Chan West and Story Telling

Chan West and Story Telling

“Jesus invites us into a story that is bigger than ourselves, bigger than our culture, bigger even than our imaginations, and yet we get to tell that story with the scandalous particularity of our particular moment and place in time. We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image of a storytelling God. May we never neglect that gift. May we never lose our love for telling the tale.”–Rachel Held Evans in Inspired (Nelson Books Nashville), p. 164.

kathleen and bruce wesson

Chan West died on August 1, 2021, at age 91. Every person who met her will miss her and want to tell you Chan stories. She was a faithful member of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Before the 8 am service, you would meet her in the kitchen, fixing refreshments, putting out the altar flowers, setting the altar, reading the lectionary readings, or praying the prayers of the people. She was almost always barefooted before the service.

If you took time to talk to her, you heard stories of her life in the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, where, as a child during World War II, she met German spies who came onshore. Or you heard about times she encountered alligators or the turtles she saved. She was an original turtle person looking for signs of new nests to care for before the baby turtles hatched, helping them migrate back to the sea. Or you might have heard about the Christian Service Center, where she served others for many years. Or you might have been on one of her tours of the Refuge. Perhaps you were with her when she stopped a church service to rescue a dying dog dropped off at the church during difficult times.

 These are all beautiful ministries, but I think I most remember someone we always wanted to be with on our visits to Holy Spirit. She had a unique ability that made you feel comfortable in her presence. Maybe it was because she was so comfortable herself. I don’t know what it was. Others may have a better idea. Living so close all your life to the land and loving it makes you alive and comfortable in your own skin and in touch with God’s presence, which is so revealed in the world around you. Maybe it is daily knowing the cycle of life and love, and seeing its beauty even in difficult times.

Others describe her as a no-nonsense person. Some say her passion for life was contagious. All remember her generosity of time for the earth and whomever she met. She is the person you think will never die because she is so alive. Well, of course, she has not died. She will live in the hearts of each of us until we meet her again, and undoubtedly hear more of her stories.

chan telling stories

chan listening for life in turtle eggs

Joanna Seibert  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Charleston: Encountering the Feminine Spirit

Charleston: Encountering the Feminine Spirit

“There is no power men can devise that can overcome the strength, dignity and courage of women. Trying to deny the rights of women is like trying to outlaw life itself. The Spirit that stands by her sisters stands eternal. The Mother that defends her daughters never sleeps.”—Steven Charleston Daily Facebook Page.

Georges de La Tour The Newborn 1645

I remember when I first encountered the feminine Spirit of the God of my understanding. It was in the 1980s. I became acutely aware of the masculine slant of the words and works of the liturgy and practices of my tradition. There was no honoring of the feminine in language or church practices. So, I tried changing pronouns in the service, which worked for a while.

The altar party was made up of only men. I longed to worship with other women, maybe even—heaven forbid—around an altar. So, we started a group on Saturday mornings using our church facility to study and learn about feminine spirituality. We soon had a huge crowd. How comforting to know that others were hungry for this facet of the divine.

After a few years, as more women from different traditions joined the group, the words and practices became even too radical for me. Finally, I knew I had to decide: remain in my tradition and wait for changes, or join in practices now in territories too foreign for me.

I decided to stay with my tradition. Soon, I saw improvements there. Our Prayer Book changed by adopting less masculine language. In addition, women were given more significant roles in the Church. As of 2019, women comprise 18.9% of active bishops and 40% of priests in my tradition.

I know and believe in the feminine Spirit of God that Bishop Charleston is talking about. It is a power that visited my mind, body, and spirit when I least expected it, and for some time, I could not understand it. At the time, I lived in the masculine world of medicine. Suddenly, I saw a unique way of looking at things, working out problems by caring, relating, and listening to others. 

Why this power awakened me, I do not know. It was like a Damascus Road experience. I had no choice but to pursue it. It was like experiencing another pregnancy. Perhaps this nudge came from one of my deceased grandmothers, who lived under a masculine rule, but subtly tried to accomplish something different. I know only that my job now is to treasure the gift of the feminine spirit and to pass on, model, and encourage the gift in my children and grandchildren. I know it can change the world, just as it changed me.

Joanna.   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Flexible Bible

Flexible Bible

“Mary Cosby used to begin her New Testament class by bending her soft-cover Bible and saying she preferred a Bible that was flexible. Then she would say, ‘The Bible is not a manual for morality, but a mirror for identity.”’—Carol Martin, Bread of Life Church, “A Mirror for Identity” at InwardOutward.org, Church of the Saviour, July 15, 2018.

My first introduction to this more profound flexible Bible study was with a small group at St. Mark’s in Little Rock in the 1980s, with a leader named Dick Moore in a room above the children’s classrooms that we called “the upper room.” As we studied the books of the Bible, Dick reminded us that the Bible was a roadmap, not the destination. 

I think of old friends like Carole and Gary Kimmel, who were in our class and now live on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I remember Betty and Brady Anderson, who went on to be Bible translators in Africa in Tanzania. Later, Brady was appointed by President Bill Clinton to become the American Ambassador to that country. They taught me so much. Together, we uncovered new Bible insights that had never occurred to us.

As we saw God present in the lives of people in the Bible who were like us—with gifts and faults—we also became more aware of God, the Holy Spirit, at work in our and others’ lives. We saw that the relationship of the Holy Spirit did not end with first- and second-century Christians; instead, the Spirit still leads us today. If we believe only a strict, literal translation of the Bible, we deny the continued presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives today, which will bring us more good news.

I remember the Bible I received from Bishop Maze twenty-three years ago at my ordination. It, as well, is flexible.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/daily