Begin Again

December 18, 2011 Bill Kerley

Dear Folks -

I know that this week is a busy time for most of you with shopping, visiting, traveling and all the other matters related to the Christmas season. If you are in the Houston area I would remind you that there will be Christmas Eve services at St. Paul's at noon, 2 (Spanish service), 4, 6 and 8. The services are an hour earlier than usual this year since Christmas falls on Sunday.

There will be no gathering of Ordinary Life on Christmas Day and only one service of worship at 11:05.

On New Year's Day there will be a social hour on the first floor of the Jones Building during the time Ordinary Life usually meets.

Ordinary Life will resume our regular schedule on January 8, 2012.

The title I gave this week's talk in Ordinary Life is

Begin Again

In the talk I differentiate between "salvation theology" and "transformational theology." There is no place to get to in our spiritual practice because our spiritual work is, thankfully and frustratingly, an ongoing process.

The full text I used to speak from is below.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Click here to upload audio

Click here to download .pdf text file

Click here to download .pdf slides

Table Scraps Theology

December 11, 2011 Bill Kerley

Dear Folks -

This week's "life talk" is titled "Table Scraps Theology" and is based on what I think is one of the most powerful of all the stories in the Jesus story. It is one that is not frequently dealt with because, among other things, it presents us with several significant challenges: challenges about how we think about ourselves, others and - especially - Jesus. It is a story in which, because of an encounter Jesus has with an absolute "outsider," he changes his mind. The goal of the talk is to get us to be open to making changes of mind, heart and behavior ourselves.

The full text I used to speak from is below.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Click here to download audio file

Click here to download text

Click here to download slides

Journey Inward/Journey Outward

December 4, 2011 Bill Kerley

Dear Folks -

I have used this phrase in my talks the past few weeks:

Wise and useful spiritual work and religious ritual should take us deeper into ourselves
and further into the future - both at the same time. In this talk which I titled

Journey Inward, Journey Outward

I amplify on this notion. I end up saying that this spiritual journey cannot be
understood from the standpoint of the dualistic mind and offering a poem by
Anne Sexton to make my point.

The link to the full text I used to speak from is below.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Click here to download audio

Click here to download text

Click here to download slides

A Muscular Hope

November 27, 2011 Bill Kerley

Dear Folks -

Several years ago I heard some late night comic on television observe, "The Christmas decorations are up. That can only mean one thing. Thanksgiving is not far behind."

It seems the Christmas decorations are up earlier and earlier in our culture - especially in the temples of our cultural religion - the shopping malls.

I love Christmas but the way it is approached in our culture causes people to buy into the notion of optimism rather than hope. Optimism and hope are very different.

The "life talk" I offered this week is called

A Muscular Hope

In the talk I try to say why it was that the Jesus movement grew to the point that early in the fourth century it was made the official religion of the Roman Empire.