ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life
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Summary for August 25, 2019
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Dear Folks -
A variety of polls taken in various places around the world show that people believe that their country and their world is as divided as it has been in decades. Our world and its inhabitants need the values of peace, love, joy, patience and humility. We are the ones to experience and express these values. We cannot wait or look for others to do this desperately needed work for us.
I have been using questions asked by Jesus to help me in constructing the talks I offer in Ordinary Life. Jesus had a vision of a world organized so as to urge and enable human beings to respect and care for each other and so to promote the well-being of everyone. However, in communicating this vision, Jesus himself was a trouble maker. One of his questions, “You don’t think I came here to smooth things over, did you?,” is the one this talk is based on. The question closely associated with this one is: “You know how to read weather maps. Why don’t you know how to read the signs of the times?” We’ll get to that one next week. But, they go together.
In my teaching I want to contribute to the healing of division, not cause more. That’s why I love a line I got from Jim Wallace of Sojourners. He says, “Don’t go left. Don’t go right. Go deep.” What might that look like for us? I use one of my favorite passages from Thich Nhat Hanh on compassion as an answer. I gave the talk the same title as the passage -
Please Call Me By My True Names
That is a very brief summary of the talk I offered this week in Ordinary Life. As if often the case, I think the audio version is different and, I think, better than the text.
You can read or download the text from which I spoke, view the presentation slides, listen to the audio of the talk and/or watch the video of the talk using the links below.
If you are reading this, I want you to know how grateful I am for and to you.
Be well and much love,
Bill Kerley
To read or download the text of the talk, click here.
To view or download the presentation slides, click here.
To listen to the audio version of the talk, use the player below.