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Monica Brown poses many questions and raises pertinent issues
concerning what we do in our ministry, why we do it and how we do it. The central concern in the book is
how authentic we are in our ministry. Are we honouring the God of Jesus in the way we proclaim God or
are we contradicting the very nature of the God we proclaim by our actions, values and policies?
Embodying the God We Proclaim will be an invaluable resource for anyone involved in ministry,
but particularly pastoral ministry, liturgy, spirituality, catechesis, faith education and outreach. It will
be especially helpful to leadership teams, executive staff and those involved in formation and
training for ministry.
About the Author
Monica Brown brings to these reflections her diverse experience of ministry
in faith education, pastoral
ministry, liturgy, music and spirituality. She is the founding director of
Emmaus Productions and the
Shekinah Creative Centre, which promote the integration of creativity and
spirituality. She is one of
Australia’s most highly respected composers of Christian music for
children and adults, as well
as a national and international facilitator of workshops, inservices and
concerts.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Incarnation — Heart of the Matter
Embodying the God We Proclaim
Warmth, Affection, Intimacy
Imagination, Creativity and Sacramentality
Time Alone, Time With — Transfiguration
Challenge, Failure — Even Death
Emmaus Journey — From Death to Life
Endnotes
Following is the introduction to Embodying the God We Proclaim. All
rights reserved. Copyright © 1996, Resource Publications, Inc.
Introduction
Embodying the God We Proclaim. What comes to your mind when
you read these words? What meanings do you anticipate will be unearthed
in them? What issues and concerns do you expect they will
address?
These are some of the questions I have as I attempt to reflect with you on
the focus of this book.
What comes to my mind when I ponder this phrase is people: people who in
their being enflesh the mystery of God. Embodying the God We
Proclaim is about people who in their manner of living and relating not
only reflect, but actually make real and accessible, the presence of
God.
Who are these people? They are ordinary people like you and me. They
are all of us who seek to live authentically from the depths of our humanity,
the mystery of our being in God.
The people who embody the God they proclaim are those of us who
struggle to practice in our living what we profess in our words. They are
people such as you and me, who are not perfect but genuine in our desire
to integrate our beliefs with our actions, our faith with our daily
reality.
What if there were one like us who was so authentic in His being that He
embodied God, in such a way that nothing separated Him from God? What
if there were one whose being was so real that there were no
contradictions, no inconsistencies, no discrepancies in what He
proclaimed about God and what He lived?
What would we experience in one such as this? What would we learn from
one so authentic? We would experience nothing less than the incarnate
God! We would learn all that we need to know for life. In Jesus, this One
who is like us, we would discover the most credible model for our living and
our ministry that we could ever hope to find.
This is why I have sub-titled this book “Ministering As Jesus
Did.”
In Jesus’ life and ministry we see not only the fullness of the
embodiment of God, but we also see the extraordinary impact of His
embodiment on the lives of those He encountered. Because of the integrity
of what Jesus proclaimed about God and how He lived His humanity, God
was validated in Jesus as being the living, intimate presence and the reign
of God was truly established.
This book seeks to search out something of the mystery of who Jesus is
and what Jesus did so that we who claim to believe in Him might
understand a little more of what we are called to embrace in our own lives
and in our ministry.
Embodying the God We Proclaim does not attempt to present a
theological or scholarly thesis on the life of Jesus. On the contrary, this
book presumes a measure of faith and degree of conviction in the heart of
the reader that will enable us to ponder the mystery and search out the
meanings.
The mystery of Jesus is essentially an experience for the heart, not a theory
for the head. Therefore we approach this mystery, not with heady notions
and theories but with attentive hearts open to the grace of revelation. We
turn to Scripture for our guidance here, believing it to be the true Word of
God. We ponder it and question it in an attempt to expose ourselves to its
rich and sacred revelation.
The object of this book is to examine the heart of our ministry in the light of
Jesus’ ministry. Appreciating the purpose of Jesus’ ministry
and the way He ministered may enable us to evaluate why we do what we
do in ministry and how we do it.
Embodying the God We Proclaim raises many questions and issues
pertinent to our ministry today. It does not seek to provide answers so much
as promote awareness and stimulate discussion on matters that are
impacting our lives and ministry.
