October 2016 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

8/11/16, Spong: The Unlikely Honored Guest at the Democratic National Convention
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 31 Jul '18

31 Jul '18

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He was surrounded in that reserved and exclusive seating area by the power-elite of the Democratic Party: A former President, the sitting Vice-President and the “second lady,” the spouses and children of the nominees, as well as those especially invited guests, who were uniquely and politically related to the convention’s eventual nominee. This unlikely guest was in his own way quite unique. He was a Republican, one who had been elected to a state-wide office as a candidate of the opposition party. He served as the governor of Virginia from 1970 – 1974 and was the first Republican governor of Virginia since 1869 in the last days of reconstruction. Later he sought his party’s nomination to the Senate of the United States, losing to another Republican, John Warner, who served with distinction from 1979 until he retired in 2008. The name of this mystery quest is Abner Linwood Holton. He is now, and has been since the day I first met him, an extraordinary man. People, unaware of the history of the Democratic Party in Virginia, find it strange that the man I regarded as the best governor of Virginia during the years I lived in that state would be a Republican. Let me tell you his story.</p> <p>Linwood Holton was born in 1923 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, a town deep in the heart of Appalachia. He was a Republican from the moment of his birth. He was also bright and ambitious. Being a Republican in Virginia in those days was to be part of a distinct minority, perhaps even an endangered one! The Democrats of Virginia were the only cohesive political force in the state. This majority party was run by Virginia’s senior United States Senator, Harry Flood Byrd, who after serving a term as governor from 1926 to 1930, effectively ran the state until he died in 1966. It was said of Harry Byrd that he and a few of his closest political advisors would sit on the porch at his home in Berryville, Virginia, and pick the candidates for every political vacancy in Virginia from governor on down. The electorate was deliberately kept small by poll taxes, which effectively discouraged both blacks and poor whites from voting. A Byrd loyalist was in every county seat in Virginia to run the party. Racism was deep and “States Rights” was a holy slogan designed to make racism seem socially acceptable. Virginia was a one party state. Frequently the Republicans would not even nominate candidates and, even when they did, no one paid much attention to them because whoever won the Democratic primary seldom even campaigned in the general election, since Republicans simply did not win in this state! Linwood Holton made it his life’s ambition to establish two-party politics in Virginia.</p> <p>He graduated from Washington and Lee in Lexington, Virginia, and then entered the law school at Harvard University. Along the way he married a Roanoke girl, named Virginia Rogers, who went by the name of Jinks. She was the daughter of Frank Rogers, an upright, but ultra-conservative, successful and well-connected Roanoke citizen, who was the grandson of the first Episcopal Bishop in Southwestern Virginia. In his mind, the two greatest virtues were to be a conservative Episcopalian and a loyal Byrd Democrat. Jinks, the more rebellious of Rogers’ two daughters, chose to marry a Republican and a Presbyterian! Supported by this remarkable woman, Linwood began his life’s task of strengthening Virginia’s Republican Party. This party’s base, such as it was, had always been in the mountains of the western part of Virginia. As a force in opposition to Byrd Democrats, the Virginia Republican party tilted slightly leftward. There was no room to the right of the Byrd machine. The Virginia Republicans were known for their party’s efforts to improve education statewide and to develop better state mental health facilities. Linwood’s organizational efforts were so successful that in 1965 he was the Republican nominee for governor opposing the Southside, Virginia, Byrd Democrat, Mills Godwin, who had emerged as the new leader of the Democratic Party. The sickness, retirement and subsequently the death of Senator Byrd meant that the torch of party leadership had to be passed to the next generation. It is interesting that Harry Byrd, Jr., always known as “Little Harry,” who was appointed to succeed his father in the Senate, did not succeed him in the leadership of the statewide Democratic Party. Holton was defeated in that first run for the governor’s office, but he garnered a respectable total of votes and succeeded in introducing himself to the state. The day after the defeat, he began planning for his second run in 1969. The governorship in Virginia, we need to note, is limited by the Constitution to a single term.</p> <p>National issues soon began to erode the Byrd majorities. Poll taxes were declared unconstitutional in 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the ballot to people of color. The feminist movement began to galvanize women into an effective political force. A national- thinking Virginia Democrat, named Henry Howell, began to build a liberal political base made up of labor unions, blacks, women and young people. His challenge to the Byrd machine resulted ultimately in his election as Lt. Governor in 1971, but he could go no farther. He remained anathema to Byrd Democrats. In the Democratic Primary of 1969, the Byrd candidate, William Battle, the son of former Governor John Battle, defeated Henry Howell in a bitter contest. The party could not heal this division, so in the General Election, Linwood Holton, supported by many of Howell’s still angry voters, rode to victory with a 65,000 vote majority.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Holton called for an end to Virginia’s pattern of racial discrimination and its racist politics. No Virginia Governor had ever uttered such words before. Words, however, were not enough. People looked for actions. They would follow soon.</p> <p>In the most dramatic step imaginable, the new governor and his wife made the decision not to put their children in the church-related or independent private schools of Richmond, where all governors’ children had previously attended, but to enroll them in Richmond’s public schools which were at that time about 80% black. It was such a startling action for a Virginia politician that the New York Times covered it with a front page story and a picture of Virginia’s Governor Holton escorting one of his daughters into a school surrounded by a host of black faces smiling broadly. In a state where the official response of the ruling Democratic machine to “Brown vs. the Board of Education,” had been to call for “massive resistance to the law of the land,” a state in which some counties chose to close their public schools rather than to integrate them, here was the highest elected official in the state escorting his children into the majority black public schools of Richmond, Virginia. No action could have announced better that a new day was dawning in what had once been the capital of the Confederacy. One of those Holton children entering those public schools on that day was their oldest daughter, Anne.</p> <p>The white population of Virginia was shocked. They believed and stated that their new governor was sacrificing his children on the “altar of integration.” Many suggested that the “inferior education” that his children would receive in those heavily black schools would cripple them for life. It was a strange argument that gave the lie to the previous white claim that all of its racially segregated schools were “separate, <em>but equal</em>.” Anne, in her early teens, would be an exemplary student. She received a fine education and upon graduation from high school would be admitted to Princeton University, from which she graduated <em>magna cum laude</em>. She seemed not to have been penalized at all in her educational achievements. After Princeton she was accepted into the class of 1983 at the Harvard Law School, from which she now holds a doctor of Jurisprudence degree. From there she went into a legal career that in time would include being a domestic relations judge and Virginia’s Education Secretary.</p> <p>While at Harvard she met, fell in love with and married a fellow law student, who was born in Minnesota and educated at the University of Missouri. His name was Tim Kaine. She lured him back to Richmond, where his earlier life experiences, including his Jesuit high school education, his year as a volunteer missionary to Honduras and his mastery of the Spanish language, prepared him to begin his Richmond law practice as a civil rights attorney. Then responding to an expressed community need, he entered politics at the most local of levels, running for a seat on Richmond’s nine-member City Council. In a majority black city, Tim not only won that seat, but was also later elected by that majority-black city council to be Richmond’s Mayor. Two years later, in 2001 he moved to the state level, being elected Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor. In 2005, he won the governor’s office. His wife, Anne Holton, became the first person to be at one time living in the governor’s mansion as the child of a Republican governor and then a second time as the state’s first lady and wife of a Democratic governor. In 2012, Tim Kaine won a seat in the United States Senate. In 2016, with two years remaining in his first term as senator, he was chosen by the presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, to be her vice-presidential running mate. Anne Holton was there with him, waving to the crowd on the final night. As Hillary Clinton raised Tim Kaine’s hand high, former president Bill Clinton was at her side and Anne Holton was at Tim Kaine’s side. The crowd roared with approval.</p> <p>In the VIP section of that vast Philadelphia arena sat the former Republican Governor Linwood Holton, now 92 years old, with his wife Jinks, both still vibrant and attractive, watching their daughter being introduced to the nation. There is sometimes a reward for integrity. Linwood and Jinks Holton, who would not allow their lives to be twisted by the prejudice of racism, challenged the distorting and debilitating social structures of his generation in Richmond, Virginia. Doing what is right sometimes carries with it intimations of transcendence and even immortality. To this day he remains one of my heroes.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong</p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alberto Mejia Aguilera from Mexico writes via the internet:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>I am from Mexico and I would like to know your opinion about Liberation Theology. Do you think that this theology is still an inspiration for the struggle against the social injustice?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer:</h4> <p>Dear Alberto,</p> <p>Liberation theology was, I believe, was born in Latin America, so you should be especially proud of it. I associate the name of Leonardo Boff, primarily, with it, but there were others like the murdered Bishop Oscar Romero. It was born in an attempt to apply the principles of the gospel not just to individuals, but also to the structures of our society, which so often drive the masses into poverty. It identifies God with the poor. For those reasons it tended to be resisted in ecclesiastical circles, especially by the leaders of the Roman Catholic during the years of Popes John Paul II and Benedict, both of whom were so politically conservative that they saw it as another manifestation of Communism. I think they were both wrong in this judgment. Liberation theology, I believe, constituted a call to Christianity to see that its alliance with power, both in Europe and the new world, had corrupted the essential justice that Christianity requires.</p> <p>Christianity was born among the poor and the outcasts. It rose to dominate society and so became the religion of kings. Liberation Theology was a necessary correction.</p> <p>I wish you well.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Read and Share Online Here</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="262" style="width: 350px;height: 262px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="350" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/e67ac6a0-334…"></a></div> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:26px"><span style="color:#000000">Bishop Spong at the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan September 10th & 11th</span></span></h2> <strong>Schedule:</strong> Saturday, September 10, 2016 1:00 pm at the Reynolds Recital Hall, Northern Michigan University 7:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette Sunday, September 11, 2016 2:00 pm at the Memorial Union Building , Michigan Technological University At each location, there will be an opportunity for Q&A and book signing.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_1c149769-41d3-4c3b-8300-eaccdde19ae7 td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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FYI Conference Call re Standing Rock, Weds, 11/2
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

Hi Folks, FYI, if anyone is interested, I will be convening a conference call on Standing Rock that is hosted by the Presbyterian Church (USA) Joining Hands Partnerships. These are periodic calls related to Resource Extraction and Climate/Environmental Issues. Call # is at the top, more info about the call below. Ellie Stock elliestock(a)aol.com WEDNESDAY,11/02/16, 3:00PM EST/2:00PM Central, IS THE NEXT RESOURCE EXTRACTION AND CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AUDIO CONFERENCE CALL. COME GATHER AROUND THE TABLE! PHONE #: 605-475-3215 Access Code: 180305# THE FOCUS: WATER IS LIFE! MNI WICONI! STANDING WITH NATIVE AMERICANS AND OTHER WATER PROTECTORS AT STANDING ROCK VS. DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE (DAPL) [Black Snakes] NEW information below and actions that be done NOW before the call. Thank you for your continued concern and action. Oct 27, militarized law enforcement agencies moved in with tanks and riot gear on water protectors who stand in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline—a massive pipeline project that would cut through four states, impact the water to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and violate sacred sites and ancient grounds. While native elders prayed in peace, they were attacked with pepper spray, rubber bullets, as well as sound and concussion cannons. By the end of the day, more than 140 people were arrested.1 Please, add your name and demand that President Obama reject this pipeline once and for all. My name is David Archambault II, and I'm the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has long opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline project. This proposed pipeline presents a threat to our lands, our sacred sites, and our water. Current and future generations depend on our rivers and aquifer to live. Will you stand in solidarity and urge President Obama to reject the Dakota Access Pipeline, once and for all? Reject the Dakota Access Pipeline and declare this land a cultural district, eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, to ensure its protection. Sign the petition >From Sacred Stone Camp >From Bill Moyers: http://billmoyers.com/story/standing-firm-standing-rock-pipeline-protesters… Dear Friends, The time for our call is almost here and the situation at Standing Rock, ND is intensifying. In case you have missed the news, Native American and other WATER PROTECTORS from all over the country and world are gathering to support the Sioux at Standing Rock, N. Dakota as they try to protect their land and water from the encroaching Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Their mantra, as in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and so many other places is WATER IS LIFE!. So I thought I'd share a bit about how we are supporting that effort here through the Presbyterian Church (USA) networks. The PCUSA is supporting the Sioux's effort to protect their land and water at many levels: presbytery, synod, GA and through groups like the Joining Hands Partnerships and Presbyterians for Earth Care/Earth Care Congregations. Below is information about how we are trying to support the effort. Our next Joining Hands Resource Extraction and Climate/Environmental Issues Call is going to be Wednesday, November 2, 3:00PM EST/2:00PM Central. The focus of this call will be the N. Dakota Pipeline and Native American WATER IS LIFE movement and gathering at the Sacred Stones Camp in Standing Rock. The Rev. Irvin Porter, PC(USA) Associate in the Office of Native American Intercultural Congregational Support and The Rev. Paul Henschen, Coordinator of the Northern Plains Presbytery Presbyterians for Earth Care Team (see his article at the bottom about his trip to the Sacred Stones Camp) will be on the call. The Northern Plains Presbyterians for Earth Care Team has been involved in taking supplies to the camp. Anyone who is interested is welcome and invited to participate in this call. Joining Hands is trying to connect the dots between our Joining Hands work with resource extraction that has affected indigenous communities in Peru and Bolivia and also the Presbyterians for Earth Care/Earth Care Congregations with what is happening in N. Dakota. There are many ways we can be supportive of N. Dakota, if not being there, then financially and by contacting our congress members and President Obama. In St. Louis, the Joining Hands Peru Partnership and the Earth Care Team together, as well as individuals have given financial support for supplies for the Sacred Stones Camps. I hope many of you will be able to do the same. Maybe some adventurous spirits might be interested in travelling there to see first hand what is going on. Below are a few links and other info related to the Standing Rock Situation. 1-from our PCUSA networks; 2-Actions re Presidential debate questions 3-Indian Country Today Media Network 4-an article in today's St. Louis Post Dispatch: Dakota and the Geography of Racism 5-Democracy Now, speaking with the founder of the Standing Rocks Sacred Stones Camp 6-Democracy Now, speaking with Chairman Archambault of the Standing Rocks Sioux 7-A Bill McKibben Article: Why Standing Rock Needs to Be a Two-Front War 8-Article about President Obama's Partnership and Initiatives with Native Americans FOR CONTINUED INFO AND UPDATES: Native American Media source--check section on Standing Rock articles: Indian Country Today Media Network - Official Site indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com Indian Country Today Media Network is your essential Native American news and information site offering superb online services in the areas of education, business and ... Standing Rock/Sacred Stones Camp facebook tracking: https://www.facebook.com/CampOfTheSacredStone/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf https://www.facebook.com/SacredStoneCamp/posts/1778453112443719 Fighting for Our Lives: #NoDAPL in Historical Context BY Nick Estes 10/26/16 Little has been written about the historical relationship between the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the longer histories of Oceti Sakowin (The Great Sioux Nation)... DAPL: Former Vice President Al Gore Supports the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe BY Al Gore 10/26/16 Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/department/headline-news Google: -Standing Rock; Cannon Ball -N. Dakota pipeline -DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) -Sacred Stones Camp -Prayer Camps -Water Is Life or Mni Wiconi -PC(USA) Native American Ministries Contributions: Can be mailed to: The Synod of Lakes and Prairies 2115 Cliff Drive Eagan, MN 55122 Note on check: Dakota Access Pipeline Account #2087 or given online or by check hrough Presbyterians for Earthcare/Presbytery of Northern Plains: Donate to supplies for Standing Rock Make a donation through Northern Plains Presbytery (See Presbyterians for Earth Care --PEC--article at the end of the links) WATER IS LIFE! Ellie Stock elliestock(a)aol.com (314) 521-8418 Native American Ministries PCUSA | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Native-American-Ministries-PCUSA... Native American Ministries PCUSA. 