Author: David Ellis

There will be a sort-of life after death, initially for a select few but eventually for just about everyone, thanks to the digitization of everything. This fascinating BBC video clip (just 2 or 3 minutes long) starts by talking about how good we are getting at making digital actors for movies, but ends with a…

Robin led the meeting in Don’s absence on vacation. [Editor’s note: I have taken the liberty of expanding and clarifying my remarks here. Droit d’éditeur!—David]   Robin: The Greek word koinonia is commonly used to mean “community” but it is really a specialized form of community that involves intimacy and identifies the idealized state of…

Don: Last week we began to note the “terrifying” type of love as described in 1 Corinthians 13. It is a “fear-full” love, because it is so demanding, so radical. It demands a release of our ideas and prejudices, of supposed truths and knowledge and expectations. It seems as if love is being contrasted with…

Don: Beginning with the parable of the lost sheep, over the past few months we have discussed the concept of community, and the stages through which it grows. The first phase, “pseudo” community, is based on fear. How do we get beyond this and into the next phase, Chaos? We can see God himself introducing…

I thought this article from the BBC might help inform our discussion of community. Magazine 7 March 2013 Last updated at 03:05 ET Getting away from ‘the world’ Hutterite-style By Chris Summers BBC News North America is home to many religious communities, one of which – the Hutterites – believe that living communally and separately…

Don: Last week’s discussion led us to conclude that what was most responsible for the chaos we experience individually and communally is fear.  It seems to be related to the loss of something important, something critical to our self-esteem. The state of not fearing loss seems to be at the root of emptiness. Fear is…

Don: Last week we looked at “emptiness” in the context of the desert environment in which Jesus spent 40 days and nights and was tempted by Satan. The desert is a barren, empty, dry, arid, lifeless place, filled with need and want (from the human perspective, though scientifically we know it has a thriving ecology.)…

I wonder if the article below brings us any insights on the question of community? The pilgrims seem to experience a sort of emptiness and silence at the very height of the festival cacophany. I have to say, having visited India and seen it first hand, that India does a laudable job of maintaining a…

Don: We have been talking about the transition from pseudo community to true community, through a phase of emptiness. We’ve studied it in part with reference to the transition that took place in the early Christian church, when its Jewish founders were told by God to welcome in the gentile. (Acts 10.) There followed much…