A few pictures of a place I have grown very accustomed to as of late. (click to peruse. Click the right side of the image to progress. Click the left side to recede.)
1. The box I live in.
2. A few sales samples I’ve neglected to hand out in the midst of other busyness.
3. A little bit of hope to carry me through.
4. A glum little fella to temper my hope.
Spirituality may seem like shallow waters to many religious and devoted Christians, but those who are finding freedom to explore these new pools of spirituality find a deep place with bottoms still unseen.
So what exactly is a faith community? As far as I can tell what is meant is a church. But what is with all this faith business? Doesn’t a hockey team have faith in each other and their strategy and their coach? Don’t the kids in their science project group have legitimacy as people of faith? It takes tremendous faith to let half your grade rest in three similarly irresponsible 10th graders. Are these not likewise faith communities?
Why do Christian communities feel this need to proclaim faith as their distinctive tie that binds? Do we really think that faith exists inside church and there is a faith vacuum outside? Of course not.
And no, it is not just a handy witnessing tool. You are not so sly when you say, “Oh, I was just hanging out with my faith community today.”
“Oh, yeah? A faith community, you say. And where did you get this foreign substance known as faith? I wish I had some faith that I could place somewhere. Spill the beans of faith!”
“Jesus gave me some!”
Yes, Jesus. The fella that blesses the Christian with the mutant superpower of Faith. Oh, if only the world would realize how awesome it is to have faith in something – anything! Surely, if there is one thing our communities can bless the world with it is faith. Maybe we should open up our faith storehouses and let the faith roll down the hill into the faithless valleys of darkness.
I need faith in something more than just having some.
My stunning wife sitting dockside at Boondocks restaurant in Wilbur by the Sea, FL.
Why bother telling a story if you can sum it up with simple moral?
Tags: art
***Disclaimer*** I am neither a viticulturalist nor a climatologist by any stretch. I’m not deluded enough to believe I have enough information to fully buy into the facts I state, but they are helpful in proving my point – such as it is.
Disclaimer out of the way, lets look at some trends and stats. I will leave most of the numbers out to avoid boring myself.
Viticulture is a very fragile thing. Prime grape growing conditions exist within a thin temperate sliver. Average temperatures can not deviate too drastically during the growing season. Too many cold nights or scorching days and the crop fails. Too short of a season and harvests are thin. These strict requirements have meant that areas like Napa Valley in California, much of France and Italy, and many other temperate climates around the world have been wonderful places to plant vineyards. But this is swiftly changing.
In the 21st Century two words scare viticulturists witless. Migration and Elimination. Climate change and global warming especially have resulted in prime grape growing zones moving further toward the poles and higher into the mountains. France, which has strict laws in place governing the types of grapes that are allowed to be produced in specific areas, is being forced to readdress these laws to allow their vineyards to succeed in growing quality grapes. Places like Germany, and Ontario and British Columbia in Canada have been some of the very few winners in the midst of these climactic shifts. California is poised to be a big loser.
Gregory Jones, along with other notable viticulturalists, predicts that potential premium winegrape production area in the United States could decline by up to 81% by the late 21st century.1 In response to these trends many vineyards are turning to geneticists to protect their crops. Hardier grapes that are able to withstand greater temperature fluctuation are being explored. Imported wine varieties from as far away as Australia are more and more common here in North America. Massive amounts of energy is being expended in attempts at preservation, forced adaptation and modification.
So how does this have anything to do with practicing the Eucharist?
This seemingly bizarre connection was sparked by a conversation between a mainline pastor and a congregationalist in which I got to be the fly on the wall.
The first said, “I’m as open to doctrinal and structural reform as the next guy, but I draw the line at the eucharist. Milk and cookies is not sacramental.” Various attempts at reconciliation were bartered and a non-unanimous conclusion was reached. Anything semi-fluid containing “fruit of the vine” was acceptable for the Lord’s Table. Milk is out, but grape jelly is in. We didn’t get to debate percentages, but I believe there are allowances for fruit cocktail as well.
Anyone who will hold to such an absolutist position on a topic is just begging for hypotheticals to be lobbed at them – “holy hand grenade” style.
So now, let’s get hypothetical!
What if warming trends continue and temperate grape growing zones disappear from much of Europe and all of America? Let’s say that 200 years from now the bulk of winegrapes are grown in Canada, Russia and China, but less stable temperatures at these extreme locales result in much lower yields. Demand outgrows supply and wine prices begin to become prohibitive. Just to get a little crazy let’s assume that much of China and Russia has been wiped out by nuclear war and rendered unharvestable by radiation levels. Lay off me… this is my hypothetical situation!
How does a church in the 22rd Century deserts of Georgia support spending a large chunk of their resources on supporting their Eucharistic habit duties? Will we one day find the predominant feature of church buildings to be a greenhouse housing the holy vines of the communion cup? Will pastors be taught viticulture in seminary? Will the Vineyard Church become more than a biblical metaphor?
My point is not to prophecy doom, but to question our affection for a particular “wineskin” (oh dear) in the face of changing realities. I for one do not want to be the guy decreeing that churches in poor and non-vined areas of the world need to work on their importing or face divine judgment. I just can’t help but think that such an assertion really misses what it is to come together around a common cup.
Drink ye all of it, in remembrance of Him!
Tags: eucharist, wine, viticulture
Got pointed to this great tool for visualizing publications online. issuu has an incredibly simple and quick process to upload your content and there seems to be a great base of creativity already on the site.
I uploaded this to test it. It is a collaborative online arts mag that I contributed to a couple years ago. Give them pages a turn!
Tony Jones has uploaded the first in a series of videos based on interactions found in his book The New Christians. Say hello to Trucker Frank!
Tags: emergent, emerging, trucker frank, tony jones