1,704 likes · 22 talking about this. Rev. Irvin Porter is the Associate for Native American Congregational Support in... October 4 from PCUSA: Information and action needed: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/native-american-groups-call-presb… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/eco-journey/2016/09/15/presbyterians-st… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/presbytery-northern-plains-sends-… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/presbyterians-join-lummi-nation-f… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/eco-journey/2016/09/02/lummi-totem-pole… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/eco-journey/2015/05/26/behalf-lummi-nat… Below is a link to "Dakota and the geography of racism" a 9/28/16 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/dakota-and-the-geography-of-racism/art… Standing With Standing Rock and Sacred Stone Camp ... www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-pruett/standing-with-standing-ro_b... Nodapl Dakota Access Pipeline Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Sacred Stone Camp Naomi Klein. This Blogger's Books and Other Items from... Reason and Wonder: ... Democracy Now! Speaks to Standing Rock Chairman David ... indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/08/30/democracy-now-speaks... ... Democracy Now! stands out for its stories on the ... Anchor Amy Goodman has since interviewed both Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II and ... Why Standing Rock Needs To Be A Two-Front War—Against Big ... www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/24/why-standing-rock-needs-to-be-a... Why Standing Rock Needs To Be A Two-Front War—Against Big Oil And Big Banks in Environmental Protection ... Bill McKibben wrote this article for YES! http://presbyearthcare.blogspot.com/2016/10/dakota-access-pipeline-and-stan… (below) My Trip to the Camp of Sacred Stones at Standing Rock Reservation by Rev. Paul Henschen, PEC Steering Committee Paul Henschen drove to Standing Rock Reservation, where tribes were camping to protest the Dakota Access pipeline, with water supplies and food from his Presbytery’s (Northern Plains) Earth Care Team. Here is part of Paul’s account, sharing what tribe elders had to say about the pipeline after a large delegation of Native Americans from the Northwest arrived bringing a huge Totem Pole they were taking to a tribe in Manitoba. After the procession that brought the Totem Pole ended, everyone gathered with drumming, chanting and dancing. Speeches were made to welcome everyone. Elders from all the tribes formed a circle and took their turn delivering speeches. They were very eloquent, and much of what they said was hard for me as a middle-class Caucasian to hear, but they spoke the truth. They talked of how the present white-dominated society was harming the earth and that this pipeline was just another in a long history of acts of desecration of the Creator’s world. They declared that this campsite was a place founded on prayer, and that no drugs or weapons were allowed. They spoke of how their people had been on this land from the beginning, and how white society had tried to get rid of them, but that they, the Indigenous People, would still be there in the end. They said that they would pray for what was happening at Standing Rock, and that they would especially pray for the whites, because they would need it when they came before the Creator and had to answer for what they have done to the earth. All the elders expressed a strong sense of family and unity for the tribes gathered there, and that the stance by the Standing Rock Sioux against the Dakota Access Pipeline had made them a stronger family. These and many other things were said—all of them with conviction yet with a calm and gentle spirit. Violence of any kind was forbidden. After two hours of speeches, songs were sung and a prayer circle was formed--much of this in Native American language. A press conference was held after which I left to return home. Going home I took a northerly route toward Bismarck, ND, and about 20 miles north of the campsite a roadblock had been set up by police. Why, I have no idea. They were checking vehicles headed south toward Cannonball and the campsite. The Native American elders had spoken of this roadblock and how many of them had to pass through it. Days earlier, the North Dakota governor had also sent police to the protest because of unfounded rumors. This roadblock seemed to be there as a reminder of police power—an action that was totally unnecessary. The Standing Rock Sioux and the other tribes of Indigenous People had gathered peacefully to protest—as is their right. Instead of coming together with them to learn, white society raised its ugly head in a show of force that created tension and resentment. As I stood there listening to the elders speak, there was a great deal of wisdom being shared that our white-controlled society needs to hear. I was personally challenged by what the elders said, and I am continuing to wonder how my life needs to change. And what will be the response of our society? Will we listen and learn from those who were here long before our ancestors arrived? Or will we stay on the same course toward destruction of the earth and ultimately of ourselves? Click here to donate to the Northern Plains Earth Care Team to purchase more supplies for them to take to Standing Rock. Mark your donation for Presbyterians for Earth Care Team and note that it is for Standing Rock. PNS article about Paul Henschen's trip Presbytery sends support to pipeline ‘protectors’ in ND Donate to supplies for Standing Rock Make a donation through Northern Plains Presbytery. Ask President Obama: Revoke permits for Dakota Access Pipeline PHP Fair Trade Coffee Trip to Nicaragua Apply by October 1st. PEC's next Conference Sept 26-29, 2017 Download Sept 2017 Save the Date flyers HERE See our new brochure! Take a look at our color brochure on our website. PEC has a new website Have a look and tell us what you think! Restoring Creation Loans from PC(USA) Apply for a low-cost loan for energy efficiency Recent Blog Posts A Picture Essay on the Shore The Cyclical Nature of Weather Connect with PEC: PEC's Website Become a member Email Us follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2016 Presbyterians for Earth Care, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of Presbyterians for Earth Care, or because you opted to join our email list. Our mailing address is: Presbyterians for Earth Care P.O. Box 9064 Asheville, NC 28815 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Resource Extraction and Climate" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to resource-extraction-and-climate+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to resource-extraction-and-climate(a)googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/resource-extraction-and-climate/1581ac212…. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

