{"id":1204,"date":"2008-04-16T13:37:14","date_gmt":"2008-04-16T13:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2008-04-16T13:37:14","modified_gmt":"2008-04-16T13:37:14","slug":"radical_welcom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1204","title":{"rendered":"Radical Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

The blog, Fr. Jake Stops the World<\/a>, which I like to read, has a new entry on “radical welcome.” Fr. Jake writes:<\/p>\n

As the chart on page 3 of this document<\/a> makes clear, “radical welcome” goes beyond being an “inviting”, or even “inclusive” Church. For instance, compare the message of those three approaches:
\nThe message of the Inviting Church – ” Come, join our community and share our cultural values and heritage.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThe message of the Inclusive Church – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Help us to be diverse.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThe message of the Radically Welcoming Church – \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bring your culture, your voice, your whole self\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwe want to engage in truly mutual relationship.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nDo you see the difference? Instead of a transaction, in which we assume The Other wants something we have, a radical welcome is an invitation to enter into a mutual relationship.
\nIs there some risk involved? Of course. And lots of fear. One of the greatest fears of the Church in general, and many of our members specifically, is the fear of change. And if we welcome in The Other, the outcasts, those who are somehow “different,” things are definately going to change. And maybe we won’t like it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay, so I made a comment on his blog, which I include below:
\nWhat distinguishes what I hear as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153radical welcome\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from, say, the current ethos of Unitarian Universalism but with liturgy? As I looked for a faith tradition to become involved in, I chose Anglicanism (TEC) because I saw in it a means of faith that hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t given up on the time-honored Tradition \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that which has lasted through trend and whim over the centuries \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and at the same time was not caught up in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153traditionalism.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There was a declaration in the BCP that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this is what we believe,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but an allowance for questioning and doubt that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tied to hyper-individualism and rebellion.
\nI know that at times \u00e2\u20ac\u0153converts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be the most resilient concerning change \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found; now you want to change it all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Granted, there is resistance to change always, but sometimes when resistance presents itself against \u00e2\u20ac\u0153change for change\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sake,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the resistance is not a bad thing. Think God there was resistance to tearing down Grand Central Station in NYC against the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153modernizers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that already tore down Penn-Station.
\nJarosloav Pelikan stated, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The only alternative to Tradition is bad tradition.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThere seems to me a compulsion among the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Baby-Boomer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d generation (and yes this is a generalization) for continual change. In my dealing with the younger generations, they are frankly sick of it. Of course change is constant in their own lives, but what they seem to be seeking in a world-of-nothing-but-change is a constant \u00e2\u20ac\u201c something they can hold on to and be sure of. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why, I think, traditional forms of church architecture, language, liturgy, hymnology, and the like are so attractive to younger people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c often to the chagrin of their elders.
\nJesus was most certainly radical in his inclusion and welcome of the people his culture demeaned and rejected, but it was always to be included in and welcomed into this one thing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as he defined it, the Kingdom of God. The rich-young-ruler, when he finally could not sell all that he had as Jesus demanded as a condition for following him, was not then given the option by Jesus to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just come along anyway.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The rich-young-ruler walked off, un-included. Jesus unbiasedly invited him into this forming Church, but not in order for the rich-young-ruler to help him decided what the forming Church was to become. There was an eternal constant that Jesus upheld and to which he required conformity that resulted in the capitulation of individual notions of things. I welcome anyone, even those the present culture ridicules and condemns, but I welcome them into something that is beyond me and beyond us.
\nSo, if \u00e2\u20ac\u0153radical welcome\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is considered true and not just the desired imposition of yet another ideology, what am I to think as I keep hearing from young people that this generation of leadership is completely unresponsive, will not listen, will not consider what they as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the future of the Church\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are truly seeking? An NYU student makes a comment that, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We really do like Rite I!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The rector shakes his head, dumbfounded that this could actually be possible, and says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I keep hearing this, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand it and just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d If the younger generations seek that which is ancient, tried and true, not trendy, and if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have issues surrounding ancient stuff, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inclusive language,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d male imagery, etc., etc., will your generation allow that? My experience thus far is that you will not \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not what one would call a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reactionary conservative.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked in academe for a long time now and in this Episcopal Church and to my chagrin I have found the most un-inclusive people to be those who yell \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inclusion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the most. This is just my experience, for what it is worth. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to be a better way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The blog, Fr. Jake Stops the World, which I like to read, has a new entry on “radical welcome.” Fr. Jake writes: As the chart on page 3 of this document makes clear, “radical welcome” goes beyond being an “inviting”, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglican"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}