Comments on: Emerging grace

By: Tess

Tess — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:29:10 +0000

Judith, thanks, and I’m glad to see your comment here. Yes, I feel I should start to delve into Paul – currently I share your arrogance…

By: Judith Gibbons

Judith Gibbons — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:38:25 +0000

Thank you, Tess, for all of this. I too wanted to hear the webcast but was unable to. Thank you for the notes – I can just hear Richard’s voice coming through. I have listened again and again to his CDs on Themes in Scripture and St Paul’s Letters. At the beginning of the latter he says he will make you fall in love with St Paul – and he does! I went from thinking (oh dear, the arrogance!) that St Paul had very little to say to a modern woman to realising the depth and breadth of the letters. I lent the CDs to my parish priest who loved them so much he still has them!

By: Tess

Tess — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:04:52 +0000

@Jules: yes, and combine constant stimulation with the sugar and additives children are exposed to and it’s no wonder they cannot just “be”. My 18-year-old nephew no longer goes to church but he used to come to Turvey Abbey with me occasionally to stay when he was younger, and he still likes some peace and quiet. Sometimes he parks his car outside my house (we live near each other) so his friends won’t know he’s in and he can be alone. I think it’s sad he has to do that.
@Christine and Lucy: thank you for these encouraging comments. There are more of us than we think!
@Blisschick: yes, I love that phrase of yours! One of the many things I like about Rohr is how he is willing to put himself on the line for what he thinks is right – he has at times been a controversial figure in the Catholic church because of his outspoken support for the gay community, for the poor, for women, and his words against the status quo.

By: blisschick

blisschick — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:27:14 +0000

Tess,

Thank you for introducing me to this wonderful man and his enlightening and uplifitng and hope-enducing words.

As you know, I have recently referred to Jesus as that “hooker-hugging hippie,” and I so wish that more people could remember that about him, rather than using him as a shield to protect themselves from their own fears and intolerances and…well, really, laziness. We have become so spiritually lazy as a culture (and I refer specifically to American culture).

Lazy and comfortable like those people in the life station parable. Good stuff, that!

Peace & bliss to you, Tess.

By: lucy

lucy — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:39:09 +0000

i agree with rohr that your question (and this post) are “right on the money.” i puffed up right along with you. thank you for this wonderful recap of his words. i have posted myself on the “third way” and find that is a place i continue to return to. we fight so hard for one way to be right and the other wrong. for something to be either “sentimental” or effective. what happens when we consider things in terms of both/and? i love rohr’s words about not wasting energy fighting churchianity, but rather BEING christianity i.e. following Christ’s example ? (my take on that subject )

thank you and bless you in your efforts to share these words with us! xoxox

By: Abbey of the Arts

Abbey of the Arts — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:33:46 +0000

Thanks for this Tess, I had wanted to listen to the webcast so it is great to get your summary of it. I agree with everything he says (and I too love Richard Rohr) especially the contemplative piece, and am hungering for deeper community that I know I will not find in traditional church walls.

By: Heyjules

Heyjules — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:04:29 +0000

So many points sparked an interest in me as I read this Tess but the part about teaching children how to be “understimulated” really got to me. I see so many families at my church where the child simply does not know how to just “be.” No wonder so many are on Ridlin and similar drugs.

Is it also any wonder we find it so challenging to do meditation and lectio devina because sitting still is so new a thing for us – even as adults. Hmm…

By: Tess

Tess — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:14:30 +0000

@John, thank you for your comment, and welcome to my blog. Delighted to meet another Benedictine, and I shall enjoy exploring your blog over the next couple of days. I like what you say about a unified life.
@Barbara Anne: thank you, and great quote from ER.
@Elaine: yes, ‘monkey mind’ is terribly difficult to quiet. I suspect it’s partly because there’s so much seething thought going on under the surface that when it does get a chance to come out to play it tries to take over.
@SS: thank you, yes the parable was very sobering, I thought.
@Steven: your comment about leaders made me smile. I guess those who are in leadership positions don’t always have the qualities of leadership. On the other hand, I think it is extremely easy for those whose leadership style doesn’t match what we think of as the popular image of “leadership” (strong, charismatic etc) to have their innate leadership qualities trodden down by expectation and institution.
I think you may be right about the avoidance of discipline. Rohr himself is very firmly grounded in Christian scripture, but it probably is an issue. I guess that’s where the importance of contemplation and discernment come in.

By: In the Coracle » » links for 2008-11-08 » “It’s almost like you’re writing a book one post at a time” - Kedge

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:01:00 +0000

[...] Emerging grace at Anchor Mast Nots from a webcast with Fr. Richard Rohr about emergent Christianity [...]

By: Steven Woolley

Steven Woolley — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:36:29 +0000

I like the sentiment but sometimes wonder if the popularity of the emergent church idea is simply a way to avoid the discipline of Christian faith that Rohr lives and teaches. I find myself conflicted about the idea within my own diocese because I am vain enough to think my ministry within the church has been very much on the emergent church path, yet many of my clergy colleagues complain that that the institutional church has failed while doing little or nothing about it even though they are the leaders of their parishes. I’ll let it go at that because I have way too much more to say on the subject.