Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Diocesan Conference 8-10 October, 2014
If It s God s Mission, Where Does That Leave the Church?
First Talk yesterday Introduction to the God of Mission Can t meet the God of Mission without meeting the church Doesn t meant that God doesn t engage in mission beyond the church But that the church like Israel before it is God s special partner in mission But how does the church partner in God s mission? This is what I hope to reflect on this afternoon Roger Schroeder and I and Cathy Ross and I through the practice, but especially attitude, spirituality of Prophetic Dialogue Introduction
Prophetic Dialogue Like a dance to the rhythm of a particular Context movement between dialogue and prophecy Inspiration: David Bosch s Bold Humility Sometimes more prophecy. Roger Schroeder and I SVD General Chapter 2000
I. Mission as Dialogue
Mission Today: First and Foremost Dialogue! Basically, we need to cultivate a fundamental stance of openness, respect, friendship, deep listening, vulnerability Not arbitrary! The way God does mission! If the Triune God carries out the divine mission in dialogue and for dialogue, so must those women and men baptized in the Trinity s name, as partners
Mission in Dialogue? a heart so open that the wind blows through it Mission in Reverse Evangelized by those whom we evangelize People must be teachers first!
First Step in Mission/Evangelizaton Deep listening, docility (ability to be taught), gentleness, ability to forge relationships Noel Connolly: most people listen more willingly to people who appreciate them and are learning along with them. Give us FRIENDS!
We are most missionary when we move out to discover what God is doing around us. Then we will be a more authentic and convincing sign of God s hopes for the world. NCR Editorial during Synod of Bishops: Rising groups of nones not particularly interested in ready-made answers Noel Connolly: Is it possible that nones can teach us something about God? Or at least we can learn something from listening to their questions? The church s challenge is not to supply answers but to accompany people on their spiritual quests. New Evangelization is not saying the same old thing, but just saying it louder!
Article by Annie Selak, February 2013 There is an urgency to these issues, as these are not nameless people on the margins, these are our friends, family members, What Do Young Catholics Want? Four answers all revolved mentors, around and leaders. openness and dialogue and not only young Catholics people we know We want the church to ask the questions we are asking an act of Women s equality and participation, sexuality, truth outside the pale of Christianity Non-Christians among the holiest Not taking a situation seriously is disobedience Disobedience, lamented by officeholders, often results from the disobedience of those in office. (Martin Werlen)
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle An open church, a learning church, a vulnerable church what a witness we could be! Real partners of the God of Mission Speech at 2012 Synod: Perhaps rather than always speaking, the church needs to keep silent and listen. The church must discover the power of silence. Confronted with the sorrows, doubts and uncertainties of people she cannot pretend to give easy solutions.
II. Mission as Prophecy
Within, and only within dialogue: Proclaiming hope, the message of the gospel, witnessing to its There can be no effective transforming proclamation of truth, the faith confronting without an attempt injustice to understand Dialogue, however, the message is is the likely condition to be heard, for how the it possibility sounds to of others. prophecy Archbishop Bernard Archbishop Longley: first Bernard step Longley has to be profound listening prophecy
The Nature of Prophecy speaks out (in deeds, in words) Against injustice Warns about future speaks forth (in deeds, in words) Speaks forth a message Speaks forth the future in hope Ironically Rooted in dialogue: Listen, discern, see Can be joyful Can be difficult Needs to be faithful, Even to death
A. Prophecy as Speaking Against
1. Without Words: Being a Contrast Community Christian life goes against the grain Not anti-cultural, but counter-cultural Different drift than the natural current of society Simple life, standing for justice, forgiveness, life, living convinced that unless the grain of wheat dies Not success, self-interest, having power over others
A Community Different from the World Living in Christian community is also countercultural and prophetic Praying together, community life, living as reconciled and reconciling, living out justice with one another Gerhard Lohfink: Contrast Community Hauerwas and Willimon: resident aliens (cf 1Pet) a colony of the Reign of God Mission of the Church: to show the world that it is the world! Church World
2. With Words:SpeakingTruth to Power evangelism is a prophetic vocation which involves speaking truth to power in hope and in love (CWME) Christians speak out against any form of injustice, or of the culture of death Individually in the workplace, neighborhoods, editorials, demonstrations Teaching Office: Evangelium Vitae, U.S. Bishops pastoral letters, Bishops of Appalachia, Bishops of Malawi, Church of England Bishops of Tax Reform Statements of other churches Need to tender our hearts
Gustavo Gutiérrez: Annunciation / Denunciation Risky business! Church s position of respect in society/church Continuation of its privileges Persecution in many contexts Risk has to be a calculated one No doubt, though, that standing with the poor, for human life, for creation, for community s integrity is part of being missional church End of the Constantinian era!
