It Is Doing

Last week, a friend of ours reminded us of a Buddhist community in California that has, as its core philosophy, three rules:

• Take care of this space.
• Take care of yourself.
• Take care of each other.

This morning, Kevin Rains, our pastor at Vineyard Central, reminded us of the two great commandments of Christ:

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.
• Love your neighbor as yourself.

As I see it, the approach of that Buddhist community is not vastly different than the approach of the VC community.

Each is more difficult than it sounds. And each is more about what I do than what I believe.

As Kevin said in his teaching this morning, it is doing, and not just professing to believe, that will make me a Christian.

By the Mark

It was too much – His blood sacrifice.
Most days I turn away, not bearing the idea.
I deny truth’s power
And live comfortably, but not comforted.
If I try to fathom the unfathomable
I weep, I fall, I fail. I cry out, tormented
By this demon: A love so strong He died for me.

Space Matters

Space
matters.

Place
matters.

Presence matters.

Mindfulness matters.

St. Elizabeth’s reminds me of these things.

St. E’s is a beautiful, 100-year-old, formerly Catholic church in West Norwood. Her eight large stained glass windows, two rose windows, and two stained glass domes combine to let in a subtle natural light. Her disrepair—the water damage, the places where plaster has come off the walls exposing the brick underneath—only adds to her grandeur. Visitors are always moved by her beauty and brokenness and (perhaps) feel the presence of God when they enter.

I know I am reminded to be mindful when I enter St E’s. I become more aware of the presence, or at least the potential presence, of God. I slow down, try to remember, try to feel my bones, try to feel myself in my skin, try to be aware of my footsteps.

Try to listen. Listening is so critical, and I do it so badly.

I know the danger: By locating God in a particular place, one can start to worship the place instead of God. It is what we humans do. God is immense, huge, unfathomable, ineffable, utterly unexplainable. So we shrink God to fit ourselves, rather than expand ourselves, as best we can, to reach out to God.

In addition to feeling called by St. E’s, I am also attracted to the Vineyard Central community. Vineyard Central is not a congregation, but a collection of house churches. The community has many artists and musicians, and I am sure that is part of the attraction. I connect to those people. I hope that being part of the community will help me bring forth whatever gifts I have for art, music, and writing.

The age of the members of the community may be an issue as well. They are, for the most part, about half my age. I like that. I guess it is their sense of openness, of being still incomplete, that attracts me. I am not yet complete myself. I am still writing my story.

As yet Elaine and I have not found our place in the Vineyard Central community of house churches. We tried a couple but did not seem to find a fit. We stopped exploring house church options. We thought about leading our own, but chose not to. The season seemed wrong.

Our search continues, however. We continue to seek, to grow into who we are, what we stand for, and what we will stand against.

That is why, for me, mindfulness matters; presence matters; place matters; space matters.

Interior Space, St. Elizabeth's

The photos shown here were taken recently by local photographer John Cremons. They show much of the grandeur and some of the vulnerability of the interior space at Saint Elizabeth's. After his visit, he sent us an email with the following message:

Thanks so much for letting me photograph your beautiful church. The character and presence in this sanctuary is powerful. I noticed that you have great respect for the past and your predecessors. This is good.

A Sacred Space of Norwood

Here's a picture of Saint Elizabeth's, home to Vineyard Central(VC) in Norwood, Ohio. My wife and I started attending services in January, 2006. We had been doing some church shopping, but after the first service at VC, we knew we had found a home.

You can't see it in this photo, but St. Es has a fantastic interior space, some exquisite old stained glass windows, and some pretty extensive water damage. (I will be posting pictures of the interior in later posts.) There are several places where the plaster has completely fallen away, revealing the underlying columns of brick, like the underlying bones of the building. For me, it combines a sense of beauty and vulnerability. I think it's one of the reasons Vineyard Central feels like home.

It is a Sacred Space of Norwood. You have to live in Cincinnati to see the humor in that statement. Norwood is often the butt of local Cincinnati jokes, and West Norwood has been considered the arm pit of Norwood. Nonetheless, Saint Elizabeth's is a sacred space, and I have volunteered to help lead the efforts to create a restorative community focused on this beautiful, vulnerable space. Over the next weeks, months and years, I intend to use this blog to explain how I came to become one of the stewards of this sacred space and explore what that means and how it works on me, how I change as a result, and what we do to reach in to the surrounding community. I expect it will be quite a journey.