[Dialogue] 7/07/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Roger Wolsey: Lectio Writ LARGE! ; Spong revisited

Fri Jul 8 04:22:38 PDT 2022

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Lectio Writ LARGE!

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|  Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey
July 7, 2022
I write this essay in the wake of a slate of recent rulings by the US Supreme Court that many progressive Christians, and progressive persons in general, find most troubling. It feels to many of us that our nation has taken several steps backward and it may even feel as if we have turned our clocks back 50 or more years. Indeed, many of the readers of this forum were social activists in the 1960s-1980s, and it may feel to some that their hard work has slipped through their fingers like sand and that their efforts to improve society have been in vain.

It is at times like this that turning to spiritual practices that have been time- tested and proven can be of help. I’d like to invite us to turn to a practice known as Lectio Divina. This Latin term literally translates as “divine reading” and is said to have begun during the era of the Desert Fathers/Mothers and, as with Centering Prayer, was largely kept within monastic and priestly circles until Vatican II opened things up to the masses (and to non-Catholics).

This practice has largely been an approach to experiencing the Bible, which appeals to the full person – not just the head. It doesn’t dismiss more scholarly approaches to studying the Bible, yet it intentionally seeks to help us to experience the Divine (God) in a mystical way via taking in the sacred texts in a way that gets right to our hearts - and our guts. It invites us to experience how Spirit might be speaking to us personally and uniquely in a given moment in time.

Lectio Divina isn’t particularly concerned about “who wrote the texts, for whom, at what time, in what socio-political circumstance, and/or what editorial changes may have happened over the years, etc.” Rather, the approach invites us to get into the text like how we can check our critical brains when we take in a Hollywood movie and simply allow ourselves to experience the film and let it move us. 

Lectio Divina generally involves reading a selected portion of scripture (for example, a psalm or a parable) aloud (by ourselves or with others) and to “hear/experience” it several times with several different lenses. The first reading might begin with the invitation to notice “what word or phrase” jumps out to us upon hearing it. You pause a bit to feel and reflect before going on to the other readings. The second reading might begin with the invitation to “notice how you feel in your body upon hearing the text.” A third reading might begin with an invitation to “notice what your senses feel/pick up upon hearing the text. What does your skin feel? What sounds do you hear? What do you smell? Taste? etc.”  A fourth reading may invite you to “notice what emotions you experience upon hearing the text.” A fifth reading might begin with, “do you sense the text inviting you to do anything? If so, what?” 

An example that might be appropriate for our consideration at this time could be Micah 6:1-8

 Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead my case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. 2 “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.3 “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. 4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord. 6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (NIV)

What I feel compelled to do today, however, is to invite us to expand the application of the Lectio Divina approach to include more than just approaching the Bible. I’d like to suggest that this is also a marvelous way to take in a painting, a song, an encounter with an animal in nature, and so much more. Specifically, I’d like to invite us to experience the benefit of experiencing stories in the news with this multi-layered approach.

What would it be like for us to employ a Lectio Divina approach to the following stories in the news?

