[Dialogue] 11/04/2021' Progressings Spirit: Rev Lauren Van Ham: Walking In The Good Way; Spong revisited

Thu Nov 4 06:42:44 PDT 2021

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Walking in the Good Way
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|  Essay by Rev. Lauren Van Ham
November 4, 2021

Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.”

Jeremiah 6:16

If this passage from Jeremiah stopped after the word, “souls,” it would be instructive enough.  But it keeps going, and I’m going to come back to that.  First, though, let’s reflect on our current moment and the crossroads where we find ourselves.  Our planet is on fire and our species is simultaneously causing and navigating incredible chaos.  Some historians suggest that things are better today than they were a few hundred years ago.  And, depending on the example, they’re right.  Others will say that things are worse today than they were a few hundred years ago.  And, depending on the example, they’re also right.  Which ancient paths are the good way?  Which ancient paths will offer rest for our souls? 

The most ancient path I know is the ecological one.  Creation is an intricate living system that honors life, death and rebirth within Earth’s natural cycles; where reciprocity is honorable, and all life is sacred.  We humans, who happen to be mammals (but also a bit of a virus), have trouble remembering the path of Creation.  We’re so wildly creative that sometimes we expand for the sake of expansion, which hurdles some of us into having a lot and others into having very little.  And here, a different path emerges: the way of Empire, or supremacy.  In this book, “Come Out, My People!: God’s Call out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond”, Wes Howard-Brook suggests some ways to perceive the differences between the path of Empire and the path of Creation.  Here are a few examples (and more can be found in the book on p. 6):  

| Feature | Religion of Creation | Religion of Empire |
| God’s “home” | Beyond & within creation and among people | In a temple near the palace in the royal city |
| Places of sacred encounter | Earth; mountains, rivers, wilderness; direct encounter; meals together; human intimacy | Urban temple, mediated by priestly elite; urban royal rituals |
| Purpose of human life | Praise God with joy in gratitude for the abundant gift of Life | Serve the gods through loyalty to “empire” |
| Basic economic structure | Gift, barter, collaboration amid abundance | Money, debt, competition amid scarcity |
| Religions “obligations” | Love & praise of God and neighbor in “right relationship” (justice) | Rituals expressing loyalty to “patrons,” both “divine” and human |
| Relationship with Earth/Land | Belongs to God; people are “tenants” | Belongs to kin and those who can afford to buy it |
| Relationship with “enemies” | Love them | Destroy them |

Where do you recognize yourself in these columns?  

For all of us on Earth today, we feel and see how we are born to both paths. And this is why the last sentence of verse 16 is so sobering!  Many, many times, Empire has won out.  Our fixation on Empire is killing us, everything we love, and everything that keeps us alive.  There is an assumption that the path of Creation will mean “lack,” but how can this be?  When we are living in right relationship with all people and all species, then will we not be held in Earth’s balance and divine abundance?  Later in Jeremiah (29:11-13) we read,
 For surely I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm,
to give you a future with hope.  Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.  When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,
I will let you find me, says the Lord. 
In the first verse, I’m struck by the word, “ask.”  Ask for the ancient paths.   I am quite sure that the path of Creation invites conversation.  On the path of Creation, we get to ask for directions, we get to slow down when we’re tired or disoriented, we get to commune with one another and all life, so as to hear the messages and read the signs.  In the second verse, I pause on the words, “search,” and “seek.”  The path of Creation invites engagement and exploration.  There is no hurry but there is no GPS either.  We search the map of heart and Spirit, we receive clarity and guidance that comes from observation, contemplation, becoming intimate with the life and death around us.  On the path of Creation, we look, we ask.  Like rocks shaped by water, we make ourselves vulnerable to God’s plans for us.

This is it.  For the first eleven days of November, leaders from around the world will meet in Glasgow, Scotland for the COP26 climate talks.  Will they, at the crossroads, ask for the ancient path?  Let’s love them and pray that they will!  And let’s remember that Empire, terrified by this thought, will say, “We will not walk in it.” 

