November 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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"Journey Reflection" Most Read Blog Posts (November)
by John C via Dialogue 30 Nov '16

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11/24/16, Spong/Matthew Fox: A New Christianity, a New Prayer Bishop Spong Style
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 24 Nov '16

24 Nov '16

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Bishop John Shelby Spong</p> <p>In his book <em>A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How A New Faith is Being Born</em>, Bishop Spong addresses multiple issues worthy of further consideration especially because the coming year 2017, marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and Spong is rightly calling for a Reformation today.<span style="font-size:12px">(1)</span> I suppose it is worth mentioning that I have been doing the same as in my book <em>A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity</em> which contains the 95 theses that I pounded at Luther’s church in Wittenberg at Pentecost season in 2006 in response to Cardinal Ratzinger making himself pope, a practice I repeated five years later at Cardinal Law’s Basilica of Maria Maggiore in Rome on a Sunday morning in protest of his cover-up for pedophile clergy in his previous assignment as archbishop of Boston.<span style="font-size:12px">(2)</span></p> <p>Let me highlight one of Spong’s important insights for a New Christianity by interacting with the chapter from his book entitled “<em>But What About Prayer</em>?” (Chapter Eleven). Spong speaks of how his understanding of prayer underwent a deep metamorphosis as he moved out of a theistic understanding of God. Following are some of his observations:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>I struggle to think of God in non-theistic patterns while I continue to be a praying, worshiping Christian… Somehow prayer and liturgy are the places where the non-theistic God-concept most obviously collides with the religious security system erected by the worshipers of the theistic God…To whom do we pray? is at the heart of questions asked by those considering abandonment of theism… I get the impression that many believers think of prayers as adult letters to Santa Claus. (Page 190)</em></p> </blockquote> <p>Spong invokes Paul’s admonition to “pray always”- an admonition also found in Luke’s gospel which goes like this:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to the chosen ones who cry out day and night? Will God delay long in helping them? I tell you, God will quickly grant justice to them.” Luke (18:1–8).</em></p> </blockquote> <p>In creating a story about “praying always and not losing heart” the words justice and injustice are used by Jesus over five times in a short paragraph. Paul too used the term “pray always” on a number of occasions.</p> <p>So what is prayer? If we see it as “talking to God,” it makes no sense. Talking all day long to God would justify putting you in a padded cell. Spong is offering a parallel observation when he declares that “theism is dead… But theism is also a security blanket with which we are loathe to part.” (Page 192)</p> <p>But if prayer is about demanding justice and working for justice then “praying always” makes all the sense in the world. Justice and the quest for justice seize our lives and dictate our values and work, our allies and enemies, our struggle and our learning all our lives long.</p> <p>Like Spong, I feel that how we understand prayer lies at the heart of our theological and spiritual identity. In fact, my first book was dedicated to the question raised in this book – what is prayer? In that book, with the unlikely title of <em>On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style</em>, I defined prayer as a “radical (or deep) response to Life” and I name two of our deepest responses to living are our YES (our mysticism, our falling in love with life); and our NO, our resistance, our standing up for justice and against injustice. I still hold to that definition for prayer today forty-three years later and the Gospel passage I just cited I think is saying the same thing.</p> <p>To stand up for justice is to “pray always” and to listen deeply to the beauty and awe that life offers us daily is also to “pray always.” Consider Standing Rock; Black Lives Matter; Sister Dorothy Stang who was murdered eleven years ago in the Amazon because she stood up with the peasants of the land against the rape of the rainforests and the abuse toward peasant farmers; and she paid the price of a martyr. BUT she was not just about justice; she was about love; she loved the rain forest and the earth and the peasants whom she refused to abandon. I know because she was part of our master’s program in Creation Spirituality and she wrote about her passion for the earth. She would often dance in the forest that she loved so much. “Greater love than this no person has, than to lay down their life for their friends.”</p> <p>Who are our friends? What/whom do we truly cherish and would we stand up to defend? Those questions lie behind the depths of our prayer and the directions our prayer takes us. Rabbi Heschel says that “praise precedes faith” and it is clear when dealing with justice that love precedes justice for we defend what we cherish. Furthermore, love follows on justice for justice is not an end in itself but a resetting of the table so that more people can experience the depth of their love of life and the joy and beauty that life can bestow on all beings.</p> <p>It is this dialectic of love or mysticism and of spiritual warrior-hood—defending what we love—that constitutes authentic adult spirituality and adult prayer: It is our deep Yes and our deep No, therefore our “radical (deep) response to life.” I am in full agreement with Spong and other mystics through the ages (Thomas Aquinas, Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart and Howard Thurman among them) who understand God as Life. We are all mystics and prophets. Our deep response to life is our prayer.</p> <p>Writer E. B. White once said, “I wake up in the morning torn between savoring the world; and saving it. This makes it hard to plan the day.” Yes, savoring is our contemplation, our mysticism; saving it is our prophetic work of sacred activism. We need both. Our prophetic work must come from a deep place, a place of prayer therefore and NOT from an action/reaction response of our reptilian brains. There’s enough of that going around. If we are ever-deepening lovers of life (mystics); and defenders of life (prophets or sacred activists), then we are a people who “pray always” and we can “take heart” in trying times.</p> <p>Spong proposes turning to more mystical traditions to find a deeper understanding of prayer and speaks of meditation, contemplation and “centering prayer.” (Page 193) Here we are speaking of the Via Negativa, the letting go and surrendering that is part of that journey into an unknown God, into darkness, into the depths of unknowing. His call for “a new definition of prayer” is what I have been about in my writings and my educational programs ever since I wrote my first book (whose title has sobered up a bit in the most recent edition of the book which is simply: “<em>Prayer: A Radical Response to Life</em>.”) Rightly does Spong criticize those understandings of prayer that propose that we can “manipulate and control God by receiving a payoff.” (Page 194) Meister Eckhart observed the same thing when he said many people love God like they do a cow—for the cheese and milk they can get from it. But, said Eckhart, “truth does not long for any kind of commercial deals.”<span style="font-size:12px">(3) </span>We must learn to live and work and love, says Eckhart, “without a why.”<span style="font-size:12px">(4)</span> And this applies to prayer also. Spong is in good company.</p> <p>Spong also proposes that the “second coming” is meant to be “the same God who was present in Jesus who comes again into our world in us and through us… Can we dare to embrace the possibility that we ourselves might be the second coming of Christ?” (Page 194) This is exactly the thesis I laid out in my book <em>The Coming of the Cosmic Christ</em>— if we are other Christs- which is what we are called to be- then the second coming is our coming alive and real, deep and committed both to a radical love of life and to a deep defending of life, thus to both our deepest mystical and prophetic selves. As we undergo this deepening on a daily, a yearly, a seasonal basis, we are changed and history might be change through us. As Spong puts it, “change in who I am brings change in what I can do.” (Page 200)</p> <p>~Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox</p> <p>About the Author:</p> <p>Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 32 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 60 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. </p> <hr> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(1) John Shelby Spong, <em>A New Christianity For a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born</em> (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001).</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(2) I tell the fuller story and list my theses in <em>Matthew Fox, A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity</em> (Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2006). And I include the Rome event in <em>Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest</em> (Berkeley, Ca: North Atlantic Books, 2015), 379-380.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(3) See Sermon 32: “Driving Merchants Mentalities from Our Souls: Economics and Compassion” in <em>Matthew Fox, Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart </em>(Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2000), 451.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(4) See ibid., 202-212.</span></p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" 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;"><hr> <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">David from Jamaica, W.I. writes:</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>If the Virgin Birth is not true, then how could Christ, in his completely human conceived state, accomplish salvation for mankind?</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 David,</p> <p>Your question assumes that it was the Virgin Birth, which made Christ divine. I think it was the experience people had of meeting God in Jesus that created the narratives of the Virgin Birth. That tradition represents a primitive first century attempt to answer the question how it was that God got into Jesus so that people could have a God experience with Jesus. It is interesting to me that only Matthew and Luke resort to this explanation. Paul says only that Jesus was "born of a woman, born under the law." Mark says that God entered him at the time of the baptism when the heavens opened and the Spirit descended. John says he was the pre-existent Word or Logos, and described him in the Johanine text on two occasions as "the son of Joseph."</p> <p>It is fascinating to me to note that the portraits of the most divine Christ in the New Testament are drawn by Paul, who appears never to have heard of the miraculous tradition of Jesus birth and by John who dismissed the virgin birth tradition in favor of the pre-existent Jesus.</p> <p>The deeper question you need to raise is who is God that we experienced the divine presence in Jesus? But that would take longer than a Q & A column will allow. I do cover that in great detail in my book, Born of A Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Virgin Birth and the Place of Women in a Male Dominated Church.</p> <p>~John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" 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> <span style="font-size:18px">Join Bishop John Shelby Spong as he takes us on a journey to the times of Jesus’ birth ... click below image to purchase book.</span> <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;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="400" style="width: 266px;height: 400px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="266" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/a892aa7e-9d4…"></a> </div> Bishop Spong continues his recovery and wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. If you would like to send Bishop Spong a get well note please sent it to <a href="mailto:admin@progressivechristianity.org">admin(a)progressivechristianity.org</a> and we will forward it to him.</div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateFooter" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border-top: 0;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_footerContent"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_social" style="background-color: #FAFAFA;border: 0;"> <div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border: 1px dashed #d3d3d3;"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"><div class="aolmail_vcard"><div class="aolmail_adr"><div class="aolmail_street-address"></div></div></div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: left;"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></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_d0e3f49c-05d5-4d73-a52f-b9d92a4bebce td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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HAPPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 22 Nov '16

