June 2014 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

6/12/14, Spong: Part XXI Matthew - Yom Kippur and Sacrificial Blood
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 12 Jun '14

12 Jun '14

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Part XXI Matthew Yom Kippur and Sacrificial Blood The primary Christian mantra incorporated into our hymns, prayers and sermons is some variation of the phrase: “Jesus died for my sins!” It comes out of a Christian definition of human life as fallen, corrupted by something we call “original sin.” It has given rise over the centuries to a fetish connected with “the blood of Jesus,” to which is attributed cleansing power. Protestant hymns in the gospel tradition include a wide variety of what might be called “bloody hymns.” One thinks of such titles as “Washed in the blood,” “Saved by the blood” and “There’s a Fountain filled with blood.” Salvation comes directly, these hymns suggest, from the “shed blood” of Jesus on the cross. This same mentality is also reflected in such familiar hymns as “Amazing Grace,” where that which makes God’s grace so “amazing” is that it “saved a wretch like me,” and “The Old Rugged Cross” where the blood of Jesus was shed “for a world of lost sinners like me.” In Catholic worship, the emphasis shifts, but it does not disappear. Catholics suggest in their liturgy that they are “cleansed” internally when they consume the wine of the chalice, now miraculously transformed by ordained hands into the “cleansing blood of Jesus.” Catholics tend to lean toward internal purity; Protestants toward external purity! All of these diverse words and practices derive originally from the Jewish Day of Atonement called Yom Kippur. This derivative, however, results not so much from Jewish practice, but from a later Gentile misinterpretation of Jewish practice. So today we seek to understand the Jewish practice of Yom Kippur. In subsequent weeks, we will seek to understand how atonement got so distorted in Christian circles. I am convinced that the possibility of having a Christian future depends primarily on getting “atonement theology,” as it is presently understood, out of Christian practice. Some of this material will be repetitive of the recent series on the use of the symbol of a “lamb” in Jewish worship. Bear with me in this one more time. Yom Kippur was conducted on one single day in the liturgical year of the Jews. That day was a time of deep penitence observed in a solemn assembly. Yom Kippur was sometimes called “The Sabbath of Sabbaths,” for on this day no work was done and the synagogue liturgy consumed the entire 24-hour period. Yom Kippur, even if limited to one day, still had about it some of the penitential feeling of Christian Lent. I have previously called it “instant Lent,” but the intensity of that one day exceeded anything we know of Lenten practice among Christians. Yom Kippur is described in the Torah, specifically in Leviticus 16 and 23. It was to be observed on the tenth day of the seventh month. It was marked by animal sacrifices and the animals named in Leviticus were specifically a bull and two he-goats. Over the centuries, however, as the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, first by the Babylonians in the sixth century BCE, and then by the Romans in 70 CE, the sacrificial animals changed their identification, finally reaching the place where animal sacrifice ceased. During that evolution of practice, the sacrificed animal was no longer a bull. In the Yom Kippur liturgy the two he-goats became a lamb that was sacrificed and a goat that played the role of the “sin bearer.” Atonement, which literally meant an act designed to create human oneness with God (at-one-ment), also came to mean something quite different to the Jews from what it would later mean in Gentile Christianity. The Jews did not see human nature as fallen and they did not interpret the story of Adam and Eve in the garden as a description of how human beings spoiled the perfection of God’s creation by eating the forbidden fruit and plunging the world into what came to be called “Original Sin.” That was a later Christian idea born in the 4th century when the creeds were being formed. This was never the Jewish understanding. What we think of and call atonement in Christianity developed primarily under the influence of a theologian named St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, a town in North Africa. If one reads the Confessions of St. Augustine, which is still regarded as a Christian classic, one gets a sense of the deep, permeating guilt that was present in this man, usually attached to his feelings about sexuality. This guilt idea permeated all of Augustine’s theology. This was where the traditional Christian understanding of atonement found its origin. Today, in my opinion, this guilt-laden atonement theology threatens to destroy the Christian faith. It is certainly fair to say that post-Augustinian Christianity wallowed in a definition of human sinfulness. Guilt became the coin of the Christian realm. Overcoming guilt was the primary meaning of salvation. Gentile Christianity defined human nature as hopelessly corrupted by what they called “the fall,” teaching us as its theological presupposition that all life was born in “original sin” and was therefore destined for hell unless this “original sin” was overcome. It suggested that the crucifixion was to be explained in terms of Jesus saving us from condemnation by absorbing the punishment that we deserved, a punishment which God presumably required. Even though you and I were the guilty ones, God decided to punish Jesus in our place. Only when the idea was accepted that the pain and bloodshed on the cross cancelled our sin, then and only then was salvation achieved. This “original sin” theology went so far as to teach that babies, who died without being baptized, were not only hopelessly lost, but they were doomed to an eternal hell. This conviction, harsh and unloving as it was, became too much even for the Christians to absorb and so in time, a section of “Limbo” was set apart for unbaptized children. This meant that while unbaptized infants were deprived of heaven and the beatific vision, they could nonetheless, along with such noble pagans as Plato and Aristotle, inhabit Limbo and thus avoid the flames of the “damned.” It was a compromise based on heightened sensitivity. This guilt-laden mentality, however, was not what the Jews understood Atonement and Yom Kippur to mean. The Jews had a sense of what human life was created to be, which they compared with what they had actually experienced human life to be. They did not want anyone to forget the fact that each of us could actually be more than we are. Therefore, Yom Kippur was their liturgical way of remembering who they most deeply were. Thus memory was awakened and renewed through the use of symbolic sacrifices. The animals chosen from their flocks to serve as the Yom Kippur sacrifice had to be physically perfect; they could have no scratches, bruises or broken bones. If these animals were to stand for that perfection for which