The Gleanings Project: Ordinary Heroes: Celebrating United Church Women

“Walking on Water” Acrylic on Paper, DS

Boughton, Noelle, Ed. Ordinary Heroes: Celebrating United Church Women. Toronto, ON: United Church Publishing House, 2012.

497 Words

[For] those who continue in their footsteps. 

Like the Samaritan woman at the well, I have been offered living water here, inspiration to carry a passionate witness. Like Huldah the prophet, I am excited by a book that offers rich resources for learning about who we are as people of God. Like Joanna, I am reminded to the joy and pain of being a friend of Jesus. And like the Shunamite woman, I celebrate the good that comes of service.

Jesus said, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. (Matt 22:37) (Tindal, 7)

As we read the gospel stories and engage their meaning for our time, we need to find even more creative ways to witness to the gospel story that calls us and challenges us. (12)

It isn’t just the church that is changing; just about all aspects of Canadian society have changed in the past 50 years . . .  demanded new formats of Christian practice to allow people in changing times to continue to benefit from the riches of our scriptures. (15)

Our church’s engagement in a addressing the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools and the impact of colonization is already providing new narratives for the church in relation to radical reimaging and sustainability. (16)

Congregations as we know them will continue to be an active and a valuable option, but not the only option . . . Imagine new ways of being church together . . . (17)

Artist Caroline Pogue created a 16-inch (40.6 cm) Poverty Doll . . . presentations of dolls to dignitaries and celebrities . . .  (52-53)

Mary’s prayer shawl ministry (54)

Leading worship . . . collecting postage stamps . . . (59)

The older UCW members . . . were a great resource for the younger members. (60)

The UCW members worked hard holding afternoon teas, strawberry festivals, and other projects to raise needed funds . . . with God anything is possible, transformation, rebirth, and even reopening of churches become realities. (63)

The studies included, for example, questions about Aboriginal rights or Aboriginal women . . . (71)

New approaches to Bible study such as lectio divina . . . (73)

Beads of Hope . . . HIV/AIDS . . . (77)

Because our labyrinth has been created out of painter drop cloths that have been sewn together . . . we remove our shoes to keep it clean . . . holy ground . . . (80)

She was there to share her Spiritual Journey with a series of original oil paintings . . .  how the Bible relates to today’s world . . . It made me remember the first time God spoke to me . . . (82-83)

I made some good friendships and valued being with other young parents as well as grandmothers as we built community . . . (93)

The Gleanings Project: Faith Unravelled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions

“Glass Baubles and Wooden Waves” Phone Photo DS

Evans, Rachel Held. Faith Unravelled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions. Grand Rapids: MI, Zondervan, 2010.

503 Words

People tell me I exaggerate.

I tend to change my mind.

I’ve been hurt by Christians.

As a Christian, I’ve been hurtful. (Evans, 13) 

Faith can survive just about anything, so long as it’s able to evolve. (17)

My security and self-worth and sense of purpose in life were wrapped up in getting God right . . . (17)

The same versatility that allowed Paul to become all things to all people applies to the church collectively . . . times of change . . . hold them with an open hand. (21)

Rather than killing my faith, these doubts led to a surprising rebirth. (22)

I realize how important it was that my father loved me so openly and listened so carefully. My first impressions of my heavenly Father were that he too was gentle, playful, and kind. (29)

[Evan’s hometown of Dayton, Tennessee, was the place of the historical evolution-creationism debate; the so-called 1925 Scopes Monkey Trials] (51-61)

Every now and then we do have what I like to call “a Monkey Town moment,” the most recent of which was when the Rhea County Commission voted to make homosexuality illegal in Dayton. In March 2004 . . . it was as if the Scopes trial had come to Dayton all over again. (62)

When it comes to different breeds of Christianity, Dayton is a Galapagos Island of sorts, a terrific destination for anyone wishing to study the evolution of fundamentalism in America. (63)

