Diversity in Spiritual Cultures Earth is crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit round it and pick blackberries. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
With this issue of Mozaik our community tries to shed light on different aspects of our spiritual life, personally and in community; on spiritual encounters among people of faith; on spiritual struggles in the contemporary and in the eternal soul; and we also gather prayers, poems and meditations from young ecumenically-minded intellectuals. This issue of Mozaik, “Roots and Fruits of Ecumenical Spirituality”, is connected to our Theology Working Group (ThWG) within WSCF Europe, coordinated by Elisabeth Krarup. Our last conference, co-organised by the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe, in Tihany, Hungary (November 2002) dealt with Celebrating Diversity in Culture and Spirituality. Four of our editors were members of the planning team of this event, including Rozs–Nagy Szilvia, a member of the executive committee of EYCE, whom we would like to thank for accepting the invitation to be our guest editor. The seventeen articles inside this edition reflect upon the possibility of an ecumenically broadened spiritual sharing among Christian mentalities and faith traditions. We are honoured to receive inputs not only from Belarus, Denmark, England, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Wales, but also from three countries of other continents: Canada, Cuba and Korea. There are five sections of dialogue within the journal. The opening section, On the Path, follows the line of enrichment of a personality towards the fullness of life. The way of this enrichment leads through our neighbor, the image of God who is as close as our skin. The section, Getting back the Hundredfold comes at the discussion from another angle. In a kenotic (self-emptying) and detached way, through desert, fasting and silence, it arrives at the love of God, life in abundance. From the branches and fruits we move towards the roots in the section Water for the Roots. We acknowledge ways that our traditions and environments penetrate our spiritual life and provide fresh and abundant nourishment. The World Council of Churches (WCC) recently issued a framework for Common Prayer. In our fifth section, this document (The WCC Framework for Common Prayer) is introduced and evaluated by SCMers from three different branches of Christianity: Protestant, Orthodox and Roman Catholic. Bible studies come in the form of Biblical Role Models, which are slightly different than what is typically seen in this genre. The last meeting of the European Regional Committee (ERC) shared life examples of personal encouragement from the Scripture. From these inputs we chose three essays. We still encourage our readers to write-in with responses to the articles contained in this issue of Mozaik. Please send all comments, feedback, questions and further ideas on plants, branches, roots and fruits to our email address (wscfmozaik@yahoo.co.uk). This Mozaik on Ecumenical Spirituality is illustrated by Thomas SANDNAES from Norway. His little bearded philosopher, a Socratic character acts as a little mascot for the whole issue. The artist tried to offer two sides of his mentality and style, sometimes being smooth and ethereal in a soul-lifting way, at other times being ironic or sarcastic. As he makes clear through his drawings, spirituality can hardly be limited to a simple definition or one particular meaning, but if anything, it is creating meaning through observation and reflection.
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Henrik L I N D B E R G H A N S E N
My Life is my Prayer: Spiritual Ethics Consulting different lexica with the question of spirituality, you get a lot of different answers. If all of these answers hold at least part of the truth, then the answer must be that being spiritual is being close to God, or even more general; being religious. What then is the mark of Christian spirituality? As Christians we are close to God in anything we do, because God is part of us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is shed over us so that we can live in and live out the will of God (Acts 2).
GOD IS LOVE God is a term, not a name, and as a term it is empty. In Judaism the name of God cannot be spoken. The name signifies the essence and human cannot grasp the essence of God. Even now in Christianity it is so and that is why we use the empty term ‘god’. But then how do we know what God we praise? The essence of God cannot be grasped by human, but we see the works of God in the world, as it can be read in 1John 4: “God is Love”. When we experience love we meet and know God. And thus Love is what defines god as God in Christianity. Some picture the relationship between human and God as a triangular relationship but with the Holy Spirit it is enlightening to see God as part of the relationship between human and human as well. Again: God is Love; and love is in the relationship between men. IMAGO DEI Not only the New Testament speaks of human being close to God by doing God’s bidding in accordance with love. Genesis 1,26-28 speaks of human being made in the image of God. This is not only what distinguishes human from the rest of creation, it is also the responsibility of human. As God created in love, human is supposed to rule over or administer the creation in love. When human uses creation for his own benefit, he fails to fulfil his role given by God as the administer of creation. Thereby, human moves away from God, and God away from human for God is the love in which human administers creation. Human is created in the image of God and the Holy Spirit as part of human is thus two ways of expressing the same. And furthermore as God created all of the creation, human has responsibility for all of creation. Israel was not just the country. Moses wandered through the desert with Israel;
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the people. And God gave them the land of Israel. This country was for all of Israel, not just for the powerful. Isaiah says it in 5,8, that gathering land for oneself is a crime against God. Taking care of the weak that is the widows and the orphans is the work of God (10,1). The country Israel was the gift of God, and thus the responsibility of the people of Israel was to administer the wealth of Israel for the benefit of all. Creation is the gift of God to human and as human gains influence in the world this influence can be used in the love of God, or for the benefit of oneself. In ancient Israel the responsibility was bound to the country; to the people nearby. But now what we do influences people all over the world for example through commerce and thus the responsibility grows. As a single person, this responsibility will seem overpowering: Who am I to save the world? But we are not just single persons; we join different societies. In these societies we have the power to change the inequities of the world – they are these societies that make the inequities possible and they can also be used for the opposite; to correct the wrongs. As Isaiah says in 10,1: “Woe to those who pass out injust laws to turn down the weak.” As Christians we have a responsibility both in the Christian society but also in society as a whole. Whatever power we hold can be used in love or in self-absorption. THE NEIGHBOUR The Bible is filled with places underlining the ethical responsibility of human. Jesus puts himself in the place of the low and despised, thus doing good to these is doing good to God (Matthew 25,34-40). Understanding the Holy Spirit as God Who is Love, means that being close to God is living in God’s love. But love never stands still, it is always in movement. It is never something that human can just live in, it must be lived out. If it is kept for oneself, it withers and dies. Therefore it must be aimed at someone else and lived out. We know this, not just from life, but it is also said by Jesus in Matthew 22,36-39. On the question of which of the commandments is the greatest, Jesus replies: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and great com-
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THE CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE The Western world is mainly Christian by tradition, and this part of the world is so much wealthier than the rest of the world, and yet the Western world in general does not seem to want to share this wealth. Today, 800 million people on the earth are starving and three billion people are living at the point of or in starvation – this is half the population of the world! This is grotesque, especially when there is enough food to feed the entire population of the world. But it gets even more grotesque: twenty percent of the population of earth consume eighty percent of the Earth’s resources (if you want to confirm these figures; they can be found on the homepage of the United Nations, www.un.org or on the homepage of the World Food Programme, www.wfp.org). These twenty percent is mainly part of the Western, Christian world; so it seems that the Christian world is not just reluctant to share its wealth, but the Christian world actually seems to be the main reason for the inequities of the world. It is sad to admit it, but it seems that we are not the good, but the bad guys. But this is not the end of it! There are many different initiatives throughout the Western world, which you and your congregation can join in on. Examples are Jubilee 2000, (www.jubilee2000uk.org) started in England by a Christian group, and is working to relieve the debts of the third world; Max Havelaar, (www.maxhavelaar.nl) started in the Netherlands, working as a sort of a union to assure just payment for the products (fair trade); Attac, (www.attac.org) started in France, an international movement for democratic control of financial markets and their institutions.
mandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Loving God and loving the neighbour is alike; the relationship to God is related to the relationship with the neighbour. But the neighbour is not just the human next door; it is, as we have seen, those we influence in our daily lives – both through personal relations and through, for example, commercial influence. The term ‘neighbour’ can therefore be misguiding, and I much prefer the Danish term ‘the Next’. The neighbour is the one next door, maybe friends and family, but the next has no limit, neither in time nor in space. It is the neighbour, it is family and friends, but it is also the next one beside this one, and the next one after this one. The love of God extends to all of creation, which human was created to administer in love. THE CRY AND JOY OF LOVE The Holy Spirit (God and Love) is not just in a single human, but in all of creation. This is what connects all of creation, and without the Holy Spirit (God and Love) creation will rise against itself with the destruction of creation as the end. The Holy Spirit (God and Love) feels the pain of each and every tiny part of creation, and this pain is mediated in the Holy Spirit to all of creation. We all know it – it is what turns into ‘bad conscience’, if the cry is not reacted to. Feeling the pain of creation would surely shatter any human had it not been for the joy of love, which is given to human at the same time as the cry of love. The Holy Spirit is in any loving rela-
tionship between human, in congregations, friendships, families; in all of creation united, and this relationship is joyful in itself. Whatever good we do to any part of creation, however tiny, we also do to the Creator, Who is in all of creation. And thus we, Creator and creation, rejoice together. This is Love: Feeling both the pain and the joy of creation and reacting to this call. This is being a Christian. PRAYERS OF PAIN AND JOY Praying has many shapes and sizes, but in order to be a Christian, it must be directed towards God. If any of the above is to make any sense, then your prayers for a better world must include our willingness to live out the Love of God. When in despair we pray that God will take our burdens away. When not in despair we pray that God will show us where God’s love through us is needed. This understanding extends to all things that are Christian: Being Christian is living in the love of God.
Henrik Lindberg HANSEN was born in 1974 in Denmark. He lives in Aarhus, where he is ending his studies of theology and attends mass at the Danish Lutheran Church. His email address is LindbergHansen@hotmail.com.
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On the Path
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B o r u t Sˇ K O D L A R
The Soul and the Psyche: Religious Experience and Psychopathology To certain people there comes a day when they must say the great Yes or the great No. He who has the Yes ready within him immediately reveals himself, and saying it he goes
against his honour and his own conviction. He who refuses does not repent. Should he be asked again, he would say no again. And yet no – the right no – crushes him for the rest of his life. (Constantine P. CAVAFY, 1901)
INTRODUCTION The Viennese neuropsychiatrist Viktor E. FRANKL (19051997), the founder of logotherapy, says that there is not only an instinctual unconscious but a spiritual unconscious in all of us as well. Unlike the former, the latter does not have an automatic and energetic tendency to manifest itself, but “calls” us silently to the responsibility for it. It will not get manifested unless we choose it among many other tempting alternatives and foster it carefully. There are four aspects of the spiritual unconscious: ethical, erotic, aesthetic and religious. They have their manifestations in our lives as conscience, love, artistic inspiration and religious experience, respectively. We can neither get closer to them by thinking about them obsessively nor get rid of them by ignoring them. Both processes, obsession and ignorance, can be dangerous in one way or another. How do we get in touch with the spiritual unconscious? How can a spiritual path be initiated through this contact? What are the stages on the spiritual path and what changes do they bring? What are the dangers and traps of these changes? Spiritual unconscious finds its
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way to our consciousness in different forms: seeing a land in front of us while standing at the top of a mountain, listening to our favourite musical passages, falling in love, catching a special moment in the conversation with a good friend, getting a sudden insight, withdrawing deep inside ourselves while sitting in silence, or just being somewhere and losing the feeling of space and time. These small glimpses can occur anytime, anywhere and to any of us. Most of the time they look coincidental. And they are – in a way. Over time we begin to feel repetition, a certain presence that gives us a sense of following along a path. The path indicates that leave behind some modes and patterns and adopt others. It is a perspective of moving from more to less limitations and no longer perceiving the problems we encounter as coincidental. Along this path we can imagine fostering any aspect of the spiritual unconscious (e.g. ethical growth, growth through the relationship with a person we love, creative artistic process etc.), or a combination of these aspects in our lives as a psychotherapeutic process or even our life as a whole. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE The religious aspect of the spiritual unconscious can invoke the same feeling of moving along a path. Descriptions of the inner, mystic path derived by mystics, theologians and philosophers, arise out of this feeling. Evelyn (1875-1941), a UNDERHILL famous pioneering writer on mysticism, described the prototypical mystic way in four stages: 1. “Awakening of the self” or “conversion experience”
On the Path
(JAMES) (to recognise within oneself another sphere of perception); 2. “Purgation” or cleansing (simplifying life, freeing from constraints of social and conditioned existence); 3. “Illumination of the self” (happiness, ecstasy, personal relatedness to ultimate reality); 4. “The dark night of the soul” (despairing recognition of the emptiness of ecstasy, the relinquishment of the ordinary attachments to the world); 5. “Unio mystica” (goal of the mystic quest, new levels of understanding and compassion for others, dissolving the boundaries between subject and object).
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY The first four stages each involve some danger and some degree of risk of entrapment. “Awakening of the self” is usually a strong emotional experience. There are some people that report their conversion experience only a posteriori, after they already considerably changed their lives (“purgation stage”). Orienting themselves with respect to the spiritual goals, they thus entered the second stage without really noticing the first. However, a majority do experience the period of awakening as a powerful shift in their lives. It is a shift that undermines many of their basic attitudes and tenets, which raises a feeling of losing control. Such a feeling can trigger strong anxiety that can manifest itself in a panic attack(s) or can induce a fear of insanity or even of death. Both can lead to the avoidance of practices and conditions that brought them to such a state of anxiety and as a result they stop pursuing spiritual goals.
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Another important issue concerns attributions to the changes within us. Out of our narcissistic needs we can attribute a great deal of our fantasies and expectations to inner changes. We can build upon them a system that might attract or frighten others, bringing us to problematic symbioses or to isolation, respectively. At the same time we start to develop a split within our identity. We start to imitate expected self, ignoring and neglecting the given self. This neglect can show up in outbursts of suppressed emotions (i.e. aggression, sexual excesses, psychosomatic disorders etc). These same mechanisms play a role in the third stage (i.e. “illumination of the self”), where many small ecstasies and illuminative experiences replace a single, large, powerful experience. Since they are included into established and lengthy processes, these mechanisms can cause more damaging consequences. For example, narcissistic-fusing symbioses can be developed into broad-ranging religious movements, which call to the existence further complications. We must not forget, of course, that “awakening” or “illumination” experiences with or without attributions can (in some people de facto) be a part of a psychotic state. They can be a first attack or a relapse of a psychosis. There are two basic criteria for discerning between a mystic experience and a psychotic state: (a) within and after a mystic experience one does not lose a sense of reality, meanwhile in psychotic state one does (per definitionem); (b) a mystic experience has the capacity and a natural tendency to change one’s life in a constructive way; a psychosis does not.
