tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post3388840592941931623..comments2023-12-15T21:49:46.651+01:00Comments on Pluralist Speaks: A Small CommunityPluralist (Adrian Worsfold)http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922153724523820866noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-71457764078216315002010-12-27T16:32:26.738+01:002010-12-27T16:32:26.738+01:00I suppose that's where our gnat's kneecap&...I suppose that's where our gnat's kneecap's differene does matter. I value the core message of the church, I believe the faith in the core of love that haunts the Universe (my favourite Richard Holloway sentence)can be found there more easily than anywhere else.<br />That the vast majority isn't aware of it is neither here nor there.<br /><br />I have found something incredibly deep and life-giving through the church and I wish there was a way my children could find it too. I can see why they can't, but I have no idea where else they might find it.Erika Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812376497361267014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-45092505371395137262010-12-27T15:21:52.049+01:002010-12-27T15:21:52.049+01:00Well obviously very many people, by far the majori...Well obviously very many people, by far the majority, see no need for such a base.<br /><br />Then there are refugees, some hanging on, some gone, some elsewhere. Churches have become an acquired taste, and are bound to become small , but the hangers on or off are marginal to them.Pluralist (Adrian Worsfold)https://www.blogger.com/profile/01922153724523820866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-56071643620841818362010-12-27T13:45:58.984+01:002010-12-27T13:45:58.984+01:00Pluralist,
yes, but where do people meet, where do...Pluralist,<br />yes, but where do people meet, where do we start our journeys, if not in the established churches?<br />The Leeds meeting was all focused around a group of people reading the same blog and we started reading it because we were finding ourselves in the margins of our churches.<br />Without the churches, where would people like you and me start out these days? How would we meet?<br /><br />My children will have nothing to do with the church. Where can they get that opportunity of growing spiritually in the safety of a guiding group, all be it one they will later outgrow?<br /><br />It worries me deeply that they churches are making themselves so inaccessible to people with enquiring minds.<br />There is nothing wrong with rubbing against your spiritual group, it's how you grow. There is everything wrong with not even having a starting base.Erika Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812376497361267014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-42600561162198750272010-12-27T13:35:09.784+01:002010-12-27T13:35:09.784+01:00Very interesting and helpful P. and E.
all the be...Very interesting and helpful P. and E.<br /><br />all the best<br /><br />Laurence<br /><br />WERSEMP<br /><br />wersemp is a nice word generated by the word verification thingie on here -- that too gives me joy in its immediacy and random-productionAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-85674279946080534202010-12-27T13:28:57.803+01:002010-12-27T13:28:57.803+01:00An answer to your question, one that exists inside...An answer to your question, one that exists inside Unitarianism, is association through negative relationship. It sounds and probably is parasitical, but it is the relationship with something that is rejected.<br /><br />More positively, it is not creeds and articles, but a line of historical traditions that when combined produce a language that provides theological material. This has moments of revolution, but mainly just evolves.<br /><br />The includes significant persons like Jesus, Buddha and so on, but also is broad enough to avoid them if wanted - ethics can stand alone, for example, or its about how lots of people live their lives.<br /><br />Constitutions can be unwritten, though this itself does not solve the tendency to draw tighter and tighter rings of who is in and who is out.Pluralist (Adrian Worsfold)https://www.blogger.com/profile/01922153724523820866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5449677811690616608.post-91733360499737871252010-12-27T11:39:15.054+01:002010-12-27T11:39:15.054+01:00Wonderful post, thank you. I will have to think ar...Wonderful post, thank you. I will have to think around some aspects of it in much much more depth.<br /><br />But first a fundamental question that has been occupying my mind for a long time. We may reject binding creeds and practices. But without SOME kind of framework, how would we ever have met in the first place?<br /><br />It's all very well to say we develop from a centre into widely different directions and we are inclusive of everyone whereever they may be moving. But without having had something to gravitate to in the first place, this Internet community would not have met and grown as it has.<br /><br />Every time I say to myself: no church! No creeds! I have to accept that I am where I am because I started out at a church with creeds. <br /><br />The problem seems not to be creeds and statements of belief but churches that are increasingly fearful and feeling threatened if they don't draw tighter and tighter rings around themselves.Erika Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812376497361267014noreply@blogger.com