September 2019 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

9/26, Progressing Spirit, Oppelt: Jesus: A Mutation of Consciousness - Part 2; Spong revisited: Evolution and Homosexuality: Twin Errors of the Christian Church
by Ellie Stock 26 Sep '19

26 Sep '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0093154852 #yiv0093154852templateBody .yiv0093154852mcnTextContent, #yiv0093154852 #yiv0093154852templateBody .yiv0093154852mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0093154852 #yiv0093154852templateFooter .yiv0093154852mcnTextContent, #yiv0093154852 #yiv0093154852templateFooter .yiv0093154852mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } If we take the Godhead out of Jesus, what are we left with? | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jesus: A Mutation of Consciousness - Part 2 | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Joran Slane Oppelt September 26, 2019 Click here to read Part 1. For most Christians, the question is, “Can you strip Jesus of his supernatural powers and still achieve salvation through Christ?” If we take the Godhead out of Jesus, what are we left with? Is there some other element that we enter into or move through by knowing him? Other than the transfinite mashup or disruption of spacetime that he represents, is there something else that we encounter or achieve by dedicating our lives to “The Way?” This is one of the redeeming qualities of religion, the power of faith or belief, and the impact that a community of practice can have on the individual. It obligates the singular to the plural and puts the responsibility on the individual, not only for their own destiny but for one another – socially and politically. It puts the onus on us. Religion may give us an identity and a box to check, but spiritual community (and real accountability) asks that we play out the actual ideas by which we live. It means that we will resist and rebel against ideas that don’t fit our worldview – a worldview that is constantly dynamic and changing. And, ideally, we will transcend those ideas and give birth to new ways of idea generation. We become responsible for Creation – ecologically. As we evolve, God evolves with us – biologically and cosmologically. As we know a greater Love, we love greater – ethically and psychologically. Humanism and panentheism are just the beginning of a religious innovation and spiritual evolution that represent the visible (and invisible) multiplicity of form and faith that we experience today. THE RESURRECTION “The Resurrection,” wrote Patriarch Athenagoras, “is not the resuscitation of a body; it is the beginning of the transfiguration of the world.” Jesus’s death and resurrection (like Krishna and Osiris before him) is one of the most argued ideas in Christianity. With no evidence or eyewitness accounts of this miracle, it is tempting to find scientific explanations for Jesus’s anastasis. Regardless of its historicity, by attempting to explain away his resurrection on a physical level, we rob the event of its meaning and its impact. Mythically, we rob Jesus of his ability to “overcome the world.” The primacy of the resurrection and the days that follow are pivotal in this story. Jesus “lived on” in the hearts and visions of those who knew him. That is where we must still look for him today. Metaphysically, we rob ourselves of the ability to achieve salvation through Christ. This momentous healing (actualization, forgiveness) can happen once-in-a-lifetime or it can happen daily. We must be able to surrender ourselves and give over all of our pain and suffering and “sin” to Jesus in his ninth and final hour. We must commit ourselves to entering the dark night of the soul – the via negativa – with Jesus at his crucifixion. Because on the other side of that is the via creativa. On the other side of that is something new in ourselves, something resurrected and reborn. Finally, we rob the women who witnessed the resurrection of their stories. Why were these women the first to see (and hear) Jesus after his death? Why were they chosen? What did they have in common? What is the feminine experience of this witnessing and this resurrection? There is a social and spiritual significance to the shared vision of these women who were the first to enter into the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. And there’s been enough silencing and robbing of women of their stories throughout history. If Jesus is a mutation – a leap in consciousness, politics and humanity – then how is that mutation being expressed today? Where are Jesus’s ideas alive? Where is his movement (liberation, radical love, direct connection to the divine) growing and flourishing? THE FUTURE As some churches move away from Jesus’s original teaching, and others move ever-Christward, the spiritual direction (and value) of Christianity will always be in question. We do know that it sprang from a Jewish community in the Middle East at a time when people needed to hear this “good news.” Is this not the same evolutionary leap we see in the emergence of Buddhism from the hierarchical and caste system of Hinduism in its own age and ZIP Code (i.e. awakening to attachment and liberation from suffering)? Postmodernism has given us ideas like the “Cosmic Christ” or “Universal Christ” that equate the spirit of Jesus to a sense of everywhereness, akin to the Buddhist dharmakaya (ground of being) and the teachings of the Christian Mystics (Aquinas, Eckhart, Hildegard). Perhaps this is to lay the spiritual groundwork for the next unfolding of the fractal in physical space. The evolution of technology, after all, points to a world filled with cybernetic organisms – half-man, half-machine – perpetually plugged into an “internet of things.” If the future of spirit is everywhere (including this matrix) and Christ is universal, then we will need programs to run on this new spiritual operating system. We will need stories of “superhuman” ability, liberation and transcendence. We will need new moral and ethical systems that include the most truth. We will need both history and mythology. One is a timeline of facts, agreed upon by scholars and academics. The other is a living library of rich mental archetypes that hold the power to transform simply by us being near them and hearing their story. We need the square, rigid, steel and concrete forms of institutions (these are how we scale) and we also need the green, mossy stone circles of a self-directed spiritual practice (this is how we transform). Matter and spirit arise together, co-evolving as both psychic objects and responses to the current reality. The “liminal” spaces (spaces between worlds) of the 19th century were Earth-based (looking down and in). The dark green hedgerow was where children were warned not to venture. They could fall down a hole into some other realm or be abducted by fairies. The veil between those worlds was thinner at certain times of day (and certain times of the year). The liminal space of the 20th century, as Carl Jung wrote, was extraterrestrial (looking up and out). What we feared was the darkened sky, the vast and unknown inhabited by strange technology (unidentified, flying silver objects). We feared the backroads and bedrooms where adults might be stolen away by those objects. We feared what this new, alien technology might do to our bodies. These spaces (what we believe, fear, or are fascinated by as a collective) are a response to our changing world and a hall of mirrors of our own design. The alien technology is here. We use it and wear it