Yr. A, Wk. 1: World of EfM

Members:  Lauren, Thomas, Eugene, Mariel, first year;  Erika, second year; Scharme, third year; Bill and Lynne Lovelace, fourth year; Scott and Susan, mentors.  Absent: None.

Susan brought arugala lasagna, bread, orange-radish salad, and cookies.  After introductions, mentors and years 2-4 all spoke to what EfM is for them, and what EfM is not (see the Reading and Reflection Guide, Week One).

We shared personal goals, hopes, and fears for this year of EfM, using "the invitational method." These are some of the ideas that emerged:

I look forward to a resolution of my questions about the history of our church... 
I need a better understanding of the Bible, a formal way in... 
I don't want to be the kind of person who quotes Scripture at people ... 
I hope to make theology more than an academic exercise -- something to help me see miracles in my life and those of others ... 
Can I move from academic theology to personal philosophy and growth? ... 
I have a goal of listening to what everyone else has to say, to keep an open mind... 
I hope that we can find commonality in this ... 
I hope we continue to make good connections between readings and our theological reflections... 
I want us to write good collects to pull our lessons / reflections together.

After a review of p. 319, we discussed norms for the group, and then explored the metaphor of "worlds."  What emerged?  

Faith itself is the center, drawing us, nourishing us, enlightening us ("faith is a way of seeing").  Other qualities of the sun might apply to our faith as well:  it's too vast to apprehend at one time, a provider of energy that is constantly in motion, exploding, not defined the way a solid would be, intangible yet felt.
When we come together, we should keep focused on that center, shutting out the peripheral issues of our own worlds. 
Thinking of another kind of orbit of electrons around a nucleus, we remember the Heisenberg principle, that the orbits may be anything but circular, very unlike each other, and yet still centered.
What happens in our universe stays in our universe.
The orbits are regular in time, synchronized with each other; our studies and schedule are likewise cyclical, and we must keep up.
Being planets in motion, we should expect our perspectives on our faith to change with time.  
Each world exerts influence on every other one: we must be aware of the effects we have on others, and avert collisions. 
When we visit another's world, we should breathe deep the atmosphere.

There are stars beyond our system: this is a start, not the end.
It's beautiful.

After a break, we repaired to the Pilgrimage room for worship from the BCP, "for close of day" with a reading from Forward Day by Day which focused on the "brokenness" of Peter when the cock crowed and he had denied Jesus three times.  Scott asked, "How have you been broken, and felt somehow stronger for it?"  We shared some answers from our recent experiences. 

Next week, we read "Week 2" in the RRG.  Scharme provides food, Bill leads worship (and brings a check - in question).  For these first few weeks, the theological reflection will build gradually via spiritual autobiographies.  Scott and Susan will model with their own versions:  The "Worlds" of their lives, focused on a five-year period, lasting around 10 minutes. 

"Be the Kingdom": Ideas for the "Action" Part of our Theological Reflections

Jesus tells his contemporaries to stop looking for signs of God's Kingdom to come: "For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you" (Luke 17.21).   Today's meditation on this gospel, printed in Forward Day by Day, suggests that we "meet a simple need for someone today," to "Be the kingdom."

I thought instantly of my buddies Kitty and her mate Terry. Before she retired to Florida to be a full-time grandmother, she was my colleague at school for some fifteen years; together, they hosted me for countless get-togethers at their home, meals out, and concerts.  But Kitty also set an example of meeting a simple need for someone every day.   When she knew that my play rehearsals were going late, she provided me with ready-made meals to take home with me.  She provided treats for my dogs.  Sometimes, she just gave me a note of support.   All around me, others received similar gifts.  "Make someone's day every day" is her motto.  Or, as FDxD suggests, "Be the kingdom."

