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Time For A Change: by Betty Van Volkenburg Metanoia: A fundamental transformation of mind, heart and character. Penitence, repentance. Reorientation of one’s life. Spiritual conversion. Metanoia: Time For Change is the name of Jim Sims’ CD of reflective songs and hymns but it is also an apt description of my purpose for attending the annual Episcopal Church Finger Lakes Conference at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva NY, about an hour's drive from my home town of Webster. As I listen to his CD on my laptop while I’m working, my memories of that week are refreshed. Jim was our Music Director for the conference and his strong, moving, voice and guitar accompaniment seemed to inspire us to raise our voices with even more feeling than usual. Or, was it his charming smile and good looks? With a conference that was more than half women, it could be. Although many women there were ordained ministers, they didn’t stop being women at ordination and unable to appreciate God's creations. Especially considering they’re Episcopalian, the most irreverent of all religions (in my opinion). After several years of working as a professional database consultant for large organizations by day, and developing my own businesses at night and on weekend, I felt that I had neglected my spiritual and emotional parts of my life and need to step back and reorganize or change my life. I had attended a Finger Lakes conference a few years ago, before I melded with the laptop and PC, and had come away with a wonderful sense of renewal and peace and decided to set aside time to attend again. The General Lecturer for the week was The Reverend Canon Barbara Price, Recruiter, Director of Bexley Institute and Lecturer in Pastoral Theology in the Rochester NY Diocese, whom I had met at the last conference I attended when she led the small discussion where I was a participant. I had identified with her thoughts then as she was a single parent at the time and wearing many hats as I was doing too. The conference theme was "How to Stay Spiritually Healthy and Work for the Church" (still) and Barbara’s Lecture theme for each day was on "Faith and Integrity: How to Survive Working for the Church" and dealt with the difficulties of limited resources managed by clergy and volunteers who were human beings who may have expectations and personalities that create challenging situations. In her personable style Barbara may have phrased it differently. I remember some examples she gave of "sink possession" where the coordinator of the annual "chicken & biscuit" dinner (or similar occasion) was not someone you would cross or toy with. This person could be so controlling that the event would usually be referred to as "so-and-so’s" dinner or event and was always done the same way, "because we’ve always done it that way". Barbara commented that sometimes there is nothing you can do to deal with someone like this, except walk away or get out of his/her way. But the objective of the conference was to share experiences and find ways to work better together, and in our small groups after each morning’s lecture we discussed situations that had frustrated us and what we might have done to improve it. It will be interesting to see what the consensus was and what the Conference Board will do with the results from the discussions. The list of workshops being presented caused a little bit of confusion for me as they all sounded interesting and attractive to me:
I had known The Reverend Sally Heligman when she was just Mrs. Sally Heligman and a member of our congregation at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Webster NY, before she was ordained and answered the call to her new parish in Pulaski NY. Her topic seemed right in line with what I was seeking, though I had never heard of enneagrams before. I thought it must be a new philosophy or something but it turned out that enneagrams have been used for thousands of years. Sometimes I’m ahead of the curve, and sometimes I’m a little behind, but - better late than never I guess, so I enrolled in Sally’s course. More insight into my own personality especially would always be helpful in my relationships. Sally was an excellent teacher and I was glad to see that her ordination didn’t turn her into a stuffed shirt. I can relate much better to people when they are down to earth and straight forward. Of course, it turns out we are both "3’s" or - The Performer/Achievers so we had something else in common besides our home parish. The course is very detailed and I won’t go into all the personality types here but there are references at the end of this epistle so you can get more information, either through books, or at a web site I found. I also learned of a wonderful program involving seniors, when one of our flock shared a video with us on "Spiritual Eldering". The Spiritual Eldering Institute was founded in 1989 by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, D.H.L., with the support of ALEPH (the Alliance for Jewish Renewal). What impressed me the most was the sight of a youthful 77 year old woman from the Institute, happily living alone, teaching herself to play the drums, doing Yoga and generally making the rest of us youngsters look like doddering oldsters. For more information on SEI go to their site at www.spiritualeldering.org Our schedule of Meals, Lectures, small group discussions, courses, Worship and social times, took us across the picturesque campus, from the bottom of the hill at O’Dell’s pond where the dorms (called Pods), were located up over the hill and down the other side to where everything else was located Most people drove, as we had a number of people with physical limitations, but I was determined to use this week as a fitness week as well. The 3 meals a day are always bountiful and I had decided to forget about calories for the week and just enjoy eating whatever I wanted. I am happy to report I only gained one pound. Over the course of the week I gained a bunch of new friends and have vowed to make the conference an annual event. I was so impressed with the whole conference and the people that I was thinking I might make it a model for a similar conference for single people, or maybe invite a group of single friends to join me there next year, and especially my two daughters. All in all, it was a very good week and I would recommend it highly. I think, in my "unprejudiced" way, that Episcopalians are the most intellectually oriented of all the religions, and no one plans more intellectually as well as spiritually satisfying conferences, with plenty of hugs and sharing of Peace during worship, and the best jokes during social times. At a cost of less than $400. for meals, workshops and lodging for 6 days it’s a great deal. One afternoon a week is kept open so attendees can do some shopping, sightseeing or wine tours in the area. A couple of hardier attendees spent the afternoon jet-skiing on nearby Seneca Lake. Our Course Registrar The Very Reverend Diana Purcell-Chapman has information on the conference if you would like to be put on the mailing list for next year. You can reach her at P.O. Box 492, Wellsville NY 14895. The conferences are held at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva NY. Geneva is at the intersection of NY Route 14 and US 20, a few miles south of Thruway Exit 42. The campus is on St. Clair St. Web Site references: Visit Dr. Jerome Freedman’s site for a full description of Enneagram patterns and the nine types of personalities - http://www.best.com/~asci4d/enneagram/index.html Books On Enneagrams Found At Amazon: Are You My Type, Am I Yours? : Relationships Made Easy Through The Enneagram by Renee Baron, Elizabeth Wagele (Contributor) |
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