May 2023

Greetings from the St. Paul Center for Theology and Prayer!

FORMING DISCIPLES OF JESUS IN EVERY CONGREGATION

The St. Paul Center for Theology and Prayer exists to form disciples of Jesus in every congregation. It seeks to do this by equipping and resourcing local congregations for the tasks and joys of faith formation, teaching and learning, catechesis, and the life of prayer.

May brings the second of our regular newsletters. (You can read the March newsletter here; and you’ll also find the original ‘ribbon cutting’ email here.) In our newsletters, we let you know all that is going on at The St. Paul Center (TSPC) - exciting things which are occuring now, and some of the events and happenings coming down the line. Thanks to all who have signed up for the newsletter; if you haven’t already done so, please do sign up here, so we can stay in touch! The St. Paul Center for Theology and Prayer is open to all and exists for the enrichment of every parish, congregation, and individual in our diocese – that’s you!

A THOUGHT FROM TSPC

The Ascension, on first sight, seems a strange thing to celebrate. Jesus is the lived expression of God’s life in the world, the love of God translated into human life: Christ is what perfect divine love looks like when lived out on the human stage. So why do we celebrate this perfect, self-giving, generous love leaving. How, in a world that so often seems to so many, perhaps to all of us at times, to be “God-forsaken,” could it be good that Emmanuel, God-with-us, take leave from us?

The heart of the Christian story is that God comes to us in Jesus, and Jesus sees and experiences every part of us. Christ takes on, assumes, the whole of our humanity: the good, the bad, the beautiful, the broken, every part of us, and embraces it in God’s love: every part of us finds its home in the radical, loving, hospitality of the Creator God in Jesus Christ. This is what we mean when we talk about incarnation, when we talk about God among us in Jesus for our salvation. But this great work of love, God entering our human life, is not a one-act drama. As the Book of Acts has it, the one who came down to and for us was also “lifted up.” There is a double movement in God's work of redemption: descent and ascent.

From cradle to grave Christ delved down to the deepest reaches of our human experience. He has heard, and he has known the depths of human cries: the cries of the oppressed and the outcast, the cries of the poor and the destitute, the cries of victims of senseless violence—indeed, he himself became the victim of that senseless violence. Christ has experienced our frailty and despair, the hopelessness of this world, far more than we have.

And yet in the Ascension to glory, he leaves none of it behind. So that the Ascension, the departure of Christ from the depths of humility to the heights of glory, is not God escaping or retreating from our humanity, it is a transformation of our humanity. One of us, wearing earthy, wound-bearing flesh, now reigns enthroned in divinity. Our human home is now the warm embrace of God.

In a world that seems to be without hope, the Ascension is hope fulfilled. And, even more, the hope to which we are called is not a fuzzy feeling of comfort and ease in the midst of a broken world, it is a calling to become ourselves the gift of hope to a broken world.

Jesus commissions us as witnesses of the world’s redemption because the life of the Church, as the community of the crucified one, is a life that rests daily in the wounds of Christ, that remains with Christ, risen and ascended, that we may be daily more acquainted with the wounds of the world.

The Ascension is hope fulfilled, because Christ’s exaltation is our exaltation, and because the promised gift of the Spirit, in the midst of our brokenness and despair, brings us to live even now in that perfect love that awaits us in glory.

Wishing you all a blessed Ascension and Pentecost,

Jarred

The Rev. Dr. Jarred Mercer is Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Newburyport and part of TSPC’s leadership team.

WHAT’S ON AT TSPC

THIS SUMMER

Summer Workshops: Why Go to Church?

COMING SOON! * * SIGN UP NOW - Workshop on June 24th * *

I just need some "me" time. I find God in nature; I don't need church. Barbara Brown Taylor left church. Why shouldn't I? I got on fine with online church during pandemic closures, why should I return now?

The scriptures admonish us, "Do not neglect to meet together," but sometimes we don't feel like it or we find our experience in congregations challenging. Why should we go to church? What would you say to a friend who asks you why you attend?

Spend a day with others reflecting on the significance of communal worship, learning from scripture and our theological tradition, and praying, in order to clarify your own answer to this question, be more equipped to help your congregation live into its calling, and offer your "apologia" to unchurched or de-churched friends. The same workshop will be offered in three sites – the cathedral, St. Paul’s, Newburyport, and St. Thomas, Taunton – each led by a different pair of co-leaders. Participants will leave with a packet of materials to take back to their congregations for group formation and conversation.

Workshops will run 10am to 3pm, and will include a light lunch. Find out more, and sign up, here.

THIS FALL

Event with Rowan Williams – Nov 4th 2023

On November 4, Dr. Rowan Williams will be joining us for a virtual TSPC event. Bishop Rowan is the former Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the world’s most prominent theologians, and we are thrilled that he is partnering with the Center to help us engage with our calling to do theology in and with the Church. More details to follow – sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date!

ONGOING

Learning to Pray Video Series

What is Prayer? Why do we do it? What are different forms of prayer that might enrich my spiritual life, and where do I start? Our ‘Learning to Pray’ series begins with six videos exploring different practices of prayer. You can watch the videos online, and read our Conversation Guide for ways to use the Learning to Pray videos in your community.

GET INVOLVED!

Curation Teams

Curation teams are under way! We’re grateful to all who have joined these groups, to gather information and create a valuable resource for the whole diocese. We may be creating further teams in the future, to aid our diocesan mission strategy goal to ‘invite robust Christian formation at all points of life.’ Find out more here - where you can also sign up to express your interest in future opportunities.

Lay Worship Leader Training - further opportunities

Lay Worship Leader Training was offered via Zoom on Wednesday March 29th, led by the Rev. Carol Morehead, the rector of Grace Church in Medford. We were delighted to have a full house for this training! Look for further training opportunities in the new future; in the meantime, if you’re interested in Lay Worship Leadership, contact Martha Gardner

PAST EVENTS

Meeting God in our busy lives: The theology and practice of Zimzum

During Lent and Eastertide, 28 participants met every other week with The Rev. Phil LaBelle to discuss the theology and practice of zimzum in a desire to make space in their lives for God, each other, and creation. The six class gatherings—one set in person at St. Mark’s Church, Southborough, and one set online—reflected on scripture and then some aspect of zimzum, a Jewish mystical concept employed by Jürgen Moltmann in his theology of Creation, and concluded with exploring related spiritual practices and small group time.

The concept of zimzum states that God’s first act in Creation was one of self-withdrawal in order for there to be the space and nothingness in which God could create. This self-limiting by God happened due to God’s deep love and desire to be in relationship with all that God created. As those made in the image of God, we too can embrace this self-limiting, and make space in our own lives to open ourselves up to relationships.

During the course, participants formed friendships, discovered new spiritual practices, and took time to be present. By all measures the class was a great success for participants and The St. Paul Center.

- The Rev. Phil LaBelle, St Mark’s Church, Southborough

CLOSING WITH A QUESTION

In his message at the top of this newsletter, Jarred Mercer writes: “The hope to which we are called is not a fuzzy feeling of comfort and ease in the midst of a broken world, it is a calling to become ourselves the gift of hope to a broken world.” How is your congregation living into that calling? What further training, conversation, or resources might the St. Paul Center offer that would help you embrace this calling even more fully?

Let us know your thoughts - our email inbox is always open!