April 2013 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

Lunch with Slicker
by George Holcombe 02 May '13

02 May '13

Wanda and I went to Dallas last weekend, and I had a chance to catch up with Joe Slicker. We had missed communication with Joe since the first of the year, only to learn that he's spent most of the last 3 months in the hospital and rehab. Got to have a good visit and lunch with him. He's trying to catch up on his communication. Still a bright spirit with great insight and excited about all you are doing and being. George Holcombe 14900 Yellowleaf Tr. Austin TX 78728 Mobile 512/252-2756 grholcombe(a)gmail.com "Whatever the problem, community is the answer. There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about." Margaret Wheatley

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Dowd and Barlow
by John Cock 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

Thanks, Herman. Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow were at Nelson and Elaine Stover's UU congregation on Friday. Lynda and I ate lunch with them at Margaret Berry's living center (she is 95 and thinking as clear as a bell-definitely Thomas' right arm re archiving his works, primarily at Harvard library). Michael gave a comprehensive presentation with visuals-they have a bunch of videos, 4 hrs. each. Like all of us, they get better with age. He also does Huffington Post blog every few weeks, e.g., "Ecology Is the New Theology": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-michael-dowd/ecology-is-the-new-theology_b _2875205.html John and Lynda _____ From: Herman Greene [mailto:hfgreenenc@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 6:32 PM To: Center for Ecozoic Societies Subject: CES Event: Science, Evolution, Christianity and Global Warming, Friday, May 3, Chapel Hill Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow will speak on "Science, Evolution, Christianity and Global Warming," at United Church of Chapel Hill in the Assembly Room, on Friday, May 3 from 7:30-9:00 pm. Admission is free and no pre-registration is required. Contributions may be made to support Michael and Connie's ongoing work. Co-Sponsored by Center for Ecozoic Societies and United Church of Chapel Hill. Inline image 1Inline image 2 Michael Dowd is one of the most dynamic speakers in America today. Since April 2002, he and his wife Connie Barlow, an acclaimed science writer, have continually traveled North America sharing about the practical benefits of an inspiring view of mainstream evolutionary sciences with secular and religious audiences of all backgrounds. Michael's book <http://thankgodforevolution.com/> Thank GOD for EVOLUTION <http://thankgodforevolution.com/> and his deeply inspired speaking have been featured in media ranging from The New York Times Magazine and The Washington Post to the National Catholic Reporter, NPR, and the BBC. The address of the United Church of Chapel Hill is 1321 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514 For additional information, contact Herman Greene at this email address. -- __________________________________________________ Herman F. Greene 2516 Winningham Road Chapel Hill, NC 27516 919-942-4358 (ph & fax) hfgreenenc(a)gmail.com

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Help with song title
by John Cock 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

What is the name of our song that goes like this? Can't find it in the big 1980-81 song book. I thought it was "Winds of Change." Help please. .What shall be, somehow depends on me, What I am, have been and now decide to be; And all those of Way become my we, And this we becomes the larger me. Thanks, John John P. Cock >Daily Blog: "Journey Reflection" at these 4 links ... Google: www.reJourney.blogspot.com <http://www.rejourney.blogspot.com/> Google Plus: Journey <https://plus.google.com/u/0/114307312715975337692/posts> Reflection/Google Plus Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/transcribebooks Twitter: https://twitter.com/transcribebooks >Web Page: www.transcribebooks.com <http://www.transcribebooks.com/> >Books: https://www.amazon.com/author/johnpcock

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Re: [Dialogue] Anyone know the whereabouts of Robert Best
by George Holcombe 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

Robert Best was in the student house at one time, and some of them are trying to locate him. I believe his parents were Guardians and did a stent in the order. Just send me any information directly to me off the list serve. Thanks. George Holcombe 14900 Yellowleaf Tr. Austin TX 78728 Mobile 512/252-2756 grholcombe(a)gmail.com "Whatever the problem, community is the answer. There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about." Margaret Wheatley

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Re: [Dialogue] Lunch with Slicker
by martin＠martingilbraith.com 29 Apr '13

29 Apr '13

Hi, thank you for your email. This is an automated response. I am away on leave and offline from April 27-May 6, so I shall reply as needed as soon as I can after that. If you need to reach me urgently in the meantime, please text me on +44 7876 722712. best wishes, Martin

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tracking down the "what appears to be a breaking down of civilization" quote
by David M Dunn 28 Apr '13

