Exploring Ecumenism

Sensing and Incarnation

So, let's consider the left hand side of the eschatological rollercoaster.  Presence describes this movement, from the top left to bottom of their U model, 'sensing'.  To me the U model as a whole seems to bear some resemblance to the pastoral cycle.  They argue that 'Most change efforts ... don't move very far "down the U" because little deeper sensing occurs' (page 88). 

The point Presence is making is that it is easy to gather information without challenging our habitual ideas; that 'confirms preexisting assumptions'.  We will see only what we are prepared to see.  The aim is to get beyond that, to suspend our expectations and even then we might not see our own connection to what is there.

If I am right and the U model owes something to the Philippians hymn, it will be because the hymn has been present in Western culture for 2000 years.  In my last post I pointed out that in the downward movement, Jesus lets go of everything from being God, through being human, to slavery, to death, to the cross.  It is impossible to get any lower.

Why do this?  It is learning through humility, by abandoning what we hold dear we are forced to face our own responsibility for the mess we find ourselves in.  This is the path of humility, of setting aside our power and encountering the raw situation we are in.  It is embracing our own complicity in the human condition.  And Jesus did this too.  He lost everything, even God.  On the cross he hit rock bottom, there was nowhere else to go.

This is of course the doctrine of incarnation (and of course Wesley's doctrine of original sin or prevenient grace - but more of that later).  We encounter it in some teachings about prayer.  This is not the sort of prayer that asks for things, but the sort of prayer that incarnates the one who prays, in the sense that they see things as they are.

Remember high church, Tory John Wesley who was radicalised as he traveled up and down the country and saw the reality of the industrial poor for himself.  Remember, the ways in which most Christian traditions seem to find their way into the inner city.  From Catholic or Anglo-Catholic retreat houses through to small intentional communities, associated with the Urban Theology Unit in the 1970s and 80s, and with evangelical fresh expressions in the 2000s. 

You cannot see this if you are an academic theologian because theology is about the specific, as soon as you start to generalise it becomes effectively irrelevant to the majority of Christians.  This is the big problem ecumenists in formal talks face, or perhaps too often do not face.  I will write much more about this.

The Curse of the Immortal Leader

In Presence, on page 24, a question is posed:

"Haven't we come together to answer one fundamental question: Why don't we change?  What would it take to shift the whole?"  "We don't change because we think we're immortal."

The reference to immortality interested me because it is a theme that has recurred throughout my career.  I think the first time I encountered it was at leadership training for Citizens' Organising on 1992.  It was an item on a list of the the characteristics of a leader, 'they are aware of their mortality'.  'I am human and so I am finite' should be the mantra of any leader.  A good sign of a leader who is aware of their own mortality is their preparedness for passing on the baton to someone else.

During June 1997, I travelled around the country visiting community regeneration projects.  One of these was Moss Side and Hulme Community Development Trust.  This was the only project I visited twice during that month because I was impressed by the man who took me round.  He had just retired I think as vicar of the parish but had dedicated several decades to community regeneration in the area.  I am sorry I have forgotten his name and somewhere buried in my files I will find it some day.

What he had to say made a great impression on me at the time but the thing I remember most vividly is this.  One year later I wanted to check something with him about our conversation and so I phoned him. The phone was answered by a woman who explained that he had had a severe stroke and was no longer able to talk or participate in any way.  He had prepared her to step into his shoes and so she was now answering his phone!  She knew who I was and answered all my questions. 

I have met immortal people during my career in community development.  They have one solution to all problems and their aim is to subject everything to that solution.  Often it is a good solution and capable of significant success.  But they do not grow in their position and those around them cannot grow either, there is a sense of stuck-ness. 

I am convinced this is what the ancients meant by demonic possession.  It is a close identification with an organisation that becomes an absolute.  It can do no wrong and is the solution to all the problems.  Everything is tidy and just so; nothing is out of place.  Ultimately, things collapse around them because nothing can be that tidy. 

My fear is that there are many people like this in our churches.  They have an absolute idea of what God is like and so expect God's church to be perfect too, and indeed God's world.  There are so many mistakes in this tragic illusion.  They believe without evidence that God is perfect.  They believe everything God made should be perfect and are outraged that it is not and that other people keep on sinning.  But the worst mistake is the assumption never addressed that they are the perfect mouthpiece of God. 

There is another way; the way of mess, the way trodden by sinners, where a messy God loves a messy world.  Who would want to live in a perfect universe?  Why is their error so damaging?  An answer is on page 29 of Presence:

Most change initiatives that end up going nowhere don't fail because they lack grand visions and noble intentions.  They fail because people can't see the reality they face.

Poverty and Empowerment

I spent Monday and Tuesday attending the Urban Forum conference in Central Manchester.  The conference theme was poverty and was in support of next year's Get Fair Campaign.  Monday afternoon included a bus tour of East Manchester.  We saw several neighbourhoods that have had or are having their hearts torn out.  Terraces are being demolished and residents decanted into new housing.  The area is also host to the biggest Asda (Wallmart) in Europe.  On the bus we were told how 75% of the staff were recruited locally through a local recruitment agency; they all live 10-15 minutes walking distance.  Someone else told us later that local shops had closed down when Asda opened (where have I heard that story before?)

I am reminded of Robert Linthicum's stories of churches in the States combining to resist property developers.  I'll post a reference to it sometime soon.  It was notable that we did not meet one local resident all afternoon - I suppose if we had we might have heard a different story but somehow I suspect not.

Today an interesting session exploring the links between poverty and empowerment.  This was led by Liz Richardson of Manchester University and the results will be published in February or March next year.

Just a few reflections on this theme:

1. Someone commented that she was very suspicious of the idea of empowerment as it implies it is something external, rather than something people must reach out for themselves.  I would add my own suspicions that there is an element of control behind this terminology; if it means that someone thinks they are bringing power into the neighbourhood.

2. I was reminded of Dark Holy Ground.  If this is something the government is seeking through its sustainable communities white paper, we might be heading for interesting times.

3. But empowerment seems to me to have a social aspects - those who experience it will tend to be more inclined to collaborate.  This is part of Linthicum's experience of course.  It goes back to Saul Alinsky, the founder of the Industrial Areas Foundation - today no-one had heard of him or his intention to 'rub raw the sores of discontent'.