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November 2019

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11/28/19, Progressing Spirit: Brian McLaren: Why do we use Christ as a synonym for Jesus?; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 28 Nov '19

28 Nov '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateBody .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent, #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateBody .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateFooter .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent, #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateFooter .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } I’ve been pondering this question too … for decades! | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Why do we use Christ as a synonym for Jesus? | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Brian McLaren November 28, 2019 This week's essay is in response to a question we received from Janet: I wonder who “Christ” is. I know when people use the term, they are referring to Jesus. But Christ didn’t walk on water, Jesus did. So why does Christianity so often use the word Christ for Jesus; I find it confusing and incorrect. Some say there is a “Christ event;” so what is/was that event? Is that when Jesus became the Christ? “Christ” is the equivalent of Messiah, “anointed one.” Saul was a messiah; so was David as well as others. So why do we use Christ as a synonym for Jesus–or are they not one and the same? Janet - thanks so much for this question. I’ve been pondering this question too … for decades! As you may know, Fr. Richard Rohr recently wrote a book on the subject, called the Universal Christ, and the former Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, recently wrote a book called Christ, The Heart of Creation. So if you’re wondering about the meaning of Christ, you are not alone! Let’s start by saying the obvious: Christ isn’t Jesus’s last name. It’s a title, like doctor, reverend, president, or governor. It’s the Greek translation for the Hebrew word for Messiah, and both words mean “smeared,” as in smeared or anointed with oil. In ancient times, scented oils were smeared on people being honored, named, or recognized for a special role, much like placing an Olympic medal on an athlete, or giving an important person the keys to a city, or putting a crown on a prom queen. In passages like Isaiah 61, this oil of anointing was associated with the Spirit of God. In the Jewish tradition, a powerful spiritual, theological, and political movement developed around the idea of the Messiah. For centuries, the Jewish people were oppressed and occupied by one foreign power after another, and they dreamed of a mighty liberator or freedom fighter who would unite them, rally them, and lead them into war to overthrow their oppressors so they would be free at last. Various would-be-messiahs arose and staged uprisings, but one after another were crushed. For some, the dream of a messiah died, but for many, with each defeat, the hope would become even more fervent. You can think of it this way: there were kings over Israel who were puppets or accomplices of Caesar in Rome. They were not liberating kings. They were oppressive, corrupt, complicit kings. Someday, the people dreamed, God will send us a new leader who will be both a spiritual leader and a powerful political and military leader; he will be anointed as our liberating king. Some years ago, I participated in a new translation/paraphrase of the New Testament called The Voice. I was assigned the books of Luke and Acts, and my assignment was to try to render the Greek and older English texts into contemporary terms that would make the meaning as clear as possible to people today. I struggled with how to translate the word Christ, and with this background in mind, I decided to use the term Liberating King. Today, I might simply render it Liberator instead. Many of Jesus' contemporaries dared to believe that he might be their liberator, their long-awaited Christ. Yet he refused to fulfill their expectations. They wanted him to unite and revive the people spiritually so they would go to war against their Roman oppressors. But Jesus wouldn’t comply, because he wanted to liberate people, not simply from violent oppression, but also from violence itself. “My kingdom is not of this world,” he once said. “If it were of this world, my disciples would fight.” So he dared to proclaim an alternative kingdom that would be planted nonviolently, like seeds in the middle of the existing one. He was flipping the script on what it meant to be “smeared” or anointed as the Messiah. Paul, when he was still called Saul, preferred the violent Messiah, and in fact he used violence to suppress the fledgling Jesus movement. Eventually, when he had a spiritual experience that convinced him that Jesus was in fact the Messiah or the Christ, it turned his life around. One of his favorite terms came to be “in Christ.” Just as “in the kingdom of God” is one of the key phrases in understanding Jesus, “in Christ” is one of the key phrases in understanding Paul. Think of it like this: in Jesus, Paul encountered the Christ, the Messianic or Liberating Spirit, moving in the world of his day. But the life of Jesus radically redefined his understanding of what Messiah or Christ meant. The way of the Christ was not a way of violence (as he once thought), but the way of nonviolent love. By repenting (having a paradigm shift, rethinking everything, having his whole world turned upside down), he came to see himself as part of this new liberation movement. Now, he was “in Christ,” in the Messiah, in the Spirit, a citizen, an ambassador, and an agent of God’s kingdom, a member of the body of people in whom the liberating work of Jesus continued, now in many human bodies instead of just one. Paul traveled around the Mediterranean world inviting people to join him “in Christ,” as part of the Spirit’s movement for justice, peace, and joy (see Romans 14:17). Paul’s vision, as I understand it, was that the world would be transformed as more and more of us offered our “bodies as living sacrifices,” meaning opening our lives so that the Christ, the Messianic Spirit, the Spirit of liberation and love, could fill us, transform us, and empower us to do what the Christ manifested in Jesus: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. In-Christ people would be messianic people, people being healed and liberated so they could be sent out to heal and liberate the world through love. The in-Christ people would learn to live a new way of life with a new code and a new vision and a new identity (which is what a kingdom is). Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and anointed (smeared, marked as messianic) to preach good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberation to captives and freedom for prisoners. When we join that movement of love and liberation, when we enter “in Christ” (in the messianic movement), we become participants in the ongoing embodiment of Jesus, which is why we can be called “little Christs” (the literal meaning of Christians). Sadly, this meaning of Christ and Christian has been largely lost. Now, to be a Christian means little more than to belong to an institution or assent to a list of beliefs. (Some so-called Progressive Christians still understand Christian identity as a matter of beliefs. They just uphold different beliefs than their conservative counterparts. They’ve changed their beliefs, but not their fundamental understanding of Christian faith as a way of life rather than a system of beliefs.) This helps explain why the behavior of so many, if not most Christians, is so far from messianic. Nobody ever actually explained the real good news to them, the real good news that the Spirit of love and liberation is at work in the world, and if we will rethink everything — our values, priorities, purpose, even our politics — we can join the liberation movement! When we “get” the original understanding, I think we quickly discover that the messianic Spirit, the Spirit of love and liberation, doesn’t care about labels. As Jesus said (in John 3 and 4), the Spirit blows and flows where it will, and is happy to work with any willing people, whatever their label. If all this is true, then a number of other insights follow. For example, if “the Christ” means the presence of the Spirit of love and liberation, and if this is another name for God, then we would expect, as Richard Rohr says, to be able to see Christ “in every thing” through the universe, and as Rowan Williams says, we would expect to see Christ “at the heart of creation.” And if the Spirit of Christ, the Messianic Spirit, the Spirit of love and liberation is not the wholly owned subsidiary of one person or one culture or religion (as the story of Pentecost surely indicates), then we should expect to see the Christ showing up everywhere … even in us, and even in our neighbor! In that light, just as Moses didn’t want to hoard his spiritual power and role, but said, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Numbers 11:29), we can see why Jesus didn’t want to hoard the title “Christ.” Jesus was happy to share it and spread it far and wide. Just as he said "I am the light of the world," he also said, "You are the light of the world." As my friend Doug Pagitt explores in his excellent new book, Outdoing Jesus (Eerdman’s, 2019), Jesus wanted his disciples to be like their teacher, and to even do greater things than he did. He wanted us all to be filled with the messianic Spirit. He wanted us all to be embodiments or incarnations of the Spirit of love and liberation. As he was in the world messianically — for its nonviolent liberation, so he sends us. So your question, Janet, isn’t just a theoretical one. It’s one that invites us all into the movement of love and liberation in our world today. Imagine what that could mean for the planet, for the poor, for peace, and even for politics … if more and more of us join God’s ongoing movement to liberate the world from all that steals, kills, and destroys, and to fill it instead with justice, joy, and peace! ~ Brian McLaren Read online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a member of the faculty of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He works closely with Vote Common Good, the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival, and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent projects include The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey and an illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story. Other recent books include: The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World). Brian has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors since the mid 1980’s, and has assisted in the development of several new churches. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings around the world. He has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations. A frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs, he has appeared on All Things Considered, Larry King Live, Nightline, On Being, and Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. His work has also been covered in Time, New York Times, Christianity Today, Christian Century, the Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN.com, and many other print and online media. Brian is married to Grace, and they have four adult children and five grandchildren. His personal interests include wildlife and ecology, fly fishing and kayaking, music and songwriting, and literature. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Ed I fundamentally agree with your theology (Progressing Spirit) but need a clarification. I once considered myself an atheist (after FINALLY abandoning a strict Southern Baptist brainwashing). However I now consider myself an ‘a-theist’ vs an ‘atheist’. This to me means I have abandoned the Biblical personal God. However, I cannot pull away from ‘Universal Mystery’; especially when I see a real merger of that Mystery with modern Quantum Mechanical concepts. Just wondering if you too have ‘a hole in your soul’. A: By Rev. Brandan Robertson Dear Ed, Thank you so much for sharing a bit of your spiritual journey with us. I want you to know that your spiritual journey is very common. I bet that many, if not most readers of Progressing Spirit, feel the same way that you do. During the season when I was leaving the evangelical Christianity of my youth, I too jumped to an atheist position. This was primarily a result of my belief that the Church, or its leaders, had access to or represented God; and if their God was supposed to be the real one, there was no way I could believe in him. But as my journey continued, as I have studied science, anthropology, and learned about the evolution of human consciousness - I became utterly convinced that there was a Divine Life that animates and is at work in the Universe. I never feel this more acutely than when I stare into a star-filled night sky and contemplate the reality that we are here, on this ball of dirt, floating in an expansive cosmos. This seems to be the most ridiculous and unlikely reality - and yet, here we are. And as I stare into the sky, contemplating the mystery that is existence, I can’t help but think that such beauty was created for a purpose. That there is some sort of design behind this all. That some consciousness, somewhere has carefully crafted the Reality that we experience. I think science is overwhelmingly beginning to point in this direction, and the indigenous spiritual traditions of our ancestors have, in many ways, always pointed our gaze away from ourselves into the expansiveness of the Universe, and invited us to wonder at the majesty of it all. In those transcendent moments, I feel that “hole in my soul” fill up for just a moment. And then I return to my rational, modernistic thinking and have all sorts of questions about the validity of religious claims, and I become skeptical of theism altogether once again. This rhythm of profound awe and deep skepticism is, I think, part of the spiritual rhythm of progressive people of faith. Rather than fearing or judging it, I think we are better served to accept it as a gift, to be honest about our experiences, and to continue walking this journey with others who are traversing similar terrain. I hope you can find that where you live, and I hope that you know that this community here on Progressing Spirit is on this same journey of skepticism and awe with you! ~ Rev. Brandan Robertson Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origin of the Bible, Part VIII: The Priestly Revision of the Jewish Sacred Story (B) Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 18, 2008 While the first wave of Jews entered the Babylonian Exile around the year 596, a second wave came in 586 after a rebellion was put down by the Babylonians and all of the identifiable descendants of King David were executed. Both groups of captive people carried with them their sacred story, which at that time consisted of the merger of the Yahwist strand from the dominant land of Judah, the Elohist strand produced by the breakaway Northern Kingdom and the book of Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic revisions of the entire text carried out probably by Jeremiah and the Deuteronomic writers with the encouragement of King Josiah. When they left their Babylonian captivity, which they did in waves from 50 to 150 years later, that text had been completely rewritten and greatly expanded by a group of priestly writers, one of whom appears to have been the prophet Ezekiel. Now the Jewish sacred story reflected two things: the Jewish struggle for survival, which they had accomplished by making isolation from their captors a primary religious requirement, and a new understanding of their ultimate mission in this world, which was to return someday to their sacred soil, rebuild their capital city of Jerusalem and restore their ordered life of worship centered, as it had previously been, in the Temple. It was the stated mission of the priestly writers to create such a deep sense of what it meant to be Jews that their identity would never again be compromised individually or corporately. This could only be done by asserting that their sacred scriptures were in fact the absolute law of God, that these scriptures expressed the will of God for them and that their obedience to the Torah must be total and complete. So the priestly writers edited the sacred text of the Jews to illustrate that the story of their ancestors included the mandates of Sabbath observance, kosher dietary laws and the absolute requirement that all of the males of the tribe be circumcised. They also wrote into the Torah rules that were to govern every aspect of their common life. Representing a monumental revision, the priestly writers set about to accomplish this literary task, and accomplish it they did. The opening segment of the Torah was rewritten to reflect God’s command at the beginning of the world that all Jews must obey the Sabbath. This was a new creation story, actually modeled on a Babylonian story of God creating the world in a specific number of days. It suggested that creation was accomplished in six days so that God could obey the Sabbath by resting from the divine labors on that day, thus setting the pattern for all Jews to follow. This creation narrative moved from the idea of the spirit of God brooding over the chaos of darkness to bring forth life to the story of how light was separated from darkness on the first day. On the second day a firmament to be called “heaven” was made to separate the waters above the earth, from whence the rains came, from the waters below that presumably at that time covered the entire planet. On the third day the waters of the earth were gathered into one place and called the seas, and thus separated from the dry land which was to be called the earth. This enabled the dry land to bring forth grass, herbs, fruit trees and vegetables to be used for food as soon as living things arrived. On the fourth day God created the sun to light the day and the moon to light the night, dividing day from night and creating both seasons and years. God was also said to have made the stars on that day. On the fifth day the fish of the sea and the birds of the air were created and ordered to fill the sea and the air. On the sixth day God made the beasts of the fields and “everything that creeps in the earth.” Finally, on that same day as the last divine act, God made the man and the woman, together, instantaneously, both in the image of God. These human parents were also ordered to be fruitful, to multiply and to fill the earth. The work of creation was now finished and God pronounced it to be complete and good. So on the seventh day God inaugurated the Sabbath of rest, blessed it and hallowed it; enjoining its observance upon the subsequent generations of the Jewish people as their sacred duty. This whole creation story was the product of the priestly school in the Babylonian Exile and was designed, not to inform people about what happened at the dawn of creation, but in order to make observance of the Sabbath the original and defining mark of Judaism. It was the opening salvo of the priestly writers’ campaign to reshape the sacred story of the Jews in order to aid their goal of tribal survival as a distinct group of people living in and through a critical experience. Once that purpose in the creation story is understood, then the other priestly editorial changes can be noted and understood. In the story about God providing manna to the hungry Jews in the wilderness on their original trek from slavery in Egypt to what they believed was their Promised Land, the priestly writers inserted new details to reinforce the Sabbath. The manna from heaven was said now to have fallen only on six days of the week so that neither God in sending, nor the people in gathering up this heavenly gift had to work on the Sabbath. When the priestly writers came to the story of the Ten Commandments being given by God at Mt. Sinai, they added their creation story motif to the Sabbath Day Commandment as commentary. The earlier reason for the Sabbath (see Deuteronomy 5) was that the Jews were to remember from their days of slavery in Egypt that even slaves are entitled to a day of rest. It had nothing to do with a creation story since that story had not yet been written. Now, however, that was the reason the Commandments gave for a strict observance of the Sabbath. The priestly writers then sought in their revision to locate each of the distinctive marks of Judaism in the earlier narratives in order to attribute them all to Moses. So the kosher dietary laws were written into the Book of Leviticus as the commands of God through Moses. Circumcision was placed into the stories of both Abraham and Moses as something mandated by God. The elaborate rites of Jewish worship were spelled out in detail and adapted to their exile status, so that they could be observed even in captivity. Synagogues, as local teaching centers, were established to compensate for the loss of the Temple. Even the story of Noah was adapted so that Noah would have on board sufficient animals to carry out all of the required ritual sacrifices without jeopardizing the future of any species of which there was supposedly only a single pair that made it into the ark. The revision process of the sacred story went on for perhaps as long as 200 years. It was thus not the product of a single author or even of a single generation, but it accomplished its stated purpose. It stamped an identity on the Jewish people that became indelible. The Torah or Sacred Scriptures of the Jews was now the Jahwist-Elohist-Deuteronomic-Priestly version. The text had more than doubled in size. Great chunks of new material had been added, mostly to govern worship and behavior. Priestly additions included almost all of the Book of Exodus after the story of Sinai (Exodus 20), all of the Book of Leviticus and significant parts of Numbers, as well as editorial revisions of the entire text. It may not have come into its finished form until as late as the fourth century BCE. There is a narrative in the Book of Nehemiah (Chapter 8) in which a group of the Jewish people, having returned from the Exile and having rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, were gathered “before the Water Gate.” There upon orders from the Governor, Nehemiah, Ezra the priest had brought to him “The book of the law of Moses” and he proceeded to read it to them in its entirety. This reading occurred, we are told, on the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish year. That was the day on which the New Year or Rosh Hashanah was to be celebrated and the people covenanted to be bound by this law. What Ezra read on that day was in all probability pretty much the substance of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Two results of this new text of the law of God through Moses would soon affect the pattern of Jewish history. First, the passion to keep separate from Gentile infiltration in order to survive as a recognized people in exile got interpreted, when they returned to their homeland, to be a passion for ethnic purity. Genealogies were kept so that people could demonstrate their blood lines and prove their unpolluted Jewish heritage. This led to purges of those husbands, wives and children who were not demonstrably full blooded Jews, as well as to the judgment, found in New Testament times, that Gentiles were by definition unclean and thus to be avoided. It also led to the violent prejudice against those who came to be called Samaritans. These were the descendents of the people who had been brought in to resettle the land after the Jews had been exiled to Babylon, who had intermarried with those few Jews who had been left behind. Not only was their Jewishness compromised, but their religion was also corrupted by foreign and thus pagan elements. This meant that prejudices went deep and were justified by appeals to the “word of God” found in the Law of Moses. In time this prejudice against both the unclean Gentiles and the heretical Samaritans would reach such high levels of intensity that it produced protest books like Jonah and Ruth that somehow managed to remain in the Jewish Scriptures. Jonah expressed God’s concern for Gentiles and Ruth suggested that even King David would not have passed the racial purity test. The other result was the elevation of the Torah into the status of being the “Holy of Holies” in the Jewish Scriptures and this led to the synagogue practice of requiring the Torah to be read in its entirety on the Sabbaths of a single year in the stricter observing congregations and over three years in those less strict. The essence of Judaism was said to be the “law and the prophets.” The Torah was the law. We will turn to the prophets when this series continues. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Climate Conversations: Dialogue in a Virtual Global Space Sometimes the most valuable conversations come about informally – a coffee break at a conference, a chance meeting on the street, an introduction at a community gathering, or a friendly greeting in a new setting. Global Conversations are an opportunity for informal dialogue in a virtual global space. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Celebrating the Completed Life of Shirley St. John.
by Lynda C 26 Nov '19

