I’ve been chiseling through some essays in honor of Richard Shaull, who was an author and missionary largely to South America. It’s a book I purchased a long time ago on a clearance rack, and never actually read until recently I was stuck without a book for a day or two.
The essays focus on “Ecumenical Theology in Global Context“, 1998, featuring authors who approach the hope of Jesus Christ as it relates to many different disenfranchised communities around the world. It’s been a good read for sure. I’ll leave with you a few quotes from Maria Marta Aris-Paul’s essay, “Latin American & Caribbean Immigrants in the USA: The Invisible and Forgotten”.
“One of the things that confuses us when we come to this country is the notion of freedom. We confuse being free with doing only what we want. We forget about responsibility and moral principles. This is where our spirituality comes in.”
“Many go to church on Sundays, where they expect to receive spiritual comfort and where the priest is supposed to supply whatever it is that will provide that support. When a community is physically and emotionally drained from daily living, how is it going to learn to be that new model of church which requires of its members time, commitment, responsibility, and more hard work?”
“I believe that to reconstruct the church we need to have small projects. We need to gather in small groups, in mutuality, forming small communities of faith who can look at our own lives and see where the Holy dwells among us. Our small communities can have a ripple effect on the larger society.”
words from wick 