February 28, 2012
The scripture reading for Saturday Feb 25 was Isaiah 58.9-14 - a beautiful reading. I checked Isaiah in John Shelby Spong's recent book: Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World and found out this part of Isaiah is called III Isaiah who wrote somewhere around 515-510 BCE. There was bitter enmity between rival groups in Judah at this time. Those who had migrated back to what they thought of as the
holy land a generation earlier resented the latecomers, who made the lives of the resettlers even more difficult. Corruption was ever-present and a low level of community cooperation existed. People were self-interested and vindictive. They saw no future. Feeling the sense of impending doom and even their own potential destruction, they saw little need to work together.
But, the author of Re-Claiming the Bible, notes that there are gems in these final chapters of Isaiah and the theme of rebuilding a destroyed land is a noble and laudable one wherever it appears. Isaiah 58:12 reads: "And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in."
That particular text is burned deep in John Shelby Spong because in the 1970s, he served in St. Paul's Church in downtown Richmond, Virginia. His predecessor had done major rebuilding of the church and
to pay for it included a three-tiered parking garage that could accommodate some 200 cars. The renting of stalls Monday to Friday paid off the debt. Then this congregation decided to designate 50% of the continuing garage income to improve the quality of life for the citizens of urban Richmond. They called the initiative the "Isaiah 58:12 program," which sent people scurrying to their Bibles to see what that verse said. "We were," John Shelby Spong writes, " in this program in obedience to the mandate of this text, calling us to rebuild our ancient ruins and our broken people, to become the repairer of the breach and the restorer of the streets of Richmond as safe places in which to live. It is out of this experience that III Isaiah was then and remains for me now an important witness in the biblical story in which and through which I continue to hear the voice of God speaking."
What are we called to repair, to re-build?
Cecily
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February 21, 2012
The reign of God is about God's working in history (italics), and its goal is the transformation of creation (itialics). Persons are defined by their dual openness to communion with others and to transcendence. Such openness, however, is only fulfilled within a community of freedom and love. If either of these is missing, community will be self-seeking and oppressive to others. Human beings find their fulfillment, in other words, as they assert their freedom and work in love to make their sisters and brothers free as well. Liberation theology insists that humanity shines particularly brightly in the world's poor, they are a sign that being human is not a matter of what a person (or society) has (italics), but rather what kind of person (or society) he or she is (italics). Paulo Freire is famous for his dictum that the tragedy is that the poor, once liberated, often become oppressors themselves. Being human means, therefore, to be concerned with justice and committed to service. A Theology of Mission for Today.
When I chose this passage for today's reflection I didn't know that today (Feb. 20) is the UN World Day for Social Justice!
Have a good week! Cecily
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February 14,2012
Happy Valentine's Day! Love, that's what it is all about isn't? Helen Caldicott couldn't have chosen better when she titled her first work: "If You Love This Planet." I read her autobiography recently and realized that "love" is what really motivated her grueling journey. And you can't fake that.
The theology of liberation generated utopian visions of the future. Utopia, writes Gutierrez, involves both a "denunciation" of the existing order and an "annunciation" of the new society and transformed social order that will inevitably be established in the future. But, he says (referring to the work of Paulo Freire), "between the denunciation and the annunciation is the time for building, the historical praxis. .... If utopia does not lead to action in the present, it is an evasion of reality." Focus on the future, in other words, poises the church for its liberating, missionary task.
Jesus' own praxis of the reign of God reflects the relational and holistic aspects of salvation. His parables about God's lavish, even extravagant, love and forgiveness paint a picture of God's reign as a community of forgiven and forgiving women and men.... of a future in which all creation lives with God in peace and harmony. As Gutierrez explains it, salvation involves liberation from sin, whether individual or structural, and this spills over into societal transformation, political responsibility and economic stability. Salvation is both individual and communal, for creation is called to participate in "a kin-dom of truth and life, a kin-dom of holiness and grace, a kin-dom of justice, love and peace." - A Theology of Mission for Today
Cecily
This is a last call to join the CIS's Ninth International Election Observation Mission, from March 5th-13th. We have extended the deadline for observers; we will now be accepting applications until February 25th! Go to www.cis-elsalvador.org for information.
I was with CIS for the last election in El Salvador three years ago and I was really impressed. I have also travelled with them three times to visit the projects a local NGO sponsor in El Salvador. Again, I have been really impressed. So if anyone wants to give it a try or knows someone who may be interested please pass the message.
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February 7, 2012
In 1971, Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez, who had been present at Medellin as a theological advisor, published one of the first and perhaps the most widely known work of the new liberation theology - A Theology of Liberation. Liberation theology starts with the experience of the poor and works not only toward understanding their reality, but toward liberating them from any kind of oppression, liberating them for their own participation in the drama of history and liberating them from the personal and structural bonds of sin. Theology is at the service of mission, and it is committed to witnessing to and bringing about justice.
The task of the church today, Gutierrez says, is both annunciation and denunciation: announcing the good news of God's reign involves at the same time denouncing and working against any oppression or injustice. The church's missionary task stands or falls on tis solidarity with the world's marginalized and victims of injustice.
Other theologians expanded Gutierrez's perspective describing the church as one that is "in solidarity with the poor and oppressed who seek their liberation... sign and servant of the Reign of God as it makes itself the church of the poor, the church of the people."
Basic ecclesial communities have helped us understand the nature of ministry, whether ordained, religious or lay. As Leonardo Boff would say, such communities have "reinvented the church," pointing out new and dynamic ways of living the gospel in fidelity to the reign of God. - A Theology for Mission for Today
Cecily
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