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very familiar!
by W. J. via Dialogue 31 Oct '16

31 Oct '16

Somehow this sounds VERY familiar!"In 1961, when Clinton was a teenager, a youth pastor came blazing into Park Ridge behind the wheel of a red Chevy convertible. The Rev. Don Jones would inspire Clinton to see the world as her parish.Fresh from seminary after a stint in the Navy, Jones gathered the sheltered Methodist youth of Park Ridge and gave them crash courses in the "University of Life." He read them poems by e.e. cummings, introduced them to Christian intellectuals such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich, and asked them to interpret modernist paintings such as Picasso's 'Guernica'."Much later Tillich's sermon 'You Are Accepted' got Hillary through the Monica crisis.Joe Thomas tells about meeting Hillary in Baton Rouge some years ago and discussing her experience at The Ecumenical Institute.So GO VOTE already!MarshallThe public and private faith of Hillary Clinton | | | | | | | | | | | The public and private faith of Hillary Clinton By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton is reluctant to talk about religion, which is only half true. He... | | | |

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Thank You for Birthday Greetings
by Nancy Grow via Dialogue 31 Oct '16

31 Oct '16

Dear Colleagues of the ICA.; O:E EI, etc. Many thanks to all of you for greetings received and treasured!! This has been quite a year - and more. Some "important" doctor" a couple of years ago, decided he could return my eye sight to its pristine state. For two years I suffered his shots in the retina with all their accompaying "joys" of being unable to read. This year I said "That's enough!" My eyes are worse than they have ever been. And now, five months later, I am able to read a little without the lines converging, etc. Hallelujah! Then in July Bill went in for a difficult but no too unusual operation: the removal of agrowth that had woven itself into a corner of his colon. Four hours later, the doctor announces it was successful and he could go home. But when he tried to get out of bed he couldn't move his left leg. He spent six weeks in hospital with attempts to "fix" it. He is much better now but still not able to walk without a"walker" (Old term for it!) The weather has been severe on all the kids, but all are OK at the moment. SOOO I am rejoicing in the memories many of you have sent of some other rather dire days we knew on the West Side of Chicago and a few other places we spread to since 1966. And tho' there have been many things for us, for our kids and the Order that I wish had not happened; I give thanks for the global outlook and concern that have resulted. The seeds sewn continue to sprout in unexpected but eye-opening ways here and around the world.(They make you smile, don't they, the growing adea that education should be for life in the future buillding on learnings from the past; that all nations and all religions have a base of goodness much needed in the world. I am reminded of many things, but will share just one. When I was assigned to Korea as a missiionary in 1953. I had been teaching a SS class in the Church of All Nations in Toronto. My students were from many nations:Africe, S America, China, Japan, Native Canadians, Europeans. When they heard I was assigned to go to Korea, they wanted to give me a gift. One girl said, "She'd better take a gun; Let's get her a gun!" But a child who knew what missionaries are about said, " Missionaries don't carry guns!! They take Bibles!" They got me one and tho' it is pretty tattered, I read it every day. No, that's not true: I read "The Message" every day. Thank you all for birthday greetings and memories. They are a treasure indeed! Grace and peace still abound, Nan/Nancy Grow

