Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS, ST.
Bill and Lynne brought dinner; Jane initiated worship with Psalm 19 and a question about our responses to "let the meditations of my heart..."
Reports on this week's readings emphasized "maturity" in Jeremiah, "a new intimacy"; "how the church should live" in the letters 1 and 2 Peter ("not just an apocalypse for prudes"); and how revelation involves a kind of reason beyond the materialstic, scientific, "Enlightenment" kind -- dovetailing well with Fr. Daron's sermon on Psalm 19.
TR: "Grace"
Our provocative word, brought by Scharme, caused us to examine what we think of this word. It's something desirable, something given, something shared. Instead of creating a collect, we recollected the use of the word in "Give us grace to do Thy will and walk in Your ways...."
Next week: We combine readings from Week 22 and 23. Susan will bring dinner; Scharme, the worship; and Lynne the TR.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Week 20: Lords and Servants in Isaiah, Hebrews, Allen
Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS, ST.
Sarah made dinner for us. Worship by Scott took off from Forward Day by Day's meditation on Scripture about baptism by water and by fire, which related to our question: We wrote on paper what habit or thought holds us back from growth, crumpled and threw it in a bowl of water, while all repeated, "That we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways...."
We began discussion with Allen's chapter about Jesus as both Lord and Servant. Allen shows how Jesus is lord without needing servants, and we are servants without losing our personalities. Sartre's statement that one cannot believe in God and be free shows his different understanding of God. We were struck by the comparison of Jesus' significant death to that of Socrates. We noted how often Paul refers to himself as a slave or servant.
Discussing Hebrews, Lynne recalled how N. T. Wright summarized its theme: "The best just got better." The author of Hebrews seems to set up a hierarchy, too. Christians sometimes discount the Hebrew Scriptures as superseded by the New Testament; we discussed this implication in Hebrews. We found a nuance in that idea: the big story of God's relationship with His creation didn't start with the Hebrews, and it didn't finish with the Gospels.
Our look at Isaiah and Micah demonstrated that idea: not just the messianic passages, but attacks on empty ritual were always a strand in Hebrew / Israeli prophecy.
TR: glass blower
Bill brought a poem that reflected on how great people of the past who live on the other side of a "glassy wall," seen, but separated from us. "The wall is thick," and, "These bubbles known as men / When once they burst, cannot be blown again." We focused on that image. Susan cautioned us midway against settling for the most obvious implications.
Collect for Created Individuals
Creator God, we are in your hands as clay in the hands of the potter; you have made us unique, with free will. Help us to see each others' flaws as the distinguishing marks that make us beautiful, that we may see You in all. In the name of Jesus, who modeled how to know and love the people he encountered. Amen.
Next week: Bill and Lynne bring food; Jane brings worship; Scharme brings the TR.
Sarah made dinner for us. Worship by Scott took off from Forward Day by Day's meditation on Scripture about baptism by water and by fire, which related to our question: We wrote on paper what habit or thought holds us back from growth, crumpled and threw it in a bowl of water, while all repeated, "That we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways...."
We began discussion with Allen's chapter about Jesus as both Lord and Servant. Allen shows how Jesus is lord without needing servants, and we are servants without losing our personalities. Sartre's statement that one cannot believe in God and be free shows his different understanding of God. We were struck by the comparison of Jesus' significant death to that of Socrates. We noted how often Paul refers to himself as a slave or servant.
Discussing Hebrews, Lynne recalled how N. T. Wright summarized its theme: "The best just got better." The author of Hebrews seems to set up a hierarchy, too. Christians sometimes discount the Hebrew Scriptures as superseded by the New Testament; we discussed this implication in Hebrews. We found a nuance in that idea: the big story of God's relationship with His creation didn't start with the Hebrews, and it didn't finish with the Gospels.
Our look at Isaiah and Micah demonstrated that idea: not just the messianic passages, but attacks on empty ritual were always a strand in Hebrew / Israeli prophecy.
TR: glass blower
Bill brought a poem that reflected on how great people of the past who live on the other side of a "glassy wall," seen, but separated from us. "The wall is thick," and, "These bubbles known as men / When once they burst, cannot be blown again." We focused on that image. Susan cautioned us midway against settling for the most obvious implications.
Collect for Created Individuals
Creator God, we are in your hands as clay in the hands of the potter; you have made us unique, with free will. Help us to see each others' flaws as the distinguishing marks that make us beautiful, that we may see You in all. In the name of Jesus, who modeled how to know and love the people he encountered. Amen.
Next week: Bill and Lynne bring food; Jane brings worship; Scharme brings the TR.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Week 19: Prophecies Comforting and Discomforting
Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS, ST.
Dinner was provided by Scharme, and worship by Jeff, followed by the question, "What word best describes your past week?"
Our discussion concerned the prophets Amos and Hosea, who both aimed to discomfort the Northern Kingdom of Israel during a time of complacency. Scharme commented on how relieved she is, at last, to detect plain old narrative behind the words, and to feel a strong strain of human feeling and sympathy in the teachings, following weeks of violence, some of it arbitrary.
Readings from Powell and Allen both concerned the idea of salvation and afterlife. Our second year fellows commented that Paul presents "models" for how we "participate" in Jesus' death and resurrection, all of them incomplete ways of understanding, none of them to be considered the actual, only, complete explanation. Lynne was struck by the fact that Paul wrote in Romans to a church that did not know him personally -- so much of the letter may have been intended as introduction and preparation for controversy.
About Allen, we had as much difficulty putting in words what we got from Allen as Allen seemed to have for what he intended. We were struck by his anecdote about scientists' mockery at a forum, where the audience didn't grasp a difference between indefinite extension of life and "eternal life." The stories of the resurrected Jesus all contain mysterious elements that suggest his friends didn't recognize him, that ordinary natural law did not apply, and that, in some way, life after death is both a a physical, tangible thing, and a transformation. (I'm reminded of Father Roger's making this point at a blessing of animals, when he assured us that a new physical creation would certainly have animals.)
