Thursday, January 31, 2008
Giving, but Not Receiving
When we open ourselves up to our respective communities, do we fail to receive what these people and places are so uniquely primed to offer us? Too often it seems that in our North American culture we are oriented to the "what I can do" or "what I can offer." Our culture's blatant endorsement of rugged individualism can explain some of this attitude, but more deeply still I think that control is driving this attitude. We want to dictate the where, when, why, and how of our interaction with other people and places. It disturbs us to be surprised or caught off guard. As such we tend to position ourselves as servers because traditionally servers occupy the position of control and power. We interact with the people and places that compose our community in ways that ensure that we need not be vulnerable or open to mystery. In short, we largely perpetuate a static relationship with our communities, failing to fully immerse ourselves in the dynamic, unpredictable relationship that follows when we live in communities where we admit our ability to both give and receive. What would it look like to receive the gifts of our communities? How can we more faithfully maintain a posture of humility, ready to both give and receive?
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2 comments:
Bryan--I really like this thought. I definitely would second the importance of considering the giving and receiving of these interactions, and I like your identification of the position of power/control that we might tend to take as servers. I think that something that is important to learn in our lives is the willingness to be "interrupted." We cannot simply compartmentalize our love for others into time slots--something I am probably guilty of ("from 6-7 I serve here, and then I'm off the hook"). Rather, we should willing to (in a wise manner--for we also do need times to rest) let our schedules be placed in secondary importance when needs arise.
I think that I may have shared this before, but it is a worthwhile illustration. A priest was working on preparing his weekly message, and soon became frustrated with frequent interruptions of his sermon preparation. Later, after some reflection the priest realized that his work was the interruptions, that is it was the things he did not predict that he found God most clearly working through. It is this type of openness to our places and communities that is something to be sought after. I wonder how we can more faithfully allow ourselves to be "interrupted" as you put it.
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