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January 2020

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1/09/20, Progressing Spirit: Carl Krieg: Jesus' Women Disciples; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 09 Jan '20

09 Jan '20

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}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 h3{ font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 .yiv2836949942mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent, #yiv2836949942 .yiv2836949942mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templatePreheader .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent, #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templatePreheader .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templateHeader .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent, #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templateHeader .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templateBody .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent, #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templateBody .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templateFooter .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent, #yiv2836949942 #yiv2836949942templateFooter .yiv2836949942mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } It all goes together: institutional patriarchy | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jesus' Women Disciples | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Dr. Carl Krieg January 9, 2020 Ever since human beings began to relate their experience to one another, it has proven difficult to differentiate the facts of the story from the teller’s interpretation of the facts. Anyone paying attention to US politics today is painfully aware of this situation, but it has always been true, and it was as true in the first century as it is today. The early Christian Writings present a variety of interpreted fact, told from perspectives that emerged from the better part of a century in various cultural contexts. The fundamentalist assertion that these writings are the absolute and inerrant word of God is but a feeble and false attempt to evade the fact/interpretation dichotomy. Barring that particular escape route, what we must do is what modern biblical scholarship has always done, and that is to apply critical investigative tools to the understanding of the material before us. Even then, however, there is no guarantee that there will be a scholarly consensus, leaving modern would-be disciples of Jesus in the position of studying the evidence, and then trying to figure out what makes sense to them, at least for the moment and until shown otherwise. I say all this as context for a simple but radical assertion that makes sense to me, that Jesus’ disciples were not just twelve men, but included both men and women. This simple assertion is much more involved and complicated than it seems. If Jesus’ extended family included women, why do we hear so little about them? And when we do, why is there denigration, such that we are led to believe that they were previously possessed by demons? What was that family of friends like, and why does it transmogrify into an institutional structure before the century ends? Who caused that to happen? How did that change impact the faith and belief of that community? Finally, on what basis do we answer any of these questions, given the parochial and patriarchal nature of our sources? If centuries of hard labor and diligent study by biblical scholars have not been able to achieve consensus on any of this, including and incorporating all the investigative tools of the 21st century, the most we can do here is ask what may be some new questions. I am not a biblical scholar, and the most I can do is to listen and learn as best I can, and then try to make sense of the challenge. When it involves understanding Jesus, we do well to follow Anselm’s dictum, fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding. Let’s begin with the scant references to women that we do have. From Mark 15:41 “Now there were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, who, when he was in Galilee, followed Jesus, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.” >From the later gospels we are given the names of other women, bringing the full list to Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, Salome, two other Marys, and Zebedee’s wife, as well as “the others”. We are also told that women were the first witnesses to the resurrection. Even replacing the idea of a physical rising with a spiritual, it is telling that the church, patriarchal as it was at the end of the first century, included the primacy of the women on this score. Luke, writing perhaps 20 years after Mark, adds two other notes. “Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means”. Luke 8: 1-3 First, we read that they not only followed, but also provided for the group out of their means. But in a change from the earlier gospel, we are now told that these women had previously been possessed. What’s going on here? Probably the easiest answer to that question is to see the direction in which the first century is headed, best exemplified by 1 Timothy, dated at the end of the first century, where we read: “…women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire but by good deeds, as befits women who profess religion. Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.” Women, however, are not the only ones who are no longer equal, even in the church. We also read from 1 Timothy: “Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be defamed.” And from 1 Peter: “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him… Honor the emperor… Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the kind and gentle but also to the overbearing”. Jesus created a family of friends wherein all were equal and shared in the joy of God’s new creation, Paul tried to continue that vision in the small churches that he founded, wherein there was neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, and now the later church has rejected that vision and institutionalized both slavery and the subjugation of women. The structure of the community has totally changed, but so also, it would seem, has the theology. I have argued elsewhere that Jesus was a gift of God who manifested in his life the love and compassion that forms the essence of who we all are. The disciples and others, men and women, found in him what it meant to be human, what it meant to find meaning in life, and they were so excited about this discovery that they wanted to share it with everybody. But somehow, as time went on, the “purpose” of Jesus was transformed into a sacrificial death on the cross, a propitiation of an angry god that somehow atoned for our sin. And now there was only one redeemer for all mankind, one who had paid the price for all who believed. Not only so, but the power to distribute that forgiveness was now in the hands of the church and its priests. And so we ask: how did this transformation occur, and why? Additionally, what was originally a common meal shared by the Jesus family evolved into a sacrament, the focal point of the distribution of God’s forgiveness, also controlled by the priest. How and why did that happen? Furthermore, the fullness of life that Jesus made available in his family of friends became an eschatological reality, and the focus shifted to a future coming of Jesus wherein we all become subjected to a judgment of our behavior. Heaven or hell. The shift from current joy to future judgment was linked to the vicarious atonement and the ecclesiastically controlled distribution of God’s grace. Lastly, one’s faith active in love now became belief in doctrine about salvation, doctrine proclaimed by the church and based on selected writings that became canon, a canon established by the church and, as one might expect, interpreted by that church. I fully realize that all this is subject to intense debate, and that the majority position is quite the opposite of my proposals. It is on these issues, however, that I believe students of the church must direct their attention. Was Jesus’ purpose to create a microcosm of a loving and fulfilling humanity, that included all people, to show the world what life could be, or was his purpose to be a sacrifice for sin? Was his purpose to create this microcosm here and now, or to warn us about a future judgment? to create this microcosm or to put all power in the hands of priests? to create this community or to fall back into the clutch of the rich and powerful, wherein slaves and women were kept in their place? Throughout the period of the early church, positions that challenged the majority were declared heretical, and the winners of theological debate were declared to be orthodox. In this process, control tightened as power was centralized. Emperor Constantine’s demand that the church hierarchy settle disputes, accomplished in commanding the gathering of the Council of Nicaea in 325, is the epitome of the rich and powerful influencing the direction that the church had to take. We must assume and expect that in the earlier centuries they held equal sway. And that is why we no longer hear about the role of the women who were the disciples of Jesus. The status quo could not bear the radical implications of that new social order. It is also why all of us, including slaves, are advised to submit to the authorities who are ordained by God. It all goes together: institutional patriarchy, vicarious atonement, one redeemer, future judgment, priests who administer and control “Word and sacrament”, submission to existing power structure, and the subjugation of women, are part and parcel of the demise of what Jesus sought to create. Unfortunately, the earliest church could not withstand the social structure and pressure of the society into which it was born, a structure controlled by the combined power of religious, economic and governmental authority. Our hope today must be that we can regain the vision that Jesus held before us. It is time for that change. ~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Fortress Press published his first book, What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, and his recent The Void and the Vision. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife, Margaret, in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Tom I’m a mostly retired (progressive) Presbyterian pastor who is working (less than) part time with an amazing — generous, dwindling, compassionate, creative and dying urban congregation. Some of the saints have been “here” for 50 years… and they’ve never “done” any regular Bible Study! Lot’s of simple Sunday sermons. No background, history, context…. They’re faithful, mostly ‘literal,’ pretty accepting and curious… in a “gosh, we never thought of that, before…” sort of way. How can I encourage (what gentle effective resources are there?) their actual “study” of the Bible, and not just smile at their one-dimensional acceptance of its stories and layered meanings? I (try to) lead an hour or so Bible Study before each of my two-Sundays-a- month preaching gigs… and am amazed at (and grateful for) their participation, receptivity, and curiosity… about the coming Sunday’s texts. How can I offer a more systematic, “remedial,” wholistic approach to the great Biblical stories, promises and callings? A: By Rev. Jessica Shine Dear Tom, I love your heart for the people you’ve been called to serve and I equally love your value of the Sacred Text! I also love the congregation’s willingness and interest in studying and learning together with you. First, let