human life had been intended, then these animals must reflect physical perfection. In time, these creatures were also judged to be morally perfect. Animals, they argued, lived beneath the level of human freedom so they could not choose to do evil. So the animals to be sacrificed at Yom Kippur represented the human yearning for physical and moral perfection. By the time the gospels were written the attempt had already been made to associate the meaning of Jesus’ death with the sacrificial animals of Yom Kippur. This correlation was first introduced by Paul in I Corinthians, written about 54 CE, when he stated: “He died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures (I Cor. 15:3).” The sacrifice associated with Yom Kippur was the only Jewish worship symbol about which it was said that one “died for our sins.” So by that time, at least in the mind of Paul, Jesus had been connected with the Yom Kippur liturgy. Mark, the earliest gospel (ca. 72)) heightened this connection by saying that Jesus “gave his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).” The word “ransom” was also a direct link with Yom Kippur. When the Fourth Gospel had John the Baptist say of Jesus the first time he saw him: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29),” the identity between Jesus and the sacrificial animal of Yom Kippur had been fully established. In the Yom Kippur liturgy, the sacrificial lamb was slaughtered and its blood drained. The high priest, armed with the blood of this “Lamb of God,” would after elaborate cleansing rituals, enter the Holy of Holies, which was that part of the Temple in which God was thought to dwell. Once inside the Holy of Holies, he would smear the blood of the “perfect Lamb of God” on the “Mercy Seat,” which was thought to be God’s throne. With access to God now covered by the blood of the perfect sacrifice, the people believed that even in their sinfulness, they could still on this one day of the year symbolically be welcomed into the presence of God. They had achieved at-one-ment. They could come to God through the “blood of the perfect Lamb of God.” The other part of the Yom Kippur observance was the “liturgy of the goat.” The goat was brought to the front of the solemn assembly, where the high priest, taking its horns, would begin to confess the sins of the people. As this confession poured out the people were taught that their sins literally exited them and landed on the back of this goat. Thus the people would become sinless, at least for that liturgical moment, while the goat became the “bearer of their sins.” Later the sin-laden goat was presented to the assembly, which responded with curses and calls for the death of the goat. Something that evil should not be allowed to continue living. The goat, however, was not killed in this liturgy. Instead it was driven out into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people with it, leaving the people clean and sinless at least for a day. So on Yom Kippur, evil was set aside symbolically and the people were called to remember their creation and the perfection in which they had originally been made. Matthew must now develop a story in which this meaning of Yom Kippur can be connected to the memory of Jesus. When this series continues, we will see how he does that as his narrative of Jesus walking through the liturgical year of the synagogue continues. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer The Rev. Jim Clinefelter, via the Internet, writes: Question: Thank you for your insights into the Sermon on the Mount and The Lord’s Prayer. I am a retired Presbyterian minister and for some time I have had difficulty praying the traditional words of The Lord’s Prayer. So much of it is devoted to asking, indeed begging, God. I find myself praying a modified form of the prayer that recognizes God’s presence on earth and alters the begging into affirmation. Here is how I pray The Lord’s Prayer: Ever Present Holy One, we hallow your name. Your kingdom comes and your will is done on earth through those who trust the vision of your realm. You give us daily bread; you forgive us and call us to forgive others. You do not lead us into temptation; you deliver us from evil; for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. Do you have any suggestions for modifying the way I pray The Lord’s Prayer? Do you see any possibility of churches ever modifying the traditional Lord’s Prayer or is it too deeply entrenched and therefore beyond conscious awareness of most worshipers? Answer: Dear Jim, First let me thank you for your years of service to the Church as a Presbyterian minister. In our time, I believe clergy are too little appreciated and I am convinced that the pastoral role is still a vital and important one so I hope you in retirement are able to hear the words that Jesus was said to have spoken in one of his parables, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” In your translation of the Lord’s Prayer, you address in a sensitive way some of the problems that these words have produced because of their time and place in history. I will never forget a conversation I had with Buckminster Fuller at the Chautauqua Institute some years ago. The Lord’s Prayer reminded him, he said, of a bargaining session at a Middle Eastern local market as buyer and seller haggled over an acceptable price. I suggested to Dr. Fuller that he try his hand at rewriting it in contemporary English to reflect a contemporary world view. He did, but he edited his version of the Lord’s Prayer more each day of the week that we were together. By the end of that week, his version of the Lord’s Prayer was three pages long! My relationship with Bucky Fuller, as we called him, was one of the happier memories of my life. He even came to my diocese to lead the clergy conference for me. It was a mind expanding occasion for us all. No, I do not think that the churches will ever engage this issue. Most of them still introduce the Lord’s Prayer with some version of the words: “And now as our Savior has taught us, we now pray.” It is quite difficult to change words that for hundreds of years we have attributed to Jesus himself. It is interesting to note that they Lord’s Prayer is not found in either the writings of Paul or in the first Gospel, Mark, to be written. The Lord’s Prayer is, quite clearly, a prayer composed not by Jesus, but by the early church asking for the realm of God, which they believed they had experienced in Jesus, might be revealed to the entire world. “Thy Kingdom come; the will be done on earth as it is in heaven” makes sense only in that context. I think your words translate that purpose very well. Thank you for sharing it with me and, through this column, with my reading public. John Shelby Spong Announcements This month, at ProgressiveChristianity.org, we continue our discussion about Sacred Community as we delve into the topic of Prayer. Its bound to be a doozy! Sign up today, if you haven't already, for our free monthly eBulletins. They are full of articles, liturgies, books, events, and more. View some of our recent eBulletins here!

