A Sharing Circle

For the past few months I have been offering "A Sharing Circle" - a time when people who have been making phone calls checking in on others at the church can join together to "check in" themselves with each other.  As of yesterday, I am now opening this to anyone who is interested.  We will meet every other Friday from 1 - 2:30.

Like my "Facebook Live" experience of asking people 5 questions for the past two weeks, this project is really close to my heart and most satisfying to me.  I can see that I am slowly but surely imposing a structure on our time together.  I began with a short reading about Frederick Buechner.  It was about "Listening to you Life."

"One of the clearest messages Buechner has woven into his many books is to pay attention—to your life, to the people with whom you are closest, to the things that happen to you. This, according to Buechner, is the best, and most authentic, way to experience yourself and God.

“You never know what may cause them. The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you’ve never seen before. A pair of somebody’s old shoes can do it…. You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go next.” (Beyond Words)

God is right here in the thick of our day-by-day lives…trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee-deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world. His work embodies “the persistent presentiment that Something is trying to get through in the midst of the muddle of our day-to-day lives.” (Dale Brown)"

Listening to you Life and sharing your life is what this sharing circle is about. Each person had an opportunity to share what is a struggle during this time of pandemic and what is a blessing or God sighting. We sat at the shelter house - socially distancing - on lawn chairs and everyone spoke from the heart. By the end of our time together it was clear that there was one feeling that we all shared - whether it was about our health, or the health of someone else, or the political situation, or family issues. The word was HELPLESS. Life is hard and there are situations in which we hit our limits and we are just helpless. It felt helpful to be able to name it out loud in the presence of other caring people.

So, at the end of our time together I felt compelled to share Psalm 46 - which has two important parts to it for me - the sense that the world is coming apart

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging

and the words:

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

After that we all prayed together with my beginning and ending and others expressing out loud their concerns to God. And then we went home.

For me, there is something powerful and freeing about being with others and naming what is in my heart. And realizing how universal it is. I came away from our time together thinking that it is hard to be human at times but it is good to be together and to be with God.

Our next sharing circle will be at 1:00 PM Friday August 7th in the Shelterhouse. It is good to have spiritual companions.

May God the COMPANION be with you.

May you know God beside you, before you, behind you, above and below you.

May you be smothered by God's presence as you walk the path of your day.

May God's hands catch yours when you stumble

and applaud when you reach the end of your days.

In the evening twilight may you know God's arm embracing you against the chill.

may God the companion BRING YOU BLESSING.