Wiles Hill Walking

Pastoral Letter from Torin
Wiles Hill Witness (November-December edition)

For the past several months, Carrie and I have been going on regular walks around Wiles Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods. What began as a time to reconnect at the end of the day and get familiar with our surroundings (and a strategy for coping with an exhausting baby), became an important way to meet our neighbors.

When we arrived, we had the impression that Wiles Hill had strayed far from its history as a small community mixing many long-time residents with young families in the balance of a healthy neighborhood. Many houses had been split into apartments for university students. Residents complained of increased traffic and the noise of late-night parties. The school on the hill had closed for political reasons as well as the lack of a local student base.

What we discovered in our explorations is that there are still several enduring residents scattered around the hill. Some of these have been here for longer than we have been alive. At the same time, several young couples and families with young children have moved into the community recently. Dogs and their owners are often about on the streets. Mothers walk their babies up and down the hills in strollers just as we do. Children of all ages come and play at the playground across from the old school. There are many student houses, but they have not overrun Wiles Hill. Indeed, they have their place here, making this community truly multi-generational.

For some time now, I have been wondering why the residents we talk to have such a dim view of the neighborhood when it seems to hold the promise of vibrant community life. I supposed that it could be explained by two of society’s trends: heavy scheduling of children’s activities and the movement toward evenings in front of the television and the computer. These two trends have combined, all over the country, to move people from yards, playgrounds, and porches to athletic fields, skill-building lessons, and living room couches. Many families no longer know the names of those living next door let alone others in the neighborhood.

More recently, I have come to suspect that an underlying culture of fear may be the true cause of our disconnection. Living, as we do, in a constant state of “Orange Alert” with locked doors and lights blazing to discourage intruders, is it any wonder that fear would seep into the rest of our lives? We don’t go out to meet our neighbors. We watch suspiciously as strangers walk past our homes. We avoid shadows and shun “unsavory elements.” It seems that we shrink our living into smaller and more distinct parcels as we build up walls to protect us from what we fear.

Yet, this is not consistent with the Christian life. Listening to the voice of the Spirit, Christians hear the call to go to the shadows on society’s margins and reach out the “unsavory elements.” Modeling ourselves on Christ, Christians risk violence and scorn in order to proclaim and embody the Reign of God. Worshiping the God who gives us life, Christians affirm the goodness of all creation and seek the God-ness in each person we meet.

We cannot live this life if we build defenses that separate us from the world and imprison us behind walls of fear. Instead, we must lose ourselves in the power of God’s love – perfect love that casts out fear. Difficult as this is, believers of every generation have found that in practicing Christian love, their lives become infused with it and the walls of fear fall away as they embrace the world.

Pastor's Bookshelf

The Holy Man
by Susan Trott
Wiles Hill Witness (September-October edition)

As we reach the end of summer, there is one more “Summer Reading” book that I would recommend. The Holy Man, by author Susan Trott is a small book with much more power than its size would suggest. While the characters in this book are all fictional, the problems that set them on the path are universal, and Trott uses the short, unassuming format in these pages to address the deep issues at the heart of our lives together with wit and wisdom.

Despite its title, this is not a story about one person’s life. Instead, it is a compilation of many small stories about people who from all over the world who make the trek to visit the holy man who lives at the top of an isolated mountain. Coming from many different walks of life, all the characters have realized that something is missing. They each leave behind the business of their lives for however long it takes to make it to the door of the holy man’s hermitage. There they find their answers in unexpected ways.

I first read this book several years ago when I received it as a gift. Since then, I have kept it close to hand, and I often find myself picking it up to re-read one episode or another as I have encountered life issues dealt with in its pages. Each time I read it, I am struck by how Trott’s pen strikes so close to the heart of issues that we prefer not to think about – questions of self-obsession, judgmentalism, delusion, pride, and deep-seated anger among many others.