me say this is a normal congregation, as far as Bible study goes. Some fundamentalists like to pride themselves on a different understanding of the word, and yet the typical congregation knows about as little as any other slice of Christianity. Similar to politics, we’re not used to fact-checking or reading outside of what we’ve been told. Then we begin to see text through only that lens and box ourselves into a theology that may or may not be helpful. Even though it sounded good at the time! It also sounds like you’re off to a great start! What helped me in the local church in getting people to study for themselves was to model it; through my teaching/preaching up front as I told stories about my own devotional/study life. It also helps that you’ve got them in a group already, so they’re ‘test-driving’ what you’ve been teaching them in a safe group setting. In my opinion, the next step would be to give them tools to encourage their own study, and invite them to bring that back to your group. I’d also try to invite a few other voices with various perspectives on sacred text. Perhaps a 5-minute perspective during a sermon from a local rabbi or imam on that same text from their tradition. Or a guest minister from your town could share a different perspective in your group study and why they believe it, of course safety would be a necessity as no one wants to feel as though they’re being converted. A couple of resources that have helped me in my work have been simple acronyms I’ve picked up along the way. One is called SOAP (scripture, observe, apply, prayer). This is a simple way to help folks create a devotional habit and try out their own understanding. The first step is to select a scripture, this can be a book you read through together, or following the liturgical calendar. Then to observe the text as though you were there, use your senses (what do you see, hear, smell, feel, taste). Then application, in other words how does this matter to me? Then offering a prayer of gratitude. I enjoy using this process as I journal because it helps me save my reflections and I’m able to go back to them. The application is the ‘meat’ for me, as I’ve never understood the value of just ‘reading’ something without experiencing it and wrestling with it! There are also great resources on the ProgressiveChristianity.org website! Under the “Resources” tab, click on “Plan your Gathering”. Then scroll to select what you need based on a book of the Bible or a topic. A great one listed is Marcus Borg’s Evolution of the Word”. Perhaps you have a favorite that has helped in your journey of faith. In any case, you’re doing a great job of guiding. Thank you for getting them into the text rather than just talking about it! Blessings on the continued journey! ~ Rev. Jessica Shine Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Jessica Shine earned degrees in theology and divinity, but still hasn’t figured out how to walk on water. Despite this, she was ordained to ministry by the Seventh-day Adventist church and continues offering spiritual care as a clergy member of The CHI Interfaith Community (based in Berkeley, CA). With two decades of experience serving church communities, police officers, hospital staff, and teenagers, Shine has a passion for people and a skill for communicating in transformative ways. She is a descendant of Mexican, Indian, and Western European immigrants. Her spirituality began in childhood, was influenced by Jimmy Swaggart and Mother Theresa, and continues in the Pacific Northwest. She dwells on lands where Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other tribes made their homes. Shine also co-hosts a podcast on death and dying called “Done For” (available on iTunes, Google, and at doneforpodcast.com) | | | | | | | | Correction to last week's Q&A re: original language of the Bible It is generally agreed by historians that Jesus and his disciples primarily spoke Aramaic, the common language of Judea in the first century AD, most likely a Galilean dialect distinguishable from that of Jerusalem. The texts were mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Biblical Aramaic. Biblical Hebrew, sometimes called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language. The very first translation of the Hebrew Bible was into Greek. Biblical Languages | | | | | | | | 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 Origins of the Bible, Part XIV: Jeremiah, the Prophet of Doom Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong October 9, 2008 The book of Jeremiah, the second of the Major Prophets in the Bible after Isaiah, is not only a large and complicated piece of writing, but it exhibits no narrative line that can easily be followed or recalled. Most people, including most clergy, could not cite a single passage from this book if you asked them to do so. The book of Jeremiah does not lend itself to memorable prose. I know of no major scholarly work that has been done specifically on this book. No one comes to mind who might be called a “Jeremiah scholar”. Yet this book has shaped many aspects of our religious history and quite specifically has helped to form the Christian story. Many of the familiar images that were incorporated into the birth narratives in the gospels of Matthew and Luke were originally found in Jeremiah. In chapters 26 and 27, Israel is referred to as a virgin who is to bring forth God’s firstborn son, who will keep Israel as a shepherd keeps his flock. It is an image out of Jeremiah that portrays Rachel as “weeping for her children who were not”, which Matthew quotes as the biblical basis for his story of King Herod killing the innocent boy babies in Bethlehem, in his effort to remove God’s deliverer. The words in Jeremiah, “a righteous branch shall spring forth from the root of Jesse”, the father of King David, “who will be called the Lord our righteousness”, may have led to the popular theme that Jesus was the heir to the throne of David. The Hebrew word for root is “nazir”, which may be what Matthew was referring to when he wrote that the prophets say Jesus would be called a “Nazarene”. Even the story of Mary and Joseph finding no room in the inn, told only by Luke, may have been based on a passage from Jeremiah, who refers to “the hope of Israel” being treated as a stranger in the land by being turned aside”, not able to stay “for even a night”. Other biblical themes that find mention in Jeremiah deserve a brief mention. 