(e)mergent Voyageurs

This past weekend, my wife & I went to see the feel-good movie, “Take The Lead” starring Antonio Banderas.  Now, this film is not likely to take home any awards and it had an ending that pushes the limits on the cheesy factor.  However, that being said, there was a dynamic in the film that captured me from the very beginning.  Let me give the background on it.

Former professional dancer turned dance instructor, Pierre Dulaine, is inspired to get involved in the lives of inner city youth after witnessing a senseless act of vandalism.  He approaches the principal of the local high school, offering to help.  Before he knows what he has gotten himself into, he is put in front of the schools detention class and its disreputable students.  His plan?  To teach them ballroom dancing.

The clash is immediate, with Dulaine being seen as yet another uptown, wealthy person of privilege coming down to pat his own egos by offering useless charity.  Further, the style of music and dance he introduced was quickly dismissed as outdated, dry and further evidence of the privileges culture.  Things were not off to a good start.  However, as Dulaine’s commitment to them became more clear and the beauty of the dance began to demonstrate itself (namely through watching the tango performed by an attractive young woman), the kids began to cautiously participate.

As the lessons gained momentum and increased in difficulty, so too did the relationships develop.  Through their interactions, both Dulaine and the students began to realize that the differences in their style of dance- ballroom and hiphop- was far deeper than stylistic.  Each spoke to a culture, history and personality that reflected the intrinsic identities of both.  In this discovery, they began to appreciate the other.

Then a very unique and exciting thing happened.  As they began to understand each others dance and music, they also a deeper connection, a shared underlying rhythm.  Both shared subtle, but defining beats and patterns.  What emerged was an exciting synthesis of both styles, embracing the grace and discipline of ballroom, while maintaining the edge, passion and angst of hiphop.  Neither group abandon their perfered dance, but created a third option as well.

As I watched the film, I struck by the sense that I had seen this story playing itself out somewhere else.  Like Dulaine and ballroom dancing, the established church represents an important and rich history of faith.  While “new” in many ways, the emerging church, it equally informed and shaped by history, and therefore equally important.  While not dismissing the established church completely, the emerging church recognizes, for example, where unjust privilege (whether it be racial, economic, or otherwise) is perpetuated by its systems.  The established church, while not invalidating the emerging dynamics completely, recognizes the dangers of untempered critique and rejection of the established.  Like the film, it would easy to presume that differences were a matter of style and taste, hindering reconciliation, relationship and collaboration.

While I know this is an oversimplification- I could develop it further, but won’t here- I believe there is a lesson to learned from this.  Rather than continuing to frame the relationship between the established and emerging church as one of “us vs. them” or “right vs. wrong”, we need to begin to find ways of discovering the underlying rhythm, the shared tempo and beat that guides the unique expressions of our shared dance.  We need to learn to affirm the importance and validity of each expression, willing to learn from each other.  But it is not enough, however, to live and let live.  Rather we need to seeks ways to create those “third options”, where we can affirm that, despite our differences, we are one Church.

This does not deny the need for critical evaluation on both sides.  The fact is that the established church has often too uncritically integrated things such as colonialism, materialism, individualism, etc.  Equally, the emerging church can, in its zeal, over-react and over-protest, forgetting their “youth” as a movement (and let there be no doubt, that is what it is).  However, if we can start with the assumption of our own brokenness, as individuals and communities, we might examine these differences hopefully, believing that we will come out the other side a more united, authentic and purposeful Body of Christ.

So what do you say?  Let’s dance!

Emerging Church