Yr. B, Wk. 26: Speaking Gospel to Different Cultures

After worship from the Prayer Book's service for early evening, we enjoyed turkey chili and tomato soup that Erica brought for us, while we shared news from our lives in the week past. Because Gene and Christine were both away, we discussed the readings and put off Mariel's TR for next week.

(Class: Christine, Year One; Mariel and Gene, Year Two; Erica, Year Three; Susan and Scott, co - mentors, are reading Year Four. Absent: Gene, Christine.)

Mariel related the first year readings to Paul's story, insofar as Ezra and Nehemiah, like Paul, are reforming and building religious institutions. The commentary by Powell has helped her to appreciate how Paul dealt with the world he lived in. In such a hierarchical society, she sees a strong counter - cultural strain in Paul's letters: "There is no Jew or Greek," and a letter to Philemon that is, in Mariel's view, a sly dig at the slaveowner's conscience  [ see image]. Some of the letters attributed to Paul, according to theories discussed by Powell, may be seen as efforts by later writers to tone down Paul's dangerous ideas by re - imposing hierarchy.

Erica picked up on the slavery theme as she told us about the Jesuits, and Fr. las Casas, and how, with some good intentions to treat native Americans humanely, they brought African slave trade to the world. Eric also enjoyed the story of Jesuits' missions in Asia, where the natives didn't take kindly to the brothers' assumption of superiority; so, Jesuits learned to adapt their preaching to the culture.

Discussing 4th year's essay by Timothy Sedgwick on Love and Justice, Scott and Susan saw how these two terms are close in meaning, "justice" being an extension of "love" to all society.

Next week: Brown Bag; Scott does worship; Mariel will save her TR for 3/19.

Yr. B, Wk. 25: Laughing at Calamity

Christine led worship from the evening service, with Psalm 36.5-9, Hebrews 2.1-4, and a Collect for Peace, copied by hand for each of us in her beautiful manuscript. [see photo]

(Class: Christine, Year One; Mariel and Gene, Year Two; Erica, Year Three; Susan and Scott, co - mentors, are reading Year Four. Absent for first hour: Scott.)

Here is a transcription of Susan's notes:
I Thes. -- Where did those versions of resurrection come from? (context from Powell - questions about the mechanics [of resurrection of believers at the end of time]? Was it really about worrying about those who died previously?) "The dead in Christ" as a concept -- praying with the saints.

1st year - book by Yee - Jewish feminist interpretations, differences between Reform and Orthodox, metaphors of marriage, Hosea and violence against women. Emphasis on styles of writing and how these matter. Negative metaphors use women as images for colonized others. Widows, orphans, resident aliens as without power. Mariel: Jewish Women in History hints at what women's lives were like as inferred from documents outside the rabbinical tradition.

2nd year discussed Paul's Powell's idea of "polemical hyperbole." Powell explained that in Roman times, pagan rituals and Roman government were joined together; thus, Jews and Christians, by refusing to participate, were viewed as irreligious and antisocial.

3rd year: Erica liked this chapter!! Counter - Reformation, Loyola, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross. Sounds like interesting people. Erotic imagery -- John of Cross mystics. Celibacy becomes more enforced. Queen Mary -- McCullough is sympathetic to her, as she was good at organizing things. Witches - kind of paranoia, hysteria.
Theological Reflection
Susan brought us two tea cups to be the source for theological reflection. Bemused at first, everyone gradually became aware that the lovely familiar designs on the cups included images of giant alligators, marauding space ships, Aztec monsters, and a zombie poodle. Our responses teetered between delight with laughter, and solemn consideration of how horrific these images really were. As we wondered about the tradition, we thought of dry bones coming to life; violence in Joshua, Judges, Kings, and Revelation; and humor in the story of Jonah, and in the parables of Jesus. As we finished our discussion, Christine was volunteered to put all our thoughts and feelings into a collect:

Collect for Laughter
God of Love, you carried your people through hardship and fear during famine, war, and conflict but as Sarah named Isaac, laughter, she laughed because the delight of her son brought her joy. We pray that your gift of laughter strengthens us when we are fearful, bringing us peace and joy, opening our hearts, so that we may see your will and walk in your way through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Next week: Readings from the RRG, week 26. Susan leads worship; Erica brings food; Mariel will bring us a source for the TR.

