[Dialogue] 10/20/2022, Progressing Spirit: The Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA: The Reconciliations of Autumn; Spong revisited

Thu Oct 20 06:57:29 PDT 2022

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The Reconciliations Of Autumn
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|  Essay by Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA
October 20, 2022In my role as Climate Action Coordinator with the United Religions Initiative, I have the great joy of meeting with others who have made it their work to learn from and care for Earth.  So many, around the world, are striving to protect the biodiversity that remains, to harvest and conserve water, and to regenerate soil by planting trees, composting food scraps and so on.  Others are standing with the next generation in protest and divesting from fossil fuel.

This is happening amidst the cascade of economic instability, extreme weather events, food insecurity, fragile democracies, intensifying systemic oppression, gun violence…  Held collectively, this expanding list is being called the “polycrisis.”  And it certainly is.  As we inch closer to blowing past the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C, these inter-related crises are difficult to rank in order of importance.  There are more and more utterings of, “It’s too late.”

Ugh… how does that feel in your body?

It is too late if your home was in the fire’s path in Australia, France, Greece, the US.  It is too late if you are from Pakistan or Puerto Rico.  It is too late for so many species who lived in Earth’s rainforests.  It is too late for the people of Jackson, Mississippi or the coastlines of Florida.  The too lates will keep coming.  So will the blame and the predictions used as attempts to control.  None of this feels good.  Despair is understandable; so is our grasping for certainty. 

In the Northern hemisphere, we are in the season of Fall and harvest.  It is also the time when a number of cultures and traditions encourage communion with our benevolent ancestors, saints, and spiritual teachers.  The season we are in encourages us to delight in Earth’s generosity even as the abundance of summer crunches and decays at our feet.  Autumn invites us to gather up the goodness for sharing in the dark nights ahead, to marvel at creation’s ability to make useful that which has fallen, wilted or stopped breathing, to thank the layers upon layers of life that have offered themselves for the very moment in which we find ourselves.

Last week, in a conversation with one of my mentors, she reminded me again of the rich resources supporting me in my efforts as an eco-chaplain.  So many passionate thinkers, writers, artists and teachers are here with us when we take care to name them, to honor their offerings.  One example is Lynn White, Jr., who in The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis, an essay from 1967, observed, “Both our present science and our present technology are so tinctured with orthodox Christian arrogance toward nature that no solution for our ecological crisis can be expected from them alone.  Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it that or not.  We must rethink and re-feel our nature and destiny.”

Yep, 1967.  Using today’s language, we have other phrases we use to describe the patriarchy, white supremacy, colonizing and oppressive patterns that have tinctured our economy, academy, science, technology, etc. but the invitation in this passage remains fresh and relevant.  As more of us awaken to the reality we have created, to the damage we have caused, it is only natural that we would sound the alarm.  Every week, there are more and more of us arriving to ponder, assess, problem-solve.  This is good and never, “too late!”  It is also really important (and I’m saying this to myself), to embrace the ones who have supported this awakening for a long time already.  In this time of gathering Earth’s abundance, I encourage us to honor the promptings from Black Elk. Rachel Carson. George Washington Carver. Jesus. Teilhard de Chardin.  Add your favorites here!

Assuming Lynn White, Jr. is right (he has my vote), I feel excited about what is being asked of each one of us as people of faith, seekers of meaning, devotees of spiritual growth and life-affirming community.  Religion’s Latin root is religiō.  Re means “again,” and ligare means “bind,” or, “connect.”  Who or what are we binding ourselves to?  Our teachers, whether humans or trees, old or more ancient still, have always been urging us to reconnect with creation (an elaborate web of relationships) and Earth’s cycles.
I suspect we have often tried to rise above relationships and Earth’s cycles because endings are painful.  And pain is painful.  But isn’t this what spiritual community is for?  To help us prepare for and to be with the joys and the sorrows of our lives -- not just in theory, but in a caring container for the very real moments?

