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What is faith? Part 3

What is faith? Part 3: Medicine for the modern world In the modern world, this faith is totally misunderstood by many who don’t have it. They think of it as a mistake, a delusion, perhaps like an infection that some people catch, but really you need to be healed of it. They think of itContinue reading “What is faith? Part 3”

What is faith? Part 2

What is faith? Part 2: A relationship, trusting, loving, fulfilling Faith is faith in someone, in God. It is a commitment to honour him. It is a self-giving – and a self-receiving: receiving a new, transformed version of yourself, and receiving the self that is the person of God. Faith is a promise to beContinue reading “What is faith? Part 2”

What is faith? Part 1

What is faith? (An exploration in 3 parts) What is faith? Part 1: A verb, not a noun, active and purposeful It is a way of looking at the world, of understanding reality, of understanding yourself and all your relationships – with other people, but also your inner relationship with yourself. It is a setContinue reading “What is faith? Part 1”

Listening to the Benedictine monks sing their Gregorian chant

Listening to the Benedictine monks sing their Gregorian chant Listening to the chant, I’ve long been able to hear the joy in the monks’ voices, but now I can hear the love. These are men in love, but not with a woman, but with God. They are in love with love, in love with theContinue reading “Listening to the Benedictine monks sing their Gregorian chant”

That black cat. Part 4

That black cat Part 4: Accomplished – reunited at last! However, thinking for a moment, the illustration was always ridiculous because haven’t we all accepted that God is nothing like a cat. Some of the ancient Greek images suggest that they may have thought of the gods in concrete terms – that Zeus, for example,Continue reading “That black cat. Part 4”

That black cat. Part 3

That black cat Part 3: Deceitful – say what you mean But this relies on the cat being there, and we are still confronting the punch line of the anecdote that “the cat isn’t even there”. So, is this an accurate illustration? Of course, the honest answer is: “We don’t know!”. Some people say they’veContinue reading “That black cat. Part 3”

That black cat. Part 2

That black cat Part 2: Tragic – despair, for all is emptiness However, we must return to the punch line: “the cat isn’t even there”. If this is true, then it is an utterly heart-rending condemnation of humanity’s wasted efforts in a futile attempt to find what is not there. If we just take thisContinue reading “That black cat. Part 2”

That black cat. Part 1

That black cat (A theological reflection on the search for God, in 4 parts) That black cat Part 1: Comic – difficult but worth having a go There is an old saying – relatively amusing – that searching for God is like a blind man, in a dark room, looking for a black cat –Continue reading “That black cat. Part 1”

A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken. Part 3

Part 3: Learn to see through the false and hold on to what is true New understandings that I think will help me are:- So many things in the world we live in are false. They trick and dupe and lure us by taking something that is true and good and pure and lovely andContinue reading “A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken. Part 3”

A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken. Part 2

Part 2: Faith is like a beating heart, not a bar of gold. I accept that I have fluctuated like a weathervane when I need to be like a hand on the rudder of a boat, not shifting with every breeze, but holding a steady course in the direction I have chosen. I have regardedContinue reading “A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken. Part 2”