NOTE: HAVEN IS NOT YET OPEN, WE'RE STILL IN THE PLANNING PHASE
Haven | Mernda is a safe space to explore faith with others and participate in the way of Jesus.
What are the ingredients?
If Haven is to be a ‘safe space, a faith-community, in which we can explore faith with others and participate in the way of Jesus,’ then there are some ingredients we need in the mix.
These are the three areas in which we want to focus: Ways, Works and Words!
WAYS: Taste-testing the ancient ways and wisdom of Jesus together.
WORKS: Seeking to act as instruments of peace in our community.
WORDS: By engaging in life-giving conversation around meaning and identity.
If you want to learn more about them - check out the paragraphs below:
1. WAYS — is about who we are as individuals and community. It’s who we are and the attitudes that shape how we relate to others in the world. It’s not just about our world-view and our values but about virtues - What does it mean for us to put the values that flow from our world-view into daily practice.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
That’s why taste-testing the ancient ways and wisdom of Jesus together is a priority. Many of the great Christian orders have a shared ‘rule of life.’ — a menu of simple, regular practices that bring growth. (Eg. Shared meals, celebration, meditation, prayer, hospitality, simplicity, solitude, advocacy etc …). We want to taste-test these and discover what works best for each of us.
2. WORKS — is about empathy - focussing outwards to love others. St. Francis was known for his ministry to the poor and underprivileged and the Peace Prayer (attributed to him) encapsulates what it means to live out the first part of the Lord’s prayer: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Acting as instruments of peace means viewing our neighbourhoods, workplaces, homes and sporting clubs through Jesus’ lenses. “What would the reign of Jesus look like in that setting or for that person?”
Together as a community of faith, as well as each of us individually, we are asking the questions: “What is the Spirit of Jesus up to in my neighbourhood?” How do we partner with the Spirit to bring wholeness and health?”
As the the New testament letter by James puts it: “… Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.” (James 1:27 MSG)
3. WORDS -- Engaging life-giving conversation around meaning & identity in our post-modern world. Our grandparents lived in the certain and confident (western) world of scientific modernity. Their great-grandparents lived in the late stages of Christendom. There is a God, the scriptures are true and propositional truth is evident to all. Black is black and white is white — But our world has rapidly changed.
We live in a post-modern world. Traditional institutions are mistrusted and often seen as unhelpful. The idea of immutable ethical and religious truth is no longer assumed. Also in a smaller, mobile, internet world, a multiverse of cultures, religions, ethnicities and lifestyles swirl around us.
And in a social media, fake-news, Dunning-Kruger world, uncertainty is greater than ever. The big questions of identity and meaning and belonging are as real and as challenging as ever. Anxiety is at an all time high, so is loneliness. That why, for example, post-colonial theory, critical-race theory, gender theory, green-politics, identity politics etc have emerged. On the other hand, fundamentalism in all it’s forms is also re-emerging as a bastion of safety in uncertain times.
For many who have been raised in church circles and have assumed the truths undergirding the worldview taught and policed, this can raise existential questions. Some will engage those questions, find satisfying answers and continue on content. For (many) others, their parents’ church’s faith lenses no longer provide an understanding of the world. Ahead of these lie the task of deconstructing and reconstructing a meaningful worldview. I think, too often, this happens in isolation. There is the fearof being rejected by significant others. Sometimes there are no safe spaces in which to ask hard questions!
How do we construct an authentic, faith-based framework for living meaningfully in a multiverse of cultures?
Who are the ‘people of peace’ who would be keen to learn and engage the liberating way of Jesus? How do we live consistently but also respect those who view life through different lenses? Haven is to be a space where we can have those conversations together over as many strong coffees as are needed!