Faith-based organizations and houses of worship control 8% of the habitable land surface of Earth, 5% of all commercial forests, 50% of schools worldwide, and 10% of the world’s total financial institutions[i].  The potential aggregate impact of our spiritual communities on present and future development is powerful.  The good way – the path of Creation – is here and has always been here.  It is complete and balanced and generous and joyful.  Do not be fooled by the falsity of Empire.  Together, as individuals and in our communities, we must untangle ourselves from its insatiable, soul-sucking greed.  Choose creation.  Choose life. 
~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham

Read online here

[i] https://www.faithinvest.org/zugguidelines

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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Question & Answer

Q: By A Reader

With the influx of so much contradictory information coming at us today, why are churches and religious leaders not doing more to help their members navigate the rapidly changing world we live in? 

A: By Rev. Roger Wolsey

Dear Reader,

A most timely and relevant question. Agreed, I haven’t noticed many churches addressing this matter either. I have heard a few pastors speak to this carefully in certain sermons in regard to the big lie that “Trump won the last election,” and regarding conflicting things on the internet said about the Covid-19 virus, wearing masks, and the vaccines. I optimistically hope some churches may have written about how to identify fake news in their church newsletters or as social media posts – though I haven’t verified this. I think the reason for the lack of attention to this is likely largely due to pastors and church staff not feeling trained or equipped to address these matters – and/or, they fear that some of their parishioners will interpret such efforts as being “political”, “partisan,” or coming across as being opposed to their political leanings and loyalties. (Feel free to largely read that as, “they don’t want to upset the Trumpers.”) 

I can offer the following advice:
* Make a point to listen/read/watch news sources that are rated as being more objective and factual (PBS, NPR, ProPublica, AP, Reuters, WSJ, CBS, ABC, Forbes, The Hill, The Economist, BBC, Newsweek, New York Times, The Guardian, etc.) – and to avoid sources that are rated as being less so. See adfontesmeia. 
* If you come across a story about, or “quote” from, religious or political leaders who you are opposed to that seems to really get your heart rate up, and causes you to feel outrage, before you share it on social media, take some time to verify whether it’s true or not, or taken out of context. The last thing we need to be doing is to mindlessly feed the “outrage machine” – simply because of “confirmation bias.”  
* Similarly, if you come across a quote that you really love and it’s attributed to Plato, the Buddha, etc. before you pass it on, take some time to search online if it’s a vetted and verified quote. If you really like the words, it’s better to find the original source and provide proper attribution - or, if you can’t find the original source, simply type out the text and put – source unknown.
* If you come across seemingly “remarkable” studies about Covid-19, masks, vaccines, Ivermectin, etc. online (esp. on YouTube), before you share that information, search (“Google”) to see if those claims have been verified or debunked. These links can also help: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check ; https://apnews.com/hub/ap-fact-check ; https://www.usatoday.com/news/factcheck/ ; https://www.snopes.com/ ; https://www.politifact.com/ ; & https://quoteinvestigator.com/

* Finally, here is an article, and two podcasts that address these matters:
1. “Science, Nonscience, and Nonsense”    
2. Developing Media Literacy    
3. Disinformation Society    

Update: just as I was finishing this response, I came across this blog from a mainline Protestant denomination that speaks to this: “Sifting Through Misinformation”   

~ Rev. Roger Wolsey

Read and share online here

About the Author
Rev. Roger Wolsey is a United Methodist pastor who resides in Grand Junction, CO. Roger is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity and blogs for Patheos as The Holy Kiss and serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org. Roger became “a Christian on purpose” during his college years and he experienced a call to ordained ministry two years after college. He values the Wesleyan approach to the faith and, as a certified spiritual director, he seeks to help others grow and mature. Roger enjoys yoga; playing trumpet; motorcycling; and camping with his son. He served as the Director of the Wesley Foundation campus ministry at the University of Colorado in Boulder for 14 years, and has served as pastor of churches in Minnesota, Iowa, and currently serves as the pastor of Fruita UMC in Colorado, and also serves as the "CRM" (Congregational Resource Minister/Church Consultant) for the Utah/Western Colorado District of the Mountain Sky Conference.

