Intersection of Time And Eternality Assignment w/Professor's Response

Instructions

From the Syllabus: “At the Intersection of Time and Eternity” Practice. Reflect on the themes of the Church Year by connecting them to your own life and experience. As we discuss each liturgical season in turn (Easter, Christmas, Ordinary Time), find an artistic element—an image, a photograph, a song, a poem, a painting, a piece of music or sculpture—that sheds light on that season for you, at this moment. In other words, begin with your own experience of intersection between God’s time and your time. Then write a brief prayer such as you might use (along with the artistic element itself) in a service of worship at CTS, to invite worshipers deeper into the season and their own lives’ intersections. Submit both prayer and photo/recording of your artistic element on Moodle. Do three submissions total, one for each season.  

A note: Is designed to help you develop your seeing and describing muscles—this time, at the intersection of human experience and the season of the Christian Year.

How to go about creating your submissions:

1.      Since this exercise is intended to be one you would practice within a particular season of the Church Year (Easter Cycle, Christmas Cycle, Ordinary Time), select the season you will use as your interpretive lens. In other words, set your intention: I will move into this week as if it were a week of Lent; everything I observe, I will see through that lens.

2.      Let the themes of the season and its companion texts (you might want to choose a week from one of the lectionaries to focus you) reverberate as you move through the week.  Alternatively, you can set aside time—an hour in a deliberately dis-locating space, as we do in the parable exercise—in which to clear your mind and just experience your surroundings.

3.      Wait for an “intersection between time and eternity”—that is, a moment of insight when an image or experience suddenly deepens your understanding of the sacred story, as we live and tell it in this particular season. And you really must wait for it; these things can’t be forced.

4.      When you get home, write a one-paragraph description of that moment of intersection. What was going on, when you saw the image and made the connection? How did the connection manifest for you? How did it help you to better see and understand this season of the Church Year? What are the particular details that resonated in your life?

5.      Write a brief prayer in which you allow the image to lead other worshipers into similar depth of meditation and reflection. Write it as a prayer you might use in CTS chapel, for this community. (To practice one ancient prayer form, the “collect,” consult the instructions on Moodle.)

6.      Post both the image and your written paragraph and prayer on Moodle by the published due dates.

Assignment 

When Good Friday is mentioned my mind immediately reaches back to traditional celebrations with family, enjoying cod fish cakes and hot cross buns, and of course kite flying.  Every year it was anticipated that my father would either make or purchased a traditional Bermuda kite for me. 

There was so much pride around the art of kite making in Bermuda.  The kites were gorgeous with their elaborate designs, colors and craftsmanship.  When you finally got your hummer, as they were aptly named because they hummed loudly when flying, you were so delighted.

Chief among these memories is the image of me almost forty plus years ago, dressed for the occasion, standing in a swing pumping to go up higher on my favorite playground built by my grandfather.  My kite is tied onto the swing structure after Daddy pitched it for me.  I’m surrounded by friends and family of multiple generations and the festivities are high.  As I look up at my kite dancing in the air with its long tail of fabric to balance it as it frolics in the wind, I am reminded of what I was taught about Jesus and why we fly kites.  For just a moment time seems to stand still while I focus on that kite way up there in the clouds and think of Jesus ascending back to the Father.  I imagine that the Father is so happy to see Jesus coming home after all that he has been through and all that he has accomplished. 

The whole scenario brings me comfort and it is imagery that I have returned to again and again at different points and stages of my life.  Me watching me watching Jesus return to the Father. 

Simple prayer for Good Friday

Abba

You are a great God full of loving kindness and tender mercies 

Thank you for your love and persistence

Thank you for making a way back to you. 

In Jesus name, Amen

Professor's Response

Gina, thank you for this Intersection reflection and prayer. It is truly beautiful: the image, the memory, your reflection on it, and the prayer are all rendered with an extraordinary mixture of power and tenderness. Your gifts for observation and encounter, Gina, and for language and liturgy are so strong. This is the kind of piece that could lengthen into a sermon on one of the least preached-about themes of the Easter Cycle: the ascension. It could also be included, with others like it, into a book of meditations, or added to a weekly newsletter to a congregation as inspiration and encouragement for them to begin their own "intersections" practice. Maybe this would be a good way to teach about the Christian Year, now that I think about it: invite people (confirmands would be a great group to start with) to look for moments when heaven meets earth in a new key and time, and then ask them to offer an image, a brief description (voiceover would be interesting, if it's a clip), and a prayer. Or maybe intersections like yours (and theirs) could be included in every sermon. It would be a way to bring meaningful visuals (attached to meaningful reflections) into worship. In any case, yours is a model of what I hoped students in the class would compose -- and I thank you. I hope you'll keep up a version of this practice, and think about ways to keep bringing your work to a wider audience or readership.

I also would like to think with you about editing. The piece is nearly perfect (if perfection is even something we're allowed to talk about or aim for), and a few slight edits would smooth it even further. I think we'll take this up in class, as all of us (all the time!) can benefit from a workshop round of first and second drafts.

Thanks, Gina. I am really appreciating your presence in the class.

ACF