Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

July 7 , 2006

WELCOME

Q. What would you like to you tell those who don't attend church about your faith?

• "My faith in the way of Jesus the Christ has directed me to move beyond myself and reach out to others in service and compassion."
• "This church is a place where I can ask questions, where I can explore my own spirituality, where I can live out my life as a Christian who believes in a just world for all."
• "When I went back to church I had the most amazing feeling of coming home and a wonderful peace has been with me since."
• "It provides a foundation on which to build my worldview, gives me criteria for making moral decisions, and fills my head with beautiful music."
• "We worship a God that is always ready to comfort and support us no matter what may come our way."

—Responses from people who attend The United Church of Canada to an Emerging Spirit questionnaire. How would you answer this question? We invite you to email Emerging Spirit with your response.

INSIDE OUT

Why the Attraction? The Da Vinci Code as Edible-Oil Product

by Neil Young

(Editor's Note: In the last issue of Emerging Spirit News, Rev. Neil Young offered some thoughts on "Ministry in the Shadow of The Da Vinci Code." In this follow-up article, he explores some of the deeper issues raised by The Da Vinci Code phenomenon.)

Amid all the hoo-hah about The Da Vinci Code it is worth asking the question, "What is going on here at a deeper level?" So many are intrigued and mesmerized by The Da Vinci Code that we might do well to consider what spiritual yearnings it is touching upon.

At one level, of course, it is a thriller. At another level, it taps-into the abiding fascination with the person of Jesus, and all the potentialities of the untold tales and unheard voices within the history of the Christian faith.

What other deeper echoes might The Da Vinci Code be striking in its many readers, to which we, as a church, might be able to respond?

[read the full article]

ON THE LINE

Sites of Interest along the Information Highway

Online Labyrinth
One spiritual practice coming back into vogue has been the labyrinth. The labyrinth is an ancient pattern found in many cultures around the world, and was a part of the Christian experience in medieval times, with labyrinths being found on cathedral floors. A labyrinth is not a maze, as following the pattern physically will eventually lead to the centre of it. The journey through a labyrinth is meant to be a "mini-pilgrimage," allowing people who wander its twisty paths the time and space to meditate and reflect on their spiritual journey working their way to the centre. Many churches throughout Canada, the U.S., and Europe have brought back the labyrinth on their lawns outside, and many churches with flexible seating can install temporary labyrinths made out of canvas to be put on the nave floor.

The online labyrinth attempts to take this experience and put it into a mouse-friendly form. Using Flash animation, you "follow" a labyrinth, stopping at 11 points for a guided, and fully interactive, meditation on a range of topics including "noise," "letting go," "distractions," "hurts," "the planet," "others," and more. To do it right takes at least 45 minutes, but it's time well spent as you can leave it refreshed and more mindful of God, ourselves, and others.

ReJesus
You could spend hours academically debating the merits of who was Jesus of Nazareth and his significance to the world…or you could instead visit this fun, informative and creative website. This British site, whose contributors cross all denominational lines, explores the life, character, teaching, and followers of Jesus. You can listen to podcasts by theologians giving a beginners guide to Christian thought (a lot more fun than you might think!), download the gospels, watch a streaming video of the gospel of Luke, watch Flash-enhanced surveys of the timeline of events in the gospels or even take a Jesus-based pub quiz ­ (we did pretty well at the medium level, but only scored 2 out of 10 at the hardest level). The site also includes news, analysis of expressions of Jesus in film, iconography, and books like The Da Vinci Code as well as thoughtful meditations on Jesus by fine artists and poets, resources for prayer, and a whole lot more. This is the sort of Christian resource on the web one wishes there were more of, and it's worth visiting again and again.

PULSETAKING

See more of what our readers are saying in the PulseTaking section of our website.

from Rev. Jesse Bown, Victoria United Church, Victoria, Newfoundland and Labrador

I am just so thrilled by this initiative of The United Church of Canada. It is new, fresh, challenging and it is so timely. Along with other members of our church, I am reading the monthly newsletter and find it touches on areas that are so relevant as to how people in our culture view God and church. I believe we must be culturally relevant in the way we do church if we are going to engage 30-45 year olds. But we must change because we must have what I call "staying power," so that when they come they connect and find a place where their needs are met. Otherwise the energy we use to get them there will be wasted. This calls for transformational leadership, vision, and a deep commitment to be proactive in engaging our culture with the "Good News" and a willingness to change. Thank you Emerging Spirit Team. Keep it going.

from Rev. David Shearman, Central Westside United Church, Owen Sound, Ontario

I appreciated Neil Young's comments on The Da Vinci Code movie. I am fortunate in that I have my own show on Rogers Television in our city, so I pitched a piece on The Da Vinci Code to the producer of their call-in show. He bit. (he's a young 20-something who was brought up United Church and he likes to connect with faith stuff). I ended up in a dialogue with the talk show host for an hour (with repeats throughout the week!) on the movie, with streeters inserted to give us something to bounce conversation off of.

The response? At our chicken BBQ this week I had several people (of varying ages) come up and thank me for talking about it and that they agreed with what I said.

By the way, I really like the movie. It's a good story and should be embraced by the church as opposed to rejecting it. It's a wonderful opportunity to allow people to talk about their faith and to ask questions.