Solace

This weekend we went to Solace in Melbourne. For us it is Church that as a family we all participate in as we like the theology, and expression. The discussion was based around the Ted talk by Karen Armstrong.

A few things I liked about the discussion that followed::

• Belief as we know it and most Churches today practice it was only really a modern phenomena. (I'm pretty sure Marcus Borg has a chapter on in in his book, "The heart of Christianity")
• I liked Armstrongs idea that Orthodoxy should come out of practice. There was much discusion about this. My observation is that for most churches the practice of compassion comes from doctrine first.
• The major religions all have an underlying theme of treating the poor/outcast etc as we would ourselves. Interestingly Armstrong mentioned that Confusious spoke about this 500 years pior the Christ.

It was good to morning. Solace is particularly good at giving voice to which most Churches would not. Pluralism was well respected this morning.

One of the thing that constantly stikes me as I have gone is the acknoweldgment of the aboriginals who were the traditional custodians of the land. Its the right thing for a Church to do...