Epilogue – Home Again

"In her sermon Anne explains that Lent is not about being sad, not some sort of spiritual penance.  Rather, she insists, Lent is about change — the change that God can make in our selves, our faith communities, and the larger world.  Lent is a time that opens our hearts to transformation, to becoming God's people and doing that which God calls us to do" (p. 281).

1.  Is the Reverend Anne Howard right?  Is "transformation the promise at the heart of the Christian life"?

2.  What are the implications of transformative Christianity in your own life, for the life of your congregation, and for the larger community of which you are part?

Chapter 17. Transforming the World

"Instead of being involved in politics as they were in the 1970s — primarily  the politics of policy and protest — they engaged in hands-on personal politics, things like setting up homeless shelters and local environmental projects" (p. 259).

1.  Why do we engage, to use Jack Harrison's phrase, in "all this for-the-church activity"?  What do you think is the point, the larger goal, of being part of a church or even being a Christian?

2.  What do you think of St. Mark's response to 9/11?  What most surprises you about St. Mark's attitude toward political questions?

3.  What color is your congregation?

4.  What does it mean to "reclaim" the message of Christianity?

5.  Reflect on the political concerns of the two Methodist churches in Florida.  What do the Florida congregations suggest about the role of religion in public life?

6.  Do you think the "left-right" paradigm works for American religion?  Why or why not?

Chapter 16. Transforming Congregations

"This is a jazz church ... Not just improvisation, but jazz in the sense that jazz pulls in all styles of music.  You have to listen to everything.  You become a better player.  It comes out in your music."
— p. 247 in Christianity for the Rest of Us

1.  How might your congregation respond if your minister preached a sermon like Bruce Freeman's?  As a community, do you welcome change?  Fear it?  Avoid it?

2.  What do you think about the possibility of your congregation experiencing metanoia?

3.  Of the churches described in this chapter, which would you most like to join?  Why?

4.  If your church was not called by its current name (for example, "First Presbyterian," "Our Savior," or "St. Mary's"), what might it be called?  Pick a name that fits with its identity and share with the group the reasons for choosing it.

Labyrinth at St. Francis of Assisi

Mary (Zorro) searched out this labyrinth at an Episcopal church in Ooltewah, across town from where I live.  She and Donna (AuntyDon) and I arranged to meet there Friday morning to walk the labyrinth.  As we walked in silence, I collected a small pinecone that had fallen onto the sandy path among the brown leaves, and I saw Donna bend down to touch the black stones of a tile in the next picture.

These three stone tiles were placed at the beginning (which is also the end) of the path we walked.  The Alpha and Omega are separated by a tile showing a cross with a colorful glass (?) center.  All were designed with smooth inlaid stones.  If you were to walk across these tiles, rather than following the brick-outlined path, you'd be going straight into the center of the labyrinth...

...which is here.  Yesterday was a chilly morning, as you can see by the jackets.  Mary and Donna are standing at "9 o'clock" and "12 o'clock" on the cross in the center, meditating.  Mary looked up, Donna looked down, and I looked at my viewfinder to snap this picture before taking my place at the "3 o'clock" arm of this cross.  The entrance/exit for the center was at "6 o'clock" — in line with Donna.

Mary approaches the end of "unwinding" herself out of the labyrinth.  (See those three white tiles?)  Later, she suggested we should write a booklet telling people how to pray the labyrinth.  Donna pointed out what she read at the St. Paul labyrinth, that there's no one right way to walk a labyrinth.  This is quoted from the handout we picked up there:

Unlike a maze, a labyrinth offers no tricks, puzzles, or dead-ends.  The design forms a winding unicursal path which leads toward the center and back out again.  This sacred path in a sacred circle simply leads to a deeper connection to God, others, and ourselves. ... There is no right or wrong way to walk the labyrinth.  Walk with an open mind and an open heart and receive whatever is there for you.  Release your expectations.  Focus on your breath.  Find your own individual pace.  There is one way in and one way out.  Those going in will meet those coming out.  You may "pass" others on the path or allow them to step around you.  Do whatever comes naturally.  Use everything as a metaphor.

We three met in the middle and walked out from that center separately, no one close to another except when we passed on adjacent parts of the path.

We ended our time together at Cracker Barrel, eating and having a theological conversation that lasted a couple of hours.  Mary's daughter Cori met us for lunch, and she's the one who took this photo of the three muskateers — I mean, the three book buddies.  If you click twice on these photos, you can enlarge them to see more details.  You may even be able to read the quote on my tee-shirt:

"Well behaved women rarely make history."

