Radical Relationship
Written by admin June 26th, 2008 in on the wayBy Richard Rohr
Jesus didn’t want his community to ‘have’ a social ethic; he wanted it to ‘be’ a social ethic. Their very way of relating was to be an affront to the system of dominance and power; it was to name reality in a new way. They were to live in a new symbolic universe. This radical idea is given in a simple clue found throughout the New Testament: Jesus’ presence with others at table.
Source: Jesus’ Plan for a New World
Rohr has also adopted a principle that reads, ‘The best way to criticize the bad is to practice the better.’ When I think about that, I can reduce the talking in a retreat house or a monastery or while the baby is sleeping next door by not talking myself, only smiling, or beckoning the talker to one side and whispering in his or her ear. When my teen-age nephew is drinking straight from the milk carton, offer a glass. Then accept whatever happens next: his “No thanks” or his pouring the milk into the glass. When your husband is watching the 16th consecutive quarter of the college football game over Thanksgiving week-end, invite him to come see the woodpecker or the gold finch on the bird-feeder. Or sit down with my young adult daughter and listen with delight while she explains the advantages of her MP3 player
Then set a table with the common dishes for pot roast, turkey and gravy, biscuits, and apple sauce in the middle of the table. Light the candles and invite these family members and guests to come sit down, to return thanks, and eat.
When everyone is transformed, as in Babette’s Feast, there may be more fellowship to follow over the dish-washing!