Faithful Presence

James Hunter wrote the book To Change The World in 2010, in part to give Christians a greater understanding of cultures and how they work, and in part to give an alternative for how Christians interact with culture. Though I have not reached his conclusion on culture and faithful presence, his ideas on these topics already fascinate me. One of his most striking topics is pluralism.
Pluralism is simply the presence of multiple cultures and the people who live in them. Currently in America, pluralism is our culture. The many cultures and different religion mesh into one and Christians are left with a confusion as to how they might address not one, but many cultures.
For Hunter, to be faithful in culture requires an adjustment to context. Christians must serve their purpose in their own generation. (Acts 13:36) They must learn to conduct themselves in the midst of differences.
Again, I have not read far enough to discover Hunter's solution. However, here are some thoughts on faithful presence:

Faithful presence for Hunter involves seeming "nots." Defense against, relevance to, and purity from are all reactions of Christians today, but Hunter presents them as either wrong or not complete views of faithful presence. When one starts listing the qualities of faithful presence there are a stream of impossibilities that follow. For example, be accepting but do not conform to the world, do not withdraw but do not be too hostile. According to the world's standards and issues with discrimination, even a presence can be cast in a bad light.

One thing I did notice with the Boston bombings was that those who helped others were lauded as heroic and essentially the best society has to offer. Ironically, this is the creed Christ has taught Christians to live by, acts of service and sacrifice for those around us, Christians and non-Christians alike. This service are to be done in joy. Psalm 16 addresses this, “You will show me the path of life, In Your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This Psalm offers not only the idea of joyful presence, but of being in God's joyful presence. The Christian cannot live in a manner that does not admit that we are in God's presence and will be in His presence eternally. Faithful presence is not about our presence, but God's and our faithfulness to Him. This faithfulness to God is faith in him which leads us to change our actions in the world around us. If you knew for sure that you were going to go on vacation in a week, how does that change your attitude? You become happy, open doors for strangers, tip someone for pumping gas, help the neighbor mow the lawn because your being is consumed with the happiness and joy at hand. Your being is wrapped up in that pleasant vacation already and that spills over into everyday life. So it is with those faithfully in the presence of God.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, it is knowing that the work is accomplished. If Christians lived as if this were true, that would be the outworking of faithful presence. Faithful presence is sort of an out of body experience, you are living unto another. You live with answers to people, service, as well as sacrificially understanding what makes up other people and how to relate to them.

In my life, faithful presence would be living as though I do not exist and other people do. It is a selfless living aspect. I would need to focus on joy in every area of my life as well as making time for people instead of making time for myself. I would need to stand by convictions but not attack others with words or actions. I would need to glorify God in everything I think, say, and do.  

Presence is not living in passivity, it is still active and accomplishing the work the Lord has set before us. More thoughts to come.