community is one of the themes we are hoping to weave through our year at grace. the table was a good start. last night at gracelet we were reflecting on community some more and using claire dalpra's encounters on the edge booklets which i can't recommend enough. they are gems. one of the ideas she draws on from scott peck in his book a different drum is the idea of needing soft eyes
Peck offers the analogy of looking at each other through soft eyes as shorthand for regarding people through lenses of respect. When we begin to do this something special happens as the masks drop and we see the suffering and courage and brokenness and deeper dignity beneath we truly start to respect each other as human beings. To look at each other through our masks of composure is to do so with hard eyes through barriers of distrust, fear, resentment and prejudice which will never build a safe environment for either party to be more open.
i think is a lovely image so we had a ritual/confession using cotton wool make up remover pads and eye make up remover (!) to ask god to cleanse us from the hardness of our eyes and to give us soft eyes. i wrote a prayer weaving together some of clare's themes/ideas which is on the grace web site here and pasted below. i am adding this to the worship trick list (which by the way i have put back direct links to the 3 series on the right hand side of the blog)
may the god who is community
be with us as we seek to be a community
may god bless our dreams
and may god shatter our dreams
may god help us to be real
and to find depth in weakness and brokenness
may god help us to face and grow through conflict
rather than pretend by being nice
may we look at each other through soft eyes
and truly respect each other as human beings
may god help us let go of control
and the need to fix one another
may god help us discover we are needy in our own souls
and give attention to our own hearts
may god grant us the gift of an extraordinary love that flows from the heart of god
that covers a multitude of wrongs
Comments