My best friend Sarah and I had decided ahead of time to live in the same dorm but to room with girls we didn’t already know so as not to get too cliquish . . . I immediately ran for student government . . . (72)

If someone said to me, “You should be tolerant of other religions and belief systems,” I should respond by asking, “What about the belief systems of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin?” . . . In Biblical Worldview we picked apart dozens of belief systems from secular humanism to Buddhism. We examined their strengths and weaknesses . . . (73)

“You know what I like best about Jesus?” Nathan asked. “How he really took care of poor people . . . whenever I’m back in Texas [from Iraq], I go to this knitting group . . . to help make blankets for homeless people. I’m like the only guy in the group” . . . I couldn’t but laugh. Nathan did not seem like the knitting type . . .  something about sitting in a circle with those ladies doing something for someone else makes me feel closer to God. It’s like my church. (87)

Something about Jesus made me ask better questions . . . gave me just enough hope to decide not to give up . . . at least not yet. (104)

To be wrong about God is the condition of humanity, for better or worse . . . In the end it was doubt that save my faith. (119)

The Gleanings Project: Reflections

“Good Friday Icon Still Life” by DS

Reflections on Gleanings

As both fiction and non-fiction books are read, places, situations and characters fill the mind. This is what was said and done here in this situation, at this time, with these results. Later we can find these things populating our own thinking.

In past situations of isolation and stress, I foraged my mind for solutions, or at least ways to think about what was happening. I came up with very little. At times it felt like my thinking had frozen. This can happen in grief. It can also happen in times of boredom or discouragement. Our thoughts can become dull.

A way forward I decided, was to set an agenda of random reading, of podcast listening and of YouTube watching. I read what was unread in my bookcase. I perused previously read non-fiction on Kindle. I actually drove to the library and gleaned from the shelves there.

I did not really know what writers meant about the imagination. I saw it as being able to create. I created many interesting artworks. In art school, we were taught that when we ran out of ideas to paint, to look through images from art history.

I never really ran out of ideas. Mine was a mind that came up with more ideas than my body could paint. Yet, curiosity pushed me to research. In some of the images, I saw work similar to my own but more advanced. So those images filled my imagination, gave my work validation, and helped me to grow as I put some of their techniques into practice. I also saw things like how to place a figure in the ground, how to ignore perspective and develop a flattened style, and a way to enflesh what I saw in my mind.

As a follower of Jesus, I had attended the requisite Scripture study groups. Some were fill-in-the-blanks questions, which in the beginning, before I got my theological footing, were quite helpful with both information and devotion. As I applied to seminary I began to see the world beyond the text. This included the world of the text, and the contemporary context, as well as the world inside me. Perhaps I was on my way to becoming puffed up by knowledge. After all, I had systematically figured out my beliefs in detail and they fit together well.

I then began to work in the gaps of what was in Scripture, behind Scripture; the things that Scripture did not say, especially the second-hand invisible viewpoints of the place of sometimes unnamed women. There were also gaps in me. As I began to study the skill of writing midrash, I was enlivened by seeing how others had filled in gaps in Scripture stories with cultural knowledge.

A course in the culture of the First Century helped me with the ancient text. The gleanings here from my eclectic readings from the contemporary culture, fill in places, people and situations from my own living. The facts and the stories fill in the gaps of my own knowledge and experience. My goal is for these two cultures to collide in the work to give it depth and a certain width. Like visiting a vineyard, I see the vines, taste the grapes, then back at the welcome centre imbibe the resulting goodness as well as listening to the history or the grapes, the land, the vineyard’s story and that of the vintners. My imagination formed compositions of painted vineyards in full colour.

The gleanings here are about exploration. A few quotes from readings are offered to catalyze interest in reading further; to begin or continue the curious to form a reading and writing practice of their own. This is how we fill our imaginations for later use. Like my grandmother’s ancient water pump, first it had to have a ladle of water poured into the top and the lever pulled up and down a few times, for the resulting water to be poured out. Scripture offers that we can be given living water by the Spirit. In my imagination I can see our reading and writing as priming the pump for the living water to pour through our words to others. Both the ancient and the contemporary source is the risen Jesus.