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Fwd: GMCA Update June 9
by David Zahrt via Dialogue 11 Jun '14

11 Jun '14

*Mon Jun 9*—As usual we ate breakfast, packed our lunch, packed the trucks, and sang the Thank You song to CB who has assisted us since Taos, NM and soon will be leaving us. It was sung as a Round. Dear friend, dear friend Shall we tell you how we feel? You have given us such pleasure. We love you so; we love you so. Then the route was reviewed, announcements made, and the Marchers set off. We drivers restored the barbwire fence and took the vehicles to Florence to get gas. We waited at the Coyote Café until Sarah could confirm our next campsite; an RV Park south of Colorado Springs on Hwy 115. We were directed to the campsite in early afternoon. I’ve been told that Ethan plans to return to the March when we get to Colorado Springs. He likes to drive the Gear truck. There are so many practical and technical details to get from one campsite to another that I would appreciate having the option of driving the Gear truck or Marching. On this trek I’ve discovered that there is a completely new daily routine from what I had at home to get all of my belongings packed up, tend to my health, and be able to find my equipment when I need it. I have my name on everything. Many of the younger Marchers leave their belongings--shoes, socks, duffle bags, blankets, etc. around, so when it’s time to leave, their stuff sometimes goes in the Lost-and-Found. The newly elected City Council had its first meeting. I sat in and found it difficult to hear the conversation. One of the topics was resolving issues that come to the Judicial Panel. Another was the continued conversation on the possibility of some Marchers joining the People’s Climate March in NYC in Sept. There were several new Marchers that have joined us. They plan to March with us for a short time. -- Peace, David

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Fwd: GMCA Update June 7-8
by David Zahrt via Dialogue 11 Jun '14

11 Jun '14

*Sat Jun 7*—Since there had been some late-night performers and the camp was so spread out at San Isabel National Forest, the March took a little more time to get started again this morning. We moved campsite by going up Hwy 96 to Wet and turning north on 67. Our campsite was on a ranch. The owners have WiFi but they put the password in for us. I sent *The Impossible Dream* to Ed and several others suggesting that it should be our theme song. I’m hoping that we’ll get a printout for all the Marchers, and get it up on Facebook for the virtual marchers. We had a Potluck supper. One of the local attendees was an Episcopal clergyman. I asked him if he were familiar with J. S. Spong. He said he was and appreciated Spong’s work. I was invited to attend his church the next morning and accepted. During the meal the election of officers was announced. They serve a second 3-month term. Miriam was re-elected Mayor. Village Council was John A., Jeffrey, and Jerry. The Judicial Panel was Jane, Liz, and Marie. Some of the musicians went off to Florence, CO after dinner, but I went to bed. During the night there was some light precipitation. It came down as snowflakes. By morning there was a slight amount of moisture on the tents and the vehicles. *Sun Jun 8*—We ate breakfast, packed our lunch, packed the trucks, cleaned up the yard, and circled up to consider the day’s plans. One of the first things we did was sing a song to our host. It can be sung as a Round. Dear friend, dear friend Shall we tell you how we feel? You have given us such pleasure. We love you so; we love you so. Then the route was reviewed, announcements made, and the Marchers set off. I waited with 3 others for a 9 o’clock ride to church. The clergyman and his wife picked us up. We drove clear back to the town, Westcliffe, where we had played music on Thu and Fri nights. The service started at 10:30 and ended at noon. We were asked to introduce ourselves at the beginning of the service. I’ve been to a Sun. morn service at St Peters Episcopal in Carson City. The service in Westcliffe was far more complex and much longer. When the service was over I remembered that Spong had a category that he names* Church Alumni*. It defines those who have ‘graduated’ from the antique and much dated language and liturgy of the traditional church. I realized that I fit that category! It was very overcast as we came back into camp. The rector dropped us off and waited till I backed the Gear truck, with trailer attached, so I could make the turn out of the yard. As we left a thundershower began. The road out to the highway was dirt with a little gravel. The rain turned into hail and the windshield wipers quit working. I was relieved when I made it to the highway 67. I drove to Florence. It was still pouring rain and there was a question about where our campsite would be. We made a rest stop at a filling station. After lunch it had stopped raining and most of the Marchers went to a Hot Springs that was on the way to camp. We drove the vehicles to Ken’s Trading Post. The gate to the Trading Post was locked and the Colorado coordinator told us that Ken was in NE., so we parked the vehicles on the roadside and cut down the barbed wire between two posts so the Marchers could go out into the field and pitch their tents. After dinner we had a community meeting in the 9-person tent. One of the most serious questions discussed was the possibility of some of the Marchers joining a march in NYC scheduled for early Sept. Since I chose to sleep in the 9-man tent, I had to wait to go to bed until the tent was cleared. -- Peace, David

