Talks

Walter Thiessen introduces a new theme that he wants to follow in his talks this year: getting at the heart of what Jesus wanted for us by experiencing the “soft bosom” of welcome and the “firm backbone” of liberation.

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Peter Fitch speaks about the last Beatitude, the blessing of being the kind of person who does right even when there’s a cost. He focuses on a scene from The Cotton Patch Gospel (link here), two poems by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the Johnny Cash song (sung by Dave Warne and Zoe Fitch) that’s called “Walk the Line.” He sees a need to leave our small circles of belonging and follow a straight path toward justice for all.

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On this, the last Sunday of 2017, Peter Fitch sums up some of the main ideas of the past year by reading from an unfinished book he started some time ago. He also shares some of SCV’s current guiding ideas. Finally, he leads in a brief Lectio Divina exercise from Luke 7.

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Peter Fitch shared some thoughts that grew out of last week’s talk as people continued to comment on the videos of the children playing with a nativity scene. Then he turned his attention to the miracle of every birth and the lessons we can learn. This led to a discussion of Gerard Manley Hopkin’s poem, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” and the idea of inscape. Finally, after asking what we can learn from the birth of Christ, Peter asked Raymond Funk to play the song that he wrote from Hopkin’s poem.

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This morning was over the top. Joy Benson Green led the teaching time by sharing 4 short videos she made last week in the children’s ministry. She had given children a nativity scene and allowed them to play freely. Then she gave each video to a different adult to think about. Today, with the children watching, we looked at the videos and then listened to the thoughts that the adults drew from them. Joy summed it all up in the end. Here are links to the videos: Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4

Here is a link to Cold Play, A Sky Full of Stars

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Walter Thiessen walks through ten steps along the journey of becoming peacemakers.

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Peter Fitch continues talks on the Beatitudes. This times he speaks about the merciful and the pure in heart. He shares a few ideas about each one and then focuses on some of the great ideas in Martin Buber’s classic, I and Thou, to show a way that they could be seen to work together.

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Peter Fitch continues his look at the Beatitudes by examining Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Near the beginning, he asks Leland Maerz, a narrative therapist from Nova Scotia who works with victims and perpetrators of sexual violence, to share a little about his work. Then Peter returns to speak about his hope for a new paradigm that might be called Beyond Supremacy. Along the way he draws from a skit on Saturday Night Live, a few of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last words and, especially, from Bryan Stevenson’s book, Just Mercy.

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Walter Thiessen describes how various parts of SCV’s Celtic (or “Early”) Service, which began ten years ago guided largely by Joel Mason and Katie Gorrie, has been a great example of being “anchored with wings.” At the end, several folks shared their own examples of how the early service has helped them.

Link to Celtic Service

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Discontent with many of the messages that come from churches these days, Peter Fitch decides to focus on teachings that come from Jesus Himself. Here he looks at the first few Beatitudes from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. This talk includes ideas about poverty of spirit, the importance of suffering and, especially, the quality of gentleness or meekness. Other voices that are presented come from Aristotle, William Barclay, Desmond Tutu, Khalil Gibran, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Pirke Avot (the core of Judaic wisdom). Of course, there are also thoughtful ideas from people who were in attendance.

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