“The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans’ lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
The ruling, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.
Both sides predicted the fight over abortion would continue, in state capitals, in Washington, and at the ballot box. Justice Clarence Thomas, part of Friday’s majority, urged colleagues to overturn other high court rulings protecting same-sex marriage, gay sex, and the use of contraceptives.
Pregnant women considering abortions already had been dealing with a near-complete ban in Oklahoma and a prohibition after roughly six weeks in Texas. Clinics in at least eight other states — Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and West Virginia — stopped performing abortions after Friday’s decision.
In Ohio, a ban on most abortions at the first detectable fetal heartbeat became the law when a federal judge dissolved an injunction that had kept the measure on hold for nearly three years. And Utah’s law was triggered by the ruling, going into effect with narrow exceptions.
Abortion foes cheered the ruling, but abortion-rights supporters, including President Joe Biden, expressed dismay and pledged to fight to restore the rights.
Protests built into the evening in a number of cities, including thousands demonstrating against the decision outside the barricaded Supreme Court. Thousands more chanted “We will rise up!” in New York’s Washington Square.
At the White House, Biden said, “It’s a sad day for the court and for the country.” He urged voters to make it a defining issue in the November elections, declaring, “This decision must not be the final word.”
Outside the White House, Ansley Cole, a college student from Atlanta, said she was “scared because what are they going to come after next? ... The next election cycle is going to be brutal, like it’s terrifying. And if they’re going to do this, again, what’s next?”  Source AP News
~~~
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home, issuing a major decision on the meaning of the Second Amendment.
The 6-3 ruling was the court’s second important decision on the right to “keep and bear arms.” In a landmark 2008 decision, the court had said for the first time that the amendment safeguards a person’s right to possess firearms, although the decision was limited to keeping guns at home for self-defense.
The court has now taken that ruling to the next step after years of ducking the issue and applied the Second Amendment beyond the limits of homeowners’ property in a decision that could affect the ability of state and local governments to impose a wide variety of firearms regulations.
The decision, which came as Congress advanced the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in almost 30 years, involved a New York law that required showing a special need to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public. The state bans carrying handguns openly, but it allows residents to apply for licenses to carry them concealed. 
The law at issue said, however, that permits could be granted only to applicants who demonstrated some special need — a requirement that went beyond a general desire for self-protection. 
Gun owners in the state sued, contending that the requirement made it virtually impossible for ordinary citizens to get the necessary license. They argued that the law turned the Second Amendment into a limited privilege, not a constitutional right. 
The court agreed with the challengers and struck down the heightened requirement, but it left the door open to allowing states to impose limits on the carrying of guns.
"The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not 'a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,'” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion. "We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need."
In the ruling’s most far-reaching language, Thomas said concern for public safety isn’t enough to justify new gun controls.
“The government must affirmatively prove that its firearm regulation is part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms,” he wrote. 
Experts on gun laws said that part of the ruling sets a high bar for further gun restrictions. Source AP News.  
~~~~
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a football coach in Washington state that was placed on paid leave after praying on the field’s 50-yard line after games.
The decision blurs the line between church and state in public schools, with the high court holding that the coach’s actions were protected by the 1st Amendment. For some coaches like Johnson captaining LAUSD programs, that line has long been hazy.
Johnson’s reaction to the ruling was one of surprise. Not at the verdict — at the case in general because he says a few words of prayer with his Dorsey group before every game.
“Every step of my way, going through this game, we’ve prayed,” said Johnson, a former Dorsey and USC standout running back. “I’m a spiritual guy, I’m definitely a religious guy. So I don’t want to push anything on [the team] — just more so just pray for the team and for their safety and things of that nature. I think that’s pretty much universal.”
“From the story [of the case], it sounded like the players felt pressured to participate, and I wouldn’t want any player on my team to feel any pressure to participate before or after a game.
— David Wiltz, Dymally football coach
After warmups, directly before the kickoff, the Dons gather as Johnson prays for their comfort. For their safety. For the other team’s health. Prays, he says, because faith and togetherness are rooted in a physical sport based around feeling like “somewhat of a warrior.”
“You look at old war movies, and they used to pray before they go to war,” Johnson said. “It’s more of a combat-type sport.”
Los Angeles schools Supt. Alberto M. Carvalho told The Times the district’s policy already made clear that employees are allowed to pray, but on their own time and in their own place. The district forbids prayers that would make students feel compelled to join, Carvalho said.
Eight to 10 years ago, Lorenzo Hernandez and Garfield High held pregame moments of prayer similar to Johnson. But over time, as they became more “conscientious” of the imposition of religion, he said, those moments melted away into the team’s nonreligious pep talks.
Public school coaches, Hernandez said, had to be more careful, free of the specific religious affiliation of so many private or charter institutions.   ….
…Venice High’s Angelo Gasca was adamant coaches of public schools can’t enforce religious beliefs and that the Supreme Court ruling wouldn’t change that view, but he also wouldn’t and hasn’t stopped his players from organizing their own pregame moments of prayer.
Dymally’s David Wiltz was firm it wouldn’t be right to lead his athletes in demonstration, but if 80% to 90% of his team came to him and asked for teamwide prayer, he said he’d likely explore that under the high court’s latest decision.
Issues only arise, said Taft assistant principal Neezer McNab, when there is any kind of pressure on the team to conform. It’s the reason some coaches would still be hesitant or unwilling to involve the team in any sort of religious activity.  Source LA Times 

Finally, I invite us to experience provocative words of great writers and orators with this approach. I offer these for our consideration:

“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” ~ Frederick Douglas (1857)

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.” ~ Rev. Theodore Parker (1853)

Blessings to us all as we discern, notice, feel, and take action through this spiritual practice.