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Fwd: GMCA June 5-6
by David Zahrt via Dialogue 10 Jun '14

10 Jun '14

*Thu JUN 5*—We packed up and drove N on Hwy 69 short of Westcliffe, CO (7800 ft alt). Sarah shuttled 4 of us into Westcliffe. The whole town has free Internet access. I checked out the pawnshop and the thrift store for music equipment. The thrift store had nothing. The pawnshop had a lovely acoustic 4-string bass guitar that they wanted $475 for it. I think I’ll try making a washtub or 5 gal pail bass. Izzy arranged a gig for the Great March Gypsy Band. He suggested that I should come sometime between 4 and 7 PM. Ed invited me to be a guest on the Fallon Forum at 5 PM and I accepted. This is a phone interview for an hour that he sends to the radio station in Des Moines. We talked about the GMCA and also the Loess Hills where I am from. *[I think you can check it out on an 800 #--you may have to Google it to get the contact info]*. I skipped dinner at the camp and got a shuttle into Westcliffe with some of the other Marchers. The Band has its own repertoire. Ed Fallon came later to the gig with his guitar and accordion. He invited me to sing *Iowa Waltz *with him. The crowd from CO looked astonished. Since he had the accordion there, I asked Ed to play *Don’t Fence Me In* as I sang it. I’m sure that some in the CO audience were familiar with the song. I’ll bet they thought I was singing about CO. I didn’t bother to tell them that I was singing about the Loess Hills of Iowa! Ed knew it was about the Loess Hills because I had indoctrinated him. When he was campaigning for governor in the mid 90’s, we donated periodic stays in our B&B to his campaign. I loved to play the tune on our player piano and sing *Don’t Fence Me In* for our guests. I informed them that the Loess Hills were the* “…ridge where the West commences…”* Izzy promoted the gig as a fundraiser for the March. The café/bar gave us a 20% discount on food and drinks and people there donated about $100. Some Marchers then went on to a different bar. I caught a shuttle back to camp and went to bed about 9:30. Later Izzy said the second bar was much better because they had a mike. He scheduled another gig for tomorrow night, again at the first bar. The March will only progress 15 mi. tomorrow so the Gypsy Band can do another fundraiser. *Fri Jun 6* The March took a little more time to get started in the morning because so many stayed out late for the 2nd gig. We moved our campsite by going up Hwy 69 to Westcliffe and then going through the Wet Mountains on Hwy 96. The campsite was in the National Forest. There was a long road up the hill and few places to put a tent. I was disappointed with last night because they didn’t have a mike. I tried to project my voice but their hall was too big to perform in without a mike. After dinner some of us went into Westcliffe again. Again, there was no mike so we did the best we could. The Gypsy Band asked me to sing my version of *Yesterday*. Afterwards they sang the Beatles’ version of it. Ed went back to camp early so I didn’t get to sing while he played the accordion. There were fewer people at the bar than Thursday night, but the Bar donated $100 to the March. I got home again at 9:30 and had to set up my mat and sleeping bag in the dark. -- Peace, David

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Fwd: GMCA June 4
by David Zahrt via Dialogue 09 Jun '14

09 Jun '14

*Wed JUN 4*—CB has a sign on the back of his truck that reads ASK ME ABOUT JESUS. I’ve seen it since Santa Fe, NM, and had a chance to ask about the sign last evening before dinner. Michael Dowd was a visitor to the March Rest Day in Santa Fe. Michael spoke at the Adult Study Group and preached at the 11 o’clock service that I attended. He’s written a book entitled *Thank God for Evolution*. CB said he wasn’t familiar with Michael. I inquired how long it would take if I asked about Jesus. He explained that he keeps company with a lot of campers and likes camping out, but he didn’t answer my question. One earlier evening around the campfire a conversation started about bumper stickers. There was a heated discussion about the kind of feedback and damage you can get from bumper stickers. Someone indicated that you shouldn’t have a sticker that said anything about NRA—positive or negative—because you would likely suffer a personal confrontation, or damage to your vehicle. Another piece of advice given was to have a bumper sticker that reads ASK ME ABOUT JESUS because you’ll likely find that no one responds to the sticker. Once we had breakfast and packed up this morning, we used the shop at CS Woods to check the air pressure in all the tires of our vehicles. We also were able to fill the water tanks in the Food truck. We’re scheduled to continue taking some dirt roads north through the valley. The directions are complex. I wouldn’t have any trouble if we were in the Loess Hills! But I’m not ready to go by myself. Since Sarah’s scouted the route, she knows exactly where to go. Once we were packed up and ready to go Sarah decided she wanted to stay and use the Internet. Since I am driving the Gear truck I was stuck at the campsite until 10. Earlier Kat asked if she could ride my recumbent. I said, “OK” and she left with the Marchers at 8 AM. Sarah left so late that we arrived at the first rest/snack stop. The commode was parked next to a creek that went under the gravel road. Some of the younger members of the March jumped in the creek, skinny-dipping in front of all the rest of us. The water must have been very cold. Then, Sarah led me on to the campsite, which was a mile off Hwy 69 at mm 42. It was a farm that raised chickens, horses, and cattle. The animals were kept out of our campsite, but the manure odor was evidence that it had been used for pasture. I set the solar trailer up as usual and Sarah shuttled me back down 8 miles. It was a steady uphill walk. On the way Kat drove the Sag Wagon by me and stopped. She asked me if I wanted a ride. I said “No”, but asked her where the recumbent was. She said she couldn’t ride up the hill and left it in the Commode at the last rest stop. Brian and Anita, from Taos, NM, have joined the March. They will be with us to Omaha, NE. Anita seems to be driving their car. Brian is Marching and making a photographic story of the March. During supper we reviewed the next day’s route. And, Izzy announced that the Climate March Gypsy band has a Gig on Thursday eve in Westcliffe, CO. -- Peace, David

