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Editorial:
Faith in the Future? From
the director: Finding ourselves in the City Traveller,
the road is made by walking it The
Word made Flesh: A Sign and Foretaste in Limerick Comment:
The Architecture of Faith The
Word made Flesh: Down and Out in Dublin The
Word made Flesh: Cork Methodist Church, Ardfallen The
Word made Flesh: Reflections from the Maiden City Cathedral
Quarters: Interviews with Rev Dr Houston McKelvey and Very Rev Hugh
Kennedy Review:
Journey Towards Holiness Economics
and the economy: what are they for? Bible
Study: Beyond Silver Coins Reflection:
The 'F' word Review:
Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living Difficult
Conversations: Looking for God in the City... |
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AMONG THE MANY commentators and analysts there is much speculation as to why the respective campaigns of Clinton and Obama are, or are not, capturing the public imagination. For Hilary it is said to be the segmenting of her message that puts people off as she targets her speeches to suit the interests of those she is addressing. Barak’s message, however, is more general and is said to be reigniting the dream of what America offers to its citizens and to the world. Contrary to all recent political campaigns, the macro trend is outplaying the micro trends as a media and internet-aware electorate exposes the contradictory messages and inconsistencies of the old politics. People want change and a meta-narrative about America they can believe in again. In the daily outworking of Christian faith and life it is all too easy to get lost in the detail and lose our vision of what it is all for. Nowhere is this more evident than in the challenging and exhausting environment of life and ministry in a city. Look too closely and a city becomes mesmerising in its detail and the thousands of micro activities that are part of its pulse. Its complexity has the ability to drain the energy out of the best of us. Frankly, city life can paralyse when experienced up close and personal in all its contradictory and dysfunctional realities. But take a trip up in the big wheel at Belfast’s City Hall and the coherence and beauty of the city landscape is breathtaking – bounded by green hills, with the Mourne Mountains a distant backdrop and the mouth of the River Lagan opening into the Lough. Equally, take a look into the depths of the latest building project or road construction; even the laying of the new sewage network and the measure of interdependence involved in cities becomes something of a miracle. The story of human life recorded in Scripture is told with an eye to both the fine detail and the broad landscape. No aspect of human experience remains unexposed in its beauty or horror. So the city can stand for all that is flawed in human endeavour – as in Babel – and, at the same time, be a potent image of what God intends for the healing of nations and the flourishing of human experience in the New Jerusalem. As a church we need to recapture the vision of what God’s kingdom is about in the midst of the hope and mess of city life. For too long we have sought to escape its challenges in a pastoral idyll that belongs to a different era. We look back to the garden and seek out green pastures without much thought to the fact that our journey’s end will be the City of God. It is time that our engagement with the turmoil of the city reflected more of this truth: not only do we seek the welfare of the city; salvation itself can be found in the city. On a personal note: this Director’s Page will be my last as I step down from leadership of CCCI at the end of March. The transition from ECONI to CCCI has now reached a new phase in which it has become increasingly clear that, after 22 years of involvement, the time has come to let others take up fresh ideas and opportunities for the future. It has been a real privilege to be part of something in which God has worked through so many people to bring about change in both the church and wider society. The context may be changing, but the need for a biblically informed critique of both church and society, which has been at the heart of the work of ECONI and CCCI, remains the core task for those who continue this ministry in the years ahead. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have identified with this task over the years. This has always been a team effort and I have served with a tremendous group of people on the board and advisory group. In particular, a series of chairs have provided much wisdom and personal support, without which the mistakes would undoubtedly have been greater. During fourteen years of full-time employment I have worked alongside some 40 different colleagues as team members in a range of capacities, paid and voluntary, interns and long-term programme workers. Together we have known God’s grace in serving the church and wider community in creative and exciting ways. This has been a long and immensely fulfilling period of ministry. It has not been without controversy or cost. Yet in all of the challenges I believe we have discovered something more of God’s character and longing for our community and indeed for the world. Today I am more convinced than ever that to share in the ministry of reconciliation is to be at the core of the mission of God in our world. This is the meta-narrative of good news for a fractured world. If we lose this vision then we also lose our capacity to act to transform the everyday alienation of people from each other, the created order and God. May you know the grace of God in sustaining your vision and action in serving the people among whom you live as a reconciled child of God. “For in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth on in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” Paul writing to Christians in Colossae AD 55-56. David W
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