Emergent ranting

AKMA has a great post where he responds in part to other blog entries that are “ranting” about the emergent church. It’s a fascinating discussion, but I keep going back to the three elements I think about in relation to media — authenticity, authority, agency. I think any of the experimenting we’re doing with liturgy has to balance these elements. To the extent that any faith community is successful at that balancing in their context, then I think it is likely that their community will flourish. But the key — in addition to balance — is “in their context.” And part of what is so difficult these days is that so much is changing, even notions of what constitutes “community” are more fluid than ever. I don’t think any specific “recipe” will work for long, even in one place. We need to work towards being fluent enough in the various resources of our traditions that we can improvise as necessary, without leaving the traditions entirely behind. I know, I know, that probably sounds like a weak apologetic, but there is deep wisdom embedded in tradition — and as long as we remain ever aware that traditions are always undergoing transformation, we should be able to avoid the sin of “traditionalism.”