I know this post might elicit some laughs from longtime friends and I’m more than happy to make your day a bit brighter. I really don’t like rocking the boat. See, I like the boat. I was born on the boat, got off the boat for a while. Re-boarded the boat and learned everything about the boat and worked my way around its workings. At a certain point, I noticed the boat wasn’t working at “optimum”. I read the boat’s manual and other books on boating and went back to the boat. The goal was to make the boat run smoother, to its full potential, run it wide open. But before you touch the boat that other people are also living on too, you ask permission. Can I tinker with the boat? I love the boat. I love how the boat was built. I love the history of boat building and all the boat builders before me.
Some people said “you will rock the boat – we like the boat just fine, get back in your lane” while others said, “Thank God someone is here who actually wants to rock the boat instead of just talking about rocking the boat.”
I did it with permission (mostly). Always within the rules though. You don’t want to break the rules of the sea and the boat builders association. That’s just bad form.
Some told me to go build my own ship but my reading of the manual says shipbuilding is a team activity, not a solo venture and you’re not allowed to make yourself a captain. So here we are.
This is about the biggest of boats and that puppy doesn’t turn on a dime. I love the church. In loving the church you have to also love the good and bad. You have to learn and appreciate the traditions and where those traditions came from, how they evolved and changed. You have to love troublemakers and gatekeepers. Many innovations we take for granted in the modern church came from people who worked inside the institutional structure and had to operate outside the normally expected paths to implement the change. Women in ministry, open table communion, the Bible in the common language of the people, liturgy in the common language of the people, instruments in the worship space, and laity involvement in ministry are just a few of many evolutions of faith that were considered ungodly and incompatible with the Christian life. The folks weren’t trying to rock the boat, they saw a glaring flaw or a movement of the spirit and followed that lead in faith. Not every “innovation” that was attempted was good.
Let’s not forget the gatekeepers. They have a valuable role to protect what was handed to them from generations of hard work and sacrifice. They protect/guide/oversee the institutional structures/texts/habits/ways/power structures/ladders that have produced the gatekeeper’s ability to function/govern/exist. At their best, they protect the mission and vision of the organization. At their worst, their inability to change is the reason the institution dies.
To some, I’m a boat rocker. To others, I’m a gatekeeper. I am a doer. If there is a better/more accurate/authentic way I want to find it. I could make this a very academic exercise, publish a book or 3 and receive academic credentialing but that’s not my style. God bless the books that I stand on top of now as I work and write.
I love managed risk. In order to find out what works sometimes, you have to find out what doesn’t. Just because something didn’t work didn’t mean it failed. It just didn’t progress as you had planned. It’s the processes of doing. It’s the process of death and resurrection. It’s the process of my faith.
Welcome to the ship. Lifevests are optional. Fun is mandatory. Citations available upon request.