THE RECTOR'S REFLECTIONS, June 2007

A more apt title for my article in this edition of the Beacon would better be “Life's Lessons from the Gym”. It occurred to me recently that even within the sometimes routine grind of repetitive exercise there are lessons to be learned.

I can be found most mornings around 6:30 /7:00am at Genoveva Chávez Community Center on Rodeo Road . The Chavez Center is one of Santa Fe 's great treasures. It is a huge city run complex housing a multitude of sports facilities. There are pool area, ice skating rink, basketball/volley ball/squash courts, aerobic rooms, community meeting rooms, exercise classes, and my particular haunt: the fitness center Membership prices are more than reasonable especially for senior citizens. Carol and I have been members for over 2 years.

Before moving here almost 10 years ago I was member of a fitness facility connected with one of Boston 's leading financial institutions, State Street Bank. It was there that my first lesson was learned. Being a part of a corporate structure, the staff at this facility were highly skilled physical exercise specialists.

The story begins one morning when I showed up to exercise wearing a knee brace. Walking past the counter at the entrance, one of the staff asked what was wrong. I shrugged and said that I had some pain in my knee but “It will go away. Not to worry.” In fact my knee was aching big time. Well, the next thing I knew I was in an office getting both knees checked out.

I learned that I had tendonitis in both knees and that the condition would not go away. But then I was told that I would be given exercises to compensate for the problem. I was given some new exercises that would build up the muscles around the injuries. I thought that was a great concept. You can't repair an injury but you can build up the area around and in turn that will alleviate the pain and allow me to continue.

In biblical scholarship there is the concept of “amphictony”. It's a term that has been the source of much debate among scholars for a long time. It comes from the time when the 12 tribes of Israel were established. Many scholars believe these tribes were independent, self sustaining, autonomous rather than interdependent and interconnected. They believe that they only came together when one of the tribes was threatened with invasion. Then they circled, so to speak, around the threatened tribe to protect it. The term describes the project of coming together. Just like the knee.

The exercises and history both teach us that there are ways to solve problems that exist outside the boxes of our usual perspectives. There may be a problem that either for a while can't be resolved or even perhaps permanently beyond resolution. It doesn't mean that there are not options to overcome it or learn to live with it.

The second lesson comes from the Chávez Center and St. Vincent 's Hospital Cardio Rehab program. Like the Chávez Center the Cardio Rehab program is a gift to this area. For three months I was a patient which meant three mornings a week I went to the hospital for a monitored exercise program. I learned, among other things, what is the proper range for my heart rate. I graduated from the program and took the training to my Chávez workout.

I show up at the center most mornings for a program that lasts approximately an hour and twenty minutes. It sounds like a lot but it does go by fairly quickly….most mornings. There are those times when I have to drag myself there but once there I'm up and at it. I begin with a 30 minute workout on the elliptical machine. That's the machine that is a cross between a stair master and a cross country skiing device. From there I do a five lap walk around the track and then onto a stationary bike for 10 minutes, followed by a three lap walk, followed by a series of weight machines followed by stretch exercises and a two lap walk.

I have set goals, especially for the elliptical and bike phases. I mentally set the distance and heart rate that I want to achieve. I have low goals and high goals all within the limits I learned at St. Vincent 's. There are those mornings when it seems clear to me that I won't get the best out of the workout that I should. I watch the clock. Check the heart rate. Check the rpm's on the machine. When I do this I begin to say to myself that I better look for a median goal.

Then it happens. Somewhere, usually within a short time, I begin to think outside of myself and my limitations. I begin to think about a number of things, readings from Morning Prayer which I read before leaving for the gym, church related projects and appointments, studies, a paper I need to write, a book I may be involved with. When I'm on the bike I'm looking out over the skating rink and watch local skaters, some very young, being trained by their coaches. Once I allow my mind to drift outside of myself I stop looking at clocks and meters. When I do check back to see if I am within the proper ranges, I find that I am always at the high end of my goals.

When I walk around the track I will generally think of something or someone to pray about and say a decade of the rosary for that something or that person. Again my mind has drifted and I realize that my goal of walking a mile each workout is being achieved. Rather than thinking of the next lap, I forget about it and the time goes by more quickly.

I'm told by my cardiologist that my heart is actually building up capillaries to allow blood to flow in and offset blocked arteries. The heart is an amazing organ. I have begun to think that it has its own consciousness.

Jesus never points inwardly to himself. He is always pointing out and away toward the Kingdom, the Reign of God. He never came to announce himself but to announce the Kingdom, the Reign. We are called to do the same. We are called to heal, transform and repair the world just as he did by doing what he did. We are to think beyond our personal boundaries and focus outward beyond ourselves. We are to circle the injuries with strength and not get defeated by the hurt and pain. We are to think of the horizons beyond ourselves just like Jesus. In this transforming process we ourselves are healed of our injuries, our pains. As we work to heal and transform others, we heal and transform ourselves.

Peace
Fr. Richard

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© 2007 St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico