Belonging, Behaving, Believing

Awesome.  Great post on the key role of belonging.  The FORMATIVE role that keeps us grounded, energized,  and comissioned to be attuned to the opportunities to participate in God’s activity.

http://lambswar.blogspot.com/2012/05/belonging-behaving-believing.html

I think this is key to how the Occupy movement has become the force that it has.  The relationships forged in face to face meetings.  If you find yourself attracted  to the message online,  through the array of buzz and passion via the Social Media,  actually going to where people are gathering for actions,  and encouraging involvement,  is a capturing experience.  I went from Social Media contact with #OccupyChurch folks such as Jeremy John (@glassdimlyfaith) and Brian Merritt ( @BrianMerritt ) to meeting them in person,  crafting my east coast trip to include a swing by DC to stay a couple days (and I missed meeting Micah Bales ( @MicahBales ),  the author of the post that I link to above).  I have  since “Hung out” on Google with Jeremy,  and we’ll be hooking up again at the Wild Goose Festival to do some talking about how the Occupy movement presents us as a church with numerous theological challenges.  So,  with yet  another “rally point” at which we can meet in “Meatspace”,  more opportunity to add to the spirituality of the movement. This insight that MIcah has shared here testifies well to one of Occupy’s strengths as an example of the power  of gathered community.  But there is also a sense in which ,  as Todd Gitlin puts it inhis book Occupy Nation,  the church is a key “Outer movement” that can draw upon the raised awareness of our  economic context and itself RENEW its roots in standing up to the powers.  It is also,  at the same time,  “infiltrating” the INNER MOVEMENT.  But not covertly.  Very publically,  as a witness that the People of God has a remnant that remembers and continues in these roots.