Guidance from EfM Directors

[Friends, Susan and I would like to meet as usual Tuesday. We can decide then about weeks to come. Susan will have Irish themed dinner! Let us know if you're not comfortable coming. Please take a look at this note from EfM administrators, encouraging us to keep on learning and to keep connected, no matter what the next few weeks are like.]

Please know that for this time we are extending gracious and compassionate dispensation regarding the standard program requirements. If you must simply stop the meetings for a period without email or online options, then do so.
• Ask group participants to embrace the honor system about completing the rest of their readings and practicing theological reflection on their own. Each week's assignment in the Reading and Reflection Guide offers a way to participate in reflective practice of one sort or another.
• Most of the groups that began meeting in the Fall are within 10 weeks of finishing the year, and so have already completed two-thirds of the work. We certainly will not penalize participants for having to miss meetings because of the pandemic. Year 4 will graduate as usual. Everyone else will advance next year.
• Just remember that EfM is based in adult learning theory. What you get out of it is proportional to what you are willing to put into it. Skipping the work of the remaining weeks hurts only your own learning.
• Check in with one another as you can. One of the cornerstones of EfM is the community we build in the small group. Making an effort to keep that community life going will be well worth it.
• Reconvene your meetings if possible when this period of social distancing is lifted. Even one final meeting to end the year together will encourage your community to remain connected until the next program year.

Yr. C, Wk. 26: Ezra & Nehemiah, Timothy & Titus, Church in the World, Love and Justice

Mariel brought dinner; Matt led worship. Scott, absent, has no notes from the discussion this week. [Photo: This is a "Lenten Rose" that Susan identified in a garden near the church.]

Yr. C theme: Living as Spiritually Mature Christians Class: Matt, Pete, first year; Christine, second year; Mariel, Gene, third year; Erica, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Pete, Scott.

Erica brought two poems for a source. A dilemma emerged. In the end, the group composed this collect:

Collect facing the End
Eternal God, ruler over all, whose son defeated death: When Peter blustered and brandished his sword to thwart Your will, a word from Jesus stopped him: So, too, when we react according to our own selfish desires, let us hear Your life-giving word and respond in Your wisdom and love. Amen

Next Meeting: TBA

Yr. C, Wk. 25: Commitment and Maturity

Some of us ate at Matt's Youth Group's Mardi Gras dinner in the Parish Hall [Photo by Christine]; others had brown bag dinners. Susan led Compline.

Yr. C theme: Living as Spiritually Mature Christians Class: Matt, Pete, first year; Christine, second year; Mariel, Gene, third year; Erica, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Matt, Gene.

Instead of an "on-board" question, we collaborated on a message to the EfM staff:

We sent the central office these reflections on their program:
• Third year reading is pretty difficult to go through: our library expert gets lost “in the forest.” The one page summaries are helpful; she goes to Wikipedia to get a beginner’s look at what he’s talking about. She finds those side articles in Wikipedia contain really interesting relevant material that MacCulloch is leaving out, and she wonders why. The good thing is that the book does make her want to do more research.
• A fourth year student looking back on the third year book wonders if going at the book from start to end is as good as, say, a catalogue of topics to research using this book as a resource.
• Our second year student is delighted by the “explore” resources in Powells’s book on the gospels, and she has been surprised by what she finds in the New Testament. Others agreed about Powell.
• Our first year student said that he’d never dreamed he’d be discussing things with people at other stages in their EfM journey, and he’s really excited by what he hears, anticipating learning it himself: “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done.” He admits that it’s tough to keep up with the reading.
• Our fourth year student has enjoyed all the readings this year, and especially Sedgwick (though she disagrees often.)
• We have all been touched or challenged by Yee, even those who've only heard about the contents from others: “eye-opening” though somewhat annoying.
• We like reading Bonhoeffer and cornerstone theologians, rather than reading work by people connected to EfM (Gatta the exception to prove the rule); and we prefer a book that sustains an argument over several chapters to anthologies of anecdotal essays.
• Those of us who read Howard Thurman miss his work sorely: Authoritative, closely reasoned, influential, historical, deep.
• Many of our members' starting points for TRs have been fantastic, innovative, and stimulating. A few have brought us to moving conclusions. See them at our class blog www.EfMSJ.blogspot.com
• An artist in our group likens TRs to a kind of art she practices(“French mattes”) done in layers that come into focus only gradually. Our engineer admits that the non-linear process is hard for him, but he sees how TRs are a bit like learning Calculus: it may take a year to "get it.".

Gene, though absent, emailed us his reflections on the third year's chapter. Starting with his observation that Catholics and Protestants agreed on killing witches, our sharing branched out to topics concerning women: Yee's chapter, Paul's statement on marrying for passion, and a statement from Sedgwick about "idolatry of the patriarchy." The over-arching theme seemed to be commitment to God in contrast to idolatry of one's own position and authority.

