wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Norris tells Covenant Network: Disciples must embrace the

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #9009 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05597
Nov. 4, 2005

'We don't know, but we're not lost'

Kathleen Norris to Covenant Network:
Disciples must embrace the mysterious 

by Jerry L. Van Marter

MEMPHIS, TN - Christian discipleship is a mystery to be embraced, no matter
how much or how little we understand it, Presbyterian essayist and poet
Kathleen Norris said Friday in a speech to the Covenant Network of
Presbyterians during its national conference here.

	The Covenant Network is a nine-year-old organization whose primary
purpose is to overturn G-6.0106b of The Book of Order, which bars the
ordination of sexually active gay and lesbian Presbyterians as church
officers. The theme of the Nov. 3-5 conference is "Disciples in Community."

	"Understanding discipleship as mystery is essential to understanding
the mystery of the incarnation," Norris said. "We can make promises -
marriage vows or ordination vows - but we cannot know fully where the
promises will take us, so it's best to understand the journey as
discipleship."

	Acknowledging discipleship as mystery is part of the good news of the
gospel, Norris said in an address richly infused with excerpts from her
favorite poets and from her own poetry. "Even Jesus' disciples didn't
understand who he was or what he was talking about much of the time," she
said. "The important thing is that they stayed with him."

	With Advent approaching, Norris reminded her audience of Mary, who
despite her confusion about the mysterious visit from the angel said "yes" to
God. "We frequently turn away in fear or despair, and instead of Mary's 'yes'
we say 'no' or 'maybe,'" she said. "But God keeps working on us, and when our
souls say 'yes' to God, we learn another mystery - that we, too, are
magnified and become something much larger than we were before."

	Rational Christians tend to accept only what they can understand,
Norris said. "It is folly to accept no more than we can understand, but that
is nevertheless what we're too often tempted to do. ... If matters of faith
and discipleship seem incomprehensible, it only means that we have a lot more
to learn about discipleship and God."

	And when liberal and conservative Christians try to "box in" the
mystery of discipleship by trying to determine who's worthy and who's not,
Norris said, "I want to say, 'A pox on both their houses.'"

	From the earliest days, Christians have looked for ways to exclude
others from the body of Christ, she said, but "no ideology can trump Baptism
- as if we can decide who God has called. Once you say 'You're not OK.'
you're on very dangerous ground. We don't get to choose who is let in and
who's invited to the feast. People have always had a hard time hearing that."

	The fact is, Norris said, returning to the Advent theme, "God can
come to us anyplace, anytime - even a smelly old manger. Our task as
disciples is to learn to trust a God whose promises endure and do not fail
... and then to trust each other.

	"The motto for all disciples should be: 'We don't know, but we're not
lost."

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