Yr. D, Wk. 16: Dust in the Tides

We all met on a foggy night at the home of Bill and Lynne for our festive meal. At Lynne's table, we lit three Advent candles while we recited a liturgy for those candles, emphasis on joy -- echoing Fr. Roger's sermon last Sunday.

Our discussion of the reading brought out these thoughts:

• dust, tides, and roads: too many metaphors muddy the ideas
• Hughes's gender-balanced language for the Trinity struck us as interesting, not necessary.  "Fount" for "Father"; "Sophia" for "Word" ; "she" with "Spirit".
• In any case, we agreed that our experience of the Trinity is more important and more palpable than the metaphors
• While Scott appreciated the author's contrast of how ancients (right up to the last century) saw a universe in stasis, God up and Hell down with how we see the cosmos in constant flux today, Erica questioned whether this new science would itself be replaced by another view in another decade or two, because that seems to happen a lot.
• We discussed the way communion puts us in touch with previous generations and distant Christians
• We noted cycles again, from wholeness to brokenness to judgement and new wholeness - creation / sin / judgment / redemption of the TRs.  We considered how cycles in our theology compare to the cycles presented in Buddhism.  
• The author's recommendations of centering prayer and the Jesus prayer brought discussion of how the cycles built into our liturgy can affect us: Scharme recommended centering prayer; Scott spoke of singing the Jesus prayer 

Our next meeting will be January 3.  We'll "brown bag" the meal; Scharme will bring worship; the mentors will bring something to start a Theological Reflection. 

Yr. D, Wk. 15: Atonement and White Lies

Scharme provided our meal; Susan brought Advent prayers from Derek Olsen's Augustine's Prayer Book; Erica brought a TR.  All were present.

Crysdale's Transformed Lives evoked a lot of reaction.  "We liked arguing with her," we agreed.  While some of us felt that she lost focus in these last chapters, others felt that she finally made sense in this second part.  We all found common ground around pp. 120-130.

Jacob (with Mom) fools Isaac

Our TR took off from a story about a white lie.   We followed the "dilemma" method of TR. We found many lies in our tradition and culture; our exploration of beliefs included the observation that kind lies are counterparts to malicious truths. 

Collect for the Honest Faithful
God of truth and justice, You worked grace through Abraham, Jacob, and Peter, despite the lies they told; Prevent us from telling self-serving lies and malicious truths, so that we may live in authentic relationships and be credible witnesses for You; in Jesus' s name.  Amen. 

Next week:  Meet at 5664 Harbormist for dinner and discussion of the reading in the RRG, Wk. 16.
 

Yr. D, Wk. 14: Transformed Lives by Cynthia Crysdale

Everyone was present.  Scott brought Chinese food; for our first meeting in Advent, Bill brought prayers and a meditation about waiting.  Coming on board, we thought about how what we'd been waiting for during the last week.

Lynne opened our discussion of Crysdale's book by admitting that she's never thought of the "substitutionary punishment" theory of atonement as a problem.  Others agreed.  We reviewed Crysdale's history of that idea, and her inventory of Scriptural metaphors for the effect of Jesus's death.  We noted how the emphasis on Jesus's death does discount His life and resurrection, too. We look forward to finishing the book for next week.

The late Luis, age 13, left, and Mia, age two, near Rock Mart

Susan brought the provocative word "to bind" for the TR. Our exploration of the word brought us eventually to the personal image of walking a dog on a leash, and to the Biblical story of a Jonah, a prophet who slipped his leash.

We wrote this:

Collect for a Closer Walk with God
God, You guide us on the secure path: We, like Jonah, have run from Your charge and our obligations; Bring us gently to heel, that we might be reconciled to You and each other, bound in mutual love.  

 Next week:  Read Week Fifteen in RRG. Scharme - food. Susan - Worship.  TR - Erica.