every day and it is, indeed, affecting our bodies and minds. Social media has introduced a new fear for the 21st century – the stranger and the “other” (the individual and the community). As our world becomes more diverse, connected and immediate, we are experiencing a rise in political extremism, nationalism and hate-based violence. As we move toward a global society, more people are willing to lay down their lives to preserve borders and boundaries, as well as their own customs and traditions. They are moved and motivated by fear – the first rung on Maslow’s hierarchy. The first step to peace is by claiming victory over this fear. We must go willingly into that hedgerow or night sky, entering into the void of grief and suffering, knowing that after we are submerged, we will be resurrected. We must march into jihad (our internal struggle) knowing that there is a future version of ourselves struggling to be born. We must allow the virus of the mind to wreak havoc on the collective unconscious. A new multiplicity of forms (and faith) is straining inside the cocoon, waiting to unfold. The question is not, “How might I identify as a Christian or an Atheist or a Buddhist?” The question becomes, “How might I live and embody The Way – whether it’s through the Kingdom of God movement, the eight limbs of yoga, The Four Agreements, the Four-Fold Path, non-violent communication, the Tao, the Torah or psychedelics?” Are you walking confidently into joy, reverently toward mystery, mindfully with creation and faithfully following justice? What is the one transcendental idea that you are contributing to the future mutation of consciousness? What is the new idea that you will birth and bear and invite us to live inside of together? ~ Joran Slane Oppelt Read online here About the Author Joran Slane Oppelt is an international speaker, author, interfaith minister and award-winning producer and singer/songwriter. He is the owner and founder of the Metta Center of St. Petersburg and Integral Church – an interfaith and interspiritual organization in Tampa Bay. Joran is the author of Integral Church: A Handbook for New Spiritual Communities, Sentences, The Mountain and the Snow and co-author of Order of the Sacred Earth (with Matthew Fox) and Transform Your Life: Expert Advice, Practical Tools, and Personal Stories. He currently serves on the board of Creation Spirituality Communities and has spoken around the world about spirituality and the innovation of religion. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Brian This is about prayer. As a Buddhist (40 years), I would practice an oral meditation every morning and evening. It was, as one writer mentioned, a kind of physical workout – using the voice while sitting bolt upright facing a mandala. Although I’m now trying to be a Christian, I would like to be able to do something to bring myself closer to our Lord, other than sitting still while trying to keep invasive thoughts from disturbing my prayer session. What could you suggest? I’m a case requiring a lot of work (a long story) – if you understand what I mean. I just want to have God’s mercy and feel him with me in my struggle to express that mercy in all what I do. A: By Jennifer Berit & Skylar Wilson Dear Brian,Thank you for your question. I'd like to respond to your question about prayer, but first I want to address something else you said that caught my attention. You said that you have been a Buddhist for 40 years and now you are "trying" to be a Christian. What I'm most interested in is your use of the article "a" here. Being "a" Christian seems like such a final, permanent and immovable thing to be. I am afraid it means you are putting yourself, or trying to, into a box - the box of what it means to be "a Christian" and therefore you could be limiting all of the other many ways that Spirit could be wanting to express through you. Perhaps this is what is happening with your prayer practice, and why you are finding it difficult? I don't believe that being Christian, or being Buddhist, or praying needs to be any one thing, or looks a certain way. Mary Oliver says "I don't know exactly what a prayer is. But I do know how to pay attention." If sitting silently, letting your thoughts get the best of you doesn't feel like praying, then maybe for you it is not. Maybe for you praying is chanting, or singing? Maybe it is walking through the woods and noticing the way the light hits the treetops, or paying attention to the ant crawling across your toe. Maybe sometimes praying is simply tuning into your heart and feeling the simple desire to connect with the Great Mystery? Maybe that desire is God speaking to you, telling you "I am here." I wonder if accepting yourself and your own spiritual process is God's mercy acting through you? You say you require a lot of work - I believe you are doing the best kind of work, continuing to quest for a deeper connection with your unique sense of the Divine. ~ Jennifer Berit and Skylar Wilson Read and share online here About the Authors Jennifer Berit is the co-author of Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action and works in book publishing as a private consultant for authors assisting with manuscript editing and book publicity. She is also the co-director of Wild Awakenings, an adult Rites of Passage organization dedicated to fostering the thriving of Earth, life, and humanity. Jennifer was on the Board of Trustees at the Unity in Marin Spiritual Community for three years, serving as the Board President for 18 months. Also at Unity in Marin, Jennifer was a guest speaker for Sunday mornings, she led Rites of Passage groups for teenagers, and founded a young adult interfaith group committed to conscious connection, community service, and social activism. She is a passionate hiker, reader, writer, and public speaker. Skylar Wilson, MA is the founder of Wild Awakenings, a conscious community of change-makers dedicated to the thriving of Earth, life, and humanity. He has led wilderness rites of passage journeys as well as ecological restoration teams for 18 years, specializing in creating sacred wilderness immersion experiences and interfaith ceremonies. Skylar is the cofounder and co-director of the Order of the Sacred Earth, a network of mystic warriors and activists dedicated to being the best lovers and defenders of the Earth that we can be. Skylar is the coauthor of the book by the same title as well as the co-host, with Jennifer Berit, of the podcast: "Our Sacred Earth" on Unity online radio. Skylar works closely with schools and organizations including the Stepping Stones Project in Berkeley, CA over the last 8 years while guiding organization-wide retreats, mentoring youth, group leaders, parents and elders. He also produces transformational events for thousands of people around the country including the Cosmic Mass, an intercultural healing ritual that builds community through dancing and the arts. He lives in Sebastopol, CA with his wife, son, two affectionate cats and a white wolf named Luna. | | | | | | | | 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 Mary 28, 2008 Where 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 Evolving Faith 2019 Our voices still matter. We can still find companionship. There is still hope. If you’re agnostic, please join us. If you’re a recovering evangelical, please join us. If you know what you’ve lost but are unsure what you’ll find, join us. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Copyright © 2019 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. | | | |