22 Nov '16

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM! We celebrate your being YU! Thanks for all your work on the list serves and your tips about organizing emails--info management, an ongoing challenge. Ellie elliestoc(a)aol.com

5 4

Fwd: [Eco-Dharma] Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence
by Raymond Caruso via Dialogue 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

Dear friends: Here’s how you can choose to act out your care for this brutal support by the state of ND. See below. Thx. Salvatore Caruso > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Kritee <kriteek(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Eco-Dharma] Re: Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence > Date: November 21, 2016 at 1:20:34 PM MST > To: eco-dharma-sangha <eco-dharma-sangha(a)googlegroups.com> > > I wanted to add one more older but powerful video (Video <https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/1211952152228240/?pnref=story> from Nov 1st) and this crucial link on whom to contact to protest against the atrocities that happened last night. http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/dial-a-cop-20161031 <http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/dial-a-cop-20161031> > > How to Contact the People Sending Militarized Police to Standing Rock > Have a question about the militarization of policing near Dakota Access pipeline construction? Here’s who to call, starting with Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. > > <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.yesmagazine.org/peo…> <http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://yesmagazine.org/people-power/dia…> <http://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/di…> <http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/dial-a-cop-20161031/sendto_form?ica…> > Emily Fuller <http://www.yesmagazine.org/@@also-by?author=Emily+Fuller> posted Oct 31, 2016 > There have been a lot of questions surrounding the influx of military style troops and equipment to the Standing Rock Sioux tribal area in North Dakota. In August, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple declared a state of emergency in response to the growing Dakota Access pipeline protests, and Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has invoked the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, calling on police resources from six surrounding states. > On Thursday, police executed a particularly violent sweep of a camp. > On Thursday, police executed a particularly violent sweep of a camp that left structures destroyed, more than 140 people arrested, cars impounded and others burning on the side of the road. The highly militarized response—armored vehicles and heavy weaponry—was recorded by many people caught in the assault. > Across the nation, there have been solidarity actions to protest the police response. When word spread that police were allegedly using Facebook to monitor those gathered at Standing Rock, a campaign was launched Sunday encouraging Facebook users worldwide to “check-in” at Standing Rock and share that status publicly. The campaign seeks to confuse police by flooding social media with check-ins from all across the globe. According to CNN today, hundreds of thousands of people have already done it; although the Morton County Sheriff's Department has denied using Facebook to monitor the camp. > The questions many are asking range from why a private pipeline company warrants a seven-state security force paid for by taxpayers, to why President Obama has not stepped in. > Here is a list of officials from the involved states, plus the county and city police confirmed by news reports, to have sent troops and equipment to North Dakota. Questions can be directed to these people. (This list was last updated on Nov. 21, 2016). > > > North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple > > 600 East Boulevard Avenue > Bismarck, ND 58505-0100 > Phone: 701-328-2200 > Email: http://www.governor.nd.gov/contact-us <http://www.governor.nd.gov/contact-us> > https://www.facebook.com/NDGovDalrymple > <https://www.facebook.com/NDGovDalrymple>https://twitter.com/NDGovDalrymple <https://twitter.com/NDGovDalrymple> > > > Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier > > 205 1st Ave NW > Mandan, ND 58554 > Phone: 701-667-3330 > Email: kyle.kirchmeier(a)mortonnd.org <mailto:kyle.kirchmeier@mortonnd.org> > https://www.facebook.com/MortonCountySD/ <https://www.facebook.com/MortonCountySD/> > > > Morton County Commissioners Chairman Cody Schulz > > Email: cody_schulz(a)hotmail.com <mailto:cody_schulz@hotmail.com> > Phone: 701-391-9698 > https://www.facebook.com/CodySchulzForMortonCountyCommission <https://www.facebook.com/CodySchulzForMortonCountyCommission/?fref=ts> > North Dakota Congressional Delegation: > > > Sen. John Hoeven > > Bismarck Office > U.S. Federal Building > 220 East Rosser Ave. Room 312 > Bismarck, ND 58501 > Phone: 701-250-4618 > Washington, D.C. Office > 338 Russell Senate Office Building > Washington, D.C. 20510 > Phone: 202-224-2551 > https://www.facebook.com/HoevenForSenate > <https://www.facebook.com/HoevenForSenate>https://twitter.com/SenJohnHoeven <https://twitter.com/SenJohnHoeven> > > > Sen. Heidi Heitkamp > > Bismarck Office > 228 Federal Building > 220 East Rosser Avenue > Bismarck, ND 58501 > Phone: 701-258-4648 > Washington Office > SH-110 Hart Senate Office Building > Washington, DC 20510 > Phone: 202-224-2043 > https://www.facebook.com/SenatorHeidiHeitkamp > <https://www.facebook.com/SenatorHeidiHeitkamp>https://twitter.com/SenatorHeitkamp <https://twitter.com/SenatorHeitkamp> > > > Rep. Kevin Cramer > > Bismarck Office > 220 East Rosser Avenue > 328 Federal Building > Bismarck, ND 58501 > Phone: 701-224-0355 > Washington, D.C. Office > 1032 Longworth House Office Building > Washington, DC 20515 > Phone: 202-225-2611 > https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanKevinCramer > <https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanKevinCramer>https://twitter.com/RepKevinCramer <https://twitter.com/RepKevinCramer> > Law enforcement agencies sending troops and support to Morton County: > > > Cass County Sheriff Paul D. Laney > > Cass County Courthouse > 211 9th Street South > Fargo, ND 58103 > Phone: 701-297-6000 > Email: https://www.casscountynd.gov/Pages/EmailUs.aspx?Department=sheriff <https://www.casscountynd.gov/Pages/EmailUs.aspx?Department=sheriff> > https://www.facebook.com/CassCountySO <https://www.facebook.com/CassCountySO/> > > > North Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent: Col. Michael Gerhart > > Headquarters Office > 600 E Blvd Ave, Dept 504 > Bismarck, ND 58505 > Phone: 701-328-2455 > Email: ndhpinfo(a)nd.gov <mailto:ndhpinfo@nd.gov> > Bismarck Office > 601 Channel Drive > Bismarck, ND 58501-7757 > Phone: 701-328-5590 > Minnesota: > > (After October 31, Minnesota’s contingent of deputies —29 from Hennepin County, six from Anoka County and five from Washington County—left North Dakota, having fulfilled their terms of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.) > > > Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton > > 116 Veterans Service Building > 20 W 12th Street > St. Paul, MN 55155 > Phone: 651-201-3400 > https://www.facebook.com/GovMarkDayton > <https://www.facebook.com/GovMarkDayton>https://twitter.com/GovMarkDayton <https://twitter.com/GovMarkDayton> > > > Hennepin County Sheriff Richard W. Stanek > > 350 South 5th Street > Room 6 > Minneapolis, MN 55415 > Phone: 612-348-3744 > Email: sheriff(a)hennepin.us <mailto:sheriff@hennepin.us> > > > Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges > > City Hall > 350 S 5th Street Room 331 > Minneapolis, MN 55415 > Phone: 612-673-2100 > Email: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/contact/index.htm <http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/contact/index.htm> > https://twitter.com/MayorHodges <https://twitter.com/MayorHodges> > > > Anoka County Sheriff James Stuart > > 13301 Hanson Blvd NW > Andover, MN 55304 > Phone: 763-323-5000 > Email: sheriff(a)co.anoka.mn.us <mailto:sheriff@co.anoka.mn.us> > > > Anoka Mayor Phil Rice > > 2015 First Ave > Anoka MN 55303 > Phone: 612-702-8442 > Email: philrice(a)ci.anoka.mn.us <mailto:philrice@ci.anoka.mn.us> > > > Washington County Sheriff William M. Hutton > > 15015 62nd St. N. > Stillwater, MN 55082 > Phone: 651-439-9381 > Email: sheriff(a)co.washington.mn.us <mailto:sheriff@co.washington.mn.us> > > > > > Wisconsin: > > > Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker > > 115 East > State Capitol > Madison, WI 53702 > Phone: 608-266-1212 > https://twitter.com/GovWalker > <https://twitter.com/GovWalker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>https://www.facebook.com/governorscottwalker <https://www.facebook.com/governorscottwalker/> > > > Marathon County Sheriff Scott Parks > > Marathon County Courthouse > 500 Forest St. > Wausau WI 54403-5554 > Phone: 715-261-1200 > Email: sheriff(a)co.marathon.wi.us <mailto:sheriff@co.marathon.wi.us> > > > Indiana: > > > Gov. Mike Pence > > 200 W. Washington St. > Rm. 206 > Indianapolis, IN 46204 > Phone: 317-232-4567 > https://www.facebook.com/GovernorMikePence/ <https://www.facebook.com/GovernorMikePence/> > > > Lake County Sheriff John Buncich > > 2293 N. Main Street > Crown Point, IN 46307-1854 > Phone: 219-755-3333 > > > Munster Indiana Chief of Police Stephen Scheckel > > 1001 Ridge Rd > Munster, IN 46321 > https://twitter.com/munsterpolicein > <https://twitter.com/munsterpolicein>https://www.facebook.com/Munster-Police-Department-623099214436141 <https://www.facebook.com/Munster-Police-Department-623099214436141> > > > Schererville Indiana Police Chief David A. Dowling > > 25 E Joliet St. > Schererville, IN 46375 > Phone: 219-322-5000 > https://twitter.com/scherervillepd <https://twitter.com/scherervillepd?lang=en> > > > Griffith Indiana Police Chief Greg Mance > > 115 N Broad St. > Griffith, IN 46319 > Phone: 219-924-7503 > https://www.facebook.com/Griffith-Indiana-Police-Department-526691684035932 <https://www.facebook.com/Griffith-Indiana-Police-Department-526691684035932/> > > > Hammond Indiana Police Chief John D. Doughty > > 509 Douglas St. > Hammond, IN > Phone: 219-853-6544 > https://www.facebook.com/hammondpd <https://www.facebook.com/hammondpd/?fref=ts> > > > Michigan City Police Chief Mark Swistek > > 1201 E. Michigan Blvd. > Michigan City, IN 46360 > Phone: 219-874-3221 Ext. 305 > Email: mswistek(a)emichigancity.com <mailto:mswistek@emichigancity.com> > https://www.facebook.com/MCPD46360 <https://www.facebook.com/MCPD46360/?fref=ts> > > > Indiana Department of Homeland Security > > Executive Director: David Kane > > 317-232-6139 > dkane(a)dhs.in.gov <mailto:dkane@dhs.in.gov> > > > District 1 Coordinator: Angie Cloutier > > 317-519-6761 > acloutier(a)dhs.in.gov <mailto:acloutier@dhs.in.gov> > La Porte County Sheriff John T. Boyd > > 809 State Street > Suite 202A > La Porte, IN 46350 > Phone: 219-326-7700 Ext. 2406 > https://www.facebook.com/LaPorteCountySheriffsOffice <https://www.facebook.com/LaPorteCountySheriffsOffice/?fref=ts> > > > Jasper County Sheriff Terry J. Wisner > > 2171 North McKinley Avenue > P.O. Box 296 > Rensselaer, Indiana 47978 > Phone: 219-866-7344 > https://www.facebook.com/IndianaJCSO <https://www.facebook.com/IndianaJCSO/?fref=ts> > > > Newton County Sheriff Thomas Van Vleet > > 304 E Seymour St > Kentland, IN 47951 > Phone: 219-474-3331 > https://www.facebook.com/Newton-County-Sheriffs-Office-590519011044153/ <https://www.facebook.com/Newton-County-Sheriffs-Office-590519011044153/> > > > > > South Dakota: > > > South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard > > 500 E Capitol Ave > Pierre, SD 57501 > Phone: 605-773-3212 > https://twitter.com/SDGovDaugaard <https://twitter.com/SDGovDaugaard> > > > South Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Craig Price > > 118 West Capitol Avenue > Pierre, SD 57501 > Phone: 605-773-3105 > https://www.facebook.com/SDHighwayPatrol/ > <https://www.facebook.com/SDHighwayPatrol/>https://twitter.com/SDHighwayPatrol <https://twitter.com/SDHighwayPatrol> > > > Wyoming: > > > Gov. Matt Mead > > Idelman Mansion > 2323 Carey Ave. > Cheyenne, WY 82002-0010 > Phone: 307-777-7434 > https://www.facebook.com/governormattmead > <https://www.facebook.com/governormattmead/?fref=ts>https://twitter.com/GovMattMead <https://twitter.com/GovMattMead> > > > Laramie County Sheriff Danny L. Glick > > 1910 Pioneer Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82001 > Phone: 307-633-4700 > Email: dglick(a)laramiecounty.com <mailto:dglick@laramiecounty.com> > > > Wyoming Highway Patrol > > 5300 Bishop Blvd > Cheyenne, WY 82009 > Phone: (307) 777-4301 > > > Wyoming Highway Patrol Administrator Col. Kebin Haller > > Phone: 307-777-4301 > http://k2radio.com/six-wyoming-highway-patrol-troopers-helping-authorities-… <http://k2radio.com/six-wyoming-highway-patrol-troopers-helping-authorities-…> > > > Nebraska: > > > Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts > > P.O. Box 94848 > Lincoln, NE 68509-4848 > Phone: 402-471-2244 > https://twitter.com/GovRicketts > <https://twitter.com/GovRicketts>https://www.facebook.com/GovernorPeteRicketts <https://www.facebook.com/GovernorPeteRicketts> > > > Nebraska Emergency Management Agency > > 2433 N.W. 24th Street > Lincoln, NE 68524-1801 > Phone: 402-471-7421 > > > Nebraska Emergency Management Agency Operations Section Manager Earl Imler > > Phone: 402-471-7181 > Email: earl.imler(a)nebraska.gov <mailto:earl.imler@nebraska.gov> > > > Ohio: > > > Gov. John Kasich > > Riffe Center, 30th Floor > 77 South High Street > Columbus, OH 43215-6117 > Phone: 614-466-3555 > https://www.facebook.com/JohnKasich > <https://www.facebook.com/JohnKasich/?fref=ts>https://twitter.com/JohnKasich <https://twitter.com/JohnKasich> > > > Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Paul A. Pride > > Columbus Metro Post > Columbus, Ohio 43209 > Phone: 614-466-2660 > Columbus District Headquarters > 2855 West Dublin-Granville Road > Columbus, OH 43235 > Phone: 614-799-9241 > Email: wwwohp(a)dps.ohio.gov <mailto:wwwohp@dps.ohio.gov> > > > Ohio State Highway Patrol Spokesperson Lt. Robert Sellers > > Phone: 614-752-2792 > https://twitter.com/OSHP > <https://twitter.com/OSHP>https://www.facebook.com/OhioStateHighwayPatrol <https://www.facebook.com/OhioStateHighwayPatrol> > > > Federal level decisionmakers: > > > President Barack Obama > > 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW > Washington, D.C. 20500 > Phone: 202-456-1111 > Email: president(a)whitehouse.gov <mailto:president@whitehouse.gov> > > > U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commanding General: Lt. Gen Todd T. Semonite > > 441 G Street NW > Washington, DC 20314-1000 > Phone: 202-761-0011 > https://www.facebook.com/USACEHQ/ <https://www.facebook.com/USACEHQ/> > > > Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of Army (Civil Works) > > 108 Army Pentagon > Washington, DC 20310 > joellen.darcy(a)us.army.mil <mailto:joellen.darcy@us.army.mil> > (703) 697-8986 > > > Attorney General Loretta Lynch > > United States Department of Justice > > 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW > Washington, DC 20530 > Tracy.Toulou2(a)usdoj.gov <mailto:Tracy.Toulou2@usdoj.gov> > > > U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell > > 1849 C Street, N.W. > Washington, D.C. 20240 > Phone:202-208-3100 > Email: https://www.doi.gov/feedback <https://www.doi.gov/feedback> > https://www.facebook.com/USInterior <https://www.facebook.com/USInterior> > > > Emergency Management Assistance Compact Program Director Angela Copple > > PO Box 11910 > Lexington, Kentucky 40578-1910 > Phone: 859-244-8217 > Email: acopple(a)csg.org <mailto:acopple@csg.org> > > > North Dakota Department of Emergency Services > > P.O. Box 5511 > Bismarck, North Dakota 58506-5511 > Phone: 701-328-8100 > > www.nd.gov/des <http://www.nd.gov/des> > > > > On Mon, Nov 21, 2016 at 12:59 PM, Kritee <kriteek(a)gmail.com <mailto:kriteek@gmail.com>> wrote: > Dear all, > > I hope that all of us have taken the time to watch videos coming out of Standing rock last night. Over 400 Water protectors who were stuck - partly be design - on a bridge and could not move were attacked by police for over 6 hours last night - with freezing water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades that injured over 160 people and sent at least one elder into cardiac arrest. County Sheriff spread the false news that water protectors started fires when there is video proof of how fire got started and how Native people were putting out the fires started by Police. > > Things to do: > See this very short TYT video to get a sense of what happened. LINK <https://www.facebook.com/TYTpolitics/videos/1778411889073185/?pnref=story> > Spread the word that Water protectors didn't start the fires. See one of the much longer videos from Kevin Gilbertt <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXrO-hFD-YE> (see at 1 hour 11 min to see projectile fired into water protectors from police and national Guard. It catches ground on fire and while the water cannon is being used to soak peaceful water protectors another group of water protectors stamp out the fire to prevent it spreading. This shows the story of water cannons to put out fires to be untrue.) > Sign this Petition in support of prosecuting County Sheriff: https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial <https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial> > Visualize this as a deepest form of practice: For me, this is one of the deepest form of practice where one stands up for what is based on not othering anyone but acting out of connection with all being and all elements that make our precious life possible. Where one doesn't shy away from what is right in order to have a false sense of temporary security. Where we honor our deepest convictions by acting on them. Where we maintain non-violence in the face of legalized violence. Take my bows, water protectors! My feeling is that more of us need to be ready to either engage in this form of practice or at the least support this kind of practice which goes beyond just bearing witness to past trauma. > Follow the news and share it...Example: from Democracy now: > Standing Rock: 100+ Injured After Police Attack with Water Cannons, Rubber Bullets & Mace > In North Dakota, more than 100 Native Americans and allies fighting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline have been injured by police, who attacked them with rubber bullets, tear gas, mace canisters and water cannons in freezing temperatures Sunday night. The attack was on a bridge near the main Oceti Sakowin resistance camp. It began after the water protectors attempted to clear access to the public bridge, which has been blocked by authorities using military equipment chained to concrete barriers. Medics on scene say multiple people were shot by rubber bullets. > > Leland Brenholt: "My name is Leland Brenholt. I’m a medic here at Oceti Sakowin. And we have seen at least four gunshot wounds, three of them I know of to the face and head. Rubber bullets. Right now we’re trying to keep people warm. We’re trying to get them decontaminated, and treating all kinds of different wounds. People have been hit with canisters in the chest or the leg and that sort of thing." > > Water protectors say the police also fired rubber bullets at journalists, shot down drones being used to document the attack and fired flares which ignited grass fires. Legal observers with the National Lawyers Guild said multiple people temporarily lost consciousness after being shot. Witnesses say one elder also went into cardiac arrest and was revived on scene by medics. Both the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe sent medical first responders. This is Angela Bibens, a lawyer with the Red Owl Legal Collective, speaking in a telephone interview recorded by Dallas Goldtooth Sunday. > > Angela Bibens: "Right now we’ve seen people who have been maced. They deployed 20 mace canisters in a small area in less than five minutes, to the point where people have lost bowel function. At least one seizure has been witnessed at the front lines by our legal observation team. There have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. The water cannon has been mixed with the mace, and so even our legal observers have been exposed and are trying to deal with that while they’re doing up their notes. And canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. There is at least one woman who has a broken kneecap. At least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through CPR at the front line by medics." > > Bows, > Kritee > > -- > Kritee, Ph.D. > Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund <http://www.edf.org/> > Zen Teacher (Sensei) Boundless in Motion <http://boundlessinmotion.org/> > Email kritee(a)boundlessinmotion.org <mailto:kritee@boundlessinmotion.org> Twitter @KriteeKanko <https://twitter.com/KriteeKanko> > > > -- > Kritee, Ph.D. > Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund <http://www.edf.org/> > Zen Teacher (Sensei) Boundless in Motion <http://boundlessinmotion.org/> > Email kritee(a)boundlessinmotion.org <mailto:kritee@boundlessinmotion.org> Twitter @KriteeKanko <https://twitter.com/KriteeKanko> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Eco-Dharma-Sangha" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha <https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.

