Ray Robinson, Minister, Christ Church, The Lord Howe Island Signal
After the last couple of years we’ve all experienced, one might be tempted to crawl under a blanket as the new year begins and hope the world and all its problems will go away and leave us alone. The disruptions we’ve all faced have been exhausting, worrying, and disturbing in many ways.
We all hope for a better year this year but how might that come about? Covid is certainly not going away. Is it possible to rise about the day-to-day frustrations and find a better year and life beyond our immediate circumstances?
Mid-January that issue will be addressed over several sessions at Christ Church Middle Beach Road. We will be exploring a series of ‘Dangerous Ideas’, ideas that might help us see beyond our immediate circumstances to the bigger picture. They are dangerous, because if they are true, they have massive implications for how we live and how we cope with things like Covid.
The ideas we’ll be looking at are ones that have been tossed around for some time and are certainly controversial. But we’re hoping that in a friendly and non-judgmental way we can share ideas, discuss different perspectives, and perhaps clarify our own thinking about these dangerous ideas. And even if we don’t agree, we’re hoping to learn from each other.
We’ll be meeting from around 5.15 till about 6.30 and will be providing a light supper as it’s always good to eat and think. There will be a brief presentation to open the issue and then it’s open to talk through the matter as we like.
Everyone is welcome, it’s all free, and you don’t have to come to each one if you can’t make it for some reason. Just show up to the rectory behind the church around 5.15 commencing Tuesday 18th January.
At this stage the series will go for 5 weeks, and the dangerous ideas are currently set at.
- Is it possible to know God exists, could you be sure?(Tue 18th Jan)
- Is the bible anything more than legends and stories?(Tue 25th Jan)
- Does Jesus have any relevance to 21st Century?(Tue 1st Feb)
- Has science disproved religion, and is science our only hope? (Tue 8th Feb)
- Does it really matter what you believe? (Tue 15th Feb)
Whatever stage you are at in your spiritual journey, to develop some understanding as to whether there is more to life than covid restrictions, whether there is any meaning or purpose in it all, you need to ask the dangerous questions. You are very welcome to come and explore these ideas with us, whatever your perspective. Hiding under the blanket may be comforting, but why not take 2022 by the horns? Who dares wins when it comes to the big questions of life?
This article appeared in The Lord Howe Island Signal, 30 December 2021.
