“Some unwonted, taught pride diverts us from our original intent, which is to explore the neighborhood, view the landscape, to discover at least where it is that we have been so startlingly set down, if we can’t learn why.” — Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
“Every creature and every place is a material site where the love of God is daily and practically intimately at work.” — Norman Wirzba
You have heard me say many times that I am trying to get to know Tacoma, not just fellow ministry leaders and organizations, but the people, communities, and cultures that surround us in the city, and right here at the corner of K Street and Division.
I would like to invite all of us to do this together through a regular practice of coming together to ask the question, who are we becoming in this place?
We proclaim a God who created a place, who made a place among a particular people, who became a human place in Jesus, and invites humanity to celebrate, work, and rest alongside God in this place. What is this place? What does it mean to dwell in a place, to be shaped by the culture and politics of a place, to be vulnerable bodies in a broken place, to create a place of belonging and compassion through community and liturgy? What kind of place are we, and what kind of place are we becoming?
I believe that spiritual formation is best rooted in a thoughtful curiosity about God, creation, one another, and the society in which we live. Over the course of our liturgical year, from September 8-Pentecost, we will gather on most Sundays to learn about a particular facet of our place, ask curious questions, and deepen our understanding of who we are becoming as individual people, and as a community called Christ Church. Each liturgical season, we will focus on different aspects of our place:
- Season of Creation (September/October): God’s Dwelling Place
- All Saints/All Souls (October/November): Saints and Sinners of Tacoma
- Advent (December): Waiting for Hope
- Christmas & Epiphany (January/February) – Bearing the Divine
- Lent-Easter (March/April/May): Creating a Place of Communion (Preparation for Baptism/Renewal)
The structure of each class will be up to the session leader, but in general each gathering will include a presentation, small group conversation around a specific question (this is hard for some, I know), and an open Q/A. The intent with this structure is to feed our minds and build authentic friendship around shared curiosity and community wisdom.
Our formation as Christian happens in liturgy, direct teaching, personal prayer, and shared wisdom. I hope that you will join me as we learn how we are formed by our place, and what that means for our mission as a community called to love God, creation, and all our neighbors.
Season of Creation Formation Schedule
- Sunday, September 8, 2024: Isaiah 35:4-7a: Salvation and the Renewal of Creation with The Rev’d Maria McDowell
- Sunday, September 15, 2024: The Green Hymns of Hildegard von Bingen with Dr. Elizabeth Keathley with the voices of Caroline Allen and Elizabeth Schroeder.
- September 21, 2024 10-1, Liturgical Ministry Workshop (for ALL liturgical ministers)
- Sunday, September 22, 2024, Creation Advocacy and the UN, Gordon Okumu
- Sunday, September 29, 2024 Blessing Creation with The Rev’d Maria McDowell
- Sunday, October 6, 2024 Animals and their Saints: Francis, Clare and Seraphim with The Rev. Andrew Cooley
