Missional Image (I) 'Encountering Difference'

This image is from an African village in a rural backwater. I was a spectator watching a friend playing a game of bawo. Despite the excitement, I became aware I was staring at the feet of a young boy sitting close by me. It must have been the contrast of the white soles against his richly tanned skin that got my attention. I found myself questioning, “What is this place that a young boy’s feet can look like those of an old man – cracked and eroded ?”

Suddenly my concentration was broken and I was looking up into the eyes of some children staring back at me. Instead of being a spectator, I was now the focus of many deep brown eyes looking my way. Each face seemed to be asking the same question, “Who are you ? What are you doing here ?”

I wish I could say that was the only time I felt like an alien in a strange land…

Betwixt & Between...

I have a problem. The whole focus of discipleship is that we are profoundly changed by the experience, "...to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ” (Eph 4:13). Yet when we allow ourselves to be inspired by visions of newness and possibility, when we journey out & dwell in the margins - sharing hospitality with the stranger, with the widow and the orphan, in a sense we become like strangers and widows and orphans when we return back home. A disciple’s home is now on the road - betwixt and between.

It is like the character of the Wiseman in TS Eliot’s 1929 poem, ‘The Journey of the Magi’. After returning home from his long journey to see the Christ child, he says, “This birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like a death - our death. We returned to these kingdoms, our homes but no longer are we at ease here in the old dispensation, with an alien people clutching at their gods. I should be glad of another death”.

Betwixt & between are never easy spaces to inhabit - seldom tidy. They are like London train stations - mostly chaotic, with people going everywhere and nowhere - never still, feeling edgy ! There is often an overwhelming sense of anxiety and restlessness and difficult labour – even pain. Yet betwixt & between are also places of tremendous excitement and energy, of experimentation & newness & reversals – where dreams are boldly dreamed & visions are nurtured. Mostly they are places of meeting & genuine community because people are participating & journeying together.

Disciples are formed and the Kingdom of God is established in those places !

Missioning Presence 101...

A Story about a Prophet in the Desert…

In November 2004, I had an opportunity of visiting 3 aboriginal communities near Alice Springs. This particular morning we were in the community on the edge of the Tanami desert. I was with a wise older disciple – Hannibal – who had been working among this group of people for 30 yrs.

Driving through the outskirts of town we were confronted by 25 or so aboriginal women walking along in a group. I use the word confronted because most of the women were naked from the waist up – their bodies painted with white stripes. Most were crying out in great distress. They were sweeping the ground as they walked with the long leaves of green eucalyptus branches. The women were morning the death of a respected female elder of the community - gradually making their way to the ‘sorry camp’ on the edge of town.

We drove to The church in the centre of town, entering the cool interior. Hannibal said the women would have recognised him & would soon be coming into the church. Sure enough, in a few minutes we began hearing the wailing again. It got louder & louder until the first women appeared in the bright light of the open doorway.

Imagine the church filling up with 25 dark skinned bare chested women. They were covered in white stripes, wailing loudly, carrying their large eucalyptus branches. Imagine a conservatively dressed, white haired Hannibal standing next to the communion table – focused & ready.

Then the culturally startling thing happens. The lead woman – the close sister of the dead woman walks up to Hannibal & they embraced each other – Hannibal enfolding the woman deeply into his arms. I was standing nearby not sure where to look but I was also too entranced to turn away.

Hannibal stood there for what seemed like the longest time. The woman’s loud wailing quietening to a gentle whimper. While no more than a couple of minutes had passed, I found myself profoundly moved – almost tearful. All around us were the other wailing women. However, I was focused and overwhelmed by the silence of Hannibal. Such amazing enfolding presence he was giving to this grieving woman. When they released each other the imprint of their embrace literally covered Hannibal in whiteness. I was conscious of being in a sacred place in those moments - a holy space.

Now he is embracing and shaking hands with other women – all the while speaking nothing. Then in a few minutes the women were gone. We were left standing in the silence of an empty church.

The point is Hannibal didn’t need to say anything. He said it all by the intensity of his silent presence.

Missioning Presence 102...

I am interested in exploring the shape of missional spirituality, what it means to be a disciple out on the edges…

Recently I have been thinking about some verses in 1 Kings 19. The prophet Elijah is standing at the entrance of a cave on a lonely mountain, about to witness God’s passing by. It says, ‘there was a great wind… but the Lord was not in the wind’. After the wind there was a rumbling earthquake but God ‘was not in the earthquake’. After the earthquake came a blazing fire, ‘but the Lord was not in the fire’. After the fire there came, ‘a sound of sheer silence.’ In that moment Elijah covers his face with his mantle because God’s presence is in the silence.

Why the silence ? The sound of sheer silence ! It is such a contrast ! Why is God in the silence ? Because silence not only speaks of absence, it can also speak of a special quality of presence.

Silence can be that special gift we give to another when we give of ourselves totally, undistractedly & openly at that moment. Silence can indicate concentration, a straining to hear, an openness to receive from & to understand the other. Silent presence is a bounded space that can say to another person, “you are safe right here in this moment with me”. When silent presence is given, peoples’ stories can deepen and transparency is released.

Holy silence speaks about the shape of a disciple’s presence in the world.

I am wondering about calling this quality of attentiveness & openness to the present moment... the prayer of presence. Such prayer regularly attempts to capture something of the profound & sacred gift of life. It participates in the unique celebration of diversity we have before us in another person - all in the midst of an often dull, repetitious and unfriendly world - a world of unspeakable pain, yet equally aching beauty.

We are attentive and open to the present because Abraham Heschel* says time is the very presence of God in the world. Every moment of every hour, day after day is God’s subtle arrival! That is why the disciple’s task is to be genuinely present to the reality of this moment because when we inhabit that space, we capture glimpses of God’s glory. The prayer of presence is a redemptive action that dares conceive of the possibility of releasing the holy sparks of God’s glory that are pushed down & concealed by the brokenness of our world. Every disciple is called to be like Jesus - to be a redeemer who claims back God’s glory through their holy action in the world.

Attentive & expectant presence is about being, concretely expressed in the places we chose to be in. It becomes prayer when everything we do is directed towards the glorious light of that awareness. Holy silence speaks about the shape of a disciple’s presence in the world... moment by moment. In God’s holy presence Elijah becomes aware of a question, “What are you doing here, Elijah ?” God is saying to Elijah, ‘I am also silent because I don’t dwell on this mountain. Instead, I choose to make my dwelling among ordinary people’. The prayer of presence !

Outwards & downwards !

* Quote from ‘God In Search of Man’ by Abraham Heschel (1955). [Available from amazon.com]