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?

Contemplative Spiritual Practice

A book discussion group on the Net worth "listening to " is the Progressive Christian. One of their group is interested in contemplative spiritual practice.

Here's a quote from their discussion.

Another oft-neglected element of Christian tradition which interests me a lot is the contemplative strand. Awareness by Anthony de Mello is one of my all-time favourite books.

It sounds interesting. Lydia, do you have any comments on book or the author?

God, the Heart of Reality

After centering ourselves by listening to Wa,Wa, Wa, Emimimo, we began our session by reading Psalm 139:1 -14. The Psalmist describe God as Protector, All knowing, Within, Goodness, Guide, Comforter, Creator, Graceful, Genuine, Strength, Teacher.

We engaged in the spiritual practice of saying these names at random and completed it with a prayer.

Other names that we added to the list included Father, Friend, Higher Power, Almighty, Holy One, Lord, and Baby Jesus.

Scriptually, metaphors for God vary. One metaphor is too limiting.

Isaiah 42:4 - Woman in labour
1John !:5 - Light
Psalm 68:5 - Father of orphans, Protector of widows
Revelation 15:3 - Lord God Almight, King
Isaiah 66:13 - Mother
Psalm 18:2 Rock
Hebrews 12:29 - Fire
Exodus 3:13-14 - I AM
2 Corinthians: 3:17 - Freedom, Spirit
Deut. 32:18 - Rock
Psalm 23:1 - Yahweh, shepard
Matthew 6:9 - Father
Psalm 84:1 - Protector, King
Isaiah 64:8 - Potter
Psalm 40:17 - Lord
1 John 4:8 - Love
Psalm 61:34 - Spirit

Hymns are other ways that we express our faith. The context in which they are sung can be powerful ways that God speaks to us. We looked at the following hymns:
430 - God is omnipresent
260 - Joyful Joyful We adore Thee. - God is goodness, joy. Musically, the tune is joyful.
232 - God is described as immortal

When singing hyms, we may want to ask "What is the picture of God in this hymn?" Can I say yes to this image of God?

Small group discussion topics were:

How do you experience God in your life?

What experiences have you had, or what data do you possess, that persuade you toward the religious or non-religious worldview?

What descriptive words have meaning and power for you as you think about your concept of God?

On a continuum from 1-10 between these two extremes that describe the character of God, where would you put yourself? How has this changed during your lifetime?

We ended with a blessing from Isaiah 43:1-3a. We arranged ourselves in three circles. One at a time, someone entered the center of the circle, and we spoke their name in the following blessing.

But now thus says God who created you, _________,
God who formed you ______________:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, ________, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you:
and through the river, they shall not overwhlem you;
When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am your God.

We are to read Chapter 5 Jesus: The Heart of God

More about Marcus Borg

If you are interested in more of Marcus Borg's writings, we have permission to link to the Spirituality & Practice webpage at http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/teachers/teachers.php?id=100&g=2

It's quite a good webpage with very interesting links.

Labyrinth

For anyone interested in purchasing a labyrinth, the Anglican Church resource center sells them. The style is like Jan's. It costs $99.00. To take a look or to order one, please see their website at http://www.anglicanbookcentre.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=33698

Their's is the only Canadian site the I could find. I tried the Lighthouse Bookstore, but they didn't know where they would order something like that.

I liked this one, but will likely save my pennies to buy it. Will mention it to the C.E. committee as something to purchase for the Church unless someone else has a different suggestion.

Please let me know if you want me to pursue getting someone local to make one.

Someone mentioned that a craftsperson with a router could likely do it, but they would need a steady hand. I just thought that it might be just as easy to purchase one that is commercially made.

What are the thoughts of the group?

Progressive Christian Journal

Here's an interesting journal. Take a look http://www.zhonline.org/index.html.

I was interested in the reflection article - Us and Them.

The magazine is very much aimed at an American audience, but there is food for thought and challenges for everyone.


Look forward to people's thoughts!

The Bible

We began our session with a Biblical Bingo mixer. Intrigued? Ask Lydia for a copy!

After sharing the responses to the bingo, we centered ourselves with Wa,Wa,Wa, Emimimo/Come, O Holy Spirit, Come.

As we introduced ourselves, we shared our favourite Biblical character. Our responses indicated the richness of the Bible. Biblical references are all around us in advertising and everyday language. Lydia invited us to take note in our journals everytime we hear a biblical saying. It indicates the extent of biblical influence in our society.

Marcus Borg addressed us by way of a dvd, and we began our discussions.

We addressed the question "Can the Bible be divinely inspired and not literal?"

We agreed with Borg that the Bible can be divinely inspired through the filter of history and culture. The Bible is "more than literal". We take the Bible very seriously, and it is our source of identity as a Christian community.

Borg presents us with a historical, metaphorical and sacramental view of the Bible.

