June at Solace Sunday Stuff emerging church

6 June
All Ages Prayer
Labyrinth and contemplative prayer for adults - disorient and re-orient.
Small group - our own connection to land and place; where do you come from?

13 June
All Ages Singing
A visit from the folks at the Indigenous Hospitality House - offering hospitality to indigenous Australians on land traditionally owned by indigenous Australians.

20 June
Mid-Winter Feast! Yule Tide celebration. All welcome, so bring your friends! Carol singing, a message of hope, yummy warm things to eat.

No Sunday Stuff until July 11 - enjoy the winter holidays!

Solace Sunday Stuff. An emerging church in Northcote Melbourne Victoria Australia.
Sunday 1:45pm (doors open) for 2pm to 3:30pm. Chalice, 251 High St Northcote
Contact Paul Minty on paulm@solace.emc.org.au or 0418 307 475
www.solace.emc.org.au/sundaystuff

Rabbi Jackie Tabick on Compassion

We used a great Ted talk from Rabbi Jackie Tabick on compassion at Sunday Stuff last week. Rabbi Tabick is a cheerful and engaging woman with a gently passionate manner. Her talk is part of the 'Charter for Compassion', a project to gather support for compassion as the central value uniting humanity and religions.

Rabbi Tabick focuses on the everyday challenges of being compassionate. She reminds us that saying we will love our neighbors is all very well, but often we dislike them! She draws on the ancient Jewish teachings of the Torah and the ongoing Rabbinic teachings to illustrate the idea that compassion and justice need to be in balance so that compassion is possible. Our capacity to be compassionate is enhanced by accepting our true selves, understanding when compassion needs to be moderated by justice and then performing acts of kindness as we can.

Rabbi Tabick's talk at Ted is worth watching (it's only 18 minutes), I personally found it very interesting inspiring and comforting. I found the insights into the Torah and Rabbinic teachings gave me a fresh perspective on Jesus' teachings, as Jesus was certainly a Jewish wisdom teacher.

After engaging with Jackie's ideas, I have started exploring the idea that 'mission' may be best described as an act of compassion. I'm inspired to deepen my understanding of mission by exploring how compassion has been a part of Christian spirituality since Jesus time.

So, a good video, well worth watching, and more ideas to engage with.

Sunday Stuff is back on for May

Solace Sunday Stuff has started back for May.


9 May
All Ages Singing
Video - the challenges of compassion & facilitated chat about being compassionate
Multi-Sensory Prayer options

16 May
All Ages Jesus Meal
Meditation practice
Video - a secular view on compassion

23 May
All Ages Story Time
Taize

30 May
Games for everyone!
Olivia McLean on compassion in the Seven Ways of the Christian tradition.

Sunday Stuff is an experimental emergent church in Melbourne.

Sunday 1:45pm (doors open) for 2pm to 3:30pm. Chalice, 251 High St Northcote
Contact Paul Minty on paulm@solace.emc.org.au or 0418 307 475

April 2010 at Sunday Stuff

It's a new month, so here's a reminder about Sunday Stuff for the next month.

April 4 - Easter Sunday
In the Chalice hall. Singing, Jesus Meal, Resurrection story and celebration. Easter chick hunt for the young at heart and body.

No Sunday Stuff during school holidays or for Rusty Spring

• Apr 11 No Sunday Stuff
• Apr 18 No Sunday Stuff
• Apr 25 No Sunday Stuff - Rusty Spring Festival www.rustyspring.net
• May 2 Sunday Stuff

http://solace.emc.org.au/SundayStuff.htm

John was a bit different

Across Solace and for all Lent, we're all considering the Gospel of John and also looking at the Glenferrie Gospel by our very own Stuart Davey. When I looked at John in preparation, I was most struck by how different it is compared to the other Gospels. If you asked me why look at John, then my answer is 'because John was a bit different'.

John has the whole 'logos' ('word of God') theme, especially in the prologue, which is a real difference to the other gospels. It appears that John was addressing his gospel to Jewish people of the day who were adopting Greek philosophical ideas into the Jewish story. John’s assertion that Jesus was both spirit and man was a really vital part of the theological debate of the time and remains a vital concept today.

John is also different because the gospel is missing most of the stuff the other Gospels talk about. Check out this list at Wikipedia of omissions in John's Gospel. Some big differences for me is the relative absence of 'the Kingdom of God' language, no mention of forgiveness, no mention of loving enemies - important stuff for me. Why wouldn't John have it?

John is a long gospel and full of unique things: Jesus delivers long essay-style speeches in various parts (there are no parables as such); Jesus talks about himself a lot and; Jesus asserts himself as a God a lot more. The emphasis in John is different from the other Gospels; my understadning is that there is more about Jesus as a timeless revelation of the loving creator.

Given that John is so different from the other Gospels, why wouldn’t we simply discard it? After all, John seems to contradict the other Gospel’s reports of what Jesus did and said. I think John is a fantastic addition to the bible because of two things. First, it shows us how the early Christians were doing theology; they were wrestling with the meaning of Jesus and creating rich ideas and stories as part of that. Secondly, John connects the Jesus story to a broader philosophical conversation about meaning and hope, which is still relevant to each of us today.