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| Jacob wrestling: "relationship with God is not transactional or distant but as close to us as our own bodies" |
Susan brought "Compline for Tuesday 10/11/2023" from the Northumbrian Community. The gathering question required a little creative thinking: how something small had a big impact on our week? There were tiny horses, a microscopic virus, a little surgical snip to redirect a puppy's life, the little Brady Bunch pitcher that's a big reminder of growing up, a little rest that went a long way after a hectic work week, little seeds on a big lawn, a little child on a big horse (and he tried to eat it), and just a little visit to an aunt where two cousins filled in the gap of many years since they last saw each other.
Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 1 Spiritual Biography and Listening: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.
After small groups of two or three met 20 minutes in breakout rooms, our discussion started a theme that carried throughout the rest of the discussion: relationship with God is not transactional or distant, but as close to us as our own bodies.
The relationship requires alertness to God, responsibility, and risk. These three elements showed up in the stories of the patriarchs read in Year One – think of Abraham’s leaving his home, or taking young Isaac for a sacrifice, or Jacob’s returning to face Esau. They also showed up in the Hebrew conception of economics and the world at the time of Jesus. MacCulloch shows how theology set boundaries in the context of historical human experience,.
Pete said of Christian ethics that so much hinged on the desire to do the right thing, knowing that what is desirable is not always responsible, and vice versa. Through all the angles on ethics, Marilyn saw the unavoidability of taking personal action. Tom saw the taking of personal action repeated in the lives of the Patriarchs, “so human, so struggling, so usable” (he cited poor Joseph in that dungeon, forgotten for years)… so alert to God and ready to take the consequence” … “Patriarchs aren’t exactly up on law”… morality based on their situation.
Near the end of the discussion, Nuno opened another angle. We typically hear that the Gnostics believed they had “secret knowledge,” but that was not what constitutes their heresy. (We discussed how we know what they believed, since so much of it was expunged from our sacred texts). The heresy was in their denial of this physical world and our physical bodies, a view that persists today. Christ in his humanity runs counter to that view.
Our discussion had brought us back to the beginning. Our relationship with God is both spiritual and physical. Episcopalians are especially willing to celebrate the physical world's delights that Gnostics deny. Tom paraphrased Psalms, “we are wondrously made.” Desire to use body and its abilities is GOOD, especially when used in response to GOD.
After the break, before Scott even had a chance to read out the question from the RRG p. 46 about any image we have for anxiety, Joyce provided that image in her takeaway from the stories of the patriarchs: they "walked in their fear" (and that's what we, too, have to do.)
Our stories about the roles of imperatives in our spiritual growth remain private; but the imperatives themselves are worth noting here: "Thou shalt not...!" Consistent worship. Pray for others (especially in times of illness). Wait (because, over time, what's essential seems to come in waves, or "snowballs"). Leave room for God to act. Stay part of a community. Always go to the funeral.
Tom will bring worship and a gathering question. We will follow instructions directed to our years and those "to all years" in week seven of the RRG (pp.48ff).
Instead of a new story, we're reflecting on the ones we've already told, to find an expression of our spiritual growth as an image -- in words, in paint, or in pixels. Pete led the way when he described his life as a succession of "waves" of growth. I'll ask that we each share our image and explain how it expresses our spiritual journey.
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