Yr. A, Wk. 20: Isaiah, Corinthians, Salvation, and an African Drinking Bowl

Members:  Thomas, Eugene, Mariel, first year;  Erica, second year; Scharme, third year; Bill and Lynne Lovelace, fourth year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Scharme.

Worship: Erica led us in prayer and paired us up for an exercise of listening, as we each explained the other's reaction to the day's reading from Hebrews.  

First year students opened the conversation.  Tom is getting used to the idea that passages of Isaiah sung in THE MESSIAH as prophecies of Christ were probably intended as more local oracles anticipating the restoration of the earthly king of Israel.   Mariel turned that around, to say that the passages are so beautiful that their imagery naturally inspires music.  Gene was impressed by the image of hot coals in the mouth of Isaiah, and the seraphs' six wings.   

Erica explained that she found humor and sarcasm in I and II Corinthians, as he dealt with numerous misconceptions and rivals.  "Corinth," she said, "was very Jerry Springer."  

Bill and Lynne highlighted McIntosh's analogy  of the selfish guest who comes to the party but scarfs down food alone in a corner, withholding himself from the host and the other guests:  that's what it's like when we, with our distorted senses of identity withhold ourselves from God's offer of life.  Lynne grows more and more aware of the importance of Trinity in her understanding of the Gospel.   Jesus was not just an example, nor, according to McIntosh, was he punished for our sins.  The crucifixion was not retribution, but God allowed it, to be fully human, and then to transform death and our human lives in the resurrection. "Did Jesus have to die?" Lynne asked.  She and Bill liked McIntosh's point about how the resurrection changed the disciples, who left Jerusalem feeling like Jesus had been wrong, had failed. 

 Mariel observed that we see in the prophets where God is, and we get a sense of the Spirit, but the Son?  She saw God's gamble in sending prophets and His son to us.

A passage from this week's lectionary reading relates to the second year reading in Hebrews and the fourth year reading in McIntosh:

...[T]hrough death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.... Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people.  For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. - Hebrews 2:14ff.

TR
After the break, Tom presented us with an object saved from his late father's cabin after a tornado. From Africa, it's a water scoop hand-carved from a single piece of wood, a thirsty giraffe's body forming the handle.  When Tom found it in the wreckage, it was half full of storm water, where we still see the watermark.  

Our discussion went to objects in our own lives that acquired meaning far beyond themselves. We reached through to the insight that "things have memories."  We thought of cultural examples in movies, objects that hold spirits in Sixth Sense; veneration of objects can be very different in denominations of Christianity.  Our positions included the statement that it's never really just about the object, but our associations with and treatment of the object.

Collect for Collectors of Treasured Objects
Lord, You transformed the crucifix of shame into the cross of redemption:  By Your Spirit, help us to recognize Your transformative power at work when ordinary objects become sacred to us or to others, that we may honor You in the encouragement and inspiration we draw from objects of personal significance. Amen.

Next Week:  

• Reading: Week 21.   
• Food: Erica.
• TR: Lynne.
• Worship: Bill.

Yr. A, Wk. 19: Eucharist of the Ordinary, "Be Not Afraid," Prophets, and Icons

Members:  Thomas, Eugene, Mariel, first year;  Erica, second year; Scharme, third year; Bill and Lynne, fourth year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: none.

Gene brought worship from the New Zealand prayer book, and a question about our plans for Lent.  Scharme provided pizza and cookies.  

Our discussion of the readings covered Amos, Hosea, Romans, the Incarnation, and Iconoclasm. That's a great deal of material, but the discussion really caught fire on the idea of "desire" as a holy aspect of God the Father, a desire to share and love.  Sin is a distortion of desire; fear is an aspect of that distortion.  The resurrection of Jesus frees us from our worst fear.  The story of Hosea's marriage to Gomer -- actual, not allegory! -- related to true love and distorted desire.  Amos prophesied against the offical prophets and their king, against the fear that drove the rich and powerful of Israel to ally with foreign kings and gods, to practice empty forms of worship.  The icons that Scharme read about in Year Three were popular as objects to focus the love that people felt for God.  Susan related all of this to Fr. Roger's sermon about "this little light of mine."

For the TR, Mariel brought us a poem "The Inner History of a Day" by former priest John O'Donohue.  Drawn to verses three and four, we explored the image brought to mind by O'Donohue's lines:

We seldom notice how each day is a holy place
Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,
Transforming our broken fragments
Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.

Somewhere in us a dignity presides
That is more gracious than the smallness
That fuels us with fear and force,
A dignity that trust the form a day takes. 

