Evensong,
Second Sunday of Epiphany 2017
John Swinton is Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Care in the University
of Aberdeen. I’m currently reading Dementia:
Living in the Memories of God, for which he won the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize, which ‘celebrates the most promising contemporary theological writing
from the global Church.’
At
one point, Swinton suggests that ‘to be human is to be (1) dependent and
contingent, (2) embodied, (3) relational, (4) broken and deeply lost, and (5)
loved and profoundly purposeful. [and in what follows] The key underlying
principle is that the experiences of people with dementia matter for the ways
in which we understand humanness.’ (p. 161)
I
think that it would be possible, and indeed beneficial, to re-read both our
readings – from Ezekiel and Galatians – in the light of Swinton’s
observations.
First,
to be human is to be dependent and
contingent. Ezekiel is dependent on God to stand up on his feet, he is
dependent on God for his sustenance. In other words, he is dependent on God for
his very life. In the same way, God is the source of Paul’s life, his beginning
and his end. Such dependency does not strip us of dignity, but opens us to
mystery.
Second,
to be human is to be embodied.
Swinton quotes the farmer, poet, novelist and essayist Wendell Berry, who
writes:
‘The
formula [for ‘man-making’] given in Genesis [2:7] is not man = body + soul; the
formula there is soul = dust + breath … God did not make a body and put a soul into
it, like a letter into an envelope. He formed man of dust; by breathing his
breath into it, he made the dust live. Insofar as it lived, it was a soul. The
dust, formed as man and made to live, did not embody a soul; it became a soul.
“Soul” here refers to the whole creature. Humanity is thus presented to us, in
Adam, not as a creature of two distinct parts temporarily glued together, but
as a single mystery.’
(Wendell Berry, The
Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry, p. 313, cited
by Swinton, p. 167)
In
relation to dementia, Swinton notes that loss of cognition does not equate to
loss of humanness. We are not body stripped of soul, not zombies. We are
animated earth which contains the very breath of God, in order that we might be
with God. This is ongoing and life-long, as we see when God breathes his spirit
into Ezekiel; and extends grace to Paul – a call, moreover, which has nothing
to do with the supposed merits of his highly developed critical capacities, but
which is expressed through the
suffering of his body.
Third,
to be human is to be relational. We
are created to experience God’s love and to love one another like God does.
Hence, God sends Ezekiel to his people, despite their long history of turning away
from that love. Hence, Paul visits Peter – not to hear the gospel from him, but to share in the gospel with him – and why the churches of Judea
glorified God because Paul had been brought from persecuting to proclaiming the
faith. To be fully human is not to compete and triumph, but to love and to
receive love – which, significantly, is not dependent on being known by sight.
Fourth,
to be human is to be broken and deeply
lost. We see this in the rebellion of the people Ezekiel is sent to, in the
imagery of briers and thorns and scorpions, where the land should speak of
God’s goodness. We see it in Paul’s striving, that leads him only to violence
and to try to destroy others. We see – at least in moments of lucidity – that
this is part of what it is to be human; but not the totality, not the final
word.
Fifth,
to be human is to be loved and profoundly
purposeful. God will not abandon his people, whether they hear or refuse to
hear. And God provides for Ezekiel, sustenance that is good, and sweet as
honey, despite looking unpalatable. More than that, God shares his very words:
gives himself, his love for us, his purpose for us. Word that ultimately
becomes flesh, as Jesus. Jesus, who appears to Paul, who loves even one who
persecutes him, who graciously reveals a purpose God had set Paul aside for
before he was even born.
Swinton
has sought to re-describe dementia, to tell a counter-story that, rather than
being entirely negative – while acknowledging the losses and challenges
dementia brings – equips us to see dementia both as a very particular
expression of the calling to be human and as a reminder to us all of what it
means to be human.
It
seems to me that his insights resonate with those revealed through Ezekiel’s
calling as a prophet, and Paul’s calling as an apostle. And that our calling is
to come together, to remind one another and the people to whom we are sent what
it means to be human, and to respond faithfully. As we discover our dependence
and contingency; embrace our whole bodies rather than prioritise our mind; hold
one another in relationship; face our brokenness and acknowledge our lost
state; and find ourselves kept in the knowledge and love of God, that sends us
out with profound purpose to love and to serve the Lord; may we be filled with
the breath of God, and may he be glorified in and through our lives. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment