Foundational thoughts - holy firehose

The Holy Firehose  --  Part Two

Foundational Thoughts

As we have thought about the Church of the Holy Firehose,  we have wondered if we might be talking more specifically about a Movement or even a Religious Order here. Maybe it is the Order of the Holy Firehose. We will see where the sprit and the thunderous rush of the firehose takes us on this, but there are several more terms we wanted to posit . . . to plant . . . and to try to germinate. Many of them we throw out here as potential names of the equivalent of parish church names. We hope to issue additional descriptions of each one (and many more as suggestions and inspiration come back in trickles and splashes and gushes and torrents. We can stop short of tsunamis!)

As mentioned in the original description of the Church,  we are seeking to find new language and metaphors to describe and capture the framework that we will need to build the healthy structure of this Church. We think that many of the following “parish” names may be a start toward that goal. How about . . .

Our Lady of the Holy Nudge

Our Lady of the Holy Hug

Our Lady of the Good Deed

Our Lady of the Real World

Our Lady of the Moral Compass

Our Lady of Encouragement and R-e-s-p-e-c-t

Our Lady of Mother Nature

Our Lady of the Holy Gay

Our Lady of the Holy Foxhole

It may seem like a strange collection of terms, but we would like to see if some might take root. And it is only a tiny start. Please suggest others if you are reading this.

Any functional church surely needs to maintain rituals, routines, and have rhythms for its activities. The new proposal that we are describing should be no different. What we are proposing however is a different framework and foundation for the modern, life-giving church.

We should at least be willing to take a step back and look at ourselves both in a mirror and in a modern context. We are not a first-century church, even though we were established then. We should not be trying to fossilize ourselves in that early framework. Sadly, however, one gets that impression from many of the Roman Catholic initiatives in the past decade. In fact, the latest program to introduce a new Roman missal, seems to be precisely reverting us to old language and ways, tragically missing or ignoring the elephants and rhinos in the room.

Do we really think these old practices and language bits will appeal to current church-goers or will lure back the non-church goers (75 to 80% of US Catholics or 90 to 95% of European Catholics)? Why do we see such a global surge this past decade in Islam membership? Are we not shamed to note that many segments of the US population ridicules and fears Muslims and is either ignorant or ignoring the fact that their two main tenets are mercy and forgiveness and they heed the call to pray 8 times every single day. With any eyes even cracked open the slightest, practicing Muslims make most Catholics look like blooming heathens.

We brag that we are a Christian nation, and the media notes that the Religious Right is a powerful force in our public and political life in the US, but how do we compare as religious people or spiritual people . . . compared to the Muslims in our communities?? We often see video clips of Americans listening to the song “Proud to be an American” and it portrays us as a faith-filled nation and a light to other nations. We would have to say, however, that the most distinctive characteristics of our country’s image both at home and abroad is definitely not of a compassionate entity promoting the common good at every turn. Instead we are probably the most militaristic country on the planet. We are always looking to support our private interests and our financial interests. I think our international aid overseas, as a fraction of our economy, for example, is the lowest of all developed nations.  What we lead the world in now is the highest drug use per capita and by far the largest numbers of people in prison. This is nothing to be bragging about . . . for a Christian country.

We want the new revitalized church that we propose to carry a very different image. To help build this image, we think it is instructive to look at two key elements  in the foundation of the new community  -- relationships and virtues.

Those of us Catholics who are now senior citizens remember well our Catechism days. Among other things we learned about the faith and marriage and the sacraments and about the hierarchy and the Church community itself.  We learned that God is love,  and love needs to be the basis for all relationships, starting with our relationship with God. Love of course was not at all the only virtue, but it was the primary one. Virtues will be addressed in a few paragraphs  here shortly, but first the focus is on relationships.

We learned that Baptism is our introduction to the Church, and the value of the sacrament was not at all just for the child or person baptized. It was for the entire Church community. We were all called to support each other, especially new members to the congregation and starting with the newly baptized. We learned that the love so powerfully expressed in marriage  is a model that we should extrapolate from the love of two persons to the love and care we should have within our families, and within our neighborhood, and within our Church congregation, and within our city and country extending to the global Church. Tragically not said at all back then should have been that love and care for our planet and its environment (the only one we’ve got!) should have been on that love chain too, but . . . . . that is our history. Most of this awareness and sensitivity and extrapolation has gone far, far away from our consciousness. We need a re-birth!

How many of us who live either in suburbia or in apartments or condos know many of our neighbors anymore? Doesn’t that shock you at all? Here we are, in a neighborhood, and most of us are not even neighborly to our neighbors, much less strangers or immigrants. We have long learned that one of the most valuable rationales for marriage is to develop intimacy and close relations hip with a spouse . . . and this can carry forward on a somewhat less intimate level with others at many levels. We learn of course how difficult it is to have any good relationship with others in our own household . . . and we are supposed to carry this forward to other levels, but we just ignore it and go about our daily grind most days.  Simply note that relationship building is a foundational basis of any church and this one is no exception. One additional metaphor to consider here is to note that the two most intimate relationships one can have, short of mother and child, is with a marriage spouse and your buddy in wartime in a foxhole. Talk about learning to get along!!!  Think about it.

Lastly, for this foundational segment, we ask you to think about the concept of considering church members as church-goers. We don’t believe there is a direct correlation. Church-goers go through the motions and not necessarily the real practices. As you saw in the first segment of this series, something very different is required of members of the Church of the Holy Firehose than regular attendance in dress-up clothes to services. We are called to be saints . . .which means we are ALL called to be Jedi masters. We are called to be holy, and vigilant, hard-working, virtuous community members. We believe we can tap into the goodness and energy of the universe at a moment’s notice and move mountains. This model needs to be exhibited every hour, every day, not just inside the church or temple during services.

Most of us can recall well the song “They’ll know we are Christians by our Love.” It sounded very  appropriate and reasonable every time we sang it, but we wonder how often it was a reality when “they” or others witnessed our daily routines. Our church needs to help us consistently be that beacon and witness, … and not just of Love. It must be of ALL the virtues. We should be beacons of virtue, not simply of love (which is defined differently by everyone you would ask).

What we need is a grassroots church of JEDIs who organize themselves, paying attention to their Catholic roots and formation, focused on building relationships, founded on virtue, and affecting both their local and global communities. That is the foundation.

We request that those who may respond to this on our blog consider suggesting additional “parish” names or useful metaphors or worthy foundational elements for the new church.