Discerning the Word

Today we remember Clement of Alexandria, who died in 213 (we think).  As I read a brief bio by James Kiefer, I was thrilled by how Clement's story blended with what we as Companions of Mary the Apostle are trying to do.  Kiefer writes that Clement's "speculative theology, his scholarly defense of the faith and his willingness to meet non-Christian scholars on their own grounds, helped to establish the good reputation of Christianity in the world of learning."  Now, we're not doing a lot of scholarly work around here, but we are seeking to meet non-Christians where they are and to bring the good news of Christ in a language that can be heard today.  Our particular propositions and metaphors may differ from Clement's, but the project of teaching and proclaiming links us.

The collect from the Episcopal Church asks God "grant to your church the same grace to discern your Word wherever truth is found."  For me that doesn't mean always making others see Jesus where they might see another face of God.  It's for me to recognize Christ incognito, as Raimon Pannikar and others describe the encounter with other faiths.  It's for me to see that truth is broader than any one dogma or catechism, and it's for me to listen and discern when others are bringing an important facet of the Word.  I discern that Word primarily through "Jesus Christ our unfailing light," but I don't honor that Word by refusing to see it shining in other vessels.

In these days when Christianity has a less-than-good reputation with scholars and with so many others, it's incumbent on us to translate the good news.  Our Covenant Companions told us yesterday that that is a key to their part in the larger mission of the Companions.  They live and work in a variety of settings, including academia and the church, and in both places they encounter a lack of belief.  Through our companionship we offer a base from which to go out, and a community to discuss what we find.  They are continuing the work of Clement, and of apologists through the centuries, who speak to the priceless gift awaiting us if we open our minds and hearts.  May we all receive this grace today.

Blessed Advent!

Welcome to Advent!

I'm following the Eucharistic readings assigned by the Episcopal Church, and today we begin with the promise of salvation - of healing and wholeness.  Isaiah 2:1-5 predicts a time when we will all worship God together, when we will lay down our weapons and turn to tending the earth.  Matthew 8:5-13 tells of the centurion who believed that Jesus could heal, which led to Jesus pronouncing the future when "many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."  Unfortunately, Matthew feels compelled to tell us that many Israelites will be "thrown into the outer darkness."  This inclusion is less a universal promise than a supplanting.

OK, so both these texts have problems.  But the promise is real too.  We are all invited to the table, to the mountain, to the house of God.  Not all of us will hear that invitation, not all of us will respond.  And it's not clear to me just what the entrance requirements are.  Must I acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the only face of God?  Must I worship as the ancient Judeans did?  Must I believe in exactly the way the first generations of Christians did (knowing that in fact there was great diversity from the beginning)?  No, I'm not clear about a lot of things.

But I am clear about this: I am invited to walk with the Divine One, the Holy One known to Israel.  I am invited to lay down my weapons and turn to my erstwhile enemies with an open heart.  I am invited to end the divisions and hatreds that keep me from knowing God in our midst.  And you're invited too.

Welcome to Advent.  Welcome to the season of longing and expectation.  You are invited to watch, to listen, to prepare the way.  Each of us can do this, and no one can do it for another.  Welcome.

Thanks for your support!

Dear Friends,

We are in the midst of our annual appeal.  Many of you read online and don't receive our postal mailings, so we want you to hear from us about what your support means to us.  I hope you will feel moved to donate and help us keep witnessing to the power of resurrection and renewal.

When we decided to found the Companions we had many issues we wanted to address, but we knew that the central need was to move in together and pray to know what God's dream was for us.  In the past almost six years we have learned that the network, the dispersed community of Companions living by the Covenant and sustaining one another, is the key.  While we are open to others entering into shared vowed life with Elizabeth and myself, we see that the Spirit is spreading the Charism of the Companions by a variety of means.  Our monthly online covenant group, our weekly online meetings and daily text conversation with Covenant Companions, our weekly "face to face" group at Coffee Table Communion, as well as the hundreds of you who read our newsletter and follow us on Blogger or Facebook, all share in the conversation about God's love and power.

Elizabeth and I are privileged and blessed to "tend the hearth" of this extended community.  We are able to do this because money has appeared when needed.  We each lead retreats and offer spiritual direction, but those don't pay our bills.   Some of our members can't afford to attend Companions retreats or continuing education opportunities, and we do our best to make it possible for everyone to attend.  We need your donations to enable us to do this work.

If you believe in what we do, please consider supporting us.  Your donation is a sign of commitment and a real contribution.  I won't name a number - you know what you can afford and what you think this ministry is worth.  I will ask you to review your first number, and consider stretching it a bit.  Everyone is pinched right now, and long-time supporters can't all give what they have.

This is an opportunity for you to move closer in to the life of the Companions.  We do pray daily for our donors, and we're always open to specific prayer requests.  We hope you agree that the Companions offer a unique model of community and a needed voice.  Thank you for sharing your life with us.

Donations may be made via PayPal or checks sent to P.O. Box 226, West Park NY. 12493.  Donations are tax-deductible.