Yr. B, Wk. 24: Prophets, Paul, and Protestants

After prayers for the evening, Christine asked us about our experiences of renewal in the past week. Scott and Susan spoke of their EfM training, and renewed commitment to making our group worship into times set apart -- for instance, meeting in the other room for worship before coming into the study room for dinner. Others spoke of how they felt renewed by reaching out to relatives; sunshine; making art; the presence of children (in church baptism and visiting at home). We spoke as we enjoyed pizza brought by Gene. He also brought a gummi pizza for dessert. [See photo]



[Class: Christine, first year; Mariel, Gene, second year; Erica, third year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Withdrawn to concentrate on earning his degree, Tom.]

Our discussion proceeded by each person offering a connection from the week's readings to a "mind map" that grew from a single quotation, "beware philosophers" from Paul. We saw Reformation suspicion of post - scriptural learning, but also a debate over predestination that involved Leibniz ("best of all possible worlds"), our "evolutions" from our "identities," Star Trek, what Paul might have meant by "the elect," and violent splits among protestant sects. Another offshoot concerned the "50,000 foot view" of Christianity presented in Philippians, which comported with Isaiah's view of generations' worth of misfortunes as lessons for all peoples.

After all this discussion of strife and philosophy, we looked at an offshoot in the opposite direction: where is "love" in all this? That opened up a new discussion that involved Fr. Roger's sermon on "caritas," the fourth year reading about desire and marriage as paradigms for a broader concept of "hospitality," something more than biscuits and coffee -- acts of mutual care and concern. Susan and Scott have seen an increasing emphasis on this one word in our readings in theology over the past few years.

Given the EfM central office's questions to fill out for the March Group Status Report, we gave the TR a week off, and instead put time into thoughtful reflections on the year's materials, along with hopes for the future.

We also discussed ways that we can all recruit for the program. With Tom's departure to study for his degree, we're two under the bare minimum we must have to continue. We discussed keeping EfM among options for adult education in the church bulletin, inviting alumni to stay in touch (even joining us for common readings), and sharing Sewanee's brochure with friends.

Next week: Scott will be late, following a play. Food is brown bag. Susan has a TR. Christine will lead worship.

Yr. B, Wk. 23: Paul's Legacy, and Legos

Scott improvised worship from the Psalm appointed for the evening, Psalm 95, with a reading from Jeremiah, the book assigned to First Year students for the night. Jeremiah 15.5-10 develops the lovely image of a tree that sends its root out underground beside a stream: even in dry times, it has what it needs to grow. We gave answers to the question, "What has been your 'root?'" Several of us agreed with Mariel that "little things," performed in ritual repetition, can ground us for our days. Susan draws nourishment from being absorbed in art class each week; Erica feels the same about her handcrafts, adding that she also finds refreshment in the changes of seasons. Gene "deals in problems all day," so he has learned to cultivate his gratitude.

[Class: Christine, first year; Mariel, Tom, Gene, second year; Erica, third year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Christine, Tom.]

Christine sent word to us that she's keeping up with reading and will post comments to our blog, soon. She adds, "The funny thing, or observation, I’ve come to realize about my quiet self is that I am wanting to blurt things out during service at church, though in fairness our Rector often asks has anyone...? Or does any one know...? Also, I can’t get the Feminist Perspective book by Yee out of my mind."

Mariel was delighted to recognize a great deal of Ephesians from the use made of it in our prayer book. Disturbed by the phrase addressed to wives, "Submit to your husbands," she researched the passage and found that earliest sources present that phrase in a longer context with the previous sentence, making a single admonishment to both wives and husbands to mutually submit to each other, i.e., to share and respect each other. Gene was fascinated to see the parallels between Colossians and Ephesians; minus any references to specific matters of a church, the parallels suggest that Ephesians was written to be a general epistle for many churches.

Mariel was confused by a sentence in Ephesians that seems to equate greed with idolatry; Susan and Scott leapt on that, because the fourth year reading of theologian Timothy Sedgwick emphasizes that very point: "sin" in its larger sense is always "idolatry," a misplaced love. We all discussed that concept: what we love is what occupies our minds, our time, our habits. That should be God.

