Forward by The Rt. Rev. Phyllis A. Spiegel
By Laura Orcutt & The Rev. Catherine Amy Kropp
In this emerging world of global connection, I was once again struck by the use of technology to offer profound spiritual encounters that would not be possible in-person. On a winter’s night in January, people made space and time in their lives to connect with great intentionality. Our purpose was modest, the most basic of spiritual encounters, and yet often the most difficult to realize: that what separates us in the form of time and space is far less powerful than what connects us, which is Spirit and a longing of the divine for oneness.
Such evenings, with no agendas, but only space, intentionally designed for wonder and spiritual ponderings, are in and of themselves agents of connectivity—yes, connection to the speaker and to the other participants, but also in a profound way to a deeper part of one’s self. These evenings are about making space in one’s life to notice the light, the dark, the shadows, the connections, the disconnects, the joys and the griefs. To set such time within the construct of our overly scheduled lives is a true respite to the soul.
I want to express my gratitude to the Rev. Catherine Amy and Laura Orcutt for inviting us into such a bountiful, generative evening of the soul. The invitation lingers long past this particular gathering, beyond the list of participants; the invitation is always open to us: Gather, connect, enter into the space between, and open the space within.
The Rt. Rev. Phyllis A. Spiegel
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah
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How do we embrace “the other” in inclusivity and in community and do it globally? Newly elected Bishop Phyllis Spiegel, Bishop of the Diocese of Utah, opened this embrace and space during a unique online gathering on Zoom, from the opening land acknowledgment to the closing light liturgy, on Friday, January 27, 2023, engaging that heart space in conversation. Inviting those gathered into wonderment, she asked: What is it like to intentionally grow our faith by stretching beyond what we know? Does our faith diminish if we are not actively expanding it? The spiritual guide through such searching questions was The Rev. Catherine Amy Kropp of the Diocese of Alaska, currently volunteering in north Lebanon with Relief & Reconciliation International in support of their inter-faith, educational, community-building mission among Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities. Joining Bishop Spiegel and 44 people across the Earth, from Alaska to Lebanon, The Rev. Catherine Amy explored a continuum of space and time, light and holy night, as part of a gender-inclusive and powerful spiritual awakening of beloved community.
The remote, mountainous area of Lebanon along the border with Syria presents a geography of encounter, civilization, faithful witness and historical legacy, connecting to an ancient weave of the human family. The Rev. Catherine Amy described the mission of the small organization, Relief and Reconciliation, to engage with communities across difference, building foundations and bridges, for the future of the youth. Life offers numerous challenges with refugee and host communities alike facing incredible hardships and increasing uncertainty. The value of the currency has been plummeting within a long-standing economic crisis. The public school system has been closed for months due to a lack of funding. The ones who fled Syria live mostly in tents or garages, even after years. There is minimal or no heating or electricity. Garbage piles up on the agricultural terrain as there is no pick-up, while some families burn the trash to keep warm. The internet, if available, is unstable. Yet, the online gathering was blessed with a continuous connection, even though the many planning meetings were almost always interrupted.
Within this realm of beauty and degradation, hope and desolation, The Rev. Catherine Amy guided those gathered into a liminal space, drawing from the spiritual imagination of the land, overcoming the spatial and temporal boundaries such as distance and time zone, to encounter the expansive inner landscape in which the feminine of God offered a pathway to open up to one another. The thread of feminine divine within the Holy Scriptures, she noted, offers a tangible realm extending the capacity of divine love in community (Wisdom 7:21-30; Proverbs 8:22-31; Job 28:20-21; 1 Cor 1:24). Yet, this pre-existent, creative energy is often unseen and unused in our lives today.
As most of those gathered were entering the night, the land of Lebanon was visibly entering into the daylight. The simultaneous setting and rising of the sun across the surface of the planet revealed how fluid the boundaries are between us and how inter-connected we were. The sense of proclamation that there was urgent work to do in the phenomenon of the risen life and light of Christ became palpable. Something was happening in and through us. Each one of us was beloved, precious and necessary. This was a moment of sending.
To celebrate and affirm this power of connectedness, in the season of Epiphany, those present were invited to gather in small groups to share a sense of individual and collective awakening to the feminine divine in their lives. Within this lens of the feminine, The Rev. Catherine Amy expanded the heart space into the global embrace of beloved community, bearing witness to a rising human consciousness of the feminine divine, and discovering together that when we transform and open our hearts, we become generative in divine love and beloved community within and beyond our own geographies.
At the closure, Bishop Phyllis led an integrated closing liturgy, with many voices and languages proclaiming God’s love, light and wisdom into the world, into the night, and into the light. As The Rev. Catherine Amy stepped outside to share the light of the new day illuminating the ancient landscape, the others were able to witness the dawning light from afar. The Rev. Catherine Amy was being carried into the light while the collective human heart was illuminating the shadows in the holiness of the night.
Just a few days after this gathering of awakening, on February 6, 2023, a catastrophic and record-setting natural disaster occurred with the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquakes, not far away from The Rev. Catherine Amy, impacting the communities and land around her. The heart space that was affirmed globally in celebration of beloved community only days before had become, in an instant, the heart space to hold thousands of people in grief, with loved ones dead or missing and homes and communities reduced to rubble.
As The Rev. Catherine Amy continues her work there in a most profound way, reaching out to the children, youth and families all around her to heal, comfort and restore functionality to their lives, please hold these devastated communities in prayer. Within a collective heart space, here is the prayer that she composed in the tender morning just hours after the first earthquake, on February 6, 2023:
As the light dawns on this fragile Earth, our hearts open into a great and painful silence. We are taking in the magnitude of human and earthly destruction in the wake of the powerful earthquakes to the north in Syria and Turkey.
The tremors that shook our homes, our communities, and our bodies continue to reverberate in our hearts with feeling, compassion, and a palpable sense of fear. Across boundaries, across difference, across the devastation of this life, we reach out with a deep and universal longing.
Below us the earth is shifting.
Within us the world is changing.
Around us we are called into this moment.
Let us be still.
Let us be still with the knowledge that the deep layers of the Earth and the deep layers of our hearts may find a common resting place.
Within the rubble of our hearts and the devastation of our world, may we come to know safety as well as peace, comfort as well as community, refuge as well as strength.
For the children and all the people trapped in the rubble, may they be rescued.
For those in need of medical care, may they be brought to safety and cared for.
For the brave ones responding to the broken spaces and entering the debris, may they be protected.
For all who are afraid, may they be comforted.
For those who mourn, may they be lifted up.
As we bear witness to the world that is crushing our hearts, may we become more awake, more resilient, more kind, and more courageous.
May we be held within a mysterious trust that we are beloved, wonderfully made, and drawn into greater being.
In the prayer attributed to St Francis, Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Amen.
The Rev. Catherine Amy Kropp
Priest, Episcopal Diocese of Alaska, U.S.A.
International Volunteer, Relief & Reconciliation Lebanon