The Church as Alchemist

I have just been reading Charles Handy's The New Alchemists (Hutchinson, 1999) in which he reflects on the visionary input of twenty-nine individuals, very different, but holding in common a creative, innovative streak that has really made a difference. Handy identifies three common characteristics of such alchemists - dedication (otherwise described as commitment, drive, passion or even obsession), doggedness (the generation of energy and the capacity for hard work) and difference (that is, the wish to make a difference). Handy commends the combination of creativity and curiosity that such individuals demonstrate. They are about new possibilities and transformation - "without alchemy we would stagnate". The book sent me back to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist and, thumbing through, I came across this comment - ""This is why alchemy exists," the boy said. "So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold. That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."" For me, there are some good images of church here - searching for your treasure and striving to become better for a start. Concepts like curiosity and creativity are also relevant to the church. However, perhaps the main point to be made is that the notion of transformation, at the core of what the alchemist is doing, is a key element in what the church is called to be engaged in. Transformation can happen in a whole range of ways, but surely needs to be part of what we are and part of what we are offering. I am making all things new - Revelation 21:5.