26 Nov '19

With fond memories of the journeys shared with the St. John family and celebrating a life of service and care. Another saint goes marching in! Lynda C. http://Outline.com/…/article_c4165f0e-0ca6-11ea-b80b-1b5929…<http://outline.com/www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/obituaries/shir…> <http://outline.com/www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/obituaries/shir…> HOOSIERTIMES.COM Shirley St. John, 88<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Foutline.com%2Fwww.hoosiertimes.…> Shirley St. John, 88 50John <https://www.facebook.com/ufi/reaction/profile/browser/?ft_ent_identifier=Zm…>

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11/21/19, Progressing Spirit: Brandan Roberts: How Progressive Christianity Can Save the World; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 21 Nov '19

21 Nov '19

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!important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0148869655 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0148869655 .yiv0148869655mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent, #yiv0148869655 .yiv0148869655mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templatePreheader .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent, #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templatePreheader .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templateHeader .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent, #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templateHeader .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templateBody .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent, #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templateBody .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templateFooter .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent, #yiv0148869655 #yiv0148869655templateFooter .yiv0148869655mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Christianity is inherently political. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | How Progressive Christianity Can Save the World | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Brandan Robertson November 21, 2019Christianity is inherently political. The faithful path taught and demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth was arguably just as much a political vision for the future of the Jewish people as much as it was a path to spiritual salvation. After all, the long-expected Messiah of the Hebrew Bible was always seen as a political savior, one who would establish justice and righteousness between the affairs of humans once and for all. One who would cause wars and divisions to cease and would liberate those who had been caught in cycles of oppression. One who would replace every other king and emperor’s failed political systems with a divinely orchestrated government that would lead to the flourishing of the nations. This is the messianic tradition to which those of us who follow Jesus are laying claim. The declaration “Jesus is Lord” is a declaration of political as well as spiritual allegiance to the one whom we believe is the rightful ruler of humanity. While we know that this is true, progressive Christians have on a large scale been very resistant to engage in any way that seemed overtly political. We look to the Religious Right and see what is the very worst of Christian political engagement- powerful, privileged men finding ways to leverage their influence as faith leaders to cozy up to political powers and gain even more influence. We see a brand of Christianity that has sold its soul out to the agenda of a political party and its leaders, christening anything and everything that the party stands for as the Christian path. This corruption of Christianity for political ends has caused many progressive people of faith to pause and think twice before engaging as Christians in any political action. While this hesitance is clearly not unfounded, it has caused progressive Christians to forfeit a great deal of moral ground in our country over the past fifty years. We have refused to use our Christian values to cast a vision for the future of our country and the world that could inspire hope and ignite a deep political revolution that could change the hearts of millions of people. We have separated our spiritual beliefs from our political engagement, and what has emerged is a shallow, undesirable version of both. What is a political revolution for justice and equity if there is not a compelling, ancient spiritual grounding to argue for such a future? What is a faith that dreams for the reign of God to be manifest on earth as it is in heaven if there is no practical call to political action to make that vision a reality? What made Jesus such a compelling spiritual and social revolutionary was that he engaged both the political and the religious realms of his society without reservation. He spoke clearly about his political positions and his opinions about the political rulers of his day. He connected his spiritual and moral teachings to practical, political realities. When he told parables, such as “The Good Samaritan”, he was offering overt political commentary that was infused with spiritual wisdom. He understood that there was truly no difference between the political and the spiritual- both are dealing with the actions, desires, and possible futures of humans. The message that he taught in the Temple courts was relevant not just to the pious religious elites, but to the most irreligious passerby, because it cast a vision for a future that was for the common good of everyone, not just rewards for the faithful. One of the reasons I believe that progressive Christian denominations and organization have been facing such hurdles as we’ve moved into a new millennium is because we have allowed our faith to separate from our politics. We’ve overly bought into the extreme atheistic and humanistic positions that religion and politics have no business intermingling- which is not, by the way, what the idea of the separation of Church and State is about at all. And when our spiritual messages were removed from meaningful calls to engagement in the political affairs of our towns, cities, states, and nations, our version of Christian faith really did become irrelevant for a vast majority of people. Progressive Christianity became more about crafting theologies that could adapt to post-modern realities rather than about tangible transformation of lives, neighborhoods, and societies. And a Gospel without tangible transformation is not a Gospel worth believing… so people leave. As we stand in the midst of one of the most critical moments of human history, where the political future of the United States, and indeed the world, is in such great flux, and where the very survival of humankind over the next fifty years is a complete wild card, I believe that progressive people of faith have just the message that can bring hope and salvation to our world. We have a Gospel that takes into account the real challenges that humanity is facing, that offers real values and real solutions rooted in ancient narratives that have proven truthful for centuries. We have some of the greatest tools for organizing- namely communities of like-minded people who are waiting to take faith-rooted action for the common good, if only they were granted the permission to or had tangible examples of faithful political engagement. As we approach a new decade, it is going to be essential that progressive Christians begin to engage politically once again. It is essential that our pastors are not afraid to use our pulpits and our positions within our local communities to speak unambiguous truth to the public and to the powers that be. To name evil and injustice when we see it, while also naming potential solutions that are rooted in the wells of wisdom available to us from our faith traditions. It is essential that our local church gatherings transition from being museums of organized religion to community centers that utilize our religion for organizing as an expression of our devotion to Christ and to our neighbor. In this next era, progressive Christians must not be afraid to speak publicly, to engage elected officials, to create networks and organizations that unashamedly promote progressive values from a faith-based perspective. When we cast aside the weights of fear and complacency that have weighed us down and begin to once again have a sense of mission for why we exist as people and communities of faith, I believe we will regain our relevancy in culture and actually begin to shape the world in a meaningful way. The Gospel that we’ve been entrusted with will become compelling once again, because it will actually bring about the transformation and salvation that people are craving for so deeply. Progressive faith will become less about trying to convince people to join a sinking ship of institutionalized religion, and truly about joining a movement that is actually changing lives and the world. The actually has influence and power to make a difference. When I think about this kind of Christianity, I feel my heart leap. To be a part of a community that is actually at work to save the world through living out the Gospel of Jesus is why I first gave my heart to Christ so many years ago. And it turns out that this is the very kind of Christianity that, when reclaimed from the right, might just make me stick around the Church for years to come.~ Rev. Brandan Robertson Read online here About the Author Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Roy I’ve read so many books I had to stop because my head hurts. My reading has included the Bible twice from start to finish, Borg, Spong, K. Armstrong, Fox, Miles, Vosper, Felton/Murphy, Rollins, Aslan etc. I am not a scholar but was and am fascinated (Borg’s word) and driven to understand religion and my own spiritual desire. Anyway, I’m not there but have this overarching question before I continue my search.. what is God? If the traditional theistic notion has been debunked is there one Progressive view? We all use the same word and reference to something sacred but are all of your contributors and authors sharing the same meaning? If so what is it? Are we talking about a Buddhist mental thing or some other force in the world? A: By Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Dear Roy,Let me begin by saying that there is no “one Progressive view.” Indeed, one of the great gifts of a postmodern milieu is the freedom from a supposedly singular ahistorical perspective that dominates and devalues all others. That said, I believe there are common dimensions to a Progressive view: there is the inclusion of human experience both personally (phenomenology, psychodynamics) and communally (cultural studies), with all the incredible diversity that it necessarily embraces; there is also the integration of the complexity of various systems in and through which life unfolds. For myself, the existential longing within the Progressive view and what motivates my endless curiosity is the desire to know what is true about our experiences of Reality. Each author you cite has their own perspective and contribution to make to human spiritual inquiry. Freed from doctrinal blinders, what I find common to many, if not most of them, is the realization that Being is the Ground of what is Really Real. Being is not a mental category but the true nature of all that is. How that is so, well that is our amazing question. In many ways, Heidegger was correct – all roads of inquiry of what makes life possible lead to the exploration of Being. You speak of being “driven to understand religion and [your] own spiritual desire.” That is your starting place, that is your path. In your desire is your longing to realize your oneness with Being and that longing is your light, and it eschews ready-made answers. For me, no other question stirs the courageous human soul as the search for the true meaning of Being in our life. This is because “soul” is simply a word to describe Being manifesting as you, me, and every other phenomenon we encounter. The mystery is even deeper, because we can come to realize that we are Being. To come to know the true nature of ourself is to come to know Being. One of the gifts of Buddhism is that it always refers us back to the exploration of our own experience, our own sense of fascination, our own desire to understand. It wisely invites us to trust that to search for God is to explore Being, which means to be endlessly curious about your own soul’s journey.~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Read and share online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of St. Paul’s Church in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including I Have Called You Friends, Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms, and My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You and Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland. Visit Kevin’s Blog: Essential Living: For The Soul’s Journey. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origin of the Bible, Part VII: The Final Strand of the Torah, The Priestly Document (A) Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 12, 2008 Time after time we discover that it was the external events of human history that more than anything else shaped the content of those writings that would someday be called the Holy Scriptures. That should not surprise us since all books have human authors who live in a context of both time and place. Only those who ascribe a supernatural source to these ancient texts find this insight disturbing. There is, however, no rational argument in the world that would assert a divine origin for either the Bible or the Koran. We have already traced this interplay in the first three stages of the development of the Torah. This week we come to the fourth and final stage. The earliest document in the Bible was a 10th century BCE product of the dominant tribe of Judah, which focused on the power symbols of that part of the Jewish world: the city of Jerusalem, the royal house of David, the Temple and the high priest. It was written probably during the reign of King Solomon, but its ultimate hero was King David. We call it the “J” version for it referred to God by the name JHWH. The next strand of the Torah was a 9th century product of the Northern Kingdom, written after its successful revolution, which separated it from Judah, creating a second Hebrew state. The Northern Kingdom, which called itself Israel, was, not surprisingly, far more democratic in nature. Power was vested in the people, allowing them to choose and to dismiss their rulers. This version called god Elohim and was known as the “E” document. It also made Joseph, the favorite son of the patriarch Jacob, the hero of its story, not King David, as the “J” document had done. In 721 B.C. this Northern Kingdom was overrun and destroyed by the Assyrians, their people becoming in the process the “ten lost tribes of Israel.” The conquering Assyrians resettled the citizens of that defeated nation in foreign lands, where they disappeared into the DNA of the Middle East. A survivor of this crushing war, however, did escape to Jerusalem with a copy of the “E” document. In time this material was woven into the “J” document and the Jewish story was now the “JE” version, which remained for a century the scriptures of the Jews. In 621 BCE a “new book of Moses” was “discovered” hidden in the walls of the Temple during a period of Temple repairs. It was called Deuteronomy from “deutero,” second, and “nomas,” law. Under its influence a massive reform of Temple worship was carried out. We suspect that the prophet Jeremiah was a part of this reforming group that wrote, planted and discovered the book. When Deuteronomy was woven into the JE version, the Deuteronomic writers also edited the entire corpus, placing their stamp onto Israel’s history. This JED account was the Jewish sacred scriptures for only a brief time before Judah’s worst calamity unfolded. This tragedy began in 609 B.C.E. when Pharaoh Necho of Egypt sent troops to attack his enemy, the Assyrians, on the plains of Megiddo. King Josiah of Judah, the hero of the Deuteronomic reforms and an ally of the Assyrians, intercepted the invading Egyptians. In the ensuing battle, King Josiah, probably the most popular king of the Jews since David, was slain. Despair and fear now set in among the Jews. Assyria was declining and the Babylonians, led by their warrior king, Nebuchadnezzar, proceeded to defeat its army, destroy Nineveh its capital, and to replace it as the dominant power in that region of the world. In the early years of the sixth century BCE, Nebuchadnezzar consolidated his power sufficiently to begin a war of conquest. Sweeping out of the North, he conquered everything in sight before arriving at the walls of Jerusalem to begin a siege in 598. Jerusalem was eminently defendable, located as it was high on a fortress-like hill and possessing an internal water supply. It had not been conquered by a foreign army in the last 400 years. The Jewish strategy before marauding armies was to retreat into “Fortress Jerusalem,” where they always kept sufficient food supplies to wait out a siege. Normally, the enemy would grow weary and a negotiated settlement would be reached, leaving Judah free but poor. Jerusalem had thus developed an aura of invincibility, causing the Jews to assert that as the earthly dwelling place of God, God would not allow it to be either conquered or destroyed. The Babylonians, however, proved to be more persistent than any previous enemy and the siege lasted for two full years, by which time both the food and the weapons of war were exhausted. Even rocks and spears once hurled were not retrievable. Finally, the walls were breached and the Babylonian army poured in, destroying everything before them. Even God’s house, the Temple, was leveled. The Babylonians rounded up the captive people and prepared them for deportation to Babylon. Only the elderly and the physically impaired would remain. The period of Jewish history known as the Babylonian Captivity was about to begin. A puppet ruler named Zedekiah, of the house of David but loyal to Judah’s new master, was placed on the throne. All others were forced to march into resettlement in Babylon. This experience would remain the darkest moment in Jewish history until it was superseded by the Holocaust in the 20th century. These Jewish exiles left everything they knew. They would never again see the sacred soil of Judah. They were removed from their Temple with its sacred feasts and fasts, which had served to give a sense of order and purpose to their lives. They even assumed that to be removed from the Temple was to be removed from God. According to one of the psalms (137), the conquered Jews were taunted by their captors. The words of this psalm are plaintive: “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee O Zion. As for our harps we hanged them upon the trees that are therein. For they that led us away captive required of us then a song and melody in our heaviness: Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” They were destined to live as slaves or as a perpetual underclass in a land where the name of their God was never to be spoken in public. They did not believe that God could even hear their prayers in this foreign place. Their spiritual crisis was even deeper than this. In this primitive time the defeat of a nation was understood to be a defeat for their God. This meant that their God had been demonstrated to be impotent in the face of the gods of Babylon. Their God had in effect been destroyed. If they were to continue to be believers, they would have to be, to use a phrase I would coin some 2600 years later, “believers in exile.” They were now separated from everything that under girded their understanding of God. It was a crisis of dire proportions in which their God would either perish or grow. There were no other alternatives. Most ancient peoples did not survive such an ordeal. This norm had in fact been the fate of the people of the Northern Kingdom. In only two or three generations they had completely lost their identity and were soon absorbed into the general population, becoming what we now call the “ten lost tribes of Israel.” The only hope a conquered people had for survival lay in their ability to remain separate and distinct from their neighbors, thus making it impossible for amalgamation to occur. The Jews now lived with the ultimate hope that someday, in some unknown future their descendants, if still cohesive and recognized as Jews, might just have the opportunity to return to their homeland and rebuild their nation and Jerusalem. This hope became their dream and the ultimate value for which they lived while in captivity. Included among those who were taken into exile was the man we know as Ezekiel, along with a number of other priests. Almost inevitably they became the new leaders of the exiled people, moving at once to build and to install into the consciousness of these conquered people the virtues of remaining separate from the Babylonians and to guarantee that their descendants would cling to the dream and the tribal duty of returning someday to their homeland. In the service of that dream these priestly leaders identified three essential marks of Judaism that they set out to stamp so deeply on the psyches of their people that they would serve to keep them separate from the others in Babylon. First, they reintroduced the Sabbath, making it the sign of their national identity. These Jews became known as those strange people who refused to work on the seventh day. This custom disrupted work crews to which they had been assigned as laborers, causing frustration and anger to grow among the Babylonians, but it also served to identify the Jews as “different,” perhaps weird, thus aiding the Jewish desire to remain separate. Second, these priestly leaders urged upon their people the adoption of kosher dietary laws, mandating that the food that the captive people ate had to be prepared in kosher kitchens. This meant, effectively, that all social discourse with those who were not Jews was cut off. Since Jews could not eat with non-Jews, this meant that there was little chance that close relationships could ever grow, since most human relationships develop in the act of eating together. Third, these priestly leaders revived the practice of circumcision as the distinguishing mark of Judaism, literally cutting that mark into the bodies of every Jewish male at the time of puberty. This made it impossible for a Jewish male to hide his Judaism from the world, which also served to make intermarriage difficult. The plan worked. The Jews became a people separate from all others. All of these practices were seen to be religious mandates. Ezekiel and his priestly leaders then decided that the sacred story of the Jewish people had to be revised to include these mandates as part of Jewish life and practice from the very beginning of their nation’s history. They now undertook a major editorial revision of what had been the Yahwist-Elohist-Deuteronomic story of the Jewish people. This fourth strand of material was to be called the priestly or the “P” document and to its content I will turn next week.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Aquinas @ Orvieto with Matthew Fox Deepen your own spiritual journey as mystic and prophet A 5-Day Retreat, July 5-10, 2020 in Orvieto, Italy with Matthew Fox, Claudia Picardi, Meschi Chavez, and Gianluigi Guglielmetti and Rupert Sheldrake. Study the spiritual teachings of one of the greatest minds of Western civilization–Thomas Aquinas– with a preeminent scholar of Christian spirituality, Matthew Fox, in the amazing Italian town of Orvieto, famous for its views and art, where Aquinas himself taught and preached. Orvieto is located two hours from where Aquinas was born in Roccasecca, and where he died at Fossanova Abbey. And 90 minutes from Rome or Assisi! READ ON... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Winds & Waves magazine reminder
by ICA International 19 Nov '19

