{"id":19356,"date":"2020-09-28T10:06:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T14:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19356"},"modified":"2020-09-28T10:06:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T14:06:34","slug":"a-church-on-the-margins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19356","title":{"rendered":"A Church on the Margins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mystics and the Margins<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A\nChurch on the Margins<\/strong><br>\nMonday, \u202fSeptember 28,\n2020<\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9XsZi9QT6a8\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve tended to soften Jesus\u2019 conflict with the system,\nor the established powers, but Jesus\u2019 ministry took place on the margins! In\nthe year 313 A.D., with the Edict of Milan, the Church dramatically changed\nsides and Christians officially became the Church of the establishment. Before\nthat decree, the Church was by and large of the underclass. It identified with\nthe poor and the oppressed, and the Church itself was still being oppressed and\npersecuted. The early Church read and understood its history from the\ncatacombs\u2014literally from underground. Such a position will always give us a\ndifferent perspective than that \u201cfound in palaces\u201d (see Matthew 11:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m\nsure the Emperor Constantine thought he was doing Christians a favor when he\nended official persecution and made Christianity the established religion of\nthe empire. Yet it might be the single most unfortunate thing that happened to\nChristianity. Once we moved from the margins of society to the center, we\ndeveloped a new film over our eyes. After that, we couldn\u2019t read anything that\nshowed Jesus in confrontation with the establishment, because we <em>were<\/em>&nbsp;the establishment,\nand usually egregiously so. Clear teaching on issues of greed, powerlessness,\nnonviolence, non-control, and simplicity were moved to the sidelines, if not\nactually countermanded. These issues were still taken seriously by those who\nfled to the deserts of Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Cappadocia. Their practices\ngrew into what we now call \u201creligious life\u201d as observed by monks, nuns, hermits,\nand anchorites who held onto the radical Gospel in so many ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As\nlong as the Church bore witness from the margins in some sense, and as long as\nwe operated from a minority position, we had greater access to the truth, to\nthe Gospel, to Jesus. In our time we have to find a way to disestablish\nourselves, to identify with our powerlessness instead of our power, our\ndependence instead of our independence, our communion instead of our\nindividualism. Unless we understand that, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5\u20137)\nisn\u2019t going to make any sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nsee in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus intended for us to take the low road.\nHe intended us to operate from the position of \u201cimmoral\u201d minority much more\nthan the moral majority. When we\u2019re protecting our self-image as moral,\nsuperior, or \u201csaved\u201d persons, we always lose the truth. The daring search for\nGod\u2014the common character of all religion\u2014is replaced with the search for\npersonal certitude and control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As soon as\npeople are comfortably enjoying the fruits of the established system, they\ndon\u2019t normally want any truth beyond their comfort zone. Yet those who are not\nenjoying those benefits, those who have been marginalized or oppressed in any\nway, are always longing and thirsting for the coming of the Kingdom, for something\nmore. The Gospel always keeps us in a state of longing and thirsting for God.\nGrace seems to create a void inside of us that only God can fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mystics and the Margins<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Margins\nCreate Liminal Space<\/strong><br>\nSunday, \u202fSeptember 27,\n2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we are content and satisfied on the inside of any\ngroup, we seem to suffer from a structural indifference. We do not realize that\nit is largely a belonging system that we have created for ourselves. It is not\nuntil we are excluded from a system that we are able to recognize its\nidolatries, lies, or shadow side. It is the privileged \u201cknowledge of the\noutsider\u201d that opens up the playing field. <em>People can be personally well-intentioned and sincere,\nbut structurally they cannot comprehend certain things.<\/em>&nbsp;In his ministry, Jesus quotes the call of\nIsaiah to describe this collective social disregard: \u201cYou will hear and hear\nagain, and not understand, see and see again and not perceive . . .\u201d (Isaiah\n6:9; Mark 8:18). Insiders are by nature dualistic because they divide\nthemselves from the so-called outsiders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nbelieve it is for that reason that so many saints and mystics and even everyday\npeople have chosen to live their entire lives at the edges of most systems.\nThey take their small and sufficient place in the great and grand scheme of God\nby \u201cliving on the edge of the inside.\u201d They build on the solid tradition (\u201cfrom\nthe inside\u201d) but from a new and dynamic stance (\u201con the edge\u201d) where they\ncannot be co-opted by a need for security, possessions, or the illusions of\npower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People\nsuch as Francis and Clare of Assisi try to live on the margins so they will not\nbecome enamored by the illusions and payoffs of prevailing systems. They know\nthis is the only position that ensures continued wisdom, ever-broadening\nperspective, and even deeper compassion. Such choices may be seen in the lives\nof monks, nuns, hermits, or Amish communities. There are softer forms, too,\nlike people who do not watch TV, people who live under the level of a taxable\nincome, people who make prayer a major part of their day, people who deliberately\nplace themselves in risky situations for the greater good. It is ironic that we\nmust go to the edge to find the center, but that is what prophets, hermits, and\nmystics invariably do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to\nacknowledge that there is a difference between <em>being marginalized<\/em>\u2014forced (usually by prejudice and systemic\ndiscrimination) out of the common benefits and goods that come from living in\nmainstream society\u2014and <em>choosing<\/em>&nbsp;to live on the margins. Both can be privileged\nplaces for spiritual growth and transformation. This week we will offer\nexamples from the broad tradition of Christian mystics and communities who\nsought or accepted their location on the margins as a place of creativity and\ninterior freedom. Through their insights, writings, rituals, and art, these men,\nwomen, and movements inspire us to cease protecting the surfaces of things and\nfall into the core of our own souls and experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mystics and the Margins A Church on the Margins Monday, \u202fSeptember 28, 2020 We\u2019ve tended to soften Jesus\u2019 conflict with the system, or the established powers, but Jesus\u2019 ministry took place on the margins! In the year 313 A.D., with the Edict of Milan, the Church dramatically changed sides and Christians officially became the Church [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19356"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19356"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19361,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19356\/revisions\/19361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}