 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
By Linda Chidsey. February 23-25, 2001
s part of FGC's Traveling Ministries Program, I traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska in February to lead a retreat entitled "Quaker Christianity: Who Is Jesus to Us Today?" Deborah Fisch, coordinator of the program, accompanied me as elder, and her prayerful presence was a blessing in countless ways throughout the weekend.
Chena Ridge Monthly Meeting had contacted Deborah in the autumn seeking a leader for the retreat, the topic having arisen as a leading within the meeting. In preparation for the retreat the meeting read and discussed Marcus Borg's Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. In addition I sent along a selection of Friends writings on Jesus Christ, both early and more contemporary. The writings included selections from George Fox, Isaac Penington, Margaret Fell, Robert Barclay; also Lewis Benson, Wilmer Cooper, John McCandless, Ferner Nuhn, Frances Hall, and Dean Freiday.
We agreed that the purpose of the readings was not to provide a literature review, nor would we be comparing or contrasting points of view, critiquing and analyzing what the authors said or meant. Rather the readings would provide a context or backdrop to an experiential encounter with the teachings and person of Jesus Christ.
The meeting had rented a Presbyterian retreat house on a lake for the weekend, and the retreat began Friday evening at dinner. The Friday evening session was one of setting the stage. We began with introductions and sharing what drew Friends to the retreat, and what each hoped to gain or experience. The introduction to the weekend was essentially an invitation to go deep, engaging with rigorous honesty the questions, the reservations, the yearnings we have with regard to our relationship with Jesus Christ-both as individuals and as members or attenders of a meeting in the Religious Society of Friends.
We opened and closed each session throughout the weekend with worship.
Saturday morning's session was on "tracing our journey." We began with Psalm 139 and spoke about the importance of looking back to see where we've come from, how God has been present and at work in our lives. In the process we might gather up the treasures of our religious past, make peace with that which was absent, painful or irrelevant, receive the blessings of the present. The morning was spent journaling in response to queries prepared to help lead Friends into a time of recalling and reflecting upon their spiritual journey, including one's walk with (or run away from) Jesus. Friends then met in small groups to share their responses and to listen deeply to one another. We ended this portion of the morning in the full group, sharing significant insights and identifying patterns and themes.
The concluding exercise of the morning was a meditation on Holman Hunt's painting, "The Light of the World." In this picture Jesus is in a garden, knocking on a wooden door with rusty hinges, overgrown with weeds. It's taken from Revelation 3:20, "Behold I stand at the door and knock." Friends were asked to imagine the door in the picture as the door to their souls, and to feel and describe what it is like behind the door. How do we respond when we hear the knock at the door? Do we know who is knocking? What would it take to answer the door, to let Jesus in? What would it be like to "sup" together?
Following lunch Friends rested, read, talked together, went walking or skiing. We gathered again in the mid-afternoon to explore the "corporate journey," using the doctrine of the Light as a point of entry. We read together some familiar words of George Fox, as well as from Barclay's Apology, and noted early Friends experience and understanding of the Light as the Light of Christ-a Light that is universal. We then considered how this understanding sits with us today. How have we experienced the Light? And how do we understand or conceive of it today, both as individuals and as a meeting? I shared my belief that in addition to reflecting upon our individual journeys, it is also important that we study and understand the corporate story of Friends-the people and community of faith of which we are a part.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent journaling and sharing in response to queries developed to guide participants into a consideration of the role of Jesus in their meeting. Friends were asked to allow themselves to be drawn into the meeting for worship depicted in painting "The Presence in the Midst" by Doyle Penrose. What if someone in their meeting was to open their eyes and "see" Jesus, present among them? Would they recognize him? Would they tell anyone else in the meeting? How might the meeting respond?
Following dinner Saturday evening, folks gathered to sing before moving into a time of "active" silence. During the active silence Friends gathered around the wood-burning stove, bringing their journals, art materials, knitting, reading. After a time, we quietly assembled our chairs for a period of worship together before beginning a time of overnight silence.
Sunday morning's breakfast was taken in silence. Following breakfast we gathered for worship. Friends then began to share reflections on the overnight silence and the full weekend as well. This was also a time when many were led to share realizations, insights, answers, next questions that had come. Continued engagement with concepts and questions coming out of the readings arose, for example the "difference" between the historical Jesus and the Risen Christ, the pre- and post-Easter Jesus. For many, the "truth" and significance of the resurrection was the central question. Together we read, lectio divina style, the story of Christ's resurrection from the book of John. Toward the end of the session, plans were begun to provide opportunities to continue to reflect and build upon the experience of the weekend; also to share what had happened with those who had not been able to attend.
The retreat came to a close with a rich meeting for worship out of which arose powerful ministry related to our weekend together. I was moved by the depth of communion among us. Following worship we did a thorough cleaning of the retreat house, shared a simple pick-up lunch, and bid one another fond farewell.
I traveled to Fairbanks the Tuesday before the start of the retreat, and returned home the Monday following. This extended stay provided me an opportunity to experience and get to know something of Friends life in Alaska. Chris, Jim and son Isaac Hall provided hospitality and welcomed me into both the depth and the dailyness of their lives. We went snow shoeing, visited Isaac's Montessori school, took in the museum of the University of Alaska, had a sneak preview of the upcoming ice sculpture show, spotted moose. Chris even arranged a dog-mushing excursion with a member of the meeting!
And I so enjoyed early morning walks, before the sun rose, when the sky was beginning to lighten and the trees were covered in hoarfrost.
Several Friends shared what for them was the most significant aspect of the retreat on First day morning. Perhaps it would take awhile longer for others to name what had been most significant. I fell into the latter category. It wasn't until I returned home that I fully realized how important it had been to be asked to lead a retreat on Christ and Quakerism, and the meaning of Jesus to Friends today.
In 1996 I was recorded as a minister in New York Yearly Meeting. The minute begins, "With this minute, New York Yearly Meeting for Ministry and Counsel records Linda Chidsey of Croton Valley Monthly Meeting as a minister of Christ in the Religious Society of Friends." I have traveled in the ministry a fair amount in recent years, leading workshops, retreats and such, however this was the first time a Friends meeting or gathering had explicitly requested a retreat on the subject Christ Jesus. I experienced this retreat as a kind of fulfillment of that recording minute. This was the first time I explicitly was asked to come and be that minister of Christ, serve in this role, extend the gift that had been recorded. And it was received. This was Chena Ridge Friends gift to me.
Once again I see the grace and the mutuality of ministry affirmed. When true ministry occurs, all receive-both the "minister" and the "ministered to." There is but One True Minister.
Linda Chidsey
June, 2001
To the Traveling Ministries Program homepage
