A Pond in the Sand

"The spiritual life is one of opening ourselves so the waters of God's grace can fill us."

Trips to the Jersey Shore with my friends Dan and Rick were a summer highlight when I was a child. Between bouts of body surfing, we would often spend hours constructing elaborate sand castles just inside the high tide line. Our castles had towers, walls, moats, and ponds.

Spreading our hands in the wet sand we would make a hole that would fill with water and make a little pond until the tide would return and engulf it.

This image captivates me. The spiritual life is one of opening ourselves so the waters of God’s grace can fill us. The water of grace is all around us all the time, but in our usual closed off state it does not fill us. Through prayer, worship, study, service, and fellowship we collaborate with Jesus who carved out the open space we now are able to share.

Imagine in our life of prayer that we are gently pushing back the sand to let the water flow into our souls, refreshing and filling us.

The tide of our culture always wants to return and close us off again. The heavy cynicism, the hatefulness, the distractions, the vices and general challenges of life want to erase our open place and return us to the conformity of this world.

Here is the good news, however: in Jesus, the sand of our soul remains ever pliable and the water of grace is always at hand, waiting for even the slightest opening to gush in and slake our thirst.

Blessings,

The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel

Rector

Wellspring at St. Martin’s has undergone a transformation

Wellspring at St. Martin’s is entering its sixth year with a new approach to its ministry of facilitating soul discovery and spiritual growth in the parish and the community. Under the direction of Coordinator Joanne Conway, a team of St. Martin’s parishioners has been engaged in informational interviews, team formation, and prayerful listening throughout the summer.

The group has clarified the ministry’s mission, focusing on assisting the congregation and broader community in nurturing their spirits and deepening their relationships with God and one another through practices rooted in, or resonant with, the Christian tradition.

Headwaters of the Jordan River

“The exact picture of Wellspring remains an unfolding mystery, one that will take time and a great deal of listening, remaining curious, and being patient,” Conway said last spring as the new team was just forming. “We will be beginning with building our leadership team and exploring. We then will move out into the church community with questions and listening ears and hearts to find how we can best serve.”

What have they discovered in the last several months? One-one-one interviews have revealed a desire for opportunities for ongoing reflection and a hunger for small-group gatherings. Team members have embraced a call to reach into their own spiritual passions and skills to offer programs that speak to local needs.

Wellspring’s fall programming reflects this with a variety of opportunities designed and facilitated by team members. Among them will be a weekly reflection on the Sunday sermons, beginning Sunday, October 28. The discussion will be facilitated by Wellspring team members and will use a process designed to help participants listen to each other and deepen their experience of what they have heard.

Women Connecting

The ministry will also facilitate a prayerful walk in the Wissahickon (Oct. 6), an exploration of contemplative prayer with St. Martin’s Rector Jarrett Kerbel (Oct. 17-31), and a discussion of Frederick Buechner’s book The Hungering Dark (Nov. 8 and Dec. 12). For more details visit StMartinEC.org/wellspring.

Future programming will seek ways to include a wider section of the parish and community, with offerings that speak to children, youth, and families. For updates on events, as well as spiritual reflections and resources, like and follow the Wellspring Facebook page.

Wellspring will continue to offer Women Connecting, a regular gathering of women marked by prayer, silence, and deep listening, inspired by the church seasons. The next gathering is Sept. 15 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Wellspring will also continue to host area spiritual directors.

The Wellspring Team

In addition to Wellspring Coordinator Joanne Conway, the Wellspring team includes John Hougen, Elizabeth Morrison, Jenny Cardoso, Scott Robinson, Susan Cole and Barbara Dundon. Barbara Ballenger, Associate for Spiritual Formation and Care, will continue to be Wellspring’s staff liaison.

For more information on Wellspring at St. Martin’s contact Joanne Conway at joanneconway86@gmail.com.

A Door to Inner Life

For a long time I struggled to understand what my inner life or soul-life is about. Part of the challenge was setting aside the time to cultivate and tend to my interior life. My usual routine of praying the Daily Office and attending Sunday services was just not enough; I needed time to be engaged by God in silence. But part of me feared the unknown and was afraid to take risks.

