THREE THINGS.... Three Reasons to Add a Fourth Leg to the Three-Legged Stool

First, I have included a link in this introductory paragraph so that you might learn or refresh your memory as to the famous and foundational Three-Legged Stool of Anglicanism by theologian Richard Hooker. The three legs are Traditional, Scripture and Reason. This theological framework is basic to every confirmation class and Intro to the Episcopal Church and is worth revisiting now and again, never more so than in this present time of transition and opportunity within the Episcopal Church. Here is a one page summary to be reviewed before moving on: https://www.gracemuskogee.org/2020/08/14/the-three-legged-stool/. 

The fourth leg I propose to be added is that of Experience. Why is this important? Because by standing firmly on only Tradition, Scripture and Reason we do not acknowledge real shifts in culture - the way in which people are searching for the experience of the Divine in their day to day lives, in their communal life, and in their worship. What everyone knows for certain about the existing church is that it is rooted in tradition - our many old and grand buildings of 150 years or more testify to this, as do all the celebrated (and beautiful) trappings of those buildings. What everyone knows is that the Bible is foundational for the whole of Christendom and for the Episcopal Church in particular whose Book of Common Prayer is framed and weighted with Holy Writ. What anyone knows who has spent time in the church's traditional worship and its educational offerings is that Episcopalians are thoughtful people who have long-standing reasoned doctrines; we are good at explaining the faith, at framing it within 2000 years of scripture and tradition. None of these things is up for grabs. But there is a reason Episcopalians are referred to as "the frozen chosen." It's time to add the fourth leg of Experience. 

1. Spirituality has shifted from the Intellectual to the Experiencial. It wasn't that long ago that congregations were quite satisfied with knowledge; that is, doctrines and theology, church history and biblical study (hermeneutics and exegesis). Knowledge of things religious has been generally accepted as a form of piety. Apologetics is undeniably heady stuff. But as culture has changed, and with it the make-up of Episcopal congregations, it has become clear that knowledge/reason alone does not quench spiritual appetites as it once did. Many people in the church today want to have the experience of God in their lives; not just the evidence of answered prayer; much less to read a paper on efficacy of prayer, but the satisfaction of feeling that they have met with the very presence of God in the act of prayer. Of course people have always had spiritual experiences; the music and art of the church bears witness, and scripture itself is a testimony of the experience of the divine. Further, there is an entire library of Christian mystics whose poignant words capture our curious imaginations lead us into awe and wonder by association. But mystical experiences of the Divine have not historically been as well known, studied, or promoted within parish life as the three legs of tradition, scripture and reason that support the church's historical identity. 

2. The mass exodus from mainline churches testifies to the missing leg. Many in the church remain bewildered at why people have left or why there are so many people who have no interest whatsoever in exploring traditional Christian mainline religious offerings, whatever the flavor. For many years I heard from within church walls that it was the Sunday sporting practices and games that were taking away the kids and their parents. Before that it was the opening of stores for shopping on Sundays - that the Sabbath day had been subverted. Secular culture was blamed. But the fact is, people increasingly make the choice for themselves to go elsewhere on Sunday mornings. I believe that the church did not understand to what extent that what people wanted was to really, really experience God within the context of Sunday morning. Big Box or Megachurches fill their mammoth buildings with thousands every Sunday, despite the ball games of their children and open malls, because what they are offering is an experience. We might argue about content in favor of our own biases but talk to the people who attend these services and what they report is not how much they learned or how they had come to a reasoned faith but rather they describe the worship experience as a spiritual experience in and of itself. I do not wish to knock out the three legs and establish a single, solitary and unstable leg of experience primarily, which may well prove to be a deficit in the mega church culture in the long run, but I do think that we Episcopalians might pay attention to what is evidenced in front of our eyes. 

