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CRCW
Consultation Day in Sheffield
3rd February 2001
Church Related Community
Work
As part of this event I was asked to give a
reflection, a thought for the day on the new CRCW theme Creating
Change in Community.
No need to create change
– its taking place all the time.
Imperceptibly, in which we are all involved
Engulfs our gently, disturbingly, violently,
The social process everyday experience of living.
For me its how we respond – the values that we hold
That makes all the difference.
Saul Alinksy puts it so well
‘Life is an
adventure of passion, risk, danger, laughter, beauty,
love, a burning curiosity to go with the action to see what it is
all about, to search for a pattern of meaning, to burn one’s
bridges because you’re never going to go back anyway,
and to live to the end.
Terrified by this dramatic vista, most people just
exist;
they turn from the turbulence of change and try to hide
in their private make believe harbours, called in politics conservatism;
in the church, prudence; and in everyday life, being sensible.
The God I believe
in is not prudent or sensible.
God is in the messy processes of life, everywhere or nowhere
in everything and everybody – ceaselessly creating.
God is always being embodied
and here’s the challenge of transformation and regeneration.
How am I to embrace this adventure of passion and risk?
How can I be part of the midwifeing process,
Encouraging the emergence of new patterns of right relationship
In partnership with God in Christ.
It’s in community – in the parent and toddler group,
The Bangladeshi women’s group, the Sure Start bid, the new
sheltered housing scheme, the preventative mental health project,
the Friendly Club for elderly people, the SRB office,
the church prayer group, the city council, the meals we sharetogether,
the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal.
Creativity
comes from
‘bearing the pain and in making love the whole time’
Healthy change – we might call it salvation – comes as
We dare to reflect the One who gives us life.
Bob Day
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