~ Rev. Roger Wolsey

Read online here

About the Author
Rev. Roger Wolsey is a United Methodist pastor who resides in Grand Junction, CO. Roger is the 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, and 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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Question & Answer

Q: By A Reader

Does it really matter which religion you follow as long as you are a good person and help others?

A: By Rev. Lauren Van Ham

Dear Reader,

In a word, “no.”  But I get up to 500 words for my answer, so I’d like to offer a little bit more here…

The deeper etymology of the word, “religion” is not historically certain but the Latin term, religiō, breaks down into re (again) and ligare (bind, connect).  Religion is the practice of returning again (and again) to that which offers connection.  In this light, it feels particularly important to emphasize that one’s religion provides a sense of connection, by which I mean relationship and belonging.  When performed on their own, the rites of religion can feel formulaic or empty.  It is in community, where religion provides meaning and offers collective guidance for the growth and transformation of all involved.  In Matthew 18:20 (ESV), we read, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them;” and the “Triple Gem,” (Buddha-Dharma-Sangha), is a core teaching in Buddhism.  “Sangha,” means community and the triple gem teaches that honoring the Buddha and studying the texts (Dharma) becomes most useful when it is brought to life in relationship with others (Sangha).

How do we un-learn harm and embody practices that allow us to be, “a good person?”  I believe it is through being in relationship -- making mistakes and practicing forgiveness -- with others.  And how do we learn what is truly helpful in our intentions to “help others?”  I believe it is by making time to really listen to the stories and experiences of those who have different perspectives or who are living in social locations that are not my own. In this way, we might experience true spiritual maturation together.  Not only that but having people to sing, dance, pray, work and share meals with makes life a lot more joyful!  Honoring life cycles and celebrating rites of passage with reverence and togetherness is religion done well.  As we find our way on the path we are called to travel, these are some ingredients for finding and tending our religious home.

~ 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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Watch on Facebook or Youtube

Watch Part 1 Here
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|  I bet that you, like me, are getting lots of political emails and texts that are fundraising in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. I have to admit, I'm a little tired of every major event being used to fundraise for politicians – but not this time.

This time it is more than necessary because of the absolutely draconian ruling from the court. I'm more than glad to contribute to folks who will actually fight for reproductive rights. I bet most of you are as well.

I hope you also see that because this is being framed nationally as a Christian issue, we need Christian organizations who are willing to stand up and say that Christians should actually support reproductive rights.

That's exactly what we are doing. This week we are launching a new conversation series called “Things That Matter.” In the first two episodes, we are on “The Spirituality of Reproductive Freedom.” We are very excited to be able to bring this new resource to you!

So, my ask is simple, if you believe that it is important for progressive Christian organizations to speak up on the topic of reproductive freedom, please consider donating to help sustain our efforts. Even better, become a monthly contributor. Help us bring even more of this needed content to you and other progressives.

Thank you,

Rev. Mark Sandlin
President and Co-Executive Director
ProgressiveChristianity.org

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Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited

"Think Different–Accept Uncertainty" Part XVI:
The Story of the Crucifixion, Part One

Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong
September 6, 2012
Somewhere between a third and forty percent of each of the four gospels in the New Testament is concerned with the last week in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  Clearly, that was the focus of the gospel narratives – that was the emphasis of their message. Mark’s gospel has even been described as “the Passion narrative with a prologue.”  John’s gospel devotes 9 of its 21 chapters (12-21) to the events of the last week in Jesus’ life, telling the story of the final meal as early as chapter 13.  Even though these gospels were written forty to seventy years after the crucifixion, there is no doubt that the cross was still the center of the Christian message.

