Yr. A, Wk. 23: Caught with the Cookies

Worship and Check-in
We missed Marilyn, and remembered her and the surgery. Then Susan led us in a service by the Northumbrian community which included a meditation by Dag H. about God as an artist, and our check in question was about any "artful" thing we'd done in the past week or so. We had some cool answers: Nuno used imagination to turn a dreary two-day drive into an experience his young daughter will treasure all her life; Pete was an artist in the church's kitchen, making hashbrowns and "the best bacon ever!" for the Sunday breakfast; a student's questions prompted Susan to set aside plans and to improvise a lesson that went very well; having failed to finish a poem by Friday, Scott woke up Monday with an idea that completed the work; Christine has recovered from illness enough to create new crafts and puzzles for her mother's memory-care community.

[PHOTO: Susan's Nora enjoys ZfM her own way.]

Living Faithfully in Your World:
1st yr: Scott 2nd yr: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Marilyn.

Discussion of the Readings
Christine set up our first big theme with Sedgwick's discussion of individuality v. community, and Luther's contention that the community helps to form the individual. Ezekiel's emphasis on the moral responsibility of the individual is readily acceptable to us today, but he was an outlier at the time, introducing the idea that helped exiled Israelites to turn their national cult into the Jewish faith. Ephesians (whether or not it's by Paul) says much about individuals' responsibilities to care for each other in community, so that even those with greater wealth and power are "even" with those of lower status.

We also found a common theme when we considered what had moved us.

• Discussion of faith hope love – theological virtues – moved by Sedgwick’s grown up and in-depth definitions of these words – these work together
• Jeremiah's inability to refrain from riling up the authorities: "Fire shut up in my bones"
• Susan recalled the actual valley at Masada. Ezekiel is read aloud there by tour guide.
• Ezekiel unable to mourn his wife, his “delight”

Theological Reflection

We were all able to identify with the bad feelings in Nuno's story of being caught, ashamed, embarrassed, and yet thinking "I like this!" We objectified the story by imagining a child spotted hoarding cookies by a cafeteria worker. Their world is yummy, and they're successful, and they'll be able to share with friends; but they feel all those bad feelings at the moment of judgement -- or do they? Susan wondered if the child doesn't just project those feelings on a witness who doesn't care. We wondered what redemption might be, since they can't return all the cookies they've touched -- maybe pay for them? apologize? give them to the cafeteria worker saying "Thank you for your service"!?

Susan's idea made us think of a strong element in the gospels and epistles, including Ephesians: You're not under judgement unless you know it's wrong. Also, what's lawful may not be edifying. We did not mention the famous passage by Paul that's quoted in the RRG for week 23 - "I do the thing I hate."

Christine related this to an iconic bit of 80s culture, The Breakfast Club, a film in which teens of different subcultures in the school (jock, nerd, loner...) serve detention together and find redemption and community. "In a way," someone said, "we're all in detention -- a place where we can learn to identify with each other."

For insights, Nuno offered that we all behave differently when we feel we're being watched; Scott agreed, and wondered whether the feeling that God watches may be lacking when we do what we do not want to do. When Christine said, "Somehow it's different human to human," Scott asked her to theorize what the "somehow" is. She answered, "We are in God's image, we know we're children of God, and we look forward to the kingdom, but in our lives here and now, we don't think that way." Looking at all this from the angle of the person watching, Susan observed that we often watch and condemn others to feel better about ourselves.

Scott endeavored to bring all these ideas and the discussion of the reading together into a collect.

Collect for those in Detention
Darkness is not dark to you, O Lord, and you alone know a person's heart: help us to look on the differences and foibles of others with that same merciful understanding as we hope to have from you, that we may become a community that edifies each individual. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

For Next Week: Mardi Gras!
Christine will lead worship; Pete will find a story from his life when he had a dilemma, two choices equally valid. Remember, Pete, this is to be a decision made at some point in the past; we won't be told what the decision was until after our reflection: no spoilers!

Yr. A, Wk. 22: "Doing" Theology

Worship and Check-in
After the Lord's Prayer, we read the Beatitudes responsively. This week, the check-in question was embedded in worship, as we shared about people in our recent experience who deserved a blessing or needed one. We heard about empathetic customer service reps on the phone, dedicated medical professionals, a generous educator, a neighbor and a sister who both stepped up and stepped in to help us, and Joyce, a sweet woman who struggles with her dementia. We prayed for them all with a collect; at the end of the evening, we recited new beatitudes for these people.

Discussion of the Readings
We all read the essay "'Doing' Theology." Christine found it helpful that the essay included behaviors and emotions as ways of knowing God.

