[Dialogue] 3/03/2023, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Roger Wolsey: Progressive Christianity & Psychedelics; Spong revisited
Ellie Stock
elliestock at aol.com
Thu May 4 05:54:17 PDT 2023
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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9902936775 #yiv9902936775templateBody .yiv9902936775mcnTextContent, #yiv9902936775 #yiv9902936775templateBody .yiv9902936775mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9902936775 #yiv9902936775templateFooter .yiv9902936775mcnTextContent, #yiv9902936775 #yiv9902936775templateFooter .yiv9902936775mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} By Rev. Roger Wolsey
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Progressive Christianity & Psychedelics
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| Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey
May 4, 2023There. I said it. I know I’m not the first, and I surely won’t be the last. It’s time to embrace and promote. My way of proclaiming the good news of psychedelic plant medicines as part of our salvation and healing is writing. For some members of our society, what I've written may land with a nonchalant, "Yeah, that sounds right." Other folks will experience it with a sense of elated pleasant surprise - "Can you imagine - a Christian pastor saying these things?! Amazing! Cool! Who knew?!" Yet, for many people in the circles I run in - the circles of organized religion and Christianity - what I have written will ruffle at least as many feathers as it smooths. One swath of Church and society will receive it with cordial welcome, while another swath will feel it to be too provocative, "too outside the bounds," with some seeing it as threatening. Some will attack and reject both the book and me as the one who wrote it. Alas, I felt called to write this book and I could do no other. Not writing it simply wasn't an option.
The following is an excerpt from the Foreword of Discovering Fire: Spiritual Practices That Transform Lives
…Because of my own ministry at the intersection of Christianity and the entheogenic* use of psychedelic plants such as psilocybin mushrooms and San Pedro cactus and the empathogen MDMA, Chapter 6 was particularly compelling for me. In addition to making accessible the extensive medical research around mental health issues, Roger places these plants and their use squarely within the healing ministry of the Church. Christians are called to be healers; Jesus was a healer and told his disciples they would do greater things than he did. With sufficient training and a process of discernment, the sacred substances Roger writes about in Chapter 6 should be in the toolkit of every Christian who feels called to be a healer... ~ The Rev. Hunt Priest, The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, and Executive Director of Ligare: A Christian Psychedelic Society.
*Entheogen is a neologism to designate psychoactive substances employed in culturally sanctioned visionary experiences in ritual or religious contexts. (Carl A. P. Ruck) Scholars of religion often call psychedelic substances entheogens, from the term "god within" — (Jeremiah Creedon)
And these are excerpts from the Conclusion of the book:
There are universal longings that are shared by all humanity. Among these is the longing to heal from our wounds and to develop and grow to be at our best. We long to increase our capacities to weather the challenges of life and to feel a sense of peace and equanimity that can be maintained through the challenges of life. We long to mature, be resilient, and relate to our loved ones and strangers with as much love, care, and authenticity as possible. We long to understand ourselves and our tendencies to not live up to these ideals. We long to be compassionate toward ourselves and others when we aren’t at our best. And we long to know that we aren’t alone in these longings. We aren’t.
…While engaging in spiritual practices such as the ones described in this book can, and do, make a significant difference, it is also true that Great faith doesn’t come out of great effort but out of great surrender.[14] Our salvation is a co-creative collaboration between Creator and Creation. Ultimately, all salvation/healing is a gift, yet gifts are only received to the extent that they’re accepted, opened, and used.
…John Wesley promoted what works to help people, and he made a point to recognize that there are many means and modalities available to provide this help:
“I have purposely set down (in most cases) several Remedies for each Disorder; not only because All are not equally easy to be procured at all Times and in all Place: But likewise, because the Medicine which cures one [person], will not always cure another of the same Distemper. Nor will it cure the same [person] at all times. Therefore, it was necessary to have a Variety.”[18]
Wesley yearned for Christians to not experience unnecessary divisions and strife about matters that people of faith can agree to disagree about…
…I realize that it’s a stretch for some readers to recognize the validity of each of the practices and lineages described in this book. It may seem to some that I’m calling Christians and other religious people to become “ecstatic dancing, tarot card reading, psychedelic plant medicine users.” Let me share Mohamad Safa’s truthful words:
Teaching kids about frogs isn’t grooming them to become amphibians. Reading a book about Einstein won’t make your kid smarter. Acknowledging that some kids have two dads isn’t “trying to make them gay.” It’s helping them learn about the world around them. [An open mind is the thing that terrifies some most of all.][21]
Indeed, and the same is true for teaching people about: rock & roll, sexual education, astrology, Tarot cards, the Enneagram, ecstatic dance, psychedelic plant medicine, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, shamanism, Lectio Divina, centering prayer, and fasting. The late Rev. “Mr.” Fred Rogers said, “Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable.”[22] It’s time for us to mention these matters. It’s time for religion and the rising culture to engage in needed conversations.