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Fwd: [Eco-Dharma] Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence
by Raymond Caruso via Dialogue 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

Dear friends: The suffering has intensified at Standing Rock as of last nights horrific legalized violence of our most cherished indigenous friends. We witnessed the event last evening with a direct feed which lasted one hour with over 1 million on line to witness. Please read this then take what ever action is appropriate for you on the 2nd email I will send immediately. These are courageous people who are acting on our behalf to protect safe water for everyone. Be well. Stay resilient, Salvatore > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Kritee <kriteek(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Eco-Dharma] Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence > Date: November 21, 2016 at 12:59:40 PM MST > To: eco-dharma-sangha <eco-dharma-sangha(a)googlegroups.com> > > Dear all, > > I hope that all of us have taken the time to watch videos coming out of Standing rock last night. Over 400 Water protectors who were stuck - partly be design - on a bridge and could not move were attacked by police for over 6 hours last night - with freezing water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades that injured over 160 people and sent at least one elder into cardiac arrest. County Sheriff spread the false news that water protectors started fires when there is video proof of how fire got started and how Native people were putting out the fires started by Police. > > Things to do: > See this very short TYT video to get a sense of what happened. LINK <https://www.facebook.com/TYTpolitics/videos/1778411889073185/?pnref=story> > Spread the word that Water protectors didn't start the fires. See one of the much longer videos from Kevin Gilbertt <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXrO-hFD-YE> (see at 1 hour 11 min to see projectile fired into water protectors from police and national Guard. It catches ground on fire and while the water cannon is being used to soak peaceful water protectors another group of water protectors stamp out the fire to prevent it spreading. This shows the story of water cannons to put out fires to be untrue.) > Sign this Petition in support of prosecuting County Sheriff: https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial <https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial> > Visualize this as a deepest form of practice: For me, this is one of the deepest form of practice where one stands up for what is based on not othering anyone but acting out of connection with all being and all elements that make our precious life possible. Where one doesn't shy away from what is right in order to have a false sense of temporary security. Where we honor our deepest convictions by acting on them. Where we maintain non-violence in the face of legalized violence. Take my bows, water protectors! My feeling is that more of us need to be ready to either engage in this form of practice or at the least support this kind of practice which goes beyond just bearing witness to past trauma. > Follow the news and share it...Example: from Democracy now: > Standing Rock: 100+ Injured After Police Attack with Water Cannons, Rubber Bullets & Mace > In North Dakota, more than 100 Native Americans and allies fighting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline have been injured by police, who attacked them with rubber bullets, tear gas, mace canisters and water cannons in freezing temperatures Sunday night. The attack was on a bridge near the main Oceti Sakowin resistance camp. It began after the water protectors attempted to clear access to the public bridge, which has been blocked by authorities using military equipment chained to concrete barriers. Medics on scene say multiple people were shot by rubber bullets. > > Leland Brenholt: "My name is Leland Brenholt. I’m a medic here at Oceti Sakowin. And we have seen at least four gunshot wounds, three of them I know of to the face and head. Rubber bullets. Right now we’re trying to keep people warm. We’re trying to get them decontaminated, and treating all kinds of different wounds. People have been hit with canisters in the chest or the leg and that sort of thing." > > Water protectors say the police also fired rubber bullets at journalists, shot down drones being used to document the attack and fired flares which ignited grass fires. Legal observers with the National Lawyers Guild said multiple people temporarily lost consciousness after being shot. Witnesses say one elder also went into cardiac arrest and was revived on scene by medics. Both the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe sent medical first responders. This is Angela Bibens, a lawyer with the Red Owl Legal Collective, speaking in a telephone interview recorded by Dallas Goldtooth Sunday. > > Angela Bibens: "Right now we’ve seen people who have been maced. They deployed 20 mace canisters in a small area in less than five minutes, to the point where people have lost bowel function. At least one seizure has been witnessed at the front lines by our legal observation team. There have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. The water cannon has been mixed with the mace, and so even our legal observers have been exposed and are trying to deal with that while they’re doing up their notes. And canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. There is at least one woman who has a broken kneecap. At least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through CPR at the front line by medics." > > Bows, > Kritee > > -- > Kritee, Ph.D. > Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund <http://www.edf.org/> > Zen Teacher (Sensei) Boundless in Motion <http://boundlessinmotion.org/> > Email kritee(a)boundlessinmotion.org <mailto:kritee@boundlessinmotion.org> Twitter @KriteeKanko <https://twitter.com/KriteeKanko> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Eco-Dharma-Sangha" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha <https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.

