Yr. C, Wk. 5: Questions that Spurred our Spiritual Growth

← | latest | →

Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.

Animals who bless us: Jessica's camel and Nuno's poodle Louis

Worship and Gathering
Jessica led us in worship, an olio of sources that hit the main targets for any worship service in our BCP --praise, confession, purpose, petitions, Trinity, benediction.

For a gathering question, Jessica asked about any blessing we experienced in the past week. Nothing fragile broke during the cross-country move...coordinating baptism and a wedding...family time at Calloway Gardens...just waking up each morning and coming home each evening...a normal week -- "Normal is good"...Father/daughter time with oysters...girls' weekend at a football game with Dad...little Tomas at the evening eucharist.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 1 Spiritual Biography and Listening: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings
To be sure that everyone gets to share some of their reactions and questions, we met in breakout rooms for 20 minutes. Five minutes were for quiet review of markings in our texts for things that we most want to talk about. For fifteen minutes, we listened to each other's responses and questions.

When we returned to the plenary session, these were some of the ideas that stood out to us: How apocalyptic thinking can stifle the work for social justice, as true 1000 CE as 2000 and beyond. How odd that Paul says little about what Jesus taught, and that the resurrection itself isn’t described the way other key moments are. Tom grew up with the Deist “clockmaker” God, while Pete is learning to accept that “God is great, God is good” beyond what we can imagine. Marilyn expounded, “God as Trinity – identified through the people who worship – known for compassionate suffering. There’s always more, always springing surprises in history.” Donfred and Joyce were both struck by God’s softening of harsh punishments for Adam, Eve, and Cain – modeling for us. Nuno had assumed that Augustine's Confessions were about a bad boy, but they're mostly about his theological errors, Manicheanism (duality) chief among them. Nuno marveled that theological conclusions are worked out by worshipers in engagements with each other and culture… and how the Bible is a model for this!

I see a couple of common themes here: God’s engagement with us, and His intention that we engage with each other.

Theological Reflection
We shared stories about questions that opened our minds to spiritual growth. Without supporting details, questions included Does God care? How would I know? Why do such painful things happen? A couple of us gave answers: Learn to be comfortable with unanswered questions. Whatever God asks, say 'yes.'

For Next Week
Susan will lead worship. We're reading what's assigned to our year for Week Six in the RRG (pp.44ff). I recommend the exercise for all years on page 46, to come up with an image that, for you, speaks to the anxieties many of us feel. Let's take time to share your image on screen when we meet.

Nuno asked for our prayers during the next several days while he drives cross-country with two daughters.

Our personal stories this week will be 3-5 minutes about an imperative (commandment? rule? ritual? goal?) in our lives that we relate to our spiritual growth.

← | latest | →

Yr. C, Wk. 4: People and Events in our Spiritual Growth

← | latest | →

(Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.)

PHOTO:  Our EfM class made up half of the worshipers who attended the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels Friday at St. James: Tom, Susan, Nuno (with Elizabeth Gray and little Tomas), Scott behind the camera, with graduates Mariel and Jane. Seated right is Sue, mentor for the morning EfM class.

Worship and Gathering
Marilyn started worship with silence. Then we each read prayers she collected from sources ancient and contemporary. She asked when we had felt closer to someone in the past week? Several cited experiences from church at an evening eucharist, at an outreach meeting, and on the job as verger or usher. We heard of a car accidentally locked, a painting class, season seats for football, long-distance relationships maintained through communication and prayers, and a chance meeting of two families at a museum out of town.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 1 Spiritual Biography and Listening: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings
Scott started with kudos from discussion last week for those who invited another who hadn't spoken, who said just one thing per turn, who related to another year's reading, who got beyond "I liked it," and who said, "It was hard, but I'll do better."

Jessica started us off by saying she was shocked to learn that homosexuality was considered to be a mental illness until quite recently. Marilyn picked up on the theme of past and present, movements passing like "waves" (Yee). Joyce had an "ah-HA" moment when she connected her own personal development to what the organization N.O.W. was doing during her childhood.

Susan brought up something from MacCulloch that informs all the other years' study: The scriptures that tell of the earliest times were probably written late, when elite Jews in the Babylonian captivity were trying to maintain their identity. The prophets probably were among the earliest texts.

