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August 2019

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8/08/19, Progressing Spirit: Lauren Van Ham: And Like the Sun, Our Generosity Continues
by Ellie Stock 08 Aug '19

08 Aug '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateBody .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent, #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateBody .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateFooter .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent, #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateFooter .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } All around us we feel the well-worn groove of capitalism and competition | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | And Like the Sun, Our Generosity Continues | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Lauren Van Ham August 8, 2019 It has become so easy now to feel anxious, worried or irritable by the state of things, by the frantic commotion modeled all around us, focusing on just about everything except what’s actually important. Many of us have been following Greta Thunberg of Sweden; I consider her to be one of our new prophets. At 16 years of age, Ms. Thunberg is clearly, passionately speaking for humans everywhere when she asks the members of the European Parliament to panic. Greta says, “To panic, unless you have to, is a terrible idea. But when your house is on fire and you want to keep your house from burning to the ground then that does require some level of panic.” She then succinctly summarizes the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change scientists’ report that states we have 10 years to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 50%. Fifty percent in ten years is a very tall order in a very short time. In the Gospel of Matthew (6:25-33), we are instructed not to worry. At first glance, this text might appear to contradict with what I have just said: that we have only 10 years to figure out a lot of stuff if we want our children to have a planet that’s livable. And this juxtaposed with, “Don’t worry. God is going to take care of it.” A closer read, however, reveals a deeper truth. Jesus observes the flurry of busyness surrounding what we will eat, how we look, or the clothes we wear. He describes the, striving Gentiles, who become consumed by the “who’s who.” And then, he presents an alternative. He suggests that, instead, we see the world through the eyes of Creation - the living world - where things happen according to cycles and seasons. Within Creation’s creativity, there is an order and flow that provides trustworthy results. Do you know this poem, by the 12th century poet, Hafiz? Even After All this time The Sun never says to the Earth, "You owe me." Look What happens With a love like that, It Lights the Whole Sky All around us we feel the well-worn groove of capitalism and competition. Like an addiction, even when we want to stop, even when we voice our yearning for something different, the hugeness and inefficiency of the system can leave us feeling trapped in its maze. Eight years ago, His Holiness the Dalai Lama convened a climate crisis think tank with a group of religious leaders. Christian theologian Sallie McFague was in attendance and said, “The culture of consumerism… has now become like the air we breathe, and this is the nature of culture… it becomes natural…” She described our current, individualist, self-fulfillment practices as a new religion and as a lie. And it is here where language and behavior become entangled and tricky. The dominant worldview for our species is dependent on growth and competition but it is NOT the worldview embodied throughout creation… and there are plenty of humans who, for thousands of years have recognized this and lived abundantly within creation’s rhythms. Each one of us has examples of this from rural communities, villages we have visited around the globe, and the stories we are beginning to retain from our brothers and sisters who were raised to learn and honor the ways of the living world. One of my favorite examples comes from our relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the people of the Salmon Nation. In her incredible book, Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer paints the scene of the joyful ceremony created annually to welcome the salmon’s return. Mindfully burning the headland grasses, the native people establish a ring of fire on the coast to serve as a beacon of hospitality for the fish, still out in the ocean, assembling for their big and final journey upstream. By sunrise, in their finest dress, the humans gather alongside the river, singing songs to welcome the salmon home. Kimmerer writes, “The nets stay on the shore; the spears still hang in the houses. .....The hook-jawed leaders are allowed to pass, to guide the others and ......to carry the message to their upriver relatives that the people are ..... grateful and full of respect. The fish course by the camp in great .. ...throngs, unmolested as they make their way upstream. Only after four ......days of fish have moved safely by is the First Salmon taken by the most ......honored fisher and prepared with ritual care. …The salmon bones are ......placed back in the river, their heads facing upstream so that their spirits ......might follow the others. They are destined to die as we are all destined ......to die, but first they have bound themselves to live in an ancient agreement ......to pass it on, to pass it on. In so doing the world itself is renewed.” Where, in this practice, do we find scarcity? Where do we feel worry? Is there any place, in this way of living that we feel anxious or threatened by competition? On the contrary, there is collaboration and appreciation! There is community and joy! There is abundance and dance and song! Furthermore, there is an understanding, among the humans, that our lives are woven into this story – it is with our tending that the grasslands are renewed, that the soil receives the nitrogen it needs, and that the salmon are sung to, encouraged to flourish and provide renewed sustenance for the seasons and years to come. It feels a little slippery, doesn’t it? The earliest humans didn’t need Einstein’s theories to know that the stars were in them. But we have been so schooled in the concept of separation that leaning in to Creation’s understanding of belonging can almost feel like a fairytale. Upon hearing Rev McFague’s analysis that consumerism has become a religious way of life, the Dalai Lama took the think tank in a new direction. He offered that, while everyone understands there to be theistic and