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Re: [Dialogue] Dialogue Digest, Vol 56, Issue 17
by Jaime R Vergara via Dialogue 17 Nov '16

17 Nov '16

the militarization of the state in support of the energy companies against peaceful water protectors The alarm in here is the fact that the archaic structure of medieval military remains as the only "disciplined" method of organizing and running society. It also harkens to fealty to national sentiments and obediences at a time when the planet has gained a global earthrise consciousness versus the adherence to nation-state loyalties. Standing rock is a microcosm of the struggle to assert human sanity in a world preoccupied with getting the bottom line of corporation wealthy, and the push for individuals to be on the top of the heap. Still, the mandate cannot be an external demand, either constitutionally or religiously. I decide, and so does everyone else, on how to behave, and the areas of wisdom, lifestyle and symbol in the Cultural Pole of the Social Process is very instructive. To protest militarization requires an alternative model, and as Dianne and Salvatore continue with their protest, the need to propose something else becomes imperative. I am considering turning back my leased vehicle at the end of my second year contract (it was signed for three years) and get a bicycle, though at 71, pedaling up a hill to the community college will be an effort, and that might just be my sustenance for the next 4 years. I might just consider moving into the area since the folks who run my building are constructing a complex in front of the College. My editors "variation" column today affirms that the sun is still up. Amen. wangzhimu2031 earthrise consciousness, a gift; earthbound commitment, my choice yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Fri, Nov 18, 2016 4:12 am Subject: Dialogue Digest, Vol 56, Issue 17 Send Dialogue mailing list submissions to dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to dialogue-request(a)lists.wedgeblade.net You can reach the person managing the list at dialogue-owner(a)lists.wedgeblade.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Dialogue digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard. (Raymond Caruso via Dialogue) 2. Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard. (Ellie Stock via Dialogue) 3. 11/17/16, Spong: Does the Religious Faith of a Supreme Court Justice Matter? (Originally posted June 10, 2010) (Ellie Stock via Dialogue) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2016 14:23:50 -0700 From: Raymond Caruso via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: litibu(a)yahoogroups.com, Order Ecumenical ICA-USA <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>, Mountainstream Sangha <mountainstream(a)groups.facebook.com>, eco-dharma-sangha <eco-dharma-sangha(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: [Dialogue] Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard. Message-ID: <1D37FA43-6801-4ED2-A0ED-DCDB75EAC866(a)igc.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > Dear friends: > > If you want to get a look at some very enlightening words on why the pipeline at Standing Rock ( and all pipelines) hear his words as he connects all the dots on this process and what?s at stake > > Cut and paste this website: > > https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154695434748908/ <https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154695434748908/> > > In addition, here?s what we did yesterday?. > > Yesterday in Boulder Dianne and I took direct actions with several hundred protectors to : > > 1) Stand with about 300 other cities that were asking the Army Corp of Engineers Not to grant the pipeline easement to go under the Missouri River at SR. Waiting for a decision in next few days. > 2) Others in our ecodharma group protested at Wells Fargo bank to bring awareness to the banks investment in the pipe line. > 3) Simultaneously, the Boulder County Commissioners were taking professional testimony and resident testimony on the issue of lifting the moratorium on fracking in Boulder County. Several hundred people were there and some gave testimony. Salvatore gave his . > > Our advice is to get involved at any level in your community?s on local environmental issues. The faster we can get thru the transition to alternative energy sources the healthier we and the planet will be. > > What we?ve witnessed at Standing Rock after 3 visits and daily contact is the militarization of the state in support of the energy companies against peaceful water protectors. This is a portent of what is to come across the country as fracking and oil extraction continues unabated with state/governmental support. > > Remedies: > ?non violent direct action at the sites > ? dis- investing in Banks that invest in these activities > ? class action suits/ > ? promoting alternative non fossil energy sources locally > ? big time reduction in fossil fuel usage in our personal lives ( conservation). > > Stay safe. Be alert and resilient, > > Dianne & Salvatore > >

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11/17/16, Spong: Does the Religious Faith of a Supreme Court Justice Matter? (Originally posted June 10, 2010)
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 17 Nov '16