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We are rarely aware of the possibility of co-existence of both mystic experience and psychotic state. This is beautifully described in a diary of an honoured German judge Daniel Paul SCHREBER (18421911) Memoirs of my Nervous Illness (Denkwürdigkeiten eines Nerven- kranken). When trying to reshape her/his life-style in order to suit more to the spiritual quest in the second “purgative” stage, a person can enter obsessive and compulsive patterns. On the fertile ground of personality traits, this person might build a system of thoughts and rites that must be obeyed and executed. If not, anxiety, tension, and dissatisfaction may result. In order to release or avoid these tensions, rites are performed even more consequently. The vicious neurotic circle is closed: the religious experience, the real source and the only reason to proceed no longer has any influence on the person’s thoughts and behaviour. The relationship to transcendence is weakened and, by the same force, the changing power of the religious experience. Another negative consequence of obsessive and compulsive behaviour may emerge out of a tendency to teach and to ‘preach’ to others. It may cause grave complications on the interpersonal level. The fourth, “dark” stage of the mystic path brings us to another important problem area. The dark states of the soul: depression, loneliness and feelings of abandonment, hopelessness and despair, doubt. These feelings push a person to the edge of existence. It is one of the greatest and the most difficult tasks to give meaning to such states of mind, to bridge them and to let them clarify our existence (Existenzerhellung), as Karl JASPERS (1883-1969), a great philosopher of existence, might assert. Such “on the edge” states (Grenzsituationen) were synonymous with existence. The writings of Søren KIERKEGAARD (1813-1855) bring tremendous insight into the nature of human existence! There are limits in our capacities within the greatest and most human of the shifts. We’ve seen depression, collapse, and breakdown. We know suicide (perhaps all too well). So how do we know how
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far we can go? Where to stop? How do we avoid the bereft of this big opportunity, not crossing our limits and not entering the range of destruction? We need to observe our reactions, feelings, emotions and thoughts very carefully. We need to talk with others about our pain and suffering. We need to learn from the pain and suffering of others. And we need to consult the appropriate professionals when needed. In the fifth stage, unio mystica, the person reaches beyond the influence of psychopathological phenomena. These phenomena can appear, but the person does not get involved and is not influenced by them.
CONCLUSION Glimpses of the spiritual unconscious appear in the consciousness of every one of us. They urge us along the path. In a religious life it can have a form of a mystic path. In all but the last stage of the mystic path there are some specific traps and dangers. With a careful observation, communication with others, and a willingness to learn from them, we can turn this path into the safest and the most beautiful path of all.
Suggested Reading FRANKL Viktor E., The Unconscious God. New York, 1985. (Der unbewusste Gott. München, 1994.) UNDERHILL Evelyn, Mysticism. New York, 1961. YALOM Irvin D., Existential Psychotherapy. New York, 1980. JASPERS Karl, Philosophie. München, 1994.
Borut Sˇ KODLAR is Roman Catholic, a psychiatrist at the Crisis Intervention Unit of the University Psychiatric Hospital of Ljubljana (Slovenia). He is a lecturer at the Chair of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Ljubljana. He specialised logotherapy and existential analysis at the Süddeutsches Institut für Logotherapie in the class of Elisabeth LUKAS. His email address is borut.skodlar@s5.net.
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R O Z S - N A G Y Szilvia
Crossroads
on the
Path
Encompassing Culture and Faith Tradition in Ecumenical Liturgies Third World theologies are theologies where we find a strong sense of wholeness and a strong concern for a harmonious and compassionate web of relationships: intrapersonal and interpersonal, communal and societal, global and planetary. Emphases on relationships that are based on justice: no exploitation, manipulation or oppression, but mutuality, deep respect and delicate balance.
AS CLOSE AS YOUR SKIN Third World theologies1 made their liturgical revolution and their strong impact on ecumenical liturgies with a new theological paradigm shift. They changed the starting point for the understanding of who God is, and this changed the object of theology and worship. The starting point of Third World theologies was the very first thing experienced in our lives: the human body. Black Theology, especially, was a leading force in this respect, experiencing black bodies as the source of all of their discrimination. Black Theology states that God is black. “There is no place in Black Theology for a colorless God in a society where human beings suffer precisely because of their color,” James H. CONE writes. It implied that the source of being black is in God, which meant a strong assurance of identity. The body through remembering its origins and its womb was seen as a tool that could lead to the primordial consciousness of the presence of God. Contrary to the classical Greek and Roman philosophical culture, which has co-shaped Western Christianity, for peoples from the Third World the body is neither fallen nor is an instrument of sin but it is the center of the total manifestation of the individual. The body bears witness to the past, lives in the present, keeps the memorial of the Lord, and expresses the discipleship through an ethical life. While in the Roman liturgy the immobility symbolized perfection, in the Third World liturgies the gestures, the flexing of the body, the dances are the forms expressing both the individuals and the community as they assembled before God. The human voices, the drums, the rhythm and the movement of the dance express the whole worldview, theology and God-relationship of the people. That is why HERSKOVITS argued that what Africa needs is not only black theology but blackbody theology. HERSKOVITS maintained that the bodily experiences (being in contact with people, with nature and with the cosmos) and expressions are essential elements of faith. However this effort to create “body-theology” was not confined to Africa only. It helped the other Third World theologies in forming their image of human beings and in rediscovering their own cultural values. At the same time it challenged the First World’s image of the body, of the human being, and of the Incarnation. At first experience, it
meant a scandal for the First World. Later on, it was a starting point for the revolution of body that culminated in a conscious incorporation of gestures, movements and dances into the liturgical orders. THE EVANGELIZED GOSPEL The Third World theologies re-examined the centre of the Gospel that had been brought to them. Their basic concern was what the Gospel spoke to them in their present conditions, and not how to change themselves and make abstractions from their social and political circumstances in order to get the “real” message of the Gospel. Starting their exegesis from the ground of their own contexts they identified three main focal points in the Gospel of Christ. One of them was the Way of the Cross, which became the centre of the Gospel, especially in Latin American liberation theologies. The historicity of Jesus as the “Oppressed One” and “His blackness” are elementary, claimed the Liberation Theology and the Black Theology, if His continued presence is still believed. Jesus is experienced in His closeness as the One Who already shared the reality of human life, which includes hunger, injustice, even persecution, and death and the One who is also present today. Committed discipleship became the principle and criterion of Christian life. It is necessary, as Leonardo BOFF said, to “join our passion for God with a passion for the people.” Discipleship was to be realized by following Christ in living for others, in loneliness, in worry, in agony, through injustices, through humiliation, under the cross, even unto death. In the ecumenical movement we can realize its effects in recognizing that spirituality has a processual aspect. It is a journey that has ups and downs, requires commitment and persistence, includes experiencing the very depth of human life, but Christ always accompanies us on our way. Third World theologies have never stopped at the stage of death and cross. As a matter of fact “historical liberation is a share in Jesus’ resurrection,” Leonardo BOFF said. Everyone is called to be perfect and saint (Matthew 5:48) and this calling includes the political field as well. Today not only our own passions and sufferings are to be confronted but the passions of the neighbours as well. Political saints can be individuals or groups. They are the poor or those who are fighting for the liberation of the poor, filling the struggles with Christian spirit, sharing the condition and fate of the servant of YHWH. This kind of political holiness is historically needed today, “to be a contemplative in liberation,” manifesting Christ who came not only to preach about liberation but also to liberate. Political holiness involves the prophetic courage and the historical patience. This is courage to
1 Using the term „Third World” in the article is based on the self-definition of one specified way of theological thinking. The term is not meant to be pejorative but provocative as we still carry within us our history and struggle to find our roles in dialogue, our values to enrich each other, the methods for our future co-operation. In this article “Third World theologies” encompass several theological ways except the white European and North-American ones.
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speak up and to have confidence in people and in their courage knowing their limitations. Prayer, especially intercessory prayer offers a great opportunity for the use of the rich daily and poetic expressions of the language. Expressing thoughts and including responses from the faithful rather than being stuck in the bondage of ethereal words. Using the language of the participants and building up the community through prayer put the prayer meetings into the center of base communities. That was connected to the efforts of the ecumenical movement to change the language of theology and to discover the traditional worldviews to find the way to a more holistic Christian theological worldview. In this process the ecumenical movement enabled both church members and the unchurched to speak, using their own terms and their own languages in liturgy and in prayers. It was more than revolutionary after the long periods when the possible faith-expressions were authoritatively decided upon in Christianity. THE BODY AND THE BLOOD Liberation theology brought a Eucharistic revolution into the life of the churches by the rediscovery of its central place in worship services. Liberation theology showed that the celebration of the Eucharist is a special occasion for experiencing the communion with the Suffering Servant of the Lord and with all the faithful and all the little ones. The Eucharist ceased to be simply a sign of hope, love, communion and strength but it was recognized as powerful criticism and motivation for
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further work for justice and freedom in the world as well as in the Church. The other role of Eucharist and of the whole worship service is to lead every divisive factor to reconciliation. Its importance was realized by the Indian theology in common eating and drinking in the idea of the Agape. In India a festival, called the Kinship Festival has been developed among those churches, which includes Dalits, non-Dalits, Christians and non-Christians. It starts with a procession and water collection from every family. Food is prepared with this water, which will become the two elements of the Eucharist. It is followed by preaching and various cultural activities. This celebration gives a lot of strength to the community uniting the members through symbols that are transforming the physical bodies and actualities. It improves the sense of solidarity, cooperation and mutuality and deepens the encounter with God through the encounter with each other. ACCOMPANIED VOCATION AND PRESENCE The Third World theologies also emphasize that humans can experience their own wholeness in a community. Just as there is no separation between the sacred and the secular in communal life, neither is there a separation between the soul and the body in a person. This theology totally changed the “Christian� (ie. Western European and North American Christian) spirituality, theology and practice. They could not continue their purely individualistic practice and theological argumentation.
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The communal rites gave elementary importance to the recognition of the ancestors which was a (Third)worldwide concern. It was even recognized by an African conference of bishops stating “becoming a Christian as an African does not sever all relationship with the ancestors. Invoking them in Christian worship is consequently a pastoral and liturgical imperative.” CONTEXTUAL AESTHETIC Taking seriously the people and their context means also to call into realization their own aesthetic in sermons, chants, spells, and spirituals as well as in sound, material, language, and choreography. The Filipino theology especially was eager to develop certain symbols, which on one hand carry the story of the people and, on the other hand, they can be used universally. These symbols, the clenched fish, the barbed wire and the burning candle, were able to shake and transform the Church into its true being as worshipping, confessing and witnessing community. All of them were based on symbolizing both the actual historical struggles against oppression, dehumanization, suffering and the faith, hope in the living Christ who leads to offer their lives for the others. Their last Christological question was how we are going to be liberating symbols and signs of God’s partiality for the oppressed? That is why the ecumenical liturgies tried to include lots of spiritual dramas, and special choreographs, which combined dances and bodily expressions with issues coming from the communities’ spirituality and action, to deepen the people’s identification process with Christ and with each other. RHYTHMIC CONTACT African liturgies also held that rhythmical movement (especially dancing) are specific ways in which contact with the spiritual world can be expressed. Dances have a precious place in this new recognition of the body’s meaning and value. They were originally parts and symbols of the turning points of human life (birthday, wedding party, graduation etc.) in traditional cultures. The rhythmic contact with the earth, with the ancestral memory, with the risen Jesus puts the community and the individuals in a motion where they know themselves in a relationship and where they can carry their burden. We can experience, however, that the decision-making about the inclusion of dance into the liturgy is not a simple one as different kinds of dances exist and not all of them can be involved. In church liturgies mainly the chief’s dance, the
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head dance, the shoulder dance and the recreational dances are used. Before using traditional dances, studies are needed in the field of psychology, symbolism and context. The Third World theologies taught us that dances and gestures have an important role especially in the reconciliation rites, where through the gestures and the physical touch as a whole, a more conscious and also more intuitive level can be reached. Its experiential value helped the gestures of reconciliation to be present in the ecumenical worship services, like the sign of peace that was not considered and used as common Christian heritage before. RESULTS The crisis of worship and liturgical life was realized in the 1960s in the ecumenical movement. The renewal seemed to be found in rediscovering traditional forms of liturgical expressions from the Third World. At the Eucharistic Congresses held at Munich in 1960 and at Bombay in 1964 it already started with the recognition of a long tradition of movement and dance as a form of worshipping outside Europe. Its naturalness questioned whether European Christians are really any different. In the sixties the European and American student Christian movements took the initiative to introduce the dimension of movement into their worshipping. At the world assemblies of the WCC the first break-through happened in Nairobi (1975). The first elaborated and “natural” liturgical orders, which were built on gestures, movements, dances were created for the Vancouver Assembly (1983). They gave inspiration and motivation for the member churches as well as for several ecumenical communities to find their own ways of including mature participation and activity in their worship services. Suggested Reading Leonardo BOFF OFM, Faith on the Edge. Orbis Books, 1989. James H. CONE, A Black Theology of Liberation. Orbis Books, 199O. Elochukwu E. UZUKWU. Body and Memory in African Liturgy. Concilium, 1995. Third World Theologies. Maryknoll, 199O.
Rozs–Nagy Szilvia is an ecumenical theologian from Hungary and a member of KÖD (Magyar SCM). She is a graduate of the EvangelicalLutheran Faculty of Theology (Budapest) and the Bossey Ecumenical Institute (Switzerland). Currently she is writing her PhD on ecumenical and interreligious liturgies. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE). She is an editor of Mozaik. Her email address is szilvianagyhun@yahoo.com.
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Getting back the Hundredfold
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D a n i e l P A S T I R C˘ Á K
The Paradox of the Four Emptying-out Beatitudes THE ABSURDITY OF THE PARADOX To be Christian is to be in Christ. To be in Christ means to live in paradox. The shape of that paradox is the shape of the Cross. We have here paradox of two arms connected in one point. It represents two inconnectable natures united in one person: the divinity of Christ and the humanity of Christ. God and human in one. We have here the paradox of death and resurrection. Light was born out from dark. Life was born out of death. Life and death are united in one transforming power: immortality in mortality and eternity in temporary. To be a Christian is to live a life on the cross. To be a Christian is to reflect Christ’s paradoxical identity in our own identity. I am in the world, but I am not of the world. I am a mortal and sinful human being, but I participate in the divine nature of Christ. To be a Christian is to reflect Christ’s paradoxical way of life in our life. I am dead in Christ, but I am risen with Christ, and my life is hidden with Christ in God. Before I found my life in Christ I had been living in a completely different universe. My universe was a universe of chaotic, meaningless, empty spaces. I understand myself as a process of biochemical reactions. Everything that gives meaning to human life seemed to me illusionary. Instead of saying, “I love you,” I had to tell my girlfriend that I was just experiencing a very pleasant process of biochemical reactions. My universe without Christ was a universe of absurdity. Everything was upside-down. Non-conscious matter was ruling over the conscious mind. Dead matter was ruling over life. Insensitive matter was ruling over personalities with free will and capacity for love, joy, reflection and happiness. So, when I have found myself in Christ I was moved from a universe of absurdity to a universe of the paradox. The spiritual journey from its beginning to its end is a single process in which I am walking deeper and deeper to the nature of this paradox and in this paradox I am discovering my true self. I want to take you with me on that journey. We will follow the steps which Christ left here for us. He spoke them out in his beatitudes. The beatitudes are the description of the inner qualities of the Christ-consciousness. The beatitudes have two parts. The first four beatitudes are paradoxical in nature. They describe the process of emptying ourselves from illusionary selves. The second four beatitudes describe the process of filling our empty selves with the true self. I will take now the first part of the journey with you. Christians talk much more about filling then emptying. But without emptiness there could be no fullness. We will walk step by step through the paradoxical beatitudes.