                   - John O'Donohue, from "To Bless the Space Between Us"

We imagined the world of the cathedral - as - a - day, and all the "sin" that could disrupt the reverent silence and dignity of the place.  But Erica turned our perception on its head when she suggested that all our pet peeve distractions are the very "fragments" of the "ordinary" that are integrated in "eternal continuity" by the Lord.

We resolved to be more open to "silence" in our days, away from media; and to trust more in process.  We collected our insights with bits of the metaphor and oblique references to our discussion of fear and desire with this collect:


Collect for the Day as a Holy Space
 Dear Lord, You preside over Your creation: remind us that this day is your holy place, where we may walk in sacred attentiveness and partake with our neighbors in the Eucharist of the ordinary.  In Jesus' name we pray. amen.

Bill and Lynne were also reminded of Hymn 653, Repton, "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" by John Greenleaf Whittier.  
  Next Week:  

• Reading: We do the readings for Week 20. 
  
• Food: Bill and Lynne.
• TR: Tom.
• Worship: Erica.

I referred to a novel by Wendell Berry in which a young man makes a sacred place from an ordinary plot of a land by imagining for his young wife the home that he will build for them there, and they spend the night in their "home." I've devoted a page of my blog to Berry's novels.

Snow day: We'll continue next week, as planned

Scott's birds; cat''s eye view of Susan's street

We'll meet again Tuesday night, with no additional assignments.  Amos, Hosea, and the other readings are too good to dilute with another week's readings.

We do plan to double up when we get to the common reading, weeks 22 and 23.

So, to repeat the set up for Tuesday: 

• Reading:Week 19 in the RRG - Amos and Hosea!  Romans!  New Rome! Humanity of God -- looks great!
• Food: Scharme
• TR: Mariel. 
• Worship: Gene.

Yr. A, Wk. 18: Friends, Romans, Kings, and Mystics

Members:  Thomas, Eugene, Mariel, first year;  Erica, second year; Scharme, third year; Bill and Lynne, fourth year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: none.

While we dug into our brown-bag dinners, Erika asked us what we're looking forward to in 2018.  She then led us in the Noonday service.  

First year led off our discussion with some complaints about the tediousness of I and II Kings, its predictable patterns and formulaic summaries.  Gene was interested in Solomon's reputation for wisdom, since riches and power seem to have "gone to his head."

Regarding Solomon's reputation for glory and achievements (which archaeologists have doubted), Mariel wondered what it is about David that makes him the dominant figure in our scriptures and our thinking of Israel's link to Jesus?  She got a lot of answers.  "We like Bad Boys," Erica said.  His life is "a walking lesson" in the good and bad we do in relation to God and others.

Erica considered Romans, observing "rabbit holes" everywhere she looks.  We discussed the numerous ways that the Gospels, institutional church, and our theology were worked out on the job by Paul over decades.

Scharme enjoyed her chapter on 12th century monastics and mystics.  Aquinas and other Dominicans used "analogy and metaphor" to get at incomprehensible God.  She noted a tension between riches of the church and the enforced poverty of the Dominicans and Franciscans.  Their begging put them on the street and brought the church closer to the ordinary people.  Scharme relayed a story about the effect of an edict that all should have communion, and all should be prepared for it by confession, which required education of the commoners.  University education developed through monasteries, mostly alongside cathedrals (Abelard's name came up); study of Plato and Aristotle resumed, and Aristotle became ascendant.

Bill and Lynne found much to think about and enjoy in McIntosh's book.  McIntosh discusses different aspects of how God speaks to us, how we "know" God in a sense beyond the intellectual -- connoting love and enjoyment.

Lynne was struck by a new awareness of the role of Trinity in Creation, as we are all a part of that Word ("Expression") of God.  She loved the line, "God gives us the power to be ourselves."  Lynne took comfort and delight in the idea that God, outside of time, sees us in our entirety, not just who we are now, but who we've been and what we will be.

Some of the discussion turned to Descartes and modern insistence on "certainty" through reasoned propositions, but McIntosh ("and EfM," said Susan) stress a more mystical knowing through relationship.  Hans Frie, scholar of the history of interpretations of Scripture, suggested we think of Scripture as a "sacrament."

Scharme related the discussion to another element in her reading, the anonymous "Cloud of Unkowing."

TR 

Unburdened.

Scott's TR about a moment of doubt in a relationship -- followed by relief and great joy (see pictures) -- brought us to a metaphor about how beginning hikers often pack way more than they need, more than they can carry.  Our metaphor brought to mind a movie with Reese Witherspoon as a hiker; and Scriptural references to light yoke and easy burdens; to David's casting off the heavy armor of Saul to fight Goliath; and the words in our Prayer Book from confession, "the burden of them is intolerable."

