Yr. A, Wk. 36: Closure

All present.  We awarded certificates from Sewanee to Bill and Lynne in church May 6; we met in the choir loft to say good-bye to them and to each other with a liturgy provided in our Reading & Reflection Guide.  At the place in the liturgy where everyone could offer a prayer, we each selected a favorite from the Collected Collects in bound in striking marbled paper created by Susan.

The class presented the mentors with potables that will bring pleasure many summer nights hence. Susan and I thank you!

We repaired to Hemingway's for a meal under a mildly cloudy night sky; Bill and Lynne took the bill: Bill and Lynne, we have, for the final time, one more occasion to thank you!

Next:  Susan and I will have mentor training during the summer.  We'll be in touch with you early in July about  sending in checks and signatures before July 20,  to begin again Year B in mid-August!

Yr. A, wk. 35: Concluding the Year, and a Kaleidoscope

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

Mariel started us off with worship from Canada's prayer book, focused on St. Julian of Norwich.  We answered her question, "What made you laugh during the past week?"

About the first year readings in apocryphal wisdom literature, Mariel and Tom found that these works were focused on secular education for upper-class boys.

Scharme discussed culture wars.  We digressed on the topic of "prosperity gospel" and its opposite, "liberation theology."  She was most struck by the observation that the doctrine of Hell has all but vanished from faith discourse in the 20th century.

Bill and Lynne, speaking of the readings for fourth year, felt that these chapters in this book made a fitting conclusion to their years with EfM.  The focus was on action that grows from dialogue.  Lynne says the chapters made her ask herself, "What am I going to do with my faith?"

For a TR, Scharme brought us a story of a time when she was overwhelmed, thinking "this is what we agreed was right to do," and yet feeling in the moment, "this is very wrong."  She said,  "It was like looking through a kaleidoscope and trying to keep track of just one color."  We imagined trying to find the esy out of a warren of halls and doors, looking through a kaleidoscope.
In such a world, the sin was standing still, sitting down, fearing to make a misstep.  We found Scriptural analogs in the stories of the Exodus, Jonah, and Paul's being struck blind on the road to Damascus.  The common element was feeling unprepared and apprehensive about a journey, uncertain of the turns taken.  Bill pointed out that we only presume that there's just one right way to go.


Collect for Clarity
All knowing God, You led the Hebrews with the pillar of flame: help us to remember your faithfulness when we allow our cares and fears to overwhelm us, and when we lose our way; so that we will have the courage to step forward into the unknown, trusting in Your divine goodness even to our last days.  Amen.

Next week, our last:  Meet in the choir's pews at 6:45.  We will have a worship service, then repair to Hemingway's for a final meal together.

Yr. A, Wk. 34: Maccabees and a Mad World

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

Lynne led us in "Night Prayer" from New Zealand's prayer book.  While we ate our brown bag suppers, she posed a question that arose for her from 4th Year's text Our Neighbor's Faith, "Is it easy or difficult for you to speak of your faith? Are there messages from society that encourage or discourage you from doing so?"  A couple of pithy quotations came up in our discussion.  From Our Neighbor's Faith, "Too many religions have suffered from being over-verbalized and under-experienced."  From St. Francis: "Share the Gospel; if necessary, use words."

Responding to Maccabees, Mariel wondered if such over-the-top violence might have been in some way intended as humor?  Gene was struck by the role of dreams in Daniel.  Tom said that the transparently non-historical nature of Daniel is a prime example of the fallacy of 20th century fundamentalists' imposing on the Bible their needs for assurance of consistency and "infallibility."
Lynne commented on how she loves the book of Daniel for its portrayal of "staying true to your faith."

Reporting on the collapse of Christendom in two world wars, Scharme admitted that she had never before "connected emotionally" to what happened in the first half of the 20th century.  We commented also on the way the hierarchy of the Church enabled fascism, even while Bonhoeffer and other lay believers resisted.  We saw the same connection between religion, politics, and power.  Scharme told how the World Council of Churches emerged from the wars.

Bill and Lynne shared some stories from the later portion of Our Neighbor's Faith. They were struck by the story of Jewish families who prepared meals for their Islamic neighbors during Ramadan.  Bill repeated a quotation from one of the authors in the book, "Never hate the evil more than you love the good." This brought to mind a couple more outstanding quotations.  From Scharme: "Be a living example of how love wins."  From William Sloane Coffin, by way of Bill: "The only way to have a good death is to lead a good life."