TR: "Comfortable"
Sarah brought us this provocative word. Our thoughts and feelings about "comfortable" came at the word from opposite angles. The word connotes fluffy pillows, but literally denotes "giving" or "having" strength (fort). We summed these up in a collect:
Collect for Comforters
O God our strength, who brought the Israelites out of comfort into the wilderness, call us forth from empty comforts into service, so that we may strengthen others and grow into instruments of Your grace and power. Amen.
Next Week
Scott brings worship; Sarah brings food; and Bill will provide the TR.
Dinner was provided by Scharme, and worship by Jeff, followed by the question, "What word best describes your past week?"
Our discussion concerned the prophets Amos and Hosea, who both aimed to discomfort the Northern Kingdom of Israel during a time of complacency. Scharme commented on how relieved she is, at last, to detect plain old narrative behind the words, and to feel a strong strain of human feeling and sympathy in the teachings, following weeks of violence, some of it arbitrary.
Readings from Powell and Allen both concerned the idea of salvation and afterlife. Our second year fellows commented that Paul presents "models" for how we "participate" in Jesus' death and resurrection, all of them incomplete ways of understanding, none of them to be considered the actual, only, complete explanation. Lynne was struck by the fact that Paul wrote in Romans to a church that did not know him personally -- so much of the letter may have been intended as introduction and preparation for controversy.
About Allen, we had as much difficulty putting in words what we got from Allen as Allen seemed to have for what he intended. We were struck by his anecdote about scientists' mockery at a forum, where the audience didn't grasp a difference between indefinite extension of life and "eternal life." The stories of the resurrected Jesus all contain mysterious elements that suggest his friends didn't recognize him, that ordinary natural law did not apply, and that, in some way, life after death is both a a physical, tangible thing, and a transformation. (I'm reminded of Father Roger's making this point at a blessing of animals, when he assured us that a new physical creation would certainly have animals.)
Sarah brought us this provocative word. Our thoughts and feelings about "comfortable" came at the word from opposite angles. The word connotes fluffy pillows, but literally denotes "giving" or "having" strength (fort). We summed these up in a collect:
Collect for Comforters
O God our strength, who brought the Israelites out of comfort into the wilderness, call us forth from empty comforts into service, so that we may strengthen others and grow into instruments of Your grace and power. Amen.
Next Week
Scott brings worship; Sarah brings food; and Bill will provide the TR.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Week 18: Kings and Crucifixion
Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS, ST.
After pizza, Lynne's reflection on gifts and the New Year brought her (and us!) to Psalm 118, "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Lynne asked us to reflect on something that we have found to determine the quality of our own days? We will all remember her own anecdote about Halloween among elderly aerobics participants: "I laughed from my toes on up."
Our discussion of the readings noted the repetitiveness and violence of Kings I and II. We found it helpful to recall that these books are composed from different "points of view" all melded together into something that only appears to be a single text. When we moved on to Romans and Diogenes Allen's twelfth chapter, we wrestled with a concept that would appear to be central to our faith: "Jesus died for our sins." But, how does that work? Is it vicarious punishment? Is he a "sacrificial lamb?" Is he a payment ("redemption") for us, as ancients would "redeem" a slave? Has he "recapitulated" creation, becoming a new and better "Adam?" Does he show us how it's to be done? Paul expresses several angles on this in Romans; Allen shoots down each one.
We all saw Allen's point about "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Quoted from Psalm 22, this is still a cry that all of us can understand. Was the death God's message to us that He cares, or was it creation's message to God, "this is what it's like?"
Our TR focused on a line from Philip Terman's poem "Drying the Torah," brought to us by Susan. In it, two women must uncover the Torah and unscroll it in the sanctuary to dry. It "smells like my horse says one, like soil says the other." For our TR, we focused on the line about how this scroll is, for once, "free from all that worship, all that praise, all that chanting and bowing and chanting."
Collect
Holy and heavenly God, You embrace us as we are. Help us to see both the earthiness and transcendance of each other, and to find You in all the clamor, sights and scents of creation. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Next week
Scharme will bring food; Sarah will bring the TR; and Jeff will provide the worship.
Our discussion of the readings noted the repetitiveness and violence of Kings I and II. We found it helpful to recall that these books are composed from different "points of view" all melded together into something that only appears to be a single text. When we moved on to Romans and Diogenes Allen's twelfth chapter, we wrestled with a concept that would appear to be central to our faith: "Jesus died for our sins." But, how does that work? Is it vicarious punishment? Is he a "sacrificial lamb?" Is he a payment ("redemption") for us, as ancients would "redeem" a slave? Has he "recapitulated" creation, becoming a new and better "Adam?" Does he show us how it's to be done? Paul expresses several angles on this in Romans; Allen shoots down each one.
We all saw Allen's point about "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Quoted from Psalm 22, this is still a cry that all of us can understand. Was the death God's message to us that He cares, or was it creation's message to God, "this is what it's like?"
Our TR focused on a line from Philip Terman's poem "Drying the Torah," brought to us by Susan. In it, two women must uncover the Torah and unscroll it in the sanctuary to dry. It "smells like my horse says one, like soil says the other." For our TR, we focused on the line about how this scroll is, for once, "free from all that worship, all that praise, all that chanting and bowing and chanting."
Collect
Holy and heavenly God, You embrace us as we are. Help us to see both the earthiness and transcendance of each other, and to find You in all the clamor, sights and scents of creation. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Next week
Scharme will bring food; Sarah will bring the TR; and Jeff will provide the worship.
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