[Dialogue] 5/07/20, Progressing Spirit: Jessica Shine: Why The Church Must Die - Part 3; Spong revisited

Thu May 7 04:31:52 PDT 2020

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Why The Church Must Die - Part 3
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|  Essay by Rev. Jessica Shine
May 7, 2020It’s done. Over.With a few clicks I have ended the longest adult relationship I’ve had. I sold my 2005 Subaru Legacy.In the span of a few days I listed and sold a car I had owned since I graduated with my master’s degree and began formal ministry. That car has outlasted a marriage, an engine (timing belt), and my relationship with the church. Besides my parents, family, and a few close friends, this car has been the longest enduring companion to my story - 342,000 miles of it to be exact.Why didn’t I sell it sooner? There were so many reasons to keep it. The exterior was clean. The black leather interior was spotless. The heated seats, moonroof, and all-wheel drive had provided ease for so many memorable trips to the beach, the snow, and everywhere in between.I had been ready many times to end that relationship before 15 years. There were plenty of reasons to upgrade, sell, downsize, and the like. Part of me was tied to that car, for better or worse. It was mine. I bought it (with some help from Abuela, gracias) and paid for it myself. I was used to it so why sell it? And it was so fun to drive!  And… it was just a car. There will be other cars. If I’m being honest I don’t even need a car. We have a paid for 2008 Prius, which like many of you, is not being used much these days. And my wife and I would love to be car-free at some point, though with a 16 year-old that seems like a lofty goal. It’s really tough to dream about a new car because I loved that car. I was used to it, it was used to me.No this isn’t an ad.Here’s the point: “Sometimes we confuse the Church with the church we’re familiar with.” Wait, I thought this was about a car. Nope. It’s about my inability to let go of Jesus and to let go of my love for the Church, while simultaneously hoping the church I’m familiar with will change. Or that the church I’m familiar with will give me a reason to stay. Or a reason to believe it won’t die too. Did you get that? Let me say it differently.In two previous articles I’ve shared why the church must die, and why I believe it is or has been dying. Some of my fellow readers (People of Color, LGBTQ, differently-abled) have seen what I’ve seen, felt what I’ve felt. Others have been offended or triggered, mostly well-meaning folks of privilege who don’t want things to change. That’s just it - don’t confuse the Church with the church you’re familiar with. The familiarity of the leather, the wheels, the pews, or the committee meetings are not the vehicle ordained by the Divine to cultivate sacred community. They are just parts. Parts break, rust, fade, become outdated (or were never really equitable).In a conversation this week with The Reverend Dr. Randi Walker[1], recently retired church historian and pastor, I was struck by the quote above. I asked her what she sees for the church in the next 10-20 years, based on her historical understanding and life experience within a progressive Christian denomination. I often ask this question of more mature folk, partly because I’m trying to understand my journey and partly because I don’t want my formation rooted in fear. So, I choose to ask for help from those who have been around the block, since it turns out I don’t know everything.Dr. Walker was quick to respond and her surety assured me. “The Church will go on. The Church has been around for a while (she chuckled). Sometimes we confuse the Church with the church we’re familiar with…” We went on to marvel at all the ways the ‘Church’ is showing up for each other and larger community during this pandemic. Who knew that the Church could adapt so quickly? Who could have guessed that Easter services would be larger than usual because accessibility has changed. Who knew that we could have virtual small groups, that telephone trees would make a comeback, and that pastoral care could be done while a millennial is installing wifi for a 90 year old who hasn’t been to church in years (thanks also Randi for this!).[2]Part of what died in my spiritual journey was the ‘church I was familiar with’. The theology, the liturgy, the denomination were never the sacred community (shocking I know). They were agreed upon points, and honestly, there were still factions within that sect (spoiler alert… there are factions everywhere). When I left the church I was familiar with, I thought I was leaving it all. Jesus. God. But I couldn’t. Because, for me, Jesus wasn’t the church. And it wasn’t the church that had changed, it was me. I was becoming more of me and there wasn’t room in that iteration of the church. So are all churches bad? Close minded? No. Is a church a church a church a church? No.Like Randi’s words though, I had confused the Church with the church I was familiar with. I wonder if that happens for you too? Perhaps with the church, or with family, or with your own life.We are designed to thrive in community, that is what makes us Sacred. We already exist in community though. And when we acknowledge our connection to every living being and relative on this planet, we move into Communion. Nothing like a pandemic to pull the curtain back on this truth: that we have been connected all along. Our food sources. Our water source. Our transportation. Our employment. Our ways of life.So, how do we experience this type of Sacred Community? That celebrates the newness of life and growth. That comforts us when we weep through loss and death. That is present in our fear, our anxiety, our unknown. This is what Jesus does, this is Church. It is full of wonder and mess. How do we experience it? Most often, I’ve experienced this sacred community when I offered it freely.I’ve said previously we must midwife the death of the church. Let me clarify: the church we’re familiar with. The challenge is that most of us (progressives and ex-evangelicals) aren’t ready to let go of that church. And yet… it will die.What is familiar right now in terms of the church you’re familiar with? How are you more or less welcoming because of Covid? Are you identifying the gaps in accessibility? What needs to die in the church you’re familiar with? How will you honor that cherished familiar part?Welcome to midwifery.~ Rev. Jessica ShineRead online here

