Archive for the 'wise words' Category

leading into truth

Monday, February 16th, 2004

I am currently reading Reflections in Glass by Peter Carnley, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Australia (see a review here). I haven’t read any of his books before and so far I am enjoying it. This quote has been resonating with me this weekend:

Even an interest in identifying and talking about religious […]

spiritual disciplines

Monday, January 12th, 2004

Liked this reflection on FutureMargins.com about spiritual disciplines in the emerging church:

Spiritual disciplines that practice a principle were of the previous era. Spiritual disciplines today live out a metaphor. They no longer defend a theological perspective but elaborate variations on a theme. They resemble a jazz improvisation, not a Gregorian chant. Images and objects […]

doubt

Friday, December 5th, 2003

I am currently re-reading The Genesee Diary by Henri Nouwen, and feel like I will post a couple of quotes over the next little while including this one:

…although Thomas did not believe in the resurrection of the Lord, he kept faithful toi the community of the apostles. In that community the Lord appeared to […]

life, love and all that I can be

Wednesday, October 8th, 2003

Two of our congregations last night as part of our worship attended a public lecture delivered by Bishop John Shelby Spong. The lecture was about our historical understanding of God and some of the conflicts between traditional theology and our knowledge and understanding in the 21st century. I was quite struck by his […]

fools and fanatics

Friday, October 3rd, 2003

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Bertrand Russell

the questions

Wednesday, October 1st, 2003

Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart…
Try to love the questions themselves…
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given because
you would not be able to live them -
and the point is to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some
distant day into the […]

loyalty to the institution

Monday, September 29th, 2003

Karen Armstrong, the author of A History of God and The Battle for God has written a thoughtful and challenging article about the dangers of institutionalism in religion and the way that it takes us away from our core values:

The religions are all committed to the quest for truth, however uncomfortable. They also insist upon […]

I have a dream

Thursday, August 28th, 2003

Forty years on, and the speach of Martin Luther King powerfully resonates.
On August 28 1963, Martin Luther King delivered a speech that made America — and the whole world — sit up and listen. Gary Younge explains how it came aboutand why it is as important now as it was then.
Like all great oratory […]

100 per cent

Monday, July 28th, 2003

A congregation member shared some of her mother’s wisdom the other day which I have been meaning to post.
People talk about marriage and say that each must be prepared to put in 50%, and take an equal responsibility for the marriage. In fact, each spouse must be prepared to put in 100% - because […]

A letter not written in ink

Thursday, July 24th, 2003

A letter not written in ink
Our God, God of Jesus,
as you confront us with your word
and meet us in the world,
may we discover
and keep rediscovering:
That ‘true peace
is not merely the absence of tension’,
but the presence of justice and liberty
for all people, regardless of their race,
culture, class, creed or nationality,
That ‘the ultimate tragedy
is not the […]