Journey with God, Wk. 16: Electric Socks & the Solar Eclipse

← | latest | →

Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.

Worship and Gathering
"Thine is the day, and also the night... You made both summer and winter...." Lanie's choice of prayers and verses really fit the situation after a weekend when a winter storm affected our communities.

Lanie's GQ concerned any excitement due to the ice and cold. We shared about football to watch, old photos to sort, laundry to do, a road trip to see Sunday in the Park with George just ahead of the freeze... a triathlon to train for in Emory's pool...and a patient to take care of. We were sorry to learn about the loss of a beloved dog.

Yr. D, 1st yr: Michael, Mason; 2nd yr: Lanie; 3rd yr: Joyce, Susan; 4th yr, Jessica, Rita; 5th yr "Wide Angle," Kaye. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Jessica.

Respond
We discussed so much that we filled more than half of our multi-colored grid. Highlights included Lanie's and Kaye's admission that they're getting to like Paul better as they get to know him and the pressures on him from many sides as he was missionary to both Jews and Gentiles. Missionaries of a later millennium often conflated their cultural preferences with scriptural teachings, but Joyce raised the exception of a Spanish missionary to China who adopted some Chinese ways. We talked some about authorship - of Paul's letters, and of Psalms. Michael found some mordant humor in Job: If you'd be silent, Job says to a "friend," it would be counted as wisdom. Burn! Rita put in some good words about Bretherton in his final two chapters. We all got into Bretherton's idea of "politics" as "association." He's getting back to an ancient idea, Susan said.

By selecting the secret square (albeit reluctantly), Joyce won a pair of very expensive electric heated socks. Happy walking this weekend, Joyce!

Those of us who watched Videos from the Bible Project were enthusiastic, even moved by two that were recommended this week. These delineated the underlying order of the Psalms and traced the idea of "justice" in Scripture. These might change your perspective and your life: not kidding! If you missed them, here are the links:

• BIBLE PROJECT: PSALMS
• BIBLE PROJECT: THEME OF JUSTICE IN SCRIPTURE

Reflect
Mason brought us photos from the day of the total solar eclipse in 2017, shared with his father, using the camera given him by his brother. He taped safety goggles over the lens to cut glare. He described the eerie sounds of the nocturnal birds, the 360 degree sunset, and a sudden drop in temperature. Mason also gave a name to something that others remember hearing at the moment of total eclipse: "a primal whoop!"

After many of us connected the eclipse to experiences of our own, Mason was struck by how much we had shared in common with him, even though he hadn't known any of us at the time. This became our focus, the idea of community formed spontaneously during an awe-inspiring phenomenon.

In our tradition, we see this kind of bonding across pews, across continents, and across centuries when the host is raised, and when all voices recite "Our Father, who art in heaven." The readings on Good Friday include an eclipse of the sun when Jesus gave up his spirit. Michael also thought about the Pentecost experience, bringing people of different languages and backgrounds together in one experience. [Side note: Bretherton used Pentecost to illustrate "politics" in the best sense.]

Connecting to culture, we saw other such moments in the space shuttle disaster, 9/11, and also celebrations of big sports events. In a different way, Joyce and Kaye reminded us, childbirth brings many people close who may not have known each other before.

For insights, Lanie pointed to the appearance of parentheses in Mason's photos, an image that made us think of coming at a central idea from different "sides." Mason was reminded of a recent sermon at St. James when Mother Clare Nesmith taught us three steps to Episcopal evangelism, "See - Share - Invite." Lanie also brought Paul into this, from Corinthians: "Seeing [God] through a glass darkly."

When it was time to apply our insights to life, we found something to pray for: when we experience this kind of spontaneous community, that we don't just walk away from it, but sustain the knowledge/feeling that we can all be so connected, even to people unlike us. This sounded to Scott like a collect that he could polish later:

Collect after a Solar Eclipse

So vast, so bright that we cannot comprehend You, Lord, we seek your face through the cloudy lens of experience and between the lines of stories, and we sometimes hear your voice in collective cries at times of glory or grief: build our faith from such moments, that we may sustain our sense of community and share it through love of your son and the warming of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

For closing worship, Lanie had prepared verses of a beautiful hymn for us to read (or sing), "Christ, Mighty Savior." It turned out to relate to solar eclipses (see the last two verses especially.)

