Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Reverend Eric Elnes.

Dr. Eric Elnes is a minister, biblical scholar, author, speaker and media host. Since 2008, he has been the Senior Minister of Countryside Community Church (UCC) in Omaha, Nebraska. Countryside recently became the Christian partner in Omaha’s heralded Tri-Faith Initiative – in which a synagogue, a mosque, and a church are co-locating to a 37-acre campus to learn what it is like for the three Abrahamic faiths to live in relationship with each other. The shared physical commons is the only undertaking of its kind in the world. Elnes often preaches about the need for inclusivity, the foundation of the Tri-Faith Initiative. “Religion does us a disservice when it seeks to remove uncertainty from life,” he says. “Life is messy and no amount of doctrine or dogma changes this. Faith built upon certainty is a house of cards that falls apart when the ‘unshakable foundation’ shifts even slightly.”

In 2006, he helped lead a 2,500 mile walk from Phoenix to Washington, D.C. to promote awareness of the progressive/emerging Christian faith, one tenet of which is to be a constructive force for social and environmental justice and peace in the world. The contemporary convergence movement is the result of reconciliation among post-evangelical and post-liberal Christians “who have previously been on opposite ends of the theological spectrum.” Each brings gifts to the table and the result is non-violent resolution to conflict. The premise of reconciliation and inclusivity is a foundation of Elnes' life and work. The Reverend's books include The Phoenix Affirmations: A New Vision for the Future of Christianity (Jossey-Bass, 2006), and Gifts of the Dark Wood: Seven Blessings for Soulful Skeptics (and Other Wanderers) (Abingdon Press, 2015). His 2,500 mile journey is recounted in his book, Asphalt Jesus: Finding a New Christian Faith on the Highways of America (Jossey-Bass, 2007) (discussion guide), and is also the subject of a feature-length film, The Asphalt Gospel.

We'll post the transcript of the call soon, but till then, some of the nuggets that stood out from the call ...

• On his Omaha congregation within the United Church of Christ: Countryside is one of the larger congregations in the United Church of Christ -- 1300 members in the geographic center of Omaha. It has a progressive tradition with a history of interfaith involvement. The congregation holds two services on Sunday mornings, distinguished mainly by their music – one is focused on classical music and the other is a jazz-based service. “That's unique for us in the Omaha area. We're also developing a radically different service called Day One, which we hope to offer on a weekly basis once we move to the Tri-Faith commons.” The service will be kind of a “mash-up” – drawing on monastic traditions in a modern context with nods to Jewish and Muslim traditions. The new offering is a “product of cross-pollination that's happening as our congregations become closer together.” It’s not a merger of faiths; the new service will be “a Christian expression with deep appreciation of the other faith traditions that we relate to in the Abrahamic tradition.”

• On the origins of the Tri-Faith Initiative: When Rev. Elnes first came to Omaha 10 years ago, “I had no idea there was a Tri-Faith initiative. They informed me it was going on -- it blew my mind, I couldn't believe my good luck to have landed in Omaha.” The initial seeds of the initiative go back to 9/11 -- on that day, the Rabbi of Temple Israel in Omaha was “prescient enough to know that the local Muslim community would need ground support. So 40 leaders of his synagogue surrounded the mosque shoulder to shoulder to protect it. That connected those (Jewish and Muslim) communities to one another by heart.” Their relationship developed, and at one point, both wanted to move west in town (for different reasons). They realized they could save money if they located next to each other by saving on a parking lot. “I love it when that happens,” Elnes recalled with a laugh. Shortly after, the synagogue realized it could lead to more than saving money on a parking lot if the two communities got the local Christians involved. They initially approached the local Catholic community, which turned them down. Episcopalians said yes, excitedly, but it was hard for them to start a new congregation from the ground up (lots of Episcopalian churches already existed). “Eventually they approached us,” Elnes said. “It was unusual because our church existed for 65 years in a particular location in a fantastic neighborhood with beautiful building (no deferred maintenance). There was literally no good reason to move whatsoever except for reason of the Tri-Faith Initiative.”