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Re: [Dialogue] Dialogue Digest, Vol 55, Issue 21
by Jaime R Vergara via Dialogue 29 Oct '16

29 Oct '16

Nan Grow, it is always a delight to hear from you and of you and Bill. Someone said that when I turned 71, it was the new 51. Won't say I envy your "longevity" as I am more enamored with the "productivity" you and Bill managed to accomplish in and out of the Order. Grace and Peace, Jaime wangzhimu2031 earthrise consciousness, a gift; earthbound commitment, my choice yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate!

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Fwd: Request for the First Generation ICA Members
by Timothy Wegner via Dialogue 29 Oct '16

29 Oct '16

Received this request from Alex St Clair to post: Hi Tim, I am Alex St Clair, the eldest son of Bob and Kathy St Clair who were in the Order from 1974 - 1981. I have something that I need to bring to the 1G. Sheila Johnson, a 2G, is making a stand with the #NoDAPL water protectors in Standing Rock, ND. She is staying with the camp over the winter, at least, to support this noble effort. We, the 2G, are working to raise funds to purchase a school bus for her and we would ask the 1G to help us in this endeavor. We need to raise $4000 for the purchase of the bus and then additional funds for refitting it and ongoing costs like licensing, insurance, etc. I have put together and explanation and proposal, and attached it. Would you be able to put it on the 1G listserv to get the word out? We want to move as quickly as possible since snow is already in the forecast and Sheila's current equipment will not suffice. I am hoping the 1G will answer the call. Please let me know and thank you in advance, Alex

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10/27/16, Spong/Farrin: Hospitality between I and Thou, A Meditation on Bishop Spong’s Thesis #9: Ethics
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 27 Oct '16

