Greetings fellow Explorers:
Our next gathering will be on Monday, 6th June, when Beth and Bill Heraghty will tell us about their passion for supporting needy school-age children through Give a Child a Chance (GACAC). This is a Vinnies programme focused on providing educational needs for struggling families in difficult times. The group liaises with the 29 State and Independent schools in the Redcliffe Peninsula, Deception Bay and Mango Hill areas, as well as local St Vincent De Paul Community Centres, to identify and reach out to families with children in need of support. The response from children in the program is remarkably positive; the catch-phrase being ‘put a child in a new uniform and you cannot stop them attending school’.
We’ll continue with a discussion of what we mean by ‘doing God’s work’, with reference to Hal’s questioning whether God preceded or followed the Big Bang [the birth of the universe], and whether the spiritual world – and God – may possibly have developed as part of the evolution of life itself. This was circulated in a recent Progressing Spirit post (see link), together with a thoughtful response by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox, a mystic and regular contributor to progressive Christianity/spirituality discussions:
Progressing Spirit : Be Opened: A Post-Easter Reflection
The issue of how we ‘imagine’ g-o-d is fundamentally critical not only to Christianity but to all religions and faiths, and of course there have been countless books written on the subject. We‘ll be introduced to the left-field but related idea of ‘imagined realities’ developed by Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari in his 2011 best-seller Sapiens, which will be a ‘taster’ for a future and no doubt very robust discussion.
As usual we’ll gather in the Activities Room at the Azure Blue Retirement Centre (91 Anzac Ave., Redcliffe) at 6 p.m. for a cuppa and chat prior to the start of proceedings at 6:30. The Centre management requests that we’re all fully Covid-vaccinated, and it goes without saying that if you have any Covid or flu-like symptoms you’re encouraged to stay at home. If you’d like to come along but aren’t a regular at our gatherings, please give me a call on 0401 513 723 about access and parking arrangements at the Centre.
Shalom, Ian
oOo