Tuesday, 19 November, 2002

From "A Story-Formed Community:Reflections on Watership Down in The Hauerwas Reader.



Author Richard Adams suggests that society can best be understood as an extended argument, since living traditions presuppose rival interpretations. Good societies enable the argument to continue so that the possibilities and limits of the tradition can be exposed. The great danger, however, is that the success of a tradition will stop its growth and in reaction some may deny the necessity of tradition for their lives. The truthfulness of a tradition is tested in its ability to form people who are ready to put the tradition into question, or at least to recognize when it is being put into question by a rival tradition.



It is not easy to live through having anything in our lives "exposed." We quickly draw a towel around our body if a stranger was to walk into the bathroom just as we were stepping out of the shower. It is a reactive behavior about which we may not even have time to think...it is done. Imagine then how difficult it is to live through someone or some group exposing something in our lives or our tradition or in our family...the list can go on and on for us. And yet, the holes...the lies...the mistakes...the misjudgments...etc., to which attention may be drawn often becomes a moment ready for reactivity and defense. I find that we all need to be graceful with one another in those moments of "exposure." We do not need to stop being critical or asking questions or insisting on some account of our actions. Rather, we need to continue to engage one another and our traditions but we allow for that initial need to "react" before we go on with what will become a constructive and creative time together. Putting our lives and our traditions into question helps us to define that which we call foundational to our lives. As people continue to be formed by tradition, it makes great sense to keep those traditions sharp through review and redefinition and at times, rejection.



Connection: Why do we do what we do...act the way we act...go about the routines of the day this way and not that way...react to the world around us in a pattern that disturbs us or is so "given" we can't see it in ourselves? Hmmmm.



Lord of Life, you bring us into a community and call us to share our lives with those around us. Empower us to speak words of truth and to listen to the questions of the day that call for clarification for the many ways we act in community. Inspire us to view change as an opportunity to view life in new ways and to grow more deeply into those traditions that keep our lives alive and creative. Amen