When I teach Eco-ministry, I use a concept called “Deep Adaptation.”  Deep Adaptation is an agenda and international social movement which offers a framework and questions to support us in adapting to the unraveling of western industrial lifestyles.  The final question in the series pertains to reconciliation.  Reconciliation asks us, “How might we live and die well -- and with love -- by acknowledging that we are part of the cause and part of the solution?”  Or, in a slightly different version, “With what and whom shall we make peace as we awaken to our mutual mortality?”

Around us, ecosystems are collapsing, and so are human spirits.  Our invitation is to be with the pain of that; our challenge is to be with giant uncertainties; and our responsibility is to re-bind ourselves in life-affirming relationships.  We can help one another do this.  We don’t need to control the uncertainty with explanations or forecasts.  And we need not blindly “hope,” waiting for business as usual to intervene or repair.  Instead, we get to embrace Autumn as it helps us appreciate the paradox of death/life, both/and, abundance/ancestors/rebirth.  The polycrisis is not inviting our inaction but rather our engagement (this is where I remind everyone to *please* vote).  And our spiritual practices give us the courage and curiosity to see ourselves within the entanglements of this moment.   Here are a few lines from her longer, “Spell for the Fall Equinox,” by Adrienne Maree Brown,

let your leaves fall down
and sing to your ghosts
nourish life with everything
you release

ours is not the only life on earth
nor the only death
let your altars hold the earth
and the sky, and sea…

the half earth grows dark
inviting you to rest
the hungry earth needs the dreams
that only come with depth
 ~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA
Read online here

About the Author
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. 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

What is the best way to gently question the behavior of a new Pastor who seems to be very fundamentalist in her thinking and does not like to be questioned?

A: By Rev. Fran Pratt
 Dear Reader,

I think the answer to this depends on how much energy you have for the conversation. We know arguing rarely changes anyone’s mind. I’m of the opinion that, as the Christ said, “They who have ears to hear, let them hear.” Not everyone is ready to give up fundamentalism. Many people find identity and certainty in that paradigm that comforts them. You can kindly suggest books that advance other ideologies and theologies, but there’s no guarantee she will read them. 

My advice is to practice forgiveness. Go to John 20 and read the words of the Christ who said “Whatever you forgive is forgiven; whatever you retain is retained.” Sometimes, the best thing we can do is relinquish any illusions of control over other people’s thinking and actions. To forgive is to accept that people are the way they are. 

I personally would have no tolerance for sitting under the authority and preaching of a pastor whose values and theology don’t align with mine. That’s not to say that pastor is of no worth - certainly she is a beautiful child of God. But my boundary is not to be in tacit support of harmful paradigms, while still maintaining a loving posture toward people whose thinking I dislike. I would say, “peace be with you,” and go somewhere I can remain moored in my own internal peace.

Only you can know if you should leave that pastor’s sphere of influence. In my experience, people who are dug into fundamentalist theological paradigms aren’t usually open to change, until some personal experience gives them the insight they need to get curious. Trust the Spirit to speak to Her beloved and give her insight when the time is right. Remain curious and loving, and ground yourself in forgiveness.~ Rev. Fran Pratt

Read and share online here

About the Author
Rev. Fran Pratt is a pastor, writer, musician, and mystic. Making meaningful and beautiful liturgy to be spoken, practiced, and sung, is at the heart of her creative drive. Fran authored a book of congregational litanies, and regularly creates and shares modern liturgy on her website and Patreon. Her prayers are prayed in churches of various sizes and traditions across the globe. She writes, speaks, and consults on melding ancient and new liturgical streams in faith and worship. Fran is Pastor of Worship and Liturgy at Peace of Christ Church in Round Rock, Texas.  |

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Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited

The Birth of Jesus, Part XI.
Matthew Weaves Together Proof Texts from Isaiah,
Micah, Hosea and from an Unknown Source

Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong
April 11, 2013Christianity was born in the synagogue and the original followers of Jesus were primarily observant Jews. They gathered in the synagogue regularly on the Sabbath for worship. A major part of that worship consisted of reading, learning about and becoming conversant with the sacred scriptures as the Jews understood them. 

