<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:24px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14805">Thank you John for initiating this fabulous discussion that I have long wanted to have. Yes, no one can call this community out of being. It was not man-made but by spirit. Only the grave after the inevitable greying will put an end to us. </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14806"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14807"></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14808">The Order was an overwhelming part of my identity. It is still there but in the background. Now it is those whom I meet or work with face to face who are my community. As we say, change begins in the local. But there are moments when I am at a meeting - either at my workplace or with a community group - when I look at the people around the table and think "This is a community, a profound reality, but it is not aware of itself." We were not like that because we had learnt a discipline. We knew what was happening and had the language to discuss it. So that is where part of our non-ending mission is.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14809"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14810"></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14811">I remember three things that JWM said. We had a 40-year task and when it was done, we would call ourselves out of being. Another was that when we met, we would expect the other to expect me to be plugging away at that one task that I had decided was important. And finally, he said when he died and went to heaven, he would stand outside waiting for us to show up.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14812"><br id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14813"></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_13267"></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14814">One question I have John and others who know. What do you remember that JWM said that you feel relates to the time after our 40-year task?</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14814"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14814">regards</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1497568171476_14814">Dharma </div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 24px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Arial"> On Friday, 16 June 2017, 2:35, Catherine Welch via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:<br></font></div> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv4376924131"><div dir="ltr">
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<div>Thank you, John, for articulating the “life after Oaxtapec” so well. </div>
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<div>Catherine Welch</div>
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<div style=""><b>From:</b> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" title="oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" ymailto="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">John Epps via OE</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, June 14, 2017 3:57 PM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" title="oe@wedgeblade.net" ymailto="mailto:oe@wedgeblade.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oe@wedgeblade.net">Order
Ecumenical Community</a> </div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> [Oe List ...] The Order and Oaxtapec</div></div></div></div>
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<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">It has long been claimed that at
the Oaxtapec gathering, the Order was called out of being. That assertion has
long troubled me, and it seems time to clear the air.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">IMHO, the statement is both
sociologically and theologically inaccurate. A more accurate formulation of what
happened in Mexico was that we went from a structured to a dispersed form.
Something was definitely dissolved at Oaxtapec, but it was not the Order, only a
particular form of the Order.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">On the sociological side, there
is still a lively “we” that once went under the name “Order Ecumenical.” This
list-serve and the archives workshops represent some manifestations, but more
significant are the personal collegial relationships that persist despite great
demographic, cultural, and geographic differences. “We” continue to communicate
and to celebrate the life milestones of each other. <br clear="none"><br clear="none"><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">“We” continue to engage in the
mission of catalyzing and caring for those who care – in multiple sectors and
with far greater impact than a single organization could have managed. Some
examples include the ToP Network, the IAF, ICA community development work in
India, Nepal, Australia, and South America, and environmental preservation
efforts in the USA. “We” have published a good number of books making insights
available to a wide audience. Colleagues could fill out the list.
<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">Theologically, the Order is a
historical dynamic that we’ve been privileged to participate in. It is not
something we can disband, even if we wanted to. Just as Niebuhr described the
Church as the “sensitive and responsive ones…” that takes many forms, so also is
the Order composed of those awakened and catalytic ones who care for those who
care. The notion that some of us could dissolve that dynamic confuses the form
from the content (the baby from the bathwater to use a less abstract metaphor).
I’ve come (reluctantly) to see that we were led to dissolve a particular
structure so that the historical dynamic might continue in an enhanced fashion.
<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">Why does this matter? Is it
simply a verbal difference having little to do with anything except the neurosis
of an old theologian? <br clear="none"><br clear="none"><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">It matters because thinking that
there is no longer an Order prevents us from wrestling with pertinent questions:
How can we remain in touch with the Profound Mystery? How can we continue to
access our common insights? What rites and celebrations are appropriate to a
dispersed body? How can we account to each other and support each other? How can
we stay on the religious and secular edge? What (if any) forms are appropriate
for the global and diverse participants in this historical dynamic? In a time
when hatred and fear of differences is so rampant, what new experiments might
make a difference? What might we learn from <u>Journey to the
East</u>?<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">Collegial comments,
clarifications, corrections, and additions are most welcome.<span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;"> </div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">Thanks for reading this.</div>
<div class="yiv4376924131MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT:normal;">John Epps</div></div>
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