Ordinary Life Podcast

Let It Be

Dear Folks -

I raised a question last week: How do we know God? This week I
raised another: How do we know what we believe to be true? How, for
example, do you know when you are in love? Using an editorial from the
magazine "The Christian Century" to get started, this Ordinary Life
presentation starts out by demonstrating how frank children can be in
their questions about religious matters and ends up exploring Mary
(since this is Advent) as a valid way of knowing the sacred. This is,
of course, an appeal to tradition, aesthetic experience and religious
ritual combined.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20041219.pdf
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History and Faith

Dear Folks -

Some people confuse Jesus and the Christ. Why not? The title most of us
in this culture have heard the most is "Jesus Christ." When one goes from
talking about the Jesus of history to making a statement of faith about the
Christ of faith it can be confusing. Given the complexities of the English
language it is amazing we don't have more misunderstanding than we do! I
illustrate that in this talk by referring to the words "fast" and "up." Then
I make a statement about what current scholarship says we can "know" about
the Jesus of history. What does it mean then to build from this a religious
affirmation of faith? Borrowing from the work of Marcus Borg, I describe how
a "sacramental understanding of religion" makes sense to me and allows me,
for example, to fully enter the Christmas story.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20041212.pdf

As The World Turns

Dear Folks -

In order to get to the "voice prints" of the Jesus of History, we have to
go back to a time before Paul exerted his influence on the shape
Christianity took. When we do, what we find is that what struck people about
Jesus was not his death but his teaching. Also, in this presentation of
Ordinary Life I talk more about the concept of Axial Age and how we are in a
new one that began about 400 years ago. The presentation ends with an
example of how I think we can, given a new understanding of Jesus, still
understand his teaching and connect it to the Christ of Faith.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

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We Are Living in a New Era

Dear Folks -

This week in Ordinary Life I continued pursuing the topic of how the
message of Jesus developed, over time, into a message about Jesus. Is it
possible to dig deep under the cumulative tradition and recover the message
of Jesus? If so, what is it? How and why did these developments take place?
These are some of the questions I'll be dealing with for a while as well as
what practical implications and applications can we make out of all of this.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20041128.pdf

Digging Deeper To Find the Truth

Dear Folks -

While we were away on our trip to Italy, Greece and Turkey, I was found
by several "God moments." In this presentation I define what a "God moment"
is and use two of them as bookends to frame my remarks. In the last two
hundred years we have gained in the sophistication of all sorts of tools and
insights to help us understand places from the past. Just as our ability to
do literal archeology has improved, so has our ability to do linguistic or
doctrinal archeology. I begin talking about how, on the surface level - that
is, the level we see today - there are certain doctrines held to be true. It
was not always so. Doctrines have developed over time. In this talk I begin
go dig down into an understanding of Jesus to see how our current beliefs
have developed.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

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Values: Common Ground or Source of Divisiveness?

Dear All,

This Sunday we will be talking a lot about values around the
theme: "Values: Common Ground or Source of Divisiveness?" We
will be discussing what values are and taking a look at our own personal
values and the beliefs and behaviors that support those values.

On Wednesday of this week, when the political news commentators were
analyzing the results of the Presidential election, Jeff Greenfield,
one of the senior political analysts for CNN, make this
statement: "The Democrats did not do a good job of paying
attention to the way people live their everyday lives and their values."

Nations, political parties, corporations, institutions, families,
marriages, individuals, churches, and even church school classes, are
all guided by their values. There are several questions that arise
for all of us: are those values conscious or unconscious? Do the
values we espouse match the way we behave, or the decisions we make?

Our speaker this Sunday will be one of our own class members,
Reverend Tom Daugherty. Tom and his wife, Jerilynn, have been
members of the Ordinary Life Class for several years and are well
known to many of us. Tom is a clergy member of the Texas Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church, and until his retirement
in June of this year served as Vice President for Spiritual Care and
Values Integration for The Methodist Hospital System. During his
time with Methodist, Tom led the hospital system in a values
integration effort that resulted in that organization having the
highest degree of values alignment out of 800 corporate clients in 26
countries using the Corp Tools Cultural Assessment developed by
Richard Barrett and Associates.

Laura

Download 20041107.pdf
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All Souls -- Remembering Our Loved Ones

This week, Rebecca Rucker, Director of Community Mental
Health Services for IntraCare Hospital will be our guest speaker.
She is also a recent member of St. Paul's. The topic of her
discussion will be...