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BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN The ideal of our society is to be strong and rich in spirit. So, Christ calls us to walk against the stream. But, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? What do we mean by the word poverty? We often speak about poverty in a social context. We can talk of poverty in comparison. So we are poor in comparison to somebody else. But here Christ talks about existential poverty. To be poor in an existential sense means not to have enough food to live, not to have home to live in. And what does the word spirit mean? We knew our spirit by longings. Those longings are spiritual in us that aspire to be absolute values (e.g. love, truth or freedom). Love is not a real love if it contains even a small shadow of egotism or pride. Truth is not a real truth if it contains bits of illusions, deceptions or prejudices. Freedom is not a real freedom if it contains elements of dependence or addiction. So, to be poor in spirit is to be aware that we do not possess spiritual qualities to live by. We do not have enough spiritual material to build a home from it for our homeless self, we do not have enough spiritual material to feed our hungry self. All our loves are corrupted by our egocentric nature. All our truths are corrupted by our delusions and prejudices. All our freedoms are corrupted by our dependence and addictions. Christ does not suggest that there are some human beings rich in spirit and some poor in spirit. We are all poor in spirit. But only those who genuinely strive for love, for truth or for freedom can realize the despaired nature of our inner poverty. Only when we live for something higher than ourselves, we can discover the inner sanctuary in the depth of our poor spirit. To discover this poverty is the first step on our journey toward a new identity in Christ. Only the poor in spirit have their hearts opened. Only to that poverty can the richness of heaven enter. It is not only the beginning of the way here, but the journey itself. We do not just start from the poverty of spirit, we travel all the distance by that poverty. Throughout all our lives we instinctively try to add something to our ego. We spend all our energy to make our ego greater and greater. We add to it possessions, we add prestige, honor, education, and social or professional status. We are occupied by the struggle to exalt our name. We need the stimulus of social success to raise our self-esteem. To walk by the poverty of spirit means to travel in the opposite direction. Instead of adding, it means to take out. Not more and more for me, but less and less for me. I must move from an identity of myself in myself to a new identity of myself in Christ. Our first step is a step to emptiness. Let us take this first step.
Getting back the Hundredfold
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, FOR THEY WILL BE COMFORTED The ideal of our society is entertainment. According to our wisdom, blessed are those who escape from all mourning. Christ is leading us again in the opposite direction. We have instinctive mechanisms in our psyche which defend us from suffering. There is a thick wall around our hearts. We defend ourselves from pain which comes from the awareness of our own evil. We do not want to see ourselves by the eyes of those whom we have wounded by ignorance, egotism or pride. We defend ourselves from the sufferings of others. The television shows us terrific the suffering of thousands of unknown people each day. These suffering people become, for us, just pictures on a screen. We are inoculated against compassion. The name of our fortress is cynicism. But have you realized that those who are sheltered from real pain are as well sheltered from real joy? Our inner systems of defense mortify our hearts so in the end we are unable to experience anything real. We are safe but we are dead. Sheltered from the pain of compassion we are sheltered from the joy of love. If we are here to give ourselves to the mystery of love, we have to be ready for suffering. From the beginning till the end, Christ walks from the heights of heavenly pleasures to the depths of earthly sufferings. His was the way of Love. The second step is the step to defenselessness. BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, FOR THEY WILL INHERIT THE EARTH The ideal of our society is assertivity. The winners are those who are loud. Blessed are those who successfully assert their will against the will of others. The world belongs to them. Christ is foolishly calling us to meekness and inner silence. And Christ even claims that the world belongs to those who silenced themselves. The successful person of our age is the conqueror. This person owns the world by conquering it. But the earth and its richness does not belong to those who buy it or conquer it, it does not belong to those who own it. The world belongs to those who understand it in love and empathy. To guard ourselves towards that direction, we must learn the art of listening. In order to learn the art of listening, we must learn the discipline of silence. If a husband wants to understand the heart of his wife, he must listen to her in inner silence. If a mother wants to understand the heart of her child, she has to
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learn the discipline of silence. If you want to understand the heart of your rival, you must learn the discipline of silence. If you want to understand the heart of God, you must learn the discipline of silence. Have you ever tried to be really silent? When outward voices cease to attract our attention, we will find that we are full of inner voices. Desires, projects, conflicts and dreams are speaking in us without interruption. Christ is calling us not only to outward but also to inner silence. To be really silent, we must give up all our inner aspirations, projects and dreams, and we must accept the unknown future of God. BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR THEY WILL BE FILLED There is a mental hunger in each human being. There is a thirst for satisfaction and happiness. We do multitudes of things because we believe they will make us happy. But after a while we find that we do not really know what will make us happy. We do not know what is desirable for us. Christ gives an answer to our ignorance: blessed are those who hunger for righteousness. Christ calls us to redirect the will of our desire, to change the object of it. Not to hunger for satisfaction but for life in truth, because the word righteousness means a life in truth. Not only hunger to know the truth but to become part of the truth. Christ knows what we really need in order to become happy. Only if we are perfectly good, if we are in sole accord with the truth, we will be blessed and filled with real happiness. We have to move from the illusion that we own the truth to the reality in which we existentially belong to the truth. But in our earthly condition, we can not really connect ourselves with the truth, only through perpetual hunger. The truth is endlessly greater than our understanding of it, so to walk under the kingdom of truth is to walk humbly under the glory of overwhelming mystery. Our first step was the step to emptiness, the second was the step to defenselessness, the third was the step to silence and the last will be the step into to humility. Daniel PASTIRCÁK ˘ (1959) is a poet, prose-writer and essayist. He graduated in Protestant theology in Bratislava, Slovakia. He works as a preacher of the Free Evangelical church (Bratská cirkev). His book “Damian’s river” (1993) was listed on the List of Honor of International Board of Books for Youth. His other books are “Tehilim” and “Cintet”, the later was honored as the best Slovak book for youth of the year. He is also engaged in art and exhibited in galleries in Slovakia and abroad. His email address is pastirco@isternet.sk.
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Getting back the Hundredfold
P e t e r Sˇ A J D A
Gamaliel’s Advice or the Spirit of Detachment The word “detachment” often evokes mixed feelings. It can carry the connotation of permanent loss, or of losing something for good. In popular language it is sometimes used as the counterpart of attachment and thus perceived as a negative phenomenon. Thus it can appear to be linked with an unhealthy spirituality, marked by exaggeration. When used out-of-context, the term can also evoke an atmosphere of indifference, non-participation and unaccountability. Apart from detachment which is harmful and vain, there is a creative detachment, too. It does not have its primary source in refusal, but in acceptance. It can seem paradoxical to speak of attachment and detachment at the same time, but in a closer perspective this paradox reveals its meaning and depth.
A TWO-LAYER MOVEMENT It seems that the detachment Jesus speaks of in the Bible is a detachment that produces paradoxical effects. Jesus speaks of giving up one’s father, mother, wife, children, etc. (Lk 14,26; Mk 10,28-30) for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and promises that it will be returned one hundred fold already in this life. Throughout the centuries, these few lines have inspired numerous authors to look for a consistent explanation of the movement of detachment. Stepping back and considering the negative features of one’s own character enables one to become more mature in certain areas of behavior, decision-making or formation of attitudes. But why do authors like Meister ECKHART speak about the detachment from one‘s own knowledge, plans, dreams, friends, spouse and even from God? The movement of detachment can be seen as a two-way movement. Therefore, at the end of the day, it is not about losing. Losing, or rather giving up, is for the sake of getting back. Søren KIERKEGAARD likens this giving up and getting back to Abraham‘s sacrifice of Isaac. In the end, the sacrifice was not about losing. This movement of faith can contribute to the awareness that authentic detachment carries in itself the notion of getting back what has been given up. The maturity of one’s relationship with God increases as one becomes aware of the fact that God really takes care. One gives up an idol (defined God), illusion (defined love) and projection (defined partner) and gradually begins to discover how God, love and the partner really are when one opens up to listen to their silent voices. In this way one can become detached from her or his own definitions of what God, the partner or love are about. Instead of fixed answers (that have been given up) one keeps an open heart and mind to learn again and again new things about God, the partner or love. In other words, one remains ever-listening. In his sermons, Meister ECKHART pays a great deal of attention to the phenomenon of detachment. Knowing that the movement of detachment can be easily misinter-
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preted and driven to an unhealthy extreme, he tries to elaborate on how the movement of detachment can become a bridge which enables the soul to walk into God’s inner self. The fact that the entire creation is secondary in relation to God does not mean that one can discard the creation and thus come closer to God. Creation, as an outflow of God’s love, wants to be taken seriously. The advice of Jesus that one should seek detachment from her or his husband or wife, parents, children, etc. means thus in this sense that one should avoid projecting divine attributes onto them. If one does not absolutize human beings, if one does not seek the meaning of life in things and humans, but reserves this to the Divine presence in them, one seeks detachment. RELATIONAL MATURITY AND OSSIFIED OPINIONS Erich FROMM, when analyzing relational patterns, draws inspiration from ECKHART’s notion of detachment. In the case of most intensive relationships (family and partner relationships) the notion of immature expectations and absolutization of partial values appears as a frequent phenomenon. Cases of exaggerated possessiveness, extreme expectations, unrealistic certainty and projections of absolute values occur as regular phenomena. Forcing one’s own ideas and projections on one’s partner, child or parent decreases the possibility of authentic knowledge of the other’s inner life. Detachment from ambitions, plans and dreams plays in many relationships a decisive role in accepting the other. In this way one does not turn the other into an object of an ambition, plan or dream of her or his own. It is only natural that one shapes opinions on people, things and God. Opinions are assessments based on experience. Some opinions, however, become ossified, especially if there is no more lively dialogue to keep them fresh and accurate. Since it is often difficult to assess in what measure opinions (even if fresh and upto-date) reflect the authentic motives of other people, detachment from opinions opens up an important platform for ever-adjusting knowledge of the other. This, of course, does not mean that one holds no stable opinions, rather that one is aware of the limited depth of her or his own experience, insight and understanding. DETACHMENT AS THE EVER-ADJUSTING ATTITUDE In the first place, it has already been hinted that detachment means an opening up to be able to listen and learn ever anew. When one waits—listening to hear the voice of the other—one gradually “hears” words, emotions, images and glimpses that ever-adjust her or his attitudes. Detachment can be also described as non-
Getting back the Hundredfold
attachment to changing things. In this way it becomes clear that an ongoing dialogue is intrinsically linked to the phenomenon of detachment. One needs permanent dialogue to be able to listen on one hand and share on the other. Fixed opinions and attitudes, especially if based on half-truths and conjectures, can become dangerous prejudice. Fixed opinions and attitudes based on authentic dialogue can become artifacts, if the dialogue is interrupted and no longer nourished. ECUMENISM – AIRING OF A MUSEUM It is no secret that after the various divisions of the universal Church, the churches were quick to peg each other as heretical, unauthentic and faithless. Authentic dialogue was blocked, or else concerned only a small minority of believers. Religious persecutions and wars were at times clear manifestations of attachment to fixed opinions and attitudes. The enemy seemed to be clearly defined. Self-criticism was often absent and the others were often defined on the basis of one’s own projections and conjectures. When the representatives of the churches of the West and the East met in the Middle Ages (eg. at the Council of Florence), they quickly discovered how little they knew about each other. Attachment to clear-cut definitions often simplified the complexity of the other’s motives and left no space for modifications of one’s own opinions. The phenomenon of negative definitions (what the others lack) brought about the concentration on the differences, rather than on what still remained as the common heritage. Beingin-separation often overshadowed the Christian interbeing, ie. being-in-connection. Attachment to ambitions and plans frequently determined precisely what the others should do, if they are to be authentic again. This left little space for suggestions from the other side and presented unfeasible conditions of unification. In practice, the fact that the opinions on other churches did not change for several centuries meant that, in certain instances, medieval opinions were conserved and the common line of development was cut. When the ecumenical leaders of the 20th century tried to advocate before their own churches the importance of the dialogue with other Christian traditions, their struggle often resembled Don Quixote’s fight with the windmill. The authentic, thorough and long-term ecumenical dialogue, founded and developed by visionary personalities as Nathan SÖDERBLOM, Willem VISSER ´T HOOFT or Yves CONGAR brought about an airing of the museum opinions that had remained as fossils untouched for several hundreds of years. INTERBEING, DIALOGUE AND UNITY The idea of interbeing, as developed and applied by THICH NHAT HANH or Adrián SLAVKOVSKY´ , claims the permanence of our beingin-connection. Even if two entities claim to live in separation, they remain connected. The connection can be ignored, buried and negated, but it cannot be destroyed. Through the negation, however, the coming together at a later date is
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made more difficult and complex. The fact that the connection remains, whether cultivated or left uncultivated, shows that dialogue is important even in periods when it seems to bear no fruits. On the other hand, Martin BUBER warns us that the human capacity for authentic dialogue is limited by circumstances. This means that it would be illusory to expect a fruitful dialogue to remain as it is forever. An IThou relationship evolves necessarily into an I-It relationship at a later date. If this admonition of BUBER is to be taken seriously, it is to imply that deep dialogue and serious detachment are not one-time processes, but rather dynamic processes which need constant care. The awareness of being-in-connection with the other is transforming, but it is not an inborn physical urge. Detachment, as it has been presented, represents a deconstruction of certain types of illusions, projections, self-made images, definitions, etc. and thus it becomes in practice a deconstruction of barriers. It increases the awareness of interbeing (being-in-connection), because it intrinsically looks for it. Interbeing and authentic detachment naturally converge. GAMALIEL‘S “UNFINISHED” OPINION A most intriguing example of detachment from one’s own opinions, definitions and limits can be found in the Acts of the Apostles. Rabbi Gamaliel, one of the Pharisees, stands up in the Sanhedrin to present his attitude towards the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. His prophetic words speak for themselves and sum up all of this essay: „People of Israel, be careful how you deal with these people. Some time ago there arose Theudas. He claimed to be someone important, and collected about four hundred followers; but when he was killed, all his followers scattered and that was the end of them. And then there was Judas the Galilean, at the time of the census, who attracted crowds of supporters; but he was killed too, and all his followers dispersed. What I suggest therefore, is that you leave these men alone and let them go. If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will be unable to destroy them. Take care not to find yourselves fighting against God.“ (Acts 5:34-39) Suggested Reading BUBER Martin, Das dialogische prinzip (The Dialogical Principle). Heidelberg, 1984. KIERKEGAARD Søren, Frygt og Bæven (Fear and Trembling). København, 1962. Meister ECKHART, Deutsche und Lateinische Werke (German and Latin Works). Frankfurt, 1993. Fromm Erich, Die Kunst des Liebens (The Art of Loving). Frankfurt, 1979. SLAVKOVSKY´ Adrián, Blízkost´ (Closeness). Bratislava, 2001. THICH NHAT HANH, Being Peace. Berkeley, 1987. ˇ AJDA is a Graduate of the Faculty of Arts of the Comenius Peter S University in Bratislava, Slovakia. He is a member of Ekunet Slovakia, an ecumenical organisation focusing on ecumenical networking in Slovakia. He is a member of the Order of Preachers. He is currently a student of theology at the Theological Institute CMBF in Kosice, Slovakia. He is a co-opted member of the European Regional Committee of WSCF. He coedited the book A Pentatonic Landscape. Central Europe, Ecology, Ecumenism (Budapest, 2002); he is also an editor of Mozaik.
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Getting back the Hundredfold
Dimitri O I K O N O M O U
Christian Fasting Fasting, like prayer, demonstrates the essential duality that qualifies the Christian life. Both of these religious practices operate at two levels: the personal and the corporate, and together they are linked inseparably. At the personal level, fasting and prayer are actions enjoined by Our Lord to be carried out ‘in secret’, in seclusion or in solitude.
