15 February 2006

More on "othering" from "The Covenanted Self" by Walter Brueggemann.

The definitional insight of this mode of thinking (othering), which we may term "the dialogical principle" or "the principle of alternity," is that this restless, unsettleable relationship is the irreducible core of what it means to be human... The ongoing process of life is to come to terms with this other who will practice mutuality with us, but who at the same time stands in an incommensurability that is the driving force of a biblical notion of life.

We would not choose to engage the "other" if we did not have to do that. And yet, we do! That is what makes us exactly what we are - human...nothing less...nothing more. We are not stagnant beings who must not develop or advance or be transformed. We are social being and within that context, we are stretched beyond what we would like to be and limited when we attempt to fly off into a place that is destructive to us and others. The dialogical nature of our humanity puts us into constant conflict and, by that, we are move to consider alternate ways of moving from here to there. In the middle of that adventure - the encounter with the other - who knows what will emerge. And yet, within the bounds of life we hear in the vast imagination of scripture, we find that we will emerge into a life that is within the realm of this "other" who will woo us like a lover into a relationship we have yet to experience...a relationship that is beyond our planning and beyond our control because the relationship demands that we give and take and then come down in a new place that has changed all sides of the relationship.

Connection: Using "other" may sound cold. But then again, I think we are given the opportunity to see out as far as we are able and then...we are invited to go a bit farther out beyond what we can see. Yes, this is quite an uncomfortable journey...at least during the first steps. And yet, what was uncomfortable and frightening often becomes part of the foundation upon which we are standing as we reach out to the "other" in every day. Be ready to enter into a relationship that may simply...change the world around you today!

O God of All the Ages, again and again you invite us to follow you...to step out beyond ourselves in order to taste your promised life. And yet, we can be such cowards. Be for us our encouragement to taste and see the life you invite us to share with you and our neighbors. Amen.