Alister's Blog
If you are interested in reading more about Cafehchurch-y stuff, you might find our pastor Alister's blog interesting. Rather unimaginatively, it is at alisterpate.com
He is particularly proud of
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Cafechurch, Faith, and Mystery
In a segment filmed for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN channel, author Brene Brown reflects on why she left the Roman Catholic faith of her youth, and how she has found herself back in the Episcopal church.
One of the key points she makes is that she originally “fell in love with the faith and the mystery piece.” However, over time her experience of church, “became less about faith and mystery, and more about politics and certainty.”
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Making Good Decisions Part 3
The Ignatian tradition of Christian spirituality is a wonderful resource for making decisions when we want to collaborate with God's redemptive work in the world.
In this presentation from 13/11/2018, Anne talks us through it. It's easy to talk about "discernment", but what does it actually look like in practical terms?
There is also a document -"Prayer Exercises using Reason and Active Imagination" - which will give you some powerful tools to use for prayerful decision making.
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The Mission of Cafechurch
It’s important to start thinking about Cafechurch’s mission from Scripture, so here is a good place to start.
Jesus said to them again ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ John 20:21-22
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Making Good Decisions Part 1
One of the great challenges of life in our culture is how to make good decisions. We have so many options that it can be fatiguing.
Like Mr Bean trying to pack for his holiday, we aren't sure how to proceed.
In this presentation, Anne gives us a few criteria for making good choices
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The Sea of Faith
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Matthew Arnold - On Dover Beach
Is this really true? Is the decline of faith some sort of natural law?
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Big Universe, Uncaring God?
On Tuesday 17/7/218 we considered the size of the universe and what it means for faith - or the lack thereof.
It is true that the universe is huge. Staggeringly, vertigo-creatingly vast. But does it therefore follow that any hypothetical God would therefore not care about humans? Consider the question: which is more important to me - the external monitor I am looking at while type this, or the laptop which is plugged into it?
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Resistance!
Cafechurch Session 10 July 2018
Jesus, we are told, went back to his home town. But people there didn't buy his story, and said, essentially: who on earth do you think you are? We have known you forever. And he was amazed to see that he could do no deeds of power there, besides heal a few people (And, really who can't do that? (Joke, obvs.)) (This is my very brief precis of Mark 6:1-6 )
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#Spiritus et Locus
We are going to be engaging in our annual photography as a spiritual practice activity this year. We haven't quite decided on a theme yet, but it will be spiritually enriching and even moving. See www.spiritusetlocus.org for more.
Wellness and Christianity
What is the relationship between Wellness and Christianity? What does California have to do with Jerusalem? In this presentation we think about the similarities and differences, and consider how we might integrate wellness with our faith, without identifying the one with the other.
Here is the presentation:
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