Anchor: A Safe and Sacred Community (I’m still search for
a good image or symbol) Keys? for unlicking and keeping things safe
Frames: Creating Community
Fasting/Feasting
Vulnerability
Marking
Time
Pilgrimage
Thread: Song “Welcome”?
Welcome (Let’s Walk Together)
Laurie Zelman/Mark A. Miller
Verse 1
Let’s walk together for a while and ask where we begin
To build a world where love can grow and hope can enter in,
To be the hands of healing and to plant the seeds of
peace,
Chorus 1
Singing welcome, welcome to this place.
You’re invited to come and know God’s grace.
All are welcome the love of God to share
‘cause all of us are welcome here;
all are welcome in this place.
Verse 2
Let’s talk together of a time when we will share a feast,
Where pride and power kneel to serve the lonely and the
least,
And joy will set the table as we join our hands to pray,
Chorus 2
Singing welcome,…
Verse 3
Let’s dream together of the day when earth and heaven are
one,
A city built of love and light, the new Jerusalem,
Where our mourning turns to dancing, ev’ry creature lifts
its voice!
Chorus 3
Crying welcome!...
A Safe and Sacred Community
The
heart of the Urban Abbey is a safe and sacred community. Safe in all its
facets: physically safe, safe from abuse, safe from judgment, safe to grow and
explore and experiment. Sacred is both simple and impossible. Sacred community
allows us to experience the Holy, the Mystery, directly and immediately, even
in the most mundane and/or profane of moments. This series will explore the
nexus of safe and sacred.
There
are a number of practices that are being rediscovered as valuable in both the
safe and sacred aspects of developing community. Some of these spiritual
practices help attune our physical beings to the presence of the Mystery,
others help us to mark our time and place with intervals of intention.
Fasting/feasting celebrates our physicality and focus on both our need for food
and the great joy of being fed. Prayer (especially the kind of prayer that
calls us to stop during the day, formally called the daily Office) and Sabbath
taking offer a way of regulating our time and orienting toward more than
ourselves. Finally, pilgrim invites us to get out of our comfort zones, to
travel to sacred space and be changed by the journey. Whether or not we
physically travel to Jerusalem or Iona, or make a virtual journey, pilgrimage takes
us to holy ground.
How
do we create a safe community? Do we agree on the meaning of safe? How do we
create a sacred community? How do we know when we have touched the sacred?
June 2 – Creating a Community
Luke 6:12-16
Common English Bible (CEB)
During that time, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray,
and he prayed to God all night long. At daybreak, he called together his
disciples. He chose twelve of them whom he called apostles: Simon, whom he
named Peter; his brother Andrew; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew;
Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Simon, who was called a zealot; Judas the
son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
As
soon as Jesus’ ministry begins, people start to gather around him. But at this
particular point, Jesus names a group of 12 apostles. Most often we see this as
the great Teacher choosing the dozen with the most potential to begin an
intensive course of discipling. I think
something else is going on. Certainly there was teaching and instruction to come.
But I believe that Jesus took the step to form a community, a community bent on
God’s kin-dom. It was a community because Jesus needed people, too. It was not
just that Jesus was laying the foundation to start the Church (I don’t think he
was). It wasn’t simply a Master-pupil relationship. It was a community. Jesus
needed people to be with, to confide in, to be a part of.
I
have a sense that in this isolated, threatening world it is community that
people are hungry for. We know we are hungry, but we don’t know how to solve
the problem. We live in a society that excels in quick fixes, disposables, and
fast food. None of that allows the time, the safety, the permission to develop
deep relationships. The community that Jesus created, and the community that Christ
offers to us, is highly counter-cultural in our society’s context.
How
will we support and invite each other to be a part of a deep and transformative
community?