nontheistic religions, that it is time now for a third one – a religion without scripture, that is based simply on common sense, our common experience, a warmhearted sense of concern for the well-being of all, and respect for the rights of all beings. I believe this is where our sun comes in. Every day, whether it’s frustrated with us or not, it generously pours its sustaining light upon us, with non-discriminating extravagance! Each second our sun transforms four millions tons of itself into light, which becomes photosynthesis in the plants, which become our dinner salad, which becomes us – each of us, made from and radiating the sun’s light. And because of this magnificent stellar generosity in the center of our solar system, human generosity becomes possible… yes, that’s right, because the sun is IN us! The sun’s light readily translates into creativity -- the creative potential to grow the seeds, to dry what’s wet, to heat what’s cold, and our task is to embody it for ourselves. We are filled with this Holy Spirit – a sustaining light, a Living Christ, our Chi, our Prana… Filled with the urgency to live according to the renewable, sustaining cycles of creation, Greta Thunberg’s words speak truth to the false emptiness all around us. Again, her words: “If our house was falling apart… you wouldn’t talk about buying & building your way out of a crisis that has been created by buying and building things. Well, our house IS falling apart… Everyone and everything needs to change… The bigger your carbon footprint, the bigger your moral duty.” Mary Oliver’s poem “The Sun,” is a prayer of confession when she asks, .....do you think there is anywhere, in any language, a word billowing .....enough for the pleasure that fills you as the sun reaches out, as it .....warms you as you stand there, empty-handed -- or have you too turned .....from this world – or have you too gone crazy for power, for things? Her words beg me to admit my wild love for this massive burning star (For Life! The Cosmos! Living Spirit!) , to attempt to describe the contentment I feel basking in the glow that allows plants to make sugar; and to admit how routinely I take it all for granted, my sheer dependency on the steady stream of life it provides. When we transform the sun’s gift of energy into creative action, we too become the lilies Jesus was speaking of. This is how we re-member ourselves to our roles in the interdependent belonging of Creation. Like the lilies, our lives blossom into the unique offering that makes us who we are, and that informs the life and action we are called to create. Living faithfully as lilies (easier said than done), it just might be that we can call others back to the trustworthy lens of Creation. As lilies, we just might change the course of things in our communities, our marketplace, our bio-sphere. It is time to view our world through the eyes of Creation. Let us be those lilies receiving the sun, and turning the holy light that is us, into Right Action. This is the way of Life! And like the sun, our generosity continues… ~ Lauren Van Ham Read online here About the Author Born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest, Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University and The Chaplaincy Institute. Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care), and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Her passion and training in the fine arts, spirituality and Earth's teachings has supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Lauren's work with Green Sangha (a Bay Area-based non-profit) is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of environmental activism taking place in religious America. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women. Lauren tends a private spiritual direction practice and serves as Dean for The Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, CA. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader How can we keep the Church without having to keep all the doctrines, dogmas and creeds of the religious past? How can we encourage that minority of people who remain inside the Church's fundamentalist majority to stay there? How can we encourage the "Church Alumni Association" members to return, if what they have to come back to is the very thing that made them want to leave? A: By Rev. Roger Wolsey Dear Gentle Reader, You have asked not one, but three very profound questions. I’ll speak briefly to each. First, re: How can we keep the Church without having to keep all the doctrines, dogmas and creeds of the religious past? The Church has been in existence for over 2000 years – and there have been numerous versions of it over those millennia. There are currently at least 25,000 different denominations within four major sectors of the Church, including The Roman Catholic, The Eastern Orthodox, the mainline Protestant, and, broadly - the Evangelical, Charismatic, and independent denominations. Clearly, not all varieties of Christianity (churches within the Church) hold to the same doctrines, dogmas, and creeds. I spoke to your question in an earlier piece I wrote for Progressing Spirit, “Where the Rubber Hits the Road” where I brought up the “Ship of Theseus” paradox as an analogy and framing to consider the evolving of Christianity(ies). You may also find the essay “The Baby and the Bathwater?” I wrote last December to be insightful and helpful as well, as it considers how we can call ourselves Christians if we reject many of the things that many Christians tend to view as “essential” to the faith. Second, re: How can we encourage that minority of people who remain inside the Church's fundamentalist majority to stay there? I’ll begin by reminding us that even though it may be hard for us to fathom, God/Spirit is at work through all sectors of the Church – including the conservative and fundamentalist ones. Sure, we have good reasons to feel that God works far more effectively, and perhaps fully, through the more progressive forms; but, it is the case that many Christian brothers and sisters are being loved by God and experiencing spiritual growth and benefit through their participation in conservative congregations. Yes, there are some members of that tribe who engage in wretched rhetoric and behavior, but many of them are truly kind, compassionate, and lovely people. That said, there’s nothing wrong with us informing people about the more progressive options within the Church family. There’s nothing wrong with us sharing about how we are being blessed by more progressive approaches to the faith. According the thinkers such as Jim Fowler and Ken Wilber, the members of a given society are all at different places in