Compost for the Garden. You decide if it’s fertilizer for your faith or if it’s just sh**.

We sent our next Perspectives teacher, Pang Moua, the following question: Narratives of the human experience invite us to find ourselves somewhere in the story. When thinking about Scripture, where are you in the story right now?

Here’s how she responded:

What kind of ancestor do I want to be?

This is a question on the forefront of my mind. A large part of the reason being that my Hmong heritage values eldership especially through their words and deeds. As a little girl, much of history about the great grandmothers and grandfathers were told through stories. This was our way of honoring and remembering Hmong elders.

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I’ve done Scripture Circle studies for a few years now. With the pandemic, I considered waiting *another* year to participate in the cohort, knowing we would do at least some of our year virtually.

I’m so glad I didn’t wait.

Knowing that these faces would gather in my living room twice a month was a touch point, a hold-fast for this year.

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Over the last several years, most times we have led studies on Hannah or Ruth, the community would comment about how much they didn’t know about these women of the Bible. In many people’s religious experiences, the stories of women were not featured.

Though it had risen up in studies and had been simmering as an idea for a long time, once we said we were going to do a Daughters of the Torah Roots, we weren’t ready to choose the women.

How on earth would we narrow it down to 10 passages?

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What a year all of us have walked through!

This report contains a snapshot of a few things that have been happening at 40 Orchards, and how we've felt God with us. None of this could have happened without the support, participation, and spirit of the 40 Orchards community. We are so grateful for you.

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Going to seminary has forced me to reflect on and wonder about many of the things I’ve believed over time. I’ve also had to face some of the fears that had been embedded in my faith. Mainly that I would lose my salvation, or be labeled a heretic, if I did or said the wrong thing—that I might be kicked out or shunned by my church community, like I’d seen happen to other people I loved.

That fear struck deep, because one thing I’ve wrestled with for most of my life is belonging.

But over the past five years, I’ve learned something that has changed me. It’s changed my faith. It’s changed my relationships. It’s changed my politics. It’s changed everything.

Want to know what it is?

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When you found out we spend a lot of time time studying the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) at 40 Orchards, you may have wondered:

Why?

You may feel about the Old Testament like many people do—that it’s filled with patriarchy and judgement and violence. You may experience it as a lot of language and names that aren’t relatable. You may wonder if those stories of creation have any basis in reality. Or, you may believe there’s more to be gained from Jesus and the New Testament.

But…what if there’s more there than meets the eye?

What if understanding the Torah could help us understand Jesus?

And what happens to our experience of a story if we skip the beginning?

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We sent our next Perspectives teacher, Kiah Glenn, the following question: Narratives of the human experience invite us to find ourselves somewhere in the story. When thinking about Scripture, where are you in the story right now?

Here’s how she responded: “This question is interesting because I think that I am often in this place in regards to my relationship with AL-Mutakabir ( the Majestic). Muslims have one source of scripture, the Quran, but also utilize the Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet). In this instead of looking at the scripture I want to reflect on a Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh)…”

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The pandemic has not brought us to a singular place. It has engaged us in an unpredictable journey.

Even now, as we shift into the vaccine season, we are not “out of the woods” or “back to normal,” we are just at a new stage of wandering in this covid-19 land.

It reminds me of the biblical journeys through the wilderness.

It’s easy to think about the wilderness as a singular place—especially when we contain it within geography. We might think of it as the desert areas in a particular part of the Middle East—the land in which the Israelites wandered after Egypt and the land to which spiritual leaders traveled when they wanted to hear from God.

But the wilderness is not a singular destination.

Whether we are physically or metaphorically there, the wilderness is a place that brings us on a spiritual trek as we process our lives in new ways….

Read a bit about the biblical wilderness experience. Then join us for a Wilderness Scripture Circle to continue the conversation.

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We sent our next Perspectives teacher, Kelly Sherman Conroy, the following question: Narratives of the human experience invite us to find ourselves somewhere in the story. When thinking about Scripture, where are you in the story right now?

Here’s how she responded: “... Storytelling takes on many forms, but the common thread is that no matter what art we choose to tell our story, it is fascinating to us as human beings, because the art in which we choose is like a portal to a memory, and it holds the important power of keeping stories alive…”

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I don’t know that words will ever be able to capture the significance of the final day with my Cohort this July, but I will try.

One of my biggest struggles in life has been feeling inadequate. I’ve gauged my self worth on my achievements, performances, perfections, and imperfections. I’ve placed far too much value on what others think of me. I’ve always been my biggest critic and I’ve never lived up to my own expectations.

This is why it was so important for me to find my “Sabbath”…

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