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| "Consider this an invitation. I invite you on my pilgrimage to some very different kinds of churches, old Protestant churches that have found new life in the face of change. They reminded me that Christianity is a sacred pathway to someplace better, a journey of transforming our selves, our faith communities, and our world." ... from the Introduction. |
| Index | Chapters Summary | Discussion Notes |
| Summary Notes - | ||
| Ch 7 Healing - Entering Shalom. Harmony is the touchstone here. "To find harmony is to find balance, to touch the center point of wholeness. ... Throughout the scriptures, harmony is way of life practiced by a community with healing at its center. ... Imbalance is one of the central problems of our time." Calvin Church has many healing practices: annointing, prayer candles, intercessionary prayer groups, prayer for healing in the service, labyrinth walks. For them, salvation has another meaning than for their evangelical neighbours - salvation is a healing transformation leading them to transforming the world. Healing had become an "ancient miracle", but these emergent churches were practicing it anew. It is an element in modern spirituality. Wellness is connected to faith. There are many layers in this healing. There is a new practice of supernaturalism. Healing Touch and Reiki are practiced - Jesus was a touching healer. Shalom is God's "dynamic wholeness" and the "central vision" of the bible. "... shalom is closely related to salvation, the healing of the disordered and broken into the harmony of its created wholeness. ... "the kernel of shalom is communal harmony"". "We're all broken and in need of God's healing." |
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| Discussion Notes | ||
| - Many experienced "healing" first in the context of palliative
care. This was one of the first places where the holistic approach was
taken - consideration of body, mind and spirit. Nurses were trained this
new way. - Alternative practice - the principle of no harm. finding that other things (new and old) helped. - Dorothy shared a story of being open to something new. A priest, who suffered psychosis, was in their care at Ponoka and was unable to participate in group therapy. They asked him what he might rather be doing and received an unusual answer that he wanted to play piano in a honky tonk bar! It was arranged to grant him leave to do just that. He disappeared for a while. When he reported back some months later, it was to recount his hitchhiking to Ontario and getting a job actually playing piano in a bar. Then one night a chap sat down beside him and asked why a priest like him was playing piano in a bar? He was then ready to rehabilitate, and made a new life for himself.- Group 4. Contemplation and quiet is part of healing. Nature visits are important. Healing takes place in a peaceful environment. Likes the centering song, the reading correlated to the sermon. Need focus. - Group 3. Storytelling. Healing is often a sharing of stories. Telling what seems inexplicable. It offers support to share stories. St. David's is just fine. We need to celebrate the fact that St. David's practices much of the Bass pointers. Tim Horton's is often a place where the sermon is discussed! Many of us have difficulty discerning what is happening to us. Grup supports us and helps sort it out. - Group 2. Diverse conversation. St. David's is a place we can live and grow. A tendency in Bass book for each church to have an anti-rational tendency that is quite alarming. The rise of "supernaturalism" causes some discomfort. - Group 1. A lot of comfor even in times of discomfort at St. David's. An equilibrium. Outside is stressful. Comfortable people are likely to be more open to challenge. In the absense of pressure you might be ready to reach out. St. David's is a spiritual home. Midwife is a good metaphor - the church should facilitate healing. |
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St. David's United Church.Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Sep 2007