Yr. D, Wk.34: Beyond Words

Mariel led the service for early evening. She asked us about any "rest" we had in the past week. Nuno was able to stop and enjoy the children. Scott spoke of his Friday evening ritual walk with Susan to the Square to get dinner. Mariel told of looking down from her window on birds attracted to her feeder, and how her eyes are drawn by their flight up into the trees. Susan had finished grading. Christine told of sitting in the car after a visit to the nursing home, always taking a few minutes to watch nature and, sometimes, happy kids arriving on the school bus. Gene said that this group grounds him.

We discussed wisdom literature from the Apocrypha, and also how our church relates to the Apocryphal books. Christine's reading led to some discussion of the genocide of Armenian Christians and some family ties to that time and region. Mariel told us that her favorite story in this batch of chapters in My Neighbor's Faith concerned a quote from Merton about how the deepest level of communication is beyond words in communion (with God, with each other).

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Marilyn.

Theological Reflection (TR)

"Beyond Words" became the theme of the evening, further explored through an anecdote from Bishop Curry's recent book Love is the Way that Gene brought to us for a TR. Curry recalls the glimpse of a tattooed prison camp number on an elderly Jewish woman's arm as a searing moment of understanding that cut through all the words in his head.

We found many, many instances of meaningful, emotional gestures and images in our Tradition and in our Experience. Mariel coined a phrase "wordless Logos" to describe a wordless expression of deep meaning in a gesture or image. Instead of writing a prayer with words, we agreed to contribute images that express what we might pray for. Here's our wordless prayer:

Yr. D, Wk.33: Eternity in a Moment

Christine led us in worship. We shared highlights of the last week: a memorable memorial service; the gift of new shoes from a cantankerous co-worker and the restoration of a favorite pair; a great Mother's Day.

Reading about the Maccabees - also Bel and the Dragon - was "interesting." Nuno felt that the textbook's approach to Daniel is unnecessarily skeptical. Marilyn was excited by the dream imagery and pleased by Daniel's essential humility. Mariel was struck by expressions of "otherworldly" experiences in My Neighbor's Faith. She cited especially the journal of a teenaged Sikh girl who enters a church ready to fight but feels that the "battlefield melts into a sanctuary." Christine had to read about colonization and brutality in Christ's name for a chapter about making the world Protestant; good intentions and good forces get lost, she said, when individuals make poor moral choices for personal gain.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Gene.

Theological Reflection (TR) After coincidental encounters with pieces about Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lindbergh, Marilyn offered poetic lines and verse by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. We were drawn to a line about a "golden eternity of here and now." We pictured a moment of time being expanded into eternity. This dovetailed nicely with Mariel's earlier comment about otherworldly experiences. All five of us being artists (and Gene, absent, "an artist in his hiking") could identify with being so wrapped up in a creative work that we lose all sense of time.

We explored the image. When you’re in this moment, you lose track of time, the need for water, food... there's Joy, bliss, a carefree quality... internal space... the process becomes as important as the end... like floating on an air mattress in a pool – time goes away – waves lapping – sun is warm ...unselfconscious. What goes wrong? What’s broken? You get so into something that you have to tear yourself away to take care of other things. ...Life-denying is a danger, a kind of nihilism (Nietzche)... Times when I go deep, I become absent to loved ones.

[Note from Scott: This is the theme of the musical Sunday in the Park with George by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim. See Photo of Jake Gyllenhaal on Broadway as George Seurat, lost in his painting. That show reshaped Scott's imagination. See Sunday, Art and Forever at his personal blog.]

Coming at the image from sources of Tradition, Personal Experience, and the Culture, we shot out many directions: Hebrews in the wilderness look back on the past that they remember as ideal... Jesus in prayer, Jesus on the mountain, Transfiguration ... Mystics in our tradition and others: "Om"... centering prayer... Dorothy Gale's idealizing Kansas as she explores Oz... Jew in My Neighbor's Faith experiences Buddhist Moksha, awareness, liberation from attachment, “we are dreams talking to dreams”...Layers of work to make the art (Christin'es story of preparing a certain frame)... “La vida es [dream]”... High school art teacher world becoming a dream, dream a reality... COVID in a blur of days - ongoing.

Asked to consider insights and positions that arise from considering this image, we found these:

• Eternal present may mean “unanchored” - Whether it’s your choice is important.
• This experience can be rejuvenating for you and those around you.
• Christine thought of the skylift at an amusement park: we’re suspended in air awhile, but safe because the wheels touch the tower
• Mariel: If we have the will to enjoy these moments of eternity, they can relieve our anxiety of future or the past… You can be too absorbed. Cf. The Transfiguration: Tempting to want to stay there… and Jesus could have… but he came back to us.
• “It’s not the pep rally, it’s the game!”

