How great a fall did Humpty have?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
All the king's horses,
and all the king's men,
couldn't put Humpty together again.
Humpty's fall was too great. He was dismembered, fragmented, and broken apart.
Are we?
I think that's a pressing question. We live in a time when the cultural 'noise' is so great we can forget the first calling on us as Christians. The church is in trouble. And in order to rethink what it means to be the church, I think we have to remember the story in which God has called us to be a part.
There are two different senses of what it means to "remember," you know. One is simply calling to mind that which has been forgotten. But the other one - re-membering - means putting something back together that has been fragmented.
Kind of like Humpty Dumpty.
I look at the challenge of remembering and re-membering the church in my current United Methodist Reporter column. Take a look, and feel free to offer your feedback.
Labels: Church Renewal, Ecclesiology, UMC
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 6:49 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Andrew!
Do you think a third way of remembering, anamnesis, could be central to our 're-think' church movement? If we considered a little bit more standardization to Eucharistic liturgy (without imposing order in a disruptive way) and catachesis about how anamnesis and eucharistic memory function, it might help people remember in a deeper way. It could also serve to make present Christ's sacrifice, which (should at least) move us away from the golden calves. Our liturgy's real strong point is not just the anamnesis, but the epiclesis that draws the entire body of believers into the Christ's body through the Holy Spirit.
That may not be helpful, but it's an idea!
Thanks for your great insights,
Anna
Anna -
Great comments. I agree completely! I was originally somewhat skeptical of the entire 'rethink church' approach to what we should be about in Methodist ministry. But it is exactly thoughts like the ones you are sharing that have led me to believe that 'rethinking' church is a helpful way to frame how we approach an embodied faith - particularly when done with reference to the recovery of the church's liturgical memory.
- AT
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