3. Yes. And.... Warning: Some of what I write here will be hard to read. Episcopal liturgies are beautiful. Yes. And, they are outdated in many respects and in need of revision. Episcopal hymnody is as familiar to those who grew up in the church as a loved relative; favored, savored and sacred. Yes. And... To most people outside the church walls, while is lovely to some it is to others unfamiliar and dated, stiff, stale and uninspiring. The church's cathedrals and grand buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries are sacred monuments grounded in scripture, tradition and reason; they are beloved testimonies to the church's place in society and religious life. Yes. And... the cost of maintaining those buildings cannot be sustained; the costs have skyrocketed and the money isn't there anymore. The foothold the Episcopal church once held in the religious landscape has shifted dramatically. Yes. And.... I believe that Michael Curry, in his role as presiding bishop is leading the church into a new day; a new day led by the experience of Becoming Beloved Community in the midst of the dissolution of much of what went before. Additionally, as Stephanie Spellers (author of The Church Cracked Open) spells out quite clearly and succinctly, we did not arrive at this place in our history innocently. There is much within Episcopal tradition to be questioned, and much to reconcile and yet the three legged stool has its place. Yes. And.... it must now be equally balanced by Experience; the experience of forgiveness, the experience of gratitude; the experience of the divine: the experience of the inner witness, the experience of inner knowing, the experience of the inner compass, the experience of the inner voice, the experience of the inner guide, the experience of inner wisdom, the experience of the inner lover of souls, the experience of the inner seer of the unseen, the experience of inner calm in a sea of worldly chaos and disorder, and the experience of inner wonderment in the midst of worldly conflict, division, violence and broken bonds of trust. 

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena + 

THREE THINGS... Three Habits to Break When You Are At Worship

Coming to church with regularity is an important religious ritual for many people. It is an easy thing to walk into the sanctuary and fall into simple routines and habits that, even after just a few weeks, much less years of repetition, makes being at church just as comfortable as sitting on the couch watching a favorite show. But the purpose of worship is actually not to be so comfortable that we know it like the back of our hand. The role of worship as a spiritual practice, for that is what it is, is to gently wake us up to another reality that is different from the one we move around in at all other times during the week; it is to wake us up to a higher consciousness, Christ Consciousness, or that which the gospels refer to as the Kingdom of God. This process is subtle, however, and while we do not invoke it necessarily, we do indeed invite it by adopting a posture of reception so that the Spirit may do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We do not awaken, we are awakened. The comfortable habits we adopt are not spiritual aids but can instead be spiritual blockages. Habits that lull our senses close us off instead of opening us up. Small routines that we are very attached to mirror patterns of rigidity that exist into other parts of our lives. So here are a few habits to consider breaking when next you attend worship:

1. Sit in a new place. You won't like it. But do it anyway. Observe your discomfort. Observe your new perspective from that seat, what can you see and hear clearly from this new location? What have you gained? What have you lost? Sit in that place for a few weeks until you notice it is becoming comfortable. Move to another place. Repeat. After a few months go back to "your old seat." What did you gain? What have you lost? 

2. Engage someone you don't know well in conversation. We are creatures of habit. In the same way we tend to sit in the same pew, we also tend to gravitate to people who are familiar and who we perceive are "like" us. Before or after worship, strike up a conversation, even a very brief one, with someone you have rarely or perhaps never have talked with at length. Silently, offer a gift of gratitude for this person. Later, write down three things you liked about this person and ways you are different. Sit with those three things and ask yourself how they remind you of you (even the things you initially identify as clear differences). Don't try to rush the answer; hence, the 'sit with it' instruction. Why do you think you chose that particular person to engage with? The outer world we experience is a mirror. Learning to read the mirror is an excellent spiritual practice. We cannot see ourselves and are poor judges of how we are perceived by others. For instance, the only way we can see our shadow side is to read the mirror of ourselves as it is revealed to us by the people we engage with. In this practice the mirror will reveal parts of ourselves we may be tempted to judge harshly. Observation is all that is necessary for spiritual transformation. Judgment either of others or self (after a time you will see it's the same thing) is not a spiritual aid and will not serve you well. Try appreciation instead as a path to Love, a door by which to enter the Kingdom.

3. Stand when you normally kneel and kneel when you normally stand during these prayers.... There is a particularly damaging tendency of religious people that all Christians should be familiar with and that is spiritual materialism. It is when we attach to particular rituals in worship and believe them to be "the right/proper way" of doing the parts of worship. Everyone is susceptible to this unfortunate tendency and plays in it from time to time. However, there is only one "right way" in the context of religious worship and that is to walk through the doors and be there. That, in itself, requires courage because it invites vulnerability/openness to the Spirit. Whether we sit or stand or kneel is a far second in importance to the work of showing up. If you always kneel at the Prayers of the People or at the Eucharistic Prayer, stand instead or vice versa. Standing for prayer is as acceptable as kneeling, sitting or lying prostrate - all currently observed in the Orthodox Church. Pews were invented by Protestants only 500 years ago to allow congregations to listen to long sermons. But for the first 1500 years Christians stood or sat for much of the worship. If you feel you simply can't do this because it's not the way you were taught or you've always done it this way.... I invite you to keep working at #1 and come back to this in time.  

