SOFiA Newsletter 173 August 2024
 
 
Exploring Values, Meaning and SpiritualityImage of dover beach
 
Limestone cliffs like those at Dover, scene of the poem “Dover Beach”

Ephesus group meeting
The Ephesus Group in Wellington
This article provides a picture of the Ephesus group initiated by Ian Harris in Wellington in 1990. It is the talk Ian gave at the 25th Anniversary of Ephesus in 2015 (slightly updated) and gives interesting insights into how and why the group was set up.  More…
Undercurrents book cover
Book Review: Undercurrents by Lynne Frith
The cover photograph of a boardwalk in Pekapeka Wetlands, south of Hastings, was taken by Sally Carter, Presbyterian minister in Napier.
Lynne Frith had chosen to live in Hawkes Bay in her early years of retirement, and both had served Wellington churches in early ministries.
The photo captures well the searching spirit that underlies Lynne’s collection of forty-six poems. The boardwalk imagery symbolises walking the spiritual faith journey through a darkened bush landscape and over deep waters of uncertain depth.  More...
Head and Sholders of Ria Hall
 
CD review:Manawa Wera by Ria Hall

Ria Hall (b.1983), Maungatapu, Tauranga, is a recording artist, singer/songwriter and television presenter. Her lead-singing roles in the July 2024 World Choir Games in Auckland were a highlight of this celebration of choral music.  

She took her first steps into the local body elections in Tauranga, also in July. While not gaining a place on the Council, she presented a visionary platform for creative ways of empowering people.  Sea of Faith members look forward to her continuing engagement in local politics.  The nation also cries out for new ways of governance that engage all people.  More...
On Being Mortal Part 3: Psychotherapeutic Approaches

Given that most of us in SOFiA are in our 70s or 80s, it seems strange that death and mortality play such a small role in our writings. In what follows, your Editor attempts to fill this void and to come to grips with the fact that we are not immortal and that life will come to an end for us all. Many thinkers regard exploring death as like staring at the sun; something that’s impossible to do. However, the aim in this review is to build up a picture of what it means to be mortal, a biological creature with a limited lifespan, an individual that faces its own death, by surveying what literature, medicine, psychotherapy and theology have to say about it.  This third part looks at several psychotherapeutic works; The Denial of Death by Ernst Becker, Existential Psychotherapy by Irvin Yalom and Mortals: How the Fear of Death Shaped Human Society by Rachel and Ross Menzies. 
Article by Laurie Chisholm, editor More...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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