27 Oct '16

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR This week's guest author is Cassandra Farrin, Marketing Director of the Westar Institute and the Editor of Polebridge Press. Hospitality between I and Thou A Meditation on Bishop Spong’s Thesis #9: Ethics I need to speak candidly with you about hospitality, perhaps the most iconic of Christian values and one of the easiest to go on attributing to the historical Jesus in spite of how much else has been stripped away from his biography. We need to discuss this because of the scary things people have been saying about refugees, about Black men, about what can be done to women. Because of the people who are bleeding in the streets. Perhaps, like me, you’re often afraid to be hospitable. You were hospitable and you were hurt. Or you were hospitable and someone else got hurt. You were hospitable and then, as a result of your hospitality, you became responsible for something or someone so precious that you could no longer afford to let just anyone through your door. You were hospitable night after night, until you became too weary to get up and answer the door. Sometimes, you were the one knocking. The decision to open the door can’t be dictated in advance. To paraphrase Bishop Spong’s ninth thesis on ethics: Once we give up ancient codes like the Ten Commandments, our morality is no longer decided for us. It must be forged in the space between rules-of-thumb and real life. In The Folly of God, John D. Caputo describes this space as that which “calls” to us or that which we “are called” to do, without a clear subject: If we could identify the caller, assess the credentials of the source, evaluate its authority, we would get on top of it, make it our own. The call would come from an ontological caller ID. … If I could say this is God or biology or culture, there would be an end to it. My mind would be put at ease. … [But] that would deprive the call of its uncanniness, of its riskiness, of its madness and folly. (91) Caputo warns us that the risk of hospitality is irreducible. He says the person on the other side of the door really could be the person we most fear and it really could also be the person most dreadfully in need of our help. Each time, we have to decide whether we’re going to take the risk. And it doesn’t get easier, because the risk is renewed with each new knock at the door. Namsoon Kang of Brite Divinity School complicated this to yet another level at the Spring 2016 session of the Seminar on God and the Human Future (a recent successor of the Jesus Seminar). In recounting the story of Lot, who offered hospitality to angels, Kang observed that sometimes hospitality to the other requires the sacrifice of the familiar. In Lot’s case, he handed over his daughters to his neighbors to be raped in the angels’ stead. We must not forget this liability as well. I agree with Caputo and with Kang that these risks are real, and yet at the same time let me grant us all a modicum of relief. Habits and other rules-of-thumb exist for a reason. Habit is not always a sign of moral weakness; it can simply be common sense. What I’m trying to say is: Don’t feel guilty for preprogramming 9-1-1 into your phone and handing it to your sister before you open the door. But, let’s still open the door, as often as we can bear to. Speaking as a foster and now adoptive parent, I can tell you from direct experience that hospitality can also lead to love. There’s a recent, haunting poem by Anya Silver I want to share with you before I conclude. “In the Sanatorium” (2014) opens in an Austrian sanatorium with one dying German confessing his sins to another: Under orders, he had taken enemies of the state, shoved them between two stopped trains, and burned them to death. Then swept away remains. Could he ever be forgiven for such a sin? Unbeknownst to the confessor, the man in the bed beside him (the narrator’s father) was the son of one of the men he killed. But this is not a tale of hospitality, for when the father might have spoken, he turned his head away. Forget forgiveness; he doesn’t even breach the pain. The narrator, having inherited this unresolved moment, concludes: Riven, six more decades, between two ghosts: one wasted from coughing, pale; one burning. Both beyond any word he might have spoken. Now it is the narrator’s turn to decide her next move: How will this memory haunt her? Will it push her toward hospitality in her encounters with others, or will she also turn away (out of a natural fear, and who can blame her)? As the poet does, I’ll leave you with the question, but also with a lovely, non-apocalyptic image that I learned from Jeffrey Robbins, who in turn inherited it from Catherine Malabou: Rather than imagining our world apocalyptically like a phoenix that dies in a burst of flames but comes back perfectly out of the ashes, we might imagine it instead like the salamander, who may lose his limbs and retain scars, yet regrows the limbs, lives with the scars, and keeps going. Hospitality is like that, I think. We end up with the scars, but we also receive gifts we could never have counted on in advance. I think of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (the book, not the musical) who, after robbing the bishop who first showed him hospitality, was dragged back by the police only to be given back all that he stole and more. “Don’t forget, don’t ever forget,” the bishop said, although Valjean remembered promising no such thing, “that you promised me to use this silver to make an honest man of yourself.” Now, what is often forgotten about this story is that in the very next scene Jean Valjean steals a coin from a little boy by slamming his foot on top of it when the boy drops it. Only after the little boy leaves does his petty theft fold together with the bishop’s pardon, leading him, for the first time in nineteen years, to cry and shout, “I am a miserable bastard!” The rest of Les Misérables is the story of a very honest and good man who time and again outdoes himself in showing hospitality, resulting in much discomfort and yet also much love. In this world, is this not the closest thing we have to a miracle? Cassandra Farrin is the Marketing Director of the Westar Institute and the Editor of Polebridge Press. A US-UK Fulbright Scholar, she has an M.A. in Religious Studies from Lancaster University (England) and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Willamette University. She is passionate about books and projects that in some way address the intersection of ethics and early Christian history, and in that spirit has hosted the Ethics and Early Christianity blog since 2013. Her poetic retelling of the Nag Hammadi text “On the Origin of the World” will appear in Rape Culture, Gender Violence and Religion: Christian Perspectives (forthcoming; eds. Emily Colgan and Caroline Blyth). Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Toby of Burnsville, Minnesota writes: Question: What would an expurgated version of the Nicene Creed look like when its archaic imagery has been replaced? Answer: Dear Toby, That is not the way to relate to the creeds. Creeds are historic documents that attempt to place into the words of the time in which they were framed, the faith those people professed. Creeds are therefore human creations, written by human beings trying to make sense in their day, of their God experience. That is always what a statement of faith is. The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed are fourth century Christian creations. Inevitably they assume a fourth century worldview. It is not my duty or yours to purge those aspects of fourth century material, which has become unbelievable. It is rather our responsibility to discern the experience they were trying to articulate and to find 21st century words which can convey the same truth for our time that the creeds conveyed in theirs. If we relate to the creeds as documents divinely inspired, which were meant to control our faith and to keep us "orthodox", then we have become creedal idolaters! Creeds are not like girdles into which we have to fit our minds. Let me be specific. The creeds of the church were hammered out in ecclesiastical conventions in a very political way. They represent compromise and political bargaining. They were not dictated by God. They do not thus capture divine truth. One hopes that they point to divine truth. As such we honor them but we do not worship them. So I am neither interested in purging them nor in liberalizing them. I only want to seek to live inside the experience they were designed to communicate. ~John Shelby Spong Read and Share Online Here Announcements Bishop Spong continues his recovery and wants to thank all of those who have sent him get well notes. For those who would like to send Bishop Spong a get well note please sent it to admin(a)progressivechristianity.org and we will forward it to him. .

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10/20/16, Spong/Plumer: Bishop Spong and My Painting
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 20 Oct '16