THREE THINGS.... Three ways to increase your critical thinking skills

We all have biases. And while there is a good side to that, especially for us! - as we routinely gravitate toward all things familiar and safe, biases also create blind spots. As we navigate day to day life it is our biases, most of the time, that inform us as to what we believe and what new information we are willing to consider. Biases are present in systems as well, that is, in communities. Taken to an extreme, communities can have such strong biases they become "closed systems." In such communities, everyone who "belongs" knows how things work and everyone agrees on the beliefs within that community. Outsiders are excluded, shunned and often outright rejected... sometimes subtly and sometimes violently. In an "open system" the community as a whole is curious and flexible and open to new information; the hallmarks of an open system are creativity, hospitality and innovation. Below are three ways to begin to think critically, beginning with educating ourselves about the roles of biases, and what role they play for us personally and in the communities with which we associate. 

1. Get to know your biases. A couple of years ago Richard Rohr and Brian McLauren teamed up to do a podcast through the Center for Action and Contemplation on biases and how they affect the spiritual life that I highly commend to you:  https://cac.org/podcast/learning-how-to-see/. Know thyself.

2. Make honesty your best friend.  Being a naturally curious person and eternal student I am always seeking out new voices for my library (which includes far more podcasts, audio books, webinars, and youtube videos than actual books these days). One of the people who has really rocked my world is Byron Katie and her methodology of determining reality that she calls "The Work." There are four questions to ask about every situation. The first two which apply to my purpose here are: Is it true? followed by, Can you know absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, that it is true? Because we are biased we often side with opinions and beliefs about things, all kinds of things, because we hear it from sources we find credible, or people who line up with our philosophies or religiosity, or media sources we enjoy, etc. Sometimes we parrot things that the culture says is true only to find out later that it was never true. Worse, we believe things about other people, even people we care about, because we have been shaped by our histories, our biases, and we make assumptions that become truth for us. But are our beliefs actually true? Sometimes we cling to untrue beliefs because we feel protected from looking at what might be true about us. With brutal honesty Byron Katie says about her life before The Work, "Everything that came out of my mouth was a lie." Love requires that when we point the finger at the other we must examine the other four fingers pointing back at ourselves. Love requires asking: Is it true?

3. Move from listening to observing. Interpersonal communications is the playground of spiritual exploration. At the intersection of communication between humans and the spiritual life there is a lot of emphasis on deep listening - and it is certainly important. But even more useful for the critical mind is learning to listen as an observer, not as an arbitrator of right and wrong. Observe your inner voice and inclination to resist anything and everything that doesn't fit into your worldview, beliefs or biases. Observe both your inner and outer responses. Are you agreeing? To what are you agreeing? Are you defending? What exactly are you defending? Are you unsure how to respond? What is going on in you to create ambivalence? Observe is the key word here. Just observe, as if you were a witness to a scene in a movie. Observers don't have opinions, they are just observing; they don't have a stake in the game. God observes us every minute of every day. God does not say: You're just wrong! The point I am trying to make is summed up best by the beloved Sufi poet Rumi who wrote: 

"Out beyond right-doing and wrong-doing there is a field. I'll meet you there." 

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena + 

THREE THINGS.... Three reasons to read the mystics

Mystic, prophet, author, activist, and Trappist monk, Thomas Merton (d. 1968) said (and I paraphrase): If you don't know the difference between pleasure and joy then you have not yet begun to live. This is decidedly a mystic's perspective. Here are three reasons I recommend reading the mystics.

1. The mystics open us up like nothing else. The magical thing about the mystics is that you don't have to "study" them. You only need to read them. Or as it may be available, you can listen to them on Youtube. Read or listen to a bit of the mystics every day and observe the emergence of 

a curious lack of need for understanding that grows into the knowledge of the well-being of all things (Julian of Norwich)

a boundless heart that seeks only to be in the presence of God in those poems that are infecting your life

a sudden Love of the people you meet who are not actually strangers at all but pieces of yourself that you have grown eyes to recognize with Love 

and a joy that lifts you off your feet though pleasure is no where to be found. 