May the meditations of our hearts and the words of our mouths (pens) be pleasing in your sight oh God.

The Gleanings Project: Sacred Spaces: Stations on a Celtic Way

Photo Collage of Paintings and Shells
Deborah Torley Stephan

Silf, Margaret. Sacred Spaces: Stations on a Celtic Way. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 

2001.

 

492 words

 

“In ancient as in modern times, the human heart has always been looking for a way.” (Silf, 7)

 

“The spirit of the Way will not allow us to pitch camp and stay forever with these artificial certainties.” (8)

 

“One branch of the human family, in the Celtic regions, in the early centuries, after the life of Christ . . .” (8)

 

“We speak even today of some places as being ‘thin places’, meaning that the presence of the invisible and the spiritual in those places is almost palpable. Our Celtic forebears revered such ‘thin places’ as sacred space.” (9)

 

“Space can become sacred . . . when it is saturated in prayer, perhaps because it has been a place of retreat and reflection for prayerful pilgrims through the centuries. It might be an island of Iona in sacred history or it might be an island of prayer in our own daily lives.” (10)

 

“Woven into this exploration of sacred spaces is the thread of our own story . . . weave their own patterns . . .“ (11)

 

“Beginnings . . . times of commitment . . . seasons of setting out . . . turning and returning . . . seasons of companionship . . . boundary seasons . . .” (12)

 

“Christians believe Jesus is God’s sacred space –– one in whom the transcendent creator interpenetrated the created world . . . the Christ-life is being  lived out through time, energized and directed by the Holy Spirit, until every life has been lived and every death has been died. This is the scale of the journey . . . from Alpha to Omega.” (14)

 

“The Celtic infinite knot is one picture of God’s weaving . . . What is it about this symbol that has the power to reconnect?” (25)

 

“My small piece of thread is just one snippet of an eternal spool that God is weaving into [the] Dream.” (26)

 

“Weaving can only happen when two or more strands come together. It is a symbol of community.” (28)

 

“The High Cross . . . the ladder of reconnection.” (43)

 

“In the summer of 1999, British TV viewers tuned in to the sight of the liberation of 800 cats and kittens that had been breeding them for the sole purpose of medical research. It was the last farm of this kind in Britain . . .” (53)

 

“The Weeping Stones . . . Outside the window there was bright sunshine. A short summer heatwave. The garden beckoned. I couldn’t resist to find a few moments of healing peace beneath the trees. A final vigil . . . my on mother . . .” (56)

 

“I have spent many weeks of my life walking the hilltops of my homeland . . .  strings of summits . . . “ (61)

 

“They feel like something very significant is breaking into our lives.” (67)

 

“Listening to the heartbeat of God . . . (78)

The Gleanings Project: Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible’s View of Women

“Walking on Water” 11″ x 14″, Acrylic on Paper, DS

Bessey, Sarah. Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible’s View of Women. New York: NY, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2013.

492 words

“Let us be women who love.” (McVicker in Bessey, xvii)

“Let us rise the questions of our time.” ( “ , xviii)

“Let’s head outside. I want us to sit around a fire pit ringed with stones and watch the moon move over the Pacific. I want us to drink good red wine . . . I want us to talk about this –– really talk about womanhood, church, the labels, and where we go from here . . . we are wounded, we are wounding.” (Bessey, 1)

“Let us discover how we can disagree beautifully.” (2)

“Let’s be done lobbying for a seat at the Table.” (3)

“I want to be outside with the misfits . . . the ones rejected by the Table . . . Aslan is on the move.” (4)

“Years ago, I practiced anger and cynicism, like a pianist practices scales, over and over.” (5)

“This night, by the bonfire, I want to wrap us up in the warmth of good stories, of strong love, of prophetic callings.” (8)

