December 2012 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

FW: 'SUMMER HEAT RELIEF'
by frank bremner 15 Dec '12

15 Dec '12

Thanks, David Zahrt, for your reflections on the seasons. I often speak with friends and acquaintances, when we reflect on places we've seen, of "the long hot summer" and humidity of Chicago, clearing the sidewalk of ice in Denver, not wearing a beanie when goping out for a winter date in Chicago (and having a severe cold the next day), walking/running in the sun in Philadelphia and going around the corner of a building out of the sunlight and experiencing bitter cold, and driving from L.A to Chicago on snowy roads and running off to one side into a ditch (just a few metres/yards from a petrol station), and of the Chicago blizzard of 1978/79 when cars were buried in carparks (including the one opposite 4750 North Sheridan). And others. Lately in Adelaide we've been experiencing 30 plus (Celsius). Once I used to teach students how to do Fahrenheit-to-Celsius conversions, and the converse. It's all metric now, even the weather reports, so I've lost the formula. I even have to explain Fahrenheit, and other pre-metric measurements like ounces and pounds, pennies and shillings, ergs and poundals and so on, to students coming across them in their reading of novels from the 1960s and before. A great Christmas to you all - whether there's snow for Bing Crosby songs, or a bush celebration with "six white boomers" (Rolf Harris), or whatever. Frank Bremner From: rogerporter777(a)hotmail.com Subject: 'SUMMER HEAT RELIEF' Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:56:15 +1100 'SUMMER HEAT RELIEF' rogerporter777(a)hotmail.com

1 0

Sorting out the Seasons
by David Zahrt 15 Dec '12

15 Dec '12

I think this is appropriate for the Advent Season. In working through my relationship to the seasons I began to see a connection between Advent, Easter and the seasons {attached] Or its up on Wedgeblade. You can go to < http://wiki.wedgeblade.net/pub/Main/DavidZahrt/SORTING_OUT_THE_SEASONS.pdf> and view it. David

1 0

Re: [Dialogue] A Conversation with Advent
by coevolutionacademy＠juno.com 14 Dec '12

14 Dec '12

Very beautiful Janice! Rose Anne ---------- Original Message ---------- From: "Janice Ulangca" <aulangca(a)stny.rr.com> To: "Colleague Dialogue" <Dialogue(a)wedgeblade.net> Subject: [Dialogue] A Conversation with Advent Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:46:06 -0500 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> To my friends and many teachers/mentors in the ICA community - I continue learn so much from you!Profound gratitude and wishes for a splendid, radiant season.Janice Ulangca Advent: A coming into being 3rd definition, Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary A Conversation with Advent O Advent I think you are my favorite Of all the seasons in the church year Because you ask that I wake up, be vigilant, And open to some startling surprise, some wonder That never has existed �til today. Advent, beyond the rush, the noisy fun, the customary words, There is a vast and tender silence And I will meet you there. At first it may seem boring to be still But slowly in the quietness there will be A radiance, a peace, a profound care. Advent, I will dare to bring you this year�s pain The darkness, failures and the broken plans. Perhaps in the stillness With patience and expectancy They may gently be exchanged For healing and for hope . . . And it will not be fake To welcome Joy. JU 2012 ____________________________________________________________ Woman is 53 But Looks 25 Mom reveals 1 simple wrinkle trick that has angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/50cb57d35deb357d27878st02vuc

3 2

"Mom" is Marianna Bailey
by James Wiegel 14 Dec '12

14 Dec '12

Lynn Brailsford Teaneck, NJ These cookies were made by Grandma Hines and will forever be associated with feelings of being loved and cherished. Our family is from Mt. Airy, NC (aka Mayberry of Andy Griffith fame) so I always thought this was a southern recipe. I have seen and tasted northern 'imposters', but none have come close to the delicate, mouthwatering melting of butter, flour, and powdered sugar accompanied by the delicate crunch of pecans in your mouth! Grandma called these 'Sand Dabs'. Mom makes them for us and the grandkids now...I hope this posting passes on the love for another family! SAND DABS 3/4 cup butter 4 tsp powdered sugar 2 cup flour 2 tsp water 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup finely chopped pecans Cream the butter and sugar. Combine other ingredients. Take about a tablespoon of mixture and roll it into a ball. Place on cookie sheet. Bake 45 min @ 325. After cooling, use a sifter to sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar. Jim Wiegel "Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it like you find it.. You got to change with it." Woody Guthrie 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401 +1 623-363-3277 skype: jfredwiegel jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com Upcoming public course opportunities: ToP Facilitation Methods Coming in February. Ask about an inhouse course ToP Strategic Planning, Oct 9-10, 2012 The AZ Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday of every month Facilitation Mastery : Our Mastering the Technology of Participation program is available in Phoenix in 2012-3. Program begins on Nov 14-16, 2012 See short video http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=55 and website for further details.