1. Jeremiah along with Ezekiel, his younger colleague, are the biblical voices suggesting that individualism is beginning to appear in the land of Israel about the 6th Century BC. “Every one shall die of his own sins”, writes Jeremiah. Individualism will shape substantially the Jewish idea of life after death that emerges in their sacred writings, called the Apocrypha, around 200 BC. 2. There is in Jeremiah a hint of universalism that challenges the ancient tribal mentality. This prophet has God refer to Nebuchadnezzar twice as “my servant” and he sees the threat that the Babylonians represent as God’s instrument for punishing the waywardness of God’s people. 3. A theme finding expression in Matthew’s Parable of the Judgment identifying God with justice appears in Jeremiah, who writes that “to know God is also to know the poor and needy”. 4. The identification of Israel with a fig tree not bearing fruit and on which even the leaves have withered, may be the origin of the story told in Mark that Jesus laid a curse on a fig tree for not bearing fruit, just before the cleansing of the Temple. That fig tree withered to its roots. 5. The words of the Negro Spiritual “There is a balm in Gilead” come from a text in Jeremiah. 6. Jeremiah, like the book of Job, wrestled with the problem of evil. “Why do the ways of the wicked prosper?” he asked. 7. The early Christians called themselves “the followers of the way”. That name may come from Jeremiah, who portrays God as setting before the Jews a choice between the way of life and the way of death and demanding that they choose. Other texts from Jeremiah have been used to illumine current events. One thinks of the present condition of the American economy, especially in light of the seven hundred-billion-dollar bailout of Wall Street, when one reads in Jeremiah that “everyone is greedy for unjust gain…they do not even know how to blush”. To read of the insurance giant AIG spending $400,000 to entertain lavishly their independent agents just days after they had been given billions of taxpayer dollars to rescue them from bankruptcy, is a case in point. They do not realize how out of touch they are. “They don’t even blush”, nor do they “get it…” My favorite personal recollection involving a text from Jeremiah came at the start of the first Iraq war in 1991. President George H. W. Bush, trying to perfume his military efforts to push back Saddam Hussein, had Billy Graham come to pray with him at the White House as the bombs began to fall. Using religion for political purposes seems to run in that family. Outside the White House that same night were anti-war protestor and pickets led by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Edmond Browning. One of the signs carried in that silent procession quoted words from Jeremiah, “My heart is beating wildly. I cannot keep silent for I hear the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war…” Jeremiah writes of a sense of destiny, maybe even a sense of being pre-ordained or predestined for a particular role in life. As such he has been the inspiration for many who found themselves in the right place at the right time – and were able to change history. That was what it meant, in Jeremiah’s words, to assume the mantle of the prophet. God is reported to have said to Jeremiah in this book, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you to be a prophet to the nations”. Setting Jeremiah in the context of the time through which he lived and about which he wrote might be helpful. His was a particularly difficult and turbulent period of Jewish history. Everything in this book reflects that fact. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed in 721 BC by the Assyrians, who ruled the world with an iron hand until they were overthrown by the Babylonians around the year 612 BC. Jeremiah watched the struggle between the Egyptians, the Assyrians and the rising power of the Babylonians, as power ebbed and flowed in the region between those two dates. His sympathies seemed to be with the Assyrians, so he was destined not to be a winner. His little country of Judah had escaped the destruction that had befallen the Northern Kingdom, only by accepting vassal status to the Assyrians, so they viewed with alarm the rise of Babylonian power. As a small country they were regularly little more than pawns in the hands of the competing nations of the Middle East. It was best for them when the major powers were tied up jockeying for power against each other. This situation had existed before Assyria fell to the Babylonians, so Judah had enjoyed a period of “Indian summer”. It was during this period that the book of Deuteronomy appeared and the Deuteronomic Reforms took place in the land of Judah. Jeremiah may have been involved with those reforms. Some Old Testament scholars think that Jeremiah was the author of the book of Deuteronomy and was involved in the placing of this book into the walls of the Temple where it could be “discovered” during the time of renovations under the popular King Josiah around the year 621 BC. However, that is not universally agreed to, though it remains a possibility. The hopes of Judah at that time in its history were vested in King Josiah. This young king had succeeded to the throne in 640 