The Holy Firehose
Is there anyone who would deny that the Roman Catholic Church is desperately in need of renewal? Is there anyone who thinks their current practices and structure is building a hopeful global spirituality? Some of us are convinced we need to build alternative frameworks to invigorate the community of believers . . . and to attract future believers. . . . with practices that express our real mission as a Church. Our conviction is that there are monumental reservoirs of good will and grace that we have very feeble ways to tap as individuals or as a community. We also do not believe at all that a church is mostly a group of weekly church-goers who attend Mass and believe the teachings of the hierarchy/ magisterium.
We have learned a tremendous amount over the 20th century about communities and the evolving role of both the religious and the laity. We have transformed ourselves with Vatican II to be much more community-centered and count more on the involvement of the laity. All of us will readily admit, we suspect, that we are all called to holiness, to sainthood, and to each play a role in building the Kingdom of God on earth. We would also admit that the impact of any of our individual activities is meager or inconsequential compared to our impact as a community or a church denomination. We fall pathetically short on almost all our efforts to tap this community strength, however. This realization is the first of two primary motivating factors for this new church venture that we call the Church of the Holy Firehose.
We have very abstract and almost empty terms to talk about the tangible power of God’s grace in our lives, especially in the potential for building the kingdom through our Christian community. We talk, for example, about the will of God and the encyclicals that are issued out of the Vatican. These are supposedly larger than life ways that God, thru His mystical ways and channels, influences the world and His body of believers. In fact, my favorite spiritual and inspirational talks are from the writer Wayne Dyer who masterfully talks about our power to accomplish anything coming from our “source” and he has a globe or generic sphere on stage with him as a prop. But we also say frequently in our faith lives, repeating from Matthew,Mark, and Luke’s gospels, that all of us needs faith to spread God’s word, and that faith the size of a mustard seed is sufficient to move mountains. This phrase stopped us in our tracks. All of the Catholics that we have asked about this say two things about this phrase. One is that this is a very common admission that we frequently say we have faith and therefore profess that we can move mountains with that faith. Second, they have never ever felt that they themselves can move mountains, nor do they know anyone else who has ever felt that way!
We desperately need something infinitely more tangible, more real to us. Not a souce. Not God’s will. Not some document. This brought us to the second powerful yet paradoxical factor in the new venture that we are initiating. We admit it is strange to hear, but the most tangible and real symbol / metaphor we want to promote is from the science fictional accounts in Star Wars!
For anyone who has seen any combination of the 6 movies or books in the series of Star Wars, the drama is based around two opposing forces of good and evil. The evil side is called the Dark Side (represented by the Empire and the Sith). The good side is essentially those who utilize the Force (represented by the Resistance or Coalition or Galactic Republic ). One character after another is exhorted at every dramatic turn to connect with the Force. “May the Force be with you” is the mantra for all the good guys. There is an awesome sense in these movies (or books) that this Force (for good) is not only magical, it is limitless, it is unfathomable, and it is always available to anyone who can connect with it. Without ever saying so, anyone who connects with the Force can essentially MOVE MOUNTAINS.
Our sense is that all of us who truly believe that if we have . . . . and that indeed we do have faith at least the size of a mustard seed, then we surely indeed also have the power to move mountains. Every one of us! How can we help each other realize that in a more tangible way? We need a better description, a better use of language, an enabling metaphor. . . . and we have one to suggest. A firehose. A gushing, pounding, transformational, potentially destructive but innately refreshing, scouring, cleansing, out with the old-in with the new, start again from scratch, say goodby to the former structure and start rebuilding something better baby, wall of water. Just like the heroes and heroines in Star Wars, we know it is out there for our use every minute of every day, we know that all the grace we ever need is there for us. All the grace to change our hearts and the hearts of our enemies, to summon the courage to face any challenge or any evil, to say YES or NO when it is the right thing or the healthy thing or the humane thing or the merciful thing or the philanthropic thing to do. We can connect with this reservoir any time, We can tap into it. We can stop taking steps away from it or ignoring it and be carried by it at any moment. In order to connect, we need very specifically to let go (and let God some would say) of our plans, and be open to the awesome unfathomable richness of God’s grace all around us.
We are spreading this message in lots of circles and finding more and more folks connecting with this. We find ourselves communicating with each other and celebrating any time we notice the spirit working marvelously by winking at each other. Often we mouth the words to each other, “it’s the firehose again.” . . . or “someone’s got connected to the firehose”, etc.
One of the key aspects to how God works thru this Holy Firehose, is that, being God, it is far beyond our imaginations. We all try to do good work, and we plan many things in our lives, but we know something very special and powerful is taking place when we connect with the firehose. People we had no idea might be involved, resources we had no idea were available, synergy we had no way to fathom often come together to avert a crisis, to defuse a dangerous situation, to soften hearts to accept valuable changes, to create new ways to operate or pray with each other, and a million other heart-warming activities that poignantly are infused somehow with the divine. When my mother notices such things, she frequently is heard to say, “Praise Jesus!” When more and more of us see them now, we often say, “Holy firehose!”
It should be noted that we are in no way interested in denying the marvelous and rich resources of the Catholic Church. We accept and want to build on many of its traditions, some of its structures, its worship and prayers and rites and especially its music and symbols. It is just that we need to go way beyond these to build the future Church. We need to be more real, more honest with what is needed and more tangible in knowing how to summon the grace to help build its future.
We also believe that our early efforts to build this better church future happens to be involving Catholics for now, but there is nothing uniquely Roman Catholic here. We have been raised in the Catholic tradition and look forward to building our church in a much healthier way. We also encourage believers in any other faith tradition to use this metaphor and understanding in their own churches as well.
In a very strange way, we are convinced that we are all called to be saints . . . and that we are also called to be . . . Jedi’s. May the (Lord’s) force be with us . . . every moment of our lives and in each of our relationships!
We encourage anyone responding to this on our blog to submit their own Firehose experiences. The more practical examples, the better for (prospective) members to hear about and celebrate.
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