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The Great Digital Commission

Embracing Social Media for Church
Growth and Transformation
By Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines

Attendance in US churches continues to sharply decline. As church leaders struggle to identify both root causes and possible responses, they often feel a sense of despair… but there is hope!
When social media is used intentionally, it is the greatest tool that the church has ever had to fulfill the Great Commission. In our time, we should hear a Great Digital Commission. The Great Digital Commission offers a theological reflection on the importance of social media – while acknowledging its shortfalls – and suggests practical steps that can help congregations think about strategies for church growth and transformation. Read On...  |

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Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited

Examining the Meaning of the Resurrection, Part V:
The "How" Question — What Was the Context in Which Easter Dawned?

Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong
June 30, 2011
We come now to our fourth and final question in search of the meaning of Easter.  Then with clues, hopefully well established, I will seek to draw some conclusions in the final column in this series.  We have thus far identified Simon Peter as the person who stood in the center of the resurrection experience and, if hints present in the gospel accounts themselves direct us properly, he was the one who opened the eyes of others to see what he had seen.  Perhaps that is what lies behind words attributed to Jesus and recorded only by Luke where Peter is admonished: “When you are converted, strengthen the brethren” (22:32).  We then suggested that if Peter was believed to be the “first witness” then every Peter story in the New Testament might be read as a resurrection story and thus mined for additional clues that are there.

Then, to answer the “where” question, we looked at the biblical records to try to determine the place or the location in which “resurrection” dawned first in Peter and then in the disciples.  All of the evidence points to a Galilean setting as primary with Jerusalem being quite secondary.  Then we noted that all of the exaggerated resurrection symbols, the stone, the tomb, the guard, the earthquake, the apparitions and the physical body of the resurrected Jesus are connected with that secondary Jerusalem tradition.  So authenticity pointed us to Galilee.  Once that was clear, we began to read other Galilean stories like Jesus walking on the water and the account of the Transfiguration in search of additional resurrection clues that are there.

Next, in response to the “when” question, we examined the time references in the Easter stories.  Was the time between crucifixion and resurrection three days?  Or was the phrase “three days” meant to be understood as a symbol for whatever time passed between Good Friday and Easter.  To gain insight into that, if indeed it was a symbol, we looked at all the places in the gospels themselves that seem to indicate a greater separation of time between Good Friday and Easter than most of us have ever imagined to be possible.   My conclusion was and is that the followers of Jesus collapsed what was originally somewhere between six months and one year into “three days” and they did it primarily for liturgical purposes.  If Friday is observed liturgically as the day of the crucifixion, then Sunday had to be observed as the day of resurrection.  That is what the gospels suggested happened even while hinting at vastly longer periods of time between the two.

Now today, we come to look at the context in which the Easter experience was first encountered.  This is the “how” question.  Are there echoes of how “resurrection” dawned in the gospel story?  I think there are.  So into the resurrection narratives of the gospels we now plunge anew in search of answers or at least hints.

St. Paul gives us no help other than to note that within a single generation, the followers of Jesus clearly began to gather on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread and they called that day “The Lord’s Day.” When this custom actually began is hard to pinpoint, but it had to be quite early.

The first two gospels to be written, Mark and Matthew, give us no direct help either, at least not in the narratives that deal specifically with the Easter story. In the earlier parts of these gospels, however, we may find some hints, but we are not able to discern them until we have a better idea of what the original context of the resurrection experience was.

It is a late clue, coming first in Luke, but since it is all we have, we will pursue it.  Luke is the only gospel to record the narrative that has come to be called the Emmaus Road story.  That story seems to reflect the experience of the followers of Jesus in the days, weeks and even months that followed the crucifixion.  Cleopas and his traveling companion were portrayed as living in inner turmoil.  They had hoped that Jesus was messiah but now he was dead.  In their minds there was no concept of messiah as victim.  Jesus, therefore, as an executed one, could no longer make a messianic claim in their minds.   

Unable, however, to deny their transformative experiences with him, they began to search the scriptures trying to find clues that might give them a new understanding of his death.  This is represented in this Emmaus Road story as Cleopas and his companion having the scriptures opened to them by this as yet unrecognized stranger. Finally, with the light of day fading, the Emmaus travelers invited their still unrecognized interpreter of the scriptures to turn aside with them and to share their evening meal. He did so, but in a twist in proper protocol, Jesus, the guest, became the one who presided over that evening meal and when he gave the ceremonial blessing he took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. That was the moment, according to Luke, when “their eyes were opened and he vanished out of their sight.”  Returning to Jerusalem, these travelers related their experience to the disciples using this revealing phrase, “He was known to us in the breaking of the bread.”  That is the first biblical reference that suggests that it was within the context of reenacting the “supper of the Lord,” in which the bread was identified with the broken body of Jesus and the wine was identified with his shed blood, that their minds were opened and they saw that he revealed himself in his death as triumphant over death.