20 Oct '16

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Bishop Spong and My Painting I am really not comfortable writing this article. There is a sense I am writing an obituary and nothing could be further from the truth. Bishop Spong is a beloved friend and he is apparently doing well in his recovery. I suppose I am a little nervous knowing that he will be reading what I write and we already have a history about this. For those who do not know, I am the President of ProgressiveChristianity.org. and we have been publishing Bishop Spong’s weekly articles for over six years now. About a two years ago I had dropped him a line indicating that his contract was running out and wondered what his plans were. Be assured, I wanted him to extend the contract but we needed to know. I do not remember exactly what I wrote but I may have written something like, “Jack, I know you are approaching your 85th birthday, but thought we should get this cleared up.” I received a lovely note back but it started with, “Fred, every time you write you seem to remind me of my precarious mortality!” Then he went on to explain that he had two more ideas for books and wanted to keep writing the column for at least two more years. We have recently extended his contract for two more years. I have been acquainted with Jack Spong for nearly twenty-five years. He was our first Honorary Advisor, and an early supporter of TCPC, now Progressive Christianity.org. In those early years when we were going to do a conference, we let the local church make all of the arrangements for speakers, contracts and facilities. TCPC would sponsor the event, which also meant we would pay for any losses. We did not have a website then, but did have a mailing list of maybe a thousand people. We assumed the local church would do some promotion and our organization would advertise with our monthly newsletter. We never knew in advance how many people were going to show up. We assumed that the local people had the speakers lined up and contracts signed. And that was the situation when we arrived in Philadelphia for the all day Saturday event. Although we were worried that there would be no one there, it appeared to be a small but respectable gathering. I looked forward to hearing the three speakers and Bishop Spong was one. Bishop Spong took the two speaking slots in the morning and the other two speakers were supposed to cover the afternoon. Spong’s talks were good and he finished up his second talk about time for lunch. However, during the break, I noticed the pastor of the church was having a serious conversation with Jim Adams, who was the president and founder of our organization at that time. I slipped to the back of the room and asked him if there was something wrong. Jim told me apparently the pastor of our co-sponsoring church never got back to the woman keynoter. She was supposed to do that last talk but she was not going to show up. She had made other arrangements. We had one local activist who was going to do something right after lunch and then it was time for the woman… the one who was not coming. We wondered if we would have to return some of the rather small fee we were charging. Could someone else in the room take that slot? I followed Jim Adams over to the table where Jack Spong was sitting and we sat down. Jim explained our dilemma to Bishop Spong. He thought about it for about thirty seconds and then asked if he could have an hour to take a nap and collect his thoughts. Jim said certainly, and that is exactly what Bishop Spong did. No one complained and I might add, I thought it was his best talk. That was the beginning of my appreciation for Jack Spong and what has become over the years, my sincere love for this man. When I graduated from Seminary and few years before this incident, I had already dissolved my belief in the old paradigm of Jesus dying for our sins. Between the fact that I had attended a liberal seminary and my very early relationship with the Jesus Seminar, I really had little or no Christology left. As a pastor, I talked about the man, Jesus, who gave us many moral, ethical and spiritual lessons about how to live our lives. I knew he was a Jew and a Galilean, which was a minority of a minority. Yes, he was a special man and he had laid out a fairly simple way to live in harmony with self, with others, and with Abba, even in the most difficult times. But, like the great line in the famous musical, Jesus Christ Super Star, “he was just a man.” But over the years Bishop Spong started filling in the blanks for me that gave both life and purpose to the Jesus I had studied for ten years at that point. Although I did not realize it at the time, I had a pretty one dimensional and no colors in my portrait of Jesus. I now realize what Bishop Spong provided for me is something like “a paint by the numbers” portrait of Jesus. As I read each of Jack’s books, I would fill in more of the painting, year after year. I read lots of other books, of course. I would guess in that twenty-five year period, I read three to four hundred books or more, many of which were helpful and some were great. But it has been Bishop Spong’s books that gave my “portrait” color, depth, and life. Each time he published a new book, I would paint a new portion of my painting. For example, after he published, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, (1992), I stopped skipping certain pages in the Bible or partially closing my eyes when I tried to read them. They began to take on new meaning when I put them in a new context. I began to read the Bible with a different perspective. His earlier book, Living in Sin, (1990) helped me with some of the church’s attitudes and freed me to talk about some of the mores we were still living with. It was particularly helpful as we marched our church through the Open and Affirming process to publicly welcome the LGBT community into our church. A few years later he published Born of a Woman, (1994) that really rocked me. I had let the virgin birth thing go thirty years before I read this book. I almost did not buy the book, because I thought I knew all there was to know about that subject. I knew the history and the reasons the “virgin birth” had occurred. But I had not given any thought to how demeaning the whole concept was to women. I had not considered the negative impact it had on the women in the church and as a result in our society. I filled a lot of my space or numbers in my painting. I could go on and explain how every book I read of Bishop Spong had some impact my understanding of Jesus and or Christianity as a whole. Okay, I did skip a few along the way. However, I would be remiss if I did not tell you about two books that really changed me, and if I may, changed “my painting.” The book, Liberating the Gospels, (1996) probably had more of an impact on me and my understanding of scriptures than any of Spong’s other books. Yes, I knew that Jesus was a Jew. I knew that he was considered a rabbi by his followers. And in spite of the fact that my congregation shared our space, events, our meals and our teachings among other things with a Jewish congregation for fifteen years, I just had never read the Gospels like a Jew. We Christians or almost Christians are so arrogant. As I read this book a whole new understanding opened up. It was exciting and promising. And finally, I probably would not have even read the book, except Jack called me to tell me among other things that he had instructed his publisher, HarperOne, that he wanted me to write an endorsement for his new book, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic (2014). There were few things about the Book of John that I liked. I knew it was written late. I knew what was going on when it was written. I knew that a lot of the second and third generation Christians/Jews were giving up on Jesus’ “eminent” return. I knew there was a split between the Christian Jews and the other Jews. I knew that there had been an uprising of some magnitude and the Romans retaliated with punishment. I also knew that is had a lot of quotes in it that made no sense to a modern Christian or follower of Jesus… or they were contradictory to everything I believed about Jesus. So I just avoided it. I told Jack this and he said just read it and then decide. So in about week I received the publisher’s “uncorrected proof” copy of the book. They gave me two and a half weeks to read it. The book sat on my desk for the first week and I finally picked it up. I am guessing that most of you have now read it but I could not put it down. It made things that had never made sense, well, make sense. I have a much better understanding of what those early Christian Jews were going through and a clearer idea of how difficult it must have been for them as a group. I can now see how a more spiritual person, a mystic, might have approached his struggling faith. I know that some of the theories that Bishop Spong writes about are not proven and probably never will be, but the entire Book of John just seemed to take on a whole new meaning for me. His explanation that this was written by a Jewish mystic, or two, changed everything for me. OK, I probably will not be lifting quotes from the Book of John for a sermon anytime in the near future. Nor will I pull out a quote to bolster some belief that Jesus was reborn or resuscitated after being killed. (Spong does attempt to give the Resurrection idea more emphasis than I would have in his book, The Forth Gospel) But I will read the book again and again. I will even read the Book of John with renewed interest occasionally. So I write this with a heavy heart. Filling in for Bishop Spong has not been an easy assignment. I sincerely wish I was reading something Jack wrote instead of the other way around. But I also write this with a warm heart, full of love and hope. Be well Jack. ~Fred C. Plumer Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Neil Fenham from England writes: Question: "What is a miracle? Do you believe in miracles?" Answer: Dear Neil, It depends on how you define a miracle. I think my marriage to Christine is a miracle. How could I, just by chance, have met this incredible lady? I think parenthood is a miracle. There is no way I could have produced children like the ones who call me their father. I believe that friendship is a miracle. I know people who have enriched my life dramatically. In that sense I believe that life is full of miracles. But that is not what most people mean when they ask that question. What they normally mean is 'Does God set aside the laws of the universe to intervene in life in supernatural ways?' There was a time when our ancestors in faith were quite sure that God did. But when those ideas were prevalent, people understood very little about how the world operated. In a world where sickness was viewed as the punishment of God, the kind of cures we produce today from antibiotics, surgery or chemotherapy would be called miracles. In a world where people believed that the weather was the instrument of divine wrath, a hurricane that turned out into the ocean and away from land would be called a miracle. That, however, is not the kind of world we inhabit. If religious people believe that God can miraculously intervene in history to cure cancer, to stop war or to redirect a storm, they have to tell me why God doesn't do it regularly. No Neil, the people who make these claims have simply not embraced either the complexity of the world or the mystery of God. That is not all that can be said about miracles, but it is a start. I invite you to walk down this path and to see where it leads. God can no more be boxed into our world view than God could be boxed into the world view of our ancestors who saw miracle and magic everywhere. It is our task to walk into the mystery of God, not to fit God into our existence. ~John Shelby Spong Read and Share Online Here Announcements “Spong is always readable and informative, but this book reads like a cross between a detective story and an adventure saga that is founded on excellent scholarship. I could not put it down.” — Fred C. Plumer, President of ProgressiveChristianity.Org Click Here to Purchase Book For those who would like to send Bishop Spong a get well note please sent it to admin(a)progressivechristianity.org and we will forward it to Bishop Spong.

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Need Travel Info for EI/ICA Colleagues Traveling in New Zealand (Nov 8th) and Australia (Nov 22 & 23rd)
by Wanda Holcombe via Dialogue 19 Oct '16

19 Oct '16

Dear EI/ICA Colleagues, Sue Murray (seated next to me) and her sister Dorothy Reid need travel information for their trip to New Zealand and Australia in November. They will be traveling on a Holland Cruise trip but will have a few days on their own at the beginning in Auckland, New Zealand, Nov. 8th and at the end of their journey in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 22nd & 23rd. They would like to hire a private tour guide/driver for a number of hours in both New Zealand and Australia. They are both like me….senior citizens in their 70’s & 80’s with handicaps (replaced hips, etc). Sue’s husband, Bill Murray, was George’s roommate in Perkins Seminary and he and his wife Sue have been long time supporters of EI/ICA work in the US plus mission trips to development projects and consults in the Philippines. Bill died over 10 years ago, but Sue and I have remained family friends and travel mates to various projects in the world. Sue and her sister Dorothy, invited me to travel with them this time too, but unfortunately I am unable to join them at this time. Sue and Dorothy will fly into Auckland from the US on November 8th at 6:45 am and will have until 2-3pm in the afternoon before they join the Holland Cruise Ship Tour Group. They would like to hire a private tour guide/driver for a portion of that day. They finish with their tour group on November 22nd in Sydney and fly out on November 24th at 11:30 AM. They will be staying at the Megaboom City hotel in central Sydney, and will have one full day to see Sydney and some of the area before they fly back to the US. If you have any recommendations please email or text Sue Murray directly. Sue Murray: Email: suemurray53(a)yahoo.com <mailto:suemurray53@yahoo.com>. Iphone: 1-940-231-2844 Address: 2106 Rawhide Henrietta, TX 76365 USA Best wishes to all……. Come visit us in Austin, Texas when you are traveling in the United States…. Grace & Peace Wanda Holcombe Email: wandah70(a)gmail.com <mailto:wandah70@gmail.com> Iphone: 1-512-619-3469 14900 Yellowleaf Trail Austin TX 78728

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A Wendell Berry poem for this day.
by Seth Longacre via Dialogue 17 Oct '16

17 Oct '16

I thought this poem would resonate with many of us. > It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old, > for hope must not depend on feeling good > and there is the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight. > You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality > of the future, which surely will surprise us, > and hope is harder when it cannot come by prediction > any more than by wishing. But stop dithering. > The young ask the old to hope. What will you tell them? > Tell them at least what you say to yourself. > > Because we have not made our lives to fit > our places, the forests are ruined, the fields eroded, > the streams polluted, the mountains overturned. Hope > then to belong to your place by your own knowledge > of what it is that no other place is, and by > your caring for it as you care for no other place, this > place that you belong to though it is not yours, > for it was from the beginning and will be to the end. > > Belong to your place by knowledge of the others who are > your neighbors in it: the old man, sick and poor, > who comes like a heron to fish in the creek, > and the fish in the creek, and the heron who manlike > fishes for the fish in the creek, and the birds who sing > in the trees in the silence of the fisherman > and the heron, and the trees that keep the land > they stand upon as we too must keep it, or die. > > This knowledge cannot be taken from you by power > or by wealth. It will stop your ears to the powerful > when they ask for your faith, and to the wealthy > when they ask for your land and your work. > Answer with knowledge of the others who are here > and how to be here with them. By this knowledge > make the sense you need to make. By it stand > in the dignity of good sense, whatever may follow. > > Speak to your fellow humans as your place > has taught you to speak, as it has spoken to you. > Speak its dialect as your old compatriots spoke it > before they had heard a radio. Speak > publicly what cannot be taught or learned in public. > > Listen privately, silently to the voices that rise up > from the pages of books and from your own heart. > Be still and listen to the voices that belong > to the streambanks and the trees and the open fields. > There are songs and sayings that belong to this place, > by which it speaks for itself and no other. > > Found your hope, then, on the ground under your feet. > Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground > underfoot. Be it lighted by the light that falls > freely upon it after the darkness of the nights > and the darkness of our ignorance and madness. > Let it be lighted also by the light that is within you, > which is the light of imagination. By it you see > the likeness of people in other places to yourself > in your place. It lights invariably the need for care > toward other people, other creatures, in other places > as you would ask them for care toward your place and you. > > No place at last is better than the world. The world > is no better than its places. Its places at last > are no better than their people while their people > continue in them. When the people make > dark the light within them, the world darkens. > > ~ Wendell Berry ~ > > __._,_.___

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