28 Apr '13

Colleagues: With apologies for inflicting a fishing exercise on everyone, can anyone reconnect me with this quote that concludes something like: 'may be a breaking in of new possibility by life itself.' That's not right, but something like that. Does we have a compilation of our great quotes anywhere? David — David Dunn 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247 720-314-5991 dmdunn1(a)gmail.com — David Dunn Mirror Communication—collegial presence/creative service david(a)mirrorcommunication.com Skype: dmirror (720-314-5991) 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247

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Re: [Dialogue] Sharing Naomi Shihab Nye's poem
by martin＠martingilbraith.com 28 Apr '13

28 Apr '13

Hi, thank you for your email. This is an automated response. I am away on leave and offline from April 27-May 6, so I shall reply as needed as soon as I can after that. If you need to reach me urgently in the meantime, please text me on +44 7876 722712. best wishes, Martin

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Re: [Dialogue] tracking down the "what appears to be a breaking down of civilization" quote
by martin＠martingilbraith.com 27 Apr '13

27 Apr '13

Hi, thank you for your email. This is an automated response. I am away on leave and offline from April 27-May 6, so I shall reply as needed as soon as I can after that. If you need to reach me urgently in the meantime, please text me on +44 7876 722712. best wishes, Martin

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fossil fuel di-vestment movement
by Ellie Stock 26 Apr '13

26 Apr '13

Dear Friends, Exciting news: today, we’re partnering with the City of Seattle and the Mayors Innovation Project to announce that eleven cities have committed to pursue fossil fuel divestment! Can you take a minute to click on the image below to share the news on social media? Click to share this image on Facebook Let’s be clear: our work in these cities isn’t over. We’ll need to follow-up with these Mayors to make sure that they really keep their city funds out of fossil fuel stocks and push the pensions that provide for their employees to also divest. But today is a big step forward. The cities committing to divestment today extend coast to coast. From tiny Bayfield, Wisconsin, which has just 530 residents, to international icons, like the City of San Francisco, where the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to push the city’s retirement fund to divest $583 million from the fossil fuel industry. In Richmond, CA, Mayor McLaughlin is committing to divestment because she’s sick of seeing the health and safety of her community put at risk by the giant Chevron refinery on the edge of the city. In Ithaca, NY, 26-year old Mayor Svante Myrick, one of the country’s youngest mayors and youngest African-American politicians, committed to divestment earlier this week after meeting with a group of high school students who asked him to protect their shared future. Click here to help spread the news. Today’s announcement sends a powerful message to the fossil fuel industry: if you’re going to try and take away our planet, we’re going to try and take away your money. We’re no longer just playing defense against dirty projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, we’re going on offense, too. It also sends an equally important message to other cities and institutions: if it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s also wrong to profit from that wreckage. And with some of the most innovative cities in the country now firmly on board with this campaign, there should be no excuse for college trustees or other cities to keep dragging their feet on divestment. Together, we kicked off this divestment campaign last fall and have spread it across the nation to over 300 colleges and universities. Now, the effort is moving off campus: there are over 100 petitions up on the GoFossilFree.org website targeting cities, states, and religious institutions. If you haven’t already started or signed a petition, now is the time. Click here to find or start a fossil fuel divestment campaign in your community. If you’re already running a local divestment campaign, now’s a great time to use the excitement of today’s announcement to spread your petition far and wide. You can find the petition you created by clicking on the link above. When we started this effort, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in helping end apartheid in South Africa, told us this: “The divestment movement played a key role in helping liberate South Africa. The corporations understood the logics of money even when they weren’t swayed by the dictates of morality. Climate change is a deeply moral issue too, of course...Once again, we can join together as a world