[AllInTheNameOfProgress]

Dutch,
Thanks for your replies! I liked your comments pre-Ross and post Ross Anyone else?

I'm hoping spirituality helps push the 80 percent of people in the middle over to the side of "doing the right thing"

[AllInTheNameOfProgress]

Last Chapter! Whew! Mostly this was a summary of what Ross said before, but I liked what he said about respecting individual methods of prayer. I recently did an online Bible study called, "Morph - Love God", and the most important thing I got from it was an understanding that there is no prescribed way to connect with God. I was never very good about getting up early and reading the Bible, or committing to a particular prayer time every day. I just felt like a failure. But if I see making music as an opportunity to connect, or I pray during my morning run it honors my own personal way of coming to God.

I also liked what Ross said about making our interactions at work sacred.

I think that's all I have to say about this book. I thank Bill for starting us out, because reading this book has challenged and enlightened me (especially with his thoughts about the resurrection story). I still disagree that Christianity is "Common Sense," because I believe having Jesus as our compass calls me to be more than I am, and Jesus often proves my common sense to be folly. However, I'm glad that Ross agrees I don't have to check my mind at the door to follow Jesus!

[billmc]

AllInTheNameOfProgress, on 12 September 2009 - 11:20 PM, said:

I recently did an online Bible study called, "Morph - Love God", and the most important thing I got from it was an understanding that there is no prescribed way to connect with God.

I often get just as much (if not more) from your comments as I do from the book, Janet! I confess, I got bogged down in the middle of the book because I am so undecided as to how "political" or "social" my faith should be. I do believe it should be public, evident to the world, and striving towards making a difference, but I am rather uncomfortable when religious faith takes on a certain political agenda. And I simply haven't worked this out yet. But I certainly appreciate the conclusion that connecting with God is not a "one size fits all" approach. I find it ironic that as much as my early Christian training spouted the words "a personal relationship with God", that if MY relationship with God didn't follow the guidelines, my relationship was questioned.

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I was never very good about getting up early and reading the Bible, or committing to a particular prayer time every day. I just felt like a failure. But if I see making music as an opportunity to connect, or I pray during my morning run it honors my own personal way of coming to God.

I feel much the same. I "feel" the closest to God when I am playing my music (secular also), or when I am doing a family activity, or walking outdoors, or enjoying a good novel. It is usually at these times that my mind is the quietest and when I feel the most connected to what IS.

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I also liked what Ross said about making our interactions at work sacred.

I really need to reread this chapter, but this thought, for me, is key. I no longer define "spirit" or "spiritual" as "other-worldliness" or "non-material" or some sort of nebulous, ambiguous metaphysical existence. To me, spirit and spiritual is all about interconnectedness, about interactions. This is why, IMO, the apostle John could say that we can't claim to love God and hate our brothers/neighbors. And I am personally challenged, at the start of each day, to ask myself, "How am I going to meet God in others today?"

This is quite a shift from the typical Christian approach of "meeting God" in morning Bible study and prayer and then, essentially, going without meeting God until the next quiet time. So I am challenged to meet God in ALL of life, to see all of my interactions with others as encounters with the Sacred. This, to me, is very freeing.

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I think that's all I have to say about this book. I thank Bill for starting us out, because reading this book has challenged and enlightened me (especially with his thoughts about the resurrection story). I still disagree that Christianity is "Common Sense," because I believe having Jesus as our compass calls me to be more than I am, and Jesus often proves my common sense to be folly. However, I'm glad that Ross agrees I don't have to check my mind at the door to follow Jesus!

What a great conclusion! Yes, we all know that "common sense" changes from age to age, sometimes from decade to decade! And I certainly agree that the way of Jesus sometimes goes against common sense, especially the common sense of our culture that seems to be all about personal fulfillment and profit.

What this book has taught me, more than anything else, is that the way of Jesus needs to be re-translated into every age and culture. We can't just take first century Jewish customs and expect them to automatically make sense to 21st century people. Nor can we do that with the theology of the creeds or the Reformation. To me, God must (and indeed does) become incarnate in each one of us every day. This is the only way that the timeless truth of the Spirit can be made manifest today in a real way in our world. It's not about spitting out some centuries-old verbage of how people experienced God in the past and hoping that it will somehow connect with them today. It's about embodying the very Life of the Spirit today and actually making the connections ourselves. Yes, we have to use common sense to do that. But common sense is only the current pipeline for the Life, not the Life itself.

Well, I've drifted afar in rambling. I so appreciate your and other's interactions on this book, Janet. I've read all the posts and learned much. And I've often keep silent because God has spoken to me through what you and others here have said. It's nice to find a place where we can examine meaningful "modern scripture" and neither call for burning or deifying it at the end of our considerations.

bill mc

[AllInTheNameOfProgress]

"What this book has taught me, more than anything else, is that the way of Jesus needs to be re-translated into every age and culture. We can't just take first century Jewish customs and expect them to automatically make sense to 21st century people. Nor can we do that with the theology of the creeds or the Reformation. To me, God must (and indeed does) become incarnate in each one of us every day. This is the only way that the timeless truth of the Spirit can be made manifest today in a real way in our world. It's not about spitting out some centuries-old verbage of how people experienced God in the past and hoping that it will somehow connect with them today. It's about embodying the very Life of the Spirit today and actually making the connections ourselves. Yes, we have to use common sense to do that. But common sense is only the current pipeline for the Life, not the Life itself."

Your summary is even better than mine. I very much like the way you put this. One reason I was so happy to find that there were "progressive Christians" out there was that I was tired of feeling like I was the only one who couldn't fit into the traditional Christian mold. I just finished reading a book today that said we should "find our own Jesus", instead of trying to use someone else's, but then it was just as you said in your early religious experience -- multiple ways of experiencing God were not tolerated. Sad!