For Monday:

• "Engage" material for week 17
• Ponder Joyce's questions: How did the concept of “discipleship” appear in your studies this week? What is your definition of discipleship? How do you see yourself, or how might you envision yourself as a disciple? For you, what does it mean to surrender to God? How might discipleship and surrender integrate into your everyday life?
• Read 20 pages in Kidd's book God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved. (We're timing this to finish the book just ahead of when it will be assigned, so that we can compress 2-3 weeks and catch up.)

← | latest | →

Journey with God, Wk. 15: ABCD w MLK

← | latest | →

Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.

D is for Delight

I hope you're enjoying this evening of our holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Between brisk dog walks, I've been marking things that Amaze, Bother, Challenge (or Confuse), or Delight me in the readings for week 15. Here are a few:

• Delighted (Y1) to re-read the section about Job's wife in our book about Bible women. Only eleven words, but she's in the tradition that many women in the Bible are skeptics. Job (and she?) learn that suffering is not the result of Job's actions nor a test of Job's faith, but something out of their hands.
• Challenged (Y2) a bit as always by the idea of pseudepigrapha. Learned that the word is formed from PSEUDO (false) + EPIGRAPH (signature, or top line). When is a fake not a phony? Then got an idea: To comment on current politics, I could rant on my blog, but who would care? Suppose I wrote as if I were George Washington on his deathbed, foreseeing the dangers in federal government? I wouldn't fool anyone, but all would have to recognize that my "fake" Washington is consistent with the real one, and give my observations some consideration.
• Bothered (Y3) by seeming whitewash of Bartoleme das Casas. The context is how the Church (Spanish, Portuguese especially) spread by force, with little traction for those who advocated adapting to local cultures (as Matteo Ricci in China). Fr. Bart is said to have advocated for humane treatment of the indigenous peoples of Central and South America. That's true. But his solution was to import Africans for slaves, because they didn't get sick when they labored. (No one understood that Africans' superior stamina was due to their immunity to Old World diseases.)
• Amazed (Y5) that I've been doing this so long and yet never noticed that an Episcopal church is responsible for a geographical area called a "parish," not just for the members of the church there! It's in the context of Varghese's discussion of justice.
• Delighted (Y4) that Bretherton would have churches "hold open times and spaces for wonder, prayer, rest, festivity, and play [to] regenerate the human spirit." (p.294)
• Martin Luther King in Bretherton: Foreseeing a day when Sanitation Workers will be valued as highly as Medical Doctors for ensuring health in our communities.

Over the next few days, I'll be engaging with week 16, for our next meeting on Monday Jan 26th. Remember your ABCDs!

← | latest | →

Journey with God, Wk. 14: Exiles and Grasshoppers

← | latest | →

Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.

Worship and Gathering

We listened to the collect from our TR last week that Mason made with help from his AI assistant. Susan assured him that the result was good and that the ideas and the creativity were clearly Mason's. (See Wk. 13)

Joyce chose beautiful prayers and passages for us on the theme of light.

Her GQ ("Gathering Question") was about our parents: do we see more of our moms or of our dads in ourselves? Our answers revealed a lot about us. Joyce, thank you for helping us to know each other better. (I have to wonder how Jessica and Rita would have handled that question!)

Yr. D, 1st yr: Michael, Mason; 2nd yr: Lanie; 3rd yr: Joyce, Susan; 4th yr, Jessica, Rita; 5th yr "Wide Angle," Kaye. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Jessica and Rita.

Respond
Questions for week 14, chosen by Jessica:

1. Who or what provided new knowledge this week? In what ways was your knowledge of something confirmed or challenged?
2. When a community or people have been exiled, disenfranchised, or sidelined and are given a chance to return, what becomes essential for survival? How do you decide whether to stay or return? When have you felt that way? What was vital for your survival, and who offered support?

