Feb 28 2008

February 2008 Newsletter

Published by under Newsletters

Sea of Faith              Newsletter     


   NETWORK N.Z.

    Dunedin                        February  2008
           

Programme:         

We began at 6 pm with a brief [because very well organised] Annual Meeting. The agenda for this, the Annual Report, Financial Statement and details of elections were enclosed.

After this, 
Don Feist opened up the subject of:
Authority  – it ain’t what it used to be

Don explained:
A key idea for understanding ourselves and our world  –  from nuclear families to nations,  and from truth to morals and God  – is the concept of  authority.   I’ve come to the conclusion that few people appreciate how great a change there has been in the nature of authority, and in our ideas about what is acceptable authority and what is unacceptable.  
 
I will outline what I think these changes are, and what I think this has to do with the problems many people have today with the Bible, the Church, and God – or why they think all three are now irrelevant.   I’m sure this will give us things to talk about.
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Do you want to go on receiving this Newsletter ?   ……

The beginning of a New Year  seems like a good time to check on whether we are sending this Sea of Faith Newsletter to anyone who doesn’t really want it. 
 
We are very happy to keep sending it to you if you are a little bit interested, but cannot come to our meetings.  But if you are not [or no longer] interested, we don’t want to bother you.  So we would be grateful if you would phone, email or write to the Editor [details at the end of the Newsletter] to ask us to stop.
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….  and if you want to get it, what form would suit?

About half of you now receive this Newsletter electronically.  This is quicker, cheaper, and also has the advantage that we can send other occasional messages, as we did when we heard about the documentary on Lloyd Geering on TV in December.   So if you are happy to switch to the email version,  we would be happy to hear from  you.  [Editor’s email address and phone are below].
 
At the same time,  we are happy to keep posting the hard copy version to all those who prefer this form – or, for that matter, to shift you from electronic to hard copy if you wish.
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When should we meet ?

When your Committee met at the end of January, one member suggested that instead of starting at 5.30 with tea, and moving on to the programme, we should start at 7 pm,  give and hour and a half to our programme as at present, and then have supper at 8.30.   It was claimed that this would make it easier to invite new people, and was likely to mean that more people would stay around and continue the discussion over supper.   
 
But other members felt the present arrangement was preferable.  They liked being finished by 7.30,  when there was still a lot of the evening ahead of them.   No decision was made, but if you have an opinion on this, it would be helpful to the Committee if you would talk about it to a Committee member.   [They are: Bruce Spittle, Geoff Neilson,  Andrew Meek, Gretchen Kivell, Ian Fleming,  Don Feist  and Graham Batts.]
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A Website of our own:

We now have our own web page at  
http://ourpage.co.nz/dsof/  So far it has on it information about when and where we meet and a link to two committee members for more information.  Other pages will be added.   If you have suggestions for what we might put on the website, or for appropriate links to other sites, Ian Fleming  – ianf@slingshot.co.nz would be pleased to hear from you. 
 
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A Secular Liturgy ?  –  A plea for help

I would like to try to develop and use a liturgy or ritual that expresses ideas and feelings about e.g. this planet Earth, or autumn, or Matariki [mid-winter], and which avoids as far as possible those things in the Church’s worship which no longer speak to, or speak for, me.  But neither writing it, nor using it,  can I do alone.   If you are interested in sharing in this,  I would be  pleased to hear from you.     
Donald Feist.
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Chairman:    Geoff Neilson   –    Phone 489-6727  –    Email:  geoffail@ihug.co.nz
Newsletter Editor:   Donald Feist  –   Phone 476-3268   – Email:   feist@clear.net.nz<mailto:feist@clear.net.nz>

 


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