Yr. D, Wk. 30: Vocation and the All-Night Store

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At 4am Tuesday, I was thinking about us and our happy memories of pre-dawn car trips to all-night establishments like convenience stores, Waffle House, and Krispy Kreme. Our TR took off from Christian Wiman's popular poem "I Don't Want to be a Spice Store." He wanted to be like a convenience store, always open, offering the necessities, receptive.

We all shared memories of the sounds, smells, and feelings of stepping into and out of such establishments. All that fluorescent light, all that activity, and the contrast when we stepped outside, with stars and the moon, sounds of birds and insects, and all the things we DON'T hear at that hour -- like leaf-blowers and traffic. Early though it may be, Daniel said, there's a special energy in gathering at such a place at such a time.

Photo of the original Waffle House, opened in Avondale, GA 1955. It's now a museum. Scott passes it during his usual Saturday bike ride.

We had imagined CREATION: the world of the 4am store is bright, maybe humming, and comforting. SIN was the intrusion of noisy teenagers, but we saw how it's also their perception of dour old people disapproving of them. When Lanie said REDEMPTION might be buying breakfast for a teenager, Scott remembered doing exactly that for a high school senior who had been a difficult 8th grader. The young man was alone at a Waffle House following a midnight mass -- his family had broken up, and only he had attended. The young man hadn't noticed that Waffle House (back then) did not accept credit cards.

During our TR discussion, the most surprising thing to me was the association of this shared early-morning experience with Jesus calling in the pre-dawn darkness to his friends, "Come eat breakfast." Every Eucharist is this.

Update: Daniel and I participated in an evening prayer service at which we recited the Third Song of Isaiah: "[Jerusalem's] doors will always be open, day or night they will never be shut... nations will stream to your light... you will not need the sun by day or the moon by night..."

We thought about maybe taking an EfM road trip to a Waffle House in South Carolina some morning soon, around 2am

Worship and Gathering
Daniel had collected prayers and blessings relating to the theme of this last unit, vocation. He said later that he wanted to emphasize the idea that vocation can be comprised of personal gifts.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 5 Vocation: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: Jessica, Donfred.

First, we looked back on Charleston's vision quest book. Daniel had been skeptical but ended up appreciating the different perspective. He saw how Charleston had needed to integrate his identity as Native American with his identity as Christian. Daniel, for himself, has not felt that need. Before reading Charleston, with his emphasis on the Messiah in community, Lanie had not appreciated how alone Jesus is at the end. The emotion hit her hard when she was reading the part of Jesus at the service Good Friday.

About vocation, we explored Daniel's idea about vocation as gifts or talents, like a talent for recognizing what someone else needs. These gifts stand apart from the training and proper roles that our church emphasizes. Susan pointed out that the person Daniel had cited as his example also has a long background in the church with a lot of training: "there's a structure" to the vocation, she said, and Daniel understood.

Joyce identified with the author's phrase "a vocation to love," and said that she prefers to stay in the background. Lanie, too: "I'm not Diana Ross, I'm a Supreme."

Scott appreciated the paragraph about Job's friends. They gave Job packaged answers at a time when their vocation was simply to listen and join him in questioning his condition. That's a wise approach to remember in similar situations.

Scott and Joyce both appreciated the idea that "beauty" is itself a "call" (two words related in Greek), and Simone Weil's "four loves" that draw us: nature, art, sacrament, and friendship.

For Monday:
We're doing the readings for week 31. Scott recommended that we all look carefully at the RRG's assignments, or we may read more than we have to and get bogged down. Susan reminded me to assign Worship and a TR, but I didn't listen. So I'll be contacting a couple of you to arrange for those.

LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT YEAR: EfM New Products gives us a peek at the books and VIDEOS we'll have, all different except for Powell in 2nd year. Also, we learn that the four-year program is now "EfM Classic," with new options for one-year and six-week programs. More detail, better explanation at Episcopal News Service

Also, we have a new rector at St. James who wrote for Forward Day by Day back in 2020. Back then, I responded to her insights with particular enthusiasm. Joyce and Donfred, you'll especially appreciate what she says about James, since you're reading James this week. In our TR this week, we were all thinking of food, and so does she, often. Here's a link to the article: Comfort Food in Forward DxD Nov. 20 - Jan. 21.

