Yr. D, Wk. 19: Learning to Welcome the Other

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Worship and Gathering
For January 27, a day in honor of St. John Chrysostom, Scott brought a little history of the Bishop of Constantinople who was exiled for preaching against the luxury and callousness of the powerful in his congregation, and we recited his famous prayer. January 27 is also international Holocaust Remembrance Day, and we concluded with a prayer produced cooperatively by Jews and the Church of England.

The gathering question came from the examen of Loyola, a form of evening worship: "When you review this day or this week, what do you recall with gratitude?" The rector eased our worries about the future rector... the courage and love of a mother at the celebration of life for her late son... a work schedule reformed to allow more quality time with the children... the synergy of art teacher and students... and a beautiful sunrise that called to mind When morning gilds the skies / My heart within me cries / May Jesus Christ be praised. (Lanie's photo, below)

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Donfred, Joyce.

Discussion of the Readings
Year One read in Yee's book an essay about the Deuteronomical History (DH), and we addressed a question from the RRG, "How do you respond to the violence towards women in these books?" Lanie observed that violence to men was also a part of the historical record. Daniel agreed that these stories are both "historical" and "rhetorical," using foreign women to "other" the gentiles. The DH was assembled during the ancient Babylonian captivity using texts even more ancient to keep the Jewish identity alive. As we shall see in Year One, these books are in dialogue with prophetic books that open God's plan up to the Gentiles.

That makes a neat segue to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Susan's takeaway from Powell was that Paul is complex. Any hard and fast statement about him and his teachings must deal with these facts: He wrote over 30 years' time, during which his thinking evolved with experience; the authorship of some letters circulated under his name is dubious; he was writing to appeal to different audiences, so he uses different metaphors to explain what faith in Jesus means. Powell provides a list of ten different metaphors from Romans alone. More recent scholarship about Paul sees him not as for faith over works per se, but as against ethnic Jewish privilege over others who didn't practice the works demanded by Jewish law.

Susan offered an interesting perspective from Messianic Jews who were among the students she taught at KSU.

Susan also relayed an affirmation from a professor of classical studies: Paul was definitely a Roman citizen. Romans were very picky about that, and Paul's escorted journey to Rome can be explained only if he had the proper ID.

Jessica was fascinated by the fact that icons and images, forbidden as foreign idols in the early church, became central to worship in the years around 1000 CE.

Theological Reflection
Because we were missing two, and Jessica had to rest early, we put off the TR another week.

We prayed for Joyce, Donfred, and Jessica, too.

For Monday:
Daniel will miss next week, so it's Scott's turn again to bring a TR; Jessica will do worship.

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Yr. D, Wk. 18: Kings, Paul's letters, and Surrendering to the Light

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Worship and Gathering
Lanie integrated her own photos spanning sunset to midnight (mostly on the Mediterranean late last year) with prayers for the close of day.

Her gathering question was about three items on our "bucket lists." Susan's was mundane, yet daunting: cleaning house. Scott's was to finish works left undone: an opera called City on a Hill, a choral concerto based on the Nicene Creed, and a series of murder mysteries for the H.O.A. to solve. Others wanted to travel: Joyce and Lanie want to cruise Alaska, Donfred wants to tour central Africa, Jess wants to travel to Ireland, New Zealand, and Italy. We began to plan an EfM field trip. If Lanie's in charge, it will include a drive to Montana and a tour of Scotland. Jessica had one other item: to establish a pet rescue center.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 3 Sustaining Spirituality : 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Daniel.

Discussion of the Readings
Reading the overview of Paul’s letters, our Y2 readers were interested in the technology of letter-writing back in the day. Donfred told how rough drafts were made on clay that could be smoothed over and re-written; Joyce told how ink was a mixture of dark powders (charcoal, soot) with natural gums such as sap from trees, so it stuck. Susan told how it was expected that disciples of a teacher would sign his name to writings of their own, not to fool anyone, but in a good faith effort to represent what the teacher would write.

Joyce relayed what Lanie had told her in a breakout session: that 1 and 2 Kings were full of parallel stories; that prophets were organized in schools that served largely as cheerleaders for kings, and how the lone prophets who talked back to the kings stand out: Elijah, Elisha, and Micaiah. Lanie observed that the temple seemed to be a place for sacrifice but not what we would think of as church. She’s right, and that’s why Collins (and Rabbi Heschel whom we’ll read one day) say that it was the DESTRUCTION of the temple at the end of 2 Kings that transformed Judaism from a local nationalistic ritual to a world-wide faith that inhabits a temple “of the imagination.” The scriptures that Y1 is reading were put together during that time after the destruction of the temple – their aim being to preserve the stories on which the faith is built.

