Een ding wat my toenemend interesseer is
die rol van ervaring in mense se lewens.
Ons dink dat as ons sekere dinge “weet,”
ons optrede logies daaruit volg.
As ons sekere dinge “glo,” (verstandelik
kan insien), sal ons op grond daarvan handel.
Dit is sekerlik waar, maar ook weer net ‘n
halwe waarheid.
Mense laat dikwels lank-gekoesterde
oortuigings los omdat hulle ‘n bepaalde ervaring gehad het. Ervarings kan ‘n
mens se lewe totaal omkeer en verander.
Konserwatiewe kerke, byvoorbeeld, in die
suide van Amerika, wat lidmate het wat hou van wet en orde, bied ‘n goeie
voorbeeld.
Tot onlangs was hulle sterk ten gunste
daarvan dat onwettige immigrante uit die land geskop word. Totdat daardie
immigrante lidmate van hul kerke geword het. Wanneer sulke lidmate in die
moeilikheid beland, ontdek hul predikant die skadukant van ‘n onwettige
immigrant se lewe in Amerika. Hulle sien hoe goeie gelowige mense wat deur hul
arbeid ‘n huisgesin in hul tuisland onderhou, skielik gevaar loop om
gedeporteer te word. Nie net verloordie gemeente ‘n toegewyde lidmaat nie, maar
hulle sien hoe vele mense se bestaan bedreig word omdat hulle dan nie meer deur
die immigrant versorgd sal wees nie.
Nou is daar ‘n georganiseerde veldtog van
die Baptiste Kerke in Amerika om die status van onwettige immigrante te wettig.
Dit is ondenkbaar. So iets sou voorheen
nooit gebeur het nie. Hulle ervaring het hul denke radikaal omgekeer.
En dit net omdat predikante en lidmate
blootgestel was aan die ervaring van getroue kerkgangers in hul midde. Sondag
na Sondag het hierdie immigrante kerk toe gekom, geliefd geraak onder hul mede-gemeentelede.
Die gemeente het hulle leer ken. Nou tree hulle in vir daardie mense.
Spiritualiteit gaan oor deurleefde geloof. Op sy Engels word dit dikwels as "faith experienced" beskryf. Spiritualiteit maak daarom veel van onderskeiding as 'n geestelike praktyk: Wanneer ‘n mens gelowig is, weeg jy elke dag jou ervarings versigtig, want jy
weet jy het nie altyd die nodige wysheid nie. Jy staan op en hou jou stiltetyd,
wetende dat jy daardie dag in God se teenwoordigheid sal leef en gedurig wyse
beslissings sal moet maak. Saans gaan jy slaap en bid jy tot God met
dankbaarheid oor God se teenwoordigheid in jou lewe en met berou waar jy
daardie teenwoordigheid gefaal het. Geloof is ingestel om gedurig in God se wil
te bly – nie om jou insigte in die lewe af te dwing nie. Geloof veg hard om ten alle koste altyd te kan onderskei. Waar ontdek ek vandag in my lewe God se wil? Want, beklemtoon spiritualiteit, 'n mens is van nature geneig om in jou eie wil vas te val. Dit is nie maklik om dinge vanuit God se perspektief raak te sien nie. Jy moet hard bid om iets daarvan reg te kry.
Die geestelike reis loop nie reguit en glad
nie. Dit is vol draaie en swaaie en soms moet jy gevaarlik swenk in rigtings
waarheen jy nie wil gaan nie. Jy moet daardie wilde reis aflê, met argus-oë,
gedurig aan die onderskei of jy in die wil van God leef en bestaan.
‘n Mens kan soos Paulus vanuit jou vaste
kennis die wêreld instorm en links en regs vervolg en vermink. Jy kan soos Petrus
netjies weet wat reg en verkeerd is en heilig jouself van “ander” afskei. Om
dan in skande te beland, buite God se wil.
‘n Mens moet nooit te seker weet nie. Dit
is verstandiger, gelowiger, om eerder soekend te wees om in alles wat ‘n mens
so seker weet, tog in God se wil bevind te word. Die vraag is nooit wat weet ons nie.
Die vraag is veel eerder: hoe naby leef ‘n mens aan God in al die groot eise
wat die lewe aan jou stel. Om met God te wandel, sê die Amerikaner (hier
onder), het my sienings versag.
Dit is, soos Spiritualiteit beklemtoon, om die geestelike lewe te voer - om onder die leiding van die Heilige Gees te leef.
Die boeiende is natuurlik dat die intieme
wandel met God ‘n mens nader aan ander mense bring: soos wat in Amerika gebeur. En dit is, ontnugterend, juis daardie mense met wie jy nie altyd so maklik wil assosieer nie.
Hier is dele uit die berig uit vandag se NYT.
Two
years ago, national evangelical leaders began to speak out in favor of
legislation to give legal status to immigrants in the United States illegally.
Now, as Congress is about to start a debate on overhauling the immigration
system, conservative Christians, once inclined to take a hard line on
immigrants they viewed as lawbreakers, are consulting their Bibles and coming
around to the pastors’ view.
“I
feel I would be representative of a typical longtime Baptist, one who grew up
in the Baptist Church, who was raised in an evangelical family, and I would
identify myself as a conservative Republican,” said Jay Crenshaw, 36, a lawyer
in Orlando who attended a service at the megachurch last Sunday. “And I can
tell you how much my views have changed.”
For Mr.
Crenshaw, as for many evangelicals, the rethinking came as a result of personal
encounters with immigrants in church who were trying to navigate the maze of
the nation’s immigration laws — in his case, a Colombian friend who turned out
to be here illegally.
Mr.
Crenshaw said his views started to shift when his Colombian friend, a
white-collar professional who had been living in Florida for years, asked for
help after being arrested for driving without a license. Mr. Crenshaw said he
realized that his friend, an active church member who was supporting his mother
and a brother, could be deported.
“The
tension is compassion on one hand and rule of law on the other,” said Mr.
Crenshaw, who went with his friend to court, where the matter was resolved
without drawing the attention of any immigration authorities.
“Once you’ve
walked with someone and put a face and family behind the immigration issue, it
very much personalizes it,” he said. “You do find yourself with a lot of
compassion.”
Stewart
Hall, 70, a member of First Baptist Orlando for more than three decades, said
his views changed gradually, as he moved to sit in pews near the rear of the
church where immigrants new to the congregation chose to pray. “It occurs to me
that if Jesus was sitting next to me, he would not care whether they were
illegal or legal,” he said.
“Take me
back 10 years ago, and I had this really hard outer shell about it,” Mr. Hall
said. “Line ’em up and shoot ’em, and by that I really meant pack them up and
get them out of here.”
But, he
said, “my walk with Christ has softened my view.”
Senator
Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who is part of a bipartisan group of senators
writing an overhaul bill, has received visits and calls to his Florida offices.
Mr. Rubio said he welcomed the activism.
“Faith-based
leaders help remind us that we are dealing with real human beings here with
God-given dignity,” he said.
