Spirit in Our Midst
[ Other Reflective writing ]
Brothers’ Presencing
‘We affirm the significant role Brothers have to play as ‘brother’ in the life of the Province in developing the spirituality and ethos of the ministries and the lives of all in the Edmund Rice Network’. (Oceania Chapter 2008)
A Bigger Picture
‘We reflect on our mission, community, vision and spirituality, in the light of the Earth Community in which they are embedded, and the issues flowing from the fragile relationship we have in Earth Ecology.’
(Oceania Chapter 2008)
The Oceania Province seeks to facilitate a high quality of presence in relationships in local and extended communities and as well as consciousness of the bigger issues facing us as brothers – the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, our engagement with indigenous peoples in Oceania, climate change and the imminent fate of the people of Kiribati through rising sea levels and the challenges facing our brothers and volunteers in the Philippines, East Timor and PNG.
In recent articles published in ‘Heartbeat’ two of our brothers expressed their concern that the ‘corporate structure’ of the Province does not necessarily move us towards either of the two directions stated above from our Chapter documents. What appear to be at the forefront of Province operation are concerns about contracts, policies, protocols, wage entitlements, line manger roles, risk management strategies and succession planning. All necessary requirements of any organization that seeks to use its resources wisely and well for the sake of the earth community. However this surely is not where most of our time and energy needs to be spent. Such structures are a means to an end. The end being the exploration of the Mystery of God in all Creation, building healthy compassionate communities grounded in heart-centred spirituality and opening hearts to the cry of the earth and the poor with new freedom and creative expression.
A Key Question
A key question deserving our attention is:
Does the implementation of the management infrastructure facilitate communities or groups to take steps to address situations and structures that are unjust?
If this question is not being answered positively then further questions need to be asked about the suitability of current infrastructure. The structures of any system are there, not only to support all that is life-giving, but to enable the budding forth of fresh initiatives. Leadership ensures the necessary legal and strategic support is in place to protect the rights and dignity of those who are most vulnerable.
Who among us want to live new forms of committed life relevant for these times?
If we have not grown into a deeper sense of Oceania brotherhood, lost touch with our backyard and our leaders then the time has come to look again at our life-form and the way we organize ourselves. Where in our Province can we find communities that match Damien Price’s description of an Edmund Community (December ‘Heartbeats’):
That is where they live – you know – those monks who live so simply and yet happily – their inner freedom and joy just rubs off on you when you are around them. They are like modern day St Francis – they sense their oneness with all of creation and live in deep respect and harmony with it and one another.
Does this description fit my community? If it doesn’t then I might check with my friends and neighbours and write a description that names my community’s reality. What is it that distinguishes my community as an Edmund Community?
As we begin 2010 I have a sense that we are experiencing what Parker Palmer calls ‘standing in the tragic gaps.’ We are living between reality and possibility, between what is and what could and should be. If we hold the unresolved tension between reality and possibility and invite something new into being then we have a chance to participate in the evolution of a different way of being brother and sister. In this situation one can end up either in corrosive cynicism or irrelevant idealism. Both lead to the status quo. The challenge is about embracing the promise of living in paradox. It goes deeper than just adjusting the offending structures or re-grouping communities; it is recognizing that ‘the Word becomes flesh in us and dwells among us full of grace and truth’ (John 1: 14). It is about working not from the top down but by the way of dialogue used to bring forth the directions of the Munnar Chapter (2008). So the question is not ‘How can I win the vote by persuading enough people that things are wrong’ but ‘How might I learn from your truth in a way that enlarges my understanding and expresses my truth in a way that expands both of us?’ We can live with the creative tension of contradictory viewpoints and be happily surprised at the new and larger truth that emerges as a result. This is the promise of paradox.
Thomas Merton, like Jonah, felt he was travelling through his life in the belly of a paradox. Jonah was famously swallowed by a whale while trying to run from the invitation to take a new direction in his life. He was trying to escape God’s calling when the crew of his getaway ship tossed him overboard in the whale’s neighbourhood. But instead of snacking, the whale swallowed Jonah whole and took him to Nineveh, the very place to which God had called him in the first place. The paradox here, is that running away from a true movement of the Spirit may be the surest way to run toward it, even though you may arrive soaked and smelly. If we in 2010 explore how we engage with people at the margins, it will raise questions about the reason for our community’s existence and may ultimately lead to a relocation of the community (Munnar, 2008). If this becomes a focus for our community meetings in 2010 then we will not only deepen our relationships with one another but may indeed arrive ‘soaked and smelly’, yet feeling once again the energy of being part of a community in mission.
The Province Life and Mission Teans
The Province Life and Mission Team has put forward a very comprehensive formation/community/ministry program for 2010 which will gather the brothers and wider ERN right across Oceania to enter into dialogue about mission, community, living the vision and spirituality as expressed so clearly in our Chapters. The CREAT team will be working through Cluster Leaders to open up communication in and across communities so that the Spirit can ‘fly free’ as we lay ourselves open to new possibilities. The finest fruit of our lives is liberation, not because freedom is an end in itself but because only as we become free can the Spirit move sufficiently to take us in God’s direction. We don’t have to keep doing what we are currently doing if it is not life-giving. This year the ‘The Living on the Edge’ (LoTE) program will be implemented. Information will soon be provided through Ted Magee. This program has been designed specifically to provide support for those who want to move towards new directions in their life and ministry. CREAT and LoTe challenge us to be more reflective and attentive to the Spirit moving in our midst, to live a more compassionate way of life in relationship with the asylum seeker, the indigenous person, the drug addict, the cancer sufferer or the lonely person in nursing homes and aged care facilities. Already many brothers and wider ERN members are responding to those who suffer exclusion. Yet each year we are invited to look again at how we live our call to be new Edmund’s for today. Perhaps in 2010 we may become a little more ‘soaked and smelly’ as Jonah did, after the whale’s intervention.
Yet here is another Gospel paradox:
if you seek your life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life, you will find it.
Is this our challenge in 2010? Can we live in the belly of the whale, following the movement of the Spirit without being smothered by the weight of bureaucratic structures?
As Neil Bohr, a Nobel Prize winning physicist says
‘the opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may be another profound truth.’
What is my sense of our truth at this moment in history? When you travel towards your destination in the promise of paradox there are few certainties but many possibilities for the daring disciple to consider. As Parker Palmer observes ‘embrace it and life becomes one whale of a ride.’
(Reference: Parker Palmer (2008) The Promise of Paradox: a Celebration of Contradictions in Christian Life, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.)
Peter Harney (25/01/10)