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Monday of Holy Week

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Dear friends,

Holy Week came late in my first year at an Episcopal Church. Until I had experienced a service for each night of Jesus's last week of earthly life, I didn't "get" the power of our prayer book's seasons and cycles of readings. The liturgy makes us participants in the story, not hearers only.

To give us all the time to attend Holy Week services tonight, we're taking this evening off. I hope that you can join in Holy Week services tonight and all week.

When we meet on Monday April 21st, please bring your VISION QUEST book with you, along with responses and questions. We'd like to hear from those who missed the discussions, and at least a couple of us feel we have more to say about Charleston's approach to Scripture.

-Blessings, Scott

PS - Have you been aware of what the Forward Movement offers? Go to ForwardMovement.org to have the daily scriptures read aloud to you (I listen while I'm walking Brandy), to find daily meditations on the scriptures, and, during Lent, to read up about the saints and vote for the ones you like in friendly "Lent Madness" competition. (In the screenshot below, I believe that's St. Philip between MJ and Kobe)

Yr. D, Wk. 29: Native Messiah Dies for Our Blessing

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Worship and Gathering
We dove into discussion of Charleston's book even before we'd all arrived. Lanie brought a Choctaw necklace and Seminole doll for show and tell, prized objects. Susan's worship was a prayer by Charleston, and her closing was Charleston's admission that he frequently laughs when he prays. (see the end of this posting)

Susan asked what made us laugh this past week? Well, we had squishy mammogram anecdote, two dogs clowning around, and a specialty shop in NYC that was floor-to-ceiling sardines (canned, of course).

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

Discussion of the Readings
This week, we found in Charleston much more that we could buy into. Jessica liked thinking of John the Baptist as a "clown," sort of the bad cop to Jesus's good cop. Joyce agreed, and she told us of a TV series that comported well with Charleston's descriptions, including a clown figure who, as Charleston said, goes opposite to what's expected. (On the TV show, he rides a horse backwards.)

Lanie raised up the story of the Hopi Indians and how they stood to their principles no matter what. Their discovery of the interconnectedness of all things, and their conviction that they themselves were responsible for preserving that interconnectedness, were worth suffering and dying for. Scott and Susan each shared about rituals of the Aztecs and the Mayans, who believed that one misstep in the ritual dance could jeopardize the balance of the world.

Jessica and Scott both felt that the book came together for them in the part that Charleston called "The Garden" (i.e., Gethsemane) where "The Native Messiah," abandoned by his sleepy apostles, accepts that it's "a good day to die." This relates to those Hopis, and to the "Sun Dance." (Joyce saw that, too, on that TV series. She had to look away.) Scott appreciated Charleston's spin on one of the ways that Christians have explained the Cross -- as God's punishment of Jesus for the sins of Adam and Eve's descendants (a view long challenged by theologians -- see Charleston, p. 137). For Charleston, the "Native Messiah" died, not for a punishment, but for a blessing. Jesus at Gethsemane lamented the violence we did (and do), yet accepted death and came back to us, still loving: that's "good medicine" for the world.

We acknowledged the injustices inflicted upon Native Nations. We had not realized how the carvings on Mt. Rushmore insult tribes for whom the Black Hills are sacred. Scott recalled a document that he used to teach the Trail of Tears to middle school students. In an official report, an army officer tries to believe that he is doing a good thing as he describes the suffering of the people he forcibly marched hundreds of miles away from their homes. He justifies the action by saying "everyone knows" how hateful and violent the natives are, but then he admits that he saw little hatred from them. All the violence and hatred he observes is from the whites who attack the line.

How do we relate what we see in Charleston's descriptions of Native American faith to our own? Joyce: Their faith is what kept them going, same as us. Lanie: Those so-called Christians who attacked the Native American communities didn't have a grasp of what Jesus went through. Susan: Charleston's reinterpretation of Christianity through Native American eyes makes the message of Christianity universal in a way that Europeans' traditional expressions do not.

Another theme that we discussed was the importance of community to the Native American nations. The vision quest idea is about individuality within the context of community, very different from "individualism" in the tradition of Andrew Jackson.

No TR this week -- with Jessica leaving early to rest up for a demanding early morning event, we didn't have a quorum. But we did have this from Steven Charleston, thanks to Susan:

Sometimes I laugh when I pray. I hope you do too.

