'Embrace is grace.' (M. Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, p147)
Insider-outsider language prevails so much in many spheres. Within the church such language is surely inadequate it leads to terms such as OUT-reach being used without much thought for the image this conveys. Yet read passages such as this Ephesians text and there is an intensity about the ways in whch the cross breaks barriers and joins us together and gets us to embrace; outsiders are no ooinger outsiders and in a sense insiders no longer insiders.
Organisational theory uses the term autopoiesis to convey an understanding that the environment is to be seen as a part of the system because it is an essential part of the interactions. That is, easch element simultaneously combines the maintenance of itself with that of the others.
Its a bit like seeing a tree in an orchard and recognising that the weather, the soil and the wider orchard all play a part in its growth. They are part of the system to be considered. The tree adjusts and grows accordingly. hence the inner rings will be larger or smaller for instance due to the season it has had.
To begin thinking in such a way forces us to address barriers and a radical change to our thinking and behaviour. What if we were to allow Christ to shape our identity as God's people not determined by social, cultural divisions, but to be a glimpse of and experience of embrace.
What are we so afraid of in the world, societies and cultures we are part of in the environment?
