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.   

Week 17: Christmas Recess

Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS, ST.

We met at my home, where we discussed Samuel, Paul, and Allen.  Because of traffic, we started late and didn't make it to a TR. [Photo: Luis, pictured, and Mia were excited to have visitors!]

Next time we meet, January 5, we'll all bring $5 for pizza.  Lynne will prepare worship; Susan will prepare the TR.

We are reading 1 and 2 Kings with two chapters in Collins 13,14;  Romans; and Allen's chapter 12.  There's some important overlap in the coverage of the meaning or effect of Jesus' sacrifice.

During this break, I've taken some time to write "Real Prophecy," a reflection on Howard Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited.

Week 15-16: Thurman, Prayer, and Worship

Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS, ST.

Following dinner by Jeff and worship by Bill, there was long animated discussion of Thurman's conclusions and the essay on "Prayer and Worship" in the Reading and Reflection Guide.   Away at a students' concert, I arrived for the tail end of that discussion.

Our TR took off from "underprivileged," a word that Thurman used once instead of "disinherited".  We found a stronger resonance with the word "privilege" that brought us many references to Scripture and culture.  We summed up our insights in ...

Collect for the Privileged
God of power and glory, you emptied yourself to live and die as one of us, demonstrating the infinite value of your creatures.  Make us ever mindful how our privileged positions are gifts that come with a responsibility to focus attention on those who live with their "backs against the wall," unseen and undervalued.  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Poems by Howard Thurman: Bill's Closing Worship

I will light candles this Christmas.
Candles of joy, despite all sadness.
Candles of hope where despair keeps watch.
Candles of courage for fears ever present,
Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days.
Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,
Candles of love to inspire all my living,
Candles that will burn all the year long.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Next Week:
We read the assignments for Week Seventeen.  Sarah will do worship; Susan will bring the TR.  I will host the meeting at my home, 2017 Hascall Ct. 30064.  Scharme is bringing ham; Sarah will bring brussels sprouts, Lynne will bring sweet potato casserole, and Susan, the dessert.  I'll have bread; Jeff and Jane will bring wine.  

Week 13-14: Divergent Paths in Acts, Thurman, and Yellow Woods

Starved Rock State Park, IL

Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS.

Following dinner by Jane, Susan led us in reading Psalm 11 and coming on board with experiences of God in the Thanksgiving week just past.

We all found resonance in our own experiences for Howard Thurman's first chapters of Jesus and the Disinherited.  We admitted failing to understand fully "fear" in the experience of our own nation's  "disinherited."  Thurman told how fear can pervade the life of someone who has never specifically been touched by the dominant group.

Thurman's clear delineation of Jews' few choices under Rome also gave us a clearer understanding of why Jesus' own people would want him silenced:  His preaching of a kingdom here, now, within, was a form of resistance that threatened both the authority and self-respect of compliant Herod and isolationist Pharisees. 

Thurman's distinction between a religion about Jesus and of Jesus also struck us, and related to Paul in Acts, and even more in his letters.

Our TR was a fresh look at the familiar poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken.  By the time we'd finished our reflection, we'd seen that samples from our culture are full of regret for chances missed and what might have been, while the examples we saw in our tradition suggested that any choice can be redeemed, whether or not it's an easy path.

Collect for Travellers
O God, Lord of travellers from Abraham to Paul, you give us the power of choice in our own journeys.  Grant us wisdom and imagination so that, as we live into our choices, whatever path we take may lead to You.  Amen.

Next week.
We read the rest of Thurman and also the essay for Week 17 in our Reading and Reflection Guide.
Jeff volunteered to bring food; Bill will prepare worship and a question.  Our TR will be a "provocative word" reflection on the word "disinherited." 

Week 12: Trinity and Double Vision

Present: SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS.

Following dinner by Bill and Lynne, we had compline, part one, with Jane, and a question about our experiences seeing someone again who parted with us in some kind of conflict. Scharme later related these anecdotes to a question about maturity in the Reading and Reflection Guide, pointing to the ability to delay gratification, to remain calm in conflict, to accept criticism, and to "do more wagging, less barking."

Responding to questions in the Guide, Scharme saw God's people mostly concerned with "their allotment."  How do the Jews see themselves in these books?  "Chosen, obedient, powerful."  Joshua and Judges contained shocking violence, but also the softer theme that God comes into the world "through us." 

Bill and Lynne discussed Powell's chapter on John. Aside from what we discussed last week, Bill and Lynne remarked on a few unique features of the Gospel.  Love of Christians for each other is emphasized... Jesus speaks mostly of his own being...  the story concerns mostly three years' ministry in the vicinity of Jerusalem... the Holy Spirit is emphasized... Jesus appears as a Greek philosopher more than as a Jewish man.

