God in the City
by Sahaya G. Selvam, sdb
Salesian Family Study Days,UK, January 2012
0.0. The objective of these reflections is to see how urban cultures are evolving and becoming global; and then to ask ourselves: how could we be the church in this context? And how could we open up ourselves to an experience of God that will make it meaningful for us to be compassionate to others.
0.1. When faced with the need for change, for fear of chaos, we tend to fall back to rigidity. Integration seems to be the healthier option!
0.2. When faced with the need to understand reality, it may be easier to take one of the extreme options between naïve realism and anti-realism. Critical realism seems to be the more meaningful option!
0.3. God and Revelation: If God is eternal, and eternity is a continuous now (St Augustine), then God’s revelation is here and now! Should we apply human categories of ‘already’ and/or ‘not yet’ and miss the GOD-NOW – while causing division and creating borders among ourselves humans? Is it not true that when God reveals (which he always does!) we only receive mostly within the context of our history and culture? Therefore…
1. What is the city like?
1.1. There is an emergence of a ‘global city’. There are valuable aspects attached to this: like improvement of quality of life, multiculturalism and egalitarianism. But there could also be some challenges. In fact, the urban culture (the emerging global culture) has its own contradictions.
1.2. Some of the relevant characteristics of the city in the context of the objective of our reflection: the working age-group does not have ‘time’; things are happening too quickly – no time for commitments; the tension between public and private lives – social life and individualism; the tension between ‘Thatcherism’ (no society only individuals) and the Big Society…
2. Where is God in this? How could we celebrate/live the presence of God as a believing community in the context of the city?
2.1. STRANGERS & GIFTS: There is a need to appreciate the gifts that strangers bring. The success of the British society is in its accumulation of knowledge and skills (even flora and fauna) from across the world! Could the church inUKtake a leaf from here? Strangers could bring gifts in terms of spiritualities. Is it not wise for the church to appreciate these gifts, rather than tame them into an insipid institution (church inEurope) that has actually failed?
2.2. RELIGIOUS SPIRITUALITY: Religious Secularism is on the decline. What is emerging is non-aligned spirituality: “spiritual-but-not-religious”. “Those institutions – including churches, will survive that move from an imposition model to a marketing model” (Berger, sociologist, 1967).
How do we ‘market’ our faith?
It is not really about marketing. 1) It is about my wellbeing (salvation): how do I continue to meet my own need for meaning and purpose – a need for God. 2) It is about compassion: how do I share with my brothers and sisters the meaning and wellbeing that I have found as a result of being part of this church. If this is what ‘evangelisation’ is about, then…
- Moving towards religious spirituality: we need to show that it is possible to be spiritual while being part of an institutional religion. What are the advantages of being part of the church? Is my/our religion mature-intrinsic faith?
- A movement towards simplicity and depth: less bureaucracy, minimum structure, but more experience & meaning. There is a need for movement from the hierarchical line of command to circular animation interventions (Synods and Principle of subsidiarity).
- A continued dialogue between faith and reason that is tempered by compassion.
- A need for a greater conscious attention on spirituality, together with the usual concern about creed, code, cult and theology. Everything is important only in so far as they mediate for me and the community the experience of God in Jesus, and thus providing meaning and purpose for my life.
- There are varieties of spirituality types that might be associated with individual differences (personalities, multiple intelligences, & learning styles): way of the intellect (theology); the way of the heart-expressive (devotional); way of the heart-quiet (mystical); the way of action (charity). These categories are not water-tight. For instance, when someone combines action with intellect they could exhibit a prophetic spirituality. Homework: identify saints in the history of the church who have had particular approaches.
- Implication of the variety of spirituality types: as a church leader if I am inclined to one style, how do I deal with people of different spirituality types? It is also important to be aware of cultural preferences in the style.
2.3. IMAGES OF THE LIVING GOD: A more serious question – Is our image of God still too agrarian and pastoralist? Are we holding on to them – because we think they are part of the ‘revealed truth’ or it is the way humans could receive the revelation Is the global city requiring another set of images of God? Is the association between the rise of secularism and enlightenment/industrialisation/urbanisation (and now the i-age and the world of networks) saying that we need to be open to an experience of God here and now, and share images of God that are meaningful in this context.
The truth-claim that revelation is complete and that we have it all could actually be an expression of human hubris that might shut our hearts from God. It is like capturing the bubble in a bottle and not allowing the wind to blow as it wills (Jn 3:8). The same well-intentioned attempt to protect our own fragile gods might hide the Living GOD, and prevent others from experiencing HIM. The dead image of the Living God captured in dogma might actually encourage weak souls and brave minds to seek meaning elsewhere. Will they find it? Will we help find HIM?