Widening Circles

The shape of ReVision was a circle. Our faculty taught in the round from a circular stage. All participants gathered at round tables to learn from each other’s stories. Like ecclesial councils of ages past, we gathered to address the pressing questions of our times. Rather than arriving at a single answer, we came to “live the questions,” as poet Rainer Maria Rilke invites us to do.

Each morning at ReVision, we began by watching a visual poem of a mythic journey. The video explored the metaphor of Christianity as a Mother Tree, a great being in the world’s ecology. Is she living? Is she dying? The forest where she lives is on fire. The speakers invited us to journey deeper into the forest, finding a clearing with other journeyers. The council was called in. We formed a circle and asked: Where might new life be emerging? Where are we being called to create new life?

For many of us, the contemplative Christian journey is not linear. We are moving in circles around the questions of our lives: Who am I? Who is God? Who is God calling us to be? I recently became a parent. Coming to ReVision, I traveled solo for the longest time apart from my thirteen-month-old son. I wondered how I would share the teachings from ReVision with him someday—that God is Love, and we are called to embody Love in daring and unexpected ways. I considered how I might, as a mother, encourage him to plant his roots in the soil of contemplative Christianity and flourish there.

In the final session, CAC’s faculty and hosts—Carmen, Richard, Jim, Randy, Edith, Mike, and Drew—gathered on stage. It took my breath away to see these elders, wisdom teachers, sitting in one circle. As they bowed their heads in silence, I felt the beating heart of God’s stillness. A photo of the CAC’s 150-year-old cottonwood tree was projected above.

There was one empty chair in the circle. I wondered, Who is the empty chair for? Then, host and CAC staff member Drew Jackson turned to speak to those gathered around him:

“This empty chair represents each of you. You are part of the wise ones that have been gathered, as we are wrestling with this question and reimagining the way forward—the council called in.” 

Drew named the ancestors whose teachings we heard over the weekend—St. Benedict, Howard Thurman, Dr. Barbara Holmes.“I can’t look at that chair and not think of my own mother, sitting in the chair,” he said.“We’re all part of this wisdom circle that has been called here.”

ReVision reminded me that the contemplative Christian movement is greater than any single teacher or organization. Each of us is called to join the circle and share our wisdom. We come together to form “widening circles that reach out across the world,” as Rilke writes. At the center lives the beating heart of Love. 

Elizabeth Welliver Hengen is the Director of Mission Integration at the CAC, supporting staff formation and culture as a mission-driven organization. She lives in Durham, North Carolina. Find her writing on Substack @poemland.

The Center for Action and Contemplation’s mission is to introduce Christian contemplative wisdom and practices that support transformation and inspire loving action. In this issue of the Mendicant, we are honored to share with you articles from five members of CAC’s community about what loving action looks like in their lives. Download a PDF of this issue.