A title like When Church Stops Working will attract plenty of readers, and even more will join the crowd of readers with the subtitle A Future for Your Congregation beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation. The book is by Andrew Root and Blair D. Bertrand. Root is known for his
Apr 24, 2023·edited Apr 24, 2023Liked by Scot McKnight
What came to mind was Dr. Bruce Perry's concern about the empathy. This talk is about "why empathy is essential and endangered". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gU1wXbs5mc
Since God is love, as people move farther away from goodness, love/care for others, it makes sense they will also be moving away from sacred. And be harder to influence toward sacred because they have no experience of care. Basic attachment theory. Their experience is early formation by "care" givers who did not care about their emotional needs. So they do not have the experience to be drawn toward the sacred.
All that being said Roman times were exactly like this secular discription. It's not hopeless. It's do we recognize Holy Spirit inside of each of us and risk in the possiblity of violent conversations? I see it more as a shift from organization to face to face relating. Christ followers have to be willing to have more skin in the game. It will be painful. It wasn't that easy to get nailed to the cross.
When I read this review, it resonates. It's like the story of the young Samuel serving Eli. Samuel is awakened by God calling his name, and thinks it is Eli, but Eli says no, and sends Samuel back to bed. The third time this happens, Eli catches on, and tells Samuel to respond, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." It happens again, and Samuel does as Eli instructed. God then speaks to Samuel. Two things from this story: First, Samuel does not recognize God's voice. Second, Samuel lacks the language to respond. That aptly describes the world I live in as a pastor in Maine. People don't recognize God, and even if they do, they lack the language or concepts to access that recognition. Perhaps we have to wait until people describe a "Samuel experience," then give them a way of responding. (BTW, the message Samuel heard was not what Eli would have liked.)
It occurred to me a year or so before I retired that I had been asked for 35 years by my denomination and the churches I served to, "make the church great again." Each church I served had stories of when things were booming and wanted to "get back" to those days. No wonder we pastors are exhausted!
I love the closing paragraphs about resonance. The realization that keeps capturing my own imagination is that the sacred is always near to us — God’s transcendent presence in the everyday!
What came to mind was Dr. Bruce Perry's concern about the empathy. This talk is about "why empathy is essential and endangered". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gU1wXbs5mc
Since God is love, as people move farther away from goodness, love/care for others, it makes sense they will also be moving away from sacred. And be harder to influence toward sacred because they have no experience of care. Basic attachment theory. Their experience is early formation by "care" givers who did not care about their emotional needs. So they do not have the experience to be drawn toward the sacred.
All that being said Roman times were exactly like this secular discription. It's not hopeless. It's do we recognize Holy Spirit inside of each of us and risk in the possiblity of violent conversations? I see it more as a shift from organization to face to face relating. Christ followers have to be willing to have more skin in the game. It will be painful. It wasn't that easy to get nailed to the cross.
When I read this review, it resonates. It's like the story of the young Samuel serving Eli. Samuel is awakened by God calling his name, and thinks it is Eli, but Eli says no, and sends Samuel back to bed. The third time this happens, Eli catches on, and tells Samuel to respond, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." It happens again, and Samuel does as Eli instructed. God then speaks to Samuel. Two things from this story: First, Samuel does not recognize God's voice. Second, Samuel lacks the language to respond. That aptly describes the world I live in as a pastor in Maine. People don't recognize God, and even if they do, they lack the language or concepts to access that recognition. Perhaps we have to wait until people describe a "Samuel experience," then give them a way of responding. (BTW, the message Samuel heard was not what Eli would have liked.)
It occurred to me a year or so before I retired that I had been asked for 35 years by my denomination and the churches I served to, "make the church great again." Each church I served had stories of when things were booming and wanted to "get back" to those days. No wonder we pastors are exhausted!
I love the closing paragraphs about resonance. The realization that keeps capturing my own imagination is that the sacred is always near to us — God’s transcendent presence in the everyday!
YES!