“I’m trying to encourage my parish to get entangled in the community.”
That’s what an acquaintance from past years, rector of a parish in New York City, said to me as we were catching up during a chance meeting at last summer’s General Convention.
Entangled? What a verb to use for mission!
And he did mean mission, for he was talking about how the parish could reach beyond itself to encounter and form community with the world beyond the parish. That’s the very definition of mission – reaching out in the dimension of difference.
But entangled?
To entangle, dictionaries say, is to cause to become twisted together or caught; to ensnarl, ensnare, enmesh; to involve in difficulties or complicated circumstances. So entanglement has a negative connotation. When we talk about political and romantic entanglements we mean situations where people have gotten caught in troublesome dilemmas and are facing difficult decisions.
When it comes to mission we like to use more neutral or slightly positive verbs like involve or engage. People talk about “getting involved” in mission. “Engage God’s Mission” was the motto for a General Convention some time ago.
But entangled in mission?
What I liked about my friend’s concept of mission as entanglement was its realism. He indeed wanted the parish to be involved in the wider community, to engage with it. He was assuming that.
But he was anticipating, realistically, that such involvement, such engagement, would be complicated. Difficulties would inevitably arise. There might be misunderstandings that could prompt conflict. As parish people would reach out to join with people who might not share their spiritual commitments, there might be friction. There might be ethnic, racial, cultural or economic tension.
My friend’s concept of mission as entanglement highlighted that complications and difficulties are not bugs in mission, but part of the program. They’re inevitable. Entanglement is inevitable as a city congregation reaches out to its neighborhood. Entanglement is inevitable as Christians reach out globally across differences of language, culture, ethnicity, nationality and economics.
Entanglement was what God encountered from the get-go in the Incarnation, the enfleshment of God in Jesus of Nazareth.
There was the danger of pregnant Mary getting stoned. A hazardous journey undertaken amid imperial taxation under military occupation. The hassle of giving birth when there was no room in the inn. The murderous rage of Herod massacring at least dozens of children in an effort to snuff out the Christ Child. A hasty flight into Egypt.
And Jesus’ ministry was full of entanglements: Dinners with hated tax collectors and despised prostitutes. Never-ending controversies with bad-faith opponents intent on retaining their power. Misunderstandings with his disciples and with his family.
A culmination of God’s entanglement in the human saga? – the cross.
Christian mission over the centuries is a history of entanglement – cultural, political, economic and personal entanglement. That’s inevitable as we truly come alongside our companions in the gospel and share their journey with them. Misunderstandings, friction, conflict – they’re inevitable. But with humility and transparency they can be and are so often reconciled and redeemed. And, behold, a new creation in God’s mission after the pattern of Christ.
So: Are you worried that your missional efforts are getting you entangled in some unwelcome ways?
Take heart: God’s been there. And God’s here with you in that entanglement.
– Titus Presler, executive director