Awakening

The Resources

Ten years ago, Diana Butler Bass, who is a a north American church historian, published a book called Christianity After Religion. This year she asked her publishers if they’d be interested in doing a revisit of the ideas in that book to see what had changed, whether any of her reading of the signs of the times had played out as expected and exploring a little of what is now on the horizon. They said no. So, Diana did it as a northern hemisphere summer series with some video mini lectures and some reflections and questions.

I haven’t read the book – I know, you are shocked – but I went along with the weekly readings and videos because I’ve read some of her other books and found them wise and insightful…and she said it was ok to do that even if you hadn’t read the book. It was like being in your shoes for a bit!!

Anyway, in Christianity After Religion, Diana clarifies the difference between a revival and an awakening. Awakening is a loaded term for North American Christians given their history, so the idea of an awakening doesn’t carry the same significance for our context in Aotearoa, I think, but when I heard her making the distinctions I felt a resonance. Ah! This is why talk of revival makes me feel a bit nervy and nauseous. And this is why talk of awakening gives me a good kind of shiver as I feel my spirit leaning forwards…yes, yes, that.

You can watch this video of her explaining the reform, revival and awakening piece – she starts that around 7 minutes in.

What do you notice happening in you as you listen to her describing ‘a critical disjunction in how we see God, ourselves and the world’?

Diana also identifies five movements in an awakening shift. You’ll hear this if you listen through to the end, but just in case you run out of time, here they are:

• a crisis of legitimacy – the ways in which we received faith no longer fit, feel authentic, seem to ‘work’. There can be a sense of isolation around that.
• a period of cultural distortion – people who are feeling the crisis of legitimacy begin to find each other…and realise if it’s not just me…maybe it’s the institutions that are wrong and failing us.
• small groups of awakening individuals begin attempting to conceptualise a new way, a new vision, a new paradigm. There is a space for creative innovation.
• some of the new things begin to stick with others who haven’t gone through the crisis process but are open to new ideas and recognise the need to change. People cluster around is a new vision, practices, structures and new paths to a different kind of future.
• instututional transformation. When the tipping point is reached and enough people are willing and able to come on board with a new path and new vision.

In Christianity After Religion, Diana argues that we in in the midst of an awakening and reflecting on her book ten years on, she says this:

THE CRISIS OF LEGITIMACY
It was — and is — much worse than we knew

When explaining the “crisis of legitimacy,” I pointed to the “horrible decade” of 2000-2010 and how disorienting recent events were to both religion and politics. Looking at these particular episodes are key to understanding the framework of awakening — and, I hope, foster an honest wrestling with a history we’ve lived through and that has changed us.

If I were writing now, I’d extend that section — “Two Horrible Decades.” 

The crisis of legitimacy for the church has caused every single American religious tradition – liberal or conservative, mainline or evangelical, ancient or modern, sacramental or contemporary – into some sort of defensive posture, worried about membership, budgets, buildings, and the future. No denomination has escaped this and none has dealt with it well. Every plan that I know of to fix, save, restructure, or otherwise rescue particular denominations has failed.

And

THE DECLINE OF CHRISTIANITY
It happened faster than predicted

people are not “coming back to church” when they marry and have children. Please throw every expectation from earlier generations in the history waste bin. That’s all gone for good.

As I’ve been journeying with this material, I’ve also been thinking about the SFD stories that are told to make sense of what is happening around us – not just with regards to faith and organised religion, but also socially, culturally, politically, economically and environmentally. It occurred to me that some people tweet their shitty first draft and think that’s all there is to it.

Awakenings are big, sweeping movements, and they happen, they have to begin, in individuals. WE wake up to our SFD as the starting point and recognise the dissonance of what has worked or made sense in the past, and where we find ourselves now. Until you circle back and start to ravel/wrestle/mull over your story and ask questions of yourself and the other agents in your story you can’t move into the crisis of legitimacy – because you will work to keep the original, received institutional version of reality.

Many people who express their crisis of legitimacy are talked out of it or learn to hold in their experience of dissonance and blame themselves. Others are exiled, shamed and ‘cancelled’.

It seems to me that there is a necessary period of anger, frustration and grieving that happens when you recognise and stay with the crisis of legitimacy. Yes, individuals gather and affirm the reality that our systems and institutions are not serving in ways that nurture and nourish life and faith. At first, though, those gatherings are safe places to process the pain of loss and the frustration of wanting to find a different path, to forge and different future and practice faith in authentic forms and finding your efforts blocked or thwarted. Also, I think there’s a legitimate need to take the time to bemoan the resistance to change encountered in our current organisational structures and cultural norms. That all needs to be processed. It’s the messy middle from the original SFD where you try all of the other solutions until you realise that they won’t work, and you learn what it is really going to take to solve the problem of loss of integrity.

And then, after the grieving, there may be space and focus and energy for creativity and innovation to flourish.

Pause to Reflect

What’s been your experience of the crisis of legitimacy? How have you worked with that story? And where are you in the grieving process?

The Practices

The prayer of the name.

This is the guided audio from the Centre for Spiritual Imagination and it invites you into a space where you exercise trust and then you rest. This is an interesting practice for when you are in the crisis of legitimacy. What can you trust? Who do you trust? Can you rest? How deeply must you sink into trust before there is peace?

What do you notice as you pray this way?

A mindful stroll

For those of us who need to let the body move while sinking into trust, try a mindful stroll. This is not going for a walk. This exercise is not exercise. It is much more aimless and essentially pointless in terms of productivity. Strolling is going nowhere in particular and at no great speed. Strolling is letting the moment unfold, choosing whether to turn left or right as the opportunity presents itself. Strolling may involve an unexpected stop. It can involve being a bit lost. It’s an exploration of uncertainty and responsiveness. What can you discover? What impulses do you notice? How is it for you to trust what unfolds before you and to look for possibilities? What’s it like to have no plan, no map and no guidelines?

A mantra and a craft

Brene offers this mantra: Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging.

And my suggestion is:

part one. that you use this mantra any time you notice you are feeling afraid. Any time you make a mistake and feel uncomfortable about it. Any time you mis-step, feel exposed or uncertain. That might mean, if you are paying attention, you’ll find youself saying this mantra quite often.

part two. that you pause to consider whose love you are worthy of…whose love matters to you. And also, where are you looking for and finding belonging? Who do you belong with? What does that belonging look and feel like?

part three. create something that reflects your love and belonging. It could be a photo montage, or a collage. It could be a flower arrangement or a poem or a melody. What creative expression can you give to the love and belonging which form the foundation of your affirmation?