Holding that reference for a moment, we begin to look for other clues that might connect the experience of the resurrection with obeying the commandment that was supposedly given by Jesus at the last supper. “Whenever you gather together in my name, do this (break bread and share wine) in remembrance of me.”

When the resurrected Jesus first appears to the disciples in Luke, we are told that he asked for food and they gave him a piece of fish to eat.  When Jesus appears to the disciples for the first time in John’s gospel, the narrative is set, “when it was evening” that is 6:00 pm, which is the time of the evening meal.  When the second appearance to the disciples occurs in this last gospel, this time with Thomas present, John tells us that it was a week later (literally after eight days), but once again meant to coincide with the time of the evening meal.

When we turn to the epilogue of John (chapter 21), not believed by most scholars to be part of the original gospel, we find nonetheless a primitive Galilean story of the disciples recognizing Jesus as they ate together beside the Sea of Galilee.  The familiar dialogue that Jesus has with Peter in this episode turns on the verb “to feed.” “Peter, you must feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.”

In the book of Revelation, the verb used by this author to describe the continuing presence of the risen Christ is the verb to eat or to dine.  Jesus is represented as saying, “I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you and you with me.” (Rev. 3:20).

In the memory of Jesus’ followers there appears to be a connection between seeing the risen Christ and sharing the common meal with its symbols of broken bread and poured out wine.  That is the way they brought together their growing conviction that he was the promised messiah with the reality that he had been crucified.  Ultimately they appear to have found in the image of the servant from II Isaiah (40-55) and of the shepherd king of Israel who was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver by those who bought and sold animals in the Temple (II Zechariah (9-14), scriptural references to salvation coming through pain and death. So it was, I believe, that it was the Eucharist that opened the eyes of Jesus’ followers to see beyond the limits of their humanity to an image of messiah revealed through death but alive as part of who God is.

With that insight, we now return to the gospel narratives and look at every text that refers to a feeding story.  They are then suddenly revealed as interpretive Eucharists.  In Mark there are two feedings of the multitude stories, one on the Jewish side of the lake in which 5,000 are fed with five loaves and afterwards twelve baskets of fragments are gathered up, enough to feed the twelve tribes of Israel.  Then Mark moves Jesus to the Gentile side of the lake where the act is repeated but this time 4,000 are fed with seven loaves and afterwards seven baskets of fragments are gathered up, enough to feed the seven great Gentile empires under which the Jews had lived, the Romans, the Syrians, the Macedonians, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the Egyptians.  Clearly these feeding of the multitude stories are Eucharistic accounts masquerading as miracle stories.  In all of them, the gospel writers each employ the four Eucharistic verbs. “He took, he blessed (or gave thanks), he broke, he gave.”  In the fourth gospel, the author locates all of his Eucharistic thinking in the story of the feeding of the 5,000 (see John 6) and then omits any further account of the last supper, a clear sign that he saw it as symbol.

Next, we look at all the parables that focus on “banquets.”  Why did a banquet become the symbol of the kingdom of God breaking into human history?  Why was it said that when that kingdom arrives people will come from the North, South, East and West to sit at Abraham’s table? Why was Jesus called by the Fourth Gospel the “bread of life?”  So, our search for the context in which resurrection was first experienced, takes us to the Eucharistic meal.

So, when resurrection dawns in human history, we conclude that Peter was in the center of that experience. He was in Galilee.  It was some time after the crucifixion, perhaps many months.  Finally, the interpretive context was the reenactment of the common meal at which Peter opened the eyes of the others to understand.  Now, given these clues, my task is to try to put them all together in a meaningful narrative that may come close to enabling us to enter the experience of the first Easter.  I will attempt to do that next week when this series concludes.

~  John Shelby Spong
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