After Jessica's disappointment in the church intrigues and crimes of the 12th century last week, she was delighted to read about the light of faith shining forth among saints in holy communities during the same time. Theological debates of today started then. St. Francis was described amusingly as a playboy son of millionaire who lived Jessica’s secret dream to start a pet rescue.

A common statement that Powell quoted provoked some thought: Christianity is the creation of Paul, not Jesus. Joyce and Lanie said that can't be right, because Paul was "an ambassador" for Christ, speaking of Christ always. That's true. It's also true that Paul in his letters shaped the beliefs and practices of churches that he planted, and churches for all time. Beyond collecting twelve apostles to go out into the world, Jesus himself was not involved in organizing people or their beliefs. People who did not share the beliefs of his Jewish disciples but who had faith in him got cured and praise. So Powell, by quoting the common idea about Paul, is not denigrating Jesus, only saying something like "apples and oranges," one embodied the faith, the other organized believers to embody the faith.

With comments on something Jessica said, Donfred found the secret square. He wins 7 volt battery-powered heated socks.

Theological Reflection

After break, we took some time to examine the examen outlined on page 117 of the RRG -- a practice that, in keeping with this unit's theme, can "sustain spirituality."

Scott brought a painting, Conversion on the way to Damascus, imagining the incident that marked Saul the Jewish Pharisee's change to Paul the Christian missionary to the Gentiles, by 17th century artist Caravaggio. Subbing for Daniel at the last moment, Scott chose this because of its tie-in to our year's overarching theme of "the journey."

We found our focus in the open arms of Saul/Paul on his back, welcoming surrender.

Considering some of the theological perspectives, we saw this picture as the Judgment, an "ah-ha" moment in Saul's life when Jesus asked, "Why do you persecute me?" Sin in this world would be Saul's denying the vision, crawling away and pretending it never happened, holding on to his reputation as a respected persecutor of Christians.

Looking at the action source, we wondered whether any of us have also "welcomed surrender?" Jessica spoke about being in contentious sessions with Vestry: "Once the group has made its decision, there's relief to say, I've given it to God." Lanie concurred, with reference to the Search Committee. Susan could relate to surrender in her decision to retire.

Joyce brought up an analog from the culture source, When Harry Met Sally. Digressions followed, relating to diners and "I'll have what she's having."

For Insights, we agreed that the painting of a young man, armored in colorful and shiny garb, eyes closed, arms welcoming, body vulnerable to the horse's hooves, we agreed that the painting "humanizes" Paul, making him young, cocky, and humiliated. Jessica sees that, when you fight for one position over another, you have to trust in the result. We could identify with this question: "You have my attention. What do I do now?" Scott, looking at the sword and helmet discarded on the ground in Caravaggio's painting, wondered, "What are my helmet, sword, and armor that keep me from surrendering to God's will?" All agreed, the need to control is the shield.

Susan countered that surrender is not always the appropriate response.

In chat, Scott asked us about thoughts and prayers regarding "welcoming surrender."

• For the members of our church to lean into the call of being the hands and feet of Christ. Getting more people to be more active – not standard 20% of people doing 80% of the work.
• A part of surrendering is learning to be content and trusting where we are, knowing that even in those times the Lord is moving on our behalf.
• prayers for peace
• Lord, i'm hearing messages that I don't like about things I need to give up for my health -- help me to relax my grip on my sword and shield

Joyce volunteered to collect all these threads into one prayer:

Collect for SurrenderYes, Lord! We all have had or will have a Damascus moment in our life. My prayer for us all is that we will be like Paul, putting up our hands in total surrender to You. Giving You all our cares (1 Peter 5:7) and taking up our cross (Luke 9:23) to follow You in perfect peace and contentment wherever we are in life. In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!!

For Monday:
We do the readings in the RRG for week 19. We try the examen on p. 117. Scott will bring worship; Daniel will bring the TR.

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Yr. D, Wk. 17: Saints and Sinners Defying Gravity

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Worship and Gathering
Daniel put together a worship service with prayers well-matched to what we read and who we are, with a prayer from the Y1 readings in Samuel, a prayer for leisure for the retired professor, and an excerpt from Psalms. He concluded with an Epiphany blessing.

