Word by Word: A Daily Spiritual Practice by Marilyn McEntyre

Author:Marilyn McEntyre [McEntyre, Marilyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Published: 2016-08-10T22:00:00+00:00

Wednesday: Allow things to coalesce

I like watching where adjacent ripples of water come together, two systems of concentric circles intersecting and modifying each other. I like watching a roomful of women making contact before a workshop begins. I like learning about those moments in history when things came together instead of falling apart, and the center held.

“Coalesce” comes from Latin words meaning “nourish” or “grow up” preceded by the prefix “with.” Imbedded in that word history is a reminder that it takes time and slow tending for disparate visions and agendas to converge, and for tensions to resolve into shared energy and direction. In physics, Wikipedia tells us, coalescence “can take place in many processes, ranging from meteorology to astrophysics. For example, it is seen in the formation of raindrops as well as planetary and star formation.” Musicians and artists, fascinated by the idea of coalescence, have entitled their compositions, paintings, and rock bands “Coalescence.” The title expresses an ideal and a hope.

The process of allowing things to coalesce differs fundamentally from corralling or controlling. Coalescence speaks of natural affinities, a movement toward meeting and merging that we recognize when people fall in love, when political groundswells become apparent, when families reconvene around a loss, recognizing a level of relationship that underlies the fissures and divergences of adult life. We gather, but in a deeper sense, we are gathered. Something draws us together for at least the one brief shining moment that reminds us we were put on the planet for a common purpose. And the calling continues.

The ecumenical vision is one of coalescence. If a divided church is to come together after centuries of theological opposition, it will surely be a result not only of the efforts and intentions of those who organize conferences and write books, but of the force that summons us all toward the final unity we proclaim when we sing “We are one in the Spirit,” and pray “that our unity may one day be restored.”

The movement toward the center is happening as surely as entropy. What has scattered will be gathered, in due time. Maybe not in our lifetimes; we are here only for a short part of a long process. But to see history and our own lives in terms of a deep dynamic of coalescence is to recognize how “centering” godly work is, how “centering prayer” opens us to coalescence, and how much of our best participation may not be paddling madly, but floating on the currents that take us all home.

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