19 Nov '19

Any problem reading this message please click or paste this URL in your browser's address bar http://windswaves.icai-archives.org/new-ww/ en français en español November 2019 This is a reminder for entries to our new Winds and Waves Magazine We are delighted to invite you to share your stories here via this link medium.com/winds-and-waves We also welcome videos that show the work you are doing. And we would be delighted if you would share stories from Winds and Waves on your own social media networks. For information about how to work with Winds and Waves on Medium: Please see attachment here Please be sure to send this invitation on to your ICA members and friends, colleagues, partners, family, so they too can participate. You can get further information by contacting us at icawindandwaves(a)gmail.com Best wishes, Robyn, Dharma, Roma, Rosemary, Isabel, Peter, for W&W team Published by The Institute of Cultural Affairs International, 401 Richmond Street, West, Toronto, ON. M5V 3A8, Canada All rights reserved. For more information or to unsubscribe, email: inform(a)ica-international.org

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11/14/19, Progressing Spirit, Forrester: The Courage to See; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 14 Nov '19

14 Nov '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7642291706 #yiv7642291706templateBody .yiv7642291706mcnTextContent, #yiv7642291706 #yiv7642291706templateBody .yiv7642291706mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7642291706 #yiv7642291706templateFooter .yiv7642291706mcnTextContent, #yiv7642291706 #yiv7642291706templateFooter .yiv7642291706mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } What an existential conundrum it is for us human beings as we long for someone to see us for the truth of what we are. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Courage to See | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. November 14, 2019What an existential conundrum it is for us human beings as we long for someone to see us for the truth of what we are, while at the same time fearing to be seen for the truth of what we think we are and that others might perceive. A very tiring dance. There is the all too resonant story told in 2 Kings of the Hebrews scriptures about an army commander, Naaman, who is suffering from a skin disease the author describes with the ancient catch-all leprosy. He is, we are told, a great man held in high favor. But he is plagued by this deplorable disease visible to all. Naaman travels to the entrance of the prophet Elisha’s house with the hope of being cured. The prophet sends him a messenger with instructions for cleansing. But Naaman becomes incensed and angry, turning away in a rage. The issue: Doesn’t Elisha know who he is? Can’t he recognize Naaman’s greatness, which is there for all to acknowledge if they simply look? But why feel enraged about being overlooked? Because the issue is the tissue of a deep and searing wound, which even if not visible, festers and enslaves the great man. There is more than a bit of Naaman in all of us. His condition is our own. We bear a mostly unconscious wound that twists our soul in knots of fear and confuses the longing of our heart, and often we erupt in anger or even rage when we are not taken as the image we project and hold so dear. Yet, we are also terrified of being seen for our truth. As I said, a very tiring dance, and it begins when we are so very young. Bliss and Wound To behold a mother cradling her newborn infant as her own heart regulates and settles the breathing of the child, as the two merge into one field of graceful relaxation that is warm and expansive and at complete ease, this union is a wonder of life. A newborn knows her mother’s voice amidst the cacophony of sounds rushing upon her infant ears. Very soon after, this little one’s eyes recognize the countenance of her mom. The mother’s and infant’s eyes behold each other in a river of love that eases into a graceful lake of which both are simply two peaceful waves. I believe in this experience lies much of the origin of what we call the beatific vision. The divine is self-expressing as two beautiful beings beholding one another: Deep unto Deep. The bliss is boundless. The child’s body completely relaxes, expanding as a sweet pink essence, as her soul is seen as its true nature: she is nothing but the Holy Mystery being embodied here and now. The soul’s deep longing is satisfied, and this complete satisfaction saturates this tiny being. The soul has been kissed from within by her deepest truth and intuitively knows it. Because the bliss is completely soulfully satisfying, its loss is a searing wound. Sometimes the loss comes at once as a traumatic rupture, but oftentimes it accrues slowly as the sensitive touch of Being upon the soul diminishes to a memory (a memory both alluring and haunting). The toddler between 9 and 14 months, with the newly discovered capacity to first crawl then walk, begins to separate and become an individual on an adventure. The infant’s life, once restricted to a relatively black and white spectrum of ankles and shins and table legs – explodes into the toddler’s technicolor panorama of life’s infinite expressions. Our Conundrum She steps out. She stops. She turns. Does mom see what an incredible thing is happening? Does mom see her? She does. The toddler is beside herself with joy. Mom is beholding her magnificence – not only what she is doing but who she is as the one that is doing it. Her being registers the mother’s beholding as a soulful seeing. But then, there inevitably are the times when she turns and mom does not see her. Mom is looking, but not appreciatively present. Mom is elsewhere (and there is no one to blame). Perhaps she is preoccupied with last night, or with tomorrow, or with tensions with her partner. Maybe simply exhausted. And so, the little toddler wonders, unconsciously, what must I do to get her to see me? This little child becomes someone who learns to perform so that mom will look her way. What surface activity will draw mom’s attention? We learn to act, regardless of how we feel, in such a way that mom, or dad, or whoever the important other is, will notice us, our greatness, our uniqueness, our beauty. But the trap for the soul has been laid – the action no longer reflects who we are, but who we believe we need to be for someone else to look our way and affirm our value. And, we come to believe that we are valued not for who we are, but for how we perform – how we appear. In fact, we become unconsciously terrified that who we are is not valuable enough, not beautiful enough, to be seen. We become afraid of being seen for what we believe is our true nature – something woefully deficient and unworthy of being beheld. We long and we fear what we long for. I find no better description of this human conundrum, this wounding of the soul, than that of A. H. Almaas in The Point of Existence. This loss of contact with our true nature, with Being, or with what I call the Holy Mystery, is the human narcissistic wound. We lose contact with the truth of who we are, and the result is a wounding hole in our soul which is unbearable. And so, we bandage over the wound, unhealed, with strips of the various identities we take on, identities that have garnered us the attention, the approval, the admiration, of others. The looks of others provide us with an endless supply of bandages. But the wound remains, and it festers without the air of truth to heal it. Every so often something pushes up hard against it and the pain can be both searing and crushing. We angrily demand to be looked upon and appreciated for all our accomplishments, for they reassure us of our wobbly worth. Like Naaman, we can explode with such hot rage, because we are so hurt. The wound runs deep within and way back to our childhood. What we are longing for, in part, is for someone to see us for the truth of who we are; to show us a way to recover and realize our soul’s vitality; to see through the false bravado of bandages; to behold our beauty undetermined by any accomplishment and untarnished by any failure; to behold us for the truth of who we are. And yet, we are terrified to be seen so naked and vulnerable. Faith: the Courage to See Such is the gift Luke’s Jesus offers the lepers in his story of chapter 17. Whereas Naaman’s bandaged persona has enabled him to be looked upon as a great man, these lepers are people stripped bare even of names. They are looked upon as a blatantly raw category. They are a disease that causes dis-ease. No beauty. No value. Eyes look upon the surface only, in order not to see. Their presentation appears both dismal and abhorrent for the onlooker. Surprisingly perhaps, unlike with Naaman, the story speaks of no anger or rage in these nameless ones. That is because the soulful collapse of these homeless beings is almost total. They have no land, no place, no people. Their infinite soulful depth has been crushed to a scarred dermal surface. They believe that the story about who they are is true. They feel they are nothing. Until Jesus, the story goes, saw them. Like wobbly toddlers, these human beings take tentative steps, look up and --- Jesus does not look at them. He sees into them. He beholds their beauty. Beauty of the same divine essence as his own, which is why he can see them. There is no gap, no distance. They are of the one Deep and his seeing is an invitation to their souls to awaken to this inherent truth. His gaze is a direct and tender and strong beholding. His seeing is the Christic heart of perception born of the realization of his own unsurpassing beauty as an expression of the Holy Mystery. To awaken is neither easy nor for the faint of heart. We have lived with our anger, our rage, our collapse, for decades. The bandages may be old and ineffective, but we are used to them and they’ve come to feel like part of us. And so it is, for only one of these human beings does the gaze of Jesus land upon the soul as the Christic kiss of peace. This person, too, begins to see, to behold, their own beauty. There is no performance here to capture a glance. No need to look a certain way in order to receive love. The seeing is the initial realization of self-worth and self-beauty, of authentic selfhood. This is a gracious beginning made possible because Jesus saw them. Luke’s story ends with Jesus saying, your faith has made you well, which means the courage for ourselves to see into our own soul and discover its inherent and integral and unsurpassing beauty is wholeness making. This is the path of realizing our Christic nature. Faith here is the willingness to trust what we experience, not caring what others think or judge us to be, not caring what we have thought ourselves to be in the past. We move beyond looking, a move made possible because another was present and capable of seeing us as our true nature, regardless of our performance. And, we begin to trust what our Christic soul sees, and she sees unsurpassable beauty as her essence. ~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Read online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of St. Paul’s Church in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including I Have Called You Friends, Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms, and My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You and Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland. Visit Kevin’s Blog: Essential Living: For The Soul’s Journey. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Christina Why do some progressive Christians seem to ignore what the Bible says on gender, race and sexuality? A: By Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D. Thank you for that question, Christina from New York. I will declare for myself as a progressive theologian: I believe God is still speaking. Why would God stop revealing herself to us? She wants to be seen, known and loved (the Gospel according to Alice Walker in The Color Purple.) When the canon was closed on scripture, a committee decided on what would be in the Bible and what would not. Yes, they were inspired, those committee folk. Yes, Holy Spirit was hovering close by helping them to hear each other, but, more importantly, to hear God. And they were also human; maybe they put in the Bible what already resided in them. A bible birthed by human hands will inevitably fall short of the Glory of God. So, I try to bring my full self to my love of God. I listen with heart, soul and mind. I study the historical context of the writing and listen for what was being said or seen in that time. I prayerfully ask, what do these sacred ancient texts say to me now? How are the words script for my life? I cross reference words—what do they mean elsewhere? I don’t ignore the Bible, I love it. But each of us needs to be a critical reader, and a great listener, diving into texts with emotional intelligence. What does this text say to me or about me and my friends? To me? How can I live better? Most importantly, I ask, what’s love got to do with this text? This theology? I interrogate the Bible through the lens of love. Jesus made that hermeneutic abundantly clear. What’s love got to do with it? Everything! ~ Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D. Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D. is the Senior Minister of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City. She is a nationally acclaimed activist, author, public theologian, and organizer of an anti-racist multicultural movement of love and justice. She has been featured in The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and on The Today Show, CBS, and MSNBC. She write The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leading Multiracial and Multicultural Communities, and also wrote a book with her husband John called The Pentecost Paradigm: Ten Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Evolution and Homosexuality: The Twin Terrors of the Christian Church Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 2, 2008Where is it that Christian people today focus their anger? One has only to look at the content of current ecclesiastical debates, listen to the rhetoric of church leaders or examine the issues upon which the church divides into two competing camps to have your answer. The two things that elicit the most fear, that bring the deepest threat to Christian people, are evolution and homosexuality. First, look at the data regarding evolution. The ink was not dry on Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of the Species before the Christian Church mounted a counterattack. It came in the person of Samuel Wilberforce, the Anglican Bishop of Oxford, who challenged a Darwin spokesperson, Thomas Huxley, to a debate, held at the Oxford Museum of Natural History. The record of that debate, however, reveals that Wilberforce engaged in the tactics of ridicule. Unable to deal with the message, he attacked the messenger. From that day to this the English speaking world has been increasingly aware of Darwin, while Wilberforce has long been forgotten. That is what happens to losers. Between 1910 and 1915 Darwin’s thought began to trickle down to Middle America, giving birth to a new attack. This time it was evangelicals associated with Princeton Theological Seminary, who felt compelled to counter evolution in the name of “true” religion. They began a world wide assault on Darwin by publishing weekly tracts that went to hundreds of thousands of religious leaders across the world making their case for biblical literalism and its anti-Darwinian bias. Two things were noteworthy about this early 20th century effort. First, these evangelicals called their tracts “The Fundamentals,” thus giving that word its birth as the name of literalistic Christianity. Second, this effort was funded by a massive grant from the Universal Oil Company of California, or Unocal. It would not be the last time in American history when oil money would unite with right wing religion to achieve a political agenda. Next came the Scopes Trial in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, that pitted Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan, riveting the nation’s attention to a battle described as pitting Satan and evolution against God and the Bible. John Scopes was found guilty of teaching something “contrary to the revealed word of God in Scripture” in the public schools of Tennessee. He was fined $100, a fine that was never paid. The primary effect of this trial was to cause evolution to be discussed around American dinner tables across the land. Then came the evangelical effort to get “Creation Science,” later repackaged and perfumed as “Intelligent Design,” taught by command of State Legislatures as an alternative to what they called the “Theory” of Evolution. Massive money was poured into this effort, but it also failed when these state laws were struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on which seven of the nine sitting judges were the appointees of conservative Republican presidents. There can be no doubt that Christian leaders felt and feel threatened by Darwinism. The second threat felt in the church today is over homosexuality. In every church throughout the nation a debate rages that is so intense that churches are literally splitting apart. International Anglican leaders have sacrificed their moral competence and their credibility by suggesting that “church unity” is more important than confronting ignorance and prejudice. The Vatican consistently issues statements calling homosexuals “deviant” and refusing to support ordinances at every political level requiring homosexuals to be treated equally in areas of employment and benefits. Roman Catholic rhetoric has attempted to defend that church against child abuse by blaming it on “a few homosexual priests,” as if pedophilia were the same as homosexuality. Benedict XVI’s first act as pontiff was to announce a purge of homosexuals from the priesthood. After the priestly abuse scandal faded a bit from the news, this order was modified to keep “aggressive homosexuals” from “entering” the priesthood, a tacit admission that if homosexual clergy were to be removed from the church, the number of priests, bishops and cardinals, already in short supply, would be diminished to unsustainable levels. Evolution and homosexuality are clearly the twin terrors that grip Christian emotions negatively today. I believe these two fears are more deeply related than most imagine. Darwin’s threat to Christianity went far beyond the perceived assault on the accuracy of the seven day creation story, which was the focus of the first Christian attack. The real threat lay elsewhere. Darwin had challenged the fundamental Christian understanding of both human life and salvation in so profound a way that he could not be ignored. If Darwin was correct, Christianity was wrong. Christianity talked of a God who had created a perfect and finished world. Darwin spoke of an ongoing creative process, continuous evolution, and a universe still expanding. Christianity defined human life as “just a little lower than the angels.” Darwin saw human life as arising out of a four plus billion year process involving a tooth and claw struggle until we achieved the status of being defined as “just a little higher than the apes.” Christianity said human life began in perfection, but soon fell into sin by disobeying God’s command, which resulted in our alienation from God. This loss of perfection was called “Original Sin,” from which we were told that we could never extricate ourselves. Only an invasive act on the part of a supernatural deity could rescue us from our brokenness. Jesus was that divine rescuer. He was referred to as the savior of the sinful, the redeemer of the lost, and the rescuer of the helpless. Darwin’s thought countered this idea. Life for Darwin had never been perfect so it could not have fallen, which of course means that it also could not be restored to a status it had never possessed. Original sin was thus out, the depravity of human life was out and the necessity for divine rescue was out. Human evil did not emerge from the fall, said Darwin, it was a product of our evolutionary history, an expression of the fact that we are still struggling to achieve full humanity. God’s act in Jesus could not be for the purpose of rescuing the fallen. Thus Darwin challenged the basis on which the Christian religion was understood and proclaimed. Only by convincing human beings of their fallen, sinful states could the church’s message of divine rescue be possible. In the theology, liturgies and hymns of the church the sense of sin and depravity was drilled into the human consciousness. No Christian was allowed to escape the chronic sense of unworthiness. Throughout history the Church has trafficked in guilt, the gift, we note, “that keeps on giving.” Christian theology begins not with the love of God, but with human sin and its fall. When we sing of God’s amazing grace, we discover it is amazing only because it saves a “wretch” like you and me. Our liturgies pronounce us “miserable offenders,” people in whom there is “no health” or wholeness, those not worthy to gather up the crumbs from the divine table. Worshippers are made to say “Have mercy on me” constantly. The church has told babies that they were “born in sin” and thus must be baptized lest they perish, and that as adults that they can do nothing good without God. It is a debilitating message and it comes at us from every corner of church life. Protestants are told that “Jesus died for your sins;” Catholics are told that the mass reenacts the sacrifice that Jesus made for their sinfulness. Both are little more than guilt messages. One sometimes wonders how congregations absorb this negativity so passively or why it has any appeal. >From the insights of psychiatry we now know the powerful truth that people who are abused, hurt and violated tend to become those who abuse, hurt and violate. It should not surprise us, therefore, to find in Christian history a pattern of constant and consistent victimization. Victimized people must always have a victim onto whom their defined negativity can be transferred. That is why the Christian Church throughout its history has always had a “designated victim” who could be publicly persecuted, someone to absorb the self hatred that this understanding of God forced us to bear. First it was the Jews and we Christians made anti-Semitism a shameful fact of history. Then it was the heretics whom we burned at the stake with clear consciences. Then it was the scientists who keep whittling away at our certainty. Next, in rapid succession, it was people of color whom Christians enslaved, segregated, dehumanized and isolated; then it was women who were forced to accept second class status; and finally, it was the homosexual persons, who became the newest victims of our guilt-laden religion. Our definition of homosexuality as “a deviant, immoral and evil lifestyle” justified our hostility. Darwin’s ideas threatened this strange, hostile theology on which the Christian Church built its power. Homosexual prejudice is thus only the newest battleground on which the church seeks to preserve its view of life and to justify its continued negativity toward its human victims. It is no wonder that resisting Darwin and repressing homosexuality elicits both the energy and the anger that it does in Christian circles today. What is really going on underneath the church’s attempt to defeat evolution and to repress homosexual persons is a struggle between a dying theology, based on false premises and manifesting itself in centuries of abuse, and a new, human, celebratory theology that is struggling to be born. In this new theology the call of the Christ figure is not to rescue the sinner so that the sinner can become the abuser of others; it is rather to empower us to become so fully human that we do not need a victim to victimize, but can become a new humanity, people who are not struggling to survive, but who are capable of giving our life and love away. A fully human Jesus, a new way besides sacrifice to view the cross and a new meaning to be found in the earliest Christian creed that in Jesus God has been engaged will be the hallmarks of this new theology. It is time for the Christian Church to make this shift in a conscious way.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Read More... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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11/07/19, Progressing Spirit: Jacqueline J. Lewis: A New State Religion Called Love; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 07 Nov '19