Recently, I have begun to read chapters of The Holy Man as one of my devotional conversation partners. Reading a different chapter each day or sitting with one chapter daily for a week at a time, I find these short “treatises” a helpful jumping off point for prayer and deeper meditation on the stumbling blocks that keep me from finding the Shalom of a closer walk with God. And, any writing that helps us move toward a deeper, stronger faith, brings us a step closer to the Holy One who is all around us waiting to be found. Perhaps this book can help you and those you care for in your journey as it has helped me.

Bread Baking and Hospitality

Pastoral Letter from Carrie
Wiles Hill Witness (September-October edition)

Father Dominic Garramone, a Benedictine monk, loves bread. I do too. But Fr. Dominic writes about it, has a television program about it, teaches it…a little more than I can do at the moment. In his book, Baked and Be Blessed, Fr. Dominic explores the way bread baking speaks as a powerful metaphor for spiritual growth. He says “I have neither the education nor the wisdom to describe every aspect of the spiritual life…. But I have baked a lot of bread in my life, and done a lot of thinking and praying in the process, trying to develop my own sacramental awareness of God’s presence and action. I have been surprised by the divine lessons found in what for me are ordinary activities: measuring ingredients, mixing, kneading, shaping dough, baking and breaking bread.”

How can we incorporate this powerful practice—this powerful symbol—into our worship life and witness? Perhaps by baking and breaking bread for others. With the support of the Witness Commission, I would like to endeavor a “bread ministry.” This is not just a random idea by one of the pastors, something that I’d like other people to do. This is where my passion lies and my spirit sings…and I invite all those who would be interested in joining me.

What would a bread ministry look like? Ideally, we would have at least four individuals or families, guaranteeing that each person/household bakes bread only once a month. On the designated week, the person would bake bread to bring to worship on Sunday: a quick bread would be fine, baked in small loaf pans. That bread then would go home with any visitor that came to worship that Sunday--a “sweet” reminder of the loving body of Christians at Morgantown Church of the Brethren. The cost of the ingredients and time to make the bread would be the offering of the baker.

And what if there are no visitors? Well, there are many ways to break and share the bread: you may take it home with you if you like, contribute it to the CROP table (someone would surely love it), take it to the Picnic in the Park, or freeze it for the Nurture Commission to use at the next coffee fellowship or potluck. Either way, the gift will be shared!

Consider it, also, a prayer practice. As you break the eggs, stir the dough, fill the pan, and bake the bread you are in prayer for all those who seek a church family. You are in prayer that our community will be an open and welcoming place for visitors to come. You are in prayer that God will touch each of us with the gift of a radical hospitality.

Will you join me? Please contact me if you are interested in participating in this “rising” ministry.
--
“There are thousands of [breads] you could be. You could be garlic bread or raspberry muffins or corn bread or shortcake or biscuits or Irish soda bread. You might be challah or povitica or kolache or injera. Each of these breads has its own unique qualities, just like the unique character of each person seeking to follow Christ authentically, from the core of his or her being. Each of us is searching for balance and proportion in our lives, each of us is kneaded and punched down and shaped by the people around us, each of us is transformed in the fires of suffering, each of us is unfulfilled until we’re blessed, broken, and shared. And at the end of our lives, when all that is left is crusts and crumbs, we hope to be gathered up by loving Hands, and to discover that we are more than when we started” -Fr. Dominic Garramone

peace,
Carrie

~Garramone, Fr Dominic. Bake and Be Blessed (Menomonee Falls, WI: Inland Press, 2002).

This blog is currently under construction. We are Carrie and Torin Eikler, Bethany Theological Seminary graduates and soon-to-be pastors-- or as we like to call it--practical theologians of Morgantown Church of the Brethren in Morgantown, West Virginia. We hope this blog can be a tool for outreach, for edification, for inspiration. Posts of sermons, reflections, and general insights into the pastoral leadership of MCOB will guide us as we share ourselves with those in the congregation, those seeking a spiritual home, those who wonder and wander in the realm of theological questions.