and put pressure where it counts.” With today’s announcement, that pressure is coming to bear in powerful ways. It’s still too early to tell if this new divestment movement will have the political impact necessary to weaken the stranglehold the fossil fuel industry has over our government, but thanks to your hard work, we’re off to an incredible start. If you haven’t already joined in this effort, visit gofossilfree.org to get started. Many, many thanks, Jay Carmona PS. If you’re a student divestment campaigner, don’t forget: we’re having a national strategy chat at 6:00 PDT/9:00 EDT tonight. Click here to join in. 350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts. You can help power our work by getting involved locally, sharing your story, and donating here. To stop receiving emails from 350.org, click here. Dear Friends, Exciting news: today, we’re partnering with the City of Seattle and the Mayors Innovation Project to announce that eleven cities have committed to pursue fossil fuel divestment! Can you take a minute to click on the image below to share the news on social media? Click to share this image on Facebook Let’s be clear: our work in these cities isn’t over. We’ll need to follow-up with these Mayors to make sure that they really keep their city funds out of fossil fuel stocks and push the pensions that provide for their employees to also divest. But today is a big step forward. The cities committing to divestment today extend coast to coast. From tiny Bayfield, Wisconsin, which has just 530 residents, to international icons, like the City of San Francisco, where the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to push the city’s retirement fund to divest $583 million from the fossil fuel industry. In Richmond, CA, Mayor McLaughlin is committing to divestment because she’s sick of seeing the health and safety of her community put at risk by the giant Chevron refinery on the edge of the city. In Ithaca, NY, 26-year old Mayor Svante Myrick, one of the country’s youngest mayors and youngest African-American politicians, committed to divestment earlier this week after meeting with a group of high school students who asked him to protect their shared future. Click here to help spread the news. Today’s announcement sends a powerful message to the fossil fuel industry: if you’re going to try and take away our planet, we’re going to try and take away your money. We’re no longer just playing defense against dirty projects like the Keystone XL pipeline, we’re going on offense, too. It also sends an equally important message to other cities and institutions: if it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s also wrong to profit from that wreckage. And with some of the most innovative cities in the country now firmly on board with this campaign, there should be no excuse for college trustees or other cities to keep dragging their feet on divestment. Together, we kicked off this divestment campaign last fall and have spread it across the nation to over 300 colleges and universities. Now, the effort is moving off campus: there are over 100 petitions up on the GoFossilFree.org website targeting cities, states, and religious institutions. If you haven’t already started or signed a petition, now is the time. Click here to find or start a fossil fuel divestment campaign in your community. If you’re already running a local divestment campaign, now’s a great time to use the excitement of today’s announcement to spread your petition far and wide. You can find the petition you created by clicking on the link above. When we started this effort, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in helping end apartheid in South Africa, told us this: “The divestment movement played a key role in helping liberate South Africa. The corporations understood the logics of money even when they weren’t swayed by the dictates of morality. Climate change is a deeply moral issue too, of course...Once again, we can join together as a world and put pressure where it counts.” With today’s announcement, that pressure is coming to bear in powerful ways. It’s still too early to tell if this new divestment movement will have the political impact necessary to weaken the stranglehold the fossil fuel industry has over our government, but thanks to your hard work, we’re off to an incredible start. If you haven’t already joined in this effort, visit gofossilfree.org to get started. Many, many thanks, Jay Carmona PS. If you’re a student divestment campaigner, don’t forget: we’re having a national strategy chat at 6:00 PDT/9:00 EDT tonight. Click here to join in. 350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts. You can help power our work by getting involved locally, sharing your story, and donating here. To stop receiving emails from 350.org, click here.

