On a Sunday when the lectionary invites us to reflect on the 10 Commandments, Dr. Francis Macnab gives us a list of the 10 new commandments by which he lives.
The first and ninth on his list offers fresh language to express what Jesus called the commandment to love God and others as well as oneself.
Commandment 1: Believe in a Good Presence in your life. Call that Good Presence: God, G-D and follow that Good Presence so that you live life fully, tolerantly, collaboratively, generously and with dignity.
Commandment 9: We often focus our lives on many things and pursuits that promise our fulfilment. Study the deeper things of the Spirit, and the things of ultimate concern for all human beings. Be part of an evolving life-enhancing Faith that will also bring a new resilience to the future.
“An evolving, life-enhancing Faith.” That’s a belief and faith that makes intuitive sense to me.
Peter
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
A Unique Way To Raise Money
It’s been awhile since a cell phone went off in our church but I have heard them going off at some recent meetings. That reminded me of a video that has been shown at a Westminster Presbyterian church in Burbank, California.
In the video, those gathered for worship are asked to turn off all electronic and messaging devices. If a cellphone goes off during announcements, the video says there is $25. fee. If it happens during prayer concerns, the price goes up to $50. If it goes off during the sermon, you go to hell.
Must be the minister assigning those fees.
Peter
In the video, those gathered for worship are asked to turn off all electronic and messaging devices. If a cellphone goes off during announcements, the video says there is $25. fee. If it happens during prayer concerns, the price goes up to $50. If it goes off during the sermon, you go to hell.
Must be the minister assigning those fees.
Peter
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Religious Dogma or Collected Beliefs ???
How often we hear doctrine referred to solely in negative terms these days. It has become equated with a narrow, out of date religious sensibility. The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams says doctrine does not have to be a dirty word. Doctrine is a way for Christians to consider how God is present in creation and in transformation.
The archbishop says, "But if doctrine doesn’t make possible poetry and contemplation, then doctrine is a waste of time. This is where the poetic and contemplative touch the prophetic, because the prophetic is all about the diagnosis of dead words and false acts. The prophetic task is to smell out death in a situation.”
And by pointing to what should not be, the prophet opens a door to what might be.
Peter
The archbishop says, "But if doctrine doesn’t make possible poetry and contemplation, then doctrine is a waste of time. This is where the poetic and contemplative touch the prophetic, because the prophetic is all about the diagnosis of dead words and false acts. The prophetic task is to smell out death in a situation.”
And by pointing to what should not be, the prophet opens a door to what might be.
Peter
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Testimony - A Matter Of Faith
One of the best of ancient practices that we are recovering in the Christian community is Testimony. Again this Sunday we had fresh examples of Testimony’s relevance and power. Members of our church stood up to speak about their faith. This was not easy for any of them.
We have examples in our communal faith story of scripture of how even leaders such as Moses said, “Find someone else to speak. It’s not my talent.” But despite his fears, he got on his feet, opened his mouth and voila, an improbable Exodus from slavery.
Faith is not just about feeling peaceful and at ease. That is part of the faith journey, but not all of it.
For everything there is a season, a time to sit quietly and a time to speak, a time to take in and a time to give out, a time to sit in the back row and a time to take your turn on your feet.
When individuals like Val and Jeremy, Mary and Norma, Pauline and Theresa tell us what music and faith means to them, the whole community is swept up and carried along. Thanks to the fantastic five for your efforts!
…and to all our musicians this morning. Go onto the website for the full effect !
Peter
We have examples in our communal faith story of scripture of how even leaders such as Moses said, “Find someone else to speak. It’s not my talent.” But despite his fears, he got on his feet, opened his mouth and voila, an improbable Exodus from slavery.
Faith is not just about feeling peaceful and at ease. That is part of the faith journey, but not all of it.
For everything there is a season, a time to sit quietly and a time to speak, a time to take in and a time to give out, a time to sit in the back row and a time to take your turn on your feet.
