tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post268967617273126494..comments2023-11-05T12:28:46.375+00:00Comments on The Harbour of Ourselves: ConnectionThe Harbour of Ourselveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07718023812771923348noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-86957075243401102342007-04-11T23:27:00.000+01:002007-04-11T23:27:00.000+01:00another thought-provoking and meaningful post, har...another thought-provoking and meaningful post, harbour....<BR/><BR/>you say nothing comes to write...but then this flows out...<BR/><BR/>"to go with the expectation of having all the answers for other people’s questions is a form of arrogance"......also, i think this is one of the major reasons christians don't go out- they think they need to HAVE all the answers and don't feel prepared, whereas all God calls us to do is be a witness to what he's done. that's where we get evangelism all wrong......bluemountainmamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04297693762079368522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-67174558786600017402007-04-10T23:24:00.000+01:002007-04-10T23:24:00.000+01:00there are things i want to say to you all, but am ...there are things i want to say to you all, but am so knackered - it will have to wait til tomorrow...<BR/><BR/>....for now, thank youThe Harbour of Ourselveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07718023812771923348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-15465275183107311722007-04-10T13:05:00.000+01:002007-04-10T13:05:00.000+01:00Oh.......and can I just add something....?I believ...Oh.......and can I just add something....?<BR/><BR/>I believe my life would be complete if I was to meet a man named Friggy. <BR/><BR/>I think his parents must have had a wicked sense of humour.awarenesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06098432781380754899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-29883720215843820702007-04-10T12:57:00.000+01:002007-04-10T12:57:00.000+01:00hi.....everytime I have read your thoughts here, m...hi.....<BR/><BR/>everytime I have read your thoughts here, my own thinking leads to the work and life of Jean Vanier. To me, he is the epitome of Christian fellowship. His work is his life.....and his life is his mission. As one individual, he chose to embrace the goodness of Christianity. <BR/><BR/>In his own quiet way, he went about developing L'Arche, where equality and unconditional love was a given......as freely as water. His faith inspires me daily.<BR/><BR/>Last night, I read a piece out of his book, "Becoming Human," (essays written for the CBC Massey Lectures he delivered in 1998) which connected me to what you have shared here, Paul. He writes about loneliness and the positive force it can generate between the relationship of God and man or woman....on the importance of it in our striving to becoming human..<BR/><BR/>He writes:<BR/><BR/>"Loneliness can become a source of creative energy, the energy that drives us down new paths to create new things or to seek more truth and justice in the world. Artists, poets, mystics, prophets, those who do not seem to fit into the world or the ways of society, are frequently lonely. They feel themselves to be different, dissatisfied with the status quo and with mediocrity; dissatisfied with our comptetitve world where so much energy goes into ephemeral things. Frequently, it is a lonely man or woman who revolts against injustice and seeks new ways. It is as if a fire is burning within them, a fire fuelled by loneliness.<BR/><BR/>Loneliness is the fundamental force that urges mystics to a deeper union with god. For such people, loneliness has become intolerable, but instead of slipping into apathy or anger, they use the energy of loneliness to seek God. It pushes them towards the absolute. An experience of God quenches this thirst for the absolute but at the same time, paradoxically, whets it, because this is an experience that can never be total; by necessity, the knowledge of god is always partial. So loneliness opens up mystics to a desire to love each and every human being as God loves them." <BR/><BR/>Our personal connection with God can often come in the wee hours of a lonely night......and felt through taking part in holistic worship.<BR/><BR/>Our personal connection with God allows us to have the foundation to open our hearts to inclusivity, which is the true spirit of Christianity.<BR/><BR/><BR/>dana.awarenesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06098432781380754899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-57435499611393476782007-04-09T14:51:00.000+01:002007-04-09T14:51:00.000+01:00Ok, and now a comment from the lapsed Catholic.......Ok, and now a comment from the lapsed Catholic......