07 Nov '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1513499527 #yiv1513499527templateBody .yiv1513499527mcnTextContent, #yiv1513499527 #yiv1513499527templateBody .yiv1513499527mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1513499527 #yiv1513499527templateFooter .yiv1513499527mcnTextContent, #yiv1513499527 #yiv1513499527templateFooter .yiv1513499527mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } There is so much rancor and hatred in the name of religion... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A New State Religion Called Love | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D. November 7, 2019 I’m just back from a trip to Chicago to be with my Dad, who turned 85, and my siblings. While looking for birthday presents that would ship quickly, I was struck by the plethora of ornaments, Santas of various sizes, red accessories, and gold-trimmed dinner wear with hollies in the center. Retail Christmas was in effect, right after Halloween!!! Although that’s annoying, I love Christmas. The Christmas story is the greatest story ever told. It's why we're still telling it two millennia later. We're telling it all around the world. The story of God who loves the world enough to come all the way down to be present in the world, not as a soldier, but as a teeny, tiny, vulnerable infant. A baby who needs to be nursed when he's hungry, who needs to have his nappies changed, who needs his blanket in order to fall asleep. He can't fend for himself; he needs a community to love him into adulthood. This is the greatest story ever told. The same God who spoke the universe into existence; the God who blew spirit into the world; the same God who animated the Ha'adam, "the human one;” the same God who sent judges and prophets to teach and raise the people comes in history; the same God that hears the cries of God's people and rescues them from bondage-- that same God enters into a time of occupation and oppression to once again rescue the ones God loves. God showed up in a particular time and place, in a particular politically tough time for God's people. In a particular town, God showed up, hovering over the one called Miriam. She is with child. They travel, she and Joseph, 80 miles from their hometown to the place where there is no room in the inn. It's a particular time and place and a particular kind of baby. It's a Jewish baby. The Gospel writers help us to understand, it's an African-Semitic baby. That's what Matthew's genealogy is all about. It's an African-Semitic baby, born in a scandal. "Hello, Joseph; it’s me, Mary. I'm pregnant, but God did it." I'm sorry, that's scandalous. Somebody believed it, but lots of people didn't. So, it's an unwed mother having a Jewish, poor, Israeli, Palestinian baby boy with a stepfather named Joseph who stuck around when he didn’t have to. This is the way God chose to come. That's how God showed up. To the marginal places, to the edgy places, to the scandalous place, to the un-reputable place. That's what God chose to do, which tells us a whole lot about God, about God's preference for the edge, God's preference for the margins, God's preference for the dispossessed, the outcast, the ne'er-do-wells, the funky shepherds-- and they were funky-- finding their way to the manger where the baby's lying in the place where the cows eat. God goes there. That's God there. This is the greatest story ever told, and sadly, this story, this amazing story of God's intervention to those occupied, those on the edges, God coming to heal the whole world--this story has been hijacked by empire and co-opted by greed. What do I mean by hijacked by empire? As soon as Constantine sees the cross in the sky and makes Christianity the state religion, it's empired. The church mirrors the world, rather than critique it, or call it to a higher consciousness. The church blesses oppression and derision as a way to convert people to a religion that is so far removed from faith in the God who is simply called Love. Let's watch the crusades march across Europe and torture Muslims to be Christians. Let's exterminate Jews because they're not Christians. That's what I mean by hijacked by empire. Neither that brown, Jewish baby in the crib nor the man he grew up to be demanded allegiance to power and greed. He didn’t ask for Christian armies to destroy the world in the name of God. I'm talking hijacked by empire. And what do I mean by co-opted by greed? Who is that little white, shiny baby on the Christmas cards with sparkling snow cascading on his blond, haloed head? I don't mean any harm, white people, but really. Have you been to Israel? There might be one blonde baby in the whole state. What happened? How did this story get commodified? How did Europeans get to be in the center of it? How did shopping get to be the main event in so many so-called Christian spaces? God came to the margins, my friends. God came to the powerless, to the poor, to the disenfranchised, to the ones overtaxed and overburdened. That's where God chose to show up. We only have a Christmas to celebrate because Mary and Joseph took their little Jewish baby to Egypt and were welcomed there. That's a poor, brown, homeless, refugee baby. How in the name of Jesus can we cage migrating children, profit off the suffering of migrating people, and build jail cells to enlarge the coffers of the prison industrial complex? How in the name of the brown one, the poor one, are brown and black people dying from state-sanctioned violence? How dare we not welcome the stranger when it was the stranger who taught us how to love? We need to get back to the story. If we go back to the story, if we skip the Christmas cards, if we skip the tinsel and go back to the story, we find there the meaning of life. Love comes all the way down and puts on baby flesh. That’s Love in the manger, wrapped in little Afro-Semitic baby flesh, swaddled in bands of cloth. That's Love in the manger, needing a mommy and a daddy and a village to hold it. That's Love in a manger needing us to raise Love, to make Love everywhere. There is so much rancor and hatred in the name of religion, in the name of Jesus, in the name of God. What if this story is not about running up our credit cards to buy things people don’t want or need, and is actually about a bold new religion simply called Love? What if Love were the state religion? When the baby grew up and was asked, "What does it mean to be faithful? How do we do this?" That rabbi, that African-Semitic rabbi said, "Love God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself." Love God with everything. Love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, Love, period. I think Jesus was saying that everything else is commentary. Everything else. So, we are on the way to the Christmas holiday. People of many faiths and people of no faith will put up a Christmas tree, and stimulate the economy with the purchases of gifts. I’m not saying don’t buy a tree or gifts, I am saying let’s get back to the story. Let’s reclaim the story of God loving us enough to come as us to change us. Recall when asked to explain what love looked like, Jesus told the story of a so called other—A Samaritan. Even more striking is God chose to come as an “other,” someone outside the power structure of Rome, to teach us how to love the outsider in. I serve this amazing congregation in the East Village of New York—Middle Collegiate Church. I came to study Middle Church and its leadership when I was earning my PhD at Drew University. I wanted to understand how to disrupt the racial inequities and tensions in our nation by building the beloved community. My dissertation became a book, The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leading Multiracial and Multicultural Communities . I also wrote a book with my husband, John, called The Pentecost Paradigm: Ten Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation . On any given Sunday, I wish you could see what I see from my pulpit. We are Black, White, Asian, Hispanic and Indigenous. We love everybody. We look all kinds of different ways. This is what is required of us. This is the religion that's simply called Love. This is the religion of Yeshua ben Joseph-- Mary's boy, Joseph's baby. When asked how to do this thing called the way, Jesus said love God, neighbor and self. You are not required to speak any particular language. You don't have to say any particular creed. You don't have to come from any particular ethnicity or race. Your culture doesn't matter. Your gender doesn't matter. Your sexual orientation doesn't matter. All that matters, that you love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself. He means love, period. Love, period. Love, period. Love, period. ~ Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D. Read online here About the Author Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D. is the Senior Minister of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City. She is a nationally acclaimed activist, author, public theologian, and organizer of an anti-racist multicultural movement of love and justice. She has been featured in The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and on The Today Show, CBS, and MSNBC. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader Was Jesus’s treatment of women radical enough to call him a feminist? A: By Rev. Irene Monroe Dear Reader, The human picture of Jesus and his relationship to women we may never know. However, the Christological depiction of Jesus in the Gospels shows an itinerant rabbi whose ministry was inclusive, intersectional, and iconoclastic. Jesus ministered to women, the physically challenged, the poor, and all of society’s outcasts, meaning the damned, the disenfranchised, and the dispossessed. He exhibited pro-feminist male sensibilities that violated the gender norms of his day. For example, in Luke 13:10 - 17, Jesus healed an infirm woman on the Sabbath, which was prohibited in Judaism. Another example is John 4:1-42, when Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman at the well. In this pericope, Jesus did three things unconventional and disturbing to the status quo of the day: In public, Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman knowing she had five husbands and was presently cohabiting with another man. Jesus asked to drink water from the bucket of a Samaritan at a time it was perceived to be ritually unclean because of the schism between Samaritans and Jews. In verses 21-26, Jesus and the Samaritan woman discuss theology that was solely the province of men. Women, unquestionably, were a part of Jesus's ministry. Sources suggest that Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna assisted in bankrolling his ministry. Each of the gospels states that women were the first Jesus revealed himself to as a resurrected Christ. Mary Magdalene traveled with Jesus and his disciples as one of his followers, and was a witness to his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. However, a different Jesus appears in Matthew 15: 21- 28 when Jesus calls a Canaanite woman a dog. For any feminists, Jesus’s remarks are both troubling and problematic, and calling a woman a “dog” is no minor insult even in the 1st Century. Nonetheless, there continue to be various hermeneutical spins on this text. Some feminists suggest Jesus was expressing both ethnocentric and misogynistic sentiments. It was quite common for 1st Century Jews to call Gentiles “dogs.” Feminist apologists contest that Jesus’s remarks to the woman were testing her faith. I suggest the woman’s boldness of not cowering to Jesus was a catalyst for Jesus to examine the true meaning of his all-inclusive ministry. This scripture still leaves me scratching my head. One bad incident, if out of character, doesn’t erase Jesus's ministry. However, I wonder when I read this Matthew pericope, which Jesus was present- the human one or the Christological one? Thank you for your question. ~ Rev. Irene Monroe Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Irene Monroe is an ordained minister. She does a weekly Monday segment, “All Revved Up!” on WGBH an NPR station, that is now a podcast, and a weekly Friday commentator on New England Channel NEWS. Monroe is the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail, Guided Walking Tour of Beacon Hill: Boston’s Black Women Abolitionists. She is a Huffington Post blogger and a syndicated religion columnist in cities across the country and in the U.K, Ireland, Canada. She writes a column in the Boston home LGBTQ newspaper Baywindows, Cambridge Chronicle, and Opinion pieces for the Boston Globe. Monroe stated that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American, queer and religious studies. As a religion columnist she tries to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Because homophobia is both a hatred of the “other” and it’s usually acted upon ‘in the name of religion,” by reporting religion in the news she aims to highlight how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy, but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism.” Her papers are at the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College Research Library on the history of women in America. Click here to visit her website. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together. Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Christian Art: Reinforcer of a Dying Literalism Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 21, 2008 I did not realize how thoroughly biblical literature has shaped Western civilization until I took a course offered by The Teaching Company entitled “Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance” taught by Professor William Kloss of the Smithsonian Institution. I was certainly aware that almost all Western art up until the Renaissance had religious themes and biblical scenes as its primary content. What I did not embrace was that during this time the vast majority of people could neither read nor write. This meant that the only way they could visualize the content of their religious traditions was through paintings or pictures. It was for this reason that the walls of churches were regularly decorated with paintings of biblical stories. These paintings focused primarily on the life of Jesus. Depictions of the Passion of Christ, with graphic portrayals of Jesus’ suffering, are commonplace. To keep religious fear at high levels and to make control of the behavior of the masses easier, there was also an emphasis on the chilling paintings of the Last Judgment complete with the devil, eternal flames and the torments of the damned. The reason that the “Stations of the Cross” were either painted or hung on church walls was to allow the faithful to envision the meaning of Jesus’ death, about which most of them would never read. With few people actually knowing the content of the Bible and certainly with no one sharing a modern critical view of biblical scholarship, the paintings of Christian artists determined for many the way the Christian story was communicated. What we need to recognize is that when artists painted Jesus scenes from the Bible they also assumed the first century view of both life and the universe that was reflected in these gospel writings. Heaven and God were just above the sky of a three tiered universe, deeply and closely related to this world. One thinks of the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo, which shows the finger of God all but touching the finger of Adam. Angels are treated by these artists as important heavenly beings, who come to earth not only with divine messages, but also to inspire human achievement. These angels are presumed to have the ability to care for holy individuals like Jesus of Nazareth. So Christian art portrays an angel announcing his birth to Mary, flying above his manger at birth, attending his needs at baptism, guiding him in the temptations, hovering around his cross at his crucifixion, opening his tomb on the day of resurrection and, finally, accompanying him as he ascends into heaven. The medieval world lived with a clear sense of a heavenly realm just above the sky and it was the common assumption that there was always maximum contact between the two realms. Jesus’ parables were treated by these artists as literal events. This was particularly true of Matthew’s parable of the last judgment and Luke’s parable of the Good Samaritan. Matthew was a particular favorite of the artists of the late Middle Ages. Such a well known artist as Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio did a whole series of Matthew paintings. Matthew’s medieval importance seemed to stem from the fact that this book was placed by the church fathers at the front of the New Testament and in that pre-critical time was believed to be not only the earliest gospel, but also to be literally accurate. Caravaggio’s painting entitled the “Inspiration of Matthew” shows him with an angel telling the evangelist exactly what to write, a sign of the commonly held belief that Matthew’s gospel contained inerrant revelations directly from God. It was not a human work. Another Matthew portrait actually showed the hand of an angel physically guiding the hand of Matthew so that every word of the text was not just divinely inspired, but divinely written. These artists captured the cultural view of the literal accuracy of the texts of the gospels. This view remains unchallenged in the minds of many to this day. Contradictions in the texts between two of the gospel writers seemed not to bother the artistic world. This was especially true in the popular portrayal of the nativity stories. A stable as the place of Jesus’ birth was a fixed item in the world of medieval art. The stable was assumed to be populated with a variety of animals, sheep and cows in particular. A star was frequently placed in the sky above the stable and wise men on camels were sometimes portrayed as among those present at the stable to worship and present their gifts. These items are of particular interest to me because not one of them is biblically accurate in any literal sense. People did not embrace then, as indeed many do not now, the fact that there are two quite disparate and highly incompatible accounts of Jesus’ birth in the New Testament, the earliest one in Matthew and the other one written some ten or so years later in Luke. These birth narratives have been hopelessly blended in the common mind and even filled with imaginary details. This process was aided in no small measure by the great paintings of Christian history. The facts are that in Matthew’s first and earliest version of Jesus’ birth there is no journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem because Matthew assumes that they live permanently in Bethlehem, in a specific house, so well identified that a star can actually stop over that house and bathe it in its light. So in Matthew there is no stable, no stable animals and no manger. Matthew’s story also gives us no angels, no shepherds, no circumcision and no presentation in the Temple. Matthew does tell us that Jesus and his parents fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod, returning to their Bethlehem home only when Herod’s death made it seem a safe thing to do. As a matter of fact, there is also no mention of camels in Matthew’s gospel as the means of the wise men’s locomotion. Tradition and Christian paintings, not Matthew, have put the camels into the Christian memory bank. In Luke’s second nativity story the details are quite different. Luke has no star and thus no wise men to follow that star. There is still no stable even in Luke. The stable is a fantasy creation of storytellers. Luke mentions only a manger, literally a feeding trough, and around that word our imaginations have built the stable. Luke makes no mention of the presence of animals at Jesus’ birth, because there was no stable in which to house them. People hearing this for the first time are so convinced they will argue until they actually read the text. There is also no innkeeper in these narratives who offers the “expecting” couple a barn, despite the fact that this character shows up regularly in our pageants. The angels appear in the Bible to Mary in Nazareth and they appear to the shepherds in the field, but nowhere in those familiar texts does an angel ever appear at or near the manger. None of these facts have stopped the artists of Christian history from blending tradition, fantasy and mythology into their paintings. One should not be surprised that those paintings were viewed as literally accurate events of history. The Virgin Mary was also a popular subject of medieval art and the imagination of the artists built the Marian tradition quite in opposition to biblical facts. Neither Mary nor Joseph receives a single mention in the writings of Paul (51-64 CE). In Mark, the earliest gospel, the name of Mary is mentioned only one time (6:3), and then by a critic of Jesus who wonders at the source of his learning, “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?” he asks. Mary’s name is never mentioned again in the only gospel the Church had until the 9th decade. The myth of Mary is a late developing tradition. Mark did refer once to “the mother of Jesus (3:31-35),” but she is portrayed here as believing Jesus to be out of his mind and, with her other sons and daughters, tried to have him put away. It was not a flattering portrait, yet this was the only image of the mother of Jesus in the first gospel to be written. In Mark’s gospel she is not mentioned as being present at either the crucifixion or the resurrection. The mother of Jesus was also not present at the cross in the second gospel of Matthew or in the third gospel of Luke. Only in the 10th decade work of John did she finally get placed at the scene of the crucifixion. The Fourth Gospel had Jesus commend her to the care of the “Beloved Disciple,” who, we are told in that text, took her immediately to his home. Even in the Fourth Gospel, however, Mary is not present when Jesus died nor did she have any hand in taking him from the cross. One would not know that from Christian art. Her grief at the cross was conveyed in thousands of paintings. She was pictured cradling his deceased body in her arms in the popular Pietas and most recently in Mel Gibson’s biblically falsifying motion picture, “The Passion of the Christ.” Facts do not seem to matter when a painting is made or a motion picture is produced. It is the power of these images that makes it so difficult for modern Christians to escape a culturally imposed literalism. Stained glass windows in churches across the world encourage it. Paintings in the great museums of the world assert it. Liturgies shaped primarily in the 13th century reinforce it. The familiar hymns of the Church imaginatively reenact it (“Here betwixt ass and oxen mild, sleep, sleep, sleep, my little child,”) In the universe that we inhabit there is no heaven located just above the sky from which angels can travel constantly to make divine pronouncements. The world portrayed in Christian art and in regular ecclesiastical usage quite frankly no longer exists. When the essence of our faith is portrayed as relevant only inside a world that to us does not exist, one cannot help but wonder whether or not that faith can have any future. It does not unless we are able to lift whatever the essence of Christianity is out of the world in which it was first articulated, then translate it and finally cause it to be heard in the accents of the world of our knowledge and experience. That is the Christian task. There are grave doubts, I submit, as to whether we have the ability to accomplish this task since our great artists have so powerfully reinforced our cultural literalism. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Alchemy of Our Collective Wisdom and Power November 16th, Plymouth Church, Seattle, WA At a time when the world appears to be cracking and we are dealing with hopelessness and despair on many fronts. At a time when we come face to face with the reality of failing systems and the insecurities that they bring… it is at this time, we believe in us. What is before us requires the wisdom, courage and compassion of women and men of all cultures and walks of life working together. We know that collectively we have within us, the wisdom and power to create a world where we thrive. Honoring Seattle for igniting the spark that would become the epic movement of our time… inspired by The Dalai Lama’s Seeds of Compassion 10 years ago, we now bring an event that invites us to listen carefully to what’s next, self-discovery and moving compassion into action. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Back issue 10/31/19: Progressing Spirit: Irene Monroe: Rethinking Forgiveness; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 06 Nov '19