4 4

A Conversation with Advent
by Janice Ulangca 14 Dec '12

14 Dec '12

To my friends and many teachers/mentors in the ICA community - I continue learn so much from you! Profound gratitude and wishes for a splendid, radiant season. Janice Ulangca Advent: A coming into being 3rd definition, Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary A Conversation with Advent O Advent I think you are my favorite Of all the seasons in the church year Because you ask that I wake up, be vigilant, And open to some startling surprise, some wonder That never has existed 'til today. Advent, beyond the rush, the noisy fun, the customary words, There is a vast and tender silence And I will meet you there. At first it may seem boring to be still But slowly in the quietness there will be A radiance, a peace, a profound care. Advent, I will dare to bring you this year's pain The darkness, failures and the broken plans. Perhaps in the stillness With patience and expectancy They may gently be exchanged For healing and for hope . . . And it will not be fake To welcome Joy. JU 2012

4 3

12/13/12, Spong: The Birth of Jesus, Part V Matthew’s Original Story The Prologue and Tamar, the Incestuous One
by Ellie Stock 13 Dec '12

13 Dec '12

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR The Birth of Jesus, Part V Matthew’s Original Story The Prologue and Tamar, the Incestuous One Matthew is the gospel writer (82-85) who first introduced the story of Jesus’ miraculous or virgin birth into the tradition. He did so with the seventeen most boring verses in the entire Bible! (See Matt. 1:1-17) These verses are Matthew’s version of the genealogy of Jesus, but we refer to them the “who begat whom” verses. Yet in these incredibly boring verses, I am convinced that we can discover clues that will reveal both why the virgin birth story was developed in the first place and why it seems to be of such importance to the author of this second gospel to be written. First, some comments on the genealogy in general. Matthew began his description of the line that he claimed produced Jesus with Abraham, the traditional father of the Jewish nation. Matthew was himself a deeply committed Jewish writer, probably a scribe, and he was writing for a traditional Jewish faith community. He was, therefore, very interested in grounding the Jesus story in the very DNA of Jewish life and history. So he made Abraham, the first pivotal person in Jewish history, the first pivotal person in Jesus’ lineage. David, who originated the royal family that ruled some portion of the Hebrew nation for between 400 and 500 years, became his second pillar in Jesus’ ancestry. The next historical marker in Jesus background that is reflected in this genealogy was what is called the Exile. The citizens of Judah, first in 596 BCE and finally in 586 BCE, after being defeated by the Babylonians, were marched into the land of their conquerors to spend the period of Jewish history, known as the Babylonian captivity, as an underclass of laborers. This Exile lasted for two to three generations and was the time in history when the life of the Jewish nation quite literally hung by a thread. The last period covered by Matthew’s genealogy was from the Exile to the birth of Jesus. Matthew suggested that each of these epochs in Jewish history had been fourteen generations long. That is the point in which every shred of literal accuracy, which people like to attribute to this gospel, begins to break down. Abraham, if he lived at all, would be dated around the year 1850 BCE. David became king of the nation, first in Hebron, about the year 1000 and seven years later in Jerusalem, his newly-conquered capitol. So, between Abraham and David, there are some 850 years. If a generation is considered to be 20 years, which actually might be far too long in that time when life expectancy did not exceed 40 years, there would have been 42 generations between Abraham and David. The time from King David to the Exile would be 400 years plus or some 20 generations. The time from the Exile to the birth of Jesus would have been around 600 years or some 30 generations. So Matthew’s scheme for dividing Jewish history into the stages that he wishes to describe breaks down quickly. To achieve his 14 generation mathematical symmetry Matthew literally had to omit the names of some of the kings in Judah who reigned between David and the Exile who are actually described in the Hebrew Bible. The next problem that gives a biblical commentator pause with this genealogy, which goes from Abraham to David to Joseph to demonstrate Jesus’ royal lineage as a son of David, is that when he arrives at the virgin birth story, his narrative completely denies the role of paternity to Joseph in the life of Jesus. The Virgin Birth story says that Joseph, the presumed male agent in conception, was replaced by the Holy Spirit. So this elaborate effort to ground Jesus in the life of the Jewish people is compromised by the account of his miraculous birth. Literalism wobbles visibly. Another unusual detail in what Matthew portrays as the lineage of Jesus is that he included the names of four women in the genealogy. In this patriarchal