Peaceful Places

I have just spent a glorious week away. I had been craving the time to rest and reflect and be out of the whirlwind. I think I am much more absorbent to the environment than I have previously believed. When I live in the storm, I become stormy, when I live in the peace I become peaceful. I was ready to be peaceful for a bit.

I am attending the Spiritual Formation Academy at Camp Sumatanga in Alabama. I wanted to go to the Academy the very first time I read about it several years ago. I was so excited when I found an Academy close enough by that I could drive. I was terrified that when it said 'camp', it meant 'camp', but this fear was relieved and instead while not the lap of luxury, it is a nice room and all the plumbing is on the inside.

So off I went with the desire to step out of the whirlwind and into a calm and peaceful bay. This was not my first week, I had already had one week in the Academy and knew what was coming. Quite frankly, God had shown up big the first week and while that is always delightful, it was also difficult. I had communicated a little in prayer time that should He choose to show up in smaller, less painful ways this week, that would be okay with me.


One day during Eucharist one of the Academy members sobbed uncontrollably. She continued to cry at the altar at the conclusion of communion and the community stood in silence in support of her. After the service concluded many of the community gathered around her at the altar and supported her in prayer and presence, touching her or someone who was touching her. The worship leader continued to play "Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place" over and over and surely indeed the presence of the Lord was. What an experience, no one was asking what was going on, no one was looking at their watch (I know, it's hard to believe but cross my heart and all that stuff), no one was trying to get her to stop crying. Everyone was just standing, sitting, kneeling with her in the moment.

I have been wresting with community, why it is so fragmented and why on earth we seem to need it so much. If we are so contentious and so argumentative, hurting one another and pushing our own agenda over the good of the group, why does God place us as part of the community that makes up the Body of Christ. That moment in worship was a tangible example, blessed to be a blessing truly.

That was not the only time I experienced the blessing of community during the week, but it was the most powerful. There were numerous ways the community touched me. There were impromptu hugs, someone grabbing my hand while we walked, a kind soul who cleaned up my dishes or brought me coffee or saved me a chair. There was the sweetheart who came up to me out of the blue and asked if anyone had told me I was wonderful, as no one had this was especially nice. There was the moment in the middle of a plenary session where two of us, exchanged glances and moved our gratitude bracelets from one wrist to the other, because we both had the same negative response to the same thing at the same moment. There were moments of shared laughter, an insider joke with a covenant group and the connection with someone who is thinking what you are thinking.

I do not know exactly how God, God in me, God in community. God in the world all fit. I know it is the same God, only the setting, the boundaries and the interpretation seem to change and all are part of the totality of God. Allowing God to integrate all that is certainly a challenge for me. Like the folks who say, 'I don't know all about art, but I know what I like', I too don't know all about God but I know what I like and I like God best when I am in peaceful places and He is with me. I want to grow to the point that even in the raging storms, when I feel hurt, or angry or afraid, I know God is present and I love him enough to find peace within. Or else I would just like all those storms to stop. One or other other would be okay, bet I don't get the second.

Luke tells us in the 17 chapter that the kingdom of God isn't here or there, it's within us. This is where peace radiates and where if we will look for it, God who is within connects us with God who is everywhere. Today I want to live from this place.