Problems we’re all dealing with …
What secular modernity has offered us is science without inspiration.
And what secular post-modernity has tried to give us is technology as savior.
Neither one of these is a great option. Religion knows this, but what much Americanized-religion has done is to react to the former by saying something like “No, science isn’t the important thing; God is.” And to the latter, something like, “No, no, no, technology isn’t the savior; Jesus is.” Okay, fine. Yes, it might be essential to keep God and Jesus in the mix, but these simplistic reactions won’t work. What they ultimately end up doing is perpetuating binary, either/or thinking. In effect, we’re telling people their way is wrong and our way is right without any real reason other than “God said,” “trust us,” “the bible said so,” or any number of old, tired, and ultimately ineffectual lines.
Meanwhile, love just might be the river watering all ways of thinking.
I happen to think that love is the depth of all things. I’ve experienced this depth in and through nature, in and through my worshipping community, and most of all, in and through relationships with people. It’s all around me in life, and mysteriously, it’s all around me as I grieve death, too.
Additionally, love is more than a reasonable answer as to why evolution, despite all the entropy, has allowed for new and good things to emerge. Seeing love as an evolutionary force cycles me back into my lived reality, where love is present even in death, for death is an indispensable element of evolution. There’s a certain beauty here that is difficult to name, but the point is, I have no idea how to even begin naming it without love.
Authentic answer to the problems we’re all dealing with …
If we committed to a religion of love, it could come alongside both science and technology. We wouldn’t need to feel the binary pressure of positioning ourselves as the ultimate option that categorically rejects either one. Yes, art and artificial intelligence, quantum physics and altruism, rainforests and grace, church and science are all entangled in a deeper song called love. Universe literally means one song. Religion that doesn’t tap into this one song is woefully out of tune.
So what does this look like in practice? What kind of religious structures actually serve this vision of love as a river watering all ways of thinking? Or this vision of love as the one song for all people everywhere?
Well, probably not the old reactionary models. Or denominations built on global conformity and universal control. Instead, imagine churches and faith communities that see themselves as connection points—places that link what’s happening in their space with what’s happening in creative collectives, neighborhood resilience programs, ecological initiatives, and ESL classrooms. The church doesn’t have to be the destination, separate from the world. The church could be the nexus, the connection between us and what our world wants to do (or is already doing). The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead referred to religion as “world loyalty.”
World-loyal religion is happening in new expressions all around us—and a relevant denominational space doesn’t compete, but celebrates and supports those movements. Instead of gatekeeping who’s in and who’s out, we ask how we can come alongside. Yes, to faith that shows up for the whole world, not just its own tribe. This is love. It’s beneficial for everyone. And love? It’s the reason for our new denominational space.
