“Discipleship Year” by Dawn Longenecker
February 15, 2015
Transfiguration Sunday
Good morning! Thank you for inviting me to take a turn to share with you today.
I’ve picked out one of my favorite scriptures to focus on. Here it is:
Jesus spoke about this seed as the smallest of all the seeds known and used by those in Israel. There were many gardens in that region, with lots of plants, many of which were larger than the mustard plant. The olive tree, for example, can grow to 20 feet or higher. The mustard tree has extremely small seeds and grows into a small bush. The one Jesus was most likely referring to grows to about 8 to 10 feet when mature. He was drawing attention to the comparison of the “smallest” to the “largest” and using it to illustrate how the Kingdom of heaven will expand in the world from a very small beginning to a huge presence.
staff had left (some of them pressured to go), except Tommie, Kayla, and myself. The Board had serious turnover as well. There was a major financial crisis,along with controversy over the focus of the anti-racism team that was active there at the time. I also had to bring the DY program back from a year where it had shut down due to low numbers. Amidst all this, I became inspired!
I’d faced my share of struggle previously within the Sojourners Community (where Jim and I were members for 10 years). I’d also worked in earlier years at Luther Place Church where anti-racism activity had gotten serious push-back. Thankfully, at Sojourners the joys far outweighed the challenges and at Luther Place – I saw amazing and wonderful things happen with their “Journey to become an Inclusive Community.”
The key for me is the strength of the church communities that are engaged in the struggle. I found out that here, within our COS network, there is a wonderful, vibrant community – with a rich tradition of both inwardly and outwardly grounded Christians who have an amazing depth and focus. I am also heartened by the understanding our community here has about institutions (Gordon used to speak about them regularly, about how we shouldn’t get too tied to our own creations, recognizing the unavoidable way they evolve to often mimic the culture surrounding us if we don’t regularly and vigilantly work to keep them relevant and life-giving).
Discipleship Year program, in the heart of our network, people come to serve for a year, working in ministries founded by the COS (and a few others), we have a curriculum of study that we follow on the central themes of our faith communities (including community, inward journey development and outward journey ministry). The volunteers go to the depths of their souls to search for God, to search for paths toward justice and peace. Here’s a window into our world:
Principalities and Powers.” David Hilfiker kicks off our series by helping us look at the interlocking oppressions of capitalism, corporatism, consumerism, government power (and its dysfunction), along with how mainstream media props up and supports all of these. We study Wink, who helps us see that Power is both necessary and good – if used for the common good … But how they are fallen and destructive when not; and how by their very nature – institutions that are left to their own devises usually become calcified, mainstream, and even oppressive. He also talks about how the powers can be redeemed. We wrestle with the ways in which religious power is oppressive.
Then in the spring we circle back around to focusing on community again, like we do in the fall – all this gives them a strong base from which to operate, grow, and thrive.
Servant Leadership School and through the seminars – but they also teach us! Sometimes they are the ones who have the deepest insights, boldness, and courage that we lack. They are often young (but not always – some are young at heart and haven’t yet given up on their idealism when they come here). They regularly teach and inspire those of us who come to know them. It’s a symbiotic relationship and very dynamic.
Sasha Adkins and Rachel Winch both served a few years later. They invited a homeless woman who was both mentally ill and developmentally disabled into the DY house for showers, to store her belongings, to have meals and even sleep there occasionally … even though I was advocating against this. This woman worships at 8th Day, and she is a different person now. I never would have believed it back then. She now talks sensibly and calmly with people, sitting still for our church services, is off the streets in a home nearby. It’s amazing to see her transformation. These two volunteers, who worshipped regularly with 8th Day all that year, inspired others to embrace her more and not ignore her.
Tevyn East was a professional dancer when she joined us. She served at the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, and after DY she incorporated both her love of dance and her passion for economic justice and the environment. She didn’t settle into a typical job. Instead she founded the Affording Hope Project, which through dance and movement has traveled the US and brought to deeper consciousness the need to respond more fully to issues related to the economy and the environment. She is also, along with her husband, now leading the Carnival of Resistance, with more artists joining this movement for change. Additionally they are key leaders and funders for the Wild Goose Festival, where people come every summer to get inspired to live and act alternatively.
Dayspring community, carrying forward her dream that the inward journey will only be as strong as we dedicate our lives to making it. She also didn’t appreciate how churches can become dysfunctional under a sole leader, as in her own previous church setting. She wanted a church community that people all create together, and she’s found her home with us.
somewhere! Emily Owsley’s also been making her rounds preaching at various COS churches. Her story of working at L’Arche and being transformed is incredible. She left her high paying job with an interior design firm to be with us and struggle to find a new way that isn’t so corporate.
forever. I’ll end by saying thank you – thank you for supporting the Discipleship Year program and the work of the Festival Center. Thank you for welcoming me and the volunteers into your lives – for nurturing our seeds of faith. Thank you for being dedicated servants on the journey and giving us hope and belief in the possibilities by your radical, strong example of church outside the norm. We are honored to be on this journey with you.