BC, when he was only eight years old. He was enormously popular with the priests and the prophets because of his genuine religious interests. There is even the suggestion that one of the prophets had been his regent prior to the time he came of age and that his religious devotion was the result of that. The Deuteronomic Reforms, about which I have written earlier in this series (Origins of the Bible – Part VI – sent my me on 16th May 2008 – Wes), were very pleasing and affirming to the religious leaders. The prophet Huldah had even suggested when these reforms were being carried out that God’s blessing would be on Judah at least as long as King Josiah lived. So much of their hope and their sense of the security of God’s blessing rested in Josiah, who was thought to be their guarantor of God’s favor. That is why his death at the young age of thirty-nine was deemed to be almost like the end of the world. Pharaoh Necho of Egypt had marched to war hoping to claim some of Assyria’s empire for itself. King Josiah, a former ally of Assyria, set out to intercept the Egyptian force in a battle on the plains of Megiddo in 609 BC. The Jews were defeated and King Josiah was struck down. History unraveled for the Jews from that point on. With Josiah’s death Judah’s sense of security died. Their Assyrian protector was no longer able to come to their aid. The powerful Babylonians were rising. Judah was on the wrong side of history. In less than ten years the Babylonians would be besieging Jerusalem. When Jerusalem fell in 596 BC, the Babylonian Exile began. Jeremiah saw this impending calamity and warned of its coming with regularity. No one heeded him. His message was so relentless and so hopeless that they actually wanted to kill him. Jerusalem was a city that had not been invaded for four hundred years. People did not believe that it could be taken. He likened what was about to befall Judah to the time when they were slaves in Egypt. No image could have been more fearful. When his message came true and his nation was prostrate, Jeremiah was carted off to Egypt, where he died in poverty and of a broken spirit. One image of Jeremiah is that of a weeping prophet, even a madman. Both are accurate. Time, however, is usually a prophet’s greatest friend. At some time after his death the words of Jeremiah were added to the sacred story of the Jews and thus were preserved as scripture. So we have access to his words, painful though some of them are and his truth was validated. The job of the prophet is to illumine the pain, not to eliminate it, to help people walk through it and to transcend it. It is not helpful to deny the pain and pretend that there is another reality in which the pain is not present. Jeremiah was in this tradition. Perhaps that is what the world needs today as it stands on the brink of a worldwide recession and all the political dislocation that this will inevitably bring. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Breathe: A Gathering for Women in Spiritual Leadership Hosted by Diana Butler Bass April 26 -28, Clearwater Beach, FL. Bring: Your heart, your hopes, your wisdom. We all know it. These are hard days for women who are clergy, writers, spiritual directors, and educators in faith communities and public callings. We persist, but feel exhausted. We speak, but struggle for wisdom. We serve, but forget ourselves. We need a place to breathe. Together. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Fwd: Framk, your top recommendation is...
by frankknutson2 08 Jan '20

08 Jan '20

In light of the current talk on our impending death this TED TALK is worth watching. Begin forwarded message: > From: TED Recommends <recommendations(a)ted.com> > Date: January 7, 2020 at 1:32:44 PM PST > To: Framk <frankknutson2(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Framk, your top recommendation is... > Reply-To: recommendations(a)ted.com > > > > > Recommended for you > What really matters at the end of life > BJ Miller > 10.2M views > ► WATCH NOW > SAVE TO LIST > “ > BJ's TED Talk is one of my all-time favorites. It not only made me think differently about what matters at the end of life, but also what matters during it. > > Kayla Nalven , Deputy Director, TED Conferences > Newest Talks from TED․com > > The search for dark matter -- and what we've found so far > Risa Wechsler > > > The past, present and future of nicotine addiction > Mitch Zeller > > > The "opportunity gap" in US public education -- and how to close it > Anindya Kundu > > > To challenge the status quo, find a "co-conspirator" > Ipsita Dasgupta > > > Dangerous times call for dangerous women > Pat Mitchell > > > The beautiful balance between courage and fear > Cara E. Yar Khan > Latest from TED Ideas > Are you lonely in your partnership or marriage? > Most relationships in which loneliness has taken up residence can be shifted to a better daily reality, says marriage researcher Carol Bruess. All it takes some patience and effort. > read more > > How you can use the power of celebration to make new habits stick > It doesn’t take 21 days to wire in a habit, says psychologist BJ Fogg. Sometimes, all you need is a shot of positive feeling and emotion, a dose of celebration. Celebrating is a great way to reinforce small changes -- and pave the way for big successes. > read more > > We all make snap first impressions about each other — here’s how to slow down > Taking a moment to pause and really look at the other person can help us all avoid embarrassment and hurt feelings, says youth empowerment activist Quita Christison. > read more > What did you think of your last recommendation? > > The revolutionary power of diverse thought > Elif Shafak > More like this Less like this > > Want to help test new and improved products from TED? Get a first look at new TED projects and initiatives as a beta tester. Join our research community > Copyright © TED Conferences LLC. All rights reserved. > Have a question? Email us: contact(a)ted.com > TED.com | Unsubscribe | Adjust your email settings > Add us to your address book > Our mailing address is: > TED Conferences LLC > 330 Hudson Street > New York, NY 10013

