the chicago seminary news€¦ · the first nine months of the seminary’s life on earth have been...

The Chicago Seminary News THECHRISTIANCOMMUNITY : MOVEMENTFORRELIGIOUSRENEWAL SPRING2004

We give thanks to you in North America, and to our

friends in Europe, who have helped us to purchase a

building (at right) for the seminary.The visible sign of

yourgenerosityistherealitythatwecouldbuyitwithout

a mortgage.This four-flat apartment building, just two

blocksfromthechurch,islargeenoughtogiveussome

roomforgrowth.Itcanhousetwelvestudentsandasem-

inarydirector.Withfuturedonationswehopetoconvert

thebasementintoaclassroom,alibraryandanoffice.

Three weeks after we purchased the building, on one

ofChicago’sstormydays,Itookourstudentsandsome

visitorsonanouting.LakeMichiganlookedlikeachurn-

ing sea. From therewewent to theArt Institute to see

aRembrandtexhibit.OnthewaybackIdrovepastthe

new building to show it to our visitors, and had the

shock of my life! What had happened? Nothing was

leftofthebigelmtreeinfrontofthehouse(stillstand-

inginthephotoabove),butaclean-cutbase.True,our

insurance companyhad requested thatwe trimoneof

thebranchesof the tree,butnot this!As it turnedout,

whilewewererevelinginthestormbytheLake,astrong

gale of wind split the Elm in half and felled it.A city

emergencycrewhadcutitdownwithmuchaccompany-

ingdrama for theparkedcars nearby. Fortunatelyonly

veryminordamagewasdonetothebuilding.Saddened

atfirstatthelossofthetreeIrememberedthewordsof

JohntheBaptist:Theaxeisalreadylaidtotherootofthe

tree.Itakeittomeanthatwearetoplantforthefuturea

youngtreeinstead. (continued on next page)

Dear Donor-Friend

More than anything else the retreat provided me with an op-portunity to examine questions and ideas that are so intimate and important to my daily life. Also, being able to participate daily in the Act of Consecration of Man was wonderful and supported in experience what we were doing in the courses. It was an intense week!DAVIDRAMSAY,MAINE

Outside the class time resided a thread of moments... of alone time, reflection, of Sacrament and Reverence for what is Mystery, each of which was deeply nurturing for me, and was unique to the environment created by the Christian Commu-nity, which enriched the whole of the work, and allowed me to root in the fruit of my questioning. MICHAELLAPOINTE,NORTHCAROLINA

What a gift! In town to care for a friend, the mother of a new-born, I was able to take advantage of the morning naptime to

walk the mile or so through the varied Chicago neighborhoods

to the 8am Act of Consecration of Man, followed by breakfast

and a course on “Light, Life and Love in the Gospel of St. John.”

Immersed in the ringing words of the Passion tide service, the

hearty laughter and genial camaraderie at the breakfast table

and the stunning waterfall of ideas intermingled with the si-

lences of deep thought inherent in the course, it was almost too

much to digest. Still, as I walked back to the apartment, I often

experienced a bit of jealously knowing the other courses and

lectures being taken up by the students and the delightful guests

students from North Carolina.

In the afternoons, however, washing dishes, folding clothes,

cooking, sharing my impressions with my friend, I began to

appreciate a bit how Martha must have felt her workload

en”lightened” in the enlivening presence of the Christ.

BARBARADANNER,WISCONSIN

Sharings from Our Visiting Students

Oneofthemanygiftsoftheseminaryistheopportunity

toparticipateinthelifeoftheChristianCommunity.

OnSundaymorningthechildrencomedownstairsandsit

inasemi-circle.Afewcomelate,butRev.Danceysmiles

and lovingly invites them to join. First, altogether they

learnasong.Then thechildrenhearastory:oneweek

aboutMotherTeresa;anotherweekperhapsaboutJonah,

orthemountainsinIsrael.Thestoryoftenhelpsexplain

thebiblereadingthatthechildrenhearintheservice.

Thechildrengatheroutsidethedoortothechapelawait-

ing the invitation to enter.A server greets them at the

door and taking their hand speaks: “You know...”The

servicebeginsandstrongwordsfloatintheair:Love…

Learn…Remember.

Thechildrenleaveandthecandlesareextinguished.

A Sun DayBYMATTHEWMAZZOLI, SEMINARYSTUDENT

Students paint a classroom.

Donation are welcome.PLEASE MAKECHECKPAYABLETO

‘THESEMINARYOFTHECHRISTIAN

COMMUNITY’ ANDMAIL TO :

POBOX25603

CHICAGO, IL 60625.

THANKYOU.

www.thechristiancommunity.org/seminary

For more information ONTHESEMINARYANDCOURSESOPENTOTHE

PUBLIC, PLEASE CONTACTGISELAWIELKI :

TEL . : 773-472-7041

EMAIL : GISELAWIELKI@EARTHLINK.NET

TheseminaryoftheChristianCommunityinNorthAmerica

can be sensed as a “pre-mature” newborn. Sometimes

prematureconnotes,“Oh,itshouldhavebeenotherwise.

Thebabycametoosoon,beforefullandproperembry-

onicdevelopment.”Inusingtheword“pre-mature”Ido

notmeanthis.Newbornscomeastheycome.Moseswas

premature.St.Paulreferstohimselfasaprematurebirth.

Inthedestinyofsome,itistheirstorytocomepremature

– toworkondeveloping their fundamentalbody forms

andorgansoutsideofthemother’swomb,really“down-

to-earth”.

In this sense, the seminary has not been bornwith its

body andorgans basically formed, andnowall that is

neededisthattheysimplygrowlarger.Theseminary,in

its essential nature, is still very much in be-coming.

