Sometime in the last year or two I came to a realization that I type in an interesting fashion. Like many people I was taught to type from home row. Just like I have never been able to fully play the piano, my body doesn’t want to move for various reasons, in the concert needed to fully engage home row typing at a decent speed, or to be able to fully bring together the chorus of notes that form a wonderful song. So it is perhaps obvious then that I must type in some other fashion. Some way that leads me to be able to communicate at a more decent pace. My senior year of HS we had a joint paper to write in class, and my partner for it had me type for I was a much faster at typing than he.So how is it that I type?
I can type without looking at the keyboard, though I occasionally to glance down upon it, as I use several different computers and every keyboard is slightly different in spacing, key size… But I never to the time to think about it. I never paused and saw what I did. I don’t type with two fingers. But what is it that I do? Well I type essentially with three fingers. At least when typing I have never seen a finger other than these three strike a key, except for when not typing words but rather entering in commands, shortcuts, etc. I just realized when typing the following characters and perhaps a few others: :”? I do sometimes use the left index finger and the right middle finger. for almost everything I use two fingers on my left hand (index, and middle) and one on my right (middle). At times, I think this leads to the left hand getting ahead of the right. The two hands work together in an interesting harmony. For example as I just wrote the word “getting” the first g was by the left hand and the second was by the right.
Why do I bring this all up? well, it is perhaps an example that can be used for many things. First it is an example that what perhaps is seen by society as a whole to be the “best way” or the “fastest” way is not the truly the greatest for all, that some need to be different and unique to play their part in the symphony of life. Also it is that often we just aren’t aware of what we do, don’t see what we do, but just do it. I have no idea when I started typing this way but it does seem to work for me even if at times the left hand seems to get ahead of the right. it allows me to type at a fairly quick pace, and on some keyboards better than to others. (This laptop has some problems but it is better than nothing, the main problem I have is it often does not register the shift key when I am typing and my left hand seems to get a bit more ahead of my right on this keyboard compared to others.)
So what happens when we take a moment to pause, see, and observe what is around us. What happens to the life of the church when it pauses, breathes and takes a look. does it see and become aware of what it does without thinking? does it se the good, the gifts and talents it has and seek to find ways to enhance them? Does it see the fumbles it has made, the things it does without thinking that lead to pain and not to healing?
Is it okay to be uniquely different? Is it okay to do things in a way that is different than others, different than how others have said you should be? I think it is, but one needs to become aware of what one is doing and if possible why and how one has reached that point.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Independence, MO for the Restoration Studies Symposium. It was an amazing and exciting weekend. I gained new insights, shared with various people in conversation, both those who I had known before and those who I had never met before. I shared in conversation around a table and over pizza and salad, about my passion for authentic worship, for liturgy that speak to a people, that is holistic and seeks to uplift all who participate in the sacramental experience of the worshiping community. To hear a mentor share of the struggles and joys of ecumenical endeavors of Community of Christ. Some of which reflect the encounters I have had in my own life journey over the past five years. I had the time to observe and see life. To pause in deep prayer and meditation, and reflect upon my own life and that of Community of Christ. To take time and gain greater understanding of the ministry of temple, and my own ministry. To cry in pain, and tear in joy. it was an amazing time, and I am thankful I had the opportunity.
On Sunday I had the opportunity to see and hold aspects of history. It was an amazing experience to see all these fragments of history, to have them come more alive. I saw things I had never seen before. I had the opportunity to hold, carry and show these aspects of history, and just be amazed, and see amazement in others as they shared. But perhaps what surprised me the most was when a large brown box was placed in my arms to take from the archive safe out into where the presentation was going to be. it was a hefty box, but there was something more. I was holding in my arms pages that represented the thoughts, prayers, concerns, reflections of those early church leaders of Community of Christ as the struggles with the shared cannon of scripture and sought understanding and clarity. Now while they expressed their experience in ways different than I do, they to were on a journey similar to my own, they to were seeking insight and reflecting. it is from their journey that my own journey in community came to be possible. Some of the insights they came up with are wonderful, others not so much. I think in part that it is unfortunate that we took these manuscripts and used them to form the Inspired version of the Bible. for while this is perhaps what those early leaders were hoping for but never accomplished, I think it has lead to a misuse of their work, and a misunderstanding of what that work is, though in more recent decades there has been more of an attempt to use them in more fitting and appropriate ways as commentary upon that shared cannon, insights upon it, coming from an 1830s perspective that may still bear testament of the Peace of Christ today, when appropriate context is used.
In the weeks coming up I will be engaging in new adventures, new ministerial responsibilities, struggling with papers, hoping to pass classes, experience and observing other parts of the human family. it will be a wonderful time, and I am very lucky to have the community of friends and family around me that provide so much love and support for me as I travel on my journey, and I hope I reflect that back to them on their journeys and on our communal journey. Let us go forth and see what we have not yet seen, be aware of our gifts and talents, not be fearful to be unique, and engage our callings fully and faithfully knowing we are loved and cared for.
May the Peace of Christ be known unto you now and always,
— Lyle II