Historical Product

• Produced by humans who were inspired by God


• It documents how they saw their life with God.

Metaphorical

• A metaphor compares something without using the word "like". The Bible is full of figurative language for describing God and events.


• Metaphorical language invites us into the truth of a story. Whether or not an event actually happened is irrelevant. The truth represented in the story is the main point.

Sacramental

• A sacrament is the physical expression of faith. It is the way the Church expresses a spiritual truth. Baptism and Communion are ways that we put our faith into something we can see, feel, taste, and touch.


• The Bible is sacramental by its ability to be the vehicle or vessel through which the Spirit speaks to us.

We were introduced to the spiritual practice of Lectio divina. While we sat quietly and meditated, Lydia slowly read Luke 8:22-25 to us three times. Between each reading she was silent for a few minutes. We were to watch for a word or phrase that stood out for us. After the reading, we shared our thoughts in our small discussion groups and then with the entire group.

Lectio divina can be practiced by ourselves, too.

We also shared with each other the scripture passages that spoke to us.

In closing, we said The Prayer of Jesus.

Preparation for next week:

Read Chapter 4 God: The Heart of Reality

During the next week, we are invited to follow the instructions offered by Marcus Borg on page 73, when he quotes Frederick Buechner:

"Listen to your life. Listen to what happens to you because it is through what happens to you that God speaks. It's in language that's not always easy to decipher, but it's there powerfully, memorably, unforgettably."

DeniseW is investigating where interested individuals might purchase a labyrinth or get one made.

Four Types of Faith

Hi Everyone:

Just had an interesting conversation. A couple of us are wondering about the four types of faith.
Do we need to have all four types of faith to lead a balanced life in faith?

What are your thoughts, Jan and Lydia and anyone else?

We'd love to hear your comments.

Wonder Cafe

http://www.wondercafe.ca/

More about Marcus Borg

Hi Everyone!

I found a very interesting website called Spirituality and Practice. It has a webpage on Marcus Borg with links to his books, website, and interviews.

The website is has a blog on Spiritual Literacy, which looks very interesting.
The one of the authors of the site is a clergyman from the United Church of Christ.
I have emailed and asked permission to link their site to our blog for your information.

Until we hear back from them, I found the site by Googling Borg + "spiritual practice".

By the way, one of Borg's sermons is linked on the site. He mentions that being spiritual and serious about Jesus is really simple. It means centering one self in God and acting in a compassionate way with justice, as is the Way of Jesus. (This answers my question that I posed in the last blog.... and okay, now I feel a bit dense. Sometimes the obvious seems too simple.)



The latest Observer has an article about mega churches and what we can learn from them.

I just finished reading A Life With Purpose by George Mair. It's about Rev. Rick Warren who wrote the Purpose Driven Life. Warren is a minister of a mega church. It describes the key factors that Warren identified in seekers. Welcoming greeters, a positive message, non-traditional looking buildings, and a lack of denominational label in the church's name were some of the things that attracted these seekers. Interestingly, the book mentions that Warren's church will have to change to attract the next generation of young adults, who want churches with more evidence of traditional Christian symbols.

A headline in an edition of the Brandon Sun proclaimed that the traditional Churches are regaining members. Didn't read the article, but maybe the trend is reversing.

Anyway, Mair's book kind of fits into our study group as it is exploring how one person's faith and discernment made a difference in the world.

It's a quick read and very interesting. If anyone wants to borrow it, just ask.


Another interesting website to check out is Our Daily Bread. Some of our group reads it on a daily basis as part of their private devotional. It is a very thought provoking site.

Does anyone else have any websites that they would like to share with the group?

Chapter 2 - Faith

We began with our worship ritual of listening to Wa, Wa,Wa, Emimimo, lighting a candle, and reading scripture. The lesson was paraphrased from Hebrews 11:8-16

Our second session focused on faith and how we view our personal faith journey. Our group was arranged in small groups of four with one group of five. We stayed in these groups for the evening.

As we discussed our individual faith identities, we place ourselves in three continua with a ranking of 1 - 10 in response to the following questions:
1. What feelings are typical for you as you think about significant changes in matters of faith. ( fearfulness – anxiety- neutral – bring them on!)
2. How much have you changed in matters of faith in your own faith journey ( very little, somewhat, a great deal)
3. How far are you from Borg in his presentation of ideas regarding an emerging Christianity ( far, far away/ some similarities/ quite close)



We discussed the four types of faith: Fidelitas, Visio, Fiducia, and Assensus .

Assensus:

• "head" orientated faith
• belief in statements

Fiducia:

• "heart" orientated
• Radical trust
• Relationship

Fidelitas:

• Faithfulness or allegiance
• Conscious decision to follow Jesus' Way
• Relationship aspect

Visio:

• Vision of the whole of life
• Seeing "what is" as nourishing and lifegiving and good

Credo as Assensus:

Borg suggests that we can also give our heart in Assensus if we use the premodern English form of believe. To "believe" meant to love. To believe in God means to belove God and all that God beloves.

