Becoming... 20

Circle of Grace, this small, progressive, ecumenical, feminist, church will be 20 coming up in December.  
Hard to believe. 
Hard to believe it has been 20 years. 
Hard to believe we've made it through so many ups and downs. 
Hard to believe that we are still figuring out who we are.

Or perhaps not hard to believe. We are always 'becoming'. 
As we learn through explorations of theology and the Word we become more intentional. 
As we work to make room for our different understandings we become more expansive. 
As we struggle through life changes we become less arrogant. 
As we grapple with our shadow sides we become wiser.

The wise feminist theologian Sally McFague teaches us that  when we make our religious symbols absolutes we become rigid in our religious thinking . She suggests - and we are committed to - understanding images as metaphor: fluid, with open meanings and always expansive.  

I bring that up because it harkens back to the idea that we are still becoming. We are still in process. Still discovering what it means to make spiritual community that is both Christian and feminist. Twenty years later and I am more aware now of how much I don't know. I know less now than when we started and yet I have gained the wisdom of fools.  I have come to trust in the process of becoming as we learn again and again to trust in Godde's crazy leading rather than in what seems to make realistic sense. 

Twenty years and this I have learned: we will never arrive, we will never be codified and we will always - and I mean always - be on a learning curve! 
I am grateful for twenty years of lessons, some of which I will have to re-learn and some that  are engraved on my heart. 
I am grateful for a community of the Spirit that is willing to wrestle with Godde and one another.
I am grateful that Godde is always doing a new thing. 
I am grateful that we are still becoming. Even after 20 years.