Pete and Nuno commented how different sorts of institutions have different purposes for studying theology. Scholarly theology and worship SHOULD go hand in hand, Pete said, "as we do in EfM." Nuno was struck by Ford's putting religious "conservatives" and "liberals" together on a spectrum that ranges from a practical/social approach where they're relatively unconcerned with the religious tradition, to a very individual approach where they see their tradition as the whole unchanging truth. "Conservatives" and "liberals" are at both extremes rigid. Between the extremes, there's a variety of other approaches that both conservatives and liberals take.

Theological Reflection
After the break, we spent a few minutes on the "respond" question on page 40 of the Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG). We reflected on themes that emerged from listing our own favorite books and movies. Some of us responded to stories about "hidden" things, whether those were fantastic beings or the unsuspected evil beneath the surface events in noir films. Good characters vs. evil was preferred theme, so long as the characters are real, not just types. John Wayne was an examplar of good guy, complicated. We liked to see the pursuit of justice. One romantic comedy made our list: the story of a prince who comes to America to find a woman who won't know who he is.

We shared our stories of people and events who contributed to our spiritual growth.

For Next Week
Jessica will lead worship. We're reading what's assigned to our year for Week Five in the RRG (pp.41ff). Our personal stories this week will be 3-5 minutes about questions or a question that have contributed to our spiritual growth.

← | latest | →

Yr. C, Wk. 3: Sanctuary and our Relationships with God

← | latest | →

(Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.)

Worship and Gathering
Before the meeting, Nuno sent us this:

For Worship tonight I thought we might try something different. Below is a simple song I often sing on repeat to lul my kids to sleep. I invite us to each take a turn reading, singing, praying, or expressing these words as we feel called.

Lord, prepare me
To be a sanctuary,
Pure and Holy,
Tried and true.
With Thanksgiving,
I'll be a living
Sanctuary
For you.

Nuno then asked where we find sanctuary outside of church? Outside on the bike trail, the playing field, the wilderness, the back porch (with screens "so I don't have to crush God's little creatures," Susan said), but also inside the home, with some preference for the basement, and anywhere near water.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 1 Spiritual Autobiography and Listening: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings
Marilyn led with an observation about the importance between past and present. It's not only the contents of ancient texts, but the ways later communities fit them together, and the ways later communities used/interpreted/fought over those texts. Readings in different years highlighted the choices that translators through the millennia have had to make.

First year may be overwhelming at first, Jessica said, but she remembered how she gained perspective when our friend Kathy said, “My 8-year-old heart broke when I learned that Jesus didn’t invent the golden rule.” The theories about sources were already familiar to some of us from college, though there was some interest in what's been updated since the 70s -- including a critical look at scripture from the perspectives of marginalized people (as in the other text edited by Yee) and cultures that have been colonized. Tom remarked on the new theory that Abraham's story has new meaning if we allow that it might have been written/edited after the Babylonian exile instead of centuries before.

Pete led another thread of conversation as he reflected on this, his fourth year (fourth-and-a-half, actually) in EfM. “It’s finally coming together for me." He recommended the essay in the RRG on being theologically literate (pp. 182-190). That literacy makes a solid background / springboard for theology – something we take with us the rest of our lives. “We’ve got to stay with the times without losing tradition.” Nuno joined in: we 'DO theology,' it's not just a briefcase of information. Literacy gives a sense of belonging, security in yourself and in your beliefs: “I’m amazed how much I’ve learned and how natural the cumulative process has become.”

Theological Reflection
Given 3-5 minutes each, we shared our stories of desires for relationship with God -- desires we have, or have had. I hope that we all practiced good listening habits that we identified last week: some note-making, eye contact, attention to places where the emotion or energy increased. We certainly had a wide emotional range in our stories. Because these stories are confidential, that's all I'm writing about them here now.

For Next Week
Marilyn will lead worship and bring a gathering question. We're all doing the readings assigned for our years in the RRG, week four. The RRG gives each year some things to focus on, so do take the moment to read what the RRG says. I've asked that we all "respond" to the questions for all years on page 40 regarding movies and books. There's a good reason to do this at this point in the year!