06 Nov '19

Back issue: 10/31/19 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rethinking Forgiveness | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Irene Monroe October 31, 2019 "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" in Luke 23:34 has always troubled me, because it is the first of the seven utterances by Jesus on the cross. I've been taught that the act of forgiveness is a sign of spiritual mettle and grace under fire. And, as an African American, the act of forgiveness appears to be our immediate go-to place in the face of unimaginable racial horor done to us. Black Christians give away forgiveness like it's confetti, and white Trump evangelicals give it away sparingly, if at all. And, in Trump's case, he neither asks for forgiveness, nor does he give forgiveness. For example, in a 2016 interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Trump shared "that he doesn't regret never asking God for forgiveness and doesn't have much to apologize for." While forgiveness is foundational to growth, healing, and restorative justice- whether religious or non-religious -there are various ways we use forgiveness. Either it can enhance healing and create positive change in our lives, or it can cause tremendous harm by maintaining the status quo. And, there is a distinction between individual forgiveness and institutional forgiveness. Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger fatally shot Botham Jean in his apartment. His younger brother, Brandt Jean, could have never fathomed a conflagration would ignite offering forgiveness and a hug of his brother’s killer. Brandt took the witness stand and spoke directly to Guyger, stating, "I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you" and then hugged her before she was led off to prison. Some saw Brandt’s action as demeaning and dismissive of Botham’s murder, especially in light of the numerous unarmed black males killed at the hands of white officers across the country. Many queried, if the roles were reversed, would Guyer’s white family do similarly. Others contested that was not the point because Brandt's action was that of a good Christian. Brandt’s efforts have been compared and lauded to that of the black parishioners of "Mother" Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, who forgave white supremacist assassin Dylann Roof. Roof's motive was to start another civil war. Brandt's act of forgiveness I understood as healing himself and honoring his brother. "I love you just like anyone else, and I'm not going to hope you rot and die," Brandt told Guyger in the courtroom. "I want the best for you because I know that's exactly what Botham would want for you. I think giving your life to Christ is the best thing Botham would want for you." Brandt's action is an example of individual forgiveness. Forgiveness, in this instance, is a gift you give yourself for healing. It's a feeling of inner peace, and a renewed relationship with self. On the other hand, Judge Tammy Kemp giving Guyger a hug and her personal Bible before she was led off to prison I found unforgivable. Kemp turned to John 3:16 and told Guyger, "This is where you start. He has a purpose for you." Kemp’s actions are an example of offering institutional forgiveness on behalf of her actions. As a guarantor of justice, Kemp represents the laws and values of our American court system. Kemp collapsed the separation of church and state in her courtroom by giving Guyger a Bible, further devaluing a flawed judicial system that disproportionately and unfairly treats black and brown lives trafficked through it. Many felt Kemp, who is African American, should have known better in this era of BLACK LIVES MATTER. Her actions toward Guyger would be perceived as absolving a white officer and siding with the country's culture of policing. In the face of continued racial violence done to us, I now must question if our church teachings of forgiveness of the last centuries are serving us well in this new century, particularly with the resurgence of white nationalism. Forgiveness is one of the essential tenets that runs deep in the theology, prayers, and songs of Black Christianity. When families of Emanuel church victims stood in court in 2015 and stated one-by-one, they forgive Dylann because their religion advises them to do so, the nation was in awe. In awe, too, Roof's family said, "We have all been touched by the moving words from the victims' families offering God's forgiveness and love in the face of such horrible suffering." However, four years later, family members of the victims are still struggling. Jennifer Berry Hawes captures their struggle in "Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness." Hawes questions the moral mandate of expressing forgiveness by black people as deriving from dominant and racist ideologies that serve the ruling class. "So when one has been irreparably and tragically wronged by another, it bears asking: Who benefits from my forgiveness, and what does being the better person have to do with my loss?," she states. The expectation of forgiveness is quickly drawn along marginal lines within religion, race, class, gender, and sexuality, to name a few. Within these marginal groups, too often, the theologies and praxis of forgiveness avoid fully reckoning individual or group pain, suffering, and the lingering effects of trauma, grief, and even rage. Also, embracing the Christian belief of redemptive suffering does not symbolize the mettle of one’s strength, but rather, in my opinion, it is participating in one’s own oppression due to an unhealthy and toxic indoctrination about forgiveness. Offering absolution is a personal matter. However, as one whose identity intersects several marginal groups- black, female, lesbian- I must raise Hawes question.“Who benefits from my forgiveness? I no longer allow my Christian indoctrination to forgive to automatically override my self-interrogation of why I should. I now make the distinction between blind obedience versus reasoned faith. And, I must remember, while Christianity is not a toxic religion, the form of Christianity taught to my ancestors was not to make us better Christians but rather better slaves. ~ Rev. Irene Monroe Read online here About the Author The Reverend Monroe is an ordained minister. She does a weekly Monday segment, “All Revved Up!” on WGBH (89.7 FM), a Boston member station of National Public Radio (NPR), that is now a podcast, and a weekly Friday commentator on New England Channel NEWS (NECN). Monroe is the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail, Guided Walking Tour of Beacon Hill: Boston’s Black Women Abolitionists (Boston) – Detour. Monroe’s a Huffington Post blogger and a syndicated religion columnist. Her columns appear in cities across the country and in the U.K, Ireland, Canada. Monroe writes a column in the Boston home LGBTQ newspaper Baywindows, Cambridge Chronicle, and Opinion pieces for the Boston Globe. Monroe stated that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American, queer and religious studies. As a religion columnist I try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Because homophobia is both a hatred of the “other” and it’s usually acted upon ‘in the name of religion,” by reporting religion in the news I aim to highlight how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy, but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism.” Her papers are at the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College’s research library on the history of women in America. Click here to visit her website. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Quinton It is Written in The Message, Ephesians Chapter 1, that Christ rules the Universe, all of it, from galaxies to governments, no one exempt from His power, He has the final say on all things. I have been trying to reconcile this for two years, to understand if this is a metaphor or actual truth, what is your perception? With all I see and hear in our world, it is difficult to reconcile our reality and the Word. A: By Rev. Jessica Shine Hi Quinton, and thank you for your thoughtful questioning. And also, I totally get it. There’s really not much encouraging right now that feels like this text could be true. In many ways it feels like a pipe dream or wishes for the distant future. So then…? Well, let’s talk about “The Message”. According to wikipedia, “The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language is a highly idiomatic translation of the Bible by Eugene H. Peterson and published in segments from 1993 to 2002. ... The Message is a personal paraphrase of the Bible in English by Peterson from the original languages.” Why is this important? Because Peterson was a lover of scripture and yet all interpretations have biases. However, The Message is not an interpretation of the text, it is a paraphrase. I’ll let you research the difference here as it is quite significant. The bottom line is that it’s most helpful to read Peterson’s paraphrase as one would a diary rather than a textbook or literal code book (see your states driver manual). An interpretation is relevant for a specific time, place, and location, as was the original text. When I’m studying scriptures a helpful exercise (for me) is to compare translations side by side. A few of my favorites are ASV, NASB, and TNIV. Although I have the luxury of having learned Biblical Greek and Hebrew and often refer to the original text (my preference), most people don’t have 3-4 years to learn these and their nuances, so we rely on a translation. A snapshot for a specific time. With all that, how do we interpret this text in a helpful way? Particularly since most of us don’t live with rulers or use this language? Well, did a ruler always get his or her way? No. Well, what was the point here? When we try to apply this literally we can run into speed bumps. However, in metaphor this becomes a bit simpler to understand and apply. In my opinion, one point of this text is that the author is trying to demonstrate how far reaching the Christs’ power was. Why? Because the author lived in a time when power demonstrated strength and authority, as well as legitimacy of a ruler. It’s what made you believable as a leader. Sometimes through sheer brute force or the ability to dominate a vast number of people. Yet if we look to Jesus’ life, that doesn’t seem to fit a literal interpretation. So, how does he rule? With kindness and compassion. Fierceness, yes, but also Jesus leads within community. In other words, he can (and does) change his mind (see the story of the woman in Matt 15 and Mark 7). Jesus also includes people that the dominant power try to leave out, namely women and other people beyond Judaism. The ‘energy’ (vv20-23) is defined just a few sentences earlier as the energy we receive by communion and friendship with Christ. While it seems that the writer is asking us to believe the legitimacy of Christ to rule Everything, it’s clear from the context that where Christ is most influential (and most impactful to Everything) is actually through the Church (people not place). In other words, Christ is powerful enough to have control over Everything, yet he is most interested in you. In giving you strength, and in mutual relationship that creates freedom not oppression. Where communities and individuals are living like this, and setting each other free, that is where Christ is alive and well. ~ Rev. Jessica Shine Read and share online here About the Author Reverend Jessica Shine earned degrees in theology and divinity, but still hasn’t figured out how to walk on water. Despite this, she was ordained to ministry by the Seventh-day Adventist church and continues offering spiritual care as a clergy member of The CHI Interfaith Community (based in Berkeley, CA). With two decades of experience serving church communities, police officers, hospital staff, and teenagers, Shine has a passion for people and a skill for communicating in transformative ways. Her spirituality began in childhood, was influenced by Jimmy Swaggart and Mother Theresa, and continues in the Pacific Northwest where she resides on Kalapuya land. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together. Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part VI: The Third Document in the Torah Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 14, 2008 The name of the Torah’s fifth and final book according to the Bible is Deuteronomy. That name comes to us from the combination of two Greek words: “deutero,” which means second, and “nomas,” which means law. Deuteronomy thus means the second giving of the law and in that title the story of the book’s origin is revealed. First, a quick review of what I have covered in this series thus far. We began by identifying the oldest strand of narrative material that is found in the Bible, namely that part of the Torah that is called the “Yahwist” version, written in the middle years of the 10th century. This narrative represented the history of the dominant tradition of the Jews, located in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. It extolled the centers of power in that part of the Jewish world: the Royal House of David that ruled by divine right; the capital city of Jerusalem, which was believed to be the place where heaven and earth came together; the Temple, the very dwelling place of God; and the High Priest, believed to be the authoritative voice of God on earth. This was the only sacred history the Jews had until a civil war, following the death of King Solomon, succeeded in separating the ten Northern tribes of the Hebrew people from the Kingdom of Judah and its satellite, the little tribe of Benjamin. This successful revolution removed the Israelites in the North from each of those centers of Southern Jewish power, the House of David, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple and its priests. The Jews of the North could thus hardly continue to use the Yahwist document as their sacred story, since that text judged them with its own words as rebels against God, God’s Temple, God’s city and those thought to be both chosen and anointed by God. In time this new country, born in revolution, established its own monarchy, but on a very different and more democratic basis. The king was now chosen by the people and thus was subject to removal by the people. A new capital city of Samaria was built and the ancient shrines in Hebron, Beersheba and Bethel were set up to be worship places to rival the Temple in Jerusalem. In time these tribes even felt compelled to write their version of their sacred history and so a court historian was chosen to do this task. This narrative would focus not on King David, but on the one they portrayed as Jacob’s favorite son, who was the child of his favorite wife, Rachel. His name was Joseph and he was regarded as the patriarch and founder of the Northern Kingdom. Because this new history referred to God as Elohim it became known as the Elohist or “E” version of the Jewish sacred story. These two rival kingdoms lived together side by side, although not always in peace, until the Northern Kingdom was defeated in warfare by the Assyrians in 721 BCE. The people of the Northern Kingdom were then removed by their conquerors to other lands and disappeared into the DNA of the Middle East. After this disaster, an unknown person brought a copy of the Elohist document to Jerusalem and in time the two sacred stories were merged into one document with the Yahwist tradition clearly dominant over the Elohist story. This merged version was then the sacred scriptures of the Jewish people for about a century. In 621 BCE in the Southern Kingdom, encouraged and shaped by a group of prophets, among whom Jeremiah was surely one, there was a growing fervor for religious reform. These prophets focused their hopes on a young king named Josiah, who had succeeded to the throne at the age of eight when his father, King Amon, was murdered by his own servants. Josiah was a king who, in the eyes of the prophets, “did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or the left (II Kings 22:1-2).” Perhaps that was because King Josiah was attentive to and a supporter of the worship of the Temple. When the king reached the age of 26, he ordered major renovations to be done on the Temple that presumably had fallen into some disrepair and neglect under the reigns of previous kings in the line of David, who had allowed many pagan practices in the Temple. This restoration of the Temple was hugely popular with the religious authorities and the prophets. During this restoration, however, a mysterious event occurred that was destined to shape the worship life of the entire country. First, the Book of Kings tells us that these renovations were to be done with the money collected from the people over the years and presumably not spent by previous kings. Second, it was ordered that no accounting of their expenditures would be required for “they deal honestly (II Kings 22:7).” Next came an “electrifying discovery.” In the renovation, perhaps hidden behind some of the plaster that was being torn away, the workers found a book that purported to be “a book of the law.” The book even claimed to have been written by Moses, who by this time had been dead for some 600 years. The book, discovered by Hilkiah the High Priest, was sent to the king by a man named Shaphan, who was described as “the secretary in the house of the Lord,” and it was read to the king in its entirety. When King Josiah heard these words, we are told that he tore his clothes in an act of public penitence because it was obvious that the “Word of the Lord” found in this book had not been obeyed by their ancestors. Next, a female prophetess named Huldah was produced and she declared, in her most solemn voice I’m sure, that unless the commands of this book were obeyed, God would bring “disaster on this place and its inhabitants.” Huldah went on to say that because the good King Josiah had responded with penitence and had “humbled himself before the Lord,” by tearing his clothes and weeping publicly, that so long as he was king these terrible punishments would not occur. This message was then delivered to the king. Josiah, empowered by the word of God that in this newly discovered book claimed to be the words of the prophet Moses and said by the prophetess Huldah to have the ability of holding back the wrath of God as long as he was alive, clearly now had the authority to proceed. The words of this new book were then read to the whole people and a new covenant, reflecting its values, was adopted and it was established that this book would henceforth govern their common life. A great reformation of the worship practices of the Temple and Judah was then carried out. The reformers removed from the Temple all the vessels made for deities other than Yahweh. All idolatrous priests were deposed. All houses of male temple prostitutes, associated with the fertility rites of the deity known as Baal, were closed and torn down. Religious shrines suspected of encouraging pagan worship were destroyed. All mediums, soothsayers and fortune tellers were put out of business. Josiah even went into what had once been the Northern Kingdom and destroyed the rival shrines in Samaria and Bethel. This reform also required that the Passover be celebrated only in Jerusalem, where its liturgical purity could be guaranteed. The prophets of Yahweh said of King Josiah that there had been “no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might, according to the Law of Moses; nor did anyone like him arise after him (II Kings 23:25).” One purpose of worship is always the human attempt to please the deity and thus to win divine blessing and protection. That was certainly the hope of those who engineered this enthusiastic reformation. They were also the ones who, in all probability, wrote, planted and “discovered” this new book of Moses. They then engineered the political campaign that led to its adoption. We do not know the names of the people who constituted this group of reformers although the prophet Jeremiah clearly seems to have been one of them. They are simply called the “Deuteronomic Writers.” By the power of their leadership in this reformation, however, they took the Jewish sacred story previously known as the “Yahwist Elohist” version of the scriptures and incorporated into it the Book of Deuteronomy, “the second giving of the law.” Then they set about to edit the entire sacred story into a consistent narrative until it became identified as the Yahwist-Elohist-Deuteronomic version of the scriptures. The third strand of material that would some day be called the Torah was now in place. The great hoped for protection of God that they believed would come to them if they only worshiped God properly, however, did not materialize. The distress and hard times that had fallen on the land of Judah not only continued, but seemed to intensify. The Book of Kings (specifically II Kings 23:26) recorded the fact that despite these wide-ranging reforms: “Still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, which his anger had kindled against Judah.” The Lord was heard to warn that just as Israel (the Northern Kingdom) had been removed from the face of the earth, so Judah (the Southern Kingdom) would also be removed, but not so long as Josiah lived. A few short years later, Josiah was killed on the battlefield of Megiddo by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, who was fighting against Josiah’s ally, the Assyrians. His death was so devastating to the Jews that Megiddo came to be thought of as the site where the ultimate battle that would precede the end of the world would occur. Armageddon is nothing but the modern spelling of Megiddo. The deluge that had been promised by the prophets to come only after the death of King Josiah now began to fall on the Jewish nation. It came in the form of defeat, devastation and an exile into Babylon from their land that was destined to last some three generations. It was in that desperate period of Jewish history that the final strand of material that was to constitute the Torah was written. Again, the earlier strands were edited in the light of this new material reflecting Judah’s new circumstances. We will turn to that story when this series continues. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Beloved Festival presents: Peia’s latest tour Oíche Na nAmhrán – The Night Of Song A deep dive into cultural transmissions from the ancestral heart of indigenous Europe, Peia pulls a thread from the ancient Irish and Scottish tapestry of music. Peia Luzzi is an American born song collector, writer and multi-instrumentalist based in the mountains of Southern Oregon. Like water from a deep well, she draws inspiration from her ancestral roots of Celtic and Old World European folk music. With the voice of a lark, Peia dances nimbly from Child Ballads and 17th C. Gaelic laments, to Waulking Songs, and Bulgarian mountain calls. Location: Eliot Center, Portland, Oregon Tickets (All Ages) are $23.50 in advance, $30 at the door READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Back issue: 10/24/19: Jessica Shine: Why The Church Must Die - Part 1; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 06 Nov '19

