DIALOGUE AS A MODEL FOR PROCLAIMING THE WORD

1. John Mansford Prior, svd DIALOGUEAS A MODEL FORPROCLAIMING THE WORD Either you appear as you are or be as you appear Jalãl ad Din Rumi JRD & JPCC Conference Dialogue as a Way for Preaching Surabaya, 11-16 August 2014

2. DIALOGUEAS A MODELFORPROCLAIMINGTHE WORD 1. A Challenging Word from the World 2.Proclamation in dialogue 3.Contemplating & Proclaiming Veritas JRD & JPCC Conference Dialogue as a Way for Preaching Surabaya, 11-16 August 2014 4.Proclaiming competently

3. 1. A Challenging Wordfrom the World

4. 1. A Wordfrom the World A GLOBALISING MARKET ECONOMY • Vast migrations & displacement • – splitting families, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS • Exculturation, anomie, inarticulate, exclusionistic • Commercialisation of values, systemic corruption Who are we hearing? Who are we ignoring? Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? Impact on Muslim-Christian relations?

5. 1. A Wordfrom the World A GLOBALISED SOCIAL MEDIA • Everyone in multiple networks • Major shifts in value systems, mind-sets, worldviews • The word of the preacher, teacher, parent, bishop, pope – one among many Who are we hearing? Who are we ignoring? Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? Impact on Muslim-Christian relations?

6. 1. A Wordfrom the World THE EARTH CONTEXT • Theology: why things matter • Science: how things are The Big Picture • Space photography: local & regional issues now on a global template • Hubble: increasingly accurate picture of the universe in time & space • Creation a work in progress • The cosmos is relational Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? What are we hearing? What are we ignoring?

7. 1. A Challenging Wordfrom the World AUTHORITY • Indigenous Peoples: elders • Cosmic, relational • World Religions: Scriptures • Post-Enlightenment, mechanistic • Hubble: Keleidoscopic change of paradigm • Relational, vast, changing Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? Who are we hearing? Who are we ignoring?

8. 1. A Challenging Wordfrom the World • Thomas Berry • The cosmos: our primal revelation • The Scriptures: our 2nd revelation to guide us in appreciating the 1st. • Teilhard de Chardin • We are the universe become conscious of itself Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? Who are we hearing?

9. 1. A Wordfrom the World THE COSMOS: GOD’S BODY • Creation reveals who God is: dynamic communion of extravagant love • The Eternal Word at the heart of the Trinity, at the heart of creation • The Word made flesh/creature lives in our hearts • Earth: a web of subjects in relationship • Christ is ‘communion’, the node that unites all reality – cosmic, social, personal Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? Who are we hearing?

10. 1. A Wordfrom the World THE COSMOS: OUR BODY • Earth: our larger body, our larger self • Our role: to be the earth’s immune system • Meister Eckhart: The soul is not in the body, the body is in the soul • The soul has a body • God has a body: the cosmos Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? Who are we hearing?

11. 1. A Wordfrom the World THE COSMOS: OUR BODY • Thomas Berry: destroy the earth & we destroy the root of our religious imagination • Key Christian Symbols come from natural environment – water, bread, wine, natural oil, fire, ash … • What paralyzes: lack of faith & lack of audacity

12. 1. A Wordfrom the World AMBIVALENCE • Local cultures: fragmenting • Cyber culture: all embracing • Minority: unprecedented material wealth • Majority: exploited or unwanted • Secularism: a powerful minority usurping the religious world of the marginalised majority for their own material ends.

13. 1. A Challenging Wordfrom the World RELIGION - A MORAL FORCE • Moral & ethical values: • translated into universal values in a common tongue • Dialogue: mutual enrichment in a non-structural power of open communication • Veritas? • Not “euphoric infallibility” but “inclusive-pluralistic” • No place to dogmatic absolutism • Truth is a Person, truth is found in relationships Abdurrahman Wahid NengDaraAffiah

14. 1. A Wordfrom the World FOURFOLD REFORMING PARADIGM • Secularism: • Road to justice, equality, harmony • Liberalism: • Free from encapsulating dogma, rigid orthodoxy, fear of change • Pluralism: • Mutual acceptance: the historic root of secularism & liberalism • Feminism: • Practical & theoretical, Muslim & Christian Impact on Muslims? Impact on Christians? Impact on Muslim-Christian relations? Who are we hearing?

