Yr. C, Wk. 20: God Reaching to Us, Our Reaching to Others

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Worship and Gathering
As a last-minute substitute for Donfred, Scott's liturgy allotted lines from recent collects by Nuno and Jessica for the start and end of our meeting. For a gathering question, he asked what sport or game would make a good analogy for your recent week? Jessica said Jeopardy, because answers have led her to more questions, both at work and at home. We had several games of ping-pong being played by Marilyn, Joyce, and Susan. After a tough week with little sleep, Pete said he's playing chess, moving slowly, considering lots of options. Nuno is trying to get back to a simple game of checkers after the big-world fast-paced game of Risk he's been playing. Tom's life has been like track meets of his youth: long periods of waiting for a few seconds of frenetic activity. Scott is playing Scrabble each week, finding new combinations for the same tiles.

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

Discussion of the Readings
Scott kicked off the discussion with Collins's chicken-and-egg question about Amos and Hosea: is the humane, just, international God they describe a recovery of the original covenant, or did the prophets add a dimension of morality to those books through editors who compiled the early sources into the scripture we now know? Nuno sees how editing can be divinely inspired as well as the original texts. Susan gave examples from Y3 of revisions to long-accepted histories of the Churches East and West.

Aside from the editing question, Tom and Joyce both spoke strongly about the emotion and love in those prophets. “They reveal the heart of God,” Tom said. Joyce was touched by the hope at the ends of the books.

Jessica continued the theme of looking beyond what was written to how scripture was written. She begins to appreciate the difficulties Paul had in communicating to the Corinthians, as he urged them to enter into "the mind in Christ."

In an aside, Jessica feels the Spirit working in our study, as the readings seem to be giving her texts that she needed to read just now. For Marilyn, what Jessica said about the “mind in Christ” relates to McIntosh – it's human “disintegration” and our self-preservation that keeps us separated, our unwillingness to risk vulnerability. Marilyn added, “The hardest times in my life were when I saw myself as alone…” Scott recommended poet / essayist Christian Wiman, whose return to faith occurred just before he was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer. Central to Wiman's faith is that vulnerability of the Lord, who called out from the cross, “My God why have you forsaken me?"

Theological Reflection

Susan brought a cartoon depicting a young man's dog responding joyously to the attention of a young woman on the sidewalk, who is evidently a stranger facing the opposite direction. The artist is Ali Solomon. Her work appears in The New Yorker. (See an interview with her at BoredPanda.com)

The group's interest lay in the young man's evident disaffection, even discomfort. As we got further away from the source, we got into a metaphor -- someone out in the water, seeing lively activity among people on shore.

More than usual, we found applications to our own churches, especially with regard to newcomers and members who feel excluded or timid about getting involved. "Being friendly" is not a simple answer. From our reflection, Tom wrote this collect:

Collect regarding OutsidersAlmighty and all-knowing God, having created us, You know all of your people, Your sons and daughters, better than we know ourselves, what gives us joy and what gives us devastating agony, where we are healthy and where we are in debilitating pain, when we are competent and when we are absolutely helpless, when we feel loved and when we feel it is hopeless that anyone will ever love us, even You, Merciful Father; since we ourselves are in such desperate need of your restoration and redemption, and we ourselves are unable to help ourselves in any good and meaningful way, give us such sensitivity to the needs of each member of Your family around us, especially of the newcomers in our midst, so that we may be to Your sons and daughters Your heart, Your shoulders, Your arms, and Your hands to guide them to that which You know they need, to that which brings them Your restoration and redemption, and to that which gives them greater knowledge and life-giving connection with You, Who with our Great Kinsman-Redeemer, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and forever, Amen.

For Next Week
We do the readings for Week 21. Donfred will lead worship and bring a question to gather us in our community. Joyce will bring a source for the TR.

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Yr. C, Wk. 19: Here Am I!

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Worship and Gathering
Tom led a worship liturgy, a mix of praise, confession, and thanksgiving. His gathering question to us was, "What were you doing when praise / awe / reverence spontaneously erupted in you?" Our answers involved listening to the awesome sound of a pipe organ; being in nature, "looking out and looking up," and exploring the creek behind the house with daughters; petting the cat while reading and listening; listening to (or singing with) favorite songs; watching the fish in a pond staying out of each others way; appreciating the confluence of art and music and words in outstanding scenes of musical theatre.

Tom posed a follow-up question: What can we do to ensure that we do these activities more often? Thank you!

