This is part II of a conversation that is very important to me, a conversation that I hope might become important to you too. Notice the last three episodes are with friends who are dear. Notice how vulnerability courses through these conversations. Below I’ve written a bit more about the connections between spiritual friendship, weakness and vulnerability.
It is good to have you on this journey. May you find deeper love and connection in and through your own weaknesses.
Josh
No. 85 Show Notes:
Josh and Greg explore Greg's discernment to divest his ordination, leave local church ministry to explore different creative approaches to healing racism. Previously Greg had described his mission in the three elements of the political, the contemplative, and the convivial. Here in part two Greg casts the vision of moving from repentance to reparations to reconciliation to repast.
Start at @17:00 to skip past the introduction directly to the conversation with Greg.
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“A Brief Review of Why Anyone Should Engage Vulnerability in Public”
A line in a sermon I preached a few times in 2015: “Come on inside for a nice hot cup of die to yourself.” I had asked the congregation to imagine if we placed such a phrase on the roadside marquee. I barely knew what I was talking about in that sermon. At least I knew enough to want to suggest the primary paradigm of following Jesus is cruciformity, our capacity to continue dying to ourselves.
I didn’t understand how much more suffering I was personally opening myself to. I think often about how one of my spiritual mothers described our journey in Christ as “holy agony.” The further I move into my awareness of God’s active presence in my life, the weaker I seem to become. Greater love and patience combined with earnest frailty.
One tangible feature of how I’m drinking the cup of “die to myself” is expressed in my inability to talk about much of anything without bearing witness to my weaknesses and failures. We live in a fraught, polarized world. How do I avoid contributing to the noise? By appealing to the one thing we all have in common: we are all poor and needy. The noise of vitriol oppresses and squeezes us into alienated confinement. We are all in desperate need of the merciful spaciousness of God. The only way into this space is through the doorway of weakness. And no one opens that door or drinks this cup if they aren’t able to be honest and vulnerable about their weaknesses.
I’m not saying that everyone needs to get vulnerable on a podcast. I’m saying that I do not know how to develop a public conversation about God without actively de-centering my ego so that you can especially find space for yourself. Inviting you to consider the relationship between contemplative spirituality and justice is to invite you into a posture of need. These are practiced, lived, conscious realities not mere abstract ideas. As we come to a more particular, immediate sense of our need, we will more freely open ourselves to moments of repast, to delight in being present to each other around the table.