personal growth, development, stages of faith, and perspective, etc. Certain ways of being and doing church appeal to people at those various places. A really high percentage of the population are at what Fowler referred to as stages B and C. That’s reality. But, there is always some portion of the people at those perspectives who are on the fringe and ready to “level up” as it were. We can share what we see as the merit and value of our progressive approach and trust that “those who have ears to hear and eyes to see” – will. Finally, re: How can we encourage the "Church Alumni Association" members to return, if what they have to come back to is the very thing that made them want to leave? I guess a few things come to mind. First, there’s no need for such persons to return to situations that are exactly the same as what they rejected. In fact, suggesting that they do so could be considered abusive. The good news is that there are more and more congregations around the world that are evolving, with many overtly and outright embracing progressive Christianity. Some congregations even post “The 8 Points of Progressive Christianity” on their websites and as posters in their lobbies/narthexes. Here is something I wrote that many find to be helpful, “7 Ways to Find a Progressive Christian Church.” You will notice that I close that piece suggesting that one also seek to help a moderate congregation move more and more toward embracing progressive Christianity; and one can also start up a house church that meets in people’s homes, a coffee shop, or a community room in a library. There are lots of options. Some progressive Christians have been away from church life for a long time and, while God is with them right where they are and they don’t “need” to be part of a congregation, it is the case that humans are social creatures and we tend to thrive best in community with others. Here’s “Why I’m Spiritual AND Religious.” I hope these thoughts and resources are of help. Blessings, Rev. Roger Wolsey Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is an ordained United Methodist pastor who directs the Wesley Foundation at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity; The Kissing Fish Facebook page; Roger’s Blog on Patheos “The Holy Kiss | | | | | | | | 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 Sexism! Still a Force in American Politics Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 12, 2008 The quest for the Democratic nomination continues to ebb and flow as the two rivals struggle to gain an edge. Senator Clinton was presumed to be the front runner prior to the Iowa Caucuses, but Senator Obama won that state impressively. Then Senator Clinton came back to win the New Hampshire primary and looked poised for a sweep on Super Tuesday. The sweep turned out to be more of a draw and launched Senator Obama on to a string of eleven straight primary or caucus victories from South Carolina to Wisconsin from Washington to Vermont. Once more he seemed on the crest of victory. The super delegates who had been pledged to Senator Clinton began to waver and defect. No one smells blood better than a politician. The pundits were now sure that he would wrap up the nomination on March 4. It was, however, not to be as Senator Clinton roared back dramatically, scoring impressive victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Next Senator Obama won a caucus in Wyoming and a primary in Mississippi to regain his frontrunner position, but he did not win so decisively that he was able to clinch the nomination. So the struggle now moves on to the key state of Pennsylvania in which Senator Clinton, according to the polls, stands poised to make her third comeback of this primary season. Beneath the excitement of what is surely the most interesting political contest in recent memory, there is another dynamic, always present, but seldom talked about. Two debilitating prejudices, sexism and racism, are in this political process being routed from their dwelling places deep in the psyches of our citizenry. Both have had long histories in the Western Christian world. Racism, the more overt and obvious of the two prejudices, was once protected by the laws of this nation, but it has had its back broken first by the bloodiest war in our nation’s history and second by a rising consciousness that found expression in the relentless pressure of the Supreme Court. Sexism on the other hand penetrated the culture in an almost assumed way that seemed to many to be appropriate, even proper. Even though sexism was also protected by the laws of this nation it was always more subtle and its evil less recognized. While no one would seriously argue today that racism in this society is dead, it is recognized at once when it rears its ugly head, while sexism is still widely supported in high places, including an obvious presence in the official statements of organized religion. Many church leaders continue to use a version of the “separate but equal” argument that has no credibility at all when applied in a racial context. No one in the political arena would dare to make an overtly racist comment, but overtly sexist comments have not been absent from this campaign. History tells us that while racism is crueler, sexism is more difficult to root out. Remember that this nation gave the vote to black men many years before it was given to white women. Data from this political season still points to the fact that sexism continues to be less recognized in the body politic than racism. Senator Clinton, who had been first defined nationally as the “First Lady,” had to establish her professional competence apart from her husband. She did this by winning a seat in the United States Senate, by mastering the intricacies of that most exclusive of clubs, by gaining the respect of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and by avoiding the spotlight of the media while doing her unglamorous homework. Her constituents in New York responded to these efforts and rewarded her with election to a second term by an astonishing 64% majority. Senator Obama, on the other hand, had been in the Senate for only two years when he announced his intention to seek the presidency. This is not to say that he is without significant credentials. He was an impressive student in law school, being chosen to be editor of the Harvard Law Review, an honor that goes only to Harvard Law School’s top student. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago’s Law School for ten years, during which time he was elected to and served in the State Senate of Illinois. Those accomplishments are not to be minimized, but it is to say that no woman with a resume as brief as that of Senator Obama would have been taken seriously as a presidential candidate. A woman still has to be twice as impressive to be viewed as equal. That is an expression of sexism. Hillary Clinton also had to carry the baggage of her husband in a way that no male politician has ever had to do. She is colored by the foibles of her husband’s administration. His negatives became her negatives. She wanted to keep her maiden name, Rodham, but political pressure on Bill Clinton after he lost the governor’s office in Arkansas forced her to become Hillary Rodham Clinton. The loss of her own identity, a reality that women have had to live with for centuries, has played a significant role in this campaign when people, defining Hillary as a Clinton, realized that in the elections of 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 there had either been a Bush or a Clinton on the presidential ballot. She was thus identified with the Clinton politics of yesterday, not the Rodham politics of tomorrow. She was implicated in what came to be called the Whitewater Affair, which was investigated endlessly and finally dismissed, yet its odor seems to cling to her. When the Clintons left the White House in 2001 charges were made about the Clintons removing things that were not theirs. These charges turned out to be nothing more than political attacks and were demonstrated to be false; nonetheless the stain on her integrity remained. When Hillary Clinton was cast in the role of violated wife in the sordid Lewinsky affair, she could not win. She was criticized by some for refusing to leave her husband and by others for standing by her man. None of these things would have been the fate of a male politician. Sexism was clearly operating below the surface. In 1972 when Shirley Chisholm became the first woman to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency, she carried with her candidacy the impact of both racism and sexism. It is interesting to note that she said overcoming her status as a woman was always more difficult than overcoming her status as an African-American. That was an indication that even long ago racism was more overt and easily identified in the public arena than was sexism. In support of that thesis, I cite the following data from this campaign. When Bill Clinton played the race card in the South Carolina primary, it backfired because people, aware of racism, were embarrassed by it. The sexist rhetoric that commentators let forth on Hillary Clinton, however, did not receive a similar rebuke in the Court of Public Opinion. Carl Bernstein on live national television referred to Hillary’s “thick ankles” and Tucker Carlson, an MSNBC conservative talking head, observed that “every time I get near Hillary Clinton I feel castrated.” Those were weird sexist comments, saying more about both Bernstein and Carlson than they did about Senator Clinton, but the point is that no female reporter could have gotten away with describing Governor Huckabee’s legs or with saying, “Every time I am in the presence of Mitt Romney, I feel like I am going to be raped!” A male radio host for Station KOA in Denver, Colorado, wondered on a live national network whether Chelsea Clinton “was going to wind up with a big posterior like that of her mother.” Can anyone imagine such a statement being made about a son of John Edwards? When a woman in a political gathering asked John McCain how he was going to “beat the bitch,” he knew to whom the question applied and proceeded to answer it without unloading its hostility. McCain later, however, rebuked a right wing radio host when he spoke of Senator Obama in a derogatory racist manner. Another radio talk show host accused a cable news channel of overreacting by suspending one of its political reporters, who had wondered aloud on national television “if the Clintons were pimping out their daughter as a campaign presence.” Is that not sexism? Senator Clinton also had the distinction of being the only candidate to be called “the anti-Christ” by a member of the religious right. That was, I believe, a sign of misplaced sexist rage. Why would the three times married, admitted adulterer, Mayor of New York, whose children will not speak to him because of his treatment of their mother, not be a candidate for that title? Yet he was spared this ultimate religious slander. Many people quite clearly still carry unconscious fears about a powerful woman. Look at the way Sandra Day O’Connor was negatively described by all of the Republican candidates except John McCain. Look at the number done on Geraldine Ferraro when she was the vice presidential nominee. Look at how Margaret Thatcher developed the aura of autocratic masculinity to win in Great Britain and how British male pride was displayed when they described her “as a man wearing a skirt.” Maybe no one ever forgets those years in our lives when we were helpless dependent infants being cared for by that seemingly all powerful woman we called mother. Maybe the fear of being made dependent again on a strong woman is still buried in our psyche. Maybe our sexist, male-oriented society, which still holds to the primary definition of a woman as a sex object, creates an unconscious difficulty in our ability to relate to women in a position of ultimate authority. Maybe women, who were taught how important it is to please a man to get ahead, were also threatened by her potential power. Perhaps that is why there have always been more “Aunt Jemimas” in the women’s movement than there were “Uncle Toms” in the black movement. There is much about which we can speculate, but the fact of which we are certain is that sexist barriers are still potent and that Hillary Clinton, is the current victim. People uncomfortable about this charge reply, “I am not opposed to women, only to this woman.” However, this woman was the only one who has battled to the place where she has a real shot at the presidency and, in the final analysis, she has not yet won a normal portion of the white male vote while she has consistently lost,, never the majority, but a substantial part of the female vote to her opponent. Hillary Clinton may or may not become our next president. That is yet to be decided. What is clear, however, is that she has taken some of the sexist poison out of the body politic by absorbing it. That will make it possible if she fails in this quest for another woman in another day to climb to the top of the hill. I am drawn to Hillary Clinton’s ability and to her intelligence. I admire the integrity and independence of John McCain. I am excited about the vision of a potential Obama presidency. I hope, however, that I will live long enough to see my nation and this world be able to celebrate the full humanity and the equal competence of women. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Global Spiritual Traditions and ChI Culture & Foundations Global Spiritual Traditions and ChI Culture & Foundations – Part 1 is the first of a 2-part series. These courses introduce students to ChI’s core philosophy and learning approach as well as to World Religions and/or spiritual paths that have their origins in earth-centered, indigenous practice (Africa, Pagan, First Nation and other indigenous world-views), or ancient Eastern philosophy and belief systems (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism). * This 5-day classroom course is required for all Interfaith Chaplaincy students but also open to others. There is additional online study required for completion of this course. Dates: August 13 – 17, 2019 Cost: $2403 Location: Berkeley, CA Register: Admissions Manager admissions(a)chaplaincyinstitute.org or 510-843-1422 READ | | | | | |