With two of our friends missing, we chose to put off Erica's TR for next week.

Next Meeting: Our next meeting will cover Week 26 in the RRG. Scott will be an hour late. Mariel will feed us; Matt will do worship; Erica will initiate the TR.

Yr. C, Wk. 24: Prophets, Paul, Protestantism, and the Parish Church

For a brown bag night, Pete started us with Evening Prayer and a question about how we plan to reconnect with the church in Lent. Many want to attend more of the services offered in this special time, and others plan to read and study. Others are making a new effort to recycle and to reduce their carbon footprints.

Yr. C theme: Living as Spiritually Mature Christians Class: Matt, Pete, first year; Christine, second year; Mariel, Gene, third year; Erica, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Erica.

We used a matrix with years across the top and ABCD down the side to create a table of impressions from our readings. We were struck by Collins' unexplained statement that Israel's second Exodus had a "purpose beyond punishment." Scott, reading the second chapter of Sedgwick, found that it brought together all the strands on the board in the development of a peculiarly Anglican theology that developed through practices embodied in the prayer book and the parish church.

Theological Reflection

Scott brought a story from experience. Everyone could find themselves at the part of the story when parents told him their child, longtime participant in his drama club, felt "betrayed" and distraught that he had not chosen her for one of the two lead female roles in the musical. Working through thoughts and feelings, we came up with a metaphor of unintentionally letting go of a child's helium balloon, knowing as it blows away that there's nothing to be done. How can we find redemption in this setting?

Collect
Compassionate Jesus, you wept at the tomb of Lazarus: When our source of joy or delight has been lost or broken, help us to accept our loss. that we may allow you, working through the Holy Spirit, to transform our suffering into meaningful experience. In the name of God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen

Next Meeting: Our next meeting will be another brown bag. We are encouraged to enjoy the pancake supper provided by Matt's youth group; he will not be with us. Susan will lead worship; Erica will bring a TR. (In week 26, Matt will lead worship.)

Yr. C, Wks. 22-23: Belief, Behavior, Doctrine and "Life to the Fullest"

Gene brought us Evening Prayer from the Canadian Book of Common Prayer. Pete provided strips of steak served Brazillian-style with a brilliant green cilantro-cayenne sauce, Rice-a-Roni (who knew it was so good?), and salad. We came "on board" sharing highlights of the past week while we ate.
Our dinnertime "on-boarding" led to the discussion of the essay in the Reading and Reflection Guide (RRG). Those responses in turn connected to the readings for week 23.

Yr. C theme: Living as Spiritually Mature Christians Class: Matt, Pete, first year; Christine, second year; Mariel, Gene, third year; Erica, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: none.

Wk. 22, essay
Mariel highlighted the analogy of consciousness to water that is shaped by its container. The author makes the point that our consciousness will be shaped by one container or another; systematic theology aims for a better container. (What would make a container "better?" Capacity? Integrity? Flow?)

Erica and Matt were miffed by the author's casual statement that "if you're really passionate about fostering the common good, then you should resist anti-institutionalism" (James K. A. Smith, in the RRG 120). We considered institutions that have perpetuated evils.

Pete, having not yet read the essay, wondered if a Christian has to be part of an institutional church to have a fulfilling life. (This later turned out to be the focus of our TR.) Pete asked, "Isn't it good enough to be good on your own?"

Christine responded, citing the essay's example of a hockey league that served participants even as successive generations also re-shaped the institution. She felt the article had spurred her to look not just beyond herself, but also beyond her own circle of family and friends. Matt concurred.
Mariel responded to the article's contrast of "packaged" theologies to "pick-and-choose" theology: both can be harmful in different ways, the article says. Mariel told of her experience with the Orthodox church, "very packaged" she said, but also evidently "very fulfilling" for those who are committed to it. But some of us chafe at such conformity. Gene feels that, if you're only accepting a packaged theology without any struggle, you're not growing. Christine agreed that an institution, working well, will challenge its members both to grow and to improve the institution itself.

Susan observed that institutions are formed at the intersection of group and individual. "It's not just 'me,' but 'we and me.'"


Week 23 readings Erica related the talk of institutions to Timothy Sedgwick's book The Christian Moral Life: Practices of Piety. She was struck by missionaries to China, of different denominations, who rued focusing "more on churches than on faith." She related this to something that we've heard our rector at St. James say many times, that a church can lose itself in efforts to sustain the institution, when paying bills "to keep the lights on" takes primacy over mission.