Many of us focused on certain words in this essay that get a different spin than we're used to. Scott was helped just to think of the word "theology" as God-knowing instead of the much drier God-study. Along the same lines, Susan highlighted the full meaning of credo, "I believe" with all my heart. Pete, too, was struck that the word "dogma" can be a comfort and assurance rather than the cudgel used by modern pharisees. Nuno was struck by the word habitus and the idea that good theology "inhabits you." When Marilyn read that theology "rings hollow" unless "illuminated by service," she was delighted to imagine literal "illumination."

Scott asked about the author's postulate that every generation has to find its own theology: If Scripture hasn't changed, why should theology? Nuno pointed out how theology must respond to changing circumstances with the example of the new framework for life created by digital spaces. Discussion followed.

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.

[PHOTO: In January, the school football team at Bethel Park PA cleared snow from over 100 homes. Scott lived in Bethel Park to age 7.]

Theological Reflection
We had all written answers to the last question in the essay about how we experience God. We found some common themes: experiencing God through closeness to others, through ordinary people we may only glimpse on the corner or behind the counter, and nature in its awesomeness and in its persistence. (I hope you'll all save what you wrote: these were beautiful.)

We chose to focus on a memory Christine had of waking early on a school day to see that her father had been shoveling snow, not only in their own steep driveway, but also on the sidewalk. As she watched, other neighbors joined in. Nuno observed that vertical driveway + horizontal sidewalk mirrored the cross and the commandments to love God and neighbor.

Exploring the world of the image, we saw coldness and burden, but also beauty and a drawing in of community. Sin in this set up would be staying indoors. Waking up to see the snow is like judgement, as you realize you've got to do something and you may already be too late. Redemption comes from ending isolation.

Harvesting manna in the wilderness is as close as we came to snow-shoveling in Scripture. But we saw the aptness of the psalm about faith as a "lamp for my feet, a light on my path." Of course, it occurs to me now, too late, that Isaiah prophesied "one crying out in the wilderness ... to make straight a path" for the Lord. We also compared the element of shared effort to the sharing of loaves and fishes among the 5000.

Our insights from this reflection centered on community, and on how this ordinary chore was in a way extraordinary. Susan spoke of "the sacredness of the ordinary."

Christine wrote this collect:

Collect for Work in CommunityHeavenly and gracious Father, as your gift of manna falling to the ground like the new fallen snow nourished the Hebrews, let us be reminded of the extraordinary emerging from the ordinary in our lives as we work together in community; living, loving, and caring for one another, tending to and collecting the fruits of our labor in our gardens and on our pathways so that together we may come to realize the fullness of being created in your image. All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

For Next Week
We're doing the readings for week 23, along with the "response" part at the end of the week's chapter in the RRG, where EfM asks us all to think of a time when there was a "gap" between our beliefs and our actions. Nuno volunteered to share his for a TR. Susan will lead worship.

Yr. A, Wks. 22-27: TR plan for Unit Four

Wk. 22 We all read the essay in the RRG and do the questions at the end. The last question is to write a page (we'll use just the space on that page of the book) about our beliefs... These we'll share and find a focus wide-angled style.

Wk. 23. At the end of the "respond" portion near the end of this chapter in the RRG, we're asked to think of one or more times when there was a "gap" between our actions and our beliefs. Do we have a volunteer who will share theirs?

Wk. 24. Think of a dilemma when you had two GOOD choices. Do we have a volunteer to share theirs? (Instructions for how to do this tricky kind of TR follow in the RRG, wk 24.)

Wk. 25. Read / review An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism and bring an image or collage of images that for you illustrates a portion of the catechism, or that challenges a concept you find there.

Wk. 26. Think of a story you might share about a strong experience during liturgy or worship, whether it was a positive experience or a negative one. Do we have a volunteer to share theirs?

Wk. 27. Everyone commit to "friending" or "unfriending" a psalm: search until one strikes you in a new way, positive or negative. We will select the focus for our TR from the psalms we share. You may get help finding a psalm from this Table of Psalms Grouped by Theme such as "God the Creator," "Morning," and "Transitoriness of Life," and several Christian themes.

Yr. A, Wks. 20 & 21: "Let our prayers like incense rise..."

Worship and Check-in
Because of illnesses, we've not had a full house in several weeks. After worship, Pete asked us to catch everyone up by describing our latest weekend. Pete celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary in Gatlinburg; from others, we heard about fluctuations in health, family and photographs long unseen, and a jazz pianist who played some sentimental favorites.

Discussion of the Readings
We shared some of our takeaways from readings in weeks 20 and 21.

