SHIFTING MODELS OF GOD

presented by the Rev. Canon Dick Hall, Co-Chair of the Long Range Planning & Evaluation Committee, at the All Commission Meeting at Grace Church, Bath on April 10.

… This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD _{Jeremiah 31:33f}

When you contrast this model of God’s interaction with the people of creation with the model from Exodus you see many major differences. In the Exodus story of Moses, the experience of God is mediated. God is at the top of the mountain. Moses goes up the mountain and receives the Law. Then Moses comes down from the mountain and meets with the Aaron and the elders and explains the Law. If the people want to know what to do, they go to Moses. Moses goes to God. God speaks to Moses and Moses speaks to the people.

This is the model of leadership that the Church is most familiar with. There is, however, a change underway. Some examples of this change would be the shift in patterns of authority that we see in the world around us. In the last few months we have seen a congress that was moving ahead with the impeachment of the president. The poles again and again said that a majority of the people of the country wanted the impeachment to stop. Congress, in the old style of leadership, in essence said, "We know better and this has to happen." In the end, the people’s will ruled.

In the state of Maine we have had a sizeable increase in the numbers of referendums offered by the citizens. In some cases they have been a reaction to the legislative process and in some cases the referendum has been offered in place of the legislative process. The locus of authority is no longer only legislative. If a sizeable number of the people disagree with the process they take action. If they judge the legislative process to be unfriendly to their cause, they will circumvent the process and go directly to the people.

In religious circles we have experienced the phenomenon of our young people searching through religious experiences from eastern and western cultures to find something that is satisfying to them. The shift in authority regarding religious experience is evident. No longer do these folks look to the established religions or to their prior training for the model of religious experience. They are looking into themselves as the locus of authority. As difficult as this process is for those of us who are still conforming to the old model and find it satisfying, it is non-the-less something that is happening. The children who have been raised in our religious tradition are not returning, as they once did. They are seeking satisfying religious experiences wherever they may be found. This is not something that we should necessarily be concerned about unless we are committed to the model of top-down authority and mediated experience.

In some sense William James predicted this movement in his research regarding religious experience. He attempted to discover some common elements in the religious experiences of people. After many pages of exploration his conclusion was that a religious experience was any experience in which people found religious significance. Already, in the middle years of the twentieth century, the shift was occurring. The prophecy of Jeremiah was true. It is about this same time that we see the beginning of the decline of organized religion.

All of this is moving towards a new theology. Paul tells us that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says to the disciples, "Whatever sins you retain on earth will be retained in Heaven and whatever sins you forgive on earth will be forgiven in heaven." It is not a top-down model that Jesus proclaims. In fact, when you look at the pastoral prayer in the Gospel of John, Jesus prays,

a clear indication of something which is called the infusion model.

This model calls for a different understanding of the way in which God works in the world.

For several generations we have believed that the Church was the mediator of God’s presence in the world. It was through the lives of the people who professed the faith of Christ Crucified that were charged with the evangelization of the world. Missionary societies were formed to go into foreign countries and to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ to the heathen world. The church itself was built on the model of mediation. Bishop’s were the people who were the closest to God and therefore, like the disciples before them, were the governors of the church and the chief spokesperson for God. After them came the Priest, who acting under the authority of the Bishop, mediated the experience of God through the offering of sacrifice and by proclaiming the word of God and the appropriate interpretation of its meaning. For many years the order of Deacons existed only as a transitory state for people who were on the road to priesthood. Once the people had heard the word and its true interpretation, they were expected to conform to the expectations and demands that God made on their lives. This model, which Moses provides for us, is certainly a Biblical Model and in some simplistic sense looks like this.

                    Creation

A glass of milk and a loaf of bread could represent the Infusion Model. If you pour the milk into the loaf of bread you have replicated the model. Some remains in the glass, the bread absorbs the remainder. Every piece bread in the loaf is moist.

