Retreat Season: A Gathering of Grace

Twenty four years ago, Sister Mary Luke sat in the chapel of Our Lady of Grace Monastery with a thick brown envelope in her lap. As she held the envelope that she would mail the next morning to the Eli Lilly Foundation, she offered all that was inside to God. She asked that if the grant she was requesting was of God, that God would bless it and open the doors to this possibility for women clergy. The offering was to be called Women Touched by Grace.

God and Lilly said yes.

I was part of the extraordinary gift of being in the first Women Touched by Grace group. I continued to participate in Women Touched by Grace through leading sessions with three other groups and being part of a leadership team that wrote grants to secure continued funding for this vital ministry. All were granted through Lilly initiatives to help clergy thrive in ministry.

Women Touched by Grace is in a new season. We have been invited to take what is best from our experience and share it with women clergy in our own context.

Twenty three years later, twenty two or so women clergy, representing the over 100 women clergy from five Women Touched by Grace groups, gathered in the chapel of Fatima Retreat Center and offered twenty or so plans to God. We prayed that God that would take the gift of community and formation, rooted in Benedictine values, back into our home contexts to create Gatherings of Grace. In this next expression, I imagine another 2000 or so women clergy will be served.

In the early days of Women Touched by Grace, Sister Mary Luke was interviewed by The Christian Century. She said that she had been surprised by how lonely and unsupported women clergy felt. The group we are beginning in Houston with my Gathering of Grace grant was born out of a conversation I had with two newly ordained priests last January who shared how lonely and isolated they felt. Our little Gathering of Grace will meet every six weeks or so in my home. We eight pastors range from newly ordained to established in ministry to near retirement to (me) retired—ages 20’s to 70’s.

I was struck that in this time of chaos and too much unkindness and hate that most of these Gatherings of Grace will be in deep red states, with about a third of them in Texas. Others will be in west coast cities inhabited by the National Guard. For me, it feels like a movement of the Holy Spirit.

My four days at Our Lady of Fatima were rich with worship and conversation with excellent women. My wake up song each morning was:

The kingdom of God is justice and peace And joy in the Holy Spirit

Come, Lord and open in us the gates of your kingdom.

Filled with the Spirit, I am ready to gather in Grace. Wherever the Spirit gathers.

A week at the Monastery

*The welcome on my desk from Sr. Mary Luke*

I’ve been traveling to Beech Grove, Indiana, to the Monastery of our Lady of Grace for over twenty years. First, as a part of a Lilly renewal ministry for women clergy called Women Touched by Grace, and then as a Benedictine Oblate of the Monastery.

I’m here on retreat with intentional prayer and discernment for what my response is to be in the chaotic, cruel times we find ourselves in.

I’m guided by questions of discernment offered by the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber:

What’s mine to do? What’s not mine to do?

What’s mine to say? What’s not mine to say?

What’s mine to care about? What’s not mine to care about (meaning the work of others to do)?

I’ve taken walks in the Peace Garden, a community project of reclaiming part of the monastery property with native plants and as a natural habitat.

I’ve prayed with the Sisters in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.

I’ve painted prayers.

I’ve knitted.

I’ve had times of silence.

I’ve had time of listening to the wisdom of the Sisters.

I’ve read.

I had an unexpected evening with women who share devotion to St. Mary in fellowship, praying the rosary, and more listening.

I’m still listening, God.

A six state tour

Texas. Georgia. Indiana. Illinois. Pennsylvania. Delaware.

My very best friend and I are continuing our year of larks. By our definition, a lark is a trip of less than a week; often a weekend long; often planned at the last minute or on a whim.

This lark started as a weekend in Ft. Wayne, Indiana to attend an Indigo Girls/Melissa Ethridge concert and then expanded to travel to Brandywine, Pennsylvania to see an art exhibit we’d heard about on the PBS Newshour.

I flew from Houston to Atlanta to meet up with my very best friend. After a long layover and a delayed flight, we were in Ft. Wayne.

The delayed flight resulted in a wait at the Ft. Wayne airport for our shuttle to our hotel. I decided to seek beauty around me, this time outside the terminal in a construction site. It’s a spiritual practice I’ve been nurturing when I might become anxious or irritable.

Saturday was a free day to explore sights within walking distance of our hotel.

Coffee, of course, to start the day.

Next was the Botanical Garden for a view of “something blue.” That was the title of the current exhibit though it turned out to be more things green and purple and pink with a sort of scavenger hunt for the blue. A very nice search indeed. Especially from our sitting space in our blue chairs.

Our next walk was for a delicious lunch. The walk back to our hotel took us on an unexpected tour of a small portion of the Fort Wayne Public Art Trail.

After this walk, summer hot, it was time for yet another coffee.

The lovely day in Ft. Wayne (who knew?) ended with one short walk to the Embassy Theater for a night of spectacular music and the joy of singing and dancing along with the Melissa, Amy, and Emily.

Grateful. So grateful.

Independence Day

In churches this coming Sunday, many people will dress in red, white, and blue. Hymn selections may feature patriotic songs. American flags may be processed. Some churches may even include saying the pledge of allegiance.

I love my country. When I return from traveling abroad, my heart does a flip when I see the American flag as I enter customs. I prepare carefully for every election, and putting the “I voted” sticker on my clothes as I leave my local polling place is one of the best feelings ever.

Friday, the Fourth of July, I will celebrate Independence Day on ancestral land with my family. We will have hamburgers and home made ice cream. Since we are out in the country, we may have fireworks and even a bonfire.

As is our custom, we’ll read the Declaration of Independence and thank God for our many blessings. If history repeats itself, it will be a day of good food, good conversation, and good company.

This coming Sunday, the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, the church where I’m serving will be decked in green for the season of Ordinary Time. The hymns will be about loving and worshiping Jesus. As we do every Sunday, praying for our country will be part of the Prayers of the People.

Worship this coming Sunday will be a day of good food in the form of Holy Communion. As we listen to Scripture, pray, sing, and ask God’s forgiveness, it will be good conversation with God. As we share God’s peace with the neighbor God gives us in church that day, we will be in good company.

After spending a day in worship of God, I expect to be a better citizen of God’s Kingdom.

With God’s help, I hope to be a better citizen of the country I call home, too.