? How does HAT deal with and respond to the knowledge of being someone else's enemy? How does HAT respond to the awareness of being unloved, perhaps even hated.

What does it mean, to be the enemy? How does that change my perspective? Knowing that I might be prayed for, prayed over, not b/c I'm perfect and holy and doing God's work, but because I'm hated, despised, impure, sick, incomplete, unsaved, dead inside. Because I've fallen short. Prayed for b/c someone wants to give me their other cheek. Loved despite my shortcomings. Loved despite my lack.

It is difficult for me to reframe the questions so that I am the "other" -- the enemy, the weak, the unloved. (I said in full awareness of the problematic "othering".) I have grown up believing I am "saved", that I carry the "Good News", that I am created in the perfect image of God, and that I am the one doing the loving and ministering and saving. I go "out there" to save "them" and win them "back" to Christ. A part of that echoes the CMA evangelistic upbringing of my early days in VN.

Defined or redefined as the enemy and not as the soldier in the conquering army of Christ (crusaders, folks, remember the crusaders?), I am thrown into a completely different discombobulating space.

I think of the millions of people around the world who are affected by the decisions we make here in the U.S. Military decisions, political decisions, consumerist decisions, religious and cultural decisions and reasons, etc. When we are reframed as the enemy, it's not so easy coming into other people's spaces brandishing our hero badges and claiming to rescue lives.

Figuring out the hard stuff means finding out how I can embody Christ, show Christ's love, when I'm viewed as the stranger, as the hated enemy with the evil, dominating intent in mind.

Strange as it seems, as an enemy, I gain more perspective than as the friend.

Draft-Dodging in the Culture War?

The following is an article that I read in the newsletter of CLGS at the Graduate Theological Union. When I think about what it means for me to be an Ally for my LGBT friends, I realize that it is my responsibility as a Christian and an ally to speak up against the perpetuation of language usage that attacks human beings who are created in the image of God. As Jay says here:

"I cannot sit idly by while the Gospel is once again used as an excuse for unfairness and bigotry. I cannot remain silent while so many believe that Donald Wildmon and Chuck Colson speak for Christians everywhere. I can't just hope for the best; I have to do something before religion as a whole and not just Christianity is painted with those same distorted, violent messages."

Yet, it is not easy, because often times, while I feel strongly about supporting my friends, I don't know how -- I am lost in the midst of a culture war. Language loss. And it is partly because I've grown accustomed to hearing harsh words. And it is partly because I dont' want to merely re-iterate the antonyms and oppositional words without really understanding what I stand for. I hope that over time I will learn how to wield words that build up and construct, words that empower and celebrate, instead of words that attack and tear down.

Copied here for your perusal are the words of Jay Johnson:

I've grown accustomed to words like "effort," "struggle," and "contest," which seem part of my daily routine. But the rhetoric keeps escalating and the words have shifted - "fight," "battle," "war," and even "Armageddon" now fill the landscape. If it weren't so dangerous, it might be funny. I'm not referring here to the Middle East or the geo-politics of the former Soviet Union; I'm talking about marriage, which is no longer apparently about love but armed conflict.

How odd to feel the need to be explicit about this, but apparently more of us need to: The loving and committed lesbian and gay couples I know aren't planning to overthrow the government and they're not stock-piling weapons of mass destruction. They just want to get married. Some of them just want to live out their God-given vocation to ordained ministry. All of us want religious hate-speech to stop before another life is lost to religious hate-crimes (the July 27 shooting at a Tennessee Unitarian Universalist Church is just the latest example: http://www.uua.org/news/knoxville/index.shtml

Meanwhile, here in California money is pouring in from around the country to support the anti-marriage constitutional amendment on the November ballot. Donald Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association, recently made this dire prediction: "If we lose California, if they defeat the marriage amendment, I'm afraid that the culture war is over and Christians have lost." More severely, Chuck Colson described the November ballot initiative as "the Armageddon in the culture war." During a July 30 strategy session, other religious leaders in favor of the amendment spoke of raising up an "army" of believers, putting "soldiers on the street," and being on the "front lines of a battle." One went so far as to call a planned rally right before the election a "blitzkrieg moment."

Do they realize the historical horrors they are evoking with those images? Frankly, that kind of rhetoric takes my breath away. Of course, there's nothing new about mingling religious and militaristic language, but it's no less dangerous for being traditional. I can't help but feel like I'm walking around with a bull's eye painted on my chest, or like fodder for religious target practice. At the very least, something has gone terribly wrong when declarations of love become the occasion for a declaration of war.

As a Christian, I am quite simply embarrassed by all this and deeply troubled. In the service I try to offer as an ordained minister, I seek to follow the Jesus I read about in the Gospels, who urges only the love of God and the love of neighbor as one's self as the essence of faith. That's the same Jesus who announces the coming realm of God with images of partying with feasts and celebrating at banquets (presumably with one's guns and ammunition checked at the door). By pursuing ordination in the Episcopal Church, I didn't sign up to be a religious "soldier" and I refuse to be drafted in a culture war that turns churches into battlefields and talks about prayer like an armed skirmish.

I didn't then and I won't sign up now for violence, not even of "just" the rhetorical variety. But I won't stay on the sidelines, either. There's far too much at stake here. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times (Aug. 24) quotes political analysts who believe that the inter-religious alliances currently forming against same-gender marriage could herald new ways of building political coalitions. At present, the strongest religious voices in that effort come from Mormons, Roman Catholics, and evangelical Christians. But they are also reaching out to Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus.

I cannot sit idly by while the Gospel is once again used as an excuse for unfairness and bigotry. I cannot remain silent while so many believe that Donald Wildmon and Chuck Colson speak for Christians everywhere. I can't just hope for the best; I have to do something before religion as a whole and not just Christianity is painted with those same distorted, violent messages. That's why I work for CLGS.

