Positively Job-like, Part Two

I note today I'll be reviewing MRI results at the family practice. Results will determine future quality of life. I suppose a life where there's always a reminder of constant sufferring theoretically carries an inherent Christian taint yet minus pain meds I could not endure it.

Upon retirement in February, joining the Y, adding pool aerobics to the proposed daily schedule of dusting, mopping, shopping for groceries, etc., looms preferable to surgery - we'll see.

A non-pharmaceutical way of temporarily alleviating pain is acheieved by engulfing the self in the fellowship of our dear old parish. For Sunday School this term, as previously noted, I've selected Brennan Manning's "The Importance of Being Foolish," a deceptive title in light of the last word; after two sessions, it's proven anything but light or foolish - there are deep waters of immersion in this pool.

For anyone following along at home, after the lively session, as reported upon last week, in which we investigated the editorial headline, 'When is a pharmacist not a pharmacist,' and how reactions reflect faith confronted by daily life, we've arrived safely at Chapter 1 (B) 'The Loss of Wonder.'

Prior to class, I marked on the easel, "I Wonder if the Word has Changed Your Life" starting the session by asking is there anything which results in a sense of wonder?

I began by describing cresting a hill in the Laguna Hills to encounter a sparking Pacific Ocean in the late morning sun.

Other responses:

- sex (if anyone was sleeping, this was a wake-up call);
- riding metro for the first time, a grandmother wondering where did the dirt go;
- in '48, plowing behind a mule, watching the sunrise;
- a recognition of being alive after close calls in military service;
- enjoying new everyday experiences;
- morning clouds and kids;
- nature (before/after church, glimpsing deer, a rabbit, horses and wild turkeys);
- successful birth of daughters after difficult pregnancies.

I asked the class if they'd experienced any similar sense of wonder at church. I began by describing a time in youth group where a girl, after spending a day repairing a roof in the blazing July sun of Savannah, turned in her ladder with an angelic look on her face.

Other responses:

- hearing Priest Kate preach "be not discouraged;"
- the annual Father's Day song by Sr. Warden and son;
- baptism of godson;
- wife's adult baptism;
- fellowship of our church family;
- Cursillo;
- 'a-ha' sermons;
- discovery of a continuing Episcopal Church in Eastern Prince William County;
- attending the original St. Margarets formation meeting;
- first charismatic experience;
- the Liturgy.

In reconciling secular and spiritual sets of responses, we explored if there was anything living in our faith experience which moves beyond comfortably numb to a place where we allow Jesus to push our buttons.

One such sharp but short exchange occured as brother R who'd expressed the above listed response of being alive after dangerous military experiences, pushed the buttons of our resident peace campaigner, when he went on to say, peace is only gained by war - this inviting topic will be more fully entertained at another time.

My offering concerned the futility of establishing a shelter for chronics; those unable to gain entrance to family shelters due to addiction or criminal records - those who stubbornly insist on dying even after we'd demonstrated attributes of Christian service. That they did not respond, unto death did us part, manifested in my frustrated reaction, a desire for personal control beyond dependency on God.

Manning wrote of the foolishness he attributes to followers of Christ; to reconginze that to follow His teachings in worldy terms is impossible, impracticable and irrelevant. As a class, we agreed upon the first two but soundly rejected the last.

As friend Aracely pointed out, the session, as is often the case, mysteriously mirrored, and was complimented by the sermon, where Priest Kate asked of us as a congregation, where the parish is going beyond embracing the comfortable fellowship which is, and always has been, the hallmark of St. Margarets Episcopal Church.





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