Blessings,
Shane Phelan CMA

Christian Erased

This past weekend I went to see "Boy Erased," the new movie about a teenager who is sent to "conversion therapy" to "cure" his homosexuality.  It is a powerful, chilling movie.  Conversion therapy is popular among conservative Christian groups.  The movie tells us that 36 states allow parents to place their children in these programs, and that 700,000 people in the U.S. have been "treated."  There is no data showing that these programs actually result in happy heterosexuals.  Even if they did, they raise the question of why anyone should try to change.  You see, I don't think LGBTQ life is lesser than heterosexual life.  In fact, I know it isn't.

As I left the theater, I was profoundly aware of the cross I wear.  I know it's a signal to many people, for good and for ill, but I'm rarely uncomfortable wearing it.  I was that day.  I wanted to shout to the other movie patrons, "That is not my Christianity!"  In fact, I don't think it's Christianity at all.  I don't think Jesus was in the business of isolating young people, shaming them, intimidating them, condemning them.  I don't think Jesus was more concerned about sexuality than about social justice, caring for the poor, or peace.  I know many other people agree.  But we are rarely the face of Christianity that makes news.

I wonder what sort of conversion therapy is needed for Christians to become followers of Jesus.  Clearly our current churches are lacking something.  The ones who are fierce about formation are usually the toxic ones, while the progressive churches seem sometimes to leave Jesus and devotion as an afterthought to social action.

Here among the Companions, we are trying to let God form us, to re-form us into the image She intended before we began erasing it.  We're just a tiny crew in a little boat on a giant sea, but we aren't the first such.  I pray for conversion of heart, mind, and soul, for myself and for those who would erase the innate beauty of others and themselves.  Pray that we may let God re-form us into a bold loving community across boundaries of dogma, sexuality, race, gender, class, nationality, language - across boundaries.  Let's erase the whatever stands between us and following Jesus.

Our November newsletter

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Let Go!

This past weekend I was with 40 women who are recovering from their own alcoholism and/or that of a family member.  I meet with them twice a year, and it's always inspiring and exhausting.  I'm used to my story, to the pain and the grace, but hearing others' stories always leads me to depths and heights that I can barely describe.  These women are miracles.  As am I.  And maybe you.

They aren't miracles because they've got it all together.  Many of them continue to struggle with the effects of alcoholism and abuse.  But they are alive, and contributing to others, and finding joy and meaning in their lives.  That's a miracle.

When I say they find meaning, I don't mean a simple "God kept me here for this specific purpose."  Some of them feel that way.  Some are just sure that God has a purpose for them.  And some are creating their purpose, confident that their Higher Power is with them.  But all of them are listening for where they might find that Power greater than themselves, and they know that they are most likely to find it through reaching out to others.

These lessons and that listening are not confined to people in recovery.  And the experience of abuse and addiction does not guarantee that we will find God or meaning or purpose.  Many people live and die without finding any healing.  But the lesson of addiction is one that we all need, one that Jesus tried to teach his disciples: we have to surrender in order to live.  We have to die to rise again.  Whether it's surrendering a substance or a behavior, or dying to who we thought we were, or risking a change that comes without guarantees, we can't find God's promise for us until we let go of our certainty and self-sufficiency.  We have to step off the cliff - or at least the curb! - to let God carry us.

I'm sad when I go to churches where people don't know how much they need God, or what is possible for them if they surrender.  As long as we go through the motions of looking OK, to ourselves and to others, we deny ourselves the love and strength that Jesus promised.

If you are nursing a secret hurt or desire, let it in.  Let it burn in your soul.  Don't try to manage it or ignore it.  Fullness of life is waiting for you, but God will not insist.  Ask and you will receive.  Knock, and the door will be opened.  Pound that door, loud enough for your own soul to hear it.  It is calling you to new life.

Incognito God

Last week I was in Newry, Northern Ireland, with the Mastery Foundation School for Leadership.  Mastery is an interfaith organization with one paid employee and hundreds of volunteers and participants.  Their mission is to "empower those who minister and serve others in creating new possibilities for themselves and for their communities."  They do this through workshops in the US, Northern Ireland, and Israel.  Basil Pennington was one of the co-founders, and silent prayer is a key part of our common life.   

I am a graduate of the School, and it transformed my life and ministry.  I continue to volunteer in a variety of ways, because I want others to get what I got.  Elizabeth has also gone through the School, and is preparing to serve others as a coach.

So, what does this have to do with you, dear reader?  Mastery itself is not a "faith-based organization," and we don't "do theology" together.  Yet I see God so vividly there:  in the participants, and in the community gathered around this work.  We are several kinds of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim (seeking breakthroughs in other communities as well).  The generosity and love manifest among us is clearly of God.

The new cohort of participants includes people who are working for the environment, for immigrant families, for an end to sectarian violence, for peace.  They do this as social workers, nurses, lawyers, priests, rabbis, imams.  They give their lives for the love of the world.  I give my time to equip them for the work they do.

I come back from these annual trips exhausted and exhilarated.  I'm part of communities within Mastery that meet monthly to make sure the whole School is available for the participants, and I am renewed in every meeting.  One of our principles is that we each have to receive as much as we give in what we do.  I am sure that I receive much more than I give.

I want you to know of this amazing group, and to notice all the other groups that are making our world better.  God is alive, sometimes incognito, in all these people and places.  If you are part of such a community, make sure to acknowledge your partners - it's a precious gift you share.  If you aren't part of such a community, go looking for one.  Where do you see God at work in the world?  Where do you hear a call to bring God's love?

Blessings on all you do, all you are, all you might become.