2. The mystics teach us how to escape the trap of dualism. Richard Rohr, a living mystic in our own time, points out that when we are trapped in dualism we cannot go anywhere spiritually (my words). In this link, Rohr offers a 30 min. lesson on non-dualism. Rohr is one of my teachers and I highly recommend him to everyone in the church today who is serious about transcending the dualistic traps of culture and moving into "another" place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, that is, moving into Love. This is the not the work of growing in faith, but rather, just growing up. When we grow up we realize that we must make a choice: Do we want to be right? or Do we want to be in relationship?  God is in the relationship business and cares not for satisfying the ego.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EHe6tppkX0

3. The mystics are where we want to be. There is a saying that suggests that if you want to aspire to grow spiritually you must find a mentor or teacher to guide you who is farther ahead on the journey than you are. And when you find that person ask them what they are reading. Read that. 

In the case of they mystics, read what they have written. 

I leave you with this sample:

NO MORE LEAVING 

(by Hafiz, d. 1389, Persian poet)

At

Some point

Your relationship 

With God

Will

Become like this:

Next time you meet Him in the forest

Or on a crowded city street

There won't be anymore

"Leaving."

That is,

God will climb into 

Your pocket.

You will simply just take

Yourself

Along!

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena + 

THREE THINGS.... Three Ways to Honor Others with Words Spoken and Words Unspoken

I am a huge fan of audiobooks. Louise Penny is one of my favorite authors in the mystery genre. Her infamous Inspector Gamache is as much a wise sage and spiritual teacher as he is the head of Canada's leading Police Agency. As many of us know who read books in a series, the places become as familiar as our own neighborhoods; the characters as beloved as members of our families. Inspector Gamache and his village characters are such an example. Early in the series, Gamache had some advice for the new graduates of the police academy as they begin their people-serving careers. I find his advice excellent for everyone; it is especially poignant for those who employ spiritual practices as disciples for daily living. Here are three disciplines from the good Inspector in regards to what comes forth from our mouths as we seek to honor and uphold the dignity of every person. I pair this advice with James 3:5-12:

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

1. When preparing to speak consider: Is it kind? Nice is not always kind, but kindness is always nice. Many can put on the veil of nicety, but if veiled only, it cannot be sustained and the unkind will show through in short order. "No more can salt water yield fresh." But kindness is authentic and true with no need for the social expectation of nicety. "Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs?" When next you feel the urge to speak to anyone (from spouse, child to stranger), ask yourself, Is what I am about to say kind? Or is what is about to come out of me a veiled nicety that I do not feel genuinely? Am I speaking from Love or do I speak from my need to be right, to justify, to make myself important, or to lord myself over the Other? When you feel Love, genuine affection, despite disagreement or distrust, then speak. 

2. When preparing to speak consider: Is it true? We often wax eloquently about things of which we know not. We parrot what others say, go along with the crowd, without doing our own research to conclude truth beyond a reasonable doubt (and there is usually a lot of doubt when it comes to veracity.) We hear something about someone and we pass it along assuming that we were correctly informed. (See point 3.) "How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire." In truth, there is little beyond what we know within our own experience that can be said to be absolutely true. 

3. When preparing to speak consider: Does it need to be said? "I told you so," is an obvious example of things that don't need to be said. Observe conversations and in a non-judgmental way (only as a witness) assess for yourself what really needed to be said. I think you'll observe a lot of unnecessary commentary. Apply this to your own speech. From our ecocentric understanding of the universe we think others need to hear what we have to say. Do they? They'll be better off when we have enlightened them! Will they? "With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God."  

When we stop to reconsider our next verbal offering within the framework of: Is it kind? Is it true? Does it need to be said?, there is far less for us to say and far more opportunity to listen in Love. 

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena + 

THREE THINGS.... Three reasons to study the book The Church Cracked Open

Here are three good reasons to read The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for Beloved Community by Stephanie Spellers.

