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Rob selected prayers from the daily offerings by the Right Reverend Deon Johnson, who is our companion through the curriculum for this year's theme "Following Jesus."
For a gathering question, Rob picked up a sentence from Bishop Johnson's essay, "We seldom think ourselves into faith." Often, it's a person whose example pulls us in. Rob asked for such a person in our lives. We heard of a father who dialogued with God about everything under the sun, not just religion... two elder women in two different churches, generous, wise, and good at listening, who tried to live life as a "miracle" that would reveal God to others... a wise seminarian friend, and a loving priest.
Following Jesus, 1st yr: Rob, Tiffany; 2nd yr: Michael, Mason; 3rd yr: Lanie 4th yr, Joyce, Susan; 5th yr "Wide Angle," Phyllis. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Lanie, Michael.
We each shared one thing that jumped out at us from Deon Johnson's essay.
Susan: "remember" is "re + member," and we are "re-membered" by the Eucharist. (When a 7th grader complained to his Literature teacher that "you're doing roots of words instead of literature," Scott responded: "When you look at the roots of our vocabulary, almost every word is a poem.")
Rob: "Jesus ate his way across the Holy Land." That set off a lot of agreement. Phyllis related Rob's observation to "oxytosin" a.k.a. the "love hormone," activated by communal meals. Mason thinks of food, providing food, preparing food, as an act of love.
Tiffany: Touched by "Hold a light up for the Devil to see," know that unbelievers and enemies are watching: show them the light of Christ. She connected this to Ted Lasso and the fictional coach's teaching, "Be curious, not judgmental."
We diverted into a discussion of our big "C" Church's "unseen burden" from the legacy of slavery and slave theology. Scott said that our EfM program is open about Sewanee's original mission to build a theological support for slavery.
Joyce suddenly popped in after some technical difficulties, but she came prepared to teach her own lessons about Bishop Deon! (She laughed, "I'm learning!") She especially loved the story of the grandmother's anger at God when her ailing brother died at the nursing home she had found for him. Joyce related this to her own mother and to the death of her husband Gene. We discussed how people of strongest faith are angriest with God. Phyllis's father and the Book of Job came up.
Scott asked what any of this has to do with the title of the essay "Identify" (first of four movements in a Theological Reflection). Mason hit a grand slam: When the Bishop shifts into the theme of "discernment," we can see that he has been steering the whole essay towards vocation "where our passions meet the world's needs." Johnson builds the whole thing on the example of his Grandmother identified in the first page.
Scott noted how the grandmother named "Constance" was also constant in her daily rituals. This led to a very enlightening discussion of Vergers and their role as Guardians of Episcopal rituals. Joyce, who used to blend in the background at church, is now a Verger that some folks at St. Teresa compare to a "tin soldier" out in front of the congregation. She had LOTs to say.
We had a 15 minute break. We reviewed the "House Rules" from last week. Scott appreciated how the group did "identify" a metaphor that turned a dry list of rules into a kind of story that we can all buy into.
We used mutual invitation to hear stories of times in our lives when our idea of Jesus changed. After each story, we said a prayer from the Appendix for Everyone: For what was, for what is, for what will be, thanks be to God.
Rob brought us another prayer from Bishop Deon Johnson. This one borrowed the pattern from the Prayer of St. Francis. For example, "Let us not seek order but righteousness."
Mason will bring worship for the beginning and end of the session, along with a "gathering question" (GQ).
- "Engage" with the materials listed or linked under the tab for your year at Pathwright, Week 3. Please come to our meeting prepared to offer answers to these two "Respond Discussion Questions" selected from under the "Respond" tab:
- What caught your attention in your reading, listening, or watching this week? What would you want to bring to the group’s attention?
- The year’s study often begins with learning the context of the people, history, and theology. If you were to write an article about the context of this year's study, what topics would you want to cover?
- Bring another stepping stone for sharing. This one is to be a time when you were challenged by following Jesus. (Or: When following Jesus was a challenge!)
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