Yr. D, Wk. 15: Atonement and White Lies

Scharme provided our meal; Susan brought Advent prayers from Derek Olsen's Augustine's Prayer Book; Erica brought a TR.  All were present.

Crysdale's Transformed Lives evoked a lot of reaction.  "We liked arguing with her," we agreed.  While some of us felt that she lost focus in these last chapters, others felt that she finally made sense in this second part.  We all found common ground around pp. 120-130.

Jacob (with Mom) fools Isaac

Our TR took off from a story about a white lie.   We followed the "dilemma" method of TR. We found many lies in our tradition and culture; our exploration of beliefs included the observation that kind lies are counterparts to malicious truths. 

Collect for the Honest Faithful
God of truth and justice, You worked grace through Abraham, Jacob, and Peter, despite the lies they told; Prevent us from telling self-serving lies and malicious truths, so that we may live in authentic relationships and be credible witnesses for You; in Jesus' s name.  Amen. 

Next week:  Meet at 5664 Harbormist for dinner and discussion of the reading in the RRG, Wk. 16.
 

Yr. D, Wk. 14: Transformed Lives by Cynthia Crysdale

Everyone was present.  Scott brought Chinese food; for our first meeting in Advent, Bill brought prayers and a meditation about waiting.  Coming on board, we thought about how what we'd been waiting for during the last week.

Lynne opened our discussion of Crysdale's book by admitting that she's never thought of the "substitutionary punishment" theory of atonement as a problem.  Others agreed.  We reviewed Crysdale's history of that idea, and her inventory of Scriptural metaphors for the effect of Jesus's death.  We noted how the emphasis on Jesus's death does discount His life and resurrection, too. We look forward to finishing the book for next week.

The late Luis, age 13, left, and Mia, age two, near Rock Mart

Susan brought the provocative word "to bind" for the TR. Our exploration of the word brought us eventually to the personal image of walking a dog on a leash, and to the Biblical story of a Jonah, a prophet who slipped his leash.

We wrote this:

Collect for a Closer Walk with God
God, You guide us on the secure path: We, like Jonah, have run from Your charge and our obligations; Bring us gently to heel, that we might be reconciled to You and each other, bound in mutual love.  

 Next week:  Read Week Fifteen in RRG. Scharme - food. Susan - Worship.  TR - Erica.

Yr. D, Wk. 13: Judges, Charlemagne, and Potential Energy

Erica brought chili; Susan led us in a litany of Thanksgiving from the back of the Book of Common Prayer; Scharme was away.

Erica told us that she re-read the last chapter of Collins's book to deal with the stories of brutality, revenge, and carnality told in the book of Judges.   "It's like Game of Thrones," she said.  The mistake is to view these stories of human weakness as if they were intended for moral instruction, the way a preacher told astonished campers to regard Jephtha's executing a capricious vow to kill the first person he saw, and his daughter's mournful compliance, as wonderful models of obedience.  Collins gives the perspective that the ancient editor(s) known as the Deuteronomist arranged these stories to show how the people habitually fell into evils that required God to send "judges" to set things right; and therefore, the monarchy was a good, necessary thing.

Lynne and Bill took turns responding to extensive history of the Roman church ca. 900.  We discussed Gregory the Great, missionaries who found a fully established church in the British isles, the contrast between the Irish church's system of "tariffs" to work one's way back to essential goodness and Augustine's doctrine of innate sinfulness;  and the "humility" of Charlemagne in matters of faith and establishing the church in lands he conquered, establishing the Holy Roman Empire. 

For a TR, Bill brought us a photograph of Bernini's "David," from a view somewhat to the left rear of the one pictured here.  We saw in it an image of "potential energy" at a critical moment when all could be won or lost.  Our personal experiences of this coalesced around the image of the silence when the orchestra raises its instruments to await the downbeat.  

Collect in a moment of Potential Energy
Dear Lord, You have placed us, like David and Joshua, in a community of faith.  As you sustained them through their great challenges, sustain us by Your word and sacraments, so that we can realize the potential that You hold in store for us and for our community. Amen.

Next week:  Bill will lead worship; Scott will bring dinner; and Susan will provide the TR.  We read the first half of the book on atonement by Crysdale.  Looking further ahead, we expect a pizza week and then a final meeting for the first semester at the Lovelace's home.  

Yr. D, Wk. 11 & 12: Reading Double, and Learning from Mistakes

Scharme brought worship; food was brown bag.  We doubled up on readings, and yours truly was away at the chorus concert and missed the discussion.

Lynne started the TR with this quotation from George Bernard Shaw: "If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience!"  We all contributed what came to mind, and a position statement emerged. Our discussions ranged through Scripture, Buddhism, and cultural touchstones (including Groundhog Day).  We were led eventually to a consideration of ritual as an agent of change: even just going through the motions can change us.

All of this inspired yours truly to buy a book about the Anglican tradition of the Prayer Book,  intended to change us via ritual repetition and seasonal variation. It's Inwardly Digest by Derek Olsen.

Collect for Transformation
Lord, You struck Paul blind so that he could look inwardly.  Teach us discipline to help us let go of ourselves so that we can accept the grace offered us and reach understanding of Your will and the peace it brings.

