Dear Folks -
Wow! I was stunned beyond belief. In my wildest imagination I could
not have imagined what would have happened yesterday.
I can think of no more significant gift I have ever received and could
not feel more honored and appreciated than I do by the actions taken
by the members of Ordinary Life yesterday. Thank you.
For those of you who weren't in attendance at Ordinary Life the
leadership of the class, represented by John Watson, announced the
establishment of "The Kerley Endowment for Spiritual Advancement and
Understanding." Let me quote from the printed piece: the fund is
established by the class as a way "to honor their teacher, Dr. Bill
Kerley. The fund is part of and managed by St Paul's Methodist
Foundation of Houston, a permanent endowment fund at St. Paul's United
Methodist Church of Houston, Texas. Proceeds and earnings attributable
to this fund will be available to underwrite educational activities
and programs which further the lessons of Dr. Kerley's own faith
journey."
I'll ask that the complete text of the handout be posted on the
Ordinary Life website.
I was so speechless that some of the words I had prepared for
yesterday never made it out of my mouth. You can listen to the audio
version via the website. What follows is the text I had prepared for
the talk.
In summary my goal was to talk about what it might look like for us to
be "the light of the world."
Much love,
Bill Kerley
Download 20081123.pdf
Download 20081123.mp3
Download Kerley endowment information
Read moreDear Folks -
I have asked Dr. Don Maple to speak for us this week. Don is a
member of St. Paul's and a retired Methodist minister. The title of
his talk is -
"Evolution in Scripture and Life"
This is what he has to say about it:
Following on the O.L. theme of "awakening," we will examine
Scripture as the religious community that wrote it matured in their
understanding of the forces that they saw shaping their lives and
named them God. Using Stephen Gould's concept of punctuated
equilibrium we'll think about how that idea suggests that change comes
gradually and at propitious occasions. Life moves along on a flat
plane and then usually in the life of an individual punctuation or a
transitional moment occurs and a step in depth understanding happens.
Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, etc. had such moments.
We will compare the macrocosmic understanding of God in the Hebrew
Bible with a similar microcosmic process toward maturity in our own
lives. Hopefully this will help us see more clearly that the Bible
speaks of our life journey in surprising ways. Using the Christian
Bible concept of teleios (maturity) we will see what Jesus is calling
for on a central theme in His teaching. (Agape love is mature love).
The purpose of this teaching is to help us understand that the
Hebrew Bible God of sometimes vengeance and war-like desires (see
Jericho) is not a different God from Jesus' God of grace and love, but
rather represents a growing maturity in the religious community's
ability to name what they experience. Not only is the Old Testament
God the same God as the New Testament names, but that God is still in
the process of being revealed. I call this thought "developmental
theology," the basis of my doctoral work.
Don is a solid and good person. I hope you are able to attend and
take advantage of this opportunity to hear him.
Much love,
Bill Kerley
Download 20061116.mp3
Read moreDear Folks -
I read somewhere recently that most all people who drive automobiles think that they are above average drivers. That is to say, we have a tendency to evaluate ourselves higher than might actually be the case. When it comes to evaluating how we are doing psychologically and spiritually most all people think that we are alert and aware, loving and compassionate. Yet, just a cursory glance at our behaviors indicates that this is not the case. In the talk I gave in Ordinary Life this past week I talked about what it means to be awake and how foreign this state is to us.
A full text and audio of the talk is below. (Please click on the blue link of your choice to download.)
Much love,
Bill Kerley
Download 20081109.pdf
Download 20081109.mp3
Read moreDear Folks -
At some point on the spiritual journey we must go in if we are to go on. This inward journey is difficult for everyone - especially for those who feel they have already made it, that they already know themselves. Oddly we have a more difficult time embracing the noble aspects of ourselves than those we might label "bad." This talk is about the powerful and sometimes destructive role the repressed and denied aspects of ourselves can be. We are, in spiritual life and living, called to exhibit a greatness that is already in us.
Much love,
Bill Kerley
Download 20081102.pdf
Download 20081102.mp3
Read more