Thursday, January 19, 2006
JEWS JOIN THE EMERGENT CHURCH MOVEMENT
according to a story in the Washington Examiner:
Over two days, representatives from nearly 30 emergent Jewish and Christian worship groups talked about abandoning traditional worship in search of a more personal connection with God that they said they can't find in temple or church. They also shared their vision with more traditional Jewish leaders who hope this new "emergent Judaism" might help bring young Jews back at least to some style of worship.
"We've got to learn from what our Christian colleagues are doing," said Shawn Landres, a rabbi with Synagogue 3000, a progressive Jewish think tank that set up the meeting at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute about 45 miles north of Los Angeles.
"We told them, 'You guys are maybe five to 10 years ahead of us, and we want to know what you did right and what you did wrong,' " she said.
Speakers at the conference said both faiths are struggling to stay relevant -- particularly to young people -- in a culture that is increasingly fast-paced and global.
In reading the entire article I got a picture of one of the "renewal" programs within the RCC that caught fire in my former liberal parish. It, too, met in homes. It did not "renew" my faith--nor my faith in the Church. After the initial blaze, the fire died out even there in the heart of liberalism. Who ever thought, though, that the Jews would turn to the Christians to seek ways to survive?
