Relationships

I am a bit behind which means my thoughts about this book are a little cloudy. When I was in seminary I was introduced to the idea of “relationality” by S. Mark Heim. The relationships of God as seen in the Trinity reflect the nature of humanity, the church and our desire to be in relationship with God (crassly put). The idea seemed so obvious to me that I did not pay it much heed and ran back to Tillich, questions of despair and “being” and looking for my ground. Ah the naïveté of youth. Now, after having read folks such as Heim, Volf, and Fiddes I am realizing that there is much more than just the obvious we need to be nice to each other. The ecclesiological implications of relationship alone is profound. With all of this said, Fiddes does not seem to be offering anything groundbreaking or earth shattering, but is playing in the same sandbox as others and building a decent castle to consider. What Fiddes does consider are the pastoral implications one finds in such a theological approach. No longer is the role of the minister to offer answers to the many theological questions that are on the minds of those sitting in the pews. (I am assuming that those folks in the pews are peculating with theological questions and not thinking about the next sports game, or how the colors of the flowers are all wrong, or anything like that… let me dream, let me dream.) Instead, the minister is to offer to bring the individual into relationship with God, questions and all. This means the minister needs to be in a relationship with the parishioner and then to allow God to flow in the relationship – this is Fiddes understand of an ontology of relationship; God happens in the flow of a relationship (page 281 if you don’t believe me).
On the Baptist level Fiddes had some interesting points. He claims that the pastor has been commissioned to speak for God regularly, specifically the forgiveness that God offers. Seems kinda Catholic. Fiddes covers the hierarchical potential by claiming that ordination is given by Christ and the congregation – whew! One interesting claim that Fiddes (and possibly Ellis – see previous entry on worship) makes is that Baptist are sacramental people due to the free form of their worship. The purpose of worship, Fiddes claims, is for the congregation to find the mind of Christ. Some congregations listen better than others. Interesting thought. Maybe someday I’ll meet Fiddes and talk to him about his ideas, get to know him and his thoughts. Then again, isn’t it much more fun for me to just read what he has offered, spew my thoughts and then walk away? The less relationship, the less the mess.