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author ht
date Wed, 13 Dec 2017 12:13:58 -0500
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118:bbda1b9895b2 119:3658b1fa657e
3 <!DOCTYPE doc SYSTEM "../../lib/xml/doc.dtd" > 3 <!DOCTYPE doc SYSTEM "../../lib/xml/doc.dtd" >
4 <doc> 4 <doc>
5 <head> 5 <head>
6 <title>Not a notion but a way</title> 6 <title>Not a notion but a way</title>
7 <author>Henry S. Thompson</author> 7 <author>Henry S. Thompson</author>
8 <date>11 Dec 2017</date> 8 <date>13 Dec 2017</date>
9 </head> 9 </head>
10 <body> 10 <body>
11 <div> 11 <div>
12 <title>Introduction</title> 12 <title>Introduction</title>
13 <p><emph>God, words and us</emph>[subtitle] is a good thing to have done, 13 <p><emph>God, words and us</emph>[subtitle] is a good thing to have done,
85 as little better (indeed more dangerous) than flat-earthers, we should have 85 as little better (indeed more dangerous) than flat-earthers, we should have
86 fallen into adopting their language for our own internal discourse.</p> 86 fallen into adopting their language for our own internal discourse.</p>
87 </div> 87 </div>
88 <div> 88 <div>
89 <title>And this [we know] experimentally</title> 89 <title>And this [we know] experimentally</title>
90 <p>So, what's the problem? </p> 90 <p>But, what does that have to do with us, you may well ask? All that old
91 language may be all very well, and give us a warm feeling of in-group-ness when
92 we hear it, but what does it actually amount to here and now? It may be
93 interesting in an intellectual sense to hear that historical Christianity and
94 contemporary Judaism were/are founded on practice, but we're not about water
95 baptism or attending Mass or circumcision keeping kosher. What's so special
96 about Meeting for Worship that it can sustain us in unity, preserve the
97 effectiveness of our business method and allow our disagreements about belief
98 language to be recognised without fear?</p>
99 <p>It's simple, readlly. In Meeting for Worship, on a good day, we
100 experience two things: a presence and a possibility. That's why we keep
101 coming back, because at some level we know we need to keep having that experience.</p>
102 <p>What presence? The technical term for it is 'transcendence'. We're not very good at talking about it. We refer to a
103 "gathered" meeting. We say "Meeting for Worship is not just meditation". We
104 know it when it happens. It's
105 elusive, and if we try to pin it down we lose it, that feeling that we are
106 joined with one another into something more than just our physical co-location.
107 Accepting that it is "not just me" isn't easy in the resolutely individualistic
108 culture we live in today, but if there is one item of faith we
109 <emph>must</emph> confess, at least to one another, it is the truth of that
110 experience, joining with and encouraged by 350 years of history and hundreds of
111 Meetings around the world today.</p>
112 <p>What possibility? The technical term for it is 'immanence'. We see and
113 hear it in the witness of those around
114 us: the possibility of living an inspired life. We <emph>recognise</emph> it
115 most vividly in Meeting for Worship, when we hear authentic ministry, 'authentic' because it comes from someone
116 we know is speaking as they live. It cannot be be faked, it is unmistakeble,
117 terrifying and uplifting in equal measure. It
118 calls us to what we aspire to. It is at once daunting (how can I possibly do
119 what they do) and reassuring (it is possible). These are not celebrities or
120 distant missionaries, they are each <emph>one of us</emph>.</p>
121 <p>Whole books have been written about both of these, I have barely scratched
122 the surface. My point is simply that <emph>this</emph> is what we need most to
123 be talking about, and we don't need to agree about the <emph>words</emph> in
124 order to get started, we just have to acknowledge that there is a shared
125 <emph>experience</emph> that matters, deeply, to us, and that its reality and
126 its significance are <emph>not</emph> compromised by our unsatisfactory
127 attempts to talk about it.</p>
91 </div> 128 </div>
92 <div> 129 <div>
93 <title>There's nothing wrong with talking about belief</title> 130 <title>There's nothing wrong with talking about belief</title>
94 <p>It's natural to want to dig in to <emph>why</emph> we do what we do. And 131 <p>It's natural to want to dig in to <emph>why</emph> we do what we do. And
95 it's not surprising that we struggle to come up with agreed answers. The key 132 it's not surprising that we struggle to come up with agreed answers. The key