Re-reading yesterday's post, I'm slightly worried that it might have come across as an anti-emerging whinge...which is quite definitely not my stance. I know I've written about this before, but it's an on-going issue as I try to prepare for ministry in a new place, where and when ever that may be.
As the mother of young adults serious about faith, who patently do not find God in the traditional church often enough to encourage attendance...as a priest serving a parish awash with young m/c families who want to get things "right" in life, have spiritual needs but don't excpect us to meet them...as an individual who loves Anglican liturgy but also needs other ways of worship sometimes to fire her soul...I'm utterly committed to my ordination charge to "proclaim the gospel AFRESH in this generation".
I'm hugely excited and thrilled at the ways the emerging churches are connecting with those who are either disenchanted, or have never felt any connection with the inherited church - and I want to be part of that process too. I've never believed that church is only on Sundays...that faith and life are things apart...that the institution matters more than its members...When I say that I want to belong to a both/and church, that is truly what I mean...and I hope always to have passionate (and compassionate) inclusion at the forefront of my ministry, wherever I may go.
Look ahead. You are not expected to complete the task. Neither are you permitted to lay it down. from the Talmud
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