In this wonderful image by BC artist Colin Righton (colinrighton.com), the energy of resilient respect generates that red glow of collaboration in the centre of the painting.
The respect of the musicians for each other feeds it and it, in turn, feeds them. This article is a meditation on how we might nourish this resilient respect. It’s a progress report on my explorations of the availability of the energy of resilient respect and my efforts to accept its gift in ways that enhance my contributions to the common good.
Here are my working assumptions about resilient respect:
- Every human being is worthy of respect because every one of them is an intimate friend of God created in the image of that God and endowed with the vitality of that God;
- No matter how defaced or deformed that image may have become through the traumas of life, every human being’s authentic ability to contribute to the common good remains;
- Loving God, our neighbours, and ourselves (Jesus’ summary of all the Jewish laws and prophetic writings) means being resilient in respecting the capacity of everyone to be more of a blessing to the creation than they are currently being.
- That mission, deeply embedded in our cellular vitality, energizes resilient respect when we pay attention to it and draw upon it with every breath we take.
Resilient respect, then, is a spiritual discipline. It is the core purpose of a praxis (reflective action aimed at personal and communal transformation) that intends to bless all of creation. It is the root reason human beings exist. And it flourishes best when done in gratitude for God’s gift of life.
My own conviction, as I mature into what French philosopher Paul Ricoeur called ‘the second naiveté,’ is that the best way to understand this praxis and its potential for transformation is in companionship with Jesus. I am convinced that Jesus is the One in whom the true God both reveals resilient respect most clearly to human beings and brought human beings home to their authentic vocation as partners with God in blessing creation. We continue to grow into that vocation throughout our lives in this dimension of reality. But the vocation itself, as a friend and ally of God, is a given in and through what God did for creation in Jesus, the Christ.
That, I hasten to add, is my conviction about the nature of God, the world, humans, and the future. I respect others ways of understanding reality and hope to be resilient in that respect. In genuine dialogue with others, whatever their perspectives, I believe that the Spirit is engaged in the complex task of transforming the world into a more compassionate, prosperous, and safe place for life to flourish.
My discipline of resilient respect involves three elements, each of which holds out possibilities to align my energy with God’s loving redemption of the creation. It is only in that alignment that my life has any significance or meaning. To paraphrase the prophet Jeremiah, it is only in the well-being of creation that I find my own well-being. Those three elements are:
- I listen to learn better ways of aligning my life with the fullness of faith that God invites. That fullness touches the depths of my respected being, connects me to the whole human community, and opens my contributions to the whole of creation
- I contribute my best to cultivate the justice, peace, and joy that make up God’s SHALOM in all of my circles of influence. At the same time, I make space for others to do the same.
- Within the rich diversity of the human community, I convene conversations that generate effective ways of doing both of these things better. I do this primarily by being curious about two things – what do others value most and how can they imagine collaborating to achieve those values better?
I was reminded of much of this, and inspired to put it into these words, by a conversation this week with the Rev Dr Margaret Mullin. I had the privilege of teaching Margaret at Vancouver School of Theology. For the past 18 years, she has worked with First Nations people in the inner city of Winnipeg. She is part Cree and has a resilient respect for everyone she encounters in the midst of the traumas that plague their lives in her neighbourhood. God’s resilient respect encourages her to meet, embrace, encourage, and empower her neigbours. As she describes her work, it involves “hand-holding, reparenting, and kicking ass,” in that order.
Margaret has had a transformational impact on her community. That impact is energized by her confidence that God embraced and empowered her, despite the traumas that disorient her life. In the resilient respect that God has for her, she gets reoriented back into her companionship with Jesus and meets the next respected friend of God who crosses her path.
This is not easy stuff, whoever we are and wherever God may have sent us to seek the well-being of our communities. But if we see it as a spiritual discipline, a divinely-inspired praxis, then our appropriation of God’s resilient respect for us will transform the world through us in our circles of influence.
Brian Fraser is lead provocateur of Jazzthink and minister with Brentwood Presbyterian Church in Burnaby, BC. He works primarily with not-for-profit staffs and boards convening COOL conversations for SMARTer leadership. You can find out more at www.jazzthink.com and www.brentwoodpc.ca.
You can read more articles from our interfaith blog., The Spiritual View, HERE
