I’m still
in the Sabbath/Sunday mindset and under that larger heading I want to make a
comparison between realty and reality.
That is to say that one of the ways we understand ourselves as a parish
or a people gathered is by the spaces we inhabit and within which we practice
our Sunday worship, our Sabbath observances, and that silence that is made so
special by its being shared.
Our lovely
worship space -- both its interior and exterior -- give a setting and shape to
our use that is unmistakable. Our
processions, our singing, our reading, our prayers and our coming to the altar
each take their cues from the walls, the floors, the pews, and how we sit,
stand and kneel from within what I have frequently called “a great box for
sound.” Heck, I get to preach in the
peripatetic way that I do because it is what the building allows.
Even the exterior
helps. Walking to worship along Academy
St. is it’s own experience that if not filled with prayer still nearly equal to
prayer. Now that the weather is warming
Ginger, Susan and I will probably start sitting out in the churchyard to
meditate and share thoughts with each other while the building provides
backdrop and focus.
So here the
reality comes-in that is different from the realty. Simply, our properties are not enough space
for all the ways that we are expected to observe Sabbath or worship on
Sundays. We are joined to our neighbors
in Madison’s presentation of itself and it’s history. Resultantly, we are constrained by standards
that protect the character of our block and beyond but clearly we have a vantage
point and leverage to move out and create other ways to be inclusive, other
“spaces” that are NOT part of our landscape or architecture.
Outreach is
one of those space makers. Every time
our outreach committee meets we are considering how to grow and reach through
the resources this parish shares so that others may find comfort, food, safety,
or support in some other place away from our historic properties, outside our
hallowed walls and most importantly away from their own pain and struggle. The best example is to think of the little
bit of Sabbath that goes out with every Panda Pack. Not only are those we serve
embraced in what our Bishop likes to call a widening circle but those who join
the effort to serve also find a place that becomes sanctuary. As my friends in
Clarkesville would say “grace-filled.” Outreach extends a reality that is more
than equal to the realty of 338 Academy St. Madison, GA 30650.
In this reality we are responsible for a long list of extensions and embraces that begin and
are nurtured in Sunday worship and Sabbath prayer but simply cannot be allowed
to stay there. On that list with every
one of our outreach ministries is every one of our Advent-ures events and
participants, every yoga class, piano student, counselee, person in recovery. Indeed this is true for every ride to the
doctor, every foyer, every casual greeting at the supermarket, every Cultural
Center event, every Conservancy Ramble, every County Commission meeting.
Everywhere “we live and move and have our being” we are part of expanding God’s realty of
Sabbath and Sunday. Everywhere we go we can
find places and create spaces for others to become members of Christ’s
body. Everywhere can be a space for what
we do on Sunday. Everywhere can be a
place for Sabbath observance. The
reality is that all of it is God’s real estate.
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