Forward Day by Day lately has added a daily feature, "Moving Forward," suggesting action to go with each day's meditation. Some are actions for others, some for our own edification. Here are a few from the current and preceding issues that strike me as good ideas:

• Inspired by Psalm 108, "Write your own poem today and share" via social media.
• Inspired by three one-word prayers that comprise Anne Lamott's latest book Help! Thanks! Wow!, "keep a list of your 'Help! Thanks! Wow' moments to use during evening prayer time.
• Inspired by Mary's seeking support from her cousin Elizabeth, we're advised to send a note or give a call to the Elizabeths in our lives. (Kitty, are you reading this?)
• Inspired by Psalm 78, we're told simply to plan a dinner party for our favorite people.
• Inspired by the lines about fig trees, we're told, "Take a walk around your home today.  What needs to be pruned, cleaned up, or tidied to ensure a fruitful season ahead?"
• Offer concentrated time to someone you love, "no agenda or strings attached."
• Inspired by Deut. 7.6 ("God has chosen you...to be ...His treasured possession"), "set apart a treasure -- a material item, a story, or simply your time -- to share with someone you love today."
• Answer Jesus's question to his followers: "What are you looking for?"
• Inspired by what happened at Cana when they ran out of wine, think, "Do you feel like you are running out? Out of time? Money? Patience? faith? How does this passage speak to these moments of running out?"
• Inspired by John's saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease," contemplate if it's time "to take up less space in someone's life?
• Inspired by Abram's packing up and leaving home, we get the suggestion to "plan a tgrip today [to] visit a neighbor or old friend."
• As the cripple took up his mat to walk, think: "Think of one thing you can do today to take up your mat and walk, to begin to become unstuck."
• After Psalm 92.1, "Write at least five thank you notes today, or write a longer one to God.  Share" on social media.
• After Psalm 23, recall when you walked in the shadow of the valley of death.
• Responding to the institution of the Eucharist in John 6, we're told to "make a list of those who have fed and nourished you with their flesh and blood."

Yr. D, wk. 33: Esther and "Amazing Grace"

Present:  Scharme, Susan, Erica, Lynne, Scott.  Erica brought dinner; Lynne led worship from the story of the women coming to the empty tomb, with commentary: "We're not told how Jesus rose."  Lynne asked us about other "unseen" processes in our lives.

Students drew cards. one at a time, and explained the card before writing a phrase of summary. We found overlaps and connections among readings in Ephesians, Ruth, Esther, and the history of Protestantism pro- and contra- slavery.

We connected to the story of John Newton, slave-trader and convertwho wrote the words to "Amazing Grace," and to that line about God's Providence from Mordecai to his reluctant niece Esther, "And who knows whether you have not come to [prominence in] the kingdom for such a time as this?"  

The TR was a personal anecdote that everyone could buy into.  Our image for the thoughts and feelings was the plight of someone launched in a canoe who reaches confidently for the oars, only to realize they're back on shore; ahead, it's Niagara Falls.  [See Susan's illustration.]

Collect for the Unprepared
Most merciful God, You promised to give Moses and Paul the words they needed; You sent out the Hebrews and the Apostles without supplies:  Help us to accept our vulnerability so that we may outgrow pride and trust that You have prepared us for such a time as this. Amen.

Next week:  We're doubling up on readings to wrap up the year before Bill and Lynne's trip.  It'll be brown bag.  Scott will be out. Worship - Erica.  Lynne - TR.

Yr. D, Wk. 32: Job, Corinthians, and Anglicanism

All present.  Bill and Lynne brought lasagna.

Scharme led worship with the Magnificat and readings from Scripture for the day.  Coming on board, we shared moments of Holy Week that moved us to tears: Everyone had something!

After everyone filled in playing cards connected by suit to experience, tradition, culture, and position, we took turns connecting cards of different years to each other.  (See image)



The TR was a family story that all of us could buy into.  We expressed the feeling in a metaphor: Trying to clean up others' mess at the park, while they ridicule you for it.  (See image, right)  When we got to the part about what could redeem the situation, we ran into the idea that just one "second" person to leave the watchers and join in would bring the painful situation to a better place.  We thought of the boy whose sharing of his lunch helped to feed the 5000 - possibly by example as others shared;  Lady Bird Johnson whose gentle exhortations made littering unthinkable; of the boy Brian who shouted across the cafeteria to Peter -- clutching lunch tray, seeing no safe place to sit -- "Hey, Peter, I've saved a seat for you over here!"