INTRODUCTION: PRAYER AND FASTING “But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly [...] but thou when though fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” (Matthew 6,17–18). Here we see an intimate encounter of persons with the Living God where there are neither witnesses nor a communal participation: ‘enter thy closet … shut thy door …’ And yet, paradoxically, even in this retirement or seclusion, in the solitude of one’s closet, one fasts and prays as a member of the redeemed Community: the Church of Christ. Comprehensiveness in fasting and prayer is the mark of spiritual health and maturity. In their compass and content, Christian fasting and prayer can never be strictly “private”, although it must always be personal. Christians should be fully aware of the ultimate ground of their privilege to fast and to pray – it is precisely their membership in the Community, in the Church of Christ. At the fully corporate level, the faithful are advised to pray together for certain things in common: “for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18,20). Here the ultimate mystery of worship is manifested, for the “gathering” in the name of Christ is itself a gift of the Spirit. It also presupposes a kind of spiritual preparation and training. The analogy with fasting can be seen in the regulations for abstention prescribed by the Church
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for the entire worshipping community. Whereas the fast in secret, normally known as the ascetic fast, has its own rule and rhythm, according to differing traditions and circumstances, and is essentially an abstinence (the avoidance of particular foods at certain periods of the year or on certain days of the week), the fast of the ekklesia is total (no food or liquid intake) and is in effect a preparation for the Eucharist banquet, which is a type of the heavenly kingdom. The divine injunction to fast is as ancient as humanity itself. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2,16-17). Original sin is revealed to us by the breaking of a fast by Adam in Eden. Succumbing to temptation and eating the forbidden fruit, he was expelled from Paradise and made subject to death. The New Adam of Gospels, on the other hand, begins with fasting (Matthew 4,1–11). In overcoming the temptation to eat, Christ destroyed death and opened once more the gates of Paradise. From either perspective, the Biblical view of fasting is of something vital (in the literal sense of ‘life-giving’) and of decisive importance. The abstinence of the first Adam may be considered ascetical since its obvious purpose was to lead the moral head of the human race to recognize the necessary dependence of creature upon Creator. The total fast of Christ in the wilderness was undertaken as the immediate preparation for his public ministry: to lead humanity back to the Kingdom of God. FASTING IN ANTIQUITY The practice of keeping a fast in ancient times was prevalent among the Greeks and the Israelites. The practice in antiquity did not seem to have an ethical dimension. Rather, it was primarily associated with rites of mourning. In ancient Greece its main purpose seemed to be an apotropaic one; the mourning fast was seen as a powerful medium of warding off demonic spirits that could enter the body through eating and drinking. For the Israelites, between the time of death and the burial, mourners were required to abstain from all flesh and wine. Fasting was also considered by the Greeks to be a means of expiation and purification that rendered the faster fit for union with the deities. In the
Getting back the Hundredfold
Eleysian mysteries fasting was obligatory for the newlyinitiated in order to render them worthy of receiving the sacramental drink. Another context in which abstinence from food was required in antiquity was that of manticism. It was believed that the one who fasted was more receptive to divine revelation. Thus, preparation by austere fasting was a necessary precondition for the dream oracles through which the gods unveiled the future to their devotees and made promises to them. The notion of fasting (as opposed to the keeping of dietary laws) in preparation for a theophany is also known in the Old Testament: Moses, on the mountain, fasted for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24,18), while the Israelites below were instructed also to abstain from sexual activity (Exodus 19,15), and Daniel fasted as he awaited God’s answer to his prayer (Daniel 9,3). There are many instances of fasting as an act of national penitence. After the disaster of the Civil War, Benjamin the whole nation fasted (Judges 20,26) and Samuel made the people fast because they had strayed away after Baal (1Samuel 7,6). Nehemiah also made the people fast and confess their sins (Nehemiah 9,1). FASTING IN EARLY CHRISTIAN TIMES Some of these early characteristics of fasting recur in early Christianity, but in general, the position adopted towards fasting was different and exceptional. Jesus had criticised the ritual formalism of the Pharisees because it assumed precedence over ethical action. However, he did not eliminate fasting for he spent forty days in the desert praying and fasting and he suggested that both could be used as effective means against the devil, a view which is reminiscent of ancient practices. Yet, because of the association of fasting with mourning, Jesus regarded fasting in his Messianic presence as meaningless: “And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they came and say unto him, ‘Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?’ And Jesus said unto them, ‘Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.’” (Mark 2,18–20). In primitive Christianity, therefore, the perception of fasting differed considerably from contemporary Jewish attitudes. The dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law were also abandoned and as early as the 1st century, for the followers of Jesus and of his disciples did not observe any voluntary fasts.
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Fasting at that period was connected, as in antiquity, specifically with preparation and expectation. Jesus had instructed his Apostles to wait for the Holy Spirit Who would guide them in their decision making (John 14,26). After the Resurrection and the Ascension, fasting would assume an eschatological dimension, the expectation of the Parousia. In the post-apostolic period, however, Christianity imposed its own rules with regard to fasting, which seem to have developed from Jewish ones. In the 2nd century the Easter fast was established. The duration of this fast was analogous to the period of time that Christ spent in the tomb. However, it was not associated with mourning, but rather was viewed as a preparatory period for the celebration that lasted from Easter to Pentecost and as an outward sign of the anticipation of spiritual fulfilment. During the course of the 4th century this fasting period was extended to forty days in commemoration of the forty years spent by the children of Israel in the wilderness (Exodus 16,35) and Jesus’ fortyday fast in the wilderness, tempted by the devil (Matthew 4,1); from then onwards it was known as the Great Fast (Lent). By the 3rd century, Wednesdays and Fridays were designated as fasting days for Christians. These days were chosen because they were days of mourning: Wednesday in remembrance of the betrayal of Jesus and Friday in remembrance of his death. To fast on Saturday, the day that the Lord rested from his work of Creation, and on Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection, was prohibited since fasting and joy were regarded as antithetical. THE LITURGICAL DIMENSION OF FASTING The collective fast of the Church, the Body of Christ, presupposes a dimension that is essentially liturgical. It is an act of unification and timereckoning. It unites the soul with the body, the one who fasts with the divine, and also all believers in the world in a shared action. Yesterday and tomorrow become ever-present in this time scale for through liturgical fasting and feasting, the faithful are given the opportunity to be actually present as contemporaries at the cardinal moments of salvation history. Liturgical life and everyday life are not separate compartments in the life of a Christian. Liturgy is life and all of life is liturgical, and this includes the fasting of the assembly. Fasting is also an expression of how we use our human liberty of choice. It teaches us how to become free. Indeed, the right use of freedom has to be learnt – a process that 17
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involves obedience, discipline and self-denial. “I will not offer to the Lord my God that which has cost me nothing” (2Samuel 24,24). Freedom is not only a gift; it is also a task – the refusal to accept the desires and urges of our fallen nature as normal, the effort to free ourselves from the dictatorship of flesh and matter over the spirit. Through fasting we can discover that we do not live by “bread alone”. Ascetic, or personal abstinence is also an act of restoration and reconciliation. Seen from this perspective it is not a measure of sacrifice as such since the emphasis is not primarily a matter of giving up but of giving. Our concern is not about what we deny ourselves, but upon what we offer to God and to our neighbours. And the effect of our making a gift to God – a gift which God then accepts – is to re-establish the personal relationship between ourselves and God. This is precisely the aim of fasting that is offered: to restore communion. In both the Scripture readings and the hymns during Lent, there is a clear and unmistakable order of priorities. Persons come first, rules of fasting come afterwards. Our abstinence will be worse than useless if it does not bring us closer to our fellow humans. A fast without love is the fast of the demons. “What is the use of our abstinence”, protests Saint Basil the Great (d. 379), “if instead of eating meat we devour our brother or sister through cruel gossip?” God is interested not in one’s diet but in one’s personal relationship with other persons. FASTING AND RELATIONSHIPS Thus it becomes evident that fasting, which is often regarded as the chief feature of Lent, is not an end but a means. Fasting is valueless if it does not bring about a restoration of relationships. In fact in the Gospels, Jesus does not simply speak of fasting alone but often employs the pairing “prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17,21; Mark 9,29). If we fast, it is in order to render ourselves more apt for prayer, that is to say, in order to bring us back into relationship with God. While the true practice of fasting may indeed involve sacrifice and self-denial, this is not to be construed exclusively in negative terms. Its purpose is most definitely positive: not to chastise the body, but to render it spiritual; not to fill us with weariness and self-disgust, but to break down our sinful sense of self-sufficiency and to make us conscious of our dependence upon God. Fasting is certainly an ascetic undertaking, but its effect is to bring about a sense of lightness and freedom, of wakefulness and hope. “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: the fast […] shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts” (Zechariah 8,19). Fasting not only re-establishes our relationship with God and with our neighbour, it operates more widely by restoring our affiliation with the material creation: first of all, with our own physical bodies, and then with the world of nature – with the animals and the plants, with earth, air fire and water – with which our bodies bring us into contact. We are enjoined to fast not because there is something shameful about enjoying one’s food. By the same token, when married couples are encouraged to abstain from sexual relations at certain seasons of the year, this is not a debasement of sexuality. Such conclusions are erroneous and deeply harmful, for “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was altogether good and beautiful” (Genesis 1:31). Our bod-
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Getting back the Hundredfold
ies, as created by God, are essentially good; food and drink are God’s gifts, as is sexuality. All material things are potentially a sacrament of God’s presence, a means of communion with God. WHY FAST? Why, then, is it required of us to fast and abstain? Precisely because our human attitude towards the divine creation has been distorted by sin – both by the original sin that we inherit and by the sin that we each individually commit. Fasting and abstinence correct the distortion in our relationship with the material world, purifying us from the effects of sinfulness, and restoring our primal vision of the created order. Asceticism is in this way not a negation but a vindication of the innate holiness of all material things. Properly understood, fasting and other ascetic endeavours are battles not against but for the body. We do not repress the body but transfigure it and reaffirm its materiality, rendering that materiality spiritual. Rather than repudiating the legitimate pleasure taken in eating and in marital relations, fasting assists us in liberating ourselves from greed and lust, so that both these things become not a means of private pleasure but an expression of interpersonal communion. So long as we are dominated by greed and lust, then in our relationship to material things we are profoundly unfree and depersonalised. Once we cease to see material things as objects and regard them as means of personal communion, once we stop grasping them compulsively and begin to offer them back to God in thanksgiving, then we become free and personal once more. Having recovered, therefore, through prayer and fasting, a proper attitude to our bodies, by extension we also recover a right attitude to the creation as a whole. We are helped to value each thing for its self – not just for the way in which it serves our own ends – and at the same time we are helped to see the divine presence at the heart of each thing. Thus the true aim of fasting is to render the creation personal and transparent, so that we regain our sense of wonder before the sacredness of the earth. It assists us to see all things in God and God in all things. Fasting, so far from being world-denying, is in reality intensely world-affirming. This is a fallen world, full of the ugliness and pollution caused by human sin and selfishness. But it is also God’s world, a world full of beauty and wonder, marked everywhere with the signature of the Creator, and this we can discover through a true observance of fasting.
Dr Dimitri OIKONOMOU is a former president of SYNDESMOS, the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth. He lives in Oxford, England where he belongs to the Orthodox Community in Oxford. This article has been adapted from a contribution to a Resource Book on Holistic Education due to be printed in Autumn 2003 by the Comenius Institute, Münster, Germany, in association with the World Council of Churches. His email address is dimitri.ec@btinternet.com.
On the Path
MOZAIK
2002/2
Andrzej R A S Z Y K
But why does the eagle appear? Why is he catching me – a stone? I am an eagle. A rock is falling down. I would like to be: a shadow of myself, of a humongous bird, a shadow with thoughts, of a humongous bird, a shadow with dreams, of a humongous bird, a shadow, not a being, of a humongous bird. I am raising up my wings over clouds, there is a mountain, it reaches God’s majesty. Stars above my body are fading away faster and faster,
I am flying, I am falling, falling down. Smashed on the slope of a mountain, I become a mountain. What can a mountain do? Pour out red, destructive seeds? Who should summon this ecstasy? Clouds have been rubbed against its peak for ages.
They made it! I am volcanic dust, a fume. Polluted air is taken by the wind, I am in it. I cannot move myself. I am invisible matter. Who is directing me?
Walk through the Forest
During a walk trough the forest of high trees I found the end of being. A deep canyon bruises the river, constantly crushing it on the rocks. I picked up a pebble lying next to my foot, raising it to the sky, it took my soul. I am throwing me, I am falling, falling down, a dream came true.
Once more inside the same canyon, somebody is standing in the forest, on the edge of an abyss, gazing into its space without a move.
No, no, not this side, not there! I am touching his face. I liven up his lips, nostrils, eyes. I am inside me,
I am turning back one step forward, nothing exists, I am dying. Andrzej RASZYK is a Lutheran from Poland. He studies Polish literature in the Silesia University, and plans to study sociology as well. He was an organ player.
19
MOZAIK
2002/2
Water for the Roots
Samuel Moreno M A N R I Q U E
Harmony in Diversity - That is Unity When I was a child I used to wonder every time I learned about a new Christian denomination. Why? Why if it is the same faith and the same founder, must there be so many different names? Why if it is love, forgiveness, reconciliation, life, salvation and many more similar things that are preached, are there so many that criticize the rest? Why do some claim that they are the only ones who carry the Truth? What truth? And why can’t we dream of a day when we could have a single Church – institutionally and structurally speaking – where all traditions and dogmas would come together to form the Only Church?
HARMONY IN CREATION All these questions and many more were with me for a long time. I think that these very same questions and the desire to find an answer to them were the ones that led me to join the ecumenical world, and more specifically, to join the Student Christian Movement (SCM) of my country. Of course the answering process was not fast at all. It was slow. But it was also deep – and it continues. Time and experience brought me conclusions that are rooted, conclusions that deepen everyday. Some of these experiences were learnt from simple observation of Creation (Nature), while others came from the Bible. We can learn from everything – from animals and from a river too. We also learn from our fellow men and women. When I first experienced this, I realized that if I incorporated it into my way of thinking, it would mean a huge change of much of my criteria and points of view. If I really wanted to learn from nature, then the first thing I would realize is that everything around is different from everything else. Nevertheless, despite the huge diversity, everything interacts in a harmonic way. In other words, the Creation of God we preach of is a diverse but harmonic one. So if the God we speak about chose diversity rather than uniformity, why are we trying to conform every single thing we make when we have been sealed under diversity? This was one of the first lessons I learned that led me to rethink the questions I wondered when I was a child. COLORS ARE MADE FOR TASTES Eventually I began to wonder more about what than why. What can this or that denomination contribute to my widening of faith and spiritual life? What can I do to create a better dialogue and understanding between denominations? And to what extent would it be healthy and wise to speak and dream of a Unified Church, rather than to speak or dream of The Church – understood as harmonic and diverse in unity? Thanks to these lessons I learnt that indeed “colors are made for tastes”. This is why some people prefer a denomination where praise is energetic and excited and others prefer one where clapping is not even done. Some people like meetings in small and simple places
20
and others find comfort in large, elaborate meetings. Certain people like an authoritarian pastor and others prefer one that is more flexible. All these things makes us feel pleasant, part of a specific community, and in that way live a spirituality full of God’s presence—life and joy in company of real brothers and sisters. MEMBERS OF ONE BODY The apostle Paul draws a parallel between the Church and the body. The text traditionally has been interpreted – and indeed quite literally it reads – that it is the diversity of the Church’s functions that allow it to function. But I wonder, why can’t it be read also as if the body was the Church and as if the organs were the different denominations? We have four Gospels, but none are identical. The four Gospels tell the same story, describe the life and ministry of the same person, but do so differently. Besides being written by different authors – who each had different interest, culture, ideas, and feelings – each of the Gospels was written with a specific addressee in mind. Nevertheless the four stories are complementary, one of another. Furthermore, Jesus did not choose twelve disciples of identical backgrounds. None of them had the same interest in following him. But all of them, except “the one that had to be lost”, united after Jesus’ ascension to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Wasn’t this harmonic, even in spite of the varied criteria, methods, and characters? THE PRAYER OF JESUS I shall share one last example. In John 17, Jesus prays to his Father for his disciples. In verse 11 he says, “Holy Father keep through Your own name those whom You have given me that they may be one as we are.” Jesus says, “they be one as we are.” We know that “we” means God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Aren’t they three different persons but at the same time only one? So our God is the only God, and also a plural one. He is a diverse but harmonic God. And I think that this is what Jesus’ prayer illustrates: that we all, not despite of, but through and thanks to our diversity are like God – Father, Son and Holy Ghost – one diversity. That is His nature… and ours too.
