[RivCompanions] it's all about relationship

Virginia Brown mothervirginiadb at gmail.com
Fri Nov 13 01:01:40 UTC 2015


Dear Barbi,

Thank you for this "slice" of the conference.  What a powerful
experience... something beyond the topics themselves--or, maybe, the
"topics" actually alive and active and piercing, like the word of God....
and it's always so hard to begin to do justice to such an event.  I imagine
that, as these things tend to, it will all keep unfolding over the next
weeks.

I love that image of the Temple of Bonaventure!  And I'm so grateful... so
very grateful, that God is relentless.  (And I'm so grateful for you as
well.)

Love, Virginia

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 8:24 AM, Barbi Click <bgclick at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>
>
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