The mystery of faith and the abuse of order

The mystery of faith and the abuse of order

Catherine Keller, has written about theological thinking from a process perspective in On the Mystery: Discerning Divinity in Process, 2008. She proposes “a way for theology to avoid the garish neon light on absolute truth claims, which was out our vital differences.” Two vital differences are being washed out of the Church of England for me. One is my sexuality and the other is my deep contemplative faith. The Church diminishes my faith by treating both as being questionable elements of my core experience. Catherine explores an alternative path of theology which is not a middle ground nor a compromise but something else, something emerging (a theme common in recent theology), something on the way (echoing the ancient image of Christianity being people ‘of the Way’).

Living and loving in evolutionary times

Living and loving in evolutionary times

This is the blog it has taken me nearly three weeks to write because I knew that engaging with the hostile energy of the Peter Ould’s blog was futile. Our wisdom, attention, time, and creative energy needs to be focused not on engaging with those defending abusive, hierarchical, dogmatic ways of thinking and acting based on Scripture and an anthropomorphic idea of God but on the divine energy which is always evolving and flowing through creation and inspires people, despite the unfortunate endeavours of the church, to trust their feelings and intuition, marry the person they love, live with the person they choose, and share uninhibitedly the glorious liberty and freedom of creation in which the poor and disenfranchised are tenderly blessed by God, “the internal, the infinite, and unnameable”, to quote my young, wise South African friend Zinana.

Orthodoxy is relative

Orthodoxy is relative

It would be good if we were able to live together with our differences, openly and honestly, with our legitimate varieties of belief about sexuality and gender, the authority of Scripture, the nature of God, the core teachings of Jesus, and the differences between realism, myth and metaphor in the Bible. But at the moment we can’t. Intimidation by conservatives who style themselves “orthodox” and “mainstream” is suppressing conversation in the church about issues beyond sexuality and gender and which are ultimately far more important to the radical changes in human awareness and divine truth that we are immersed in and into which some of us are living.

God's Truth twenty-eight years on

God's Truth twenty-eight years on

Twenty-eight years ago in God’s Truth: Essays to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Honest to God, published in 1988 and edited by Eric James, John Bowden wrote “There is need for vision not only inside the churches but outside them. Vision and a concern actually to make some differences where there is a crying need for change. Honesty is quite manifestly not enough; more people are going to have to do some fighting.” The same concerns haunt me today.

God's Unconditional Love

God's Unconditional Love

On 26 December 1986 I set off around the world on a three-and-a-half-month sabbatical. I had been given one task to fulfil on the sabbatical – to keep a journal, solely for my own use. Two months into the sabbatical found me in Australia, at Wynnum North on the edge of Brisbane. I stayed with the Roman Catholic Capuchin Friars where Peter Hand, the parish priest at St Barnabas Southfields when I was confirmed, aged 12, was now resident. In my journal, I wrote: “If coming to Brisbane has taught me anything, it is that now is the time to stop delving back into the past. For the moment I must leave what can’t be changed or remembered behind me, and become absorbed in my new-found confidence and peace, living for the present, enjoying being alive, relaxing, and affirming above all God’s unconditional goodness and love for us all.”

The Heart of Silence - Exploring the place of Silence in Psychotherapy, Society and our World

The Heart of Silence - Exploring the place of Silence in Psychotherapy, Society and our World

Last weekend I attended the Heart of Silence conference organised by the Association of Core Process Psychotherapists at Regent’s University in the heart of Regent’s Park. The website said the conference was not just for psychotherapists but for anyone wanting to explore and experience the value of Silence. “Through Silence we are able to deeply listen to ourselves, one another and our Planet and from this place we can act.”

The lessons of a contemplative prayer workshop

The lessons of a contemplative prayer workshop

I was asked to lead a workshop on Saturday with the focus on contemplative prayer and silence. It turned out to be quite a challenging event. I’d prepared a sheet of notes outlining the ground I wanted to cover – vision of God; vision of ourselves; vision of Christ-like life; contemplative prayer and silence; breathing; with a check list of elements of a spiritually healthy life to conclude. It was an ambitious agenda! 

Interspiritual Meditation

Interspiritual Meditation

I believe there are two core ingredients which are essential to the formation of an integrative, evolutionary spiritual path for Christians being called to growth and depth along a path to truth, holiness and G_d. One is the development of a vision of God which opens to unconditional, infinite, intimate love and the other is a willingness to open the self to truth, beauty and inner presence in silence and meditative/contemplative practice.

How are we travelling through life?

How are we travelling through life?

Abram, says Wittenberg, was one of those who heard. God is a presence which transforms the nature of the journey undertaken by Abram. He says: “It’s no longer only a form of wandering, of following a path half-plotted and half stumbled-upon amidst the exigencies of time. It has become a quest between the exigencies of the human and the other, between the transient and the transcendent. It’s the talking and the listening between them, the arguments, the long silences, and the singing on the way.”