[RivCompanions] it's all about relationship

[Barbi Click]

Dear beloveds,


Here is a bit of highlight from my time at Ecclesia Mission Ministries
conference.


Everything is about Relationship. It is all about relationship.



A story about Relationship:

Gennie from Trinity Church in Boston:

She has been sight-impaired since birth. She walks with a sight cane as she
ministers to the homeless who are around Trinity Church.

She told of one man who made sexual advances towards her. It was all
innuendo but clearly pointed. She leaned towards him and asked, “Is this
about sexual intimacy?” Boom. There it was, blatantly laid out on the
table. He began stuttering and clambering for words to back out of what had
become an uncomfortable conversation for him. But she continued to
converse. He finally said, “I have not been touched in 12 years. I just
want someone to touch me.” She asked him, “May I give you a hug?” As tears
streamed down his face, he said, “Yes.” And she did. She said she is not a
hugger but that she hugs him every time she sees him.





People hunger for more than simply food. Poverty isolates.



Bob Flick+ on Francis:

   - Francis stripped naked – to become obedient (to hear)
   - He heard the word of God tell him to rebuild San Domiano – to build
   community
   - He began to work as a minister in a leper colony.—he wanted to be able
   to embrace the leper.

Embracing the leper became a metaphor for following his deepest desire. The
leper was within him.



Emptying/letting go – we have to strip naked before being filled, being
able to embrace our own leper.



Bonaventure wrote about Francis. For Francis, the world was the
monastery. Francis
asked: How can I be a contemplative in the world around me?



Bonaventure used the example of the Temple.

   - The court as the outer ring – world outside of the self, creation.
   It’s about relationship between the outside and me.

God is in the crap as well as in the roses. Nobody needs fixing by me.
There is no good change without relationship. Developing relationship is
about being open to the presence of God in one another.



   - Sanctuary – inside the self – conscious, memories, imagination – WHO
   AM I?

Memory is the IS of eternity. We have a past, a future – but the NOW –
present to the stuff inside of us.

In touch with self- memories need to be contemplative.

Eucharist is being present to the Now and the remembering of the Holy
Spirit on these gifts.

Jesus told us to remember him. We rob ourselves of the contemplative life
if we do not spend time in our memories, good and bad.



We are called into something much more profound than just getting the job
done. We are working to learn/feel compassion. For ourselves, towards
others, for God.



God made flesh in Jesus was to show us that all of this is doable.

   - Holy of Holies – Beyond self. God as God. Godness, Trinity, Mystery.

To be present to God in mystery. Bring in relationship with a God that is
beyond our knowing.

God is most essentially relationship: Love changes. God is love. God
changes. God is constantly creating new things which means change.

Love – God is relentless.





I knew I had to change my narrative. In the midst of this talk, I felt the
tears begin. It became a flood and I had to get up and go to the back of
the room. I knew something really big was happening. I didn't know what at
the moment but I knew it was important.



As the tears flowed, I felt the resentment, anger, bitterness flow out of
me. It was a profound moment and I knew I was different. The understanding
didn’t all happen quite so quickly but soon after it became apparent. I
felt changed. I felt a calm that I have never felt before in my life. And
it remains.



God *is* relentless.



*Barbi *
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