Yr. A, wk. 9: Happy Halloween

Here's a photo that Christine shared:

We did a TR on Halloween a few years ago (11/2017) and came up with these ideas and a good collect:

Scott presented the Celtic origin of "All Hallow's Eve" as background to a TR on "Halloween."  We used the wide-angle method, accumulating memories and associations with the holiday.  We were drawn to a theme of communities drawn together -- as we all had witnessed neighborhoods bonding for the occasion.  Looking back into tradition, we found several parallels to the Exodus event, including a grim one in the blood-strewn doorways and Death's going door-to-door.  We collected our thoughts in one prayer:

Collect for Halloween

Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, You sent Your Holy Spirit to enlighten and protect us: help us find community with our neighbors and the souls of ages past, that we may overcome fear and differences to extend ourselves to the strangers among us.  Amen.

Yr. A, Wk. 8 + 9: Jesus and the Vortex

Worship and Check-in Pete led worship. We'll use his check-in question next week (because Scott moved right on past it!).

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 Everyone contributed, and Scott kept score by initials:

N– Jesus maybe celibate for religious reasons? is that a poor assumption? “Who is the real Jesus?” Earthly and exalted – and four same yet different depictions of him in Gospels. Q would be an anthology of sayings of Jesus. I’m fascinated by the Q source. Would it change everything? Mt and Lk seem to be quoting a source that we don’t have. The Diatessaron – an ancient amalgamation of the gospels, is how we probably think of them now – but the distinctions are important.
M - Thinking of the INTENTIONS of the writers is a new idea. “Earthly and Eternal” - Does Jesus have more than one idea of “kingdom of God?”
C – hermeneutical gap – how can we today relate to a 1st century man? Bottom line: well, how can we relate to our neighbor? Different languages and societies find different ways of embracing Jesus in personal life – Ex. through artwork – compare the Chinese way of drawing him.
S – In final chapters of Exodus, we have a sort of prayer book with lots of official instructions. The artists who made the ark of the covenant are held up for admiration and skill in honoring God through their work – arts and faith idea.

Theological Reflection Scott shared the first story to feature the word d---head. When we'd all bought into the thoughts and feelings surrounding the event, we focused on the isolation of the person and the danger of going forward, backward, or even of staying where they are. Our metaphor was "the vortex," supposing a raft or ice floe and Arctic water.

Redemption, we thought, might be pushing through to get out of the vortex. Then Nuno had the striking idea of the Eternal Jesus at the moment that he is about to push into the world through human birth.

We used "chat" to write lines of prayer: Discerning when to stay in the center and when to step into the fray
Help us meet chaos and confrontation with love and trust.
Lord, help me be intentional in my actions..
Dear God, Please give me the strength to move when I need to and to be still in times of trouble, to help me see a clear and peaceful path.
Maybe sometimes like Daoism— acting without acting, acting like water

Christine, seeing our prayers, put together a collect that seems to touch on all our ideas:

Collect for a VortexHeavenly Father, as you guided Moses in the parting of the Red Sea amid chaos and fear, help us to remain steadfast in our faith in enduring hardship and confusion when we are pulled in several directions.

For Next Week We do the readings assigned in Wk 10. Our TR will be the one suggested at the end of that chapter. Worship is being provided by Scott. We will use Pete's question about your spiritual hero, since someone forgot to remind Scott not to skip over that part last week.

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.