Hierdie week se liturgie: 30_september_2012

Miskien is die inleiding van vandag se epos ietwat langer as gewoonlik maar ek wil graag begin met ʼn aanhaling wat die essensie is vir eerskomende Sondag se gesprek –

“There are many signs that God is a dead letter (if not actually dead), and one sign that he has a future. The many signs circulate around the rise of science, as almost everyone realizes. When Freud called religion a rear-guard action to defend the indefensible, he wasn’t sneering. He was representing the change in worldview that science brought with it. A rational approach to the universe deposed the Book of Genesis, while two world wars settled anyone’s hash who thought of God as a benign father who loved his children. The bomb raised the spectre of Jehovah bent on destroying the world not by flood but by fire.

I set out many years ago to show that there’s another way to view God, as the source of consciousness and the vital creative spring from which we get our mind, creativity, and above all, our ability to evolve. God is on the move. That’s the one hopeful sign. Once you drop the storybook image of a patriarch sitting on his throne above the clouds, room is made for a different story.

It’s an ancient story, largely from the East, that connects this world with higher reality. For the sake of simplicity, Eastern images of God have a face and a gender. But to call God “he” or “she” doesn’t get at the essence. The essence of God is pure consciousness, infinite possibilities, and endless unfoldment. Measured by those markers, humans are made in God’s image, which is cause for enormous optimism.  

The problem all along, whether you look at the Book of Job, the New Testament, or the lives of the saints, was that we reversed the scheme: we created God in our own image. This was inevitable. The human mind is limited; God is infinite. There is no possibility for a limited mind to grasp an infinite one except in small fragments, and these fragments, once ossified into religions, became the true God for millions of people, depending on their culture. 

God without any image sits at the heart of every faith, and once we get over our ingrained scepticism, disillusion, and broken hearts, God will continue to evolve, for the simple reason that humans never stop evolving. The leap that will resurrect God can only happen through personal experience. To know God by standing apart and analyzing the situation doesn’t work. It works for sceptics because they are working toward a preconceived conclusion. If they met Christ on the sidewalk, they’d still debunk God. 

Once you drop the storybook image of a patriarch sitting on his throne above the clouds, room is made for a different story.” ‘God: A Story of Revelation’ by Deepak Chopra (2012)

Meer as ooit van te vore glo ek dat die mens se siel honger na ʼn sinvolle verhouding met God. Dit is ʼn dors vir iets veel groter en dieper as wat dogma en religie bied. Om die waarheid te sê, die moderne mens soek na God en nie godsdiens nie al sou laasgenoemde ʼn natuurlike uitvloeisel wees van eersgenoemde is dit nie ʼn voorwaarde vir ʼn verhouding met God nie. Miskien is dit wat Sri Sri Ravi Shankar bedoel as hy sê: "You don’t have to follow Christianity. Just follow Jesus."

DIE SIEL AS BEELD VAN GOD
i.     Nie ʼn projeksie nie maar ʼn REFLEKSIE
ii.   Nie vorm, definisie of dimensie nie maar ʼn VERHOUDING
iii.  Nie ʼn verwydering nie maar ʼn OPENBARING van versoening

Maak Sondag tyd vir ʼn uur om saam met ons die maand af te sluit en Oktober (“die mooiste mooiste maand”) in te gaan.

Ons begin na die skoolvakansie met die laaste blok van ACIM. Jy is steeds meer as welkom om in te skakel. 
Daar is ʼn lys van 60 ‘gesprekke’ oor ʼn verskeidenheid van temas beskikbaar op CDs wat opgeneem is toe ek by Kruiskerk was, asook ʼn volledige stel oor die “Geskiedenis van die Bybel”. Kontak my gerus indien jy belangstel.

10h00 Sondag in die kapel van die Kolping Sentrum —  Besoek ons  FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Neo-Spektrum/278715195501651 vir meer inligting.

Gedagte vir die Week:
“Refuse to fall down. If you cannot refuse to fall down, refuse to stay down, lift your heart toward heaven like a hungry beggar, ask that it be filled and it will be filled. You may be pushed down. You may be kept from rising. But no one can keep you from lifting your heart toward heaven-only you. It is in the middle of misery that so much becomes clear. The one who says nothing good came of this is not yet listening” — Clarissa Pinkola Estes