Fifty-two years ago, for five months I lived in a small village in Turkey. In the first century it had a been a flourishing Roman port with everything a Roman city offers; for worship a temple to Apollo, this one on a point of land overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, for entertainment a coliseum seating thousands, for exercise a gymnasium, and streets of homes some of which faced the sea. It was a lively vibrant port. The centuries roll by and now as it’s on the seacoast with beaches stretching on either side it’s an active tourist destination When I was there I had the privilege of being in a sleepy Turkish village; chickens ran around, our milk came from the cow that lived next door, and water from the village well. The Roman city was evident everywhere you looked. Not only were the remnants of those major structures still in place, but the current houses were often built out of Roman bricks. The villagers had taken apart the ruins, selecting any of the bricks they saw that looked useful and using them to create something new. Out of the old something new emerged. There were piles of bricks that they couldn’t use, but others were used to build solid stone homes, quite different from other nearby villages.

This week I’m intrigued by the idea of something new coming out of something that has been. Perhaps it’s part of this season for Easter is a time of new life, of Beginnings.  Most of our beginnings are really Emergings – something new coming out of something that already has been; a new season of life, a new way of living, a reframing of what I’ve known before, a new perspective. I was with a group this week and we shared the awareness of feeling ourselves called into a new way to be. Our conversation turned to our church experiences. We are a group who are theologically trained, scripturally taught and value our background yet seldom attend church anymore. It seems like a Roman ruin that has had its time. We wonder how we might be part of the dismantling and re-creating process. How do we take the church apart, retain those bits that are still relevant, and create something new for the next generation. Out of the old, could something new emerge? Our conversation ended on that image of the transformation of that Turkish village and I hold it wondering about the church. What is the Spirit overseeing in the church today?

I also know the new beginnings are for my own life too. There are aspects of Roman ruins in my life too; things that no longer serve me. It’s time to release them, time to no longer be as responsible and self-sufficient as my old operating system programmed me. Time for something new to emerge; not losing all of my old ways, but just those I don’t need and repurposing them to suit this new season of life. I’m not done yet. Something’s coming. Something’s Emerging.

As you experience the church or your own life, how is the Spirit working?

Love and prayers on this wonderful, ever-changing journey of life

Anne

Mystic in Motion

Companion on the Way with Contemplative Fire

Companion on the Rivendell Way

Society Member of Shalem Institute of Contemplative Living.