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4/25/13, Spong: Making Sense of Violence and Terror in Boston
by Ellie Stock 25 Apr '13

25 Apr '13

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Making Sense of Violence and Terror in Boston On Monday, April 15, Patriot’s Day in Boston, Massachusetts, the bomb blasts that occurred near the finish line of the Boston Marathon brought death, mutilation and injury to more than 200 innocent people. By Thursday, the perpetrators of this crime had been identified and the manhunt was on. By Friday, one of the two suspects had been killed in a shootout with police and the other was believed to be hiding in the small suburb adjacent to Boston called Watertown. The entire metropolitan area was under police lock-down for almost 48 hours and a house-to-house search was undertaken. On that same Friday, as fate or luck would have it, my wife and I were driving to Boston to give a series of lectures that weekend at an event organized jointly by Andover Newton Theological School and the Eliot United Church of Christ. The lectures were to be located in the facilities of the Eliot Church in Newton, Massachusetts, less than a mile from Watertown. The entire metropolitan area of Boston was totally caught up in the trauma of that event. Driving toward Boston, we kept the radio on wondering if we would be allowed into the area in general and into our hotel in particular. Thirty minutes before we arrived, the second suspect was captured, wounded but alive, hiding under the plastic cover inside a boat, parked on wheels in the backyard of a private house. So we were present to share in the corporate sense of relief in the community. The grief and the fear, which always come when terror removes the community’s sense of security and safety, were palpable. It was a tragedy in which the entire nation shared, indeed in which the entire world shared. Three stories out of this tragedy tore at my emotions and raised within me the same questions that gripped the people of the world. What is the sense and meaning of evil with which human life must cope and inside which human life is almost always lived? These three stories put a face on the presence of that evil. First, there was the story of a man named Bill Richard, who ran in the marathon. His wife, Denise, his eight year old son, Martin, and his five year old daughter, Jane, came to cheer their husband and father across the finish line. Bill, like most people his age, was not a championship runner. He crossed the finish line about two hours after the winner. He was, however, elated at his performance and his family, proud of him, wanted to share in his triumph. Before they could do that, however, there came, it seemed out of nowhere, an explosion. Eight-year old Martin was killed instantly, five-year old Jane was hurt so badly that one of her legs had to be amputated and Denise had received such a blow to the head from the projectiles loosed in the blast that she suffered brain damage, the full extent of which has not yet been determined. All of this tragedy was at the hands of two brothers, unknown to the Richard family, who were motivated by a cause in which the Richards were not involved. Yet in that insane moment, the life of this family was shattered, never to be fully repaired again. First, I tried to look at this tragedy through their eyes; it was enough to bring tears to mine. The second story came after the suspects had been identified as Tamerlan (age 26) and Dzhokhar (age 19) Tsarnaev, originally from Chechnya, but who had come to this country from Kyrgyzstan with their families about 11 years ago. When the names of the suspects were made known all links to this family were pursued by both the investigators and the press. It appeared that the suspects’ father had recently returned to Kyrgyzstan, leaving his brother, Rusian, as the ostensible head of the family. When this uncle of the suspects was located in Maryland, he agreed to an impromptu press conference on the sidewalk outside his home. It was for him a wrenching experience. Everything he had struggled to build up for himself and his family seemed to have blown up in this tragedy. He clearly was not in sympathy with his nephews’ new, radical religious stance. He referred to his oldest nephew as a “loser.” Almost at the point of tears, he began to speak, not to the press but to his nephews, “You have brought a shame on this family. You have brought a shame on all Chechnyans.” He knew life would never be the same and he and his family would be stained forever in the minds of all who knew them by this violent act, over which he had no control. So I tried to look at this tragedy through Russian’s eyes. The third story that gripped me was the narrative of the two primary perpetrators of this heinous crime, Timerlan and Dzhokhar. Sympathy was hard to muster at that moment, but questions cascaded forth. What motivated them? What cause was so all-consuming that it justified meticulous planning and the preparation of bombs made out of pressure cookers filled with nails and other metal projectiles that would become lethal weapons striking anyone near enough with maiming and killing fury? Why did they feel the need to destroy the lives of people they had never met? What demons possessed them that caused them to devalue human life so totally? What enabled them, when they thought they had escaped unseen, to return to their nearby home and to pal around with their friends during the evening after their deed had been done, as if life were still normal? What was it like for them when they recognized that their identities were known and that they needed to flee for their lives? In their frantic attempt to escape, they killed a 26-year old Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus policeman in cold blood and then carjacked a Suburban vehicle, forcing its driver to withdraw money from his ATM account to give them the cash they needed. Did they have a destination in mind or were they just fleeing blindly? What did they feel when they engaged in a gun fight with local police in which the older of these two brothers was killed, while the younger brother escaped in their stolen car by running over the body of his brother? What was going on inside this now lone fugitive when the man hunt finally ended with a massive police force surrounding the boat in which he was hiding in the backyard of a Watertown resident? While he was armed with an assault gun this nineteen year old, bleeding from his own wounds, surely knew that death or capture were the only options left to him. What was his state of mind? He was finally captured with no more loss of life and is today under heavy guard while a patient in a Boston hospital. All around him lives, including his own, were shattered. Human beings are capable of enormous evil. What is the cause? Is there some flaw in human nature, an inescapable “original sin” that causes some to victimize others mindlessly? Is there an alien or demonic power that takes over some of us