About the Author
Rev. Jessica Shine earned degrees in theology and divinity, but still hasn’t figured out how to walk on water. Despite this, she was ordained to ministry by the Seventh-day Adventist church and continues offering spiritual care as a clergy member of The CHI Interfaith Community (based in Berkeley, CA). With two decades of experience serving church communities, police officers, hospital staff, and teenagers, Shine has a passion for people and a skill for communicating in transformative ways. She is a descendant of Mexican, Indian, and Western European immigrants. Her spirituality began in childhood, was influenced by Jimmy Swaggart and Mother Theresa, and continues in the Pacific Northwest. She dwells on lands where Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other tribes made their homes. Shine also co-hosts a podcast on death and dying called “Done For” (available on iTunes, Google, and at doneforpodcast.com). [1] Walker, Randi Jones The Evolution of a UCC Style (United Church Press: Cleveland, 2005) though she has written several books and is currently working on another, this was my first introduction to Dr Walker’s work.[2] https://www.abqjournal.com/1448769/virtual-church-offerings-bring-forth-real-fruit.html  |

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Question & Answer

Q: By Jeanne

After reading near death experience reports, and the all-encompassing love that seems to accompany folks in a near death experience, I am wondering why we need a savior. I've been a Christian all my life but John Spong has raised some questions for me.  I think Jesus was an excellent teacher and a good role model but do we really need a savior?

A: By Rev. Lauren Van Ham
 Dear Jeanne,Thank you for this deep and fundamental question.  Spong and others have worked thoughtfully, tirelessly to unpack a story, questioning at each layer its science, believability, and historical context.  Many Christians and non-Christians look to Jesus, as you suggest, as a teacher and role model. 

Therefore, if we back away from the understanding that there is a savior (a being), I believe the question still worth asking might be, “do we really need saving?”  Responding for myself, the answer is an absolute YES.  Life on Earth is hard!  It comes with suffering.  I need to be saved from all the ways I intentionally and unintentionally do harm to others and to myself simply by doing my best to live an engaged, good and loving existence.  A few examples include:

   - Reacting thoughtlessly and impulsively instead of responding with curiosity and compassion
   - Failing to speak up for [insert name] when they were marginalized or attacked for being who they are
   - Judging, and judging (and judging some more) the ones who live their lives differently from the way I think they should (Ha!)
   - Withholding my gifts for fear of failure, fear of success, or just the self-defeating spiral of perfectionism
   - Falling repeatedly for the insatiable demands and ridiculous timelines of the marketplace even though they create hunger in psyche, soul and spirit

Perhaps you relate to some of these, or wish to add your own? 

In my work as a Spiritual Director, I talk with many individuals who do not practice a particular Faith tradition, nor do they ascribe to a “savior;” but nearly all of them are on a search for experiencing the “all-encompassing love” you reference in your question.  “Saving” is the act of protecting from harm or destruction, and in theological terms, saving (salvation) redeems us from the ways we have missed the mark.  Redemption is active; it implies that one can find a way through one’s mistakes, patterns, or dark nights to experience forgiveness, new behaviors, and healing for oneself and others.  Religious teachings and spiritual practices offer “tools” to help us find guidance amidst the confusion, community in the isolation, and some form of comfort in the pain and grief. 

In Sanskrit and Pali, the ancient sacred languages of India, the word for salvation is jivanmukti.  Jivanmukti translates to mean, “spiritual release or salvation achieved while still alive.”  I find this to be an encouraging and active invitation for us all.  Jesus joins spiritual teachers from all the world’s religions by affirming that Love is the destination – here and now, as well as wherever we may or may not travel after taking our last breath. 