Erica read a blessing on us from the last lines of Romans.

Collect for the Hike
Father, You see us, Your children, struggling with burdens of our own devising; help us to recognize and to let go of unnecessary baggage, that we may walk freely and joyfully, parts of your creation. Amen.

Next Week:  

• Reading:Week 19 in the RRG - Amos and Hosea!  Romans!  New Rome! Humanity of God -- looks great!
• Food: Scharme
• TR: Mariel. 
• Worship: Gene.

Yr. A, Wk. 17: Awe and Aah at Bill and Lynne's

Members:  Thomas, Eugene, Mariel, first year;  Erica, second year; Scharme, third year; Bill and Lynne, fourth year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Mariel, Gene.

[Marvsgrandcanyontours.com]

After greetings, hors d'oeuvres  and drinks, Lynne lit Advent candles at the kitchen island and led us in readings for worship.  As we sat at a lovely candlelit table, and dinner of slow-cooked beef and apricot glazed carrots with rice, we answered Bill's question, "When have you been in awe?"  This week's 4th year reading begins with McIntosh's anecdote about being awestruck at the edge of the Grand Canyon, both by its immensity, and by its disappearance when he stepped back just a few feet from the edge -- he felt its immense presence, though it was no longer visible.  The loveliness and reflected light in the recent snow was another example. Our answers seemed to be more about art than about nature: the first minutes of Mozart's Requiem, for instance.

Readings
Tom led off with observations about the pathos in the story of Saul, "taller than anyone," who had God's favor and lost it.  Others contributed their thoughts about Saul, Jonathan, and David.  We raised questions of mental illness, temper, David's learning, those familiar elements of the last son and last daughter in David's story being chosen first, and the sense of closeness between Jonathan and David.

Scharme segued from one angry and jealous king to another, England's Henry II commissioning the assassination of his former friend and confidant Becket, who took the Church's side in a Europe-wide struggle between Church and Crowns.  At the same time, certain churches benefited from a burgeoning tourism industry, and promoted certain saints for veneration.  The tradition of Mary's bodily assumption effectively denied any shrine the opportunity to claim to have any relics of her, thus "democratizing" Mary veneration throughout Christendom. 

About Paul, Erika relayed Powell's matter-of-fact explanation that the change of name from "Saul" to "Paul" was not something that happened on the road to Damascus, as we all suppose from dramatic stories in Sunday school, but a mundane difference between Semitic and Hellenistic spellings.  She was also struck by the observation that miracles attributed to Paul by the author of Acts don't show up in Paul's own letters.  

Lynne was struck in McIntosh's book by the notion that God has His own "story," in which our stories have their context.  We explored ways of thinking about the Trinity, and several of us wondered that McIntosh didn't use the term "emergence," as that's what he implies when he writes about the Spirit's presence in the interplay between Creator and Incarnate Word. 

From a line in McIntosh, we all discussed the "habit of prayer" as a muscle to develop, more important for its practice than for its content.  McIntosh suggests that theology isn't a body of knowledge so much as a set of habits that become our "containers" for the contents of our days. 


Next meeting will be January 9:  

• Reading: Wk. 18 in the RRG.   
• Food: brown bag
• TR: Scott. 
• Worship: Erica.

Yr. a, Wk. 15 - 16: Dialogue "Outside the Box"

Members:  Thomas, Eugene, Mariel, first year;  Erica, second year; Scharme, third year; Bill and Lynne, fourth year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: none.

To get started, we brought "brown bag" dinners. Tom read Compline, and we shared answers to his question, what does the Christmas season mean to us now?  

Because our theological reflection in the second hour was a demonstration of ideas discussed in the first hour, I'll recap the readings later.

An Experiential Theological Reflection (TR)

Mariel's object for Theological Reflection had us thinking "Outside the Box"

Mariel brought us a box, decorated with images of face, ears, and arrows with mottoes “ongoing” and “going on."  She simply invited us to respond, and watched from a corner. After we all hesitated, Susan opened the box.  We unpacked layers of past and present, diaries (one blank), a ledger from a blacksmith’s business,  family photos, a Texas license plate, an old wind-up clock, layers separated by different kinds of paper or cloth. 

Reflecting on feelings as we'd unpacked the box, we identified thrill at discovery, resistance to a new kind of TR, hesitation to connect with intimate family materials, curiosity, and melancholy. Our thoughts were variations on the basic qiestion, “What’s the principle or meaning behind this selection of objects?"

