WISDOM
A tree is a perfect presence. It is somehow able to engage and integrate its own dissolution. The tree is wise in knowing how to foster its own loss. It does not become haunted by the loss nor addicted to it. The tree shelters and minds the loss. Out of this comes the quiet dignity and poise of a tree's presence. Trees stand beautifully on the clay. They stand with dignity. A life that wishes to honor its own possibility has to learn too how to integrate the suffering of dark and bleak times into a dignity of presence. Letting go of old forms of life, a tree practices hospitality towards new forms of life. It balances the perennial energies of winter and spring within its own living bark. The tree is wise in the art of belonging. The tree teaches us how to journey. Too frequently our inner journeys have no depth. We move forward feverishly into new situations and experiences which neither nourish nor challenge us, because we have left our deeper selves behind. It is no wonder that the addiction to superficial novelty leaves us invariably empty and weary. Much of our experience is literally superficial; it slips deftly from surface to surface. It lacks rootage. The tree can reach towards the light, endure wind, rain, and storm, precisely because it is rooted. Each of its branches is ultimately anchored in a reliable depth of clay. The wisdom of the tree balances the path inwards with the pathway outwards.
--John O'Donohue (Eternal Echoes)
Rwth Anne Fuquay, a UMC elder in the Florida Conference recently shared the above writing of John O’Donohue. It is not unusual that I would resonate with most, if not all, of what he has to say. This piece was no different. I love it. As I read it, I was keenly aware of my work at The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women who, alongside the UMC Interagency Sexual Ethics Task Force, are preparing for the next UMC sexual ethics summit, “Do No Harm: Best Practices for Health, Wholeness, and Accountability.”
This event gives each participant the opportunity to go deeper as individuals and collectively as the church, committing to look the problem and prevention of sexual misconduct within church settings/ministry in the eye. Through plenary sessions and workshops which range from addressing accountability and healing, transparency in communication, to exploration of our family of origins and the impact of setting healthy boundaries, may we truly honor the limitless possibilities to integrate the dark times and the bleakness that is the landscape of this problem.
May we choose to develop best practices that are rooted in Methodism and reflect a path of “do no harm, do all the good you can.”
May we never forget who we are and our call to live from a place of integrity and respect.
I hope you will join us October 15-17, 2015 at the Crown Plaza, O’Hare location in Chicago. To see the full agenda and workshop descriptions and presenters and to register go to www.gcsrw.org/DoNoHarm2015.