“You know when you think you know someone, but then circumstances change or something happens and all of a sudden, that person becomes unrecognisable?”
This was the question that Rachael Kama from the Diocese of Parramatta’s Mission Enhancement Team (MET) posed at the most recent The FaithFeed gathering on Friday 6 September.
The person that Rachael was referring to, which might come as a surprise to many attending this “Catholic” event, was in fact, God.
It is precisely this style of storytelling and conversation that The FaithFeed engages with as a way of welcoming and honouring the questions that are real and relevant for those in the 20s, 30s and 40s age group.
Rachael, after posing her question early to the participants, slowly unfolded her experience of the ‘letting go’ of her image of God for one that was more expansive, larger and beyond her previous imagination. “I didn’t realise that in saying ‘yes’, I also said ‘yes’ to the unknown,” Rachael acknowledged.
Rachael took her listeners through a snapshot of key life and faith experiences, from the experience of stepping out of her comfort zone in order to respond to what she recognised was God’s call to be on mission, to realities of letting go of friendships so that she could discover new friendships that weren’t “just about shared faith or age anymore—it was about seeing the face of God in people, even when they were different from me”.
Rachael Kama (centre) from the Mission Enhancement Team shares during The FaithFeed in September. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
Rachael even courageously shared how change in her life was accompanied by confronting some areas of her life, be it, “blind faith with no responsibility, inexperience in this context, no understanding of the realities beyond my faith experience, feeling ill equipped which questioned my strong sense of belief. I thought I was a finished product and I didn’t have to learn anymore.”
The honesty, vulnerability and courage of Rachael’s storytelling, which was crafted in The FaithFeed’s process of theological reflection between storyteller and mentor, is invaluable as it offered participants the welcome, safety and most importantly, the insight, that faith – and living one’s faith – isn’t an automatic, disengaged or linear process.
Rather, Rachael described living faith as a process whereby, “in embracing the incomplete parts of myself, I’m making space for God to work and that’s where transformation could happen”.
Rachael Kama from the Mission Enhancement Team shares during The FaithFeed in September. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
In this way, Rachael invited her listeners to connect with the image of Church that is ascribed to the Christian people, a “pilgrim Church” – the same image drawn on by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, the first saint of Australia, who reminds everyone who is open to following God’s will, “remember we are but travellers here”.
The FaithFeed is a diocesan response that honours the life and faith leadership of those in their 20s, 30s and 40s, by offering a space for their experiences to be shared.
It is a space where there is safety in pondering questions such as Rachael’s, sharing experiences of vulnerability and doubt, always with the trust that such searching is somehow caught up in a wider story where God seeks to be personally and intimately engaged with the human story, even in unexpected and surprising ways.
If you’re looking to connect with opportunities designed by the team behind The FaithFeed, MET invites you to sign up for our free short courses. There’s a three-session Spirituality short course starting next week known as FaithLIFE Spirituality (three Tuesdays, 17 & 24 September and 1 October). It will be facilitated by spiritual director, Jeff Hood, who will guide participants through some principles of spirituality, spiritual direction and practical exercise that can be used for discernment and enriching one’s personal relationship with God.
MET also offers a free online short course on Synodality, where the theological principles of synodality are covered across three sessions. Guided by Sr Patty Andrew osu, participants in this course are invited to understand what Pope Francis means by “communion, participation and mission” with respect to being a synodal church – and what implications that has for local churches.
To experience Rachael’s story shared at The FaithFeed, we invite you to listen and share the recording of her session.
