After being thrown back into the New Age environment last week I feel inspired to write about my experience. Yes, hands up, I was a ‘New Ager’…. but it served its’ purpose. Without this experience I may never have been able to embrace Christianity and accept the Faith required. So to start from the beginning - my background has always been to only accept concepts and theories which are scientifically 'proven'. Then for some reason I was drawn to learn reflexology and discovered crystals – but my rational mind was able to dispense with the spiritual side and put it down to ‘science which we are yet to understand’. Then it all changed…. I went on a Reiki course – and there was definitely something very strange going on there! I could feel energy running through my body from hands which weren’t even touching me. I saw colours and patterns. So this heralded a huge change - I finally accepted that there are mysteries in life outside of science. With this new understanding I pursued Angelic Reiki and embraced the whole holistic scene. But I never felt quite at home there – I dismissed this feeling with the belief that I needed to get better at it – become more in-tuned etc. But now I see it was not right for me. But my New Age experience certainly opened my mind - and without that I may never have become a Christian. Perhaps this was mapped out for me and I do wonder in terms of spreading the Word of God, whether this is an area which could be explored. You have people who are already open minded to the Supernatural. So back to my experience last week. I spent a day teaching reflexology in a room I hire at a Crystal/Reiki/New Age inspired shop. It felt so wrong. Previously I have loved that room – considering it full of good energy, but not this time. This all came home to me when I attended Sunday Service at Church. I felt such an energy of love and ‘rightness’ and it really made me compare the experiences. I do not want to particularly knock New Age and indeed I do have some very good friends who are part of this – lovely, kind, good people. But I do see inherent problems in New Age – such as it being very money orientated, promoting the love of the ‘self’ rather than others, and a lack of moral framework. And of course, there are Christian reasons for not engaging in New Age in terms of attracting dark energies masquerading as good.
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My week has been full of images, words, light, dark, silence, contemplation and joy. A week of focussing on Christ with like minded friends. My week started on Monday and to be honest I did not have a clue what to expect – and the words ‘Holy Week’ had no inner meaning to me other than the facts stated in the Bible. Monday’s Stations of the Cross was not a good start for me. The reason? I was focussing on me instead of Christ. Walking around the church and standing at each Station was hard for me with my back and I had to sit down quite a bit. I was totally embroiled with my embarrassment of having to sit down instead of focusing on what I should have – Christ’s journey towards Crucifixion. It was all about ‘me’ instead of being all about ‘Him’. This ‘all about me’ sentiment stayed with me until Thursday’s Midnight Vigil and the Altar of Repose. Something then changed inside of me. As I sat in silence I was totally immersed in the vision of the Altar of Repose – the beauty, the sadness, the dark, the light, the stillness, the movement... The ‘facts’ then changed to ‘feelings.’ Holy Week and the Crucifixion truly entered my heart. On Friday the Church had a different atmosphere. One of emptiness – I think due to the lack of Cross, Altar and Altar dressings. The afternoon started with a repeat of the Stations of the Cross. This time is was not about me but entirely about Jesus Christ. Yes I had to sit – but what does that matter. The important thing was that I was there. This time I was able to truly focus on Christ’s journey.
Then we come to Easter Sunday – oh what joy – He is Risen! An early 6am start with bonfire and lighting of the Paschal Candle. Some very interesting images produced by the flames of the bonfire.. I did not notice this until I examined the photos afterwards. Maybe significant, maybe not, but still awesome! Then there was the point in the service that it was proclaimed that Christ is Risen – and sunlight streamed into the Church! My mood changed from sadness, silence and contemplation to one of joyous celebration. That joy has stayed ever since!