June 9 – Fasting/Feasting
Mark 6:32-43
They departed in a boat by themselves for a deserted
place. Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran ahead from
all the cities and arrived before them. When Jesus arrived and saw a large
crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a
shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things. Late in the day, his
disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already
late in the day. Send them away so that they can go to the surrounding
countryside and villages and buy something to eat for themselves.” He replied,
“You give them something to eat.” But they said to him, “Should we go off and
buy bread worth almost eight months’ pay and give it to them to eat?” He said
to them, “How much bread do you have? Take a look.” After checking, they said,
“Five loaves of bread and two fish.” He directed the disciples to seat all the
people in groups as though they were having a banquet on the green grass. They
sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. He took the five loaves and the two
fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves into pieces, and gave
them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish
among them all. Everyone ate until they were full. They filled twelve baskets
with the leftover pieces of bread and fish.
I
know this story focuses on feasting side of the equation and that few of us
give much truck to the fasting part. But both parts remind us that our
Christianity is an intensely incarnational expression. That means that the beginning point of spirituality
is our bodies. Fasting reminds us that we are never truly self-sufficient.
Fasting cleans us out and opens in us the possibility, the room for something
else and most often those who practice fasting find that room is opened up for
God or the Holy or the Mystery.
Feasting
helps us celebrate our bodiliness as well. Food satisfies us and gives us
pleasure. In the context of Jesus’ day and society, sharing food together was
an act akin to making the diners family.
It was an act of love and community. But we also live in times
hallmarked by obesity, fat-food, and heart disease. We have taken feasting to
its dark extreme.
How
do we shape a community that celebrates the Divine found in our bodies that is
safe to be in despite all our diseases, proclivities, and weaknesses? What kind
of fasting might make us more ready for God? What kind of feasting?
June 16 – Vulnerability
John 4:4-29
Jesus had to go through Samaria. He came to a Samaritan
city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s
well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well.
It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said
to her, “Give me some water to drink.” His disciples had gone into the city to
buy him some food. The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask
for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t
associate with each other.) Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and
who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him
and he would give you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t
have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? You
aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he
drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus answered,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from
the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give
will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into
eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will
never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!” Jesus said to
her, “Go, get your husband, and come back here. The woman replied, “I don’t
have a husband.” “You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus answered.
“You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband.
You’ve spoken the truth.” The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our
ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is
necessary to worship in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the
time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don’t know; we
worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is
coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The
Father looks for those who worship him this way. God is spirit, and it is
necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.” The woman said, “I know that the
Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will
teach everything to us.”
Jesus said to her, “I Am—the one who speaks with you.” Just
then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a
woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who has told me
everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?”
One of the characteristics of
deep community is a great respect for and honoring of vulnerability. When one
has the bravery to expose their true and deepest self, that vulnerability is
rewarded with a welcome and cherishing of the gift. Too much of our culture is
characterized by parry and riposte. We learn early to hide who we really are
and bury the questions we long to ask. Real community, a community graced by
Christ, creates an environment that allows us to practice exposing our true
selves, and to learn to trust that this exposure will not be the cause of
injury or peril. The Kin-dom of God treasures who we really are.
When
Jesus had this unusual conversation with the Samaritan woman, there were
multiple reasons why she should never have made herself vulnerable to him: they
were from cultures that did not associate, they were unrelated female and male,
they worshipped God differently, and the subtext of the story seems to indicate
that she was a woman with a problematic past. Nonetheless, somehow Jesus
created an atmosphere that allowed the two of them to connect on a very real
and transformative level. Jesus did not judge, but accepted her true self.
In a
very compelling TED talk, Brene Brown talks about the power of and the
essential necessity for vulnerability: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o.
How do we transform ourselves from a social club with spiritual trappings to a
place that honors and cultivates true vulnerability> How do we make
ourselves a deeply safe and sacred
community?
June 23 – Marking Time
Exodus 34:29-35
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from
the mountain with the two covenant tablets in his hand, Moses didn’t realize
that the skin of his face shone brightly because he had been talking with God.
30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw the skin of Moses’ face shining
brightly, they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called them closer. So
Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses spoke
with them. After that, all the Israelites came near as well, and Moses
commanded them everything that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever
Moses went into the Lord’s presence to speak with him, Moses would take the
veil off until he came out again. When Moses came out and told the Israelites
what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’
face was shining brightly. So Moses would put the veil on his face again until
the next time he went in to speak with the Lord.
