Yr. D, Wk.7: Looking Back

Marilyn included a reading from Thomas a Kempis in the liturgy for worship, a passage recommending inward vision, away from distractions of the world outside. She posed an on-boarding question, "What do you expect to do differently when COVID recedes?" Answers often involved family, hugging, and travel. Christine is considering a special ministry for families with loved ones isolated by medical conditions. Susan vowed to value little things that we used to take for granted. Pete said he'll never wear a mask again!

In our prayers, we're thinking of Gene in the loss of a close friend, of Nuno's father-in-law in the hospital, and please add my sister Kim, whose husband Bert died suddenly Wednesday.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Pete, second year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: None.

To the comments already posted about the readings, we answered a question about "key learning" or takeaways from the first unit of readings and practice with EfM:

• Mariel realizes in looking back over the past weeks and years of EfM that she is learning to listen, realizing that "it's very difficult to hear all the layers" in what people say. About the theme of conversion, Mariel opined that it seems most often to be, not a blinding light on the road to Damascus, but a process perceived in retrospect.
• Gene has a new awareness of the Trinity. More than an intellectural doctrine, the Trinity is a description of the ways we experience faith.
• Nuno's key learning concerned that word theosis, participation in the life of God, so apparent in the stories of the patriarchs. "We respond to Him first."
• For Pete, the two greatest commandments have more resonance for him as he looks back on the readings in Ford about theology. Nuno reminded us of Fr. Roger's image for those commandments, the cross itself, its vertical piece expressing love of God, its horizontal piece embracing love of neighbor,
• Christine reads the history of numerous shapers of Church history wondering about their inward thinking. More than that, she sees in the martyrs an inward strength. In discussion of what martyrdom really means, Christine remembered the Columbine student who stood up when the teenaged shooter challenged anyone to dare to own their faith in Jesus.
• Marilyn responds to the idea of living into the God journey.

We heard the final installments of our spiritual autobiographies from Pete, Christine, and Gene.

Members asked for prayers, for themselves and for loved ones. For our final blessing, Marilyn read her own poem about what it's like to have our hand in God's hand.

Yr. D, Wk. 6: Where the Heart Is

Worship was led by Christine. We responded to her question, emailed in advance, about the "heart home" that we think of, even though we may have lived in many different homes in our lives. Places ranged from the Pacific Ocean, to Cincinnati, to Athens GA. Marietta itself is where some hearts are, a place where you can sit on a front porch and listen to the crickets at night. For others, it's where family came from, places made sacred by relationships and memories.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Pete, second year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Pete.

We had already written extensive comments about the readings (see below), but we responded to the question in the Reading and Response Guide about any "conversions" in our readings. Christine saw conversion in the early church's history, as the growing institutional nature of the church pushed Christendom in new directions, and the push-and-pull of church culture v. Roman authority. Mariel saw peope being "weaned away" from inadequate religion towards God-centered institutions. Nuno said that the one-time-ah-ha kind of conversion was never his experience, nor what the patriarchs display. "There's a give and take," he said, as we see when we share our spiritual autobiographies. Marilyn agreed: "It's not 'one and done.'"

We caught up with Gene and Christine on "political conversion" before moving on to "religious conversions" in our lives. Next week, we'll still hear from Pete. These are too personal to share here, but I hope we all took some notes. We're looking for threads that run through the different stories.

Yr. D, Wk. 5: Habits, Faith, and One Fresh Cucumber

Worship was provided by Pete.

Pete's on-boarding question, emailed in advance, was to tell of a single thing we do differently now than before the pandemic -- aside from the obvious mask-wearing and social distancing. We proceeded by invitation until everyone had spoken. Our answers included long walks or hikes with long periods of silence; regimen or rule of life including morning and evening prayers, psalms, and poetry; gratitude for those who deliver our groceries at curbside and who perform myriad other services; and networking with others who need support and prayer.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Pete, second year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent:

We discussed the readings, looking for some common threads. Prior to the meeting, members had shared responses to their different readings in comments (below), often responding to each other with questions and affirmations.

• Christine elaborated her comment that reading MacCulloch on Jesus and Paul was like a ride at Disney, and Mariel agreed: there are so many points of entry to the topics of his chapters, reading him can be overwhelming, like rounding a corner and seeing a surprising vista.
• Trust emerged as a theme. Gene translated Ford's message in a phrase beloved by lawyers, "Trust the process," explaining, "Jump in with trust (faith or love) first; expect understanding later." Pete gave us an adage, "If you want to be good at something, put 10,000 hours into it." Mariel called the time invested in the relationship with God a "sunk cost" that will firm up your commitment.
• Marilyn and Nuno both had focused on creativity as the main thing that makes us "the image of" God. Gene said we need room in our lives for God to grow.

We proceeded with spiritual autobiographies. As we listened, we took notes, looking for themes that emerged, so we'll leave specifics out, here, except for a reminder of a graceful experience involving one fresh cucumber. 

 

Yr. D, Wk.4: Lenses on the Past and Intellectual Conversions

Mariel led worship with prayers for evening from St. Augustine's Prayer Book (2014). She had asked us to think of someone we'd had the urge to pray for: how did it work out? We all had examples: friends in rage, unemployed, aged, or ill; praying for them or mailing a letter made a difference in us.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Pete, second year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent:Christine, Gene.

When Marilyn brought up the "lenses" through which we view Scripture and the past, Scott saw that same idea in all the comments on the blog. Marilyn raised the "standpoint" theory from her reading; Mariel discussed the way we look at the past, as some dismiss the benighted past and others see the past as pristine. All of our readings present, instead of a definite answer, a spectrum of positions. The exception seems to be slavery: No matter what, it's wrong. Discussion followed, including an Atlantic article about a slave in modern America. 

We caught up with "Affective" conversions in the lives of Pete, Marilyn, and Nuno. Then we heard of "Intellectual" conversions in the recent past of the members. Scott's story involved his writing the blogpost The Privilege is Mine. 

Next week we need to hear from Christine and Gene. Worship will be led by Pete.

Yr. D, Wk.3: Continuity with the Past

Gene led us in Compline. We came on board answering the question, "What was the best thing that happened to you all week?" Answers included projects, reunions, recovery, a new job offer, and hopes for a happy and healthy quarantine.

We learned that Elizabeth Gray regretfully will put off EfM for another time, her schedule permitting.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Pete, second year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: none.

The class's responses to their readings (see "comments" below) were essays, edifying in themselves! Scott followed up with some questions from the RRG about how the readings may have related to our personal lives, our current world, our heritage, or our beliefs and values. 

One theme that emerged is a continuity of ancient past to present. Christine drew inspiration from a continuity she found from ancient history to art and spirituality of today. Marilyn felt awe at the effort to make sense of an often chaotic world. Gene recognized the EfM program in theologian Ford's introduction, and saw how one can keep the past as a reference without "clinging" to it. "The past has relevance to modern issues." That's one of the main thrusts of Collins's book, said Susan and Pete, in which the author combs the Bible for insights on hot-button moral issues. Mariel was refreshed by the notion that the feeling of being overwhelmed has positive aspects, too, leading us to theology. 

Our series of spiritual autobiographies kicked off with 2-3 minute reflections on specific events of our latest 15 years that qualify as "affective" conversions. Those remain private. We ran out of time before we could hear from Pete, Marilyn, and Nuno: we'll hear them next week, along with everyone's stories of their experiences of some kind of "intellectual" conversion, i.e., acceptance of a truth.