"We must abandon the arrogant, if desperate, hope that we can engineer our spiritual maturity, force the flower, command the dawn." What a gorgeous phrase! Is it just me or does anyone else have to read every paragraph over and over...? to grasp EVERY nuance of meaning? I could sit with this for hours!
āFor the Word did not become idea, nor doctrine, nor ethereal principle, but flesh. Blood, bone, sweat, tearsā¦ the messy, dynamic, ever-unfolding reality of life itself. God entered the current, not the cul-de-sac. The Love that bent the heavens and pitched its tent among us is not a static monument, but a living fire. It consumes, yes, but in consuming, it transforms. It does not petrify. To love, truly and incarnationally, is to move, to respond, to grow, to suffer the glorious agony of engagement.ā
It took me years to learn this, and I understand it far better now, having read your article. Thank you.
I agree, but I also think that we need to work through whatever ābaggageā people have about synodality. In some ways we are always alone, yet also always connected to each other at the same time. Ultimately, we are a People of God and journeying together is a core part of our mission of opening doors to the Kingdom of Heaven on earth for our neighbors.
āā¦the next step taken in faith across the ever-shifting sands.ā
Is it just me that sees seeds of a synodal spirit in your reflections, not a scripted synodal manual to follow, but a path of engagement and encounter with each other, listening for the āā¦the next step taken in faith across the ever-shifting sandsā?
Really like your phrase ālistening for the next stepāāthatās exactly the posture I hope to cultivate. Iām less intentional about framing it as āsynodalā (which can carry baggage for some) and more about the raw, grounded reality of seeking truth together. But youāve named something vital here!
I would love to have these considerations in a book form that I could read and reread
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"We must abandon the arrogant, if desperate, hope that we can engineer our spiritual maturity, force the flower, command the dawn." What a gorgeous phrase! Is it just me or does anyone else have to read every paragraph over and over...? to grasp EVERY nuance of meaning? I could sit with this for hours!
Iām with you in that Annette
āFor the Word did not become idea, nor doctrine, nor ethereal principle, but flesh. Blood, bone, sweat, tearsā¦ the messy, dynamic, ever-unfolding reality of life itself. God entered the current, not the cul-de-sac. The Love that bent the heavens and pitched its tent among us is not a static monument, but a living fire. It consumes, yes, but in consuming, it transforms. It does not petrify. To love, truly and incarnationally, is to move, to respond, to grow, to suffer the glorious agony of engagement.ā
It took me years to learn this, and I understand it far better now, having read your article. Thank you.
I agree, but I also think that we need to work through whatever ābaggageā people have about synodality. In some ways we are always alone, yet also always connected to each other at the same time. Ultimately, we are a People of God and journeying together is a core part of our mission of opening doors to the Kingdom of Heaven on earth for our neighbors.
Thank you Jenny, took me years, too!
āā¦the next step taken in faith across the ever-shifting sands.ā
Is it just me that sees seeds of a synodal spirit in your reflections, not a scripted synodal manual to follow, but a path of engagement and encounter with each other, listening for the āā¦the next step taken in faith across the ever-shifting sandsā?
Really like your phrase ālistening for the next stepāāthatās exactly the posture I hope to cultivate. Iām less intentional about framing it as āsynodalā (which can carry baggage for some) and more about the raw, grounded reality of seeking truth together. But youāve named something vital here!