So often prayer is such a serious business
With so many deep needs and heartfelt petitions
But there are those moments, those rare and happy times
When the thanksgivings start to flow
Like a mountain stream rushing over rocks
Life running through sunlight.

And I cannot help but smile
Smile at the beauty of it all, smile at grace so abundant.
May the Spirit give you reason to laugh today.
May your prayers turn to delight.
May your thanks be said with a smile.
May your life run through sunlight
Prayer and laughter the same.

Joyce read this with evident delight!

We get April 14 off for Holy Monday services. Stay tuned: we may also take off April 21, as Scott is involved with another movie, lah-di-dah.

When we do return, we will be discussing RRG p. 166ff., "Discerning Vocation." One of its intriguing ideas is that "beauty" is a "call" as much as the voice of angels.

Daniel is up next on the "wheel of worship." Scott will save his TR for then.

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Yr. D, Wk. 28: Visions and other Peak Experiences

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Worship and Gathering
Donfred led worship, assigning each of us a prayer with a different focus -- gratitude, fasting, forgiveness, peace, patience, wisdom. These are things we all struggle with!

Donfred's gathering question got multiple responses from several of us: "What's something you used to do for fun, and now you can't?" As sometimes happens, each idea reminded others of something in their own lives. Play soccer... jump for hours with an ankle toy called "Skip it"... wander around in home and neighborhood... climb trees... lie around reading... jump off the swing at its highest point.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 4 Integrating Belief, Behavior, and Doctrine: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: None.

Discussion of the Readings
Scott posed a gathering question to open our minds to the notion of a "vision quest" : Have you ever had a vision, awake or dreaming, that seemed to be telling you something you needed to hear? Again, we started slow, but answers snowballed as we heard each other. We also saw how these visions/dreams came from thoughts and feelings that had been percolating in the backgrounds of our lives.

We also wondered why EfM chose to have us read this book? What is the purpose of viewing Christ's story through the lens of another culture? Jessica: there's beauty in the marriage of his two backgrounds. Lanie: hard to accept that Jesus would need a quest to tell him who he was. Susan: impressive analysis of true "vision quest" vs. the commercialized V.Q. appropriated by popular culture. Daniel: Mysticism, whether in Native American experience or Medieval Christianity, "is not my thing."

Still, we did come up with a list of reasons to give this book a chance.

• Perspective on how other cultures see OUR faith
• Parallels between ancient tribes of Israel and ancient tribes of America; parallels between oppression of Jews by Rome and of Natives by the US
• Reassurance for those of us who DO hear voices / have visions
• concept that both Hebrew and Native "covenants" stand in similar relationship to the Christian testament
• connection to reconciliation of races after centuries of strife (in relation to our first interlude book)

Next week, we will have read Charleston's chapters about Jesus. We will see what he finds in scripture to support his idea that Jesus, too, had things to discover about himself.

Theological Reflection
Lanie brought a photo she took of her grown son and his best friend about eight years before her son passed. The photo had popped up on Facebook recently. We remarked elements of the photo: the young man's pointing to the sky, the steepness of the drop in the dirt path ahead, the distant view where we can see the clearing of trees where the same dirt path continues over the horizon.

But the greatest energy arose in the picture's context. Jessica said that what stood out to her wasn't the picture but the memory of the feeling. Lanie, riding in the back seat of an open-air Jeep with "the boys" in front had been giggling all day. They had no way of knowing that this was a peak experience, that a series of painful ordeals and losses lay just ahead in their lives.

Lanie expressed thoughts and feelings that were in her head at the time, summed up as, "All three of us were carefree for that moment." She opened up the rest of us to recall times in our lives when we felt that way. Joyce remembered when Gene surprised her with a visit to Biltmore after 18 years of hearing her say that she wanted to see it; Donfred remembered a couple of weeks after 9/11 how he and his brother got away from NYC for a carefree visit to Canada.

(Note: These anecdotes come from the action source of our lives, as distinct form tradition, culture and position.)

We asked theological perspective questions. The world of "the peak experience" is created with beauty, as the inspiration from nature clears the mind. Joyce remarked on the closeness of God who, knowing what's ahead, gives us the gift of this one special day.