06 Nov '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7615541282 #yiv7615541282templateBody .yiv7615541282mcnTextContent, #yiv7615541282 #yiv7615541282templateBody .yiv7615541282mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7615541282 #yiv7615541282templateFooter .yiv7615541282mcnTextContent, #yiv7615541282 #yiv7615541282templateFooter .yiv7615541282mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Churchianity Specifically. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Why The Church Must Die - Part 1 | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Jessica Shine October 24, 2019 The church isn’t just dying. In many parts of the United States, it is already dead. At least, its impact is. The pews are still warm, the offering plates clanking with coins, and the bodies are present. However the church itself is wasting away and has become irrelevant. It has become a hall to rent or a historic building. And that must die. The Church must die. Churchianity[1] specifically. The elevatin g of an organization or institution, and its importance over that of Jesus, is what I mean by churchianity. Often in America, the words church and churchianity are virtually interchangeable. And this gospel of its death is really good news. I know, I know, ‘but my denomination is part of the fastest growing evangelical groups.’ ‘America is Laodicea (an oft misquoted reference to Revelation 3), when will we wake up!’ ‘But the church is growing outside of North America.’ And yet, since 1990 The Pew Research Center reports that Americans have dropped from 92% to 70% reporting they believe in God. Not a Christian God only, as this statistic includes Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other faith groups. “The recent decrease in religious beliefs and behaviors is largely attributable to the “nones” – the growing minority of Americans, particularly in the Millennial generation, who say they do not belong to any organized faith.”[2] Often considering themselves spiritual but not religious because Churchianity doesn’t align with a current understanding of social issues, including homosexuality. The church in North America is following suit behind its predecessors in Europe, where the demise of the mainline institution was exacerbated by its lack of relevance and over emphasis on a constructed building rather than human presence. In other words, crusades ended and life kept moving and nobody missed the church. Too often it seems the church is creating another crusade to prove its relevance, only distancing those who really want to know more about Jesus and encounter the Teacher. Before you roll your eyes, understand I love the Church and what she has given me: rich experiences of building community, fellowship in other countries, a deeper understanding of scripture, the challenges (and blessings) of building community in suburbia as a woman of color, the collegiality of (a few) brothers (and more sisters) in ministry who are able to show mutual support. And yet, I could write a third testament on what Jesus never actually said, but Churchianity has made a dividing line or test of fellowship. For example: - Jesus never intended to start an institution or another religion apart from Judaism. Spoiler alert: Jesus was a brown Jewish person from north east Africa. (Feel free to argue, but there is no ‘middle east’ state, country, or continent. That label is for oppressive religious, political and economic purposes). - Jesus never intended to compete with other mystical viewpoints of the Divine. I.e. Jesus’ primary audience was his Jewish communities and occasionally their immediate captors (the Roman empire), not Buddhists, not Hindus, not that weird church down the street you keep getting postcards from. - Jesus really is the point, not churchianity. In the gospels and the scriptures that follow, Jesus invited his community to two simple practices. These were echoes from the Tanakh (Jewish scriptures most Christians, including progressives, harmfully label as the old testament). The two pillars of Jesus' community were gathering together for meals and the sharing of resources (communion), and baptism (regular ritual cleansing). - The Church is not a building or an institution. It’s people and we’re messy. Churchianity must die because it is a tool of the modern supremacist empire crafted by political powers who want a system to control rather than commune. It is ancient, but emigrated along with Christianity to this continent under the guise of fallacies like manifest destiny. Churchianity emphasizes things Jesus never said (or did). Churchianity has bought into the empire ideology that bigger is better, and that we must have more in order to prove our relevance or importance. I recently saw a billboard advertising a ‘christian’ event that included the word ‘conquer’ in the title. Paul and Jesus had plenty to say about ‘conquering’ ourself and our ego, yet the church has taken these and other teachings and created a mandate for us to ‘fix’ each other, or make each other into an image of godliness the church says is sacred. Stuff Jesus never said. And yet…. We need connection with each other. We need to sit across from each other at meal time, to laugh together, walk together, talk together. Jesus knew this and surrounded himself with people who would never willingly choose to eat together, even with someone like him. Jesus often honored and challenged the community that raised him. Honoring his mother’s request for wine at a wedding party or inviting himself to dinner with a tax collecting traitor. Jesus inserted himself into uncomfortable spaces because he understood the value of communing together. And yet, we face a loneliness epidemic in North America that includes a stark disconnection to the communal spirituality of our ancestors. In fact, most Americans aren’t even conscious of how their ancestors viewed the Divine. Friendship expert, Shasta Nelson says, “We know more people in history, and yet we feel like we have no one to confide in… modern day loneliness is not because we need to interact more, it’s because we need more intimacy. Frientimacy is a relationship where both people feel seen in a safe and satisfying way[3].” Unfortunately, Churchianity defines how we see each other, and horrifically also defines how we navigate friendship. And yet, according to Nelson, the single greatest factor for life expectancy is meaningful relationship. Not diet, exercise, or social issues like smoking or drinking. Let that sink in. Jesus commanded his followers to love radically, yet Churchianity insists we must modify our behavior before we can have community. The church has lost its relevance as community and within community, and so it will die. We need connection with the Divine. Beyond the science that proves meditative and prayerful practices actually help our healing, we inherently have an openness to God, Wonder, Awe (the Divine who has many names or no name). Writers of Progressive Christian children’s curriculum know this and often invite more of that curiosity forward to help kids become learners, rather than receptacles of pre-decided information. We are born with an inherent awareness and desire for communion with God, yet so little of our daily routine fosters that. Within the church, connection to the Divine can feel even more narrow and difficult. Stuff Jesus never said or did in his own life has been used to keep us within the confines of Churchianity and out of the realm of communion. In the tradition I came from, I was inspired by nature based awareness and practices of pioneers like John Harvey Kellogg, who founded sanitariums (and invented modern breakfast cereal). Kellogg and others wrote about the benefits of fresh air, exercise, moderation. Spiritual teachers embraced this ancient wisdom in a time when our air was being poisoned by gun powder and factory exhaust. The founder of the denomination that ordained me often advocated for fresh, whole foods, adequate sleep, and avoiding extremes. Our modern American society hasn’t been built by people who want to make us happy or holy. It’s been built and is still maintained by people who want to produce more faster, and who have taught us that our worth depends on what we produce. Unfortunately, like many dying corporations, the church baptized itself in a meritocracy mindset. And now, we are reaping the consequences of those ‘founding fathers’ as well as the Jesus movement (birth of modern evangelicalism) and the Jesus seminar alike. This is something I’ll be unpacking in an upcoming article, please keep reading. And yet, the Jesus of the gospels stands in stark contrast to production (and deconstruction) as a means to a fulfilled life. For example, in the book attributed to Matthew, Jesus goes to the desert after a show stopping baptism, complete with descending dove and heavenly proclamation. Instead of engaging cheering crowds he retreats. What?!? Then, when he returns to civilization, Jesus turns down an invitation to power and instead spends time with the homeless, prostitutes, and is accused of being drunk. Imagine what would happen in your city if Christians did what Jesus did? He loves his small community, this band of misfits and mismatched beings. Then the strangest twist… HE DIES. Jesus doesn’t ascend the lectern and deliver a speech to the religious leaders motivating them for the next general assembly or offer a vision of evangelism for the next 10 decades. He dies. And he makes sure his community knows how much he loves them. He offers them bread, wine, and his body. Jesus makes sure his mother has community, that his brother has community[4]. In how he dies and in how he lives, Jesus honors the deep need we all have for communion with each other and with God. And when Jesus is resurrected , he STILL doesn’t establish himself on a throne or political banner (I don’t actually care if you believe the resurrection part because it’s not important to my point or the point of the story). Instead, Jesus does weird stuff like sneaking up on two of his friends walking and grieving, but he hides his identity[5]! He hides who he is and asks them questions so he can be with them in their grief. He invites them to be vulnerable, and in their vulnerability to invite community. Then he shows up while his community is actually doing what he modeled for them and gives one mandate: peace[6]. ‘Do all of what you have seen and experienced , and trust that the same spirit that empowered me is empowering you.’ Jesus says this to a room of mixed races, religions, and sexes. To a room of people without theological training or certificates, or linguistic and exegetical prowess. These are the people (not plutocracy) to whom Jesus entrusts the ‘good news.’ People who have serious doubts about each other, and will argue with each other, and may even despise each other. And when one of them can’t believe it because he wasn’t actually there, Jesus shows up again and offers peace! What would happen if the church offered peace in the midst of doubt? If those who profess to follow Jesus shared a greeting of peace with those in turmoil? Most of us don’t actually need answers in our doubt, we need communion. To know we are not alone. And yet, the Church in North America is dying. And the good news is that it must die. Churchianity must die because it isn’t the way of Jesus. In many ways the church has usurped the place of Jesus in importance. A building, an institution, and a theology have taken the focus rather than the way of peace. In an effort to make things cleaner, decisions easier, and more streamlined, the wrestling and messiness has been replaced by committees and mandates. In some ways, that has been helpful. However, it has also prioritized uniformity over unity, and created competition amongst denominations rather than communal compassion for a mutual mission: to further the peace the Teacher offered. In doing so, the church has also marginalized those varied people that Jesus brought together and trampled on the peace that was tantamount to those communal gatherings. So here’s the really hard part (if you’re still reading this ). For those of us who do love the church, where does that leave us? Not just the idea of church, but also the people. As ministers, we must help midwife a transition. In North America, this means owning the complacency and complicit behavior of the church, which, through the guise of evangelism, enslaves people of color and indigenous people to white Anglo-Saxon language and culture, and robs them of their legitimate heritage[7]. By leading our congregations to do this difficult work, first internally, then as a community , we can help midwife this transition of death. We must own the white-washing of Jesus that we inherited from Romanism, Europeans, and those early pioneers who weaponized it against Native Indigenous people. We must midwife the church to die a good death by living differently in our world. Not just driving less, or driving a different car, but by detaching ourselves from a narcissist capitalist system that keeps us in debt and addicted to what we do not need to be happy. Rather than industrializing the church, we as clergy, must help make the church smaller and more relevant. We must be willing to return to our prophetic calling of living in commune with each other and the Divine, as Jesus did. We must be willing to live as Jesus lived, and die as Jesus died, not as a martyr but as a person opposed to a system of oppression who offers themselves up fully. The church and Churchianity must die. And thank God, it is, so that what can be reborn, or resurrected, is a new Community. Messy, meaningful, community. I believe when the churchianity of North America dies, or implodes, it will make way for small organic, messy communities to gather like they did after Jesus death. Much like Jesus gathered to himself. Much like they have in villages and tribes for centuries. In homes, in coffee shops, and in nature we will gather because we are yearning to connect with each other and with the Divine. We will share each other’s joys and burdens, without need for an employed minister or an institutional affiliation. Egalitarian community was the vision of Jesus and is rising up now in our midst through Black Lives Matter and occupy movements. This uprising is among the greatest fears of the empire of Churchianity. The late prophet, Rachel Held Evans wrote, “Death is something empires worry about, not something gardeners worry about. It’s certainly not something resurrection people worry about.