• On his congregation’s decision to join the Tri-Faith Initiative and the animating vision of reconciling with neighbor and earth: In UCC, the minister or bishop doesn't make the decision – the entire congregation makes the decision. So Elnes saw this as an opportunity to take 1300 members through the decision, giving them background of what Tri-Faith represents. The congregation took 40 days to ask if this is God's will. As they considered this, they asked every question except one: “how much would it cost?” This was because, Elnes said, “money can cloud discernment.” And that’s the case either way – if it’s easy monetarily, other hard questions might not be asked, and if it’s hard monetarily, then the decision will be governed largely by monetary considerations. “So we held that question aside and really studied it.... Many told me I would be fired if I allowed the decision to move forward. No church ever moves because of a vision alone, I was told. Usually a church moves because the roof or something is caving in or to seek a new population. I was warned that it would be voted down. But the exact opposite proved to be the case.” The congregation accepted the decision to move to the new Tri-Faith campus by a 70% favorable vote (only 50% were needed). And it was determined that “the cost would be way more expensive than what I anticipated -- $26 million -- so I was glad we didn't ask the question of money earlier.” The congregation added to this amount an additional $1 million stretch goal to make the new facilitate rise to become the most environmentally efficient church in the country. “We wanted to make an environmental statement about reconciliation with the earth just as we were making a statement about reconciliation with our neighbors. We see these as the 2 biggest threats -- reconciliation with enemies and reconciliation with the earth [in light of climate change] …. So we really feel like those are the 2 great issues, the 2 great callings, of the Holy Spirit, in our time -- waging (not just seeking) peace with our neighbors, and reconciliation with our earth.”

• Ultimately, the congregation lost about 200 pledging households who had been opposed to the vote -- most were just opposed to moving (not against the Tri-Faith Initiative), as they were connected to the neighborhood or the building. “So lots of people who had grown up in the church just couldn't see us moving. That set us back in numbers and financially, but the congregation was able to surge forward….We raised $26 million -- so we enter our new facility debt-free. We haven't yet achieved the $1 million extra for the solar panels for the additional sustainability factor; that final bit has eluded us. But we did pre-wire everything so we can add the panels on eventually.”

• On the Christian convergence movement, Phoenix Affirmations, and reconciliation between post-Evangelical and post-liberal Christians: Rev. Elnes has been involved with the “Christian convergence” movement for long. He described the earliest roots of Christian convergence as coming from a walk across the country in 2006 to proclaim the message of progressive Christianity -- about love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self. “Those are the 3 great loves. What we said is that in progressive Christianity all 3 have to be practiced together (2 out of 3 is not enough). It’s not selfish to talk of love of self the way Jesus talked about it, because such love is always in connection with love of neighbor and love of God.” Rev. Elnes and the Christian convergence movement created a document in concert with clergy, biblical scholars and theologians known as the Phoenix Affirmations, consisting of 12 points -- 4 for each the 3 loves. As part of the walk across the country, “What we found almost immediately shocked us -- lots of people in the conservative side of Christianity were saying ‘thank you, you're walking with me’....even in rural areas…people were yearning for something else.” Rev. Elnes described that while these people might not publicly state such things – in fear of losing their social and economic networks if they were to go against their faith network – they were privately expressing their appreciation for a more inclusive Christianity. He found that “on the more liberal end also, there were lots of people committed to liberal social values and liberal views of Scripture, but they felt like they were missing something in their church -- things that liberalism has tossed out (eg a sense of what are we for?). Progressive Christianity rejects fundamentalism (certain depictions of the Bible, Jesus, prayer), but often leaves a hole. Liberals were missing Jesus and spiritual disciplines like prayer and meditation. So we found that on both sides of the theological swimming pool, people were having problems in their own camps. … Both sides were talking the same language of what they wanted -- ideals like those found in the Phoenix affirmation. That’s the huge untold story at grassroots of America. There are lots of bitter enemies yearning for very similar things.” Rev. Elnes described these as “like 2 groups of escaped slaves from Egypt -- both wandering in the desert. If only they would meet -- maybe there would be gift sharing. … Over the years, we asked – ‘have people discovered each other yet?’ The answer was no, until about 5 years ago, when the Wild Goose Festival appeared on the US scene where a group of Christians were putting up a flag and creating a festival around spirituality, justice and the arts. Lots of people showed up -- from both camps -- post-evangelicals and post-liberals. Discovery of each other was a joyous and creative thing, where each side discovers the other is bearing gifts the other is looking for.” Rev. Elnes noted that it can be easier to bring people of 3 Abrahamic faiths together than members of same tribe, because in the former situation, you expect and tolerate difference, and so there is a built-in possibility for grace that sometimes doesn't exist within the same tribe, where you expect people to believe what you believe.

