Broadview Church

A Mother’s Day sermon on “Noah’s Flood & Climate Change.” Ensure a life-giving world even to the seventh generation:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2012/05/noah%E2%80%99s-flood-climate-change-then-now

Click here to view our most recent newsletter (updated on May 16, 2012), which includes a Worship Preview, information on our upcoming book studies, and more!

NOTE: We will not meet on Sunday, May 27 (Memorial Day Weekend) because the Community Center will be hosting the town’s “Stars & Stripes” event the entire weekend. Otherwise, we are on our regular schedule.

Scroll down on this homepage to see highlights from recent sermons.

In our postmodern times, there is much to be regained in reclaiming some of those premodern reading strategies: allowing ourselves, for examples to say both “Yes, many of these story are more mythological than historical” and “Yes, many of these stories still have significant meaning on the level of myth and metaphor, allegory and archetype, symbol and sacrament. From this angle, the story of Cain and Abel becomes the universally true story of the farmer “killing” the lifestyle of the semi-nomadic herder and moving to the city. God’s rejection of the fruit of Cain’s farm and Cain being cast out from the plains east to Eden into the city reveals that the authors and promoters of this biblical myth had an anti-city bias and were far from convinced that the move toward urbanization was “progress.” They saw many dangers in city life, and we were see a similar anti-urban bias in future texts, especially regarding the Towel of Babel.

To read the rest, please visit Carl’s blog:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2012/05/before-and-after-cain-abel-and-archetypes

Genesis 3 is a deeply true universal story about the human condition, even though this precise series of events never happened historically. It’s a story about growing up, becoming aware of good and evil, and learning that our actions have consequences. It’s a tale about that instant when the veil of childhood innocence drops away for the first time and we realize our mortality; it’s about that moment in time when we realize that we too are someday going to die. This metaphorical, mythological, and archetypal way of reading the Bible’s earliest chapters is so much more exciting and compelling than more literal approaches. It also makes much more sense than asking question like, “Did Adam have a belly button? or “Where did Mrs. Cain come from?”

Read the rest at Carl’s blog:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2012/04/paradise-lost-or-outgrown-genesis-3-original-blessing-and-original-responsibility

Many scholars think that there are “hidden” books in the Bible: the books used as source material to compile the final version of the biblical books with which we are familiar.

Read more on Carl’s blog:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2012/04/preaching-%E2%80%9Cthe-book-of-j%E2%80%9D-are-there-hidden-books-in-the-bible

Instead of the next world, the focus is on the just how deep our inner and outer religious experience can be in this world and during this life. Instead of a single decision that can be made even by a small child, the emphasis is an ongoing, lifelong process of spiritual growth that most people cannot even begin to be comprehended until middle age at the earliest. Joyce Rockwood Hudson has an entertaining and significant take on The Beatles’ music career as an illustration of the journey toward wholeness. Jung called this journey individuation: the process of exploring one’s inner self as the path toward growth, maturity, and fully living into a healthy version of the person you alone are uniquely capable of becoming.

Read the read on Carl’s blog:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2012/04/individuation-the-beatles-and-the-journey-to-wholeness

Jung invites us to experiment in our own lives with the claim that through practices such as dream work and paying attention to synchronicities (‘meaningful coincidences’), we can catch glimpses of a web of meaning of which our conscious selves are typically unaware. Similarly, Viktor Frankl writes, ‘The only appropriate attitude to such coincidences is to not even try to explain them. I am too ignorant to explain them, and too smart to deny them.’”

Read the rest on Carl’s blog:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2012/03/synchronicity-coincidence-and-%E2%80%9Cjeff-who-lives-at-home%E2%80%9D-jungian-spirituality-for-lent/

“Social Media 101”
Free One-Day Workshop

Description: Learn best practices for using Facebook and other social media for yourself, your family, or business. Connect better with friends, clients, or grandchildren.

Instructor: The Rev. Carl Gregg is a local pastor and social media enthusiast.

Equipment: Please bring a laptop if you have one. If not, bring a pen and paper to take notes for use with your desktop computer at home.

When:  Saturday, April 21

Where: Prince Frederick Library (850 Costley Way), Room #3

Time: 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. (We’ll start setting up around 9:00 a.m. if you want to arrive a few minutes early to set-up your laptop, log on to the library’s free wireless Internet, etc.)

Cost:  Free, but registration is requested in advance.

Note: Limited to 30 participants. (There is still room, so please spread the word to others who may be interested in this opportunity.)

For more information or to register:
Phone: 443-949-6779
E-mail: carl@broadviewchurch.net