“Jesus made a feminist of me.” (11)

“It might surprise antifeminists and anti-Christians equally to know that feminism has its roots tangled up with the strong Christian women’s commitment to the temperance movement, suffragists movements, and in America and England in particular, the abolitionist movements of the nineteenth century.” (12)

“At the core, feminism simply consists of the radical notion that women are people, too.” (13)

“I’ll say that again, louder, and I’ll stand up beside our small bonfire and shout it out loud. I’ll scare the starfish and the powerful alike: patriarchy is not God’s dream for humanity. It never was, it never will be.” (14)

“[Jesus] love us. On our own terms. He treats us as equals to the men around him; he listens; he does not belittle; he honors us; he teaches us; he includes us ­–– calls us all beloved.” (17)

“Jesus subverted the social norms dictating how a rabbi spoke to women.” (18)

“When Mary of Bethany sat at his feet, she was in the posture of a rabbinical student.” (19)

“The lack of women among the twelve disciples isn’t prescriptive or a precedent for exclusion of women and more than the choice of twelve Jewish men excludes Gentile men from leadership.” (22)

“Jesus would teach or quote a portion of the Law and then move us forward from our current places toward God’s original intent.” (27)

“God’s dream for humanity is clearly not slavery.” (28)

“All this battling to eradicate human trafficking happens despite the fact that there is actually no specific verse in Scripture that prohibits the buying and selling of human beings . . .  because we understand God’s creative purpose for humanity.” (29)

“In addition to slavery, the Church has, in general, dismissed polygamy, the buying and selling of daughters, stonings . . .  and many other culturally accepted practices. God is still moving, still active, in our world today.” (30)

The Gleanings Project: Introduction and The Gift of Being Yourself

“Art for the Sake of the Soul” in Collage Book, DS

Introduction

In my youth I avidly read each book required by courses. I joined into class discussion, my hand always in the air. Debates fascinated. Once upon a time, in a flurry of defences, I argued against free will. When I listened, I became convinced of the other side, for a lifetime. Mrs. Krueger was the freedom fighter. I wonder now at her background. Were her arguments from experience?

I was more to be found on the dance floor than at the library door. I married young and had my children. It was then, in the hours after bedtime, and during naps, that I read as if my life depended on it. The first tome was Gone With the Wind. I began university and was interrupted by life many times. This became my pattern. 

The Gleanings Project, to begin in the New Year, will be part of one of those interruptions. I will glean books for glimpses of knowledge and wisdom, fun and study, using fewer than 500 words. Later, I will get down to serious work again. Thank you for being companions on the way. Your likes and comments are awesome.

. . .

Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.

500 words

“Jesus’ paradoxical teaching . . . it is in losing ourself that we truly find it . . . I have done neither [here]. . . journey of finding our authentic self in Christ and rooting our identity in this reality is dramatically different from the agenda of self-fulfillment promoted by pop psychology. ” (13)

“The goal of the spiritual journey is the transformation of the self.” (14)

“Beneath the roles and masks lies a possibility of a self that is as unique as a snowflake.” (15)

“A humble self-knowledge is a surer way to God than a search after deep learning.” (a Kempis in Benner, 20)

“Personal knowledge is never simply a matter of the head. Because it is rooted in experience , it is grounded in deep laces of our being. The things we know from experience we know beyond belief. Such knowing is not incompatible with such belief, but is not dependent on it.” (25)

“Paradoxically, we come to know God best not by looking at God exclusively, but by looking at God, then looking at ourselves –– then looking at God, and then looking at ourselves . . . mostly fully known in relationship to each other.” (26)

“God’s call to a deep personal encounter . . . is an invitation to step out of the security of the boat and meet Jesus in the vulnerability and chaos of our inner storms.” (31)

“Revelation is not simply something that happened at some distant point in the past. If it were, all we could ever hope for is information from this historic event.” (34)

Because God is love, God can only be known through love . . . This is transformational knowing . . . also requires surrender . . . Genuine knowing also demands a response . . . To surrender to Divine love is to find our soul’s home.” (35)

“Relationships develop when people spend time together . . . the essence of prayer . . .Spirit-guided meditation on the Gospels. ” (37)

“The meditation I am recommending is not the same as Bible study. It is more an exercise of the imagination than it is of the intellect. It involves allowing the Spirit of God to help you imaginatively enter an event in the life of Christ as presented in the Gospels.” 

