The Esther Project : the story of Christmas

The mystery of Christmas is not simply Jesus was born in a manger, but that Jesus continues to be born, to grow, to live, within each one of us.

You are invited to reconnect with this mystery, wonder about it, imagine retelling it, with The Esther Project each Monday in Advent.

7.00 – 8.30 pm, Christ Church Wayville – 26 King William Rd.

Supper $5

The Esther Project welcomes people from all faith traditions to share in the life of our community.

The Esther Project : community – creativity – sacred story

contactus@estherproject.unitingchurch.org.au  |  www.estherproject.unitingchurch.au

retreat session two

Julian of Norwich said that peace and love are always in us, living and working. 

the deepest and the best

the deepest and the best

of me emerges

in the emptying of my

self, the space that is left

replenished, refilled, 

overflowing

by a spring I am surprised

to discover resides

within the deepest and best

places of my self

a spring with an Eternal

Source, a spring of life

and love and all the best 

of a humanity 

I have just begun to uncover

from the deepest light

of a soul kissed by grace

in the forming of my being

and, uncovered, the light

of my humanity shines 

the peace and the love

ever present in the deepest

and the best of who I am 

 

retreat session one

This Friday night and Saturday morning the Christ Church council took time out for a retreat. Rev Philip Carter let us in reflections on grace. After a period of struggle with the direction, identity and shape of the Esther Project, culminating in quite an intense week of conversations, reflecting and discerning, I found this time out and the focus of our thoughts helpful in the process of reflecting on this process. 

I think I will describe the change in direction separately, and in this post, share what came out of the first session of the retreat for me. 

a moment of grace

when, being still,

waiting, anticipating,

leaning towards a 

small still voice 

– ah – 

a gift of holy presence

sacred reassurance

recognition

I see now

who we are to be

I see now 

how I am to be 

and I am freed

by this gift

of grace 

In many ways I am still speechless, stunned, by the moment of grace during a supervisory conversation with Sandy during the week. As we talked through the implications of various possible ways forward, I saw it, heard it, and all of a sudden was through the tough and dark into a space of light/lightness. I was met by the Spirit in my need, and what a gift of grace that is. 

It almost seems as though there has been an abundance of grace these past months, as I give myself into the call of God to shape a new community of faith, as it becomes harder and harder, demands not just sweat, not just tears, but my all and more than I thought I could stand, or offer, or do, or be. 

And this grace is not just a flash of light, a passing moment. Throughout the struggles, I have felt alone at times, on the edge, vulnerable. But, in affirmation of this vision as a gift itself from God, people are gathering, lending their voice, prayers, enthusiasm, and for a growing number, their passion, energy and gifts to The Esther Project. This is grace offered not just in moments, but in the gift of the vision, and in the openness of others to affirm and realise this vision for a faith community. 

While the energy and positivity ebbs and flows, one thing is constant, the presence, the love, the grace of God. 

And I can say unreservedly that the Spirit is present, is calling us into this future, this community, this experience of the fullness of humanity through story. 

I can say, I can affirm, that I myself am remembering, returning to, the fullness of my own humanity in this process, in this community, in this reliance on God. It is from this place that I am empowered to invite others to remember and return to the fullness of their humanity also. 

One other thought from Friday evening was as I wrote the poem - Philip had reminded us that the Greek work charis incorporates the notion of both gift and response to the gift. As I find ways to open myself more to the Spirit the poems are flowing more freely. These poems are, for me, charis - gift and response. Grace. 

a pilgrimage into the unknown

At a forum for the Progressive Christianity Network on pilgrimage on Friday night, I spoke about a pilgrimage into the unknown, off the edge of the map.

This map shows a way to form Christian community that has been followed for a long time in western culture. It shows Christian community gathering for worship on Sunday morning in a building designed for that purpose. It shows Christian community discipling followers of Christ, teaching them the story of Jesus and of the Christian tradition throughout history. This map shows Christian community reaching out to the community with a particularly program oriented approach to ‘mission’.

