A New Vision
a)
Believing, b) Behaving, c)Belonging
Diana Butler-Bass
offers a new vision in her book which includes
a)
Believing
What do I believe? Is doctrine important to me or should it
be? These are questions which invite discussion but all demand intellectual
answers about things that cannot be comprehended entirely by the mind. These
answers in the past have divided families and neighbours and caused diversity
amongst people and church institutions. Yet what should one ask about believing
in God? Maybe the question really needing to be asked is “How do you believe?”
How
asks a hands on deeper knowledge of the thing being asked, Asking how weaves
our lives with the information as we receive, review, reflect and act upon what
we sought. It is a question of meaning and purpose that pushes people into a
deeper engagement in the world, rather than memorizing facts. It is a shift
from about to experience of. How enables an emerging spiritual question one of
experience and connection.
How does one
believe and others understand your believing? It is through experiential
religion where sharing of stories and rituals enable other people to
participate in a sense of the divine as you first experienced it. But it is
even more than this—for it also involves the heart integrating ideas and
thoughts.
How do you
express your belief in God? Is it in personal statements of faith, or in the
way of personalizing a creed of faith? What does this mean as we share together
with others in a church setting? How do you share your belief?
Question To Consider:
How do you believe what you do? What happened for you to have
these thoughts and ideas about God? Do you share it?
PRAYER
Loving God we praise you for how you reveal yourself
to us. We believe, help us in our unbelief and enable us to know you.Amen.
Diana Butler-Bass Christianity
after Religion: the end of church and the birth of a new spiritual awakening. .New
York Harper2012 (chapter4)
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