R.S. Thomas writes, “Life is not hurrying on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past. It is the turning aside like Moses to the miracle of the lit bush, to a brightness that seemed as transitory as your youth once, but is the eternity that awaits you.” We find our home in the moment even as we seek to become something more than who we are in that moment. This places our home in the present, but assures that it is never static. To claim such a static home would be to pitch our tent in Babylon and embrace exile apart from the transforming work of God. The Kingdom is here and now, but it is never just here and now. We must always be seeking God as we make our home in God.
Julie Clawson
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Chief Rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks - The Case for God
For our first meeting after the summer break we watched a short programme made by Rabbi Sacks. He invited four people who didn't believe in god to speak to question him about his understanding of god.
One was the novelist Howard Jacobson, a secular jew. Jacobson's main problem with Judaism was the idea that god might be interesting in the minutia of his life, the rules about what can be eaten etc. Sacks disagreed, feeling that it was vital that our day to day lives are patterned by our faith.
I can't remember the names of the other guests! One was a scientist who saw no place for god, thinking that as we learn more and more about our world the space for god becomes smaller and smaller.
Another guest, again a secular jew, challenged Sacks for his response to the holocaust, asking where god is in that kind of situation? how does the believing jew respond. Sacks was clear that for him the response of faith was to fight against that kind of injustice, that god was there with the victims. That we should cry out against injustice.
It was an interesting programme that sparked some good discusion within the group.
One was the novelist Howard Jacobson, a secular jew. Jacobson's main problem with Judaism was the idea that god might be interesting in the minutia of his life, the rules about what can be eaten etc. Sacks disagreed, feeling that it was vital that our day to day lives are patterned by our faith.
I can't remember the names of the other guests! One was a scientist who saw no place for god, thinking that as we learn more and more about our world the space for god becomes smaller and smaller.
Another guest, again a secular jew, challenged Sacks for his response to the holocaust, asking where god is in that kind of situation? how does the believing jew respond. Sacks was clear that for him the response of faith was to fight against that kind of injustice, that god was there with the victims. That we should cry out against injustice.
It was an interesting programme that sparked some good discusion within the group.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
our last meeting before the summer.... poverty
When we meet in july we looked at poverty and how it can be defined and understood very differently.
Should poverty be measured in absolute terms (eg. $1 a day) or is it better to define poverty in relation to the wealth of others in the same (or even a different) society.
Should poverty be measured in absolute terms (eg. $1 a day) or is it better to define poverty in relation to the wealth of others in the same (or even a different) society.
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