The phenomena that they are facing is not happening just to them only. Churches of all sizes, all over the country, are losing members in crazy numbers. The big survey companies (Gallop and Barna, for two) are taking polls to be able to look at the data. Something major is happening. Books are being written about it. One of those books is titled “The Great Dechurching” by Jim Davis and Michael Graham. I have read it. One of the startling facts that the authors bring to our attention, is that some 40 million American Christians have left their church in the last 25 years. Forty million! This phenomenon is happening across all denominations.

Surely there is something much larger and more far-reaching that is happening, than a handful of small churches losing a few members. Indeed the truth of that statement is complex. Cultural phenomena are at play. Technology is morphing into what was sci-fi only a few years ago, and it’s doing it at warp speed. There is a growing disillusionment with traditional social structures, including churches. Some of the major events in our lifetime (just to name a few) that are having their effect at shifting things around: the terrorist attack on 9/11/2001; COVID-19 Pandemic 2021-2023; the internet and Social Media; use of AI tools on the increase. These are only a few of the developments and events affecting current cultural paradigm shifts that are playing havoc with churches.

A subset of the members who have left the church consists of those who were spiritually abused. But even a larger subgroup are disillusioned because of our cultural unraveling, and they don’t know what to do with experiencing their faith unraveling with it. Their faith is eroding. Deconstructing. We are in a crisis of spiritual formation. And it’s unavoidable.

But do you know what? There’s something way larger and more profound than all of that put together. Because church history is also at play. What do I mean by that, you may well ask. Several authors over the last few decades have realized some intriguing events from church history that are happening again in our day. The major overview of this realization? Every 500 years the church undergoes a major paradigm shifting, after which can never again be what it was before that shifting. So consider this very brief romp through church history, as a beginning explanation:

1. The 1^st 500 Years of Christianity. The church as is it is recorded in the New Testament, spread throughout the Mediterranean area and beyond in the first few centuries. Those early Christians faced periodic and severe persecution. Then Emperor Constantine (4^th Century AD) had a religious experience, converted to Christianity and made it a legal religion in the Roman Empire. There were two major branches of Christianity at that time: the Roman branch based in Rome and the Eastern branch based in Constantinople. They were still in communion with each other. In the 5^th Century, the Roman Empire fell. Christianity becoming legal, and the Fall of Rome – huge events that changed the Church.

2. The 2^nd 500 Years of Christianity. In 1054 there was a major dispute and falling out between the two major branches of Christianity. The then current Bishop of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other, rendering what church historians have called The Great Schism. Christianity divided. The Body of Christ broken. Huge event that affected the Church for centuries.

3. The 3^rd 500 Years of Christianity. The church reformers appeared in the 1500’s. People like Martin Luther, among others, who reacted against certain theological abuses that were being practiced in the Catholic Church. In 1517 Luther posted his 95 theses to the church door in Wittemburg, and the Great Reformation began. The Lutheran Church was born, and then several other denominations arose, many of whom promoted the way they believed was the way to heaven. Nobody else had it right. Some of the Christian groups even persecuted other Christian groups.

4. The 4^th 500 Years of Christianity. We are in the middle of the fourth set of 500 years of Christianity. What’s happening in our day? In 2017, the Lutherans celebrated the 500^th anniversary of The Great Reformation. Here we are, folk, 500 years since The Great Reformation! The Church on a global level is again shifting around in ways we may not be aware of, because we’re in the midst of it. But in our day, profound ecumenical endeavors are under way between denominations. Endeavors that make the news when they happen, but then common ordinary people like you and me, may not be aware of their importance, or of their continuing developments, or how they will turn out in the end. But I can tell you, we are in the middle of a major paradigm shift.

Examples: 1. Vatican II has initiated profound and ongoing changes in the Catholic Church. You might be surprised to learn that the effects of Vatican II have also affected other denominations so that we are much more ecumenical than ever before.

2. Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew met several times, embracing each other, signing documents, working toward a healing of The Great Schism that happened 1000 years ago. Can you grasp how huge that is?

3. Pope Francis met with the Lutherans on several occasions, fostering greater understanding and forgiveness. Again, HUGE!

4. The newly installed Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England, Sarah Mullally, plans to work with Pope Leo toward greater ecumenical changes between their denominations. All this, and more, happening on a global level, while it seems at a local level, things are falling apart. But apparently, it’s all part of the same and profound shifting. All this happening while other denominations are splitting into two pieces over some disagreements that they deem important.

Historians and authors are already attempting to name what is happening as we wake, eat, sleep. Examples of possible names: The Great Emergence. The Great Resignation, Reshuffle, or Reset. The Great Dechurching. The Great Opportunity. The period we’re in probably won’t receive its “real?” name until a hundred years from now when historians and authors can look back and see things that we can’t see yet.

What is my point in writing all this? We live in a momentous time, witnessing great changes that are challenging to understand, difficult to grasp what it all means. Now is one of those times when it is more important than ever to tend our faith in God who is Love, to deepen our love and compassion for the needy, to guard our heart where our prayer relationship with Jesus lives, to listen within for the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit – and yes, if you can, in this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous culture – attend church. Do what you can to pray for and to build up the Body of Christ.

We are in the middle of an exciting adventure, if you can see the truth of that statement. So look up. Live each day with hope that whatever the Lord is doing in His Church, in the end, it’s going to be beautiful.

I wonder – If you could name this tumultuous yet exciting time for our culture that we live in, or for what’s happening to the Church – what name would you give it?

Here’s my Easter poem. Enjoy!

                                             Alleluia!
                  Congregation to read the lines in bolded italics.                                      


Mary Magdalene:	Alleluia!				 
 			Reach out and hold
			The Risen Lord!
			Touch me not yet, says He.
			But Lord, my heart faints within
			I need you so – 
			Touch me not yet, says He.

Thomas:		Alleluia!
 			Reach out and feel
			His wounds that bled!
			Put your hand here, says He.
			You are my Lord and my God!
			Forbid me to touch – 
			Put your hand here, says He.

Peter:		Alleluia!
			Reach out and love
			The Risen Lord!
			Love me? – Feed my sheep, says He.
			Your sheep, my Lord?
			I know not how.
			Love me? – Feed my sheep, says He.

 	  		Alleluia!
			Reach out and share
			The Risen Lord!
			To the very ends of the earth, says He.
			I’ll go forth in your name, Lord – 
			If – you’ll come too…
			To the very ends of the earth, says He.
			Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

			© 1997 Dorothy Gremillion

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Good Friday is a time when we remember and reflect on the Passion of Jesus – everything that happened during that week in Jerusalem until his death, and the horrors of the crucifixion. In many of our churches, on Good Friday, the church is dressed in its most somber and stripped down aura out of the entire liturgical year. The altar area behind the altar rail symbolizes Jesus’ tomb. Rightly so.

Unless we pause to remember – to honor – the ultimate sacrifice and depth of the suffering of Jesus, we will not experience the true height of the joy of Easter, the healing love of the Resurrection.

Unless we pause to remember and honor the grief of the disciples and the grief of the Mother of Jesus, we will not experience the dizzying uplifting sudden rejoicing-full-of-hope Day of Resurrection.

So let’s reflect for a few minutes on the passion of Christ, and what it means for us. Every step that Jesus took that week, he made because of a choice, one choice after another after another. He chose to ride that donkey into Jerusalem knowing that He would be announcing to those who knew Scripture, that He was the Messiah.

He chose to become the servant who washes the feet of his disciples. He chose the cup that he knew would lead to his death. He chose to remain silent in the presence of Pilate. He chose to walk the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross.

