<\/p>\n
Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cChristianity is about much more than beliefs, propositions and formally sanctioned practices. Indeed, this is a deep misunderstanding about the nature of Christian life. The belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not an arid set of directives, but rather a faith that is embedded in a community of praxis that makes beliefs work, and gives shape and meaning to the lives that believe. So religious belief is not simply some kind or arcane metaphysics; it is, rather, performed \u2013 much as one might perform a play.\u201d1<\/p>\n What is it that makes this statement so striking to me? To begin, the author is a priest with the Church of England and Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. These contexts are not necessarily known for operating outside of doctrinal statements, propositions and the \u201cformally sanctioned practices\u201d of the church. But more striking for me as a Pentecostal is that this sounds very much like a Pentecostal position. Look at that second sentence\u2014”The belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not an arid set of directives, but rather a faith that is embedded in a community of praxis that makes beliefs work<\/i>\u2026” This proclamation is Pentecostal in nature and position. In fact, though the years Pentecostals have been cited for what was considered operating outside of the beliefs, propositions and formally sanctioned practices of the church. So, to read this premise from a highly respected academic and a leader in the Church of England is, for me, both striking and quite refreshing.<\/p>\n Percy\u2019s point is that those expressions that shape the church today are not necessarily only those which are historically understood as shaping the church. Those \u201cexplicit\u201d expressions of faith including doctrine, theology, traditional form, and practice, though a part of the praxis of the church, are not necessarily those that are driving and shaping the church. It is those \u201cimplicit\u201d components, those \u201chidden meanings in structures and practices that on the surface appear to be benign and innocent,\u201d and yet under the surface, are a powerful force in the church. 2 \u00a0For example, the \u201cdress codes, manners, the management of strong feelings, the moderation of the collective emotional temperature \u2013 all have a bearing on the emerging vision of God within each congregation and denomination,\u201d or even the scent of the church convey and inform. 3 \u00a0Percy focuses his exploration of implicit theology on the sacraments of the church, the church\u2014particularly church growth, and finally the ministry in general. Within each, he looks for the \u201cimplicit\u201d that is shaping the church of today.<\/p>\n Application<\/strong><\/p>\n There is so there is so much that I could highlight in\u00a0Shaping the Church<\/i>. But for some reason, I can\u2019t get the scent of the country church out of my mind\u2014\u201cThe smell of a country church (flowers, polish, of old prayer books and a slightly musty hint) is a reassuring scent\u2014one that is so deep\u2014that it conveys a sense that informs our theology and shapes our ecclesial horizons.\u201d4 He\u2019s talking about smell here\u2014and how it conveys a sense that informs and shapes the church. Smell!<\/p>\n In the last 20 plus years, I have been in hundreds of churches in as many cities in the United States. Early on in our travels my wife and I both began to realize that churches we visited have their own distinct scent or smell. In Percy\u2019s case, he mentions that there are certain smells in a church that are\u2014in a faith sense\u2014reassuring. 4 However, I would add that, on the other side of the coin, there are also churches that have a scent that is less reassuring.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t quite describe the scent, but it is one that is immediately recognizable as conveying an image of a community who\u2019s dreams of a bright future have faded into the distant past and are blurred by its present reality. It\u2019s a rather heavy scent. It is a fragrance, not of fresh cut flowers, or polish on the pews that will soon be filled with the community of believers. It is a fragrance that is neither sweet nor savory, neither warm nor cold, light or dark. It is \u201cthat smell!\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully, it is not a common scent in the churches we visit, but even one or two experiences is enough never to forget that smell. The message conveyed by scent is often the first signal we receive, and the memory it produces can last a lifetime. Remember the smell of those warm chocolate chip cookies! Could it be that church growth or revitalization can begin with changing the scent of the church? I\u2019m not speaking of incense or even flowers, in fact, I’m not sure it can be expressed in word. Still, there is a sense the smell of a church conveys meaning on many levels, including the past, present, and future of the church.<\/p>\n I would argue with Percy that scent conveys and therefore informs and shapes. Consequently, if the church is shaped by more than just the explicit; the smell of a church is not a\u00a0trivial matter. Next time you visit a church, give it a try. What is the scent of that church saying to you?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Summary \u201cChristianity is about much more than beliefs, propositions and formally sanctioned practices. Indeed, this is a deep misunderstanding about the nature of Christian life. The belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not an arid set of directives, but rather a faith that is embedded in a community of praxis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[963,964],"class_list":["post-12790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-martyn-percy","tag-percy","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12794,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12790\/revisions\/12794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n