from time to time, causing us to do things that, left to our own devices, we would presumably never do? Is there something about human life that we do not yet understand? All of these possible explanations have been offered in human history, but none of them seems adequate. Perhaps we are simply less civilized than we like to imagine. Perhaps the elemental laws of the herd are still part of our biological life and, from time to time, they must be served. A study of all living things reveals that survival is a driving force in biology. Every plant, every tree and every vine is programmed by life itself to maximize its chances of survival. That is the nature, the reality of living things. It is thus also true of every insect, every creature of the sea, every reptile, bird and mammal. Below the level of human freedom, nature drives all living things to seek survival. It is instinctual behavior. Human beings, however, are self-conscious decision makers. We can choose between love and hate, war and peace, cooperation and violence. What drives us to choose hate, war and violence? Is it not still survival? When life feels threatened, will human beings not act in such a way as to maximize their own survival? The Tsarnaev family has a history of doing just that. When life in Chechnya became so dangerous, they fled to Kyrgyzstan. When Kyrgyzstan became equally dangerous, they became political refugees in America. When they did not fit in, anger grew. When the United States was seen as hostile to Muslim nations in the Middle East, their fears were heightened. Inside Islam they sought protection and meaning in what appeared to them to be a rejecting world. Religion often functions that way. Radicalized religion is always a cover for justifying killing behavior and frequently religion becomes an acceptable channel through which rage finds an outlet. When the rage of being victimized is attached to religion, all manner of destructive behavior can be viewed by believers as acceptable. Islam is not the only religion to be used this way. Look at what the Christians did to the Jews from the days of the New Testament to the days of the Holocaust. Look at the innocent people burned at the stake as heretics by Christians. Look at the women hanged as witches in Salem, Massachusetts. Look at the religious torture employed by Christian believers against non-believers. Look at the Crusades, organized by the Vatican, which made a virtue out of killing Moslems in the Middle East because their very existence was thought be an affront to Christian sensitivities. None of this religiously sanctioned activity justifies violent and murderous behavior. What it does do, however, is to free us to see that our survival fears will always find expression in ruthless acts of killing another before those “others” can kill us and that through the ages religion has served to sanitize and perfume this killing behavior. If Christianity, Islam, Judaism or any other religion is to have continued life then its focus must be on enhancing life, building community and expanding the sense of what it means to be human. Religious devotees must also put an end to demonizing any child of God on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality or religion. Our world is a long way from that goal and organized religion still seems to be part of the problem, not part of the cure. Terror reminds us very painfully of just how shallow are the layers of civilization around us and just how empty is the piety of many of our religious words. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Rick Portillo, via the Internet, writes: Question: I would like to know if you believe the Bible is a book that should be used to guide one's life. I do not agree or disagree; I just want to know what you think personally. I am an Agnostic and I recently saw a video of you being interviewed. Answer: Dear Rick, I am not sure what you mean by your question. The Bible is a library of books written over a period of time between about 1000 BCE and 135 CE by a wide variety of authors, living in a wide variety of different circumstances. These authors also reflect a wide variation in what I would call spiritual sensitivity. For example, I would not choose to pattern my life after that of Elijah, who slew 400 priests of Baal with his sword after a showdown on Mount Carmel, or that of Samson, who slew hundreds of Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. I would, however, be willing to install as life values such biblical admonitions as: Jesus’ call to “love your enemies;” Hosea’s definition of God as “love;” Amos’ definition of God as “justice,” and Malachi’s definition of God as “universal.” I would also want to listen to Jonah’s story against prejudice and Jesus’ definition of who is my neighbor. So I would be more discerning and less blanketed in my response to you than your question seems to allow. Perhaps as a self-confirmed agnostic, you have simply not encountered the Bible on anything other than the shallowest of levels. I see three great principles that underlie the entire biblical story. The first is that all life and all people are holy. This is the great insight of the Hebrew Scriptures and is the essential meaning of the story of the creation. That is also why I refer to God as “father.” It is a sexist reference, but when this nomenclature was adopted “Father” meant the source of all life. The second great biblical principle is that all life and all people are loved. That is the essence of the Jesus story, which comes through the gospels and that is what we Christians are trying to communicate when we refer to Jesus as “the son.” The third is that the purpose of life is to discover the courage to be all that each of us can be within the unique circumstances of our humanity. That is what it means to me to believe in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is always defined in the Bible as “The Lord and Giver of Life.” There are many parts of the Bible that reflect primitive, tribal and destructive emotions toward those who are regarded as enemies. I am not impressed with the God who hates Egyptians as portrayed in the book of Exodus, the God who stops the sun in the sky in order to have more daylight to kill more Amorites as described in the book of Joshua, or the God who orders genocide against the Amalekites as recorded in the book of Samuel. The great tragedy of the church has been that by clinging to biblical literalism to the point of profound ignorance, we have made it possible for people like you to frame the question you have posed, which assumes that there is a single biblical point of view. There isn’t. Thanks for asking. John Shelby Spong Announcements Pluralism Sunday is being celebrated on May 5th all around the world. Click here for more information! Any questions or concerns, please contact us at support(a)johnshelbyspong.com or 503-236-3545. Copyright © 2013 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

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