Thursday, September 25, 2008

Walking Together, Hearing the Holy

THIS WEEK AT FIRST PRES 9-25-08
Since the beginning of the year, the Session has been reading a book about various prayer practices by Daniel Wolpert. It’s a lovely book, accessible but not lacking in depth. This month our chapter was on 'walking prayer'.
Generally, we talk about what we have been reading, perhaps we share stories about how this practice has (or has not) been useful for us. This time, I invited them to actually engage in the practice we were discussing. I encouraged them to leave the table and our meeting room, and to go out into the semi-darkness to walk and pray.

I gave them 3 suggestions: they could let the buildings of the church campus guide their prayer, or I suggested they might want to pray for the neighborhood. Or, I said, they could concentrate on being present, and try to notice what it’s like for them to slow down and walk at a measured pace. (I also said that they could trust the Spirit, and do ‘none of the above’ if they wished.) I turned them loose for just over 10 minutes to walk silently.

When they came back, it was so lovely to hear their reflections, to listen to where they had been led and spoken to.

One of them, who is a hard-facts, bottom-line kind of guy, recalled taking his trash out the week before, and being stopped in his tracks by the incredible moon as it hung there in the sky, reminding him of the presence of the Holy.

One of them found herself thinking of all the saints whom she had known in this congregation who were no longer with us, the great cloud of witnesses encouraging us in our ministry.

One of them found herself praying for the neighborhood and its families- and one of them crossed the street before her, children jostling and giggling as happy children do, while grownups shepherded them safely to the other curb. She sensed God’s love for such families.

One of them began by wishing he felt more of God’s presence in prayer, but then remembered God is always present, and ended up praying for awareness- for his ability to recognize and respond to God’s presence.

One of them became aware that this place which is our spiritual home is a gift to the neighborhood just by being here, that our presence (and God’s presence among us) is a gift.

And one of them prayed for the people who lived in the houses across the street. Are we doing enough, he wondered, to invite them to join us? Have we walked across the street to ask them?

I was touched by how connected I felt to these people. We were out there alone, walking independently, not speaking to one another, yet it was clear to me that we were deeply connected as we listened together for the Voice that gives us life and gives meaning to our work as a Session.

Words of beauty and of reassurance, reminders of our heritage and our call.
Words of comfort and of challenge and of discovery.
It was a powerful gift to recognize the voice of God speaking to each of us differently,
And to all of us as a community.

Surely God is in this place.
Holy Ground.

See you on Sunday~

Sandy

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Wholeness and Holiness and Healing

There was such a sense of sacred space, such a sense of hope and belonging as we gathered in the chapel. Twenty five of us came for our quarterly healing service. It was easy to sense God’s Spirit in our midst.


It is a tender thing to acknowledge our vulnerability.

It is powerful to recognize God’s intention and ability to heal.

It is a sweet privilege to claim that promise and to pray for one another.


Some of us were there for the first time.

Others are regulars, who love this service.


One by one, those who wish prayers for healing come to one of the stations.

The things that are offered up for prayer are so powerful-

A woman who welcomed her first great-grandchild today asked us to pray for peace in the world.

A woman who has had her share of medical intervention these last 2 years is facing yet another surgery- we prayed with tears.

An elder prayed that we as a congregation would know how to gather around and support one who is critically ill.

A strong and vigorous man facing troubling symptoms and no clear diagnosis asked us to pray for his healing.

And on it went- a litany of beauty, courage, truth, pain, and hope.

And we held each request up, and sensed the presence of the Spirit encouraging us all.


And we sang, and sang, holding one another in the prayerful music, drawing strength from Carol’s beautiful playing and our voices united.


We marked all who wished with the sign of the cross, anointing with oil as a sign of healing and gladness.

One of our number, who had never been baptized as a child, received the sacrament, and was marked as Christ's own forever.


At the end of the service, as I looked out at this small, gathered community, each one looked as if they had been in the Presence of the Holy One. It felt as if we were truly Community- One body in Christ as scripture says it. I wished they could see themselves, radiant and peaceful.


And I felt a wave of gladness and gratitude that I make my home in this place with these people- where such holiness and healing can be found and shared.


We were the Church tonight.

Thanks be to God.

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Power of Presence

Where did I notice the presence of God this week?
I went to the doctor Monday, and my friend went with me.

Going to the doctor, especially if you are worried, is an invitation to know your own vulnerability and frailty, an invitation to realize how small you are. Though I look like a Great Big Grownup, it never fails to make me miss my mom, gone 20 years this fall. It never fails to make me feel small and afraid.

We all have experiences like this- part of what it means to be human and live in an imperfect world. If we're lucky, someone will Accompany us.

My friend drove and parked in the maze of strange streets and lots, she helped navigate the hallways and the questions, listened to answers and possibilities. She steadied me and encouraged me.
All week I've been thinking about what an experience of Grace that was, of how it was, in a concrete way, the presence of Christ.

