For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

I Corinthians 13:12

Listening is not always easy. It is even harder to suspend our preconceived ideas about what we think is correct and give the other the freedom to be different and maybe even to have greater insight into a particular matter of faith than we do.

I have had this experience this past week when attending the University of Divinity Conference ‘Raising Our Tribal Voice for Justice: An indigenous Theological Revolution’. Indigenous theologians led us and spoke out of their commitment to Christ in honouring their culture and spirituality at the same time.

The abiding question for me is not so much about whether I agree with what I heard being said, as it is about the way that my Western cultural tradition and culture limits how I see, speak of and understand Christ. To what extent is my reading of Scripture limited by the pervasive assumptions of individual autonomy and self-determination? 

If my culture is powerful in how I understand scripture and the action of God in the world, then I need to accept that in my experience of God I am seeing ‘in a mirror darkly’ and need the insights of other to make the mirror clearly. This is an antidote to the arrogance of certainty that we are all at risk of.

It is uncomfortable, helpful and reassuring when there is an opportunity to sit with other peoples of faith who bring different cultural lenses to the exploration of our common faith. 

There are exciting insights emerging from Indigenous, Asian and Pacific theologians that offer us all much to consider. God’s gracious ongoing revelation to humanity calls us to be listening and reflecting on what we hear and see, so that we might grow ourselves in the ways we understand and see God at work across cultures, peoples and creation. 

Rev John Gilmore

NCCA President