|
Dear saints,
This week saw the passing of one of the great theologians and church leaders of our time, Gustavo Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez was a Catholic priest from Peru and considered by many as the founding thinker of Liberation Theology, a theological framework for reading the Bible and the world through the lens of what Gutiérrez called "God's preferential option for the poor."
I can remember when I first discovered Gutiérrez's work when I was in theological college in Cambridge. It was electrifying. His work inspired me to write a dissertation at Cambridge on the theme of "Liberation in Second Isaiah" (Isaiah 40-55) and then go on to discover Postcolonial Theory which became the foundation of my doctoral work on reading the Bible with people who suffered poor mental health. I know of numerous scholars and pastors who were equally inspired by Gutiérrez's life and work.
On one hand, those years seem like a lifetime away for me, not because I am so ancient (although people do seem to take delight in commenting on how many gray hairs I now have), but because if I were to find time to write for academic publication again it would have to be during the night! On the other hand, the theology of Gustavo Gutiérrez and of others that helped form me as a priest and theologian still very much influences how I think about this wonderful church community we all are so richly blessed to call home.
In one of his less well-known books, "We Drink From Our Own Wells," Gutiérrez talks about the concept of "spendthrift hospitality," as a characteristic of "the new way that is coming into existence among us." Gutiérrez held out hope for what was being birthed and for him, this was not merely a new way of being the church, but a new way of being the world; a new way of being human.
Our "spendthrift hospitality" is expressed in many ways, and at this time of year we focus that expression on our giving. What would it mean for you to be spendthrift with your generosity? How deep does the well of your life as a giver go? Indeed, what depth of giving would have the capacity to change you?
There is no doubt in my mind that your financial support of All Saints' has a power to impact the world for good. Just this week, Bishop Emmanuel Bwatta let me know the joyous news that women will now be ordained in his diocese for the first time, and invited us to consider expanding the number of women we support in their theological education, now to be prepared for ordained ministry. It takes $800 to support a woman called to an ordained life in that part of the world. Can you imagine how that money could change a life, a family's life, a whole community's life? I wonder if we might try to find out.
God does not call the church to an ordinary kind of relationship with the world but to a transformative one. Gustavo Gutiérrez spent his life championing people who lived on the margins of things and never stopped believing in the possibility and promise of the Kingdom of God. I invite you into such a hope and if you have not yet done so, I welcome you to make a pledge that speaks to that hope.
As Gutiérrez writes the following in his magnum opus, "A Theology of Liberation": "To announce the Gospel is to proclaim that the love of God is present in the historical becoming of humankind." That love is present in us and in what we are becoming. Let's all be in that number when the saints go marching in!
|
