Learning to Walk in the Dark

Learning to Walk in the Dark BBT

“Our light bulbs have burned out, and the fixtures are hanging from the ceiling by a bare wire. Before we get more artificial light, see if there is a message in the dark. God has done some of his best work in the dark, including resurrection.” Barbara Brown Taylor, Festival of Homiletics, Nashville 2013, from Learning to Walk in the Dark.

 I have learned so much from Barbara Brown Taylor. I read her first book of sermons on the gospel of Matthew, The Seeds of Heaven, in a book group in the 1980s. She magnetized all of us by her use of words and her intimate gospel message. She taught me how to be a narrative preacher, seeing God at work in the stories of the Bible, and how these stories are true in our lives. I attended every conference she led for years about preaching and writing, especially at the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral and Kanuga. I have read almost everything she has published that I could get my hands on. In recent years, she has taught me to see God in the world, to embrace pluralism, to see God in people of other faiths, and to see God in the dark.

Finally, she has taught me to be me, not a Barbara Brown Taylor copy, but to find my own voice and be the person God created me to be. Likewise, as spiritual friends, it is our job to help each other become the person God created us to be, not what we think our parents, children, or spouses want us to be, not even the person we most admire. However, a person we admire may give us a clue to qualities hidden within us, part of the person God created us to be. We are called daily to thank people like Barbara Brown Taylor for this insight.

The darkness of Advent, with shorter sunlight, and the darkness of those pandemic times taught us much about being the person God created us to be.

The days are shorter.

We are starkly aware of the possibility of a short life.

Now is the time to take off the masks we have worn for so many years and become the true selves God created us to be.

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

Lessons From The Last Leaf

Lessons From The Last Leaf

“Everyone whom I allow to touch me in my weakness and help me to be faithful to my journey to God’s home will come to realize that he or she has a gift to offer that may have remained hidden for a very long time. To receive help, support, guidance, affection, and care may well be a greater call than that of giving all these things, because in receiving I reveal the gift to the givers, and a new life together can begin.”—Henri Nouwen in You are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017).

 A single autumn leaf has been clinging to the wood frame of my office window for weeks. It is the first and last thing I look for as my day begins and ends. It reminds me of one of my favorite O. Henry short stories, “The Last Leaf.”

A young artist in New York’s Greenwich Village at the turn of the last century loses her will to live and succumbs to pneumonia. She watches from her window as the cold winter wind blows leaves from a tree branch growing along the side of an adjacent building. She decides that when the last leaf falls, she will die.

She eventually watches the last leaf miraculously remain on the tree until she regains her will to live. Later, she discovers that an older artist in her building, whose realistic paintings rarely sell, has heard her story. He spends a night in the cold and icy rain while she sleeps, painting a leaf on the wall of the building. Shortly after he paints “his masterpiece” to save her life, he also dies from the pneumonia epidemic.

Of course, the story is one of sacrifice and love for another human being, reminiscent of the Good Samaritan story. It is also a story of hope. How do we offer people the hope that they will not remain in despair? There is a promise of Easter after every Good Friday experience.

But that promise of light in the darkness can be difficult without the help of others. The darkness forgets what light is like. We see and read about this hope from others. The story of old Simeon and Anna at the temple in Jerusalem at Jesus’ presentation reminds us of the promise that the Christ Child will always come to us as we wait.  

I also see this story about the use of our gifts and talents. We may think our abilities are minor compared to others, maybe even worthless. But there will be a time when what we offer is precisely what someone else needs. We will be called to use our talent at the right time when others may not be there to help.

Advent is a time to watch, wait, and pray that we will be open to offering what we consider our “insignificant masterwork,” which will make a difference in another person's life.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com

Hearing God, Surrounded by a Crowd of Witnesses

Hearing God

Andrea McMillin

“As we live in this Advent season, awaiting the Lord’s coming, we might examine our hearts to see if they are truly open. Are we open to God speaking to us in the language of everyday events? Are we willing to hear God’s warnings and accept God’s guidance, or are we happier to justify our selfish behaviors and chart our own way in life? May the Lord find in us hearts open and ready to receive him, whenever and however he chooses to come to us.”—Br. David Vryhof, “Brother, Give us a Word,” Society of Saint John the Evangelist, December 10th, 2018, a daily email sent to friends and followers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, a religious order for men in the Episcopal/Anglican Church. www.ssje.org.

Discernment is our daily question. Are we following our will or God’s will? Are we listening to God, or are we listening to ourselves and to what promotes our own self-interest? My experience is that it is not easy to know. I have learned to listen cautiously to those who tell us they know exactly what we are to do. I usually do not know if I am doing God’s will until much later.

 So, what do we do? First, we try to put ourselves in position to hear God’s will. This means being silent, practicing spiritual exercises, being in thin places where the spiritual and physical world seem to have only a thin membrane between them, being in community with other spiritual seekers who share experiences, studying scripture and stories of those before us in our own religious traditions, and worshiping in community. When I feel or recognize the fruit of the Spirit after discernment, it is a sign that Christ is guiding us through the Holy Spirit, the God of our understanding. (Galatians 5:22: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.)

This is not a walk we do alone. Instead, we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses before us who are now with us to guide us.

In 1994, sixty-six Arkansas Episcopal women wrote about this as they contributed meditations on the common Sunday lectionary scripture readings for years A, B, and C. It was a project of the Board of the Episcopal Church Women of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas. This initial project was before the day of email, so everything was done by phone calls and mail. Our theme came from John 4:1-42, which tells of a Samaritan woman encountering Jesus at a well. She was the first person in John’s Gospel in which Jesus revealed that he was the Christ. The book’s title, Surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses, came from the proper preface for All Saints Day used at the Eucharist of a funeral of a dear friend, Martha Lyford, who died much too early in 1982.

A recent ECW president, Kaki Roberts, was instrumental in making this happen at the time, as was board member Karen McClard. Andrea McMillin, who is presently the dean-elect of Trinity Cathedral, produced unique artwork and helped with publishing. I was the editor and took a six-month sabbatical from my medical practice to make this happen.

At every step, we were “surrounded by a cloud of witnesses,” from being at Martha’s funeral to the writing, editing, publishing, and multiple joint book signings and readings by the authors. We had two printings of the book and raised over $10,000, which became seed money for the ECW Foundation in Arkansas. Unfortunately, the book is out of print, so it is appropriate that now there is another edition, spearheaded by the Rev. Marti Darby, who edited Surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses II.

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