(e)mergent Voyageurs

With all due respect to the Bard, a great deal of this blog is defined by its name. I have intentionally chosen the name to act as a guide by which all posts are meant to be written. It has served me very well, keeping me from wandering off course time and again. However, what may be clear and essential for me might be far from clear to you, the reader. Therefore, I want try and explain my reasons for choosing the name “(e)mergent Voyageurs”.

Why (e)mergent?

When I began this blog, I was familiar with the terms “emerging church” and “emergent”, but had not yet grasped how deeply entrenched they were in the (inevitable) branding that would result in the organization Emergent US (and Emergent UK). While I resonate with the conversation coming out of these organizations, I chose the name for this blog with no intention of indicating direct affiliation with any organization or individual leaders in that or other groups.

Rather, like the emerging church movement itself, I was drawn to the name as it relates to the emergence theory. One of the reasons that the emerging church movement is ill defined (the constant bane of critics) is that it is an emergent organization (NOTE: I use the term “organization” here I am referring to the order of things, not an institution or highly defined group). Emergent organizations spontaneously emerge out of complex and dynamic environments. The emerging quantum sciences were also pivotal in defining the name. However, those details are better saved for another (longer) post.

Regular readers will have noticed that I changed the title recently from “Emergent” to “(e)mergent”. This was to intentionally differentiate my use of the word with the Emergent organization/branding. Again, this is not to reject or discredit them, but rather to be clear that my own path in exploring the emerging church journey is not synonymous with theirs. Unfortunately, due to the cultural dynamics in the US, the conversation there has taken some turns and emphasis that I don’t believe are as central or helpful to the realities I see here in Canada. This does not diminish those sisters and brothers in Emergent US, many of whom I call friends.

Why Voyageurs?

In Canadian history, few figures stand out more uniquely than the Voyageurs (French for ‘travellers’), otherwise known as the Coureur des Bois (runner of the woods). They were the men, most often French Canadian, who explored the wilderness, building trade routes and relations with the First Nations people. When the North West Company faced seeming impossible odds in competing with the well established Hudson’s Bay Company, they developed a new approach. Rather than requiring the Native traders to come to the port cities to trade, they sent their voyageurs out into the uncharted wilderness, dealing directly with the communities. In the end, The Bay used this same technique to rally and overcome Northwest, but their ingenuity is still commended today.

Further, given their willingness to go to the tribes, these voyageurs built far deeper and more respectful relationship than the colonial cities at the ports. Traders would often come together with the Native peoples at Rendezvous (literally, “meet you” in French), where an uproarious party would ensue. It was a time of building relationships, swapping trade routes & secrets and sharing cultures (and a lot of beer). In fact, many married women from the indigenous communities, creating some of the first Métis peoples (people of mixed European and First Nations descent, forming a unique culture).

While not a perfect metaphor, the voyageurs represent powerful imagery that resonate with my own emerging voyage. No longer satisfied to practice a “safe” faith, requiring the world (and God) to come to me to make our spiritual transactions, I seek to discover the fullness of God found in all people, created in His image, and within the larger Creation, while at the same time, bringing that which God uniquely invested in me to share with and be transformed by others. Rather than an institutional faith defined by the “business” of right propositions, it is a celebratory relationship, a joining of the Perichoretic Rendezvous of the Trinity.

To that end, I chose the name (e)mergent Vouageurs to describe my own faith journey in this emerging age. Additionally, it is why I choose the image at the top of this site: “Canoe Manned by Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall” (1869) by Canadian artist Frances Anne Hopkins. In it you see a diversity of paddlers, including the uncommon presence of a woman, possibly the artist herself who often joined her husband on such journey’s with the voyageurs. The participants are in the same canoe, yet at different places on the journey (some Native, some voyageurs, come colonists or traders). While the wilderness may be uncharted to them, it is not, strictly speaking, unknown or undiscovered. My faith journey is similar in all these respects.

In my very first post, I quoted the patron saint of Canada, St. Jean de Brébeuf. Brébeuf was martyred, along with many other early missionaries in Canada’s history. In training the priests under his care, he once shared wisdom I hope we will all follow, regardless of where we are on the journey:

Emerging Church Canada Emergent Voyageurs