In an emerging church, we are participating in Gods work of
healing and mending creation 03 04 June 2011
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In grateful response to Gods abundant love, we bear in mind our
integral connection to the earth and one another; we participate in
Gods work of healing and mending creation. United Church of Canada
Song of Faith
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PURPOSE OF THE DAYS To present a survey of changing realities
in society and in church To reflect through the lens of Scripture
on major themes flowing through these social realities To lead in
the exploration of implications for churches and church leaders in
our province today To do so in the context of an emerging church in
which we believe that we are co- creating with our God
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PROCESS FOR THE DAYS Friday pm A survey of changing social
realities within Canada generally and within Newfoundland &
Labrador specifically Saturday am Reflection through the lens of
Scripture on major themes flowing through these social realities
Exploration of implications for us as leaders in church in our
province today Input from Sister Elizabeth Small table
conversations Large group conversation
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THE 21 ST CENTURY: TIME OF CHANGE IN CHURCH & SOCIETY
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MY ASSUMPTIONS Our world is changing dramatically Our
understanding of religion and church is changing dramatically Our
church must be transformed in response to this change Every one of
us, individually and communally, must be leaders in bringing about
this transformation
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SOCIAL SHIFTS IN CANADA Demographic shifts Role of women
Changing face of family Financial crises personal, corporate,
sovereign Increasing urbanization Increasing cultural diversity
Impact of computerization Realities of violence Changing face of
religion
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DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS Many more older people and many fewer
children Four generations of adults are living at the same time all
formed with different values: Elders born before 1946 who value
sacrifice, hard work, conformity, law and order, patience, respect
for authority and duty before pleasure Baby boomers born between
1946 and 1965 who value optimism, teamwork, personal gratification,
health and wellness, personal growth and youth Generation X born
between 1965 and 1980 who value thinking globally, balance,
techno-literacy, fun, informality and self-reliance Millennials
born since 1980 who value civic duty, achievement, sociability,
diversity and street smarts
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StatsCAN CENSUS 2006 Demographic Map: Newfoundland &
Labrador (2001, 2006)
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2000 NL = 11.6% > 65y 2021 NL = 22.5% > 65y
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WOMEN IN OUR WORLD Society growing in its awareness of need to
have women and men together taking responsibility both in the home
and in the society Stereotypical attitudes and practices are still
working to the disadvantage of women and girls in families,
educational institutions, religious institutions, workplaces,
political bodies and media o Increasing violence against women o
Under-representation of women in decision-making in all areas o
Disproportionate share of household and family responsibilities o
Lack of equal employment opportunities o Lack of attention to
mechanisms which support a balance between family and work
responsibilities o Disproportionate effects of poverty and conflict
o Trafficking in women and girls
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CHANGING FACE OF FAMILY Common-law couple families increased
20% since 2001, almost 60% of first unions are common law Lone
parent families increasing now nearly 1/5 of families in many large
cities Significant increase in same-sex couples More census
families comprised of couples without children (42.7%) than with
children (41.4%). 43.5% of young adults aged 20 to 29 live at home
Custody of less than half of dependents (47.7%) in divorce
proceedings awarded to the mother, down from three- quarters
(78.2%) in 1980 Members of lone-parent families 2X more likely to
live in low income neighbourhood Increasing number of mixed unions
33% increase from 2001 to 2006 [3.9% of all unions in Canada]
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POVERTY No decrease in poverty in our world Extreme poverty
among Aboriginal people, recent immigrants and non-permanent
residents, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, lone
parent families and unattached individuals Child poverty rates
disproportionately high among these vulnerable social groups
Approximately half (52%) of low income children in Canada live in
female lone parent families One half of children in recent
immigrant families are poor
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CHAMPAGNE GLASS OF WORLD POVERTY
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ENVIRONMENT The planets warming is unequivocal, its impact is
clearly noticeable, and it is beyond doubt that human activities
have been contributing considerably to it. Adverse effects include:
o Agriculture and food security o Oceans and coastal areas o
Biodiversity and ecosystems o Water resources o Human health o
Human settlements o Energy o Transport and industry o Extreme
weather events Climate Change 2007
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TODAYS COMPUTER MINDSET Computers are not technology but part
of life Internet is better than TV Reality is no longer real Doing
is more important than knowing Learning more closely resembles
Nintendo than logic Multitasking is a way of life Typing is
preferred to handwriting Staying connected is essential There is
zero tolerance for delays Consumer and creator of information are
blurring Jason Frand (2002)
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COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY The moral problem of contemporary
technology results not from its ubiquity and not from the power of
its specific applications but from the dominance of a specific
technological pattern, the device paradigm... this displacement, in
spite of its seductive promises of liberation and enrichment,
corrodes creative relationships between and among selves and
between selves and their environments. Michael S. Hogue, 2007
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GLOBALIZATION $4 billion in cross-border currency change hands
every six hours 800 million persons crossed international borders
in 2005 40 million people migrate a year They know no borders: drug
and private arms trade, terrorism, money laundering, pollution,
refugees, ocean and atmosphere, television, global warming,
Internet, infectious diseases We share: A community of common fate
and responsibility
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THREATS TO SECURITY Terrorism Epidemic disease Organized crime
Conflict over natural resources Climate change Environmental
degradation Security is increasingly interpreted as security of
people, not just territory; security of individuals, not just of
nations; security through development, not through arms; security
of all people everywhere in their homes, in their jobs, in their
streets, in their communities, and in the environment. Dr Mahbub ul
Haq (1997)
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CONSUMERISM We build a public self in what we buy and what we
voluntarily choose to do. This front runs from cuisine (Thai,
French, or Mexican tonight?), to fashion (Ferragamo shoes or faux
furs?), to particular products (antiques or Swedish
contemporaries?), to music (Bach or the Grateful Dead?), to sexual
lifestyles (monogamous or casual, heterosexual or gay?), to beliefs
(Christian, New Age, or postmodern doubt?). We slide from product
to product, from relationship to relationship, from style to style,
seldom lingering long before the shape of our internal inventory
tugs us in another direction in search of different fulfillment.
