Today was a Zoom meeting of the Aberdeen Theological Circle. Each of those present at today’s meeting offered a few minutes of reflection on a chosen poem, book or Bible passage. Here are some brief notes on what was shared between us. :
– W H Vanstone’s book, Love’s Endeavour, Love’s Expense and its concluding poem, “Morning glory, starlit sky.” Kenosis as a key concept in Christian theology, particular mention of Inhabiting the Cruciform God, Michael Gorman (Eerdmans: 2009)
-The connection of land, people and liturgy in poetry. Read God’s Grandeur as a poetic vision of human activity overshadowed by the Spirit of God.
- John Betjeman’s poem, ‘The Conversion of Paul’, a serious exploration of the religious experience of being righted by being turned round the other way.
- the complexity of choice, and the unforeseen consequences of choices made and ways not taken. Robert Frost poem, ‘Two Roads’, (The Road not Taken).
Quotation from In Living Colour: An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling, Emmanuel Lartey. Recognising there are needs everyone has, needs only some have, and needs no one else has. Pastoral responsiveness seeks to be sensitive to those distinctions.
- Two quotations; the first from William Penn on true spirituality as engagement with the world of action, the second from Kahlil Gibran on reason and passion, and the need for a proper equilibrium between these in dealing with human complexity.
- A recent TV programme on Ian Crichton Smith, Consider the Lilies. During the clearances the church was so close to the established order and status quo it was unable to support the powerless. It is hard for the Church to speak truth to power when it is allied to the power that needs spoken to!
- Psalm 30.5 as a statement of trust and hope, for those times when life is overshadowed and overburdened. Sorrow is finite, hope and joy are promised as realities embedded in the faithfulness of God.
- Poem by George Mackay Brown, ‘The Harrowing of Hell’, narrating the spiralling downward journey of the crucified, clothed in his five wounds.
- In response to the Ukraine crisis, the use of social media to bring people together and to hear from Ukraine “your intercessions are imperative. Reading of Psalm 46, a powerful mix of hopeful and reassuring metaphors, and faith as both trust and defiance – much circulated on social media these past few days.
Read as a continuum these reflections are a richly textured testimony to our diversity and unity, and the gift we each are to the other. While the research paper and exploratory discussion will always be our primary way of engaging in thought, discussion and learning together, perhaps once a session there should be a smorgasbord approach much like today’s experience. It was a good way to spend 75 minutes.
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