Wisdom from and via Evan Lewis

By David Kitchingman in All Sorts

sayings of wise men to ponder

Wisdom from and via Evan Lewis
Evan Lewis, who died just on six months ago, was a penetrating thinker and leader within our parish and the church. A tribute to his ministry, compiled by Donald Phillipps, was presented at the recent Synod meeting and will be tabled at the Annual Conference in October.
This Sunday, the Explorers Group, which owes its existence and style to Evan, is leading services at Mornington and Glenaven on the theme: "Exploring with Evan: a tribute to the faith journey of Evan Lewis". The following material supplements the content of the services but can stand alone as a pointer to Evan's personal stance.
Evan liked to collect sayings of others that, in his view, reflected great wisdom. Here are a few - but particularly note the first!
The Buddha (paraphrased) Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.
Jesus
It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Rather the Father's kingdom is spread out on earth, and people don't see it. (Thomas)
You must be as sly as a snake and as simple as a dove. (Matthew)
Islam
Whoever has no kindness has no faith.
Rumi (13th Century Sufi mystic)
They say, 'He cannot be found'. Something that cannot be found is what I desire.
Hinduism
Like the bee, gathering honey from different flowers, the wise person accepts the essence of different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions.
Meister Eckhart (Mediaeval German theologian)
Whenever someone recognizes something in God and puts a name on it, then it is not God. God is higher than names or nature.
God neither heeds nor needs vigils, fasting, prayer, and all forms of mortification in contrast to repose. God needs nothing more than for us to offer him a quiet heart.
John Wesley
The best form of worship is to imitate the one you worship.
While we all cannot think alike, and while we all cannot walk alike, we can all love alike. May we not be of one heart, though we are not always of one opinion?
Albert Einstein
I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion.
Robert Funk (Founder of the Jesus Seminar)
For Jesus, God's domain has no brokers, no mediators between human beings and divinity. The church has insisted on the necessity of mediators in order to protect its brokerage system.
Carl Jung
Where love rules there is no will to power; and where power predominates there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Martin Buber (Jewish philosopher; author of I and Thou) I do not accept any absolute formulas for living. No preconceived code can see ahead to everything that can happen in one's life. As we live, we grow and our beliefs change. They must change... We should stake our whole existence on our willingness to explore and experience.
Franz Kafka (Pr้cis of his parable, 'My destination')
I went to the stable, saddled my horse and mounted. At the gate the servant stopped me, asking: 'Where are you riding to?' 'I don't know,' I said, 'only away from here. Away-From-Here, that is my destination.' 'You have no provisions with you,' he said. 'I need none,' I said, 'the journey is so long that I must die of hunger if I don't get anything on the way. No provisions can save me. For it is, fortunately, a truly immense journey.'
Evan was often a man of few words, even in the Explorers Group, but when he did speak, his own insights were often memorable:
• Listening to one another we [speaking of the Group] have come to appreciate our diversity; we are not required to think exactly alike or to follow just one theological line. To have faith is not to adopt a given set of propositions. Rather it is to be on a journey. None of us would wish to have remained where we were in childhood or where our religious educators left us.
• If 'true' means a precise historical record of actual events, then practically nothing in the Bible is 'true'- as I see it. But the Bible is a book of stories, direct or implied, and stories can be true without being historical. Otherwise, why did Jesus tell parables?
• 'God', the word we have learned to use, is not something to argue about. We meet God. God is not a theory.
• We need God, not theology. Theology, even better theology, is a way of keeping God at a distance.
• I would like to eliminate theology altogether. What I need is poetry that speaks to me, not creedal statements.
• The best I can say is that, for me, God points to that which was ultimately real for Jesus.
• What is it to be Christian in today's world? Maybe: - to care, and to share stories that add wisdom to such caring. Isn't this what Jesus himself did?
David Kitchingman