I like the last paragraph on p 40, too: "Listen to the stories around you during the week.... What concerns are expressed? What hopes do you hear? How do you discern truth in what you hear?"

← | latest | →

Yr. C, Wk. 2: Green Light

← | latest | →

(Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.)

 

Worship and Gathering
Pete could not be with us, but he prepared a worship consisting of thanksgivings. For a gathering question, Scott gave everyone two minutes to find an object of gratitude for show and tell. These included Bella the big dog, Nora the one-eyed cat, a mosaic cross (that brought to Marilyn's mind her gratitude for what this group has meant), a trophy from the game where Donfred scored the winning points in double-overtime, the Book of Common Prayer (along with the Bible, Tom's "owner's manual"), and the resin knob from a shifter -- Nuno told a miraculous story from his grandfather's earlier years.

We were sorry to hear that Kathy needs to sit out this year.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit One Listening and Spiritual Autobiographies: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Pete, Joyce.

Discussion of the Readings
The most interesting piece of the RRG's essay seems to have been the micro-meso-macro levels to our lives, our consciousness, and theology itself.

Theological Reflection
After a break, we met in breakout rooms to imagine norms for our cohort with the color scheme of a traffic light. (see image) To those strictures, admonitions, and recommendations, Sewanee would add these:

• Speak in "I" statements, not "you" or "we"
• Respect privacy and confidentiality.

Before we practice theological reflection, we'll be sharing five-minute episodes from our spiritual autobiographies, one per week for the next five weeks.

Scott explained how the autobiographies "feed four birds with one scone" - building community, exploring the process of spiritual growth over the years of our lives, and listening. This year's autobiography prompts derive from the premise that theology, too, is about listening to our own lives -- our desires, discomforts, and fears -- and to the culture of our generation. So, as the RRG said, theology is not just pages of information or a list of settled "imperatives"; every generation must find how Jesus speaks to the world of their time.

In breakout rooms, we paired up to pitch our ideas for stories we'll share over the next five weeks.

For Next Week
Nuno will lead worship and ask a gathering question. We all will be reading assignments for our own years. During the second part of class, we'll each have five minutes to tell about a desire for relationship with God that we have, or have had.

← | latest | →

Yr. C, Wk. 1: Our Works, Our Names

← | latest | →

(Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.)

Worship and Gathering
Scott led worship through Evening Prayer, edited so that everyone spoke in turn.

The worship leader will typically ask a "gathering" question to give us all a chance to share what's in our lives each week. This week's question covered a broader swath of life: When we pray that "our works may find favor in [God's] sight," what "works" are you thinking of? Several of us shared photos (see collage).

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 1 Listening and Spiritual Autobiography:
1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn, Kathy. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Kathy.

Discussion of the Readings
We looked at the opening materials, especially pp. 8-10. In discussion, we noted that EfM goes beyond a knowledge base to teach us habits of applying theology to our experience and to involve us in community; that the mentors are not expected to be experts, but guides or facilitators.

We then anticipated next week's reading by listening to each other in small groups. While each of us told about our name -- its origin and its influence in our lives -- others listened intently so that they could relate the story to the whole group.

Theological Reflection
After a break, we heard those name stories and then reflected on the experience.

• What thoughts or feelings did you have as you heard the stories? Confusion, a theme of kinship, discovery that two very different names (Nuñez and Jagusch) derive from the same Biblical hero, Joshua, son of Nun.
• What do we read about names in our Bible and tradition? Lots of re-namings to show re-orientations towards God, geneologies that show the passing on of tradition and that validate a person's authority, God's going unnamed, and the question "Who do you say that I am?"
• What did we learn about listening? Lots of smiles: delighted to learn; we were attuned to emotions while we listened to facts; we felt the responsibility to get the story right; it was funny to hear what others picked up in our own stories.

When Scott read aloud some guidance for listening from p. 272 in the Reading and Reflection Guide, our own ideas were affirmed. One was added: don't be thinking about what you want to say next while the other person is speaking.

For Next Week
Pete volunteered to lead worship and to bring a gathering question for us.

