If you’re wondering where I’ve been (and will be at least for another week) – I’ve been swamped with a french course. I’ve got sloshy sounds, and funky verb forms swirling about in the mind making me want to drink, and drink HARD!

Normal service will resume shortly – that is in about five more days.

“Liberal” churches may be sabotaging themselves by reducing the commitment of their members – so suggests a recent report in New Scientist. The persecution of early Christians may have had a dramatic effect on the spread of Christianity because the sacrifices of martyrs and confessors instilled in others the idea of sincerity: “few would willingly give their life for an ideal they did not believe in”.

Once people believe they are more likely to undertake or endure similar displays of committment. Through a mathematical model, the study suggests that this becomes a “self-reinforcing loop” enabling the belief system to persist over time.

The suggestion is that communities that expect a higher level of committment as displayed through particular behaviour endure and grow whereas those communities which do not eventually dissipate. Comparing liberal Protestant churches and fundamentalist Protestant churches appears to prove the point.

How is this relevant to OC/IC communities?

I dare say that today there might be a few confessors out there, but not too many martyrs. So lets look at the effects of more down to earth forms of “costly sacrifices”.

The study suggests that acts of sacrifice, or self-denial/renunciation by religious leaders has a stronger overall impact on the commitment of others. So, how many of our OC/IC leaders and clergy are regularly participating in the life and community of other churches? From the stand point of a visitor/observer/participant – if my local indie bishop, priest or lay leader is heavily involved in another tradition then this indie thing must not be worth my own personal investment.

This opens the door to the next question, assume our leaders are setting the example, are we doing enough to cultivate, and encourage “membership” through the right of chrismation? That is to say – if our leaders have “sacrificed” the (false) safety net of another church, then are we also encouraging the same within the community as a whole? In short are we actively giving people a reason to give a confident “yes” to the OC/IC way of life, and be willing to whole heartedly throw in their lot with us?

Keeping in mind the above two points, how might the common practice of open communion affect committment to, identification with our OC/IC communities?

Finally, in our history can we point to as an exemplar of commitment to the OC/IC ideal? I can think of a few, such as Varlet and Ofiesh, how about you?

This morning’s rounds turned up two curious pieces of news.

Firstly, FaithLab reports that Daniel Akin, the president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary  wants Baptists to have more babies – in order to numerically overwhelm the growing Muslim population in the US. Europe – he suggests, will be taken over by “the Muslims” without a shot being fired because “white” people are not having babies. It’s merely a matter of simple mathematics – he argues. Ummmmm, yeah. . . . no, not so much. It is however, a matter of oversimplification, racism, and a misguided belief that quantity equals quality. There are too many impoverished children in the US as it is (check here and here), too many children and teens go unloved, and undervalued. As I understand the Gospels Jesus taught us to value one another, to invest in real relationships, and to be hospitable to the stranger because in the “space” in between those interactions is where we meet God “in the flesh”. We ought not to care about their particular faith tradition – rather we ought to “be” Christ for them and relieve their suffering. Pushing for more babies in a society that has very real problems providing safe, healthy, balanced lives for the one’s it already has is grossly irresponsible.

Secondly, the Barna Group has released a survey that has some interesting numbers – which might be useful for OC/IC communities. Here are the ones which grabbed my attention:

• 75% of Americans believe that God is “motivating” them to seek communion with him through new methods and experiences.
• 64% are completely open to pursuing faith in an environment that differs from a “typical church”.
• 50% are bored with the “typical” church experience
• 71% are likely to develop their religious beliefs on their own – rather than accepting the slate of a particular church.

These figures would appear to support a position that I’ve been promoting here for over a year now, and that is that more and more people are using the internet to explore their faith; eschewing to one degree or another “traditional” worship settings and experiences. This means that OC/IC communities MUST have a thoughtful, creative, active on-line presence if we are to bring our frequently “alternative” experiences and methods of being church, being community to those seeking to engage with their faith in new ways. I should add here that such efforts would probably be more effective if we strive to not mimic the efforts, and style of “Big Tent” churches but develop our own methods highlighting the creativity and talent of our individual communities and missions.

The survey also raises interesting questions about our methods of outreach on the ground. That is, how are we sharing our story, our way of faith, in the flesh, with the people we meet? How are we going out to meet them? Are we simply repeating the methods of the churches many of us originated in; if so what might we do differently? Maybe, we could make the whole process easier and just have babies?
Finally, I’m writing this from the UK – the home of the modern heathen – so I’m sitting here wondering – what would the numbers look like if Barna did the same survey here?

