Walter Thiessen reflects back on the year of monthly talks related to practical prayer ideas by emphasizing the importance of committing and practicing rather than over-thinking things.
Attached are the two resources that I mentioned: “Simple Contemplative Prayers” and “Contemplative Reading List”
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Peter Fitch speaks about some of the disasters that have been rocking the world this week as well as some of the religious messages that have been rocking the internet. Not finding too much wisdom there, he reflects on thoughts by Neil Degrasse Tyson and others about climate change. He concludes that whether there are disasters or not, there is always an opportunity to grow in character and to care for those around us.
Link to video interview with Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (starts at the 15 minute mark/ you may need to endure a few ads to watch)
Link to book, We Rise.
Link to Confounds the Science – (Parody of) Sound of Silence
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Walter Thiessen explores another of the ways that we might be tempted to water things down in order to appeal more to culture or be less embarrassed by some pockets of Christianity. Today he shares about the ways that Jesus was great at offending just about everyone. Don’t settle for less. (you can listen to the start of the service/music
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Walter Thiessen wonders if devotion – the intersection of love/dedication/commitment – is a piece sometimes missing from contemporary spirituality. He conducts an experiment to see how “God” (in this case Colin) needs to move around in order to help a blindfolded Joel to walk the path toward Goodness and Compassion. Are we devoted to the One who calls us toward Goodness/Compassion and do we feed that devotion through regular practices?
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This was a training service (we do something different and more hands-on each month on the third Sunday). Today Rick Coates shared information about Deep Listening and led us through a couple of small meditation exercises. The first one was with relative silence (aside from a noisy fan!) and the second one was with a piece of electronic music that he has composed.
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Peter Fitch continues to think about John, chapter 3. In this talk, he continues to speak about an on-going dance of participation with God that he believes is available for all humans. He defines “belief” as “acting in accordance with.” Others spoke up and connected this with the idea of trust. He sees people who follow Jesus’s example of letting go of fear-inspired power and walking in love as people who believe in Jesus, no matter what their words or thoughts about Him might be.
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Peter Fitch speaks once more about the dance between Spirit and flesh. He tries to explain why the concept of being “born again” led to an unhealthy path of seeing some people as less than human. He likes the idea of being “born from above” better as it implies an on-going dance between God and people all over the world. Then he speaks about various maps that people have given to try to describe spiritual growth.
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Our community helped to host the Bonfire Festival this week. Musicians and artists from many places came together for workshops and performances. Today our time was part church service and part concert. Quite a few of the musicians sang songs that were meaningful to them. Along the way some beautiful thoughts were shared about God and community. Rosie Sperling Funk read this quote from Thomas Merton. Peter Fitch explained about a new initiative that Andrew Smith is offering, a subscription podcast for spiritual songs, many with a post-church flavour.
‘this light lingers / A Year of Song’ (available July 31, 2017)
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Peter Fitch continues to talk about the early parts of John’s Gospel. Today he focuses on the interaction that Nicodemus has with Jesus. What is Jesus saying to him when he indicates that we need to be “born from above”? (This is actually a more likely translation.) Peter thinks that historic interpretations have created a sense that Christians exist on a different level than others and that this has produced terrible results. He provides a different and more hopeful sense of what this passage might mean.
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This was a training service (third week of the month) so there was a little more time given to an exercise or activity. This week the topic was trust and the activity was an exercise in group Lectio Divina. Peter Fitch led this, based on the story of Nathaniel in John’s Gospel, and several others had rich things to add.
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