Samuel MORENO MANRIQUE is responsible for the National Leadership Training in the Cuba SCM. He is a member of the Church of Christ of Cuba. He has a bachelor in English Language and Literature. Currently he is a student of theology in the Latin American University of Costa Rica and of accounting in the Economics School Antonio Guiteras in Matanzas. He is an editor of Student World. His email address is yanett.sardinas@infonet.umcc.cu.
Water for the Roots
MOZAIK
2002/2
J o A n n e C h u n g Ya n L A M
Venturing Outside
the
Lines
Having restarted writing this article more than once, I have found it difficult to define spirituality in any description. From my own experience, it has proven to be a mosaic of spiritual practices. When colouring, children are told to colour inside the lines. However, why not go outside the lines? Would it be so detrimental to be different from conventional expectations? Each week I stand in the English-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Geneva, reciting the Lord’s Prayer in my own language (Cantonese). There is a sense of celebration of diversity as the people around me most often recite the prayer in English. If I were lucky, there would be a variety of languages all around me, creating a worshipful humming rather than recitation in unison. We are all Chinese people at my home congregation in Toronto, Canada. Most times the congregational recitation of the Lord’s Prayer is like “follow the leader”— everyone speaking with care not to step outside of the clear, group-formed rhythmic recitation. Being a mischievous Pastor’s Kid (PK), I have tried to race the rest of the congregation during such parts of the Sunday service and often, it would result in much pain for my “derrière” when I got home. Uniformity became one of the most essential elements in the worship style in my home church, Toronto Chinese United Church of Canada, because it represented order and organization within the community, two things Chinese people strive to instill in their children even at a very early age. Familiarity is definitely a disadvantage more so than a benefit and I sought out common patterns in all things. Change is something of a struggle in everything that I do. Even giving thanks before meals, my parents taught me a prayer to be recited as grace. I do not think it was because they wanted to eliminate all forms of diversity in my life, but it was often difficult to know exactly what the “right” things to say during prayer time. My pastor and father prepared prayers to be recited at different times of the day and occasions. In some ways, this has hindered my communication with God. I truly thought that God did not have much time to listen to all the things I needed to say and it was almost like a voice recognition software that would simply take notes that I
am saying my mealtime prayers and I was a good Christian. Prayer was more in the form of paying dues rather than building a relationship with God. I began to fear prayer just as I feared snakes, small spaces, and heights. This limited my ability to communicate to God the worries and struggles in my days and I became anxious in unresolved issues. God truly takes care of me. God brought a lovely couple as our Sunday School teachers who taught about prayers. Of course, being the PK, I thought that I already understood prayer perfectly. Trying to show how well versed I am, I often volunteered to pray for the group. After the Sunday School teachers told us about praying and the power of prayers a few times, I realized that my concept of prayer might have been slightly distorted. They often prayed in tongues and laid hands on my head and shoulder, which sent a tinkling up and down my back. This was a new experience, but I really enjoyed it because it made me smile and light-hearted. I was not scared, but happy and relieved of my burdens. From that point onwards, I paid close attention to the way they prayed and took careful notes. They did not form any patterns, there were no repeated phrases other than “we love you, God” and “in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.” I had no idea as to how to copy their method of prayer in order to achieve a similar level of spirituality. Then it sparked a realization in me. Neither of them recited anything written. This allowed them to speak directly to God. That approach of conversing with God was a groundbreaking concept for me, as I thought God liked my recited prayers quite a lot and I was not sure if God would be ready for some change. It took quite a few years before I realized that I did not even have to be kneeling with my eyes closed to communicate with God. My relationship with God accelerated dramatically once I learned that God is present in all settings and every word that escapes my mouth is heard. That scared me a little bit at first, because it was even more serious than my parents hearing everything that I have said, this was GOD listening! Therefore, I would ask for God’s understanding often, especially when I have been really upset about something. Sometimes, words can only
21
MOZAIK
2002/2
express so much. For me, music has been a major part of worship. Being a part of a worship team has taught me that bodily movements and my voice can be tools of praise and worship. Learning worship songs has brought me even closer to God. Through music and song, my gratitude and appreciation for God’s awesome blessings in my life is expressed. Music is dead without soul, and I have found that only in songs of praise am I able to sing the ‘soul’ into the music, because I truly experience the caress of God’s unconditional love and grace pouring into my life. Therefore, as I stand in my new home church in Geneva, there is a sense of wholeness with the multi-lingual hum of the Lord’s Prayer and the diverse selections of songs from around the world. Although we have not yet sung any Chinese songs, I am sure that my presence in the choir will make some impact. Maybe before I leave there would have been one Chinese song sung during worship. Either way, the celebration of diversity in spirituality does not come from theory or definition. Rather, it is through experience and appreciation of diverse worship styles that
Water for the Roots
one will grow to appreciate the multi-faceted God that we worship. As there are many methods to making tea, the end product is still having a cup of warm tea, sending waves of reassurance and comfort to every part of the body. So it is with spirituality and worship. Uniformity creates patterns, yet diversity brings freshness and a global approach to spirituality. Only by embracing diversity can we realise true spirituality. I offer much encouragement for the reader to seek out a new worship style and appreciate the different level of spirituality it will help to achieve within the uniformity that has formed from patterns and habits. Try to colour outside the lines—it can result in quite an interesting artistic creation. JoAnne Chung Yan LAM is from Toronto, Canada. Equipped with a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies from York University of Toronto, Canada, she is also pursuing a Master’s Degree in Theology. Her home church is the Toronto Chinese United Church of Canada, where her father is also the pastor. She currently interns at the WSCF InterRegional Office (IRO) and worships in the Englishspeaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Geneva, Switzerland. Her email address is ijklam@sympatico.ca.
IRISH SCHOOL OF ECUMENICS Trinity College Dublin
Ph.D. & M.Phil. Programmes Ecumenical Studies (Dublin) Email: ecumsec@tcd.ie Ecumenical Studies enables students to engage with three dimensions of the contemporary ecumenical movement: interchurch dialogue, interfaith dialogue, and the global pursuit of justice and peace within an international student body for an intellectually challenging academic and rich personal experience. M.Phil. students can study full-time for 12 months or part-time for 24 months.
Békés Gellért Ecumenical Insitute (Pannonhalma, Hungary) ESTABLISHED IN 2001 BY ARCHABBOT VÁRSZEGI ASZTRIK OSB,
this Benedictine Institute is a place to pray and work for the unity of the Church by means of conferences, workshops, lectures and publications. Our young theologians are involved in the ecumenical movement internationally and in Hungary. If you wish to know more about us, contact
Nagypál Szabolcs and Orova Csaba: bgoi@chello.hu.
International Peace Studies (Dublin) Email: peacesec@tcd.ie International Peace Studies examines the sources of war and armed conflict, and ways of addressing, alleviating and eliminating them through dealing with issues of global justice, human rights and the equitable distribution of power. This programme pursues these concerns in all aspects of its work. M.Phil. students can study full-time for 12 months or part-time for 24 months. Reconciliation Studies (Belfast) Email: reconsec@tcd.ie The Belfast-based M.Phil. in Reconciliation Studies is a recently established and innovative degree, at the forefront of current debates on conflict and political reconciliation including the role of religion in such conflicts. It addresses the challenge of developing a systematic understanding of reconciliation through engaged academic study. M.Phil. students can study full-time for 12 months or part-time for 24 months. For an application form, please contact your programme of interest: Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin), Bea House, Milltown Park, Republic of Ireland. Tel: +353-1-260 1144 Fax: +353-1-260 1158 web: www.tcd.ie/ise 683 Antrim Road, Belfast BT15 4EG, Northern Ireland Tel: +44-28-9077 0087 Fax: +44-28-9037 3986 web: www.tcd.ise For information about the Conflict and Dispute Resolution Studies Diploma programme, please visit us at: www.tcd.ie/ise/degree_diploma/cadrs/index.html
22
Water for the Roots
MOZAIK
2002/2
J o A n n e C h u n g Ya n L A M
Venturing Outside
the
Lines
Having restarted writing this article more than once, I have found it difficult to define spirituality in any description. From my own experience, it has proven to be a mosaic of spiritual practices. When colouring, children are told to colour inside the lines. However, why not go outside the lines? Would it be so detrimental to be different from conventional expectations? Each week I stand in the English-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Geneva, reciting the Lord’s Prayer in my own language (Cantonese). There is a sense of celebration of diversity as the people around me most often recite the prayer in English. If I were lucky, there would be a variety of languages all around me, creating a worshipful humming rather than recitation in unison. We are all Chinese people at my home congregation in Toronto, Canada. Most times the congregational recitation of the Lord’s Prayer is like “follow the leader”— everyone speaking with care not to step outside of the clear, group-formed rhythmic recitation. Being a mischievous Pastor’s Kid (PK), I have tried to race the rest of the congregation during such parts of the Sunday service and often, it would result in much pain for my “derrière” when I got home. Uniformity became one of the most essential elements in the worship style in my home church, Toronto Chinese United Church of Canada, because it represented order and organization within the community, two things Chinese people strive to instill in their children even at a very early age. Familiarity is definitely a disadvantage more so than a benefit and I sought out common patterns in all things. Change is something of a struggle in everything that I do. Even giving thanks before meals, my parents taught me a prayer to be recited as grace. I do not think it was because they wanted to eliminate all forms of diversity in my life, but it was often difficult to know exactly what the “right” things to say during prayer time. My pastor and father prepared prayers to be recited at different times of the day and occasions. In some ways, this has hindered my communication with God. I truly thought that God did not have much time to listen to all the things I needed to say and it was almost like a voice recognition software that would simply take notes that I
am saying my mealtime prayers and I was a good Christian. Prayer was more in the form of paying dues rather than building a relationship with God. I began to fear prayer just as I feared snakes, small spaces, and heights. This limited my ability to communicate to God the worries and struggles in my days and I became anxious in unresolved issues. God truly takes care of me. God brought a lovely couple as our Sunday School teachers who taught about prayers. Of course, being the PK, I thought that I already understood prayer perfectly. Trying to show how well versed I am, I often volunteered to pray for the group. After the Sunday School teachers told us about praying and the power of prayers a few times, I realized that my concept of prayer might have been slightly distorted. They often prayed in tongues and laid hands on my head and shoulder, which sent a tinkling up and down my back. This was a new experience, but I really enjoyed it because it made me smile and light-hearted. I was not scared, but happy and relieved of my burdens. From that point onwards, I paid close attention to the way they prayed and took careful notes. They did not form any patterns, there were no repeated phrases other than “we love you, God” and “in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.” I had no idea as to how to copy their method of prayer in order to achieve a similar level of spirituality. Then it sparked a realization in me. Neither of them recited anything written. This allowed them to speak directly to God. That approach of conversing with God was a groundbreaking concept for me, as I thought God liked my recited prayers quite a lot and I was not sure if God would be ready for some change. It took quite a few years before I realized that I did not even have to be kneeling with my eyes closed to communicate with God. My relationship with God accelerated dramatically once I learned that God is present in all settings and every word that escapes my mouth is heard. That scared me a little bit at first, because it was even more serious than my parents hearing everything that I have said, this was GOD listening! Therefore, I would ask for God’s understanding often, especially when I have been really upset about something. Sometimes, words can only
21
MOZAIK
2002/2
express so much. For me, music has been a major part of worship. Being a part of a worship team has taught me that bodily movements and my voice can be tools of praise and worship. Learning worship songs has brought me even closer to God. Through music and song, my gratitude and appreciation for God’s awesome blessings in my life is expressed. Music is dead without soul, and I have found that only in songs of praise am I able to sing the ‘soul’ into the music, because I truly experience the caress of God’s unconditional love and grace pouring into my life. Therefore, as I stand in my new home church in Geneva, there is a sense of wholeness with the multi-lingual hum of the Lord’s Prayer and the diverse selections of songs from around the world. Although we have not yet sung any Chinese songs, I am sure that my presence in the choir will make some impact. Maybe before I leave there would have been one Chinese song sung during worship. Either way, the celebration of diversity in spirituality does not come from theory or definition. Rather, it is through experience and appreciation of diverse worship styles that
Water for the Roots
one will grow to appreciate the multi-faceted God that we worship. As there are many methods to making tea, the end product is still having a cup of warm tea, sending waves of reassurance and comfort to every part of the body. So it is with spirituality and worship. Uniformity creates patterns, yet diversity brings freshness and a global approach to spirituality. Only by embracing diversity can we realise true spirituality. I offer much encouragement for the reader to seek out a new worship style and appreciate the different level of spirituality it will help to achieve within the uniformity that has formed from patterns and habits. Try to colour outside the lines—it can result in quite an interesting artistic creation. JoAnne Chung Yan LAM is from Toronto, Canada. Equipped with a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies from York University of Toronto, Canada, she is also pursuing a Master’s Degree in Theology. Her home church is the Toronto Chinese United Church of Canada, where her father is also the pastor. She currently interns at the WSCF InterRegional Office (IRO) and worships in the Englishspeaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Geneva, Switzerland. Her email address is ijklam@sympatico.ca.
IRISH SCHOOL OF ECUMENICS Trinity College Dublin
Ph.D. & M.Phil. Programmes Ecumenical Studies (Dublin) Email: ecumsec@tcd.ie Ecumenical Studies enables students to engage with three dimensions of the contemporary ecumenical movement: interchurch dialogue, interfaith dialogue, and the global pursuit of justice and peace within an international student body for an intellectually challenging academic and rich personal experience. M.Phil. students can study full-time for 12 months or part-time for 24 months.
Békés Gellért Ecumenical Insitute (Pannonhalma, Hungary) ESTABLISHED IN 2001 BY ARCHABBOT VÁRSZEGI ASZTRIK OSB,
this Benedictine Institute is a place to pray and work for the unity of the Church by means of conferences, workshops, lectures and publications. Our young theologians are involved in the ecumenical movement internationally and in Hungary. If you wish to know more about us, contact
Nagypál Szabolcs and Orova Csaba: bgoi@chello.hu.