Throughout most of Christian history, these passion stories have been regarded by the followers of Jesus as the accounts of eyewitnesses and therefore as historically trustworthy.  The details drawn from these descriptions of the final events in Jesus’ life were liturgically burned into our memories and the narrative of the crucifixion has become, next to the account of Jesus’ birth, the most familiar part of the Christian story.  Most of us know the general outline and even the details. It begins with the triumphant march into Jerusalem, which is celebrated on Palm Sunday, and then moves to the story of Jesus cleansing the temple of the moneychangers; the elaborate preparations for a meal that was soon identified as “the Last Supper” held in a borrowed space that became known as “the Upper Room;” the journey to the Garden of Gethsemane; the betrayal by Judas with a kiss followed by the arrest; the trial before the Jewish authorities; the threefold denial by Simon Peter marked by the crowing of the cock; the trial before Pilate; the release of Barabbas; the mocking of Jesus with the purple robe and a crown of thorns; the flogging ordered by Pilate; the journey to Calvary; the bearing of the cross by Simon of Cyrene; the crucifixion; darkness at noon; the cry of dereliction, “My, God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” the death of Jesus, and finally the burial assisted by one known as Joseph of Arimathea.  Hymns have been composed for use in churches through the centuries, which served to enforce these vivid biblical images.  One thinks of “Go to dark Gethsemane,” “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” and many others. Christian art, from the masterpieces that hang in the great museums of the world down to “the Stations of the Cross” found in humble country churches, all served to familiarize us with the major aspects and the unforgettable quality of this Christian narrative.

The question still needs to be raised, however, as to just how much of this story is history?  How much of it was a later attempt to portray Jesus as the literal fulfillment of the scriptural expectations?  How much of this material was created in an effort to make history conform to already established lines of interpretation?  After all, each of these accounts was written between two and four generations after the events they purport to describe.  In the first 1800 or so years of Christian history there was little questioning of the accuracy of these narratives, but in the last 200 to 300 years new sources of scholarship, combined with a critical approach to the study of the Bible, have opened these texts to us in many new ways and from this new knowledge dramatically new conclusions have forced themselves into our conscious minds.  This scholarship began primarily in Germany but has worked its way into all of the Christian academies of the world. The results have been salutary, deepening the faith of some, and rocking the literalism of others.

The first insight from this new scholarship came when the dates of the major writers of the New Testament were discovered and we were then allowed to begin to read the books of the New Testament in the order of their writing. Clearly the story grew over the years.  Paul was first, writing all of his authentic epistles between the years 51-64.  If we read Paul without the insights of the later gospels we discover that Paul had never heard the story of one of the twelve being the traitor. Paul did not portray the crucifixion as happening at the time of the Passover.  Paul reveals no knowledge of an adventure in the Garden of Gethsemane and appears never to have heard of the roles that Pilate; Barabbas or Peter might have played in the story of the cross.  He did not know of any “words” spoken from the cross; darkness at noon, or of a tomb of Joseph in which Jesus was buried.  He does interpret the cross as part of a plan of salvation: “He died for our sins,” Paul wrote.  He also suggests that this crucifixion was “in accordance with the scriptures,” by which he meant the Old Testament for there was no New Testament until well after the time of Paul’s death. That phrase also makes it clear that the attempt to see Jesus as the fulfillment of all Jewish expectations had been an early and regular part of the way the followers of Jesus processed the Jesus experience.

When Mark, the first gospel, was written in the early 70s, he undercut the literal reading of this story by telling us that when Jesus was arrested, “all the disciples forsook him and fled.” There were apparently no eyewitnesses!  Mark was the first to mention Judas Iscariot, the denial of Peter, or the story of Barabbas. We know now that Mark was the first to write a story of the crucifixion (Mark 14:17-15:47), but when we read this original narrative we discover that it is not an eyewitness account at all, it is an interpretation of the death of Jesus based on two passages out of the Hebrew Bible.  The first is Isaiah 53, written in the 6th century BCE, and the second is Psalm 22, written probably in the 5th century BCE.  From these two sources, Mark draws most of the details of his story.  From Psalm 22 he gets the cry of dereliction, “My God, Why?” the mocking attitude of the crowd, and the division of Jesus’ clothes by rolling dice for his tunic.  From Isaiah 53 he gets the image of Jesus’ silence before his accusers; the story of the two thieves crucified with him, one on each side, and the account of Jesus being with a rich man in his death, which Mark develops into his story of Joseph of Arimathea.  Despite years of having been taught that this original story of the cross was an eyewitness account, we now know that it was never intended to be that.