“My journey, however, has not been easy. I have trouble visualizing things . . . But . . . allowing myself to daydream on it –– is sharing Jesus’ experience with Him . . . slowly moving to a new level of personal knowing of Jesus.” (39)

“Coming to know and trust God’s love is a lifelong process . . . allowing our identity to be re-formed . . . core of the spiritual transformation. “ (51)

“In human community . . .” (52)

“Spiritual transformation, not self-knowledge is the goal of Christian spirituality. “ (72)

“Every moment of every day or our life God wanders in our inner garden, seeking our companionship.” (88)

. . .

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as Lament Practice: Matthew 25-26

“Collage of Paintings and Shells’ DS

Here are the explorations for today:

First Century Second Covenant Scriptures

Matthew 25-26

The Kingdom of Heaven can be

Illustrated by the story of ten

Bridesmaids

Five were wise enough

To fill their lamps with oil

Stay awake and be prepared

Another story told

The man who received the $1,000

Dug a hole in the ground

And buried it

Throw the useless servant into

Outer darkness

When I the Messiah shall

Come in my glory I

Will separate the people as

A shepherd separates 

The sheep from the goats

I was hungry and you fed me

I was thirsty and youMessiah

Gave me water

I was a stranger and you

Invited me into your house

Naked and you clothed me

Sick and in prison

And you visited me

Jesus now proceeded

To Bethany a woman

Came in with a very

Expensive bottle of perfume

And poured it over his head

She has done a good thing

For me

Sorrow chilled their hearts

Take it and eat it

For this is my body

This is my blood sealing

The New Covenant

Poured out to forgive the 

Sins of multitudes

Keep alert and pray

The time has come

My friend go ahead and do

What you came here to do

I could ask my Father for

A thousand angels 

To protect us but how

Would Scripture be

Fulfilled

Looked for witnesses who

Would lie about Jesus

But Jesus remained silent

I am

Struck him

Peter denied it loudly

Immediately the cock crowed

Chief priests and elders decide

To put Jesus to death.

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as a Practice of Lament: Matthew 19-24

“Boy Piper Drinking Tea at Emily Carr University” Collage Book, DS

Here is the exploration today:

