Yr. C, Wk. 20: God Reaching to Us, Our Reaching to Others

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Worship and Gathering
As a last-minute substitute for Donfred, Scott's liturgy allotted lines from recent collects by Nuno and Jessica for the start and end of our meeting. For a gathering question, he asked what sport or game would make a good analogy for your recent week? Jessica said Jeopardy, because answers have led her to more questions, both at work and at home. We had several games of ping-pong being played by Marilyn, Joyce, and Susan. After a tough week with little sleep, Pete said he's playing chess, moving slowly, considering lots of options. Nuno is trying to get back to a simple game of checkers after the big-world fast-paced game of Risk he's been playing. Tom's life has been like track meets of his youth: long periods of waiting for a few seconds of frenetic activity. Scott is playing Scrabble each week, finding new combinations for the same tiles.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Donfred.

Discussion of the Readings
Scott kicked off the discussion with Collins's chicken-and-egg question about Amos and Hosea: is the humane, just, international God they describe a recovery of the original covenant, or did the prophets add a dimension of morality to those books through editors who compiled the early sources into the scripture we now know? Nuno sees how editing can be divinely inspired as well as the original texts. Susan gave examples from Y3 of revisions to long-accepted histories of the Churches East and West.

Aside from the editing question, Tom and Joyce both spoke strongly about the emotion and love in those prophets. “They reveal the heart of God,” Tom said. Joyce was touched by the hope at the ends of the books.

Jessica continued the theme of looking beyond what was written to how scripture was written. She begins to appreciate the difficulties Paul had in communicating to the Corinthians, as he urged them to enter into "the mind in Christ."

In an aside, Jessica feels the Spirit working in our study, as the readings seem to be giving her texts that she needed to read just now. For Marilyn, what Jessica said about the “mind in Christ” relates to McIntosh – it's human “disintegration” and our self-preservation that keeps us separated, our unwillingness to risk vulnerability. Marilyn added, “The hardest times in my life were when I saw myself as alone…” Scott recommended poet / essayist Christian Wiman, whose return to faith occurred just before he was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer. Central to Wiman's faith is that vulnerability of the Lord, who called out from the cross, “My God why have you forsaken me?"

Theological Reflection

Susan brought a cartoon depicting a young man's dog responding joyously to the attention of a young woman on the sidewalk, who is evidently a stranger facing the opposite direction. The artist is Ali Solomon. Her work appears in The New Yorker. (See an interview with her at BoredPanda.com)

The group's interest lay in the young man's evident disaffection, even discomfort. As we got further away from the source, we got into a metaphor -- someone out in the water, seeing lively activity among people on shore.

More than usual, we found applications to our own churches, especially with regard to newcomers and members who feel excluded or timid about getting involved. "Being friendly" is not a simple answer. From our reflection, Tom wrote this collect:

Collect regarding OutsidersAlmighty and all-knowing God, having created us, You know all of your people, Your sons and daughters, better than we know ourselves, what gives us joy and what gives us devastating agony, where we are healthy and where we are in debilitating pain, when we are competent and when we are absolutely helpless, when we feel loved and when we feel it is hopeless that anyone will ever love us, even You, Merciful Father; since we ourselves are in such desperate need of your restoration and redemption, and we ourselves are unable to help ourselves in any good and meaningful way, give us such sensitivity to the needs of each member of Your family around us, especially of the newcomers in our midst, so that we may be to Your sons and daughters Your heart, Your shoulders, Your arms, and Your hands to guide them to that which You know they need, to that which brings them Your restoration and redemption, and to that which gives them greater knowledge and life-giving connection with You, Who with our Great Kinsman-Redeemer, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and forever, Amen.

For Next Week
We do the readings for Week 21. Donfred will lead worship and bring a question to gather us in our community. Joyce will bring a source for the TR.

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Yr. C, Wk. 19: Here Am I!

