Resources for “Waltzing to the Eternal Rhythms”
The October 26 issue of the Alban Weekly (“Waltzing to the Eternal Rhythms“) compares the Christian journey of faith to what Charles Olsen calls a “lilting waltz.” The 1-2-3 elements of the waltz include the “letting go” of Advent, Lent, and pre-Pentecost; the “naming God’s presence” of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost; and the “proclaiming and sending” (or “taking hold”) of Epiphany, Eastertide, and Ordinary Time. These three triads, in Olsen’s view, create the foundational movements (or “eternal rhythms”) of spiritual formation.
Each of these movements offers rich stories from Christian traditions that provide a deep framework for understanding a congregation’s personal and collective stories. Seemingly mundane stories of a building project or stewardship campaign can gain a new dimension when viewed through the larger lens of God’s redeeming and transforming work, as told throughout the seasons of the Christian church year.
What resources might help your congregation’s members to reveal their stories and connect them with the larger stories of your shared faith? Excellent resources are listed at the end of the article. In addition, we invite you to consider the resources in the “Narrative Leadership” section of the Congregational Resource Guide—including “Constructing Your Congregation’s Story” (a free and downloadable web resource) and Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals: Weaving Together the Human and the Divine.
Also helpful might be some of the resources in the “Small Groups” section of the Guide, especially the free and downloadable “Gathering the Seekers.”
How have your personal and congregational faith journeys corresponded to the stories of the church year? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you!
Our culture revolves around civic “holidays” that make up part of the rhythm of life–and some may even think of them as “holy” days in perhaps a perverse sense. Christmas and Easter are anchor days in the way civic culture keeps time. How odd that the church in some quarters treats the whole year as “ordinary time”–in a strange sense of the word.
As one who works at gathering, developing, and sharing worship resources for the church and home, I work “out of season” a lot of the time. Right now I’m writing the family devotions and activities for the fifth week of Lent for an At-Home devotional resource. In my “out of season” work I have often been struck by how much these seasons have in common with each other, so I was delighted to read Olson’s comparisons. I also appreciated the focus on these seasons as a base for telling our personal and congregational stories of faith. Thanks for another stimulating Alban article.
As the Associate for Christian Education I see that the children’s Christian Education revolves around these seasons faithfully thru curriculum choices. Some of our adult classes also focus on the seasons thru their curriculum but not always. We also provide family devotionals for at home use during the Advent and Lent. I think we lack in the area of telling our own stories in keeping with the seasons with adults and teens. I am interested in any ideas that might be used with these two groups that would help them connect their story with the seasons. I like this idea!
It could be significantly helpful to understand Mr Olsen’s concerpts and it would be much appreciated if some contributers could give examples of “their story” and describe ways in which it connects with the seasons. Thank you very much for your help in understanding.
Blessings,
~d. crabb