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Fwd: GMCA June 3
by David Zahrt via Dialogue 07 Jun '14

07 Jun '14

*Tue JUN 3* I got the solar trailer hooked up and luckily the Gear truck started. CB drove the pick-up with the commode trailer. We left Trinchera Ranch and drove a steady climb 5.5 miles northeast on Hwy 160. At that point we took a dirt road north, which was a steep climb. Then it was ‘down’ a dirt road 13 mi. The campsite was at Collectors Specialty Woods. The postal address is Gardner, CO, but we were in the countryside in a mountain valley. I unhooked the solar trailer, set it up, parked the truck and got a ride back up the hill 11 miles to the Commode truck. Originally I had planned to March the 11 miles back. There was a little, collapsible bicycle stored in the commode. I have never ridden one of them so I got on it and started down the dirt road. I had to peddle several times! I’m guessing that it was at least 1000 ft. of drop. I got back to camp in an hour and ate my lunch. The bike’s top speed pedaling would be 5 mph. Getting back in an hour means I averaged 11 mph! At dinner Ed responded to his unannounced reorganizing the Gear truck yesterday. He indicated that there was an obvious need to organize it and there was agreement. Since Specialty Woods cuts many big trees into wood for designs they had plenty of sawdust. We got permission to empty the commode and replenish our supply of sawdust. We were warned to put the food away and lock the back door of the Kitchen truck. In addition to bears we should watch out for elk, deer, and coyotes. We went to bed wondering what would happen. Since there were many sheds for the lumber, and there was a strong evening wind, many marchers found a place in one of the sheds to put their mat and sleeping bag. I did and Izzy had a film of Pete Seeger that we watched. -- Peace, David

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Fwd: GMCA June 1 and 2
by David Zahrt via Dialogue 07 Jun '14

07 Jun '14

*Sunday, June 1*, we had a Rest Day. One of the Marchers has joked that its time to get arrested. Who knows? It may happen when we get to NE and demonstrate against the Keystone Pipeline. We were hosted in the Museum mess hall for an introduction to the Colorado trek. As I understand it we’ll go through mountains to get to Colorado Springs. Then we’ll be on the east side of the mountains to Denver. And then we begin Marching in the Plains. We were offered pizza, lemonade, and brownies for lunch. The afternoon was dedicated to rest. We had a delicious vegetarian supper and spent the evening getting ready for the March on Monday. I joined Izzy a second night in the motel. *Monday, June 2*—On Sunday a number of the Marchers departed, so there were 18 around the breakfast circle. It would be nice if we had a table for breakfast and dinner. All of the tables are used for food prep and serving. So we have to eat, sitting (or standing) with our food—plate or bowl—in our lap. We’re going north and east from Ft Garland on Hwy 160. Ethan and I had been trading off the responsibility to drive the gear truck. But he was one who departed on Sun. Now it seems to be my major responsibility, although there are 2 others who can drive it. When we hooked up the solar trailer there was a broken connection on the taillight plug. John J. fixed and plugged it in, then he departed with his pickup and trailer. When I made an attempt to start the truck, the battery was dead so I immediately disconnected the trailer. Sarah had gone off to get some coffee, so I phoned her to tell her what happened. She indicated she would get CB to help start the truck. About 2 hours later he arrived and jumped the truck and it started. I disconnected the lights to the solar trailer and drove 13 ½ miles north to our campsite, which is on an open space at Trinchera Ranch. There were several creeks running past the campsite. Ed Fallon and Steve set off Marching every day immediately after breakfast. So they’re always ahead of the rest of the Marchers. When they got to camp they started unloading and re-organizing the gear truck. The Lost and Found box continues to grow—shoes; water bottles; jackets; sweaters; T-shirts; pants; raincoats, etc. And none of the items has any identification. Ed and Steve were hoping to straighten up the gear truck. Later on during the afternoon, some people, who seem to keep their equipment in the Lost and Found box, registered their dissent - the issue is yet to be resolved. We had Colorado visitors arrive, bringing some cherry pie, and eat dinner with us. We had informal conversations with our guests about joining us. One of them is bringing 2 dogs along on the March. Ed got out his accordion and started playing. I joined him and suggested we sing *The Iowa Waltz*. We sang 2 verses but couldn’t remember Cindy’s 3rd verse about the Prairie. Then Ed suggested that I sing *Don’t Fence Me In*. Needless to say, I complied! At dusk the camp went to bed. Peace, David