When we undertake the practice of redemption, life offers more meaning, added dimension.  We can do this in many ways -- through prayer, meditation, dreamwork and music, as well as volunteering, taking classes, standing for justice, and stretching ourselves to the spaces that feel a little uncomfortable or unfamiliar.  Practicing salvation happens when we work to reduce the harm and suffering in this life, when we engage in acts of redemption for ourselves and with others.  With salvation, it is possible to know, experience and even embody (for moments) all-encompassing love.  And who doesn’t want that? ~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham

Read and share online here

About the Author
Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA was born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest, Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University and The Chaplaincy Institute.  Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care), and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Lauren’s passion for spirituality, art and Earth's teachings have supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism.  Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. Her ideas can be heard on Vennly, an app that shares perspectives from spiritual and community leaders across different backgrounds and traditions. Currently, Lauren tends her private spiritual direction and eco-chaplaincy consulting practice; and serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative (URI), and as guest faculty for several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.  |

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Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited

The Origins of the Bible, Part XXVI: The Wisdom Literature

Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong
July 8, 2009Four books of the Old Testament are generally regarded as being the constituent parts of what has been called “Wisdom Literature.” They are Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. We have treated the book of Job earlier in this series (see Origins of the Bible XXIII) and will not repeat that. Job is also listed along with Jonah and Ruth as “protest literature” and it wrestles with the eternal human question of the meaning of justice and the nature of God. Today, I will focus on the other three of the “Wisdom” books, all of which are attributed in the mythology of the Jews to King Solomon, who was regarded as the wisest of the kings of the Jews. That reputation is based primarily on a story found in the first book of Kings, chapter 3, which portrays Solomon as asking God not for wealth or long life, but for the gift of wisdom to enable him to be a good king. When one reads what the rest of the Bible says about Solomon, however, the idea that his life was marked by wisdom is a very strange claim. He had a harem of 1000 wives. He quite literally dissipated the goodwill of his father, King David. Finally his unwise policies resulted in a rebellion at the time of his death which resulted in the secession of ten tribes from his kingdom to form the nation of Israel, also called the Northern Kingdom. For rebellious Jews to be willing to give up their ties with Jerusalem and the Temple and to break forever the sense of Jewish unity, which contributed over the centuries to Jewish weakness and a history of persecution, strikes me as anything but wise. Mythology, however, has strange power and the image of wise King Solomon has hung on despite the witness of history. The Wisdom Literature claims King Solomon in the same way that we noted earlier that the Book of Psalms claimed King David as its author. In neither affirmation is history well served.Turning first to the book of Proverbs, one discovers quickly that this book is in reality a compendium of four separate works augmented by several poems and a few appendices. Book I runs from Proverbs 1:1-9:18 and consists of ten extended discourses containing admonitions and warnings, plus two poems in which wisdom is personified. One of them (8:1-36) appears to have influenced the prologue to the Fourth Gospel in which the logos is personified in quite similar language. This first book appears to have been composed in the late 4th or early 3rd century BCE, some 600 years at least after Solomon’s death.Book II, which includes Proverbs 10:1-22:16 and Book IV, which includes 25:1-29:27 makes the overt claim that these words are “the Proverbs of Solomon.” That claim is strange on many levels, but it should be noted that even the book of I Kings claims that Solomon’s wisdom covered only the phenomenon of nature, not human behavior.Book III is composed of Chapters 22:17-24:42 and appears to have been based on a much earlier Egyptian book of Wisdom, which is dated about 1000 BCE. and is entitled the “Instruction of Amenenope.” To this book is attached the first of five appendages 24:23-34. The others, which were attached to Book IV, constitute (1) a dialogue between a skeptic and a believer (30:1-9); (2) proverbs of a numerical type (30: 10-33); (3) the counsel of a Queen Mother to a young monarch (31:1-9); and (4) a portrait of an ideal wife of a prominent man (31:10-31). I have taken these divisions from the New Oxford Annotated Bible, but one can get them from almost any study of the book of Proverbs.The content of the book of Proverbs has insinuated itself into the common wisdom of our society far more deeply than most people imagine. One only has to recall such familiar sayings as, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” “He who troubles the household will inherit the wind,” “A soft answer turns away wrath,” “A good name is to be chosen above great riches,” “Spare the rod and spoil the child” (not exactly the quote from Proverbs, but close and it is most often repeated in this form) and “Train up a child in the way he(or she) should go and when he (or she) is old he (or she) will not depart from it!” Many people, including prominent politicians, repeat these phrases with little knowledge that they derive from the book