The theologian Peter Rollins said somewhere that whenever the traumatised mind can conceive of a catastrophe the catastrophe has in some senses already happened. I thought of this when I was discussing the future of this church, how precarious it is, like any church it is sustained by the work of its congregation, and of … Continue reading Fall 3 – Fall Out
Author: ajamais
Fall – two: Fall-over
...to apprehend in a sudden brine-clear though trembling like the tiny, orbed, endangered egg-sac of a new world: This is what she was to me, and this is how I can love myself as only a woman can love me... ' From Transcendental etudes by Adrienne Rich The feminist critique of the Adam and Eve … Continue reading Fall – two: Fall-over
Fall – one : Land-Fall
One of the most significant scriptural biblical concepts and one of the most influential ideas around which so much of Western civilization has chosen to base itself, is the story of the fall … it is significant I think that this concept, the idea of humanity’s fall away from the grace of God, is unique … Continue reading Fall – one : Land-Fall
To partake in wilderness (1st Lent)
Psychological or spiritual development always requires a greater capacity in us for the toleration of anxiety and ambiguity. The capacity to accept this troubled state, abide it, and commit to life, is the moral measure of our maturity. James Hollis What happens if we accept this challenge of stepping out of the known into the … Continue reading To partake in wilderness (1st Lent)
It was Christmas evening…
I ‘ve always loved Christmas and I succumbed to the traditions of the high-church at Christmas time; I loved Midnight-Mass (when I attended it for the first time in London in my 30’s) and I still love the Nine Carols and Readings service from Kings college chapel in Cambridge that is broadcast at 3.00 pm … Continue reading It was Christmas evening…
The Marriage of Time and Eternity
While we have been talking about weddings we’ve really been considering our own faith tradition, the way that a service is constructed; its why’s and wherefore’s. We began with the experience of arrival, of the importance of transition when we come into contact with the Sacred and Holy - however we conceive that to be, … Continue reading The Marriage of Time and Eternity
Guests at a wedding…
"... God said: Light itself needs rest. Some things are best seen, unseen, in darkness unhindered by Great Light. Me, for example." Robert Fulton Macpherson I once thought science could give the answer to every question. As I learned more, I found that, for every question answered, two more were generated; so the likelihood of … Continue reading Guests at a wedding…
The wedding of reverence and memory
When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility. ~ … Continue reading The wedding of reverence and memory
Hands full of blood
The prophets who stand on the reredos behind me are curious religious icons: it’s not just that, as John Barton points out in his marvellous History of the Bible, they were neither Priests nor teachers, it seems to me that the awe inspiring writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezkiel very rarely coincide with the format or … Continue reading Hands full of blood
Untranslated
All day I think about it, then at night I say it.Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?I have no idea.My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,and I intend to end up there. but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?Who says words … Continue reading Untranslated
A Space of possibility 