This Week in GFM at IU: March 5-11

This Week:

New! GFM Blog Series: 

Continuing our weekly series of short, open-topic reflections by graduate students, faculty members, and friends, Trevor Babcock writes provocatively on anxiety & grace in the life and poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Many thanks, Trevor! Read it here! Read it now!

Thinking about Faith: 

We decided to meet again this Tuesday (NOT Thursday, as per the schedule) at 7:30 pm. For this week, a special poetry edition. Please email Sadie for poems from John Donne, George Herbert, and Gerard Manley Hopkins, which we will discuss with a special assist from Shannon. You don't want to miss this one! Meet at Tim O'Connor's home (3119 S Forrester Street) at 7:30 p.m. 

Manuscript Study. 

Acts & snacks, this Wednesday, 7-9pm, Ballantine 004. 

Weekly Prayer

meets in the Charter Room of the Memorial Union at 9:00 a.m. each Thursday for a time of intercessory prayer for one another. 

Looking ahead:
“Faith & Work: How What We Believe Informs What We Do.” 

A GFM-sponsored panel of Christian faculty members from the School of Education, HPER, and the College of Arts and Sciences will answer the question “How do you relate your faith to your discipline?” We expect the answers will be broad-ranging and perhaps even in slight disagreement! The panel will be on Thursday, March 29, from 7-9 pm, in the IMU Sassafras Room. 

Supporting Our Own: 

Rachel Lowry’s flute recital is on Sunday, April 1, at 3:00 p.m. in Auer Hall. 

Do Good Things! 

Here's a way to get involved in disaster relief for our neighbors in southern Indiana who are picking up the pieces after the tornados of last week, sent in by Dr. Amrita Myers. 

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Hello Everyone,

Disaster relief workers and Vineyard church members Monty and Susan Scales will be in the tornado affected areas in Southern Indiana tomorrow, Sunday, morning to establish communications with response personnel to get the people affected some assistance. They are asking people to please consider donating the suppliesthat are listed here:

and to bring them to the church on Sunday and throughout the rest of the week. They will take all the items collected back down south later in the week.

You can drop all items off at the VCC church office between 8am and 4:30pm Monday through Friday. The church is located at 2375 South Walnut Street  Bloomington, IN 47401, (812) 336-4602. Please stick to the items that are listed.

Thank you in advance for helping those who have lost everything.  Please pass it on to anyone else who may be interested in helping.

Thank you again.

Bendición,

Nohemi Brown

Vineyard Community Church

Loving God, Serving People, Changing Lives

(812) 336-4602

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord ~ Psalms 27:14

Addendum: 

No water bottles, please! Checks may be written to IGO Disaster Relief.

GFM Blog Series, Week 9

Continuing our weekly series of short, open-topic reflections by graduate students, faculty members, and friends, Trevor Babcock writes provocatively on anxiety & grace in the life and poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Many thanks, Trevor! 

_______

Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself? Ecclesiastes 7:16

Gerard Manley Hopkins was a 19^th century Jesuit priest with deep emotional troubles and a deeper faith. He is, in my opinion, the best poet who ever wrote in English and a total failure in what I’ve come to understand as “self-care.”

In letters to his friends, Hopkins often confessed a constant state of anxiety that sunk in later years into very serious depression.

But the real paradox Hopkins presents to me is the source of his anxiety. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t literary ambition, a vice of which he seemed to be perfectly free. For me, ambition in my writing career, whether scholarly or creative, has really become the only really dependable wellspring of anxiety. (Which seems kind of strange, even to me, as I’m still technically in remission from, not cured of, cancer.)

Not Hopkins, though. When he became ordained, he actually gave up poetry. He wrote precisely zero poems for the greater part of his 20’s (a decade during which some poets’ entire career is based; Surrey and Keats come to mind). He only took up the quill again at the age of 31, and then only at the bequest of a superior to commemorate the tragic sinking of a ship on which a group of Franciscan nuns were travelling.

As one critic put it, Hopkins achieved “a share of literary immortality... as if with his left hand.”

So then, what was the source of his anxiety? That question is, of course, impossible for us to answer. Perhaps the problem was mainly chemical. Perhaps he was even victim of a spiritual assault. Whatever its source was, his depression must surely have been exacerbated by his spirituality.

But wait! Isn’t spirituality supposed to free us from anxiety? Well, yes. It’s supposed to.

While reading Hopkins’ letters and poetry, one gets the sense that he is becoming acquainted with an extremely high-strung idealist, burned by the fire of his own passion for his ministry and spiritual growth. It seems that he was constantly disappointed in himself and spent his life in the tension of unmet ideals.

Not that he was wrong in his ideals, or even about himself. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that in his darkest moments of self-effacement he was only beginning to scratch the surface of his unfitness before God.

The spiritual discipline Hopkins seemed to have had the hardest time practicing was grace to himself. But, for at least a moment, he did practice it. I’m closing now with a poem of his that has been more of an encouragement from a fellow struggler than any other I’ve read, a worn smile from an older brother who has gone before me.


“My Own Heart”

My own heart let me more have pity on; let
Me live to my sad self hereafter kind,
Charitable; not live this tormented mind
With this tormented mind tormenting yet.

I cast for comfort I can no more get
By groping round my comfortless than blind
Eyes in their dark can day or thirst can find
Thirst’s all-in-all a world of wet.

Soul, self; come, poor Jackself, I do advise
You, jaded, let be; call off thoughts awhile
Elsewhere; leave comfort root-room; let joy size

At God knows when to God knows what; whose smile
‘S not wrung, see you; unforseentimes rather—as skies
Betweenpie mountains—lights a lovely mile.

This Week in GFM at IU: February 27-March 4

This Week: 

New! GFM Blog Series.

This week's post comes to us from Rev. Rachel Pedersen of First Presbyterian, who is, full disclosure, my boss as well as my friend and who, in addition to bailing me out of various work-related catastrophes on a regular basis, also generously agreed to pinch-hit a blog post on a week I came up short. Rachel holds a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and describes this post as a "midrash," which, after consulting Wikipedia, I knew was "a homiletic method of biblical exegesis." Read it here!

Interested in contributing to our blog? Please contact Kerilyn! Especially if you write fast, and on short notice. ;)

Men's Group: 

This Wednesday, February 29th, we're meeting from 7-9 PM at Josh & Kerilyn's house (3442 N Stoneycrest Rd.) to continue discussing the book "What Makes Life Worth Living" by W. Phillip Keller. We'll discuss the themes of chapters 7-9 – "Taking Time to Think Quietly and Calmly", "Hope for the Way", and "Relish the Beauty Around You". If you haven't yet read them, please come anyway, since Christian fellowship is the main focus. Also, snacks and drinks will be on hand.

Weekly Prayer 

meets in the Charter Room of the Memorial Union at 9:00 a.m. each Thursday for a time of intercessory prayer for one another. If you've thought about dropping in, but never have... why haven't you? It's a great group!

Thinking about Faith 

has a special THURSDAY meeting this week, March 8. Like the romantics we are, we're taking a break from the N.T. Wright book we've been reading to discuss POETRY. Meet at Tim O'Connor's home (3119 S Forrester Street) at 7:30 p.m. 

Looking ahead:
“Faith & Work: How What We Believe Informs What We Do.” 

A GFM-sponsored panel of Christian faculty members from the School of Education, HPER, and the College of Arts and Sciences will answer the question “How do you relate your faith to your discipline?” We expect the answers will be broad-ranging and perhaps even in slight disagreement! The panel will be on Thursday, March 29, from 7-9 pm, in location yet to be determined. 

GFM Blog Series, Week 8

Greetings, GFM! This week's post comes from Rev. Rachel Pedersen of First Presbyterian Church, who is, full disclosure, my boss as well as my friend and who, in addition to bailing me out of various work-related catastrophes on a regular basis, also generously agreed to pinch-hit a blog post on a week I came up short. Thanks so much, Rachel! Rachel holds a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and describes this post as a "midrash," which, after consulting Wikipedia, I knew was "a homiletic method of biblical exegesis." Enjoy!

Would you like to write for us? Contact Kerilyn Harkaway-Krieger! 

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“On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of the Sinai.”  Numbers 1:1

Hebrew is a wonderful language, but it’s also a tricky one. Because all Hebrew words can be traced to three-letter roots, and because the vowels we 21^st-century readers rely on didn’t come into being until much later, translating Hebrew is sometimes as much an art as it is a science. When we approach scripture, there is that constant question, is there more to this passage? Is there something hidden between those sleek letters? When you look at the Hebrew, there often is!

