Where we fit

I am just reading the new Pew Religious Survey. It has a lot of very interesting stuff, and I think there are some lessons we could take from it.

First, as Swedenborgians we always have to ask where we fit in the survey; what is our affiliation? And there are two factors, where do others place us? and (I think most importantly) Where do we place ourselves? As you may have guessed there is not a Swedenborgian category. Historically we have been placed by the world in the categories - Other Christian - Metaphysical - or -Other Metaphysical, it is how we got the name Swedenborgian, it was never the name we gave ourselves (our fore bearers tended to go by Church of the New Jerusalem or New Church), but the name that others gave to us.
I tend to think of myself and our tradition actually in the category - Mainline Protestant Churches - Other. We have mirrored in every way the Mainline Protestant experience. Our theological beliefs and how we have conducted ourselves over the long haul have brought us much more into alignment with the Mainline experience than any other out there. Like it or not, I think it is our place, at least right now.

And to be honest, I don't think I like it. There is so much in the Mainline we have co-opted to fit in, taking the very worst in ways from our Anglican heritage and not keeping the wonders our deep rooting in the history of Christianity AND in the nature of continuing revelation in the world that we so value.

This leads me to the second point, 44% of Americans have changed religious affiliations in their lives. In the pattern of the Holy City coming into the world the loosening of tribal affiliations in favor of where one finds God calling them (or not if they so choose), is borne out in that nearly half of all Americans are choosing who or what they call themselves religiously.

It is wonderfully American, and I think speaks to the call that God has for our church and in the way we are being called to minister to God's people. We are called to be who we are in this world. We are not called to dress it up in the trappings of tradition or faith. We are not called to soft sell the very things that we are actually passionate about and make us different that we might not 'scare' people. We are called in the words of Whitman, 'to yell our barbaric yop from the rooftops of the world.'

A few days ago, I sat in my hotel room in Vegas and asked God what it was I needed to remember about our call as a church. I opened the Bible randomly as I sometimes will do to see what God has to say and I landed on the last chapter and verses of Matthew, 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo; I am with you to the end of the age.'