We offered lines of prayer:

Dear God, Thank you for the wonderful experiences you give us.
Let us continue to be blessed by the wonders of your creation moment by moment throughout our days.
Dawn and dusk, so brief, so beautiful. Let the new day begin.
Let us be continually reminded of your Spirit and Love.

Lord, abide with me in my hurry ups and my settling downs; through valleys and mountains, be my companion on the trail.
Today I will stop and listen for your voice.
Not being dragged back or pulled forward, Lord, let me rest in you.

Creator of all things, we long to be drawn into the process of creation, to be absorbed in process and layers of expression.
Help us to share our gifts and experience.
Lord, let me get lost in you.
When we get lost in prayer, may we find You.
Moment by moment, day by day, show us your love and then put us back in the game.

Yr. D, Wk.32: Transformational Relations, Generational Torches

Nuno led us in worship from the BCP. For on-boarding, he wondered what was the last movie we'd seen in an actual theatre? "Too long ago to remember," said Marilyn, but she later recalled a movie with a God-like character who, for love of a character, sometimes altered His plans. (This came up again in our discussion.) Christine saw James Bond in a dinner-theatre place. Nuno and Gene saw episodes of the Star Wars epic; Mariel saw Mary Poppins Returns. Susan and Scott saw David Copperfield in a multiplex mostly pandemic-empty. [See a TR from February 2017 about James Bond and A Dickens Thanksgiving, Scott's blog about David Copperfield.]

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: None.

After reviewing the comments posted below about the readings, Scott posed a question from the RRG about how the readings speak to our own senses of vocation / self / purpose. Answers to that question emerged only gradually, as we shared other impressions.

Tongue-in-cheek, Gene summed up chapters of Our Neighbor's Faith as, "Be kind to Mormons." But he admitted that his own prejudices had crumbled when he encountered real-life Mormons. The story of a Canadian Aborigine who prayed as a girl to be white "so I can go to Heaven" moved Mariel in a chapter called "The Prayer that God Could Not Answer." Mariel, too, was reminded of her father, his life-long antipathy towards organized religion, the encounter with a friendly Lutheran pastor that brought her father into the church, and what her late father left for her to see in his sick-room Bible. Scott brought in a theme from 1 Peter, how the gentiles who have now encountered Christ now join "God's chosen people" in exile, yearning for the "promised land."

Christine observed how women rose to new prominence in Church history in the 17th century, partly because of visions of the Virgin Mary. Nuno remarked on Esther and Ruth, women who rose to prominence while still operating within the roles that society had defined for them. Mariel pointed out that one represents the lowest of low classes (Ruth, a Moabite widow) and the other represents royalty. To the RRG's question about what you get when you read these stories as fiction, then as literal history, Mariel observed that every fiction worth reading is based on real human experience. "And those stories keep happening," Susan added.

At this point, Scott observed that we had answered the question about vocation after all, as each of the stories we'd read, and the personal stories that they'd brought to mind, involved a personal encounter that changed someone's sense of who they were and where they were going. "Like what happens in a TR," Mariel quipped.

Theological Reflection (TR) Mariel brought us a page from Barack Obama's memoir Promised Land. At a time when the presidential candidate was under fire for his association with a firebrand pastor, an elder spoke to him in Biblical terms: Obama was of the "Joshua generation" that would pick up from the work of the "Moses generation" of civil rights activists.

"It's a TR already!" said Gene. We remarked on how the passage frames history in mythical terms -- making it univeral. The images of crossing a finishing line and passing the baton brought to mind Chariots of Fire and also the cermonial relay running of the Olympic torch every four years. In the tradition, Mariel pointed out, we have so many exhortations to pass the story along, God's salvation of Israel, Jesus' salvation of us all.

We related these ideas in our own lives. Christine has personal memories of Kent State and how change in 1971 actively involved everyone, not just a few leaders. Nuno feels like his generation of "stay-at-home dads" faces a lot of opposition with messages about "wrong decisions." Gene observed that women struggled to gain a foothold in law schools when he was a law student, but few people know that prominent law schools now are predominately female: "Sometimes, when these [generational] struggles are won, hardly anyone notices." Scott identified with the idea of letting a younger generation of teachers take over from him. Susan picked up on a line from Obama's mentor, that every generation is limited by what it knows. Near the end of a very full life, Mariel's grandmother recited Hamlet to her and sighed, "I should've stayed in teaching," which Mariel took as encouragement to go on with her career: "Courage rushes through you."