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8/01/19, Progressing Spirit: Roger Wolsey Lions, and Tigers, and Progressives - Oh My!; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateBody .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent, #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateBody .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateFooter .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent, #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateFooter .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Why are they afraid of what I’m saying? | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Lions, and Tigers, and Progressives - Oh My! | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey August 1, 2019I recently experienced something that is the stuff of many people’s nightmares. ProgressiveChristianity.org was a sponsoring partner of the annual Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina this year and, as a member of the Board of Directors, I was sent to represent the organization at a booth to distribute our literature, and solicit inquiries about our “A Joyful Path” children’s Sunday School curriculum. Little did I know, as I hadn’t submitted a topic to speak about, I was also listed in the Festival program as being a speaker as well! In fact, I didn’t learn about this until, I kid you not, 1 hour before I was supposed to speak on one of the larger stages! After an initial “Oh $#i+!” moment (which Rev. Mark Sandlin of Progressing Spirit witnessed), I gathered myself. I reminded myself that I’ve spoken at this Festival twice before, as well as at the Embrace Festival that we sponsored in Portland, OR two years ago, along with several other conferences around the country. I reminded myself that I’m capable, I trust Spirit, I don’t need to be afraid, it’s going to go just fine. I decided to share about some of the events in my life that have happened since I spoke at that festival last summer. As part of this, I shared about how I learned this past March, that 7 of my United Methodist clergy “colleagues” filed heresy charges against me last October. I was accused of “disseminating teachings contrary to established Church teaching.” This was triggered by a blog I posted on Patheos in May, 2018, “It’s time for progressive Christianity.” The 6 page, double-sided, complaint cited that blog, another blog I wrote, and numerous quotes from my book “Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity.” Essentially, they didn’t think my Christology was high enough, that I’m wrong to pray to the God who Jesus prayed to instead of to Jesus, that my understanding of the Trinity is too poetic, that I shouldn’t be saying that Jesus wasn’t literally born of a virgin, that there isn’t a literal hell, that the substitutionary theory of the atonement isn’t the only viable one, and that God is fully at work in other religions besides Christianity. I find myself asking, what would lead conservative Christians who haven’t even met me, and who live in a completely different state (all 7 of them in Texas) to veer from their lane like over-zealous junior high student hallway monitors and hypocritically file charges against someone – directly to a bishop – without even giving me the courtesy of letting me know about this, let alone without seeking to express their concerns directly with me privately first – as per actual Christian teaching. Why are they afraid of what I’m saying? Why are they afraid of contacting me directly in a Christian, relational, or even collegial way? What do they fear? Perhaps they somehow managed to be in the big tent of United Methodism their whole lives and somehow are unaware that our denomination is highly theologically diverse, and that we have 13 seminaries ranging from the conservative Asbury to the progressive Claremont and the Iliff School of Theology (my alma mater). Perhaps, as I understand my bishop told them, they “need to get out of Texas more.” Perhaps they were acting out of actual sincere concern for the best interests of the denomination, and they truly believe that my views are so vile and anathema that they pose grave danger to the well-being of the Church. I had the opportunity to face the primary accuser via a virtual video conference facilitated by the bishop, and I asked them if anyone in their congregations has been harmed by my writings. “No.” To which I replied, “So, the only one here today that’s been hurt by one of us, is me by having these charges filed against me in such a [cowardly] way.” Silence. Regarding the Trinity, I said, “Is it not the case that the orthodox understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity is that it’s a mystery of the faith?” “Yes.” “So we’re in agreement!” “No, you don’t understand it the right way!” “Did you hear what you just said? That I don’t understand a mystery the ‘right’ way?” And on it went. I had the chance to educate my detractor informing him that John Wesley intentionally didn’t include one particular Article of Religion adopted from the Church of England in forming the Methodist Church – the one concerning the creeds. Wesley sought to not have the Methodist movement be a creedal one, but rather, one of a truly ecumenical spirit that avoids unnecessary, likely triggers and divisions. More silence. The matter of fact, dispassionate lack of affect that I felt from my detractor during that video conference left me feeling that this really isn’t coming from a place of sincere concern about the authentic and transformative good news of the undying life, way, and teachings of Jesus – but more that it’s coming from some other ulterior motives. What could they