He chose to forgive, beseeching the Father on behalf of his crucifiers, saying that they don’t know what they are doing. He chose to quote Scripture from the cross, directing our attention to Psalm 22, which begins with these words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

In making all those particular choices, he gave up something. He gave up his time of being human. He gave up the possibility of growing old. He gave up continuing to teach, heal, and love while in this life. He gave up his time of being the Incarnate God on earth.

What was his legacy? What did He leave us? Even if his life on earth was all there was? Even if the Resurrection hadn’t happened? What did His life, the way he lived it, leave us?

Love – He left us the greatest love the world has ever known. He left us the example of being a servant because of that Love. He left us a particular interpretation of a body of teachings for us to study, to take on as reality for us, and to bring those teachings to life for the sake of others. He left us with the sure knowledge that miracles are possible. He left us with the hope and faith to pray for miracles in our day.

He left us with a new Commandment: to love one another in the same way that He loved us. He takes us and burns away what is unneeded and superfluous and that separates us from being the loving persons He has created us to be, in relationship with Him. He chose that cup of creating that legacy.

Can we drink that cup – to accept that inheritance? Can we make the necessary choices it would take, for us to intentionally choose to become the loving person He has created us to be? What would we have to give up for that to happen, not just for Lent, but for a lifetime?

If we did make those choices and drank the cup of deeply following him, sooner or later, we would enter our Passion. What would our Passion look like, do you think? What would our legacy be? How would our obit read?

What Jesus would want it to say is simply this: “See how they loved one another.” For there would be radical forgiveness, the sacrifice of ego-driven desires, sacrifices made for the sake of someone else, serving other’s needs as a full expression of the greatest love ever known.

Look again at the events in Jesus’ life during Holy Week. Can we, as Jesus’ disciples, stay with him in His Passion, every step of the way, as we hear that story again? If we can, His love and strength will help us choose to live into our Holy Passion in Christ, that the community outside the walls of our church can know and love Him also.

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They say that we should know.
Know all manner of things
from sunup to sundown
and throughout the night.

Book learning, life learning
people learning, people doing
the learning that they know

But to what end is all that
learning and knowing and doing
when life is mystery?

Unknowing unlocks secrets
that we cannot know.
Unknowing beckons us to
Be still and listen, wait...
 
All set aside in the waiting,
the waiting and the listening
at peace in the unknowing

Is not knowing the same
as unknowing?  I think not.
Not knowing just sits there.

Unknowing beckons within
where God is.  
Be still and listen, wait...
The mystery happens we un-know how.

© Dorothy Gremillion

April 27, 2024

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A true Dark Night of the Soul is different from being depressed, although if we don’t know what’s happening to us when in one, we might be fooled into thinking we’re depressed. But in this Dark Night, something deeply spiritual is happening. We are being invited to embark on a spiritual journey. Oddly enough, this journey is to a place where we didn’t plant to go, perhaps didn’t even want to go because this journey is dangerous to the ego. It’s a place of “unknowing,” when before we embark, we didn’t even know that “unknowing” was a word.

This spiritual journey is a life-transition, a time of being transformed from within. That transformation requires us to grow beyond our ego. You know what that means, don’t you? At some point we have to give up the desires of the ego, which can be profoundly difficult and painful. But the beauty that lies beyond that releasing is incomparable. We just don’t know that yet, when we’ve only received the invitation to embark on the journey. We need resources other than the ego, in order to set out and to make it through– resources that we didn’t know about before. That’s one reason it feels like we’re blind. What used to work no longer does.

I recently watched a webinar on this subject, led by Alexander John Shaia². He makes the case that there are four parts to the experience of the Dark Night of the Soul. Four parts, but only the one story. One story with millions of scripts because there will be unique bits as different ones of us undergo this journey.

So here are the four parts:

1. You receive/hear a summons to embark on a journey to growth, to which we say an inadequate yes, maybe even after a real struggle to get to the “yes.”