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Who do we know . . .
by James Wiegel 25 Sep '19

25 Sep '19

Who do we know that is connected with movie making? We have a grandson . . . Jenny's oldest . . also interested in Asia, the Middle East, applied math and engineering . . . He graduates in October, starts university next September . . Jim Wiegel “That which consumes me is not man, nor the earth, nor the heavens, but the flame which consumes man, earth, and sky." Nikos Kazantzakis 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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Re: [Dialogue] Who do we know . . .
by Sunny Walker 25 Sep '19

25 Sep '19

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Winds and Waves reminder September
by ICA International 17 Sep '19

17 Sep '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 September 2019 This is a reminder for entries to our 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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9/12/19, Progressing Spirit: Aurelia Davila Pratt: Let the Church die, here's why; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 12 Sep '19

12 Sep '19

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!important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0406646269 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0406646269 .yiv0406646269mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent, #yiv0406646269 .yiv0406646269mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templatePreheader .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent, #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templatePreheader .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templateHeader .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent, #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templateHeader .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templateBody .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent, #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templateBody .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templateFooter .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent, #yiv0406646269 #yiv0406646269templateFooter .yiv0406646269mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } But letting the Church die doesn’t mean we abandon it. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Let the Church die, here's why | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt September 12, 2019 I was nine years old the first time someone asked me, “What are you?” Fast forward twenty-five years later, and I’ve been asked this question more times than I can count. I am Chicana. I am Filipina. I am the color of the earth. I am a dark haired, dark eyed, brown skinned woman. Throughout my life, I have been profiled because of these features. I have experienced blatant forms of racism. I have been the recipient of all sorts of micro aggressions. My identity has been the butt of jokes by strangers and friends alike. People have spoken degradingly about my ethnicity right in front of me, with complete ignorance of the fact that they were speaking about me. On the “bright” side, because of tokenism, I’ve been offered speaking engagements and board positions. Although people are usually disappointed when they discover I don’t actually speak Spanish. Personally, this has long been a source of deep shame. It has taken me several years to begin to understand the intersections between this deep-rooted shame I carry and the white evangelical-influenced culture I grew up in. The truth is, the more I consider it, the more I am convinced my language was stolen from me long before I was born. Seventy-three years after the Mexican-American War created a new national boundary at the Rio Grande River, my grandmother was born in the border town of Brownsville, Texas. She was a product of what her ancestors experienced first-hand when their land was stolen and their culture left on the other side of an unwanted boundary line. “The Gringo, locked into the fiction of white superiority, seized complete political power, stripping Indians and Mexicans of their land while their feet were still rooted in it.” (La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldúa) My grandmother was a part of a people forced into a new paradigm over the course of generations. It was a culture marked by “in between-ness.” No longer fully Mexican, but unwanted and unvalued by American society and government. Because of this liminal space my grandma inherited, she spoke a Spanish unique to the borderlands. She was fully Tejana. But she never taught her children her language. Instead in the late 1940’s, along with countless other Mexican-Americans of their time, she and my grandpa became migrant fruit pickers as a way to travel north. Chicago is where my dad was born and raised. He is part of a generation of young Latinos in middle America who were physically punished if they were caught speaking Spanish in school. White supremacy stole both language and culture from him and his siblings, by means of societal assimilation. My dad married my mom, a second-generation Filipina, and by the time I was born, they had relocated to Louisiana. Eventually my parents divorced, and my mom moved back to the north, leaving my dad to raise me and my two older sisters. We grew up in a small, rural town where everyone identified as either “white” or “black.” So it didn’t take long for the teasing and questions to begin. “What are you?” teachers and students would ask me. Through my experiences with racism as a young child, I came to subconsciously believe that my skin was ugly. I didn’t have words for this then, but now I realize that falling asleep to my brownness was required of me in order to be accepted. By adolescence, I had become a pro at it. By college, I was able to laugh along at the jokes directed toward me. By graduate school, I quit thinking about it at all. It wasn’t until I became an adult, a pastor, and mother, that I began to look back and process my experiences with racism. I began to remember, and I began to wake up. So, “What am I?” I am Chicana. I am Filipina. I am the color of the earth. I am a dark haired, dark eyed, brown skinned woman, and throughout my life, I have been profiled because of these features. Does my name sound like I speak Spanish, and do I look like I speak it? Yes. Definitely. Do people assume I speak Spanish? All time and from every direction. But I do not. I don’t speak Spanish, pero estoy aprendiendo! I am learning! The fact that I can say these words is important because they are a symbol of my awakening and inner liberation. They represent a great undertaking of courage. They are a rejection of shame and assumptions. Estoy aprendiendo! I will claim my autonomy and self-worth. I will reclaim what was stolen from me. My grandmother