Theotokos – Mother of God; God-bearer.
Theotokos, a compound of two Greek words, is translated literally as “the one who gives birth to God.” Early church fathers used the term for Mary, mother of Jesus – a practice that is still common in Orthodox churches. More recently, theotokos has been used to describe a priest or pastor: a sacramental person or God-bearer whose calling is to lead “people into the mystery that surrounds our life” (Carroll, 2001).
I propose that congregations – those somewhat strange gatherings of people of faith – also can be described as theotokos – as the body of the gathered faithful who bear the presence of God to each other, neighbor, and the world.
The title of this project is Tokos Life. Tokos describes idea of “birthing”, of “bringing into being.” Life, in my mind, is what God is about – life in the fullest sense of the word for all of the universe. Tokos Life is about bearing our life-giving God to the world.
The way I think about it, this is what congregations – at the most basic level – are about: bearing God and being the presence of God to each other and the world. There are myriad ways to think about God. But for me, this is the bottom line.
This theology is nice, and seemingly quite simplistic. However, the big question is: what does this “bottom line” look like in practice? If a congregation seeks to live as theotokos, how does that shape its relationships? its ministry? Its worship? Its stewardship? In the coming weeks, I will be exploring these and other questions in this blog.
Welcome. Stay tuned. Please let me know what you think.
Peace.
Carol
“Reflections of a Clergy-Watcher”, Retirement Lecture given by Jackson W. Carroll on his retirement from Duke University Divinity School, April 18, 2001; https://pulpitandpew.org/sites/all/themes/pulpitandpew/files/clergywatcherlecture.pdf