Gene concluded that generational change is why TR's are so important. Looking at what's happened in the past few years, Gene said, "Who knows what the world will be like years from now? We can't anticipate. We need to learn the skills that we can carry forward."

In the "chat," we offered these lines of prayer:

Lord, help us to recognize the gifts of generations before us.
May we be encouraged by their faith and love.
The same flame burns today as it did for Moses and Joshua;
may we be as ready to receive Your word as to pass it forward,
and may we hear your Word to guide and strengthen us on our journey.
We pray for the wisdom to know when to pick up the torch, where to take it - and the wisdom to know when to pass it on.
We pray for each generation to have strength and courage.

Lord, Help me to see that what I do in my time has a place in all time.
Keep me focused, Lord, on the end game.
Send your light before me to show me the way.
Bless all the unknown foot soldiers who fight for justice and peace in your Name.
LOVE LIVES.

Yr. D, Wk.30-31: Pearls of Wisdom and Perils on the Sea

Yr. D, Wk.30-31: Marilyn's worship and on-boarding question had to do with Spring and renewal. We shared how we look ahead to a new normal, travel to see family, planting, and more bird activity -- including recently some young daredevil birds that jumped out of the nest.

We compared notes on the RRG's article, the noosphere ("Nunosphere?!").

Most of us were reading works that qualify as "wisdom" literature: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and James. We speculated why Wisdom is personified as female in many cultures -- perhaps because men realize wisdom isn't in them. Gene and Mariel found "little gems" in My Neighbor's Faith.

Jon Meacham, Historian and Episcopalian, came up in the discussion because of diversity, civility among people of different backgrounds, and his book on the last words of Jesus.

Because Christine was away, it fell to Susan to set us straight on the Enlightenment and religion: religion fell into the trap of trying to beat science on scientists' terms.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Christine.

Theological Reflection (TR) Gene brought us a poem published decades ago by his grandfather William Stanley Hoole. The poet portrayed acquaintances under altered names. The portrait of "George Waterman" is short enough to quote in its entirety:

Hear me O Lord, I pray,
An old and wearied man
Unused to prayer:
I seek no miracle,
No stilling of the sea
Or saving draughts of fishes.
A candle in a rushing wind am I,
Alone and at the end--
Draw nigh, O Lord, and be my friend.

After some discussion of being alone at the end, as in hospice, we found our focus and an image from Susan's observation that the references to the sea, fishing, wind, and the name "Waterman" all suggest a lone fisherman in danger for his life -- whether the danger is immediate or existential didn't matter. We remembered Mariel's favorite painting by Winslow Homer.

Exploring the image or idea, we imagined choppy waters, empty nets and wind blowing. We found "incomprehensible peace" in the awareness that he’s asking for what he already has. "Experiencing God at the very end is like a draining out of fear and anxiety." Quiet – muting of the storm – like when you tune out the kids and the television. We sensed a long loneliness : he seems outside of community. He's not asking for a savior, just a friend.

Exploring the sources, we found many relationships. Tradition: God is in the wind (Job)... Hymns "Abide with me... when comes the evening tide" and "Those in peril on the sea"... numerous Gospel stories of boats, calming water, filling nets, walking on water, offering living water, baptism. Action included Scott's vivid vicarious memory of a classmate's sailboat accident, how she felt peace and acceptance of drowning just as hands pulled her out of the water. We traded stories of sleep as a journey on a raft (with animals, children). Culture included these thoughts: Mariel quoted Elizabeth I, “One savior, one faith, all rest is trifles….” Blowing out candles on a birthday cake symbolize the death of another year. Nuno thought of Elton John / Bernie Taupin and their song "Candle in the Wind."

Insights and positions included these: We picture ourselves dying old, but death is always there. In a way every night is like this when we fall asleep… Disciples in the boat --> “DISCIPLINE.” The overriding message of Ecclesiastes: transitory lives…

At the end, we offered lines of prayer on the "chat" board:

Awake in the early morning hours, O Lord, I feel my bed as a raft afloat on swirling anxieties and feelings of inadequacy.
Where have all my friends gone? Are they with you, O Lord? Will I see them again?
My emptiness makes me receptive to the Lord.
Lord, at the hour of my death may I not find that I have never known you.
Save me, Lord, from waves of fear. Let me know that you are always here,
That day and night, light and dark, I am always with you, my Lord
The deep is so deep, the night is so long, yet I believe "joy cometh in the morning."
Dear Lord, Please let us feel the gentle wind of reassurance, a sign of your friendship.
I pray that when the end comes, I am seeking Christ as a friend and not being fearful of the unknown.
Thank you for letting my light shine as many days as you did. I am forever grateful.

