we *are* the “them” - Advent Reflections: Day 13-14
Much of theology in the States seems to be about “reaching out” - “Jesus and the woman at the fringes of her culture” or “Paul learning about and adapting and reaching out to the Greeks culture” whereas in the UK the new forms seem to be emerging because Christians feel we are “the woman” or “Greeks” and have more in common with the culture ( and perhaps more provocatively see ‘more of Jesus’ in the culture) than in the Church.(HT)
This is a subtle but HUGE point - seeing ourselves as the “them” and seeing our God present in the other is a very important paradigm shift otherwise we just ‘do outreach’ instead of join with the Missio Dei, the God of Mission.
When we talk about this in advent terms, it can’t be avoided to think about God becoming “them”….not just “ministering to them”. Jesus didn’t try to be LIKE the humans, he didn’t work on being relevant, he didn’t try to understand “them” so he could properly communicate the Gospel in “their” language.
Something connected to this is what I heard from Derek Webb in an interview about a year ago. He was saying that we have to understand the reality that we are capable of evil just like those we condemn for evil. If we do not grasp this reality, all we can do is judge the other.
Another thing connected to this is something Samir Selmanovic said in an Emergent podcast episode awhile back - that God is present in the other and no one will experience Christians as loving if all we do is give, if we are never able to receive, we must be willing to learn about our God from the other or we can never expect the other to learn from us.
This is not a situation of “putting ourselves in others’ shoes” - it’s a situation of realizing that we already ARE wearing those shoes.
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- Posted by Mak at 04:32 pm
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This is what bugs me when people talk about issues like homosexuality in the frame of how “we should treat sinners”. We’re so desperate to draw lines around the “us” and the “them” - which thwarts any attempt at authentically loving people before we even start.
I agree Geoff
Preach it, Mak! This is a good word for all of us to remember.
“This is not a situation of “putting ourselves in others’ shoes” - it’s a situation of realizing that we already ARE wearing those shoes…”
thought of the year material! Thanks Mak