Meta Religion

Meta has become a popular word today. We refer to meta biology, meta programing, meta churches, meta physics. It comes from the greek preposition which is taken to mean something a little different depending on which time in history it is used. Meta is also used as a prefix in the greek language but it is the preposition that fasinates me the most. The angel in Luke after the resurection uses meta as a preposition when the angel says to the woman searching for the body of Jesus. Why do you look for the living meta the dead. In other words, meta means something similar but not like. Something that goes outside the lines of normal linear thought. So meta physics conscerns itself with material related to but outside the lines of normal physics. In fact, a great degree of abstraction. This is where Charles Simonyi who is called by Bill Gates the greatest programer ever wrote about in his article, Anything you can do I can do meta. This article appears in Tecnology Review magazine and envisions a higher degree of abstraction in computer programing which introduces us to a new level of computer programing.
I am the founding pastor of Washington Cathedral in Redmond Washington for the last 23 years we have referred to ourselves as a meta church rather than a mega church. A meta church cherishes diversity in its organization. It challenges institutional entropy by allowing a degree of chaos is multiple organizations that appear more as a grass roots movement than an organized institution. Institutions die because of something that looks like entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. Useful energy becomes so smoothed out that it becomes usesless energy. The creative chaos that caused the explosion in the first placed becomes organized and innovation is replaced with religious conforming and a living organism becomes a dyning institution. Therefore we are intentional in trying to be horizontal rather than vertical in our organization. Our church is made up of hundreds of Tiny Little Churches each with a rich culture of its own. Each Tiny Little Church has a good samaritan project that they do for the community with no expectation of glory or return - they want to be like Jesus or at least mother Theresa. These Tiny Little Churches form together weekly into 11 major worship services. They also ally themselves with five separate 502c3 organizations which are out to serve the community again with no expectation of return. These organizations each have a president, an executive director and a board of directors. They include Charity alliance which is focuses on ministering to children living in city dumps throughout the emerging world. Build the Family alliance which focuses on helping build the central cell of society the family however it might be defined. It may include single parent families, blended families, an traditional nuclear families. Their mission statement is to make the world a safer place for children. It includes excel buisness minstries which focus on helping people in their career lives through helping small business networks, inspiration, career counseling and changes and finanacial counseling for struggling individuals in our community. The last is Washington Seminary which is a lay seminary providing post graduate degrees in leadership to help these people excel in their life ministry. That is the meta church.

Now for meta religion. If God is bigger than any religion and I believe he is. If understanding the universe is greater than any of us can fully accomplish than there is room for conversation between athiests, jews, hindu, muslim, fundamentalist christians, liberal christians and budist and any other philosphy. The world is a global village so can't we look for categorical imperitives in our religions that are binding upon all reasonable humanity as to an ethical way for us to interact. And cannot we begin todiscuss our differences as if we are sitting in a coffee shop in our community and our children will be playing in the same soccer league all the while knowing that if the meta religion conversation breaks down the world is going to become a very messy place. Those are my thoughts - I am wondering what your thoughts are and Im excited to begina conversation.