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Fwd: GMCA May 30-31
by David Zahrt via Dialogue 06 Jun '14

06 Jun '14

*Friday, May 30* We continued north on Hwy 522 a mile to the New Mexico/Colorado border. We took pictures and symbolized our journey with a rite. We stood and pointed west and shouted out each state we’ve passed through—California, Arizona, New Mexico. And then we pointed east and shouted Colorado. Some of the group had to return to camp to finish packing up. I chose to ride my bike, so after the crossing-the-state line I continued to San Luis, CO. The sign at the entrance to the town indicates that it was the first city to be incorporated in CO. Today was a 20-mile March so I biked the 20 miles. The bike lane in CO narrowed to 2 1/2 feet. It was up a river valley. The elevation in San Luis is 7950 ft. Our campsite is in a churchyard that has become a Shrine. Izzy talked the local Café into staying open so we could come to the porch with our instruments and play/sing some songs. Not everyone went to the café, but that concluded the evening. *Saturday, May 31* We continued north into CO. After having ridden 33 mi. in the last 2 days, I wasn’t prepared to make the 15.6 mi. March to Ft. Garland, so I drove the Gear truck. The campsite was next to the town’s Museum. I rode back 1 mi. at lunchtime to be with the rest of the Marchers when a representative of Ft. Garland came to take a picture of the Marchers but they weren’t there. I met Kathy on the little green bike. She said they would be another 2 hours. So I rode back to Ft. Garland and searched for Izzy and found him coming back from a motel. He had reserved it for 2 nights. I decided to join him—a bathtub, laundry, and an inside bed. It was at least ¾ of a mile to the campsite, which took several trips on my bike to get my laundry, computer, notebook, etc. A woman from Colorado Springs visited us at dinnertime. She conducted a meeting with most of the women. We acknowledged that Ethan was departing the March to raise his money for the March. He might join us again when we reach Denver. At dusk I rode up to the Motel, got ready for bed and went to sleep. Izzy planned a formal send-out party at the Motel. At 11 PM Izzy and the send-out crowd arrived in our room. They set up a video player and watched videos for an hour, then went back to camp. I watched the videos from my place in the bed! -- Peace, David

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6/5/14, Spong: Part XX Matthew - Introducing Yom Kippur and the Jewish Concept of Atonement
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 05 Jun '14

