inspiral blog

We started this week by looking at the whole idea of story: particularly through the following quotes:

What we see is in large part determined by the stories we tell.
– Tim Costello

The theological exploration of biography or the theological reconnaissance of history are apt, and even normative, styles because each is congruent with the definitive New Testament insight and instruction: the Incarnation… biography (and history), any biography and every biography, is inherently theological in the sense that it contains already – literally by virtue of the incarnation – the news of the gospel whether or not anyone discerns that. We are each one of us parables.
– William Stringfellow : A Simplicity of Faith

A dearth of good stories can render us very vulnerable, because it allows us to see ourselves in only a limited number of ways…. So many of our emotional, relational ethical resources have been stripped by a knife edge, performance based society… we need alternative stories to give us different perspectives on events which otherwise have the power to crush us.
– Tim Costello

Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step forward.
– Ivan Illich

Inevitably we live out of stories, whether they add up or not, whether they are recognised or implicit. We cannot avoid it as we all try and put some ‘spin’ on our lives. The moral question is which story do we choose to make sense of our living, and why we choose it.
– Tim Costello

Then we talked about our own stories – those we assume and live as part of, and those that are the air we breathe.

Finally, as we did last year, we read through the book of Mark (Fair Dinkum Mark version) in its entirety. The idea was that here is the alternative story into which we are invited: a story that runs mostly counter to the stories we are told and enculturated into. It’s a story we’re invited not just to tell, or to extract principles from for living, but for living into.

Normally when I read it, I’m the narrator; in this case, I read the parts Jesus speaks, and what stood out to me was how much Jesus was misunderstood, and how frustrated he got as a result. He clashed with the religious leaders, he berated his followers for not getting it. He’s a remarkably lonely figure in Mark, constantly on the edge. A frightening thought for those of us who are often at the centre of society, wanting to be adored and coherent.

Confirmed that this is still the best of what we’re doing…great to get to know one of the quieter members of our mob.

Julie and I submitted ourselves to a clearness committee process on Sunday, in an attempt to come to some sort of clearness about the direction our life together is to take.

Quite an amazing process really. Admittedly we didn’t get too far in coming to clearness, but what we did get clear to everyone was the issues involved in making the decision, and our sense of where we’re at. It was quite extraordinary to reach the mirroring phase and hear everyone articulate (probably better than we did) exactly what we were thinking and feeling. If nothing else, it was a lesson in feeling heard and having people understand some sense of what you’re going through. Throughout it all we felt safe and held, despite the potential for the exploitation of our vulnerability. For that we are extremely grateful.

And having had so many people there (including Lorien joining us for the first time – welcome mate!), it means the next time we hold a process like this to come to further clearness, we’ll have a bunch of people who already know where it’s at.

Again, it was just another example of how precious this group is, not only for us but for each other.

We got through pretty much two of the three sections here, and it yielded some excellent discussion of questions like “what is the good news?” and “what does healing look like for us?”

Teach:
What acts of teaching, preaching and proclaiming of the good news can we undertake as a mob?

How are we deepening our understanding and practice of teaching in light of the Word?

Heal:
What acts of healing can we undertake as a mob?

How are we deepening our understanding and practice of healing in light of the Word?
(Priority for the Margins, Wholistic, Mutual, Confronting Causes)

Cast Out Evil
How will we name, engage, and transform the reality of evil in our world and ourselves?

Why could we not cast it out? (Mark)

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