1. The church has entered into a time of massive transformation and everyone is invited to participate. Do you remember seeing or hearing about the Left Behind series some years back? It was based on Matthew 24:40-41(also found in Luke): "Then two men will be in a field: one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left." (I do not recommend the movie or the book series, by the way.) I have been thinking of this passage lately as I reflect on the church's history leading up to this moment and to the infinite number of possibilities that are before it. The impetus of the Left Behind movie was fear; fear of God's retribution, of being "left behind" on the Day of Judgment: Get with the program or be left behind! Far from the fictional "Left Behind," the theme is playing out in real life for the church at this moment: It is being left behind, not by God, but by a post-Christian culture. There is no amount of playing with the statistics to deny this reality. But there is another kind of left behind that we might focus on and that is how the decline of the church is forcing self-examination and leading to transformation, to something new. I have been participating in the Becoming Beloved Community Wisdom Practice Circles via Zoom since last spring. The circle is made up largely of laity with a few clergy and a number of people who still call the Episcopal Church home but no longer find the worship fulfilling or relevant - they do church in the circle each week - and report that it meets their needs far more at this point. I find this an interesting phenomenon. The circle has no set liturgy but it is based on the four-fold path of Becoming Beloved Community as set forth by +Michael Curry, the Episcopal Presiding Bishop. This fall it is clear that the text, The Church Cracked Open is a companion in the work of transforming Christian community within the practice circles. Each day, as a member of the clergy, I am stretched as I explore the edges of tradition and traditional piety where the tears are showing and new threads are being woven through. It is unfamiliar to me and not always comfortable. So I try to relax as I identify my own rigid concepts and replace anxiety with curiosity. Instead of being afraid of what it means to be left behind in this great period of transformation I think that it might be more useful if we choose to be actively engaged in the Big Change. The Church Cracked Open helps us see ourselves not as victims of either our past or the cultural forces shaping the present moment but rather invites us into the possibilities of the future/now as full participants.  

2. The questions we are asking are more important than the certainty we think we need. Quotes from The Church Cracked Open:

"Those who are cowards will ask, "Is it safe?"

Those who are political will ask, "Is it expedient?"

Those who are vain will ask, "Is it popular?"

But those who have a conscience will ask, "Is it right?" (Paul Washington, black priest and activist, d.1987) (p. 83). 

Which question do I ask?

".... a whole cloud of witnesses: faithful people who risked and lost in the eyes of the world but gained a glimpse of God's beloved community. They can teach us now, if we are willing to listen and if we want beloved community more than peace, propriety, and protection. They are whispering and calling. Now is the hour. Let it crack. Let it go." (p. 86)  

What do we want?

"Followers of Jesus don't stand still, and we don't stay at the center waiting for centripetal force to draw all the people and resources inside to us. We go out beyond comfort, knowing and certainty. We go when and where the Holy Spirit sends us." (p. 130)  

Are we willing to move beyond the comfortable and the familiar? 

"What cost am I/are we willing to bear?" (p. 104)

3. Contemplation and Action are the two poles of the evolving church. Wherein Word and Table have been, and remain today, as the two poles of Episcopal weekly liturgy for the last 50 years as established by the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, it appears to me that the evolving "church" (not in the traditional sense) is gravitating toward the poles of contemplation and action. Fr. Richard Rohr, as only one example, set these two poles spinning with his long-time and hugely popular and transformative website: The Center for Contemplation and Action. This is to say that Word and Table are central to the life of the established Church and are important for those who attend worship and are not open to debate. But those who hold to a broader sense of spirituality, who do not attend worship or belong to a parish, and are not wed to the tradition and significance of Word and Table by choice, are also choosing spiritual and religious expressions that embrace Contemplation and Action as the two poles by which they find meaning. The Church Cracked Open is an invitation to think, to contemplate, both individually and communally, about the moorings of our institution and why they no longer hold for a large segment of the culture. It is also an invitation to move into action; which may be as simple as participation in a book study or the more strenuous effort of writing the book.

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena + 

THREE THINGS.... Three reflections on the anniversary of my ordination

On Friday, December 3, I celebrated my 18th anniversary of ordained life. I came to ministry later in life and as a third career. I started out owning a small graphic design business and gradually a print shop. As a second career I worked as a case manager for the chronically mentally ill and then as an in-home child abuse prevention counselor, later the program manager. My three years of theological education at Sewanee (The School of Theology at the University of the South) with my young family were some of the sweetest years of my life. My recent trip back for Alumni Homecoming was a delightful trip down memory lane. I was ordained to the diaconate in July of 2003 in Orlando, FL, in my then home diocese, and to the priesthood six months later in Hilton Head, SC. Here are but a few reflections on my experience of ordained life.