Spending
time in the presence of the Mystery changes and transforms us. No, I don’t think
that any of us will ever glow in the dark. But as a metaphor, I have known
those people who have seemed almost to glow with holiness as they have spent
regular time in prayer and meditation. Not a physical light, but a glow of
love, wisdom, or compassion. A safe and sacred community makes time to spend in
prayer, reflection, and meditation. It makes time for the Mystery.
The
Daily Office is an ancient practice where every three hours the practitioner
stops whatever they are doing and directs their thoughts and hearts toward the
Holy. It is a way of marking the hours of the day and being sure to spend time
with God. An ancient practice it may be, but there are even smartphone apps for
the Daily Office now! What are significant
ways that we might include God in our daily lives?
Another
important time demarcation is the practice of Sabbath-keeping. This practice is
memorialized in the first Creation story in Genesis when it is said that God
rested on the seventh day. That established the practice of taking one day in
seven as a day of rest and reverence. Sabbath-keeping is a way of remembering
to whom the world belongs. It is healthy to rest and connect. How will a safe
and sacred community take time for the practice of Sabbath?
June 30 – Journey toward Mystery (Pilgrimage)
Genesis 28:10-22
Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran. He reached a
certain place and spent the night there. When the sun had set, he took one of
the stones at that place and put it near his head. Then he lay down there. He
dreamed and saw a raised staircase, its foundation on earth and its top
touching the sky, and God’s messengers were ascending and descending on it. Suddenly
the Lord was standing on it and saying, “I am YWHW, the God of your ancestors
Abraham and Sarah; and the God of Isaac
and Rebekah. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are
lying. Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth; you will spread
out to the west, east, north, and south. Every family of earth will be blessed
because of you and your descendants. I am with you now, I will protect you
everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you
until I have done everything that I have promised you.” When Jacob woke from
his sleep, he thought to himself, The Lord is definitely in this place, but I
didn’t know it. He was terrified and thought, “This sacred place is awesome.
It’s none other than God’s house and the entrance to heaven.” After Jacob got
up early in the morning, he took the stone that he had put near his head, set
it up as a sacred pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. He named that sacred
place Bethel, though Luz was the city’s original name.
There
is an odd paradox to holy ground. Sometimes we discover that ground is holy
when we are found there by God, such as in this story of Jacob. Sometimes we
make ground holy by the associations we attach to it: the place where we met
our great love, where a child is buried, a church camp where we first
discovered ourselves. But however ground gets holy, it holds for us a power of
attraction that sets it apart from what we perceive of as ordinary ground. And
because it attracts us, we long to go back there, to feel again the powerful
presence of the Mystery.
Pilgrimage
is an important part of many spiritual traditions: for Islam it is one of the five
pillars of faith, to travel to Mecca; for Christians in the Middle Ages the
height of faith was to journey to Jerusalem and today Holy Land tours are still
immensely popular. There is something quite spiritual about traveling the
geography to sacred land. Some say the practice of praying the labyrinth and
the Stations of the Cross became substitute pilgrimages for the faithful who
could ot physically make the journey.
I
think the essence of the thing is the willingness to leave behind the known for
the promise of the unknown. It is a giving up of control and a surrender to God’s
providence. It has certainly been a practice of relying upon the hospitality of
strangers all along the way. Pilgrimage allows us to see the world and our
place in it differently.
Jacob
was running from and for his life. He stopped in the middle of nowhere because
he was exhausted. His dream told him that the middle of nowhere was really the
middle of everywhere, that it had a direct link to wherever God really was. When
he awoke, Jacob erected a stele from the stone on which he slept and anointed
it with oil. The anointing itself was an act of imparting significance to the
place and the events that happened there.
We
are constantly on pilgrimage, and we suffer when we image that the hallmark of
the spiritual life is arriving and staying at any given place. How might we
prepare our community for a living sense of pilgrimage?