Collect for Acting Alone
O Lord, when You called Your disciples, they dropped their work to follow You and changed the world; when the people mocked You, Simon of Cyrene stepped in to help You carry the cross; empower us to act alone in Your name, in faith that others will join us and make a difference.   


Next Week: Erica does food; Smoot brings the TR; Lynne leads worship.

Yr. D, Wk. 31: Wisdom and Enlightenment

All present.  Susan ordered pizza; Lynne brought worship for Tuesday of Holy Week from 40 Days of Lent by the Forward Movement company.

Using the playing cards format, we discussed the readings.  The first cards played were all spades -- for wanting to dig into the tradition more.  Then came a lot of diamonds, facets of our culture.  Clubs (for positions to fight for) and hearts ( personal connections) came later.

Susan's TR was presented in a form to combine lectio divina with the categories of EfM's TR. We looked at 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, concerning the folly of the cross.  Those of us who heard Bishop Wright speak on Sunday found a close relation between this scripture and his references to our Presiding Bishop's book about "Crazy Christians."

Collect in time of Doubt
Creator of Wisdom, You showed us strength and wisdom in the life of Your Son Jesus when he looked weak and ridiculous to the world:  Strengthen our resolves when our faith makes us feel ridiculous, wo that we remain God's people, holy and free, boasting only in our Lord.  

Next week: Worship, Scharme; Food, Bill; TR Lynne.

Yr. D, Wk. 30: Moral Truths from Nature; a Poem by Yeats

All present.  Scott brought dinner; Susan, worship; Bill, the TR.

We sat at one table and dealt cards in four suits, just three cards each:

• SPADE: What in the reading do you want to dig deeper into scripture to find more about? (In EfM - speak, the "Tradition" source)
• DIAMOND: What in the reading reflected facets of history, current events, fiction, or other arts? (The "Culture" source)
• HEART: What in the reading connected to you in some personal or emotional way? ("Action" or "experience")
• CLUB:  What in the reading made you want to fight to defend a belief, or to fight for a new cause? ("Position" or "belief")

[W.B.Yeats]

For a few minutes, Bill, Lynne, Erica and Scharme searched through the marks they made in the reading to find three for their cards.  Then, sitting at one table, they played their cards, one per turn, explaining what the reading said and how it affected them.  Each card had to connect by suit or subject to one on the table.  If Scott hadn't moved in to give the mentor's view, it had already been written out on cards by two others!

The TR homed in on a line from an early Yeats poem, "Ephemera," concerning the soul's loving and continuous good-bye.  Our discussion found cultural references in the 1970 film Harold and Maude (she teaches him how to love, then dies, to let him love on his own) and, in our tradition, to Jesus' ascension (a good-bye), and Abraham/Sarah's good-bye to their home in their nineties
.
In the end, we collected our thoughts, images, and references, in this way:

Collect for Loss
Jesus, Lover of our souls, by suffering with us, you taught how to love, before you departed: By your Holy Spirit, help us to recognize that we can grown through loss to create something new and holy.  In Your Name we pray, Amen.  

Next Week: Bring $5 for dinner that Susan will order; Susan brings the TR; and Lynne brings the worship.  

Mountaintop Experience: Mentor Formation Retreat

Susan and I returned yesterday from three days at EfM's HQ at the University of the South, Sewanee, near Chattanooga, TN. We joined Bob from Florida, Steve from Asheville (moving soon to KY), and Ethel Ware from All Saints in Atlanta.  Our mentor Sissie Wile modeled ways to formulate an understanding of spirituality through experiences that engaged our imaginations with all four of EfM's sources: action, position, culture, and tradition.

[PHOTOS:  Top - Sissie's home, where we visited with her dog and cat on Saturday, before dinner.

