Posts by tablemanna (Page 17)

“There are two different ways of describing how you came to know something.  One way is to say you found it out.  The other way is to say it occurred to you.  Reason is involved in both.  To say you found out that So-and-So was the best friend you had suggests that you reasoned your way to such a conclusion.  To say it occurred to you suggests that althought the conclusion was not reached by reason, it was not incompatible…

   The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2012, states, “John Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason” (Our Theological Task Paragraph105 Theological Guidelines: Sources and Criteria) . We continue our worship series this Sunday called Quadrilateral with our attention on Reason.  Our worship will be rooted in  Romans 12.1-3  and the United Methodist Book of Discipline. On “Reason” from…

“We are now challenged by traditions from around the world that accent dimensions of Christian understanding that grow out of the sufferings and victories of the downtrodden.”  Too often tradition is seen as the history of European and American Christians, rather than the diverse flowering of many different expressions of Christianity.  The larger understanding of tradition suggests that particular traditions represent African, Latin American, and Asian traditions must be included as well.  (from United Methodist Doctrine by Scott J. Jones…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw] …without our Traditions our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!

“Christian tradition can …be a resource for the revitalization of the church in our time, but we have to be very caution, for the sake of honesty, about the extent to which we can idealize the past and our relationship to it.  We face the temptation of constructing fictive, idealized cultures to satisfy our longing for deeper roots.  Methodist people can take  (John) Wesley as one bridge to the whole Christian past, but we cannot find in (John) Wesley a…

The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2012, states, “John Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason” (Our Theological Task Paragraph105 Theological Guidelines: Sources and Criteria) . This week our worship series called “Quadrilateral”  will focus on Tradition.  Our Weekly Schedule June 2:  2 Timothy 3.10-17 (Scripture) June 9:  2 Timothy 1.3-7 (Tradition) June 16: Romans 12.1-3 (Reason) June 23: 1 John 4.1 (Experience)   Words on Tradition from The…

“It is strange that the Bible is our most treasured book, and yet it seems so difficult that we don’t find it very helpful.  Perhaps we have expected the wrong things of it; we have asked of it what it cannot do.  We have expected the Bible to keep promises that it has never made to us.  The Bible cannot be a good luck piece to bring God’s blessing.  Nor can it be an answer book to solve our problems…

“If you look at a window, you see flyspecks, dust, the crack where Junior’s Frisbee hit it.  If you look through a window, you see the world beyond.  Something like this is the difference between those who see the Bible as a Holy Bore and those who see it as the Word of God, which speaks out of the depths of an almost unimaginable past into the depths of ourselves.” Frederick Buechner (Wishful Thinking p 12) How do you see…

We begin a new worship series this Sunday called Quadrilateral.  We will focus each week on a different part of the Quadrilateral (Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience).  The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2012, states, “John Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason” (Our Theological Task Paragraph105 Theological Guidelines: Sources and Criteria). Weekly Schedule June 2:  2 Timothy 3.10-17 (Scripture) June 9: 2 Timothy 1.3-7 (Tradition)…

  “The improvising organization creates fluid structures that form, dissolve, and reform as new situations and challenges arise.  Project groups would not be started as the result of a priori abstract planning sessions but emerge as the situation requires.  Groups would come and go, assembled to address issues and serve specific functions and then dissolved.” (from Yes to the Mess p 182) How would this way of thinking allow shifts for your faith community?  

    “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42) Friends old and new gathered around a table.  Good food.   Music playing and candles flickering.  Time to share and pray about how we are doing good, trying to do no harm and staying in love with God.  Formally or informally, this is how my faith has grown.  How do you grow your faith?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBpLKm8vw4M]   Take time to listen to one of the most historic recordings of improvisation in Jazz History.  The Album is “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis.