{"id":21721,"date":"2022-10-11T07:29:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T11:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21721"},"modified":"2022-10-12T10:24:38","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T14:24:38","slug":"21721","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21721","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Edge of the Inside<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EtRMOUFf7e0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Third Core Principle of the CAC:&nbsp;<\/em>The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.<em>&nbsp;For a week of Daily Meditations on this principle,&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-zlthihd-tlkriywur-y\/\"><em>see here.<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-zlthihd-tlkriywur-j\/\"><em>Fourth Core Principle<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;of the CAC:&nbsp;<\/em>Practical truth is more likely found at the bottom and the edges than at the top or center of most groups, institutions, and cultures<em>. Father Richard explores the power of this prophetic position:<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The edge of things is a liminal space\u2014a holy place or, as the Celts called it, \u201ca thin place.\u201d<\/strong> Most of us have to be taught how to live there. To function on the spiritual edge of things is to<strong> learn how to move safely in and out, back and forth, across and return. It is a prophetic position, not a rebellious or antisocial one.<\/strong> When we are at the center of something, we easily confuse essentials with nonessentials, getting tied down by trivia, loyalty tests, and job security. Not much truth can happen there. When we live on the edge of anything,<strong> with respect and honor (and this is crucial!),<\/strong> we are in an auspicious and advantageous position.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the Gospels, Jesus sends his first disciples on the road to preach to \u201call the nations\u201d (Matthew 28:19; Luke 24:47) and to \u201call creation\u201d (Mark 16:15). I\u2019m convinced he was training them to risk leaving their own security systems and yet, paradoxically, to be gatekeepers for them. He told them to leave their home base and connect with other worlds. This becomes even clearer in his instruction for them \u201cnot to take any baggage\u201d (Mark 6:8) and&nbsp;<em><strong>to submit to the hospitality and even the hostility of others<\/strong><\/em><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>(Mark 6:10\u201311). Jesus says the same of himself in John\u2019s Gospel (10:7) where he calls himself \u201cthe gate\u201d where people \u201cwill go freely in and out\u201d (10:9). What amazing permission! He sees himself more as a place of entrance and exit than a place of settlement.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unique and rare position of a biblical prophet is always on the edge of the inside. The prophet is not an outsider throwing rocks or an insider comfortably defending the status quo. Instead, the <strong>prophet lives precariously with two perspectives held tightly together. <\/strong>In this position, <strong>one is not ensconced safely inside, nor situated so far outside as to lose compassion or understanding. <\/strong>Prophets must hold these perspectives in a loving and necessary creative tension. It is a unique kind of seeing and living, which <strong>will largely leave the prophet with \u201cnowhere to lay his head\u201d (Luke 9:58) and easily attracting the \u201chatred of all\u201d\u2014who have invariably taken sides in opposing groups (Luke 21:16\u201317). The prophet speaks for God, and almost no one else, it seems.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When we are both inside and outside, we are an ultimate challenge, possible reformers, and lasting invitations to a much larger world.<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"318\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4-500x318.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21722\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4-500x318.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4-300x191.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4-768x488.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4.png 1716w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Edge of the Inside The Third Core Principle of the CAC:&nbsp;The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.&nbsp;For a week of Daily Meditations on this principle,&nbsp;see here.&nbsp; The&nbsp;Fourth Core Principle&nbsp;of the CAC:&nbsp;Practical truth is more likely found at the bottom and the edges than at the top or center of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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\/21721"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21721"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21724,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721\/revisions\/21724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}