We have been assisting a Swedenborgian minister who has moved here from the US to create a "church without walls". This is her full mission statement.
SPIRIT WITHOUT
WALLS: Feeding the Soul in a Secular World
Spirit Without Walls is a post-modern ministry
aimed at people who are unlikely to set foot in a church, and yet have the same
spiritual needs as anyone:
- Comfort when they are afflicted
- Challenge when they are too comfortable
- Ceremonies to mark life’s passages
- A way to connect with a sense of something larger, by any name
- A way to bridge the gap between us, and see the sacred in the eyes of another
- A sense of personal worth and purpose
- A way to celebrate Life Itself
- A time to reflect on what matters
- Something to give meaning and value to life
Spirit Without Walls is an experiment in
meeting a diverse community’s spiritual needs outside church walls, in a
variety of forms:
- Feminine Spirit teaches and empowers women to live with Beauty, Courage, and Passion, bringing the Feminine to a world dying of expediency.
- Weddings and Sacred Rites create weddings and other rites of passage designed to lift up personal meanings, commitment, and a sense of the sacred.
- Kitchen Talk and What Matters are short, pithy spoken commentaries for radio and YouTube, to awaken and reframe everyday personal and social issues. Written commentaries on the Huffington Post, Interrelo Newsletter and THINK Central Europe, do the same.
- The Common Table feeds the soul through inclusive celebratory meals in unlikely settings, creating community, plenty, and joy in the midst of alienation and scarcity.
- Flash Mobster Choir of Angels will create moments of worship and awe when and where we least expect it, awakening us to Divine Wonder.
- Soul Coaching works through the body and mind to reach and regenerate the soul.
What we have been involved in is a small portion of the above. If you have ever heard of a flash mob, her goal is to create a flash dinner. The original concept was to get hotels and restaurant on board to donate their left over food. Then without warning and without advertisement, a group of volunteers would quietly set up tables and place settings in a public space. When all is set, anyone walking by would be invited to a sit down dinner where they are served. That is the idea, but the practicalities have been burdensome to maneuver.
At one of our think tank meetings, we were discussing alternative ways to get the word out if the ambling passerby is reluctant to partake of a meal. Our dear minister friend suggested we Twitter the info. After laughing and stating I thought Tweeter was as possible here as diaper rash, she challenged my thinking. Hence, I had to do a survey amongst my list of students old and current, which numbers around 400. I was pleasantly surprised to hear back from a little over 100. They substantiated my claim. 98% of them said they don't use Twitter. Of those, three asked me what Twitter was. Facebook is popular because it is translated into Hungarian. One student who works in the industry sent me a breakdown of social network users in Hungary. Someone else sent this graph.
This continually reminds me that people who come from urban areas in the US, seem to forget that the world has not embraced all things intrinsic to US culture. Another person who was a reader before I challenged his beliefs, truly believed that having everything in the cloud was the only way to go. People often forget that not everyone has a computer, or fast Internet access, or fill in the blank. Ron's family in Iowa still has modem dial up, because there are no cable companies out in the rural parts of the state and no cell towers have been installed. Not even satellite Internet service is possible.
I won my bet with the minister, but there was nothing to back the wager other than reassuring cultural knowledge is indeed intact. The only reason I have hitched up to her wagon is because I am curious about how the ride turns out and what the final destination happens to be. Further updates as they occur.
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