Adult Spirituality Group notes

We discussed chapter 7, entitled "Magic and Thanksgiving": 

MAGIC - "We need concrete things that tie the ordinary to the extraordinary, like the long lines that tether a hot air balloon to the ground, to bring the kingdom of heaven near to us.  The hope is that these rituals will not diminish the holy nor make it mundane but are set aside to keep it close."

THANKSGIVING - "The Communion ritual is a way of putting aside time to give our thanks--and in that putting aside of time, we have the opportunity to see what our lives are like now and what they can become." 


For next week discussion, we'll read "Chapter 8: Myths and Traditions":

- Have you encountered rules and regulations about communion that have kept you from the table?  How would it feel to be denied this gift of community because of some transgression?
- How do you react to the statement, "You are a  guest at God's feast.  You are an honored guest"?  How does the openness of God's table compare to the gift of his grace in our lives?

Adult Spirituality Group notes

We consumed the chapter "Eating the Body and Blood":
During communion, we should think of Christ as being present, the sacramental bread is feeding the Church body of Christ, and the wine is the blood of Christ giving our congregation energy.  Our church needs to live Christianity and do the work of Christ.  "The larger narrative of the Christian religion has been a story, a metaphor into which I have fitted my life.  I am a character in this book."  (p. 72)

"Consecrating bread and wine for Communion is like a wedding feast:  it calls out of these ordinary elements their essential beauty and their life-giving core." (p. 66) 
 Day - I am curious about the above quote and this chapter as a whole because my formal first name is Deven (pronounced "Dayv-ANE"), short for Devendra the king of all elemental beings in Hindu mythology, similar to Zeus and Thor, with lightning and thunder as my weapon.  I like to directly intuit the subtle relationships in nature's intricate web.

Tom - For me it is richer to think of Jesus doing a miracle to turn water into wine.  "Jesus is said to have turned water into wine....  In the clear water of our lives lies undiscovered wine.  It is our charge, as men and women, as human beings, to commit ourselves to seeking and finding that heady spirit in our sisters, brothers, and ourselves.  (p. 66)
Rose - In our church, we never talk about the meaning of communion.  Some people can relate with a sermon, but for others who've had a tough complex worldly week, consuming the communion sacramental wafer and wine can better bring them into Christ's church body.  We should do a sermon on communion and coffee hour presentation about our book, The Sacred Meal, for the congregation.

Next Sunday 6/8, we'll discuss Chapter 7 "Magic & Thanksgiving" p. 75+.
Whatever you believe about the elements of communion, Nora reminds us that this is a ritual of thanksgiving.  What type of remembrances and thanks do you bring to the table?  Are there problems (baggage) that block you from being truly thankful?

In what ways would you like to see your life, your spiritual growth transform?  How do you think the regular practice of communion could keep you focused on a larger vision of God's grace in your life?

Adult Spirituality Group notes

We dove into our reading, chapter 5, "Afterward" (pp. 51+).

Author Ann Lamott writes in Traveling Mercies, "I do not at all understand the mystery of grace--only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us."  We could translate our subtle expansive feelings of Grace after Communion to the subtle light prisms from dew drops in forests as well as to the expansive horizons on immersive multi-sensory wilderness treks.  Our hearts are alight at center!

In this mystical moment, the congregation's full silent hearts are like being in tune with all the community of hearts in nature.  Rose & Pete narrated their subtle expansive feelings atop a 9,000 ft. mountain.  "We took photos, ate dinner, and watched the sky changing.  There was snow on the ground.  We drove down a road late at night and watched hundreds of sheep crossing the road, with owls and hawks flying."

This is just how Communion can light our hearts.  "The difference between Jesus and us may not merely be one of degrees of divinity, but also his openness to others and their capacity to bend and awaken his heart." (p. 62)

Next Sunday, 6/1, we'll discuss the following questions relating to Chapter 6, "Eating the Body and Blood" (pp. 63+).

Do you have childhood memories of taking communion?  How do these memories differ from your experiences with communion today?

Nora Gallagher describes the consecration of the elements as "calling out of these ordinary elements their essential beauty and their life-giving core."  How is your spirit "nourished" by partaking in the sacred meal?

Adult Spirituality Group notes

Our group discussed the notion of silence as construed in Chapter 4, "Receiving".

Being awake to silence is a way to center ourselves for our experiences at the altar during communion, when we are invited into what Jesus calls heaven.  Pastor Dan likes to invoke a period of silent contemplation by having the congregation "keep our heads down and hearts up."  This is a reminder to "do nothing" (not even try to clear one's mind), but remain whole while bathing in silence.  This allows the experience of communion to most deeply touch and heal every part of our integrated lives.