Although it is small, it isastrong,vitalbeing.Students

and teachershavesensed this. It isdefinitelyhere,and

atthesametimesomuchisnotonly“not-yet”,buteven

inthespiritualworld“not-yet”.This“not-yet”iswhatwe

areseeking,withoneanotherandtheangels,toformand

bringintotimeandspace.

Thefirstninemonthsoftheseminary’slifeonearthhave

beenawonderful,intensive,gracedtimeforthisseeking

andlearning.ThelinesofTheodoreRoethke’spoem“The

Waking”continuetoguideasastar:

I wake to sleep and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

Wewill take thewaking slow.Wecontinue seeking to

sense, tobetouchedbythefutureandwhatitseeksto

bring,withnofear.Weworkonlearningbygoingwhere

wehavetogo.

‘Pre-mature’ Birth : the Newborn Now Nine Months YoungBYRICHARDDANCEY,SEMINARYDIRECTOR

Afterasix-weekbreakathomeinWashingtonstatewith

myfamily,Ireturnedtomysecondfamilyattheseminary.

Iexpectedtoslowlyeasemywaybackintoclasses,but

the first week began as if those intervening six weeks

awayhadnotevenhappened.Ifeltasiftheclasseshad

continuedinthespiritualworld,andIwasdroppingback

intoseminarylifethathadincreasedinintensitywhileI

wasgone.Iwastheonlyfulltimestudentforthefirsttwo

weeks,withfouroutoftownguestsandseveralChicago

communitymembers.

Wehadthreemainlessonsadayforthefirstweekbegin-

ningwith“BuildingaRelationshipwiththeLivingChrist”

led by Richard

Dancey, seminary

director. Richard’s

enthusiasm for his

subjectandhislove

forhis studentshas

much to do with

the reality of the

Chicago seminary’s

existence.Heisone

of the most hug-

ging people I have

met, yet when I sit

with him in class, I

am drawn into the

realmoflivingideaswhereheseemstohappilyreside,

andfromwhichheappearstobereadingthecontentof

hislectures.

Craig and Henrike Holdrege from the Nature Institute

inHarlemville,NewYorkarebothscientificinoutlook.

In “Projective Geometry” Henrike guided us through

several exercises leading towards the infinitely distant

point.Tofindourwaytherethroughpencils,rulersand

protractors,wehadtoextendourconceptsbeyondthe

paperinfrontofus.Oureyeswidenedwiththeeffortof

imaginingtheplacewheretwoparallel linescanmeet.

Thisclasswasinthelateafternoonandtheclearpercep-

tionswebegantodevelopdidmuchtowakeusupfor

theeveninglectures.

In“TheHumanBeingand theAnimalKingdom”Craig

directedus through aGoetheanobservationof the life

of the sloth. His thorough knowledge of their lives as

reflectionofandinfluenceupontheirenvironmentwas

fascinating. Imaginea realheartfelt interestbeingborn

inus for the sloth!Craig showedus theprogressionof

skeletal development from antelope to lion to chim-

panzee to human uprightness. Behind Craig’s humble

manner resides a

wealth of knowl-

edgeandaloveof

hismaterial.

After the intensity

of this first week,

theguests leftand

Iwaspractically

alonewithGisela

Wielki, Seminary

director, and a

course on the

CreedoftheChris-

tian Community

and“TheVerticalandHorizontalinArt”.Giselaisanother

mainreasonthattheSeminarycontinuestomanifestand

grow.Shehasaverydeeploveandunderstandingofart,

witharealdesirenottoinfluencetheotherperson’sper-

ceptionofwhatlivesinanartist’swork.Herenthusiasm

fortheevolutioninthepaintingsofMondrian,Jawlensky

andRothkoguidedme intoa living relationship to the

vertical andhorizontal. I began to see theseprinciples

everywhereasrealspiritualentities,andtheybecamean

underlyingthemeofdiscoveryformefortherestofthe

secondsemester.

Beginning the Second Semester BYASHARAINEMACHALA,SEMINARYSTUDENT

InChicago,whereLakeMichiganmeets theplains, the

world is flat.A tree or a human figure standing on the

slightestelevationloomstallagainsttheopensky.Eachof

ourthreefulltimestudentshasheldthispositionduring

thisfirstyear.Inthebestsense,ithasmadethemalittle

larger than life,befitting their role in thedestinyofour

fledglingseminary.

AfterherfirstsemesterSophiaPan,ourAustralianstudent

movedtoArgentina,whereshewillmarryPablo,whom

she met earlier at the seminary in Stuttgart. Asharaine

Machala returns at the end of her second semester to

WhidbeyIsland,WA,toseehertwoteenagesonsthrough

highschool.Shewishestobecomeactiveinouraffiliate

congregation inSeattle,sharingourhope that in timeit

willgrowintoanestablishedcongregationwitharesident

priest.MatthewMazzoliwillreturntoNorwaytobewith

histwoyoungchildrenandhiswifewhoisfinishingher

trainingasamastergardener.

Theseminaryisaplaceforthetrainingofpriests,whichis

foremostaschoolingofourhumanity.Wearealltogrow

inrealizingthatourwholelifeistobeanactofworship,

andthatinthewordsofNovalis:in ordinary life, we serve like

priests at the altar.Weareconfidentthatourthreestudents

havegrowninthistaskthroughtheirlifeandstudyatthe

seminary.

Forfall2004weexpectourstudentenrollmenttodouble

Welookforwardtocelebratingtheseminary’sfirstbirth-

dayinSeptemberandthankyouallforyoursupportand

yourgoodthoughts.

GISELAWIELKI : SEMINARYDIRECTOR

DEARFRIEND ... continued from first page