During Lent, Christians are reminded of the 40 days that Christ spent in the wilderness being tested by the Devil, praying and fasting.  But it’s also a time to consider our own place in the wilderness. Jesus wasn’t the first to spend an extended sojourn far from civilization; by the time Jesus headed out, it was practically a tradition! The wilderness was a place where people came close to God and God came close to the people. After all, it was in the wilderness that God made a covenant with Abraham, where God met Jacob in a dream, where Moses was called, where the people wandered for forty years, where Elijah found his strength-- the list could go on!    The wilderness is a place where things happen. Most notably, the wilderness is the setting for the greatest epic of the Old Testament: the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).

The Hebrew word for wilderness is Midbar. You might notice, if you enjoy reading Numbers or Leviticus, that sometimes Midbar is given as the name of a place. But really, the name just means wilderness. Rabbis have been drawn to this possible double reading, wondering when Midbar is a place and when it is wilderness. One verse that has captured their attention for centuries is Numbers 21:18, which ends with the small phrase, “from Midbar to Mattanah.” We read that as from one place to another.  But the phrase could be just as easily translated to mean, “from the wilderness there is a gift.” It doesn’t make the most sense in context, but then again, Hebrew can be tricky!

I wonder if Jesus ever found a gift in the wilderness. I wonder what, in those long forty days and nights, made him feel close to God, or even far away? I wonder, as a woman living in the 21^st century, what wilderness means to me. Is it some vast, unchartered place, untouched by human hands? Or is it something much closer? Is wilderness a place apart, a place where I have no control? Maybe you know what wilderness feels like; maybe you even understand why the Rabbis found that little verse, “from the wilderness there is a gift.” Or maybe you’re in a wild place right now, searching. My prayer for this season is that we might all find the gift that God has placed in our wilderness for us. 

This Week in GFM at IU: February 20-26

This week in GFM: Lent begins. Easter is coming. 

New! GFM Blog Post-- I wrote this one. I have a degree composition that's been gathering dust for nigh on seven years now, so don't tell me if I have any typos-- I can't bear the shame. 

Shrove Tuesday: 

February 21st, Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper ($5) at Trinity Episcopal Church (Kirkwood & Grant). We'll meet up in the courtyard off of Kirkwood at 6:00 p.m. 

Ash Wednesday: 

This week, we’re cancelling Manuscript Study to join in with the Ash Wednesday service at First Presbyterian Church, at the corner of 6th & Lincoln Street (parking available off of 7th Street). The service begins at 7:30, but we'll meet just after 7:00 to enjoy a contemplative walk-through before the service. Please note: *another* worship service will be going on in the church's social hall at almost the same time, please be sure you proceed past it to the sanctuary. 

Weekly Prayer:

Just like every week, we'll meet for a time of prayer on Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the Charter Room. 

GFM Blog Series, Week 7: Sadie Carter

It's been a couple of weeks, GFM! But we're back with our new series of short, open-topic reflections written by graduate students & faculty members (and occasional hangers-on, like me). This week, yours truly has written a Lenten reflection in anticipation of Ash Wednesday.

We’re on the lookout for people willing to post, so if you’re interested, contact Kerilyn Harkaway-Krieger (kharkawa@indiana.edu).

_________

A few weeks ago, some of us were discussing the idea of God as a consuming fire, or as a refiner’s fire. Heidi Torres mentioned plants that don’t open their seed pods unless they are subject to the extremely hot temperatures. This put me in mind of a particular plant that has become oddly dear to me, the Missouri bladderpod.

When I was in high school, I was the president of the Math & Science Club. Don’t you dare laugh. It was awesome and I regret nothing. In addition to getting out of school for the purpose of sitting in gymnasiums trying to do math problems and science experiments faster than other people, we did a lot of outdoor volunteering, like building trails and monitoring water quality. Most of it could hardly be called work at all. We dug in the dirt, we planted things, we spread a lot of mulch everywhere, and we waded in creeks catching macroinvertebrates, which, if you like that kind of thing, is the kind of thing you’ll really like.

The teacher who sponsored us mentioned to me that she was doing some “glade habitat restoration” with the Nature Conservancy for an endangered plant, the Missouri bladderpod. It was at a preserve called Rocky Barrens about a two-hour drive away. I corralled a friend with a car into making the drive in the wee hours of a Saturday morning in the cold part of Spring.

At first, we couldn’t find anyone. At that hour and that time of year, the rolling, sparsley-wooded hills looked like something from Rob Roy. We saw some smoke rising down a dirt track into some heavier woods and decided to follow it. Had they lit a campfire or something?

