Why we call it ‘emerging’ worship
This is a re-post from Pastor Joe’s blog called “Working It Out.”
A new worship gathering is starting at my church, Tri-Lakes United Methodist in Monument, CO. Our staff struggled to find the right descriptive title for this new venture. We wanted to convey that this worship was unlike the two Sunday morning worship services we currently offer. We wanted to stay away from the word contemporary because we felt that connotes a style-only description, and we know this gathering will be much more than the same old church with a band instead of an organ. Eventually we settled on the title Emerging Worship.
Some reading this know that emergent is a church word, and a loaded one at that. Some hear the word emergent in this context and think of pandering to make the Gospel palatable to the masses while giving up too much. Others, like me, are excited by the word emergent because it signals something new and relevant; a holistic theology. While we hinted at the loaded church-word, we didn’t use it. We used a derivative, emerging.
e·merg·ing (adj.) – 1. coming to maturity 2. coming into existence (from Princeton University’s WordNet)
If I do say so myself, I like the name a lot. Whether you have been a Christian for decades, or you just want to explore what it means to be a Christian, your faith is emerging – coming to maturity, coming into existence. None of us has arrived. All of us are in a process of having our faith become known to us and to others around us. Calling worship emerging says that no matter where you are in that process, you are welcomed, accepted, and loved.
I found a quote from Tim Gallwey in Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover quite helpful in my understanding of what it means to be emerging:
When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless.” We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is (W. Timothy Gallwey (The Inner Game of Tennis) as quoted online).
That’s what I want TLUMC’s Emerging Worship to share with those who attend. None of our faith journeys is complete. We all need to grow, change, and develop. Yet, at the same time, we are perfectly all right where we are.