be? Well, let’s stay with sincere concern about “right teachings” for a minute. If someone truly believes that there is a literal hell, and that the only way to avoid going there is for people to believe X, Y, and Z – with believe meaning intellectual assent to certain specific truth claims - then, sure it would be cause for concern if someone isn’t toeing that line and is saying something other than that. “This is a matter of life and death!” A matter of people we love and care about going to Heaven or roasting in the eternal fires of Hell! In such a literal, fundamentalist theological approach, faith is like a house of cards, and if you challenge any of those cards in that house, you risk the whole house coming down. “The possibility of salvation gone.” I can imagine how that might feel scary. The United Methodist Church, however, isn’t a creedal church. We haven’t adopted any theory of the atonement as the one, official one, and we are in fact called to “test, renew, and elaborate” our theological understandings in ways that help the faith be relevant to our world today. If people are seeking out a more fundamentalist way of being and doing church, there are countless options out there in the marketplace. The UMC isn’t one of them …unless, one is seeking to hijack the denomination in the way that happened to the Southern Baptist Convention in 1980. And what happened then wasn’t purely about matters of faith, but rather, politics. The birth of the so-called “Moral Majority” political movement. In doing my research I discovered that my accusers learned about me and my writings because they read a reprisal blog written by someone who works for the IRD – the so-called Institute for Religion and Democracy. This organization seeks to undermine the liberal and social justice advocacy wings of the mainline denominations, and they have a lot of money behind them from wealthy conservatives. In a legal proceeding there’s wisdom in “not asking a question you don’t already know the answer to.” So I asked, “Is it not the case that you learned about me and my blog because you read that attack blog written by that guy who works for the IRD? Silence. “I scoured the internet and the only blog that’s out there that refers to that blog I wrote was written by him.” “Um, well yeah maybe that’s how we learned about it.” “That is in fact how you learned about it. Don’t you realize that the IRD is no friend to the UMC? That it’s an entity that doesn’t have our best interests at heart? That by you doing what you’ve done to me, you’re being pawns in their political war games?” Silence. An easy case can be made that the IRD and their supporters aren’t sincerely concerned about proper theology, but rather, doing whatever it takes to sway the populace to create conditions more favorable for the US Congress and Supreme Court to pass ever more and more politically conservative policies, rulings, and agendas. I was already aware that I have been in the cross-hairs of the IRD as they wrote two blogs about my speaking at the Wild Goose Festival in the summer of 2018, both critical, one before, and one after. But I didn’t think they’d go out of their way to write what they distributed in that chap’s blog of June, 2018 – essentially throwing meat to the sharks, inciting their readers to “who’s going to file charges against him?!” So what is the fear here? One fear could be: “If we don’t get enough people on board with our way of articulating the faith, it’ll be harder for us to get our way in the marketplace of ideas and in the democratic governmental process!” Within that fear, there are two possible sub-fears. With one of them being employed as a tactic to assuage the other. People who fear the gradual movement of increased social justice and seek to instead adopt conservative political platforms that reduce taxes, reduce the role of government, and embrace a more so-called strict constitutionalist form of Federalism, intentionally appeal to base fears of the “useful idiot” minions – namely, homophobia, racism, misogamy - gay people, people seeking asylum, and women seeking reproductive rights and control of their bodies. These Powers and Principalities stir up the masses via scapegoating each of those oppressed people groups, rallying their base, and getting them to the voting booths to try to return our nation to some fictitious ideal – to “Make America Great Again” – which for them means no weddings for same-sex couples, no more gays on TV, fewer people of color in the electorate, and no abortions. Having those be “THE moral issues” is a cover and distraction from their real work, which is to cut taxes on the wealthy, prevent universal health care, grow the war machine and military industrial complex, and reduce governmental regulations on industry – including their ability to pollute the environment. And, frankly, when it comes down to it, the IRD and other such groups, are motivated by the fear of losing their cottage industry of fear-mongering. Like parasitic vampires, they feed, exploit, and capitalize on the fear of others. Simply put, they truck in fear. It’s their M.O. It’s their business. And they don’t want to see it threatened by Christians who actually are transformed by the good news of the Gospel to see that they don’t need to live in fear, but rather in faith. They thrive on people’s fear. After several uncomfortable months of effectively holding my breath wondering what would happen, the charges filed against me were dismissed as my accusers weren’t interested in signing any of the proposed just resolutions. So how are we to respond? Not to what happened to me, but to this constant raging from that part of the Church that would seek to limit our theological explorations – even to the point of seeking to clip our wings, control us, and even excommunicate us? We could seek to rally our own base and to fight fire with fire. We could assertively argue with them point by point. We could engage in proof-texting of our own. Yet, all that does is perpetuate bad theology and ecclesiology and fuel their fires and ire. No, instead what is needed is to truly be our transformed, faithful selves. To live out the fruits of the Spirit. To show self-control. To be as much of a non-anxious presence as possible. To be with our detractors, to hold space for them just as they are – including their fears. To seek less to argue with them, and more to love. We can’t argue anyone away from fear and into real, transformative faith, we can only love them there. There’s a song from the 1990s band Toad the Wet Spocket, called, “Pray your gods” with these lyrics: ...Is it that they fear the pain of death? Or could it be they fear the joy of life? Pray