anyone else trying to find a different way to be Christian?

[nearlythree]

Don't quite know what I mean by that, but I'm longing for something different from what the church offers, and wondered if anyone else feels the same?

[nearlythree]

oops!!!!!

[nonbeliever]

How about setting your own rules to live by. I have my own morals and values which I live by, which don't provoke war and terror! Religion is just a very messed up world and as a fairly well educated and level headed person I find it incredibly hard and fustrating to believe you could live your life by the rules of a twisted myth!!!!!!?????????

[harrisey]

Nearly3 - have you looked into the Celitc-style communities - Iona Cmmunity, Northumbria Community. They are loose knit networks of people all over the world with common values, and I think that the ethos of Iona would really appeal to you, from all the other things you have written. I dont know their doctrines but I know they are very holistic in approach.
We use the Northubria Community prayer book a lot, its very Celtic, very chilled, very aware of the presence of God. Have a look here :
Iona
Northumbria



nonbiliever - "Religion is just a very messed up world and as a fairly well educated and level headed person I find it incredibly hard and fustrating to believe you could live your life by the rules of a twisted myth"

And yet, as a level headed educated person I choose to do just that. Dont want to turn any of the nice threads in this section bad, but that was an inflammatory needless and offensive thing to say on this thread. Nearly3 is looking for alternative ways to live out her Christian faith. Though I am happy within the church (funny enough, also full of level headed and some well educated people) I will be very interested to see what people come up with.

[nearlythree]

Hi, harrisey! Really weird finding this bumped up - I started it back in July, and accidentally posted three identical threads - one did run for a short while!

Thank you, it was through the Celtic Christian movement that I was able to find my way to church as an adult, although funnily enough it was the Community of Aidan and Hilda that had the greatest influence, I even thought of joining them. I also use the Northumbria Community's liturgies and prayer book, before the dcs every day but now once in a blue moon. And I love what the Iona Community stands for, I'm a big fan of John Bell and we had 'The Summons' at both dds' baptisms!

I don't know where I am going, tbh. I am so disillusioned with anglicanism I can't bear even to set foot in our parish church. I don't like the idea of being told what to think, so don't feel happy with creeds or dogma. I suppose the Unitarians are closest to where my beliefs are. But I love the sacraments, and miss receiving Communion so much - it used to be my strength and I really could have done with it in all the s**t we've been going through. Part of me wishes I still believed in all the things I used to.

non-believer, thank you for bumping this up for me, always happy to debate these things!. Somehow I think men would have gone to war had religion never existed - they manage it over politics, territory, resources, sex, what football team they support, being looked at in a pub...I also like to think that enough individuals and organisations more than redress the balance: Martin Luther King, Christian Aid, Chad Varah, The Childrens' Society, Maximilian Kolbe, L'Arche, Gladys Aylward, The Sally Army, Ghandi, Emmaus etc etc.

No-one tells me what to think or do. If you read the Gospels, once you strip away all the mystical stuff you get a man saying, 'So what do you think?' That is the challenge to my life. The trouble with me making up my own moral code is that I will change the rules to go along to suit me. If I am continually being challenged to stop and think about what I am doing, then maybe my life will be about others rather than about me.

Of course much of Christianity is myth (although hardly twisted, except in later years by man-made churches) But just because something is myth doesn't make it devoid of meaning. Remove myth from the world and you remove richness of experience.

I base my faith on experience. I have known God and felt him/her in my life from when I was tiny. Asking me to deny his/her existence is like asking me to pretend my own parents don't exist.

[bloss]

Message withdrawn

[roisin]

Harrisey - are you closely connected with the Northumbria Community? Dh is off up there again tomorrow for a few days, his spiritual director is there, and he uses their material daily at home and in services at church too; he's very much part of the community. (We've been only once briefly as a family.)

[harrisey]

We're not connected with them at all, but 5 years ago we were at Spring Harvest and they were doing evening adn morning services there which we went to, it was over Easter weekend and very powerful. We use their prayer book quite a lot, especially the complines, and the whole Community thing is something we are exploring a lot at the moment - seems to be much more central to our CHristian lives than is often made out.
Hope your husband has a good time there. We've been to Lindisfarne a couple of times when hammering up and down the A1 and the sense of peace there is amazing. But we live a lot closer to Iona and love it there too.

[roisin]

Dh spent some time on Iona when he was on sabbatical. We visited very briefly last summer, but it wasn't an ideal day: we drove down from Tobermory, ds2 was sick in the car, then we just missed the ferry and had to wait 45 mins ...! Then the main village was very busy with tourists - not much sense of peace to be had! We walked across the island and the beach was gorgeous there, and we enjoyed seeing the nesting sparrows in the little chapel next to the Abbey.