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ICAI Global Buzz
by ICA International 07 Jan '20

07 Jan '20

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... Global Buzz Report: January 2020 Click above or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-20/2020-01-01.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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1/02/20, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Jessica Shine: Why The Church Must Die - Part 2; Song revisited
by Ellie Stock 05 Jan '20

05 Jan '20

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.yiv0982084896mcnTextContent, #yiv0982084896 #yiv0982084896templateHeader .yiv0982084896mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0982084896 #yiv0982084896templateBody .yiv0982084896mcnTextContent, #yiv0982084896 #yiv0982084896templateBody .yiv0982084896mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0982084896 #yiv0982084896templateFooter .yiv0982084896mcnTextContent, #yiv0982084896 #yiv0982084896templateFooter .yiv0982084896mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } I know, that probably hurt a little to read | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Why The Church Must Die - Part 2 | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Jessica Shine January 2, 2020Churchianity must die and it is dying. I know, that probably hurt a little to read. If it makes you feel better, it hurt to write it too. However, the sooner we accept that death is part of the cycle, we can shift into midwifing a new movement of the Jesus story. For more background, check out part one of this article here . I mentioned previously that the Church is dying and must because it often is no longer a source of connection to each other or the Divine. In response, I've heard progressives and evangelicals say, “…except for my church.”In this article my premise is simple, the Church is dying. Progressive church. Evangelical church. Mainline church. And rather than point fingers at each other, or continue to bicker about theology or theopraxy, my challenge is that we are more alike than we think. That’s right, progressives and evangelicals have way more in common than most of us would like to admit. As an ex-evangelical pastor, I am hoping that this commonality will lead us to create a wider middle path for whatever is about to manifest, and that together we will help create sacred community in the way of Jesus. Along with that, I'm hoping that as leaders and midwives, we will aid in the graceful and compassionate death of something we have cherished.But first ….let's talk about meritocracy.Meritocracy is defined as a “political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement, rather than wealth or social class.”[1] In theory, this idea of reward based on merit seems good and helpful, in fact we use it all the time in American culture. 'I earned that’ or ‘I worked hard to get …’ Meritocracy invites the one who ‘merited’ an object to feel a sense of ownership and worth because of their accomplishment, and at times can open the door for entitlement.Meritocracy is a shared, yet often unspoken, fundamentalist and progressive christian belief. We say things like, ‘well if you just read the scripture, or study enough you could figure out …’ As Christians, our belief system has been shaped by the culture we grew up in, it has given us (at least a partial) lens for how to see and interact with Jesus (and the Bible). I’m not arguing against hard work or diligent study. I am, however, trying to point out that what fuels our sense of entitlement about correctness (whether we’re fundamental or progressive) is usually based in meritocracy.Meritocracy doesn’t work the way we think it’s supposed to and there’s a good reason why. “It is good sense to appoint individual people to jobs on their merit. It is the opposite when those who are judged to have merit of a particular kind harden into a new social class without room in it for others,” writes author Michael Dunlop Young, who first coined the term meritocracy in a satirical novel in 1958[2]. ‘It describes a dystopian society in a future United Kingdom in which intelligence and merit have become the central tenet of society, replacing previous divisions of social class and creating a society stratified between a merited power-holding elite and a disenfranchised underclass of the less merited.[3] ’Sound familiar?Step away from the political scene for a moment, where wage gap data is undeniable, and let’s talk about how this is manifesting in the church. In the Jesus movement of the 60's and 70’s Christianity sought to intentionally redefine and reconnect with Jesus. He was now emphasized as intercessor and friend, and thus began the birth of modern evangelicalism. Singable tunes with easy to learn lyrics that reinforced that theology, and annoyed hymnal purists and organists alike. Almost two centuries later the emergence of the Jesus Seminar again invited the redefining of Jesus and reorienting to Jesus as a valued teacher, but not necessarily a historic figure. This led to the birth of modern progressive Christianity. You may be thinking, ‘See, we're nothing alike!’ Yet both movements also placed a high value on their correctness. Their merit was (and still is) in being right, often making community very difficult for those who are wandering along a middle ground between the two - Jesus loving people who see the inconsistencies and weird story telling in the text and practical atheists who value an ethical and grace filled approach to living.And yet, the Jesus of the gospels stands in stark contrast to production (and deconstruction only) as a means to a fulfilled life. For example, in the book attributed to Matthew, Jesus goes to the desert after a show stopping baptism, complete with descending dove and heavenly proclamation. Instead of engaging cheering crowds and announcing John had it right, Jesus retreats.