The first year readings of Hosea, Amos, and the first Isaiah brought in the moral and ethical sense that had been largely missing from the histories of judges and kings. Speaking of Hosea as a kind of performance artist, Scott related the prophets' work to a book called Art + Faith. (His reflection is viewable here.)

The second year readings were about Paul’s letters. The Corinthians were “a pretty rough bunch” in Pete’s opinion, causing Paul to do some self-defense against the “super-apostles” who ridiculed Paul’s lack of refinement. The second letter skips around. “Was some of it not by Paul?” Marilyn was moved by beautiful passages and ideas. Her favorite may have been the idea that God doesn’t have to earn our trust: “trust comes first.” Powell’s commentary tries to be “neutral” on the disagreements out there about how and when Paul wrote these. This reminded Scott to point out that Powell's purpose is to survey the different approaches to these texts, not hermeneutics. Paul leaves it for us to draw lessons from scripture for our own lives.

For Susan, the highlight of the third year reading was an enjoyable deep dive into Byzantine architecture. She assured us that the history is a fascinating read, whatever we may have heard!

Fourth year reading in MacIntosh’s theology taught Christine that, despite our cultural orientation towards individualism, our personhood is developed within community. The trinity itself is an image of this.

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
For our TR, we simply responded to the photograph that Christine shared with us of a thurible left behind on a chair during the church's coffee hour. The different sources that go into any theological reflection showed up in our responses: We had experiences working as an altar boy in awe of this instrument, a choir singer choking on the smoke, a parishioner who loves the aroma that makes the occasion feel important, and admiration of an acolyte who swung the heavy censer with the applomb of a baton-twirler. Our positions on incense began with the observation that the sense of smell is said to be the strongest cue for memory, able to bring back feelings from distant childhood. It's an important part of our liturgy, which aims to involve all the senses. We related incense to what our culture calls "altered states." We responded to the aesthetics of the photograph, too, how the instrument on the plain chair was an image of divinity grounded in our world; how the antiquity of the object is part of its beauty and elevated importance; how it was a gift of love to the church.

The discussion kept producing ideas. When Pete made a couple of observations about how incense marks a time and place as "different," and how the presence of God is made present, there was a consensus that he'd tied everything together. Scott volunteered to compose a collect, which incorporates a quotation from Psalm 141.2:

Collect for Presence
Eternal and omnipresent God, clouds of incense long have marked your presence for your people: let our prayer like incense rise to you and fill our senses, that we'll remember you in all we do today; through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

For Next Week
We will read the essay that begins on page 130 in the RRG. Our TR will derive from what we write in response to question 3 on page 137. To help us to manage time, please write only what fits in the space on that page.

Scott will lead worship for Week 23, basing the liturgy on the Beatitudes. Our check-in question will be to write additional beatitudes: we will use these for our closing worship. Think how someone has blessed you lately, and how you want them to be blessed. Here's an example: I've recently had good experiences with customer service reps with the SSA and a brokerage, so, "Blessed are they who work in customer assistance with humor and sympathy, for they will receive laughter and gratitude from the formerly perplexed."

Yr. A, Wk. 19: Friends, Romans...lend Yee your ears

Worship and Check-in Before we began, Pete explained all the wrist bands that we saw enlarged when his forearm brushed close to his laptop's camera. These included an Apple watch, guitar string from Dave Matthews, and bands purchased to aid war buddies who lost limbs in their service.

Marilyn led us in worship, beginning with a recorded prayer from Scotland, and then a reading of several prayers for healing. She was thinking of our absent friends Christine and Nuno, along with a friend of hers recently diagnosed with cancer, and illnesses in Nuno's family. From her sickbed, Christine was able to hear Marilyn's prayer service via cell phone.

Living Faithfully in Your World:
1st yr: Scott 2nd yr: Marilyn, Pete, Nuno; 3rd yr, Susan; 4th yr, Christine. Mentors: Susan and Scott. Absent: Christine, Nuno.

Discussion of the Readings Pete appreciated reading about Romans from the perspective of history. Having learned to see Paul as a zealot, he has been surprised at the extent to which Paul is inclusive and flexible in his pursuit of many different agendas -- introducing himself to a new church far away, raising money for missions, comforting persecuted Christians, teaching doctrine. We shared appreciations of Paul.

Marilyn picked up on an attitude of gratitude, and she loved the idea that we see by faith, we have faith by seeing. She was amazed that Augustine was converted after reading two lines from Romans.

Scott's reading in Yee concerned books full of violence, some of it sanctioned by the Lord, and a lot of it lawless and gratuitous. The moral element is the teaching that this is what happens when people without a king follow their own desires instead of the Lord. Scott is still dubious about Yee and her collaborators identifying all brutality and domination with masculinity instead of, say, the fact that much of history has been made, and written by, and for, young men under age 30. "Their brains haven't even fully developed yet," observed Pete.

