Yr. A, Wk. 7: We Chew Some Hard Words

Worship and Check-in Nuno led us in worship from St. Augustine's Prayer Book. His check-in question brought a lot of joyful responses: "What's your favorite hymn or spiritual song?" Our official EfM play list would include: "O Memorial wondrous" (Adore Te), "Be Thou My Vision," "I Sing a Song for the Saints of God," "Come Thou Font of Ev'ry Blessing,""Go Tell it on the Mountain,""This Little Light of Mine,""Amazing Grace," "Were You There?", "All That We Have and All that We offer...". (We need a recording of Marilyn singing that last one!)

Living Faithfully in Your World:
1st yr: Scott 2nd yr: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings To the usual alphabet of Amazed, Bothered, Confused, and Delighted, we added

E-What echoes in your life?
F-Does anything ring as a false teaching or false truth? What frustrated you?
G-Where did you see generosity or God in your reading or reflections?
H-What seems to be “heavy?

Our starting point was about how the words of scripture are to be "chewed and digested." We had trouble digesting the words exigesis and hermeneutics, settling on the idea that one is about digging into the origins of the text, and the other is about what the words were/are intended to mean. Scott enjoyed learning that "Bush" (as in "the burning...") is a pun on the name "Sinai," another place where Moses encountered "I am Who I am." We were also daunted by the sheer number of different critical approaches to ancient texts, though we appreciated how a combination of these can help us to get at different sides to a text: they are "different keys to different doors."

Nuno put in a good word for the Apocrypha, since Powell didn't. The variety of kinds of writers in the NT amazed us. The layers of meanings of the word "evil" kind of overwhelmed Ford's chapter on the subject. MacDonough's chapter on the empire was definitely overwhelming, even for someone familiar with it.

Scott also took this unattributed note: “Catholic and Apostolic” explanation down through the generations – love the connection through the network in time – Like dogs being under the same blanket and all hearing the same things in the earth and neighborhood!

Theological Reflection For the final installment of our spiritual autobiographies, we all shared a story of "grace." First, we had to separate the word "blessing" (a joyful gift) from the word "grace," a gift from God of insight, faith, power, or freedom (e.g., from guilt or fear).

Nuno's comment summarized what we heard: "Grace can redeem suffering."

For Next Week We read the first pages of chapter 8 in the RRG about the "why" of theological reflection, and then do the assigned readings for chapter 9.

Pete brings worship and a check-in question. Scott brings a source for theological reflection.

Yr. A, Wk. 6: "It's Complicated!"

Worship and Check-in Marilyn led us in worship, which included an original poem at the conclusion to celebrate her friend Suzanne's crossing over. We answered the question, "What's something new in your life?"

Living Faithfully in Your World:
1st yr: Scott 2nd yr: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings Christine spoke for us all when she said, "It's complicated!" We made several observations, including these: The Pax Romana looks like a good thing, but was experienced as oppression. Judah's behavior towards Tamar looked honorable to people of his time, but he confessed that she was in the right. "Cynicism" looks like a bad approach to the world, but the ancient Cynics held an appealing philosophy (and we won't mention Pythagoreas's beans). We do the best we can as Christians, as Americans, as parents perhaps, but we have to suit our choices to the environment we're in.

We also picked up on "the apocalyptic mentality" of "us versus them" in many of the readings, as with the Gnostics and their supposed secret knowledge regarding body, soul, and the reality of Jesus.

Theological Reflection We shared stories of experiencing God's presence from the chosen periods of our lives. For what has been; for what is; for what is to come -- Thanks be to God!

For Next Week We'll do readings for chapter 7. The final installment in this year's spiritual autobiography will be an experience of "grace." Nuno will lead worship.

Scott will poll everyone on four questions from EfM Central regarding preferences in the way EfM distributes the books. Would you prefer a lower enrollment fee and then buy the books yourselves? Would you prefer all books online? There are a couple of other related questions. Don't let me forget!

Yr. A, Wk. 5: Zeal for the Lord and Violence

Worship and Check-in Pete led worship from the Northumbrian community's materials. He asked us to tell about our "heart homes." Answers included the sumer home; no longer a place but wherever the family is together (a new realization!); old home in Minnesota despite big changes there. Several of us talked about scents: the pleasant salty scent of the sea, but also pleasant memories brought back by the unpleasant chemical scents of places we worked or lived. [IMAGE: Susan's unfinished watercolor depicting salt marshes.]

Discussion of the Readings "Love God with all your might; love your neighbors as yourselves" was our starting point. How can that be reconciled with so many places in the Bible where zeal for the Lord justifies horrific violence? We also found in scripture a third way, picked up from Jesus by Gandhi, Howard Thurman (see Scott's reflection from a previous EfM year) and Martin Luther King, Jr., to "turn the other cheek" and shame the aggressor, or wear him out. Collins told the story of a Jew's forgiveness for a Nazi: "hating, you become hate."

