October winds

How could it possibly be two weeks since my last post? October is moving incredibly quickly and my cup, through stable, nearly runneth over. Mostly I've been studying and having lots of meetings. I've been learning lots about lay ministry, the priesthood of the people of God, the evolution of structures in the first few centuries of the church, and several perspectives on homiletics. I've been spending some Saturdays in the library of my college which has been great. There is not a lot of competition on Saturday for space. It feels wide open and quiet in there. I can sit still and work much more effectively than at home even though I virtually live in a library. I'm very happy to be able to connect the Academy to Reed. One other of the twelve academy students is a Reedie which is a pretty high proportion when it comes down to it. I'm hoping that by reconnecting this way and doing my research there will abate the recurrent dreams I've always had about starting senior year over (or somehow getting a second degree there). I've always been disappointed with my performance senior year and have fairly consciously wished for a do over of sorts. In some ways that's what I have now: a new educational endeavor centered in theology like I've always wanted. I considered going to St. Andrews, Scotland for a Bachelor of Divinity three different times including straight out of high school. Course then I'd still be presbyterian, which though an important part of the body of Christ doesn't happen to be the part in which I am called to be. So all is for the best. I remain happily in Portland and find myself re-ensconced in the Reed Library, which incidentally is where I turned in 2003 to find books and give myself a crash course in what it meant to be an Episcopalian. Wheels within wheels as they say.

Autumnal blessings upon you!

The Double Spiral of the Life of the Spirit

Last week, I was fortunate to see two excellent speakers: Father William Meninger, a Cistercian who was one of the original teachers to return contemplative prayer to the Church, and David Abram: a highly creative cultural ecologist. In some ways they represent two of the deepest aspects of my spiritual life.

David Abram told us about the pervasiveness of the association of the words and concepts by which we express mind, wind, spirit, psyche. Mind, like the earth, is something that we are in. As Paul preached to the Athenians: God is "the one in whom we live and move and have our being." He also told us of the Navajo concept of Nilche' the Divine Wind that surrounds us as well as is in us. The wind without is connected as the wind within. The wind is invisible but leaves spiral traces all over, including our own bodies: tips of fingers and toes, ears (where the children of the wind speak to us as thoughts), and the brain itself.

All of this talk of connection prompted me to rescue the most recent material that I have been working with as part of my order of druids (OBOD). A few years ago they revised the course and also created an audio version to honor the oral natural of the Celtic tradition. It will be good to warm the embers of that fire.

The other side of the spiral brought a wonderful workshop and lecture from Father Meninger on the practice of the contemplative life. He illuminated thoughts from the Cloud of Unknowing, from Julian of Norwich, and other medieval gems of mysticism brought back to light and practice in the past sixty years or so. A deep well from which to nourish the church and all those working towards the kingdom.

As Christianity spread in Britain and Ireland, plenty of Druids became Monks, imparting Celtic Christianity and Anglicanism its distinct cultural flavor. This blending of the natural and the spiritual (as if those are separate anyway) is a rich tradition with a long history. Navigating my place in the flow of those spirals is a pleasure.

May be blessings of the King of the Elements be with you this night!