may be gone, but her story and my father’s story are mine, too. In them, I find identity and power. I find language. I find home. In the past I would not have been brave enough to even believe it, but my story and experiences are relevant to the future of the Church. Over the last several years, there has been a shift in society, including in many progressive white churches. For the first time, white people are attempting to make significant room for black and brown voices. But, alongside this beautiful work is something white people were not prepared for. Many have been caught off guard by the collective pain of black and brown people. They don’t understand it, egos become fragile, and they become reactionary and defensive when confronted by it. This is happening everywhere, including in the Church. The progressive white church can be among the most difficult places for progress because it commonly assumes it is not complicit in the racist foundations and tendencies of our social structures. Regardless, the tides are changing. And as a woman of color who is also a pastor, I have been taking notice. My assessment is that Christianity and its Church can either join the flow of justice or flail against its changing tides. This flow is happening with or without you. Spirit is moving, creating a path of love, equality, and peacemaking in its wake. If you are of the mind to jump in to this divine current, then I have several points of advice for you. First, people and communities of faith: listen to people of color. In listening, make room for our stories, understanding that they won’t be pretty. Most likely, they will sound like pain; like grief; like anger. And it will be difficult to hear some of it without feeling offended. It will be hard to absorb the anger without getting angry back. But the challenge is to listen, to empathize, and to question how you might contribute to the wound, instead of denying the wound exists. It’s a lot to ask, I know! But listen. Become a practitioner in radical empathy and bear our burdens. And then, do something totally radical: put us on your staff and leadership teams. Actively value our perspectives, and highlight our opinions. For the first time ever, center our voices. Make room for all of what we bring to the table, not just our black and brown skin, our exotic names, and our smiles. Do the hard work necessary to get and keep people of color in the room. Become truly inclusive. The inclusive church environment should be willing to engage multiple diverse perspectives in such a way that will define organizational policy and practice. I learned this from my cousin, Hanif Fazal, who is the co-founder and CEO of The Center for Equity and Inclusion in Portland, Oregon. Hanif has spent over two decades addressing issues of equity, diversity and inclusion in organizations, and he says inclusion is about more than a sense of belonging. It’s not enough that someone feels welcome or seen. Inclusion is a shift in power so that diverse voices are shaping the culture. When Christianity and its Church become truly inclusive of marginalized voices, be prepared for the image of God to evolve and expand. God is transformed because God is freed from her box now. Make space; make room. It will deepen your faith to hear from the God of a person of color. The change will likely be uncomfortable. It will be different. Make space; make room. Let this liberation happen. Avoid copying and pasting. It is a tool that prevents good change. I have been very attuned to the way church culture will often try to “copy and paste” their expectations onto pastors, especially women and people of color. This is often unintentional, so becoming aware of these tendencies is really important. I can’t preach with the same style, tone and intonation as the mainly male preachers I learned about in seminary, because I am not a male. I can’t pastor like a white man when I’m a brown woman. When I try to do anything other than be fully who I am, my creativity is stifled, and my imagination is held hostage. It may seem simple, but realizing I no longer have to conform to this “copy and paste” mentality was like being set free. Churches, set your pastors free! When they thrive, you thrive. The Church thrives. And if it’s not obvious by now, let me be clear: the Church must change in order to thrive. It has to do more than change. It has to die. In fact, the church is already dying. Evangelical Christians are grasping at thin air, desperate to protect oppressive traditions from “secular” culture. Politicians have combined their power hungry paradigms with a destructive, patriarchal image of God, and are using it to manipulate the masses. The teachings of Jesus are being completely abandoned for the sake of Christian nationalism. And yet, young people aren’t buying the institutionalized hate, and people of all ages are quitting church in droves. The flailing isn’t working. The pews are empty. The Church is dying, and I say: let it die. But letting the Church die doesn’t mean we abandon it. Instead we need to sit with it, hold its hand and keep vigil, ushering it from one life to the next. We need to let it die, so it can be reborn. This isn’t easy, but I believe rebirth is possible. On the other side of this rebirth is the transfigured Church. Transfiguration literally means a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state. At his own transfiguration, Jesus shone so bright that his dirty travel clothes became sparkling white, and his face shone like the sun. He must have been nearly unrecognizable. A transfigured church would also be unrecognizable. It would mean that it experienced a complete change of form or appearance. It would mean that everything old has passed away, and everything has become new (which sounds a lot to me like making room, by the way). What if we made changing and transforming until we didn’t even recognize ourselves anymore the work of the Church? What if we stopped at nothing until that work was done? The future of the Church has big implications. It has been the catalyst for much good, but also so much evil. Its power continues to be used to sustain oppressive domination systems, propping up -isms and phobias. The power of the Church is immeasurable, and because of this, I have come to realize that it is not enough to abandon ship. If we leave, not much will change. But if we work to reclaim, reimagine, and recreate, then people can be set free. People need permission and a safe space in which to shift their theological paradigms. These same paradigms influence their social understanding all the way to their political vote. We need to be a part of the Church’s rebirth, so that we can offer this important and sacred space. If I could sum up kingdom work, it would be this: Let the Church die, so it can be reborn as a catalyst for change. I’ve lived a lifetime of isolation