Each year on Pentecost weekend Friends United Meeting hosts a retreat, Stoking the Fire, inspired by Acts 2:1–4: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Inspiration for this year’s Stoking the Fire came from The Four Pivots, a book by Shawn Ginwright. In the introduction Ginwright writes, “Our real power comes from the courage to deal with our fractured relationships, the vulnerability to acknowledge our hurt feelings, and the awareness to know when our ego shows up.” He describes this shift as “mirror work,” looking inward to do the work of honest, non-judgmental reflection. This inward turn or pivot is what helps us to grow in Christ.
In his presentation, Stoking the Fire host and speaker Michael Sherman presented ideas from the book Art & Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. The authors cataloged the fears associated with making art and being an artist. The way the authors wrote about the process of art and art-making effectively illustrated Ginwright’s description of mirror work. One retreat participant noted that we are all artists and we all have art in us. We may not claim it, but it is there. She challenged us to make a shift by replacing the word “artist” with “Christian.”
As we live our lives in relation to one another the lessons we are meant to learn about life and God are contained in those relationships. Whether we are considering our relationship with God, partners, families, ourselves, or even the places where we work, to see what we are meant to learn “we only need to look—without judgment, without need or fear, without wishes or hopes and without emotional expectations.” [Art & Fear] What does this relationship need? What does my walk with God need? When we are able to set aside our fears and look clearly at the things which are staring right back at us, then we can move forward.
This year at Stoking the Fire we looked directly at how each of us might be able to, as Isaac Penington wrote, “Give over thine own willing. Give over thine own running. Give over thine own desiring to know or be anything, and sink down to the seed which God chose in thy heart, and let that grow in thee, and be in thee, and breathe in thee, and act in thee, and thou shalt find by sweet experience that the Lord knows that, and loves and owns that, and will lead it to the inheritance of life, which is God’s portion.”
—Michael Sherman
North American & Caribbean Ministries Coordinator