We tackled question 2 first by listing examples of exiled or disenfranchised peoples: indigenous nations of America, the African diaspora, the diaspora of Jews both in the time of Nehemiah and modern times, Ukrainians, Venezuelans, Syrians, and the long-exiled community of Cubans in Florida. What's "essential" for their survival? Safety, assurance of being able to provide for families. Many of our examples left voluntarily in order to provide for family back home.

Michael and Mason reminded us that those returning from Babylon were contemptuous and even cruel to those who had been too low-class to have ever left the land. Kaye also pointed out that the Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles were doubly disenfranchised by the established authorities of Judaism and Roman Empire -- Paul tried to bridge all of these groups.

About question 1, we volunteered a wide range of things that were new to us. Lanie loved how "The Bible Project" made scripture clear to her in a new way. Mason was startled when the commentary alerted him to humor in Esther: the bumbling king so easily manipulated, stereotyped characters, layers of irony. Mike was struck by how foreign kings Darius and Artaxerxes do God's bidding more faithfully than God's people had done. Joyce was interested in the creation of the confessional box, and how it made the village churches and parish priests central to the lives of common folk. Kaye admitted that Paul is always a challenge for her, but Evans has softened her stance, as she can see Paul trying (successfully!) to create a larger community from groups in opposition. Like Mason, Kaye has learned to see some of Paul's writing as humor. (What the hand says to the eye, for example.)

Reflect
Susan brought the TR, a portion of the day's lectionary reading from Isaiah 40. We were drawn to the line about how God sees us: we're grasshoppers. It's clearly meant to be a disparaging comparison, accompanied by lines about the nations being dust and all the kingdoms "a drop in the bucket."

Our discussion really seemed to pick up when Joyce consulted Google to point out that grasshoppers can't see where they're going when they leap forward -- true "leaps of faith."

We connected that image to our own experiences (the "action" source of knowledge) of moving for a new job, putting ourselves out for a new relationship, improvising on stage. Culture brought to mind some big leaps of faith made by Indiana Jones (Raiders III) when he steps out into a dark chasm, Marty Supreme out in theatres now, about a young man with massive faith in himself. Tradition gives us a cocky young David who refuses armor and conventional weaponry, his self-assurance mixed with God assurance. Noah, Mary and Joseph, all the apostles, and Abraham all give up expectations and homes for dreams, visions, or just the call of Jesus.

Esther came to mind again, when she says, "If I perish, I perish."

Kaye and Susan explored the idea that Americans have leapers of faith in their ancestry: the ones who risked everything to come here, and those who were brought here against their will and built lives and families against all odds in a place and time where their personhood was denied.

We applied this "leap of faith" idea to our churches as well. St. James took a leap of faith on our new rector, and so did the rector! Kaye's church took a leap by overruling the frugal businessmen on the vestry and springing for new construction. 20 years later, the risk has paid off.

I think the grasshopper will join Lanie's jeweled frog as images that will inspire us when we're doubting. Looking back on the whole evening, I'm noticing that our talk about exiles was also about communities taking leaps, whether they were going back or deciding to settle in a foreign land.

[Note from later in the week: Thursday's commentary in Forward Day by Day focuses on "leaps of faith" made by apostles Philip and Nathaniel (Jn 1:43), who follow Jesus, no questions asked. The author wonders, would he follow Jesus, or stick to his own schedule? He finds reassurance in Thomas Merton, who wrote: "I believe the desire to please [God] does, in fact, please [God]. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing." The author concludes, "Would I go with Jesus? I don't know. But I want to. And that, in itself, is a leap of faith."]

The grasshopper reminded Kaye of poet Mary Oliver's greatest hit, "A Summer Day," in which the poet's awe and awareness of life's passing are prompted by close observation of a grasshopper eating sugar from her palm. This blog contains that poem in the context of a worship service I made from Oliver's poetry. See Liturgy adapted from poetry.