For a gathering question, he asked about something we did Friday morning that we don't usually do. (Heavy snowfall began around 6am Friday in Marietta.) We variously flipped off the alarm, slept late, recuperated in bed from a medical procedure, and walked in the snowy tracks of some neighborhood Big Foot whose strides were 20-to-30 inches wider than Scott's.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Donfred missed the first 45 minutes.

Discussion of the Readings
An overall theme emerged after Jessica expressed outrage over the venality and hypocrisy of leaders in the medieval church. Forget the spiritual excuse for clerical celibacy: it was just a way to keep sons from inheriting church lands. The church monetized sin -- and still does, Jessica said, telling of a Catholic friend who paid to be re-admitted to the church after a divorce. Jessica was appalled by the violence and hatred of so-called Christians slaughtering Muslims during the Crusades.

But Jessica acknowledged that beautiful things were happening in the church within that same time frame, including the glorious expressions of faith and light in Gothic architecture, and the life of her church's name sake, St. Teresa.

So the theme that emerged was something about two tracks, one up, one down: yes, there was ego, self-interest, violence and what Lanie politely called "hanky-panky," but also glorious advances in what our unit is about, "developing a sustaining spirituality."

Daniel allowed David and the apostles grace to grow as they go. "David's misdeeds do not separate him from God's love." Listening to Susan talking about the apostles, he thought, "they may be rag-tag" and dense, but they figure it out as they go along, and grow.

Figuring out as you go along is the theme of this year in EfM!

Joyce was especially taken by the story of Roman soldier Cornelius, and how he and Peter, cultural enemies, were drawn together by God.

Lanie won the prize this week, a $99.99 chili kit delivered to her door. She can invite to dinner her skeptical friend who thinks that Episcopalians sacrifice cats.

Theological Reflection
Scott, considering how often The Wizard of Oz pops up in our TRs, brought a song from the musical Wicked, the backstory to the movie. In the song "Defying Gravity," Elphaba the green-skinned witch invites her friend Glinda to join her against the fake wizard. Though Glinda respectfully declines to go against the popular ruler, Elphaba "puts herself out there" to oppose the oppression of animals in Oz.

So here's a totally secular song from a secular show that's a huge Broadway hit and even more successful in movie theatres. How does this song in this show "go" with our tradition and our theology?

We quickly focused on Elphaba's sense of purpose that motivated her risk to show leadership (Donfred's term) in opposition to oppression.

We explored some theological categories, seeing the Creation in this musical as a world of consequences, a world where most people prefer to live within existing boundaries, where change has to be, as Daniel said, "incremental." (We thought of reactions to small changes in liturgy. Scott reminded us that MLK faced opposition from Black pastors who thought that change should be "incremental" -- like the Pharisees, they wanted to separate themselves from the oppressive culture of the Romans -- not on option for Jesus, wrote Thurman.)

We felt that judgment is the moment of recognition that you have to step out, put yourself forward, to oppose sin.

Redemption, if it is to come, will be when others follow you. Whether or not they do, you're involved.

Susan related this to William James, "The Will to Believe." Performing the action makes the belief into truth, James said.

Looking for experiences in the "Action" source, we heard from Joyce about leading others around a Post Office truck blocking the right lane; and we heard her story about a shy employee (Joyce) who met her rude boss's abuse with kindness, and won the boss's apology.

We easily connected this to Scripture. We did not think of the most obvious New Testament story about Satan tempting Jesus to defy gravity from the highest point of the temple. But Donfred thought of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt; we thought of Martin Luther King, Jr., taking a risk to his life every day, confronting injustice while others dithered about "going too far... going too fast." Scott pointed out that Thurman discussed how Jesus did this in his time, as MLK did in our time.

We voiced many insights as we tried to put together a prayer. Joyce was "voluntold" to complete the prayer for us. Here it is:

Dear God our Heavenly Father, You encourage us to go out into the world, to be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless) as doves; To love our neighbors as ourselves; and to know that in You we live, and move, and have our being. So, everyday enable us to grow in our trust, help us to become more and more familiar with Your voice because You can only use us to the degree that we trust and to what our faith expects. Grow us Lord; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
References from Matthew 10:6, Mark 12:30, and Acts 17:28

For Monday:
We do the readings assigned for Week 18. Please do examine the "examen" in the "Response" section on p. 117. Try it at least one evening this week: this is one of the respected practices of our church that helps to "sustain" us in our journeys! Joyce is working on a collect from Wk 17; Daniel will bring us a TR from one of the four source (tradition, action, culture, position). Worship will be provided by Lanie.