There came a time, however, when God’s invitation to “come and see” became more persistent and louder, and I was no longer able to ignore it. So I mustered the courage I needed to accept the invitation. And that is how I came to enter my inner life--taking one little step at a time.

In the mid-90’s I participated in a facilitators training conference on a program called Women of Vision, a leadership curriculum that was developed by women in the Episcopal Church to raise women leaders in the church (and beyond) and to affirm their gifts. One of the gifts I received from this training is the question “WHAT STANDS OUT FOR YOU?” From that time on this question has become a very practical tool for reflection. It has become my regular practice to ask myself this question.

I have been making literal and mental notes of words and quotes that jump out from my readings or sermons I hear from others; of thoughts and feelings that arise from activities like gardening, knitting and cooking; and, images that arise in my dreams and elsewhere. I have come to see and understand these occasions as invitations from God to look within. I have found a home for these thoughts, feelings, and images in my heart. And I have found that I may return to them there from time to time. Surprisingly, each time I turn within in this way, I discover how my life has changed and in so changing, these thoughts, feelings, and images reveal new and deeper meaning. I become aware of the differences they have made and continue to make in the way that I relate with God, others, myself and the rest of creation.

- The Rev. Harriet Kollin

A Place for the Soul to Speak

By NOAA's National Ocean Service (Iceberg Uploaded by Jacopo Werther)
[CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

For the most part in our culture we are not accustomed to speaking about the soul. I find this very  interesting because we say that we are body and soul and yet we focus most of our attention on the needs and wants of our body. Our soul is very much a part of who we are. In fact, it is the larger part of our being. An image that I learned from a friend which illustrates this point is that of an iceberg. The part of the iceberg that is visible is only the tip of the whole; it represents the body. The larger part is not visible, at least immediately, because it is underwater; it represents the soul. One has to dive in in order to see it. I can understand why it is easier to deal with what we can see and more challenging to deal with what we cannot see. In the case of the soul one has to dive in, as it were, to get to know it. And so for the most part we don’t ordinarily speak about our soul. It is too risky.

My passion for soul work grew out of my discernment process towards seeking ordained ministry, but it continued to expand as I sought to discern who God is creating me to be. Discernment is part of soul work. Early on I misunderstood discernment to be the work of ordained people like those seeking ordination to the priesthood. As it turned out I realized that discernment is actually a gift that all of us already have and all of us can exercise. What I have discovered in my discernment is that I feel freed up when I untether myself from unnecessary attachments; opportunities open up for me to expand, freed from the constriction created by the external demands to be who I am not. Letting go of my attachments is not easy. But I know that when my soul is untethered I feel a sense of liberation accompanied by a sense of gratitude.

Among the many living saints from whom I get inspiration in my soul work is Parker J. Palmer. I met him once at a conference 6 years ago and I am continually learning from his writings. Three books in particular have found a home in my bookshelf—Let Your Life Speak, The Promise of Paradox, and A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life. These titles struck me at first glance. I learned some time ago that when a word or phrase or image tugs at my heart the Holy Spirit is inviting me to discern where God may be leading me. So anything that stands out in my experience is food for my discernment. One image that stood out from Mr. Palmer’s writings is that of the hospitable place for the soul to speak. Mr. Palmer points out that the soul is shy and vulnerable and so she/he needs a safe place to speak. In my experience with psychotherapy, in spiritual direction, and in small group work I have found this to be true. While the process has been slow it is now bearing some fruit. One cannot hurry the soul after all. It needs to be treated gently and patiently.

A number of small groups at St. Martin’s provide a hospitable place for the soul to speak. A few “Circles of Trust” have formed out of the larger Women Connecting group as a place for participants to continue their soul work. “Spirituality of Aging” formed out of the Wellspring Lenten series of the same name; it is an opportunity for older men and women to reflect on their process of aging, the joys and challenges they meet at this point in their lives. And, “Nurturing Your Creative Soul” focuses on Benedictine spirituality using the book “The Artist’s Rule” for reflection.

On December 18 Wellspring will offer a small group spiritual direction for anyone seeking a place to gently start soul work and seek God with others. Subsequent meetings will be on the 3^rd Wednesday of the month. For more details visit Wellspring at St. Martin's online or contact me at hkollin@stmartinec.org or at 215.247.7466 x108.

- The Rev. Harriet Kollin