Read Part 3 :: What is emergent? Missional
From what I’ve seen of the emerging conversation, Trinitarian based values aren’t something that come up on a daily basis, but a number of folks are pointed to it as one of the great strengths of the movement. In fact, I can’t think of it being mentioned in any of the books I’ve read (I apologize to any authors that may have brought it up and I’ve overlooked it), and I don’t exactly recall it being brought up in any Bible classes in college (granted I didn’t make much higher than a C in any of them). But regardless of if it’s talked about, written about, or not — it still seems to be a strong point in the emerging conversations I’ve been a part of.
Perhaps Ian Mobsby (as quoted on Wikipedia) explains this idea best…
I suggest that perhaps the Emerging Church had found, or been led to a Trinitarian ecclesiology which had inspired a model, the values of which reflected God’s desire for what the emerging church should be. This is what Volf is talking about in After our Likeness. A Church whose values reflect the Trinitarian God. This development appears not to have been a consciously mediated action, but to have emerged out of the experience and practice of those involved in the projects. Is this a God-led re-imagining of the Church? I believe that it is.
Now some may be quick to take issue with the idea that the emerging church is a God-led re-imagination of the Church. That’s understandable. I tend to be quick to doubt when others claim their new movement is of God. Especially when it’s different than the ways I’ve come to understand God or other expressions I’ve seen of God. But let’s try and put that aside for a moment.
When we think about the Trinity – the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost – how do they relate to one another?
- They enjoy one another (Gen 1:26)
- They encourage one another (Matt 3:17)
- They support one another (John 14:25-26)
- They love one another (Mark 9:7)
- They defer to one another (John 14:10)
- They glorify one another (John 17:1)
- They have ongoing mutual respect for one another
This sounds a bit like a dream church to me :-). Or as Archbishop Desmond Tutu explains Ubuntu…
“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
He later explained…
“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity.
“We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”
As Mobsby suggests, perhaps the Trinitarian values weren’t something the emerging church planned from day 1, but it’s something they’ve come to realize and put into practice as they’ve studied Scripture and tried to take Jesus and his teachings literally.
As I’ve mentioned before, one of Jesus’ last prayers is that His followers would be united as one.
I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:9-11
Jesus knew that there would be hard times ahead and disagreements, but he prayed that his disciples, those who followed him, would be united as one.
And then Jesus continues as He prays for us – those who will follow after the early church…
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.“ – John 17:20-23
Is it any surprise then that folks trying to follow Jesus’ footsteps should be and are concerned about unity. That they’re concerned about generous orthodoxy and finding commonality rather than divisive closed orthodoxy?
Jesus basically tells us that the world will know who Jesus is – God’s son – when they see the Church united.
They’ll start to see that hey – if that Republican and that Democrat can get together then there must be something special going on. If that conservative can love that homosexual, there must be something happening. If they can disagree on orthodoxy and orthopraxy and still break bread and drink wine together – there must be some powerful force at work.
Our credibility and the credibility of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection all rest on how we relate to one another.
When we love one another, when we sacrifice for one another, when we put others first, there’s life — life far beyond what we can imagine.
The early church realized that. They were known for their generosity, for their giving. They sold everything so that others could have. They practiced the Gospel of Enough and the Gospel of Generosity.
It is the Christians, O Emperor, who have sought and found the truth, for they acknowledge God.
They do not keep for themselves the goods entrusted to them.
They do not covet what belongs to others.
They show love to their neighbors.
They do not do to another what they would not wish to have done to themselves.
They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them friends.
It has become their passion to do good to their enemies.
They live in the awareness of their smallness.
Every one of them who has anything gives ungrudgingly to the one who has nothing.
If they see a traveling stranger, they bring him under their roof.
They rejoice over him as over a real brother, for they do not call one another brothers after the flesh, but they know they are brothers in the Spirit and in God.
If they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed for the sake of Christ, they take care of his needs. If possible they set him free.
If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for him.
In this way they can supply any poor man with the food he needs.
This, O Emperor is the rule of life of the Christians, this is their manner of life.
– Asistides 137 AD
And so, in seeking what being a true Follower of the Way looked like in the 1st Century and what that might look like today, in the 21st Century — in a post-modern society — many emergents have knowingly and maybe even unknownly adopted these Trinitarian based values.
They’ve adopted a lifestyle in which they they enjoy one another, they encourage one another, they support one another, they love one another, they defer to one another, they glorify one another and they have ongoing mutual respect for one another.
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. – Phil 2:1-4
Of course, in each of these posts, I’m not trying to say emergents have a monopoly on any of these ideas – but I think they’re things that I have come to see and recognize in my own conversations. And ultimately I would hope that these are the attributes the world would accuse the entire Church of. That if they have reason to be upset and angry at us — it’ll be because we love everyone, we fellowship with the worst and the least as well as the greatest among us, we hold community in high regards, we mutually submit to one another, we sacrifice for others, we highly regard the Word of God – not the word of man. Let the world accuse the Church of these “evil” things – and let the Church be united in living them out.
Finally, what am I missing? What characteristics of Trinitarian based values am I missing? What characteristics of Trinitarian based values are emergents missing? Let’s converse.
Photo from d50studio
This is an interesting article. One thing I would add is the idea of Kenosis again implicit in the Gospels and the letters. As the Creator expresses love and pours out this love into the Redeemer and the Spirit, so we Christians are called to pour out our love into the world. This pouring out of love, is what Jesus is doing when he sends out the disciples, and sends out the church. Mission is fundamentally about this ‘sent-ness’. This again is implicit in the Trinity. If you like this, can I suggest my book ‘The Becoming of G-d’ which is all about this. Great post!
Ian, thanks for your comment! I found your blog very helpful in understanding this concept. I’ll have to check out your book for sure. I’m adding it to my Amazon Wish List as I write.
Kenosis is a heavy term. Here’s the definition Wikipedia has given it…
Kenosis is a Greek word for emptiness, which is used as a theological term. The ancient Greek word ??????? kén?sis means an “emptying”, from ????? kenós “empty”. The word is mainly used, however, in a Christian theological context, for example Philippians 2:7, “Jesus made himself nothing (??????? ekén?se) …” (NIV) or “…he emptied himself…” (NRSV), using the verb form ????? kenó? “to empty”.
That’s heavy – that that’s our calling as Followers of The Way. Thanks for bringing that out.
This is an interesting article. One thing I would add is the idea of Kenosis again implicit in the Gospels and the letters. As the Creator expresses love and pours out this love into the Redeemer and the Spirit, so we Christians are called to pour out our love into the world. This pouring out of love, is what Jesus is doing when he sends out the disciples, and sends out the church. Mission is fundamentally about this ‘sent-ness’. This again is implicit in the Trinity. If you like this, can I suggest my book ‘The Becoming of G-d’ which is all about this. Great post!
Ian, thanks for your comment! I found your blog very helpful in understanding this concept. I’ll have to check out your book for sure. I’m adding it to my Amazon Wish List as I write.
Kenosis is a heavy term. Here’s the definition Wikipedia has given it…
Kenosis is a Greek word for emptiness, which is used as a theological term. The ancient Greek word κÎνωσις kénÅsis means an “emptyingâ€, from κενός kenós “emptyâ€. The word is mainly used, however, in a Christian theological context, for example Philippians 2:7, “Jesus made himself nothing (á¼ÎºÎνωσε ekénÅse) …†(NIV) or “…he emptied himself…†(NRSV), using the verb form κενόω kenóŠ“to emptyâ€.
That’s heavy – that that’s our calling as Followers of The Way. Thanks for bringing that out.