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

Discussion of the Readings
After sharing in small groups what stood out in our readings, each group collaborated on a statement with a "big BUT" in it (with a nod to Sir Mixalot:

• Things were very strict and by the book, but there was also a lot of prejudice (against others – tribes, worship) (Pete and Donfred)
• Joyce re Nuno – we’re striving to give our kids more things … but what the kids REALLY want isn’t the things, but their dad and his care and protection. Marilyn was reminded how, as a little girl, she'd pretend to be asleep so dad would carry her to bed
• Jessica summed up Paul's difficulty in a sentence: Christ is the end of Law, but what does that mean?
• Susan reported about the Eastern church's perspective on Church: In the Body of Christ, we’re not just following God, but becoming God.
• After reading a chapter in Yee about the period of Judges (i.e., warlords) and Kings, Scott said that it's a lot of very adolescent male culture, but it's strained through the theological outlook of the Deuteronomist(s).

Theological Reflection
Jessica brought a very short passage from scripture, the call of young Samuel, to which he responded, "Here am I!" We saw four characters in the story: Eli, Samuel, God, and the Reader. We focused on Samuel, and asked, what is that call like? We went with a couple expecting a phone call from the adoption agency.

We explored the world of the phone call. We had a lot of buy-in with this image. Getting the new dog, their was joyous excitement but then realization of responsibility and adjustments... "You want the call but your life will be completely different after"... The father-to-be had to pull over in his car when he heard they’d got the call to have the children, because he was so overwhelmed with emotion. We explored theological categories:

• Creation or wholeness: Nervous excitement, worrying and anticipating future, crying in joy.
• Sin or brokenness: you’re too busy to take the call, you were unprepared (didn’t charge your phone).
• Redemption: Shared duty to answer the phone, use your call waiting, call them right back!

Our discussion culminated in these insights/applications:

• It involves the element of waiting: we’re on someone else’s time line.
• You need to ID the caller!
• Joyful anxiety: it’s a real thing… dogs, daughters, marriage… it’s all-encompassing
• There’s joy in doing your duty, fulfilling your responsibility; it give your purpose
• The intersection of purpose and mission is imaged in The Cross
• Answering a call, we get answers – for someone else.
• God is the one who is waiting for us to call Him!

When a call went out for someone to shape our discussion into a collect, Jessica said, "Here am I!"

Collect for a Call

Holy and Gracious God, You call us to deepen our relationship with You so that through us, we may be vessels of your love and grace to go forth into the world spreading the Good News of the risen Lord. Help guide us along the way and call us back to you when we stray. Give us the strength and courage to say, “Here am I, send me” to help fulfill the mission of drawing all persons into the knowledge and love of You, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Through whom all things are possible. Amen.

For Next Week
Scott will bring worship, because Donfred will be on a training session with the diocese for "Safeguarding God's Children." He'll take his turn next week. Susan will bring a source for a TR.

Below: Marilyn had just read this blogpost about God's calling us when she ran across a prayer of King Alfred from 849 CE, a portion of which has God listening for our call:

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Yr. C, Wk. 18: Kings, Letters, and Angels

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Worship and Gathering
Scott made a point of how flexible worship can be, so long as there are these four elements (whatever the order):

• awe and praise
• confession and assurance of pardon
• God’s word
• our response.

All four elements appeared in Hymn 124 ("What star is this that beams to bright" by Charles Coffin) when we read its verses responsively. So, especially among friends, worship doesn't have to be a formal service from a prayer book. Remember that we've had worship made from psalms, poems, and a dramatic reading about the Witch of Endor. Imagine a liturgy of images, or a liturgy of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. Anything goes that, as McIntosh might say, intensifies our awe, our recognition, our response to God. Let's just be sure that worship and the gathering question take no more than 10-12 minutes.

The gathering question was, "Now that the holidays are behind us, what are you looking forward to?" Art class... the cat settling back into routine ... preparing for a project in Florida... good career changes coming up... the end of the month to see if tweaks to an Excel spreadsheet pay off... setting up a room to write in. We learned that Donfred has been having a rough time flying to NYC and back several times, dealing with death and illness in the family. Let's keep him in our prayers.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Nuno. Tom came in for the TR.

Discussion of the Readings
Pete started us off with a discussion of metaphor. He sees so many ways that God is like an earthly father, but McIntosh reminds us how far from comprehensive the metaphor is: our parents are beings in this universe, and God the Father is NOT.

