Lay women, mission in practices and the theological thought

Glory E. Dharmaraj, Ph.D.
This article was presented as the Keynote speech in the seminar held at Queens College, Birmingham during the conference on Ivory Tower and Muddy Grounds (2009).

To many of us who are in love with mission, our ministry could be a jealous mistress who demands everything from us. Let me approximate this sense, this feeling, by paraphrasing a portion of a remarkable poem, “Power,” by Adrienne Rich. In this poem, Rich talks about Marie Curie, who discovered radium.

The discovery, as we all know it, is a team work with her husband. Rich says Marie Curie must have known that she suffered from radiation sickness by years of purifying the element. But her quest for the discovery of radium has already affected her eye sight and her finger-ends until she could no longer hold a test-tube or any writing material in her hand.

Rich concludes her poem by saying that Marie Curie “died a famous woman denying/ her wounds/ denying/ her wounds came from the same source as her power.”

Engaging in Christian mission has its side of woundedness, too.

Grail pursuit & the unasked question
It is helpful to recall a medieval story about the grail quest. Written in the 12th century, this story is about a quest for the legendary grail, the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper.

This story of the grail-quest is about chivalry and soldiery. At a deeper level, it is about a quest for inner healing, wholeness, and renewal. Parsifal is a legendary knight who set out on a quest for the grail. Raised as a protected child from the rest of the world by his mother, Parsifal knew nothing of the world of pain.

Making his way into the world of the knights by his chivalry and prowess, the young knight, by chance, came to the castle of the grail, and saw two things:

• A procession bearing the grail
• The rich king of the land wounded and in deep pain.

The young knight was so awed into silence by the procession that he forgot to do the one thing needed at the hour. He failed to ask the most necessary question that would have saved the Fisher King and the land of the grail. The one who was on the grail quest forgot to ask that question.

The unasked question was: What aileth thee, Fisher King? It was a failure to notice the wounds of the Fisher King, a failure to open up the possibility of healing the land, and the wounded Fisher King at the right time.

What ails you, Fishers of Men? What ails you Fishers of Women? What ails us, the company of missioners, mission-thinkers, mission teachers, and mission practitioners ails mission at large.

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