Sin or brokenness in this world would be to take it for granted, to not be thankful, to not see God in it. Another response would be to try to take control of it -- that is, to inhibit the experience because of shyness, or propriety, or concerns about expense or time wasted.

Judgment or awareness of sin would manifest in fear -- "We're going to get pulled over!" or "We might get hurt!"

Redemption or reconciliation is in the preciousness of this memory, in reflecting on it as we are doing right now, and in resolving to embrace such moments when they come to us again.

Where in our tradition do we see a moment like this? To this day, we remember (and re-enact) a peak moment of intimacy and friendship with Jesus when his disciples did not understand that it was to be their last supper with him. Moses was literally on a mountain in his encounter with God, unaware that below, trouble was brewing and the gold for an idol was boiling. The gospels were written by the glow of memory that recaptures the promise of Jesus's time on earth, always with the shadow of his death, and the glory of resurrection.

We offered a couple of cultural icons: a photo of Princess Diana touring Disneyland with her two boys, and the Titanic. doubly famous for sinking when it was thought to be unsinkable, in 1912, just two years before the Great War. "In the summer of 1914," Churchill remembered, "we thought that war could never come. By Christmas, we couldn't imagine how war would ever end."

Insights? Sometimes it's what happens after an event that gives it significance and beauty. An example was Pearl Harbor, a lovely and comfortable place to be before the attack.

Daniel offered a collect for the day's honoree, John Donne. Scott voluntold Daniel to write a collect, because "you're a boy, and you know about hiking to high places." Here it is:

Collect after the Mountaintop

Almighty Father, You stand with us at the mountaintop, protecting our joy and watching for the valleys up ahead. Guide us beyond our brokenness to these moments you have prepared for us, without fear or hesitation of the path taken to the summit. And when we have descended from the mountain, preserve in us the memory of bliss in your presence. Protect us as we walk the wearying way of lonely trails until we scale the mountain into your arms once again. All these things we ask in the name of our Great Shepherd on the Trail, your Son Jesus. Amen

For Monday:
We complete the reading of Charleston's book. ALSO read the RRG, pp. 162-164 -- we will discuss the questions the RRG asks of us. Susan leads worship, Scott brings a source for the TR.

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Yr. D, Wk. 27: Psalms and a Contemplative Spot

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Worship and Gathering
Jessica sent us worship by email, though she could not be with us. It led naturally to a gathering question that was also a starting place for discussion: What Psalm affects you strongly?

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

Discussion of the Readings

As we compared psalms we liked, Lanie was able to identify the genres and the formal elements of each one. [I'm in a hurry to type this before I go to NYC with Susan, so I'm skimping on details.]

Theological Reflection
Donfred's photo was intriguing: we see a silhouetted figure at the end of a pier sticking far into a mountain lake. We were all interested in what lay around the corner. Susan was fascinated by the importance of the human figure and its ambiguousness: male? female? good mood, bad mood? Without that shape, we'd hardly know which side was "up" in this symmetrical picture.

Donfred gave a context that complicated the picture: For him, it was associated with a friend who suffered severe depression.

Our discussion led us to relate contemplation, creativity, and prayer -- as if these made a circle -- and we saw the need for a "center." A diagram to show that will be our "application" this week. [Scott, still, is typing in a hurry before a trip to NYC.]

For Monday:
For March 31, it's Donfred's turn to bring worship. Lanie said she would bring the TR, or at least, she would TR-Y! We are all reading the introduction and first 4 chapters of Charleston's book The Four Vision Quests of Jesus.

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Yr. D, Wk.26: Journeys to Strange Lands

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Worship and Gathering
For worship, Scott gave everyone a line from The General Thanksgiving. After we thanked the Lord for putting us to tasks and achievements that delight us, Scott asked about tasks in our lives these days that we delight in. The challenging student who needs a lot of support is also very rewarding... Learning the church communications job so well that she trained her successor... learning how to attract viewers to the video on the church's hall monitor... learning how to be a youth minister while being a shy young man... watching the cat and making art... surviving the death of a husband is a delight... experiencing the prayer "I will trust in Thee" during recent storms.

Yr. D, Living Into the Journey with God, Unit 4 Integrating Belief, Behavior, and Doctrine: 1st yr: Lanie, Daniel; 2nd yr: Donfred, Joyce, Susan; 3rd yr, Jessica; 4th yr, Scott. Mentor: Scott. Absent: None. Daniel had to leave after worship.