[8]” Death is part of the life cycle, yet so many christians are in denial about the church’s impending death, and even fewer want to believe that it must die. I was too, until I realized that there was no room for me in the Church. Not for my whole self. What hurt even more was realizing that there isn’t room in the church for the people Jesus called community. Which meant there probably isn’t much room for Jesus. I wonder how the Gardener will lovingly tend and prune those thorny branches that seem bent on destroying the vine and roots. Perhaps when the church dies, then we will return to our Communal roots as an ecological partner and child of this planet, along with our relatives the trees, and winged, and swimming beings. Maybe then we will be true students of creation ever growing in community. Communing with each other and with God. ~ Rev. Jessica Shine Read online here About the Author Reverend Jessica Shine earned degrees in theology and divinity, but still hasn’t figured out how to walk on water. Despite this, she was ordained to ministry by the Seventh-day Adventist church and continues offering spiritual care as a clergy member of The CHI Interfaith Community (based in Berkeley, CA). With two decades of experience serving church communities, police officers, hospital staff, and teenagers, Shine has a passion for people and a skill for communicating in transformative ways. Her spirituality began in childhood, was influenced by Jimmy Swaggart and Mother Theresa, and continues in the Pacific Northwest where she resides on Kalapuya land. [1] I first heard this term from The Rev Deshna Charron, who graciously cited The Rev Dr Megan Wagner, PhD. Perhaps there are others who have also identified this term. [2] US Public Becoming Less Religious, Article, Web:https://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/ [3] Nelson, Shasta Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness. Seal Press, 2016. Print. [4] John 19:25-27 [5] Luke 24:13-35 [6] John 20:19-29 [7] Deep Gratitude to my friend and teacher, Patricia St. Onge, and her offerings. Here is a helpful beginning guide for congregations:https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/make-it-right/indigenous-r… [8] Evans, Rachel Held. Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church. Nelson Books, 2015. Print. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Susan I am changing from beliefs I was taught all my young life as the daughter of a minister with Southern Baptist Church. Though I do think my Dad wanted to “step outside of the box” of traditional beliefs. Ever since being “missionaries “ to West Africa back in 80’s and 90’s and I returned back to US I haven’t been the same as far as my “traditional beliefs” go. I didn’t fit into any Baptist Church anymore. I have wrestled with this for 20 years. Didn’t think I could talk to anyone I knew fearing I would lose their friendship. I read most of Dr Spong’s book “Unbelievable “ and realized I identified with most of his thoughts and beliefs. But still how can I be honest and share what I believe with the people I grew up with? Don’t think they will speak to me again. And some are my family members. How do I share my new beliefs when discussions come up? A: By Toni Reynolds Dear Susan, What a delicate and powerful question. I can empathize with you in some ways. My parents were raised Southern Baptist and I have found myself struggling with the same question as I continue to find myself more settled in a set of traditions that often feel like 180 degrees and half a plant away from Christianity. I have noticed in myself that I had to get clear about my motivation to share my beliefs with my family, and with others in general. I had to decide if I was more interested in being right, or being understood. Or, if I was more interested in changing their minds, to help them “evolve” like me, or, if I just truly longed to speak with them about a piece of my spiritual life that was enlivened for me at that time. That clarity of intention matters greatly. People know when we’re engaging with them for ulterior motives, such as changing them or judging them. For matters like this, where it can feel like relationships are at stake, it is so important to move with certainty about why you’re sharing such a deeply intimate piece of information. In my own experience, when I offer my new thoughts as less of my own and more as other ideas that exist in the world, things have gone more smoothly. If I enter a conversation and take the posture of “I know this better” or some such, it has not gone well. This seems basic, but it’s a subtlety that changes the tone of a meaningful conversation. Know why you want to say what you want to say. Another aspect that has mattered greatly for me is adjusting what I expect of my family. I wouldn’t go to Dunkin Donuts and expect to order a Big Mac. As we grow and change we have to continuously check in about what we need and where we’re able to get it. If talking theology and spirituality enlivens you, and you don’t feel safe sharing those truths about yourself with your family, it may help to find some place to share your spiritual truths. If that’s the case, it will be important to properly mourn what it means that you’re family can no longer offer that for you. It need not mean that you disengage with them, but that you become more careful with yourself about how and what you share with them. We’re all on different journeys. Even that truth can be difficult to say in certain company. Still, when I can remind myself that everyone has the freedom to journey as they see fit, it helps me respect that mine may not be so well understood by others. So, when I find myself in conversations like the one you have in mind, I imagine finding a way to be “the curious one” in the conversation. Instead of answering their questions about what I believe, I often try and hear more from them about why they think and feel what they do. Are there things they believe that cause them to feel they’d be outcast if they said them out loud? Have they ever experienced something unexplainable? Something that doesn’t quite fit the traditional understanding of what’s possible or “allowed” by their faith tradition. Underneath the scripts and narratives they’ve memorized, are their differing thoughts, experiences that cause them to question. By centering my family in those conversations I have found that they share more similar feelings to me than I expected. And, I can leave the conversation with a better sense of the boundaries, what else actually can be talked about. A latent effect of this centering of their perspective every once in a while is that they have learned quite a bit about me, without my need to say anything specific. They have gathered enough information about my growth from my questions. Every once in a while they even surprise me with an intuitive read of where I’m located on a certain issue. It seems that we’re always learning about one another, even if it’s not explicit in a conversation. Susan, another challenging reality may be that you aren’t able to share your beliefs with your family. That may be a territory that you explore with a different set of select people in your life, people who “get you” in a way that your family used to. It may be that you only suspend this type of sharing with family for a short while. Change is happening all the time, they may be the next person you know to read Unbelievable and want to talk to you about it. Until then, ask yourself some questions about how you can feel like yourself without exposing so much of yourself that you lose precious relationships. Every relationship goes through seasons, and has its own set of expiration dates and limitations. It is possible, and normal, for this to happen between you and your family. I hope this was helpful in the midst of an uncomfortable aspect of human growth. I wish for you to find a way forward with your family that doesn’t jeopardize your emotional safety or integrity. There is definitely a way forward, I trust it will emerge smoothly ~ Toni Reynolds Read and share online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Universe, the Star of Bethlehem and Professor Alex Filippenko Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong April 30,2008 Whether I am on the lecture circuit, where I spend most of my time, or in my home a normal day for me starts about 6:00 a.m., when I go either to the hotel’s “fitness room” or to the first floor of our home to spend an hour or more on a treadmill. It would no longer be accurate to describe what I do there as “running” since, except for my warm up and cool down periods, I average a pace of somewhere between four and five miles per hour. My minimum goal each day is four miles and I rarely go beyond five. My other ambition is to burn over 700 calories each morning. Together my wife and I put over 2500 miles a year on a treadmill. I am confident that I would not keep up this long standing routine were it not for a second factor. While working on that treadmill, I am listening to books or lectures that come to me via tapes and CDs, or viewing and listening to university courses via DVDs. Reading books on tape has been a passion of mine since 1976, when I became aware existentially that the life of a bishop required an inordinate amount of time in an automobile. That was when I discovered that I could rent books on tape from a company in Long Beach, California, or get them free from my public library. The process transformed driving from drudgery into sheer pleasure. In those years I “read” on tape an average of 80 books a year. I am not a devotee of fiction, though I did read the complete works of Charles Dickens on tape about 20 years ago. My tastes rather run to history, biography, philosophy, science and studies in the fields of art and music. I like to read the classics that everyone knows about, but few have read in their entirety. I think of Charles Darwin’s “Notes from the Voyage of the Beagle” and his On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection. I have also read the multi-volumes series such as The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant and The Second World War by Winston Churchill. Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was another reading adventure. When I retired in 2000 my time in the car diminished so I transferred my passion for learning through recorded books to a treadmill, to long walks that I take with my wife and even to my hobby of cooking. To bake a strawberry-rhubarb pie while listening to a book being read on tape is a double source of joy. I carry a tape player with me like a piece of clothing. About a decade ago, I discovered through my public library something called The Teaching Company. This company searches out the best professors in America at universities and colleges, large and small, and contracts with them to put their courses on tape, CDs or DVDs, so that people like me can sit at the feet of the best teachers in this land, in effect returning to the university classroom. In this series I have taken such courses as the “Religions of the World” with Diana Eck of Harvard; the history of music, the history of opera, a course on the symphonies of Beethoven, the works of Mozart and the operas of Verdi all with Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, perhaps the finest teacher to whom I have ever listened; the “Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance,” taught by William Kloss of the Smithsonian Institution; “Shaping Philosophers of Western Civilization,” a course that began with Plato and Aristotle and journeyed through Augustine and Aquinas, before winding up with John Locke, David Hume, Benedict Spinoza, Emmanuel Kant, Rene Descartes, Blaise Paschal and many others, taught by Alan Kors of Princeton of the University of Pennsylvania. All have been thrilling breakthroughs for me in both acquiring knowledge and gaining insight. It is this learning experience that keeps me dedicated to the routine of daily exercise on my treadmill or in the hotel. I just recently completed the lectures, I think there were 48 in this series, entitled “Understanding the Universe,” taught by Professor Alex Filippenko of the University of California at Berkeley. Seldom have I experienced a more expansive vision of the size and majesty of the universe and of our place within it. Professor Filippenko is relatively young, obviously brilliant and clearly in love with his subject. He travels the world to view full eclipses. He follows every space probe, from the moon landing to the unnamed spacecraft that took pictures of Jupiter, with the glee of a schoolboy eating a banana split. He relates the debates among astronomers over such topics as whether Pluto should be called a planet or not with the same passion that marks the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry in baseball. He uses models to illustrate the relationships between various heavenly bodies. He explains why the consensus among astronomers is that the moon was created early in the earth’s history by a collision with the earth of a giant heavenly body about the size of Mars. This collision sent a massive chunk of the earth’s material into orbit around this planet, first as debris, but over an expanse of time, this debris formed itself into a heavenly body called the moon. Read On... | | | | | | | | Announcements Aquinas @ Orvieto with Matthew Fox Deepen your own spiritual journey as mystic and prophet with a 5-Day Retreat, July 5-10, 2020 in Orvieto, Italy with Matthew Fox, Claudia Picardi, Meschi Chavez, and Gianluigi Guglielmetti – Featuring a Special Visit by Rupert Sheldrake. Study the spiritual teachings of one of the greatest minds of Western civilization–Thomas Aquinas– with a preeminent scholar of Christian spirituality, Matthew Fox, in the amazing Italian town of Orvieto, famous for its views and art, where Aquinas himself taught and preached. Orvieto is located two hours from where Aquinas was born in Roccasecca, and where he died at Fossanova Abbey. And 90 minutes from Rome or Assisi! Register by October 31, 2019 for early bird price of $995. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Back issue: 10/17/19, Progressing Spirit: Toni Reynolds: Love Water; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 06 Nov '19