International Peace Studies (Dublin) Email: peacesec@tcd.ie International Peace Studies examines the sources of war and armed conflict, and ways of addressing, alleviating and eliminating them through dealing with issues of global justice, human rights and the equitable distribution of power. This programme pursues these concerns in all aspects of its work. M.Phil. students can study full-time for 12 months or part-time for 24 months. Reconciliation Studies (Belfast) Email: reconsec@tcd.ie The Belfast-based M.Phil. in Reconciliation Studies is a recently established and innovative degree, at the forefront of current debates on conflict and political reconciliation including the role of religion in such conflicts. It addresses the challenge of developing a systematic understanding of reconciliation through engaged academic study. M.Phil. students can study full-time for 12 months or part-time for 24 months. For an application form, please contact your programme of interest: Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin), Bea House, Milltown Park, Republic of Ireland. Tel: +353-1-260 1144 Fax: +353-1-260 1158 web: www.tcd.ie/ise 683 Antrim Road, Belfast BT15 4EG, Northern Ireland Tel: +44-28-9077 0087 Fax: +44-28-9037 3986 web: www.tcd.ise For information about the Conflict and Dispute Resolution Studies Diploma programme, please visit us at: www.tcd.ie/ise/degree_diploma/cadrs/index.html
22
Water for the Roots
MOZAIK
2002/2
Kim Sung R A N
Interreligious Enrichment In the darkness of dawn, I wake up my body and go up the mountain behind my seminary. My watch says it is 5 o’clock. There is a Buddhist temple in the side of the mountain and there is a well. I stop and drink water from the well. The water is cold enough to wake me up. More than that, it is cold enough to break down my narrow existence. How can I have peace at the Buddhist temple? Who says “we drink living water in our own well?” I continually climb the mountain and pray. Almost all Buddhist temples have a well. The water flows under the earth, passing the roots of trees and marbles. It is purified through giving life to all creatures it meets. Now it came to me to wake me up.
PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF MEMORY One day when I was seven years old. On my way home, I met a Shaman. She was performing a ritual. She was dancing on sharp straw-cutters. She seemed to be held by a strange power. People around her kept praying. It was awesome. I heard from my grandmother that there are spirits and lives in everything: stones, trees, river, earth, house, kitchen, and bathroom. Things are not simply things, but they are beings, alive beings. Most of all, human beings are of heaven, regardless of their class, sex, or religion. God gives life to them. My family performs ancestral worship ceremonies. Since my father is the first son, we gather together on the birthday and the day of the death of my grandparents and we remind ourselves of our grandparents’ lives. We pray for their blessing and protection. I lived in a Roman Catholic convent for three and a half years. Every morning I attended Holy Mass and received Holy Communion. I studied in a school established for Roman Catholic religious people. I was the only Protestant who graduated from that theological graduate school. I recognized who I am in the midst of other traditions. Now I am an assistant pastor in a small local church. I meet faithful church people every day. I know they also have similar religious experiences throughout their lives. INTERRELIGIOUS ENRICHMENT While thinking about inter-religious enrichment I find time for reflecting my own life experiences. As an individual in Korea, I myself have experienced multiple religions and religious cultures. If we analyze the phenomenon of Korean religions, we find institutionalized religions, non-institutionalized religions and neo-religions. Institutionalized religions have structures for maintaining their own systems. They have unique religious forms of ritual, thoughts and community of people. Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam belong to this category. On the other hand, in the non-institutionalized religions, even though they do not have certain structures and systems, they have their own influence as religions in the life of people. They might have the systematic
in
Korean Culture
knowledge for their own understanding. Taoism, Shamanism, Yoga, Japanese religion, folk faiths and others belong to this category. Then since the XIXth century some neo-religious movements contributed to the transformation of modern Korean society and formed as religions. OUR CONFUCIAN ROOTS Confucianism came to Korea about two thousand years ago and has been ruling as a structural norm. It has deeply influenced the entire culture. It became a rock of political thought, the ethos of human relationships. Confucianism is one of the largest influential systems for social values and inner ethics. It has religious rituals and ceremonies for ancestral worship. It is to say that the entire Korean culture and lifestyle of Korean people are rooted in Confucianism. In the early period of Christian Protestant mission, which is the late XIXth century, the ancestral worships and memorial ceremonies were interpreted as being in contradiction with the monotheism of Christianity. The Christian missionaries coming from Western churches had the faith of absolute fundamentalism. After serious conflicts, Christianity nowadays has slowly begun to open its mind. The Christian missionaries suggest Christianized forms of the ceremonies. Christianity tries to reinterpret the ancestor worship under the umbrella of Christian monotheism. On the other hand Confucianism has influenced Christianity. First of all, the idea of heaven in Confucianism, which teaches that human beings are as valuable as heaven, could easily meet with the image of God in heaven. Korean people could accept the image of God in heaven. Secondly, the father image of God in Christianity could meet with the patriarchal system of Confucianism. Besides the economic and political reasons, the Christian faith system could have the contact point with Confucian cultures. BUDDHISM, TAOISM AND SHAMANISM Buddhism came to Korea about 1700 years ago. Buddhism constructs the ideas of the world of the dead, reincarnation, a reward in accordance with one’s deeds. These thoughts deeply influenced the morality and the attitude of life of the Korean people. Now more than 40% of the people answer that their religion is Buddhism. Most of all, the life centrism in Buddhism became deeply rooted into the Korean culture. Many Christians also respect the life centrism in the teaching of Buddhism and deeply appreciate that value. As non-institutionalized religions, Taoism and Shamanism are also deeply rooted in the hearts of the Korean people. The ideal world thought in Taoism goes with the movement of God’s regime and with the idea of new heaven and new earth in Christianity. In fact, large numbers of progressive Christians work for the better Korean society and the democratisation of the Korean
23
MOZAIK
2002/2
society. They sacrificed their lives for the Kingdom of God and lived as prophets of here and now. The unique phenomenon of the early morning prayer at 4 o’clock shows how Shamanism deeply influenced the Christian Church in Korea. For a long time, Korean women have had early morning prayer in Shamanism. It also influenced the mountain prayers and the overnight prayers. One cannot find these forms of prayer outside of Korea. WORKING TOGETHER Politically alienated scholars accepted Christianity as a thought and study in the late XVIIIth century. Then Roman Catholic missionaries came to Korea in the XIXth century. Compared to other religions in Korea, Christianity is an infant, so to speak. But now more than 25% of Korean people say they are Christian. Analysts explain the reasons of the fast growing Church. There are socio-political and economical aspects, since Korea’s modernization was also dramatically fast. On the other hand, Korean people’s religious and cultural abundance could explain that phenomenon. Talking about how Christian spirituality has been inspired by other religions in Korean situation, I realize that sometimes we do not see what is actually going on. It is undeniable that the cultures and religions are influencing each other. The judgment of good and evil is not a matter at first but we could see the phenomenon of co-
24
Water for the Roots
existence of many religions and cultures. I believe that only God could judge what is true. Now in Korea the anti-USA movement is a crucial matter since US soldiers killed two students during their training. The crimes of the US army could not be judged under the law of SOFA. Religious leaders are fasting in front of the US embassy. Buddhist monks, Roman Catholic fathers, nuns and monks and Protestant pastors are gathering together to work for revising the law and peace in Korea. We are leaders of different religions but now work for one purpose of peace. Through meeting on the street we have come to know who we are once more. I believe God is beyond what we think. God will open the world that we close. I believe that the Holy Sprit is in us.
Kim Sung RAN is a member at large in the Standing Committee of the Asia-Pacific Region of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF-AP). She is an assistant pastor in the Presbyterian church in Seoul. She has been involved in SCM Korea since 1991.
Common Prayer
MOZAIK
2002/2
Elisabeth K R A R U P
How deep
are the
Common Roots?
Reflections upon WCC’s Framework for Common Prayer Recently the World Council of Churches (WCC) came out with a Framework for Common Prayer. For ten years a commission – founded by an initiative of the WCC – has been working on this. Because the WCC believes it must be possible to “praise God together and offer prayer for Christian unity” in a forum at WCC gatherings, where we respect each others’ traditions and limits. The discussion was started, because neither “judging each other” nor “putting stumbling blocks in front of each other” is the intention of common prayer within WCC, but more likely “it is to pray in a spirit of generosity and care for one another.”
PRAYING TOGETHER The term “ecumenical worship” has caused confusion about the ecclesiological status of the WCC, why this term will not be used anymore and will be replaced with “common prayer.” This new wording in an ecumenical context can be understood as “a time for confession and reconciliation on the way to a full unity that would be expressed ultimately by sharing the Lord’s supper at a common table.” The commission’s work has two main goals. One is to clarify that “interconfessional prayer at WCC gatherings is not the worship of an ecclesial body”, and the other is to “make practical recommendations for common prayer at WCC gatherings on how to use language, symbols, imagery and rites in ways which would not cause theological, ecclesiological, or spiritual offence.” THREE POINTS OF VIEW In the European Regional Committee (ERC) of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), we have discussed this WCC document. We recognise that this question is of crucial importance and it is also very controversial in the ecumenical world. We feel that it is our duty as young Christians address this issue in ecumenical dialogue. Hereby we bring three denominational points of view on the document that encourage your reflection. We begin with a Protestant and an Orthodox perspective, both of whose churches are members
of the WCC. The third is a Roman Catholic input, a young Christian woman considering the issue “from the outside”, although still inside the situation. CALL FOR COMMENTS The discussion within the ERC is just the beginning of a deeper reflection on the meaning of our encounters. It is our wish is that we can include the richness of the whole Federation in this discussion. Therefore we warmly encourage you to read the document, which you can find at http://www2.wcc-coe.org/ccdocuments.nsf/ index/gen-5-en.html#Anchor—SECTIO-15275. We bring forth some questions here as a starting-point for discussion or reflection in your movements. As young people we are part of the ecumenical movement, and we want to take a responsibility for shaping its present and future. If you have written comments they may be sent to Elisabeth Krarup (wscfmozaik@yahoo.co.uk). QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION What personal experiences do we have about church traditions other than our own? Common prayer or ecumenical worship: what is the difference? What does ecumenism mean for us? Margot KÄSEMANN (a German Lutheran Bishop with a long involvement in WCC) left the WCC Central Committee after the statement was published. She said that without common worship, WCC makes no sense. In her shoes, would you also leave? What should WCC do? How can it continue its work? What future is there for ecumenical work? If, as part of ecumenism, we should take on any of the traditions of other churches (for example in our SCMs), what would we accept? What part of our own tradition would we be entirely unwilling to abandon?
Elisabeth KRARUP is a student of Lutheran theology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is a member of the Danish SCM’s International Committee, where she is the WSCF representative. In 2001 she was elected to the European Regional Committee as the coordinator of the Theology Working Group.
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Common Prayer
Peter C I A C C I O
A Protestant Comment When talking about the Framework for Common Prayer at WCC gatherings, I would first underline a methodology used in preparing this document. Since it is not realistic to imagine that this document will concern only WCC events (all ecumenical organisations, WSCF included, greatly consider the decisions of WCC), the decision for this discussion to take place in an exclusive manner was inappropriate.
ONLY WORDING? Next I consider the main decision of the Framework: the substitution of the phrase “ecumenical worship” with “common prayer” in order “to help clarify some of the concerns and ambiguities” of ecumenical spirituality. These concerns regard the fact that WCC “does not constitute ‘the Church’ or an ecclesial body itself.” The Framework asserts that this is a matter of wording. Personally, I believe this new wording substantially devaluates ecumenical spirituality. According to my tradition (Italian Methodist), prayer is part of the worship, it has much dignity, but not as worship with others. Moreover, the definition of worship in the Anglican tradition is set up in the Book of Common Prayer (1559). In this case, common prayers are acts of an established church. This new wording may create more misunderstandings, by defining liturgies in WCC as common prayers, many people will understand WCC itself as a sort of “super-church”. COMMON DEFINITION OF ECUMENISM Personally, I believe the churches should come to a common definition of “ecumenism”. I believe ecumenism is humbly confessing the limits of our own traditions. I do not believe my tradition is the only way to be Christian; this is why I do not proselytise brothers and sisters from other traditions. In an ecumenical gathering, my wish is that Christians from different traditions will share their faith and their tradition, sharing how God is taking care of each one, how the Father created each one, how Jesus saved each one, how the Spirit lives with each one. In meeting my fellow Christians, I wish them to show me the image of God they carry. CONFESSIONAL AND
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on the
WCC Framework
INTERCONFESSIONAL According to the Framework, the celebration of diversity has to be preserved by distinguishing “confessional” and “interconfessional” common prayer. Yet the Framework will realistically limit this celebration. If my sister wishes to lead worship and her tradition forbids this, do I have the right to stop her? By the way, there is no § on the leadership of men: if my tradition would not allow me to lead worship, what will be the procedure? If my brother or sister lives in an oppressed country, why should I limit them in taking their concerns to God in prayer? Do we seriously exclude that God answered the prayers of the oppressed when Communism and other dictatorships fell? If my brother or sister is limited in the way they call God, how can their prayer be true? GUIDELINES FOR TAKING CARE However, my perplexity on the Framework (which I believe is wrong and should be withdrawn) does not erase the concerns that led to it. Many Christians feel uneasy and unsafe in meeting other Christians. An ecumenical organisation should take care of them, because hardly any encounter will be at an equal level. We should work for this goal: every Christian should be and feel welcome in ecumenical gatherings. Liturgists should always explain to people what they are going to do. Not only every Christian should feel part of the ecumenical movement and know that he or she has a crucial role in it. I would have preferred guidelines to welcome and take care of the others (as for example the WSCF Europe sexual harassment guidelines). By limiting our worshipping together, we may limit what the Holy Spirit is doing in and among ourselves. Instead, we should take care of each other, praising God for our diversity and asking the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to reconcile our brokenness.
Peter CIACCIO was born in Belfast in 1975. He is a Methodist student at the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in Rome. He is a member of FGEI, the Italian SCM. Currently, he serves as vice-chairperson in the European Regional Committee (ERC) of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF).
