Ripple Effects

I have long taken a widening rings approach to engaging with scripture. An early mentor of mine helped me to understand that a most important question to ask about a bible passage is not, “did this really happen?” but “is this really happening?”  If so, how is it happening inside of me?  How is it happening in the parish?  How is it happening in the larger community?  How is it happening nationally and globally?

It seems that a widening rings approach can facilitate sustainable mission. When the well-resourced parts of ourselves care for the most vulnerable parts of ourselves, we might come to understand that the most vulnerable parts have much to teach  –the well-resourced parts have much to learn. Then extending that to the most vulnerable and well-resourced parts of the parish, the larger communities, the nation and the world, perhaps we can imagine the futility of trying to privilege one ring over another; they are moving into one another, becoming one another.

As I think of widening rings, I think of the speech given by Robert F. Kennedy about ripples of hope:

Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation. … It is from numberless diverse acts of courage … [and] … belief that human history is shaped.
Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, [s/]he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

It seems to me that is what Emmanuel Church is about when we are at our best.