05 Jun '14

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Part XX Matthew - Introducing Yom Kippur and the Jewish Concept of Atonement We return this week to our ongoing study of the gospel of Matthew after a six week hiatus in which we examined, first the use of the concept of a “lamb” in Hebrew worship, after which I wrote on such diverse figures as Barbara Walters, Professor James H. Cone and Pope John XXIII. Since I never know when people enter or exit from the community that this column creates, I hope all will forgive the necessary repetition that will serve both to get newcomers on board and to refresh the memories of long time subscribers. In this study of Matthew I have sought to demonstrate that this gospel is not organized on the basis of the remembered life of Jesus, as most people have traditionally assumed. It is rather written using the template of the liturgical year of the synagogue. That means that we must read this gospel, not as a biography, but as a liturgical document. The reason Matthew portrays the public ministry of Jesus as lasting only one year, for example, has nothing to do with the length of that ministry; it has to do with the fact that Matthew is relating his story of Jesus on the basis of the Sabbaths of a single year of synagogue worship. He was leaning overtly on the work of Mark, the first gospel writer, upon whom Matthew depended significantly. Mark began his gospel with a Jesus story appropriate to Rosh Hashanah, a festival celebrating the Jewish New Year, which comes in the early fall. It was the story of John the Baptist announcing the dawn of the Kingdom of God and calling people to repentance, prior to his baptizing Jesus, who, John was proclaiming, embodied that Kingdom. Then Mark ended his gospel with a Jesus story appropriate to the synagogue celebration that we call Passover, which comes in the early spring. This was his narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, who was now identified with the paschal lamb of Passover. So Mark’s gospel begins and ends with these two Jewish holidays. The time between Rosh Hashanah and Passover, however, is only six and a half month of the annual calendar. The reason Matthew felt the need to expand Mark and the reason that Matthew’s gospel is 40% longer than Mark’s, is that Matthew wanted to create a book of Jesus stories that would carry the Jews, who were the original followers of Jesus, through the entire annual cycle of the synagogue worshipping year. Consequently, Matthew’s gospel then proceeds to relate the life and message of Jesus to each of the major holy days in the annual Jewish liturgical year. He also followed those holidays in their exact and correct order. This fact would have been very clear to the original Jewish audience for which Matthew’s gospel was so obviously written. The Christian faith, however, was destined to become a Gentile movement, and so by 150 CE, there was hardly a Jew left in Christianity. That was the moment when Matthew’s deeply Jewish gospel began to be read, studied and to have commentaries written on it almost exclusively by Gentile people. These Gentiles were not only ignorant of the Jewish symbols and meanings that permeated this book, but they were also deeply prejudiced against all things Jewish and thus they never sought to understand the Jewish liturgical year that organized Matthew’s gospel. Instead, they began to read this gospel as if it were a literal story about a person of history named Jesus of Nazareth. Biblical fundamentalism, I contend, was born in Gentile ignorance and Gentile misunderstanding of the gospels, which were essentially Jewish scriptures. Our hope in this study is to recapture the original Jewish meaning in Matthew’s portrait of Jesus, a meaning that is stunningly different, I would argue, from the naive fundamentalism that still dominates much of Christian thinking today. It is almost impossible for anyone to see how the holy days of the Jewish liturgical year shaped Matthew’s telling of the Jesus story so long as they are unfamiliar with the Jewish calendar. That is why we have spent so much time in this series pulling the background of the liturgical year of the Jews out of the content of Matthew’s gospel. So let me once again review that calendar. This Jewish liturgical calendar, at least as it is reflected in the book of Leviticus, began with the month of Nisan. Passover was celebrated on the 14th and 15th days of Nisan, or between the second and third Sabbaths of that month, and was thus the first major holy day of the Jewish year. Nisan came roughly in late March of our year, just as life and light were breaking forth after the darkness and death of winter. It thus suited the message of Easter, which the Christians saw as the culminating reality of the crucifixion. Matthew, still following the lead of Mark, has placed the crucifixion, the climax of his story of the life of Jesus, into the season of Passover, a liturgical, not a historical placement. Then Matthew proceeded to tell two Easter stories, one about the women coming to the tomb in Jerusalem on Easter morning, and the other about the disciples meeting Jesus on a mountain in Galilee. These stories served to fill the third and fourth Sabbaths of Nisan. So Matthew was destined to begin his Jesus story on the fifth Sabbath of the Jewish year. The gospel lesson in Matthew for that fifth Sabbath would be the genealogy of Jesus, which would link Jesus to his Jewish past by showing him as the descendant of Abraham, David and the time of the Exile. For centuries this lagging of the start of the Jewish calendar by five Sabbaths served to hide the connection between Matthew’s story and the liturgical year of the synagogue. This also means that when this five Sabbath lag is finally grasped, the first Jewish holy day that Matthew would confront in his chronology would be Pentecost or Shavuot, which comes seven weeks and one day after Passover. Shavuot marked the time in Jewish history when Moses was said to have received the Torah from God on Mt. Sinai. Matthew filled the weeks between his Easter story and Shavuot with the genealogy, the story of Jesus’ birth, the baptism and the temptations, which were, as we have seen earlier, thinly veiled Moses stories. When Shavuot arrived, he was ready to portray Jesus as the New Moses on a new mountain giving not a new law, but a new interpretation of the Torah. It was a Shavuot story, but one clearly related to Jesus and not to Moses. Matthew, as we also noted earlier in this series, built the Sermon on the Mount on the form of Psalm 119, the psalm used in the synagogue observance of Shavuot, a twenty-four hour vigil. Matthew began the Sermon on the Mount with eight beatitudes, followed by eight commentaries on each of these eight beatitudes in reverse order. He is writing a Christian liturgy. This liturgy, which we call “The Sermon on the Mount,” consumes chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew’s gospel. Matthew then proceeded to fill the Sabbaths between Shavuot, in late May to early June, and Rosh Hashanah, in late September to early October, with narratives that prepared his readers for the message of the Jewish New Year. We have already noted how Matthew created a flashback to bring John the Baptist once more into his narrative in chapter 11, so that John could again be the Rosh Hashanah figure in his gospel as he had been in Mark. Mark made the appearance of John and his baptism of Jesus his Rosh Hashanah story. Matthew could not hold the baptism of Jesus for four and a half months until he caught up with Mark, so the flashback technique was used to re-introduce John when Matthew had finally arrived at the Festival of Rosh Hashanah. Quoting Isaiah 35, the lesson from the latter prophets, normally read in the synagogue for Rosh Hashanah, Matthew noted that Isaiah spoke of the signs that would accompany the arrival of the Kingdom of God into human history: “The blind will see and the deaf hear, the mute will sing and the lame leap,” said the prophet. On the Sabbaths that were covered in his chapters 8, 9 and 10, Matthew told about how Jesus had acted to fulfill Isaiah’s expectations. He had Jesus heal people in each of Isaiah’s categories so that in his flashback, when the messengers came from John, who was in prison, asking whether Jesus was in fact the messiah who would inaugurate