of Proverbs.Wisdom literature became popular among the Jews in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, following the return from exile that began around 540. The cultural assumption was that the time of the prophets had passed. Divine revelation could no longer be anticipated and the voice of God was no longer heard, so people searched for guidance in life, in the accumulated experience of human wisdom. The wisdom message, cited time after time, was that good living would be rewarded, not in some afterlife, which at this time hardly existed as a concept in Judaism, but in the quality and integrity of their present life. When that did not seem to work out, as was the case in the story of Job, there was a sense of religious disillusionment. It was that feeling of disillusionment that became particularly apparent in the second major work in the Wisdom section of the Jewish Bible to which I now turn.The book of Ecclesiastes, or “Qoheloth the Preacher,” a title by which this book is also known, is far more a philosophical treatise on the meaning of life than it is a testimony to belief. It even expresses despair about the reality of God and questions the primary beliefs of the Hebrew religion. Portraying God as the “inscrutable” originator of the world and the “determiner” of human fate, Ecclesiastes is skeptical of the human ability to make change and finally declares that no human accomplishments make any difference in determining one’s ultimate fate. Thus, for this author, there is no clear meaning in life and no ultimate purpose for life. This means, says this book in its recurring theme, “All is vanity.” There is also no hope for life beyond this life in this book, for it asserts that death brings only oblivion.One wonders how a fourth century BCE work of this nature managed to get accepted into the Hebrew canon of Scripture, since it appears to be at odds with most of the Jewish understanding of God. Two reasons are traditionally cited. First, in the first two verses, the book is attributed to the son of King David, a verse that was interpreted to imply authorship by King Solomon. The second is that an orthodox postscript was added in 12:9-14 that concludes with the admonition that “we are to fear God and keep God’s commandments knowing that God will bring every deed into judgment.” That is a strange ending for a very different book with a very different message and undoubtedly comes from the pen of a later editor, but this ending probably allowed the book to gain entrance into the sacred text.I have always liked the honesty of Ecclesiastes and the fact that this almost nihilistic writing could find a place in the scriptures of my faith tradition. I suspect, however, that those who claim a magical revelationary source for the Bible always skipped this faithless, despairing work.The final book in the Wisdom section is entitled The Song of Solomon. This is a book of lyric poems or fragments of poems about courtship and human love. One commentator suggested that these poems were really bawdy songs sung in a Jewish pub by males lusting after the body of a female. Others have said that they are courtship songs written to be sung at weddings. Still others have suggested that these narratives portray a god and goddess in love. Whatever the explanation, the fact remains that The Song of Solomon is erotic and it does extol the beauty and wonder of physical love and sexual attraction. It is quite obvious when reading this book that Israel never produced a Queen Victoria or a Victorian period of sexual repression.This writing also made it into the Canon of Scripture first by claiming, as it does in the first verse, that it was the work of wise King Solomon and, second, by being allegorized. Hosea, the eighth century BCE prophet, had understood God as the husband of Israel (Hos.7:16-19) and so these love songs were said to have been between God and God’s bride, the Jewish people. In the Christian era, they continued to find allegorical interpretations by playing on the metaphor of the Church as the bride of Christ, a theme stated most overtly in the book of Revelation (21:2, 9). The Song of Solomon has also been interpreted through the ages as describing “the intimate experience of divine love in the individual soul.”The Wisdom Literature formed another movement in the unfolding life of the biblical narrative. One other note of some historic interest is that the concept of “wisdom” was thought of as feminine and was indeed feminine in the Greek language into which these Hebrew Scriptures were destined to be translated. So it was that appeals to the “divine Sophia” (the Greek word for wisdom) helped to temper the heavily patriarchal character of biblical thinking about God. Many people would in time see “wisdom” as an aspect of the Holy Spirit and thus advocates for the feminine in the definition of God for the first time found in the “wisdom literature” a scriptural basis to support their claims. That concept, once so foreign in our faith story, has now moved to the place where more and more of us are willing to see God first as both mother and father, and second to recognize that whoever God ultimately is, God is finally beyond the limited language of human gender divisions. In time with our sexist preconceptions opened up scholars began to discover in the biblical text ideas that moved us beyond seeing God as an enlarged and unlimited being like ourselves. Then we found other divine images that were transpersonal, viewing God after the analogy of the wind, or the power of love or even after the analogy of a “rock.” In each of these metaphors we began to see how it is that most of our God-talk is not really about who or what God is, but about making sense of the human experience of the “holy.” There is a difference. So embrace the truth found in the biblical “Wisdom Literature,” savor it and transform it into the symbols of your own experience. That is finally the only way to read this ancient, sacred and mythological book we call the Bible.~  John Shelby Spong  |

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