{"id":482,"date":"2012-10-30T17:31:04","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T22:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=482"},"modified":"2012-11-02T11:45:51","modified_gmt":"2012-11-02T16:45:51","slug":"metanoia-in-a-polarized-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/metanoia-in-a-polarized-world\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Metanoia\u2019 in a polarized world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>We continue the Wisconsin installment of the &#8216;Advocating on the Road&#8217; series with this piece.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Over\u00a0the past 12 months of working together at The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Eau Claire, Wis., Lead Pastor Gerd Bents has spent many moments deep in conversation with his colleague Pastor Emeritus Donald Wisner. Colleague to colleague, the two Lutheran pastors have shared thoughts on Christian witness in the world and our call to God&#8217;s justice in Scripture, all the while observing the increasing polarization and broken relationships in their state and the larger nation.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout these conversations, Pastor Bents was consistently drawn back to a few important questions: How do we, as Christians, understand \u201cjustice\u201d? How has the notion of justice changed socially, when compared to our biblical heritage? And how does our cultural understanding of \u201cjustice\u201d encourage polarization?<\/p>\n<p>Guided by these questions, Pastors Bents and Wisner worked with others to plan a public event in Eau Claire in late October 2012 that explored concepts of justice from an Old Testament perspective. The event\u2019s purpose is reflected in its name: \u201cMetanoia.\u201d A Greek phrase often translated \u201crepentance,\u201d but Pastor Bents explains that \u201cits root meaning is better understood as\u00a0 to perceive or understand in a new way.&#8217;\u201d \u201cMetanoia\u201d included symposiums and keynote presentations structured around the topics of justice, reformation and reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCulturally, we tend to view justice as \u2018having my rights met\u2019 or \u2018getting my fair share, or my just rewards.\u2019 Often, we speak of justice as it relates to a consequence &#8230; hopefully for someone else.\u201d But in the Old Testament Hebrew meaning, one who sought justice was interested in restoring relationship. For example, a faithful judge would render a decision intending to restore a relationship, as opposed to a ruling that ensures someone\u2019s individual right,\u201d Pastor Bents says. \u201cThis is consistent with God&#8217;s justice, as God continually seeks to restore relationships. In response to this, at \u201cMetanoia\u201d we explored how this notion of justice can guide the church, how we can avoid allowing broken relationships to lord over us, and we can become a church and a people that are transformed to be God&#8217;s justice-bearing people in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople of faith, always have something to say about issues of politics and government,\u201d he adds, \u201cIt\u2019s when we fail to discern who we are \u2014 when we lose sight of our identity as God\u2019s people \u2014 that we step into a place where we become servants of the self, and we separate ourselves from God&#8217;s acts of justice. We don\u2019t like disagreement; we equate it to conflict, relationship loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On this point, Pastor Bents offers a new way, a \u201cmetanoia\u201d of sorts, explaining, \u201cDisagreement with each other does not have to lead to conflict, relationship loss, or polarization \u2014 I think it can lead us to being a closer, more effective church if we continue to collaboratively explore our identity in Christ, in baptism, and in mission; if we continue to understand God&#8217;s world in a new way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the &#8220;Voices for\u00a0Change&#8221; blog as we continue the &#8220;Advocating on the Road&#8221; series over the next week. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We continue the Wisconsin installment of the &#8216;Advocating on the Road&#8217; series with this piece. Over\u00a0the past 12 months of working together at The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Eau Claire, Wis., Lead Pastor Gerd Bents has spent many moments deep in conversation with his colleague Pastor Emeritus Donald Wisner. Colleague to colleague, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7389,1400],"tags":[7388],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocating-on-the-road-series","category-post","tag-advocating-on-the-road"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Metanoia\u2019 in a polarized world - ELCA Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/metanoia-in-a-polarized-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Metanoia\u2019 in a polarized world - ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We continue the Wisconsin installment of the &#8216;Advocating on the Road&#8217; series with this piece. 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