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The cathedral…
What a beautiful night…. to rove around the town,
and thank you to the wonderful openness to express as seen below,
and for the poems below.
Churches, we found to be a hard topic to express
There are so many beautiful churches around the world –
so much detail and effort is put into them
All religions have a sacred places for workshops
Fellowship – a place of worship
A church – we look up to the rafters, to love something above
St Francis of Assisi, amazing history, the role it played in war times.
Notre Dame – atmospheric
What is the god nowadays.. who we worship, what do we worship?
It could be a god, it could be a football team.
What we believe in.
Yet, within the church is often judgement about others…
Is that what a church is about?
Lack of humility… how does that fit?
I feel more part of the universe than the church..
Perhaps we are feeling bigger than the walls of the church…
So many rules…
‘Church kicked my father out of church because he fell asleep’
Rules often turn people off the church
‘I don’t like the name calling if others aren’t the same religion…’
Homilies a sermon… some services have good messages,
Often wars are because of religion, ‘in the name of religion…’
Perhaps religion is used as the cause
Do we need something to believe in?
Humans seem to need to belong – to be part of something…
Some Rituals of religions in ancient times were barbaric…
There are 4200 religions…
Churches have been build by the community but are owned by the church
The imbalance of wealth..
Churches often fall down on the kindness and caring stakes
Some churches require you to pay….
Nowadays it’s harder to hide what is happening in the world… things are being exposed.. disclosure of what is happening or has happened…
The belief system around eternity.
People need certainty… we don’t like to not know-
If people know there is an after life, there is a comfort…
Humans may not evolved in their belief system
‘I’m safe where I am going’ was said by a friend in her dying days…
It’s a nice place – to feel safe about dying,
Then you don’t have to worry about it
‘You won’t die til your number is up’ is my belief
Even if you try – it won’t happen – until it is your time,
Having your own beliefs that bring comfort is what is important…
I can change my beliefs – to see things differently.
Self awareness changes your beliefs….
That is what learning and evolving is.
‘When babies die, they go onto the next world… is that so?’ Maybe, who knows…
Nobody knows… it’s about making sense to us to help us to cope.
Aboriginals believe that the stars in the sky are the children that have died…
It’s the picture we bring, that helps us survive…
Symbolic representation of people that died… through things such as animals, pelicans, the stars
Let us do it, as we feel good…
Let’s not have rules and other people control us,
Let’s be who we are and love others for they are
Church
A boat upside forever moored
Awaiting souls to come aboard.
Cathedral spires reach above
A lighthouse of human love.
No church nor mosque nor temple hold
All the stories that have been told.
How belief and faith becomes a balm
In a space created so full of calm.
Offering prayers and songs of worship
Spirits alike in companionship.
With so many gods coming and going
Each with a special calling ongoing.
All promising eternity in the next life
No wonder on earth chaos is rife
PJR 17.05.2021
The Church
A church, a chapel, a parish, a shrine
A mosque, a temple, a synagogue, divine…
Elaborate or simple,
They are there for the people…
Yet now it seems, the walls divide us
Love feels like hate, difference despises…
So, the church in itself,
seems unwittingly benign,
It’s more the affect
unable to ‘shine’
For the sanctuary of love
is fuelled by your heart
Feelings not rules
To learn from the start
So, let’s nurture the space,
that is nestled within,
Be kind, be caring.
Let’s begin
Churches
Churches have significant for some,
and not for others
Without them, where would we mark;
births, marriages and death?
Of course, depending on the church,
not all marriages, divorces or deaths are recognised.
So what do churches represent?
religions, beliefs, collectives, rituals, habits, history
and more recently op shops..
Adelaide is known as the city of churches,
also the murder capital of Australia,
congregations are mostly dwindling, is this why?
I was baptised catholic,
I have been a server, council member, musician and reader.
Since the age of 6,
I have experienced all the sacraments except priesthood and end of life,
And services – I have been a part of most of them including Christmas and Easter.
So, why go to church?
For the sacraments, to pay, to pray, to apologise?
for the homilies?
hmm, how many do you remember?
Is Church about;
spirituality? …many feel spirituality at other times
community or the feel-good? …if so how long does the feel-good last?
Many believe it is about saving their souls…
and that those who do not go/believe will go to hell… hmm
Where does the child sex abuse scandal fit?
And the handling of it… ?
with the lies, bullying, arrogance, self-preservation
displayed by those at the highest levels?
So I realise that spirituality, kindness and caring
does not need a religion or a church…
that it comes from the heart,
from within,
And it can be found
within all of us at any moment.
(NRS)