There was a time when farmers in middle America, at the first sign of a blizzard, would run a rope from their house out to the barn. As writer and teacher, Parker Palmer tells it: these farmers “all knew stories of people who had wandered off and been frozen to death, having lost sight of home in a whiteout while still in their own backyards.” You and I live in a blizzard of another kind. The winds of injustice, ecological ruin, partisan vitriol, gun violence, religious malpractice, rampant consumerism, and war batter our souls. You know, as well as I, how we can easily wander off into this madness and never make it home. We read headlines of people who have lost their bearings, we know in ourselves how overwhelming it is to be separated from our truest and most whole self—that person God has made us to be.
We live divided lives that manifest in so many ways: refusal to invest ourselves in our work or community; remaining in settings or relationships that kill our spirit; hiding beliefs to avoid challenge, conflict, or change; concealing our identities for fear of being shunned, criticized, or attacked. Living a divided life only increases the swirl of the blizzard of our lives. We need a rope to hold onto, so that we can make it back home.
This coming program year, we will be launching Faith Circles. These small groups, rooted in the sharing of life and faith together, are places that we can tie a rope from the back door to the barn, so that we can find our way back home. As was shared this past Sunday by Jeff Neal, a leader of this effort: Faith Circles are small groups of about 8 to 10 people that will meet a couple of times per month and give us the opportunity to form deep, lasting relationships with each other that are neither invasive, nor evasive, but invite us to stay centered in God and what the great Christian writer Thomas Merton called our “true self.”
Faith Circles are a safe space where we can be present to each other and support each other in the discovery of God’s presence in our lives and our deep desire for meaning and wholeness.
Faith Circles are welcoming, trustworthy places where we can open up to each other, share our hopes and our fears, and explore our faith and doubts in meaningful, transformative ways — where we can make true that wonderful statement of Jesus: “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
In this life, you and I need trustworthy relationships and tenacious communities to support and encourage the journey of faith, which is a journey towards the wholeness we find in God’s Love. I know that not everyone will be drawn to such small groups; and, I know how desperately we need spaces and places in our lives that are outside our families and most intimate friends, where we can reflect, discover, question, and grow in new and life-giving ways. My deep hope is that Faith Circles will offer such a safe space where we discover Christ with us and renewed purpose and meaning for our living.
If you are interested in joining a Faith Circle, or would simply like to know more about them, please come to the Forum in Hadley Hall after the 10:00 am Eucharist on Sunday, June 18. Or, reach out to me directly at nmyers@3crowns.org.
See you this Pentecost Sunday,
Rev. Nick