17 Nov '16

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Does the Religious Faith of a Supreme Court Justice Matter? (Originally posted June 10, 2010) In President Obama's recent nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to be the ninth justice on the Supreme Court, a new reality forced its way into our consciousness. With the resignation of Justices David Souter in 2009 and John Paul Stevens in 2010, the last representatives of Protestant Christianity - by far the largest religious group in the country - departed from that body. This means that, for the first time in American history, there are no Protestant Christians sitting on our highest court. Justice Souter was replaced by the first Hispanic justice, Sonia Sotomayor, who is a Roman Catholic. Justice Stevens is scheduled to be replaced by Elena Kagan who is Jewish. The new court will thus be made up of six justices who identify themselves as Roman Catholics and three justices who identify themselves as Jewish. This shift is in no way a revolution, and, while it has been noted, it has not become a matter of public debate, being regarded rather as simply a sign of America's evolving sensitivities. I certainly do not intend in this column to suggest that it should be otherwise, but I do believe it gives all of us an opportunity to understand the modern religious consciousness and the rising secular consciousness that are both today significant parts of our nation's makeup. Throughout our history, various minority or underrepresented groups in our population have lobbied politically to have someone with whom they identified themselves sit on the Supreme Court. This was particularly important because at the beginning of this nation's history, that court was unanimously white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant and male. This fact was, however, hardly noticed by our "founding fathers" since that was the way this nation understood itself. White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant males were the power group and the ruling class. The Supreme Court merely reflected this American reality, which was equally true in all of the branches of our government. Our presidents, from George Washington to Andrew Jackson, were similarly representative of this ruling class, and their names - Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Adams - reflect that. It was not until 1840 when Martin Van Buren became president that a person of Dutch background broke the Anglo-Saxon power lock on the White House. The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was John Jay of New York and the other members of that original court were named Wilson, Cushing, Rutledge, Iredell and Johnson - all notably Anglo-Saxon names. The constitution does not fix the number of Supreme Court justices so that detail was left for Congress to decide. In that first court, which began sitting in 1789, there were thus only six justices. That number was moved to seven in 1807, to nine in 1837, to ten in 1863 and back to nine in 1869, where it has remained ever since. The first "minority" to gain access to the court came when Roman Catholic Roger B. Taney was appointed not just to Justice, but to Chief Justice of the Court in 1836 by President Andrew Jackson. Perhaps it helped Chief Justice Taney in the appointment process that his law partner in Maryland was Francis Scott Key, the author of our national anthem. Taney went on to have a rather undistinguished career and is remembered now primarily for his racially insensitive ruling in the Dred Scott case, which was later overturned. Taney's appointment, however, broke the exclusive Protestant domination of that body and opened the door for the inclusion of Roman Catholics on the Court. There have now been thirteen Roman Catholic justices who have served with varying levels of distinction from that day to this. When Joseph McKenna was appointed by President William McKinley in 1896, it became a major political concern that one seat on the high court be "reserved" for Catholics. Cardinal Spellman of New York had actually lobbied President Eisenhower to establish that principle firmly, since it had been semi-violated by Harry Truman's appointment of Sherman Minton to succeed Justice Frank Murphy in 1949 in what had been regarded as the "Catholic seat." Truman had argued that, while Justice Minton was not technically a Catholic, he did attend a Catholic Church with his wife and that qualified him for this seat. The Catholics were not appeased and President Eisenhower agreed to make that distinction clear and did so with the appointment of Justice William J. Brenner. Of note is the fact that Justice Minton did actually join the Catholic Church, but only after he had retired from the bench. The idea that there needed to be one "Catholic seat" faded in time with the appointments of Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Roberts and Alito. In 2008, with the Alito appointment, Roman Catholics became the majority on the court with five votes. That majority was increased to six by the nomination of Justice Sotomayor by President Obama. The Jewish minority in America had its first representative on the high court when President Woodrow Wilson appointed Justice Louis Brandeis in 1916. In time he became one of the great intellectual giants in Supreme Court history. He was followed by Justice Benjamin Cardozo, appointed by Herbert Hoover in 1932 and the two overlapped for seven years effectively dispensing with the idea of a "Jewish Seat." Later justices from a Jewish background included Felix Frankfurter, Arthur Goldberg and Abe Fortas. Few people even noted that President Clinton's two appointments to the High Court, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer, were both Jewish people. It might be observed in our increasingly eclectic and diverse religious nation that Justice Breyer's daughter Chloe is today an Episcopal priest. Black people were the next minority to gain access to membership in the Court when the great Civil Rights lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, was appointed by President Johnson in 1967. His appointment thus effectively established a "Black Seat" and his replacement, Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush confirmed that tradition. It appears that African Americans have not yet escaped the idea that one seat on the Court is reserved for people of color. Women made their first appearance on the Court with the appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. She was followed by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993 and Sandra Sotomayor in 2009, when she became the first Hispanic Justice. Now the Kagan appointment appears to indicate that there is no longer a "woman's seat." So we now have a court of ethnic variety (European, African and Hispanic), religious variety (Christians and Jews) and gender variety (seven men, two women). In the process, however, the Protestant majority no longer has representation in the Court at all, with Roman Catholics holding six seats and Jews holding three. The question thus arises as to whether or not this is a problem. I do not think it is, but I do think it could be some day. Allow me to explain. The nation was founded in the yearning for religious freedom in Europe after centuries of religious conflicts from the time of the Crusades through to the English Civil War. That yearning found expression in a clear constitutional provision in America, which separated church and state (a fact that today some Tea Party members like to challenge). The ability to worship without prejudice in any religious tradition one chooses, or not to worship at all, was guaranteed to every citizen of the land. This provision in our Constitution meant that not one's religious practice, but the imperialistic mentality, which so often finds expression inside religious systems, has to be publicly denounced in order for a person to serve this government under the Constitution. By "imperialistic religious mentality," I mean that religious claim that one particular religious system possesses the sole truth or is the only pathway to God and, as a consequence, appears to judge those who are not part of that faith system to be somehow inadequate or ill informed. The values of no particular religious system, as beautiful as they might themselves be, were to be imposed on the people of this land by law. When our first Roman Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, was elected, he asserted in the campaign that he would not allow his faith or the positions of his church to influence his decisions as president. That seemed to be an acceptable statement in 1960 even to the Catholic hierarchy in America. When Roman Catholic Geraldine Ferraro was nominated to be vice president on the Walter Mondale ticket in 1984, and when Roman Catholic John Kerry was the presidential nominee in 2004, that separation appeared to be no longer acceptable to America's Roman Catholic Bishops. Both Ferraro and Kerry were told that the positions they supported politically on abortion, homosexuality and on end-of-life counseling were not acceptable to their Church and therefore they would not be welcomed to receive communion at Catholic altars since they were in effect, publicly out of communion with Catholic teaching. Should a justice on the Supreme Court be subjected to that kind of ecclesiastical pressure from his or her church that would indeed constitute a problem for this democracy. Issues regarding a woman's right to privacy, abortion and the freedom to choose when to die are all issues that could conceivably come before the Court. Can our Catholic justices separate their constitutional responsibilities from the teachings of their Church? This does not seem to be a problem for our Jewish Justices. I have never known a Jewish person who wanted to force circumcision, kosher dietary laws or Sabbath day observance on the body politic of this nation. I have, however, known Roman Catholics who wanted to force their convictions about these matters on the body politic, so I am eager to see how this court will acquit itself on issues where church teaching and interpreting the law in a largely secular country come into conflict. I think that the vast majority of American citizens will be watching with me. In the meantime, I welcome Justice Kagan to the seat to which she surely will be confirmed and I take great joy in seeing our expanding democracy take another step into what I believe will be a glorious future. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Janet Schulte, member of the Department of Pathology at Ohio State University, writes: Question: I love the column - thank you for the insights. I am a science nerd - I taught and worked in the field of science all my life. I am also working on a degree in theology. I took my first biology classes about 46 years ago. When I learned about Darwin, I had an ah-ha moment. If the human species lives according to the model of the survival of the fittest, we will become extinct. That is part of the model that is often overlooked. Every organism must successfully fill a niche to survive. Only those organisms that learn the "law of cooperation" will ultimately win the day. That is what Jesus was trying to teach us. It is all about relationship - not domination. Answer: Dear Janet, Your ah-ha moment was indeed a profound insight. Every living thing, plant and animal is programmed to survive. What is true of all these living things is also true of human life. The only difference is that we human beings are self-conscious, while plants and animals are not. If survival is our highest goal, self-centeredness is inevitable and thus this quality becomes a constant part of the human experience. Traditionally, the church has called this "original sin" and has explained it with the myth of the fall. That was simply wrong. Survival is a quality found in life itself. There was no fall. Self-centered, survival driven, self-conscious creatures is simply who we are. There is thus no such thing as "original sin" from which we need to be rescued by a divine invader. So much of traditional Christianity assumes this false premise. You are correct, however, in your assessment that survival, as the ultimate goal, will lead finally to extinction. Our hope does not lie in an external rescue. It lies in the process of evolution to carry us beyond the limits of humanity into a sense of being one with the universe. I don't think this happens by denying who we are or even being rescued from it. It comes from transcending who we are and I see that as the role of Christianity from which the church as an institution and most Christian individuals, have simply turned away. We need to begin to see God and indeed the Christ life, not as that which rescues us from a fall and a sense of depravity (which basically creates in us guilt and a sense of worthlessness that we constantly transfer to the victims of our prejudice), but to see God and the Christ figure as the love that empowers us to grow into new dimensions of what it means to be human. It is a shift from guilt to grace; from the need to victimize to the ability to affirm the divine in all things. Individuality and the process of individuation are both necessary steps in the evolutionary process, but ultimately, as you suggest, they lead to extinction because they are based on competitiveness that leads to one sole remaining dominant survivor. Being one with nature and transcending self-consciousness in order to move into a universal consciousness is the future hope. Your insights are, as the English say, "Spot on." ~John Shelby Spong Read and Share Online Here Announcements With all the recent opinions and news about our next Supreme Court Justice appointment, as Bishop Spong continues his recuperation, he thought you would enjoy reading this post from June 10, 2010. If you would like to send Bishop Spong a get well note please send it to admin(a)progressivechristianity.org and we will forward it to him. We are delighted to announce our first Embrace Festival! May 4-6, 2017 in Portland, Oregon Embrace Festival is a 3 day, international, sacred community and social transformation gathering, which will be held May 4-6, 2017 in beautiful downtown Portland, Oregon for those wishing to positively transform their lives, their local communities, and the world. Vision In May 2017, people from all over the world will gather in Portland to share knowledge and wisdom, learn from each other, celebrate, be inspired, and find the tools needed to create and enliven local movements within our communities. Together we will explore Sacred Oneness, Christ Consciousness, Eco-Spirituality, Social Justice and the way of Universal and Personal Transformation that honors the Divine in all. We want you there! Please save the date and consider joining us! Tickets are currently set at Early Bird Pricing only until December 1, 2016. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets. This email was sent to elliestock(a)aol.com why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences ProgressiveChristianity.org · 4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. NW · #80 · Gig Harbor, WA 98335 · USA

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Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard.
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 16 Nov '16

16 Nov '16

Hi Salvatore and Diane and all, Thanks for your update re Standing Rock. We returned Friday. Got word that Nina/Sheila, etc. got money for the bus for hunkering down for the winter with the medic group. Yesterday, we went to downtown St Louis in front of the Army Corps of Engineer Building for the Standing Rock Rally there as part of the nation-wide day of action. I took my drum and met up with and accompanied a Native American woman who also had a drum and sang several water songs as well as a Strong Woman song and others. Not sure how many were there. We gave a presentation Monday night to an Ecology group and will be giving one at our church this Sunday. Below are links to a few Native American water songs and a Strong Woman Song. There are songs the women sing and songs the men sing. A few of them, both sing. Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com WATER SONG https://search.aol.com/aol/video?q=Native+American+Women+Water+song&s_it=vi… Meditative Spiritual Water Healing Song - Crystal Clear ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6H75gcAlXg Meditative Spiritual Water Healing Song ... Ulali Mother Tribute to native american women ... Water Song by the Akwesasne Women Singers ... The Water Song - Chenoa Egawa & Alex Turtle - YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_KNLo5Q7ek The Water Song - Chenoa Egawa & Alex Turtle ... Water Song by the Akwesasne Women Singers - Duration: ... Native American Song ... STRONG WOMAN SONG - Lisa Muswagon and Raven Hart ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ei4CQWCP4c ... Lisa Muswagon and Raven Hart-Bellecourt ... STRONG WOMAN SONG ... Black Lodge Singers Love Song Native American Music - Duration: ... Dear friends: If you want to get a look at some very enlightening words on why the pipeline at Standing Rock ( and all pipelines) hear his words as he connects all the dots on this process and what’s at stake Cut and paste this website: https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154695434748908/ In addition, here’s what we did yesterday…. Yesterday in Boulder Dianne and I took direct actions with several hundred protectors to : 1) Stand with about 300 other cities that were asking the Army Corp of Engineers Not to grant the pipeline easement to go under the Missouri River at SR. Waiting for a decision in next few days. 2) Others in our ecodharma group protested at Wells Fargo bank to bring awareness to the banks investment in the pipe line. 3) Simultaneously, the Boulder County Commissioners were taking professional testimony and resident testimony on the issue of lifting the moratorium on fracking in Boulder County. Several hundred people were there and some gave testimony. Salvatore gave his . Our advice is to get involved at any level in your community’s on local environmental issues. The faster we can get thru the transition to alternative energy sources the healthier we and the planet will be. What we’ve witnessed at Standing Rock after 3 visits and daily contact is the militarization of the state in support of the energy companies against peaceful water protectors. This is a portent of what is to come across the country as fracking and oil extraction continues unabated with state/governmental support. Remedies: •non violent direct action at the sites • dis- investing in Banks that invest in these activities • class action suits/ • promoting alternative non fossil energy sources locally • big time reduction in fossil fuel usage in our personal lives ( conservation). Stay safe. Be alert and resilient, Dianne & Salvatore _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard.
by Raymond Caruso via Dialogue 16 Nov '16

16 Nov '16

> Dear friends: > > If you want to get a look at some very enlightening words on why the pipeline at Standing Rock ( and all pipelines) hear his words as he connects all the dots on this process and what’s at stake > > Cut and paste this website: > > https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154695434748908/ <https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154695434748908/> > > In addition, here’s what we did yesterday…. > > Yesterday in Boulder Dianne and I took direct actions with several hundred protectors to : > > 1) Stand with about 300 other cities that were asking the Army Corp of Engineers Not to grant the pipeline easement to go under the Missouri River at SR. Waiting for a decision in next few days. > 2) Others in our ecodharma group protested at Wells Fargo bank to bring awareness to the banks investment in the pipe line. > 3) Simultaneously, the Boulder County Commissioners were taking professional testimony and resident testimony on the issue of lifting the moratorium on fracking in Boulder County. Several hundred people were there and some gave testimony. Salvatore gave his . > > Our advice is to get involved at any level in your community’s on local environmental issues. The faster we can get thru the transition to alternative energy sources the healthier we and the planet will be. > > What we’ve witnessed at Standing Rock after 3 visits and daily contact is the militarization of the state in support of the energy companies against peaceful water protectors. This is a portent of what is to come across the country as fracking and oil extraction continues unabated with state/governmental support. > > Remedies: > •non violent direct action at the sites > • dis- investing in Banks that invest in these activities > • class action suits/ > • promoting alternative non fossil energy sources locally > • big time reduction in fossil fuel usage in our personal lives ( conservation). > > Stay safe. Be alert and resilient, > > Dianne & Salvatore > >

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