06 Nov '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7082464049 #yiv7082464049templateBody .yiv7082464049mcnTextContent, #yiv7082464049 #yiv7082464049templateBody .yiv7082464049mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7082464049 #yiv7082464049templateFooter .yiv7082464049mcnTextContent, #yiv7082464049 #yiv7082464049templateFooter .yiv7082464049mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Water’s presence in our reality is a precious, life-giving mystery. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Love Water | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Toni Reynolds October 17, 2019 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, we’re told that nothing existed except darkness and Water. As soon as God swept over the face of the deep, sound was used to command the emergence of light. From that moment forward a dance with Water proceeded, yielding all the elements of life we now know and struggle to appreciate. It wasn’t until recently that I read this creation account and heard so clearly the voice of Water. Everything that God called forth comes from the Water, everything we know in our world today was created except for Water, it was already here. Even among scientists there is continued debate about where Water came from, how it got here. No matter the angle, Water’s presence in our reality is a precious, life-giving mystery. Woman Stands Shining, also known as Pat McCabe, is a Diné/Navajo and Lakota activist, artist, and ceremonial leader. She reminds us that all the Water that has ever existed on earth, is still here. The closed network of our atmosphere has kept the Water used in ritual by our ancestors in close connection to us. Imagine, for just a moment, that this account of God sweeping over the Water to bring forth life is true. It would mean that the very voice of the Creator is still alive in the water we use and abuse with our individual and collective habits. If that creation account doesn’t work for you, imagine your own ancestors. Peoples who drank, sang, bathed, blessed, sailed, were displaced, simply lived -they all had access to the same water as you. This stirs something deep in my soul. To recognize the intimate connection with voices, stories, and songs from a time so long ago that I cannot even fathom the era. Even to think about the Water present for the ancestors of my own lineages - those stolen and first tortured on the waves between Africa and the Americas. The rivers used for cleansing, childbirth, baptism, and initiation... it sweeps me to a state of sheer bewilderment. How such a connection could be possible leaves me searching for healthier ways to be a part of this creation that has held so many human lives and stories. In a similar vein as the offerings from Woman Stands Shining, Dr. Masaru Emoto has left us with profound understandings of our creative connection to Water. Dr. Emoto’s Water study has reached worldwide recognition as it demonstrated the impact of positive, negative, and indifferent attention. It is a scientific way, to understand how our words help to create the world around us, Dr. Emoto’s study leaves me thinking about how Water responded when it first heard God’s loving, creative voice. I currently live near Newark, NJ. Recently I was in a neighboring city with my partner when we saw a flyer posted in city hall. It was information about an upcoming water drive. Thinking of the need to use an entire day to collect potable bottled water for residents of Newark, NJ angered me. Here there are whispers of Newark entering a water crisis equal to that of Flint, MI. Still, I wasn’t ready to accept how serious the water crisis is here in my area. It was troubling to see this flier. Poisonous water is such a deep disrespect of the world we have inherited, not only because it jeopardizes life for all living creatures, but also because most every major tradition of the world has so clearly stated how deeply tied to the Creator is our Water. It feels like we are disrespecting a loving parent. We are certainly missing the mark. As the Water crisis in my own neighborhood begins to mirror the Water crisis of cities around the world I begin to feel overwhelmed. Though my current spiritual life has taken me out of traditionally Christian practices, I can’t help but think about the presence of Water in the Christian traditions. Not only in scripture, just at the beginning of Genesis, but all throughout the Bible. Water parting in Exodus, Jesus baptized in River Jordan, Jonah in the whale in the sea, Jesus turning Water to wine, I’m sure you can think of others yourself. Water is everywhere. Even in the Teaching of the Twelve (or sometimes known as the Didache) are instructions about how disciples are to perform baptisms when Water is too scarce to use. That’s how central to the Christian practice Water was - it was central to the twelve-step manual for disciples. I wonder what would happen if we began to nurture a close relationship to the building blocks of life, central to so many traditions and all of life as we know it. My attempt here is to call attention to the ways our daily lives remain disconnected from the electric and vibrant reality of the elements that make up our world. To cultivate an acute awareness of the life that teems around us while our intellect, electronics, and logic tempt us into thinking that the world is dead and only available to use for convenience. I wish to encourage small habits, ritual, and focus that can be integrated into daily life, and ideally encourage you to participate in communal acts of gratitude and recognition of the elements. Personally, I am implementing a small practice of action in my daily life. Rather than remain in my head about these issues I am seeking for embodied, practical, life-affirming ways to demonstrate my faith and gratitude for this world we’ve been given. It would be easy to write for days about why we should be more careful of our water, both practically and spiritually. Regardless of levels of comfort to the Bible, it seems to me that each of us is responsible for having a personal connection with the things we rely on for life. So, let’s explore that. When someone brings your food to your table, you say thank you. If someone holds the door open for you as you enter a building, you say thank you. When Water stretches from the earth to your faucet, what do you say? I realize that talking about Water this way can cause a feeling of strangeness. Talking to creation is left for hippies, people who we perceive to have lost their minds, and prophets of times long-past. I think we can begin to normalize this idea of connecting with nature in our own moment of time. This way, we will know we’ve done our part to keep the Creator-made world healthy and available to all. In order to encourage repairing and establishing a connection with Water, I’m offering the suggestions below. They come from my own spiritual practice and participation in rituals with the traditions of beloved spiritual teachers, close friends, and family. They are, at least, versions of practices I have seen done by priests, monks, shamans, and healers. They are available to you even if you do not identify as a priestess, monk, pastor, or shaman. I hope you will consider implementing at least one as a way of doing your part to support the elements we depend on as well as to connect with the Divine Source. On the next rainfall place a small cup of Water on a windowsill until it is full. When it has gathered enough rain speak a prayer of gratitude into the glass. Give the Water to the plants in your home, inviting the wisdom of the sky and water to dwell in your inner world. Another option is to take that same blessed Water to the nearest park or outdoor space, even the front of the place where you live will suffice. Give the Water back to the ground, river, or lake, asking for your blessings to be carried as deep, far, and wide as is possible. Your song will seamlessly join with those of every person who’s ever prayed, creating connection where there has been fracture, healing where there has been wound, and vision where there has been destructive void. If you are in a place where rain does not frequently fall, implementing a small version of Dr. Emoto’s experiment remains a powerful option. Simply write a word, the name of someone you deeply love, someone to whom you aspire to be like, or a prayer of affirmation. Place the prayer under your container of drinking Water. Recite the word, name, or prayer before drinking. I love the power of three, so I recite the intention three times before drinking the water. However frequently you wish, allow your voice to be as the Creator’s speaking life over the Water. To honor the Water inside and outside of you, find a local river clean up project. Volunteer your time to the Water nearest to you. Check with American Rivers to see if they work in your area, and when they can use your help. Generally, this is a wonderful resource to learn more about Water, how our global systems are affecting it, and what you can do to shift things. There is no limitation to ways you can be in touch with Water. The more you learn about it, the more inspired you will become to create rituals that send your gratitude to Water. If nothing else, do what you can to become more mindful of the state of Water right now. You can always learn more about Woman Stands Shining. Further investigate the legacy of Dr. Masaru Emoto. Seek ways to support other Water Defenders around the world, simply type the words, or a variation of, into your preferred search engine and learn of ways to connect with people repairing the human relationship to Water around the world. Please enjoy every precious bit of water you get to experience, and be grateful for every drop of it. ~ Toni Reynolds Read online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader How should I respond if my young children take the stories of the Bible literally when I don’t believe in a literal reading? A: By Cindy Wang Brandt Dear Reader, Similar to the way you respond to children who believe in the myth of Santa and tooth fairies. As a family, you can choose to not participate in those particular myths at all, and from the get go, prioritize telling your children this isn’t real, these stories never happened, but you can enjoy them as fictional accounts that lots of people in the world have fun imagining. Perhaps this works for you, but to me, it feels like it robs children of a season of whimsy and delight. Or, you could fully immerse yourself in their world of imaginary thinking, and pretend with them it’s all real. Bake Santa cookies and tell stories of the elf’s adventures in the night. Although with this route, at some point when they outgrow their developmental stage of fantasy, you’ll have to contend with your white lies, as benign and well-intentioned they may be; and some children may not take well to this, breaching your trust with them. I think the best of both worlds is to affirm their imagination, honoring their brain development, and scaffold their understanding for more nuanced criticism as they grow into mature cognitive processes. It is possible to affirm their steadfast literal belief in stories while not necessarily endorsing their views. Validate their enthusiasm with open-ended questions, like, “Wow, you think that’s how it happened? How would you feel if you were Jonah in the belly of a big fish?” Entertain their imagination, not in a condescending way, but to participate in their mental world with empathy. When they begin asking direct questions like, “Mommy, did the fish REALLY swallow Jonah?” That’s a sign they are starting to mature and test the boundaries of fact or fiction. This would be a good time to scaffold our responses—challenging them to a higher-level of thinking without overwhelming them. Follow your child’s lead and interest to investigate with them how marine animals consume their food, whether humans can survive in the belly of animals. Let them connect the dots because there may still be a phase where they can hold both facts and fiction in tandem. And of course, as they grow into even higher maturity in teen years and beyond, you can engage in deeper discussions of how ancient mythologies came to be, and offer your personal beliefs in how you hold biblical stories as valuable (or not) in your own life. ~ Cindy Wang Brandt Read and share online here About the Author Cindy Wang Brandt is a progressive Christian writer, but she has not always identified as progressive. In fact, she grew up conservative evangelical and was a career missionary for 5 and a half years. Cindy's experienced a radical faith shift and writes often about how that shapes who she is today. Along the way, she became a parent. Trying to navigate parenting when your faith has and is evolving has been complicated—but nobody ever said parenting is easy. However, she is convinced that one of the best ways we can make an impact in the world is to invest in the slow, unseen labor of cultivating values of hospitality, creativity, equality, social justice, and deep spirituality in the next generation. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together. Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part V: The Elohist Document Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong April 23, 2008 Most people do not seem to realize that events in what we call the secular world of history shaped so much of the writing of the biblical story. When I get to the formation of the gospels in this series, it will become obvious that the Jewish war with Rome that began in 66 CE in Galilee and ended in 73 CE in Masada shaped the content of all four gospels in a dramatic way. In 70 CE, in the midst of that war, the city of Rome fell and the Jewish nation for all practical purposes disappeared from the maps of the world until it was restored in 1948 under the plan that had been set out in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. To read the gospels with no sense of the historical context in which they were written leads to dramatically ill-informed understandings. Not only did the cataclysmic effects of this war shape the apocalyptic “end of the world” chapters in Mark, Matthew and Luke, but I would argue that the story of Jesus” transfiguration makes no sense unless the reader is aware that the Temple in Jerusalem has already been destroyed. This is one of the ways that we are able to date the gospels so accurately. Likewise, in Jewish history a wrenching and datable split in the nation of the Jews was responsible for the development of the second strain of written material that would someday constitute the Torah. This split was basically between the Joseph tribes in the north that came to be called the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the powerful southern tribe of Judah, from whom the north chose to separate itself around the year 920 B.C.E. This Jewish division, however, had its roots in a far more ancient time. Some scholars even suggest that the escaping slave people from Egypt, about whom the book of Exodus writes so lavishly, were not all of the Jewish people, but perhaps only those who would later be called the Joseph tribes. Certainly Joseph is the central figure, according to the biblical narrative, in the settlement of the Jews in Egypt. At the time of their escape the narrative tells us that life in Egypt had degenerated for the Jews because a Pharaoh arose in Egypt “who knew not Joseph.” Joseph, according to the Hebrew memory that stretched back some 400 years according to the book of Exodus, had risen to power in Egypt, achieving a position in the land second only to that of the Pharaoh. The Torah said that Joseph had done this through his prescience and foresight that enabled him to build up the food supply in time of plenty and then to administer it in time of famine. This allowed the Egyptian nation to survive hard times. When the Jews made their exit from Egypt, the book of Exodus informs us the Jews took with them the bones of Joseph so he could be buried in the soil of his former home. Joseph was a figure clearly identified with the Jewish slave people who came out of Egypt. More Semitic people than just the fleeing slaves, however, were included in the Jewish nation and clearly made up the conquering army that overran the Canaanites. In defense of this historical reconstruction of the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, these same scholars see evidence in the Torah itself, that during the wilderness years the escaping slaves came together with other nomadic Semites in an oasis named Kadesh to form a common cause. Their common ethnic kinship was recognized, as was their common heritage. Eventually they formed a political alliance and began to think of themselves as a single united people, but organized in a loose confederation. Even their folklore made it clear that while they recognized their kinship, there was always a distinct difference between the two groups. This split was accounted for in the biblical story by suggesting that their father Jacob has actually had two wives. Leah, the first one, was the mother of Judah, whose descendants formed the tribe that settled the South. Rachel, the second wife, was the mother of Joseph, whose descendants settled the North. There were of course other tribes, indeed twelve it was said, but they tended to be satellites of the two major tribes. The Northern Kingdom was later called the “Ten Tribes,” while the tiny tribe of Benjamin tended to be associated with Judah as the remaining two. They were more an alliance than a unified people. The biblical book of Judges described this phase of Jewish history. Survival in that day, however, required them to become a strong and unified nation. The way to reach that goal was to have a king. The first king of the unified nation was Saul, who was a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul was not, however, able to bring about the needed unity or to pass the throne on to his son. The second king was Saul’s military captain, David, a member of the dominant tribe of Judah. About Judah’s power the Joseph tribes of the North were already apprehensive. David, with both military and political skill, unified the country and reigned for 40 years, passing on the throne to his son Solomon who, in turn, reigned for another 40 years. It was during the reign of Solomon that the first strand of the Bible identified today as the “Yahwist Document” was created to tell the story of the history of the Jewish people. As we noted in a former column in this series the “Yahwist Document” had a clear political agenda. It extolled the royal house of David, the capital city of Jerusalem and the Temple in Jerusalem from which the religious life of the nation was organized. The theme of this writer was that each of these centers of power was an expression of the will of God. To rebel against the king, the high priest or the city of Jerusalem was to rebel against God. Tensions, however, between these two ancient Jewish groups grew during the reign of Solomon as the people of the North felt that they were over taxed to provide the wealth of the people of Jerusalem. When Solomon died around the year 920 BCE the throne passed in an orderly fashion to his oldest son, Reheboam. The people of the North, however, were not ready to pledge their allegiance to Reheboam without some changes and so, led by one of their military generals named Jereboam, a delegation came to Jerusalem to negotiate their grievances with the new king. Those negotiations were not successful and when they collapsed the new, and perhaps rash, young King Reheboam decided that he must put this rebellion down with brute force. The people of the North, led by Jereboam, then organized for resistance and in the ensuing civil war won their independence. There were now two Jewish states: The Northern Kingdom that would build its capital in Samaria and the Southern Kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem. The only written narrative that either group possessed at this time was the Yahwist document that was so pro the institutions of the South that it would hardly do for the rebellious tribes of the North. That version implied that the Northern Jews had violated God’s chosen House of David, God’s dwelling place in the holy city of Jerusalem and God’s chosen high priest. It condemned all that they stood for and it did so in the name of God, so the Jews of the North began to feel a need to create a new version of the sacred history of the Jewish people. Once again a court historian was appointed, but now by the king of the Northern Kingdom, to write this story. The result was a second version of Jewish sacred history. There were many differences between the two documents. This writer called God by an earlier Canaanite name El or Elohim, so his work became known as the “Elohist Document.” For the Elohist writer Joseph, not David, was the hero. We see that idea develop in the story about Joseph being the favorite son of Jacob, his father. That is also why Joseph was said to have received the coat of many colors. Rachel, Joseph’s mother, was portrayed by this writer as Jacob’s favorite wife, while Leah, Rachel’s older sister and the mother of Judah, was pictured as having “eyes like a cow” and was actually thrust on Jacob by their scheming father, Laban. This “E” document also portrayed Judah as the evil brother who sold Joseph into slavery. He de-emphasized Jerusalem, relativized the Temple and reopened and re-sanctified the ancient shrines in the north. Finally the divine right of kings was dismissed by this writer, who claimed that the king was not chosen by God to rule the people, but was elected by the people and was, therefore, subject to the will of the people. If the king violated his trust, the people were competent to remove him. This was the claim that solidified the rightness of their rebellion against King Reheboam. While these differences were sharp, many of the stories in the two histories were nonetheless quite similar. By around 850 BCE the Elohist narrative appears to have been substantially complete. Now there were two Jewish nations, two kings, two worship centers and two sacred stories that were read in worship and each was called “The Word of God.” The two Jewish nations fought each other in numerous indecisive wars and formed competing alliances with foreign powers, frequently on opposite sides. When Assyria became the major Middle Eastern power, the Northern Kingdom joined Syria in armed resistance, while the Kingdom of Judah formed an alliance with Assyria and accepted vassal status. In 721 BCE the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom and exiled most of its people to lands under their control. Then they imported peoples to repopulate the land that had been the Northern Kingdom. In time these foreigners intermarried with the remaining Jews and their descendants became known as the half-breed Samaritans. After this defeat, however, some unknown person managed to escape to the South and brought with him or her a copy of the Elohist document. Over the years in Jerusalem the two sacred stories were merged. The dominant Yahwist version was given priority, but the Elohist story and the point of view of the lost Northern kingdom succeeded in being intertwined with it. By the turn of the century, certainly before 690 BCE, the sacred story of the Jews had become the Yahwist-Elohist version. The scriptures of the Jews were growing. There would be more changes and transitions to come, but this was stage two in the development of the Torah. Stage three will be discussed when this series continues. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The 17th Annual Community Multifaith Summit Introducing the Platinum Rule The Key to Building Community October 27th in Seattle, WA we are convening the 17th Annual Community Multifaith Summit, to bring diverse spiritual people together to engage with one another, learn from one another and plan ways to improve our communities. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Global Buzz November
by ICA International 06 Nov '19

06 Nov '19

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... Global Buzz Report: November 2019 Click above or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-19/2019-11-01.php And: read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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