January 23rd at The Table…

If you have been around The Table since September, you may have noticed that the series I (Tim) have been returning to is a longish one. We have enjoyed the best sort of diversions (like Christmas) and excursions (the choices of the Teaching Team, etc), but we keep coming back to the “For Your Consideration” themes.  Since it’s been a while, and since there are some folks that are relatively new to the community, I thought I would briefly recap the questions we are exploring in this series.  There are ten core questions that open into some of the most pressing quandries of the Christian faith today.

1. The Narrative Question – What is the overarching story line of the Bible?

2. The Authority Question – How should be Bible be understood?

3. The God Question – Is God violent?

4. The Jesus Question – Who is Jesus and why is he important?

5. The Gospel Question – What is the gospel?

6. The Church Question – What do we do about the church?

7. The Sex Question – Can we find a way to address human sexuality without fighting about it?

8. The Future Question – Can we find a better way of viewing the future?

9. The Pluralist Question – How should followers of Jesus relate to people of other religions?

10. The “What Do We Do Now?” Question – How do we translate our questing into action?

This week we’re going to crack open the can of worms contained in the question “Is God Violent?”  Tough question, given the combination of the biblical record of God both acting violently and directing “his people” to do the same, as well as the contemporary examples of our own violent human actions in the name of God and religion.

So we’re going to wade on in.  Just a reminder – at the centre of this series is a quest or a search for a believable, livable faith in God. On this kind of a quest, we will inevitably find ourselves drawn to different paths. It has always been this way. And yet, God calls us into community with all of creation, including those other crazy humans that JUST DON”T SEE IT “MY” WAY!

And really, the only productive way forward that I know of is dialogue. (Insert plug here for WJAZ – “With Jazz And Conversation”, which meets this evening – Thursday – at The Peasant Cookery at 8:00 p.m.)  So get outta bed, make your way to The Table, fill up your coffee cup and see where the quest takes you…

Peace,

Tim