The prayers of the witnesses
”I feel like every possible conception of the Triune God was called upon on...”
I said something like this to Sadie. We were debriefing day three of Immersion Week at Duke, less than two weeks ago now.
All first year Hybrid MDiv students are placed in a Spiritual Formation cohort. This randomly-selected small group (pictured above) meets daily during immersion week and weekly on Zoom during the first two semesters of the program. Over the course of the first year, the professor-mentor creates a safe space for students to get to know one another, process their calling, and explore the time-tested spiritual practices that make life-long vocational ministry possible. It is true—the formation that takes place at seminary is much more than an intellectual pursuit.
Back to the story. It was Wednesday morning. Chapel had just ended and my cohort gathered in a classroom for our daily meeting and to do a routine check in—How’s it going? Any life updates?—that sort of thing. After the standard “who-want’s-to-go-first” silence, one of our peers broke in, “I guess I’ll go.”
They proceeded to tell us that that very morning they had received what would be to any of us heartbreaking, earth-shattering family news. I’m sparing the details for their protection. Tears welled, sniffles were heard, tissues were offered. As they finished sharing, a dense combination of shock and sorrow fell over the room. It was silent again.
What do we do now? In a moment like that words only fly so far, often tumbling to the ground before they reach their well-intended destination. So, perhaps naturally for a bunch of ministers and ministers in training, we offered to stop and pray over our peer.
We stood from, or scooted our chairs toward them, reached out, and prayed. Yes, popcorn-style.
Now, at this point I have been a part of these sorts of moments too many times to count. They are good and meaningful. At times empathy soars. At times you feel the palpable presence of the Spirit. At times your arm starts to get tired and you spend too much time thinking about what you are going to say when it’s your turn. This time, all of that happened. But there was more.
“…we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…”
Hebrews 12:1
As I sat in my chair, my hand on my new friend’s shoulder, I prayed early and then listened to the prayers of my classmates.
The Assemblies of God missionary kid prayed prayers of empathy.
The Episcopalian pursuing ordination offered prayers of sorrow and lament.
The Presbyterian pastor spoke prayers of comfort.
The Nazarene college pastor, the energetic Methodist preacher, the Vineyard lay leader, and the Baptist pastor offered prayers of intercession or held our peer prayerfully in silence.
Our charismatic classmate, unsure they even made the right decision to come to Duke at all, closed the time by praying in the prophetic past tense: “We thank you Father that they are strong. We thank you Father that you have done great things in this situation, and that you, Lord, will receive all of the honor and all of the glory, in Jesus’ name…”
”I feel like every possible conception of the Triune God was called upon on behalf of their situation,” I said to Sadie.
It was like that children’s team building exercise with the multi-colored parachute: each of us holding on, doing our part, creating the perfect tension—our classmate and their needs like the foam ball placed in the middle, launched into the sky. Surely, together we reached heaven. Surely our prayers rose up to meet God’s ear in some unified and yet multi-faceted way. Perhaps with more power than they would have on their own.
We all have differences. We all have strengths. We all have access to God, and we all have gaps in our theology and practice. Yes, even you. But in that moment, we all embraced the call to care for our classmate. And we all, with our own colors and textures and flavors, offered words to God “in Jesus’ name.”
Perhaps the collective prayer—like kids running to their Father to show what they have made—perhaps it had more dimension, more color, more depth. Even if all of the lines weren’t straight. Even if the proportions were off. And perhaps, seeing the many made one, perhaps our Father was more delighted, more eager to receive it.
“There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
Ephesians 4:4-7
I was invited to assist with chapel worship for “contemporary worship day.” The week also included an organ-led day, Black gospel day, and morning Eucharist day.
Our Spiritual Formation Professor/Mentor ended the week by blessing us one by one.
These three are the real heroes of immersion week!
Prayer Request
January Immersion Week. Thank you for praying for me and my family during immersion week! As you can tell it was a wonderful and meaningful week for me. Sadie and the boys spent most of the time at her mom’s house which, she said, felt like some sort of stay-cation. The boys did get sick, but were in good spirits and good company.
Potential Sabbatical Arrangements. There have been some exciting developments in a potential Sabbatical! I hope to have more details soon. The desire is to spend the time away from our context in Albuquerque, refreshing with the family and also getting an opportunity to learn, develop, (and tick off some Duke Field Ed requirements!). Please pray that these potential doors continue to slide open, and that it would truly be God’s will, gift, and design.
Financial Update
Seminary. I am currently looking to expand the Financial Support Team by $120/mo to assist with the three required trips per year to Duke. If you have been interested in the past but saw that I was fully funded, now is your opportunity to join the team! Learn more at davidtanner.co/give or reply to this email to begin a conversation.
Sabbatical. If you would like to contribute to the Refuge Church sabbatical restricted fund to help defray expenses of eligible pastors on sabbatical leave, including mine tentatively scheduled for Summer 2024, you can make a one-time donation here.
Book Club
Current Reads
In an effort to keep this portion of the email useful while acknowledging the Support Circle’s collective lack of capacity for a book club, here are a few resources currently “on my bookshelf.”
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero. The Staff/Board Team at Refuge are currently making our way through this. It has been a wonderful—near essential—launch point for discussion around our team’s spiritual health and formation. It’s an easy and actionable read, if you’ve never given it a try.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. Sadie and I are still working our way through this one. Since we’re still in that “January resolution” season, I thought I’d leave on this update. Though written from a perspective that ideals some version of the American dream, the overlap into Spiritual Formation is significant. It has given us tools to help us reset a daily evening prayer practice we had before Leif was born.
Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become Like Him. Do as He Did. by John Mark Comer. If it wasn’t obvious already, I have been a subscriber of John Mark Comer’s work on Spiritual Formation for the last five years or so. This book was just released and I’ve begun listening to it in my “free time,” whatever that is. If you’ve been tracking with JMC for a while most of these ideas will be familiar. It is an excellent resource for those desiring to take their faith more seriously or to see Christianity/discipleship with fresh eyes.