<BR/><BR/>I long ago gave up the conviction that organized religion was the know-all, and see-all of life. I saw through the many discrepancies of my Sunday School teachings, and refused to go to confession for insignificant (childhood, at the time) "sins". For myself (and this is going to sound a bit strange), I had a vision of Jesus in a dream at a young age, and awoke instinctively feeling that if I were a good person, a kind person, a caring soul, then practice there spoke louder than words at church. <BR/><BR/>After all, "church" isn't necessarily a building as it is a place of worship that can be conducted anywhere, anytime; be it a garden, or the next stop on your way to bed at night. What counted was the God you felt in your heart. Being fallable humans, we all make mistakes. It's in how you take responsibility for those fallen moments that made a bigger impact, and show true grace. <BR/><BR/>The blessings will always be there, all for anyone to take a drink from.... but they cannot exist if you cannot recognize the spring from which they flow. Church doesn't do it for me, but that's not to say everybody should feel that way. We all need to find our own church, our own goodness, and our own level of acceptance to all that has been put before us. Sounds a little chaotic, but in it's simpler terms, just look into your heart. It's been waiting all along.<BR/><BR/>But then, that's just me.<BR/><BR/>All that said..... I do hope you had a wonderful Easter, and renewal of season. May you find the peace that eludes and confuses you at times, and may you be blessed in knowing that your thoughts and words here are much fodder for me to think about many times over during the day. <BR/><BR/>Take care.... and so sorry for the prolonged absence in getting over here to say hello.Ellenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05767057478043796740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-22103704496416373772007-04-09T14:12:00.000+01:002007-04-09T14:12:00.000+01:00Hey Paul...Check this site out and let me know wha...Hey Paul...<BR/>Check this site out and let me know what you think<BR/>www.theviewfromthepew.blogspot.com<BR/>Have a good week...Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06195783449222301031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-27816643998483315732007-04-09T01:44:00.000+01:002007-04-09T01:44:00.000+01:00Well, if you must have a name for your lack of wal...Well, if you must have a name for your lack of wallah! then call it reverse inspiration because you have it, CS. Great reflection. How often we fail to remember important events that make certain holidays or seasons across the Pond. Thank you for the reminder and blessings therein.<BR/><BR/>Joyous Easter to you. Christ has risen indeed. Alleluia!Catherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04267544451078638468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-22782745076633224672007-04-09T00:35:00.000+01:002007-04-09T00:35:00.000+01:00Wow....ditto to the above. I am so overwhelmed da...Wow....ditto to the above. <BR/><BR/>I am so overwhelmed daily that my Savior has a place for me at His table....a place for all of us. And grace??? I need loads and loads of it. And He offers it freely for me...because He loves me. No strings. I feel I try to offer mercy, because I have needed it so from others and God.....<BR/><BR/>I am very thankful today that He not only died for me, but that He rose, just like He said He would....the promise was kept, the covenant fufilled. There are no smoke and mirrors....just my Savior.<BR/><BR/>Happy Easter Paul.<BR/><BR/>BTW, I love these pics.Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06195783449222301031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-62237622965835112032007-04-08T14:50:00.000+01:002007-04-08T14:50:00.000+01:00As Mr T said; for someone who isn't feeling inspir...As Mr T said; for someone who isn't feeling inspired you sure got me thinking in there...<BR/><BR/>Easter hasn't really meant a lot to me since I was small and going to the dreaded Sunday school. We learnt our Easter stories and went to church, then all went home with a chocolate egg. <BR/><BR/>This year for the first time in a long while, possibly forever, Easter has prompted me to think. I hope that next year I am not so consumed in fog that I selfishly think mainly of my own salvation.Nikitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17929639297231842691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20973277.post-14098405419250206292007-04-08T10:37:00.000+01:002007-04-08T10:37:00.000+01:00that's fairly good for someone who feels nothing t...that's fairly good for someone who feels nothing this easter....!<BR/><BR/>happy easter, CS. the older i get and the more complicated everything becomes the more i am glad of that offer of jesus': come, eat, drink. sometimes i imagine us all dead and looking back to all of this and seeing the fullness of life in all our mistakes and sorrow and the moments of joy. the eucharist is the event that binds all this together in death and life.<BR/><BR/>blimey. i might actually go to church this morning after that...mister tumnushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08267299982613022432noreply@blogger.com