Discussion of the Readings
Scott posed the situations found in each of the years' readings, one at a time, asking everyone to imagine what thoughts and feelings must have been part of the experiences.

1. Are the returnees to Jerusalem from Babylon actually missing the luxuries of the foreign city? Do the ones who were left behind resent the returnees? What do the younger generations feel, since they've known only Babylon? While the upper class lived in Babylon, had those left behind in Jerusalem experienced a rise in social status, now under threat? (YES - and they had taken property left behind.)
2. Members of the churches that Paul had founded must feel doubts, because they weren't raised this way... and they feel unsupported. They were used to hearing what they wanted to hear, and yet Paul says new things as he says, "Listen to the Lord." With controversies swirling over doctrine and practice, we wonder what exactly those controversies were, but Paul is vague. After his statements about "in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, man or woman...," his commands suppressing women were / are a slap in the face. (We discussed theories to account for the inconsistency.) In this context, the letter to Philemon about Onesimus is refreshing.
3. The natives experienced horrors under the conquerors who taught peace, Jessica said. Her chapter was "ugly and awful." Lanie saw an echo of Solomon's story: In 1 Kings, Solomon enslaves Jews and the sojourners in Israel. In Chronicles, the author downplays any slavery of Jews. Lanie also discerned in Ezra and Nehemia an emphasis on purity of the line.

Theological Reflection
Joyce brought us her late husband's photograph of his motorcycle, taken during one of his summer-long solo trips, this one to Alaska. We also heard stories, especially the one about the bear! He said he was "living hard." Joyce said he went places other people only talked about.

When we looked at thoughts and feelings in the world of "journey alone," we came up with a long list of things left behind, including Gene's gun. He got to keep his Jack Daniels.

Theological perspective questions:

• Creation: a world of anticipation, plans and planning for the unexpected, a world of self-confidence
• Sin: running out of gas... bear... consistent bad weather... fire... sickness or hurt... falling asleep
• Redemption: Improvisation! Find a friend...

We found connections. Action (personal experience) Donfred remembers the journey from NY to GA. Lanie traveled the length of California in a red convertible, and she still goes walking (and singing!) to herself. Tradition Jesus goes 40 days in the wilderness, Moses spends 40 days on the mountain, Abraham travels far from his birthplace and property. Culture in Oz, Dorothy starts alone but picks up friends. There's the Outward Bound program.

Insights The journey may wander, but it has a goal -- not aimless... God is riding with you... God protects you from the bear (but maybe he's also with the Bear?)... Self-sufficiency is fine, but you still need help. It's okay to accept help... Good planning is our friend.

For Monday:
Jessica worship; Donfred TR. Y1 does Psalms and Song of Songs; Y2 is in Hebrews; Y3 is post-Reformation (I think).

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Yr. D, Wk. 25: Loving the Stinky

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Worship and Gathering

Lanie's worship came from Psalm 4. So much of it seems contemporary! Lanie's mother especially loved verse 8, "I lie down in peace."

Lanie asked us about our favorite teachers. There was a lot of energy around our answers, and many apologies to the good teachers we didn't get to name. There was the teacher who taught Lanie Sunday school in lower grades and English in the upper grades, "my rock," Lanie said... the 8th grade English teacher who re-invigorated Jessica's love of reading... the culinary arts teacher who taught Daniel four years in high school, and a shout out to Grandma... Susan's art teacher Jill and Scott's music composition teacher James Sclater both encourage what's good without dwelling on what's not.

This all tied in with our TR from last week that was inspired by looking at St. Paul's teaching style. Scott read the collect he wrote to wrap up last week's blog. (Tap the ←)

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

Discussion of the Readings

First: Jessica and Susan, you were so-o-o right about Bernini's statue of the "ecstasy of St. Teresa." I won't reproduce it here, as this is a family blog. Jessica was also interested in John of the Cross and his "Dark Night of the Soul." Later, she told about the "back and forth" of theology, each swing accompanied by burnings at the stake and literal witch hunts.

Speaking of first year, Daniel appreciated the approach to these writings for use in ministry, to acknowledge that the prophets' literary techniques generate sympathy, and that's okay, even if you have second thoughts about how the prophets' imagery has been used to validate misogyny and violence. Daniel said, "I'm okay with that tension." Lanie leans away from the critiques and tries to read the works for the messages that their authors intended.

