Saturday, May 23, 2020
Being Sent and Empowered As Witnesses Is Free Fulfillment of What's Fundamental To All Human Communication
Georg Friedrich Stettner († 1639), Cristo nella casa di Marta e Maria (Christ in the house of Martha and Mary)
*The following was originally recorded on Facebook on Easter, April 12, 2020.
People have been telling me I should write more (like, a book). I have tended inwardly to pull or turn from that. I fear my temptation to grasp for acceptance and empowerment through the self-assertion of my voice. Gravity Leadership has helped me work through this....
Because Christ was vindicated in his claims on Resurrection Day:
I don't have to (be governed by) fear and distrust of my temptation to grasp for myself community and creative authority, participation in, or having a voice in what matters in the world:
God longs to be with us and shape us into community around Himself and his love MORE THAN we fear exile, placelessness, or "homelessness." In fact, He's ALREADY AT WORK doing so.
In Christ, the nature of witness - or of communication that happens in and forms community - that is "with the grain of the universe" is thus twofold:
1. It is simply a report of what's happening or has happened (I'm not the hinging point of it).
2. Authority can only be given away to others. It's cruciform (cross shaped). It actually CAN'T be taken or gasped; and, if it is, it's no longer authority.
THIS MEANS THAT my role in this is:
A. No one decides WHETHER OR NOT to write, speak, or "create." It is in our nature to commune and tend to creation. My role in this is ONLY a question of HOW and WHY to do so.
B. When I write or speak, I don't grasp either for what to say or for power, control, or authority in and by what's being said or written by, of, or about ME. Rather, I simply: receive with an open hand, and report what has happened (or is happening). I have a role in crafting and ordering it, but I do not GENERATE it. Nor do I determine its end, destination, or effect. I am not its Alpha or Omega. Of note, this doesn't mean that I'm not included in the story! (Paul talks about this over and over in his letters)
C. (my) Writing or speech can only be an empowering gift for others, not a display of my own power (see A). All speech is AND CAN ONLY BE an empowering of the voice of others. And, if we presume otherwise, then our speech will be an act of war, governed by antagonism. And, this will be precisely BECAUSE all speech is an empowering of the voice of others (whether or not we want it to be or are conscious of that fact).
* Pictured here is: Georg Friedrich Stettner († 1639), Cristo nella casa di Marta e Maria (Christ in the house of Martha and Mary). It's important here to know that the reason Martha was upset isn't because of the reason we usually imagine or presume. Martha didn't think Mary was lazy. Her words that sound that way were an obfuscation of the much more powerful narrative that hung overhead and that was embedded under the foundations of the community. Instead, Martha was aghast that Mary was defying social convention, ignoring established hierarchies. She couldn't believe that Mary was learning, being discipled by the Master.
Mary was being trained to have an empowering voice as a gift to others in the community. The thing is, she wasn't even supposed to be in that part of the house! She was in the part of the house set aside, according to the reigning social order, for men and the authoritative things that men do. Precisely because speech is and can only be an empowering voice of others, Martha was CHALLENGING Jesus. Jesus responds by affirming Mary's voice: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; 42 one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” I imagine that he may have followed that up with what is implied: "And you can have it, too, should you so choose."
Also note that the painting depicts communal gathering around the One who longs to commune with us more than we fear its loss - to the point of his own death. It is in the context of this community formation in which we have and hear (the empowerment of) voices.
That he is risen is Good News, indeed!
*The following was originally recorded on Facebook on Easter, April 12, 2020.
People have been telling me I should write more (like, a book). I have tended inwardly to pull or turn from that. I fear my temptation to grasp for acceptance and empowerment through the self-assertion of my voice. Gravity Leadership has helped me work through this....
Because Christ was vindicated in his claims on Resurrection Day:
I don't have to (be governed by) fear and distrust of my temptation to grasp for myself community and creative authority, participation in, or having a voice in what matters in the world:
God longs to be with us and shape us into community around Himself and his love MORE THAN we fear exile, placelessness, or "homelessness." In fact, He's ALREADY AT WORK doing so.
In Christ, the nature of witness - or of communication that happens in and forms community - that is "with the grain of the universe" is thus twofold:
1. It is simply a report of what's happening or has happened (I'm not the hinging point of it).
2. Authority can only be given away to others. It's cruciform (cross shaped). It actually CAN'T be taken or gasped; and, if it is, it's no longer authority.
THIS MEANS THAT my role in this is:
A. No one decides WHETHER OR NOT to write, speak, or "create." It is in our nature to commune and tend to creation. My role in this is ONLY a question of HOW and WHY to do so.
B. When I write or speak, I don't grasp either for what to say or for power, control, or authority in and by what's being said or written by, of, or about ME. Rather, I simply: receive with an open hand, and report what has happened (or is happening). I have a role in crafting and ordering it, but I do not GENERATE it. Nor do I determine its end, destination, or effect. I am not its Alpha or Omega. Of note, this doesn't mean that I'm not included in the story! (Paul talks about this over and over in his letters)
C. (my) Writing or speech can only be an empowering gift for others, not a display of my own power (see A). All speech is AND CAN ONLY BE an empowering of the voice of others. And, if we presume otherwise, then our speech will be an act of war, governed by antagonism. And, this will be precisely BECAUSE all speech is an empowering of the voice of others (whether or not we want it to be or are conscious of that fact).
* Pictured here is: Georg Friedrich Stettner († 1639), Cristo nella casa di Marta e Maria (Christ in the house of Martha and Mary). It's important here to know that the reason Martha was upset isn't because of the reason we usually imagine or presume. Martha didn't think Mary was lazy. Her words that sound that way were an obfuscation of the much more powerful narrative that hung overhead and that was embedded under the foundations of the community. Instead, Martha was aghast that Mary was defying social convention, ignoring established hierarchies. She couldn't believe that Mary was learning, being discipled by the Master.
Mary was being trained to have an empowering voice as a gift to others in the community. The thing is, she wasn't even supposed to be in that part of the house! She was in the part of the house set aside, according to the reigning social order, for men and the authoritative things that men do. Precisely because speech is and can only be an empowering voice of others, Martha was CHALLENGING Jesus. Jesus responds by affirming Mary's voice: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; 42 one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” I imagine that he may have followed that up with what is implied: "And you can have it, too, should you so choose."
Also note that the painting depicts communal gathering around the One who longs to commune with us more than we fear its loss - to the point of his own death. It is in the context of this community formation in which we have and hear (the empowerment of) voices.
That he is risen is Good News, indeed!
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