15. 2. Proclamation in dialogue

16. 2. Proclamation in dialogue • Western Logic: Dialogue OR proclamation; dialogue AND proclamation. • Asian yin-yang logic: proclamation IN dialogue, - dialogue as the mode of proclamation • Proclamation is primarily witnessing • FABC: “through Christlike deeds … through dialogue and deeds – this is the first call to the Churches in Asia.” • “Proclamation… not a fourth dimension, but the aspect of witness integral of all three dimensions of evangelisation.”

17. 2. Proclamation in dialogue • Model of proclamation in dialogue – TRINITY • In dialogue we are caught up in the trinitarian relationships of love expressed always & everywhere in collaboration • Yves Congar: “Trinity the principle of interiority… a unity without divisions, but not without diversities.” • God, the Mystery of Trinitarian love, is freely inviting us, and the entire universe, to participate in her divine communion. Verbum Dei quaerensdialogum

18. 2. Proclamation in dialogue • From ad gentes to inter gentes • Jonathan Tan: “The focus of the Asian local Church’s missio inter gentes is identified with Jesus’ own mission of bringing about the Reign of God among his people… the Church’s mission is inspired by God’s prior activity in the world, through the missions of the Father and the Spirit… The principal means of missio inter gentes is the quintessential Asian trait of dialogue.” Jonathan Tan Gemma Cruz

19. 3. Contemplating & Proclaiming Veritas

20. 3. Contemplating & Proclaiming Veritas • The willingness & ability to listen intently with the ears of the heart. • Receptive, awake, open, riding the experience. • Listening to all the voices in nature, human cultures, other faith communities. • Never uttering a word that does not emanate from pure trust • Unsure? Uncertain? Confused? • listen more deeply • Taoists: Relax & you can journey anywhere !

21. 3. Contemplating & Proclaiming Veritas • UNCLUTTERED VISION • Focus on the essential Word that sums up the entire torah & nebiim • Unclutter the head & the heart: greater freedom, clearer vision • Liberating, life-giving • The eyes of the heart see both near & far • Gently, mindfully, soul-centredly • Taoists: Only to the mind that is still does the whole universe surrender • With the intolerant? the angry? the violent? • We listen to their intolerance, their anger, their hate, their fear, their insecurity, to whatever triggers their violence

22. 3. Contemplating & Proclaiming Veritas • COMPASSIONATE LISTENING • Encountering the earth in its splendour & its degradation • Embedded in a whirlpool of cultures with their promise & problematic • Conversing with Muslims in their openness & their insecurity • We listen deeply to ourselves, giving shape to the genuine stirrings of the heart • The greatest thing in dialogue: cultivate & exercise compassion

23. 3. Contemplating & Proclaiming Veritas • COMPASSIONATE LISTENING • Live the Word that we hear, walk the talk • Share & network: everything exists in relation to everything else • Everyone & everything exists for relationships

24. 3. Contemplating & Proclaiming Veritas • ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE • Release the Word from previous patriarchal categories & denominational frames • Not looking out at “them” but inside at “us” • Facing reality just as it is in all its ambiguity & its tragedy, discarding dogmatic exclusiveness • Love holds everything together • Anything is possible in God when we are compassionate & attentive • Creature, creation & Creatorharmoniously embrace & give birth to radiant possibilities

25. 4. Proclaiming competently

26. 4. Proclaiming competently • In dialogue with the world as God is creating it & we are destroying it, we need to hear a Word of contemplative co-creation, inspired by a progressive vision, complemented with prophetic action. • A Word that nurtures & cultivates – caring for not consuming creation.

