[Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT

Mon Oct 3 15:46:39 PDT 2016

Actually, an "end run" is a football term, used idiomatically to say we just avoid the impediments!

Karen Bueno

-----Original Message-----
From: Isobel and Jim Bishop <isobeljimbish at optusnet.com.au>
To: James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com>; Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Cc: Karenbueno <karenbueno at aol.com>; kenfisher1942 <kenfisher1942 at gmail.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 3, 2016 4:32 pm
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT

Isobel and  Jim Bishop
isobeljimbish at optusnet.com.au

Hello folks,

Thankyou so much for these recent discussions.  Ken, Karen and Jim, Jack and all. .

Jim Bishop  and I had a chat, and we agreed with all that has been offered ( for our two cents worth,) by way of reflective comments, at this distance.   I well remember ' the end run on the Church' Karen-  and as it is a baseball term I guess, I had no idea what it 

meant,  yet it still made sense  to me.! 

I reckon that most of what happens in the  Jesus Seminar- Westar Institute, and with the late Marcus Borg and many other deep thinkers, has evolved in its own way from our labours for the Church in the 50's and 60's and even 70's. 

Thank you to you all for your grace and care - yes indeed, we are all part of the Crimson Line, and we do miss Frank Bremner-  his contributions to both the Ecumenical Institute and the ICA were invaluable. 

In peace and love,

Isobel. 

On 04/10/2016, at 2:28 AM, James Wiegel via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

When I came to intern in the autumn of 1967, The Institute of Cultural Affairs was already a division of The Ecumenical Institute.  The Fifth City project came under that heading.

Karen, you raise, though, an interesting point.  We studied a book back in the day called Invisible Religion, by Thomas Luckmann.  He went to great lengths to describe how the phenomenon of "religion" was a part of every society, a sociological reality.  We encapsulated this strain of thinking later in the social process triangles where the process of "Common Symbols" (top pole of the Cultural Commonality triangle) was delineated as "Corporate Language", "Social Art" and "Common Religion" (which included the processes of "Unifying Icons", "Common Rites", and "Inclusive Myths".  The insight here is that one of the realities that comes into play when we humans get together is we start creating "religion"

ON THE OTHER HAND, IN OUR WORLD, we have a number of long-standing historical communities/movements also called "religions" -- Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. 

It seems hard, even today, to know clearly which reality is being pointed to with the term.

Jim Wiegel  

“If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy

401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353
623-363-3277
jfwiegel at yahoo.com
www.partnersinparticipation.com

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 From: Karenbueno <karenbueno at aol.com>
 To: kenfisher1942 at gmail.com; oe at lists.wedgeblade.net; jfwiegel at yahoo.com 
 Sent: Monday, October 3, 2016 7:25 AM
 Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT

My memory holds that when we decided to work in India, and India did not want any more "Christian missionaries",  the call to have a secular name and a secular task was too loud not to answer.  I remember Joe Mathews talking about an "end run around the church".

Karen Bueno

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Fisher via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
To: Jim & Judy Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com>; Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Mon, Oct 3, 2016 7:30 am
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT

Jim,

Very good answer. I recall the extraordinary excitement of seeing Town Meetings and Community Forums be transformational.

Ken

On Oct 2, 2016, at 11:40 PM, James Wiegel via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

Well, that is a good and interesting question, Zoe.  And probably many people might have answers . . 

Here are a couple possible ones that come to my mind.

The Fifth City Project and, later human development projects and town meetings had a lot more visceral excitement for us than the slow work of congregational renewal.  This might have been more particularly true for us younger, non clergy folks who came right after you all . . .

The Local Church Experiment with Galaxies and all did not produce exciting enough results to be sustained, and we never got sufficiently strong and widespread support from the denominational heirarchies to keep it going.  It may well also have been the case that the "risks" that the Galaxy leadership and clergy families in the order and movement sort of derailed their career prospects in Ecclesiastical circles.

God chose fundamentalism and the charismatic approach over existential theology.  I was struck, travelling cross country several years ago, on 2 lane highways, that it seems as though only the conservative churches have had heart and passion to root themselves in many local places.  Music and broadcast christianity as well.

With our focus on "globality", staying within the framework of Historical Christianity became increasingly relative as we engaged in countries not dominantly Christian

In looking at old documents, like the Declaration of the Spirit Movement,  I can see one could say that the primary concern was to address the "cultural revolution of the 20th century", ("renewal of the church FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD")

Even the contextual documents on the local church describe it as an anthropological phenomenon and not a Christian reality 

>From a practical (and economic) perspective, at some point, participation in RS-1 peaked and we needed something else to keep the "movement" moving.  While we talked of ourselves as an "Order" -- Religious Order, Historical Order, Global Order,  seems we depended a lot on keeping momentum going.  Sustainability and slowness were less important than Expenditure and transformation.

What is your take on it?
Jim Wiegel  

“If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy

401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353
623-363-3277
jfwiegel at yahoo.com
www.partnersinparticipation.com

Upcoming ToP training opportunities in Arizona

More info on:

ToP® Facilitation Methods 
ToP® Strategic Planning: 
Mastering the Technology of Participation  

Register on line / see the ToP National Schedule
AICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses

The AZ ToP® Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, of every month, 1-4 pm, at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003

 From: zbarley <zbarley at earthlink.net>
 To: James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com>; Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> 
 Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 4:35 PM
 Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT

Jim

Why did the Order abandon the church?

Spong's latest sure calls for what began lo these many years ago.

Zoe 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: James Wiegel via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> 
Date: 2016/10/02  5:14 PM  (GMT-07:00) 
To: Frank Knutson <f.knutson at earthlink.net>, Order Ecumenical ICA-USA <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>, Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> 
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT 

like what is an example, Frank?

Jim Wiegel  

“If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy

401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353
623-363-3277
jfwiegel at yahoo.com
www.partnersinparticipation.com

Upcoming ToP training opportunities in Arizona

More info on:

ToP® Facilitation Methods 
ToP® Strategic Planning: 
Mastering the Technology of Participation  

Register on line / see the ToP National Schedule
AICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses

The AZ ToP® Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, of every month, 1-4 pm, at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003

 From: Frank Knutson via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
 To: Order Ecumenical ICA-USA <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> 
 Sent: Saturday, October 1, 2016 4:06 PM
 Subject: [Oe List ...] THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT

Searching through old documents I found THE DECLARATION OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN CENTURY TWENTY.   I am amazed, at over 50 years ago, how on target it is today.  It provides a lot for today’s discussions.

"We can't solve our problems with the same level of thinking (or consciousness) that created them." 
       ~Albert Einstein

❤ Frank       

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