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{"id":1665,"date":"2009-08-10T05:42:02","date_gmt":"2009-08-10T09:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2009-08-10T05:42:02","modified_gmt":"2009-08-10T09:42:02","slug":"real-live-modern-preacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2009\/08\/real-live-modern-preacher\/","title":{"rendered":"Real, live, postmodern preacher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Rev. Gordon Atkinson had few specific goals when he started planning his 13-week sabbatical from his duties at Covenant Baptist Church<\/a> near San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I didn\u2019t want to be in charge of anything,\u201d said Atkinson, long known as the \u201cReal, Live, Preacher\u201d to those who read his intensely personal online journal (reallivepreacher.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cPreachers talk and talk and I wanted to get away from that. I didn\u2019t want to be a worship tourist, but I thought it would be refreshing to worship in some places where I was the person in the room who knew the least about what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

It helps to know that Atkinson leads an unusual Baptist flock, a \u201ccontemplative Christian community\u201d that holds spiritual retreats based on the writings of St. Francis of Assisi and men\u2019s fellowship meetings over beer and pizza. Covenant\u2019s belief statement<\/a> stresses that the \u201cfullness of the gospel cannot be contained in any one church.\u201d<\/p>\n

While proud of his Baptist heritage, Atkinson said the \u201cglory days\u201d when \u201cmoderate\u201d and \u201cconservative\u201d Baptists fought to control the old corporate machinery are long gone. Now, many congregations are experimenting with \u201cemerging,\u201d \u201cpost-denominational\u201d and \u201cpostmodern\u201d identities and forms of worship.<\/p>\n

Thus, Atkinson began his sabbatical by visiting the radical stillness of a Quaker gathering, a tradition that asks believers to remain silent until God inspires someone to speak. For 30 minutes, every cough, sneeze or stomach growl was audible.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to lose a lot of your shame when you sit in silence with people,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThese sounds are not disturbing to the time of worship. Not at all. They are the delightful sounds of humans trying to be quiet. And we cannot. \u2026 So even the sounds of people trying to be quiet are a part of the lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few Sundays later, Atkinson found himself swimming in words and symbols when his family visited an Eastern Orthodox sanctuary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like they were ripping raw chunks of theology out of ancient creeds and throwing them by the handfuls into the congregation,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cI heard words and phrases I had not heard since seminary. Theotokos, begotten not made, Cherubim and Seraphim borne on their pinions, supplications and oblations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience, he concluded, was an \u201cADD kid\u2019s nightmare,\u201d with the \u201crobes, scary art, smoking incense, secret doors in the Iconostas popping open and little robed boys coming out with golden candlesticks, chants and singing from a small choir that rolled across the curved ceiling. \u2026 There was so much going on I couldn\u2019t keep up with all the things I couldn\u2019t pay attention to.\u201d<\/p>\n

His family struggled, but Atkinson had tears in his eyes by the end of the nearly two-hour liturgy. After years of focusing on user-friendly ways to attract people to church, he was stunned to attend a service that \u2014 much like the Quaker meeting \u2014 placed intense demands on all the participants.<\/p>\n

It was, he concluded, as if visitors were being told: \u201cYou don\u2019t know what Theotokos means? Get a book and read about it. You have a hard time standing for two hours? Do some sit ups and get yourself into worship shape. It is the Lord our God we worship here, mortal. \u2026 THIS IS BIGGER THAN YOU ARE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atkinson was intrigued and eventually attended Russian, Greek and Antiochian Orthodox churches. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, by the end of his sabbatical this liberal Baptist preacher knew he had a problem. While Atkinson appreciated the symbols, rituals and sacraments he encountered, he also knew that he couldn\u2019t accept the doctrines that defined the worship, especially the Orthodox rites.<\/p>\n

Simply stated, his views on sin, sexuality, salvation, heaven and hell were too modern. There was \u201cno wiggle room\u201d in the ancient doctrines and, Atkinson concluded, \u201cI just couldn\u2019t buy all of it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now he is returning to his Baptist pulpit, while hearing choirs of voices arguing in his head representing many different eras of church history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I don\u2019t know how to do is rank all of these voices and decide who has authority,\u201d he said. \u201cWho is right and who is wrong? \u2026 And I want to know, where does Gordon Atkinson fit into this whole picture? I know that I can\u2019t go back to the old Protestant, evangelical way that I was, but I don\u2019t know where I\u2019m supposed to go now. This is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"