Continuing this series on what's on my altar and why: this week, a candle handed down to me by a lineage of women leaders.
Welcome to my altar space. This morning I’m going to share with you a little bit of the backstory of this angel — the one you see situated at the center of my altar.
It’s actually a candle, and it was given to me by the Reverend Renee Machiniak, who received it from the Reverend Dorothea Harvey. Within my denominational body, Dorothea Harvey was the first woman ordained into the ministry of the Swedenborgian Church of North America. She holds a very distinguished position within our tradition as the first woman to inhabit this ministerial role.
Receiving this candle from Renee was really special. She gave it to me during a worship service she was leading at the end of one of the first Be Love retreats I facilitated out at the Almont New Church Assembly in Michigan. So there I was, embodying this new ministry — this new way of being church that I call Be Love, Be Honest, Be Useful. We’d had a great retreat together, and then she led this worship service and gave me the candle as a gift.
Renee has given me a lot of gifts in my life. I shared last week about the wood carving of the Ascension, which was also from Renee. She was my first mentor as a new seminary student. For her to honor this legacy of women in the church — to name that I’m part of this lineage — is deeply healing and deeply meaningful to me.
I am doing things differently than those who came before me, and that doesn’t mean I’m disconnected from them. It’s quite possible that if Dorothea were alive today, she’d have different ideas about how to be church than I do. And we’re still connected.
I find it really important to honor lineage — to honor the past, to honor what has formed me and how I’ve come into being — and to recognize that choosing to do things differently, seeking to be different from the ones who came before me, doesn’t mean I’m rejecting them. It doesn’t mean I’m severing ties or cutting off a relationship. It’s actually my attempt to be faithful to what they gave me: to receive it, and then to live it in my own way.
That’s one of my deep hopes — for my life, and for the world in general. There’s often a habit of believing that to be different from our forebearers is to reject who they were, to discount or disparage their legacy or their name. But my suggestion is that the healthiest lineages, the healthiest transmissions of life, are ones that change and grow. Our forebearers don’t want us to do it exactly as they did. They want us to do it our way, but to continue carrying the legacy — the tradition, the treasure — which I believe, in the New Church, is beyond form. It’s beyond form, and so it can inhabit many forms. It inhabits my life today.
So I share this piece of my altar to share that legacy, to celebrate Dorothea. And I wonder: when you look at the things in your space, what items remind you of your legacy — of the people who nurtured you into being, the traditions you carry and hold? How are you carrying that tradition in a way that honors those who came before you, and honors who you are and what you’re calling into being — something that will serve those who have yet to come?
I hope that’s useful to reflect on. Thank you, Renee. Thank you, Dorothea. And thank you all for listening.
Share images and stories from your altar in the comments!
I’d love to see what spaces you are creating ❤️
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