Monday, September 22, 2014
processing – projects, significations, institutions – Palestine
Today we drove from Bethlehem to Nazareth. The day began navigating military checkpoints in order to move from our hotel through the outskirts of Jerusalem and onto the motorway north. We spent time on the mount of transfiguration, visiting the Franciscan church. At Cana, souvenir museums offered us wine. In Nazareth, we visited churches erected over potential places of institution.
Monastic movements from Europe now camped on Holy land mountains, souvenirs targeting religious tourists, churches fighting turf wars – and a line from theologian Graham Ward has helped me discern a thread.
“There is then a twofold work for those projects involved in developing transformative practices of hope: the work of generating new imaginary significations and the work of forming institutions that mark such significations.” (Ward, Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice, 2005, 146.)
It’s a tightly coiled quote. Three words help me make some sense – projects, significations, institutions.
Projects are the future. They are what we are working toward, the dreams we carry that are in the process of being grounded in lives, actions, communities. Significations are the visions, the zeal, the beliefs and values we hold dear and close. Institutions are the groups, constitutions, buildings, schools.
My experience of the Holy Land is of encountering institutions – the buildings, the tourism industry, the complex politics, the religions that fight for their pieces of turf. Each began as projects, a band of monks that arrived from Italy, an idea to make a living, a small community that planted a church. Each would point back to a signification – a set of visions, zeal, beliefs and values.
So what?
– Change involves attention to all three, to projects, significations and institutions.
– Institutions need to keep strong, clear, transparent links to their significations. Storytelling is a key here.
– Projects are the lifeblood of innovation. Wise institutions will keep funding them.
– Significations are deep and powerful. They can be life-giving. They can also be toxic. Practices of discernment are essential.
(For an application of Graham Ward to emerging church, go here).
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