The Sign of Jonah Mission as Travelling in The Belly of a Paradox
| dc.contributor.author | Maduesio, Yago Abeledo | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-03-24T09:34:50Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-03-24T09:34:50Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2004 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This essay is a story in itself. It is the story of a search for meaning, an adventure into life, into the apparent "meaningless" of life. This essay emerges from the suffering of the masses and my personal suffering. It is the story that emerges from emptiness, from disfiguration, from nothingness, from being a scapegoat, from being the one who carries the sins of the world. At the same time, this essay is rooted into 'my being Church', into making sense of our difficulties to accept the very final wisdom of God, the wisdom of the Cross. It is the story of trying to fill a gap, the one between the African Church and the Crucified Africa, It is the story of a rebellion, the story of a fight in faith with the Creator; it is a search in honesty. It is the story of surrender and of being surrendered; it is the story of Job. And it is with this disposition that the reader must understand the essay. The reader is encouraged to enter into his/her powerlessness and from there to journey with me; because in fact this essay is about exploration. It is the adventure of theology, the adventure of entering into the realm of mystery. It is for this reason that I invite you to embark on this journey. It is the journey of a complaint, a cry, the cry of the crucified people, but a people that is alive. In this journey we shall start analysing the situation of today's Africa, recognizing it to be a Paschal Continent, but first and foremost a crucified continent. Next we shall analyse the reality of the Church and her stand in front of the crucifixion of Yahweh's suffering Servant today. Here the reader is invited to enter into his own reality, to discern his "Paschality" but mainly his/her crucifixion; to face what is wounded and unhealed within himself/herself, to have the courage to face his/her dark night, and to ask for God. This will put us into the right perspective, with a thirst for meaning. We begin the journey of Job. In the second chapter we commence our exploration, our dialogue with God. We start our search for meaning. We shall move from the microcosm to the macrocosm, in a radical attempt to see the print of God in reality, especially in the one marked by violence and destruction. Here the reader is invited to look around, to re-discover the grandeur of nature, the grandeur of the divine imprinted in the very logic of all that exists. The second half of this chapter makes us enter into the mystery of suffering as present in humanity. Again the reader is invited to face this reality, and through the tools of cosmology, sociology and psychology to make sense of it. Once we have faced not only our suffering but also the one of humanity we shall be invited to move unto the realm of faith. Here we reach the third Chapter. Firstly, we shall unveil the presence of God in nature and in the evolutionary process; we shall attempt to make sense of His/her presence in the middle of the chaotic stages of evolution. Then we shall expose these findings to our Christian faith. We shall walk with Jesus Christ and see how the God of mercy and compassion, through his incarnated life, entered into and lived to the full the destructive dimension of life, in order to transform it. With Jesus as our reference and brother we shall attempt to "cross the threshold of mystery" into the inner life of the Trinity. We shall consider the eternal drama between the three divine persons. Finally we shall conclude this chapter dealing with the reality of Evil. The reader is invited to enter into his/her experience of faith and to evaluate what suffering means for him/her, and his/her faith in a paschal God? Other questions are about evil, sin and about the transcendent/ immanent God. The last section is the one on empowerment. Here we are invited to enter into our dynamic and relational God, because S/he is the source of our mission. This section is entitled "pangs of birth" because, in fact, you are invited to enter into this attitude. This section is an invitation to prayer. You are invited to enter in Prayer. It is the time for communion, for mixing two stories, yours and God's, because in fact they are one. It is an invitation to reconcile the whole of yourself to God; it is an invitation to transformation, to incarnate in your life the Sign of Jonah, the very pattern Jesus gave us. So let us start our journey moving hand in hand with God. Do not be afraid!!! A "cloud of witnesses" all through the essay will support you. Remember that He is with you always, to the end of time!!! Good journey and courage!!! We shall meet at the end of the essay. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12342/1283 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Tangaza University College | en_US |
| dc.subject | Sign of Jonah | en_US |
| dc.subject | Mission as Travelling | en_US |
| dc.subject | Belly of a Paradox | en_US |
| dc.title | The Sign of Jonah Mission as Travelling in The Belly of a Paradox | en_US |
| dc.type | Long Essay | en_US |