For many, this map is no longer taking Christian community where we believe God is calling us. There are many who dream of  new shape of Christian community, but are uncertain what that shape will look like – there is no map, for we have not travelled here before. The journey we embark on, in search of Christian community that takes a more authentic shape for our present experience of the Spirit in our midst is thus a journey of risk, of exploration, of new discoveries.

There may be no map for this journey, this pilgrimage, but there are signposts along the way. For others are on this journey also, and what they have discovered will help others find the way. Actually, others have been travelling this journey since Jesus walked the earth – and the early followers of Christ and their stories provide invaluable signposts to guide our way. And the Spirit journeys with us, as always, and ahead of us. So we are never alone, though we make a pilgrimage into the unknown. 

Some people were unable to make the forum, but would like to have, so I have uploaded the text of what I said to the Esther Project website. If you would like to read it, click here and go to the blog section. 

TIKKUN OLAM: SOUNDING THE BEAUTIFUL NOTE OF COMPASSION

Musicians will sound the note of interfaith compassion and care for those suffering through natural disasters and human-made catastrophe at Tikkun Olam, a concert of music from the Jewish and Christian traditions.

The Hebrew phrase Tikkun Olam is most usually translated as “repairing the world”. It’s about human beings taking their part in working to heal the brokenness in the world.

Presented by South Australia’s Council of Christians and Jews, this interfaith choral and instrumental event features Aboriginal, Jewish and Christian musicians playing and singing psalms and songs from the ancient to the most contemporary.

The program features the magnificent sounds of this year’s Adelaide Fringe choral hit Lumina under Anna Pope, former ASO cellist Claire Oremland and promising baritone Robert Edgar (a winner of the 2009 DECS Reconciliation Awards for outstanding Aboriginal student) accompanied by his former teacher, long-time Brighton High School Special Music head Jeffery Kong and cellist Harrison Edwards. 

The choral program includes the IlluminaSA women’s community choir, singers from the Beit Shalom Synagogue and Brougham Place Uniting Church.

“With natural disasters filling the headlines and desperate people losing their lives seeking asylum from persecution, music is one way we can remind ourselves of our human capacity for compassion,” says Council of Christians and Jews Jewish Co-Chair Ron Hoenig.

Christian co-chair Rev David Houston, says: “Interfaith understanding is about expressing respect and goodwill and seeking harmony between different faiths approaching God through their own individual traditions.

“This concert will be a demonstration of the way music can repair the human spirit, and inspire us to work together for restoration, peace and justice in our broken world.”

The concert will be held on Sunday, 22 November at 2.30 pm at St Columba’s Anglican Church, 101 Cross Road, Hawthorn.  Admission is by gold coin donation to earthquake and flood relief. 

For more information contact Rev David Houston on 8296 0395

or Ron Hoenig on 0419 183 214

reading cloudstreet

I've just finished reading Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. 

I was compelled to read on even on nights when my eyes were closing with sleep. 

The characters, their voices and bodies were so well defined, their fears and joys, sorrows, delights, hopes and dreams reaching from the page straight to your heart. 

The house - that house on Cloud Street. You can see it, the people bustling in it, its own character resisting then finally welcoming the Pickles and Lam families home within its walls. 

And you can see, feel, hear Fish calling to the part of himself that remains behind ... 

The mystery of the book, of the forces that influence life, is intriguing as it is known and unknown. Recognised from our own lives as the unknowable mystery of life. To write so eloquently of that mystery without inhibiting the mystery is a remarkable feat of artistry, of literary genius. 

I read the last lines and exhaled - wow. 

This story took my breath away. 

realising the vision

Today I realised that we are starting to define the shape and identity of this community that is The Esther Project. In a conversation with one of the people who gather for dinner, we were talking about the reasons people are gathering for the banquet. One of those reasons is the production - over dinner so far our encounters with the story of Esther have been contributing to the writing of the script, so that what emerges is a telling of the story that draws on communal theological reflection, that is shaped by the community's engagement with the story and weaving of this story with our own. 

This isn't necessarily how I had been thinking about the purpose of the banquet (I was sort of seeing the banquet and the production as separate, parallel, from the early thinking and working out of the vision). But then, what I had done, and intentionally done, was to paint a broad brushstroke picture that the community would then begin to define more precisely as we discovered who we are becoming together. 