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Yr. D, Wk. 16: Spirituality in metaphors of Dust, Tides, and Journey

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Worship and Gathering
We arranged to meet at 7:30. That allowed Daniel, Lanie, and Scott to attend St. James's evening service for the start of Epiphany. Scott and Lanie brought their laptops to Zoom in from the church, but Daniel somehow got home and logged on in time.

Susan brought worship from the Northumbrian community. She asked us about any New Year's resolutions. We were unanimous: none.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 3 Developing a Sustaining Spirituality: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Jessica, Donfred.

Discussion of the Readings
We all read an essay built on some excerpts from Beloved Dust: Tides of the Spirit in Christian Life by retired Rev. Dr. Robert Davis Hughes III, co-founder of EfM, whose final classes as EfM mentor trainees included Susan and Scott.

Daniel remarked on the first part of the essay. The author draws on modern physics, sociology, and psychology to show how our understanding of the universe, our world, and ourselves has outgrown the simpler up-and-down heaven-and-hell cosmology that we see in the Bible. While Daniel acknowledges the differences in understanding, he was struck by continuity between old ways and new ways. Susan added that the short synopses of ancient thought didn't do justice to the variety of ancient cosmologies, and the short synopses of Hughes probably didn't do justice to his work, either.

Scott appreciated the tides metaphor because it helps to envision how we can experience both advance and what Hughes calls "slack" at the same time. Lanie had utilized that metaphor memorably in a chapter of her spiritual autobiography.

While Lanie and Joyce both told us that the reading was difficult, each brought out something that interested them. For Lanie, it was her surprise to learn that the word for the Holy Spirit is feminine, which could support a gender-fluid view of God in the Trinity. Or not: gendered nouns aren't all that significant, as, for instance, everyone's hands in French are masculine, while everyone's heads are feminine.

Joyce saw a connection between "centering prayer," which she practices, and the Jesus prayer listed with habits that can help us to sustain spirituality. These will be covered at the ends of RRG chapters during this unit, where the RRG asks us all to "respond."

Theological Reflection
None this week.

For Monday:
Daniel leads worship. Scott will bring a source for a TR. We're all reading what's assigned to our years in the RRG for wk. 17. Notes in the RRG about Samuel and about Acts are particularly helpful this week, and so are the readings by Collins and Powell. It looks like Jessica will have fun discovering that certain traditions of Roman Catholics -- Purgatory, marriage, priestly celibacy, and the Pope -- were actually late developments, not bedrock.

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Yr. D, Wk. 15: Thurman on Fear, Hatred, and Love

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Worship and Gathering
Joyce assembled a beautiful set of prayers for us. Unfortunately, one of us was out sick, another was at a Vestry meeting, and another was stuck at work. I hope we can use her prayers again so that we can all appreciate them.

Joyce's gathering question was about an outstanding Christmas memory. Among our answers: a general preference for austere Advent v. the "stuffness" of Christmas... how Santa called to find out which doll a young girl wanted... how older siblings shielded the youngest from learning too early about Santa... sneaking in before dawn to see the Christmas presents under the tree... parents' perfect gift of a tome of classic comic Buck Rogers of the 25th Century.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 2 Theological Reflection: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Daniel, Jessica, Donfred.

Discussion of the Readings

Susan was IMPRESSED how Thurman analyzes all the emotions in the back-and-forth between powerful and weak. Susan recalls that he says every person is an individual but also a person in a social context. In the interplay of individuals with their broader culture, people are not locked into just one role.

[So, depending on the context, we're all "strong" sometimes and "weak" sometimes. We took a moment to look at the diagram at the back of the RRG that shows two entry points into our faith: from a strong position, the entry point is the Cross, one's awareness of sin and their need to atone; from the weak position, the entry point is the Resurrection, one's empowerment by understanding of God's love for them.]

Joyce said FEAR has a time and place, e.g. Thurman in India keeping a light at bedside for fear of snakes. Fear ensures physical existence… (so it’s necessary). Fear in a social situation leads you to keep your head down. Joyce picks up the story of the Syrophoenician woman whose comeback to Jesus regarding dogs and crumbs under the table seems to have taken Jesus by surprise. Can God be surprised? Joyce says Jesus was a man, too.

Lanie asked what “disinherited” means, besides being cut out of someone's will. She thought of the Declaration of Independence, how all are "endowed by their Creator" with the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The "disinherited" are those cut off from that heritage. She connected Thurman's book to what we discussed from Yee's book -- as women in Scriptures are so often "disinherited."

