Chan West, Continuing Jesus' Ministry of Storytelling

Chan West, Continuing Jesus’ Ministry of Storytelling

photo of Chan by Kathleen Wesson

“Jesus invites us into a story bigger than ourselves, bigger than our culture, even bigger than our imaginations, yet we get to tell that story with the scandalous particularity of our moment and place in time. We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image of a storytelling God. May we never neglect that gift. May we never lose our love for telling the tale.”–Rachel Held Evans in Inspired (Nelson Books Nashville), p. 164.

Chan West died on August 1, 2021, at age 91. Everyone who met her will miss her and want to share Chan stories with you. She was a faithful member of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Before the 8 am service, you would find her in the kitchen, fixing refreshments, arranging the altar flowers, setting the altar, reading the lectionary readings, or praying the prayers of the people. She was almost always barefoot before the service.

photo by Joanna Campbell

If you took the time to talk to her, you heard stories from her life at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, where, as a child during World War II, she met German spies who came ashore. Or you heard about the times she encountered alligators or the turtles she saved. She was an original turtle person, looking for signs of new nests to care for before the baby turtles hatched, helping them migrate back to the sea. Or you might have heard about the Christian Service Center, where she served others for many years. Or you might have been on one of her tours of the Refuge. Perhaps you were with her when she stopped a church service to rescue a dying dog that had been dropped off at the church during difficult times.

These are all beautiful ministries, but I most remember someone we always wanted to be with on our visits to Holy Spirit. She had a unique ability to make you feel comfortable in her presence. Maybe it was because she was so comfortable in herself. I don’t know what it was. Others may have a better idea. Living so close to the land all your life and loving it makes you feel alive and comfortable in your own skin, and keeps you in touch with God’s presence, which is so clearly revealed in the world around you. Perhaps it’s about recognizing the cycle of life and love each day and appreciating its beauty even in challenging times. 

Others describe her as a no-nonsense person. Some say her passion for life was contagious. All remember her generosity with her time for the earth and for all those she met. She is the person you think will never die because she is so alive. Well, of course, she has not died. She will live in the hearts of each of us until we meet her again and undoubtedly hear more of her stories.

Joanna Seibert  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

photo by Kathleen Wesson

Learning More About Recovery

Learning More About Recovery

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

—Desmond Tutu.

I remember attending the Episcopal Recovery Conference in Asheville, North Carolina, some years ago, where I learned so much more about addiction recovery. First, I realized that the longer I am in recovery, the more I think I know and that I have heard it all. Today I am disabused of that thought. I know very little. That is why it is essential to continue attending gatherings like this.

One speaker, Chris Budnick, executive director of Healing Transitions in Raleigh, talks about how we think others' recovery should look like ours. That is not true. Recovery from addiction is not a cookie-cutter process. We share our experience, strength, and hope, but we must not expect others to have the same experience, strength, and hope. Perhaps we can see this more clearly in our spiritual life. We each have a spiritual connection to God, but it is different for each of us. Likewise, our response to recovery and our individual path to achieving it are different. 

I learned another lesson that day. We often talk about someone not coming to recovery because they “have not hit bottom.” That means the person hasn’t reached a level of pain that allows openness to change. The speaker gave examples of others who changed because people in recovery kept telling them there was hope for freedom from addiction. Hope for an alternative life.

Mentors in recovery consistently convey that those who are farther along in recovery care about them, recognize what they are going through, and believe there is hope. Those caught in addiction may glimpse new life in the person in recovery who seems to care about them. 

This is another way those in recovery can carry the message to those still suffering: by continuing to reach out and offer hope.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Transforming Anger, Giving Anger to God

Transforming Anger, Giving Anger to God

“[Destructive] anger crucifies Christ. Destructive anger is our sickness. Our medicine is God’s taking our anger. If we do not give it to God, we are not healed of it. We are in bondage to our anger and are not free until our resentment is buried in God. Yes, as shocking as it sounds, we worship God by expressing our honest anger at God.”—C. FitzSimons Allison, Guilt, Anger, and God (Seabury, 1972).

Anger is one of our highest-energy sources. For generations, women were taught they could not express it. They kept it in, and this repression sometimes did terrible things to their bodies and souls, as well as to anyone who came into contact with them. Men were similarly harmed when they were unable to cry, leaving their grief unexpressed.

The key, of course, is channeling this energy into constructive use, just as plants transform energy from sunlight, along with carbon dioxide, our waste product, and water, into sugar for plant food. Through this process, they release oxygen, the essential element for our survival. 

The plant world is our role model. We are to photosynthesize our anger, our “carbon dioxide,” which, if retained in our bodies, can be deadly.

It is amazing how simply going outside and being near plants as our mentors is one of the best ways to initiate transformation. Waiting is part of the process. When we are first responders to a disaster or other cataclysmic event, the energy scatters through the atmosphere, bumping into the closest survivors—often those we love most. Very few know how to be well-trained first responders to anger. 

Other transformative processes for anger include walking, music, and writing. I have had so many angry moments that have been transformed by my harp strings.

Daily, sometimes hourly or even more often, prayer can be a life-altering spiritual practice. We can offer our anger to God for transformation by using a constant prayer mantra, such as the Jesus Prayer. In the past, when I was seeking a surgical remedy, this prayer was often my personal offering to God.

Thich Nhat Hanh suggests meditations that can transform anger. Simply pausing before acting on anger can be a game changer, preventing us from saying or doing things we will regret. Breathing exercises can be an immediate way to quiet anger until it is manageable.

We begin to see signs of healing from the damage anger can inflict on our souls when we express compassion for others, often those who were injured alongside us. We also change by being part of a community where we can safely share our difficulties and learn from role models who have undergone transformation.

We rise out of bed and are called to action that will lead to greater compassion. In my experience, one such icon was the Women’s March on January 21, 2017, after the Inauguration. 

The true test of the transformation comes when we begin to feel even the slightest compassion for those who injured us and others, the ones who provoked the anger. We acknowledge that this happened because they also suffered and never knew the transformative process whose byproduct is lifesaving love. 

Transformation of anger is also known as Resurrection.

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com.