Susan read what may be the earliest piece of the Christian testament, I Thessalonians. Paul is dealing with great anxieties of believers who wonder if their dead loved ones will miss the raising of the dead... or if, indeed, it has already happened. There were other believers who quit working, as the world would end any day.

Scott asked how he should have replied to the 7th grade boy incensed when a poet used "She" to refer to God: "Everyone knows God is a boy!" he said. Daniel thought that trying to "fit God into the box of gender" would be to impose a limit on your knowledge of God. Susan picked up on something Lanie said about how the writings are so ancient: yes, and the idea of a warrior god making life with the earth mother goddess is nearly universal in ancient mythology -- so what might disturb us was not disturbing to them. Daniel added that disturbing images are attention - grabbers.

Scott also picked up on Lanie's observation about how long we've lived with these stories: long enough that the stories have shaped arts, and thought, and the way countless generations have been taught to see the world. So, when we read the scriptures -- edited, re-organized, with writers responding to writers of earlier generations, we're not just getting the story of God's people, but we're also getting the story of the story.

Theological Reflection
After the break, we took Lanie's suggestion, to base our TR on Rembrandt's portrayal of the Prodigal Son. While we speculated about the figure standing at the right and the shadowy figures behind, our strongest reactions came in focus on the "grodiness" of the son -- his shaved head, drab and gory rags, lacerated dirty foot -- and the father's intimacy -- two hands on the fouled back, leaning into that dirty body, letting the son bury his face in him, and the father's sad, perhaps tearful, face. Lanie admitted with a laugh that a lot of parenting is "stinky." We all bought in, with tales of pet poop and tots' diapers -- and also with experiences of caring for elderly parents. It was gross; it was funny.

Daniel reminded us that we have all been the gross stinky one, desperate for help from the adult who looms large. We all have had to take care of ourselves.

Theological perspective questions had us thinking that CREATION is always messy. Thinking about brokenness or SIN broadened our discussion to consider the homeless, to ask, "Who can help them?" We all bought in: Lanie drives past people on their ways to MUST ministries every Sunday, pushing carts and bikes: "Something is really wrong with that." What does REDEMPTION look like? "If I can't be the one who helps," Susan said, "then I should support the ones who do."

CONNECTING to other scriptures and to culture, Susan observed that the USA has aided populations in need all around the globe, at least before now. Lanie used the Good Samaritan parable to remind us that "love thy neighbor" extends beyond the people in our immediate vicinity. Letters from Paul solicited aid for churches far away.

INSIGHTS: We're all in a cycle of being comforter and comforted, from infancy on.

APPLICATIONS included Scott's citation of meditations from Forward Day by Day about how Jesus enlisted the crowd in helping the annoying blind man: "Bring him to me." Jesus asked another needy person, "What is your name?" The point is, it's essential to give these people their dignity before you presume to take care of them.

Jessica reminded us that Jesus was criticized for spending so much of his time with the marginalized people of his place and time. Lanie remembered St. Hugh of Lincoln who held the towels that his mother used to clean lepers.

Jessica volunteered to write a collect for these thoughts:

A Prayer for Messy Grace
Loving Father,
You welcome us in our brokenness, our filth, and our need. Like the prodigal son, we come before You weary, wounded, and desperate for Your embrace. Thank You for leaning into our mess, for placing Your hands upon our soiled backs, and for letting us bury our faces in Your mercy. Lord, we confess that life is messy—creation itself is messy. Sin has left its mark on us and on the world around us. We see it in the faces of the homeless, in the struggles of the sick, in the forgotten and the outcast. Stir our hearts to ask, "Who can help them?" and give us the courage to answer, "Here I am, Lord. Send me." And when we cannot go, remind us that we can still support those who do. We ask these things in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For Monday:
We're doing the readings assigned for Week 26. For year 1, those are the so-called "writings," and Scott recommends that Collins's chapters on Chronicles and Ezra/Nehemiah are indispensable in understanding the scrambled scriptures. Year 2 gets "The Pastoral Letters" named for Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Jessica's looking at "A Worldwide Faith." Scott leads worship, and Joyce is still on for a TR!

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