Cigarettes and Coffee: Emerge

Background: 
As I slid into a table seat at the Starbucks cafe' a block from my school, and opened my book I had no idea that my spiritual journey was about to take a very unexpected turn. This journey really began a few months earlier when I had attended the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) in San Diego, CA. This meeting was full of presentations from some of the most well known theologians and scholars of the western world. As I ventured from lecture to lecture I was both amazed at the intelligence of those who were presenting, and at the same time, dismayed. I could not help but feel, as I listened to each lecture, there was something missing from this conference. I mean, here we were in one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the United States, coming together as fellow believers in Christ, and what should have felt like an exciting gathering of spiritual leaders and family felt more like a business seminar with the wonders of God and the scriptures being spoken of as mere figures and facts. I am no way attempting to judge or else cut down anybody at ETS, and the whole experience was not all dry, especially when John Piper took the main stage and delivered an amazing message about Justification, but coming away from ETS I was left with a sort of depressing feeling. Where was excitement and where was the passion?

Spiritual Awakening - Emergent Exploration: So here I sit after days of reading, meditating, praying, and yes... consuming unhealthy amounts of coffee and smoking my clove cigarettes. I had decided to begin a deeper exploration into the Emergent Village specifically because it has been the subject of such great debate and I have heard so much talk of people crying heretic and others calling it God's saving power for the church. Please note that I do not agree with everything in the books I will mention, but I am a firm believer in affirming truth, no matter the amount, wherever it may lie. All truth is God's truth. 

The book of the week has been the Emergent Village's publication An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, and what I have learned has begun to shape and transform me into a believer in a holistic faith which is vibrant and spiritual in nature. The first article written is authored by Mark Scandrette, a writer and spiritual teacher from San Francisco. In his introductory paragraphs Scandrette speaks of the loss of meaning that was once attached to the terms Emergent and the Emerging Church. He writes, "The increasing visibility, perceived credibility, and for some, scandal of the emerging church are threats to the spirit of what we mean by emerge - the primal humanity, vulnerability, and passion of a search for a way with God together in the world we live in". This quote, specifically the last two lines, really says a lot about the Emergent Village and the general theme among most of its members. It is inspiring and exciting to think of the Christian faith as an exploratory journey, forging a path to find how God wants us to live as believers with him on his Earth. This notion stuck with me right away and upon further reflection I affirm the explanation to it I just gave, but it must come (as with most spiritual  conversations) with a warning. We are on an exciting journey into what is, at times, the unknown, but this is not and cannot be, if we are truly Christ followers, the means and the end. A journey must have a destination. I will not pass judgement of any individual member of the Emergent Village, for I am very much in over my head and I have the highest respect for what they are trying to accomplish, but I will some up the warning with a quote from the upcoming book Why We're Not Emergent, by Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck. "In the music scene it's really cool to search for God. It's not very cool to find him". With so much going for them, I pray that the Emergent Village and those who follow them, myself included, will heed this statement and realize that vagueness and generality are not forms of humility. I fully endorse a holistic view of the Gospel message and I am inspired by the passion of the Emergent village and will continue to explore the Emergent holistic perspective. More to follow in part 2. . .

- Luke