When we observed that Bill and Lynne have only one more reading to do, there was a reflection on the EfM experience.  Bill said EfM "was not what I expected; it was more."

TR
For a theological reflection, Gene handed out the lyric for the 1980s song "Mad World" by Roland Orzabel, then showed us a video created for a more recent performance of the song by Gary Jules. Susan observed that the "whimsical" images of children at play in the video undercuts the lyric; Mariel found the music to be "sweet" in contrast to the bitter words.  In the end, we explored the world of "artistic collaboration."  We found insights that we, discussing the video, are also part of the collaboration; that any creator, like The Creator, gives up control of the creation; that, in collaboration, different perspectives (exemplified in the video by the camera's panning from rooftop to the children far below) can connect our "shared aloneness."

Running out of time, we all truly collaborated, drafting separate pieces of a collect in different quadrants of paper, for Scott to combine later.

Collect for Collaboration
Almighty Everliving Father, together with Your Word and Spirit, You risked opening the act of creation to Your children:  Teach us to try others' perspectives before we advance our own, so that, in our shared aloneness, we may truly collaborate with You and each other in the fulfillment of Your dream of creation.  Amen.

Next Week:  We brown bag again -- looking forward to a shared meal on the Square the following week.  Mariel will lead worship; Scharme will bring the TR.

Yr. A, Wk. 33: Short Stories and Four Stories

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

Scharme brought pizza and Chips Ahoy.  Bill led worship, using a Jewish evening prayer service, beginning with the Shema ("Hear, O Israel...").  Our question concerned words we'd spoken in the past week that we wish had been other.  

Mariel led discussion of the readings by noting that the "short stories" of the Old Testament were "delightful."  She especially appreciated "dramatic reversals" and irony in the stories. 

Year Four readers picked up on the "dramatic irony" comment to tell us about anecdotes from My Neighbor's Faith.  The pacifist Westerner who'd preached to vegetarian Hindus about eating meat when it fell into one's bowl, was confronted by the Hindu who dropped "war" into his bowl.  

Between Tom, Gene, and Mariel, there was a distinguishing of "fact" from "truth," in regards to the designation of "short story" for Ruth, Esther, and Jonah.

Erica related what she'd heard to the Johannine (Jo - HAN-neen) letters,  She'd always read the words about the Anti-Christ and about loving just other Christians without context; she was grateful for Collins's supplying of context,, that these letters were addressed to Churches in conflict.

Scharme reported on internal missionaries to the USA while others went abroad.  "Episcopalians stood aloof," she read from McDonough, while Deists in Washington and other urban areas took note of popular evangelical movements.  Scharme led us into a look at Mormonism. 

Bill cited a story from the 4th year book, to the effect that no one OWNS God, and the Christians don't OWN Jesus.  

Rather than bring an anecdote or source for TR, Tom brought an article extolling the TR method. We started from the author's statement about the "grounding" that the practice of theological reflection brings to us, treating his statement as a "position statement."  We arrived at a metaphor for the "grounding" that TR provides, imagining a four-story apartment building, its elevator connecting the different experiences of life on other floors.

Exploring the world of the metaphor, we imagined life in the building to involve cooperation, common space in the lobby, different experiences lived on similar floor plans, different perspectives on the same view through the windows.  Sin would be shutting oneself off from the other levels; redemption would be the party in the lobby and the cooperative garden on the roof.

We found many resonances in Scripture.  The vision of angels ascending and descending stairs into heaven; God's fragmenting our language after the Tower of Babel to force us to work on getting to know each other; numerous stories of Old and New Testament in which peoples coalesce around shared adversity; the Cross's integration of the Trinity and our existence and eternity. Allegories and parables operate in the same way, with parallel levels of experience.  The epistles speak of levels of faith; Jesus often goes up and down hills. 

Cultural touchstones included films As Good as it Gets, Wizard of Oz, The Girl on the Train, and Rear Window. The dialogue among the sources brought us to a sense that we limit our lives and the good we do when we focus only on one level, that broadening our view to include others' experiences, others' views, has to be good.

Not coincidentally, our conclusions dovetailed with the content of the book that our fourth year fellows are reading, Our Neighbor's Faith.

Collect for Theological Reflections.

Lord, if we ascend to the Heavens, You are there; if we descend to Sheol, You are there:  Help us to maintain the practice of theological reflection, always conscious of different levels in our lives, that we may examine both our mundane experiences and the sensational presentations of our culture in the revealing light of Scripture. Amen. 