…In many ways, life is a steady parade of “big asks” that come our way. It’s appropriate and healthy to be discerning. It’s important to accept that we won’t all embrace the same big asks at the same time. And yet, time is of the essence and taking too long to adapt and adopt is detrimental and harmful. We Christians who embrace the heritage of John Wesley have an advantage in that we have the tool of “The Wesleyan Quadrilateral”[23] to help guide us. If we prayerfully take Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience fully into consideration when we ponder theological, social, and scientific matters, it can only lead to better, wiser, and more godly and moral conclusions. And, if we hold our conclusions loosely without turning them into rigid dogmas, it allows us to continue to grow and adapt as a church during ever-changing times.
…I offer the following additions as we close: It’s also a big ask for Western Christianity - especially for conservative evangelical Christianity to concede that God is meaningfully working in people’s lives in ways that those of that form of the faith have little familiarity.[24] It’s even a big ask for centrist, progressive-leaning, mainline denominations to come on board with yoga, authentic relating, and consider supporting the legalization and normalization of psychedelic plant medicines.[25] And, it’s also a big ask for many people who identify as agnostic, pagan, and/or spiritual but not religious to recognize that there are certain spiritual practices within the realms of organized religion - and within Judaism, Islam - and Christianity in specific - that are truly life-giving and transformative in the lives of many. It’s a big ask to concede that Spirit, the Universe, the Field of Love is at work “even there” too. [End]
I now offer these words from someone whom many consider to be a sage and reasoned soul who cares very much about helping Christianity be relevant in today's world:
"Discovering Fire is full of warmth, crackle, and gentle luminosity. If you feel you've been shutout in the dark, around this campfire you'll find welcome, sanity, and serenity. All of Roger Wolsey's fires may not be right for you, and he doesn't prescribe them: he just shares — with humility and honesty — what experiences and practices have brought him light and warmth on his spiritual journey." ~ Brian D. McLaren
The spiritual practices that I describe aren't "my” fires - they're practices that have been life-giving and transformative in the lives of many people. I'm aware that I'm currently a bit of a rarity as a Christian pastor talking about use of plant medicine and endorsing it. So far, two states in the U.S. have legalized use of psilocybin for recreational use (Oregon and Colorado), yet millions of people across the nation are partaking in various forms of psychedelic plant medicine. I'm not promoting the recreational use of psychedelic plant medicine, but rather the sacred, prayerful, ceremonial, and therapeutic use of it to help God's people to heal from trauma, depression, and more.
I'm not just on the vanguard of religious people normalizing psychedelics in society, I'm an advocate for a full host of spiritual practices. Practices ranging from centering prayer, Lectio Divina, fasting, and labyrinth walking - to dream-work, shadow-work, breath-work, authentic relating; ecstatic dance; being deeply present in, and to, Nature; and reading and writing Poetry. These - and many other ways that we can be working with Spirit in helping people in doing "all the good we can to all of the people we can as long as ever we can" - and doing no harm; doing good; and deepening in love with God.
~ Rev. Roger Wolsey
Read online here
About the Author
Rev. Roger Wolsey is a certified Spiritual Director, United Methodist pastor, and serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org. He is the author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity. His new book is Discovering Fire: Spiritual Practices that Transform Lives. Visit his website here. |
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Question & Answer
Q: By A Reader
How do you keep your spirits and attitude positive amidst the political turmoil and social unrest affecting our country today?
A: By Rev. Brandan Robertson
Dear Reader,This is one of the most timely and yet hardest questions to answer. Most of us spend a lot of time consuming media that reminds us that our nation is divided, that there is an uptick in xenophobia, and nearly constant existential threats to our very existence. Is it any wonder that we are more depressed and anxious than ever? But in reality, our world is not much worse than it has always been- there have always been crimes, hate, fear, and existential threats- the difference is that now we are inundated with them in real-time, and so everything seems so dire. Now, I don’t want to make light of some of the threats we face- the climate crisis, for instance, is something we’ve not experienced in human history, and the costs of our inaction are high. So we should be anxious and moved to take action on an issue like that. On the other hand, we should each try to make a practice of stepping back and disconnecting. I, for one, have turned off notifications on the many news apps on my phone and turn on the “Do Not Disturb” feature from 6 PM onward to ensure that I am not constantly hearing all of the bad news that’s constantly thrown at me.