Each Sabbath there were three major scripture readings observed by the synagogue pattern of Jewish worship. The first, the longest and the most important, came from what the Jews called the Torah. This part of the Hebrew Bible was also called “The books of Moses.” In Jesus’ day, it was generally believed that Moses was the author of the Torah books, named Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These writings were the Jewish “Holy of Holies” and in the stricter, more orthodox synagogues, the requirement was that the entire Torah must be read in the synagogue on the Sabbaths of a single year. To accomplish this, the Torah lesson would of necessity consist of the reading of five to six chapters of our present text as the first lesson. It would take a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes to read a passage of that length. In more moderate or “liberal” synagogues this requirement was loosened and the Torah was allowed to be read over a three-year cycle.

The second lesson would come from that portion of the Hebrew Bible that the Jews called “The Former Prophets.” These are the books that purport to describe Jewish history after the death of Moses, and include those works known as Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel and I and II Kings. At an earlier point in history, these latter four books were all called the books of Samuel or I, II, III and IV Samuel. It was a later interpolation to call the last two I and II Kings. These books covered Jewish history from the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, around the year 1200 BCE, to the defeat of the nation of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians and the subsequent exile of the Jewish people in the land of Babylon beginning in 586 BCE. They were not as important as the Torah so there was no specific deadline by which to complete them.

The third synagogue scripture reading was from what the Jews called “The Latter Prophets.” That title referred to the books we now call Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the books from Hosea to Malachi, which were all on a single scroll and were referred to by the Jews as “The book of the Twelve.” Christians tend to call them “The Minor Prophets.” Please note that Daniel did not come into the canon of Jewish Scripture until about 165 BCE and, as a late arrival, was not generally included in synagogue readings. When one notes the length of these four books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve, we discover that they are about the same length and each tended to be read one chapter a week, one book a year, so the four books would be rotated over a four year cycle.. The singing or reciting of selected psalms would break up and separate the various scripture readings.

Following these three readings, the members of the congregation would be invited to comment on the readings. This was the context in which the followers of Jesus began to wrap their memories of Jesus around and into the stories from the sacred text of the Jews. In time, stories originally written about Moses or Elijah would be retrofitted and then retold about Jesus, thus linking him to the spiritual power of his Jewish ancestors. On other occasions, words from one of the prophets or from one of the psalms would illumine an experience they had once had with Jesus and a tradition would be started in which Jesus and the Hebrew Scriptures began to meld into each other. We will see this reality occurring over and over as we work through the gospels. For now all I want to demonstrate is that these themes are a major part of the birth narratives and we cannot read them intelligently unless we recognize the process that created them.

We have noted already that the story of a wicked king named Pharaoh, who tried to put to death the infant Moses as God’s promised deliverer, was repackaged and told by Matthew as a Jesus story in which a wicked king named Herod tries to put to death God’s promised deliverer named Jesus. Matthew then goes on to wrap his narrative of Jesus around a series of carefully chosen texts that suggest that the history of the Jewish people is somehow being relived through Jesus and that the words of the Hebrew Scriptures find their fulfillment in him. Matthew is much like a country preacher trying to bend the biblical text to the needs of his sermon. In his birth story, Matthew utilizes texts from Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Hosea and, finally, from an unknown or yet to be identified text. I will examine each in brief detail. All of them are, at the very least, enormous stretches in literal accuracy.

The first one is Isaiah 7:14 that we have heard numerous times in our Christmas pageants. Out of the darkness or even off stage, the voice of the prophet is heard saying, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.” The first and major problem with Matthew’s use of this text is that he did not quote it accurately. Was this an honest mistake or a deliberate attempt to make the text say what he needed it to say to suit his literary purposes? No one can finally say, but I suspect the latter when I put these words from Isaiah into their original context. Isaiah actually writes in Hebrew: “Behold a young woman is with child!” It is rather difficult to claim one is a virgin when one is expecting a baby. Indeed, the word virgin appears nowhere in this verse from Isaiah.