Joyce attested to the suffering of people who are made to feel that they aren’t able to be loved, that their feelings don’t matter. Her father kept his daughters so close to home, to protect them. Less so, his son: story of her brother coming home and saying to Mom: “They really don’t like us.” Her parents instilled sense of their worth.

By attaching one of her comments to another's, Joyce won the Jonas Brothers to sing from their Christmas album at her next holiday party. You really can book them, or Stevie Wonder, or others -- who knew? (Joyce admits that she has never heard the Jonas Brothers.)

Theological Reflection
Instead of a group TR, we followed instructions for a TR on a provocative word. It was Joyce's idea not to follow the RRG's suggestion, but to focus on a word she chose, "Hate." The results of her thinking are reflected in the discussion.

Following Joyce's lead, Scott went through all the steps in the RRG, focused on the provocative word "fear." The RRG asked when he'd felt fear, what he'd feared, and who was involved, Scott thought how he dreaded confrontations with a charismatic male student in a middle school drama class. Other students followed the boy's lead, or they kept their heads down, requiring Scott to be on high alert at all times to quell misbehaviors and to keep their attention. Connecting to our tradition source, Psalm 55 was a pretty good expression of how Scott remembers feeling. The boy's talent was a positive. For an image of what the situation was like, Scott remembered plating orders in a restaurant during the dinner rush hour, literally juggling pans to get different dishes out to the servers at exactly the same time.

• Creation in the world of the restaurant, is a table where customers enjoy the dishes they ordered, hot and delicious.
• Sin is chaos in the kitchen, orders stacking up, tempers flaring.
• Judgment is the dropped plate, the dish returned because it was served cold, and servers desperate to have the right order, right now.
• What could bring Redemption to this scenario? Joyce suggested getting the help you need from fellow kitchen staff or the chef -- turning a horror show into a team effort. Speaking about Scott's metaphor but also about the original Drama class drama, Joyce said, "Forgive yourself."

Scott thought redemption could be seeing the comedy in it (like Lucy and Ethel in the candy factory).

Susan says that the TR is a social activity that needs others' perspectives. Scott agrees: his solo TR was a good place to start, but the perspectives from Susan, Lanie, and Joyce were what brought him some peace thinking back on that painful experience of "fear."

For our next meeting in two weeks on Monday, January 6:
We'll start class late at 7:30, to allow time for an Epiphany service at St. James. We're reading Wk 16, start of Unit 3 in the RRG, an essay called "Developing a Sustaining Spirituality." We won't do a TR. Susan will bring worship and a gathering question -- knowing that some of us may be late because we're worshiping at church.

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Yr. D, Wk. 14: Jesus shows the Disinherited how to survive oppression

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Worship and Gathering
Donfred brought collects that tied in with themes from the reading. Before he arrived, we shared thanksgivings from the week past - for the opportunity to help an old friend feeling depressed... surviving traffic all the way to North Carolina... the ability to buy Christmas for others in the larger community... the art teacher who is connecting multiple generations through art... the joy of teaching wonderful crazy children.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 1 Spiritual Autobiography and Listening: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Lanie at last Nominating Committee meeting.

Discussion of the Readings
Susan started us off, "Delighted" that Thurman "anchors broader claims in his personal experience," e.g. the story of his grandmother who doesn’t like Paul (with good reason!).

Joyce (I think - I left the name out) was also delighted, as Thurman brought up memories of others who lived what Thurman teaches:

• Malcolm X – I’ll fight you back. (His shock at seeing Mecca – came back to USA reevaluating his own positions)
• Rosa Parks – had been going along until one day… was among others who “kept their heads down.” Donfred brought up Medgar Evers.

In other histories: tensions, do we assert our independence, or do we try to assimilate…? WEB Dubois v. Booker T Washington

The experiences of many middle school students would resonate with the daily ill-defined fear of Jewish men under Roman occupation and Black men under white domination. School came up when Joyce took inspiration from p 42 – a man is never great in general but in particular… (example of the scientist who didn’t know much about history and politics). Scott told how his #1 aim as a teacher was to help students discover their particular greatness.

Jessica cited the story of the Korean girl who was asked to give her idea of the education system, but used her time to say “Free Korea from Japan!” Reminded Jessica of a celebrity who said, "Jesus died for us publicly so why should we be private in our worship?" Thurman brings it back to Kingdom of Heaven is in Us!

Near the end of our discussion, Jessica raised a quotation that Scott had double-starred, on p. 18. While he acknowledges the spiritual/eternal otherworldly component of salvation, it's not the whole story.

