I write, speak, invest, network, and question to stimulate fruitful conversation. Let's talk about human flourishing! It begins with freedom. Holy leisure is the key to human being, freedom and generativity. Please join me in the adventure of realizing Christ!
How to Fix the Church
The Catholic Church is in crisis, but it’s small, not large, changes that are needed.
The Church is a huge organization, made up of human beings who are broken, flawed, sinful. As such, She has been deeply wounded by the implosion of the disordered culture around Her, just as individuals have been hurt. Let’s let God do the work of reviving Her from above (yes, we church-mice can stop trying to be God, the Pope, the Bishop!) and see what can be done to revive Her from where we actually stand.
Down here, at the level of the individual believer, the family, the local community, there’s so much we can do to effect real change, real revival – but we don’t do it. We don’t, because a) it’s easier to theorize about what the higher-ups should be doing and b) we don’t believe small things can make any difference until big issues are resolved. Idealism doesn’t make it into actuality and pessimism gives in to what is already real in the situation. Neither has potency, and neither is worthy of a Christian person.
The very message of the Incarnation is exactly that the small, the lowly, the local is what changes all the greatness of the world! You may still have opinions (I do!) about what the Pope or God could do, but the real power is in your own free action here, now. Through the actuality of your smallness comes the Actuality of God’s greatness. Real calls to real, Deep to deep, Light to light, and you are at the center of this movement of the Holy Spirit – invited merely to obstruct or conduct the flow of that power by your own action. Your sphere of response-ability grows as your freedom grows, by each free act (but it won’t likely grow to become the Whole Church or the World, or even Kansas!)
In that light, your little self is just one of many little ‘switches’ in the Body of Christ, saying ‘yes,’ or ‘no’ to His work in the world. Please begin your work of revolutionizing the world by learning to let your yes be your yes, and your no be your no. It is sad to me when this simple, Scriptural admonition seems beyond the capability of a fellow Christian. We ask “How’s your prayer life?” but not “Can you make a commitment and keep it?”
If you say you will do something, can I count on that? Can you make a promise and keep it? Is it enough to have your word, or do I need a signed contract and the force of law?
If you’ve broken a promise to me, I forgive you, but it did hurt. I’m more worried about what it means about you. I notice that what seems to weaken us is lack of memory, and confusion or disorganization in time management. These can be cultivated, so I suggest this in all seriousness as a better use of our time and energy than complaining about whatever God, or the Pope, Bishop or parish priest is doing, or not doing.
I have other ideas for very small, powerful things you can actually do (they are in your sphere of response-ability) that will have actual, revolutionary, kingdom-bringing effects. Watch this space!
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