Hope For The Future

The thought that occupies a lot of time and space in the minds of both clergy and laity is “Will the Church survive into the 21st century?”  Responses to that hard question are on both sides of the coin.  But whether there is agreement one way or the other, it seems that nobody has the blueprints of structure or function for the future.

Maybe blueprints are part of the problem.  Perhaps the fluidity of the future demands a flexibility that is just on the edge of our imaginations.  Edges are always scary.  Can imaginations be trusted?  Well, consider that imagination might be just another alias for Spirit.  Some people say that without holy imagination the future looks gloomy.  And they may be right.

I agree that “tall steeple” churches have served us well, at least into the 1950s.  But surely there are other ways to point us toward the Mystery of the universe, to lift our faces to see hope and the inherent value of creation.

I believe that form defines function.  An organizational mind organizes into structures and units.  I’m sure that serves corporations well, but I question that mentality in the evolving life of the Spiritual Body we have named church.  I don’t think the 21st century and beyond is going to welcome the form or its function that we know so well.  If we insist on replicating the form that satisfies us, then the function really won’t change. Voices that call for a new way of doing faith without regard for the issue of form are pointing us in the wrong direction.  I hope the church that emerges tomorrow will be daring in its imaginings about the “how” and the “what” of its evolving faith.

The universal Christ has been and will continue to be The Way, but the richness of that Way will be found when creativity and faith together produce the form and the functions that reach the inherent Spirit in all people.   To that end, I hope for clear minds, creative imaginations, tender hearts and fearless faith in women and men who trust and dare.  Trusting is the easy part.  It’s the daring that will tell the tale.

Come Sacred Imagination…come Inspiring Ingenuity.