from my heritage. I have lived in a house of shame that has kept me from moving, from doing my work in the world, from believing and sharing my own truth. I know shame when I see it, and I can recognize its mark permeating throughout the Church. Instead of owning how we have wounded people of color, women, and the LGBTQIA community, the Church has kept its head down, pretending these wounds don’t exist. Instead of acknowledging the ways in which racism continues to inform American Christian culture, the Church’s actions reveal a refusal to listen and an underlying assumption that the past is not our shared responsibility. But I think of my grandmother and her ancestors’ stolen land and culture. I think of how this shaped the trajectory of lives for generations, including my father’s. Including mine. For years I thought I was unique in my pain; alone in this liminal space. I was too ashamed to find my people, much less share my experiences with them. When I finally did, I realized they carried the shame, too. Every person I’ve asked: pain. We’ve all inherited it, and like it or not, we each carry it with us daily. The evils of white supremacy have kept us isolated and silenced. Pero estoy aprendiendo! But I am learning! No more! I will reclaim the language that was stolen from me. I will take back my voice. ~ Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Read online here About the Author Aurelia Dávila Pratt is the Lead Pastor at Peace of Christ Church and is a licensed Master of Social Work. Her sermons and writings steer the listener toward contemplation while also boldly tackling social issues of the day. She prioritizes the work of Peace, believing it to be both a vertical and horizontal process that is disruptive and uncomfortable, but mystically healing. As a pastor, she promotes safe and creative space for all to participate in this work. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Jeff What exactly is meant by the word ‘spiritual’? If it only refers to ghosts, angels, (theistic) gods, demons and such then it’s clearly just a metaphor for the unexplainable aspects of life. In what way is ‘spiritual’ different to emotional, psychological or even just our individual ‘personality’? We refer to body, mind and spirit – but aren’t mind and spirit just the same thing? Is the term ‘spirituality’ an outmoded concept? A: By Rev. Matthew Syrdal Great questions Jeff! Unfortunately, the word ‘spiritual’ is often used as a sort of catch-all for a lot of different meanings. For example, a First Nations person or a traditional Hindu might have a very different sense of what ‘spiritual’ means than a contemporary Western person like myself. In the West, the word ‘spiritual’ or ‘spirit’ derives from the Latin which is a transliteration of two Hebrew words ruach and nephesh. Ruach means ‘breath’, ‘wind’, and ‘spirit’. It is not differentiated from the Creation, the invisible not yet differentiated from the visible. The Spirit is the animating and animate living presence of the divine in and through the creation, which is consequentially closer to many indigenous and animistic understandings of the cosmos and the Creator. An orthodox Judeo-Christian view would be that humans participate in this life-breath as does the more-than-human world. We derive the word ‘inspired’ from this sense of being in-breathed by the presence of divinity that fills the whole world. In the Old Testament the inspiration of the Spirit of God contributed to master works and the craftsmanship of artisans, as well as the oracles of the prophets. The Roman sense of ‘genius’ or the Greek ‘muse’ would be somewhat close to this understanding of the inspiration of the Spirit. Nephesh on the other hand, often interpreted, ‘animated being’ or ‘living soul’ is the psycho-spiritual mysterious ‘personhood’ that transcends and includes our physical body. This term is closer to the animistic vision of animal guides and spirit beings of the otherworld who traditionally were associated with sacred places. When you refer to ghosts, angels, gods, demons and heavenly beings and the like, this sounds to me closer to a sense of the ‘spirit world’ or ‘spiritism’ than how many people use the word ‘spiritual’ as our personal transcendent function. This is significant, because we have a tendency in the West to psychologize the spiritual mysteries in a way the indigenous do not. The animistic view of the spirit world maintains the autonomy and freedom of spiritual realities and powers in themselves, without resorting to contingency or fabrication of the human mind or ego. I do not believe the study of ‘spirituality’ and the importance of it for our age of climatic transformation is outmoded in the least. The reason is because we stand at a threshold in ecological history. We are summoned to undergo a major collective shift in consciousness. Any exploration of spirituality must be experiential, and we must ask the double edged question: what is the Earth/cosmos really? And in light of that question, what does it mean to be truly human? Thank you for your question. ~ Rev. Matthew Syrdal Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Matthew Syrdal M.Div., lives in the front range of Colorado with his beautiful family. Matt is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian church (USA), founder and lead guide of WilderSoul and Church of Lost Walls and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild. Matt speaks at conferences and guides immersive nature-based experiences around the country. In his years of studying ancient Christian Rites of Initiation, world religions, anthropology, rites-of-passage and eco- psychology Matt seeks to re-wild what it means to be human. His work weaves in myth and ceremony in nature as a way for people to enter into conversation with the storied world in which they are a part. Matt’s passion is guiding others in the discovery of “treasure hidden in the field” of their deepest lives cultivating deep wholeness and re-enchantment of the natural world to apprentice fully and dangerously to the kingdom of god. Matt has been coaching, and guiding since becoming a certified Wild Mind nature-based human development guide through the Animas Valley Institute and is currently training to become a soul initiation guide through the SAIP program. | | | | | | | | 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 The Visionaries Summit The Visionaries Summit is where innovative approaches to the most critical issues of our time are introduced, explored and amplified. Not only do we come together to cross-pollinate and meld ideas in order to create the future we all deserve, but we come together to shift our perspectives, and activate the next level of our potential for the evolutionary challenges ahead. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Fwd: A good sermon
by James Wiegel 11 Sep '19

