FYI. ILY. SYLT. HFACdS.  JW.

-----Original Message-----
From: clarencekerley [mailto:Bill@bkspeaks.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 2:53 PM
To: ordinarylife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ordinarylife] The Most Important Question of All


ORDINARY LIFE - Thoughts and Ideas To Help You Live a Happier Life

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     PREVIEW for January 27, 2002

                  And

     SUMMARY of January 20, 2002

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Dear Folks -

   Because of numerous factors, you are receiving not only the preview 
for this coming Ordinary Life gathering but the summary of what was 
done on January 20 as well.

   First, for what is coming up:

   Over the past several years our relationship with our sister church 
in Cochabamba, Bolivia has been growing stronger. The Ordinary Life 
gathering has provided, for several years now, scholarships for people 
who wanted to go do building and medical work there. As you know, one 
of St. Paul's clergy - Diane Wimberly - is spending a year there. Two 
other folks in our community, Dr. Wilson and Nora Boots, go regularly 
to work there. Year before last we provided a substantial amount of 
money to help complete building a medical clinic there.

   Now they have specifically, through Diane, turned to us with an 
appeal for assistance. In order to give you the information needed to 
make a decision about this, I've asked Richard Wingfield to come and 
speak to us about his two trips there.

   He will be showing photos and videos of the work there and 
explaining to us some of what the need is. I'll read you Diane's letter 
to our gathering. There will also be an opportunity for you to see if 
making the next trip to Bolivia is something you would like to 
participate in.

   I sincerely hope you'll come to learn about and provide feedback on 
this important work.

Much love,

Bill Kerley

======================================

   At our last gathering I spoke about the responses to the 
questionnaire that was posted here last September. We had a high 
percentage of returns and each questionnaire was carefully analyzed. 
Edward Harris did an enormous amount of work putting this questionnaire 
together and analyzing it. After hearing the responses last week, we 
had some dialogue about the future direction of Ordinary Life. It was 
very helpful to me and I thank those of you who were present.

   Then I talked about the importance of questions, told a story about 
the most important question of all, and left you with a couple of major 
one's to ponder. What follows is a full text of that part of our time 
together.

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          The Big Question(s)

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   Here is a prayer someone sent me:

   I want to thank you, Lord, for being close to me so far this day. 
With your help, I haven't been impatient, grumpy, judgmental, or 
envious with anyone. But I will be getting out of bed in a minute and I 
think that I will really need your help then. Amen

   We do need all the help we can get, don't we? One of the ways help 
comes to us, but which we don't usually recognize, is through 
questions.

   For example:
   Are you here with a purpose?

   What would have to happen for this time we spend together today to 
be a worthy investment of your time?

   I'm always wondering about things like that.

   [What followed at this point of a summary of the questionnaire 
responses and dialogue about that.]

   Questions are very important. Every morning when you get up, you 
start your day with questions. At least this seems to be the case. 
Perhaps the first one is, "Is it really time to get up? Seems like I 
just went to sleep."

   Then they begin:

   "What am I going to wear?"
   "What's for breakfast?"
   "Will I be in time for the meeting?"
   "How am I going to get it all done today?"
   "Who will prepare supper tonight?"
   "How's the market doing?"

   Perhaps one of the things that differentiates is the quality of 
questions we ask ourselves.

   I want to read you the story of the most significant question you 
can ask - of yourself or of someone else.

   This is an old, old story. This version of it comes from Dawna 
Markova's wonderful book, "I Will Not Die an Unlived Life."

   Immediately after her father died, she realized that even in his own 
opinion, he had not really lived his life but merely existed. As part 
of her grieving, this poem came out of her -

   I will not die an unlived life.
   I will not live in fear
   of falling or catching fire.
   I choose to inhabit my days,
   To allow my living to open me,
   To make me less afraid,
   More accessible;
   To loosen my heart
   Until it becomes a wing,
   A torch, a promise.
   I choose to risk my significance,
   To live so that which came to be as seed
   Goes to the next as blossom,
   And that which came to me as blossom,
   Goes on as fruit.

   It is very important when you hear this story to hear it as a 
parable, a metaphor, about your inner life and living. If you want to 
pursue this more, read Robert Johnson's book "He." By the way, Robert 
Johnson's biography is out and I highly recommend it as supplementary 
reading to what these gatherings are all about. The title of that book 
is "Balancing Heaven and Earth." It will both inform and inspire you.