Chapter 15. Transforming Lives

"Paul may have been stopped in his tracks on the road to Damascus, but it took three years of living in Christian community and learning its practices for him to be fully changed" (p. 222).

1.  What do you think about Bernard's story?  How might your church respond if Bernard and Catherine had walked in the front door?

2.  What do you think about the word conversion?

3.  Which of the metanoia stories presented in this chapter speaks most strongly to you?  Why?

Chapter 14. Beauty

"Touching the Divine" is the subtitle of this chapter.  Perhaps the best illustration I can provide for us is to let us actually hear a recorder being played.  Diana Butler Bass shared how people reacted to music in one church:

"As the choir sang, many listened with closed eyes, seeming to experience in almost mystical sense of God's transcendence.  And I was not crying alone; the medieval recorder brought a few other people to tears.  These people live music" (p. 203).

Do you know what a recorder is?  This video shows a quartet (Loeki Stardust Quartett Amsterdam) playing recorders of different sizes.  (If the video quits working, view it on YouTube by clicking the link.)



1.  What is the role of music and art in your spiritual life?  In your congregation?

2.  How do you respond to the interview with the Reverend Alice Connor?  To Phyllis Tickle's story about the teenage boy?  Do Alice's and the boy's comments make sense to you?  Do they help you better understand the Trinity or the Virgin Birth?  What do you think about beauty as a pathway of theological knowledge?

Chapter 13. Reflection

This chapter is subtitled "thinking theologically."  There's a difference between "learning about Christianity" and "learning Christianity."  To use a phrase coined by Marcus Borg, the Episcopalians at Lynne's Episcopal church took the Bible "seriously, but not literally" (p. 188).

"Bible study is a practice of thoughtful faithfulness, one that blends Christian commitment with openness.  As such, learning moves beyond information and becomes spiritual formation in a way of life, a life, as Lynne had hoped, that nurtures compassion and justice" (p. 188).

1.  How do you understand the Christian life of the mind?  Have you ever thought of intellectual curiosity as a spiritual practice?  Does your church encourage or discourage theological reflection as an important part of the faith journey?  Have you ever considered theological reflection a "way of life"?

2.  What do you think about the difference between liberality and liberalism?

3.  What do you make of the last two paragraphs of this chapter?  Do they reflect your longings?  Your congregation?

Chapter 12. Worship

The Rev. Danny Gulden, senior pastor at Sandy Springs Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), breaks bread during the worship service on September 16, 2012.  That was the last day of the weekend seminar led at his church by Diana Butler Bass, who preached that morning.  At that window beyond him, you can see music stands for the band that played that day.  To the right is a cross behind the lectern and the pulpit (almost out of sight at the right).

This large cross outside the sanctuary has a variety of mosaics.  Donna, who went with me that weekend, especially liked the symbolism of the clasped hands on the crossbar at the left.  I like the dove representing the Spirit.  To see the images better, click to enlarge photos.


1.  Share frankly your opinion about worship in your current congregation.

2.  Share with the group an experience where you felt the "quarter-second of awe and wonder" as described by Pastor Eric Elnes.

3.  Of the worship experiences described in this chapter, which one most intrigues you?  Why?

Chapter 11. Justice

Harvard has an online course called Justice, based on Michael J. Sandel's huge class and his book called Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?  Some friends and I spent three months studying that free course.  We read the book chapter by chapter, watched Harvard's videos, and met every Monday at my house to talk about it.  You can read that discussion on my book blog, or even take part in it by adding your comments, if you like.

(Just follow the links.)

In Christianity for the Rest of Us, the sub-title of this chapter on justice is "Engaging the Powers."  Diana Butler Bass talks about "doing justice" on page 161:

"Doing justice goes beyond fixing unfair and oppressive structures.  Doing justice means engaging the powers — transforming the 'inner spirit' of all systems of injustice, violence, and exclusion."

1.  Do you think Pastor Roy Terry is right?  Are acts of justice "hardest" for Christians?  Why or why not?  Can you give an example from your own life of a hard act of justice?

2.  Leaders of the religious right often quote John Winthrop's sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," to prove that America is a Christian nation.  Do you think this is an appropriate use of Winthrop's words?  What do you make of the idea of a "city set upon a hill"?  Can congregations emulate Winthrop's ideal of Christian faithfulness?  Can the nation?

3.  Is justice a noun or a verb?  Is justice spiritual?

Chapter 10. Diversity

"How can a religion that speaks so eloquently of love

so brutally destroy its questioners, its dissenters,

its innovators, and its competitors?"