Scott also shared how a modern theologian uses the violence against the Canaanites in a metaphorical way to describe middle age. Established in career and family, you've reached the promised land -- but there are still these inner Canaanites that need to be identified and routed out. "Like Whack-a-Mole," Marilyn quipped.

Susan gave an overview about the Byzantine church and saved the rest for next week.

Lacking a quorum, we put off Christine's theological reflection for next week.

For Next Week [Two Weeks Combined for February 8] Due to illnesses in our families, we missed a week. We're doing the readings for weeks 20 and 21 in the RRG. Pete will lead worship. We will work with the TR Christine provided (Scott will share it on-screen).

Yr. A, Wk. 18: False Prophets? Pseudo Letters? Connecting Opposites?

Worship and Check-in Christine led worship. Christine's check-in question was, "How's your garden doing? (whatever your garden is)." We had some answers about actual gardens: one garden utterly neglected because "I don't do gardening," a grandfather's orchards cared for by the whole family, orchids nurtured in pots, and moss that stays green even in this cold, gray week. Our figurative gardeners have been tending old blog posts or marveling at their grown children.

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 Year 2 had a lot to say about Paul from reading two chapters in Powell:

Paul talks about Heaven, but he emphasizes that it’s here
• Paul and the Jews first, then to the Gentiles… a choice that gave him a chance to prepare himself for the arguments
• Paul believes we ARE the body of Christ, Christ’s way to fulfill his mission
• Paul had to battle preachers who preached for self-gain, and Paul said even they are okay so long as it’s the Word
• Paul is such an “Avenger” – is this all really him? Has it been embellished? [We read such an excerpt from Corinthians during Christine's worship]
• Once Jesus struck him, he was all out – travel, prison [“I myself don’t have that kind of passion” – so he’s inspiring]
• Paul’s life before the conversion, and then how he took that word and spread it (also like sowing seeds, a garden)
• Seems odd that Powell didn't make much of the name change
• Connection to MLK too: Letter from Birmingham Jail so relevant to today – re: wealth, denominations that all claim one truth -
• Paul’s plan so smart – choosing centers that will be launching for the word, and how he delegated

Books I and II Kings pick up this theme of prophets who deliver conflicting messages: How do you know what to believe? The only practical answer was to wait and see. MLK came up here, too: A law is not law that diminishes human dignity. Authenticity – how do we judge it? Consistency, life-supporting, selflessness. Kindness to each other is part of the language that God speaks.

We had a lot of reactions to the idea of "pseudopigrapha." Whether or not it’s by the person named, it’s something that someone experienced of God [and it resonated with our church community -- many such texts were rejected - Scott]. The idea of needing scientific certainty and definitions comes in around 17th century, and misses the beauty and the nuance of living selves and Jesus. Paul’s writings have weight whether or not he actually wrote the lines in his own hand. About Paul’s letters – ties into letters of the alphabet, Jesus not one jot will go away. Marilyn connected to the alphabet, too: "We are all a letter in the alphabet of God’s words, animals, too, all part of the living aspect of Jesus, Trinity, Holy Spirit."

Theological Reflection For our reflection, Marilyn brought images of piano keys juxtaposed with this poem:

Light and Dark…
Thin and Wide…
Tall and Short…
Sharp and Flat…
Quiet and Peaceful…
Loud and Frenetic…
Neighbors…
Individuals…
Individuals Together…
Expressive Creation…
Creative Expression…
Harmony and Discord…
A Unified Collective…
A Collection of Units…
Forever Related and Forever Apart…
Forever Connected and Forever a Part…

Then Marilyn shared a clip from A Star is Born, Sam Elliott's character explaining, “Music is essentially 12 notes between any octave. Twelve notes and the octave repeats. It’s the same story told over and over. All the artist can offer the world is how they see those 12 notes.”

The story behind the movie made us think of inspiration and addiction. We picked up on the theme of extreme opposites that go together only when we draw back to see "the big picture." Nuno figured out that the poem was Marilyn's own creation! Comments coalesced around the discovery that opposites' touching or connecting is an image for creativity.

We explored that image. Michaelangelo's Adam nearly touches fingers with his Creator. In an application of Xeno's paradox, we could imagine that no objects every really touch. Physicists have found more and more ways that all objects are interconnected, touching or not. In a world where creation requires connection of opposites, sin would be distance or avoidance, or just being static or fixed, like a carved idol. Redemption comes when things are shared, when the drabness of sin comes up against the brilliance of creativity.

