SUNDAY LECTURE | Faith As Fiction

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary of Ordinary Life for August 6, 2023

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Dear Ones -

The title I gave to the dialogue Dr. Holly Hudley and I had in Ordinary Life this week was -

Faith as Fiction

To say that something is “fiction” doesn’t mean it isn’t “true.” The word “fiction” comes from the same root word that we get the word “fabric” and “factory” from.

This class was a continued reflection on our response to “The Sea of Faith” by Don Cupitt. (Again, you can watch the documentary made from the book by clicking here.)

The first thing we have to do in spiritual work is “empty the cup.” We are so full of our own notions and ideas that it can be difficult for new teachings to find a home in us. Holly quoted from Tao this verse:

We join spokes together in a wheel,
But it is the center hole
That makes the wagon move.

We shape the clay into a pot,
But it is the emptiness inside
That holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
But it is the inner space
That makes it livable.

We each reflected on the recent article in The Atlantic that has gotten so much attention on why the American Church is in Decline.

I spoke of the difficulty of “having faith” because there is a reluctance to relinquish long-held beliefs and because it is just hard work to construct a “reasonable faith.”

Holly talked about the faith of “knowing and being able to speak” and of the faith of “not-knowing and being unable to speak.”

The closest synonym to faith is not “belief” but trust. The opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty.

Those are a few of the “highlights” of our time in Ordinary Life this week. There is no text but the audio and video is available on and through the Ordinary Life website.

Our podcast, “In Between,” can be accessed through the Ordinary Life web site.

If you would like to know how to make a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here for video instructions.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.

In order to view or download the announcement slides, click here.

To listen to or download the audio recording of today’s talk, use the audio player below.

To watch the video of today’s talk, use the YouTube link below.

WEEKLY PODCAST | In Between.136

A concise video ignited this conversation given by a Shaolin Monk. You can see it HERE if you have Instagram. He says that in order for something to change, something old must go. He uses the analogy of emptying the tea cup and starting again from the beginning. Emptying the cup is the only way that something blocked can be removed. Our seeking here is to empty the cup, to evaluate and remake the beliefs that do not serve human becoming. There is room for tradition, but there is also an openness to softening the edges to our traditions so that we don’t cling too tightly to at the expense of growth.

We are both interested in evolution, which is to say, change. We are both interested in truth without being hamstrung by doctrinal, literal demands handed to us. We are also both interested in community, in doing this together so that wholeness is more genuinely experienced. We will talk further about how to have reasonable faith on Sunday with some ideas that we need to empty, as well as those that can begin to fill the cup back up. It is an apophatic and cataphatic inquiry. Thanks for joining!

SUNDAY LECTURE | Sea of Faith

ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas to Help You Live a Happier Life

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Summary of Ordinary Life for July 30, 2023

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Dear Ones -

This week in Ordinary Life, Dr. Holly Hudley and I had a dialogue based, in part, on our response to a work by Don Cupitt called “Sea of Faith.” Reading the book is like attending a graduate seminar on the history of Christian religious thought. A good thing is that there is a documentary series based on the book that is easily accessible on YouTube. Click here to be taken to the link. The book was first published in 1988 and the series based on it, which first aired on BBC, was about the same time. So, it is somewhat dated. Nonetheless, I HIGHLY recommend viewing it. (Because it is dated, the closed captions, if you use them, are quirky.)

Though we had a few notes in front of us, there is no text to post. Holly did read a wonderful poem - “I Feel Sorry For Jesus.” Click here to read the poem.

That’s a brief summary of this week’s time in Ordinary Life.

Our podcast, “In Between,” can be accessed through the Ordinary Life web site.

If you would like to know how to make a contribution to Ordinary Life, click here for video instructions.

Be well and much love,

Bill Kerley

In order to view or download the presentation slides, click here.

In order to view or download the announcement slides, click here.

To listen to or download the audio recording of today’s talk, us the audio player below.

To watch the video of today’s talk, use the YouTube link below.

WEEKLY PODCAST | In Between.135

Bill and I committed to talk every day this week and next to prepare for the next two Sundays of teaching. This podcast is a continuation of conversations in which we frame how we will approach teaching together. Bill talked over the last month about three broad categories: God, Prayer, and Death. Each of these, how they function and what they mean, are aspects of mysterium tremendum et fascinans, or that which attracts and repels us. Perhaps they are one and the same - we are attracted and repelled by a single idea. But again, these three, God, Prayer, and Death occupy so much of our human attention. And so we are attending to them, allowing ourselves to be simultaneously attracted and repelled.

Thanks for listening!

Image from the James Webb Space Telescope