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Joyce assembled a beautiful set of prayers for us. Unfortunately, one of us was out sick, another was at a Vestry meeting, and another was stuck at work. I hope we can use her prayers again so that we can all appreciate them.
Joyce's gathering question was about an outstanding Christmas memory. Among our answers: a general preference for austere Advent v. the "stuffness" of Christmas... how Santa called to find out which doll a young girl wanted... how older siblings shielded the youngest from learning too early about Santa... sneaking in before dawn to see the Christmas presents under the tree... parents' perfect gift of a tome of classic comic Buck Rogers of the 25th Century.
Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 2 Theological Reflection: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Daniel, Jessica, Donfred.
Susan was IMPRESSED how Thurman analyzes all the emotions in the back-and-forth between powerful and weak. Susan recalls that he says every person is an individual but also a person in a social context. In the interplay of individuals with their broader culture, people are not locked into just one role.
[So, depending on the context, we're all "strong" sometimes and "weak" sometimes. We took a moment to look at the diagram at the back of the RRG that shows two entry points into our faith: from a strong position, the entry point is the Cross, one's awareness of sin and their need to atone; from the weak position, the entry point is the Resurrection, one's empowerment by understanding of God's love for them.]
Joyce said FEAR has a time and place, e.g. Thurman in India keeping a light at bedside for fear of snakes. Fear ensures physical existence… (so it’s necessary). Fear in a social situation leads you to keep your head down. Joyce picks up the story of the Syrophoenician woman whose comeback to Jesus regarding dogs and crumbs under the table seems to have taken Jesus by surprise. Can God be surprised? Joyce says Jesus was a man, too.
Lanie asked what “disinherited” means, besides being cut out of someone's will. She thought of the Declaration of Independence, how all are "endowed by their Creator" with the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The "disinherited" are those cut off from that heritage. She connected Thurman's book to what we discussed from Yee's book -- as women in Scriptures are so often "disinherited."
Joyce attested to the suffering of people who are made to feel that they aren’t able to be loved, that their feelings don’t matter. Her father kept his daughters so close to home, to protect them. Less so, his son: story of her brother coming home and saying to Mom: “They really don’t like us.” Her parents instilled sense of their worth.
By attaching one of her comments to another's, Joyce won the Jonas Brothers to sing from their Christmas album at her next holiday party. You really can book them, or Stevie Wonder, or others -- who knew? (Joyce admits that she has never heard the Jonas Brothers.)
Instead of a group TR, we followed instructions for a TR on a provocative word. It was Joyce's idea not to follow the RRG's suggestion, but to focus on a word she chose, "Hate." The results of her thinking are reflected in the discussion.
Following Joyce's lead, Scott went through all the steps in the RRG, focused on the provocative word "fear." The RRG asked when he'd felt fear, what he'd feared, and who was involved, Scott thought how he dreaded confrontations with a charismatic male student in a middle school drama class. Other students followed the boy's lead, or they kept their heads down, requiring Scott to be on high alert at all times to quell misbehaviors and to keep their attention. Connecting to our tradition source, Psalm 55 was a pretty good expression of how Scott remembers feeling. The boy's talent was a positive. For an image of what the situation was like, Scott remembered plating orders in a restaurant during the dinner rush hour, literally juggling pans to get different dishes out to the servers at exactly the same time.
- Creation in the world of the restaurant, is a table where customers enjoy the dishes they ordered, hot and delicious.
- Sin is chaos in the kitchen, orders stacking up, tempers flaring.
- Judgment is the dropped plate, the dish returned because it was served cold, and servers desperate to have the right order, right now.
- What could bring Redemption to this scenario? Joyce suggested getting the help you need from fellow kitchen staff or the chef -- turning a horror show into a team effort. Speaking about Scott's metaphor but also about the original Drama class drama, Joyce said, "Forgive yourself."
Scott thought redemption could be seeing the comedy in it (like Lucy and Ethel in the candy factory).
Susan says that the TR is a social activity that needs others' perspectives. Scott agrees: his solo TR was a good place to start, but the perspectives from Susan, Lanie, and Joyce were what brought him some peace thinking back on that painful experience of "fear."
We'll start class late at 7:30, to allow time for an Epiphany service at St. James. We're reading Wk 16, start of Unit 3 in the RRG, an essay called "Developing a Sustaining Spirituality." We won't do a TR. Susan will bring worship and a gathering question -- knowing that some of us may be late because we're worshiping at church.