Jeff and Jane discussed the doctrine of "Trinity" discussed in Allen and Dubose.  It was hard to get a handle on, for the authors, too.

TR: It Depends How You Look at It
We smiled at the whimsy of Arcimboldo's oil paintings, and appreciated the details, while feeling somewhat creeped out by the images.  We all experienced "double vision," losing the image of the "face" for seeing vegetative components.  In our TR, we recognized the experience as something akin to our experiences of parables, the Trinity, and the Eucharist.  We finished Compline.

Collect for Double Vision
O triune God,  Creator of our complex, interconnected world, help us to see and accept the beauty in its individual parts and relatedness, so that we may mature with Your grace.  Amen.

In Two Weeks (December 1)
Combine readings for Weeks Thirteen and Fourteen, which will include half of Thurman's book.
Food - Jane.   Worship - Susan.  TR - Jeff.
 
 

Week 11: Preparing a Room

Present:  SC, JK, BL, LL, JM, SR, SS  Absent: ST

After worship provided by Scharme from a portion of Psalm 78 and a question about any kindness we've given or experienced in the past week, we discussed Deuteronomy, John, and Diogenes Allen's eighth chapter, "Suffering from Nature and Extreme Cruelty." 

About Deuteronomy, we found the proliferation of laws and the added layer of "Priestly" institutions to be signs of this year's theme, "maturity."  The book's focus on keeping the Hebrew people intact and unadulterated seems to be a step in the direction of an exclusionary people, while references in the earlier Abraham story and later in the Prophets seem to direct Israel outward in mission to all.

We loved John's gospel.  From the all-encompassing start to finish, Jesus is presented as divine.  We loved human details along the way, where the author seems to get into the minds and hearts of Jesus and those he encounters.

Try as he might, Diogenes Allen can offer us little in the way of explanation for such extreme cruelty as the Holocaust and horrors abroad today.  We understood the differentiation between suffering caused by nature and by human will.  We also understood what he means by having "humility," which we took to mean, "Don't think suffering is centered on yourself.  Don't think God sent it to you for any purpose." But we decided, do look to God for support when we must suffer.

Our TR, starting with the "provocative word" excellence, took us through a range of mixed feelings. We finally settled on the image of an excellent hotel, chocolate on the pillow, toilet paper folded down, everything in its place, prepared for us.  This comforting image was mixed with the knowledge that it's exclusive, and the workers in the hotel can't experience the place in the same way.  Looking for analogs in our tradition, we remembered John 14:2-3, "In my Father's house are many rooms... I got to prepare a place for you."  We noted how any Episcopal altar guild prepares for service as meticulously as any luxury hotel, and how that exclusionary element doesn't apply where all the preparation is directed towards God, and we are called to "Service."

Collect for Hosts
Dear Father, you are innkeeper to the world, preparing for us a house with many rooms; yet your Son could find no room at the inn, only humble shelter in a stable.   Open wide our hearts to provide true hospitality for Your Spirit, that we may prepare a place in our lives for You and for others who may pass our way.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen. 

Next Week:  The mentors will provide the TR;  Bill and Lynne provide food;  Jane will provide worship.  

Week 10: Numbers, Luke, Suffering, and "Let us Now Praise Famous..."

Present:  S.C., J.K., B.L., L.L., J.M., S.R., S.S., S.T.

Worship by Bill included a question based on our All Saints' Day reading from Ecclesiasticus:  what in the past week has brought to mind someone we remember who may be "famous" only to us?  Discussion of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Luke, and Diogenes Allen ensued.  

Our discussion of suffering brought to mind the poor "comfort" that "it's God's will." Susan provides this link to an emphatic rejoinder to such advice:  http://www.timjlawrence.com/blog/2015/10/19/everything-doesnt-happen-for-a-reason 

The TR took off from lines by Willie Nelson, from his memoir It's a Long Story: "You sing the blues to lose the blues.  You lift the burden by transferring it into a song. I'l be damned if I know why or how that miracle takes place, but it always does."

Our meditations took us eventually to the BCPs liturgy for confession, and this collect:

Collect for the 5th Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners:  Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Our final prayer was the unfamiliar second part of "Now I lay me down to sleep":

Father, unto thee I pray,

Thou hast guarded me all day;

Safe I am while in thy sight,

Safely let me sleep tonight.

Bless my friends, the whole world bless;

Help me to learn helpfulness;

Keep me ever in thy sight;

So to all I say good night.

Next Week

In addition to the readings for each year in week 11, read also p. 229 in the Reading and Reflecting Guide, concerning the "Provocative Word."  Dr. Rouse and I will provide the TR; I'll do food; Scharme will do worship and question.