Partnership in transformation

The theme for the World Council of Churches' ninth assembly invites us to return to and reappropriate the resources of prayer. In the Bible, prayer is infused into the partnership between God and human beings. Thus, to pray is not to shift responsibility to God, but to prepare ourselves for the tasks in partnership. To pray in truth is to be willing to work alongside God in addressing the issue we pray for. Prayer that dodges partnership and escapes responsibilities is magical, not spiritual.

While inviting us to pray, the theme points out to us some important spiritual nuances:

The world matters to God (John 3:16) and should matter to us. We are required to deny ourselves (Matthew 16:24), not the world. Only those who deny themselves can become partners with God in transforming the world. But transforming the world cannot be an unaided human agenda. God formed the world, which has been deformed by human rebelliousness.

The theme recognizes that we cannot transform the world by ourselves while, at the same time, we are not irrelevant to the transformation of the world. Only the One who has formed the world can transform it. Yet God, in divine humility, invites us to be partners in this supreme enterprise. To be partners with God in this spiritual mission, we need to become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:3). Physicians must, first, heal themselves.

Blessed are the change-makers. Transformation seems a desperately difficult task. Why is this so? This stems from our resistance to transformative changes. We take readily to degenerative changes, but are cynical about changes towards regeneration.

The willingness to change is essential if we are to become agents of transformation as well as be transformed. It cannot be that we, like the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-22), want to be transformed, but are unwilling to change! Confessing and repenting this contradiction innate in human nature is central to the theme of the assembly. The authentic sign of spiritual vitality is the willingness to welcome change, especially change that goes beyond the passions and preferences of human nature or expediency.

Human responsibility under the spotlight. All is not well with the world. But merely arriving at a diagnosis of what ails the world and denouncing its many maladies is insufficient.

Spirituality is a domain of responsibility (John 21:15-19). What makes a response truly spiritual is not only the clarity of the diagnosis of what is wrong, but also an eager commitment to improve the situation. It is not enough to denounce: we must also be able to announce "a new heaven and a new earth." It is easy to find fault, but what the world needs are solutions to its ever-multiplying problems.

Biblically, we are the solution-bringers whom Jesus sends out to the world. This is the meaning of "outreach." Hence, outreach is a dominant nuance within the theme.

Transformation and God's priorities. The effective implementation of an agenda calls for an appropriate strategy. To strategize is to set priorities. In the context of the theme, this means accepting God's priorities. Biblically, these priorities include the transformation of the individual and the sanctification of the family. At the society level, this entails a reorientation from expropriation to sharing, from hostility to hospitality. The outcome of such a reorientation should be "fullness of life" for all and a world order amenable to the core spiritual values of love, compassion, truth and justice.

As far as religion is concerned, what is needed is a reorientation of religiosity from its preoccupation with life after death to the spiritual duty to be perfect in this world (Matthew 5:48). Imploring God to transform the world would sound insincere if we disown the need to reform our religiosity. Religion needs to be transformed into an instrument for eradicating alienation, rather than aggravating it.

Purifying religion was a priority in the public ministry of Jesus. From the escapist religiosity of "looking the other way" (Luke 10:31-32) we need to be reoriented to the proactive spirituality of the Good Samaritan who has eyes to see and a heart of compassion to respond to human needs.

This is the essence of the "repentance" that Jesus preached at the outset of his ministry (Matthew 4:17). Only a repentant church can pray in spirit and in truth, "God, in your grace, transform the world."

Rev. Prof. Valson Thampu, front the Church of North India, serve on the Indian National Commission for Minority Education and the National Integration Council.

COPYRIGHT 2005 World Council of Churches
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