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

“Could something be going on out there? Could something be up? Are other voices speaking than those we are accustomed to hearing? Could it be that God is on the loose and whispering to others? And even more radically, could it be that God seeks to address us through "the others"?” These questions were raised at the outset of a sermon preached to the General Council on May 14~06 ( http://www.united-church.ca/organization/gc39/keithsermon ). The sermon was called “Speak, For Your Servant is Listening.” In response, one hearer noted: “Excellent sermon by Keith Howard on Emerging Spirit. Keith is a superb preacher.” This same person also said: “Emerging Spirit is going to be a powerful program.” Understanding that Emerging Spirit is open to the perspectives of others, I offer the following response to the sermon. Three notions above concern me. These are located in the sermon hearer’s phrases: 1] powerful program, 2] excellent sermon, and 3] superb preacher. I am concerned because some may take it that the combination of these three equals advantage for the Church as we struggle to find our way into faithful public witness. It seems to me the opposite may also come into play. That is, a 'superb preacher' who elaborates an 'excellent sermon' to promote a 'powerful program' should be taken with at least a modicum of suspicion. Let me say a bit about the sermon. There are three threads at work in the text which the preacher is expounding (1 Samuel 3:1-10). These are: 1] a dysfunctional religious tradition, 2] a youth dedicated to the service of God by the prayer of a remarkable mother, and 3] the God who notices and makes a determination. The preacher takes each of these to weave a pattern by which we may come to insight adequate to our situation in the world. By allusion the dysfunctional religious tradition in 1 Samuel is equated with the United Church of Canada in its present particulars. Again by allusion, the youth in the text is equated with the youth of our context; from which we may expect to hear some new word adequate to our need and desire in this hour. Finally, God is present to the preacher as a the one who may be moving within the questioning of the youth in our land. Hearing this group will allow us to hear the word of God. At one point in his sermon the preacher raises five pointed questions: 1] Could something be going on out there? 2] Could something be up? 3] Are other voices speaking than those we are accustomed to hearing? 4] Could it be that God is on the loose and whispering to others? 5] And even more radically, could it be that God seeks to address us through "the others"? To each of these I say yes. There is no doubt in my mind that the word for which we long will break in from outside. This is consistent with the record of revelation. It the matter of means that troubles me as I read the preacher's exposition of the text to substantiate his commitment to a 'powerful program'. The preacher is clear that the bridge between the text and our experience is not long. There is a correspondence between the situation of Eli and the situation of the United Church. If we are to find fruitfulness in our mission we must hear a fresh word. In the text the word comes by the direct action of God. It is not Eli who beckons Samuel to speak. It is God. To his credit Eli is prepared to hear that word. As readers we know this is the right choice because Samuel has been brought into history by the will and purpose of God. What else can we conclude having read the birth narrative at the outset of 1 Samuel? The preacher does not follow the logic of the text. Rather a new logic is superimposed to make the text serve as a legitimization of the preacher's perspective and purpose. The text is taken to authorize the mandate and means of the 'powerful program' that the preacher represents in the preaching moment. For the preacher it is not the word of God that breaks in. At least that is how I read the sermon. What we are offered is the product produced by market research. The new word is located in the demographic profile targeted by the 'powerful program' and noticed by the preacher metaphorically as those "younger than Eli". The preacher wants us to take it that the word of God is located out there in the generation that raises spiritual questions but has nominal or nonexistent interest in existing religious institutions. If we will hear what these are saying we will be admitting God into our own experience. And how will we hear them? The preacher is explicit: "Analysis and consultation - that's what is needed!" Put crudely we may take it that the preacher believes the way forward with God will be opened by resort to market analysis and product placement. It is this confidence in means available to us that troubles me most about the preacher's sermon. The text from 1 Samuel is inverted to serve the preacher's purpose, which I take to be the promotion of a 'powerful program'. There are lots of clues pointing to the inversion. Eli, representing the dysfunctional religious tradition, is presented by the preacher as one possessing "spiritual discernment, humility, and courage." It may be that the text allows this attribution. I think it is a fair stretch biased to serve the preacher's concern at the expense of the text. The text seems to me to present Eli as one who in the presence of Samuel is aware of the tradition's failure, rightly contrite in the face of that awareness, and submitted to the righteous judgement of God specific to the failure of the tradition. Eli cannot be considered as one who welcomes the word of God given in the speaking of Samuel as the opportunity for revival. The word Samuel speaks is the word of ending. God is not sending Samuel to recover the priesthood but to terminate it. The preacher gives us no hint of this. The paradigmatic text of prophetic witness is subverted to serve the spurious hope of a present day religious tradition that thinks to renew itself by resort to the means of the marketplace available to those with money adequate to the cost such means demand under the sign of global capital. _________________ Present though absent... GeoFee