All of us at CLGS work hard to provide the latest resources and the best education and training possible at the intersection of sexuality and religion. As you'll see in this issue of our e-newsletter, the 2008-09 programming year is overflowing with opportunities, both here on the PSR campus and around the country. Among them are not-to-be-missed marriage equality events.

But these many programs and projects are not "weapons" and we're not marshalling any armies. At CLGS we're committed to the justice-making, peace-loving prophetic witness our religious traditions call on us to make. Of course, we're not naïve about those who would oppose our work. We know first-hand and are reminded every day that we are indeed engaged in a struggle - for some, that struggle is quite literally a matter of life and death. We know that the change we seek to inspire and to live will not happen overnight and we know that we can't do this work alone; we need your help.

Simply put, both here in Berkeley and in our expanding work in locations around the country, we need your time and we need your generous donations of money. We won't be issuing handguns to our volunteers and we're not trying to endow a "war chest." We are instead committed to equipping scholars, faith communities, and activists with the tools they need to transform a society of injustice and violence into thriving communities of safety and equality for all God's children.

Perhaps, like me, you're wondering whether it's time to dust off that old mantra from the 1960s: "Make love, not war." Perhaps, like me, you're committed to the biblical vision found in the prophet Isaiah, a vision of God's own mountain where swords are beaten into ploughshares. If, like me, you believe this world has had far too much of war, whether economic, political, or cultural, then I hope you'll join me in supporting our work at CLGS. The time for warfare is over; the time has come for love, fairness, equality, and justice. With your help, we can make that vision a reality.

The Rev. Jay E. Johnson, PhD Senior Director, Academic Research & Resources

To avoid reflecting on deep rhetorical faith questions...

A few months ago, a friend of mine asked a rather provocative question. This is a question not unfamiliar to many of us. It has been discussed and debated by academics, theologians, seminarians, scholars, parishioners, pastors, preachers, taxicab drivers, hotel clerks, smokers, atheists, what have you... They have not figured out an exact answer, and neither will I. But what I do feel for certain is what I will say here. (I hope my friend will forgive me for bringing what was a private conversation into HAT's blogosphere. I doubt, though, that opening this discussion into this murky private-public space will change the content or meaning of what we write and say -- at least, not in this instance.)

In our discussion, my friend asked what I think is a rather deep rhetorical question. Does the decline of the Church mean that spirituality wanes or that faith diminishes? I assume what is meant by church here is the ecclesiastical bodies, church as an institution, religion as a construction.

I now want to do the Texas-Berkeley Shuffle and sidestep the question altogether in order to raise another (equally interesting) point. Is the church in decline? How is the church in decline? How is the church changing?

Right about now, some of my seminary and professorial friends will be eager to jump in and provide cogent responses (to both questions, I'm sure) by breaking down each part and analyzing the complex layers hidden underneath each question. They will no doubt be able to cite at least three primary and secondary sources to support their points.

The simple answer for today is no. No, I don't think we should ever reduce faith, church, and religion into simple Yes/No questions. Discussing these issues will take three of my lifetimes, and much more gray-matter than I possess.

The beginning of my long answer is to say that I am pleased we are able to think deeply about faith questions -- regardless of what religion we are born into or what spirituality we grow out of. To even think about the plight -- the situation, context -- of the church, or Church, is to indicate that we are connected in tenuous ways with outward expressions of what we believe. And we care about them -- care more or care less, but we care nonetheless.

I enjoy discussing church related issues with my friends and coworkers. Unfortunately, though, to my knowledge, I have engaged few of my former classmates/colleagues in conversation touching upon questions of faith and spirituality. Few questions about God or the Divine have been raised. We talk about culture and society very little and even less about church and religion. I don't know why that is. Perhaps lurking somewhere is the fear that our differences will be highlighted beyond retraction in these conversations -- conversations in which our souls are searched and our inner selves and true ideologies bared -- and we ultimately will find ourselves so vastly different that we must call each other friends. Perhaps our hesitation masks what we already hold to be true -- that we are so much alike in our beliefs that we must call ourselves kin. And there's no running away from that.

So, let's say one day we find ourselves in a situation not unlike that of Obama -- where our own version of Rev. Wright is staring at us from the t.v. screen, and hundreds or thousands of people, or maybe just our daughter or granddaughter, are waiting for us to respond. Church or no church, we are all called to express some kind of faith that brings peace, justice, and healing love to every community. What words would we utter, what actions would we give, to express the Godhead that lives within us?

"Maid, Mother, Crone"

The Bade Institute at PSR is currently showing an exhibition by Eileen Baker called "Maid, Mother, Crone." The pieces are a variety of watercolors, pastels, and mixed media, many of which are images of the Holy Family. Interestingly, baby Jesus is depicted in many images as a gremlin-looking type of creature with protruding tongues and big ears and, in some, furry feet. What does such a portrayal of the holy family suggest? Is it merely our interpretation of the non-divine, the in-human? How do we understand these images in relation to our understanding of the traditional gender roles, of the traditional definition of family? And, of Mary? We are instructed, given loose parameters, even before we see these images that we are to view these with lenses different from the familiar. If we are to understand that "maid, mother, crone" refers to Mary, mother of Jesus, wife of Joseph the carpenter, then these titles (imposed upon her by the contexts of her time period or of a later time?) force us to redefine the traditional family, the traditional gender roles. In fact, we would have to re-imagine the "modern" family (see Rosemary Radford Reuther's Christianity and the Making of the Modern Family). What I know is this, you can't just rely on what your eyes tell you...