Saturday, October 27, 2007

Community with Aquaintances

One thought led to another & it occurred to me just now that in the 5-6 years I've been at Gethsemane, I've never been in the home of anyone from the congregation and no one from the congregation has been in my home (nor have I invited them to be). In fact, in terms of anything that "counts," I can't recall that I've ever done anything with anybody from church outside the walls of the church.

I have some good conversations at church. I have some personal conversations at church. I have some good connections with certain people at church. And yes, a community does include acquaintances. But I think it should also include people with whom one has closer or more developed relationships than I have at Gethsemane at this point. I wonder if its just me, or if lots of us are in the same boat.

I've had experiences, in a couple other churches, where there were very specific efforts to establish community that, though entirely well intended, and in some cases with very good results, I've had some tensions with. There have been times in my life when community was not what I was seeking through church, and not what I wanted to be pushed into at church. I think for where I was at in my life at those points that was fine. I assume others are at that point at some times too and I'm fine with that. Even at times when I was quite open to building relationships and community, some of the programmed efforts to establish it rubbed me the wrong way. Though programs may be needed to facilitate community, I think true community is organic more than programmed. When I don't feel this is adequately recognized and accounted for I bristle.

That said, nearly 6 years at Gethsemane without more development of relationships seems to be out of balance. What's up with this? In part I know. My social life has been in sorry state pretty much the whole time since I've had kids, if not longer. My sense of openness or flexibility to schedule any number of things that I might have in the past has gone by the wayside. My work schedules have been outside the mainstream norm for a large part of the last 9 years. In addition to these & other factors on my side, I don't think we've made a point to create as many opportunities at Gethsemane as some churches do.

What would happen if I could manage to make a point to create some opportunities, either formal & programmed or informal & personal? Would people have the inclination to respond? Would people have space in their lives to respond? I hope so. I know there is a lot to be gained in many ways on many levels. And selfishly (to be honest, of course this better reflects my felt motivation) sometimes I get very busy & very full of all kinds of stuff (ideas, excitement, questions, issues....) that grows out of working on children's & family ministry and out of parenting and I feel too alone with it.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Diverse Events with Overlapping Themes

A lot of things I've been exposed to lately seem to fit together.

Planning for All Saints Day at church got me thinking about things passed on generation to generation - all kinds of things in all kinds of time frames.

I found wonderful books on the theme at the library (more on them another time hopefully). Some highlight how as things are passed on they both stay the same and change.

That reminds me of the Speaking of Faith podcast Aron's post prompted me to listen to, and the ways scripture and tradition are both the same and different as we continue to interact with them.

I went to a presentation by Marie Olofsdotter and students at my kids' school. Olofsdotter has recently been an artist in residence there. She read Sofia and the Heart Mender. There were several exciting connections I experienced during the event - some highlighted the theme above, one in a personal way. Another came from her book which I want to read again thinking about themes related to the immanence of God that have been on my mind because of the discussion of "The God We Never Knew" in the Gethsemane Book Group.

I also caught a snatch of a Radio Lab broadcast about memory. They claimed that when we remember something, we're not remembering the original event, but remembering the last time we remembered it, recreating the memory and reinterpreting for the present time. Fascinating implications for this whole idea of things being passed on generation to generation.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Music I Love

Two rather different examples of music that inclines me to external stillness and internal reflection of a meditative nature.
  • The Irish Brigade's tunes. (Play the reels on this site.) The tunes are wonderful in themselves and juxtaposed with war ballads and other songs with lyrics, those songs just become all the more powerful. Check the schedule at The Half Time Rec for a chance to hear the live version.
  • Busy organ music. If the postlude at church isn't enough, try listening to Pipe Dreams.
My tastes run much wider than this, but these have recently been in my ear and on my mind.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Movie: For The Bible Tells Me So

Do you know about this one? For The Bible Tells Me So is at the Lagoon through Oct 18.

It's a documentary having to do with Christianity, scripture and sexual identity. Stories told by members of 5 families, including Bishop Gene Robinson and others in his family, make up the bulk of the film.

I saw if Friday. I recommend seeing it. There's more worth being said about it. Hopefully I can get to that. For now I at least wanted to say this much since the opportunity to see it appears limited.

Book Discussion: The God We Never Knew

If you've found your way here, but not to the Gethsemane Book Group, check it out. We're discussing topics from "The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith" by Marcus Borg.

I've read the book & had trouble getting through some of it efficiently because I was so busy underlining and making notes and then getting lost in thought stemming from what I was reading. You know that feeling of finding something in writing that resonates with your views in a particularly rewarding or refreshing way? You know that other feeling of reading something that puts pieces together in a way you never thought of before and the little ah-ha light bulb goes on? Those are the kinds of experiences that made me so interested in this book.

If you only know Borg by reputation, I'd recommend checking his writing out for yourself. (And if you pick this book to do it with, don't misread the word panentheism and promptly end your exploration because you thought he said pantheism.)