Joyce prayed for Jessica and Rita before concluding with a collect from the prayer book.

For next time: We are all engaging with materials for both Wk 15 and Wk 16. We will not meet, however, on Martin Luther King day. When we meet again on the 25th, Lanie will lead worship, and Mason will bring a source for the TR. Instead of answering questions this time, we're going to bring those quotes and ideas that ABCD us - Amaze, Bother, Confuse, and Delight.

← | latest | →

Journey with God, Wk. 13 = Joy + AI + (20+C+P+M+26)

← | latest | →

Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.

Worship and Gathering
Having read Kings and Chronicles, Mike drew prayers that spoke to the theme he saw of God's faithfulness despite his people's unfaithfulness.

His gathering question was, "What's something in worship that makes you feel close to God and to others?" We answered: Singing, kneeling at the altar rail, the congregation at St. Theresa holding hands for the Lord's Prayer, the prayers of the people (especially in one congregation where the leader stood up from the midst of the people), the passing of the peace (their faces... and prepping your own heart and mind), and "all of us under one roof as we say the same prayer, 'Our Father who art in heaven....'"

Yr. D, 1st yr: Michael, Mason; 2nd yr: Lanie; 3rd yr: Joyce, Susan; 4th yr, Jessica, Rita; 5th yr "Wide Angle," Kaye. Mentor: Scott. Absent: None.

Respond
One of Mason's chosen questions began, "Place yourself in the world of your assignment." What joy do we find in that world?

Mike found joy in God's own delighted reaction to Solomon's request for wisdom, though the king's subsequent apostasy and brutality belie the whole story. Lanie and Scott both spoke of joy they found in noticing how the author of Luke and Acts parallels his stories of Jesus and Paul to follow a similar arc, one towards Jerusalem, the other towards Rome. Violence and persecution in the name of religion made the 16th and 17th centuries in England joyless for Joyce, as each new administration reversed all the policies of the previous one. (Just imagine!) Kaye loves reading Evans, this times about the joyful responses the apostles made to their callings; and Kaye also recommends a joyful video of early Christian art (see the Year 5 tab).

There is still no joy in Bretherton, Rita sighed, though Scott got a kick out of that author's very Episcopalian emphasis on finding a middle way between legalism and relativism. Susan found joy in Y1's cartoon "Bible Project," so succinct, elegant, and creative. Scott also appreciated a little humor in Bretherton's admonishment to consider "the Other" in our moral decisions -- to be, he said, "Otherwise." ("Wise" about the "Other" -- get it? Ha? Rita? Jessica? Anybody?)

Looking for joy "in the world of the assignment," we found it. While we ourselves would have had no joy living in England under Queen Elizabeth I, we remembered that their culture flourished in music, poetry, theatre, and visual arts that still fascinate us today, and our prayer book in its latest edition is still shaped by the distinctive Anglican theology developed during that time. About Luke and Acts, Scott recommended Huston Smith's history of the world's great religions, while representing each religion in terms its adherents would be proud of, begins the story of Christianity with the observation that joy is what strikes a student of religion most strongly.

I wonder if we could find more joy in Kings and Chronicles? Remember, the temple priests who wrote about the "abominations" of kings would have used "abomination" to describe a shrimp salad. Put ourselves in the sandals of those ancient kings, with their heterogeneous populations to care for, their necessary dealings with neighboring kings, and then ask, what's joy in their world? What's a threat to joy in their world? Their choices may not have been so clear-cut as the priestly writers would have us think. Perhaps their world and their choices are more like ones we face, and there may be more for us to find in Chronicles than what we've been taught to find there.

Answering Mason's AI question, we shared our own experiences with AI.

