"Emerging"

Every time I see or use the word "emerging," I see in my mind's eye an image of a mosquito larva coming out of the water as a newly formed flying insect that makes a nuisance of itself in the summer. The first time I saw a photo of one of those transformed larvae emerging from the pond water, I was amazed. I ran to the pond at my grandfather's farm and lay on the ground waiting to see one of those elusive insects. I got a lot of mosquito bites that day, but I never got to see an actual, real-life mosquito emerging from its watery environment. Oh, I saw many mosquito larvae in the pond, but none of them willing, or ready, to move to its changed, blood-sucking form.

"Emerging Ministry" is the name of the book about which I've been blogging these past weeks. It seems to me there are some analogies that we can make with the mosquito larva. It may take some observation on our part, but the lowly mosquito may have something to teach us about ourselves.

In order for the mosquito larva to grow in the water, a mosquito egg must be deposited in the water. It's interesting to watch the dancing mosquito deposit her eggs one after another into the still water. She ever so lightly touches the surface of the water, so as not to be pulled down by a waiting fish, just breaking a small ripple. One has to be quick in observation; once you see the mosquito at the water's surface, the egg has already been deposited. Hours and days produce a tiny wiggly larva. Up and down like tiny submarines the tiny larvae move in the water. As shadows of predators or clouds creep over the water's surface, the larvae quickly wriggle to the bottom, to escape certain, or not so certain, death. Up and down, up and down they go, day after day until finally one day when they have eaten enough and the metamorphosis has taken place.
At that moment, they seem to attach to the surface of the water and the mysterious happens. Out of the snake-like larva emerges the humble, flying insect - a mosquito. The adult mosquito, then, goes on to live a few more days; mating, reproducing and starting again the cycle of depositing eggs that will continue the chain of life.

The emerging is not just from water, however; there is emerging of eggs from the adult mosquito. The tiny larvae emerge from their watery depths to the surface to feed and get oxygen to breathe. The adult mosquitoes hide in grass or crevices during the day, to emerge at night and buzz human ears. Then, there is, of course, the emerging of human blood as the mosquito removes its long proboscis from your arm, leg or neck. The humble, pesky mosquito is all about emerging!

The church, too, seems all about emerging. The followers of Jesus emerged long ago from the Jewish tradition. Originally a Jewish sect, Jesus' followers found themselves increasingly uncomfortable in synagogues and the Temple. The emerged as a new religion.

Throughout its history, the Church has emerged from difficult and dark times, to brighter, less challenging ones. The Church seems over and again to emerge from "crucified" moments of great challenge, to the moments of "resurrection". Followers of Jesus inevitably follow after the same life, death and resurrection of the Christ - continually emerging from ourselves and realizing that our task, our mission, is not personal and private, but one for the sake of the world.

Every morning, with the rising from our beds, the Church "emerges" from slumber; each week, as we spill out of worship spaces, the Church emerges as a people with a life-giving message for everyone; every year, with our liturgy, we proclaim that the Church is born anew at Pentecost - emerging from self-centeredness, fear and complacency to spirit-filled life.

There are 10 signs of "emerging church" that Nate Frambach uses:

1.  worship is team oriented: it's designed, planned and led by a team
2.  feedback loops: they provide on-going communication about the communities needs
3.  the arts are back: banners, graphics, sculptures, poetry, drama
4.  language matters: the "real" matters and how we tell about the "real" in our lives makes a difference in how people hear and respond to God
5.  room for spontaneity: worship is ordered by not over-defined; sometimes it's ok to change it up in the middle of worship
6.  music is at the core: when all else fails, sing
7.  worship space and time: time and space are no longer bounded by a building
8.  the function of humor: special attention needed here so that the humor does not detract from the overall message; but, its use can be crucial to touching lives
9.  attention to texts: this means peaking the senses in as many ways as possible - texts can be poetry, biblical, movie, drama; the text conveys the message
10. the understanding of suffering: just keeping it real; suffering happens, we don't worship to escape it, but to look at it, hold it and affirm the hurt within us


So, my questions are many at this point: How does this word "emerge" fit with the Church? Or, does it not fit? Where do you see transformation/transfiguration/metamorphosis in your life or in the life of the Church? How accurate are Nate's 10 signs? Do you see any or all of these in your community? What other observations do you have about "emerging"?

That's enough for now. What do you think?

Peace,
Tim