Next week:  Erica brings dinner, Susan brings worship, and Bill brings TR.  Scharme will be away.
 

Yr. D, Wk. 10: Leviticus, Luke, and "Cuisine"

Opening worship was a prayer for All Souls Day, brought by Scott, and a question about how the lovely warm weather has affected life in the past week or two.  Lynne and Bill brought food.

Erica reported that even her sons were nonplussed by some of the bloodthirsty violence in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  Erica liked the concept of a jubilee year, even if it never was really implemented. The taboos concerning food and cleanliness were odd, but some of ours are odd, too -- and we all contributed examples.  Erica also connected to the Hebrews' complaining, and to the evils of slavery, "because we still have slavery today."

Scharme was interested in the beauty of Luke's narrative, and the ways in which Luke appealed to his contemporaries schooled in the literature of Greece.

Bill and Lynne were both fascinated and overwhelmed by the internecine conflicts of parties promoting different explanations of relationships between the Trinity and us.

Susan brought an issue of Cuisine focused on holiday cooking.  Representing the "culture" source, the issue brought out reflections from the sources we call "tradition," "action," and "belief." We followed the procedure outlined for reflection on a "social concern," p. 262 of the Reading and Reflection Guide.

Collect for Hosts
O God, Who sent manna to the people in the wilderness and angels to be guests of Abraham and Sarah: we all are guests at your sacred table every week; keep us from the sins of self-glorification and pride in our possessions, that we may share, with genuine hospitality, the bounty You share with us.  Amen.

Next time:   We meet Tuesday, November 15.  We double up on readings 11 and 12.  We brown bag it for dinner.  Lynne will bring a picture from a five-year-old for the TR.  Scharme is going to take worship for the next two weeks, eventually leading us through lectio divina.  

yr. D, Wk. 8-9: Exodus and Empire

Scharme was absent.  Susan provided salmon loaf for dinner.  Erica brought prayer, Psalm, and a lyric by Bob Dylan with the refrain, "Ah, but I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now." Our coming on board related to that refrain, and, in a roundabout way, so did our TR.

All agreed that the article about TRs was very helpful, and should be assigned Week One, Year One, every year.  About Exodus, Erica discovered that it's better when she can listen to it.  We discussed whether the specifications for building the temple, so monotonous for us to read, might be a "guy thing," as guys still get into the specs for cars, sports equipment, and electronics.  Scott observed that Homer does the same thing, devoting hundreds of lines to descriptions of ships and shields.

About third year, we were all interested in the observation that monasteries were, by their very existence, protests against the increasing reach and inclusivity of the church.  We discussed some of the minute differences among warring factions in the church, and whether those debates are reflected in our church's life today.

The TR, presented by Scott, was the "wide-angle lens" method, starting from a printout of the day's readings in the lectionary.  From the passages that struck us, we explored one. Our considerations of life experience, tradition, and cultural messages (especially a parenting book that warns us that the day comes when the parents must give up and mourn the image of the "ideal child" to work with the one they've got) took us far afield, and brought us to this collect:

Collect in a time of Creative Destruction
O God, You created us and gave us free will to create and destroy:  give us resolve when the time comes to break the boundaries of expectation by which we may limit ourselves and others, or to destroy the idols we've created for ourselves, that we and those we love may continue to grow as You would have us grow.  Amen.

Next week:  We read Week Ten.   Bill and Lynne will bring dinner; Scott will bring worship (for All Soul's Eve); and the mentors will bring the TR.

Yr. D, Wk. 7: Wrestling with Moses, Mark, and Roman Persecutions

Susan ordered pizza. Scharme led us through a series of prayers and meditations for worship, including an anecdote about actor David Suchet, title character of the Poirot program, whose conversion to Christianity came to color the whole series to its end. Her question to us for "coming on board" was, "How have we consciously or unconsciously brought our faith into public interactions this past week?" (See Scott's blog post on "What David Suchet Saw: Christ in Christie.")

We each drew discussion cards to bring out interesting aspects of the readings.  Lynne noted how persecution of the Church repeatedly brought about growth in the church.  Erica wrestled with the Lord's hardening of Pharoah's heart.  Scharme found ways to connect the other two years' readings with Mark's gospel.

Scott chose to begin the theological reflection with Sunday's Old Testament reading from Genesis 32.22-31, in which Jacob wrestles with "a man."  After consideration of context, different translations, different theories about the nature of Jacob's opponent, different purposes of the episode, we explored the reading through theological categories of creation, sin, judgement/repentance, and redemption.  We found numerous cultural versions of the story, though these mostly seemed to lack that element of atonement for past sins that Jacob's story has. We finished by composing a collect:

Collect for those in Transition
O God, who transformed Jacob to Israel through struggle and blessing: in our dark nights, make us mindful of Your providence and Your sharing of our struggle, so that we may cross the rivers before us to reach the home You have prepared us for.  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.  

Next week: We enter Unit Two: Theological Reflection as a Life Skill.  We'll read the essay in the RRG for Week Eight, and then do the readings for Week Nine.  Erica will provide worship; Susan will bring dinner; and Scott will bring a prompt that will elicit a "wide-angle" TR.