"kenosis of establishment"

"When marginalization happens, through whatever causes, an opportunity arises for the church to reexamine its identity as a church of the cross....Perhaps the publicly weakened church may understand afresh that its first task is not to change the world but to be present in it, quietly, hiddenly, making its dwelling place with its sinners and its outcasts, as the crucified Word itself dwelt among us in the flesh, full of grace and truth to be sure, yet incognito and invisible to those who lacked the eye of faith.

The present loss of prestige and power within the mainstream church in many Western nations, the voluntary or coerced "kenosis of establishment" in our present chronos, may represent a Spirit-given kairos for the church of Christ, his buried body in the world, to die anew to itself and - less accommodated and accommodating to the mores of the majority - be reborn to the task in the anonymous, incarnate present among the least of its brothers and sisters in the world.

...how much more powerful even a community can be when it is willing to let go of its identity as measured by longevity or magnitude, kudos or cachet. "
-Allan E. Lewis,  "Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday," pp 359-60
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Related, see Inchausti:

SubversiveOrthodoxy: Apostles Create Quiet;Don'tChangeTheWorld