We came into a clearing and my first thought was that this was not the place. My second thought was that I should probably run away. The ground was on fire. There were an inordinate number of chainsaws in action. Trees were crashing left and right, and being dragged into a giant bonfire made up entirely of cedars, which meant it was extremely hot and crackled furiously. My teacher stood up from siphoning gas out of a pickup into a small can and waved. “You’re here!”

I’m not really sure what happened after that. Someone handed us chainsaws and cans of gasoline. Then someone else looked at us again and took the chainsaws away, which I found mildly insulting. Someone else instructed us to sprinkle gas over the ground and wait for someone with a some kind of blow torch or flame thrower to come by and ignite it. “Be sure not to circle yourselves in!” was the closest thing anyone gave us to a warning. Later, we were put to work dragging cedar trees and hurling them into the raging bonfire, dodging the ones that were coming down all around us.

At some point, hot, sweaty, and covered in sticky cedar sap, my friend said to me, “This does not look like what I thought it would look like.”

After it was over, we did manage to get an explanation: The Missouri Bladderpod needs to bake in the sun all summer in order for its seeds to germinate in the cool temperatures of the fall. Naturally-occurring summer fires used to maintain open spaces where the plant could grow. Settlement put an end to the fires, and cedar trees, quick-growing and quick to reseed, began filling up the high rocky places.

At that particular time in my life it seemed insane to burn trees to make a place for a flower. Trees are useful. They make oxygen and provide habitat for birds. It seemed like the exact opposite of nature conservation to cut down dozens of trees and burn the ground. The Missouri Bladderpod is low-growing. It offers a very small amount cover for animals that prefer to bake in the sun in high, dry places: rattlesnakes, tarantulas, collared lizards. It’s a nice flower, but not something you’d pay for in an arrangement. It grows in just a few, very specific places. It doesn’t even have a very good name. Its only worth is that it is a Thing God Made, and if you don't preserve the space it needs to grow, it will disappear.

When I think about Ash Wednesday, the day we burn the leaves from last year’s Palm Sunday and mark our foreheads with them, I think of my slash-and-burn adventure with the Nature Conservancy. And what it reminds me of most strongly is the idea of space, and what it’s for; what it means for something to be worth preserving, and how far we might go to open that space for it-- because I believe God is willing to get out the chainsaws and the flame thrower and siphon gas out of the tank. I think God is serious about making space for His Things. So I think about the degree to which I’m willing to start dragging trees, to sacrifice what I think is productive & useful, and to open space for things that cannot be measured in tangible returns. To me, it’s part of what Lent is for: to reduce the year to ash, and await the resurrection.

This Week in GFM at IU: February 13-19

Here's what's coming up in GFM! 

Thinking about Faith:

We'll meet again for a discussion of N.T. Wright's book, Surprised by Hope (Ch.5-6) tonight (Tuesday) at 7:30 p.m. at 3119 S Forrester Street. 

Men's Group: 

This Wednesday, February 15th, we're meeting from 7-9 PM at Henry Gabriel's house (3814 S. Woodmere Ct. / 314.691.2331) to continue discussing the book "What Makes Life Worth Living" by W. Phillip Keller. We'll discuss the themes of chapters 4-6 – "Laughter–Great Medicine and Mirth", "Others–Caring, Giving, Encouraging", and "Health and Vigor". If you haven't yet read them, please come anyway, since Christian fellowship is the main focus. Also, snacks and drinks will be on hand.

GFM Women’s Event: Drawing Closer to God

When: Saturday, February 18th from 6-8:30pm
Where: Kerilyn Harkaway-Krieger’s house,  3442 N Stoneycrest RoadBring: Your favorite comfort food to share. Drinks will be provided.
Description: An evening of fellowship and encouragement.  We’ll be reading scripture and poems, and discussing what it means to be obedient and faithful to God, especially during a dry period.
Do you have a question about this event or need a ride? Contact: Cindy Geiger cmgeiger@indiana.edu or Jennifer Bellville Jennifer.bellville@uwalumni.com

One in Christ

We are starting a new group to further the visible unity of the Church, Christ's one body, and also to gain a fuller understanding of other Christian traditions of worship.

Plan: To visit various churches throughout the semester (usually at times other than Sunday morning).

Method: Email list to coordinate church visits and rides. Let us know if you want to be added to the list! krodkey@gmail.com

Upcoming Visits: 

February 21st, Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper ($5) at 7:30pm at Trinity Episcopal Church

February 22nd, Ash Wednesday Service 7:30pm at First Presbyterian Church

Stay tuned for more Lenten fun! 

  Krista and Cindy, your One in Christ representatives