Obviously we are in a transitional moment. The new is emerging and the old is fighting against the change. But we see the model evolving. Leadership models are changing from pyramid styles of top-down leadership to more organic models like the nitrogen chain. Every element is important to the chain. If one element is missing the chain doesn’t work. The bishop is an important element in the circular chain of the church but no more important than the other elements. The authority of the laity is as important.

Certainly there is no better place to see this than in the shifting models of ministry. The Laity have become involved in the ministries of the church even to the present point of being able to bring the sacrament to the people who are not able to make it to church. Enabling lay ministry, recognizing the ministries of people in their vocations of daily life. All of these things point to a shifting model of church authority.

In recognition of this movement towards understanding the evolution of the infusion model and the issues of local authority, the Long Range Planning and Evaluation Committee is working towards a new model of diocesan governance. The old model led to the formation of certain commissions and committees that the leadership of the diocese felt would be important to the carrying out of the mission of the diocese. The congregations were asked to support this ministry by contributions to the general fund.

The model we are moving towards is a model which begins in the parishes which are asked to identify for themselves who they are and what they hope to become. In that process of discernment we can begin to see what resources they need in order to achieve their purpose and their goals. Not all the necessary resources will be found in each congregation, so congregations will be asked to look around in neighboring congregations for the resources they need.

In such a situation, St. Columba’s in Boothbay Harbor needed a Christian Education Director and actually advertised in the newsletters of other parishes for someone who could do that for them. St. Philip’s, Wiscasset, St. Andrew’s, Newcastle and St. Columba’s are in the midst of trying to form a regional youth ministry program since none of the congregations has sufficient resources or sufficient numbers of youth to implement a program of their own. In accomplishing this start-up ministry we will probably need some temporary financial help from the diocese or other church agencies. Our vision at this moment is that diocesan committees and commissions will need to work closely with each other to identify ways in which they can assist this movement towards growth. For instance, can the committees of the Commission on Ministry assist congregations in discernment, calling, education, and financial assistance for education as they identify models of parish worship which involve the laity and move towards a more integrated model of education for these ministries? Can the Commission on Diocesan Operations help congregations who are wrestling with issues of lay administration of congregations? How can the Commission on Congregational Life help congregations that identify issues of spirituality and mission to come to some sense of clarity about resources and programs that might facilitate the spiritual development of the laity and clergy? How can The Outreach and Services Commission help congregations develop programs of local service that could meet the necessities of the people who live in community?

As I have listened to the problems of the committees and the commissions it has become clear that they are frustrated at by the lack of use of their resources. Many of you have voiced over the years that you stand ready to serve the needs of the congregations but no one is calling. We believe the problem is relational and the resistance to the implementation is actually a resistance to the old paternalistic and hierarchical model. In a few words, the congregations are saying, "no one asked us what we needed and we don’t trust them. Once they come in, they try to dictate what we need and what we should do."

There is some truth to this suspicion and the fact is that it has led to a we-they feeling between the congregations and the diocese. We think the way back into relationship is to start with the congregations. Provide a way that they can tell themselves and others who they are and what their dreams are. Provide a way for them to identify the resources they need. Provide a model of relationship that enables them to look locally, regionally, and state wide in for what they need.

Provide a model of resource sharing that doesn’t require a second class status. And finally, to create an atmosphere of understanding and mutuality that makes their success our success and our success their success.

To that end, we are asking you to spend the day getting to know the resources of the folks in your Commission, their hopes and dreams as well as their actions and accomplishments. During lunch we are asking you to spend time with someone from a committee or commission you know little about. Get to know what they do and share their excitement for their ministry. In the afternoon there will be random assignments to groups for further explorations and recommendations about how we can work together to accomplish what God has called this diocese to be.

We are in uncharted waters. What we are we know. What we can become only God knows. But in the 21^st chapter of the book of Revelation we have the following assurance.

1. Then he said to me, "It is done!

Our job is to live into the new creation that God has called us to.

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