Coffee Hour Recipes for Sunday, April 5th

As we work to stay connected while keeping a physical distance during this COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, here is a coffee hour recipe you can try at home. This week, we are trying something a little different and combining our three recipes into one article. We have Banana Bars from Linda B, Hot Cross Buns from Kim D, and gluten-free Lemon Blossoms from Melissa P.

Anam Cara: Group Spiritual Direction at St. Mary’s

“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.”

The Practice of Showing Up

Summer has been a great time to practice sabbath, that gift of rest that God built into the very order of creation. Embracing summer as the practice of sabbath allows it to be a time of rejuvenation and renewal. The pace is a bit slower. School is out. Many take vacation. Some travel. I love summer, but there is a downside: I miss everyone! I am gone more, you are gone more.

Conflict in Spiritual Community

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.”

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night

I’ve never had a night job, never had the responsibility of being “on” in those quiet hours after midnight when most of the world is fast asleep. How fortunate the rest of us are that there are people willing and able to take on that responsibility. Every night there are people working, watching, and yes, weeping, while we sleep. Maybe we have been one of them at some point in time.

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Our Needle Arts Guild is such a good group! They get together every Thursday from 1 to 3 PM for knitting and community. Anyone can join them. One of the things they knit is prayer shawls and last week they blessed and gave a prayer shawl to a parishi
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Worship. Serve. Grow in Faith.