Reflection - On the 21st Century

We do not live in the time and place of Thomas Cranmer (seen here), nor is this the time and place of the Caroline Divines or even of William Temple.  We will live out the rest of our lives in the 21st Century.  We will live, work, play, love, pray and finally die in the 21st Century.  You're stuck, there's no other option available.  In computer terms the other options are "grayed out".

So how then does that inescapable fact effect our life in faith?  Working from the basis that our foundational spirituality offers us great (though not limitless) freedom to explore and express our personal faith lives, the fact that we will live it out in this century means that we are faced with even more choices.

And that's good news really.

Some folks will see the future inevitably intertwined with progress and progress as synonymous with change.  Under such an understanding all that came before can and should be swept aside making way for the new, the novel and presumably the exciting.  As a student of history I reject that.  History including tradition carries forward to us things that have worked in the past.  As with each generation we need to carefully assess what is still of value.  It may be fine as is, or it may need to be adjusted.  Some of what is passed along to us will also need to be reverently set aside.  All of that is fine.  All of that is consistent within the spiritual heritage to which we belong.

We have a tendency to believe that the younger brothers and sisters will gravitate automatically to the "newer" stuff and have no interest in the old.  My reading and discussions over the last ten years tell me that often, maybe even very often, exactly the opposite is the truth.  So we must be open to "whatever works" (again there are limits to this but the limits are quite generous).

So what aspects of this 21st Century part of my study call to me?  A couple things:

• Technology - what does the technology allow us to do that is useful or even inspirational?
• Portability - hot word over the last couple years in software circles.  Its meaning is pretty up front.  The ability to carry your stuff around with you.  In many ways the BCP has always been an archetype of portability.  Today we have some new and interesting ways to approach that concept.
• Interactivity -  As Episcopalians we come from a long string of word oriented believers (not to be confused with the Word).  We read and are very print oriented.  Studies have shown that print doesn't work for everyone.  How can we carry our traditions forward in ways that allow interaction in other ways?

That's a kind of top of my head list.  Technology is already a part of this project as in interactivity through the use of the Internet, this blog and the videos I've produced.  My plan is to expand and look at other ways of using them to offer new ways of doing old things.  I have at least one project for each of the items.  If you have other ideas about the life in faith in the 21st Century feel free to let me know (ooooh, interactivity again!)

Peace