From the end Christmas through the Sundays following the Epiphany in 2023, we read Barbara A. Holmes' Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church. The prompts are here!
Introduction & Chapter 1
As you read the introduction and chapter about the history of contemplation what did you notice about how state sponsored Christianity has been a hindrance to contemplative and communal expressions of the faith?
Does Holmes’ recounting of history—both her own and the contemplative tradition—offer communal space and space for diverse solidarity in ways uncommon in your own history or experience? If so, how? If not, speak to the similarities?
Engage and reflect with Holmes’ statement: The holiness that Jesus describes has less to do with pious character traits and more to do with the hosting of God’s abiding presence. It is not effort but invitation that opens the human spirit to the possibility that God may sojourn with us.” Describe your convictions, understanding, and desires in this passage?
What did you notice in the passages dealing with the emphasis and descriptions of silence in these sections? What was new? What was compelling?
Chapter 2 | January 8-January 15 (2:30-3:30 at the church)
Holmes offers this explanation for those reading this section: “This is neither theological tourism nor the quest for titillating exorcism. The hermeneutical lens I am using to view African spiritual practices reveals the exotic stranger not just in indigenous cultures but also in the inner recessed of every human heart. On this planet, we are all indigenous strangers; some of us just have the good sense to embrace this reality.” How did this paragraph impact your interactions with this chapter?
In explaining rituals that exists alongside birth and death Holmes describes the presence of celebration and grief and their necessary place in the communal experiences. What in this chapter grieved you? What caused you to celebrate? Consider offering those places as prayer to God and ask for what you may desire in each of them.
This chapter challenges many of modernities concepts of time, space, and origins. Describe your engagement with these challenges.
Chapter 3 | January 15-January 22
This chapter is full of stories and memories of intense human evil. Holmes comments: “The only appropriate responses to a holocaust, after ‘never again’ are silence and shout.” I am personally drawn to the silence and the need to use as few words as possible in sacred respect for the victims of the evils committed.
As you read this chapter consider following the Spirit into areas of prayer that cry for never again, silence, or shout. Offer these places to God in prayer.
Chapter 4 | January 22-January 29 (discussing chapters 3 and 4 on Sunday morning at 10 am on Zoom)
Holmes writes, “The power of contemplation in the midst of the poor and oppressed becomes the power to end the social and divine realms in an arc that touches earth and allows earth creatures to reach and embrace what can only be accessed through prayer. This is a powerful witness.” Where do you experience this kind of happening in your own contemplative life or worship? Is it foreign to you? Would you be willing to ask for it to increase in your own life? In the life of St. Mary’s?
What traditions in this chapter overlap with your own journey in church life? Which seem far away? What would you like to incorporate? What do you not understand?
Holmes moves from the practices to the ecumenical vision of Howard and Sue Thurman. Why do you think these contemplative practices lend themselves to ecumenical life? How does God’s freedom move people away from controlled spaces?
Chapter 5 | January 29-February 5 (February 5th at 10 am - Zoom)
Holmes begins the chapter with a quote from Bishop Thomas Hoyt Jr. that says, “The black experience in America has certainly conditioned black interpretation of the Bible.” Is the inclusion of experience in biblical interpretation part of your own biblical imagination? What would motivate a culture or a person to not include experience in biblical interpretation? Is it possible to not interpret scriptures without experience? How might this exclusion of experience serve systems that want to “maintain the status quo and foreclose any ideas about freedom”?
Holmes introduces the reader to numerous biblical characters and stories in this section. Which of the re-introductions spoke most to you? What freed you? What challenged you? I’ll share my favorite which I believe includes Mary of Bethany … “At the foot of the cross the risk to the three Marys was great. The men knew this as they fled, but the Marys remained, willing to embody a contemplative resistance, which is simply the expression of love and faith that transcends the ability to see or understand the outcomes.”
Holmes warns about the imperial Christianity in Africa with these words: “In our own context, missional activity often includes an overriding denominational and political agenda. One need only go to the continent of Africa to see the incongruities lived out as Africans imitate the style and dress, music and liturgy of their European benefactors and colonizers. A message of salvation clothed in denominational Western epistemological interpretation is not the same message as Pentecost.” What specific invitations for growth might be included in these sentences for those of us who have been drawn to a tradition with roots in the British Empire?
Chapter 6 | February 5-February 12 (February 12th at 10 am - Zoom)
Holmes skillfully and beautifully explains the essential elements of mysticism and activism in a truly contemplative life. What are some of the phrases and concepts in this space that resonated most with you?
Does this chapter do anything to expand your own understanding and imagination of salvation?
What Public Mystics may have stood out to you in a new way? Can you think of a way to emulate them in your own life and community?
Chapter 7 & 8 | February 12-February 19 (February 19th at 10 am - Zoom)
Chapter Seven: Black Lives Matter and the Black Church
Holmes describes the Black Lives Matter Movement as being “leaderful” rather than depending on one strong leader to speak for everyone. How does a “leaderful” approach to movement expand efficacy?
Holmes elaborates on similarities and differences in the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) and the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLMM). Speak to what you may have learned through the descriptions of the two movements.
She also describes conflicts that have existed between BLMM and the Black church. Speak to the places you have experienced similar conflicts. What does Holmes’ description of the gathering she hosted for leaders within both communities do to your imagination in relation to how these conflicts can be fruitful for peace and justice?
Chapter Eight: Deep Rivers: The Contemplative Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama
Holmes writes this sentence in regards to Obama’s presidency being a false flag of the United States being a post-racial society: “The problem with post-racialism is that it is a fantasy, and fantasies make a fragile basis for leadership.” What does this sentence evoke in your understanding of where the United States in relation to race?
Holmes emphasizes four key characteristics of Obama’s presidency. They are: (1) Engaging the mysteries of the Spirit, (2) creative exchange between inner and outer realities, (3) world making, and (4) performance of the already and not yet. What did you resonate with in these highlights?
Chapter 9 & Afterword | February 19-February 26 (February 26th at 10 am - Zoom)
Contemplate art as resistance. Spend time reading, watching, or listening to some of the art Holmes discusses in the chapter.
Holmes quotes Toni Morrison, saying art helps us refuse to conform to societal malevolence. Can you name a time art did this for you?
Holmes insists contemplative activism must include rage, resistance, and compassion for all. Speak to the challenges of those three characteristics living together.
Afterword: Toward a Future Together - Reflect on the entire book in light of this sentence, “This joy beckons as not as individual monastics, but as a community.” Why is joy necessarily communal? How does this book help you see that necessity?