Matthew 19-24

No man may divorce what

God has joined together

Hard and evil hearts but

Not what God originally

Intended

Not everyone can accept this

Statement only whose whom

God helps

Little children were brought

To Jesus to lay his hands on

And pray for such is

The Kingdom of Heaven

You must pray

Until the answer comes

He put his hand on their

Heads and blessed them

Before he left

Don’t kill

Don’t commit adultery

Don’t steal

Don’t lie

Respect your father

And your mother

Give all to the poor

But he was very rich

Disciples confounded

Who can ever be saved

Humanly speaking no one

But with God everything

Is possible

The last shall be first and

The first last

As Jesus was on his way

To Jerusalem he took the

Twelve disciples aside

To explain

I will be betrayed

On the third day

I will rise to life again

The mother of James and

Zebedee asked a favor

Will you let my two sons

Sit on two thrones next to

Yours

Those places are reserved

For those my Father selects

I the Messiah came to serve

And give my life as a ransom

For many

What do you want me to 

Do for you

Sir we want to see

He touched their eyes and

Instantly they could see

And followed him

Jesus rides into Jerusalem

On a donkey 

Who is this

It’s Jesus the prophet

From Galilee

He will soften adult hearts

To become like little children

Jesus went into the Temple

And turned over the 

Money-changers’ tables

Scriptures say my Temple

Is a house of prayer

Not a den of thieves

Even the little children

Shouted God bless the 

Son of David

Fig tree withered

Jesus told them several

Stories about the Kingdom

Of God

His reply baffled them

And they went away

Love the Lord your God

With all your heart

Soul

And mind and

Love our neighbour as 

Much as you love yourself

Everything they do is for

Show

Hypocrites

Extortion and greed like

Beautiful mausoleums

Decayed inside

I send prophets and wise men

Writers you kill them

Many will come who claim

To be the Messiah

Dark days persecution

Then last signal

Of my coming

Deep mourning and angels

Trumpet blast

The chosen gathered

Two work in a field and

One will be taken

Two women doing household

Tasks one will be taken

The other left

So be prepared.

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as a Practice of Lament: Matthew 15-18

“Stanley Park from Ambleside Beach” Phone Photo, DS

Here are today’s explorations:

Matthew 15-18

Jesus interviewed by Pharisees

Why do your traditions violate

The commandments of God

Jesus asked

Hypocrites

Blind guides

Then he said to the woman

Whose daughter had a demon

Within her

I was sent to help the Jews

Sir help me

Woman 

Your faith is large and

Your request is granted

Jesus now returned to

The Sea of Galilee

Climbed on a hill

And sat there

Crowds

Lame blind maimed and

Those who could not speak

Healed

Jesus had

Disciples feed them with

Seven loaves and a few 

Small fish

Blessed by God

Peter

I will build my church

And all the powers of

Hell will not prevail 

Against it

What profit is there

If you gain the whole world

And lose eternal life

Six days later Jesus took

Peter James and his brother

John to the top of a high

And lonely hill

His appearance changed as

They watched

His face shone like

The sun

His clothing became dazzling

White

A voice from a bright cloud

This is my beloved Son

I am wonderfully pleased

With him obey him

Don’t be afraid Jesus said

Jesus rebuked the demon

In a boy and he was well

From that moment

Pray and fast for this

Mustard seed faith

Jesus warned disciples of his

Betrayal and

His rising on the third day

Go down to the shore

And throw in a line

Find a coin in the mouth

Of a fish and pay taxes

Sir how often should I

Forgive my brother

Seven times

Jesus said seventy

Times seven times

Meandering Through the Writings of Others as a Practice of Lament: Matthew 11-14

“Tree at Deer Lake Park” Phone Photo, DS

Here are the explorations of the day:

Matthew 11-14

Jesus preached in the cities

John the Baptist in prison

Asks if Jesus is the one they

Have waited for

Affirms John from Scripture

Denounces cities for seeing 

Miracles and

Still not turning

To God

Come to me and I will give

You rest for your souls

Reminded Pharisees of

Scriptures regarding feeding the

Hungry on the Sabbath

His name shall be the

Hope of the world

No blasphemy of the

Holy Spirt

A tree is identified by its

Fruit

A man’s heart determines

His speech

Who is my mother

Who are my brothers

Anyone who obeys

My Father in heaven

Some seeds fell on good soil

Produced a crop x 30 x 60

X 100

Shall we pull out the thistles

No you’ll hurt the wheat

Let them both grow together

Until the harvest

I will use stories to speak

My message

Prophecy

When the net is full

He drags it up onto the

Beach

Sits and sorts edible ones

Into crates

And throws the others away

That is the way it will be

At the end of the world

Angels will come and

Separate

How is this possible

He’s just a carpenter’s son

We know his mother Mary

A prophet is honored

Everywhere

Except in his own country

John the Baptist was beheaded

For speaking up to Herod

He took the five loaves

And two fishes and

Asked God’s blessing

On the meal

Twelve baskets of 

leftovers 

Jesus walks on water

Instantly Jesus reaches out

And rescues him 

At Gennesaret Jesus

Healed the sick.