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Dear friends:
A number of years ago, sociologist of religion Phyllis Tickle (love that name!) wrote a fascinating book in which she observed that every 500 years the church, the institutional expression of Christianity, has a giant rummage sale in which old traditions and structures, forms, and practices are discarded to make room for the new.
She bases her theory on the fact that beginning with Jesus and the early church every 500 years there has been a huge disruption, a major shift in the Christian Church; e.g., in 500, the fall of Rome and emergence of the papacy and monasticism; in 1000, the great schism between Eastern and Western Christianity which resulted in Eastern Orthodoxy with its center in Constantinople and Roman Catholicism with its center in Rome; in 1500, the Protestant Reformation which we remember today.
She suggests that three important things happen in this every 500-year rummage sale:
1. A new vital form of Christianity emerges.
2. The older dominant form is reconstituted as less rigid and a better expression, becoming stronger.
3. Faith spreads dramatically each time.
For some this is a frightening proposition and for others it’s quite exciting. For everyone it can serve as a reminder that ours is a dynamic faith, adaptable and agile. Deep within the structures and practices of faith as we know it is the seedbed of reformation and the change required to meet contemporary realities.
We’ll explore this notion in-depth this weekend. I’ll be in the Sanctuary services and Serenitye Taylor will be preaching in the Chapel. Grace Lindvall and Nikki Zimmermann will be in the Fellowship Hall family service. It promises to be a strong Sunday. You can prepare by reading here.
Warmly,
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