Theologian Paul Tillich spoke about the “ground of being” and the “courage to be.” He uses these metaphors as a means of describing god and the context within which we live. We are experiencing a “crisis in the ground of being” related to the sexual abuse within the church, and within the population globally.
We have spent our entire existence under the force of gravity pulling us to the center of the earth. It enables us to stand upright and trust our ability to walk and move. It allows us to lie down and not float away. We consider ourselves stabilized. This stability is physical and emotional, psychological and spiritual. We NEVER think about it…. until…. the ground quakes and everyplace familiar crumbles, or wind and water sweep us off our feet in a tsunami washing away everything familiar. We may learn to reassert/ upright/re-erect ourselves but we are never secure again. The fundamental fear is we will never be able to stand or trust the ground which supports us.
This crisis is affecting faith and it is impacting church membership globally. Today we learned Germany has identified 3500 plus cases of abuse. We would think we are losing the younger generation at an alarming rate. It is a matter of human beings suffering and a perceived loss of a moral beacon among us.
But I don’t think so.
From my ecumenical, holistic point of view I think there is a new way of considering this. Or to quote the Dalai Lama, “Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.”
I have reason to hope, this hope rests with the young people coming into positions of action now.
The ground for all of us is shaken. Healing is required for all. Or as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says, “the world is suffering from ‘Trust Deficit Disorder.’” This is a global problem needing a global concerted effort.
Others are recognizing this concerted effort as necessary. We prayed globally for the Thai boys trapped in a cave. UNICEF has begun the “Youth 2030” violence prevention initiative with the South Korean K-Pop group, BTS, as the international ambassadors with their “Love Yourself…love who you were, who you are, and who you will become…” movement. Or the “Parkland students” with a generation of young people becoming activists. We can see the beginning of this activism in the laity and the lawsuits, #MeToo, and the organized marches in this country. These are demands to speak, be heard, and responded to, and they serve for making efforts to heal all of us.
