Our church is awesome

People. Our church is awesome.

Seriously rock your world, change your life, make you a richer person, awesome.

I just came off of a weekend with 17 kids that can (and maybe will) attest to that thought.

But it’s more than just fun and games and youth ministry awesome. I just came out of my 2^nd classes in Introduction to Buddhism and Introduction to New Testament thinking how stinkin’ cool our church is. It has prepared me to fully enter into the dialogues of both of these classes with more than a complete beginner’s understanding of them. Friends, my experiences in this church have prepared me to be an important contributing member of discussions on issues of world religions, approaches to understanding and interpreting scripture, listening for the voice of God in my life/other’s lives, spiritual formation, the path of discipleship, acceptance and EMBRACING another’s viewpoint as equally valid as my own, and more.

Beyond that, when questions arise about what to do with scriptures that appear to contradict one another and what to do when 2 people come at an issue from apparent polar opposite ends of the spectrum where ne’er the 2 shall meet, I have experience in trust, listening, and discernment in a world church that gives me something to ADD to the conversation. (Clearly, it is not only the church that has shaped me for this study right now. I have family, friends, other experiences, and my own personality, BUT this church has allowed me freedom to grow into my own tested faith. It has that potential for all of us.)

There are people in this class that are reading things about scripture that are blowing their minds. They’ve come to class from fairly naïve understandings of scripture. They’ve never considered more open, scholarly, fair approaches to reading and interpreting. They’ve not been exposed to preaching that gives life to the scriptures that can then become Holy. They’ve not been exposed to embracing the person/opinion that irritates them the most. They’ve not been exposed to looking at scripture as a map.

We’re got some truly great things going. Man, we gotta live it out more and share it.

But not preaching, no. Who said it? “Preach love. Use words if you must.” We can do that. We sure can. But keep in mind though, our belief in education and study to help us understand and live a more fully Connected life are amazing.

Preach love. Use words to illuminate that message and free the minds of the lost and wandering.

We, as a church, are not messing around when it comes to taking our faith and journey both seriously/theologically/scholarly AND spiritually/transformatively/relationally. And we mix in fellowship, fun, potluck, and campfire to inform them all.

People. Our church is awesome.

Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace… that we all might share. ~T

I think emptiness: I feel reverence

My Introduction to Buddhism.
We were taught a simple meditation in our first class. We began class with a moment of silence. we meditated in class. We are to meditate a minimum of 5 minutes per day and journal about our experience. Thought there is much more to "do" for that class, too, I am learning to stop thinking for a few moments each day. I am learning to calm my left brain, my critic, my judge. I am learning to think emptiness... to cease thinking.

It's wonderful.

My Introduction to the New Testament
After one week of classes at Bangor Theological Seminary, my reverence for great writers, poets, painters, and photographers has grown leaps and bounds. Through images, words, and metaphors, these wonderful human beings live out the following:
1) Experience, in some way, the Divine Creator and that Creator's Interaction with Humanity.
2) Attempt to express the depth, fullness, and magnitude of that experience on the canvas of his/her artistic field... photo paper, the written page, cloth stretched over wood.
3) Find that experience is worth sharing with others.
4) Offer it.

When I think about that process, I am filled with appreciation and awe. After reading on my own and discussing in class the canonization of the collection of books we now refer to as the New Testament, I now regard these books with much more respect and appreciation than even one week ago. Our teacher, P. Shelburg offered us the following thought. New Testament authors wrote to offer to others a "distillation of a transcendental experience." They moved through the process I described above. New Testament authors experienced the Love of God and the impact living in Sacred Community has on one's life. They tried to find ways to express this to others. They tried the direct approach. They tried metaphors. They tried story-telling. They tried painting pictures in words. From the frail and meek vehicle of language, they attempted to share about the majesty and strength of Love.

After you've experienced the grandeur and impact of True Love, how can words possibly relate it?

And yet, they tried. I respect those effort. I hold them now in high regard. For all the foibles and follies of the Bible-- For all the catastrophes and excuses for abuse offered us in the Bible, I have found the gift of respecting it as a Living document to be read and utilized responsibly. I embrace the call to interpret it with all of the resources at my disposal AND bring to that interpretation my own experiences with the Love of God. I embrace the call to question the relevancy of the Bible in our lives, and if I find it to be meaningful and relevant, I embrace the call to share it.

Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace... that we all might share. ~Trish

Opening Convocation and a Wonderfully Needed Affirmation

Yesterday at noon, I attended the Opening Convocation of the 2010-2011 Bangor Theological Seminary school year.
Convocation, according to dictionary.com,
"a group of people gathered in answer to a summons; assembly."

Playing the prelude on a less than awe inspiring Casio keyboard was a little old woman. She feebly poked through the piece as if both the keyboard and the music were new to her. She connected the notes, mostly in the right time and mostly the right notes... at least that's how it sounded to my fairly adept yet musically untrained ears. It seemed like she was in a great rush to get through it. The sound was hurried and weak. I could hear the keys being touched as frequently as I heard the music of the keyboard singing throughout the room. Lest one might think this post is to bash on that little old lady, it it quite to the contrary. Here's what I Heard as she played.

I heard the footsteps of humanity, even me, rushing feebly about Creation. I heard the urge of us all to get from point A to point B, from appointment/class/day A to appointment/class/day B. I heard an attempt to do it right... to live our lives like we Should; the attempts are not just to force ourselves to do good, no! Yet, even those days when we find the best of ourselves having greeted God in prayer, meditation, and moments of recognition of the Sacredness of life itself, yes, even on those days at times there is striving. It is part of us. A part that must be diligently questioned, observed, loved, tended to, made to be honest with us. I heard, as this little old lady played, BLESS HER TODAY!, the reminder to let God catch me. I clearly heard the Source of all Wonder calling me to slow down and be caught and captivated by God and God's Spirit.

A couple times, I heard a chord played that was Perfection. Maybe 2 times in that whole long prelude. Interesting that though I heard such little Perfection, the entire offering of her ministry of music was such a blessing.

We were reminded by President Robert Ulery yesterday that the call to ministry is the call to a Very Hard Thing. (As an aside, if I can speak like him when this is over, every penny will have been well-spent!) He spoke to the biblical story of Elijah and Elishah, yet his point was a plea, a suggestion, an urge, a lovingly-offered gem of wisdom to us who would aspire to be ministers. "Tend to your own Spiritual Lives"

Grace and Peace to you, Bangor Theological Seminary. Thank you for the experience of affirmation yesterday telling me that yes, indeed, I am just where I need to be.

Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace... that we all might share. Trish

I failed... so I'm starting over

Today, I came to grips with the fact that I failed. My first attempt at a blog failed. I decided to finally delete it. I decided to start over. Just as I was about to click "delete", I thought again.
My (extremely abbreviated) internal dialogue went something like this,
"Wouldn't that be just like you, Trish. You didn't do it perfectly, so you decide to just get rid of it and start something new. That's just great! (My bitter sarcasm comes out most aggressively in my own self-judgment.) You're really good at abandoning ship when things get a little tricky, messy, and you're not the center of attention. (One little detail of life spiraled into extreme absolute generalizations about being horrible at life.) You could delete it. Or, you could try something else. "

So, long story short, I'm trying something new. I'm starting over. Except, I'm building on my own failure this time.
I'm keeping the same old blog name-- it's descriptive of me, my life, and my beliefs about each of our journeys.
I'm not deleting any old posts-- they were and are part of me.
I'm not expecting anyone to read-- this is as much for me as anyone else. I need to write. Although I am going to post these as Facebook notes as well.

BUT there is one thing. I've started something entirely new. It's called SEMINARY.
I'm hoping 3 things for this new attempt at a sharing of information via blog.
1) Share some of what I'm learning, reading, experiencing, growing into at Bangor Theological Seminary.
2) Share and comment on youth ministry experiences throughout New England Mission Center.
3) Examine my interest in "Calling" as a spiritual destiny through which we all either come to the Divine or avoid the Divine to varying degrees.

So, blessings to me as I pray I will do this understanding that writing is a necessary part of my own spiritual formation.
And blessings to you as I pray you will do whatever is necessary for your own spiritual well-being.

Joy, Hope, Love, and Peace-- that we all might share them.
Trish