Becoming a Companion

I attended Orientation at Haywood Street Congregation on the Tuesday after Easter Sunday. Shannon welcomed us, Lisa, Lisa, Meghan, and me. She read from the Bible a selection about the woman who broke the costly nard over the head of Jesus in the home of Simon the Leper. Someone objected because the nard could have been sold and the money given to feed the poor. She read it twice, like we do in Lectio Divina. Then we meditated about it. After the silence we told what we heard. Everyone heard something different. I heard the fact that Jesus said wherever the Good News was proclaimed the woman would be remembered. The Good News is that God came down to remind us that he created us to be in relationship with Him and He accepted the gift the woman gave Him. He was about to give His all for her, but her gift was prized. Then Shannon asked us to tell something about ourselves. One woman whose husband is retired said she'd resisted coming to Haywood Street because her husband who had retired was already working there and she felt they needed time alone, but now she wanted to be there too. She said that being at a service was like being in Heaven because that is what Heaven would be like. I think she is right. I said I visited and they had something special I wanted to catch. The others were not as forthcoming, but still it was clear they couldn't resist the draw. Shannon told us the rules. One of them is that we are companions, not volunteers, we are equals with everyone in the community even though we belong to other churches and are there to serve. Therefore we will be served as well. We all are needy and gifted. All that rang true. Shannon offered Communion to us and we shared the bread and the grape, the body and the life. Then we had a prayer saying what we thought we were there to do. I am there to learn why I am in the mountains. Perhaps the answer is simply being there.