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Home Lost Innocence Out of the Nest Starting Out Avoiding Potholes Resurfacing Ladder to Heaven Lay Evangelist Church Conflict

STARTING THE JOURNEY

In our search for truth, we need a starting point,
a point of departure, a place of which we are sure, confident.

Perhaps the place that lies securely
behind barriers that we dare not challenge, or dare not yet challenge.
We start from what we know is true.

Maybe we start within the hallowed pages of a Bible, or another holy book.
Maybe within the doctrine of the church in its Creeds and Collects.

For some their present truth, their point of departure,
may lie in the precepts of the Alpha course,
The attraction of certainty, firm edges,
when all around is flux.

Yet these apparent truths may all seem like steps,
places at which to pause upon a started journey,
places from which we must return or continue,
for, from there, we can not see divinity;
even though, down these same bye-ways,
many may find new hope and faith.

Thus we may consider:

Our Concept of Creation Our Concept of Creation (close)


Every religion supports its concept of creation.
Modern science has created its own ideas,
but still struggles over new perceptions.

Every step takes us further from the ancient legends.
We have disproved their "how", and their "when",
but failed, as they did, to address the "why".
Yet, surely, "why" is the crucial question,
for it exposes our reason for living.
We still ask what lies beyond all,
and meet only silence.

If there was nothing, how did anything create?
If God, whatever God is, created,
what brought God into being,
and why?

These are questions we can not answer, or dare not.
We need to find a discernible, finite, start-point,
a foundation from which to grow; a base-line.

Maybe we can accept the reality of God;
as a firm, a solid, base-line.

Building on the existence of a Creator,
we can seek that Creator's nature
and thus the Cause of all Creation,
the very purpose of our existence.

The Nature of Divinity The Nature of Divinity (close)


God is not, can not be, like us;
not male or female, tall or short;
tangible or visible, as we are;
for God was before.

God is Spirit, said Jesus
what lies behind actions
or initiates everything we do;
intention, motive, desire.

God is Love, said Jesus
the outworking of goodness
the best that thought can be
the purest of intention

There is no room for revenge or anger
punishment or desired sacrifice
in the nature of Divinity.
These are human traits
reflected in guilt on the Creator
and framed to promote and dominate.

We must surely seek beyond our medieval notions
to find a viable conception
of true divinity.

Our View of Eternal Life Our View of Eternal Life (close)


Jesus spoke a lot about the Kingdom of Heaven
 but pointed out that it was all around him - is all around us

Could it be that Heaven is not distant
balanced above on some unlikely cloud
but in the very lives we live
in the way we live our lives?

Could it be that Hell is not below
enclosed in some infernal cavern
forever burning, scalding torment,
but in the way we treat each other,
in anger and soured relationship
in lack of mutual love?

Could it be that the concept of an afterlife
eternal bliss or unremitting torture
is an unreal human construct
for Heaven lies around us
Hell is by our side?

Could it be that our concept of eternity
 emerges from the agenda of priestly control
a vehicle for the generation of holy fear
brandishing the whip of eternal damnation
for those who cross the barriers of religion?

Life as the Gift of God Life as the Gift of God (close)

Is life the gift of God, your life and mine,
or are we mere products of the genes of our forefathers
the result of some sub-duvet coupling?

The reality of existence has no intrinsic spirituality,
is not attuned to God's presence until awakened.
There is no good nor evil in early childhood,
merely the reality of existence.

We hear of God from our fellows
and maybe from God's insistent whisper
to which we may respond, or close our minds,
for God will not make us love Him.

The gift of Love, of God, is freedom
God's surrender of supremacy in our lives
Freedom that allows us to reject Goodness
 and go another way.

This is not the paved path of Satanic myth
 but the self-centred road of personal desire
my wealth, my procreation, my importance.
A life unwakened by divinity.

Can we accept our responsibility for evil,
deny any reality to outside temptation,
realise that we chose that path?

The Way of Jesus The Way of Jesus (close)

Christians are those who follow Christ;
but Christ has become, been changed to, divinity.
Instead of being a spiritual leader we can follow
Jesus has been elevated beyond our reach.

The teaching of the radical Jewish rabbi
was found too testing for the church's clients;
his life and death too challenging;
his Gospel needed softening.

The titles for the Christ were matched to those of Caesar;
"Lord", "Saviour", "Prince of Peace",
even "Son of God" the divine Augustus
and these were later taken as claimed divinity.

How can we reclaim reality from sacrament and dogma?
How can we find Jesus behind the cope and altar?
How can we follow the path obscured by
priestly power struggles and
self-interest?

And So We Set Out And so we set out(close)

So we set out with minds atuned to divinity
 doubting all but the existence of God who is Love,

A Being without frame or feature
unsexable and intangible, but true.

A Being which has been sought by many
and whom many claim to know, but who is unknowable.

A Being of which we may see the shadow
whose actions a presence may expose, but whose motives are a mystery.

We set out to follow the Way
and step carefully around the potholes
that individuals have worn in the pathway
through the corruption of self-interest
and the bias of self-worth.

We remain wary of Potential Potholes
yet dare to travel onward.
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