If archaeology reveals that Biblical reports of Solomon’s immense wealth and influence are “hyped up,” how important is that to you? What if differences of style and theology in the letters attributed to Paul suggest that some of them were written in Paul’s name by later disciples? Jessica and Pete are less bothered by this than they used to be. It's not the historical record that inspired Joyce in the story of Solomon’s praying for wisdom, his judgment about the baby claimed by two women. Joyce acknowledged that Solomon’s wisdom at first seems to be all about killing anyone who might threaten him. Besides, Jessica said, our theme is “reaching spiritual maturity,” and can’t the differences in the letters be evidence of Paul’s maturing ideas and style? Scott agreed that the Hebrew scriptures themselves show a developing spiritual maturity across 1000 years: that development is at least as important as whatever else goes on in first and second Kings.

What if the stories can be looked at from different points of view? Susan said, “ALL STORIES are culled from a perspective and a purpose – otherwise the stories wouldn’t be told.” She told how theology arose in universities of the 12th century, studying the stories and writings in a systematic way. Aristotle’s influence came into Christian thinking.

Marilyn loved how McIntosh reversed a common perspective. The problem isn’t that God’s presence gets in the way of my freedom, but that my distorted sense of self keeps me from being free…Children embrace life, but we learn to be afraid, learn to lose our freedom…

Adoration of the Christ Child by Jacob Cornelisz, Netherlandish, 1515

Theological Reflection
Pete brought us a painting that he recently saw at the Art Institute of Chicago, giving us no more details. We quickly recognized that it tells the story of the Nativity, with "pensive" Mary, the "adoring" Joseph, and "solemn" shepherds coming in from a distant field where we see their flock. We almost missed the baby Jesus (and maybe that's intentional).

We focused on the artist's extraordinary depiction of dozens of skittering, gleeful, musical cherubs evidently unnoticed as they mixed in the humans' business. We took our theme to be "the spiritual world intersecting with the physical world...God with us."

• Thoughts? We are not alone.
• Feelings? Comfort, thoughtfulness, delight, connection.
• Connections to our tradition? In the Bible, angels often have to say, "Fear not." (Annunciation, Zechariah.) "Great cloud of witnesses."
• Cultural connections? Our culture has substituted Extra-Terrestrials for angels -- some are menacing, but many come with the message "Fear not" (When Worlds Collide and Close Encounters). Instead of fear of angels and spirits, and ETs, we feel joy and awe. It's ordinary time v. eternity, Kansas v. Oz. When we check our devices, we become aware how our physical world intersects with digital data in the air around us.
• Insights? Applications? Pete said he wants to be more aware of the spiritual world in his day to day business.

When Scott read back comments by Joyce and Jessica, the consensus was, "That's our collect." So here those are:

• No matter how scared we get or worried we are or how overwhelmed by pain, God and his angels are with us.
• If we focus on Jesus we will see the Spirit and joy.

For Next Week
Tom brings worship and a gathering question, and Jessica brings a source for the TR.

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Yr. C, Wk. 17: Touched by Images; Unexpected Grace

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Worship and Gathering
Susan brought a worship liturgy for us. Then she asked if we don't rate our holiday a perfect "10," what would've made it perfect? Susan and Jessica each rated theirs around 8 or 9 - liking the visits, not the travel. Pete enjoyed the planes, trains, and automobiles of a trip to Chicago with "the girls," a 9.8. Scott gave his a 10 because of the music, three weeks in a row when making music in choir brought him to tears. Nuno gave the holiday a 12 -- for the 12 days, though the first one felt like a "1." Marilyn gave hers a 7, exciting, but she didn't get to share old traditions with her kids. Joyce, 8, because nothing could make up for missing a loved one. For Tom, viewing the service on livestream is just not the same. Channeling the judge from East Germany, he gave it a 3.

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

Discussion of the Readings
We had time in breakout rooms (Tom, Susan, Joyce, Jessica; Pete, Nuno, Marilyn) to answer a question from the RRG, "what visual images arose for you as you did the week's readings?"

• Susan, reading for Y3, visualized the Gothic architecture with gravity-defying spires that conveyed stateliness, the power of the church, and the awesomeness of God. On the same subject. Pete recommended Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, a novel about the building of a cathedral. Scott told how some of his students were disturbed by the huge dark space. The "hush-hush" light inspires awe in Marilyn.
• Y2 brought images of the sleepy believer who falls out a window during a long sermon and dies -- to be brought back to life by the apostle.
• In Y4, Marilyn pictured a prickly cactus to represent aspects of the centuries-long "conversation" we believers are a part of. Nuno was touched by an image of the parent waving the teddy bear in front of her toddler in order to awaken the desire for good things -- McIntosh's way to describe how the Spirit in us awakens our desire for relationship with God.
• In Y1, Joyce liked the picture Collins provides of the ark of the covenant, and the story in Samuel of the foreign idol that collapsed in its presence. Tom smiled at the image of the villagers who, associating Samuel with angry king Saul, cowered when the prophet came to town to anoint David.