your gods who hold you by your fear For they are quick and ruthless punishers Or lay upon my altar now your love I fear my day is done There are armies moving on Be quick, my love It seems to me, when it comes down to it – there are fellow Christians who “fear the joy of life.” They (and likely we to some extent) fear that life might just possibly be bigger, more generous, and more gracious than they can fathom. There are people who fear being exposed to themselves for devoting countless hours of their lives, donating thousands of dollars, alienating themselves from members of their families – all for the cause of a false religiosity that isn’t an authentic faith that transforms lives. They fear that the legalism and nationalism that they’ve made into idols are in fact false gods – adventures in missing the point, dabbles in spiritual by-passing, and avoiding real transformation. They fear that maybe Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on God, and that the Holy Spirit is in fact at work in healing modalities and venues outside the Church (yoga, shamanism, kirtans, tarot, shadow work, EMDR, therapy, etc). They fear experiencing agape love – for fear that it might not actually be unconditional. They fear being real before their Maker – they fear possible rejection by “Him” as they fear that “He” is as petty and vindictive as they tend to be. They assume (in truth rightly) that progressive Christians also contain some pettiness in them, and, as an analogy, like the white people of South Africa (“conservatives”) after the end of Apartheid, they project and fear that the black majorities (“progressives”) will do unto them as they’ve been doing unto them. I can be petty. There are vindictive feelings within me. I’ve considered filing reprisal complaints of my own. I’ve imagined donating money to church youth groups near my detractors to toilet paper the trees outside of their homes... But I’m a product of my Mother and the United Methodist Church that I love. At their best – they bring out my best. For years, my mother has had a bumper sticker that reads, “Save the World, Hug a Republican.” I finally get it. And it isn’t about politics. It’s about love. Soulful, agape love, that while it may involve boundaries for self-care, primarily means presence. If nothing else, Jesus’s work was a ministry of incarnation, a ministry of presence, bold, heart-felt, sincere, genuine, compassionate presence. Being present to people and their fears. Owning and welcoming our own fears and wounds, to model for others how this is done, so we can transmute them – so we don’t transmit them. God bless my mother, and my fellow United Methodists (progressive and otherwise), for their increasingly converted hearts. God bless the actual possibility of being people of faith and not fear.~ Rev. Roger Wolsey Read online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is an ordained United Methodist pastor who directs the Wesley Foundation at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity; The Kissing Fish Facebook page; Roger’s Blog on Patheos “The Holy Kiss | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Jennifer How do I find a church community that aligns with my values, like for example, radical inclusion? A: By Rev. Deshna UbedaHello Jennifer,That is an excellent question! Thank you for asking. This is one of our most challenging tasks as humans today, in my opinion, and one of the most vital. I believe that being a part of Sacred Community is an essential aspect of living a whole and spiritually healthy life. It is what we seek, I believe, when we go to shopping centers or malls, to city squares and even to bars. As a whole, there has not been any new institution that effectively replaces or even improves upon church, so far. So there is a vacuum of sacred community in our societies. As spiritual beings living a human life, we need and yearn for meaningful community. Unfortunately, church has become more about the business model and saving something that is dying, and less about creating an experience of sacred community and personal transformation; which, I believe, is what we all seek, though we don't all know it. Once mainstream protestant church membership started declining, the focus became more toward saving the business of church. When that shift from community centered, healing and transformative spaces to economic centered and hierarchal businesses occurred something of great value was lost in the church experience. Now we have pastors that are afraid of saying what they really believe and challenging people to grow, because they are afraid that they will lose their old time funders. We have church leaders who are falling back into rigidity because that feels safe. It's the last gasp of a dying organism. Now, I know that there are many progressive church leaders out there trying to do something very different, and there are some that are succeeding in creating genuine sacred community and meaningful experiences in their churches. To me community becomes sacred when those that gather together and support each other do so with intentions that are meaningful and support personal and communal growth. Sacred community is the space in which people show up with courage to step forward in growth, to commit to practice loving kindness toward one another, to show up in vulnerability, to attend regularly, and to go deeper. At the heart of a thriving sacred community are shared values, usually around social justice issues. People of all generations are coming together in droves around the aim of shifting our culture toward equality. Because equality is so inherent in younger generations' views of the world, this value is interwoven into any thriving sacred community in which millennials are engaged. When all people are valued as unique and equal - women, men, youth, adult, older, younger, black, white, rich, poor - we are free to find connections with others based on a deeper, more meaningful, even indescribable force. So, when searching for a church community, I encourage you to look at the values the church states is has, and then look for the ways in which those values are being actively lived out. If, as you say, radical inclusion is important to you, then see if the church has a diverse group of people in leadership positions. Are there people of color? A range of ages? As many women as men? Are there LGBTQ people in leadership? Where does the money go and is it equitably distributed? Who holds the power? Because that is where the true values will be the most visible. Look at what action this church is taking to positively affect the community and its members? How much growth and transformation is the church willing to go through so that it can be radically inclusive, relevant to an intergenerational community, and be an agent of positive change in the world? Take as much time as you need to ask these questions and move on if you aren't satisfied. It is possible that you can affect change in the church from within, but, like with any institution, that can be fairly challenging. If you can't find a church in your area that aligns with your values, I encourage you to consider starting a small in-home or in the wild church community. Perhaps you meet weekly in a forest or a park somewhere near you and have 20 minutes of quiet contemplation, some songs, and some brave vulnerable conversation. Perhaps once a month you all volunteer somewhere together. Perhaps it's time to think outside of the box of Churchianity. More on this topic in some of my upcoming columns. Thanks again for your question.