27. 4. Proclaiming competently • In the word we proclaim we give voice to a chorus of voices bringing about new understandings about old values. • Freeing the Word from traditional narrow, encapsulating frames involves competence in three areas of dialogue: • With the Earth • With Cultures • With other Scriptures

28. 4. Proclaiming competently DIALOGUE WITH THE EARTH • Aware that the whole of creation is relational as God is relational • Source of Life, Divine Word, Spirit of Renewal • The loving Trinity offers unlimited love freely • Creation an outpouring of God’s extravagant love • We are all part of this story of the universe • The vital conscious part of the web of life • Christ is creation at its perfection • God-flesh, the heart of the cosmos holding it together

29. 4. Proclaiming competently INTER-CULTURAL DIALOGUE • Jon Kirby: We need the ability to enter imaginatively into another cultural viewpoint • Recognising & respecting • Janet & Milton Bennet: Inter-cultural sensitivity scale • From denial, defence & minimalisation • To acceptance, adaptation & integration. • We need “cross-cultural conversion”

30. 4. Proclaiming competently INTER-CULTURAL DIALOGUE • Culture Drama: • action methods which explore thoughts & feelings, hopes & fears, individual & collective issues between religiously & cultural diverse groups • Transformation through action • Inter-Cultural Readings of the Bible: • Widely divergent groups study a passage, exchange reports, send back comments, comment on comments … • Expose cultural & denominational bias • Open up inter-cultural frame

31. 4. Proclaiming competently INTER-SCRIPTURAL DIALOGUE • Building Bridges: • 30 Islãmic & Christian scholar study the Qur’ãn & Bible together • Reading one’s scriptures in the light of another’s • Individual Scholars: • Just as we cannot read the Scriptures without reference to Jewish studies, so we need to create a triad of Abrahamic inter-scriptural reflection & study

32. 4. Proclaiming competently COMMUNICATING COMPETENTLY Social Media – Cyber-World • Franz-Josef Eilers: the listener is a “pro-sumer” both a producer & consumer of communication simultaneously • Antonio Sparado: we are primarily a “decoder” – decoding questions from the multiplicity of answers that meet us without any effort of our own

33. 4. Proclaiming competently DISPOSTIONS & ABILITIES • Communication: not just “means” but about social networks – people – concerns a process of interaction in society through a multitude of media • Competent: proper disposition & ability to understand & handle communication processes – professionally & responsibly

34. 4. Proclaiming competently SEVEN DISPOSTIONS & ABILITIES • Technical Competence: • Deciding whether, where & how • Critical Competence: • Able to judge communication structures, processes & situations & their partners: Opportune? Prudent? • Creative Competence: • Accepting & recognising people in their dignity & needs

35. 4. Proclaiming competently SEVEN DISPOSTIONS & ABILITIES • Ethical Competence: • true – factual? Respecting listeners, upholding their dignity? • Cultural Competence: • Recognise difference, understand different ways, acknowledge different values • Theological Competence: • How far the Holy Spirit & openness to God influence our proclamation/communication? • Professional Competence: • Practical training, academic study

36. 4. Proclaiming competently “THE ANSWER IN THE QUESTIONING” Learning to ask the right questions • Trish Martin: • God is a verb in which we move & live. Our “being” in the dynamic of engagement with another is fullness of life • Elie Wiesel: • The word question contains the word quest. We are all partners in the quest. You are my question & I am yours – then there is dialogue. The moment we have answers there is no dialogue. Questions unite people, answers divide them.

37. 4. Proclaiming competently VULNERABLE YET AUDACIOUS • Fellow pilgrims, constantly restless, seeking … • Carol Brown: • “Excuse me, you are not listening” • Jean Vanier: • “Enter the world of those who are broken or closed… learn their language… go deeper discover what it means to listen deeply to another… If you come open without judging, then you will discover that you are trusted. Your heart will be touched.” • Here is dialogue-in-proclamation at its most vulnerable & audacious best

38. VULNERABLE YET AUDACIOUS DIALOGUEAS A MODEL FORPROCLAIMING THE WORD Either you appear as you are or be as you appear Jalãl ad Din Rumi … Fellow pilgrims, constantly restless, ever seeking …

39. Merci ! Thank You ! Terimakasih!