We are a gathering of people who encounter the story, in order to be transformed by the story, and in order to tell the story in new and innovative ways so that others might encounter the story and the Sacred, and also be transformed. 

This fits in with reflections of earlier in the week, as I shared with my supervisor the thought that we might need to postpone the production of Esther and Mordecai, scheduled for the Fringe Festival in Feb/March next year. 

As we talked, it became clear to me that the productions are one of the key reasons for the Esther Project at all - this is our stepping out of ourselves and into the wider community. This is a community of faith participating in the life of the wider community in which we live; participating in a cultural event that nurtures the soul of our community. This is us being the church which is the instrument of God's mission in the world. Different to some other fresh expressions of church, this is a community formed not from an existing faith community, but entirely new (though graciously partnered by another community of faith). 

The Esther Project is a community formed in order to be present in the wider community, sharing our story in the public arena and opening ourselves to hear other stories, to receive the wisdom of artists. For there is a mysterious connection between the arts and the Spirit, and we do not believe we have a monopoly on the Sacred Story, or on the Sacred Spirit. This is a group of people who want to discover the presence of the Sacred in the world, and for this community, it is so often through the arts, through creativity, through story that we make those discoveries. 

And that people are gathering around the table in order to help shape the way we will tell one of the stories of our tradition is entirely in keeping with the vision for this community. It's not exactly the way I thought it would be, but it feels authentically who we are becoming. 

And the real vision anyway for me was for the community to discern who we are, not me. So I am thrilled to see this part of the vision for The Esther Project starting to be realised. It's stunning - I hoped with all my heart that we were setting in motion something that would capture the imaginations of people yearning for a different shape of faith community, and it seems that it is. Once again, I am bowled over by the miracle and magic of life when we open ourselves to move with the flow of the Spirit. Bowled over. 

Thank you, Sacred One. 

off the edge

as I step off the edge

of this well worn map,

which has served me well

and got me this far,

though it can take me

no further,

I wonder,

how will I find my way

from here?

 

as I keep walking,

tentatively,

but with no thought of turning

back,

I notice a companion

beside me

 

as we begin to talk,

this Presence changes

sometimes speaking a lot

sometime listening deeply,

sometimes wandering off the path

in pursuit of something intriguing –

I follow, and we create a new

path to tread

 

as we rest beneath an ancient tree

it occurs to me

not once have I felt lost

travelling off the map –

curious, adventurous,

uncertain, and sometimes lonely,

but always found

on this untrod

unmapped path

 

and as we find our way

it seems others

are also venturing off the map

to try the untried

guided by a relationship

that cannot be bounded

by neat black lines

 

this poem was inspired by words written by Cheryl Lawrie. and emerges out of the experience of starting a new community. I've been on a big learning curve recently with this experience, some of which I will share here in time. 

Pilgrimage Forum

Pilgrimage has been a strong spiritual tradition in Christianity throughout history, and has continued to today with many modern day pilgrimages. Are the spiritual places of the world special because of the spiritual traditions based there, or the people drawn there, or some sacred sense experienced from the natural world? Is it the destination, or is it the journey? Is the experience of travelling and being free from normal lifestyle that opens to senses to new thinking and sensations, or is it the coming home with new information and looking at life with fresh eyes?

Three modern day pilgrims from three different Christian denominations will talk about their experiences on pilgrimage to places such as Iona , Taize, Greenbelt Festival, Camino de Santiago. Sarah Agnew, Mike Leske and Michelle Coram will each share about what their journeys have meant to them, with time for questions and discussion over supper. November Friday 13, at 7.30 pm, at the Effective Living Centre. Cost $12/10 Bookings essential, Ph 82710329

This is an event of the Progressive Christianity Network. Michelle is a kindred spirit, part of the Esther Project, and shared the pilgrimage I will be speaking about, to Greenbelt and alternative Christian communities in the UK last year. 

I look forward to sharing the stories of pilgrimage with you on 13 November.