The Cutting Edge & the Humour of God

Ever get tired of trite phrases? There are few that get me going. “Cutting edge” is one, “movement” another. In churchland we’ve lots of (in the spirit of Foucault) power words signaling who’s in and who’s out; who’s de guerre (or flavor of the month) and who isn’t.

I think the “cutting edge” is shifting around. I think it’s part of God’s humor — that irritating way the Spirit messes with all the people, systems and ideas we’ve declared no longer ‘in’ and breathes fresh life into old bones so they become the new ‘cutting edge’.

Take the old Anglicans for example. I can claim identity here. As a baby I was carried up the short street we lived on (Burleigh Road South — named after Lord Burleigh, aka, William Cecil, who served kings and queen in the 16th century — a definite misnomer for a non-cutting edge neighborhood like Anfield in Liverpool) to St. Cutherbert’s church (long torn down and replaced by the dull flats of urban, post war renewal) where I was baptized and given a God-parent. Cutherbert was of Lindisfarne fame so, perhaps, that is why the Cutherbert thing stuck.

Imagine — Anglicans are moving to the ‘cutting edge’ and creating a ‘movement’. A Google search of “Fresh Expressions” will show that God is up to something in the UK. Then, last week, I was in Toronto. The weather was amazing for November and the dry leaves crunching underfoot brought back memories of the great years I spent there in the ’80s. John Mclaverty and I were meeting some folk at the main offices of the Anglican Diocese. The inside of their building was under renovation. All the staff was crunched into a big room. Desks were pushed up against each other, wide bands of bright red tape stretching across the floor covered telephone lines. Meeting rooms around the sides were crammed with stacks of blue, plastic packing cases. Everything was impermanent. Dave Robinson and Heather Steves comprise the congregation development team. We sat with Dave and Heather for an hour as they shared stories of what was brewing and emerging in churches around the region. We listened with a sense that the “cutting edge” had moved. God was up to something among these creative people. Later we met with Bishop Colin Johnson, a thoughtful, attentive leader who flashes wry smiles in the midst of conversations. He’s a Bishop who has built a team committed to seeing the mission of God flourish in this Diocese. It was a wonderful two hours of conversation and stories.

When we left, the word under-construction ran through my head. That’s what’s happening! The “cutting edge” has shifted. God, with a great sense of humor, keeps turning up in all kinds of places that our labels keep missing.