Rebirth.
Human presence is a creative and turbulent sacrament, a visible sign of an invisible grace.
Nowhere else is there such intimate and frightening access to the mysterium.
~ John O’Donohue, poet, philosopher, and Celtic scholar
John Philip Newell and his wife Ali led the Abbey Church on the island of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides from 1988 - 1992. According to legend, Iona was the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland in the sixth century via the work of Saint Columba, and it remains one of the legendary “thin places” where that delicate membrane between heaven and earth runs as thin as it did for Jacob dreaming on his rock pillow at Bethel. Kellie and I were planning to spend some time this summer at this ancient headwaters of our Celtic heritage, but Covid will likely push us back to the following year. John’s book, The Rebirthing of God: Christianity’s Struggle for New Beginnings, sealed the deal on our intention to go at our next possible opportunity.
Today, the term Celtic generally refers to the languages and cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Isle of Man, and Brittany. Informed deeply by this tradition and his experience there, Newell highlights eight “reconnections” that he (and we) are witnessing in this tumultuous time of the modern Church, and we will engage Newell’s reflections in our first online book study starting March 7. Please join us Monday evenings, 6 - 7:30pm ET as we consider one chapter a week, ending April 25. Only $25 for all eight sessions.
It’s not for nothing that Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be “born again.” And it’s not only individuals that need rebirthing, it’s communities, churches, mindsets, social contracts, theologies, even the very world itself. “I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind,” said the prophet Isaiah. How does this speak to the Christian Church?
You have probably heard that the post-Covid (Can we even use that term yet?) Church in North America is 40% lighter now than two years ago. As we’re observing in almost every sector of society, Covid was the great accelerator—pouring gasoline, as it were, on every smoldering ember in our culture politically, economically, and spiritually. Seismic change has ramped up hard, and the Church is certainly part of that cultural tsunami.
In my view, and that of many I read and talk to, the form of the modern Church is dying, and although I don’t pretend to know what it will look like on the other side, I am eager for a resurrection. And of course, death is the only way we get to resurrection, as the season of Lent so poignantly dramatizes. (If you’re local, please join us for our Ash Wednesday service March 2.) So death is not something to fear or resist. As Jesus told Mary, “Don’t cling to me.” We must release what is dying in order to make room for what is coming to life: the timeless message and presence of Christ in new form.
Whether you join the book study or not, I’d like to offer an overview of Newell’s eight Reconnections here so that you can ponder how these dynamics are shaping the birthings and becomings of your own faith journey.
Reconnecting with the Earth. As eco-theologian Thomas Berry puts it, “We need to move from a spirituality of alienation from the natural world to a spirituality of intimacy with the natural world.” Our evangelical heritage has largely ignored this essential connection, but the Celts championed it.
Reconnecting with Compassion. Many today are recovering from an over-emphasis upon truth at the expense of love. Truth with a capital “T” (Jesus) showed us the priority of compassion toward and inclusion of the “least of these” above adherence to and arguments over doctrinal positions.
Reconnecting with Light. “To say that Iona is a thin place is not to say that every other place is thick. Rather, it is to say that Iona, and similar sacred sites of pilgrimage and healing throughout the world are like sacraments or living icons through which we glimpse the Light that is present everywhere.” We must recover our ability to perceive the presence of God in all things, all peoples, and all places.
Reconnecting with the Journey. Newell says that “humanity’s great wisdom traditions are given not to compete with each other but to complete each other.” We have the opportunity as followers of Christ to mirror the humility of God by listening to and learning from the seeds of truth embedded in other spiritual journeys, championing our commonalities more than our differences.
Reconnecting with Spiritual Practice. Belief about God, no matter how accurate, can never substitute for the direct personal experience of God. “In contemplative practice,” Newell says, “we experience God in ways that enable us to be aware of God in the whole of life.” Meditation is essential for rebirthing.
Reconnecting with Nonviolence. For far too long, Christians have been associated politically with militaristic intervention and global aggression. I’ll be blunt: There is absolutely no way to reconcile that mindset with Jesus’ fundamental message as represented in the Sermon on the Mount. Even Gandhi recognized that if Christians had actually followed Jesus in his command to love our enemies, the world would be a vastly different place.
Reconnecting with Unconscious. “Rebirthing will be served by opening again to the well of wisdom that flows deep in the world of dream life, intuition, and humanity’s collective inheritance of myth and legend.” Better known as mathematician and physicist, Blaise Pascal was also a theologian, who reminds us that “the heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.” It’s time to lean in with confidence toward the knowledge of the heart.
Reconnecting with Love. I think this just about says it all. Newell encourages us that “when we love, we bring the very essence of our being into relationship with the essence of the other.” For God so loved…! The rebirthed Church must be known more for its quality and consistency of love than for anything else.
If these invitations resonate with you, join us Monday evenings March 7 - April 25 for a deeper dive into God’s heart for this beautiful world. And you can use the social media icons below to share the invite with others.