11 Sep '19

Do any of you know this woman? > > https://youtu.be/pKlLI98aQl0 > > > With Respect, > Jim Wiegel

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Global Buzz for September
by ICA International 07 Sep '19

07 Sep '19

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... Global Buzz Report: September 2019 Click above or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-19/2019-09-01.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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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] How Writing of Kierkegaard was Translated into English
by Robertson Work 06 Sep '19

06 Sep '19

Check out Brian Stanfield's Courage to Care, pages 34 - 35. He describes the dynamics of Joe Pierce's "declaration" with attribution to SK. ................................................................................................ Recent book: A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism - Reflections and Recommendations https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617 Blog: https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/<https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/><https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/ ________________________________ From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of jlepps39 via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Thursday, September 5, 2019 9:33 AM To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: jlepps39 <jlepps39(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] How Writing of Kierkegaard was Translated into English I don't know, even after looking on Google. That's why I said "supposedly from Kierkegaard." Whoever said it, it's a good framework. John.Epps Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device -------- Original message -------- From: Patricia Tuecke via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Date: 9/4/19 23:35 (GMT-07:00) To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Patricia Tuecke <ptuecke(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] How Writing of Kierkegaard was Translated into English John Epps used SK's l, Existential Situation, etc. as the structure of his message, "The Spirit of the 20's". Aug 28, via OE Community Dialogue., describing the current situation the world is experiencing now. Perhaps he knows where the quote is found. On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 1:41 PM James Wiegel via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: I notice in the RS-1 manual, at least at one place, the first lecture is called “The Question of God” lecture — of course followed by the Bultmann seminar and preceded by a meal conversation which I do not now recall Anyway, I somehow recall the sentence below as the opening of that lecture, accompanied by writing in the center of the black board “External Situation”, “Internal Crisis”, “Existential Question” and “Escape” With Respect, Jim Wiegel On Aug 30, 2019, at 10:43 AM, W. J. via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: My instant response (without thinking about it) is that this the voice of Joe Pierce on a Friday night. Take that for what it's worth. I'm not at all sure that it reflects SK's exact words, but I'd love to get the SK quote. Marshall On Friday, August 30, 2019, 9:47:57 AM EDT, James Wiegel via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: Thanks for this. Can anyone point me to the Kierkegaard reference for the statement “When the external situation produces an internal crisis that raises a life question from which we try to escape, it is at that point that the question of god is raised”. It would be instructive to access the original quote. With Respect, Jim Wiegel On Aug 30, 2019, at 6:38 AM, Mary Kurian D'Souza via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: Thank you dear Beret for this vignette. Mary On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 1:06 PM Beret Griffith via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: * [Howard Vincent Hong] Howard Hong and his wife Edna spent much of their lives translating the writings of Kierkegaard into English. He taught at St. Olaf College, my alma mater. I met Howard only a couple of times. His son Erik and his wife Carol are friends of Paul and myself. I'm sending along a part of the story of Howard and Edna because we owe our opportunity to read and reflect on Kierkegaard as a result of their translation work which set the context for the way they walked their talk in the world. I took these bits and pieces from his obituary. Howard entered St. Olaf College in 1930 and graduated in 1934. He studied English and.... found himself reading Ibsen, whose volumes he had seen in his father's library. He learned from a biography that Ibsen had been influenced by Kierkegaard. The name registered because his father had spoken of a farmer he knew who owned books by Kierkegaard. He then began to read Kierkegaard, what little there was of his work in English at the time. Howard was a graduate student in English at the University of Minnesota from 1934 to 1938, when the university awarded him the doctorate. While at Minnesota, he took a course with the Kierkegaard scholar David F. Swenson. After graduating, he and his new bride Edna Hatlestad went to Copenhagen, learned Danish, and translated Kierkegaard's For Self- Examination into English. Their life- work as Kierkegaard translators had begun. It was to include a six-volume edition of Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers (Indiana University Press) and the twenty-five volumes of Kierkegaard's Writings (Princeton University Press). Howard and Edna Hongs were celebrated and honored for their work as translators. In 1968, they won a National Book Award for their translation of the first volume of the Journals and Papers; in 1998, when the Princeton edition reached its conclusion, the Times Literary Supplement (London) said of it: "All honour to the Hongs: Kierkegaard's Writings is one of the outstanding achievements in the history of philosophical translation." Howard Hong taught philosophy at St. Olaf until he retired in 1978. Howard was appointed to the faculty in 1938, but Howard won a scholarship and the Hongs spent that school year in Copenhagen. He taught at St. Olaf from 1939 to 1941 then left college to work with prisoners of war in this country during World War II. Then he and Edna worked with refugees in Germany from 1946 to 1948. In Germany, with his young family, he was both the director of the Lutheran World Federation Service to Refugees and the senior field officer of the Refugee Division of the World Council of Churches. Back in Northfield, he helped resettle over 250 refugees, chiefly from Latvia. In the refugee camps, the Hongs saw squalor and lives torn apart by war, yet they believed with Kierkegaard's Works of Love that "love builds up by presupposing that love is present in the ground" or basis of human lives, even under the most desperate circumstances. This book inspired the Hongs in their work with refugees, and it became their first post-war translation project. Howard and Edna also established the Kierkegaard Library, which is housed at the college and bears their name. This library was originally their private collection. The core of the Kierkegaard Library is a substantial reconstruction of Kierkegaard's own library, in the same editions he owned. The Hongs gave their library to St. Olaf in 1976 and it has become an internationally renowned center of Kierkegaard research. During summer Howard and his family lived at Hovland, next to Lake Superior, near the Canadian border. He bought many tracts of land around Hovland, logged over by timber companies and sold for taxes, which he restored largely at his own expense and according to a plan devised by him and an experienced forester. The restoration work was officially recognized and in 2001, he and Edna were given the Minnesota Outstanding Conservationist Award by the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The eminent Kierkegaard scholar, Howard came to enjoy introducing himself as a "forester". Excerpted from Howard Hong's obituary published in the Northfield News on March 18, 2010 NOTE: When John and Lynda Cock came to Northfield to teach The Faith Journey Retreat (RS-1 where 30+ people attended) they visited the Kierkegaard Library and discovered a coincidence....they have to tell that story. Beret _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.wedg…> _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.wedg…> _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.wedg…> _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.wedg…> _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<https://eur04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.wedg…>

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9/05/19, Rev. Matthew Syrdal: Wild Courtship-Primal Speech; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 05 Sep '19