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Worship and Gathering
Tom led a worship liturgy, a mix of praise, confession, and thanksgiving. His gathering question to us was, "What were you doing when praise / awe / reverence spontaneously erupted in you?" Our answers involved listening to the awesome sound of a pipe organ; being in nature, "looking out and looking up," and exploring the creek behind the house with daughters; petting the cat while reading and listening; listening to (or singing with) favorite songs; watching the fish in a pond staying out of each others way; appreciating the confluence of art and music and words in outstanding scenes of musical theatre.

Tom posed a follow-up question: What can we do to ensure that we do these activities more often? Thank you!

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings
After sharing in small groups what stood out in our readings, each group collaborated on a statement with a "big BUT" in it (with a nod to Sir Mixalot:

• Things were very strict and by the book, but there was also a lot of prejudice (against others – tribes, worship) (Pete and Donfred)
• Joyce re Nuno – we’re striving to give our kids more things … but what the kids REALLY want isn’t the things, but their dad and his care and protection. Marilyn was reminded how, as a little girl, she'd pretend to be asleep so dad would carry her to bed
• Jessica summed up Paul's difficulty in a sentence: Christ is the end of Law, but what does that mean?
• Susan reported about the Eastern church's perspective on Church: In the Body of Christ, we’re not just following God, but becoming God.
• After reading a chapter in Yee about the period of Judges (i.e., warlords) and Kings, Scott said that it's a lot of very adolescent male culture, but it's strained through the theological outlook of the Deuteronomist(s).

Theological Reflection
Jessica brought a very short passage from scripture, the call of young Samuel, to which he responded, "Here am I!" We saw four characters in the story: Eli, Samuel, God, and the Reader. We focused on Samuel, and asked, what is that call like? We went with a couple expecting a phone call from the adoption agency.

We explored the world of the phone call. We had a lot of buy-in with this image. Getting the new dog, their was joyous excitement but then realization of responsibility and adjustments... "You want the call but your life will be completely different after"... The father-to-be had to pull over in his car when he heard they’d got the call to have the children, because he was so overwhelmed with emotion. We explored theological categories:

• Creation or wholeness: Nervous excitement, worrying and anticipating future, crying in joy.
• Sin or brokenness: you’re too busy to take the call, you were unprepared (didn’t charge your phone).
• Redemption: Shared duty to answer the phone, use your call waiting, call them right back!

Our discussion culminated in these insights/applications:

• It involves the element of waiting: we’re on someone else’s time line.
• You need to ID the caller!
• Joyful anxiety: it’s a real thing… dogs, daughters, marriage… it’s all-encompassing
• There’s joy in doing your duty, fulfilling your responsibility; it give your purpose
• The intersection of purpose and mission is imaged in The Cross
• Answering a call, we get answers – for someone else.
• God is the one who is waiting for us to call Him!

When a call went out for someone to shape our discussion into a collect, Jessica said, "Here am I!"

Collect for a Call

Holy and Gracious God, You call us to deepen our relationship with You so that through us, we may be vessels of your love and grace to go forth into the world spreading the Good News of the risen Lord. Help guide us along the way and call us back to you when we stray. Give us the strength and courage to say, “Here am I, send me” to help fulfill the mission of drawing all persons into the knowledge and love of You, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Through whom all things are possible. Amen.

For Next Week
Scott will bring worship, because Donfred will be on a training session with the diocese for "Safeguarding God's Children." He'll take his turn next week. Susan will bring a source for a TR.

Below: Marilyn had just read this blogpost about God's calling us when she ran across a prayer of King Alfred from 849 CE, a portion of which has God listening for our call:

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Yr. C, Wk. 18: Kings, Letters, and Angels

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Worship and Gathering
Scott made a point of how flexible worship can be, so long as there are these four elements (whatever the order):

• awe and praise
• confession and assurance of pardon
• God’s word
• our response.

All four elements appeared in Hymn 124 ("What star is this that beams to bright" by Charles Coffin) when we read its verses responsively. So, especially among friends, worship doesn't have to be a formal service from a prayer book. Remember that we've had worship made from psalms, poems, and a dramatic reading about the Witch of Endor. Imagine a liturgy of images, or a liturgy of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. Anything goes that, as McIntosh might say, intensifies our awe, our recognition, our response to God. Let's just be sure that worship and the gathering question take no more than 10-12 minutes.