Also, despite the major threats we face, the truth is that humanity is making progress- things are objectively better, by almost all standards, in 2023 than they were 100 years ago. The values of justice, equity, democracy, and collective flourishing are growing around the world, and even when we face moments of regression, the general trajectory remains toward progress. Keeping a perspective of hope and measured optimism is essential if we’re going to keep up the momentum we need to continue realizing our vision for the common good. So take time to step back and consider the progress we’ve made, turn off the inflow of bad news, and step out into the world ready to work together to heal our divides and be an agent of progressive change.~ Rev. Brandan Robertson
Read and share online here
About the Author
Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press. He leads Metanoia, a digital spiritual community at MetanoiaCenter.org |
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Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited
Part XIV Matthew
The Sermon on the Mount: Sinai Revisited
Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong
February 20, 2014Matthew is portraying Jesus as the New Moses who went to the top of a new mountain to deliver a new interpretation of the Torah. He is not a reporter for a local newspaper covering an event that actually happened. Matthew is quite specific in his gospel that Jesus is not delivering a new Torah! He was far too deeply Jewish to think that way. Indeed, he has Jesus say that not one “jot or tittle,” not one comma or period in the Torah is to be set aside by his re-interpretation. For Matthew the Torah will find its ultimate meaning and its fulfillment in the life and teaching of Jesus; that is what he is claiming. So, if the Sermon on the Mount is the time for Matthew to revisit Mt. Sinai and to understand Moses and the Torah in a new way, it behooves us to become familiar with the Exodus story in which the Torah was originally said to have been given. One can hardly understand Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus as the new Moses on a new mountain, if we do not know much less understand, the original story of Moses on Mount Sinai.The Jewish method of keeping the great events in Jewish history alive in every generation was to bind these events into their liturgical year. In this way, the essential meaning of these events in history could be celebrated annually, the origins of the tradition re-read or retold and the understanding of the people newly refreshed as the past is liturgically incorporated into each successive generation. This is what both liturgy and liturgical calendars are designed to do. That is why worship almost always celebrates the crucial moments in the religious history of the worshiping people.The first liturgical event in the Jewish year was Passover observed on the 14th and 15th days of the month of Nisan, the first month in the Jewish calendar according to Leviticus. Fifty days later, the second major celebration of the Jewish liturgical year arrived in their calendar and was observed. Some called this day “Pentecost,” which literally means 50 days, as in from Passover. It was also called “The Festival of Weeks,” because it was celebrated on the first day after the passing of 49 days or seven weeks. The Hebrew word for “weeks” is Shavuot, so that is also a name by which this day was known. Shavuot celebrated that biblical moment when the people of the Exodus, wandering in the wilderness somewhere between the Red Sea and the Jordan River, entered into a covenant relationship with the God who had delivered them from Egypt. This event took place at the foot of a mountain called Sinai. It marked the time when God was supposed to have given the Torah to the people through Moses. This annual Shavuot celebration came to be observed liturgically with a twenty-four hour vigil, divided into eight three-hour segments. As part of this vigil, the Exodus story would be read in all its fullness. Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the Psalter, was created to be used on this day. Its 176 verses were divided into an introduction and seven segments of three stanzas each, thus providing a reading from the Psalter for each of the eight parts of the 24 hour worship vigil. Two of the eight verses of the crucial introductory stanza of Psalm 119 began with a word that was translated by the word “blessed” or “happy.” The body of this Psalm was a hymn of praise to God for the beauty and the wonder of the law, the Torah. Thus it was that this annual celebration of Shavuot kept the Sinai experience current in every new Jewish generation.There were other major feast and fast days in the liturgical year: Rash Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth and Dedication (or Hanukkah), all of which, we will learn later, shaped Matthew’s gospel, but it is Shavuot that forms the background for Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, our current focus. It was Matthew’s intention to portray Jesus in the role of the New Moses, the one who fulfills the Torah and the prophet that Moses promised would someday come. Before we can understand this connection fully, we must go back to the original Exodus story and fix the Sinai experience in our minds. When we do, Matthew’s Sermon will open up with a new intensity.Moses and the children of Israel had arrived in their wilderness wanderings at the foot of Mt. Sinai in the land of Midian. There Moses was reunited with the members of his family, whom he had left at the call of God to lead the people of Israel out of slavery and into freedom. His wife Zipporah and his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, came out to greet