I just recently read "A Generous Orthodoxy" by Brian McLaren, one of the key leaders of the emerging church movement, and found that I absolutely loved the book. It was interesting listening to some of the comments my classmates made about it, and it seemed like most of those who spoke did not have a very high regard for McLaren or his views, they felt like he was fairly uneducated (it's true, he hasn't been to seminary, but I wouldn't say that makes someone uneducated), and that he had weak church history and systematic theology knoweldge (ok he pretty much has no regard for systematic theology). I probably would offer the same critiques if I thought I was reading this book to gain a solid grasp of church history or systematics--this isn't the point of his book though! What I loved about McLaren's perspective is how gracious and honoring he is of so many different denominations and traditions. We live in a world where mud-slinging between various faiths, and even between various Christian churches is almost the norm, not the exception, and this has always frustrated me to no end. I am tired of hearing friends talk about how there is no value in liturgy, the Catholic church, and mainline Protestant denominations are dead, people who pray pre-written prayers have no authentic faith, traditions and celebrating the liturgical calendar is wrong...and on and on it goes.....what infuriates me the most is not these particular opinions--if someone wants to argue that liturgy isn't helpful in bringing someone into the presence of God, or if someone wants to claim that "spontaneous" prayers feel more authentic to them than a prayer written by someone a thousand years ago, I am ok with that. But what drives me nuts is that often these comments are made by individuals who have never taken the time to try and understand these ways of worship, they perhaps have memories of being bored during Christmas Eve mass at grandma's church and therefore have completely written off anything having to do with a liturgical form of worship without even trying to understand the beauty, depth, richness and history behind these things.McLaren approaches this book with the idea that every tradition and denomination from the Roman Catholics to the Orthodox to the Methodists and the Calvinists have something to contribute to worship, to spirituality, and by ignoring all these other ways of doing things that may differ from our own, we are vastly limiting our view of God, the ways people connect with Him, and the ways He works in the world through worship. He argues (ok I'm putting this in my words, he doesn't really say this) but when we stop the mud-slinging and start listening to and learning from one another, and treating one another with honor, respect and dignity, we will be enriching our own lives and understanding of Who God is and who His people are. I'll stop "preaching" but I wanted to share with you my favorite story from his book, it's a story he tells towards the end about a friend of his and how she taught her daughter to respect the Muslims and their tradition of covering their heads. This story made me start to weep--which was slightly embarassing since I was in a crowded coffee shop at the time--but I realized these were tears of hope, I caught a glimpse of hope that if Christians really took this idea of loving and respecting our neighbors, this world would be a vastly different place. We could spend hours arguing over whether Allah is the same God as Yahweh, and at some point in the discussion this probably has a place, but when we start there, in a spirit of argumentation and determination to "convert" them to our "side", we miss the opportunity to extend the mercy of Christ to our brothers and sisters--to individuals that He created and loves just as much as He loves you and I. May this story bring you hope as well...hope that things can be different.
From A Generous Orthodoxy:
"My friend Diana Butler Bass tells this story in her book Broken We Kneel. Diana lives near the DC area—rich in cultural diversity, tense after the 9/11 attacks, and the context for this story:
One day [my daughter] Emma saw a woman walking towards us covered in a veil and asked the inevitable, “what’s that mommy?”
“Emma,” I answered, “that lady is a Muslim from a faraway place. And she dresses like that and covers her head with a veil because she loves God. That is how her people show they love God.”
My daughter considered these words. She stared at the woman who passed us. She pointed at the woman, then pointed at my hair, and further quizzed, “mommy, do you love God?”
“Yes honey.” I laughed. “I do. You and I are Christians. Christian ladies show love for God by going to church, eating the bread and wine, serving the poor, and giving to those in need. We don’t wear veils, but we do love God.”
After this, Emma took every opportunity to point to Muslim women during our shopping trips and tell me “mommy! Look! She loves God!” One day, we were getting out of our car at our driveway at the same time as our Pakistani neighbors. Emma saw the mother, beautifully veiled, and, pointing at her shouted “look mommy! She loves God!”
My neighbor was surprised. I told her what I had taught Emma about Muslim ladies loving God. While she held back tears, this near stranger hugged me saying, “I wish all Americans would teach their children so. The world would be better. The world would be better.”
For her main gift, Becca, our resident artist, had hand painted John 3:16 in Greek, English, and Latin on a canvas for Jenn's wall--it was beautifully done!
For one of her gifts, Jenn had framed 2 photos from Becca's time as an intern at San Marino Community Church. One is of Becca with the sign out front on a day she was preaching and the other photo is of the youth group kids on a servant day.
Reading my card from Sophie that says that friendship is what it's all about, not the hokey pokey...if you've been to Cursillo, it'll make you laugh too....
In the car on the way over we were discussing the finer points of Thursday's Grey's Anatomy episode, and I was once again lamenting my addiction to a TV show. I had commented that I've decided my gift to myself at the end of this quarter (coming up here in about 3 weeks) is to buy season 1 on DVD so I can take it to Hawaii with me over Spring Break to watch on the plane. So I was VERY excited when I opened my gift from Sophie to find she knows me too well and had gotten it for me...and then promptly took it back and told me I can have it after finals...yeah she knows me a bit too well....those papers and sermons just won't be written if I have that in the apartment!
I had gotten Sophie a collection of random gifts, one being a copy of the The Trumpet of the Swan, which was her favorite book as a kid...she was very excited, she said her other copy had been dropped in the bathtub one day....
And we decided to do the individual shots....
Miss Jennifer
and Miss Sophie
Becca, looking like a "real" musician, getting warmed up to lead us in worship Saturday morning
Baking desserts Saturday night--Denise, Sandra, and Ryan
and Dave "helping" by doing some of the "clean up"
Neal, our speaker, demonstrating that he is a man of many talents--here he is showing us his wood chopping abilities
Neal had brought with him our official Southern California Presbyterian Cursillo "banner"--our surfboard with the butterfly, both to show us and to send it home with Becca to have her paint a better butterfly on it...here we are with Neal and Peter, another Cursillo-ite from Houston who goes to Neal's church in San Diego and came to join us for the weekend. 
and of course, our true California girl, Becca, decided to actually ride the surfboard--on the snow...
I convinced her to get off the surf board long enough to take a picture with me...
Jenni and Denise