2. The journey will present you with many wild and woolly obstacles (your ego trying to get you to return to the way it was, while fooling you into thinking that way is actually going forward, distractions pulling you this way and that)

3. Somehow, mysteriously, a gift arrives that makes you joyful and ecstatic and thankful!

4. How will you decide to use that gift such that it becomes part of an everyday reality. How to take that gift and use it to serve family, the church, other people.

There is a pattern here, that can happen more than once to the same person. Transformation is happening at the spiritual level deep within. Transformation that leads to union with God.

*******

This is the fourth week of Lent. The Season of Lent is a time when we more quietly reflect on who we are as both sinners and followers of Jesus. And we reflect on the Lord’s enormous capacity to walk with us through all of life, loving us, guiding us, forgiving us, carrying us when it seems like we can’t make it. Lent can be a time of deepening our relationship with the Lord, because His vast love blows us away. Lent is not necessarily a time when we undergo a Dark Night of the Soul. But whenever we receive the invitation to enter that special Darkness, we can absolutely bank on the idea that He is with us through the entire journey and every aspect of it. Even when we can’t sense His Presence.

So let’s draw near with faith and enter the invitation to Walk with Christ Through Life, whether we experience a Dark Night of the Soul, or we don’t.

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¹ John of the Cross. Dark Night of the Soul. Available on Amazon

² To learn more about Alexander John Shaia, visit https://www.quadratos.org/who-we-are/alexander-john/

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“Rendered by life events. Transformed by Christ. Empowered by the Holy Spirit.”

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In a way, Lent is all about Jesus, how he stayed strong in the Lord throughout his lifetime. He rose above the struggles and temptations in the Wilderness to accept the call to be the Messiah. In a way, Lent is all about Jesus, who consistently showed us the depth of God’s love for us. Yes, in a way, Lent is all about Jesus, who walked through the days …

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This week I listened to and watched the Buddhist monk speak in the National Cathedral in Washington DC. He spoke after he and his fellow monks had walked in peace, radiating peace, spreading peace while walking all the way from Ft. Worth to DC. Here is a man who has let go of whatever it takes in order to have peace in his heart.

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Spiritual abuse in churches is devastating to individual members or groups of members. It can unhinge the faith we depended on, having believed that our faith would always be there. Spiritual abuse can destroy the trust we had in church leaders, which can spread to mistrust of humanity in general. It can sere a wound all the way into the depth of spirit…

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Hi everyone, I’m back. What a whirlwind it is to serve as Executor of someone’s estate! The time-consuming tasks get performed for one major responsibility, and then a waiting period before the next major responsibility can be tackled, etc... My sister-in-law’s house has sold. Now, I hope to accomplish the last major responsibility of paying her income …

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You all know that I started this blog in order to reach people who have been spiritually abused by someone in their faith community to begin the journey from those wounds and to go forward to finding each one’s wholeness in Christ. Some of the time I write about wrong uses of power in churches and the wounds that causes. Some of the time I write about f…

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Have any of you been caught in a transition that seemed both a relief and yet at the same time caused more stress that keeps you from feeling the relief quite yet?

Here’s what I’m experiencing: the church job that I’ve had over the past three years has come to an end. I was transitional or interim pastor, and I knew that this day would come. I also knew …

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The overall ministry theme of God’s call upon my life has been “to reconcile the Body of Christ.” That’s a mighty big statement, but when I look at events that have happened through the years that reveal evidence of the hand of God interwoven with that theme in my life, I’m convinced. That’s my theme, my call: To reconcile the Body of Christ.

Underlying …

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You all know that I usually write about some aspect of spiritual abuse in churches or about some phase of healing from that trauma that falls somewhere along the spectrum of “wholeness.” I don’t usually write about sexual abuse, but that topic is unfortunately found in churches as well as “out in the world.”

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Did you know it’s a very long drive from the Texas Hill Country to Tucson Arizona? I knew it was a long way, but had forgotten what it actually feels like to drive it. My son and I recently made the drive in two days, and I can tell you it seems like I-10 goes on forever and forever. As you will recall, we made the trip to begin the process of dealing w…

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