Erica reported on the decades leading to the Protestant Reformation. Her wide - ranging survey covered a conflict between mysticism and reason; persecutions of Jews and outliers whenever a wave of Black Death made people think God was punishing the community; the humanists' critical view towards authority, calling into question doctrines not supported by scripture, such as purgatory. Erica was struck by John Wyclif's statement that "the true church is invisible," a phrase that we discussed. We also discussed the tendency of Christians to want objective criteria for judging the true devotion of other Christians. (This was a problem with the Puritans, Scott noted.)

Nearly all these themes came into play when Mariel wondered what makes our current Book of Common Prayer so different from the one in 1928. Here's a more complete answer, with help from Forward Movement's book Inwardly Digest: the 1979 version grew out of research during the post - Vatican II ecumenical movement of the 1960s, drawing on a better scholarly understanding of worship in the earliest centuries of the church. The language was modernized; choices were multiplied; emphasis on sinfulness of the believers was lightened; the role of the priest was lessened and the participation of the worshipers, increased.


We took photos for use in an upcoming EfM flier.


Theological Reflection

For our source for a theological reflection, Erica brought a pair of volumes called "The Brick Bible," old and new testaments. She had never looked inside them, almost dreading what she might find: she knows a boy disturbed by what he sees in these books, though her own sons have impressed adults with their Biblical acumen from recalling incidents illustrated in these volumes. It's "brick" because it's all posed with LEGOS! 

We gathered around the books with delight at the author's ingenuity. We looked up certain passages just to see how Legos could handle them, such as the rush of demon - possessed swine off the cliff. In our exploration of our thoughts and feelings about the books, we discussed these questions:

• Is a Lego Bible a "mockery" (as an online reviewer claimed)? We decided on "lovely and campy," and also agreed, even if it is a joke, God has worked through "fools" and through flawed artists before.
• Is the Lego Bible a "dumbing down" for children? We decided it's not really for children, except "when used as directed!" Also, we decided that frank versions of the stories, at least for older kids, are better than the sugar - coated Sunday school Bibles we remember from pediatricians' offices.
• On the other hand, is a story enough? Do we need images to "get into" them? (Cf., lectio divina is a Benedictine process for us to do exactly that -- and we have a workshop on that March 2 at St. James)
• Thinking about the boy "disturbed" by the graphic violence executed on Lego figures, we thought of how we all projected ourselves on toys and items in our worlds when we were small, so that what happens to them in play is more real -- more immediate-- to us than, say, a narrative from the Bible or the news. (Does the same mechanism apply for adults to icons and objects in the church -- the Host? the Cross?)
• Do these crude and colorful reenactments of Biblical stories continue a line that stretches back to ancient carvings, medieval mystery plays, and stained glass windows?

We came to these "implications for action":

• That the artist took ten years to complete this project makes us think it's no joke, but a calling. Are there any such "callings" in our lives? (Scott proposed that a parent's grown child was / is still a "calling.")
• Lego of our own lives. (Note: I think that may have been a pun; I don't recall why it's on the board! - SS)
• Play is a form of learning; in fact, we can't learn without play; and, furthermore, we are engaged in play when we do a TR!

Collect for Playfulness
Abba, our Heavenly Father: You taught your disciples with surprising parables and outlandish similes, and you said that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who retain qualities of children; let us in our daily lives remember to do what gives us joy, that we may manifest Your Spirit through delight and creativity. Amen.

See a post on my personal blog that relates: "Playing's the Thing."

Next Week: Our readings are for Week 24 (Isaiah + in year one; Philippians + in year two; "A House Divided" in year three); Gene will bring food; Christine will lead worship; Tom will bring a source for the TR.

Yr. B, Wk. 22: Discernment and Memory

Erica led worship with a reading from Isaiah, silent contemplation, and a prayer for discernment. While we enjoyed Mariel's sandwiches from Panera, we answered Erica's question, "What are you anxious or excited about in the near future?" Her own answer concerned the first step in a process of discernment that begins for her at the Cathedral this weekend. We will remember you in our prayers this Saturday, Erica!

[Class: Christine, first year; Mariel, Tom, Gene, second year; Erica, third year; Scott and Susan, mentors. Absent: Christine, Gene.]

We've entered a new unit for the year, one focused on integrating belief, behavior, and doctrine.

Our discussion of Diana Butler Bass's essay "Believing" (from her book, Christianity after Religion) veered from skepticism to grudging acceptance of key points. Some of the confusion came from reading her summaries of others' positions as her endorsement of those positions. Mariel reported how reviewers of Bass's book, reading the same data and anecdotes, split into two camps: "it's all anecdotes, no hard data"; and, "it's all statistics, no anecdotes!"