All Souls -- Remembering Our Loved Ones:

The last day of October marks the beginning in the church of a period
known as Hallowtide or "All Saintside" when Christians remember those
who have died. All Hallows Eve or Halloween, October 31, has Celtic
origins being originally the feast of Sanhain ('sow'inn), the last
night of the Celtic year, when all kinds of spirits were thought to
be active. The Celts believed that this was a time when the boundary
between the spirit world and the earthly world is at its thinnest and
when spirits are most likely to be seen on earth. While this veil
between the two worlds is thin, we will explore what saints in our
modern history offer to teach us.

Laura

Download 20041031.mp3

UnPlug the Christmas Machine

Hello everyone! I'm filling in for Bill on sending out the previews
while he is vacationing overseas. As he has indicated earlier, we've
got a great line-up of guest speakers while he is away.

Is it possible that Christmas is only..67 days away?!? How does that
make you feel? Do you feel calm? Do you feel stress? Would you like
to create a joyful stress free (could there really be a stress free
Christmas?) Christmas? This Sunday Kelly Sullivan, ministerial
intern at St. Paul's, will present UnPlug the Christmas Machine which
will help you make choices about how you spend your time, what to do
with your time and with whom you spend your time at Christmas.

Laura

Download 20041024.mp3

Our God Box

Dear Folks -

What is going to heal the divisiveness in our country? In our world? In
us? The two guys running for president don't seem to know - either one of
them. I see our divided selves as a spiritual problem and, in short, think
that our troubles have come as a result of various people and groups
slamming shut their "God boxes." A "God box" - and everybody has one - is
what we keep our basic beliefs and values in that guide our behavior.
Keeping the lid open and being open to change both the shape of the box and
its content is how we learn to live together.

For the next four Sundays my beautiful bride and I will be traveling in
Italy, Greece and Turkey. I look forward to seeing you when I return.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

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Be Still and Know

Dear Folks -

From time to time I emphasize the importance of having a spiritual
practice - of some sort. The questions I raise are, among others, "how do
you experience the sacred? What, on a regular basis do you do to free you
from the claims of the ego?" Two people I know recently completed what is
called The Ten Day training in meditation. Sometimes it is referred to as
The Retreat of Noble Silence because one of the vows participants take is
not to speak for ten days!

If you type Vippassana Meditation into Google, you will be taken to many
sites explaining it. Check out the Southwest Vippassana Center near Dallas,
TX.

I don't have the remarks of the two who spoke - they did an outstanding
job. I do have an audio tape and if there is enough interest, I'll make
copies. Also, we are experimenting with being able to make CDs of the class.
I am grateful to Firoozeh Tuller and Russell Richard for taking the time to
speak to us.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

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I Have Some Questions

Dear Folks -

Several people had some significant questions about things I've said in
Ordinary Life during the month of September - can we talk politics in
church? and what is the "just war" theory? Plus, I had a question of my own
I wanted to ask the gathering. It's not possible for me to capture and
present to you the results of the discussion groups that took place but I am
putting the full text of my remarks below.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20041003.pdf
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Packing For the Big Trip

Dear Folks -

This week in Ordinary Life I talked about packing for the big trip - the
one we all don't want to make. The trip is to whatever is on the other side
of physical death. This was a question I asked my dad shortly before his
death - "Are you packed?"
When we talk about death and beyond, we are limited to using symbolic
language. This can cause much misunderstanding because we have such a
tendency to mistake the symbol for the thing itself. But words like
"heaven," "hell," "judgment," and "hope" are symbols that can inform and
shape how we live in the here and now. Taking them seriously is a way we
have of packing for the trip.

Once again, thank you for all your expressions of sympathy.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20040926.pdf

September 19, 2004

Dear Folks -

I want to thank you for your prayers and support during this time of loss
for me and my family. I will have more to say Sunday about my father and his
death.
I also want to thank Stephanie Warfield for stepping in at the last
minute to teach Ordinary Life in my absence. A number of you asked to have
copies of her remarks and I am putting below what she sent to me in response
to your requests.
Once again, your words of condolence have meant much to me.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20040919.pdf

flying out in front of the plane

Dear Folks -

In the Ordinary Life Gathering this week I offered a metaphor for how I
think about "doing theology" as well as how we might think of living our
lives. It is a metaphor I got from Bruce Reed and is drawn from the world of
aviation. Bruce says there are three types of people who fly airplanes -
drivers, pilots and artists. Living artistically means, among other things
being very aware and "flying out in front of the plane." I think you'll find
it a useful way to think about living your life and constructing your
future.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20040912.pdf

A Smorgasbord

Dear Folks -

This week in the Ordinary Life Gathering I talked about the places I've
been and the things I've seen during the five week sabbatical I've taken
from teaching. Our lives, I believe, constitute our spiritual journey. This
is true for all folks whether they acknowledge it or not. We all have the
responsibility and opportunity to experience the sacred in "ordinary life."

Much love,

Bill Kerley

Download 20040905.pdf