Common Prayer
MOZAIK
2002/2
Nadzeya C H E R K A S
An Orthodox Comment on the WCC Framework An interview with Pavel BUBNOV The ecumenical movement, born at the end of the XIXth century within the Western Christianity, is an objectively new phenomenon, which has never been faced by the Church. In the XXth century Christians from all over the world got involved. For the Orthodox Church ecumenism is a challenge as it puts forward questions that are not yet fully answered from the side of Church. While now within the Orthodox Church there are different opinions on ecumenism: from complete acceptance to sharp disagreement. Thus, the problem that has appeared inside many Orthodox Churches, is not that theologians, laics or clerics do not agree with each other. Already the Apostle Paul said, “for there must also be fractions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you” (1Corinthians 11,19). The problem is rather that extreme representatives of one opinion accuse the adherents of the other opinion of heresy and call them apostates. Doing this, they destroy the unity of the Church, question the Church authority and instigate broad Orthodox circles to step on a slippery way of schism. Sergij BULGAKOV wrote that we should not close our eyes when facing the fact that the differences and obstacles in our prayer meetings remain there. We could not unite ourselves in everything with our brothers and sisters. The Orthodox have difficulties praying with the Roman Catholics as well as with the Protestants. Do we have to somehow keep silent about these differences? Is it not a betrayal or damage of the Orthodoxy? Such dangers exist. The position of the Orthodox in relation to the Protestant world is especially unfavorable because, for the sake of common prayer, the Orthodox have to belittle, to lose their fullness. We should know and understand that this is only a sacrifice of love and indulgence to infirmity, but not a denial or betrayal. And the silent, but real sorrow that we cannot unite in prayer must penetrate, more effectively than any preaching, into the hearts of our brothers and sisters as a quiet call of love. But there could be a positive side of such communication. The Orthodox are proud of their liturgical richness in comparison with the often strict and simple rites in the Protestant churches. We should not close our eyes before the fact that this richness is not always realised and in some cases it turns into a set of regulations and rituals. On the contrary, the Protestant
churches with their relative liturgical simplicity, know a lively non-regulated prayer in which a human soul addresses God directly with the needs of the day and the present moment; it has its individual conversation with God. Nowadays there is a need for serious theological discussion on the questions put to us by the ecumenical movement. Neither wrangle, nor mutual accusations, nor each other’s discreditation, but a constructive dialogue could help the adherents of different points of view to give a sound Orthodox evaluation of the ecumenical movement. We asked the opinion of Pavel BUBNOV, a student of the Minsk Theological Academy and a former student of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches. WHAT DOES ECUMENISM MEAN FOR US? Orthodox Christians deeply feel the pain of divisions within Christianity. The unity of the Christian Church is God’s will and our desire. We believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We see the Orthodox Church as one who inherited the tradition of the Apostolic Church, who inherited the gift of Pentecost through the chain of ordination. As far as the ecumenical movement searches the Christian unity, the Orthodox Church participates in ecumenical activities witnessing the spiritual tradition of the Apostolic Church. We respect and accept all the faith and spiritual practices in different Christian confessions that comes from the Apostolic Church and we do not accept anything as normal that is not in the Spirit. The unity of Christians is our desire; this is the reason why the Orthodox participate in the ecumenical movement. COMMON PAYER OR ECUMENICAL WORSHIP: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? Actually, the shift from ecumenical worship to common prayer changes nothing in the Orthodox attitude towards this issue. For Orthodox believers the term “ecumenical worship” was completely unacceptable. The term “common prayer” is the exact term, which is used in the canon rule that forbids Orthodox to pray with non-Orthodox Christians. Of course, this shift was provided in the World Council of Churches also by Orthodox activities and this shift has made a great difference. But concerning especially the Russian Orthodox Church, nobody could ever allow them-
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selves to say that Orthodox representatives pray in an ecumenical worship. That was and is completely unacceptable. It seems that only these Orthodox representatives understand the difference and success of their efforts in WCC. Average Orthodox believers did not accept “ecumenical worship” as well as now they do not accept “common prayer.”
logical. Many non-theological factors are in use when dealing with theological issues.
CAN THE CHANGE OF “WORSHIP” INTO “PRAYER” BE SATISFACTORY? Even if “prayer” is regarded as a private or individual matter, the adjective “common” completely clarifies this obstacle. The challenges to “common prayer” from the side of theology and, more precisely, ecclesiology are indeed still very touching for the Orthodox. The answers are very difficult to find.
IS IT A STEP BACK IN THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT? I think that this shift just showed what we had in real; it did not destroy something we had achieved. I always felt that very often in ecumenical meetings many achievements were actually not achieved. We should look to the truth and tell to ourselves: we should deeply consider everything we deal with in ecumenical relations and we should not like only the results, but the real things. We can receive everything from other traditions that is true, that is full of the spirit of the Apostolic Church. We can give to those who want to receive everything we have.
WHAT FUTURE IS THERE FOR ECUMENICAL WORK? In this situation we should continue to educate people, to try to clarify the meaning of Orthodox participation in the ecumenical movement. The future depends primarily in which direction the ecumenical movement would move. Recent ecumenical discussions are rarely theo-
Nadzeya CHERKAS is a member of the youth group of the Belarusian Orthodox Brotherhood of Saint Vilnya Martyrs and she is responsible for the youth projects. She studied foreign languages and dreamed of building bridges between her country and the rest of Europe and the whole of the world. She is a member of the European Regional Committee (ERC) of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF).
WSCF Europe Activities in 2003
5–9 February 2003 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF/IN THE PROFIT-ORIENTED ENTERPRISES Central European Sub-region (CESR) Winter Seminar Spi sská ˇ Kapitula, Slovakia 13–16 February 2003 NON-VIOLENCE AS POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL FORCE Nordic Winter Meeting Trosa, Vagnhärad, Sweden 7–9 March 2003 OUR WITNESS IN EUROPE Meeting of the Youth Sub-Group Planning Committee of the XIIth General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (KEK) Paris, France March 2003 STRIPPING RELIGION AND CULTURE OF ‘BLACK AND WHITE’ THINKING Unveiling the Impact of Dualistic Thinking on Power Structures Preparatory Committee Meeting in view of the Theological Conference Paris, France 4–11 April 2003 ECUMENICAL LEADERSHIP European Regional Committee (ERC) Meeting Tampere, Finland 11–18 May 2003 ROMA AND GADJE: THE CHALLENGE OF BEING DIFFERENT The Contribution of Roma and Sinti
Peoples to Contemporary Culture Solidarity Conference Brasov, Romania 28 May – 1 June 2003 ECUMENICAL KIRCHENTAG Berlin, Germany June 2003 CONSULTATION FOR TEACHERS AND COURSE ORGANISERs Lingua Franca (LF) Meeting June 2003 GLOBALISATION AND INTEGRITY OF THE BODY Permanent Seminar on Gender Issues Edinburgh, Scotland 21–28 June 2003 RECONCILIATION Nordic Summer Meeting Oslo – Trondheim, Norway 25 June – 2 July 2003 JESUS CHRIST HEALS AND RECONCILES. OUR WITNESS IN EUROPE XIIth General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (KEK) Trondheim, Norway June to September 2003 LINGUA FRANCA COURSES Central and Eastern Europe July 2003 CENTRAL EUROPEAN CULTURE Central European Sub-region (CESR) Summer Seminar Bialowieza, Poland
July 2003 AGAPE POLITICAL CAMP August 2003 AGAPE THEOLOGICAL CAMP 28 July – 3 August 2003 COMING TO TERMS WITH HISTORY AND MEMORY IN EASTERN AND WESTERN EUROPE International Ecumenical Summer Seminar of ESG in cooperation with WSCF Waldsieversdorf, Berlin, Germany september 2003 WSCF AND THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT DISCOVERING OUR ROOTS AND LOOKING TO THE FUTURE European Regional Assembly (ERA) Åland, Finland September 2003 EUROPEAN STAFF MEETING October 2003 REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION European Regional Committee (ERC) Meeting 4–10 November 2003 STRIPPING RELIGION AND CULTURE OF ‘BLACK AND WHITE’ THINKING Unveiling the Impact of Dualistic Thinking on Power Structures Theological Conference Paris, France
Common Prayer
MOZAIK
2002/2
Kate W I L S O N
A Lovers’ Quarrel? A Roman Catholic Comment on the WCC Framework My first reaction to the World Council of Churches’ Framework for Common Prayer statement was one of frustration: why did this happen? Weren’t we supposed to be growing closer together? In my experience in the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) sharing common worship is easy, isn’t it? Why couldn’t the “adults” get their act together and realise this? My second reaction was to defend my apostolic sisters and brothers. The Orthodox must feel frustrated that they were not being listened to that they did not have an equal share in shaping the ecumenical movement through the World Council of Churches (WCC). My third reaction was one of sadness. At least the Orthodox and Protestants were in a relationship where they could agree to disagree. Could I only watch the crisis unfold? The Roman Catholic Church has come far in opening up to other churches; still we are not full members, but observers at the WCC.
RENEWED OPENNESS IN THE PARTNERSHIP I would compare the statement of Orthodox and Protestant churches to an important stage in a relationship. One partner is sure that everything is fine. The couple is getting to know each other better, sharing the most important things in life. Suddenly the other partner says, “stop! You are not hearing my voice.” This is remarkably hurtful for both sides. “How can anything be wrong?” the partner asks, “you never said anything before?” The validity of the entire length of the relationship is called into question. The very fact that there is space for both partners to fully express how they feel is very important. Now the encounter can be renewed on a deeper, more equal level. Renewal will not be easy, but it is worth trying. In this way the statement is positive. It indicates that the dialogue between Orthodox and Protestant will progress in a more open way. Even if, at first sight, it seems like an invalidation of what went before. SMELLS AND BELLS In many ways it does seem like a step back. As a Catholic raised in a secular context where the state church is Anglican, in some ways it is easier for me to relate to Protestant concern that the statement will halt valuable progress. I can understand why Lutheran Bishop Margot KÄSEMANN left the WCC Central Committee after the statement. She said, if the member churches could not worship together, what is the point of the WCC? From a feminist perspective I am also frustrated with the statement’s caution on the use of inclusive language for God. Although I can see why it is so diplomatic on women’s ordination, it is still frustrating. Above all, in my context, Christianity itself is a minority faith. Attempts to preserve the dividing lines between denominations seem all the more absurd when churches them-
selves are emptying and most people cannot explain the reasons for the differences anyway. Yet in other ways the Catholic Church is closer to the Orthodox Church. The first time I attended an Orthodox service I understood what many Protestants found strange about Catholicism. In Britain you call it the “smells and bells”, the ritual, the shift of focus from words and the head to senses and the whole body. The rhythm of the liturgy, the pattern gives me space to relax and pray much better than if I have to concentrate on some photocopied bit of paper full of text. Saints and tradition are familiar territory for me and I would not want to give them up. I can see why the Orthodox do not want change imposed on them in the name of unity. A CAT RELUCTANTLY DIPPING ITS PAWS IN THE WATER How does this feel from outside? How does it feel from the vantage point of a church that is on the sidelines as the relationship goes through a crisis? The Catholic Church has made enormous strides in dialogue with other churches since the Second Vatican Council, which stated that it “exhorts all Catholic faithful to recognise the signs of the times and take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism,” that is, to promote Christian unity (Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio, 2 XI 1965, § 4). Most of the relations with other confessions are bilateral ones, bringing to mind the image of a cat reluctantly dipping its paws in the water, afraid to get too wet. The Catholic Church is active on the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC, which produced the ‘Lima’ document of church agreement on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (online at www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/ what/faith/bem, see also Dagmar HELLER, Eucharistic Fellowship in the Third Millennium? in the Ecumenical Review IV 1999). So why can the Catholic Church not become a full member of WCC? Rome is still reluctant to take the risk of being just one voice among many churches as a full WCC member. The Catholic Catechism acknowledges that truth can be found beyond its confines. At the same time, the Catholic Church states, “Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something She can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time. Christ always gives His Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for Her.” CHANGE OF HEART AND HOLINESS OF LIFE This striving towards unity includes ecumenical formation, dialogue, collaboration and common prayer. “Change of heart and holiness of life, along with public
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and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, §s 820 & 821). On common worship, Vatican II is more reticent. Worship with the Orthodox is especially encouraged as their sacraments are recognised by the Catholic Church (Unitatis Redintegratio § 15). Differences with the Protestant churches are much greater, on both the sacraments and moral teaching (§s 22 & 23). Common worship is a witness of the unity of the Church, and as such, it is not yet generally possible. Still, it can sometimes be allowed because of the grace that it brings; the local bishops can decide (§ 8). It is up to the local church to decide. This is the way forward for ecumenism, as I understand it. In my home parish in Cardiff, Christians of all denominations meet together to pray and study during Lent. These “Lent Groups”, composed of around ten people from the different churches in the area, meet together in someone’s house and celebrate at Easter with a common church service. For me this was my first real ecumenical experience. We came to know each other on our faith journey together as Christians, at the absolute grass roots level. My church was actively involved. Both the WCC statement and the Catholic Catechism actively encourage such activity, and it will continue. A WIDENING GAP Yet there is still a difference between meeting and praying together, and worshipping together. What is the difference? The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales (http://217.19.224.165/ frameset.htm) published a statement on sharing church buildings, with special regards to the rural context where they state that non-Catholics can take an active part in Catholic worship, reading the Bible and prayers, although they can only receive a blessing, not Communion. Joint services between denominations are actively encouraged, but again, without Communion. Yet again, inability to share the Eucharist is the stumbling block. For most Catholics and for most Orthodox, as I understand it, a proper worship service includes the Eucharist. Both apostolic churches teach that the Eucharist cannot yet be shared. Many certainly see full Communion as the ultimate goal of ecumenism rather than a stage to help us on the way. Though there are different views within the Catholic Church on this, in parishes on the ground shared Communion is happening. I hope that this practice will gain momentum from
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the grassroots, rather than waiting (indefinitely?) for a change of dogma from “on high”. Sadly, many Catholics, laity and clergy, now exercise their individual conscience against the official Church teaching not only on the Eucharist but also on other issues, notably contraception. This is a very different issue and not our topic here, but contraception is nevertheless the wedge which opened a widening gap between teaching and practice within the Catholic Church. My experience is that the same is happening in many places with the Eucharist; people are beginning to ignore teaching they do not see as justifiable. A PAUSE HALFWAY UP THE HILL I can relate to what I see as a more Protestant view. That is that worship is more than prayer in that it is a whole liturgical celebration including readings, prayer, symbolic acts, and meditation. Such a worship service is a true service for me. However, if we are talking about the main, Sunday service, the most important part of the week, then I need the Eucharist too. Not absolutely every Sunday, but most Sundays. This is also the difficulty in the WCC statement. Discussing it with other students, Orthodox and Protestant, we found that the Eucharist was where the gap between our understandings of partial and full liturgy became difficult to bridge. We cannot call a service “ecumenical” unless the participants believe it is and feel that they are indeed a visible sign of the unity of the Church. This can be a prayer, a worship service, a Eucharistic liturgy, if it includes everyone. I do not see the WCC statement as a step back, because it openly states the reality that we face: our churches are different and have a different understanding of what it means to worship together. The churches of WCC can now pause, halfway up the hill, and decide together which path to take next. Discussion and encounter renders each party more aware of where the other really thinks they should be going. I wish that my church were officially part of this process. My experience in my home parish and in WSCF leads me to believe that these obstacles can be overcome, starting from the grassroots, where relationships between people are stronger than the official barriers that divide us.
Kate WILSON is a Roman Catholic from Wales. She is coming to the end of a PhD about the politics of toleration in early modern Great Poland. She is a member of the Executive Committee and the European Regional Committee of the World Student Christian Federation. Her email address is kaska36@hotmail.com.
