One week ago, we said our
good-byes to each other as those on the
Lindisfarne Community retreat prepared to drive home — to Maryland, Ohio,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and, of
course, various areas of New York.
This World is Not My Home? was this year’s theme. The question mark is
important as we looked at the various aspects of home and what it meant to us.
Is home a physical location? Is home a spiritual place? Do we yearn for a home?
How do we share our home? Is home our final resting place? Too many questions for a short weekend retreat
but, hopefully, our sessions were discussion starters, ideas to take home and
peruse over the next few months.
Friday night was a time of
sharing the highlights of our previous year and an introduction to the theme. The
whole retreat was themed as “a conversation” with lots of planned discussion
and informal talking to each other.
On Saturday, we began with a
look at empathy and sharing our home. As an introduction, we watch a short clip
from YouTube, The Empathic Civilization
by social theorist, Jeremy Rifkin (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=empathic+civilization).
This traced how humanity developed as empathic beings, wanting to help and care
for others — human, non-human beings and the world. We are sharing our home
with others and have a responsibility to care for them and to take care of our
world.
Rifkin showed how part of
our empathic drive is to find connection with those who share the same
nationality or religious identity. So how do we embrace those who are
different? A very poignant question when all around us is talk of closing
borders, refusing refugees, stereo typing and maligning those with a different
religious identity.
Interesting, the first of
our lectionary passages for this week starts with someone opening their home
and embracing strangers. It is the story of Abraham and Sarah. They were at
home when three men arrived at their tent door. Much discussion has been had
about whether these men were angels or a pre-incarnation of God. I want only to
note Abraham and Sarah’s first inclination when strangers visited them. They
washed their dusty feet, they offered them a shady place to rest and they fed
them. Not a quick visit as they had to bake bread, kill a calf (not a good
story for one who abhors animal killing for food!), prepare curds and bring
milk. Their home was a place of hospitality and refreshment.
The next session was about
being responsible at home. Here we had lots of discussion about justice and
injustice. How do we react to the injustices around us? What is our
responsibility?
Here, too, this week’s
lectionary affirms the idea of social responsibility. The text says, “When he
[Jesus] saw the crowds he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and
helpless” (Matt 9:36).
We then moved on at looking
at being at home in our body. An introduction to the subject then a time of
solitude to ponder our own relationship with our body. The ensuing discussion
was lively, focusing much on how many of us are dissatisfied with our own body
size or shape, our frustration when illness or infirmity prevents us from
achieving all we would like to do and how worth is often linked to body
size/shape. It was certainly a discussion which could have continued far beyond
the limits of time. It was particularly noticeable that this was a feminist
issue, with women being judged much more on physical appearance than men. Again,
the lectionary informs us, “It is God that made us, and we are God’s” (Psalm
100:3)
The next session was a led meditation
with the motif from the Wizard of Oz;
“there is no place like home.” This meditation looked at home as one’s
spiritual essence. Our final Saturday session was going home with a look at
death. We started by watching an episode of a series called “The Moaning of
Life” (Season one, episode 5, available on Netflix). If you like a laugh, worth
watching. The presenter travelled around exploring different cultures
approaches to death and he designed his own coffin. This led into another
lively discussion, where we talked about what we would like to happen to our
bodies after death. In addition, there was focus on how do we respect those who
are dying and care for their families. Of course, the Celtic idea about where ever
bones are laid to rest is the place of resurrection is always worth
considering. The lectionary text again, “precious in the sight of God is the
death of his faithful ones” (Alternate Psalm, 116: 15).
On Sunday, we were delighted
to profess three new members — Jeremy, Scotty and Leah— and welcome a new
novice —Yossi. Leah was also recognized as a contemplative and The Waystead as a new hermitage of the
community. The marriage of Sue and Ken was blessed. Finally, we celebrated Eucharist
with all the themes of home being brought together.
We left to return home rejoicing.
I will end with final words from the week’s lectionary readings. “Give thanks to God, bless God’s Name” (Psalm
100:4)
