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We have spoken often this year of the old that is passing. We know that some way we have lived in the world is no longer working. Our last Pentecost reading from Mark ends with Jesus’s words: “The end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation; there will be earthquakes and famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”
Jesus is talking about the end times, which we all feel acutely these days, but the last image we are left with is pregnancy. The end of a pregnancy, and the beginning labor pains of delivery. The threshold of birth.
To read the Rev. Christine Marie’s full reflection, click “Read More.”
For me, one of the miracles of the past year has been Zoom services at St. Mary’s. Since the beginning of COVID, we have gathered nearly 200 times online, for Wednesday and Friday morning prayer, and evening prayer. (In addition, the Spanish Zoom service meets each week.)
At first, I was skeptical. Can people really feel the energy and presence of God and of other people on a computer screen?
Read Christine Marie’s full Listening Hearts reflection by clicking “Read More.”
Shortly after the fires East of Eugene began, I went for a walk in Amazon Park near my home. When I came home, I went to wash my hands, and saw in the mirror that my face and hair was dotted with small pieces of black ash. They were irregularly shaped. Just as each snowflake is unique, I noticed with a shock that so is each piece of ash. Suddenly I knew
Until recently, going to “church” has meant walking into our building at 13th and Pearl, and gathering with you, my beloved community. After several months of social isolation because of COVID, I began to suspect that church, as we knew it, was over. Now I am beginning to understand that church is not the building, but the beloved community. The people. You and me. In the past weeks, here are some of new ways I have experienced “church.”
“Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the world seek each other so that the world may come into being.” Teilhard de Chardin here points to the dynamics at play in spiritual community—our desire for God and for one another. Thich Nhat Hanh calls this “interbeing”: “We cannot just be by ourselves alone. We have to inter-be with every other thing.”
J. Richard Hackman, a Harvard professor who specialized in group organization, spoke about conflict in groups in the PBS series, This Emotional Life. He gave some surprising advice: Move towards conflict rather than away from it. He believed it was not possible to avoid conflict, and have nice, smooth, harmonious group interaction all the time. Even if it were possible, he did not think it desirable. “It is in the conflict that we really capture the differences of perspective that is the reason for having a group in the first place.”
My view is that in a society which tends automatically to rank people, leadership in a spiritual community can serve to level the playing ground. Leaders can lovingly call forward those who shrink back, and just as lovingly invite those who find it easy to put themselves forward to a stance of humble listening. We want to honor all as equal members of the body. “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy.” (1 Cor 12:26)
At the heart of everything I do is a desire for Presence. Presence to me means being utterly connected with what IS, with the larger reality, with Spirit, with God, the Divine, the Sacred. It means being completely present to each moment of life as it unfolds, letting go of my past perceptions, fears, and judgments, and being open to the vast and astonishing depth of the gift and lesson of this moment. With each moment, the gift and the lesson are new.
I began my ministry in small group development at St. Mary’s one year ago in December. This year of developing the framework for small group ministry has been one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences of my life, and many of you have been part of that. As any of you who have come to a small group training know, I like to end my groups by asking each person to share their highlights of the gathering. I thought at the end of 2018, I would share a few of the many highlights of my first year.
Listening deeply is a way of creating a container so that another person’s soul can grow in this way. When we listen prayerfully to another person, we create a positive container that provides safety and encouragement. The container provides the energy and love God wants each of us to have. Within this nourishing container, the soul can wake up, stretch, and fly. The soul can find its purpose and move towards action in the world.