Asked about anything else in the readings that aroused feelings, Susan was amazed to be reminded how the Benedictine monasteries were money-makers as way-stations for pilgrims and Crusaders; Jessica is eager to read Luke and Acts in one sitting to appreciate the common threads by their one author; Nathan's use of a parable to reach David after the Bathsheba affair reminded Joyce of the approach she used to take to her husband; Scott, feeling that Saul doesn't deserve the bad press he gets, is touched by the pathos and measure of dignity restored after the shame of his death and defilement.

Theological Reflection
Scott's story of the talented cook who won over an impatient late-night crowd at a Waffle House brought us to a metaphor: companions in a desert whose needs are supplied in a surprising way. Tom gave some practical tips on how to find moisture in a hot, arid place -- helping us to "explore the world of the metaphor" in a way we would not have done otherwise.

We were reminded of Bible stories: Feeding of the five thousand, when this one person (Jesus) in scarcity does the surprising thing… (calming the storm)… Peter out fishing all night, “did you catch anything?” put nets on the other side of the boat and they catch more than they can carry in the boat!...Hebrews in the desert...Forlorn disciples waiting after the crucifixion, didn’t know for what, and then the Resurrection surprises them.

For insights and applications, energy rose when we focused on any way we could use this reflection in our personal lives. Everybody is waiting for something… can I learn to enjoy the wait? ... I will try inviting people, waiting with them, solidarity goes a long way… Experience on our different Vestries, tensions around budget scarcity … “Stop comparing to another year and play that year for itself!” Trying not to be tied to habit. Joyce, returning to the original Waffle House story, remembered how she could redirect her late husband the way the cook redirected the hostile crowd that night.

Nuno stepped up to compose a collect from our discussion.

Collect in the DesertDear God of Divine Providence, who yet waits to stand upon Mount Zion, You are with us in the deserts of our lives, when we think ourselves lost, alone, and without. We pray that we have prepared our hearts, that we be faithful to your divine timing in revealing your exceeding and abundant grace, So that at your dawning we be not alone in that wasteland but collected joyfully within your holy fortress. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For Next Week
Please come to our meeting with two or three things in your reading that you want to tell about. Tom will bring worship and a question to "gather" us. Pete will bring a source for a TR.

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Yr. C, Wk. 16: "Prayer and Worship" Essay

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Discussion of the Readings
This week, we started with discussion of the reading, saving for last the gathering and worship as we close out the calendar year.

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

Susan, Pete, and Nuno all had comments about the form of the essay. The essay starts slowly, telling how anxieties of modern life with technology are many, but can also provide opportunities for spiritual growth to take us outside the walls of the church. The author quotes relevant writers (among them our friends Coakley, Ford, Bishops Schori and Griswald). Pete said "it steamrolls." By the end, noted Nuno, the author has drawn on some of the early church authorities, Benedict among them.

Several shared quotations that delighted us. Jessica: Loved the quote from Sarah Coakley – how we are being trained with time… and a way of connecting to others and to the Risen Christ (which is also, others). Joyce – p. 95 “Adoration – one breathes in God as one fills one’s lungs with air…” Stood out to me because I like to pray. Exhaling equals prayer, concerns. Jessica - Drama of the Liturgy a great way to describe it. Scott – a drama that happens in church and in our lives, again and again and again… "Continuous conversion." Marilyn - Maturity may be found in this contemplative approach – leading to loving more deeply; maturity is a matter of expanding your awareness of the world – from self to others to cosmos.

Bishop Schori's definition of violence as "anything that diminishes life" excited many observations from experience. It can be words; it can be hunger, Tom said --

My life has been about the survival of others and myself... I’ve been places where people are looking for food, shelter, security…People who lose their jobs because they don’t speak the correct language, and then they have to move where there’s a civil war, where there are corrupt regimes that our own government supports.

