A few months after inviting us to “Bring Our Shadows to Church,” Walter asks us to face the shadow side of God in order to prevent us from “calling evil good” (like genocide or threats of eternal torment) while also avoiding a naively optimistic minimizing of evil. We could choose to lament and wrestle with the mystery of evil that’s present in God’s Creation while trusting in the Presence of God’s co-suffering love.
Walter shares some of his story around finances and his lifelong passion to try to take biblical ideas of economic justice seriously. At the end, he shared this recording of Becka singing the lullaby he wrote for his kids based on Matthew 6.
At our 2nd Breakfast service, Walter followed up on his fall workshops by inviting discussion of how we can stay in good relationships with those whose views differ greatly from our own on many issues of the day. We concluded that we’re tired of referring to these folks (often family members, co-workers and neighbours) as ‘enemies.’
Walter explores the theme for the 3rd Sunday of Advent (Joy), emphasizing that joy must remain aware of the suffering and hardship around us and that trust enables us to respond to the moments when joy arises in us. When his notes ran out of steam, the congregation’s wisdom rose to the challenge!
Walter continues in the theme of “Being Human Together” by sharing thoughts from Jung, Romans 7-8, and 1 John on the importance of our getting to know our Shadow so it can be transformed by love and grace and grow up to be a part of our whole personality.
Today, as part of our new theme of “Being Human Together,” Walter shared on how music and lament can help us experience our sadness in order to become softer and more connected with others.
This morning, Walter emphasized the importance of a rhythm that encourages us to acknowledge goodness and take a real rest – the rhythm of Sabbath. We hope that […]
Today Walter shared some thoughts on making it easier to endure pain and hardship if we help each other tell ourselves better stories, using a paraphrase of Romans 5.1-4 (and his own experience) as an example.
 Walter reflects on being continually reminded of how important it is for our healing and wholeness to have the courage to ‘bear honest witness to our experience’ – which, as Jesus says, ‘sets us free.’ He also tells barely relevant stories of his trip with a few irrelevant pictures.
Walter shares how it’s possible to settle our troubled hearts if we find our refuge – and how one of his has been the Celtic Liturgy service. But there are so many more possible!