A Unique Gathering of Innovative Jews and Christian Spiritual Leaders

1/18/05

Something Emerging:

I just came back from a unique gathering of rabbis, educators, artists, musicians, and spiritual leaders from around the country. There were the rainbow of Jews from Orthodox to renewal but also representatives from a community I had never met: The Emergent Christian community. The organizers of the meeting wanted to to expose Jewish religious leaders to innovators in both the Jewish and Christian community. Leaders of Emergent Christian communities were invited to share their story. This network of new, urban communities and congregations has been developing and growing for the past 5-8 years. This is not a movement but a lose network of communities and collectives which is working out a new theology and Christian way of life. As was explained to us, emergent Christians emphasize community before church, the elevation of hospitality as a critical practice, the practice of an everyday spirituality (very reminiscent of Hasidic models), the use of arts and music in religious life, and a key focus on the relationship to the 'other'.

The emergent Christians have been receiving a lot of attention in both the media and in the broader Christian community. There is similarly a stiring in American Judaism that seems to parallel emergent community. So why not bring Jews who are creating new models together with emergent leadership and learn from one another.

I am still attempting to distill the ideas and experience from this gathering, but I learned a few things.

1. Hospitality is making a huge come back as a central religious ideal. The shared meal, the open door, the non-judmental acceptance, the care for the other is a central overarching aspect of a spiritual life. The modern large church and synagogue have not been successful in embracing this value and promoting it consistently or effectively.

2. A spiritual or ethical life is not centered in a sanctuary, but must extend to all areas of life. This is actually a very old Jewish teaching. In the emergent community this insight informs their collectives. Therefore the communal life is not entirely focused on prayer, but on other activities: art, music, shared meals, cultural activity.

3. The traditional church and synagogue are not destinations for many people even though they may identify with their religions of origin. The emergent Christians spoke of being post-evangelical Christians. They spoke of finding a third space. Alienation was rechanneled into an attempt to create new religious models. A presenter shared the motivation for much of the emergent's efforts: "I love Jesus, I hate the church."

This was the first gathering in my career with Christians and Jews (and I have had many encounters) when Christians could talk easily and openly about Jesus and Jews could talk about God and Torah comfortably and unapologetically. This was more than an ecumenical gathering, but a sharing in how we live and work out our respective faith traditions in a complex culture. The differences remained quite pronounced, but I came away with an awareness of common approaches to practice and religious community that are very promising.

If you would like to learn more about Christian and Jewish emergent communities, go to: http://www.synagogue3000.org/synablog/.

Shalom, Rabbi Dov Gartenberg