David F. Wells, 1998 In order to maintain itself, consumerism
desires that every person be unhappy and works to ensure that this
would be so.
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CHANGE IN CHURCH Ministry belongs to the laity as well as the
clergy Third world theologians remind us: Spirituality is the name
we give to that which provides us with the strength to go on, for
it is the assurance that God is in the struggle. Spirituality
spells out our connectedness to God our human roots the rest of
nature one another ourselves
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CHANGE IN CHURCH Financial challenges hurt parishes and
dioceses Church is losing much of its authority & credibility
among its own members and in society at large Eighty-five percent
of Canadians indicate affiliation with an established religion yet
fewer than 25% attend church regularly Private devotion now plays a
more important part in peoples lives than attendance at religious
services Increasing attention to activities reflects spontaneity
and community (e.g., mindfulness meditation, pilgrimage to Iona,
praying with EWTN)
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CHANGE IN CHURCH YOUTH Church in mission Church in mission
(active in service and volunteer programs) Church in search Church
in search (single and divorced young adults under the age of 30)
Church youthful Church youthful (active in college ministry) Church
apologist Church apologist (favouring devotional prayer and
official teachings) Church devotional Church devotional (Theology
on Tap, parish activities) Church busy Church busy (young
professionals and young families) Church creative Church creative
(open to blending different faith traditions) Church disconnected
Church disconnected (distant from church) Mary Anne Reese
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CULTURAL DIVERSITY Race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, class,
wealth/poverty, age, (dis)ability, sexual preference, religion,
political party Personality, needs, abilities, perspectives, ways
of seeing the world, ideas, feelings, opinions, attitudes, beliefs,
values, dreams, connections, resources, habits, lifestyles,
experience, stages of development, physical appearances, roles,
families, education, health, status Differences among and within
religious traditions, within our own Church
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CULTURES DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER Basic personality Perception
Time concepts Space concepts Thinking Language Non-verbal
communication Values Behaviors Social groupings and relationships
They are interconnected and influence each other
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CULTURAL DIVERSITY Human diversity is essential to the health
of organizations and communities. The dignity of difference is a
source of blessing. Elizabeth Johnson Quest for the Living God
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QUALITIES OF POST-MODERNISM Rejection of objective truth
Valuing of multiple forms of knowledge Deep suspicion of authority
Search for the transcendent Sense of fragmentation Blurring of
morality Influence of the media Weakening of government Quest for
community Living in the material world
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CONTEMPLATIVE WITNESSING TO OUR OWN INNER SPACE
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GUIDE FOR TABLE CONVERSATIONS Following Judy Cannatos three Rs
to guide you in a contemplative witnessing of your own inner space:
Resonance = what part of what you have heard rings true with your
own experience? Resistance = is there incongruity between what you
have heard and what you hold as true? Realignment = as a result of
what you have heard, has something shifted in you? Has something
reconfigured so that you might live out of a slightly different
place?
