Thursday, December 20, 2018
Erica's Gift
At our final meeting of 2018, Erica gave us each a gift. Mine has become part of a healthy breakfast! Thank you, Erica. - Scott
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Yr. B, Wk. 16: OMG, Spirituality in the Digital Age
Class: Christine, first year; Mariel, Tom, Gene, second year; Erica, third year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Christine.
Mariel led us through Compline. While Scott served Pasta Puttanesca, we shared answers to Mariel's question for the week, "With whom do you ever share spiritual matters?" Some of us were drawn to EfM in the first place just because it's a forum for exploring spiritual matters in a mutually open and respectful way (with "undefended hearts" as Bishop Neil Alexander says).
Sharing led to discussion of what evangelism means in our society today, and the model we arrived at was a kind of constructive, hospitable, engagement with non - believers in a way that would make them interested in having what faith offers. Mariel offered St. Francis, "Preach the Gospel; use words, if necessary." Tom recalled Fr. Roger's story of a saint (Augustine?) working alongside villagers to repair their town, and leaving without preaching, telling a skeptical monk, "If we didn't demonstrate the Gospel in our work with them, nothing will."
We had an interesting detour into "Prosperity Gospel," and just what that means. Scott cited John Winthrop's preaching at the founding of New England Colony, to the effect that good people prosper, and failure is a sign of God's disfavor. There have long been preachers who promised riches to followers who will give their money to the preacher.
We discussed this week's essay, "OMG, Spirituality in the Digital Age" by Bishop Charleston of Alaska. The Bishop is an "extreme introvert" reluctant to use social media, who simply shared thoughts from his morning prayer time. His page "blew up" and became a self - selecting community of believers and non - believers alike, just a few bad actors who left quickly, and enough who wanted a tangible printed collection of these commentaries to make a successful book. He made some observations about the experience.
Our group was not so excited. Gene visited the website, and felt that it was a "fake" community; Mariel asked, "'Fake,' or just 'different?'" Susan observed from experience that conversation on line, even when it's synchronous, misses cues of body language and tone that we read when we're together in a room, and it comes down to people at their own screens writing past each other. Erica wondered if, being of a later generation than Charleston, she's less awed by the technology than the Bishop, seeing social media as nothing more than one other tool for communication. Was discussion and community - formation via books and pamphlets any different?
Tom was bothered by the Bishop's observation that this on - line community formed in a way opposite to most groups:
It occurs to me as I type this that Bishop Charleston here describes precisely what we talked about in our earlier discussion of evangelism, setting an example of caring and hospitality without defining who's "in" and "out."
Instead of a TR and collect, we collected around a lovely Linzer tart from Douceur de France, a gift from Susan.
Next time: We meet January 8. We'll read the assignment for Week 17. Dinner will be brown bag; Erica will bring worship; Gene will initiate a TR.
Mariel led us through Compline. While Scott served Pasta Puttanesca, we shared answers to Mariel's question for the week, "With whom do you ever share spiritual matters?" Some of us were drawn to EfM in the first place just because it's a forum for exploring spiritual matters in a mutually open and respectful way (with "undefended hearts" as Bishop Neil Alexander says).
Sharing led to discussion of what evangelism means in our society today, and the model we arrived at was a kind of constructive, hospitable, engagement with non - believers in a way that would make them interested in having what faith offers. Mariel offered St. Francis, "Preach the Gospel; use words, if necessary." Tom recalled Fr. Roger's story of a saint (Augustine?) working alongside villagers to repair their town, and leaving without preaching, telling a skeptical monk, "If we didn't demonstrate the Gospel in our work with them, nothing will."
We had an interesting detour into "Prosperity Gospel," and just what that means. Scott cited John Winthrop's preaching at the founding of New England Colony, to the effect that good people prosper, and failure is a sign of God's disfavor. There have long been preachers who promised riches to followers who will give their money to the preacher.
We discussed this week's essay, "OMG, Spirituality in the Digital Age" by Bishop Charleston of Alaska. The Bishop is an "extreme introvert" reluctant to use social media, who simply shared thoughts from his morning prayer time. His page "blew up" and became a self - selecting community of believers and non - believers alike, just a few bad actors who left quickly, and enough who wanted a tangible printed collection of these commentaries to make a successful book. He made some observations about the experience.
Our group was not so excited. Gene visited the website, and felt that it was a "fake" community; Mariel asked, "'Fake,' or just 'different?'" Susan observed from experience that conversation on line, even when it's synchronous, misses cues of body language and tone that we read when we're together in a room, and it comes down to people at their own screens writing past each other. Erica wondered if, being of a later generation than Charleston, she's less awed by the technology than the Bishop, seeing social media as nothing more than one other tool for communication. Was discussion and community - formation via books and pamphlets any different?