The central concern here is how authentic we are in our ministry. Are we
honoring the God of Jesus in the way we proclaim God or are we
contradicting, by our actions, our values, and our policies, the very nature
of the God we are proclaiming?
This raises questions about what motivates our ministry today. Do we have
the heart for ministry that Jesus had? More basic than this is the possibility
that we may have lost our heart, neglecting it, even casting it aside in our
well-intentioned pursuit of professionalism and administrative
proficiency.
Worse still, have we betrayed the heart of our ministry in being less than
authentic in our relating, not only to those to whom we minister, but to our
own colleagues and co-workers? Are we, in our contemporary ministry
becoming less recognizable as Jesus’ disciples? Do we really
understand what Jesus has done? Are we really honoring His directive to
go and do the same?
What effect is the subtle infiltration of the career pursuit and the
paper-chase mentality having upon our ministry? Are we being seduced in
our ministry by ambition and power? Are we more caught up in providing
services than in attending to those whom we encounter? Are the
disempowering pressures of the administration and preservation of our
institutions and structures locking us into survival and crisis mode? Are we
losing sight of what matters most in our ministry?
Asking these questions in the light of Jesus’ ministry challenges us
to re-focus, not only the motivation of our ministry, but the manner in which
we minister. Jesus’ life and ministry provide us with a model of
ministry based on mutual love and friendship. In it Jesus reminds us of
forgotten truths and basic values.
For this reason much of what is shared in this writing is about how we relate
to ourselves, our colleagues and those to whom we mister. There is little if
any discussion about programs and activities, but extensive soul searching
around the basic values of respect, mutuality and justice in our relationships
and dealings with others.
By virtue of the nature of its concerns, this book tries to find the balance
between the real and the ideal, the strengths and the limitations of our
ministry. We are not concerned with perfection but with authenticity. We
are not intending to be critical or to judge but to name the issues and
articulate the challenges that face us in our ministry today.
There is a deep passionate hope invested in this book. It is the hope that in
evaluating our ministry in the awareness of who Jesus is and what Jesus
did, we might recognize that our greatest resource for our ministry is the
authenticity of who we are before God. It is a hope that the warmth and
sincerity of our humanity will be reclaimed and owned as a leaven for
our ministry.
Embodying the God We Proclaim may be a helpful resource for
anyone involved in ministry, but in particular, leadership teams, pastoral
teams, school staffs and those involved in formation and training in
ministry.
The frequent mention in this writing to community is intended to mean the
specific community in which you minister and/or the community of your
ministry team and colleagues. Your experience of your community is an
important backdrop to the reflections offered here. In no way does this
book claim to be the final word on the issues and concerns it addresses. It
is intended to stimulate discussion and dialogue within your community and
to be informed by your experience and insights.
Each chapter of this book has three sections or parts. The first part of each
chapter offers a scriptural reflection on Jesus and a specific aspect of His
ministry. Part two of each chapter discusses some of the implications of
Jesus’ ministry in relation to our ministry. Part three of each chapter
provides the opportunity for discernment and evaluation.
Part three may be the most important section of each chapter, for it offers a
series of questions for personal reflection as well as a scriptural meditation.
Having encouraged self-reflection and self evaluation, it then provides a
series of questions for the ministry team, whether they be two or three on
the pastoral team, or an executive staff or a whole school staff or a
formation team. This section concludes with practical suggestions for a
ritual and prayer by way of bringing the threads of the group’s sharing
to a close.
This section in part three is not intended to be a program for evaluation. It
merely offers suggestions for focusing on the practical implications, within
the local community, of the issues raised in our reflections. It should not be
anything more than a guide.
It needs to be noted that the very thought of evaluation can be a threat to
some people. The evaluation intended here is in the sense of owning our
strengths as well as our limitations. True evaluation will lead to genuine
affirmation as well as fair and just challenge. The facilitation of this process
of questions and discernment will require some preparation, in as much as
the questions and focus may need to be adapted to the circumstances,
needs and readiness of the group.
What is imperative here is a real awareness and sensitivity to the members
of the group and the issues at hand. Some issues are delicate and need to
be dealt with in a sensitive and discerning manner. A team leader may need
to be nominated to prepare this process in advance of the group
sharing.
The ideas for the ritual are offered, again, merely as a spring-board for your
own ideas. The most effective ritual is the one that comes from within the
faith sharing. ...
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