When individuals like Val and Jeremy, Mary and Norma, Pauline and Theresa tell us what music and faith means to them, the whole community is swept up and carried along. Thanks to the fantastic five for your efforts!
…and to all our musicians this morning. Go onto the website for the full effect !
Peter
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Christians - Part of the Israel/Palestine Solution ????
I have been showing my pictures from Palestine and Israel this past week and so the people and the places I visited have been in my thoughts and heart.
Tom Gettman was one of the people I met in Bethlehem and he told the story of the 8-year-old daughter of a Ramallah-based Mercy Corps staff person who wondered about the huge barrier separating Israel and Palestine.
When riding with her mother from Jerusalem along the snaking barrier wall and then passing through the onerous Callandia checkpoint “border post”, she asked,
“Mommy, why do Jews have to live behind that wall?”
The sad thing about walls is that they don’t just shut out the “other” but they also close us off from commnicaiton and relationship.
And of course the Jewish community does not have to live behind a wall. But it will take courage and persistent commitment to find another way, a way to peace with justice in Israel and Palestine.
Christians have historically been part of the problem. Could they also be part of a non-violent solution? The Kairos Palestine document which United Church folks are now studying tells us this is possible, that there are ways to show our support for brothers and sisters suffering in Palestine. If you would like to know more about this document, try the internet or our website can point you in the right direction.
Peter
Tom Gettman was one of the people I met in Bethlehem and he told the story of the 8-year-old daughter of a Ramallah-based Mercy Corps staff person who wondered about the huge barrier separating Israel and Palestine.
When riding with her mother from Jerusalem along the snaking barrier wall and then passing through the onerous Callandia checkpoint “border post”, she asked,
“Mommy, why do Jews have to live behind that wall?”
The sad thing about walls is that they don’t just shut out the “other” but they also close us off from commnicaiton and relationship.
And of course the Jewish community does not have to live behind a wall. But it will take courage and persistent commitment to find another way, a way to peace with justice in Israel and Palestine.
Christians have historically been part of the problem. Could they also be part of a non-violent solution? The Kairos Palestine document which United Church folks are now studying tells us this is possible, that there are ways to show our support for brothers and sisters suffering in Palestine. If you would like to know more about this document, try the internet or our website can point you in the right direction.
Peter
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Poets and Playwrights as Politicians
Vaclav Havel died last month at the age of 75. He will be remembered as the poet and playwright who led the non-violent revolution in the former Czechoslovakia, then went on to become the country’s first president.
Havel enjoyed greater support abroad than in his home country as he took positions that were critical of his own country. He spoke out against the expulsion of the indigenous Sudeten German population after World War II. One of his first actions as a president was to offer an amnesty for those imprisoned by the former regime because they may have been communists. At his death he was a member of the Czech Green Party.
Havel once wrote,
“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
I don’t suppose a poet and playwright would have much of a chance in our political system. Too bad.
Peter
Havel enjoyed greater support abroad than in his home country as he took positions that were critical of his own country. He spoke out against the expulsion of the indigenous Sudeten German population after World War II. One of his first actions as a president was to offer an amnesty for those imprisoned by the former regime because they may have been communists. At his death he was a member of the Czech Green Party.
Havel once wrote,
“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
I don’t suppose a poet and playwright would have much of a chance in our political system. Too bad.
Peter
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Take That Risk
Seventy seven years ago a seventeen year old young woman was waiting off stage at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. It was amateur night and she was next on stage with a dance routine. But the duo before were also dancing and when they were done she was so imtimidated that she could not dance.
She decided to sing instead. She had never sung in public before. She wasn’t sure that she had any singing talent. But she sang anyway. Her name was Ella Fitzgerald.
It makes you wonder what would happen if we risked a new routine.
Peter
She decided to sing instead. She had never sung in public before. She wasn’t sure that she had any singing talent. But she sang anyway. Her name was Ella Fitzgerald.
It makes you wonder what would happen if we risked a new routine.
Peter
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