Tom was bothered by the Bishop's observation that this on - line community formed in a way opposite to most groups:
A religious community is often formed by identifying the parameters which circumscribe it: the borders of faith, the articulation of creeds, the rules and rituals that become the container for a culture. Once people either self - select or are recruited into this paradigm, they become a community. In the experience of our Facebook congregation, just the reverse process has taken place; over time people have entered in without any sense of structure; we have no litmus test for belonging, not even the need to believe in a higher power. Instead, an unspoken consensus of hospitality has developed.
Instead of a TR and collect, we collected around a lovely Linzer tart from Douceur de France, a gift from Susan.
Next time: We meet January 8. We'll read the assignment for Week 17. Dinner will be brown bag; Erica will bring worship; Gene will initiate a TR.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Yr. B, Wk. 15: Dismantling Racism, Part II, and "The Cossacks"
Class: Christine, first year; Mariel, Tom, Gene, second year; Erica, third year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Erica, Tom.
We brought brown - bag dinners tonight. Christine led us in psalm and prayer thoughtfully chosen to relate to tonight's reading. Our question was a little fanciful: What kind of plant have you been in the past week? We had a cactus dry and sucking up moisture; grass, just holding on; and others.
Our discussion of the second half of the book by Catherine Meeks. Our greatest interest was in exploring our Bishop's chapter about the South as America's "Holy Land." The history of conflict, the physical / familial closeness of the adversaries (black and white), and the intentional courage of the Civil Rights fighters all contribute to that feeling that this place is a site for struggles spiritual as well as physical.
We also compared notes on sensitivity trainings we've experienced, "white guilt," and also "white privilege" -- how these phrases are fraught and liable to provoke people we know.
We also discussed a couple of sources not in the book. Bishop Neil Alexander writes in the latest publication from Sewanee about how education should lead to listening with an "undefended heart." Erica sent us a link to a rich article from a blog HeritageMom by a homeschooling mother about starting a black homeschool group alongside the one she already had joined. Is she "reverse racist" for wanting a space where black children are free of white judgement, white unease with physicality and loud voices? Here's the link. Scott has posted a reflection on the book on his personal blog, here.
TR
Susan brought us Linda Pastan's poem "The Cossacks." The poet is amused and even admiring of another person's "denial mixed with acceptance," like her mother who had chatted of polite things when she was dying of cancer. We picked up on that last element of the poem, and related it to the famous image of the musicians who played "Nearer My God to Thee" on the tilting deck of the Titanic.During the days following class, Mariel composed this collect from our notes:
Collect for Carrying On
O Lord, Eternal Creator, Redeemer and Giver of Life,
Just as by the breath of your Spirit you brought forth the abundance of Earth from the depths of the abyss, so breathe into our spirits the grace and strength to finish the work you’ve given us to do, so that we - like Stephen submitting to his tormentors, and Paul facing prison and certain death - may unto the end be ever blessed by being a blessing to others, and that our life’s work may endure as a testimony to the life-giving truth and beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Next week We all read Week Sixteen's essay by Steven Charleston, Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta (p. 94 ff in the RRG). Scott and Susan will provide food; for our final meeting before holidays, the TR will be mixed in with the discussion. See p. 106.
We brought brown - bag dinners tonight. Christine led us in psalm and prayer thoughtfully chosen to relate to tonight's reading. Our question was a little fanciful: What kind of plant have you been in the past week? We had a cactus dry and sucking up moisture; grass, just holding on; and others.
Our discussion of the second half of the book by Catherine Meeks. Our greatest interest was in exploring our Bishop's chapter about the South as America's "Holy Land." The history of conflict, the physical / familial closeness of the adversaries (black and white), and the intentional courage of the Civil Rights fighters all contribute to that feeling that this place is a site for struggles spiritual as well as physical.
We also compared notes on sensitivity trainings we've experienced, "white guilt," and also "white privilege" -- how these phrases are fraught and liable to provoke people we know.
We also discussed a couple of sources not in the book. Bishop Neil Alexander writes in the latest publication from Sewanee about how education should lead to listening with an "undefended heart." Erica sent us a link to a rich article from a blog HeritageMom by a homeschooling mother about starting a black homeschool group alongside the one she already had joined. Is she "reverse racist" for wanting a space where black children are free of white judgement, white unease with physicality and loud voices? Here's the link. Scott has posted a reflection on the book on his personal blog, here.