~ Rev. Deshna Ubeda Read and share online here About the Author Deshna Ubeda is Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org and Progressing Spirit and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is an author, international speaker, and a visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She is a lead author and editor on the children’s curriculum: A Joyful Path, Spiritual Curriculum. She co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. She is the Executive Producer of Embrace Festival. She is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually, and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part 1: Examining the Aura Created Around the Bible Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 5, 2008How did the Bible come to be written? Does it reflect a single point of view, even a single inspiration or has that been an idea imposed upon it by religious devotees? Since what we now call the Bible was written by many authors over a period of about 1000 years, what were the particular circumstances that prompted the writing of each piece? What was the process by which these individual pieces got designated as “Holy Scripture?” Were there other works that competed for inclusion in the Bible, but for some reason were not chosen? If so, who made those decisions and on what criteria? Are all parts of the Bible to be regarded as equally holy, equally valid or does the Bible embrace concepts that are demonstrably untrue and proclaim attitudes that modern sensitivity and an expanded consciousness now find both repellant and repulsive? Amazing as it may seem, these perfectly obvious questions are seldom raised in the various churches of the Christian world and indeed are regarded by some Christians as hostile, faithless and inappropriate. In the great theological centers of learning, however, these inquiries are routine and commonplace. Yet when one leaves these theological centers for a career as a pastor serving people who occupy the pews of our churches, there appears to be almost a conspiracy of silence about biblical knowledge. In the heartland of religious life, these newly minted clergy confront a Bible that has been covered with an aura of sanctity, which is so powerful that it blunts critical questions, regarding them not as a search for truth, but as attacks on holiness, upon God, on the Bible itself. So before beginning to look at the Bible itself, I want us to look first at this defense shield erected over the centuries by pious, but not well informed people, and designed to protect the Bible and its “revealed truth” from erosion. One runs into this biblical defense shield almost everywhere. It is present in the propaganda emanating from religious fundamentalists. Television evangelists like Albert Mohler, Pat Robertson, and the late Jerry Falwell constantly refer to the Bible as “the inerrant word of God.” They quote from its pages to attack evolution, the rise of feminism, homosexuality and even environmental concerns. These contemporary fundamentalists have their roots in a group of Evangelical Protestants who, between 1910 and 1915 in America, published, with the help from the Universal Oil Company of California (Unocal), and spread across the world, a series of tracts called “The Fundamentals,” which in fact produced the word “fundamentalism.” This tractarian movement proclaimed that the only true Christian position on the scriptures was to regard every word of the Bible as both revealed and inerrant truth. If one looks further back in history, one discovers that this mentality was present even at the time of Galileo in the 17th century, when representatives of Roman Catholic Christianity condemned Galileo’s idea that the earth was not the center of a three-tiered universe and that the sun did not rotate around it. What was the proof that they offered for this condemnation? It was a passage from the Book of Joshua (10:12-14) in which God, in response to Joshua’s prayers, stopped the sun in the sky to allow more daylight in which Joshua could pursue his military rout of the Amorites. This, the church fathers argued, was clear proof from the “inerrant word of God” that Galileo was wrong. This defensive shield around the Bible is also daily constructed even in those mainline churches that would be embarrassed to be called fundamentalists, since they regard themselves as more learned and sophisticated than those they think of as fundamentalists. Yet at the end of biblical readings Christian churches of all denominations still use some version of the phrase “This is the word of the Lord,” to which the people dutifully reply with some version of the phrase “Thanks be to God.” Click here to read full essay. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements John Shelby Spong’s Origins of the Bible: The Old and New Testament ...The full Series is now ...available as a PDF ...We will continue to post the ...remainder of the Series in our ...newsletter, and, the full ...series is now available for ...$9.00 in one PDF. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Fwd: Watched both nights of the Democratic debates. And a question came up for me
by James Wiegel 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Suppose you are caught up in what is going on now in our broader society (I just watched the last 2 nights of the CNN debates among the Democratic hopefuls) > > And you were seeking guidance and wisdom to make sense of what is going on and to engage creatively — What would you find in our collective archive of experience that would be helpful? > Here is the link to the Archives Website if browsing around might help: > https://icaglobalarchives.org/ > > With Respect, thanks . . . > Jim Wiegel > > >>

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