B. Prophecy as Speaking Forth
1. Without Words: Witness Church witnesses to the truth, joy, life-giving power of the Gospel So often just the opposite Nick Spencer: dull, narrow, bigoted, hypocritical, unfriendly, uneal, prescriptive, judgmental, patriarchal, inflexible first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life People today do not listen to teachers, but to witnesses, and if they do Newbigin Hermeneutic of the gospel Nietzche and Pope Francis! Francis preach always Sometimes, willingness to dialogue is prophetic!
Craig van Gelder: Demonstration Plot It was not uncommon for farmers to remain skeptical throughout the summer as the crops grew. But there was always keen interest in the fall when the crop was harvested. Invariably the innovation performed better than the crops in the surrounding fields. By the next year many farmers, including my dad, would be using the innovation as if it had been their idea all along. The church is God s demonstration plot in the world. Its very existence demonstrates that his redemptive reign has already begun. Its very presence invites the world to watch, listen, examine, and consider accepting God s reign as a superior way of living.
2. With Words:Proclamation Christians prophesy the future what the world will be like like Isaiah in the midst of Exile hope! Full flourishing! Peace, justice, freedom, harmony of all creation That future is possible now at least a taste! Tell the world about Jesus God is like Jesus! (Sobrino) Jesus is God s body language (M. Oakley) creation-centric God s cause is the cause of human and cosmic flourishing! Good news! Not judge, tyrant, but respecting human freedom, humble, joy in midst of suffering, calls women and men to work together for flourishing of creation
William Placher... If God s primary characteristic were almighty power, then... the crucified rabbi could not be the self-revelation of God. But if God is, first of all, love, then, odd as it might seem, God is mostgod in coming to us in the form of a servant for the sake of our salvation. Starting with love, we can then even see what Gregory of Nyssa said about God s power: God s transcendent power is not so much displayed in the vastness of the heavens or the luster of the stars or the orderly arrangement of the universe or his perpetual oversight of it, as in his condescension to our weak nature To be prophetic in our mission is to share with the world the good news of God s future, the good news of a gracious, gentle God, who calls us to work for the flourishing of all.
A commitment to inculturation Pay attention to the context! Whiteman we do inculturation so that the gospel is rejected for the right reasons!
Conclusion
A Spirituality more than a Strategy! How we do mission is more important than what we do Not asked to be successful but to be faithful! Ultimately, we need to assume a vulnerability in dialogue, in prophecy Not unlike God s Word who emptied Godself Not unlike Mary, whose sinlessness made her totally available for God s work
A powerful article Benedict XVI: only when church is freed from the material trappings and privileges of the past can it show a face that reveals the gospel to today s world. caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness! Pope Francis: the positive aspect of this in his inaugural homily:
Perhaps that single word expresses it all. Given the lack of credibility of the church for many today, Given absolute beauty and Since importance God is of indeed the gospel a God A tender of mission, church would I think be wonderful, good news this indeed! is where it leaves I think the to develop church! a church of tenderness! As we dialogue, as we prophesy In imitation of the tender God of Mission Tenderness.