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EMERGING IMAGES
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Then afterwards I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and
female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. Joel
2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18
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ELEMENTS OF RE-VISIONING Awareness that transformation does not
happen suddenly or in a moment in time Confidence that one can
actually do the re- visioning Knowing the social and historical
contexts of our age, the signs of the times Knowing the essentials,
the non-negotiables, so that in the re-visioning the essence is not
lost Sensitivity to the new images emerging among us
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FIVE FRONTIERS IN THE THEOLOGY OF GOD Wretched poverty =
biblical justice Womens experience of gender-based discrimination =
biblical justice for women White privilege and racism = racial
justice Religious pluralism = dignity of difference is a source of
blessing Awareness of earth as a place of beauty and suffering in
an evolving universe = ethic of responsible, assertive care for
Earth Elizabeth A. Johnson Quest for the Living God, 2007
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EMERGING IMAGES Recognition that all theology is contextual God
speaks to us and we speak to God is this time and in this place I
am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not
perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the
desert. Isaiah 43:19
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EMERGING IMAGES Growth of creation spirituality, focus on
ecological theology, emergence of awareness of the universe story,
commitment to care for Earth When the bow is in the clouds, I will
see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. Gen 9:16
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EMERGING IMAGES Focus on right relationships with God, self,
others, church, and Earth He said to him, You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second
is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Matt
22:37-39
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EMERGING IMAGES Increasing respect for diversity, recognition
that diversity is essential to all life and growth, awareness of
the dimensions of diversity, sense that integration and diversity
are not only compatible but necessary for health of body, mind and
spirit All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who
allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For
just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members
of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For
in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one bodyJews or Greeks,
slaves or freeand we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed,
the body does not consist of one member but of many. 1 Cor
12:11-14
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EMERGING IMAGES Yearning for God to be imaged as female as well
as male so that women will have the confidence of knowing that they
have been made in the image of God So God created humankind in Gods
image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female God
created them. Gen 1:27 Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or
show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may
forget, yet I will not forget you. Is 49:15 As a mother comforts
her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in
Jerusalem. Is 66:13
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EMERGING IMAGES Increasing participation of women in leadership
and policy formation The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what
they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance
among their fathers brothers and pass the inheritance of their
father on to them. Num 27:7 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with
wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Give her a
share in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in
the city gates. Prov 31: 25-26, 31
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EMERGING IMAGES Witness to the energy, the wisdom and the
influence of older people in a society which devalues older people
The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish
in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they
are always green and full of sap, showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Ps
92:12-15
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EMERGING IMAGES Recognition of the negative impact of
globalization and of our ability through our global connections to
be more engaged cross-culturally and globally and to engender
common values for a global world (respect for human dignity,
responsibility, solidarity, subsidiarity, coherence, transparency
and accountability) Christ is all and in all! As Gods chosen ones,
holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if
anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as
the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all,
clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in
perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one
another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. Col 3:11a17
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EMERGING IMAGES Commitment to collaboration and partnerships in
ministry The glory that you have given me I have given them, so
that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that
they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you
have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Jn
17:20-23
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EMERGING IMAGES Awareness of our own complicity in the
brokenness and woundedness of people and Earth and our own need for
forgiveness Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your
heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your
hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he
is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast
love, and relents from punishing. Joel 2:12-13 Before conscious
thought or action on our part, we are born into the brokenness of
this world. Before conscious thought or action on our part, we are
surrounded by Gods redeeming love. Song of Faith
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CONTEMPLATIVE WITNESSING TO OUR OWN INNER SPACE
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GUIDE FOR TABLE CONVERSATIONS Resonance = what part of what you
have heard rings true with your own experience? Resistance = is
there incongruity between what you have heard and what you hold as
true? Realignment = as a result of what you have heard, has
something shifted in you? Has something reconfigured so that you
might live out of a slightly different place?
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EXPLORING TRANSFORMATION TODAY
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In this troubled world we wish to express Gods love for wounded
humanity and always we must answer the question: How can we dare
Wisdom in the mosaic of our realities? Sister Ins Maria dell
Eucaristia (1994)
VALUES Values are sets of freely chosen convictions which
compel action as they are cherished and publicly affirmed. Charles
McCoy
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RELATIONSHIPS Wholeness Inclusion Interconnectedness
Interdependence Enculturation Appreciation of diversity
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Im sittin on my stage-head lookin out at where Skipper Joe
Irwins schooner is ridin at her moorin thinkin about how weak are
the things that try to pull people apart differences in colours,
creeds and opinion weak things like the ripples tuggin at the
schooners chain. And thinkin about how strong are the things that
hold people together strong, like Joes anchor, and chain, and the
good holdin ground below. Ted Russell, The Holdin Ground
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LET US BUILD AN INUKSHUK
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WHERE DO WE FIND HOPE, ENERGY AND PASSION? It is not about us
it is about those with whom we walk and among whom we minister In
this new age with the intensity of social change and the growing
fragility of Earth, we must be about this new thing We must be
intentional in our focus, persistent in our pursuit, courageous in
our undertaking and confident that, if this is Gods work, it will
flourish
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WHY WE DO IT
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Divine creation does not cease until all things have found
wholeness, union, and integration with the common ground of all
being. As children of the Timeless One, our time-bound lives will
find completion in the all-embracing Creator. In the meantime, we
embrace the present, embodying hope, loving our enemies, caring for
the earth, choosing life. Grateful for Gods loving action, we
cannot keep from singing. Creating and seeking relationship, in awe
and trust, we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love. Song of
Faith
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BLESSING May the light of your souls guide you. May the light
of your souls bless the work that you do with the secret love and
warmth of your hearts. May you see in what you do the beauty of
your own souls. May the sacredness of your work bring healing,
light and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see
and receive your work. May your work never weary you. May it
release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration and
excitement.
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May you be present in what you do. May you never become lost in
bland absences. May the day never burden. May dawn find you awake
and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities and
promises. May evening find you gracious and fulfilled. May you go
into the night blessed, sheltered and protected. May your souls
calm, console and renew you. Adapted from John O'Donoghue, Anam
Cara