humanity is a family which has hardly met. Theodore Zelden The Spirit or “Go-between” God is the life-giving, erotic impulse, the spark of recognition, the relational pull and attraction in whom we find life. Jesus as the Word reminds us that our relationship with God is a kind of conversation, a “dialogue of salvation”. When […]
16th Sunday after Pentecost
20 September 2020 We’re celebrating the new growth of spring with its fresh greens and glorious colours. Today we hear the parable of the labourers in the vineyard and reflect on the generosity of the landowner as he invites everyone to come and work among the vines. Follow the parts of the service on this […]
A Spirituality of Communion: “to see or to perish”
to see or to perish Teilhard de Chardin God “sees” and “attends” – and in the act of seeing God creates. Another way of saying this is to say God “makes room” for creation by constricting divine power. This quintessential female experience – making room for another – is always creative – it is a […]
A spirituality of communion: “fostering a climate where communion takes place”
This week begins a seven-part series A Spirituality of Communion. As an additional resource a PDF of the text of Fr Philip’s meditation is available at the link at the end of the post. fostering a climate where communion takes placeElizabeth O’Connor Let there be spaces in your togethernessKahlil Gibran The word salvation (like the […]
Fully Alive, Fully Human: Radical action begins with radical contemplation.
What sort of rhythm of life have you noticed you need? Get in touch with a time(s) when God’s presence touched you. Can you imagine that same God moving and acting in you now – for the sake of our world? What’s God saying to you now? What time and space and solitude do you […]
Fully Alive, Fully Human: Prayer, enlarging the heart
Real prayer leads to action, leads to what we can do for people. But it also saves us from fantasies of omnipotence, of imagining that we can do for people what we manifestly can’t do, and from the anxiety and guilt feelings such fantasies evoke. And praying for people also makes us sensitive to their […]
The Blessed Virgin Mary
August 16, 2020 Today is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Thanks to Stephanie for the image at the top of this post of our own stained glass window. Our statue of Mary is robed and ready for the celebration. In this post you will hear readings and music from our […]
Fully Alive, Fully Human: Catalyst for change
Michael Ramsey, in his book on the Transfiguration, distinguishes between archaism (yearning for the golden past), futurism (lost in a fantasy unrelated to reality), escapism (which scarcely needs an explanation), and transfiguration – the faith whereby “we bring the total situation as we ourselves participate in it, into a larger context which gives it new […]
Fully Alive, Fully Human: How can you believe in Jesus Christ and let things stay as they are?
John Taylor argues that the New Testament picture of the caring ministry of the followers of Christ may be summarized as follows: To notice the unnoticed. To celebrate the non-celebrities. To question the unquestioned. To empower the powerless. To put in touch the out of touch. We are often shocked by the world we live […]
Fully alive, fully human: a new way of being human
Jesus came, not so much to form a new religion, but to usher in a new way of human being and relating. He does not offer us a particular way of being religious, but a universal way of being human. Deeply motivated by a profound sense of the communion we have with God and each […]