Another theme had to do with building community despite tensions, through shared experience. We share stories, actions, and active trust in the Spirit to guide our processes. Christine, responding to Ford's overview of theology, found resonance in her work with the elderly that experience can be shared in non-verbal ways through art and personal engagement.

Living Faithfully in Your World:
1st yr: Scott 2nd yr: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Theological Reflection We told how our faith was challenged during the periods of our lives that we've been remembering. These were very challenging stories that we will keep to ourselves in our hearts.

For Next Week

We'll read the RRG ch. 6, noting also the portion at the end addressed to "All Years." Look for ways that your assigned readings Amaze, Bother, Confuse, and / or Delight you. (Scott has 22 other letters, if you need some!) 

We will share a story of feeling the presence of God from the time period we've chosen.

Marilyn will prepare worship.

Yr. A, Wk. 4: Context Matters

Worship and Check-in Christine led worship this week with a service from Scotland. She drew on this year's garden metaphor to ask us about plant life that has drawn our notice. For some of us, our favorite plant is anything low-maintenance. Others spoke of gratitude for "Mother's daisies," getting to know trees by working with them, azaleas and other perennials for coming back even though we haven't tended them.

Living Faithfully in Your World:
1st yr: Scott 2nd yr: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings

We took a minute to look at the RRG's list of habits that get in the way of listening and that kill discussion, p. 38.

Our discussion started with a lesson learned again and again from Collins's book on Biblical values, that context matters. That means the context of the time and culture in which a piece of Scripture was written as well as the literal context. Pete gets the impression that Collins offers many different answers to questions of value in order to make us uncomfortable about any definitive statement. From Collins we learn why it can be overreaching to state "the Bible says" just one thing about an issue.

Another theme emerged, how God can be a unifying force while tension remains--whether that's tribal rivalries or doctrines.

The RRG had asked us to think of differences among words that are often used interchangeably, faith, trust, and confidence. That came up when Scott told how he was learning to trust in the process of scholarship that Yee describes, as critique follows critique, finding holes in each theory or interpretation. It looks like squabbling, but it's widening areas of agreement and opening new areas of inquiry. Christine (I think!) said that there are "checks and balances" in the scholarly process, so the nit-picking and contradictions are not a bad thing.

Nuno posed a question about the faith of Jesus: If he knew who he was in the same way that we know a fact, can he be truly said to have demonstrated faith? We pondered that awhile. Pete pointed out that Jesus's faith seems to come under stress when he feels God has abandoned him on the cross. Marilyn spoke of faith as "knowing that she knows." Scott was reminded of another EfM reading from Diana Butler Bass in which she looked to the German root of "belief" to find belieben, "beloving." Faith may not be a thing you hold to be true, but action performed with trust in your relationship to God.

Theological Reflection We shared our second round of "worlds" or "contexts" from our spiritual autobiographies.

For Next Week Pete will bring worship.

We'll do the readings for week 5. Our spiritual autobiographies move on to the question, "How was your faith challenged?"

Special concerns as we keep each other in our prayers:

• Christine and her friend Laura, mourning the death of Laura's mother
• Pete's neighbors, especially the wife
• Nuno's family while he's away
• We remember Cynthia, passed away at 78

Yr. A, Wk. 3: Shelter and Impact, Past and Present

Worship and Check-in Susan prepared a service from the Northumbria Community. We checked in with a question from the psalm: had we experienced the sheltering of God's wings -- or needed to? Needs were great this week, with friends and loved ones struck by illness, death, quarantine. Some good news, mixed -- it's great to quit smoking, but the disruption to routine is an unintended side effect.

We took a moment to review advice that everyone contributed last week for this year's metaphor of "turning the soil" in our "world." Christine said that the blooms in her photo are a mix of plants of different ages, an observation that turned up again when we discussed this week's readings.

Discussion of the Readings Christine led off our discussion with an observation from her 4th year reading about "connectedness between history/tradition/past and the present." Each year connected to that:

• Right to Life – abortion, death penalty – there’s not one singular message in Scripture, and inferences can go different ways… associations with laws and sorcery: when we try to decide how to live now – it’s complicated!
• Collins on where we’ve been, where we’re going, important even when communities disagree on specifics – creation, revelation – “talk about extremes to get to the middle”
• We have to think of the rule as it was then, not imposing our views on them. Example of slavery.
• The double love commandment: God, neighbor. This will be Collins’ key to determine what Biblical values are.
  We went deeper:
• Collins about Biblical values: times, traditions, norms of distant past: how do they translate to now?
• Greek and Roman world – their values are context for the development of Christianity, including the words we use – author laying groundwork for what’s to come
• Theological literacy gives us a sense of belonging – we are a member of the house of God – a society going back – past and present – (cloud of witnesses, all the saints)
• Goes with the overall theme of the year: contexts matter; there are layers; there’s a mix of “worlds”
• Collins – creation is not just about beginnings, but about CONTINGENCY and DEPENDING on the higher power

Scott observed that those hydrangeas from our "garden" metaphor last week are an image of this week's lesson, as Christine had pointed out that the different colors and blooms represent plants from different years present in her photograph.