Matthew, written about a decade after Mark, copies most of Mark’s story making only a few editorial additions.  Judas not only becomes darker, but Matthew has added other details to the Judas story.  Only in Matthew is the price of betrayal put at thirty pieces of silver, only in Matthew does Judas repent and try to return the money, hurling it back into the Temple when it was refused, and only in Matthew does Judas then go and hang himself.  Even these details do not appear to be memories of what actually happened, but were rather borrowed from other traitor stories in the Hebrew Scriptures and deliberately written into the Judas narrative.  In Zechariah, for example, the shepherd king of Israel is handed over for thirty pieces of silver to those who buy and sell animals in the Temple, and then the silver is hurled back into the Temple.  In the stories around King David, a man named Ahithophel, who ate at the king’s table, betrays King David and when his trickery failed, he went out and hanged himself.

Luke, writing about a decade after Matthew and also with Mark in front of him on whom he too relies, discovers that Isaiah 53 says that the “servant,” a mythological literary creation of this unknown author who dominates the writing of II Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55), was said to have made intercession for his tormentors.  So Luke writes this detail into his story by having Jesus pray for those tormenting him: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Luke also takes the two thieves, who were introduced without commentary by Mark and who had both joined in tormenting Jesus in Matthew, and turns one of them into being penitent.  To him, Jesus then speaks the words of assurance, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  Luke also dismisses the cry of dereliction, “My God, Why?” and replaces it with words of trust and confidence, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

When we come to John, written near the end of the first century, some 65-70 years after the crucifixion, a very different story of the passion emerges.  There is no agony in the garden of Gethsemane over whether or not Jesus will “drink this cup.”  It was “for this purpose” that I was born,” John’s Jesus states.  In John, Jesus’ mother appears for the first time at the foot of the cross where she is commended to the care of the “beloved disciple,” a figure of whom none of the previous gospels appear ever to have heard.  The story of the authorities coming to hasten the death of the victims by breaking their legs is told by John for the first time, noting that Jesus was spared this final indignity because he was already dead.  This, John says, fulfilled a prophetic word that “none of his bones were broken,” a reference to the lambs used in Jewish worship at both Passover and Yom Kippur.  According to John, these frustrated authorities then thrust a spear into the dead body of Jesus, drawing from the wound both water and blood and fulfilling for John the words written in Zechariah, “They looked on him whom they pierced.”

So, by tracing the details through their writing in history from Paul (51-64) through Mark (72), to Matthew (82-85), Luke (88-93), and John (95-100), we watch the story grow and we begin to embrace both how and for what purpose the details were added to the story of the cross.

This was the first insight into just how few of the recorded events in the account of Jesus’ crucifixion were remembered history.  There are some other things worth noting.  Judas is even exonerated in the later gospels of Luke and John when it is suggested that he is under the control of Satan and thus not responsible for his behavior.  In a similarly dramatic way, Pilate is portrayed in a more and more sympathetic way as the time passes.  He is pictured as finding no fault in Jesus and as seeking to find a way to release him.  How much of this story is actual history and what are the implications if it is not?  Those will be the questions I will address when this series continues.

~  John Shelby Spong
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Announcements

Wild Goose Festival
July 14th - 17th

We hope you'll make an effort to catch up with us at the Wild Goose Festival!  The ProgressiveChristianity.org-sponsored podcast "The Moonshine Jesus Show" will be broadcasting live from the Goosecast Stage on July 16 at 4:15 p.m. EST. Join our Co-Executive Directors Mark and Caleb as they pour a drink and delve into the theology and politics of "Thor: Love & Thunder."  There will be free themed cocktails in Moonshine Jesus jugs for the first 20 listeners, as well as beer koozies, shirts, stickers, and live music.  Join us!  READ ON ...  |

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