By Gary Gunderson
A congregation is that amazing human phenomenon that emerges at the edge of the human and the holy. What do you see there? You see the whole thing, including all the ragged and horrible violations of what God made possible. You don’t just see that to be glorified, but also that to be lamented. Congregations make it possible to see what is possible and then, one step at a time, move toward it. Most likely, you are not naive about congregations and are rarely surprised by their foibles and silliness. They are bold and mundane, capable of pedestrian tenacity. We walk and don’t quit. We are not alone and not under own our power. Sometimes the walk is marked by giving away a bag of food to a mom on her way to an empty home after surgery, and sometimes it is marked by the huge questions of peace, faith, and health.
On March 27-30, 2014, one of these sacred gatherings will take place at Lake Junaluska Conference Center, helping us see “faith, health and peace.” When you go to the edge of the holy, you just never know who will be standing there with you. In these days, it will be global leaders, academics and authors, physicians from the Andean mountains, the radical witness off the tough streets of Memphis and Lexington and a few Bishops. You can check out the impressive group on www.lakejunalska.com/peace, but more distinctive than their individual reputations will be the blended intelligence of those who lay down their credentialed identities as together we stand before the holy and ask what we can do with our lives. Is there a hope equal to the horror?
Part of the answer is that we can help each other seek life. The logic of the Leading Causes of Life helps release us from the bonds of despair and the arrogance of powerlessness even in a world torn by violence of ever-escalating horror. Congregations are not the answer by themselves any more than they are the answer to any other problem by themselves; but we can see what is possible to hope for, and help each other make the first steps in the right direction.
At a university that shall be not be named (okay, it was Emory), we were talking one day about researching faith and health. One of the scholars insisted that we had not adequately “problematized” the phenomenon. Academics have trouble thinking about anything other than problems. Congregations are different; we don’t think clearly when we do not go together to the edge of holy. We are built for life.
That’s why we congregate, convene and find each other in worship and silence. That’s why we break bread, lift each other up in song and tears. It’s why we speak the truth in love and dare to ask questions that stay buried elsewhere. See if this does not describe the place you worship; and if you’d like to see it in the mountains, think about joining us at Lake Junaluska March 27th. For more information, click here.
Photo, dsdugan, Creative Commons.
