a terrible force and a terrible urgency

At some thoughts one stands perplexed, above all at the sight of human sin, and wonders whether to combat it by force or by humble love. Always decide 'I will combat it by humble love.' If you resolve on that once for all, you can conquer the whole world. Loving humility is a terrible force: it is the strongest of all things, and there is nothing else like it.

- Starets [Elder] Zosima, from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Through her encounter with Soren Kierkegaard, Anne talks of sin as alienation from God... our actions reflecting our distance from God, rather than limiting it to morality (i.e. immoral behaviour is a reflection of our alienation). So how do we attend to that alienation and its various expressions? Dostoevsky's Zosima offers the way... loving humility.

How I long for the church to behave in such a way... a humble posture before the towns and cities and nations it finds itself in... but how far short it falls of this. Too often the church behaves as a power... demanding servitude, presenting a posture of arrogance and control, hierarchical, self-righteous...

It doesn't need to be this way - indeed there is nothing in Jesus suggesting any other posture than loving humility... but what mountains he moved!

I'm part of a church that is struggling as a denomination and in many aspects of its national, regional and local life. And in such times of struggle it is tempting for the institution to assert power in the name of turning things around as if this is possible from on high. I believe that for the church nothing of lasting value is possible from on high unless it is in the right spirit... the spirit of Jesus its Lord. Loving humility... that's the way - attending to the small things - good relationships, caring structures, communities where people can find meaning and sanctuary, a confident expression of the gospel-hope... these are the important things...

I wish I was more confident in these important things being held to the fore - but increasingly we look to the corporate world for the answers to our struggles... the corporate world where service is usually over-shadowed by profit-lines and people are seen as commodities. How heavily do we borrow from the corporate world and how much should we resist its ways and wiles?

Loving humility is the measure... a way that moves mountains... why has the church lost confidence in what should be its key posture?

I suggest that the key influence that has led the church down the wrong path is the western consumerist culture... its dominance over us has blinded us - we have been duped.

I believe it is time to see it for what it is, name it, expose it and set about recovering the gospel way.