Orientation: Mid-Week Reflection

EMILY RUTLEDGE, Youth Minister

Today something really scary happened.

We took our daughter to kindergarten orientation.

My daughter: the one that carries my heart around with her and who made me a mama. Kindergarten: the bullet train to her moving out of our house. Orientation: the time babies (seriously, she is a baby!) ride on a bus and meet their future teachers and my husband and I learn about all the amazing things that will be happening that are so far past what we can digest because we went to kindergarten decades ago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Before getting to orientation we picked my husband up from work and I asked him how his morning had been. His reply: I don’t even know, I haven’t been able to focus on anything because I am too nervous about this.

We are basically super calm parents who are comfortable with change.

We pulled into the school: one excited four year old and two terrified parents… and there was our neighbor. Then one of my daughter’s preschool classmates, then another, and another. We were surrounded by our people. Most of them seasoned at this Kindergarten thing and laughing at our petrified faces and my watery eyes--as only real friends would.

Then, it happened, we were oriented. We were given our ‘relative position’ in this new world. That position: surrounded. Supported.

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he writes that God’s “grace is sufficient for you, for (God’s) power is made perfect in weakness.” For me, parenthood is a continual reminder of my own weaknesses. It is the magnifying glass, the mirror, and the projector which reinforces that I cannot and will not approach being even close to perfect. My issues, my failings, and the depths of my heart are all exposed as a mom.

Alone, I am not sure that I would have even made it to a first birthday let alone kindergarten orientation. It is only when I orient myself to the people that surround me that I realize I am held up and knit-in by a community that God’s grace and strength flows through. That is when I find some sure footing.

God's power is not limited to a gathering of believers whose membership belongs to the same organization. It’s not constrained by denomination or even belief. There are people that transmit grace and are beacons of strength that do not believe in a God. They are my children’s emergency contacts and a knowing look across a crowded cafeteria when I’m scared of my baby growing up. They are neighbors who are more than people that share a street name, they have become the extended family we experience life with. They are the continual providers of grace and strength when life seems too hard.

I know some believe that to be oriented as a Christian means keeping our eyes firmly fixed on God by following a moral code and being steadfast believers through life's storms.

I think they are wrong. It’s impossible to live this life fully and not experience times and situations that seem devoid of God. Instead, if we orient ourselves to love and be loved, God will be revealed in more people and ways than we can imagine. When we orient ourselves to connection, to community, to unity we give God the space to encounter us daily and reveal Her nature and love no matter our weakness, how unstable the ground, or how scary the situation.

Building Bridges: Mid-Week Reflection

FR. DAVID STODDART

On April 1st, about a dozen COOS parishioners visited the masjid, the house of worship of the Islamic Society of Central Virginia, for Friday prayers. We were warmly welcomed, and all of us found it to be a great experience. I was particularly moved by the sermon, which spoke about the need to respond to evil with good. The speaker addressed the fear that many members of that community feel and encouraged them not to hide but rather to be involved in the wider community. He urged his listeners not to let their fear dominate them but to let people see what Muslims are really like.

This past Sunday, several Muslims from that same community came to address our Adult Forum. They offered some basic information about Islam and tried to dispel some misconceptions (most of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are not Arabs; those who commit terrorism in the name of Islam are a tiny fraction of a fraction). In addition, one of the presenters spoke movingly about the human toll of being the target of hatred and discrimination, even here in Charlottesville. He said that respect for all people, even when they have differences of belief, conveys the true spirit of religion. It was a powerful testimony.

I am convinced that we need to build bridges during this fractured time. I am very grateful to this parish for participating in that, and very thankful to the Islamic Society for being so receptive and welcoming. I hope that we can somehow continue to build on this as we move forward. Certainly Christ would have us reach out in love: his commandment to love others does not include only those we agree with theologically. As he both teaches and demonstrates, we are all children of the same God and are all called to live in loving community with one another. Please join me in praying and working for just that.

[NOTE: The conversation with members from the Islamic Society of Central Virginia continues this Sunday, April 24, at Adult Forum - 10:15am in the Mission. Please come!]