Readings in other years related to institutions that have lost their sense of purpose. For Matt, that was a theme in Jeremiah, that the institution of the temple had failed God and God's people. For Gene and Mariel, that was at the root of the discontent on both sides of the Protestant Reformation.

When Gene asserted that an institution has to stand for something, Scott wondered about a difference between standing for something, and standing against something? Are these equivalent stands? Scott opined that an institution defined by what -- and who -- it excludes, is on a destructive path.

Gene related this to his own mixed feelings to the Boy Scouts' bringing girls into the organization, and we had pretty intense reactions to that. Erica shared how Girl Scouts often didn't provide the outdoors experiences for girls who wanted that option. We came to recognize much good that comes from the BSA's adaptation. (By coincidence, Pete's dessert for us was Girl Scout cookies.)

Christine, having read Ephesians, was struck by Paul's focusing more on the crucified Christ than on the risen Christ. She also wondered at the notion that our actions on earth also effect change in heaven.

Theological Reflection Our source for theological reflection was a pop quiz. Mariel gave us three minutes to match 20 people with 20 quotations, but she also gave us different rules each minute, requiring us to work alone, then allowing us to use electronic media, then allowing us to collaborate. "I'm already stressed," Matt said before we began. He and Erica correctly matched the most quotations, but, in the end, we all got A's. Mariel said, "I never told you the rule for earning credit." She offered us either the quiz experience or the quiz contents for our reflection.

The greatest energy in the room came from choosing our favorite quotations, and our discerning the principle behind Mariel's search, "What makes a meaningful life?" This brought us back around to Pete's question at the start, "How do we live life to the fullest?" We focused on that word "full."

Matt immediately posed contrasting ideas of what a "full life" means in our culture: adventure, consumerism, achievement, relationships. Scripture tells us how often Jesus retreated from crowds and fame, as Mariel said, both "inhaling and exhaling." We have scriptural references to cups overflowing. We also are told that God "emptied himself" to be human.

After we'd considered Culture, Tradition, and Position, when we recounted experiences that had been most fulfilling, all of the discussion of the evening clicked into place. Before Scott got too involved in the stories to keep notes, he listed his own artistic and personal fulfillment playing keyboards in the pit orchestra for Sweeney Todd; Mariel remembered her little boy's scampering naked down the hall and out the door to the delight of her father, then invalided by the disease that would soon kill him; and Matt's experience of youth from other churches coming to the comfort of mourners in his own church's youth group.

Pete concluded that "life to the fullest" has to be about the people around you, even if it's in sadness.
In place of a collect, we borrowed these lines from the Book of Common Prayer:

From the General Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies... give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with out lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen

Next Meeting: For next Tuesday, we read the materials listed for week 24 in the RRG. It's a brown bag night. Pete will lead worship, and Scott will bring a TR. Erica will be away, but she has volunteered to bring a source for the TR in week 25.

Yr. C, Wk. 21: Rituals and a "Christmas Song"

For worship, Mariel brought us each a gift, her response to Erica's wish to try the Rosary some day. Mariel made rosary beads for all of us and led us through four "weeks" of seven prayers each. For a question to chew with our brown bag dinners, she asked us about any instances in the past week when our sense of time compressed or expanded.

Yr. C theme: Living as Spiritually Mature Christians Class: Matt, Pete, first year; Christine, second year; Mariel, Gene, third year; Erica, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: Matt, Erica.

Reading in and about Isaiah 1-39 and Micah, Pete felt that his position was in alignment with those ancient prophets' themes of warning the rich and powerful to mind the poor and weak, and to value justice and love of God over ritual sacrifices.

Christine picked up on that theme with Paul's letter of Paul to the Galatians' church, torn by argument over keeping up the rituals of the old covenant. Christine was struck how much dissent there could be about Jesus so close to his lifetime. She also admired how Paul seems to understand his audiences so well, expressing his message different ways for different churches. Someone suggested that Paul was also discovering as he wrote.

The Russian church, Mariel told us, was an imperial institution that elevated ritual and obedience to the holy czar. There was room still for debate, as Gene brought up the controversy over the patriarch's fingers: should a blessing be expressed by two fingers for the dual nature of Christ, or three fingers for the Trinity? Gene and Mariel enjoyed the chapter, though Mariel was miffed that Catherine the Great didn't get her due. We were struck by MacCulloch's observation that Westerners respond to suffering by trying to alleviate it, while Easterners accept suffering as God suffered in Christ. The vast distances between parishes in Russia led to the tradition of itinerant priests, "Holy Fools." In a land of communities isolated much of the year by snow, warm colorful crowded churches relieved loneliness.

Theological Reflection
Pete brought us lyrics for "Christmas Song," something very different from the one Nat King Cole recorded. The refrain ties Jesus' "love, love, love..." to "drinkers, jokers, all soul-searches" and to the "blood of our children all around." When we heard the composer sing those bitter words with a sweet voice and appealing guitar accompaniment, we were struck by the juxtaposition.

