Doby’s Lent As Yourself COVID Testimony
I don't have pictures. I don't have a video, but I do have some thoughts.
This is a weird time and some what scary, and there's no way of knowing when it will end. The gatherings, events and sport contests have not and are not happening. Classes with ILR (Institute for Learning in Retirement) have been canceled. No March Madness just when Kansas was ranked #1! No in person Palm Sunday, Holy Week or Easter. I joined the church on Maundy Thursday, I know not why. A classmate and I chose not to join after Confirmation class and we then independently decide it was time to join junior year in HS. It does make it easy to remember when I joined.
I have been treating this time as a sort of retreat. During Lent I try to concentrate my reading on spiritual, religious or church related books. I first read How Jesus Became God. I will have more to say about that separately. I have been reading Henri Nouwen and Meister Eckhart (no book report there).
I finished reading the Noon Book Group book Grateful by Diana Butler Bass. When I ordered the book from Amazon I found she had written another book of which I was not aware - Grounded: Finding God in the World a Spiritual Revolution.
I first meet Diana Butler Bass when she conducted a focus group at Redeemer as Redeemer was one of the churches featured in Christianity for the Rest of Us
featuring testimony. It was how Lillian used the Congregational "tradition" of old updated for today's world. (as we did not have to make testimony to join!)
As an aside I somehow think that subconsciously Redeemer took the message of thinking "we like things this way, don't want to change" and then an interim between Lillian and Shelley did not lead us in discussing, "who were we, who are we, who do we want to be?" Thus Redeemer did not recreate at the top of the bell curve, when Susan Murtha arrived we were too far down the curve.
Grounded looks on where we may be now and How Jesus Became God ended in the 3rd & 4th centuries. But in thinking of what Diana Butler Bass has written about over the past few years. And I have her speak several times. That being we are due for another reformation. My thinking that how we are doing church, how many Churches are doing church may hasten us toward another reformation. More of technologies, different ways to gather. Maybe move more to emerging church kind of stuff. More tech may better relate to millennials, Gen Y (or what ever the letter is).
The problem now is I am ready to have the retreat over. I am beginning to feel restless. I am not literally self isolating but I am alone. I am not lonely. I talk to family and friends and on the phone. Maybe instead of the 4 stages of grief we need the 4 stages of self isolation!!! We grieve for our losses, but isolation is different.
The good news, I have "attended" Bible study and "attended" Church and look forward to future services. I plan to get some grape juice and fresh baked bread for communion. I know it must not be easy for you and Clare. Also know as I get the weekly email form SNE Conf 5 More Things. Help is on the way. Shared creativity. What a concept.
Peace,
Doby