This is a primary task of Christian community: to Accompany one another. To remind each other by our presence that we are not, in fact, alone. To walk together the roads to Emmaus and the Cross and the next village, just as the disciples did, knowing that Christ is present wherever 2 or 3 of us are gathered in his name.

This church knows something about that: One member spent this week with a friend hundreds of miles away, to be present for her surgery and recovery. Others of you, I know, have made visits and made meatloaf, have brought flowers and brought soup. You have showed up to pray, you have sent the card, you have served as a 12-step sponsor. But you have also sat down to coffee and listened and cared when there was no medical issue. You've helped someone be strong, hang in there, know Grace. You know the power of this, I think.

Our world is starving for this kind of grace. Our culture is full of isolated folks who need a sense of hope and holiness that only Presence can provide. Some of them don't know how to ask. How can we do this?

We do this as a community at our quarterly services for Healing and Wholeness (Thursday, Sept 18, 5:30 pm, chapel) In those intimate gatherings, all who come are accompanied, we are present to one another. We pray by surrounding each other with singing the extended, beautiful chants. We acknowledge our need for healing in body and spirit. We make space for God's Spirit ot come and stand alongside us. Always, it is a gift.

What are things that make you afraid, or make you feel alone?
Who has Accompanied you? Was it easy or difficult for you to let them?
Is there anyone you are being invited to accompany, anyone to whom you are called to be Present this week?

Let us be a community of people who help each other who accompany one another, for surely we will meet the Holy One on the way.

Love to you-
Sandy

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Some Trees, a Parade, an Anniversary

Into this imperfect world, sadness comes as a matter of course. The sadness has come these last several days around trees. This campus is green and shady, a spot of growth and beauty in a somewhat dilapidated neighborhood. But our trees, it turns out, are as vulnerable as we are. A couple of the liquidambar in the front parking lot looked unhappy, and so we sent for a tree expert, who pronounced that a couple of them have “bacterial leaf scorch” and that there is no way to save them. Liquidambar are vulnerable to this, it seems, and we have been lucky so far… but we need to think about removing and replacing a couple of trees- and it makes me sad. I was further saddened when our Gardening Service guy pointed out that the birch that overhangs my parking space was half dead. He pointed it out to Mimi as asked if he should trim it- and it looks dreadful and desperate, a lonely white trunk with no leaves. And finally, Alfonso showed me with pride how he had ‘pruned’ the peach tree outside the offices- to prevent peaches falling on the sidewalk and causing a hazard. His intention was good, and his ‘can-do’ spirit is evident, but I am horrified at the state of this poor old tree- and have told him that under no circumstances is he to trim any other trees without approval of Stewardship.

It makes me realize how much I love these green and sheltering friends, these reminders of Creation amid this urban landscape. And I am saddened at the loss. It seems to me this area of our life needs caretakers, stewards, a couple of people who CARE about such things and who care in a different way than someone whose job it is to keep the place tidy, or someone who mows the grass each week. The beauty of this place is part of it hospitality, something we share with everyone who lives in the neighborhood or visits the property or even drives by. Caring for our corner of creation is an important ministry. Anyone feel a call to this?

Spent time this week preparing instructions for our Processional/Parade on Kickoff Sunday (which is this Sunday, the 7th) where we symbolically ‘come home’ from all our vacations and travels and summer wanderings, and begin a new year of growing together as learners and teachers. It has been fun to imagine and to do, fun to think about the color and music and symbols and kids that will help us experience God’s presence with us in a brand new year.

It reminds me that only a year ago we were launching this 2-hour Sunday format for the first time, so that adults could have education classes, so that children could learn to worship as well as to read bible stories and do crafts, and so that those who teach children would not have to miss worship as a consequence of their faithfulness. I am struck by how far we have come- how many interesting classes and conversations have taken place for adults, how many times I’ve been thunderstruck by the number and warmth of the kids who come scampering down the aisle for Time With the Children, how gently and flexibly we have adjusted as a community. We have all had to make changes, and no one likes change, but in the main we have been kind to one another, and we have tried some new things. This speaks to me of the strength of this community, and of the Spirits ability to make us able to do more than we are capable of on our own.
I am grateful for the Nurture Committee, some of whom have worked tirelessly to make this happen, and for their sense of mission and their positive spirit.
I am thankful to all the adults who have tried something new, and have taken the time to tell me of a conversation that was meaningful, a person they have come to love & admire, or a new idea that they received as a gift.
I am grateful for parents who have done the hard work of bringing kids into worship and sitting with them, and
I am so PROUD of the many kids who can sing the liturgical music by heart, and who are getting pretty good at some hymns, and who brighten the gift we offer to God each week by their presence and wholeheartedness and beauty.
It was fun to be reminded of all these things, and to be prompted to give thanks.
Hope you have something to give thanks for as well this week.
See you Sunday,
Sandy