[4] He doesn’t take an opportunity to talk about why he’s the best candidate, or how well he knows the Hebrew texts. He doesn’t lobby or call a conference or start a giving campaign. He retreats, has a mystical experience, then builds a community of random women and men.We are stuck in the meritocratic worldview when we make tests of community with Bible translations, seminary education, and degrees earned. Yes, these matter and inform us, but do they enrich our sense of connection or our sense of correctness? The church must die because we’ve elevated rightness as a means to belonging, and that is our meritocracy. We've relegated belonging by belief and behavior, and at times that has helped. However, having such a hard edge has also pushed people away. Jesus was radically inclusive (see also adulterer announcing the resurrection).Fundamentalists and progressives also share a narrow and exclusive language. Before you stop reading, consider this: both are products of European Protestant movements. Both have chosen to define themselves by what they don’t believe. Neither have often asked, ‘how does this theology or doctrine affect Black, indigenous, and people of color? (BIPOC)’[5] The church is dying and to be honest, this is a white progressive problem. Communities of color often have an inherent sense of intergenerational wisdom and gathering, and invite young voices to lead alongside seasoned veterans. The church is dying because it has only given room to a certain group it has deemed worthy of leading, serving, singing, or speaking. And that church must die.The church, as it has been (theology and structure), must die because it has imposed a euro-centric lens of the Jesus story on many BIPOC. This is called ‘othering’. We’ve done this in America and all other countries we’ve ‘evangelized[6].' Now many of these people are living in a framework that may or may not match their heritage. The American Church has historically never made room (initially or intentionally) for BIPOC, except as converts or people who were in need of correction. BIPOC were referred to as the ‘other’, the less fortunate, the poor, the destitute. Even when they weren’t actually in that group, white culture still lumps them in with the ‘needy’ or those who have less. Racism in America wasn’t opposed by a Christian denomination until the mid 20th century, almost 500 years after the initial colonization of this continent, and it is still an issue in my lifetime[7]. We aren’t ‘past that’ yet and this is why the Church must die.The church must die because it has become complicit in othering. Newsflash, this also isn’t new. It manifested in the United States through the slavery movement (often promoted and reinforced by mis-informed white Christians). AND, in case you feel proud that ‘your denomination’ wasn’t like that ….also newsflash, it was. Every home grown Christian group that has sprouted up on North American soil has been complicit in this, or is still propagating racism through their theology.Whether it’s orthodoxy or orthopraxy, beware of your progressive self becoming regressive. Many Jesus loving people want to be progressive, at least we want to be thought of as progressive or applauded for our ‘open mind’. But are we really open minded? The church and churchianity must die because it has stopped learning. It has shifted to maintenance and away from the hard struggle for community. We need community, we need the sacred. However, as BIPOC have adopted euro-centric Christian theology, it’s not enough for white Protestantism to be correct.Lastly, the church is going to die because we need to discover grace again. Evangelicalism’s shadow is production: buildings, offerings, evangelizing, keeping the machine going. Progressive Christianity’s shadow is in deconstruction: reducing and analyzing stories to the point of wringing them of wonder. Do we, as fundamentalists or progressives, have enough grace to say ‘I’m sorry’? To acknowledge our complicity in exclusivity through our language and lifestyle? How many close friends of color do you have? Would your life miss something without them?Can we have grace in how we worship and how we hold community?[8] Can we make room, a wider middle path, for those who aren’t sure? We need to rediscover grace in this re-birthing to 1) listen to each other and 2) to learn from each other’s experiences as well as our own.The church has already died for many of us. Yes, there is growth for us to find vulnerability with self and God apart from church. And there is growth for the movement to self examen. We will most likely always have edges and now is the time for a wider middle way. The new question is how do we build community and follow the teachings of Jesus.How do we hold this journey with grace? Individually? Corporately? Communally? For some it will mean leaving church. Can we walk with them in love and grieve together? For some it will mean staying and fighting to make room, for themselves and for the marginalized. For others it will mean shifting into something new, something we haven’t experienced before.How do we find or make this or have this type of community? YES, there are communities showing us a way. Yes, there are thriving communities moving away from a top down, production culture that propagates meritocratic spirituality - communities that are shifting to a round table, communal, and experiential model. These communities are radically inclusive and focused on restorative justice, with leadership that is a diverse reflection of the community they desire. Some are taking their church into the wild. I’ll share more in part three, alongside my own ideas for the future of our sacred community. For now, I understand it’s much easier to talk about rebirth than it is to talk about impending death. Yet, this is what is being required of us, gracious honesty and radical trust. Trust in each other and trust in the story of Jesus. That even in death there is a way.