him. Perhaps even more important to this story is the account that Jethro, the priest of Midian and not coincidentally Moses’ father-in-law, was part of the welcoming party. Jethro was portrayed as being impressed with Moses’ successes. This was to be a meeting of two holy men – perhaps two distinct religious traditions – that needed to come together, but in this narrative, they already appear to overlap significantly. After a brief family reunion, Moses and Jethro entered into a long conversation. Moses recounted to Jethro all the things that “the Lord had accomplished.” The crossing of the Red Sea and the story of manna from heaven were clearly in the background. Jethro rejoiced in these achievements and “blessed the Lord.” Then in an act of mutual recognition, the two “holy men” proceeded to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to God. Aaron, the high priest of Israel, joined Moses and Jethro and “all the elders” of Israel ate bread together with the two leaders. The religion of Israel and the religion of Midian were coming together.The next day, Moses sat in the seat of judgment to hear all the disputes that had arisen among the people on this journey. It was his role as the tribal leader to render a decision in each dispute. The case load was so large that this “court” lasted from morning to evening. Jethro watched this process with increasing dis-ease. Later he shared his feelings about this process with Moses in private. Moses defended this process, saying that this was his way of teaching the people “the statutes of God.” Jethro countered by saying that one person cannot be the sole judge for an entire nation. Then he said to Moses: “You must teach them the statutes of God and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.” The way to do this, Jethro continued, was to divide the people into groups of 1000 and choose leaders for each group of 1000 from among those “who fear God and are trustworthy; people who hate a bribe.” Then, Jethro continued, you must further divide the groups of 1000 into groups of 100, then 50 and finally 10, with chosen leaders over each of these smaller units. Disputes that cannot be settled at the 10 level will be passed to the leader of the 50 level. If they cannot be settled at the 50 level, they will be passed to the leaders of 100 and then to the leaders of 1000. You, Moses, will then deal only with those issues that cannot be decided by the leaders of the units of a 1000. Moses agreed to this plan and this organization was set up.There was still a problem, however. By what standards would these smaller unit judges make their decisions? Only Moses seemed to know what the law of God was. Is every judge to render decisions based on the opinion of that judge alone? How could the confusion of their interpretations be avoided when these judges made different decisions? A unified nation needs a unified body of law, an objective standard on the basis of which judgments are to be made. It was not enough that Moses talked to God alone to discuss the divine will; that will must be revealed to all the people and then codified for all to read and to learn. While it was clear that this need was apparent, there was still the political problem that unless the law of God flowed through Moses, the authority of Moses would be undercut. So Moses laid down the process by which the law of God could flow through Moses to the people. It was to be a dramatic scene of divine revelation.Three new moons later, after the escaping former slave people were encamped at the foot of a mountain in the wilderness of Sinai, it was said that God called Moses to come up the mountain to confer. In that consultation, God offered a covenant or contract to the people: “If you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession.” I will turn you into “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation,” The people agreed that this was what they wanted. Moses then took their consent back to God. Then the plan was made whereby the will of God would be revealed to the people in a very dramatic, awe-inspiring moment. God was coming to speak through a cloud so that the people could hear the divine will for themselves.The people consecrated themselves for two days by washing their garments and refraining from sex to make themselves ready for the divine Epiphany that was to occur on the third day. Boundaries were set around Mt. Sinai; people who transgressed these boundaries would do so on pain of death. All was in readiness.When the third day arrived, the book of Exodus informs us that there was thunder and lightning and then a dark cloud covered the mountain. The people watched as the mountain was covered in smoke and fire and then the mountain quaked as the trumpets blew louder and louder. Next Moses called to God and God came down from the sky to the mountain. God instructed Moses to bring Aaron up. The high priest must also be validated. That was how the words of the Torah were said to have entered human history. In Shavuot the will of God became objective law, but Moses was the means of the revelation. Aaron and the priests were now in the loop of authority. An objective standard had been created to which every one who judged could appeal for authority. The only way the law could be altered was for a new Moses to reveal a new insight into the law and in the process be validated by all the people as a new deepening of an old revelation. That was what Matthew was claiming when he portrayed Jesus as delivering the Sermon on the Mount. Indeed Matthew created the Sermon on the Mount to validate the claim that Jesus was the New Moses. We will look at the Sermon in detail when this series resumes.~ John Shelby Spong |
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