The prophetic imagination

Reflection by Urzula Glienecke

What are the things we can learn from the lockdown situation?

• We don’t need our church buildings, we can be more creative, meet in different places.
• Democratised worship, not hierarchical
• Relational church
• We are currently dependent on zoom, the church is dislocated from the neighbourhood
• The violence of capitalism denies what it is to be human – huge divides between rich and poor, white privilege (be cautious about heroic words that come from out privilege)
• The virus has exposed how bad the situation was before
• People with disabilities and others were already experiencing social isolation
• Having to identify people in need of help (not already known/in contact)
• The presence of the church/delivering food shows presence and love
• Our economy was not working for all – how can this be addressed post covid?
• Universal income
• If we were consultants to the Bishop – what would we be saying?
• Need a clear strategy, not multiple campaigns, not duplicating work
• We are currently very reliant on food banks
• Kairos moment – crisis and opportunity at same time
• This has forced us to do things differently, we can imagine something different but we have to make it happen
• Action comes out of prophetic imagination
• Kindness makes a huge difference
• Value placed on people’s lives, vulnerable and people with disabilities asked to sign DNRs.
• We can learn from countries that are doing things well, e.g. New Zealand, Finland
• Food security is closely tied to legal (and illegal) immigrant workers. We need to value them.

What would be the one thing which you would improve/change in your local community after the lockdown?

• Work for Universal basic income
• Work for the church to be more integrated in the community/build relationships
• Storefront churches turning into missional housing, Christians living intentionally on the block, pushing back against gentrification
• Challenge institutional church re. finances, where, what, how it spends its money
• Digital provision and training for people currently excluded
• Economic activity with ecological focus
• Inspiration from people involved in prophetic action (Romero, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Sojourner Truth)
• People’s own relationship to (and awareness of) their own power
• People designing their own communities/structures (eg older people and people in poverty)
• The churches are ‘closed’, but still ongoing. We are the church.
• We need to change our attitudes towards immigrants (many of our key workers, nurses, delivery drivers, food harvesters).
• The church needs to become ‘the voice of the national consciousness’ (reflecting voices of change, equality, fairness).