• On interfaith understanding among Abrahamic traditions: “If you look at progressive end of each of the 3 faiths, they are all in same mode (similar to the Phoenix Affirmations) – with similar dreams, visions, etc.... There is gift-sharing going on … and growing convergence from different faith traditions.” Rev. Elnes believes there is, more broadly, a vast spiritual awakening going on. They are like marbles on a table, where the table is tilting so marbles are rolling in the same direction. Minority within each of the faiths are tilted in the same direction, but with distinctive ways of doing that that are unique to themselves.” He believes that “when Jesus said love your neighbor, that includes love the stranger,” and that “loving yourself means realizing that God created you with mind and heart – so we must love both of those aspects of ourselves,” and that both go together in search for truth. “How are you to love your neighbor as yourself if you don't love yourself? Our Muslim friends are really good at getting at heart of it – Islam is about bowing, submitting to God. They remind us there is no love of self without love of God. Unless the soul is bowed down before the creator, there is no true love of self, no true freedom, without submission. As Jesus said, ‘we find our lives by losing it.’ If you keep all 3 loves together – love of self, God and neighbor – you see yourself not as an isolated lone ranger, but as a community. You are intimately connected to all... All of those make up you, so loving you cannot be abstracted from loving the neighbor and loving God.”
  
• Many Paths up the Mountain: Rev. Elnes believes that Christianity is not the only true path. “Jesus was not talking to non-disciples. So when he says ‘affirm Jesus above all names,’ what is he really saying? He is saying to adopt a way of life – urging disciples to reflect a new reality in their life, to pray in way of life that Jesus represents – that's what brings extra spiritual energy into the equation. He was talking about a way of life that connects us to God.” He then described how Jesus drew on Hebrew books (Deuteronomy ad Leviticus) when he said “Love God with all your heart, mind and soul” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” To these, Jesus added the element of grace, because try as we might to practice the 3 great loves, we fail all the time. So we need God's perfection to stand for our imperfection, God’s vision to stand for our lack of vision, and His imagination to stand for our lack of imagination. “We need grace – otherwise we pull ourselves down before we even stand up.”

• Eastern and Western Religions: Radical Disengagement and Radical Engagement with the World: With respect to Eastern religions, Rev. Elnes described how he was deeply influenced by travels in India in 2004 (he spent time in a Christian ashram that was looking at bridging the divide between Christianity and Hinduism). He encountered someone who “compared the relationship between us as different paths up a mountain. But some might be on other side of mountain – you can’t see or realize them until you are at the very top.” He described how certain kinds of interfaith conversations can be “dumbed down” – seeking a kind of least common denominator. “But if you take the mountain analogy, each faith has different paths – and they lead to same goal.” He described how Eastern faiths may be on one side of the mountain, while Western traditions are on the other side. “In Western tradition -- we focus on engagement, radical engagement with the world, in order to find love of God, neighbor and self. Grace is radical engagement of world to find God in the world. On the Eastern side, there is emphasis on radical disengagement with the world (seeing world as illusion) – not being as attached to world.” Using another analogy, he described how Jesus and Buddha may be right next to each other in a circle, but you have to travel the circumference of the circle to get from one to the other.” “If I weren't a Christian, I’d probably be a Taoist. Radical engagement and radical disengagement go hand in hand....” He described how his practices are related to ancient Celtic Christianity – which has insights related to eastern religions, seeing the whole earth as infused with presence of God.

• On his beautiful personal practices of sitting meditation and the 4 internal bows: Rev. Elnes engages in lots of walking meditation, with time out in wild places around the world and in his local area. His “bread and butter” is every day sitting meditation for at least a half hour, and often an hour. He adopts lots of forms of meditation – and tries to “mix it up to avoid losing the edge” since the strategic mind allows us to manipulate various practices. He described a beautiful practice during his meditation of going through a series of 4 bows (metaphorically, in his mind): First, he bows his head internally, as when entering a sacred place. In this, he thinks of the last 24 hours and considers “what blessings I can give thanks for, where love touched me and where I touched others.” Next he bows more deeply internally (as if bowing from waist), and focuses “on someone in my attention who might need help (physically, spiritually or mentally). I try to center energy to that person.” Third, he bows more deeply into presence (as if bowing on hands and knees) – and toward God. He bows into being in “presence of something like an incredibly wise friend who loves me beyond my wildest imagination, who has my interests in mind but for whom I am not in center of His attention.” He considers “What do I need right now? I try to articulate that as precisely as possible. I try to feel that in my gut. I try to focus and find that.” Then 4th and finally, he bows internally as if in “utter prostration, daring to crawl under the curtain of the holy holies. In this, you let go of every agenda of what you need. Simply rest in that presence. From that point on the spirit guides the conversation. Then I spend the next few minutes letting my mind wander and let go of the agenda I just identified – and let God change the agenda on me.” He ends by giving thanks.

Lots of gratitude to all the behind-the-scenes volunteers that made this call happen! To stay in touch with the work of the Tri-Faith Initiative, please sign up at its website here.