Newsline: Progressive Brethren Gathering hears from seminary president

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl
Brumbaugh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

PROGRESSIVE BRETHREN GATHERING HEARS FROM SEMINARY PRESIDENT

(Nov. 19, 2010) Elgin, IL -- Bethany Theological Seminary president 
Ruthann Knechel Johansen called for a new sense of wonder in a time 
of "dis-ease," as she gave the keynote address to the Progressive 
Brethren Gathering this past weekend in North Manchester, Ind. 

The meeting brought more than 200 people from across the country to 
gather at Manchester Church of the Brethren and Manchester College. 
Sponsored by Womaen's Caucus, Voices for an Open Spirit, and the 
Brethren Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and 
Transgender Interests (BMC), the gathering explored the theme 
"Forward Together: Conversations Towards an Enlivened Community."

The timing of the meeting--while Special Response hearings related to 
issues of sexuality are being held in each district of the Church of 
the Brethren--made the denominational conversation a backdrop and 
context for discussion.

(Information about the Church of the Brethren's Special Response 
process is at 
www.cobannualconference.org/special_response_resource.html.)

"Why or how is this moment in our history different than all other 
moments?" Johansen asked--one of several questions in which she 
juxtaposed a "holy order" or a "compassionate and just order" over 
against evidence of dis-ease and disorder in church and society.

Reviewing times of disorder in the biblical record and church 
history, and current social disorders, she asserted that, "We are 
entangled in the cultural value of unmindful domination." This leads 
to abstracting people into issues, she said, and to attitudes like 
sexism, militarism, homophobia, racism, materialism.

"How shall we disenthrall ourselves" in the face of our own 
disorders? she asked. Her answer pointed to the order found in the 
created universe, a natural world she sees as having been given the 
power to shift and create anew. The example of the root system of the 
redwood forests offers a model of order for a time of disorder, she 
noted, as a network of trees that yet maintain individuality.

Another resource for dealing with disorder is the history of 
forebearance in the Church of the Brethren, Johansen said. She 
pointed to instances in which congregations have not been forced to 
comply with Annual Conference decisions, even over historically 
contentious issues such as the ordination of women and the peace 
witness. 

Forebearance, however, requires discernment--and "discerning the role 
of boundaries or rules is particularly difficult in the church," she 
said, especially when the secular world calls for sharp divides.

The ultimate solution is to become "incarnational people," she 
concluded. Incarnational people, she said, are those who accept the 
invitation to incarnation with Jesus Christ, who embrace the gift of 
human embodiment--and sexuality, and who choose to be relational. 
Incarnation is made possible through the Spirit of God, and without a 
spiritual awakening, she warned, the church will not realize the 
Spirit in its midst and will not see the boundary walls already 
broken down. 

"We must carry the incarnation out of the Bible, out of glib 
protestations of the faith, and into our own bodies," she said. 
"There we may meet one another in all our holy diversity."

In closing, before taking questions, Johansen pointed to a sense of 
wonder as the key to incarnational living, and to finding "holy 
order" in a difficult time. Wonder will aid the church in its task of 
discernment, she said. Wonder also may reduce our anxiety, and lead 
us back to the study of scripture with greater sensitivity, she added.

Wonder presents the possibility that "new dimensions of God's reign 
may arise," she said. "Wonder is, I think, the soil that nurtures 
love."

The gathering also included an afternoon of workshops, and daily 
worship services. Messages were brought by Debbie Eisenbise, pastor 
of Skyridge Church of the Brethren in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Kreston 
Lipscomb, pastor of Springfield (Ill.) Church of the Brethren. The 
Sunday morning service was held with Manchester Church of the 
Brethren. Evening activities included a concert by Mutual Kumquat and 
a square dance.

The college hosted a banquet Saturday evening. Following the meal the 
group held a playful exercise asking participants to rate how they 
felt about 15 word pairs under categories such as "Our church" and 
"What we want" and "What to do." The exercise seemed aimed at 
revealing how progressive Brethren feel about the denomination, and 
how they want to respond to decisions of Annual Conference.

In a Sunday school session held after the closing worship service, 
participants in the gathering and members of the Manchester 
congregation shared experiences of attending Special Response 
hearings in different districts. Experiences ranged from very 
negative to quite positive, from one man's statement that, "It (the 
process) was set up for failure," to a woman's testimony about a very 
"mindful" and well prepared process in her district.

However, a variety of concerns about the hearing process predominated 
in the ensuing discussion. As the session turned to the question of 
how to respond to eventualities at the 2011 Annual Conference, 
comments ranged widely from those who openly welcome a schism in the 
denomination, to those worried about the destructive nature of a 
church split, to those committed to staying in the denomination.

Carol Wise of BMC closed the gathering with a plea to provide care 
for people who during the Special Response hearings may be subjected 
to hurtful comments because of their sexual orientation or that of 
family members. "I'm very concerned about that as we move through 
this process," she said, "the way we've put a particular community on 
display and on trial." 

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to 
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out 
its faith in community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist 
and Pietist faith traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace 
Churches. It celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 
123,000 members across the United States and Puerto Rico, and has 
missions and sister churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican 
Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org