Walter Thiessen explores the response of the elder brother in the Prodigal Son story, as well as the father’s invitation. If everything is ours, including relationships with the father, why don’t we celebrate? (It was pretty interactive, and so apologies for all the bits you can’t hear on the recording…)
Walter Thiessen recalls how important it is for us to find meaningful, familiar and emotionally rich things to hold onto even as we need to keep using our heads about “letting go” of the systemic problems that get in the way of institutions and traditions being compassionate and just. He ended with a loose paraphrase of the “armour of God” that you can download.
Walter Thiessen followed up his last talk addressing what a church community is for. This time he talked about the need to keep structure & teaching integrated with a living Spirit. Lots of chat at the end about how we keep exploring new things that resonate with the teaching of Jesus and the diverse ways that we can invite the Spirit.
In a short (8 minute) talk, Walter asks what the reason is for having a local church community, and he suggests that it’s to create a social place that welcomes everyone interested to participate in exploring meaning together – to express it, to weave it into our lives, to act on it together, to connect it to where we’ve been and where we’re going. You can read the transcript if you’d rather read than watch the video. And after you listen, share your thoughts on what you think is the main reason to have a local church community.
Walter Thiessen was reminded of the importance of memory – both because of the positive memories of Advent
and because of the lingering memory of those with dementia. This encouraged him to share about making peace with our history so that we feel ok about re-visiting all the parts of our past – even while we reinterpret the traditions and understandings that were problematic.
With life being a bit full and poignant lately, Walter Thiessen felt the need to focus on what matters most – loving with acceptance regardless of hurts, disappointments and frustrations. And yet love also means believing in the value of inviting people to step up. So, we explored how that invitation can happen without doubting the love.
Walter read Ephesians 3.14-19 and shared a paraphrase of this beautiful prayer. We then spent some time asking “what gets in the way?” of receiving the fullness of this prayer. After sharing some answers out loud, we did some silent reflection while re-reading the passages and shared a bit more. See the handout for the paraphrase and the exercise.
Walter Thiessen tells the story of Mark 3,
paraphrasing the account of Jesus and the authorities worried about
losing their grip. With amazing boldness, Jesus speaks about the end of
the Enemy as he announces the good news that the “Strong Man” is all
tied up. Hope, courage and imagination are now possible.
Walter Thiessen suggests nine pathways that can help the hesitant and doubting parts of ourselves find their way back to trusting in God’s Love for us. Links to five songs and a poetry reading are in the powerpoint.
After sharing some obligatory grandbaby pics, Walter Thiessen reminds us of International Women’s Day (with a prayer shared by LA). Then we acknowledged the year we’ve spent with the pandemic and shared some memories and hopes.