Another Way to Be Christian

Hello friends,

It feels like a decade since the year began. We've already experienced so much joy and wonder, and so much shock, outrage and heartbreak less than two weeks in. We may still be reeling from last Wednesday's events, taking in more news and commentary trying to understand what happened and why, wondering what to do now as a country, and as a person of faith.

We have journeyed through the twelve days of Christmas and entered the church season of Epiphany, which offers stories about what God reveals through Jesus. The season always begins on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, with the story of the wise men who come following a star to find the baby Jesus. We usually lump their story in with the shepherd and the angels, but most biblical scholars agree, the wise men did not go to the manger, but rather to a house at a much later date. After all, traveling on foot from the Far East would have taken months, maybe even years, even if they first spotted the star when Jesus was born.

We also tend to ignore some really ominous details in the story. Namely that Herod, the ruling King of the time, was so threatened by another kind of power coming into being, so infuriated when the wise men wouldn't do his bidding, that he ordered a massacre of all infants under age 2 in and around Bethlehem. Jesus' family narrowly escaped by fleeing as refugees into Egypt where they lived until that Herod was dead. This is no sentimentalized Christmas where all is calm and bright. This is light and Love dangerously making its way into so much hostility and darkness, with rejoicing and weeping side by side.

Last Wednesday, January 6, was also the day of the Stop the Steal rally turned violent riot in our Capitol. The conflation of Epiphany with the real, live event of a violent mob incited by an insecure despot to storm the capitol, was striking to say the least. It revealed what is as true now, as it was then. Even as new light and hope may be breaking into the world, becoming flesh in new ways, many people are threatened by change, and will go to desperate if not violent lengths to hold on to worldly power.

There has to be another way.

This Fall and again last week, with all the heart-breaking tumult happening around the pandemic, the racial reckoning, and the elections, I found myself saying, mantra-like, there has to be another way. Another way beyond our partisan politics, our hostilities, our deep divides, our brokenness. I receive a regular newsletter from Plough, with the tag line, "Another life is possible." In my own personal life, I continue to wrestle with my own use of social media and addiction to my phone, with overwhelm at all the competing claims on my time and attention. I find myself hungry for another way to be, to parent, to engage in politics, to live and work with others.

You may have other things that come to mind or rise up when you hear the phrase Another Way. That's the beauty of a strong metaphor. What I really, truly believe is that whether we're seeking change on a personal or societal level, hoping for the transformation of a particular relationship or pattern in our own lives, or the healing of our democracy, the way of Jesus offers us ANOTHER WAY. A radical, non-violent, compassionate, just, merciful, life-changing way to be and see and live, that can change everything, if we devote ourselves to it.

So that is the theme of the year for the Deep Waters Worship Circle. And when I think about it, the circle itself is an embodiment of another way to be church. Another way to worship and to pray. Another way to read scripture and other sacred texts. Another way to be a community of seekers and believers, listening deeply to one another, learning from and encouraging each other, without trying to fix or change anyone else. Another way to hold all the feelings and tensions, questions and struggles of being human and being Christian. Another way to pray and engage spiritual practices.

We will begin meeting again TONIGHT, January 12, and continue to meet every Second and Fourth Tuesday. We will begin by exploring the Epiphany text, where the wise men from the East return home "by another road." I look forward to listening to this familiar text in a new light, reflecting on where we are, what's being revealed, and how we too might be called to take another road Home.

If you are longing for another way to be human and Christian in these times, I really hope you'll consider joining us. If you would like to be on the mailing list that receives the every other week reminders, Zoom link, and worship guides, let me know.

Also, I have a few spaces opening up in this Spring's Women's Spirituality Group. We'll be sharing around the theme, One Wild and Precious Life, seeking the guidance from female mystics about how to be both tender and fierce in these times. You can read more details below, and let me know if you're interested in claiming a space.

Here's to the grace of finding another way.

With radical hope,

Kimberly