... that community is not about shared values
From the late 80s and into the 90s there was a trend in management thought that 'Shared Values' were a central part of an organisation's sense of purpose and ability to organise and work as one. This was a period when Organisation Culture was a 'big thing' to management academics, gurus and consultants (the latter two groups earning considerable amounts of money from this trend). There was something quite seductive about it all. Instead of management control we were offered shared values. Peter's and Waterman talked about "tight/loose control" suggesting that if you had a tight control on certain core values then you could be more laissez-faire about other details. There are times that I feel church families want a similar view of church; that we might have our differences but we share certain, core values.
If only life were as easy as that.
I'm afraid that we are in community with people with whom we have very little in common. From Tim Lahaye and the terrifying evangelly-babies of America all the way to Don Cupitt, from Christian Voice to 'Forward in Faith' or 'Sea of Faith' . We are kind-of, sort-of in community with so many people with whom we disagree profoundly. With some of these people it is difficult to find what I share, with others I know what I share and (quite frankly) I wish that I didn't! So how can I be in community with such people? Are there no boundaries?
Boundaries sound so static.
Perhaps another, more helpful(?) term would be, paths?
As I head towards (well, I hope it's towards, sometimes I wonder) a life of following and imitating Christ; am I stumbling on the same path as another? We may not describe that path in similar ways, we might even think that different routes look attractive but we are kind-of, sort-of trying to head Christwards and we are brothers and sisters. And I will try to avoid doing or saying anything that puts a thistle patch between our hands on the path - it's damn difficult to reach out and steady another walker if there's a great gorse bush between you!
Now that path analogy has it's limitations of course, might we not be at different stages of that path? NO! that is to make the path too human, too much like a physical path. That creates another way of separating us from our differences-within-family. I really dislike Fowler's 'stages of faith' (as I've had it explained to me through Alan Jamieson's "A Churchless Faith"). However much to play around with the words and insert caveats; it encourages an arrogance within those who are at a more (a so-called more) advanced stage! and I'm blowed that I can see the justification for that arrogance! No, with all our differences we are on the same path, at the same moment within 'reach' of each other.
and that is why it's all so hard
and that is why we need to learn how to be one yet diverse, how to be diverse without being hierarchical and how to be at ease in our distinction without creating boundaries.
and I don't know about you; that just seems to be incredibly difficult, but I think that we've got to learn how...
So what are we going to learn? I don't know! (Well of course I don't - If I did know then I wouldn't need to learn!) Well no, actually, if I did know I'd still need to learn to live that new life in community. You see when I said WE had to learn; I did mean we (not you!). Do you think you could help me learn?
Tomorrow, I'll try to blog about some of the ways we could go about learning to ether-in-difference.
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