tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post1564947023319095684..comments2024-01-07T09:34:44.086-05:00Comments on What Canst Thou Say?: Everything Must ChangeRobin M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-59091758934980837752008-01-28T15:15:00.000-05:002008-01-28T15:15:00.000-05:00One of the things I have learned from teaching Fir...One of the things I have learned from teaching First Day School is to be able to articulate religious ideas in words under three syllables.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-10313999497327185342008-01-25T19:23:00.000-05:002008-01-25T19:23:00.000-05:00Reminds me a little of the time I went to a Emerge...Reminds me a little of the time I went to a Emergent Church "meet up" in Philly--the evangelical pastor there was so excited by the possibility that faith could be combined with social action, it was touching to see how new an idea this was to him (on my side the excitement was probably the reverse, combining faith with social action!).<BR/><BR/>I've kind of wondered whether part of the burden of a teaching ministry isn't simply to repeat the obvious truths over and over again. It's easy to delve into esoteric details and forget that the basic message is so very simple and so easily overlooked.Martin Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06999620933648327663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-19422504320567758382008-01-25T14:24:00.000-05:002008-01-25T14:24:00.000-05:00Hi Allison, I think I loaned out our copy of The P...Hi Allison, I think I loaned out our copy of The Poor Are The Church. At least it's not where I think it should be on my shelf. We should get one for the meeting library. <BR/><BR/>One of the points in it is that Jesus was of and for the poor, and the church/his followers are supposed to be the same way. When the empire took over the church, things changed. But a great image I read last night was this, from Tony Jones: the gospel is like lava. No matter how much it is crusted over, it will find a thin place and break out.<BR/><BR/>Oh yes, about joy. I wrote a post a couple years ago<A HREF="http://robinmsf.blogspot.com/2005/08/why-do-quakers-talk-like-that.html" REL="nofollow"> Why do Quakers talk like that?</A> There's way more that could be said on this topic!Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-38737796508437761922008-01-24T20:37:00.000-05:002008-01-24T20:37:00.000-05:00Hi Robin,I was going through this when I was doing...Hi Robin,<BR/><BR/>I was going through this when I was doing my work with the homeless in SF. I think that is why I was mad at the Meeting. Some of it might be true (The Poor are the Church... are they really?) but it's hard to tell when you're just mad at the state of the world in general. It's hard being a young person and it's hard caring so much. <BR/><BR/>There needs to be more joy. Why don't Quakers seem to be bubbling over with joy? Isn't joy a form of protest too?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-29724373780950475782008-01-24T11:21:00.000-05:002008-01-24T11:21:00.000-05:00This is so true, Cat. It's hard to remember that t...This is so true, Cat. It's hard to remember that things that seem obvious to me now were new to me once too. My small town public high school education was not big on radical analysis either.<BR/><BR/>I got another new book last night, an advance copy of "The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier" by Tony Jones. There are a slew of books like this coming out around now. Jim Wallis has a new one out. Doug Pagitt has one that I think is called "A Christianity Worth Believing". Mark Scandrette's "Soul Graffitti" is coming out in paperback. So maybe there's more hope than we know.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-85858371048586560532008-01-23T15:59:00.000-05:002008-01-23T15:59:00.000-05:00Not to mention that repeating the obvious--the "ne...Not to mention that repeating the obvious--the "new" that is not so new--is incredibly important to those of us who are, ourselves, new. New Christians, new Quakers, and (maybe most of all) new humans.<BR/><BR/>Each day I'm surrounded by 15 year olds, and sometimes the things they don't know blow my mind! This is especially hurtful when I learn of outreach to my students from at least some of the local evangelical churches, who are still preaching that intolerance of homosexuality is pleasing to God, for instance, or that belief in the theory of evolution will lead to damnation. I hope somebody, in the next few years slips them a copy of a book with a few "new" ideas in it.<BR/><BR/>It won't be me, for lots of reasons, only starting with the separation of church and state. But books like this one are going to be very important, both in helping Christians and progressives find way forward in doing the real work of Spirit, and in preventing more ex-Christian religion refugees.<BR/><BR/>I realize this was awfully opinionated, coming from a non-Christian. If it sounds like there's finger-pointing coming from me, I really am not feeling accusatory. But I do feel pained about the distortions to what I, at least, outsider though I am, understand to be Christianity. It's not a subject on which I feel I can legitimately comment, most of the time. But, well, it pains me.<BR/><BR/>We got new <I>people</I> out here. And the old ideas are not so very old to them. I'm glad they're still being put into words...Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.com