Earlier today, I was sitting hunched over my laptop in the Kerrville Public Library, using their Wi-Fi to get some work done while waiting to perform my second concert of the day at a nearby assisted-living center. I was doing my best to get started on my column for this week's newsletter, but my brain just didn't seem to be firing on all cylinders. Frankly, I'm still pretty tired from last weekend's retreat at Slumber Falls, which was a very joyful and rewarding event, but one which required big chunks of time and energy, too.
WONDERING WHY
So there I was, staring at the blank screen, wondering, "why the heck bother writing another one of these Around the Circle columns anyway? Who even reads them?" Discouraged, I closed the file and opened my e-mail instead, and right there at the top of the screen was a message from a complete stranger named Jo. Reading it was such a heart-opening experience that, with his permission (and a couple of small edits for length and clarity), I'd like to share it here:
"Hi, Rudi. I'm a retired United Methodist minister and founding pastor of the Recovery Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. I left my wonderful [progressive] community there and retired to the edge of the wilderness, just a couple of miles south of the Canadian border. [It's beautiful here, but] after searching for a number of years for a community of like-minded folks, I was frustrated at the lack of inclusiveness of small congregations in this area.
"One of the great things about modern times is finding connections and encountering moments of grace in unanticipated places...While searching the Internet, I found your Celebration Circle website. It has been a joy to find it, and you, on my continued spiritual journey. While I'm a Christian, my own personal recovery from drugs and alcohol some 20 years ago showed me the wonder of [embracing other] faith journeys. These days, while I do attend a local congregation for the singing and collective mind...it is through your website that each week I connect with a like-minded theology. So, thank you for your vision and inclusive message. I look forward each week to my visit and being a part of your Circle through technology.
Your message of connection and the wonderful way you have of intermixing differing traditions is one of those difficult statements of grace that most denominations miss. You hit the mark. As a person [who] trained in the neo-orthodox tradition and bounced around in denominationalism, it wasn't until I encountered meditation and the open atmosphere of recovery that I began to understand how really large love is...and heard the whisper of 'just get out of Gods' way rather than drag in my rigidity of ego.' Your messages have helped me remember that important breath of fresh air. Peace my friend; let this gentle whisper carry from one end of our country to another."
Thank you, Jo, for your kind words, and for reminding us that the Celebration Circle touches people and places in ways that we often don't know, and possibly never will. And how important it is to "get out of God's way" and let the Spirit flow through our work -- whatever form it may take -- without needing to know where and how it happens.
FEELING CONNECTED
And thank you, dear reader, for your support in sustaining the Circle through your gifts of time, talent and treasure. Jo's note wasn't just addressed to me, but to you - and to all the folks who have made it possible for us to share our ever-evolving, co-creative approach to spirituality for the past 23 years. Whether we connect in person or on-line, through words, music, meditation, audio, video or some cyber-space, multi-media mash-up of all-the-above, the fact remains that "We Are One."
With gratitude and blessings,
Rudi
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