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Amends & Swedenborg. 8.23.09
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Welcome to Cyber Cafe!
Perhaps you were not able to make one of our church services, and discover that many of our sermons are posted on-line. Yea! However, sometimes you only get the "full flavor" of worship at coffee hour afterwards.
Cyber Cafe is a summary of the main topics from discussion during the service and coffee hour.
Each segment will include a discussion forum for you to add your own comments.
Sunday, August 23rd
We did some early checking-in; especially about the camp experiences that several of us had had at Fryeburg a couple weeks ago. We had a big announcement that the P.U.S.H. was finally submitted .... and a review of what that meant ... with a promise to have an exciting discussion on our 3-year goals soon! So me folks shared books they are reading that they find spiritually helpful. We urged them to send a brief description of the book [or movie or art exhibit] to share in our newsletter.
Our usual musicians were away today, which was quite sad. However, Wilma has recently learned how she can play ITunes from her laptop with speakers attached. [she claims she is almost ready to do this with her cell phone.] Our drums and shakers were so quite an addition to the ITunes.
See Pearls to Powder for an expanded version of the minister's reflection shared Aug. 23rd.
What did we chat about during the service?
The concept of "amends" is about how we live together in community.
The approach to "amends" from the Gnostic Gospels and Eastern traditions was brought up. We noted that these traditions tend to address anything that gets in the way of our awareness of Oneness. The concept of removing inner barriers was a focus. How often do we cling to shame and guilt for something we've done ... with that shame and guilt become a barrier to God?
The need for amends to ourselves was seen as key.
Swedenborg's unity of "faith-goodwill-love" was seen as expressing a similar approach to oneness. So we got into a discussion .... could Swedenborg have been physically influenced by Eastern traditions? And how about those missing years in the life of Jesus?
How do we see the "unity" in every-day life? We considered the difference between we are worried about what kind of impression we'll make on others vs. just being in the flow of community fellowship.
In addition to bringing our faith-love-goodwill into our community life, some of us have particular spiritual practices that are important to us. We shared some of these. Many of us will try a visualization of a stone being dropped in a pool, and watching how each ripple helps create another one.
We had an explanation of a basic breathing focus we could try.
Discussion continued after the service. We talked about the importance of the "Marriage Equality" being done to prepare for the fall election on the topic. We talked about how many people use the Bible to justify discrimination by sexual orientation. We remembered that Convention has a written policy affirming same-sex unions and marriage; and blessing for our clergy to participate in them. This brought us back to "uses." So what could we do NOW and HERE to express our theology in action? We had a great suggestion of a letter to the editor of the Press-Herald about our theological position on the matter. Two offered to start on a draft to be shared with others.
I offered my considered theological collection from seminary about what the Bible really said about homosexuality ....
In fact, when I got home, I check some web resources on the topic. If you wonder what is really in the Bible about this topic, check out the sites!
Homosexuality and the Bible by Walter Wink
[Walter Wink: Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary and Hartford Seminary, and has been a visiting professor at Columbia and Drew universities. In 1989-1990 he was a Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC.
What the Bible Says and Doesn't Say About Homosexuality
by Rev. Mel White, co-founder of Soulforce
The Bible and Homosexuality
by Rev. Dr. Mona West, of Metropolitan Community Churches
Over the course of our worship time, we had a total of 5 adults and 1 teen attending some part of the service.
| Topic: "Amends 8.23" |
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By Wilma Wake Here is an expanded version of today's reflection. |