|Re|Form | The Roots of Tradition Nurture Innovation

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Podcast

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On Sunday September 24th, Collective kicked off its fall series, |Re|Form, delving into the history and traditions of Christianity. As this series leads us to our event with Brian McLaren in November, we seek to learn the rules of the institution, so we may have to knowledge to properly mold and play with them in the modern days of our lives. My job is to briefly recap and offer my feelings on the sermon, under the promises that I will strive to avoid offense, ask good questions, and articulate and explain my responses.​

This sermon addressed the cycle of change the church goes through, commenting on the great yard sale Christianity does every 500 years. Five hundred years of technological advancements, political ideologies, and most importantly, the personal experiences which make up the church itself begin to gently exert their forces and mold the church into a new product for a new time. Conveniently, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation this year!
Examining what our future church looks like called us back to what brought us together in a room in the first place. In small groups we discussed what brought us here, what keeps us here, and what we look forward to in our journeys. People spoke of their early religious experiences, both good and bad, that set the course for their journey and understandings. We spoke of friends; the friends who brought us, who welcomed us, and who have now become a part of our stories. Personally, I had very little religious experience that shaped my path towards faith. But like those friends around me, I too found collective during a period of suffering in my life, thanks to a dear and trusted friend who offered me safety to enter this special place.
A place that I am sure many of us are grateful for, as we were all excited for the future. A future that engages with our past, reflecting on how we’ve changed to end up where we are in the present. It is a future that is an open-ended question. A future that does not focus on defining itself against the other, but that asks what brings meaning into our worlds.