Our new website spurs me to a new blog. Welcome!
I am Susan Jones, minister at St Andrew’s on The Terrace.
I muse a lot.
Life is what stirs me to muse.
Being human.
Being a human being searching for divine moments and fragments scattered around our world.
Next door there is a building rising from very, very deep foundations. Those foundations made a lot of noise (we heard it!) and took a lot of effort and steel, and concrete (we saw them). As you might know Wellington, NZ, has the potential to be a very shaky place. They had to be careful.
Sometimes I think of Christianity like that – careful, deep foundations which connect with bedrock.
But these days I am not sure I want a substantial, never-fail, unchangeable building standing wedded to those foundations. I am watching the institution of Christianity creak and groan as it frequently fails to respond quickly and nimbly enough to changes in context around it.
Yet there is a yearning inside me for that of the Spirit which can build differently, adapt while still connecting with those deep foundations; for spirituality rather than propositions. For consciousness rather than creeds. For acting-out-faith rather than statements of faith.
What deep driven piles do I see in the Christian Tradition? (Wow, see how serious it looks when you capitalise!)
Love. Fidelity. Compassion. Truth. Grace. Welcome. Hospitality. Creativity. Integrity. Hope.
What kind of a flexible, dancing Spirit-willed choreography could arise from those deep values?
I will muse some more on that – see you in two weeks.
Susan
