BISHOPS IN METHODISM

                                                  THE CALL TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

                                                                                    

 At school, I learnt about a frog leader and his frog community who lived in a well and could not fathom that there is a world outside the well. When another frog from outside told the frog community in the well about the wonder of the world outside the well, all except the frog leader, got out of the well and discovered how different life is outside the well. The frog leader lived all alone and died inside the well not knowing what was beyond his world. This is a well-known story, but how many of us apply it to our situations?

It is human nature to firmly bind ourselves to any concept, it can be science, religion or constitution. Speaking for myself, I am one of those and see no wrong in doing so. However, it is also my belief that there should be another experience which we call openness of the mind to explore and discover new and fresh insights.

This is a classic example of the solution many of us do with straight lines, to a nine-dot geometrical puzzle known to many of us. We call it a good solution found by thinking out of the box.

 

However, another person has gone further or beyond "out of the box" and brought out this solution using circular lines which is a very new perspective.

The era in which I had my school education, was more of absorbing what was taught in the classroom and reproducing the same at the exams. But today's education encourages students to explore new ideas and be creative without confining to the traditions. "Thinking out of the box" has come to mean thinking of a solution that is somehow outside of what you already know and do.

How Jesus called on people to think outside the Box

The prophets of the Old Testament foretold the presence of a Messiah and the people had their messianic hope "inside the box" as they understood it as a very unique one for them. But when Jesus was manifested you see a mix of "inside the box and outside the box"

·   A Royal baby from the Davids line as told by the prophets but was born in a Manger, instead of in the palace.

·  Born as a baby but through a virgin.

·   His birth was announced as good news by the Angels, not to the Priest in the Temple but the poor shepherds in the field.

When I reflect on the life and ministry of Jesus I see him as a Rabbi who called upon his followers to think outside the box.

·   The very first four people he called were fishermen who heard him say "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men".

·   At the feeding of five thousand, Jesus called upon Phillip to buy bread. Philips response came from "inside the box" explaining the limitation of finances to buy food. However, Andrew responded from "outside the box" by bringing forward the boy with five loaves and two fish.

·   When the woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus by the religious leaders they were all thinking within the box of Moses' law. However, the following statements of Jesus show how he was calling on the people and the sinful woman to think outside the box – "let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" it made them go away without a single stone being cast on the woman; to the woman, he said "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Which she would never receive or hear from any other religious teacher.

·   When Jesus spoke for the first time about his suffering, death and resurrection, Peter was disturbed because his understanding of Jesus was within the box while Jesus was inviting Peter and others to be prepared to see the purposes for Jesus' earthly ministry "outside the box"

Looking at the entire life and ministry of Jesus, I believe that Jesus appreciated and operated from "inside the box" but was never confined to it. He had a God-given responsibility to think outside the box with which he challenged others. On the road to Emmaus, the risen Lord explained to the two disciples from inside the box -"Law and the Prophets" but at the end of the journey in the breaking of the bread, he made the two of them experience from "outside the box" that he is the risen Lord! We need to keep in mind that Jesus lived in a world submerged in the tradition where the stride of change was not speedy as today, yet he took the risk and thought outside of the box as he lined up His earthly activity with the will of the Father. He knew why He came and lived accordingly.

Sometimes, we the people of the Church can get pretty stuck in our ways. The Church is scared to deviate from the set route and seek to take new paths. "But we've always done it this way" is a very popular sentence in our Churches that firmly implants traditions within the Church that can finally stunt the growth of the Church. A lot of the time the Churches are on auto-pilot. Our Church activities naturally switch to a state of safe mode. Our Churches have excellent Vision and Mission Statements and programmes of ministry which make us feel so happy and contented about them until something challenges us to think outside the box.

Covid 19 - a call  to think outside the box

The unprecedented challenge of COVID-19 has affected everything including the Church. Many in the Church are still wanting to get back to pre-covid. Sometimes I wonder whether the Church is seeking to get back to the box. Whether we accept it or not, the pre-COVID-19 world is gone and it is replaced by a 'new normal. It is a new landscape that calls on the Church for both adaptation and resilience. Does the Church have to ask itself what it means to be a Church in this 'new normal' context? – which I believe is to think outside the box. "The quest for change in the church is not a new exploration. It has been with us since the time of the New Testament Church. The Jerusalem Church had to think outside the box when the persecution began with the first martyr Stephen's death. That experience became the impetus for the Church to go into the ends of the earth.

 The outbreak of Covid 19 has certainly presented a threat to long-established and cherished patterns of the Church's ministry. But that is not the end of the story, it has also offered opportunities for significant, life-affirming changes in the Church. One example is Worship life in the Church. For long we have been accustomed to gathering physically for public worship. Clergy have for ages encouraged worshippers to 'come to church. But the closure of churches or limiting the numbers at worship has made us now say "You are welcome to join us through Zoom for worship on Sunday". Such invitations now galore!. With so many Sunday Worship links sent to us, we now have the freedom to choose which service we would join going beyond the local family Church and even the denominational and church affiliations. Is this another way that the Holy Spirit is teaching the Church that the unity of the Church should not always be seen as a well planned and structured one, but a movement that emerges among the people?

The closure of churches has led to the underpinning of the 'priest' in each home who takes the lead to provide spiritual guidance and nurturing for the family. It can be said that COVID-19 has resurrected the concept of the 'priesthood of all believers which the church had conveniently forgotten.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced churches to think outside the box and see how it could function in new ways of "staying open and being church". What we have resisted all this time has suddenly become essential. COVID-19 has reaffirmed that the church can not live within its walls. Where the people of God are, there is the living Church.

We are passing through this Covid 19 with a call to think outside the box and know what exactly is the mission of the church here and now. We can make it to be a juncture of embracing life-affirming and transforming experiences. The kingdom of God is the primary mission of the church for which we continue to pray for and work towards to bring God's justice, peace, righteousness and love on earth. "The church is a sign, symbol and pointer to that kingdom as it is called out of the world and sent into the world to be the presence of God. It is the people of God who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, live and long for God's reign in the world and see new visions as a result of thinking outside the box.

Rev. Asiri P. Perera

November 24, 2021