ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life
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Summary of August 16, 2015
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Dear Folks -
As you likely know, I decided some time ago to base the “life talks” I offer in Ordinary Life on my reading, study and response of and to teachings found in “The Gospel of Thomas.” I have multiple teaching goals. Among them are, of course, to make the living of “ordinary life” more fulfilling. I also want to contribute to both religious and spiritual literacy.
No teaching of Jesus has been as abused and misused by what became the United States any more than the one we looked at this week. From the very beginning of the founding of the colonies up until the present time what became the US has been identified with “a city set on a hill.” Of course, it seems quite clear that Jesus did not have the United States in mind but a version of “Christianity” has been conflated with the US. What this has led to are policies and practices that have taken advantages of those who stood in the way of “manifest destiny” or who took issue with “American Exeptionalism."
This is what this week’s talk in Ordinary Life was about. I used our recent experience in Alaska and the Native Americans who live there and the writings of Shane Claiborne to illustrate my points. The full text from which I spoke, the presentation slides and the audio of the talk can be found using the links below.
Be well!
Much love,
Bill Kerley
To read or download the text of the talk, click here.
To view the presentation slides, click here.
To listen to the audio of the talk, use the link below.