Well having spent the week exploring Spirituality in the Reform tradition, I conclude that I am no more reformed or spiritual than when I started! But then was that the object of the week?
As I sit writing I have REM playing on my stereo and the words "looking for answers from the great beyond" have just been sung and I wonder whether this was some of what I expected from the week. I have heard the words 'spirituality' and 'reformed' on a weekly if not daily basis over the past few months, which has been left thinking "ok, but what do we actually mean?" And now after spending a week dedicated to the discussion of these terms I'm still thinking "ok, but what do we actually mean?"
(Productive use of time!)
That is possibly a harsh analysis of the week. Maybe I didn't get someone giving me simple set of definitions, but then spirituality has many different levels as does being reformed. But I have come to understand a bit more about what it means for me in the context I find myself.
I live in communion and this has many different levels and connections. There is the community of Westminster College where I phyiscally live, a constantly changing community dependent on the hour of the day, the day of week and the day of the year. There is the community of the church: where I worship on Sunday; the denomination for which I am training to be a Minister within; the body of Christ. There is my family and my friends. And there is my communion with God. All these inform how I live a life in the Spirit, i.e. my spirituality, and they also require a 'we' rather than an 'I' outlook, which is partly what it means to be reformed!
So this week I didn't need to become more reformed or spiritual, I just needed to learn what it means to live spiritually in the reformed tradition. Now my job is to apply what I've learnt, remembering I'm a 'We' not just an 'I', because wherever I am, so is God.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Seeing a bigger picture
Well it has taken most of the week to think of something to blog about, but today I have been inspired!
I have done a couple of things this week, which have lead me to reflect again on how the world perceives Christians. First, I read a book! Now I know I'm meant to read books, but this is a book I sat and read from cover to cover in the space of about a day, which really is an achievement for me. The book was entitled 'The Auschwitz Violin', which was a novel, not a textbook, and it's subject as you can most probably guess was the Holocaust. I don't want to give too much away, just incase people want to read it (I do recommend it), but in one of the opening chapters, the main character emphases that the religion of the SS officers was Christianity.
Secondly, I visited the Imperial War Museum. This is a museum that I have wanted to go to for a long time, but never actually got to till this week, when I dragged a friend along under the pretense that we need to do some research in preparation for our trip to Flanders in early September. But as well as visiting the trenches, we also took a look around the Holocaust exhibition. And here the roots of antisemitism were clearly stated to be within the Church. But interestingly, though it stated this fact, it then said that this wasn't the root of the racial hatred under Hitler.
Now, I'm not denying that Christians over the centuries have mis-treated Jews. But how easy it is to make throw away statements, because of knowing a little history?
About five years ago now I visited Israel and Palestine and one of things I went to see was the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. This is a huge exhibition dedicated to the Holocaust. It was amazing in the fact that it really expressed the pain that was felt by Israel and the Jewish people, but it also spelt out who they blamed. Yes, they blamed Hilter and the Nazis, but they also blamed the Church.
Did the Church speak out against Hilter's ghettos and concentration camps? Well if you were a German Christian and you did, you ended up there yourself. Were there SS officers who saw themselves as Christian? Possibly. Did history repeat itself in the Holocaust? Not really, the Church has got it wrong in the past over its relationship with the Jewish nation, but my impression is that Hilter perspective was very different.
The Holocaust was an event in history that caused the end of millions of lives, both Jew and Gentile. It needs to remembered, but also considered with respect the point it history it happened as well as the history that happened before. The whole picture needs to be considered not just bits.
And there is a defining point that both sides of the Christian-Jewish debate must remember:
Jesus was a Jew, and he died a Jew.
I have done a couple of things this week, which have lead me to reflect again on how the world perceives Christians. First, I read a book! Now I know I'm meant to read books, but this is a book I sat and read from cover to cover in the space of about a day, which really is an achievement for me. The book was entitled 'The Auschwitz Violin', which was a novel, not a textbook, and it's subject as you can most probably guess was the Holocaust. I don't want to give too much away, just incase people want to read it (I do recommend it), but in one of the opening chapters, the main character emphases that the religion of the SS officers was Christianity.
Secondly, I visited the Imperial War Museum. This is a museum that I have wanted to go to for a long time, but never actually got to till this week, when I dragged a friend along under the pretense that we need to do some research in preparation for our trip to Flanders in early September. But as well as visiting the trenches, we also took a look around the Holocaust exhibition. And here the roots of antisemitism were clearly stated to be within the Church. But interestingly, though it stated this fact, it then said that this wasn't the root of the racial hatred under Hitler.
Now, I'm not denying that Christians over the centuries have mis-treated Jews. But how easy it is to make throw away statements, because of knowing a little history?
About five years ago now I visited Israel and Palestine and one of things I went to see was the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. This is a huge exhibition dedicated to the Holocaust. It was amazing in the fact that it really expressed the pain that was felt by Israel and the Jewish people, but it also spelt out who they blamed. Yes, they blamed Hilter and the Nazis, but they also blamed the Church.
Did the Church speak out against Hilter's ghettos and concentration camps? Well if you were a German Christian and you did, you ended up there yourself. Were there SS officers who saw themselves as Christian? Possibly. Did history repeat itself in the Holocaust? Not really, the Church has got it wrong in the past over its relationship with the Jewish nation, but my impression is that Hilter perspective was very different.
The Holocaust was an event in history that caused the end of millions of lives, both Jew and Gentile. It needs to remembered, but also considered with respect the point it history it happened as well as the history that happened before. The whole picture needs to be considered not just bits.
And there is a defining point that both sides of the Christian-Jewish debate must remember:
Jesus was a Jew, and he died a Jew.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Phew...
Well, though I hate exams, I have now completed them! Five in four days, which has left me a little brain dead and with a Repitive Strain Injury! LOL! But they are done and I even impressed myself with some of my answers. Whether they impressed my markers I will find out in two weeks.
So here ends my first academic year at Theological College... gulp! Where have the last eight months gone? It may have gone quickly, but I can now translate New Testament Greek (well at least what is in John 1-5) into some form of English, very often with a Yoda-accent. I've discovered an interest in Church History and that Christian Doctrine is as hard to get your head round as Physics - though there are fewer equations and some of the theorems are even more of a stab in the dark! And then there is the Bible, the centre point of all that is Reformed, and where I have discovered many new, exciting and important things.
It has been a tough eight months on a number of levels, and yes some days I wish I could be back trawling through papers on advancments in some aspect of medical technology or seeing if I can improve the cooling efficiency of my kidney cooling device, but it never last long. It has been tough, it will continue to be tough, but I am home.
So here ends my first academic year at Theological College... gulp! Where have the last eight months gone? It may have gone quickly, but I can now translate New Testament Greek (well at least what is in John 1-5) into some form of English, very often with a Yoda-accent. I've discovered an interest in Church History and that Christian Doctrine is as hard to get your head round as Physics - though there are fewer equations and some of the theorems are even more of a stab in the dark! And then there is the Bible, the centre point of all that is Reformed, and where I have discovered many new, exciting and important things.
It has been a tough eight months on a number of levels, and yes some days I wish I could be back trawling through papers on advancments in some aspect of medical technology or seeing if I can improve the cooling efficiency of my kidney cooling device, but it never last long. It has been tough, it will continue to be tough, but I am home.
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