The context is this. Two kings, Pekah from the Northern Kingdom called Israel and Rezin, the king of Syria, are in siege positions outside the walls of Jerusalem. They have made war on Judah and its king named Ahaz, because he has refused to join their alliance against Assyria. Their goal in this war was to topple Ahaz, put a puppet king on to the throne of Judah and then to have Judah’s military strength added to their alliance designed to hold off the Assyrians. King Ahaz is atop the walls of Jerusalem inspecting its defenses when he is met by Isaiah the prophet. First, Isaiah assures the king that Jerusalem will not fall to “these smoldering stumps,” which is what he calls Pekah and Rezin. Ahaz is not convinced. Isaiah then says to him: “Ask a sign of God.” and God will convince you that you will be delivered. Ahaz refuses to ask. Irritated, Isaiah says well you will be given a sign whether you like it or not. “Behold a woman is with child.” This baby soon to be born into the royal household will be the heir to the throne, a sign that this kingdom will endure. Isaiah goes on to say that before this baby is able to eat curds and honey and before he is old enough to choose between good and evil, these kings before whom Ahaz was quaking at this moment will be long gone. The facts of history are that the land of Judah was destined to work out a treaty with Assyria that left Judah a vassal state, but still alive, while both Syria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel were destroyed by Assyria. This text in Isaiah had nothing to do with predicting the birth of the messiah almost 800 years later! Matthew was stretching his interpretive powers wildly by using the text the way he did.

The second text from the prophets, which Matthew weaves into his story, comes from Micah. When the wise men (I will discuss them in the next column in this series) stop to ask directions at the palace of King Herod, the king consults his chief priests and scribes to determine where it is that the messiah is to be born. One of the images so important to the Jews was that messiah must be a descendant of King David and thus heir to the Jewish throne. Part of messiah’s task was to restore the throne of King David. Micah the prophet refers to Bethlehem as the town out of which David emerged to rule the land of the Jews. The messiah must follow the same pattern. So in the opening narratives of Matthew, the birth of Jesus was shifted from Nazareth, where he was surely born, to Bethlehem, so that the messianic claim can be made and the words of the prophet Micah affirmed.

Next, when Matthew proceeds to tell the story of King Herod slaughtering the boy babies in Bethlehem in his move to destroy the promised deliverer, he relates this to another tragic moment in Jewish history when the Assyrians conquered and destroyed the Northern Kingdom, made up, according to tradition, primarily of the descendants of Joseph, the son of Rachel, who was said to have been Jacob’s favorite wife. Thus Jeremiah portrays Rachel, the tribal mother of the Northern Kingdom, as weeping for her children who are now lost forever. Matthew sees in that story a prediction of the deaths of the children at Herod’s hand. It was not even a close fit.

Then Matthew says that when Joseph was forced to flee from Herod’s wrath, he took Mary and the Christ Child to Egypt. Once, God had to call God’s son (the Jewish people) out of Egypt. Now Matthew quotes Hosea, who was referring to Moses and the Exodus, to refer to Jesus, who is also called out of Egypt, since messiah must relive the history of the Jews.

In Matthew’s final birth narrative biblical quotation Joseph took Mary and the Christ Child to live in Nazareth. This, Matthew said, was to fulfill the words of the prophet that “he will be called a Nazarene.” Such a prophetic expectation cannot be found anywhere in scripture. The closest we can come to it is in Isaiah 11:1 where the prophet writes “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse (David’s father) and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” It is another text used to prove that messiah must be related to David. The word “branch” in Hebrew is “nazir” or “nezer.” It sounds a bit like Nazareth, but “close” is all Matthew needed. Matthew stretched all of his texts, but this last one was stretched to absolute fantasy.

My point is to show how the debate waged in the synagogue as the followers of Jesus sought to understand him, his relationship to the concept of messiah and his relationship to the Jewish Scriptures. We are reading here a first century Jewish interpretation of Jesus. We are not reading history. There is a difference.~  John Shelby Spong  |

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