<a href="http://www.markscandrette.com/writing/practicing-the-way-of-jesus-coming-soon/" target="_blank">Mark Scandrette, <em>Practicing the Way of Jesus</em></a>:
<blockquote>The baptism of Jesus provides a compelling picture of the kind of intimate union with God we were created for.  As he stepped out from the water, he heard a voice saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17).  The Spirit then led Jesus into the wilderness where his identity as the beloved was tested.  He emerged after forty days a resolute son prepared to do “his father’s business.”  Subsequently, Jesus often withdrew to gardens and other lonely places.  In the most difficult hours leading up to his arrest, torture and crucifixion, he went into a garden one last time, kneeling to pray, “Abba, not my will but yours be done.”  A hidden life of solitude fueled his courageous public acts of love and service (p. 105).</blockquote>
The Christian life is meant to be lived out on the razor’s edge between prophetic action and contemplative reflection.  And it is not so much that one of the steps in this dialectical process must come before the other.  Nor do they necessarily coalesce, really, but remain in tension and are mutually reinforcing.  They form the two pillars that buttress discipleship.  Politically speaking, for instance, we can therefore work for justice and even invest ourselves in certain legislative reforms, electoral changes and grassroots movements.  The role of the contemplative in this case, however, will be to keep our expectations and emotional attachment in check and somewhat disinterested.  The contemplative reminds us that at the end of the day, a Christ-follower still must ultimately find rest in the arms of Jesus rather than in the outcome of political proposals.<a title="" href="#_edn1">[i]</a>  Duke theologian <a href="http://divinity.duke.edu/academics/faculty/paul-griffiths" target="_blank">Paul J. Griffiths</a> calls this approach “political quietism.”<a title="" href="#_edn2">[ii]</a>

On the other hand, it is the contemplative that gives inspiration, energy and vision to our impending and “courageous public acts of love and service” (see above).  It enables one to meditate on the “agonistic weight of the world."<a title="" href="#_edn1">[iii]</a>  At the same time, it also serves to critique and safeguard the extent to which our identities can become too closely aligned with nationalism or any other parochial allegiance.  It is the corrective to all our idolatries.  Accordingly, a Christian citizenship then is understood to be a revoked and “crucified” vocation – that is, it is self-emptied.  We act, but we act with a knowledge that the problems we face in this world can at best only be imperfectly resolved.  As she surveys the bloodshed in our world, it’s not easy for the Christian citizen to really expect the proposal she advocates to substantially curtail all the violence and oppression.  Occupy Wall Street might be a good example of this - a movement with so much positive potential but the lasting effect of which is still to be seen.  Thus, Griffiths also talks about three other  “notes” of Christian political agency: skepticism, hope and lament – skepticism with regard to over-realized eschatological promises, hope for the coming Kingdom, and lament over the real and terrible suffering in the meantime.

Activism remains, and indeed we must act - especially in solidarity with those on the underside of history - but it is only the spiritually and prayerfully formed person whose heart is prepared for the trials of a cross-bearing lifestyle.  Too often we are content with the contemplative or running dry in the prophetic.  May we remind and spur each other along to traverse the path between the two.

How does this tangibly play out in the rhythms of congregational and communal life?
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<a title="" href="#_ednref">[i]</a> I’m using the term <em>political</em> here in the broadest possible sense to include practically all corporate civil activity – not just official or formal participation.

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<a title="" href="#_ednref">[ii]</a> Douglas Harink, <em>Paul, Philosophy, and the Theopolitical Vision: Critical Engagements with Agamben, Badiou, Zizek and Others</em> (Cascade Books, 2010), 190.

<a title="" href="#_ednref">[iii]</a> Mark L Taylor, <em>The Theological and the Political: On the Weight of the World</em> (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011).

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