The gathering question was, "Now that the holidays are behind us, what are you looking forward to?" Art class... the cat settling back into routine ... preparing for a project in Florida... good career changes coming up... the end of the month to see if tweaks to an Excel spreadsheet pay off... setting up a room to write in. We learned that Donfred has been having a rough time flying to NYC and back several times, dealing with death and illness in the family. Let's keep him in our prayers.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Nuno. Tom came in for the TR.

Discussion of the Readings
Pete started us off with a discussion of metaphor. He sees so many ways that God is like an earthly father, but McIntosh reminds us how far from comprehensive the metaphor is: our parents are beings in this universe, and God the Father is NOT.

If archaeology reveals that Biblical reports of Solomon’s immense wealth and influence are “hyped up,” how important is that to you? What if differences of style and theology in the letters attributed to Paul suggest that some of them were written in Paul’s name by later disciples? Jessica and Pete are less bothered by this than they used to be. It's not the historical record that inspired Joyce in the story of Solomon’s praying for wisdom, his judgment about the baby claimed by two women. Joyce acknowledged that Solomon’s wisdom at first seems to be all about killing anyone who might threaten him. Besides, Jessica said, our theme is “reaching spiritual maturity,” and can’t the differences in the letters be evidence of Paul’s maturing ideas and style? Scott agreed that the Hebrew scriptures themselves show a developing spiritual maturity across 1000 years: that development is at least as important as whatever else goes on in first and second Kings.

What if the stories can be looked at from different points of view? Susan said, “ALL STORIES are culled from a perspective and a purpose – otherwise the stories wouldn’t be told.” She told how theology arose in universities of the 12th century, studying the stories and writings in a systematic way. Aristotle’s influence came into Christian thinking.

Marilyn loved how McIntosh reversed a common perspective. The problem isn’t that God’s presence gets in the way of my freedom, but that my distorted sense of self keeps me from being free…Children embrace life, but we learn to be afraid, learn to lose our freedom…

Adoration of the Christ Child by Jacob Cornelisz, Netherlandish, 1515

Theological Reflection
Pete brought us a painting that he recently saw at the Art Institute of Chicago, giving us no more details. We quickly recognized that it tells the story of the Nativity, with "pensive" Mary, the "adoring" Joseph, and "solemn" shepherds coming in from a distant field where we see their flock. We almost missed the baby Jesus (and maybe that's intentional).

We focused on the artist's extraordinary depiction of dozens of skittering, gleeful, musical cherubs evidently unnoticed as they mixed in the humans' business. We took our theme to be "the spiritual world intersecting with the physical world...God with us."

• Thoughts? We are not alone.
• Feelings? Comfort, thoughtfulness, delight, connection.
• Connections to our tradition? In the Bible, angels often have to say, "Fear not." (Annunciation, Zechariah.) "Great cloud of witnesses."
• Cultural connections? Our culture has substituted Extra-Terrestrials for angels -- some are menacing, but many come with the message "Fear not" (When Worlds Collide and Close Encounters). Instead of fear of angels and spirits, and ETs, we feel joy and awe. It's ordinary time v. eternity, Kansas v. Oz. When we check our devices, we become aware how our physical world intersects with digital data in the air around us.
• Insights? Applications? Pete said he wants to be more aware of the spiritual world in his day to day business.

When Scott read back comments by Joyce and Jessica, the consensus was, "That's our collect." So here those are:

• No matter how scared we get or worried we are or how overwhelmed by pain, God and his angels are with us.
• If we focus on Jesus we will see the Spirit and joy.

For Next Week
Tom brings worship and a gathering question, and Jessica brings a source for the TR.