We liked the way that our outloud discussion made connections that we could see when our contributions were notated on a grid. We will continue this way at least until we decide otherwise.

Living Faithfully in Your World:
1st yr: Scott 2nd yr: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Theological Reflection We each used our allotted time to share a story from a certain five-to-ten year period of our lives about some context or "world" when something impacted our faith. These are confidential, so we're keeping any notes to ourselves.

For Next Week Christine will lead worship.

Books will arrive at Scott's patio on Friday 9/24.

We'll read chapter 4 in the Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG), (PDF) and do the readings assigned.

1. Yee, preface and introduction
2. Collins 3,4,5 &6
3. MacCullough 2 ("Israel")
4. Ford, ch. 2

We're asked to think about how faith, trust, and confidence are interrelated in our past stories, our present life, and in the readings for this week.

We continue the spiritual autobiography with the 2nd story. Tell about how your faith...

• 2nd story: ... sustained you in one of your contexts in the period on which you are focusing.

  Coming up next:

• 3rd story: ... was challenged in one of your contexts in the period on which you are focusing.
• 4th story: ... revealed an experience of the presence of God in one of your contexts in the period on which you are focusing.
• 5th story: ... revealed grace in one of your contexts in the period on which your are focusing.

Yr. A, Wk. 2: Tending the Garden

For worship, we read the liturgy that Scott composed for 2:30 am, Prayer for a Restless Night. The check-in question was about how we're sleeping these days.

We took turns answering questions about the reading that appealed to us in a list provided by Scott. We were drawn to the questions about listening, whether to take notes when we listen, and about different applications to the analogy of water's being shaped by the cup: We speak differently in different "worlds"; do we experience God differently in different contexts?

Living Faithfully in Your World:
Year Two: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; Year Four, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

We used "chat" to gather class norms in terms of this year's "world" metaphor, thinking of "earth" and "turning soil" in a garden. [Photo from Christine; gracias.]

• Let the sunshine in
• Joe Dirt: “Life’s a garden, man. Can you dig it?”
• Don't criticize other peoples' gardens
• Plant a seed and watch it grow. Love Blooms
• Gardening and our spiritual lives require daily rituals
• Be prepared to dig deep.
• Let others tell you about their plants and garden design.
• Plant multiple seeds so they will vary.
• Nurture the tender little ones and they will grow strong
• Dig below the surface to dig up the truth
• Tend to the garden weekly; don't neglect what we're doing.
• Share your tools in your toolbox
• Don't over-prune the discussion. Let it keep going if it's going somewhere.
• Sometimes things will grow all on their own given time
• Many hands make light work: share thoughts on the blog, and respond to others' thoughts.
• Open-ended questions are like water and fertilizer; leading questions are like choking weeds. Don't choke the dialogue.
• Some insects are helpful and beautiful; don't reject something just because it's alien.
• All things in the garden aim towards Heaven. Who can say what is prettier, a rose or a daisy? Each is its own creation.

Next Week Susan will prepare worship.

We hope to have books before next class. Pete is ready to copy the first two chapters of Collins's Values book for fellow 2nd years; Scott may be able to do the same for Christine for Ford, ch. 1. Christine: One of your readings is an essay by Ballard that's printed in last year's RRG, pp. 192-200.

Preparation for the Spiritual Autobiography: For your eyes only, look back over standout people, places, events, books, and then select a 5-10 year period of focus. Think of one of the different "worlds" you lived in during that time, and prepare to tell us how your faith was impacted by that world. (In later weeks, we'll explore other worlds from that time in our lives and tell how faith was sustained or challenged, how we felt God's presence, and how we felt grace.)

P.S. Here's a link to an article about the Hamilton bassist whom Scott met on the Silver Comet Bike Trail.

Yr. A, Wk. 1: Catching Up

Scott led worship with the Lord's Prayer and a General Thanksgiving from p. 836.

To check in, we used the 3-2-1 method: 3 places we spent time this summer; 2 ways we felt blessed; 1 blessing we saw bestowed on another. We also sent a photo from a category of choice.

About the reading, we volunteered what we understand differently now than we did when we read the same chapter last year. The role of the mentors and the importance of the TRs came up. Marilyn learned by doing, and we came to the conclusion that EfM is training us to see the eternal in every day things.

Living Faithfully in Your World:
Year Two: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; Year Four, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Christine.

For next week, we'll read chapter 2 in the Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG), p.18-32 pages (PDF).

For a closing prayer, we used the "chat" function to list our concerns, then recited the responsive prayer on p. 122 and the collect on p. 124.