I think its safe to say, that at no other time in church history has “gathering” been so contested. Do we meet in person or online? Health and safety needs bump into our traditioned liturgical practices. If online how? How do we engage the eucharist? Passing the peace? Singing? Call and response? Choirs? Masks? Social distancing? How do we understand or imagine collective identity?
Let the question of “gathering” steep in you for a couple of moments… consider the practical implications of God’s self-revelation in the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, through this proposal: “How we gather is who we become.”
Form matters. The medium of God’s form in the person of Jesus of Nazareth enabled us to see what God is like with greater clarity than hearing the prophets or reading the scriptures. You could say it this way, how we proclaim the good news, is at least as important as what we proclaim… probably more important. If someone proclaims that “God loves you,” but they proclaim it in a way that makes you feel violated, unimportant, or colonized then the “Good News” doesn’t feel so good.
As we consider the formational calling of Jesus followers to make disciples, how should we go about doing so that that?
If the ekklesia is the gathering that you as a spiritual leader are at least partially responsible for leading, how will you lead it?
What systems or structures should your church’s gatherings take to form disciples in the Jesus Way? How will you discern our continuity with or a reformational posture toward the particular cultural values held within your given Christian tradition?
How are people formed, and how do the gatherings that you will lead render most plausible loving God, and loving your neighbor as yourself?
It is important to acknowledge that we never fully anticipate the formational outcome of our actions or ways of gathering as a church. There are always unintended consequences. But we can be intentional and we can learn from the richest of ancient-future faith.
Media theorist Marshall McLuhan famously claimed, “the medium is the message.” While his observation is deep and deserves serious reflection – certainly more time than I’ll give it here – what is quite apparent upon hearing his claim is that the the message of any one sermon is far less formative than are the church systems necessary to create the conditions for someone to hear that particular message. The medium is the message.
How we gather is who we become.
Peace, dwight
