CRC GENERAL ASSEMBLY
ASSEMBLÉE GÉNÉRALE 2006
LEADERSHIP AND RECONCILIATION
June 10, 2006
YOUR EXPERIENCES
SINCE THURSDAY
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Passages/Encounters – the drama
President’s Address
Papal Nuncio’s Address
Portfolio Directors
Workshops on
 Returning to the Spirit
 Seeing the World Anew
 Fair Trade: Gospel Alternative, Imperative
 Systemic Response to Trafficking
Andre Beauchamp’s Keynote Address
JPIC Field Workers
Meals, Conversations Shared
How were your eyes opened?
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind?
“Neither this man nor his parents
sinned; he was born blind so that
God’s works might be revealed in
him.”
John 9:2-5
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How were your eyes opened?
I AM THE LIGHT
Jesus said, “We must work the works of him
who sent me while it is day; night is coming
when no one can work. As long as I am in
the world, I am the light of the world."
When he had said this, he spat on the
ground and made mud with the saliva and
spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying
to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam"
(which means Sent). Then he went and
washed and came back able to see.
John9:4-7
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How were your eyes opened?
HE IS A PROPHET
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as
a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who
used to sit and beg?“
He kept saying, "I am the man.“ But they kept
asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?“
He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud,
spread it on my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to
Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and
received my sight.“
So they said again to the blind man, "What do you
say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He
said, "He is a prophet."
John 9:8-11, 17
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How were your eyes opened?
YOU WOULD NOT LISTEN
They said to him, "What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?"
He answered them, "I have told you
already, and you would not listen. Why do
you want to hear it again? Do you also
want to become his disciples?“
John 9:26-27
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How were your eyes opened?
YOU HAVE SEEN HIM
Jesus heard that they had driven him out,
and when he found him, he said, "Do you
believe in the Son of Man?"
He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me,
so that I may believe in him."
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and
the one speaking with you is he."
He said, "Lord, I believe." And he
worshipped him.
John 9:35-38
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OVERVIEW OF REFLECTIONS
Setting the Context
 Spirituality of Reconciliation
 Fractures within and among
Religious Congregations
 Role of Congregational Leaders
 Readiness for Leadership
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Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party
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We pledge to walk together
And be women and men determined
to bring about a new time.
And then all that has divided us will merge.
And then compassion will be wedded to power.
And then softness will come to a world
that is harsh and unkind.
And then both men and women will be gentle.
And then both women and men will be strong.
And then all will live in harmony
with each other and the earth.
And then everywhere will be called Eden
once again.
WEB OF RELATIONSHIPS
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
ROOTS
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Rooted in the interconnectedness of all
creation
Expressed through right relationships with
God
 Self
 Others
 Church
 Earth
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RUPTURE
Relationships have been wounded,
fractured, dislocated
 That which belongs together is now
apart
 There is an awareness of pain or
hurt or sin or separation that needs
to be healed
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RUPTURE
Acceptance of our fractured being,
“our imperfection simply is”
 Deep in our hearts as individuals and
as communities, there are struggles,
value conflicts and ambiguities – our
sinfulness
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Marie Chin, RSM (1999)
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RUPTURE
Our success and glories are not the stuff
of community; our sins and failures are.
In those difficult areas of our lives, we
confront the human condition, and we
begin to learn compassion for all beings
who share the limits of life itself.
Parker Palmer, 1990
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RESPONSE
Compassion is born
in the soil of vulnerability.
Marie Chin (1999)
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RESPONSE
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away; see, everything
has become new!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ, and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and entrusting the
message of reconciliation to us.
So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is
making his appeal through us; we entreat you on
behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
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EMERGING UNDERSTANDING
OF SPIRITUALITY
Spirituality spells out our connectedness
to
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God
our human roots
the rest of nature
one another
ourselves
Statement of EATWOT (1992)
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RESPONSE
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Claim and embrace one’s own story – as
individual, as community, as conference
Listen to the story of the other
Acknowledge the gaps:
 Doubt and Belief
 Betrayal and Promise
 Powerlessness and Power
 Exclusion and Belonging
 Suffering and Hope
RECONCILIATION AND STORY
 Storyteller and Listener linked and
engaged
Physically
Emotionally
Spiritually
Intellectually
Socially
 Invites and draws all present into
participation
 Bridges to other places and to other
times: past, present and future
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RECONCILIATION AND STORY
 Builds trust
 Unlocks passion
 Is non-hierarchical
 Is uniquely human
 Story spoken creates in the listener and
the teller, the community and the
society:
 Reflection
 Change
 Healing
 Reconciliation
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RESPONSE
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Reconciling communities live in the gaps
We stand, wait, endure the ambiguities
and uncertainties of events, relationships
and experiences
God – Shekinah – dwells, stands, waits,
endures with us
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SPIRITUALITY OF RECONCILIATION
RESPONSE
Communities that work hardest for
internal reconciliation are the ones
most eager to work for social
reconciliation.
Jon Sobrino (1986)
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RECONCILIATION IS NOT . . .
Passive acquiescence to injustice
 Persistence in unjust structures
because they are familiar
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RECONCILIATION IS . . .
An awe-full responsibility
 A journey from sin to healing
 A continuous, ongoing, lifelong
reality
 Intentional
 Based in sincerity, sensitivity,
interdependence
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I’m sittin’ on my stage-head lookin’ out at where
Skipper Joe Irwin’s schooner is ridin’ at her
moorin’ … thinkin’ about how weak are the things
that try to pull people apart – differences in
colours, creeds and opinion – weak things like the
ripples tuggin’ at the schooner’s chain.
And
thinkin’ about how strong are the things that hold
people together – strong, like Joe’s anchor, and
chain, and the good holdin’ ground below.
Ted Russell, The Holdin’ Ground
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RUPTURES WITHIN/AMONG
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
Theologies of religious life
 Creation theology
 Celebration of Eucharist
 Approach to social justice
 Focus on ecumenism
 Distance from young people and
young families
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RUPTURES WITHIN/AMONG
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
Centralization of ecclesial authority
 Sense of regional alienation
 Loss of presence of Vatican II
message
 Reconciliation or justice
 Relations between religious
congregations and church hierarchy
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How can we dare Wisdom
in the mosaic of our realities?
Inès Maria dell’ Eucaristia, fdls
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LEADERSHIP RESPONSE
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Visionary – vision community
Prophetic – speaking and living the
truth, calling the community to do so
Inspiring – calling forth the good
Facilitating – drawing out the energy
and action of the community
Creating – preparing the environment in
which spirit develops
Presiding – leading the community in
grieving and celebrating
CHALLENGE OF CULTURE
TRANSFORMATION
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LEADERS LIVING ON THE EDGE
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LEADERS LIVING ON THE EDGE
Within the Congregation
 Between the Congregation and the
Church
 Between the Congregation and the
Society
 With other Congregations
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LEADERS LIVING ON THE EDGE
But all of you are kindlers of fire,
lighters of firebrands.
Walk in the flame of your fire, and
among the brands that you have
kindled!
Isaiah 50:10-11
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I will pour out my Spirit on everyone.
Your sons and daughters will proclaim
my message;
Your young men will see visions
and your old men will have dreams.
Yes, even on my servants, both men and
women,
I will pour out my Spirit in these days.
Joel 2: 28—32, Acts 2: 17—18
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Beannacht ("Blessing")
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On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
BeannachtWhen(«theBénédiction
»)
canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
~ John O'Donohue ~
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