Biblical Role Models
MOZAIK
2002/2
Daniela Lucia R A P I S A R D A
Body, Mind
and
Tears:
When Jesus Meets me as a Whole A Pharisee invited Jesus to have dinner with him, ad Jesus went to his house and sat down to eat. In that town was a woman who lived a sinful life. She heard that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee’s house, so she brought an alabaster jar full of perfume and stood behind Jesus, by his feet, crying and wetting his feet with her tears. Then she dried his feet with her hair, kissed them, and poured the perfume on them. When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself “If this man really were a prophet, he would know who is this woman who is touching him; he would know what kind of sinful life she lives!” Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you” “Yes, Teacher,” he said, “tell me.” “There were two men who owed money to a moneylender,” Jesus began. “One owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other owed him fifty. Neither of them could pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Which one, then, will love him more?” “I suppose,” answered Simon, “that it would be the one who was forgiven more.” “You are right,” said Jesus. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your home, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You did not welcome me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since I came. You provided no olive oil for my head, but she has covered my feet with perfume. I tell you, then, the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “your sins are forgiven.” The others sitting at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” But Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7, 36-50)
A NIGHT DREAM A room, the floor is in marble, black and white checks. Along one side of the room there is a bench. A woman is laying on that bench. It is impossible to say how old she is. She is wornout by a life of hardship. She has black hair and very white skin. She must be homeless, possibly a drug-addict. I look at her: she gets whiter and whiter. She is almost ghost-like. She must have overdosed. I must do something to help her. I seize her and pull her to the centre of the room where there is a bucket full of water. I seize her head and pull it down, under the water. I can see her face, under the water, it goes whiter
and whiter. Then I take a scrub brush and begin brushing the floor with the woman’s wet hair. Through this act of immersion, the woman comes back to life through a process of resurrection. MY INTERPRETATION OF THE DREAM 1. The woman is homeless, an outcast. She is a stranger, like me, a stranger in Norway, a Sicilian in Europe, a woman in a man’s world. She’s addicted, like me, to my job, to people, to relationships. 2. The woman is in deep need: an overdose is killing her. 3. I dip her in water: water as tears, water as vital element, a source of life. Water regenerates, it brings life. It baptises. Water is an element of silence, the absence of sound, a place beyond pain, beyond tears. Lots of tears heal the pain. 4. I wash the floor with the woman’s hair and with tears. There are many tears, enough to fill a bucket. Tears are poured over the Black and White floor tiles. Many tears wash the Black and White of the floor. Black and White, symbols of oppressive dualism: man and woman, spirit and matter, intellect and sensuality, culture and nature. 5. I pulled the woman to the centre of the room, to the centre of the stage. What are the implications of being “in the centre”? What is the right way to occupy the centre? To occupy the centre demands humbleness, voluntary humiliation. It means to serve. 6. The woman is resuscitated as her body is used to wash the floor. This same service that is often humiliating chores of women brings the woman back to life. The woman and the humble act of serving becomes a revitalising, regenerating experience. Women can, if they want, live out power as service. A “CLASSIC” INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLETEXT In a certain “classic” interpretation, this narrative of Luke is seen as depicting a case of “emotional extravagance.” The interpreter explains, “the scene shows a bit of hysteria in a woman that seems to be unable to express intellectually her more or less clear understanding of herself.” In a male world, the expression of emotions is perceived as weakness and lack of rationality. The open expression of strong emotions is dis-
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missed as hysteria. Nowhere in the text is it said that the woman is a prostitute. Nevertheless, this is what she is in the common understanding. The scene is undoubtedly sensual and eases the equation: woman – sin – sex – Eve.
Prayer Gracious God, You anoint our heads with oil And wrap us in Your mantle of justice You make us vessels of Your Spirit. Grant that these bodies You have consecrated
THE JUDGEMENT OF JESUS Jesus meets the woman where she is. Humiliation, pain and expression of feelings are received, accepted, and welcomed by Jesus. Jesus recognises the emotional intelligence of the woman: where the Pharisees do not recognise the prophet, the woman recognises the Messiah. Jesus lets the woman touch and kiss him. He tells Simeon: “you have not kissed me.” Jesus recognises the value of physical contact, of the body, of the expression of feelings through the body. “Which one, then, will love him more?” In his parable Jesus acknowledges the great love of the woman and, later, her great faith. WHY DO I ADMIRE THE WOMAN? I admire the woman for her courage to enter a male environment knowing that she will be judged for what she is and for having dared to challenge the rules. This is a feeling that is experienced, at least to some extent, by all women who enter ministry or plan to do so. I admire her courage to humiliate herself, to prostrate herself, to cry and to express her pain in public. I salute her for her great love, devotion, generosity (she offers the best of her own resources), compassion, empathy, care, faith.
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May respond to You always May we hear You in the cries of the needy And touch You in the lives of the broken-hearted As You have anointed us So may we anoint You wherever we find You On barren city streets, in hospices for the outcast In the sanctuaries of our houses of worship. Grant us the courage To return in service what You have given us Grant us the courage to pour out our gifts Of service and beauty and compassion Even when the indignant protest our very presence Grant us the courage to go so far as to be shattered If that is what is required For the fragrance of Your realm to penetrate our world For You, o God, are the potter; we are the clay. We are the earthen vessels of Your Spirit We are the alabaster jars You have made.1
I ADMIRE THEIR RELATIONSHIP The love of Jesus and the love for Jesus proves itself stronger than fear. The woman shows the courage to touch Jesus and Jesus lets her touch him. Jesus accepts the woman in her emotionality and her body. Her many sins are forgiven, because she has loved much. Love produces forgiveness. But to whom little is forgiven, he loves little. Forgiveness generates love. Between Jesus and the woman a circle of love and forgiveness is established, it is almost contemporaneity, we could say: an interactive circle of love and forgiveness. The woman receives from Jesus salvation and peace–shalom–wholeness. CONCLUSION For the woman of great faith, crying, serving, humbling and prostrating herself (contact with Jesus and following Jesus) becomes an experience of healing, regeneration, and resurrection. Meeting Jesus makes my bodily and emotional nature worthy. I am able to see, understand, know and recognise with the whole of myself. The woman is received by Jesus and in Jesus finds forgiveness, salvation, and peace. The resurrection of Jesus is anticipated and followed by experiences of personal regeneration and resurrection. Suggested Reading SALLBERG KAM Rose, Their Stories, Our Stories. Women of the Bible. New York, 1995. SCHMIDT Eva Renate – KORENHOF Mieke – JOST Renate (eds.), Feministisch gelesen. Zürich, 1989. NEWSOM Carol A. – RINGE Sharon H. (eds.), The Women’s Bible Commentary. Louisville, 1998.
Fax: +36 1 264 3592Í Daniela Lucia Rapisarda is a Sicilian Protestant. She is trained in Music (Catania,
Korrekt Printing House
Palermo and Roma) and in Theology (Roma and Edinburgh). She has been active for several years in FGEI (Italian SCM) and in the Young Womens’ Network of WCC. Since August 2000 she serves as Regional Secretary of WSCF Europe. She can be reached via the email address wscf-europe@xs4all.nl. SALLBERG KAM Rose, Their Stories, Our Stories. Women of the Bible. New York, 1995. 231. 1
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Biblical Role Models
MOZAIK
2002/2
N A G Y P Á L Szabolcs
The Person
who
Said ‘No’
but
still Went
Affirmations and Negations I have learned a lot from a particular direct and ironic saying. It describes the relativity of affirmations and negations in our lives. The saying goes like this: “If a man says ‘yes’, it means ‘maybe’; if he says ‘maybe’, it means ‘definitely not’; and a real gentleman never says ‘no’. On the other hand, if a woman says ‘no’, it means ‘maybe’; if she says ‘maybe’, it means ‘definitely yes’; and a real lady never says ‘yes’.” Let us now consider a biblical perspective on the role of affirmations and negations in our lives, reading and meditating on one of the parables of Jesus.
THE VINE-GROWER’S TWO SONS “How does this seem to you: A man had two sons and, going to the first, he said, ‘Son, go out and work today in the vineyard.’ He replied, ‘I won’t.’ Afterward he felt sorry and went out. Going to the second, he said the same to him. He answered, ‘I will, Sir.’ But he did not go. Which of the two did the father’s will? They said, ‘The first.’” (Matthew 21, 28-31) SPIRITUAL COMBINATIONS First of all, I see this parable of Jesus and Matthew as a genuine methodological guideline for my spiritual life. Even as I do so, the main question for me is, surprisingly enough, of a mathematical nature. There are two kinds of answers narrated in the story, but what about the other two possible combinations? I mean there are the cases of ‘No–Yes’ and ‘Yes–No’ in the text, but what about the cases of ‘No–No’ and ‘Yes–Yes’? Why are they left out in this story? In other words, there are two possibilities depicted in the narrative: if someone says No, and keeping the promise, she or he does not go; or if someone says Yes and she or he, for whatever reason, still goes. What about the other two possible combinations? REALISM QUESTIONED We have to lament and deliberate now whether these two other cases are realistic at all. My opinion is that Jesus is realistic enough when he decided to leave out the other two options from the parable. Maybe, I repeat, maybe, there is no third or forth way to answer the invitation to go and work in the vineyard. We either say ‘No’ to the invitation of the Father the Convoker and then we are able to go; or we say ‘Yes’ and then we are destined to fail to fulfil our calling and vocation. How do I mean this? I think the whole answer and reaction depends on the question. It depends on the question which we ourselves let to be posed to ourselves, or – on the contrary – we deny to be posed.
SCRIBES AND PHARISEES In and around the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) we are Christian students and young intellectuals. We are people of the theist context, whom the Bible calls Pharisees. At the same time we are people of the intellectual context, whom the Bible calls Scribes. In this respect, our pivotal characteristic is that we are very careful with questions. We do not allow every question to reach us in depth. We meticulously discern and distinguish the questions which we are ready to face and answer. Naturally, and sadly enough, these are not necessarily the essential and existential questions that, in reality, are the only ones worth posing. We, Scribes and Pharisees, are the people of the Yes. It is precisely our Yes that deceives us. Far be it from us to ever say ‘No’ to God the Parent when we are called; our cautiousness and our good taste totally forbids this. That is why we usually wander in the endless labyrinth of our half-yeses, our half-truths and our half-solutions. From the beginning we only pose a half-question, to which we can answer a full ‘Yes’ with finality and content. STAGGERING NEGATION It seems to me that to the full question, to the existential and eschatological question there can only be these two reactions: ‘Yes–No’ and ‘No–Yes’. The question is so staggering, it is so perplexing and so astounding, that we have to say ‘No’ in order to preserve our ability to go. If we say ‘Yes’ immediately, it remains a half-yes, which is a non-detached, habitual and customary one. It forbids us from saying the full ‘Yes’ afterwards. If we say ‘No’ to the full question, the dark night of the soul begins to surround us, and we will certainly awaken to the final ‘Yes’. Those who dared to attempt to answer the full ‘No’, ended up with the opposite spiritual experiences. In short, it seems that ‘Yes-Yes’ and ‘NoNo’s are possible to the half-question, but not to the full question. The first son of the vine-grower in Matthew 21 said ‘No’ to his father’s question, but still went to the vineyard. Perhaps it was precisely this ‘No’ that enabled him to go and begin work. We now face this question: how would we, personally, answer this question? And, what is exactly our perplexing question?
NAGYPÁL Szabolcs (1974) is a graduate in law, literature and ecumenical theology. He is Roman Catholic, a theologian in the Békés Gellért Ecumenical Institute (BGÖI) in Pannonhalma, Hungary. He is a former chairperson of KÖD (Magyar SCM), and is currently a member of WSCF European Regional Committee (ERC) and global Executive Committee (ExCo). He co-edited the book A Pentatonic Landscape. Central Europe, Ecology, Ecumenism (Budapest, 2002). He is editorin-chief of Student World and Mozaik.
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MOZAIK
Biblical Role Models
2002/2
Suzanna V E R G O U W E
Art
and
Faith: Ruth
and
David,
People who Never Met, Or? When thinking about possible Biblical role models in certain situations, my perception is not purely rational, not entirely linked to the things they have said, but rather to their way of being, to their choices and their faith, their energies. Although it might appear a bit difficult to talk about, I would like to explain more about these energies. Perhaps it is rather some hard-to-capture sort of an inneror interconnectedness. Since I could not decide which of these two Biblical personalities to choose, I will speak about both of them. The first one is Ruth, a courageous woman who clearly made a choice, and the second one is David. And, what a coincidence, they happen to be connected, Ruth being the great grandmother of David.
RUTH, THE WOMAN OF TRUST AND DECISION Ruth never imagined that her life would work out the way it did. She grew up in a safe environment, was loved by her parents, I presume, and she happily married a man who was not from her town or tribe. Maybe she had asked him many times about his home country, what it was like out there. Maybe she had asked her mother-in-law, Naomi, as well. Ruth was the one who was at home, feeling comfortable with the people, knowing every street and alley in her town. Who knows, maybe she had never paid a visit to any other place. Then the big change came into Ruth’s life: her husband died. Nothing is written about her feelings at that time, or her grief. But surely, as a young widow, must have despaired. Naomi did not have any other sons, whom she could marry as the tradition prescribed. So Ruth’s chances of remarriage did not provide her with much optimism. Naomi realised this and urged both Ruth and her other daughter-in-law, Orpa, to find a husband from among their own kin. Ruth refused. She was determined to go with Naomi in whatever way the Lord would decide. Perhaps, she had begun to be intrigued by this God, and had put some of her faith in God already. Together they returned to Judea. She must have been afraid, among those people whom she did not know, whose language she did not speak. Add to this her position as a widow of an Israelite man, maybe all of these caused quite a number of sleepless nights for her. But she did not sit down and wait. As much as her decision to leave her country was a conscious one, she acted and started to work in the field. Perhaps she hoped and believed that by acting, by starting somewhere, God would take care of the rest. Eventually Boaz turned up, the man whose land she was working on. From there, the story unfolded rapidly. Boaz
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noticed Ruth, understood that it is him who is to marry her, and so he did. In this way, he ensured her future, and that of Naomi’s offspring. DAVID, THE MAN OF GOD Two generations after Ruth had married Boaz, David was born in a small town called Bethlehem. When Samuel visited his father’s place to anoint him as the king of the Lord, he was not there. He was enjoying his freedom in the fields, playing his music (though also saving his animals from lions), he probably did not understand what all the fuss was supposed to mean. But he must have noticed a change, because the Bible says “from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (1 Samuel 16:13). We know what happened, how he became king, and reigned over Israel. What strikes me in his life story is the portrait of this king who could never suppress his artistic nature. Intelligent, obeying and wise, but driven by energies striving for adventure and beauty, he must have undergone a restless struggle with these two sides of his personality. Since, above other things, he was the chosen one, he had to face the uneasy question how to live up to this promise, this bondage with God? One could easily imagine him dancing in front of the arch, having long talks in the evening with Jonathan, worshipping in the temple, or taking decisions for the well-being of the people. I think I understand his way of being. He used his energy and talents in a way he thought was best and inspired. But sometimes his cravings were too strong, and he got lost, as in the case of his love for Bathsheba. WHATEVER HAPPENS Ruth and David: they remain connected in my mind, although they might have never met. They were small people with their own life stories who had no clue of what their future would be like. They trusted in God, somehow knowing that in the end, whatever happened would be good. They lived with music, with dancing, by acting, waiting and praying. These individuals’ eternal memory will be with me as an inspiration for the whole of my life. Suggestion Leonard COHEN wrote a song on David, called Hallelujah. It has been sung by a number of artists. My preferred version is the one by Jeff BUCKLEY, from the album Grace. It is absolutely worth listening to, I can assure you. Enjoy! Suzanna VERGOUWE is an anthropologist, graduate of the Free University, Amsterdam, and of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London. She has conducted field work in Transylvania on the Greek Catholic Church, and in Vojvodina, Serbia, on the Romanian community in that area. She is currently working in Budapest as an intern for the Central European Subregion of WSCFEurope. Her email address is cesr_intern@yahoo.co.uk.