How do we counteract violence by developing a spirituality? We had answers:

• Pete – implied that one who has this contemplative life will also take this inner strength out into public spaces (as the essay says, “outside the walls of the church”). We’ve all been inspired by people who are just living that good proper life, and the way they act among us… (my inlaws) inspire me to be like them…
• Tom – “When someone’s starving, words are meaningless. What they see in you [habitus] is what gives them hope.”
• Nuno: Commitment to place is the physical place but also time.

After we'd shared what stood out to us in the reading, Nuno posed the question from the end of the chapter, what spiritual discipline do you want to work on in the six weeks of this unit? We answered:

• Open the Bible, just a minute here and a minute there
• Finding stillness (turn off my brain)
• Want to be more deliberate about setting time aside instead of just filling in the cracks.
• Reading poetry, writing poetry, writing a prayer - like writing a collect - all involve the same kind of thinking, imagination, openness to examining experience / faith tradition / received beliefs
• Donfred: Prayer and read more over the next six weeks, involve myself more through church
• Joyce: trusting the lord with the hard stuff (in EFM)

Gathering, then Worship
After a break, during which we found candles or lights for the worship at the end, we gathered into breakout rooms, each group tasked to find appropriate gifts for our friends in the other group. Donfred got tickets to the Final Four tournament... Tom got a trip to the Maldives (lots of water, no desert)... Joyce gets a Mercedes... Susan can spend eight days in Greece... Nuno, father of three young children, gets an authentic Santa Suit... Marilyn got a gas gift card for her cross-country treks... Pete got a concrete garden statue of the Cowardly Lion... Jessica got a big green Ford truck. The groups gave Scott bike-riding opportunities at the Tour de France and the island(s) of Bali.

For worship, we recited some verses Scott wrote 30 years ago for a concert musical about Advent (Link to Four Candles), we read the Genesis story of the Fall, and we shared a prayer for the second week of Advent. With our lights, we took a class photo.

For January 2
We do the readings assigned for week 17, listed on pp. 98-99 of the RRG. Follow up with the suggestions there on pp. 99-101. Susan and Scott will provide worship and a TR.

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Yr. C, Wk. 15: A Concrete Metaphor

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Worship and Gathering
Susan led us in Prayers of the People, Form VI. She asked about any creative things we'd done in the past week. Painting... cooking stuffed bell pepper, crockpot stew, and loaded nachos for the Big Game... making decorations out of the dog's reach, helping with the Christmas tree... making arty photos of Advent I for display at church.

For the rest of the session, we were thinking of experience and faith through metaphor. So that was creative, too.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, First Interlude Beyond a Binary God: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Nuno. Tom came for TR.

Discussion of Beyond a Binary God, part two
Our discussion seemed to branch in three related categories.

Fatherhood, as experience
Susan: The book is anchored in the personal story and coming back to it at the end. Most heartfelt and persuasive part of all. Pete could identify, as his two daughters came from same parents, and they are so different from each other! He said, “Ultimately, [the author’s] trying to come to grips with what happened with her child [and] using theology to do this in a religious sense.” Jessica, responding to Pete, says we approach God from our own life experience and are partial to our picture of God from that way – How can we deepen our image to grasp the whole picture?

Fatherhood, as metaphor with “Son” for Trinity:
Joyce our heavenly father doesn’t think like we do, but our earthly fathers are like us, and so different. Marilyn: Difficulty in the metaphor in imagining the relationships – hierarchical and patriarchal – Marilyn imagines parental – qualities that we can agree on without pinning to “father” -- the “father” metaphor gives us an ideal. Jessica is challenged by search for a metaphor outside of father/son/holy spirit. Jessica read the different sides to the argument, and wonders, do we need a new metaphor, or just a deeper understanding of the father/son metaphor that we have? Donfred highlighted the joke about “the bird,” which made the point that the Father-Son image leaves out the Spirit; Scott observed that the Spirit had been left out of our discussion entirely aside from Donfred's question. Marilyn suggested that the spirit might be like the music produced by a duet – it’s a third thing that emerges from the first two.

Opening up to an experience alien to us
Pete responded to the fable of five blind men and the elephant: we do all experience something different from our own perspective -- you feed your soul based on your needs, and some may take things differently than I would. Marilyn said that this book "has helped me through my uneasiness about this subject." She has experienced the kindness of a family whose child is transitioning.

Susan appreciated the author’s downplaying of binaries in general: not everything has an opposite! Soughers says to get beyond binary … but that’s not the only way to see Father and Son… tension isn’t always opposition

Theological Reflection
Marilyn brought us a photo she took of a green plant emerging from a crack in a concrete wall. [Not the photo presented here.] For her, the wall was a metaphor for conformity, the plant a bold and creative force. She gracefully surrendered that notion as the currents of our discussion took the image in a different direction.