Scott speaks for himself in this summary: When I called myself a fundamentalist, what I believed represented the finishing line, and keeping the "faith" was, in Bass's words, a "rearguard effort" to defend my position: if I "backslid," I lost eternal life. But fundamentalism, as Bass points out from history, is a recent phenomenon in the church. When we restore the more traditional focus on how we believe, the creed is a starting place, "to faith" meaning to trust as we grow, discerning God through experience, relationships, and habits of devotion and communal worship.

Responding differently to the same data or experience or text turned out to be the theme of the evening.

TR

Our Theological Reflection began from the action source, as Susan told us an anecdote concerning ants and fleas and a friend who may have been jealous. We were all able to buy into the thoughts and feelings she'd had at the time, and our metaphor turned the story into a more objective one: It's like someone remembers an event in a way that we do not.  When we looked into tradition for a relevant analogue, we hit on the four gospels, memories of Jesus's earthly ministry from different angles. (see image)


Sleepy, we left it to Scott to create a collect from the strands of the discussion before and during the TR:

Collect for Discernment Lord Jesus, our Way, our Truth, our Light, we remember Your earthly ministry through four perspectives in the gospels, and we experience You today in relationship to our fellow creatures: As people of good will can regard the same texts differently, and as fact and falsehood vie for our attention through the same media, give us wisdom to discern Your purposes for us, with humility to join those who disagree with us at the same table. Amen.

Next Week: We're brown - bagging for dinner; Erica will provide a source of our TR; Tom is leading worship. We'll read what's assigned for week 23.

Yr. B, Wk. 21: Isaiah, Galatia, and Russia

Class: Christine, first year; Mariel, Tom, Gene, second year; Erica, third year; Scott and Susan, mentors.  Absent: Tom.

Susan led the devotion for early evening from the Book of Common Prayer. During our brown bag dinners, we shared updates on what we had done during our snow day the week before.

Students had a lot to say about two weeks' worth of readings (but see detailed responses from Mariel and Gene printed in last week's "snow day" blogpost).

Naturally, considering Pauls' strong personality, first comments concerned him, branching off into discussion of his struggles to create churches and then to redirect their faith away from naysayers who insisted on circumcision and dietary laws. Those branches provided ample themes for connections to other years' readings. One offshoot was Erica's discussion of the development of the church in Russia, stemming from the monarch's conscious choice of Orthodoxy over Roman Catholicism, preferring image - and - aesthetic involvement over words and argument.


TR

Scott chose a reading from the past week's assigned Gospel lessons to begin this week's Theological Reflection. Mark 5.24-34 concerns the woman with the flow of blood who touches the hem of Jesus's garment to be healed. 

We identified different phrases of the story that struck us this time; we identified the larger context; we explored in theological terms what this one story says about the world, at least as the woman perceives it; and we found experiences in our own lives that connected to the woman's experience. 

From our discussion, we gathered insights and focused on what we need to do going forward. We wondered why Jesus bothered to stop, since the healing had already been achieved; and we imagined how, in a culture that considered such a woman "unclean," her audacity to reach out to touch the teacher would strike the crowd. One of us remembered a sermon when the priest likened the woman's faith drawing power from Jesus to a ladle, an open receptacle that draws water from a well. Here's our collect:

Collect for Healers and Healing
Lord Jesus, when the crowd pressed you with their demands, you stopped to listen to the woman whose faith, drawing power from you, made her whole; may we also be sensitive to those around us, that we might be instruments of your grace to others; and may we be humble to admit our need to reach out for your healing power when we are broken.

Next week: We all read the common reading for week twenty - two (RRG, 130ff) an excerpt from a book by historian Diana Butler Bass, who will be in Atlanta March 24. Mariel brings food for us; Erica leads worship; Susan will bring a source for theological reflection. 

Read Scott's blogpost "Believing and Beloving" about the Bass piece, posted in 2015 after his first reading it.

Yr. B, Wk. 20: Snow Day! Send your comments

We had a snow day. Please email Scott your comments about this week's reading for posting below. Here's a photo of Scott's beloved Mia on her new furry rug in front of the heat grate.