Early in the discussion, Pete shared his personal experience of sharing in creativity through his wife's imaginative outlook.

We looked to our tradition for examples of creative near-connection and the sin of disconnection. God is separated from Adam and Eve when they hide... Saul is recreated as his opposite, Paul ... The Trinity --> John baptizes Jesus into connection with Heaven, earth with heaven... Jesus heals a man born blind....

Asked for insights and applications, we heard: In our picture of St. Paul, his "for me or against me" attitude is in the foreground, but in the background he's generously inclusive... When we do feel disconnected, the fact is different from the feeling... Doctors say, because addiction isolates you, the opposite of addiction is not sobriety but community -- and community is getting out of your own skin, both reaching out and being reached... How do you perceive that you belong?

Nuno had an idea that came too fast for me to capture. It started with that quote from the movie about 12 notes, "but there are patterns," he said, in us, and in time. He told a joyful anecdote of his little daughter's somehow connecting the dots of a printed song with the keys on the family piano. Whatever Nuno said next, someone else said, "You just tied everything together!" Since that's the main criterion for a good collect, we volunteered Nuno to write this:

Collect for HarmonyDear Heavenly Father, Composer of all Creation, in your mercy when our own lives are stuck on one note, help us to harmonize with others, drawing us out of ourselves and into the loving song of God’s people, your church. Amen

Nuno adds: As my mother-in-law is known to say: “There’s a place for everyone in the choir, but only some(He) know(s) how to play the piano”

For Next Week While we remember each other in our prayers, we especially lift up Marilyn and Christine this week. Marilyn will lead worship and provide a question for check-in. Christine will bring a source for our theological reflection.

Yr. A, Wk. 17: Samuel, Acts, Yoke & Cloak

Worship and Check-in Susan led us in the Northumbrian Community's evening prayer service. She took her question from a line in that service, was there a time in the past week when we had seen an example of "the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living?" Answers included a fortuitous decision not to attend in-person classes, a long lunch with art project, being witness to a greater acceptance and generosity of a community of homeless people, "clarity and focus and a state of calmness" from practicing morning devotions, and seeing beauty framed by one's window.

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

• Amazed – how different people get different things from the same words a la Pentecost and Lectio Divina, depending on whether the context is purely personal or shared within the community of believers ... the rich emotions as Samuel grieves following his stern rejection of King Saul... the power of St. Stephen's martyrdom to affect Saul of Tarsus / Paul, whose subsequent importance is amazing, considering that he did not interact with Jesus prior to the Resurrection
• Bothered - that the notion of supercessionism has been used to instigate anti-Semitism ... Powell’s questioning how “realistic” Acts is
• Delighted - Acts 2's “recipe for joy," i.e., devotion to the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, bread, prayer, awe, holy spirit a promise from God that allows us to see and hear ... Paul’s sermon about the Unknown God... Examples of conversation among centuries inside of the Samuel books... Trinity – working in us, and we are “word – bearers” to each other – like Moses and Paul... "Living words" related to the present season of Epiphany

Theological Reflection (TR) We used the "wide-angle lens" method of Theological Reflection (RRG 291), looking for an image or theme that emerged when we all shared thoughts and feelings from the week during our individual practice of lectio divina on Mt 11.28-30. We all related to the image of a heavy cloak that came to Pete when he meditated on the "yoke." We explored the image for physical sensations of warmth, but also heaviness and restriction; and for emotional responses of feeling protected. We thought of the placing of a cloak as a sign of love, perhaps a gift before a journey. Our tradition offers cloaks and coats given as sign of favor (Joseph) and of responsibility: Elisha initially is uneasy wearing the mantle of Elijah. In our culture, we thought of Red Riding Hood, Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility, and the ancient idea that our flesh is a garment that our soul wears.

We concluded with these insights: “A haven that goes with you” ... Prayer is like that coat that goes with you during the day ... Apostle’s creed is declarative of what you believe, like a cloak ... Putting something warm, protective over the elderly, the frail. Taking care of the widows, hungry, prisoners, the children… When it’s draped over a chair, it’s just a fabric; when you put it over someone’s shoulder it’s meaningful -- even at end of life, prep for a journey... Like Elijah or royals, a cloak sets you apart.

Pete accepted the mantle of collect-writer this week!

Oh heavenly Father, our Creator and Sustainer: we implore your assistance to cloak ourselves with the fabric of your good will, intention and direction so that we may, in turn, assist in guiding others toward your holy path. In the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.

For Next WeekChristine will lead worship; Marilyn will provide a source for a TR. We keep each other in our prayers, with special concern this week for Christine.