Here it is folks… hope you like it. Granted it is not a whole set, but the segments will give you a good idea as to what we are all about… minus the people practicing yoga! Enjoy… and be sure to join us every second Friday of every month at myc yoga | downtown bend | or. Also visit us at our Vasudeva website.
I’ve been reading A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss, by Gerald Sittser. Some thoughts have been coming through in regards to my interaction with the community… the village, in the midst of pain and tough decisions. I have been struck lately with how much my own personal decisions and experiences effect the community as a whole… I mean, they should, right, if we are truly engaging in the life of the village (or should I say “the kingdom”)? I have been hit with some huge decisions lately, that individualistically would be a no-brainer, but communally really have a major impact. Painful experiences should be the same, if not more so, when we are engaging in life as a village.
Two ideas from the reading have struck me intensely. Sittser says on pg 104, “I simply do not see the bigger picture, but I choose to believe that there is a bigger picture and that my loss is part of some wonderful story authored by God himself.” This I was saying to a group just last night about the decisions and community… and it is so true with pain. There is much comfort in knowing that there is a bigger story we are involved in. It helps with the randomness of suffering for sure.
The second thing that hit me was Sittsler’s consideration of fairness. On pg 114, he writes, “I dread experiencing undeserved pain, but it is worth it to me if I can also experience undeserved grace.” Both are a reality and they exist simultaneously… if there is anything I can offer the community from my own painful experiences, it is this reminder and this living out of grace and mutual pain-bearing. We must experience it to know it, and if I can offer an experience through the work of the Spirit in my life, the community may know that God offers it even more.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how my gifts most resonate… how my calling fits in within the context of the community. It is difficult to consider this while putting aside the modern definitions of what makes me “successful.” Isn’t it amazing how much the concept of money and pay clouds our freedom to admit what it is that truly makes our hearts beat faster?!?
I know… I know that I know that I know… that my purpose is to hold space for men and women to engage and grow into more mature and sustainable relationships with self, others, and God. This is it for me. I thrive on relationships. I connect. I listen. I engage in the fine art of “village alchemy.”
This concept of the village is something that has rocked my world in the last couple months. If you are familiar with Christ’s teachings on the kingdom of God, his early followers, or other people throughout history but definitely within the last ten/twenty years concepts of sustainable community… then you have an idea. Our gifts, our relationships, our sharing, gathering, time choices… everything… gets lived out in the framework of the village.
I will be writing much more about the concept of village culture as I move forward from here (who’s it for, what it consists of, how it sustains, what we do, etc). But for now, a word must be written about my place. Alchemy. I guess there is an element of combining substances and seeing what happens, with all the live-culture foods and beverages I love to create, but this is just a tangible analogy… within the community of the village it is about relationships… self, community, and God.
This idea of village alchemy was clarified by Kat and my new friends Rick and Sally last night. Immediately, I knew they were on to something. Merriam-Webster defines alchemy as
“the speculative scientific way to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life” or “a power or process of transforming something common into something special.”
There is a lot to the historic aspect of alchemy, but for me, in the context of the village, it is crafting, honing, connecting, improving… with a little “magic” that comes from listening to where the spirit of God is whispering. My work in this area will be made clear in the posts to come.