Yr. D, Wk.28-29: Hospitable Planet, Hospitable Nest

[Photo: Marilyn found the nest of a cardinal couple sandwiched between the screen and wreath on her front door.]

Christine provided worship with prayers and meditations focused on the natural world and its beauty. She asked us about our individual efforts to protect the earth. Recycling, foregoing plastic, eschewing meat, and considering electric vehicles all seemed fine but piecemeal. "We are all caught in this trap" of having to use what we want to reject. May I suggest that this is an example of how Sin is sytemic?

After the comments below about Hospitable Planet by Jurovics, we had a few more things to say. About what we can do, some of us were irked by the promotion of specific groups in the middle section of the book. Mariel recalled a woman angry over flooding in Tulsa whose persistence brought change after years of haranguing public officials. Nuno faulted the analogy between the crusaders for Civil Rights and the promoters of nuclear power. Christine appreciated "the big picture," understanding that we cannot rely on actions of public leaders.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: None.

Theological Reflection (TR) Susan had us reflect on the poem provided for this week in the Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG), "God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Mariel joined Susan and Scott in leading different movements of reflection.

Mariel led the group to focus on one aspect of the poem. We found most energy around Hopkins' comparison of the Spirit to a mother bird warming the babies in her nest.

Scott led the exploration of that world with our imaginations and all our senses. Marilyn shared with us her observations of baby cardinals nestled in the wreath on her screen door (see photo). We imagined ourselves in the world of the nest: We didn’t build our home; our mouths open, we're needy, vulnerable, waiting, noisy! We liked the thought of the spirit mother always moving, bringing us nourishment from a world that baby birds can’t imagine. Marilyn attested to the fact that the birds are always growing (even in their sleep).

With Susan, we explored what the other sources tell us about the bird image. Tradition “O Jerusalem… I've wanted to gather you like a mother hen…” ; hide me under the shadow of your wings… in Communion, we’re all gathered there for food, and the priest puts it in your mouth… Isaiah – soar on wings like eagles… God knows if even a sparrow falls to earth… Lilies and birds "neither toil nor spin" yet God dresses them finely. Culture Hitchcock’s Birds – Mother nature getting even with us … Birdman… Icarus … Batman saving the world… Silent Spring.

When we hit the Action source, discussion really took off in unexpected ways. Feeding birds in the park, good relations with birds in public spaces.. beautiful yellow bird across my path… birds very close at botanical gardens… in MO, bald eagles wintered, and you could look DOWN on the soaring eagles, you felt like you were with them… .. hummingbirds – may be pretty but they can be nasty… sea gulls steal pizza… in Australia, a kookaburra stole food FROM NUNO’S MOUTH! (and look out for its spear!)

Reflecting, we found interconnections: I appreciate seeing the birds, their territoriality, their displays… just being close to them... After Juravicz, I feel that birds may be pushing back on us for invading their territory... Holy Spirit as birds... first sound in the morning is the birds, then owls at evening. “Canary in the coal mine” – our effects on the natural world, warning of a dangerous situation – out of balance…. Animals understand God’s covenant -with them, like the birds in their nests… (says Juravics).

We concluded our discussion writing lines of prayer:

Thank God for the glory of birds and the music they make marking dawn and dusk.
Thank you God for sheltering us under your wing.
Your care for our earthly nest lifts our spirits like doves in flight;
Thank God that we are more than sparrows.
Let us tend to nature as God tends to us and the rest of nature -- we are part of nature too, even when we see ourselves apart from it.
We may leave our Mother's home, but never her heart.
Thank you for warmth and protection.

Christine's closing prayer also fit the theme, as one of us had observed how the encircling of a nest is an image of its protective, nurturing, family-creating function:

Circle us, Lord. Keep protection near and danger afar.
Circle us, Lord. Keep light near and darkness afar.
Circle us, Lord. Keep peace within; keep evil out.
~from Celtic Daily Prayer

Yr. D, Wk.27: Our True Nature, Ennobling Love, and Life in Scorn of Consequences

Gene's worship service included a wonderful meditation -- about fish in water and birds in air -- about how God fosters our own nature. Gene posed the question at the end of the meditation, "What has God given us to day to help us be more fully ourselves?" We said that we found patience in Psalms, something of ourselves in the Sedgwick book, joy and challenge in watercolors, community in Bible study and in-person worship, time to oneself for a caregiver, and earnest responses of students to their teacher's assignment.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent:None.