 This prescription in communion to "do nothing" strikes Americans awkwardly.  "Working hard for what you get is ingrained in our psyches; it's the advice we give our children and students, the very basis of the American Dream."  (p. 39)  "By making our greatest and most important goal the one of productivity, we miss out on the ways that God's gifts of Grace come to us by doing nothing."  (p. 41)

Next Sunday, we'll discuss Chapter 5, "Afterwards" (p. 51+).  Think about how these questions relate:
1.  How did you feel after your last communion?  Can you recall that feeling just before participating in the next communion?

2.  When you're taking communion, take note of the people immediately around you, even if you don't know their names.  Pray for each of them before and after.  Pray for them daily in the week following communion.  How does this affect your practice of taking the sacred meal?  Does it change the way you view the world around you?

Adult Spirituality Group notes

For this week, the group read Chapter 3, "Waiting":  Taking Communion has three parts, waiting, receiving, and afterward.  The waiting is warming up by making oneself open and receptive, ready for this deeper ritual.  Mostly, church-goers are in our thoughts and concepts, reflecting upon the sermon or our baggage (both personal as well as our participation in societal) from the week.  The waiting period is critical to become fully real and alive, awake by each raising up our antennas.

We found the author's reflection helpful: 
"So part of waiting in Communion is examining what we did last week to find the kingdom of heaven in our midst and to help others find it.  I urge you to go both easy and hard on yourself in this regard.  You can't just condemn yourself for not doing enough.  Join the crowd.  None of us does enough.  I think it is important to find the things you did do and honor yourself for them, small as they might be."  (p. 37)

For next week, please read Chapter 4, "Receiving" (starting on p. 39).  Think about how these questions relate:
1.  When was the last time you spent an afternoon doing "nothing," the way you did as a child?  How did you feel afterward?

2.  Why do you think we as a culture have a hard time receiving unearned gifts?  How can regularly participating in communion help us to understand God's unearned gift of grace?

Adult Spirituality Group notes

In response to the questions for Chapter 2 "Communion as a Practice", we were inspired by these two quotes:
1.  "Instead of thinking of Communion as a ghoulish eating of human flesh, think of those who gather at Communion as the body of Christ.  We are the body given for each other.  This is my body, he said, look around you.  When we show up and do our parts, we are the sacrament, the body of Christ.  Do this to remember me.  Do this to remember who you were with me.  Do this to remember who you are."
2.  "Jesus doesn't call us to live in a soft cocoon, distracted and undisturbed, allowing others to pay the costs of our comfort.  When it comes right down to it, Jesus followed where compassion led him, and he bore the cost of what he found.  Jesus asks us to follow where compassion leads and bear the cost of what we find.


For next week: 
Please read Chapter 3 "Waiting", pp. 27-38.   Think about how these questions relate:
1.  What are the things in your life that you keep "buried" when you come to the altar that keep you distracted from the possibilities of communion?
2.  What can you do in the coming week to find the kingdom of heaven in the midst of your everyday life?  How can you help others see it?

Adult Spirituality Group notes

Right now is a great time to join!  We're just reading the first chapter of a new book, entitled The Sacred Meal by Nora Gallagher:

The Sacred Meal
     Unlike every other Christian practice, communion is meant to be done together—as the Gospel of Matthew tells us, where two or three “gathered in my name.” You simply can’t do it by yourself. You can pray alone and fast alone. You can even go on pilgrimage alone. Communion, on the other hand, forces us to be with others.

     But like these other practices, communion has the same intention: to gradually move us out of one place and into another. Author Nora Gallagher says it’s like taking a journey to a foreign land, and she divides the trip into three parts: waiting, receiving, and afterward. While we wait, we sort through our baggage, filled with worry, guilt, anxiety, and pain. Communion teaches us how to receive—that God’s gift of grace comes to us by doing nothing. Finally, we surrender our invisible baggage and, now lightened, are free to reflect upon and understand the journey we have shared.      Gallagher writes,“Every time it is the same, and every time it is different.” This is your family, your table, and act of community—the gathering of the body of Christ.

The Ancient Practices

     There is a hunger in every human heart for connection, primitive and raw, to God. To satisfy it, many are beginning to explore traditional spiritual disciplines used for centuries . . . everything from fixed-hour prayer to fasting to sincere observance of the Sabbath.  Compelling and readable, the Ancient Practices series is for every spiritual sojourner, for every Christian seeker who wants more.

Our tidy group of five revealed our initial perceptions about this church ceremony of Communion to reenact the Last Supper and reclaim our focus on Christ.  Some are more public and social (outwardly bonding), while others are more private and internal (inwardly bonding).  Our book discussion group will certainly help us put organization/words to this 'out of the ordinary' practice in the ensuing weeks.

For next week:  Please read chapter 2, pp. 9 -  25.  Think about how these question sets relate:

1. How does communion build community when it is taken in silence?  How does it bond us, moving us "out of one place and into another?"
2. When human nature causes us to be attracted to those in power over us, how can communion remind us of another type of power, that of Christ's compassion and vulnerability?