Justice

We began our session with a brief follow up on the previous chapter. An article from the Journal of Psychology and Theology discussed spiritual formation. Spiritual exercises are a way to open the self to the working of the Holy Spirit. It is a gradual opening that can happen on a daily basis. Therefore, mainline churches can say "yes" to being "born again". It happens on a daily basis.

Gratitude - a new spiritual practice- was introduced to the group. We each spoke about something for which we were grateful or thankful. If practiced each morning and evening, this spiritual gratefulness can evoke changes in us.

We found different participants to discuss each of the following questions as they relate to God's justice.

1. As I look around my community, my world, opening my eyes as wide as I can, I see....

2. There are times when I know I participate in systems that contribute to the misery of others......

3. I see so much and sometimes the feelings can be overwhelming.....

Three individuals shared their justice practices and experiences with the group. It was a very inspiring and moving evening.

Jan will lead us in the next session. Lydia will be away on a reading week.

We are to read Chapter 8 - Thin Places.

We ended our session by saying Jesus' prayer.

Tomb of Jesus

Still others are writing about the Lost Tomb of Jesus.

Here's a blog by a minister from the United Church of Christ - http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2007/03/the_lost_tomb_o.html

Tomb of Jesus

Regardless of one's thoughts about the "Tomb of Jesus", the documentary has got people questioning and talking. The search terms "James Cameron" AND Jesus will retrieve 66 articles from the public library's journal database.

In the end, perhaps, getting people to explore their faith and beliefs is really all that can be expected from this documentary and book. In that respect, it may be a positive event.

Born Again - Chapter 6

We began our evening by discussing our reactions to The Tomb of Jesus documentary. The documentary will be re-aired on the Vision Channel - (21) - on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m.

There was ambivalence towards the "discovery". We could see that some people would be threatened by the proposal that this was the remains of Jesus and his family. Others felt that it could be exciting. The sense was that it wouldn't change our faith, and it wouldn't negate or threaten our belief in the resurrection of Jesus.

We reviewed our experiences of the discussion group thus far by considering the following questions.

• What has been the impact of this program on you so far?


• What are you appreciating about the process of our learning and being together?


• What questions have emerged for you as a result of being exposed to Borg's teaching and the process of this course?

Individuals read their Alphapoems and Jesus Statements, which were homework from the last session.

Lydia began this week's discussion by reading the story of Nicodemus and Jesus. Jesus tell Nicodemus that he must be born again. We each read aloud a phrase that could be mean "born again". Some of these phrases were:

• Reconnect with God


• Live from the inside out


• Die to the false self.

We discussed how we felt about the term "born again". Borg is suggesting that being "born again" can have a very board and rich meaning, and it can be a starting point or bridge between the emerging and earlier traditions.

After discussing the socialization process and how it makes us become self-aware and self-concerned, we engaged in a journaling exercise about the "Road into Exile" or self-awareness and the "Road of Return from Exile" or being "born again" into an identity centered in God.

Questions to consider when journaling about the Road into Exile were:

1. Recall a time in your childhood when you remember yourself as a unique child, relatively unshaped by societal, parental, cultural, and religious messages.

2. Recall a time in adolescence or early adulthood when you remember yourself as self-conscious and significantly shaped by the three A's: appearance, achievement, and affluence.

3. Recall a time in adulthood when you would say that you were living "a false self" and were exiled from your true identity.

We were asked to journal about the "four kinds of Born-Again Experiences" that may have happened in our life.

1. A sudden and dramatic moment in your life (a revelation, a life-changing epiphany, a sudden conversion)

2. A gradual lifetime incremental process (experiencing the self-forgetfulness that accompanies a deepening trust in God).

3. The shorter rhythms of our lives (may occur several times in periods of major change or transition)

4. The microprhythms of daily life (each day forgetting God -becoming burdened- remembering God -rising from confinement).

We shared our thoughts in small group discussion.

We ended our evening with the Prayer of Jesus.

Our homework for next week is:

• Read chapter 7


• Imagine what the world would be like if God were in charge.


• What would the world be like if we lived the way God intends us to be? Think about this in terms of the Environment, Economic Justice, Health Care, and Imperial Power.

Upper Room and Tomb of Jesus

For anyone looking for a daily meditation website, the Upper Room is online at http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/default.asp

March 4, the Discovery Channel will air the film - The Lost Tomb of Jesus. It will also be shown on Vision TV on March 6.

It is based on the book The Jesus Family Tomb by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino. In a television panel interview, Pellegrino maintains that he is approaching this topic in a reverent manner. Other panelists are sceptical. One panelists feels that this is another one of the annual assaults or seeds of doubt against Christianity.

Other sceptics include the person who originally found the ossuaries about 30 years ago. The names are common Jewish names.

Another sceptic said that he would want to determine:

• if the writing on the tomb is the same age as the tomb.
• whether DNA shows that the Mary is the mother of Jesus
• how a Nazareen family came to be buried in Jerusalem

The same sceptic feels that there is interest in this topic because people are dissatisfied with the biblical narrative of Jesus life. Do you agree or disagree?

Yet, another sceptic wonders why DNA is being used to "prove" religion. Do you think that's what's happening here?

The media is making the case that the site of "Jesus' remains" creates a problem for the Christianity. How does Christianity reconcile physical remains and a different site with the traditional site of Jesus tomb, resurrection, which is now a church? Is that a problem or is the media making it so?

Some claim that the possibility of Jesus fathering a child -(there is a son named on one of the ostuaries) - is explosive and that Jesus was against sexual activity. Do you agree of disagree? How does that change your image of Jesus?

If the bones of Jesus have actually been found, does that present problems for our faith, or does it strengthen it? Would it change your faith?

mayBE Community Blog

This is a seeking community within the Church of England. They try to follow a monastic-like existence while maintaining their own jobs and homes. I have a sense of love and kindness when I read their blog.

Thought I'd pass that along for eveyone.

Here's a link to their blog. http://www.maybe.org.uk/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=mb&item_id=monastic

Jesus

We began our session with a brief Ash Wednesday Lenton Service. We used ashes made from last year's Palm branches and oil to mark us with the words " Your past lays behind. God's future lies ahead."

Mark 8:27-29 was read - "Who do you say I am?", and we discussed our earliest memories of our preception of Jesus.

We broke into pairs to discuss the attibutes of Jesus. Here is a list of the attribute that we attribute to Jesus.

• Friend
• Loving
• Kindness
• Teacher
• Welcoming
• Patient with children
• Determined
• Rage
• Aloof
• Confident
• Radical
• Conduit
• Calm
• Person
• Accepting
• Critical
• Brave
• Challenging
• Comforting
• Provider
• Healer
• Human
• Divine
• Wise
  

We were introduced to various iimages of Jesus on a dvd and in pictures that Lydia brought with her to the session. We listened to Marcus Borg's views of a pre-Easter and post-Easter Jesus via dvd.

Our home work is to "complete ten statements about Jesus that are true for me" or to write an Alphapoem : "Who do you say that I am?"

We ended the session with the Prayer of Jesus.

We are to read Chapter 6 for next week.


Thoughts:

Lydia reminded us that it was okay to disagree with Borg's statements or thoughts. She encouraged us not to worry too much over ideas that we might disagree with.

One question that arouse in a small group discussion was Borg's opinion that Jesus didn't die for our sins. How do we handle our shortcomings, then. Do we wallow in them?

Some of us agree with Borg's statement about Jesus not dying for our sins. Others disagree with him and others fall in between.


Question for discussion:

How do we experience forgiveness from God if we don't believe Jesus died for our sins?