What I Have Learned This Week
From David Cole, author of new books on Celtic spirituality, I learned to do a 'lectio divina' inspired by Eriguena's words: 'Contemplate how an infinite number of lines may subsist in a single point, and other similar examples drawn from nature.' A Celtic approach to reading Scripture can see many layers, many meanings in a single verse.
From members who had a stab at making sense of passages in Jewish Scripture (the Christian Old Testament) which command people to act in ways which, since the Geneva Convention on Human Rights, we condemn as terrorism, I learned that much more work by our best theologians is needed on this. My own conviction is that God wants us to get in touch with our anger, hate, envy, desire for justice or revenge and throw these unredeemed emotions at Him as part of our process of healing. Reciting the psalms that curse others can be a vehicle for this. I do not believe that God has ever told anyone to commit genocide. I do believe that Scripture is a record that includes people who report that God told them to do this. The point of such Scriptures for us is to discern how God brought a warrior tribe which projected its views on to God to a next step towards a truer understanding. We call this 'progressive revelation'.
From Haken Borgenvik, leader of our community in Norway I have learned this:
'Your way-marks must not be just a nice piece of paper knocking about in a drawer or forgotten in some folder on your PC. Better to frame them nicely and hang them on your wall!'