TR
Susan brought us Linda Pastan's poem "The Cossacks." The poet is amused and even admiring of another person's "denial mixed with acceptance," like her mother who had chatted of polite things when she was dying of cancer. We picked up on that last element of the poem, and related it to the famous image of the musicians who played "Nearer My God to Thee" on the tilting deck of the Titanic.During the days following class, Mariel composed this collect from our notes:
Collect for Carrying On
O Lord, Eternal Creator, Redeemer and Giver of Life,
Just as by the breath of your Spirit you brought forth the abundance of Earth from the depths of the abyss, so breathe into our spirits the grace and strength to finish the work you’ve given us to do, so that we - like Stephen submitting to his tormentors, and Paul facing prison and certain death - may unto the end be ever blessed by being a blessing to others, and that our life’s work may endure as a testimony to the life-giving truth and beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Next week We all read Week Sixteen's essay by Steven Charleston, Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta (p. 94 ff in the RRG). Scott and Susan will provide food; for our final meeting before holidays, the TR will be mixed in with the discussion. See p. 106.
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Yr. B, Wk. 14: Dismantling Racism, Part One
Class: Christine, first year; Mariel, Tom, Gene, second year; Erica, third year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Mariel.
Gene drew together a thoughtful selection of prayers and quotations from Scripture relating to this week's reading, including these:
Tom led off our discussion of Dr. Meeks's book Dismantling Racism by admitting that he had not expected to like it, but had appreciated the emphasis on individuals' spiritual practices, having felt the difference that morning prayer has made in his own life. We shared answers to some of the study questions at the back of the book, beginning with the question, "How did you first become aware of racial difference?"
TR
Tom presented a clock that his employer gave him as a reward some years ago. We were struck by its being a smaller, cheaper, battery - operated replica of a 19th century object. We focused our reflection on the effort to maintain old tradition in a new time. Our discussion eventually encompassed everything we had spoken about all night. Tired, we left the collect to be formed later, from notes on the board (see photo below).
Collect in a Time of Social Change
Eternal Father, Your servant Moses prodded the Hebrews towards the Promised Land when they looked back with nostalgia to the comforts of Egypt; Your Son Jesus exposed the inhumanity of the Pharisees' strict application of traditional taboos: help us to discern the familiar practices we keep for the sake of our own comfort, from traditions that promote the values of truth and justice for all; so that we may embrace necessary change with confidence and hasten the coming of Your kingdom. Amen.
Gene led closing worship with the prayer for the human family, #3.
Next week: We finish the Meeks book. Brown bag dinner; Christine leads worship; Susan brings the TR.
FYI - You can see the words of that Advent cantata from Scott's TR a few weeks ago. The piece reflects what he learned during his first four years with EfM.
For his blog The Word Sanctuary, Scott wrote a reflection on the myriad ways that he is privileged by his family background in ways that his friends of color cannot be. See The Privilege is Mine.
Gene drew together a thoughtful selection of prayers and quotations from Scripture relating to this week's reading, including these:
- Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. Ephesians 4.32
- Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Exodus 22.21
- There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3.28
Tom led off our discussion of Dr. Meeks's book Dismantling Racism by admitting that he had not expected to like it, but had appreciated the emphasis on individuals' spiritual practices, having felt the difference that morning prayer has made in his own life. We shared answers to some of the study questions at the back of the book, beginning with the question, "How did you first become aware of racial difference?"
TR
Tom presented a clock that his employer gave him as a reward some years ago. We were struck by its being a smaller, cheaper, battery - operated replica of a 19th century object. We focused our reflection on the effort to maintain old tradition in a new time. Our discussion eventually encompassed everything we had spoken about all night. Tired, we left the collect to be formed later, from notes on the board (see photo below).
Collect in a Time of Social Change
Eternal Father, Your servant Moses prodded the Hebrews towards the Promised Land when they looked back with nostalgia to the comforts of Egypt; Your Son Jesus exposed the inhumanity of the Pharisees' strict application of traditional taboos: help us to discern the familiar practices we keep for the sake of our own comfort, from traditions that promote the values of truth and justice for all; so that we may embrace necessary change with confidence and hasten the coming of Your kingdom. Amen.
Gene led closing worship with the prayer for the human family, #3.
Next week: We finish the Meeks book. Brown bag dinner; Christine leads worship; Susan brings the TR.
FYI - You can see the words of that Advent cantata from Scott's TR a few weeks ago. The piece reflects what he learned during his first four years with EfM.
For his blog The Word Sanctuary, Scott wrote a reflection on the myriad ways that he is privileged by his family background in ways that his friends of color cannot be. See The Privilege is Mine.
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