Next week, we go ahead with the readings assigned for Week 21, which include notes for all of us on page 125 in the Reading and Reflection Guide, and a challenge to create your own "rule of life" on pp. 126-127. The other assignments will carry over from last week: Brown bag dinner. Scott will bring a TR (probably from Wednesday's reading in Mark 4.21-34 about the woman who touches the hem of Jesus' garment); Susan will lead worship.
2nd Year Comments about 1 and 2 Corinthians: Gene sends these thoughts:

Having read 1 and 2 Corinthians before, 2nd Corinthians now makes a lot more sense knowing about the multiple letters and the possibility of these “lost” books might be contained in the letters we do have. Understanding that the different parts of 2nd Corinthians could be read separately makes sense to me.
Although it is very clear what was going on at the church in Corinth when 1Cor. was written, trying to figure out exactly what was going on at the later time is difficult. We know that someone treated Paul very badly, we don’t know the nature of the grievance, only that the person was disciplined by the congregation. There are also the “super-apostles” which Paul sarcastically mocks, while spending a great deal of time defending himself and his ministry.
While what was going on in Corinth in the later years is a bit of a mystery, it obviously had Paul very upset as his defensiveness shows. Paul has clearly lost some control of the church in Corinth and is desperate to re-establish control.

Mariel sends these thoughts:

I’d never read these two letters from an understanding of their historical background, and this new perspective really heightened their meaning. The theology does not interest me as much as the social, political, and historical context, probably because the theology isn’t new (anymore), but the circumstances of the letter-writing is new, at least to me. The disjointedness of 2 Corinthians does seem to point to a compilation of parts of separate letters, which helps in understanding and appreciating how it sounds to our modern literary ears.
Powell does an excellent job of laying out the major themes and structures of the two pieces, as well as pointing out their peculiarities. Understanding the possible sequence of letter-writing between Paul and the Corinthians helps create the bigger picture of their struggles and Paul’s frustrations.
I felt especially fond toward Apollos, who was apparently a very gifted speaker and well-educated Alexandrian Jew, who may have inadvertently caused a popularity contest in the church at Corinth. Luke praised Apollos as a bold, eloquent speaker who powerfully refuted the Jews on the question of Jesus as Messiah (Acts 18). Was Paul jealous of Apollos’s ability? Or did Apollos let his pride from the adulation of the Corinthians sow the seeds of discord - Team Paul v. Team Apollos? I imagine this dynamic has played out many times in the history of the Christian church. I can almost hear Paul chastising Apollos and telling him not to return to Corinth, but stay with him in Ephesus, until he (Paul) can sort things out.
There’s so much to cover in all this material I could go on until after midnight (and someone falls out a window), but I’ll try to focus using the ABCD method:

• A - Amazed at....the beauty of the poem/hymn to love in 1 Cornithians 13. It doesn’t sound like Paul. It sounds like either he’s quoting a well-known poem/song, or it’s simply that he inserted a page from a hymnal that he thought would be a great way to make a point. Or maybe he wrote poetry on the side...? (nah)
• B - Bothered by...the fact that Powell completely avoids the subject of homosexuality. Not important? Too much of a hot-button issue? Publishing company wouldn’t allow it? I’m surprised he didn’t try to compare the social-political context of the 1st Century Greco-Roman culture with modern-day attitudes and practices (e.g., ordaining openly gay priests and bishops, blessing same-sex marriage). How times have changed! I would have preferred that Powell address this change in attitude, regardless of how one feels about it.
• C - Confused by...Paul’s glorification of celibacy. Not a very good Jew. It was their duty to procreate! (Still is, among the Orthodox.) This seems like the one area that Paul could not boast in fulfilling the commandment of God to be fruitful and multiply, so he went the other way. Weird.
• D - Delighted by...the honest portrayal in the letters of the conflicts, arguments, misunderstandings, attempts to realign attitudes, and general chaos that embroiled one community in the early Christian church. Not much has changed. We still take sides, cling to our prejudices, argue vehemently against “others,” and change our allegiances to leaders as they turn our fancy. Reading about the troubles in the church at Corinth makes me feel a strong kinship with these early Christians.

Paul is certainly one of the most complicated, passionate, single-minded, fascinating figures in all Western history. I wonder how many more scholars and students of the NT will turn their gaze on his letters, and continue to argue with him, and each other, in the years to come? Myriad, no doubt!

Scott's 4th year comments are at his personal blog. See Jesus Saves -- But How?.