All are reading chapter 2 in the Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG). We now have two links for that material:

• Opening chapters
• The entire book for download. Hard copies have already been shipped to us.

In week 3, we will begin the sharing of our spiritual autobiographies according to the RRG's alternative plan, each sharing about 3-5 minutes each week:

• Desire for God: Share a story about a desire you have or have had for your relationship with God.
• Person or Event: Share a story about how a person or event contributed to your maturing in faith.
• Questions: Share a story about questions that have had an impact on your maturing in faith.
• An Imperative: Share a story about an imperative you have experienced as you work toward maturing in your relationship with God.
• Image for your journey: Email a picture of a work of art that represents your journey of maturing faith. We will share on Zoom. Notice and give thanks for the rich variety of individual journeys in your group.

The guide suggests that we associate each chapter with a color. "Any color(s) can be assigned to any question. Your association of color and experience is what is important. In each case you may wish to share the color you assigned to the story and reason(s) for doing so."

← | latest | →

Yr. C: Preparations for our first meeting

← | latest | →

(Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.)

I'm Scott Smoot, Keeper of the Blog, pictured here with co-mentor Dr. Susan Rouse.

At our first meeting Tuesday at 7pm (E.S.T.), we'll make introductions to each other and reacquaint ourselves with Zoom. Then, we'll follow the agenda outlined below. Please do read it all the way through, because there are a couple of homework assignments embedded in the text.

Worship and Gathering

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 1, Spiritual Autobiography and Listening: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn, Kathy. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: None.

I will lead us in Evening Prayer II, adapted for Zoom. All of us will have lines to read.

The lectionary assigns for Tuesday some readings that share a theme of "works". Workmen complete the temple. James asks about the value of faith absent works. Peter illustrates James: he has faith about Jesus, but not the heart to stand up for those beliefs in public. We ourselves will pray in Form III "that our works may find favor in God’s sight."

Homework: Before Tuesday afternoon, please email me a photo or other image that represents something you’ve been working on in the past few months. I’ll put them all into a slide show, and, after the readings, we’ll each have the opportunity to explain what the group is seeing. Please send the image to me in the JPG (or JPEG) format. My email address is smootws@yahoo.com

Discussion of the Readings
We usually have readings to do before we show up on Tuesday. This week, it's introductory material in EfM's Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG). A hard copy of the book is already on its way to everyone who completed their registration. You should receive tracking information by email. Email me any questions about the delivery of your RRG; EfM wants to mitigate a flood of emails by filtering questions through the mentors.

You can read the material on a PDF with this link: RRG, Intro and Unit 1. We can all use this until our RRGs show up at our doorsteps.

Frankly, the introduction is too full of information and terms that we'll use later. I do recommend that everyone read (or re-read) pp. 8,9, and 10 about expectations for participants and mentors. I recommend skimming the rest. The table of contents is interesting, mapping out the year by weeks. In the intro, p. xi lists books we'll be reading, and p. xv gives some useful online links. Bring to the session any questions you have.

Theological Reflection
For this unit on "Spiritual Autobiography and Listening," we won't be practicing formal theological reflection; that's for the next unit.

We will, however, practice listening.

For Next Week
Summary: Send a photo of work in progress (or all finished!) to smootws@yahoo.com and read selectively in RRG, Intro and Unit 1.

The link for our Zoom meeting is in the email I sent out Saturday morning.

← | latest | →

Yr. B, Wk. 36: Close of the Year

← | latest | →

(Interested in joining us? Link to our Visitor's Center.)

Worship and Gathering
We met in the choir stalls of St. James. Though some of us had never met face-to-face, it felt like a reunion. We thought of Marilyn, taking care of her ailing dog Besi.

We followed the order for the Close of the Day (BCP 140) and, from our new printed book of collects and prayers, recited our own prayer for hands and then favorite collects. Scott ended with this collect from 2018:

Collect for Theological Reflection
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.

We then strolled to Tacqueria Tsunami for a fine supper.

Living Faithfully in a Multicultural World, Unit 5, Vocation:
1st yr: Jessica; 2nd yr: Susan; 3rd yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn, Kathy ; 4th yr, Scott. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Marilyn.

← | latest | →