Greetings from Montreat, N.C. where we are having a great time. Now that just about everyone has their books, we’ll go ahead and get started on our book blog. Remember that this is an experiment in conversation starting—don’t expect everything to go perfectly as we try this for the first time. We are always open to suggestions/criticisms. We chose this book before reading it, based on what we heard others say. I borrowed the presbytery office’s copy about three weeks ago and read through it and am now reading through it again so that I’m updated for our discussion (I couldn’t make marks in the presbytery’s copy!)

I am really excited about hearing more thoughts about the book, particularly the introduction and chapter 1 for this week, since it is addressing if not the most, certainly one of the most, pressing issues for the church in our time. Too often the solution churches decide to try is to just do a contemporary worship. But even our traditional services are supposed to be contemporary in some sense, aren’t they? Like Carol Howard Merritt makes pretty clear, “Visiting contemporary worship services particularly designed for young adults made me feel irritated and empty.” (pg 15) My guess is that there is a lot of fear in the church of young adults. I like when Merritt points out on page 6 that we go to great lengths to not be sexist or racist, but there’s some pretty blatant ageism taking place. (Yes, I think this goes both ways) But for instance, the presbytery has a committee on representation that makes sure committees are representative of the ethnic and gender realities in the presbytery, but age never shows up on their statistic sheets and the same people remain in power. Why is that?

I like the simplicity that Carol Howard Merritt used when talking about all our longings for community and for intergenerational connectedness. Where else can you get that in our culture today? I also like the simplicity of her describing the term “tribal” as “(1) a gathering around a common cause, (2) a ministry shift to basic care, (3) the practice of spiritual traditions, and (4) a network of intergenerational encouragement.” (pg eight)

Along with your general thoughts about the introduction and chapter 1, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on if those four goals are aspects of the church you dream of. If so, what is Dorchester doing right in those areas? What can we be doing better? If those four goals aren’t complete for you, what’s missing? I look forward to the dialogue and learning from one another.