the messianic Kingdom, Jesus could point to these messianic acts as evidence. This was, we suggested, how stories of Jesus as a miracle worker first entered the tradition. They were messianic stories being wrapped around Jesus, not supernatural acts that happened in time and space. Matthew’s Jewish readers would have understood that and would not have been tempted to think of these signs as literal events. Matthew had now provided Jesus stories appropriate to the celebration of Rosh Hashanah. In the Jewish year, Rosh Hashanah was celebrated on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month of the year. Following Rosh Hashanah on Tishri 1, came Yom Kippur on Tishri 10 and then the Jewish festival of the harvest, called by several names, among them Sukkoth, Tabernacles and Booths, which began on Tishri 15 and lasted for eight days until Tishri 22. The first two of these celebrations, coming so closely together, came to be known as the “High Holy Days,” while Sukkoth was probably the most joyous celebration of the whole year. So, if Matthew’s gospel is to be understood as relating Jesus stories to the liturgical year of the synagogue, we should expect Yom Kippur stories to follow Rosh Hashanah stories and then for Sukkoth stories to follow shortly thereafter. So our study of Matthew’s gospel now continues and we will discover that his next stories are all appropriate to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In that study we will begin to understand how the concept of “atonement” not only entered Christianity, but also came to dominate it. In time “atonement theology” presented us with the appalling mantra “Jesus died for my sins,” which is still widely used today. It is one more striking example of a Gentile misunderstanding of the Jewish worship symbols, but it is probably the most important one, because nothing has distorted Christianity more than that concept of “atonement.” To that story we will return. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Edward R. Dick, via the Internet, writes: Question: Recently I had to renew my credit card, which I used to subscribe to your weekly Newsletter and thereby I lost my subscription to the Newsletter come bill-paying time. Fortunately, I received an email from the company that handles your Newsletter and was thereby able to provide the data on my new credit card and am now receiving your emails. The first thing I can remember reading from the newsletters when my service was restored was that you had completed your work on the book of John and your book entitled, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic so I bought it and have now finished reading it. I can remember from books of yours that I read several years ago that you were bemoaning the fact that you could find no defining books on the Gospel of John. Well, now we have one. Yours! Thank you, this book is a very good read and I am glad that you wrote it, but I am afraid that I missed something. It left me to question why the empty tomb was so important to the gospel writers, including John and how does one avoid reading the open tomb stories literally? Can you elaborate a bit on these questions? Answer: Dear Edward, Thank you for your letter and your comments. Many people have the experience you had when their credit cards are renewed. Our company has developed a means of assisting when this arises. One other thing about our billing process that I think people should know is that all of the profits, after expenses from this column are paid, go to support the work of the non-profit organization and publishers of this newsletter- ProgressiveChristianity.org. You ask about the empty tomb. First some facts: 1. There is no reference to an empty tomb in the writings of Paul. 2. The empty tomb makes its first appearance in Mark written about 72 CE, but Jesus does not appear to the women at the tomb, rather a messenger appears who directs the women to tell the disciples that they are to return to Galilee and that they will see Jesus there. 3. Matthew, written about the year 85 CE, changes Mark so that the women do see Jesus at the tomb that is located in or near Jerusalem. Then Matthew goes on to describe the Galilean appearance to which Mark had only alluded. It occurred, said Matthew on the top of a mountain. In it Jesus gave what we call the Great Commission: “Go into all the world.” 4. Luke, written around the years 89-93 CE says the women do not see the raised Christ at the tomb, thus agreeing with Mark and opposing Matthew. Luke, however, denies any Galilean resurrection experience to anyone at any time. 5. John reduces the number women who came to the tomb on Easter morning to one, Mary Magdalene, and she is the only one in this gospel to see Jesus before he ascends. All other Johannine appearances are of the already ascended and transformed Jesus. Next we need to notice that the tomb stories are all located Jerusalem. It is thus part of the Jerusalem tradition. The Galilean tradition is more vague, more mystical and visionary. The Jerusalem tradition is more specific, physical and suggests historicity. Most scholars believe the Galilean tradition is the earliest and the most authentic, so all the stories about the empty tomb are regarded as a later development. In my book, Resurrection: Myth or Reality - A Bishop Re-Thinks the Meaning of Easter, I covered the reasons for reaching this conclusion about both Galilee and Jerusalem. I suspect that whatever the resurrection was originally, it was simply proclaimed ecstatically. A proclamation always precedes an explanation. I suspect the original proclamation had two parts. First, the ecstatic cry, “He has risen! We have seen the Lord!” Second came the implicit realization: “Death could not contain him,” or in Paul’s words, “O Grave, where is your victory?” Explanations, however, come inevitably when one seeks to pass the experience on verbally. In time, “He has risen! We have seen the Lord” gave way to stories of visions and apparitions that people said they actually saw. The women at the tomb, the disciples on the mountain top in Galilee, Cleopas at the evening meal in the village of Emmaus and the disciples in the locked room in Jerusalem are a few of these narratives. In time, the ecstatic cries that “death cannot contain him” or “O Grave where is your victory?” were turned into narratives of a tomb that was empty, that is, a tomb that could not contain or capture his living reality. Resurrection then ceased to be a symbol of breaking the final limit on our humanity, but came to mean instead the return of a deceased body back into time, space and history. That is a rather crass literalization of the meaning of Easter, but it is the tendency of human beings always to literalize mysteries. I think the truth of the resurrection is real. I don’t think it has anything to do with physical resuscitation. It is a tragedy that many people think that if there is no physical body, then there is no reality to the meaning of Easter. Those who shared in the original experience of Easter would, I believe, view that understanding of resurrection with incredulity. I hope that helps. John Shelby Spong Announcements Emerging Spirituality and Awareness with Ian Lawton and expert Bishop John Spong June 30 - July 4, 2014 Join Ian Lawton, founder of Soulseeds.com, for transformative conversations with renowned spiritual leaders from many traditions as we explore awareness. Beyond all the things that divide us, both from ourselves and each other, awareness brings up back to our essential oneness. Through this conference, you will come to a deeper understanding of your own wholeness and your connection to all else. Together, we can increase the peace, both within and in the world. Sign Up Today! . Copyright © 2014 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have a membership at johnshelbyspong.com.

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Global Buzz
by ICA International via Dialogue 05 Jun '14

05 Jun '14

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICA International website Please click the link below for the May issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: June 2014 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://ica-international.org/buzz/7dayreport-14/2014-06-01.php ICAI Communications

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