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Yr. C, Wk. 17: Touched by Images; Unexpected Grace

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Worship and Gathering
Susan brought a worship liturgy for us. Then she asked if we don't rate our holiday a perfect "10," what would've made it perfect? Susan and Jessica each rated theirs around 8 or 9 - liking the visits, not the travel. Pete enjoyed the planes, trains, and automobiles of a trip to Chicago with "the girls," a 9.8. Scott gave his a 10 because of the music, three weeks in a row when making music in choir brought him to tears. Nuno gave the holiday a 12 -- for the 12 days, though the first one felt like a "1." Marilyn gave hers a 7, exciting, but she didn't get to share old traditions with her kids. Joyce, 8, because nothing could make up for missing a loved one. For Tom, viewing the service on livestream is just not the same. Channeling the judge from East Germany, he gave it a 3.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Donfred.

Discussion of the Readings
We had time in breakout rooms (Tom, Susan, Joyce, Jessica; Pete, Nuno, Marilyn) to answer a question from the RRG, "what visual images arose for you as you did the week's readings?"

• Susan, reading for Y3, visualized the Gothic architecture with gravity-defying spires that conveyed stateliness, the power of the church, and the awesomeness of God. On the same subject. Pete recommended Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, a novel about the building of a cathedral. Scott told how some of his students were disturbed by the huge dark space. The "hush-hush" light inspires awe in Marilyn.
• Y2 brought images of the sleepy believer who falls out a window during a long sermon and dies -- to be brought back to life by the apostle.
• In Y4, Marilyn pictured a prickly cactus to represent aspects of the centuries-long "conversation" we believers are a part of. Nuno was touched by an image of the parent waving the teddy bear in front of her toddler in order to awaken the desire for good things -- McIntosh's way to describe how the Spirit in us awakens our desire for relationship with God.
• In Y1, Joyce liked the picture Collins provides of the ark of the covenant, and the story in Samuel of the foreign idol that collapsed in its presence. Tom smiled at the image of the villagers who, associating Samuel with angry king Saul, cowered when the prophet came to town to anoint David.

Asked about anything else in the readings that aroused feelings, Susan was amazed to be reminded how the Benedictine monasteries were money-makers as way-stations for pilgrims and Crusaders; Jessica is eager to read Luke and Acts in one sitting to appreciate the common threads by their one author; Nathan's use of a parable to reach David after the Bathsheba affair reminded Joyce of the approach she used to take to her husband; Scott, feeling that Saul doesn't deserve the bad press he gets, is touched by the pathos and measure of dignity restored after the shame of his death and defilement.

Theological Reflection
Scott's story of the talented cook who won over an impatient late-night crowd at a Waffle House brought us to a metaphor: companions in a desert whose needs are supplied in a surprising way. Tom gave some practical tips on how to find moisture in a hot, arid place -- helping us to "explore the world of the metaphor" in a way we would not have done otherwise.

We were reminded of Bible stories: Feeding of the five thousand, when this one person (Jesus) in scarcity does the surprising thing… (calming the storm)… Peter out fishing all night, “did you catch anything?” put nets on the other side of the boat and they catch more than they can carry in the boat!...Hebrews in the desert...Forlorn disciples waiting after the crucifixion, didn’t know for what, and then the Resurrection surprises them.

For insights and applications, energy rose when we focused on any way we could use this reflection in our personal lives. Everybody is waiting for something… can I learn to enjoy the wait? ... I will try inviting people, waiting with them, solidarity goes a long way… Experience on our different Vestries, tensions around budget scarcity … “Stop comparing to another year and play that year for itself!” Trying not to be tied to habit. Joyce, returning to the original Waffle House story, remembered how she could redirect her late husband the way the cook redirected the hostile crowd that night.

Nuno stepped up to compose a collect from our discussion.

Collect in the DesertDear God of Divine Providence, who yet waits to stand upon Mount Zion, You are with us in the deserts of our lives, when we think ourselves lost, alone, and without. We pray that we have prepared our hearts, that we be faithful to your divine timing in revealing your exceeding and abundant grace, So that at your dawning we be not alone in that wasteland but collected joyfully within your holy fortress. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For Next Week
Please come to our meeting with two or three things in your reading that you want to tell about. Tom will bring worship and a question to "gather" us. Pete will bring a source for a TR.

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