Connections

Technology, Entertainment and Design. (TED for short: http://www.ted.com.) It’s has interesting, challenging, thoughtful speakers. Speakers who sometimes can refocus thinking into new clarity.. I was pointed to a TED video by Seth Godin about “The Tribes You Lead”. He was speaking about the way we connect in communities and the change which that can bring to our impact on world circumstances. This fired me up to think about belonging to tribes, and different ways of relating across tribal boundaries.

How are we connected in this world? We have communities of interest: our hobbies, sports and other recreations. We have workplace communities, political memberships, religious communities. And there are more communities we can be, or are connected to. We belong to the groups we do because we love the activities, the people, the culture, the results…

But what about the other ‘tribes’? Often between the tribes there is a history of hostility. The team rivalries and conflicts. Union demarcation disputes. Distinctions which became walls between religious denominations… If we belong with one group, the assumption seemed to be that we must be opposed to the others. Yet, we could wonder – although we somehow seem to have learned conflict between the ‘tribes’ – must it be so?

Can we be proud, without being prejudiced? Can we grant difference, without divisiveness? I think you can, I think I can, I suspect we must. It requires a mindshift. We haven’t usually thought in peacable ways across the tribes. We’ll need to be able to be FOR something, without being AGAINST someone. Our historic training and our public culture doesn’t like that: conflict is deeply woven into our experience. Our histories have often not been pretty, blighting our past and clouding our present. Our practice of contemporary culture: current affairs, reality TV and other media are centred on conflict and opposition: seemingly the more extreme the better.

We can be better than that. And Jesus, as he trained his disciples, taught them so. One day they came to him saying that they’d met someone working in His name, but they stopped him, because he was not one of them. Jesus told them to leave him be “Whoever is not against you is for you!” (Just because this person wasn’t one of them, didn’t mean he wasn’t one of His!)

We can belong with fewer barriers around us and our tribes than we usually do, if we take seriously the boundaries which Jesus draws and stop drawing our own.

Best wishes

Ian Carmichael

For years I wrote theology books where the only responses I got were in other publications and debates at professional meetings. By the time the responses came in, one had already moved on to other topics. Your responses come in while the thoughts are still fresh. As a result, my thinking evolves in dialogue with you. This is an amazing change, and I value it very much. So thanks!

– Philip

I’m very supportive of interfaith and ecumenical collaboration. One of my professors in my seminary days was Michael Kinnamon, who inspired me to care deeply about the helpful and important work that is done through these collaborations. This is especially important in a dualistic, us-versus-them culture. But a commitment to collaboration doesn’t require us to meet in the middle – or be something we’re not. Instead, it requires that we bring our authentic selves to meet the authentic selves of others.

I recently joined the Consultation of Religious Communities, an interfaith council composed of more than thirty religious communities and related agencies. We don’t pretend to all be the same. We don’t leave our uniquenesses behind. We don’t all pretend to meet in a safe middle ground. Instead, Jews some as Jews, Muslims come as Muslims, Catholics come as Catholics, Protestants come as Protestants, etc. Instead of a grey melting pot, we form a colorful tossed salad.

Here’s the color I bring: I’m a feminist, earthist, ONA pastor. And this kind of pastor for many Biblical and moral reasons. I’m also compelled by process theology and open theism. To some, these commitments put me in the “liberal” camp. And if it does, then that’s were I stand. I can do no other. My hope is that others are allowed to stand where they feel compelled to stand, too. I fully realize that my perspective will be different than other people’s perspectives. It’s the dialogue and collaboration between diverse peoples that makes the collaborative dialogue and work interesting.

Rather than attempting to unite everyone in a mushy middle, why not use a more postmodern approach that honors unity-in-diversity. Many diverse peoples united under one “big tent.” Liberals, moderates, and conservatives can be unified despite our different commitments, perspectives, and uniquenesses. To use the language of Apostle Paul, we’re each different members of the one and same body.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his book The Dignity of Difference, says it best:

“Difference does not diminish; it enlarges the sphere of human possibilities. Our last best hope is to recall the classic statement of John Donne and the more ancient story of Noah after the Flood and hear, in the midst of our hypermodernity, an old-new call to a global covenant of human responsibility and hope. Only when we realize the danger of wishing that everyone should be the same — the same faith on the one hand, the same McWorld on the other — will we prevent the clash of civilizations, born of the sense of threat and fear. We will learn to live with diversity once we understand the God-given, world-enhancing dignity of difference.”

A very good review of your book Transforming Christian Theology on the blog of Thomas Jay Oord. I follow his blog and have found his comments very helpful.