1)  Why was I called to this? While I come from a family of priests, with a bishop back there in the late 1800's, I was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood. For this reason and others, I never envisioned my path replicating that of my relatives, so in my mind, what lay before me after seminary was a blank slate. In other words, I had no preconceived fantasies about the priesthood. I was just curious; I wondered where the trail would lead and was open to the process of that leading. There is always a reason to be led to a particular place at a particular time but it isn't often discerned until one is in the midst of it; it is revealed when the time is right. 

I had worked without experiencing gender discrimination for nearly two decades in the secular world before I became a priest and it honestly never occured to me that it would be an issue. Ignorance is bliss... until one is no longer ignorant. My time in SC was a rude awakening. Seminary had been like living in a beautiful dream and landing in a diocese that I experienced as unfriendly to female clergy was like being shaken awake to an unpleasant reality. As one of my male colleagues, who was himself a gay priest, and knew a thing or two about discrimination in the church, said to me early on: "I feel badly for women in the priesthood. The truth is you'll have to work twice as hard as a man in the same position; always proving your worth. And you'll be judged and criticized for things no man would ever be." I found this to be true; sometimes in a very subtle ways and sometimes in more obvious ways. As time went on I began to chronically overfunction in my role to gain approval, which of course would never be granted, and experienced failing health and broken relationships. After a long while and a lot of pain, I found the antitote simple: Be true to God's leading and faithful to the Canons and that is enough. My experiences have made me more aware and sensitive to the subtle but real discrimination experienced by those who work outside of the perceived "norm" and guarded biases. Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to the work of Becoming Beloved Community; it gives me a place to say legitimately: Let's clean up our house. In a wider, more general sense, it is one of the revealings to the question: Why was I called to this?

2) 25% of ordained clergy leave the ministry in the first 5 years. Ordained life is not for the faint of heart. I came very close to being part of the 25%. But out of a time of crisis came new training for transitional ministry certification and a trip to Israel for pastoral renewal. I stayed at the work and learned a lot about how to weather hard times, what to take lightly and what to take seriously. In many ways I grew up. I learned to take prayer and meditation seriously. I learned to take study seriously. I learned to take self-care seriously. I learned to take continuing education and coaching seriously. I learned to take the value of collegial relationships seriously. I learned to let go of the trappings of religious life. I am still learning; daily I am learning what to take seriously and what to let go of. The daily practice of attending to the foundational practices of the spiritual life and the letting go of both secular and spiritual materialism has made me a better pastor, teacher and critical thinker. Ordained life has given me a clearer understanding that the crises we face here on the physical plane are doorways by which we enter into the Kingdom. Each challenge is simply another opportunity for growth and an invitation to explore things yet unknown. 

3) Transformation is the whole point. I've been preaching now for 20 years - counting the years of field ed in seminary. It took writing a lot of sermons and a lot of hours of study and a lot of continuing education to get to this one central truth: Transformation is the whole point. I remember so clearly hearing a sermon given by my then bishop, Bob Gepert, (who would years later become and remains my clergy coach) during a pastoral visit to my then parish of St. James many years ago, that refocused my inner spiritual compass. I heard him talk about transformation - that the whole point of the gospels, all the teachings of Jesus, the work of the cross and the resurrection - it was all for the purpose of our transformation; to the end that we become Christ-like by way of our devotion to living a Christ-centered life. It took me a while to begin to grasp this concept. A long while, and I'm still grasping. It sounds simple and plainly obvious, I know. But I've found that, in fact, it's not simple, or plainly obvious, for most people. The institutional church makes religious life pretty complicated a lot of the time. But the ultimate lesson of Jesus's teachings is very simple: We must die in order to be born. We tend to want to be born without dying. But that's not how it works. We fear being transformed because whoever gains their life must first lose it. When I was ordained I did not realize it was a kind of dying, the giving up of a different kind of life. Nearly 20 years later, I have some clarity about that. The question, Why was I called to this? is actually a declaration of dying to be born to something. It is a statement of surrender. It is a statement of transformation. It is the question that begins the dying process. It is a response to God's beckoning call to follow in the path set before us. It is the first question of the day of every faithful Christian.

Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena +