Chosen vulnerability

Today I have been facilitating a small group of international missiologist. We are working on a contribution for the Edinburgh 2010 Study process and have participants from South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Indonesia, India, Korea, Norway, Belarus and the UK. A great group to work with! Our Indian colleague, Monica Melanchthon (right), was unable to join us so I ended up reading her paper to the group and was so struck by one short passage that I want to repeat it here. She writes:

When someone who has no need to be vulnerable becomes vulnerable in order to identify with those that are, and together with them struggles to be resilient against all death dealing forces, structures and systems, and thus together with them moves towards a society transformed—of justice, and communion , then he or she participates in the vulnerable mission of God. The kind of mission that is required here is not of contemplative theologizing but liberative action in solidarity with the oppressed. It is a solidarity that is built on a relationship of complete vulnerability and identification with the oppressed community; sustained by a process of mutual giving and receiving, and nurtured by seeing in the other the ethical demand of responsibility.

Thanks Monica