We are challenged to love God and all that God loves (our neighbours, creation, etc.). This is the challenge of the Christian life.

Our small group discussions focused on how we have experienced our faith. Some indicated that there was a joyfulness when they experienced a change in their faith. A crisis of some kind can often accompany a faith experience.

We were invited to use a finger labyrinth to reflect upon how God has been active in our lives over the past year. We journalled these thoughts and shared them with our small groups.

We ended our discussion by praying the paraphrase of Jesus' prayer.

Our "homework" is:

• Read Chapter 3
• Choose a favourite character from the Bible, whom you will name when you introduce yourself to the group
• Choose and bring with you a passage of scripture through which the Spirit has spoken to you in some way at some time in your life.

Thoughts:

I found the finger labyrinth to be very releasing. My mind kind of drifted and felt light while I was doing that. Did anyone else have the same feeling?

I am most humbled by the small group discussion. There is much deep faith, and I felt that I have much to learn and grow in faith.

My faith struggle has been very intellectual. My journey of faith began with doubts when I was a teenager. I doubted the bible, whether Easter resurrection happened, and whether Jesus was a real person. After reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, I seemed to find some comfort. (Although, I find it too simplistic,now.) My faith crisis was resolved by accepting that “something” happened at Easter. The disciples were empowered by something rather than being afraid and silent. I felt joy and relief when that seemed to be resolved. Other instances of faith crisis in my life have also been around belief questions, although I was very emotional during the faith/identity crisis.

I’ve never doubted that God is loving, and that has helped me through sad times.

My question to the group is how does one move from being “belief” centered to being “heart” centered? Or is trusting that God will speak in some form the first way of finding "heart-centered" faith?

Look forward to hearing your faith experiences and your thoughts.

Denise W.

Heart of Christianity Study Group

Blessings!

Thank you for looking at this blog. If you are reading the Heart of Christianity by Marcus J. Borg, you have found the blog of our study group.

This blog aims to provide a collaborative online forum for the study group to explore the ideas of the book. To provide a respectful blog, please write with the following disciplines in mind as adapted from our group's terms of reference:

• inclusiveness
• non-judgment
• openness to learning from differences.

Please be aware that anyone may be able to read this blog, and, therefore, it is like having a conversation on the street corner. Anyone can "over hear" what you say. This is likely not the place to post extremely personal information.

First Meeting:

Our first meeting began with introductions. Our minister, Lydia Glawson, had a small table coffee table in the center of the room. On top of the green table cloth, we found a green candle, a water pitcher, and a loaf of bread.

Our study group began by lighting the candle. Wa,Wa,Wa, Emimimo or Come, O Holy Spirit, Come - a Nigerian chant- was played to invite the Holy Spirit to come among us. Lydia read from Luke's gospel. We were invited to think of ourselves as journeying like the two travellers who met the risen Christ on the road. This is the beginning of our journey as we reflect on what Christianity means to us personally and corporately. It will be a deepening of our faith.

After Marcus Borg addressed us through a dvd, we broke out into small discussion groups. We discussed our personal reflections about the gifts we received (or not) from our various faith traditions. We also discussed Borg's premise that there is an earlier form of Christianity and an emerging form of Christianity.

The earlier form of Christianity is the one many churches have practiced over the last century.
The Bible is divine product which is to be understood literally and factually. The bible is the revelation of doctrine and morals, and the Christian life emphasises an afterlife and what to believe or do to be saved.

The emerging form of Christianity sees the Bible as a human response to God. It is interpreted historically and metaphorically. It's function is to be a sacred means whereby the Spirit speaks to us through metaphor. The Christian life is a transformation in this life through relationship with God.

We raised the following questions in response to these paradigms.

1. Can the Bible be divinely inspired and literal?

2. Why do so many people cling to the earlier paradigm?

3. Is Borg trying too hard to divide Christianity into two groups?

4. Are we going to rewrite the Bible to suit ourselves?

5. Maybe we need to work hard at following Jesus' way.

6. How is it possible to be Christian and not believe in Christianity?


Lydia invited us to be intentional about our daily spiritual practice. We are encouraged to pray, read scripture and let it speak to us, and use meditation and music. Journaling how God is active in our daily life is also another spiritual practice we might consider.

Lydia broke the bread, and we shared the bread with each other with the words "Bread for the journey."

The group dispursed until next week, but we were encouraged to discuss our reading and thoughts with each other. Thus, this blog is another means to do that sharing.

We are to read chapter two for next week. If anyone wants to share their thoughts of chapter one and chapter two, please feel free.

Blessings.