February 2019

Ultimate Goals / February 24, 2019

Peter Fitch returns to the story of The Good Samaritan to find a new slant on an old idea. He quotes from Pirke Avot (a collection of Jewish sayings from the time of Jesus), Martin Buber, Simone Weil, and Hafiz (Persian poet from the 14th century) to illustrate this point. Religious pursuits that lead people into extractions or divisions are not healthy. Real care, real action, are what makes life special and these are what God is looking for in the way we treat each other.

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Plain Jesus: The Turnaround (I) / February 17, 2019

Walter Thiessen continues on his theme for this year by describing the emphasis that Jesus put on “losing one’s life” as the death of the ego – the loss of the illusion that our self is essentially separate from others and needs to continually strive anxiously to protect itself.

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Deep Friendship / February 10, 2019

Peter Fitch begins by reviewing a few of the ideas from David Hayward’s talk last week. Then he begins to discuss possible interpretations of Genesis 22, the story of Abraham’s attempt to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This is one of the strangest chapters in the Bible as the God who tells people not to kill seems to be instructing Abraham to do something unthinkable. From a reading that emerged through years of pastoral and teaching experience, Peter uses the story as a platform to discuss the nature of befriending someone who is going through something that is very hard for them.

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Freedom to Grow / February 3, 2019

David Hayward, artist, writer, and religious cartoonist, gave the talk today. He is known as The Naked Pastor in his blogging and cartoon work because of the vulnerability he shows with his honest questions as he tries to shine a light on helpful and unhelpful aspects of religion. Today David introduced some of his work and talked about the courage that is necessary to push toward freedom and away from controlling groups and ideas. What resulted was a very encouraging picture of organic growth for the soul.

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