Collect
Gracious Heavenly Father, when we pray for a bitter cup to pass us by, remind us how our sweet salvation comes from Your son's acceptance of pain for our sake, that we may do likewise, to grow in service to Your will. Amen

Next Meeting: We double up on the weeks' readings, doing ten pages in the RRG for week 22 and then moving on to the chapters prescribed for week 23. Pete prepares food; Gene is doing worship; Mariel is bringing a source for the TR.

Yr. C, Wk. 20: NASCAR and the Prophets

Christine led Compline from a service leaflet she adorned with snowflakes. Her question was whether our past week was more like a rock, paper, or scissors? Some of our answers were light-hearted; others among us are feeling pain, even to the point of feeling numb, inured to the deaths of friends. Let us remember each other in our prayers.

Susan offered us different breads, pickles and "Wickles" (of Mariel's family heritage), cold meats and condiments.

Yr. C theme: Living as Spiritually Mature Christians Class: Matt, Pete, first year; Christine, second year; Mariel, Gene, third year; Erica, fourth year; Scott and Susan, co - mentors. Absent: None.

Mariel wasn't exactly Amazed, Bothered, Confused, or Delighted by anything in her readings this week, but she offered a new category: "Eye Opening." In the great Christian v. Muslim conflicts of the Crusades era, it was Christian mercenaries who besieged and conquered Constantinople, a win for the Muslim side: who knew?

Christine admitted that she hadn't read this week's assignment, but, as her own church deals with schism, she anticipated with excitement reading about the Corinthians, an ancient church in conflict with itself. Erica remembered the shock of discovering that the famous lines about love in Corinthians were not so sweet as they seem when recited in wedding ceremonies. Paul was scolding the factious Corinthians to remember that "Love is patient! Love is kind!"

We were amazed at some events that happened so early in time. We think of colonialism and ecumenism as modern phenomena, but, no: the Venetians raided Egypt, and there was an ecumenical council around 1460.

Mariel was bothered by the fact that something so catastrophic as the Black Death was mentioned only in passing by MacCulloch, but she understood his dilemma, a historian with so much to cover.
Pete was delighted by the emotional content of the story in Hosea, especially the sweetness of Hosea's forgiving love of Gomer, especially in contrast to the "fire and brimstone" of the prophecy in Amos. Many of us got involved discussing this Hosea's story. Did we find humor in the classic trope of the foolish old husband who takes a faithless young wife? Was Hosea's heartbreak affecting to us? How do Yee and feminist theologians see Gomer?

Theological Reflection
Matt played us a clip of a prayer from the opening of a NASCAR race, laced with corporate names.  "Heavenly Father," it begins, "we thank you for all your blessings... for the Dodges and the Toyotas... the Fords.... Thank you for GM performance technology and RO7 engines...."  He also gives thanks for his "smokin' hot wife" and children before he concludes, "In Jesus' name, boogity boogity boogity, Amen."

We responded with amusement and disgust: was this a joke? a paid mercenary prayer? a parody? sincere joy in the machinery of the race? a sarcastic critique? a modern extension of Psalm 148 (praising God for "fire and hail, snow and fog... mountains and all hills... wild beasts and all cattle....").

We took the multi-varied responses to the prayer as the focus of our TR. We immediately came up with a dozen different items in our culture that people view so differently, and some examples in Scripture, most notably "Who do you say that I am?" The Corinthians' conflict over meat sacrificed to idols was another case in point: contrary views of one issue, deeply felt and strongly believed.

Though Paul himself sided with the meat party, he urged them to respect the sensibilities of the abstinence party.

We realized that Creation is complex, incomprehensible (in the sense that no one can wrap their mind around it), and stimulating. To see Creation through a narrow, monochrome lens would be a sin; and so would be the chaos of accepting all views as equal. Redemption would come with humility and mutuality.

Reviewing the whole TR, different members expressed these positions:

• Listen.
• Be sure, the truth is out there, whether or not we agree on it.
• The humanity of the other person is paramount.
• Allowing more points of view brings turmoil, but also growth.
• This NASCAR prayer, initially appalling, brought light to our thinking and a lightheartedness to the discussion.

The energy in the room was itself a part of the TR.

Collect
Great all-comprehending God, we saw You face-to-face, yet couldn't agree when you asked, "Who do you say that I am?": while we seek for clarity in our understanding of Your will, may we see and love the humanity of those who differ from us, and find joy in appreciating the multi-various facets of Your creation. Amen

Next Meeting: brown bags for dinner; Mariel leads worship; Pete is bringing a source for the TR.