these are such important thoughts, this post and a recent you posted focused on table vs hierarchy. I have thought about that a lot and deeply. I am a life-long church goer and have of late been part of an ecumenical group composed of Christians, Jews, Atheists, Bhuddists, Unitarians. It is a small group and we choose amoungst differ…
these are such important thoughts, this post and a recent you posted focused on table vs hierarchy. I have thought about that a lot and deeply. I am a life-long church goer and have of late been part of an ecumenical group composed of Christians, Jews, Atheists, Bhuddists, Unitarians. It is a small group and we choose amoungst different questions, those "big" type questions and then put forward our ideas on them. I am finding so much room for growth, for exploration, for gentle listening without preaching at me, appreciation, there is little defensiveness. It is a table (metaphorical), it is not in any way hierarchical. There is so much I have learned. But I want to say this, the posts I find here, without fail, inform this same learning and exploration. I want to thank you for that. While it is the case your theological studies are more formal than mine, I always sense an approach that has a foundation of equality and respect. This is very much appreciated.
Totally agree with your post and glad you have the opportunity to meet with an ecumenical group. An "ecumenical" group in my area would be Methodists who want to stay united, those who want to disaffiliate and Southern Baptists. Can we within the body of Christianity come together, discuss our similarities as well as our differences and try to be better followers of Jesus? All religions have one form or another of the Golden Rule. If we could only live by it!
"discuss our similarities as well as our diferences and try to be better followers..." and I will diverge from your sentence to underscore what this group I meet with explores and articulates. The divergence is from "better followers of Jesus" to better followers of love your best understanding of God , love your neighbor as yourself. God is defined differently by each of us but those definitions always disstill in some way to " omnipotent Creator". I can honestly say I have gained an immeasurably valuable appreciation of both my own faith/understanding (through the opportunity to articulate without preaching/teaching/parroting and as well, learned of the profound similarites. It is almost like language. I might speak French but I do not speak Greek. If a conversation were held about values and trusts, we would have many common things to say -- even if we used words and phrases the other could not translate easily.
these are such important thoughts, this post and a recent you posted focused on table vs hierarchy. I have thought about that a lot and deeply. I am a life-long church goer and have of late been part of an ecumenical group composed of Christians, Jews, Atheists, Bhuddists, Unitarians. It is a small group and we choose amoungst different questions, those "big" type questions and then put forward our ideas on them. I am finding so much room for growth, for exploration, for gentle listening without preaching at me, appreciation, there is little defensiveness. It is a table (metaphorical), it is not in any way hierarchical. There is so much I have learned. But I want to say this, the posts I find here, without fail, inform this same learning and exploration. I want to thank you for that. While it is the case your theological studies are more formal than mine, I always sense an approach that has a foundation of equality and respect. This is very much appreciated.
Totally agree with your post and glad you have the opportunity to meet with an ecumenical group. An "ecumenical" group in my area would be Methodists who want to stay united, those who want to disaffiliate and Southern Baptists. Can we within the body of Christianity come together, discuss our similarities as well as our differences and try to be better followers of Jesus? All religions have one form or another of the Golden Rule. If we could only live by it!
"discuss our similarities as well as our diferences and try to be better followers..." and I will diverge from your sentence to underscore what this group I meet with explores and articulates. The divergence is from "better followers of Jesus" to better followers of love your best understanding of God , love your neighbor as yourself. God is defined differently by each of us but those definitions always disstill in some way to " omnipotent Creator". I can honestly say I have gained an immeasurably valuable appreciation of both my own faith/understanding (through the opportunity to articulate without preaching/teaching/parroting and as well, learned of the profound similarites. It is almost like language. I might speak French but I do not speak Greek. If a conversation were held about values and trusts, we would have many common things to say -- even if we used words and phrases the other could not translate easily.