We had a lot of buy-in to the image. Joyce has felt like the plant… you grow most through a harsh situation that requires you to grow. So has Donfred: no matter how hard a thing is, if you have faith, good will come out of it. Susan told how FLoridians made a beautiful (and amusing) Christmas tree out of an isolated pine that grew out of concrete at a junction of highways.

Insights and applications were varied:

• “Dare to be different: stand out from the wall of sameness… safeness” (Marilyn, relating also to the non-binary book)
• Round up. End of story.
• Surprising – stay open for what comes.
• Weed is just a plant growing where you don’t want one – You can find beauty in a weed, too, beauty in imperfection.
• You can make an allowance for the cracking – allow for growth and shifting – build in give and take – God makes us with our edges, knows we’re brittle… we have strength in certain dimensions… Control joints are like his forgiveness…
• TRINITY? Water, the tree, the soil? Concrete, the control joint, the water – plant is us? (Funny that the control joint [built into concrete structures to allow for expansion and contraction] brings in uncontrol)

We drafted a collect and left it to Scott to finish:

Collect for the Flower in the Crack of the WallAlmighty God, solid rock of our salvation, you opened yourself to give a tiny shoot of Jesse’s stem the experiences of joy and love, hunger and rejection, death and resurrection: help us, where we are hard-edged and defensive, to make space for others' growth, so that we ourselves may grow into your image more and more each day. Amen.

For Next Week
We're shaking up the usual routine for our last meeting before the secular new year. We'll first discuss the essay "Developing a Sustaining Spirituality" in the RRG, ch. 16, pp. 88ff. After a break, Scott and Susan will spring a gathering question, and then we'll conclude with worship.

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Yr. C, Wk. 14: Beyond a Binary God, part one

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Worship and Gathering
Nuno led us in worship from a book that he recommended to us all, St. Augustine's Prayer Book. We began with an examination of conscience, and moved through praise and petitions. (I personally thought the prayers for people who work at night were especially rich -- naming fire fighters, sailors, and "those engaged on the stage.")

Nuno asked us for ways that prayer "feeds" us. Answers included songs in church that are also prayers, emotions reinforced and deepened by the music... the BCP... praying the scriptures, esp. Psalms, "every emotion is there"... morning meditation and closing devotion each day... writing prayers each day... silence.

Yr. C, Living as Spiritually Mature Christians, First Interlude Beyond a Binary God: 1st yr: Tom, Joyce, Donfred, Scott; 2nd yr: Jessica; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Pete, Nuno, Marilyn. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Donfred, Marilyn, Tom. (Tom logged on in the same minute that the rest of us logged off early!)

Discussion of the Readings
Jessica generally enjoyed book, especially appreciating HOW the author Tara Soughers wrote it as a response to her own child’s experience: “Everyone is created in God’s Image” and trying to see this from her child’s experience. Susan appreciated the exploration of the phrase "in God's image, male and female" in its context of other opposites that have in-betweens (dark and light, night and day, seas and dry land -- Soughers asks why male and female should be different?) The author admits that she was confused, and is learning. Pete said it was enlightening that there’s "a substantial group out there that needs to be thought of beyond the boxes we put people in." Joyce appreciated this mom and how she had to fill a void left because no one else has written a theology; Joyce was also moved by the plight of homeless children kicked out by parents and communities.

While Nuno also appreciated the author's intention to open minds that are deadset against trans people, he pointed out the author's misleading use of statistics and her reliance on non-canonical scripture. Others expressed how they were disturbed by the author's use of The DaVinci Code, tainted by its derivation from detestable conspiracy theory of the 19th century, and the author's dubious argument concerning plastic surgery for teens.

Jessica expressed gratitude for Nuno’s reading and openness. Jessica offered a quote from Soughers, “I can only speak from the place of being the mother of a trans child.” There seemed to be a consensus on being open to what the author says about that experience.

Because Marilyn was unable to bring her TR to us, and we were missing three, we logged off early -- in the same minute that Tom logged on!

For Next Week
We'll read the second half of Beyond a Binary God by Kara T. Soughers. The RRG suggests that we look for three recent news reports and articles concerning sexuality and gender and ask ourselves what intercessory prayers the Spirit might be calling us to make, and what thanksgivings? (see p. 83) Marilyn will bring the source for the TR; Susan will lead worship. Nuno will be away at a board meeting.

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