I’ve seen a few articles lately (such as this one) on the rise of interest in religious activity, and theological education attributed to the economic downturn. The reasons appear to be varied – one is that people have been forced to stop – look around them, and consider the possibility that their priorities were rather skewed. Another is less “optimistic” – they could not get into buisness school . . . yeah, theology is a “good gig” if you can get into it (sigh).

I wonder though – what long term effects will it have in our communities? Will those who complete degrees in theology then go into their communities and do something with it? Will we see an increased concern for valuable relationships with others, the poor, and the lonely? Call me cynical but while I applaud any disciplined search for spiritual awareness, does one necessarily need a degree to do it? Is the rise in interest in such programs merely a “good gig” at the moment; a way to pass the time, look good while doing it, and come out of it in a few years ready to jump back into the cycle that created the problem in the first place?

Earlier this week I posted on Feasts – and the converstaion took an interesting and unexpected direction to discuss fasting and the customary fasting periods before Pascha, and other feast days. I’ve been pondering this thread of the conversation ever since, been doing some reading too. It struck me this morning that many (if not all) religious traditions have fasting customs. Often (at least the examples I can think of off the cuff) these culminate in a feast.

Our historic custom of fast periods is a shared experience across the religious spectrum – a point of solidarity with other faithful people, and seekers of God. What a shame then that over the past century or so the value of fasting customs has been diminished; such that in the extreme (z.b. giving up chocolate for lent) it is little more than a quaint after-taste of a long lost medaeval tradition.

Faithlab is a great site that often offers new angles, and different lines of inspiration. Today David Adams posts the “Lay People List” – twenty points “minister types” need to know about the laity.

It’s worth a read – and indeed a giggle or two – especially in our context where small communities are the rule, and in order to be effective communities we need to cultivate an “all hands at the pump” attitude.

Only a few days now until Pentecost but here’s the question: what does a “feast” mean to you? Any feast – not just Pascha and Pentecost, Theophany and Transfiguration – but any feast, the patronal feast of your community, your name day – how do feasts “fit” into your experience of the faith?

I ask the question because it dawns on me watching Stefan Gates’ excellent series Feasts (UK readers can watch the last two episodes online), on BBC4 that the thinking, and experience of “feasts” is becoming increasingly alien in our contemporary Western society.

I remember the various feasts and festivals celebrated in Pittsburgh as a teenager. I think that perhaps, because at the time, the city was very ethnic, the celebration of these festivals was as much about ethnic pride and diversity as it was about the actual feast. This means that in many respects, the celebration of, and perception of these interruptions in our daily humdrum retained “more” of their original character. Today, occasionally when we are on the continent, we luck into the celebration fo a local feast – such as this St. Martin’s day festival in Brussells a few years ago.

What is interesting to me however, is that in over ten years living in the UK . . . I’ve never witnessed or participated in a single feast. Not one. My other half ( a native ) has never experienced a feast like I have many times over – and so watching Sefan Gates’ program for him, is sometimes quite awkward – as he has no point of reference for it. Our conversations about the role of feasts in the cycle of life, and more specifically in the liturgical cycle has thus, sparked my question.

How do feast days “work” or function in our lives as believers, now. Is that experience or perception radically different from 30 years ago, 100; and if so, how? Have we lost the fun & function of “feasting” in our post-Christian, post-modern, post-everything society? Or has it just been replaced with football and shopping?

While your thinking about your own response – here are two quotes about “feasts” from St. Proklos.

A virgin festival today, brethren, calls our tongue to praise, and the present feast, through benefits to those gathered, becomes a patron and indeed it is only natural. . . . Amicable and extraordinary is this gathering. Behold! Land and sea bring gifts to the Virgin on their backs, [the sea] in ships calmly under sail, [the land] escorting unhindered the way of those who come [by foot]. Let Nature leap! let the race of men rejoice! that women above all may be honoured; let humanity celebrate, that virgins above all may be glorified!
- Hom. 1.1

Many and various celebrations cheer the life of man. Through the cycle of feasts the sorrow of life’s suffering changes into delight. Just as those arriving safe to land from the surge of the open sea rejoice at natural havens, as the embrace of life, so too after many circumstances man rejoices in the feast as a mother of ease. For a festival is a forgetting of grief, a sleep of cares, a cultivator of joy, a patron of joyousness, a season of prayer, summer-fruit for the poor, adornment of churches, festival of cities, wreck of enmity, rise of friendship, heaven on earth. And why do I say so much? A feast is resurrectional fruit, according to the prophet, who says: “Celebrate Judah, your feasts, for from the earth rises the one who breathes upon your face!”
- Hom. 3.1