world that was quite unusual. Women were not thought then to be equal partners in the procreation process. In that day no one knew that women produced an egg cell and were biologically co-creators of every baby that had ever been born. Women were rather thought of only as nurturing wombs, into which the males placed the seeds of life that women simply brought to maturity. Yet Matthew included four women in this genealogy. They were not mythical women either, for the story of each of these women can be found chronicled in the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures. Their stories were known, but even if they had not been known, anyone could go to the Bible and read them. The other fascinating thing about these women was that by the standards of that day, each of them was considered and defined as a “morally compromised woman.” Please listen to the drama being presented here. In this 17 verse genealogy with which Matthew introduced the story of the Virgin Birth, he made the claim that four of the women who were in the line that produced Jesus of Nazareth, were what his generation would have called unclean or scandalous women. What do you imagine was Matthew’s purpose in opening his story this way? The first of these “shady ladies” was Tamar and her story can be found in Genesis, chapter 38. She was the wife of Er, the first born son of the patriarch Judah. Judah had two other sons, Onan and Shelah, a fact that becomes important as the story unfolds. This chapter tells us that Er was “wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord slew him.” (Gen. 38:7). Under the law that governed widows in Hebrew history, it thus became the duty of Onan, the next oldest son, to marry the wife of his deceased brother in order “to raise up offspring for your brother.” (Gen. 38:8). Onan objected and practiced a primitive kind of birth control that came to be called “Onanism.” This act displeased God, according to this story, and so we are told that God also killed Onan. Now it became Shelah’s turn to marry his brother’s widow, but Shelah was only a boy, about five years of age and, having seen what happened to his two older brothers when they were married to Tamar, he was eager to avoid this fate. So Judah violated the code of behavior and the demands of the Torah and sent Tamar back to her family of origin, to live under her father’s protection. In this patriarchal society, Tamar was now “damaged goods” and she would no longer be thought of as “marriageable.” Judah, seeking to perfume his behavior, promised to send for her when Shelah grew up. Some time passed during which Shelah did grow up, but Tamar was forgotten. Next, we are told, Judah’s wife died and now he was a widower. After a period of time for mourning, Judah returned to his business as the owner of large flocks of sheep and planned a trip to Timnah to talk with his sheep shearers. When Tamar learned of this intended visit, she removed her widow’s clothing, put on a veil and the clothes of a prostitute and positioned herself at the entrance of her town which was on the road to Timnah and where Judah would have to pass by inevitably. He did. Judah saw her and assuming, as she intended him to do, that she was a prostitute, he turned aside to make a contract with her. They bargained for a price and it was agreed that her payment for “services rendered” would be a “kid from my flocks,” which would be sent to her the next day. Wise to the ways of the world, Tamar, still veiled, required that Judah give her something of value, something that she would return when his payment of the lamb was received. They settled on Judah’s signet ring, the cord that was wrapped around his waist and his staff. The two of them then went off to have their tryst, after which Judah went on his way and Tamar went back to her father’s home and once more put on the garments of her widowhood. The next day, Judah, true to his word, sent one of his servants with the lamb to redeem his property. This servant, however, could not find the woman. He inquired of the people of the village as to the identity of the prostitute, who solicited business at the gates of this village. They denied that anyone had ever done that in their town. The servant returned and reported to Judah his failure to locate this woman. Judah, not willing to the subject of ridicule, decided to forgo any further effort to recover his ring, cord and staff, charging them off as “losses from a business deal,” and a number of months passed. Then Judah heard the local gossip that Tamar, his daughter-in-law was pregnant and would soon produce a “child by harlotry.” Judah was incensed at this news and now, exercising his authority over this woman he had earlier rejected, ordered her to be brought out and burned at the stake. As she was being led to her place of execution, she sent word to Judah, her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man to whom these belong” and she included his signet ring, his cord and his staff. Judah recognized them as his own and publicly repented. “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah,” he said. Because sex with one’s daughter-in-law in that day