05 Sep '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv8520187772 #yiv8520187772templateBody .yiv8520187772mcnTextContent, #yiv8520187772 #yiv8520187772templateBody .yiv8520187772mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv8520187772 #yiv8520187772templateFooter .yiv8520187772mcnTextContent, #yiv8520187772 #yiv8520187772templateFooter .yiv8520187772mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } All nature was designed for revelation. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wild Courtship-Primal Speech | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Matthew Syrdal September 4, 2019“The heavens are rehearsing the glory of God… Day pours forth speech unto day; night reveals knowledge unto night. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” - Psalm 19I can still smell the pungent perfume of the desert sage congregating below me, rising up from the black depths beneath the canyon rimrock. Their silhouetted arms reach longingly upward toward the heavens. I feel them waiting, silently witnessing the night. The awakened gaze of innumerable stars burns overhead as the face of the moon delicately traces the warm sandstone contours of the canyon rim in a pale light. Alive and in sheer awe, my body stands at the edge of this dark world, vibrating in the stark illuminating gaze of the moon. A sea of darkness yawns open, revealing some other night calling to me in this thin moment. I hear it with my whole being, deep in my cells and bones. A singing. The unending grief of the earth and the longing of the stars calling to each other. Rising together into the night, the fragrance from the bush floor and the song of the cicadas are sown together in a haunting dirge. I listen to these primordial voices as if hearing sound itself for the first time—the sound of innocence in its world-making beauty. Erotic fragrances pour forth in unending praise, harmonizing with the melodic, meditative sounds of these stringed ones. Each note revealing a vaster, older and deeper liturgy—a courtship—that has long preceded human worship.On desert nights like these, I am reminded of the words of Steven Buhner who says, “There is a language in the world, much older than our own. Ours is only a reflection of that older language, our ‘take’ on it, our innovation.”All nature was designed for revelation. At least that’s what indigenous peoples, the Israelites, our church Fathers, and the Celts believed. Jesus himself, like Moses and the prophets Elijah and John the Baptizer, strode deep into the heart of the world, fasting for a vision—revelation. Jesus taught in parables with insights drawn from the seasons using Earth-based imagery. He and his disciples slept out under the stars in olive groves and in desolate places. Rapt in natural revelation. We experience these moments of sheer awe at dawn or dusk, a crisp silent winter-scape, or the delicate burst of a crocus. We feel seismic shifts of changing seasons, of birth and death, alluring us into our own utter contingency, as creatures. And sometimes we lose ourselves in deep rapture with the wild. These are moments of worship with and within the primordial liturgy of the universe itself. It is in these moments when we hear again the Old Language—when we remember. This is the original speech or conversation, the cosmic Sermon that the poets of Genesis and the the Apostle John wrote about—this Logos. The Word is the source, inspiration, and the longing that is worship, is life itself.I have noticed a resurgence of curiosity and interest in the scientific community for the ways in which all self-organized systems, including plants, communicate with each other and their environments. Truly, we live in a relational universe. Gregory Bateson in Mind and Nature develops the insight that growth and differentiation, the shapes of animals, plants and entire ecosystems, are in fact “transforms of messages.” In other words, there is a sacred grammar, a wild poetry, underlying the structural shape and contextual relationships of the visible world. It seems scientists are confirming what the mystics have intuitively perceived all along—there is no primary “stuff”, only a living field vibrating in liturgical harmony.Praying with nature is more than “I-Thou” communication, it is primal speech, an intuitive and improvisational participation in the cosmic conversation and ongoing courtship between the heavens and Earth, river rush and birdsong, the sacred and mundane, the divine and the natural. It is a process we undergo through faith as the Spirit of God tears a hole in our day to day awareness and we see “behind the veil” perceiving the depths of a meaning-filled, manifold universe.The apostle Paul speaks beautifully of our place in the cosmic liturgy of creation. In Romans 8:19-23, he says, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed… We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly…”Worship with is a “groaning.” It a longing, filled with grief and joy. As our species continues to destroy other species and ecosystems, we are joined with creation in a collective grief, often deeper than our conscious awareness. But as Jesus says to his disciples, using the natural process of childbirth as an image of the kingdom of heaven, “your grief will turn to joy.” Our participation in worship with the creation is a type of courtship. Courtship is defined as “a period during which a couple develop a romantic relationship, especially with a view to marriage.” Courtship carries a romantic longing that evokes peculiar patterns of behavior. We make ourselves desirable for the other. We allure, entice, them into noticing us. We increasingly reveal deepening hidden reservoirs of beauty and truth about ourselves, so that the other can come to know us, and we them. There is a playfulness to courtship in the way it quietly stalks, allures, entices and persuades through moments of vulnerability and tenderness. Courtship is not a one-way street but a persuasive ebb and flow of longings, revelations, and risks. “The creation,” says Paul, “waits in eager expectation,” like a Lover for the Beloved “to be revealed.” Paul is using metaphor which hearkens back to the mystical and erotic poetry of the Song of Solomon, the language of desire. Author Trebbe Johnson writes of the World as a “waiting lover,” one who awaits our wild courtship with it. As we discover the soul of the world, we discover our own deepest pattern and unique place within it.What if what the Earth needs most from us right now is not to heroically try to ‘save’ it, but to deeply and hopelessly ‘belong’ to it? As poet Rainer Maria Rilke says, “If we surrendered to Earth’s intelligence, we could rise up rooted like trees…” The Earth in its feral beauty and wild wisdom, invites us into courtship through the indigenous Seed, the imago, the Word to relearn what it is to be fully human.By day, I am a Presbyterian pastor at a church in Littleton, Colorado. I have experienced a sense of burnout, depression, and a profound disenchantment with our cultural climate and political world. I have also noticed a shared, but tacit, capitulation in friends and colleagues to some of the realities and forces of our times—a capitulation to a ‘paradise lost.’ With a background in spiritual direction and ecopsychology, I have been training over the years with an organization called Animas Valley Institute in their SAIP program, and have begun integrating Celtic and indigenous theologies and practices into a framework of nature-based wholeness and Self-healing for spiritual leadership development. I have been blessed with friendships from others around the country, including the Wild Church Network, who are also grappling with the longing and urgency for this work. As lead guide for Church of Lost Walls in Denver and a co-founder of Seminary of the Wild, our dream over the years has been to create a living expression of church seeking to journey beyond our walls into wild enchanting thresholds where nature, spirituality, and life meet in wild courtship and sacred conversation for the cultivation of wholeness.We gather to participate in and partner with creation through direct experience between erotic and sensual bodies, learning through present-centered observation, communal worship and dance, meditation, and prayer. Through nature-based practices that draw upon the wisdom of sacred narratives and older traditions, we desire to cultivate nature connection and personal wholeness to inspire and guide one another into a culturally creative vision of life within our expanding circles of community, culture, the wild earth, and the great mystery we call God. We worship with the seasons, the elements, the landscapes and living beings around us through wild and embodied liturgy, guided invitation to sacred conversation in solitude on the land, contemplative prayer practices, deep imagery and dreamwork, artistic expression, and a variety of authenticity based group work. As any courtship moves with intention towards marriage, "Worship with" not only means our participation with, but also our responsibility for, the natural world. Our participation in the feral beauty of wild landscapes that ravage the soul in moments of ecstasy, the tenderness of our own watersheds which nurture life, evokes responsible compassion or sacred reciprocity. A long-suffering commitment to and action on behalf of, rooted in the very wisdom and patterns of nature herself, must guide us in our individual and collective roles and projects in the caring for the delicate web of life nurturing and shaping our innumerable diversity of species. After all, wild nature is the primary matrix from which human nature emerged.~ Rev. Matthew Syrdal Read online here About the Author Rev. Matthew Syrdal M.Div., lives in the front range of Colorado with his beautiful family. Matt is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian church (USA), founder and lead guide of WilderSoul and Church of Lost Walls and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild. Matt speaks at conferences and guides immersive nature-based experiences around the country. In his years of studying ancient Christian Rites of Initiation, world religions, anthropology, rites-of-passage and eco- psychology Matt seeks to re-wild what it means to be human. His work weaves in myth and ceremony in nature as a way for people to enter into conversation with the storied world in which they are a part. Matt’s passion is guiding others in the discovery of “treasure hidden in the field” of their deepest lives cultivating deep wholeness and re-enchantment of the natural world to apprentice fully and dangerously to the kingdom of god. Matt has been coaching, and guiding since becoming a certified Wild Mind nature-based human development guide through the Animas Valley Institute and is currently training to become a soul initiation guide through the SAIP program. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Jeff C. Mark, I've been following you for awhile and I do appreciate some of the things you say, but what's the deal with this new agey movement for “simplicity”? A: By Rev. Mark Sandlin Dear Jeff,The fact is, the wisdom of simplicity is a theme with long and historical roots. The value and benefits of living simply are found in practically all the world’s major wisdom traditions. Proverbs 30:8 tells us, “Give me neither poverty nor wealth.” Matthew 6:19a says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth...” In Eastern spiritual practices like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism the teachings encourage a life of material moderation and spiritual abundance. From the Taoist tradition we have this saying from Lao-tzu: “He who knows he has enough is rich.” >From the Hindu tradition, Mahatma Gandhi wrote: “Civilization, in the real sense of the term, consists not in the multiplication, but in the deliberate and voluntary reduction of wants. This alone promotes real happiness and contentment.” He believed that moderating our desires for “wants” increases our ability and desire to help others. For him, true civilization (that is, humans being civilized) emerged from each of us being in loving service to others. Also, from the Hindu tradition, is the idea of “non-possessiveness.” Said differently, it's the idea of only taking what we need and finding satisfaction in our lives through that kind of balanced living. One of the more developed concepts of a life balanced between material excess and simplicity comes from Buddhism. Buddhism actually recognizes that basic material needs require to be met in order to realize our potentials, but it does not consider material wealth as a goal for happiness in life. Instead, it recognizes it as means to the end – that end being awakening oneself to our deeper nature as spiritual beings. It is a balance between mindless materialism and needless poverty. Even the Greeks understood something of the dangers of overly focusing on material goods. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all recognized the importance of what they called the “golden mean.” It was basically seen as a middle path through life – the goal was no excess, but equally no lack – the end goal was a life of sufficiency. They did not see the material world and its “stuff” as the primary purpose of life. Instead, the “stuff” of the world was more of a tool for the primary purpose of life: learning and spiritual pursuits. Considering the U.S.'s consumerist-focused society, it is somewhat surprising to consider that many of the early settlers were Puritans. It's somewhat surprising because Puritans stressed hard work, moderate living, participation in the life of the community, and a devotion to things spiritual, not material. Another early influencer in U.S. history were the Quakers. They taught that material simplicity was an important aid in growing toward spiritual perfection. And, while they did teach that it was normal to want to enjoy the fruits of their labors, they also recognized that our time on Earth is brief and emphasized that people should place much of their love and attention on more spiritual things. I guess what I'm saying is that the concept of leading a more simple life is not some new “new agey” thing. Its importance has been around for a very long time – humanity just seems to have a confoundingly difficult time grasping it.~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His work has been published on “The Huffington Post,” “Sojourners,” “Time,” “Church World Services,” and even the “Richard Dawkins Foundation.” He’s been featured on PBS’s “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” and NPR’s “The Story with Dick Gordon.” Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | 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 Visionaries Summit The Visionaries Summit is where innovative approaches to the most critical issues of our time are introduced, explored and amplified. Not only do we come together to cross-pollinate and meld ideas in order to create the future we all deserve, but we come together to shift our perspectives, and activate the next level of our potential for the evolutionary challenges ahead. Click here for more information/registration. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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“And now we know why”
by James Wiegel 05 Sep '19

05 Sep '19

Jack: you said in a recent email . . . > > We failed at replication, but now we know why. > We failed at expanding Religious Houses, but now we know why. > We failed at renewing the historical Christian church, but now we know why. > I tried hunting around the archive website and looked a bit around wedgeblade.net. Is there a document somewhere that outlines these “why’s”?

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