“If Christians look to creation for wisdom about the spiritual life, seeing resurrection in springtime, divine promise in a rainbow, or the flight of the Spirit in a dove, why don’t we look to the moon for wisdom about our relationship to God? Sometimes the light is coming, and sometimes it’s going. Sometimes the moon is full, and sometimes it is nowhere to be found. Is it dark out tonight? Fear not; it will not be dark forever. Is it bright out tonight? Enjoy it; it will not be bright forever.”
Questions to Consider
Chapter Nine & Epilogue
Chapter nine provides us with an understanding of how the moon calendar is directly connected to Jewish festivals and the Christian festival of Easter. Did you know this? How might following the moon month over month support you link to and understanding of your own faith tradition?
Good Friday and Easter are good examples of how the Christian tradition have separated “dark from light”. It is a time to remember that brightness is birthed in the dark. Where do you see this true in your own life? How does it allow you to appreciate and see the gifts that come from the dark in your own life?
Have you ever taken time to watch the moon rise? Do you have a particular memory? When can you plan to watch another moon-rise? Use this link to calculate when the moon will rise on which date in your location.
Barbara Brown Taylor takes time to recount her experience of the labyrinth at the Chartes Cathedral in France. Have you ever walked a Labyrinth? It’s a remarkable tool to use and reflect on your life. Check out this link for instructions and to locate a labyrinth in your area.
In the epilogue, the author talks about learning to live with loss, and the temptation of faith communities to spiritually by-pass by focusing on the light instead of the dark. How are you tempted to “stay in the light”, instead of face the darkness in your life? What resistance to walking in your dark is hindering you these days?
“Loss is the way to life …it takes practice to keep stepping into the night, to keep seizing the night as well as the day.” (pg.186). How have the practices and the reading of this book helped you to take steps into the dark? Who else can walk with you and help you practice?
Take a look at the quote above (one of Christa’s favorites!) What are you thoughts about this quote?
Contemplative Practice
Practice #1 - O Vulnerable One
You are quite familiar now with reading contemplatively…taking time to notice and pay attention to what is moving within you as you read a text. We will do this once again with the following poem written by Christa. Take time to read it slowly, considering what is jumping out at you and why. Then, take this nudge with you as a personal prompt from the Spirit.
(This is also an excellent poem to be used on Good Friday) Download your own copy here.
O Vulnerable One, We Wait with You - by Christa Hesselink
O Vulnerable One, in the face of your ANXIETY, you loved.
And we are anxious now.
Help us in our ANXIETY to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of your ALONENESS you loved.
And we are alone now.
Help us in our ALONENESS to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of being BETRAYED you loved.
And we feel betrayed by life now.
Help us in our BETRAYAL to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of your FEAR you loved.
And we are full of fear now.
Help us in our FEAR to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of your ANGER you loved.
And we feel anger for our new reality
Help us in our ANGER to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of being STRIPPED DOWN AND SHAMED you loved.
And we are being stripped down and ashamed by parts of our own lives
Help us in our SHAME to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of WAITING FOR WHAT WAS TO COME you loved.
And we are waiting and waiting and waiting for what is to come
Help us in our WAITING to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of WHEN YOU FELL you loved.
And we find ourselves falling out of our “old lives” of control and easy freedom.
Help us IN OUR FALLING to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of being TORTURED you loved.
And we brush against our own tortured lives these days.
Help us in our TORTURE to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of your DOUBT you loved.
And we feel DOUBT & FAITHLESS now.
Help us in our DOUBTING to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face your SADNESS AND SAYING GOODBYE you loved.
And we feel sad for all the goodbyes we are living right now.
Help us in our SADNESS to show love.
O Vulnerable One, in the face of feeling FORSAKEN you loved.
And we feel forsaken now.
Help us in our FORSAKEN places to show love.
GOD, help us, for we do not know what we are doing. Forgive us, for we do not know what we are doing.
And here, it is so dark. In your own darkness and in ours: in the anxiety, aloneness, betrayal, fear, anger, shame, waiting, torture, falling, doubt, sadness and forsakenness –
We wait with you to sing a new song. We hope with you for a new song to form and rise in us and all around.
But today, we are vulnerable, together, with you in this darkness.
And, we wait.
Practice #2 - Prayer by Thomas Merton
Take time to use this prayer found at the end of chapter 9. This is a very popular prayer and is a perfect way to end this book club. Try and make a point of praying this prayer every evening for a week. Read it slow, filling out the prayer with your own words, and sharing the particularity of your own dark with God.
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Interview with Cathy AJ Hardy
Throughout the book club, you’ll get to enjoy three short interviews with women I want you to know about. Each are fans of Barbara Brown Taylor and her books.
Next up is Cathy. (You can learn about the other two guests here).
(Bio from 2021) Cathy is the founder and director of Soul Care, an organization of Spiritual Formation through circle gatherings, Spiritual Direction, music, poetry and more. Cathy is a singer-songwriter, retreat facilitator, Spiritual Director, and author.
Profoundly connected to the land where she lives and rooted in a deep spirituality, Cathy writes and sings from soul depths. Her words and melodies flow out of the stories of her life. Her many compositions have been described as ‘healing, inspiring, hope-filled, honest and courageous’ and have been recognized many times with the Gospel Music Awards of Canada. She is the author of Love Breathes With Me (poems & prayers) and Walk With Me, Transformation through the Pathway of Spiritual Direction.
After teaching music for over 35 years, Cathy is now devoting her vocational life to the Soul Care ministry. Her home is in Mission, BC. Canada. Her music & other resources are available through: https://soulcare.cathyajhardy.com/
Gratitude Practice
Each weekly resource will encourage you to stop, notice, and give thanks for something “dark” in your life. Counter-intuitive, indeed.
Did you know that our brains are wired to get stuck more easily to negative thoughts and images than to positive and beautiful ones? A regular gratitude practice will help to rewire and renew our minds. It’s a true reframe.
GRATITUDE PROMPT:
“Our wounds are are glory.” (Julian of Norwich). Consider what wounds you carry. What are the first things that come to mind when you think of your own personal wounds - it can be anything…mental, emotional, physical, spiritual.
Now take the 30 to 40 seconds to consider how these wounds might also be your “glory” (your radiance, your light, your glow, your spark)? Can you give thanks for how wounds can also be an entry point to wonder.
Additional Resources
If you have enjoyed the book club and are looking for other resources to support your own transformation and spiritual journey, why not consider checking out the following:
… and of course, if the Book Club format is your jam, there are others available. Why not check out “How to Love the World:Poems of Gratitude & Hope”
And finally…
As a way to wrap up this book club, it may be appropriate to have a map. Maps don’t replace the actually journey of following the compass of your own soul, but they are helpful in laying out the terrain, waymarkers, pit-stops, and the general direction towards a fruitful destination. This “map” for the spiritual life, from Sacred Design Lab outlines a number of helpful points from “spiritually struggling to spiritually flourishing”. You may find it a helpful guide as you continue to walk in both the dark and lighter days of your life.
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