Middle - A branch finding a way through a manufactured space was, for me, an image of Incarnation - the Creator's sharing in our struggles and pain.

 Below - A "mandala" collage of images that help me to define holy]

Our sessions together began and ended with worship from the New Zealand Book of Common Prayer.  Hearing familiar texts phrased differently, we're aware of new angles to old sayings.  For instance, "The Lord be with you / And also with you" is re-stated as an affirmation for all:" The divine Spirit dwells in us. / Thanks be to God."

Before we'd even decided what we meant by spirituality or by related terms mystery, holiness, and the divine, Sissie had each of us choose a photograph from an array published by the Kaleidoscope Institute. I chose a view of an apartment building, ten rows and twelve columns of balconies defined by concrete slabs, iron rails, and glass doors. For me, there's a mystery in that each resident is an individual universe of experiences, pursuits, and hopes; yet even near neighbors may be unaware of each other. So much life is visible at a glance; how can anyone conceive of the fact that all the individuals on our planet are equally self-contained universes?

We also each selected one psalm among those identified by author Walter Brueggemann as psalms for seasons of orientation (8, 14,33, 37, 145, 131, 133), of disorientation (13, 25, 50, 74, 79, 81, 86, 137), or new orientation (30,34, 50, 74, 79, 81 86, 137), all connecting to EfM's  theme this year of new orientations in our "journeys in faith." 

I chose Psalm 124 ("If it had not been the Lord who was on our side...), feeling that my life has reoriented towards care for Mom, following my fifty-seven years of responsibility mostly to myself, my job, my own projects.  The Psalmist seems to be clutching to the knowledge that, "We held on through tough times before; God will be with us at the end of this time, too." 

Again, after sharing, we reflected on aspects of spirituality revealed by this effort.  What we saw was deep connections across time and culture between us and the psalmist; the experience of relating concrete reality to metaphors; the awareness that interior conclusions may not easily be identified as true or false. We agreed that psalms have different meanings for us at different times in our lives.

The most intense thirty minutes of the weekend, for me, were spent searching through magazines for images that spoke to my sense of what's holy, then fitting them into a circle -- to form a personal "mandala," an image of the universe, or the universal.  During that time, we all milled around the room, and I, for one, was nearly oblivious to others while I cut, rearranged, and pasted.  My own images include preparation of food - a holy activity when done lovingly to bring people together; a lovely tree at the edge of a lake, reminding me of days spent in such places reading, or, even more, riding my bike, occupied solely with the cycling and breathing, enjoying God's gifts; a bed, which I've come to see as a raft for a nightly journey through dreams, in which we find rest and meaning-making; the dog - for many of us, a veritable angel in life, example to us of unconditional love and life in the moment (see my article Dogs are Poetry); and the crossword puzzle, signifying for me horizontal existence in time intersecting with the vertical existence of mind, memory, and imagination (see my article Theology of Crosswords).

We also had assignments to design experiences in spirituality for each other.  Bob and Steve presented a combination of lectio divina with the movements of EfM's process of "theological reflection."  Ethel Ware sent us away to sketch or describe something that illustrates what we mean by "the divine." (I brought back a sketch of an open hand, palm up: able to reach out, able to hold, to let go, and vulnerable to rejection).  Susan and I sent everyone out at dusk to bring back images (perhaps on phone cameras) of intersections between what we call "nature" and the human-manufactured world.  In these, we looked for the Trinity:  images of the Creator's joy in creation; of the Incarnate Lord's sharing the pain of creation; and, of the Spirit that flows through all life like the wind.  We were inspired by the analogy in our RRG of a night hike by flashlight:  what we see by "light" of our manufactured world is limited, and we'll appreciate much more of the night life in a forest, once our senses become fully engaged for a walk in the dark.

For a short time before dinner, we accepted Sissie's invitation to her lovely home overlooking a bluff, with a view west across the valley.  Such a short time was still a powerful highlight, reminding us all of another holy quality of hospitality, by which patriarchs welcomed angels.