Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Two Short Thoughts, One Long Thought
(1) Score a point for the Methodists, score a point for God: A friend of mine from college, Katie Rouse, has answered God's call to her to enter ordained ministry in the Methodist Church. Praise God! She will make a fine minister and preacher. In her words to me, "We can be preacher buddies." And my response, "I intend to be." She has a choice of Divinity schools: Emory, her first choice, and Duke, her second choice. Both of them are fine institutions, but I am glad she is leaning towards Emory. Duke is, well, Duke is a four letter word. In all fairness though, the only preacher I actually know that graduated from Duke is a good one, so that speaks well of the institution. Good for you Katie - I am happy for you and proud of you. God bless you!
(2) For my Spirituality for Ministry project I have decided to keep a dream journal. Unlike Lacy, I will not be putting it in my blog - that's just a bit too personal for my tastes. Hopefully I'll be able to work with Fr. Dan Prechtel on this project some; his guidance would be invaluable. God speaks to us in dreams. God probably even speaks to me in dreams. I hope that by the mindful practice of paying closer attention to my subconscious in this way I can better hear the word of God present in me.
(3) In the same article that I mentioned yesterday, which I read for class today, there is another quote that I want to talk about briefly. And by briefly, I mean at length. The quote is thus:
"Particular places contain secrets to our history and identity. We desperately need holy places where accumulated experience carries the power to reorient us to what is essential to our humanity."
~Don E. Saliers
For me, that place is DaySpring, the Conference and Retreat Center of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida. You would be hard pressed to find a space at DaySpring where I had not had an experience significant or memorable to me in some way. It is the place where I stopped paying lip service to Christianity and began to follow God in a serious way. It does contain secrets of my history and identity. Some so close to my heart that I would never consider sharing them here. It is a holy place I desperately need. 'Holy place' is better defined to me as the Celtic experience of a thin place. At a Thin Place, the veil between Heaven and Earth is so thin you can almost reach across the divide and touch the holy, and the holy always reaches across to touch you. They are the places goosebumps are made of. DaySpring, for me, is such a Thin Place. The river. The chapel. The Pavilion. The Stations. The dining hall. Bishop Haynes' Lounge. The dorms. The youth cabins. The "observation post". The Upper Room. The roof. The ice cream freezer. The Dome Home. The pool. All of it. A Thin Place is sitting solitary in a darkened St. Thomas' Chapel reading a letter from a best friend, and looking up through tear-stained eyes, caused by such love, to see a beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds, the canopy of trees, the glass of the window to shine in a concentrated beam, illuminating solely the cross. A Thin Place is sitting and talking in the rocking chairs out on the deck way past lights out, because friendship, only fulfilled in person twice a year is far more important than any rule. A Thin Place is watching your brother experience, in his own way, the same presence of Christ that you have experienced, and knowing his life will never be the same. A Thin Place is arm wrestling elementary school boys on the first day of summer camp to be interrupted by one whose only concern is, "Mr. Ryan, are we going to be getting dinner tonight?" A Thin Place is returning youths to their parents after a weekend of worship and silently wondering, how will their lives change now? A Thin Place is sneaking out late at night with comrades to snatch an extra ice cream bar when you think the adults aren't watching, only to discover they are not only watching but enjoying their own ice cream bars as well. A Thin Place is having cake smashed on your face because these friends, of such rare quality, only seen twice a year, remembered your birthday after all. A Thin Place is watching children walk a labyrinth and discovering they want to slow down a bit after all. A Thin Place is high in the trees, your friend on belay down below and thinking how blessed you are. A Thin Place is arriving for a meeting with the Bishop to find him sitting on the back porch of his office, overlooking the river and smoking a pipe with no intention of holding the meeting anywhere else, totally putting you at ease. A Thin Place is sitting in the Pavilion having your feet washed by a person practically a stranger and hearing them whisper to you, "You are cleansed." A Thin Place is feeling the blood of Jesus wash over your soul, clothing you in white again. My "accumulated experience" at DaySpring is plenteous, but I hope far from complete. Just by walking onto the grounds, heck, by driving up to it, by turning off the interstate at exit 43, I can feel my soul preparing to be touched. Preparing to be changed. Preparing for an encounter with the divine. It is truly an amazing place. Thank you Lord God, for DaySpring, and everything that means to all whose lives you have touched there.
What is/are your thin place(s)?
