Dear Friends,
I am reading an insightful book on the Missio Dei that many of you would enjoy. It is called The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission by Lesslie Newbigin, a British missionary to India and an Ecumenical Statesmen with teh World Council of Churches until his death in 1998.
I was reading a section on God's move through human history and was particularly struck by the following quote:
"Human life from its beginning is a life of shared relationship in the context of a task--a task that is continuous with God's creative work in the natural world. In contrast to those forms of spirituality that seek the "real" self by looking within, the Bible invites us to see the real human life as a life of shared relationships in a world of living creatures and created things, a life of mutual personal responsibility for the created world, its animal and vegetable life and its resources of soil and water and air. This, and no other, is the real human life, which is the object of God's primal blessing and of its saving purpose" (69).
This quote tickles me in a couple of areas: first, I am becoming more and more aware of my human responsibility to other humans through my studies in the social sciences and through my recent exposure to issues of 21st century slavery, systemic poverty, and chronic hunger. I have found in my relationships with fellow Christians a general attitude of dismissal when these highly relevant topics are brought to the table, and the comments usually fall along the line of "well, that is too bad, but there is really nothing that I can do about it...let the government do what we pay taxes for them to do, and in the mean time, why don't we just enjoy what God has given us. Just enjoy Christ." So. In light of the above quote from Dr. Newbigin, I now have a new definition of humanity, and a new definition of what it means to really enjoy Christ. It is in joining in God's creative and redemptive work in this physical realm we live in that we truly enjoy Him, and that we truly become human ourselves. "Interpersonal relatedness belongs to the very being of God. Therefore there can be no salvation for human beings except in relatedness" (70). Throught provoking, to be sure. Any comments?
Allison
1 comment:
Al ver y oir la clase de noticias que oìmos hoy en dìa en la televisiòn o en la radio, me he dado cuenta de lo negligentes que hemos sido con el encargo original de Dios de "cuidar la tierra y administrarla". Creo que esto no solo se refiere a los animales, plantas y otros seres vivos, definitivamente tambièn se refiere a la humanidad. La gente necesita nuestra ayuda, no solo espiritual, necesitan de nuestro trabajo y esfuerzo, la Biblia dice que ayudar a los necesitados es la verdadera religiòn. Creo que todos debemos hacer mas conciencia en este tema y comprometernos a poner todo de nuestra parte para socorrer a los desprotegidos.
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