The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this Jewish teacher and thinker appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed.

So it's very ironic that a religion formed from his teaching has been used "sometimes" as an "instrument of oppression."

Piggy-backing on Jessica's comment, Daniel said, "When you say we’re saved and we’re with Jesus – and then you abuse them – it's more than a tension, it’s absurd."

That comment, next to Jessica's, put Daniel in the upper-left hand corner of the grid, where he landed on the secret square. It may be a warmer winter than usual in GA this year, but he can still have a white Christmas with his new $3000 snow generator!

Theological Reflection
When we thought about what our cellphones mean to us, we soon discovered a push-pull dynamic. As Donfred said, the device is a useful tool, neutral in itself, that informs us, guides us when we drive (Joyce especially!), and keeps up communication with people far and near; but it also distracts, annoys, distresses, and miscommunicates. (Daniel told of a hurt friend who had read "ok" as "ok, whatever," when Daniel meant "ok, great!") We pictured a person being pulled different directions by others with urgent demands for their time and attention.

We had a hard time sticking with the "pulling" image and kept returning to the cell phone. It helped when someone pointed out that the tugging isn't necessarily good v. bad, but one urgent need v. another urgent need. Then we wondered what could redeem the situation of a person being pulled two ways.

Joyce brought the discussion to a surprising conclusion. Take time, she said, just stop -- but don't avoid! In her imagining of it, this tension had led to prayer. She said, to bring wholeness to the situation, you need for the two opposing forces to be pulled together, so you're all walking the same way. She thought of Jesus, the still, grounded center who refused to join in hating the Romans and their collaborators, but also refused to accept Roman domination -- or any domination. In this way, Joyce rounded our evening by bringing the TR back to Thurman.

When we re-applied what we'd learned from the tug-of-war image to the original cell phone tension, we agreed that a good approach to cell phone distraction was to "take time, turn off" and engage on a human individual level (as Jesus engaged with the centurion and tax collector Matthew).

For Monday:
We all read the remainder of Thurman, and then we're all going to go through the steps of a Theological Reflection on the word "Disinherited," following instructions on pp. 91-92 in the RRG. We will share what emerged from our thinking. Joyce will bring worship and a gathering question. We expect everyone to be together again for the first time in a while!

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Yr. D, Wk. 13: The Gospel of John and the Philosophy of Plato

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Worship and Gathering
Because Donfred was stuck at work, Scott shared a litany of Thanksgiving from the prayer book. "That's my favorite," Joyce said.

PHOTO: In Advent, we're encouraged to notice signs of God's presence in the world. The sight of golden gingko leaves falling like snow flurries took Scott by surprise on his way into St. James Wednesday morning. By Thursday, the trees and sidewalk were bare. He was in the right place at exactly the right time to see this beautiful sight.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 2 Theological Reflection: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Lanie, Daniel, Donfred.

Discussion of the Readings
Jessica read most of a chapter on Latin Christendom and New Frontiers to 1000CE and was struck by how fragile the church was at that time. Fractioned by the Aryan controversy. If the Aryan church had won, the Roman church would have disappeared. The Roman church was saved by Theoderic the Barbarian, who proclaimed himself Bishop and preserved the use of Latin in the church. Boethius ranslated Plato and Aristotle from Greek to Latin, allowing Christian scholars to discover resonances. For instance, Plato teaches that we are the shadow of the ideals in the Platonic universe, a teaching compatible with Hebrews, for instance, where the earthly temple is a "shadow" of the heavenly one where Christ presides. The philosophers who had been disdained for their ignorance of Christ were becoming worthy of respect.

Joyce was excited by the Gospel of John. Joyce loves John because it’s all Jesus talking… how much he loved us, why he came to save us… “It is going to better for the people of Nineveh than for you!” Joyce cited the story of the man who can’t get to the water… the man who carries his pallet and walks, and the Pharisees angered because it’s on the Sabbath. Jesus in John talks mostly about his own self, his relation to God -- “I am” statements.

Susan remarked how beautifully John is written, provided context from Powell. John is a bridge to the idea of the incarnation, how the Word existed before the world was made. Seeds for the doctrine of the Trinity are all in John. [Since John was written late in the first century, perhaps the gospel is picking up on seeds of Trinity already planted in the epistles? - Scott, just wondering]

Theological Reflection
Lacking a quorum, we adjourned to do a TR next week.

For Monday:
We're all reading the first half of Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman, MLK Jr's mentor. Don't skip Thurman's foreword! Donfred will lead worship; Scott will bring a source for TR.

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