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This episode is the second part of a conversation I have with Dr. Marc Mullinax, who is Professor of Religion at Mars Hill University in Mars Hill, North Carolina and who is also a charter member of the creative and progressive church, Circle of Mercy.
In Part I Marc and I explored and discussed our awareness that Christians across the theological spectrum in the United States are experiencing a deep sense of anxiety. Marc proposed that we each have a worldview that gives order and guidance to our experiences, even to what we anticipate for the future. It is when our worldview is interrupted for by something significant that we experience anxiety. In my mind this worldview interruption comes with the awareness that Christianity is losing its place as the dominant culture of our nation. For progressive Christians, our anxiety was heightened by the election of President Trump and has the possibility of continuing to increase with the possibility of his re-election.
In response, Marc offers a second kind of interruption–an intentional interruption provided by the spiritual resources in all religions and faiths. This second, intentional interruption comes in the form of prayer, meditation, and practices. For the Christian, these practices arise out of our beliefs in the resurrection and are ways of practicing that resurrection in our lives and congregations. As Marc says, progressive churches have a golden moment to develop the kind of intentional interruption and resilience helpful for addressing our anxiety and the situation of our times.
Marc provides sixteen insights and practices to guide our actions and thoughts and uses the congregation he attends, Circle of Mercy . These sixteen insights and practices can be reviewed on YouTube by searching for the title, ‘Being the Church in Anxious Times.’ youtu.be/UNR804DIG-s
To have a conversation with Marc, you can reach him at mmullinax@mhu.edu.
Again, on a separate note, to repeat the promo given in Part 1, Marc has a new book coming out entitled,Tao te Ching: Power for the Peaceful to be published by Fortress Press. In The Atlantic’s September 2018 issue, editors reported out results of “The Big Question” they had asked a couple months earlier on Twitter: “What book or article would you make required reading for everyone on Earth?” Tao te Ching was the fourth most-popular text of the responses, after Fahrenheit 451, Silent Spring and The Brothers Karamazov. About the book, Marc says, ‘This English translation of Tao te Ching is for modern readers, one that poses questions and answers about how to live in peace and intentionally in chaotic times. I have made it my quest to provide a scholarly translation, but to render it in a vernacular that can also surprise as it liberates the intents of the Chinese text.’ You can anticipate a future conversation with Marc about this work!
The music for this episode is from a clip of a song called ‘Father Let Your Kingdom Come’ which is found on The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Work Songs album and is used by permission by The Porter’s Gate Worship Project. You can learn more about the album and the Worship Project at theportersgate.com.