— page 150 in Christianity for the Rest of Us

1.  What do you think of the idea of diversity as a spiritual practice?  Can you come up with biblical stories and texts that speak to a Christian practice of diversity?

2.  Which of the churches presented in this chapter are most like yours?  Which would you most like to resemble?  What kinds of diversities are present in your congregation?  Try to identify as many different kinds of diversity in your congregation as possible.

3.  What do you think of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's ubuntu theology?  Does it reflect your hopes for human community?

Chapter 9. Testimony

"Words are 
like an earthquake"

(from page 131)




1.  Which testimony shared in this chapter had the strongest impact on you?  Why?

2.  How would you feel if you were asked to share your faith story in public?

3.  Share where you are on your journey right now.

Chapter 8. Contemplation

This chapter has to do with prayer (the sub-title is "Open for Prayer"), but also with noise and silence.  I think of meditative prayer and listening.  Here are the questions from the back of the book.

1.  Have you ever experienced contemplative silence in the context of worship?  How did it affect you?

2.  What do you think about the culture of sound in which we live?

3.  Do you fear silence?  Avoid it?  Welcome it?  Long for it?  Resist it?  Why?

4.  What do you think is the role of silence in the spiritual life?

Chapter 7. Healing

1.  What do you think about the relationship between the words healing and harmony?

2.  What is shalom?  Why is it important in the context of healing?

3.  How do you feel when you read Jack Harrison's story?  How might you have responded to his sermon had you been at Epiphany that morning?

Chapter 6. Discernment

1.  What do you think of when you hear the phrase "listening for God"?

2.  Do you believe that God has some intentions for our lives and our communities?

3.  What is the difference between preference and practicing discernment?

Chapter 5. Hospitality

"Christians call these signposts "practices" (p. 74).

"Being a Christian is not a one-moment miracle of salvation.  It takes practice" (p. 75).

1.  When have you been offered hospitality in a way that was spiritually meaningful to you?  When have you offered hospitality in a way that challenged you spiritually?

2.  Who are the strangers in, around, or near you?  Your congregation?  What would it mean to welcome those people into your life?  Your church?

Chapter 4. Finding Home

The last chapter about the neighborhood church in Part I is called "Finding Home."  The study guide (pp. 289-294 in the back of the paperback edition) has only two questions for this chapter.

1.  With which image do you most strongly identify:  returnee, exile, immigrant, convert, or villager?  Does another image better describe your faith journey?

2.  Does your congregation have an impact on your spiritual journey – or do you grow and change primarily outside the context of church?

Later, I wrote a separate post on labyrinths, mentioned on page 56.  Click on the link to see photos and read about labyrinths.

Chapter 3. The New Village Church

We're still in Part I about the neighborhood church and how it's changing.  Chapter 3 is called "The New Village Church."

1.  How do you describe yourself:  a) spiritual, but not religious; b) religious, but not spiritual; or c) religious and spiritual?

2.  What do you think of when you hear the word “tradition”?

3.  How would a congregation that emphasizes practice differ from one that emphasizes purity?

4.  Do you think that faith is about asking questions or finding answers?

You are welcome to answer these questions whether you are reading the book or not.  It could even be interesting if you answered them before you read this chapter and after you have the author's viewpoint.  Or pick any one to answer that interests you, and discuss it to your heart's content.

(The blue image above is borrowed from The Village Church in Dallas, TX.)

Chapter 2. Remembering Christianity

Diana Butler Bass, signing a copy of Christianity for the Rest of Us, three weeks ago

The second chapter about the neighborhood church is "Remembering Christianity."

1.  When you think of America’s religious past, what images come to mind?

2.  Do you, or people you know, suffer from “historical amnesia”?

3.  Which image for the church presented in this chapter best describes your current faith community?

Chapter 1. The Vanished Village

We look first at "Part I – What Happened to the Neighborhood Church?" and the first chapter is about "The Vanished Village."

1.  Where did you grow up?  What was the world like then?  How have things changed since your childhood?

2.  How do you think your childhood experience has shaped your spiritual longings?

3.  Do you relate to the idea of being a “Spiritual nomad?”  Why or why not?

These were the windows of East Lake United Methodist Church in Chattanooga, when I preached their last sermon in 2010.

Introduction

Christianity for the Rest of Us
by Diana Butler Bass, 2006

1.  What "sacred word" came to your mind for the spiritual exercise on the first page?  The event chaplain's words were "holy and blessed," and Diana thought of "anxiety."

2.  Why do some churches thrive?

Bass is an author, a teacher, a person of faith.  Visit her website to learn more.