What a truly amazing Holy Week - so many emotions - so much sharing. This has truly changed my Christian life. I entered Holy Week with Jesus living in books and stories. I ended Holy Week with Jesus living in my heart and a feeling of deep joy. It feels wonderful! Thank you to Fr. Simon for enabling this, and to all my friends for sharing this week with me. (written 28 March 2019)
As you may have gathered my posts so far are a bit of a ‘catch up’. I had written notes but kind of never got around to starting a blog – until now. So I have included these posts for the sake of completeness – so please forgive me if they are not that inspiring. I am going to move to the present as quickly as possible as even I can’t be doing with writing ‘old news’ During the last few months I have realised that I would like to have a role in the Church. I am not sure what that will be – although I have some ideas. This includes communicating both verbally and in writing the Word of God – particularly how Gods’ word relates to society today and conversing with those who are perhaps exploring faith. Additionally, I am excited by the idea of mission and using online and social media as ways of serving existing Christians and promoting the Word of God to those who are not. I guess this blog and website is part of this. I have decided to formally ‘go for it’ and have applied for the ‘Foundations in Christian Ministry’ course with the Church of England. This helps to discern what your calling is. And being so new (and of confused mind…) I really need this. In conjunction with this I was asked to join my Parish PCC and have taken on a role of representing the Parish at local Deanery Synod meetings. AND….. I did my first reading in church today! I am going to include the reading I did here as I feel this is a bit of a milestone for me – I can’t believe I actually took part in a Church service! Feedback was it was fine except I need to slow down. So here is what I read.. and I think I will always remember this reading. I actually feel I have ‘started’ now! A reading from the Prophet Jeremiah 7:23-28 © Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God These were my orders: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me. From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the prophets. But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer. So tell them this, “Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.” The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God A response to this morning’s Psalm 94(95):1-2,6-9 O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’ O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’ Come, ring out our joy to the Lord; hail the rock who saves us. Let us come before him, giving thanks, with songs let us hail the Lord. O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’ Come in; let us bow and bend low; let us kneel before the God who made us: for he is our God and we the people who belong to his pasture, the flock that is led by his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’ O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the desert when your fathers put me to the test; when they tried me, though they saw my work.’ O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’ Gospel Acclamation Ezk18:31 Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory! Shake off all your sins – it is the Lord who speaks – and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory! Very chuffed to have a brief piece I wrote published in the local Methodist magazine.
My writing was from an Apologetics angle and it was followed by a lovely piece by the Church's Minister Janet, putting it into perspective Here is the text... Made by God – The Wonders of our World Many Christians express an evangelical desire to welcome people to our Faith. But how can we convince others that Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and that the Holy Spirit is living amongst us and in us? Perhaps in this world of Facebook, Twitter and ‘science explains all’ we need to play the world at its’ own game and come from an evidence-based view. This does not belittle ‘Faith’, but initial evidence-based approaches may perhaps open the door to people learning to have Faith in Jesus and to accepting the supernatural side. On a purely scientific viewpoint I would include the following: Something out of nothing – The Universe is expanding and hence the Big Bang Theory. But where did the Big Bang come from? If nothing existed originally, how can something come out of nothing? Gods hand perhaps. And if God did cause the Big Bang and set the formation of the Universe in action, then we can perhaps take the view that in doing this he set in motion the conditions for life itself and the Evolution process. How much guiding of Evolution once it had begun is of much debate by academics. Further evidence is provided by the finely tuned nature of the world in terms of creation and development. The odds of this happening by accident is not a feasible view This whole area of discussion comes under the heading of Christian Apologetics – an area I am finding fascinating in my early Christian journey. Christian Apologetics serves to present a rational basis for Christianity. In addition to the scientific aspect of discussion, there are also arguments supporting the historic accuracy of the Bible. Additionally, there is a philosophic side, asking questions on morals, consciousness, our inherent desire to believe in a God and much more. Early emergence of this can be seen in Apostle Pauls’ Letter to the Philippians, with latter day authors including the wonderful C.S Lewis. To conclude, perhaps we should appeal to society’s rational self in order to set the scene for a belief in Jesus Christ. Perhaps in today's world the leap to Faith without evidence is a leap too far. Added by Janet There are many ways of coming to the Christian faith, and scientific reasoning relating to our amazing world is one of them. However, whichever way the journey begins, it must always reach the point where we come into a relationship with God. God the creator and sustainer of the amazing Universe is the God who knows and cares about every one of us, who hears our prayers, forgives our sins, comforts us in sorrow and fills us with joy. |
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