Yesterday I started to compare the U model in Presence with the hymn from Philippians 2. I suggested that the downward motion is analogous to incarnation, or Wesley's understanding of prevenient grace. On reflection I think the sensing part of the U model is in a way a metaphor for what the ancient hymn is saying. Sensing is to set aside old assumptions; we have to set aside our assumptions from the past to be able to see clearly what we're called to in the future.
In Christian traditions, this goes further and involves a literal giving up, a decision to drop possessions, to choose to be where God wants us to be rather than where we want to be. This parallels Jesus' great act of kenosis - self-emptying. From memory the Iona hymn says it: 'Who find with hands empty that hearts can hold much'.
At the bottom of the U model, Presence has its key process, presencing. One of the authors writes of his feelings after he lost his home in a fire:
At that moment with everything gone, I suddenly felt released and free to encounter that other part of myself, the part that drew me into the future - my future - and into a world that I might bring into reality with my life.
They go on to say it is like seeing the present from the future. This future orientation intrigues me and from an ecumenical perspective, the idea of seeking new possibilities in the future might be a more fruitful orientation than seeking to reconcile ideas from the past.
Presencing is about repentance. The problem of course with the word 'repentance' is that it has many associations with sin and being good and well ... sanctimonious. I think the Greek word translated as repentance is better - metanoia. This word literally means to turn around, to turn ones back on the old ways of seeing and to embrace the new. This experience transforms people and hence transforms the world.
If sensing is an act of prevenient grace, in Wesley's terminology, then presencing is equivalent to justification. I'm not saying that people who experience the U model are justified in a Christian sense but that they are parallel movements. To experience metanoia is to enter the community of those who live for others and for the welfare of the planet. They become co-creators with God.
But what of Jesus in the hymn? Can I be saying he experiences metanoia? Just as the downward movement is a movement of kenosis for Jesus, rather than awareness of sin, so his metanoia is different. The downward motion is his doing, the upward movement is God's. Jesus shows us the way to place our destinies in the hands of God.
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