Considering theological categories, we decided “the world” of this micro-archive was created to be layered in time-and-space, interconnected, meaningful, purposeful, narrative.  “Brokenness” lay in missing or fading pieces, and so much life not  recorded.  We saw “judgment” in what made us hesitant: the blank diary (“so much not written”) and fear of what opening the box might commit us to.  Redemption lay in our decisions to engage with what we found, and enlargement of our sense of ourselves, as our little community worked through the materials.

Looking for analogs in our tradition, we listed “Let us now praise famous men”; the canon itself; the story of Josiah’s reading scriptures found among artifacts; the re-enactments of past in liturgy, such as the Passover Seder and Christmas service; and our church building and furnishings.

We bought into the experience with personal stories of the old answering machine that preserves the voice of a late loved one; the mother's cedar chest; sorting through an estate; the underlined passages in books that we read years ago; conversation with grandparents; sadness in browsing through objects in an antique store, removed from the places where they had meaning; and a first experience of Episcopal liturgy.

Readings: Morgan, Fighting with Scripture and Holmes, "A Spiritual Person"

We found in our engagement with Mariel's box of memories an experience of Morgan's over-arching idea that truths emerge through the "dialogue" among layers of our tradition and our personal experience.  Leaving out the past leaves us with an impoverished understanding of what's newer; one side doesn't have to be wrong for the other side to be right.  (Read a reflection on Morgan in Smoot's personal blog.)

We also found elements of "spirituality" in our communal experience of reverence and commitment to our exploration of the artifacts.

But our first responses to Donn Morgan's Fighting with Scripture had been expressions of disappointment that he didn't finally tell us how to choose among the clashing threads in the Bible.

We came around to acknowledging that his final pages do give practical advice for dealing with tension ("and tension can be a good thing" Susan reminded us), including several ideas built into EfM program, such as communal prayer, an emphasis on connecting through stories rather than through argument,  and "holy listening," i.e. attending to a person's words and body language while suspending our urge to plan a response. 

Urban T. Holmes writes of strong negative responses to the word "spirituality" during the Sixties and Seventies (when he was instrumental in creating EfM).  Times have changed, we agreed.  We all liked his formulation:

prayer : spirituality :: eating : hunger

Collect for Reflection on the Past

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come:  We know that we live in communities of past and future generations: Make us ever mindful of opportunities for holy listening, that we may engage reverently in dialogue between past and present. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Next week:
Food and Worship provided by Bill and Lynne at their home, 5664 Harbormist (all one word), Powder Springs 30127.  If you can't come, please let us know!
Readings: Week Seventeen in the RRG. 
We will take the next Tuesday off, returning January 2. 

Yr. A, Wk. 14: Fighting with Bible and GPS

Members:  Thomas, Eugene, Mariel, first year;  Erica, second year; Scharme, third year; Bill and Lynne Lovelace, fourth year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Scharme.

Susan brought kale soup with Chorizo, and bread.  Erica's opening worship was a pair of readings from Acts and Ephesians, concerning Paul's reaching to the Athenians through their altar dedicated to "an unknown god," and his efforts to help all to see God :hidden in mystery."  Her question was about our new church year, "what's beginning anew for you?"  

We all discussed Donn Morgan's Fighting with the Bible: How Scripture Divides us, and How it Can Bring us Together.  

"North by Northwest": bus to nowhere

Gene brought a friend's childhood memory from a visit to the beach. As we explored the story and our own counter-stories, we reached a metaphorical situation:  Your GPS takes you to a cornfield and tells you, "You have reached your destination."  From the Tradition source, we found analogs in Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus, the disciples' feelings of loss and lostness in Jerusalem, and Jonah's finding himself in Nineveh despite his efforts to avoid it. Mariel saw trust in these stories, leading to unexpected revelation.  Gene agreed that the stories show God in control, taking the characters far afield. All our discussion is folded into our collect:

Collect for Direction
God, Who led the Israelites with the pillar of fire, Who blinded Paul so that he could see a new path: help us to recognize our own waywardness and to orient ourselves toward You, that we may lead within our community of faith, and carry your message forward into the world. 

Next Week:  

• Reading: We combine Wks. 15 & 16,  completing Morgan's book and also reading the essay that opens Unit Three, "The Spiritual Person" (pp. 78-93 in the RRG).   (Early, the essayist quotes Plato to say that we can "be" only in relation, and that "spirituality" is about the holy longing called eros.  See my reflection on a related book of that title, The Holy Longing.)
• Food: brown bag
• TR: Mariel. 
• Worship and a question: Tom.

Planning ahead: Tuesday, December 19th, we'll meet at the home of  Bill and Lynne. 
We'll discuss the readings for Wk. 17.