Christine made an interesting observation that she is learning to see text the way she sees images.

Of the first year readings, Nuno said that he appreciates more the musicality of the Psalms and their intended role in corporate worship. Marilyn loved the descriptions. That God isn't mentioned in the Song of Solomon doesn't mean that God is absent, as the poetry expresses a bigger love, a pure love. Marilyn wrote that the love "ennobles, consumes, and glorifies" its object. Nuno also found this book of the Bible is a "tender" counterpoint the purity culture that many churches promote.

Of fourth year reading in Timothy Sedgwick's book, we heard that he elevates the monastic lifestyle. We had some discussion of what we liked and disliked in that. We also had some discussion of Sedgwick's take on the word "vocation."

Theological Reflection (TR) Scott constructed a mind-map around a quotation, the different colors roughly corresponding to first reactions (blue), connections to tradition and culture (green), experiences, positions, and insights (purple and pink).

Using chat, we constructed the lines of this prayer:

Lord,
We pray for peace and unity of the church;
courage to live the lives we have committed ourselves to as Christians;
faith and courage to do the right thing despite personal consequences:
to speak truth to power,
to be bold witnesses to Christ's love in how we live our lives,
to support universal human rights and advocate for those who lack power,
to be kind to those who are unkind,
and to find the strength to continue to love even though it is difficult.

Yr. D, Wk.26: Hospitality and "Other" Ministries

For worship, Mariel distilled daily devotions for morning, noon, and evening to just the opening scripture readings and the collects. Her check in question split us evenly between all-year standard time and all=year daylight savings, until Christine logged on and voted for standard time all the way. Nuno's observation that daylight savings makes it very hard to get kids to sleep changed at least one mind.

Yr. D theme: Living into the Journey with God Class: Marilyn, Nuno, first year; Christine, third year; Mariel, Gene, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: None.

Theological Reflection (TR) on the Readings Scott asked everyone to relate their readings to "hospitality" and "other," words that showed up in multiple comments (below). The discussion, represented in a mind-map (see image), became our TR.

From the "experience" source, we talked about hospitality, gratitude for nurses at hospitals, hosts who have touched our lives. When conversation moved to the importance of learning the others' stories, Mariel spoke from experience as an archivist, and Christine told of her mother's efforts to get at the personal stories behind the notes in her personal archive.

From the "tradition" source, we looked at Sedgwick's use of "hospitality" as an equivalent to "love" -- except that it applies to people we don't personally know -- and how Jesus replaces an "economy of exchange" in the old covenant with an "economy of sacrifice." Ezra and Nehemiah want to exclude "the other," certainly the opposite of being hospitable, but the canon established in their time includes the stories of the ones excluded (e.g., Ruth, a Moabite woman). Mariel thought of Paul's efforts to establish a new Christian identity that pulls "others" together in one body.

From the "position" source, Gene related the "economy of sacrifice" and the legalism of Ezra and Nehemiah to the idea of "justice" that he confronted in law school. Some insights looked at ways that Christians and other religious people have set themselves apart from others, from ascetics and monastics to Amish. We wondered if "hospitality" can be legislated, or must "the law be written in our hearts?" Scott remembered how a process of discernment at St. James led to the conclusion that the church's strongest ministry was "hospitality" in many forms.

Considering aspects of our "culture," we thought of Huck Finn and Jim, two outliers on the run who respond by striking out on their own out west. In our culture, illiteracy “others” people, and so does age: the elderly are cut off from communication, even pre-pandemic. Reminds Mariel brought up “ableism,” unfair discrimination against people who are in some way disabled. Nuno observed that people of biracial background are othered in every situation.

For the "Action" source, Scott asked, "What do you already do for others that might be seen as a ministry of hospitality?" The question seems to have taken us all a little by surprise, and we had some strong answers.

Via chat, we contributed lines to a prayer. I've combined lines where there were repetitions:

Heavenly Host,
Let us serve others in hospitality, not separating ourselves from them but uniting in love with those who differ from us in need or ability;
Grant me grace to speak a word of wisdom to those who come to me hurting and in pain, seeking answers from above;
We pray that we may recognize the others among us and may be sensitive to their needs and hurts, that we don't let our own cultural biases prevent us from being welcoming and loving to those we disagree with;
we pray that we may show love to others by what we say and do, and stand up for their hospitality, knowing that we are all in some sense "others".

At the end, Susan was totally in the dark despite Daylight Savings Time.