Next Week: We do readings for Week 34.   Brown bag dinner.  Gene brings a source for TR.  Lynne will lead worship.  Coming up: We anticipate recognition of Bill and Lynne's completion of the program during the 10:30 service on May 6.  This will be confirmed soon.  

Yr. A, Wk. 32: The Long Haul

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


Bill and Lynne brought dinner; Susan led worship.

A theme emerged in our discussion of the readings and carried through to the end of our collect: "the long haul."

Both Job and Ecclesiastes give us figures who suffer from pain, loss, a sense of futility.  Mariel was reminded of Shakespeare: "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creep in this petty pace to the last syllable of recorded time...." Scott thought of an apt line from another dramatist, Samuel Beckett, "I can't go on; I'll go on."

Reporting on 1 and 2 Peter, Erika said that these letters speak to Christians disappointed that the Second Coming might not be soon coming -- "a day for the Lord is as a thousand years."  We should "rejoice in suffering," the letters say.

We discussed other ideas as well.  Scharme told of the "Protestant Enlightenment" through philosophers Hegel, Kant, and Kierkegaard - who melded what we'd call philosophy, psychology, and science with theology.  Bill and Lynne found the middle portions of Our Neighbor's Faith to be about people both more intense and more intentional about their interfaith experiences, and some of the stories were evidently very moving.  Lynne could identify with the member of an interfaith family who asked the Other, "Why don't you just convert?"  Both Bill and Lynne were struck by the Evangelical man who said that he wouldn't want any Heaven where his Jewish family wouldn't be welcomed, who trusted God in the end to make the decisions.


TR
Erica's story of a vacation gone wrong, involving an infant and the ICU, brought to mind the metaphor of driving late at night on a country road, no pull-off in sight, and the awareness that we're falling asleep.  After we explored thoughts, feelings, and our personal experiences along this line, we recognized a strong resonance with the story of Hagar and Ishmael, especially when we re-read the story in Scripture.  The mother, unable to revive her child, goes far off so as not to see him die.  Then an angel opens her eyes to a well, prophesying that her son will be father to a great nation. We marveled that this favorable story of Israel's rivals made it into Scripture.


Collect for the Long Haul
O God, You preserved and guided Hagar and her son on their perilous trek; Help us, when there is no rest in sight, to persevere, and, trusting in You, to surrender our vulnerability to Your care.  Amen.

Next week:  Scharme brings food; Bill leads worship; Tom brings a source for theological reflection.

Yr. A, Wk. 31: Wisdom, Enlightenment, and Interconnectedness

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

Mariel brought sandwiches and salads from Panera. Gene brought worship from the English prayer book, and asked us to share how the past week has been for us.

In our discussion of the readings, we saw a thematic connection through the idea of "wisdom" and its cousin enlightenment.

Discussing Proverbs, Mariel called it "a manual of risk management," entertaining and sensible in the way of folk wisdom, not so connected to Jewish faith or law.  Gene and Mariel traded observations about how much of Proverbs is aimed at young men of high status, warning them away from "loose women."  On the other hand, first year students were fascinated by the personification of Wisdom as female.  Others chimed in on the balance that provides, and the idea that this feminine Wisdom is said to be present at creation.  Reaching for an analogy, Gene didn't quite remember Ben Franklin's name for "Little Richard's Almanac."

"Sextus Empiricus" -- not a punk metal band, Scharme said -- was a classical scientist re-discovered in the age of Enlightenment.  Was that movement "ally or enemy?" Scharme reports from MacCulloch that is was both.  The expulsion of Jews from the Mediterranean area to northern and eastern European countries had an impact on the spread of skeptical "natural philosophy."  Scharme added a person insight about the time in her life when she became "too smart for [belief in] God," until she got older, and wiser, and came back.

Erika's discussion of James centered on the idea that faith is never properly a "vague feeling." We all offered favorite parts of James -- about the tongue, about the effectiveness of prayer, about treating the poor well.  The promise that prayer brings healing gave us pause, but we saw how "healing" and "wholeness" are closely related. "Healing may be accepting," Lynne said.

Bill and Lynne both enjoyed reading the many vignettes of interfaith relationships in My Neighbor's Faith.  The Tower of Babel wasn't just a punishment, Bill explained from the book, but God's way to force us to make an effort to understand each other. Bill added, "You have to really listen, not just think of what you want to say."  Lynne especially liked the article "Interfaith Incognito" about  a Hindu nun and an evangelical, who bonded over music and tea before either one knew what animated the other.  Bill related these vignettes to Proverbs, as we all can share in the wisdom from experience via the pages of a book.

