Thoughts on our December Spiritual Discipline | Celebration & Lament
Each month in the Fellowship experience, we engage a different spiritual discipline. The discipline for this month is "Celebration & Lament." This discipline is an intentional reminder that God regularly invites us to live in the "both/and" of life.
When we step back and seek God's perspective, we see both of these in this year, don't we? It's been a horrible year!
A global pandemic.
Political polarization that has sown distrust, division, and disunity as a people in this nation.
And horrific acts that served to magnify the reality that racial injustice and oppression continue in our country.
These three significant realities are worthy of our lament.
And then there are our organizational realities to lament. Though not to the scale of these three global and national realities, these are losses we grieve nonetheless:
The loss of impact in our workplaces and city as professional projects had to be postponed or scuttled because of COVID restrictions.
The loss of the closing celebration our inaugural Fellows deserved.
The loss in our recruitment of a growing class for year two of CCF to engage more young adults in spiritual leadership formation for the sake of the city.
The loss of an opening celebration with many friends and supporters of CCF and our Class of 2021 Fellows.
The loss of relationally-bonding retreats and experiences for this new class.
Not to mention what each of us has experienced as loss personally in this unprecedented year.
Yes, 2020 is a year to reflect upon and to lament.
AND… 2020 is a year to reflect upon and celebrate. It isn't either / or. It is "both/and" because it is in the both/and that we are most honest to engage and experience the feeling and experience of lament and the feeling and experience of celebration.
So, we are invited to look back on 2020 in reflection and celebrate the goodness of God and the gifts God has given.
And organizationally, we do the same. At Circle City Fellows, we celebrate this December!
The gift of Zoom as a way to stay connected as we finished the first year of the fellowship and have meaningful, caring conversations each week through the spring into summer months.
The gift of meaningful impact by our Fellows in their workplaces as they live their faith regardless of whether they're in the office, serving at the workplace, or engaging remotely.
The gift of a location in Broad Ripple to celebrate our inaugural class safely outdoors with events in any weather and the gift of this same location as a space both outdoors and indoors to safely meet with this current Fellows class.
The gift of this current class of Fellows, who, despite the uncertainty and instability of our world, have chosen to embrace this opportunity and commit themselves to grow with one another in living their faith through the workplace for the sake of the city.
The gift of not just one church partner this second year, but three!
The gift of a donation that served as a catalyst for a matching campaign that is bringing stability and visions of sustainability for our emerging organization.
The gift of a Board of Directors committed to the vision and mission of CCF whose leadership undergirds what we do.
Celebration AND Lament.
Our sincere prayer is that you, too, will know God's presence in both celebration and lament. 2020 has shown itself to be a year of darkness, and yet the goodness of God is evident. Celebration and lament remind us that in God, there is no darkness. God is ever-present in the darkness. He sustains us with his love through the dark times and that through BOTH lament AND celebration we would experience His presence.
With Hope this Christmas,
David Bell
Dr. David A. Bell
Executive Director