   Now, here is the story:

   "In the center of space and time, there lived a king in a castle. 
His name was Arthur, and he had been mortally wounded. Though his heart 
sill pumped blood, he never left his chamber, for he had fallen under 
an evil spell. He no longer cared a whit for the fortunes of his people 
or his lands. All of his kingdom lay fallow. Everyone's souls seemed to 
be suspended. The people went about their daily tasks lethargically, as 
if they were all in a trance of some kind. They had lost all sense of 
purpose.

   "The story now shifts to a cottage in the woods not far from the 
castle. A very naive, fatherless young man name Parsifal had just come 
of age. While walking through the forest, he encountered a bevy of the 
king's knights riding along the road. He was so awestruck by their 
shining appearance that he immediately wished to become one such as 
they. Over the objections of his very strict mother, Herzelaide, he set 
off for the castle.

   "Parsifal was struck dumb, however when he reached King Arthur's 
castle. Instead of the glorious Camelot he had expected, he found 
himself in the middle of a wasteland, where everything was sterile. He 
discovered that the king had been wounded in the groin, and had lost 
the power of re-generation. The King's courtiers, moving about 
listless, did nothing about the terrible situation that had befallen 
them.

   "Parsifal was given a horse and weapons so he could battle with a 
formidable knight who had bested all of Arthur's champions. 
Astonishingly, Parsifal won and took the armor of the fearsome foe. 
Some said it was mere luck, but the consensus was that the young man's 
innocence conferred a divine blessing on him.

   "Parsifal wanted desperately to help his king, but he, like everyone 
else, had no answers as to how to heal the wound. His mind was filled 
with questions, which flowed from the gift of his innocence, but he 
dammed them up, remembering his mother's constant injunction not to 
embarrass people by asking questions. And so Parsifal left the count on 
a quest for the Holy Grail.

   "The legend then relates how he ventured down many a blind path and 
false trail in his search, but finally he glimpsed the Grail and, as a 
result, felt the King's pain in his own heart. On the first of May, he 
rode his magnificent white charger back to Arthur's castle. He rushed 
to his king, who was at Death's door. With compassion in his heart, he 
overcame his previous hesitance and knelt beside his monarch. A 
question rose to his lips and spilled over as it were wine.

   "'What aileth thee?' A blinding light flashed, and in an instant the 
spell was broken. The king's heath was restored, the land and all its 
inhabitants were renewed. Arthur and the other members of the court 
turned to Parsifal and in honoring him, the King gave this toast, 'If 
you falter, never forget, that verily every day holds the promise of a 
new redemption!'"

   Questions can be dangerous. They can take you to and over the edge 
of the safe world we normally live in.

   "Is my spirit dying in my marriage?"
   "What is my life really about?"
   "Will I die an unlived life?"

   All new and original thought begins with a question.

   Can we embrace the unanswered? Can we live in the mystery?

   Here is a very important question for you to ask yourself:

   "What is likely to happen to me if I keep living my life exactly as 
I am?"

   And, then:

   "Is that what I want?"

   So here are two questions I leave with you:

   The first is by Meister Eckhart and was written several hundred 
years ago:

   "What good is it to me if Mary gave birth to the son of God fourteen 
hundred years ago and I do not give birth to the child of God in my 
time and in my culture? We are all meant to be mothers of God. For God 
is always needing to be born."

   The next question comes from Mother Teresa:

   "What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each 
other?"

   The answers to these and other questions stirred in your today will, 
of course, have to come from you.

   No matter where you go this week, no matter what happens, remember 
this: You are carrying precious cargo. Watch your step.

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Ordinary Life is a gathering that provides an opportunity to develop an 
enlightened heart and an awakened mind to the reality of the present 
moment.

The gathering meets on Sunday mornings at 9:45 am in Fondren Hall at 
St. Paul's UMC - 5501 South Main, Houston, Texas and is taught by Dr. 
Bill Kerley. If you would like more information -

Contact Bill Kerley -

E-Mail - Bill@bkspeaks.com
Web - www.bkspeaks.com
Voice - 713-663-7771
Fax - 713-663-6418
Mail - 6300 West Loop South, Suite 480 Bellaire, TX 77401
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