For a TR, Scott brought a copy of "Shirt" by poet Robert Pinsky.  Go to PoetryFoundation.org  to hear Pinsky read the text aloud at this link.  Our discussion eventually came down to the quality of interconnectedness in the poem, the shirt, and our society.  Erika re- read stern words from James about ripping off the poor worker, text closely related to Pinsky's digression about the Triangle Fire; Susan brought up the prophetic tradition of calling for justice for the poor.




Collect for Recognizing our Interconnectedness
Almighty Creator, having made our world with Wisdom, You daily delight in your handiwork: help us to recognize how we are enriched by each other's labor, and keep us mindful of those whose labor makes our lives easier, that our daily decisions might embody the interconnectedness of Your creatures and the love You threaded throughout Creation. Amen.

Next week:  We read what's assigned for Week 32 -- Job, Ecclesiastes, Peter(s), Europe "Re-enchanted or Disenchanted?" and more of Our Neighbor's Faith, ch. 2 and 3. Bill and Lynne bring food; Susan leads worship; Erika provides a source for the TR.

Yr. A, Wk. 29-30: Dozier and an Open Door to "Vocation"

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

Susan brought her original recipe, Salmon Loaf.  Scott led worship for Early Evening from the prayer book, and posed the Pandora's Box question (from a list of suggested check in questions), "What surprised you, for good or ill, in the past week?" 

Our response to Dozier started negative but worked its way back to appreciating a positive aspect to her message.  Gene said that the thrust of her argument is that we, the Laity, are much to blame for allowing the institutional church to substitute worship and ritual for following Christ in the world outside our church walls.  "Why not worship and follow?" asked Lynne.  Erica spoke for others when she said that she looked in vain for evidence that we or any church currently have failed to follow Christ in our communities.  Lynne asked.  Mariel liked the idea of our establishing the kingdom of God in everyday affairs, but she longed for examples of how that worked; Susan appreciated how the author found new ways to step into familiar stories -- e.g., the tomb, p. 103 -- but didn't see the same level of thoughtfulness in the author's larger point.  Bill spoke from history and experience when he agreed on Dozier's accusation that the clergy DO elevate the status quo and the institutional interests of the church above personal ministry -- citing church history from his readings in third year and some recent behavior of Roman Catholic hierarchy. 

Tom said that our personal ministries can use the institutional church's guidance and resources, making a perfect segue to the week's other reading in the RRG. We liked the idea that our gifts and our passions are a "bridge" -- supported by the community (individuals, groups, institutions, prayer, spiritual practice) -- to our vocation in the world. Erica, however, wondered where we'd be if the stutterer Moses, being "true to his gifts" (RRG 158), had declined God's invitation to speak truth to power?  Mariel, too reminded us of those in Scripture whose paths were straight and of others -- Paul and Peter, for example -- whose paths to their vocations took sharp turns.  Gene pointed out that the church, and EfM, are instruments of intentional discernment. This reminded Scott of a process of institutional discernment some years ago when St, James parishioners reached consensus on the idea that our greatest strength as a parish lies in hospitality -- how we take care of physical, social, spiritual, educational needs for those who come in our doors.

Scott wrote his own reflection on Dozier's book.  Link here. 

Theological Reflection: Perhaps because Dozier called her book The Dream of God, Mariel brought us a dream from her teens remembered in such vivid detail that she thinks of it as "a vision." 

From her dream, we focused on a moment when, having opened the door to her friend to find no one there, Mariel in her dream looked around and came back to the open door, to feel a rush of air that she somehow understood to be her friend. 

Only after we had thoroughly explored the vision through other sources, finding resonance in the appearance - and sudden disappearance -- of resurrected Jesus to the disciples at Emmaus, did Mariel reveal that this dream of hers, experienced in a hospital room bed  where she recuperated from a car crash, was a vision of her friend who had died driving the car.

Collect for Invisible Presence: 
Unseen and omnipresent God, you met your fearful disciples along the road to Emmaus and opened their eyes by your blessing of the bread and wine:  open our eyes to the reality of Your presence so that we may with confidence use our gifts to bring Your kingdom into our community.  Amen. 

Next Week: We do readings assigned for Wk. 31 in the RRG.  Mariel brings our food; Gene leads worship; and Scott will have a source for the TR. Bill may be absent. We are encouraged to invite prospective members.