Today continue in this new section in "Let the Bones Dance" called 'Triage for the Church.'
When we habituate a need for certainty and/or conformity this Body is informed by fear of otherness and avoidance of ourselves. Can we have vibrant, robust, zestful churches when we are comfortable with homogeneity? Can we embody God's redemptive promise if we still live in fear? Can we imagine that God empowers us to embody contradictions? Just as a laboring woman rides waves of delight and devastation, self-assertion and surrender, so too can the church collectively give birth to new life. WE cannot do this, however, without embracing the support and wisdom of God's diverse kingdom. And we cannot do it out of fear. We can listen, respond, create, and nourish this new embodied life when we attend to our wounds, resist triviality, and surrender to the divine imagination that sees who we can be. Too often fear is named as that which shuts down the body of Christ. It also shuts down all that is - life itself. Even when fear is used to 'get something done' or 'get people to act' - we are living as dead ones who are unable and unwilling to embrace the creative imagination of our God that frees and liberates and heals. It doesn't have to be much fear - just a sliver - just a 'but' - just a hesitation before one announces good news. Within that hesitation - people see and hear and feel the power of fear and before the Spirit is able to lift us up, we run away. The life we are given by our God - the life we see in Jesus - moves us out of the boat - has us walk where we have always been told we cannot walk. And yet, when the church is 'vibrant, robust and zestful' fear has no place to rest until it gives up its power and allows for something other to come to life in its place. Not an easy adventure - but quite necessary. Connection: What would be be like as people who are encouraged to walk through our fear into a life rich with the presence of the Spirit of God.? When we are broken and in need of healing, O God, you calm our fears and inspire us to see the holy presence of a people who are made in your image for the welfare of the world. We give you thanks. Amen. |
No comments:
Post a Comment