was considered to be incest, Judah did not “lie with her again.” (Gen. 38:26), but he did provide for her care and after she gave birth, married her and brought her into his harem. Tamar became the mother of twins whom she named Perez and Zerah. That is the story. Matthew, by using the name Tamar, incorporated her story into the genealogy of Jesus. He was saying through this device that the line that produced Jesus went through Judah to Perez to the son of Perez, whose name was Hezron. Here, Matthew was asserting that the Christ Child had an ancestor who was guilty of incest. It is an interesting way to open a narrative about the Virgin Birth! That, however, is only the first of the women to whom Matthew alludes in this genealogy. The other three are equally as fascinating and provocative. We will turn to each of them in detail as this series unfolds. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Randy Bell, from Florida writes: Question: I am a 21-year-old student from Florida. Over the past year, I have gone through some changes regarding my view of religion and the world and would just like to thank you for your ideas on the current and future state of Christianity. Your writings and talks have been instrumental in helping me understand the role of religion and spirituality in my life. I never got to speak to my hero, Christopher Hitchens, before he died, something I regard as my only real regret in life. But I am glad I have a chance to thank you for your message of love, hope and a more modern take on a topic that has great meaning to me. Answer: Dear Randy, Thank you for your letter. I am delighted that you believe yourself to have been helped by my writings and I am pleased that you put your thoughts into words. I am also gratified to be in your pantheon of heroes alongside Christopher Hitchens. The world lost one of its most creative minds when he died. I knew Christopher Hitchens, but not well, and had the pleasure of being part of a two-hour debate with him on ITV in London a number of years ago, well before his book God is Not Great came out. He considered me an inadequate Christian, since I did not fall within his narrow definition of what a Christian is or believes. He assumed that the only way to think about Christianity was to define it in rather traditional, rigid and medieval terms, as he constantly did. He spent a lot of his time attacking his version of Christianity, which I had no trouble attacking as well. I thought of him as a brilliant man and an able rhetorician, but one who was very poorly informed about the movements in historical Christianity. He did not know there was any other way to view Christianity than the way he so thoroughly rejected and enjoyed lampooning. That is where I think he was wrong. In my series, recently completed through this column, entitled, “Think Different, Accept Uncertainty,” I spelled out an alternative to Hitchens’ version of Christianity that he and I both find easily rejectable. That series is now available, if you are interested, along with all of my previous columns, to those who are subscribers. That series filled about half a year in this column’s history. I hope the world recognizes, as you seem to do, that both Christopher Hitchen and I have a role to play in seeking God’s truth. ~John Shelby Spong Announcements Between now and December 31st, get a great deal on the perfect Christmas gift! Give someone you love a year-long subscription to Bishop Spong’s Weekly Newsletter, and you’ll be giving them the insight and thoughtful commentary you have come to appreciate from one of the leading voices for “believers in exile”. Plus, you’ll be giving them access to over eight years of weekly essays that Bishop Spong has written — all the way back to 2004! There are 2 simple ways you can do this: 1) Simply send in a check for $25 to: ProgressiveChristianity.org 3530 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Suite 1 Portland, OR 97214 ~Please clearly write the name and email address of the person you are giving to OR 2) Email us today at support(a)johnshelbyspong.com with: ~Your name and email address ~Your friend’s name and email address **Then we will send you a paypal invoice that you can pay directly using a credit card. Use one of these 2 simple steps and we will send your friend a Special Gift email notification - letting them know that about your gift. Then they will begin to receive Bishop Spong’s essay every Thursday for the whole rest of the year! Pass on all that you love about Bishop Spong — Give a gift Subscription today! Any questions or concerns, please contact us at support(a)johnshelbyspong.com or 503-236-3545. Copyright © 2012 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have a membership at our website. Our mailing address is: ProgressiveChristianity.org 3530 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Unit 1 Portland, OR 97214 Add us to your address book If you are a paying subscriber, you may login and cancel your account. Sent to elliestock(a)aol.com — why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences ProgressiveChristianity.org · 3530 SE Hawthorne Blvd. · Unit 1 · Portland, OR 97214

