ALMOST EMERGENT…

I stand at the edges of the emerging church. Not quite in. Not quite out.
I stand at the edges of the institutional church. Not quite in. Not quite out.

Reminds me of a radio show I used to watch in the days before TV got the best of me. The show was Uncle Ruthie on KPFK .

It is a kids show produced by Ruthie Buell, a teacher to kids with special needs, songwriter, and radio host. I loved it. At the beginning of each show, a poem by A. A. Milne was read:

Halfway Down The Stairs by A. A. Milne
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair where I sit:
There isn't any other stair quite like it.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top:
So this is the stair where I always stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up, and isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery, it isn't in the town:
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
"It isn't really anywhere! It's somewhere else instead!"

That’s were I sit; I think—halfway down the stairs. Sometimes I wish I were either up or down. Most times I wish more people were sitting on the stair with me—or at least not thinking me odd for sitting in such a place.

This place is for questions. There are questions of the institutional church, like whether the way we do what we do is from scripture or from tradition. There are questions for the emerging church, like whether we are seeking change because we’re following God or because we’re bored. Funny thing is, the answer to both questions is “yes”. It’s rare that an either/or question can be answered yes, but it happens. The truth is we do what we do because of scripture and tradition. The truth is we’re seeking change because we’re following God and we’re bored. There is space is each side of the either/or for discussion. There is space on each side of the either/or for good and bad. It’s a halfway down the stairs sort of place. Everything is fuzzy, punctuated by moments of clarity. Or so it seems.

Tomorrow morning at around 8 am, I board an Amtrak headed for San Diego. Two hours and a trolley ride later, I will be checking into the Town and Country for the 2005 Emergent Convention. I hope to come out with more questions than I have today. I hope to come out with visuals and music and people and moments swirling in my soul. I hope to come out with connection and vision.

We’ll see.