• AI hasn't much value for Mason at his work except for its help with refining his own writing.
• Susan wondered if all Mason's best ideas are now in AI's bank of material?
• Kaye finds AI's "help" to be intrusive and not helpful most of the time.
• Scott reported a study on writing with AI: those who explored a topic first with pen and paper wrote more meaningful and memorable work than any who used AI to write. Those same pen-and-paper writers later used AI in interesting and distinctive ways to improve their work. The group that started with AI didn't remember anything they'd produced, their work was all the same, and their pen-and-paper results were dismal.
• Mike got pretty good songs from AI in seconds, with the prompts "Give me a Heavy Metal song about FAX machines" and "Give me a Gospel song about a bar fight."
• Lanie's nephew used AI to write an obit for his sister.
• Jess says AI is "all the rage" in the medical world, doing a lot of time-consuming work in an instant, but she's dubious: Do we want AI deciding who should be admitted for treatment?
• The AI robot on Scott's phone has settled the issue for now by addressing a moral question, "What is an ethical response to climate change for an American?" The robot told us to vote, to stay informed, and to engage with community -- undoubtedly true, and unremarkable.

Reflect
Kaye brought us the tradition of "chalking" homes for Epiphany, new to many of us. We especially liked a distinctive chalk design from 2023!

Lanie told how a neighbor thought the chalk marks were evidence of gang activity. Jessica asked about the difference between a "tradition" and a "superstition" when the intent is to bring blessings upon us in the new year. Mason and Jessica wondered if the placement at the door is meant to keep things out (like Puerto Rican masks on Susan's walls) or to show welcoming. We wondered about differentiating custom - superstition - tradition - ritual - practice - habit. We focused on habits as habitations, i.e., things we live in that shape us (an idea Kaye took from Evans, and Susan took from Aristotle).

We explored the world of the House/Habitation. By Creation The home is clean, structured, safe, comfortable, a sanctuary. If not, yet, you can "fake it till you make it." Sin is coercion (the dang Home Owners' Association!!) and standardization. Judgment is the chaos of a disordered habitation, or its opposite -- a house so orderly that you can't live in it. We shared how disturbing it is when the tiniest thing goes wrong -- a leak in the skylight, the pitter-patter of tiny feet in the attic.

We Connected our idea of "habitation" to Tradition. Joyce related chalk marks over the door to blood on the lintel of the Hebrews' dwellings in Egypt. Rita started us on a list of house-related parables by Jesus, such as the one about building on a foundation of sand. The first healing in the Gospels takes place in the house where Jesus resuscitates Peter's mother-in-law -- "and then she gets up and serves them," Joyce said. Mike and others named the temple, the tabernacle, and the House of David. What would a TR be without a connection to Culture through the movie that ends with the words "Auntie Em, there's no place like home!" The joy of building came through when Scott's 7th graders "built" structures for the game Minecraft.

Insights In our focus on our houses, have we forgotten the neighbors? Community is the point. It's dangerous to think we can be just in our homes. We have to surrender complete control -- to leave a space for the Lord (as the Shumanite woman dedicated a space for Elijah) and cooperate.

Thanks to Mason for volunteering to try his hand at a collect for this TR. He not only fit a meaningful prayer to our discussion, but he also extended our AI discussion by consulting AI for it! Here's the collect:

Collect for our Homes

Creator God, fount of every blessing, who laid the foundation of the world, you provide us with shelter: sanctuaries for companionship, meals, and restoration. We pray you enter our homes and bless them with your presence so that we may be faithful stewards of these spaces. As our dwellings shape our daily lives, embolden us to step across our thresholds into the world to love and serve our neighbors. This we ask in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Mason explains how he used AI: "I used an AI writing tool to help improve the flow of the sentence of transitioning from our home life to the way we serve our neighbors in keeping with the image of the door and the point Susan brought up at the end of our meeting."

For Monday:
Here are our questions for week 14 - from Jessica:
(1) Who or what provided new knowledge this week? In what ways was your knowledge of something confirmed or challenged?
(2) When a community or people have been exiled, disenfranchised, or sidelined and are given a chance to return, what becomes essential for survival? How do you decide whether to stay or return? When have you felt that way? What was vital for your survival, and who offered support?

Joyce leads worship; Susan brings something to spark a theological reflection.

← | latest | →