1 0

Great short video on where we are as a nation - Ed Asner narrates
by Janice Ulangca 13 Dec '12

13 Dec '12

----- Original Message ----- From: The Daily Share To: Amelia Fleming Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 8:05 AM Hello! Here is one of the hottest progressive videos and graphics that we (MoveOn) found on the web today, December 11, 2012. Hollywood Legend Ed Asner Has Outraged Republicans Over This Animated Short Want to support our work? MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 7 million members-no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to Amelia Fleming on December 11, 2012. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

2 1

Directory Ready To Mail
by Jayandem2＠aol.com 12 Dec '12

12 Dec '12

Dear Friends and Colleagues: >From Mike Tippett: The 2013 Directory Of Those Who Care is now being printed. Copies for those who have already ordered a Directory will be mailed out by the end of this week. There is still time for you to order your copy! For those who aren’t familiar with The Directory, it is a listing of names, addresses, phones, emails and occupations of several hundred people who have been at one time or another associated with the I.C.A., or the Ecumenical Institute, or its programs and projects. It’s fun to see where everyone is living and what each is doing. (I’m in Florida and am semi-retired) The Directory 2013 If you would like a copy of your listing, either write or email me. I have a special email for The Directory: _MovementDir(a)aol.com_ (mailto:MovementDir@aol.com) If you would like a copy of The Directory, send in the form below. Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form or a CD. If you order two forms, it will cost $30.00. ORDER FORM NAME: ______________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________ CITY/STATE/POSTAL(ZIP) CODE: ____________________________ COUNTRY: ________________________ EMAIL: ______________________________ Make Checks out to and send orders to: Michael B. Tippett, 4676 32nd Court East, Bradenton, FL 34203 (USA) Phone: (941) 753-5189 Email: MovementDir(a)aol.com Please send me a copy of the directory: [ ] Booklet form [ ] CD Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form, or a CD. If you order two forms, it will cost $30.00. I enclose $___________ The Floppy Disk and CD will contain In Memoriam and Names and Addresses, etc, in Microsoft Word format.

1 0

Witness
by Richard Alton 11 Dec '12

11 Dec '12

Burning Man Celebrating my 71st birthday this December. You would think after all these years I would have learned a few things and, more important, be a lot wiser. Not sure. I guess one thing I have learned is that there is a lot of wisdom out there in this great old world. And to act on this insight I try to collect wisdom and jot them down in my yearly calendar… I am not sure it makes me wise. One example is my daughters going to Burning Man (gathering of old and new hippies as one friend explained to me to smoke a lot of pot). Well my daughters Christina and Kay had not told me about this last part so I immediately went and googled Burning Man. And upped popped the Burning Man principles: There is no default world; Expect more from strangers; Form your own camp; Be part of the generosity economy and Embrace impermanence. I wrote Christina- the older daughter- what is this all about? She says, “you know this is like what we learned with ICA, you know the other world” Now that caught my attention. The one principle I was most fascinated with was the one about ‘Expect more from strangers”. It seems Burning Man believes that people are scarred of other people, and it is their job not to be scarred. They also recommend “go in for a hug”- that seems a little too scary for me. Most people it appears are trying to project their appearance of normalcy instead of celebrating their wonderful weirdness. The key seems to be able to say “yes” to the strangeness of strangers. Your job appears to be to expect people to be interesting. Also you have a right to approach any random person and have an interesting interaction. So I now have these 5 principals in my calendar book. I usually try to read through these wisdom notes regularly and try to be mindful of them through the day. ‘Expecting more from strangers” went with me to the ICA Nepal Conference. The second day there I tried to walk from the ICA Nepal office back to my Hotel. A course, I got lost. I had a map but it did not seem very helpful. And then I noticed a man walking near me who also had his map out with a great big backpack like he had been trekking. Finally, I walked over to him and asked, “have you found where we are?. Nope, but I think I am close” We finally figured out where we were with the help of a policeman and we started walking together. Where are you from?: Egypt. What do you do?: I am the Egyptian consular at the Egyptian Embassy in New Delhi and come regularly to Nepal to trek. He asked me some questions and I told him about our El Bayad work and that I had coached baseball in Maadi (suburbs of Cairo). And then I asked him about the new government in Egypt. He spent about 15 minutes trying to explain the situation in Egypt and what he thought the future looked like. I was just startled that this just totally out of the blue interaction had produced such an amazing interaction. And then there was the actual Nepal Conference. What a way to just maximize such weird connections? And is not that finally what community is all about? I guess that is what Burning Man means by Form your camp. Burning Man’s philosophy seems to suggest that these camps are about making an impact together. They are not just for hanging out together, but camps are where people are about something that contributes to the larger community..this is what gives camps meaning. These camps seem to leads us to the generosity economy; this has to do with someone who always gives to others as a way of life. Burning Man sees the transformative feature of their faith is the ‘gifting’ economy. Notice how it makes your life better to give. In fact, giving away can become a way of life for you and your people. The last principle is embracing impermanence which is really up in your face at 71 years old. I am going to put that one in my 2013 monthly planner for my brood screen for the year. I know I have to embrace it… I am sure it will embrace me. Bet you that these principles came from smoking too much pot. Probably, the same pot the Other World came from. Dick Alton, just back from hanging out with Bill McKibben and 350.org working to divest my oil stocks… Richard H.T. Alton 166 N. Humphrey Ave, Apt, 1N Oak Park, IL 60302 T:1.773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back Babe Ruth

4 3

Re: [Dialogue] Witness
by David Walters 11 Dec '12

11 Dec '12

1 0