How dare you involve me!

Over the past decade or so, I have experienced the greatest amount of aggression and vitriol when I've been involved in collaborative ventures - getting people more involved...

• When I attempted to get all the groups in a church talking to each other rather than using me to settle their differences, a church warden resigned...
• When we attempted to involve all the churches in a partnership there were complaints that the smaller churches weren't being herd...
• When we consulted other denominations about our Anglican deanery plan, one colleague called it "a flawed product of a flawed process!"
• Whenever I've asked poor Jenni to gather some information she's always had a few stroppy replies from people who complained that that they didn't know about it and hadn't been asked for this before...
• Whenever I've attempted to send out information across a wide area I've always had complaints that I wasn't doing it right...
• Whenever I've attempted to involve non-stipendiary clergy - I've always had complaints about the technical language I've used or the fact that they hadn't been involved before...
• When I attempted to tidy up the diocesan yearbook so that everyone's details were correct, I was told it was a waste of time...
• Whenever I've tried to involve other denominations in a project I've always been accused of being too anglican...
• and so on...

All this vitriol should tend to make me feel that involving people is a waste of time - it certainly drains your emotional batteries... but there are reasons for this ill feeling...

I suspect the principle reason that people are so aggressive when someone tries to include them is because they have had so much experience of being excluded. They want to hit out for the times they have felt hurt or dehumanised. They may also want to test people out to see if they're genuine...

I've only had this experience in a few tiny ways, but the same dynamic is played out over and over again in the relationships which take place between different ethnic or religious groups, communities or nations... Think how difficult the dynamics must be in Israel and Palestine, South Africa or America...

All around the world we need to include people more, but we need to recognise that this isn't easy. Those we seek to involve may still need to break a few windows before they've worked it out of their systems. G20 protesters, Palestinians, Iraqis and the global poor need to become part of the global community - but they have been shut out for so long that it won't be easy to bring them in. Exclusion and abuse damages both the powerful and the powerless...

And, of course, I can't forget that God's attempt to involve people in his kingdom didn't go so well either - he ended up on a cross - but it's through the vulnerability of incarnational suffering that the doors are opened wide. In our own little way we need to accept the attacks and complaints of those we seek to serve and keep moving forward. Inclussion is only a slap in the face away.