-R
(1) Score a point for the Methodists, score a point for God: A friend of mine from college, Katie Rouse, has answered God's call to her to enter ordained ministry in the Methodist Church. Praise God! She will make a fine minister and preacher. In her words to me, "We can be preacher buddies." And my response, "I intend to be." She has a choice of Divinity schools: Emory, her first choice, and Duke, her second choice. Both of them are fine institutions, but I am glad she is leaning towards Emory. Duke is, well, Duke is a four letter word. In all fairness though, the only preacher I actually know that graduated from Duke is a good one, so that speaks well of the institution. Good for you Katie - I am happy for you and proud of you. God bless you!
(2) For my Spirituality for Ministry project I have decided to keep a dream journal. Unlike Lacy, I will not be putting it in my blog - that's just a bit too personal for my tastes. Hopefully I'll be able to work with Fr. Dan Prechtel on this project some; his guidance would be invaluable. God speaks to us in dreams. God probably even speaks to me in dreams. I hope that by the mindful practice of paying closer attention to my subconscious in this way I can better hear the word of God present in me.
(3) In the same article that I mentioned yesterday, which I read for class today, there is another quote that I want to talk about briefly. And by briefly, I mean at length. The quote is thus:
"Particular places contain secrets to our history and identity. We desperately need holy places where accumulated experience carries the power to reorient us to what is essential to our humanity."
~Don E. Saliers
For me, that place is DaySpring, the Conference and Retreat Center of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida. You would be hard pressed to find a space at DaySpring where I had not had an experience significant or memorable to me in some way. It is the place where I stopped paying lip service to Christianity and began to follow God in a serious way. It does contain secrets of my history and identity. Some so close to my heart that I would never consider sharing them here. It is a holy place I desperately need. 'Holy place' is better defined to me as the Celtic experience of a thin place. At a Thin Place, the veil between Heaven and Earth is so thin you can almost reach across the divide and touch the holy, and the holy always reaches across to touch you. They are the places goosebumps are made of. DaySpring, for me, is such a Thin Place. The river. The chapel. The Pavilion. The Stations. The dining hall. Bishop Haynes' Lounge. The dorms. The youth cabins. The "observation post". The Upper Room. The roof. The ice cream freezer. The Dome Home. The pool. All of it. A Thin Place is sitting solitary in a darkened St. Thomas' Chapel reading a letter from a best friend, and looking up through tear-stained eyes, caused by such love, to see a beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds, the canopy of trees, the glass of the window to shine in a concentrated beam, illuminating solely the cross. A Thin Place is sitting and talking in the rocking chairs out on the deck way past lights out, because friendship, only fulfilled in person twice a year is far more important than any rule. A Thin Place is watching your brother experience, in his own way, the same presence of Christ that you have experienced, and knowing his life will never be the same. A Thin Place is arm wrestling elementary school boys on the first day of summer camp to be interrupted by one whose only concern is, "Mr. Ryan, are we going to be getting dinner tonight?" A Thin Place is returning youths to their parents after a weekend of worship and silently wondering, how will their lives change now? A Thin Place is sneaking out late at night with comrades to snatch an extra ice cream bar when you think the adults aren't watching, only to discover they are not only watching but enjoying their own ice cream bars as well. A Thin Place is having cake smashed on your face because these friends, of such rare quality, only seen twice a year, remembered your birthday after all. A Thin Place is watching children walk a labyrinth and discovering they want to slow down a bit after all. A Thin Place is high in the trees, your friend on belay down below and thinking how blessed you are. A Thin Place is arriving for a meeting with the Bishop to find him sitting on the back porch of his office, overlooking the river and smoking a pipe with no intention of holding the meeting anywhere else, totally putting you at ease. A Thin Place is sitting in the Pavilion having your feet washed by a person practically a stranger and hearing them whisper to you, "You are cleansed." A Thin Place is feeling the blood of Jesus wash over your soul, clothing you in white again. My "accumulated experience" at DaySpring is plenteous, but I hope far from complete. Just by walking onto the grounds, heck, by driving up to it, by turning off the interstate at exit 43, I can feel my soul preparing to be touched. Preparing to be changed. Preparing for an encounter with the divine. It is truly an amazing place. Thank you Lord God, for DaySpring, and everything that means to all whose lives you have touched there.
What is/are your thin place(s)?
-R
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