~ Rev. Jessica Shine Read online here Rev. Jessica Shine earned degrees in theology and divinity, but still hasn’t figured out how to walk on water. Despite this, she was ordained to ministry by the Seventh-day Adventist church and continues offering spiritual care as a clergy member of The CHI Interfaith Community (based in Berkeley, CA). With two decades of experience serving church communities, police officers, hospital staff, and teenagers, Shine has a passion for people and a skill for communicating in transformative ways. Her spirituality began in childhood, was influenced by Jimmy Swaggart and Mother Theresa, and continues in the Pacific Northwest where she resides on Kalapuya land.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy[2] The Rise of the Meritocracy, Young Michael Dunlop[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_of_the_Meritocracy[4] Matthew 3:13-4:11[5] BIPOC is an acronym for black, indigenous, people of color.[6] To quote a favorite song, ‘that’s me in the corner’. Yep, I’ve led and helped organize overseas missions and believed we were helping, I hope at least part of that is true. And I wish I was more aware of the sacred culture we were entering.[7] Both Methodist and Seventh-day Adventist denominations have struggled when trying to unite black and white conferences because of wage gap differences and power.[8] https://progressingspirit.com/2019/12/19/10-things-smart-progressive-church… | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Marlene Do you read the ENTIRE Bible? My desire would be that my children and grandchildren are not exposed to this belief system. It is not Biblical. A: By Rev. Deshna Charron Dear Marlene,Thank you for your comments. Yes, progressive Christians also read the Bible. We approach the Bible from a historical/critical method. We look at the history known on who wrote the books in the Bible, when they were written, and historian scholars’ best interpretation of why they were written. We also look at the original language that it would have been written in, Aramaic, and try to find the best translation. Finally, we do not read the Bible literally, but rather from an evolving understanding so that it can be applied to modern day. I wish you the best in finding an approach to Christianity that fits your needs and life.~ Deshna Hello Deshna,Thank-you for your prompt reply. With all due respect, I do have one more question ... what is the way of salvation?According to John 14:6, Jesus is the only way. Accepting the fact that we are sinners, asking for forgiveness, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ (who took our sin upon Himself) and in faith, calling on Him to be a part of our lives and building a relationship with Him. With your "evolving understanding of Scripture" to suit the needs of society, has this changed, too?Dear Marlene,I can not speak for all progressive Christians on this one. But for myself, I would say that IF Jesus did indeed say that - and that is a big IF because scholars, progressive or not, know that the books called the new testament were written by human authors after the life of Jesus - these human authors were writing from their own perspective based on their own desires, fears and political agendas. These human authors were fallible. The books in the Bible grew over a very long period of about a thousand years, and it was only after several more centuries that the collection of books or canon, now accepted by Christians as Holy Scripture, was settled in 397 CE in the Constantinian Roman Empire. The Bible is not perfect. And it should not be read literally. The Scripture contains unethical material. There is genocide, murder, war, sexism, child sacrifice, homophobia. It is a teaching and wisdom collection of prophetic and poetic sharing from almost 2,000 years ago.But alas, the hope for understanding passages like this is in the life that Jesus led. So if Jesus is the “Way,” the way is how he lived his life. And Jesus' main teaching is that radical sacrificial love must extend to all, even our enemies, with special focus on the poor, those marginalized by religion and empire, the outcasts and the vulnerable. It seems highly unlikely that he would then also say that those who have had no access to him, or haven't heard of him, or who have been raised with very different beliefs do not have access to the Kingdom of Heaven. Nor do I believe that Jesus would have preached about an actual hell. I believe that the way to salvation is through our actions, to be as Jesus was, alongside other enlightened beings: radically inclusive, radically hospitable, living in loving-kindness, compassionate, showing mercy, speaking truth to power, offering forgiveness, seeking reconciliation, and restorative justice. The Way of Jesus is to see God within all, to seek God within ourselves, to be like children in awe of beauty and nature, and to turn the tables on the oppressive Empire. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, Marlene, as much as it is in anyone. We are saved when we go within and find it. We are saved when we live a life of radical love.I believe the way of salvation according to Jesus was in how he lived and how he died. He died not for our sins but because of our sins ...because people of power decided to punish him for his revolutionary ways. His radical sacrificial love was a threat to the Empire. Salvation and sacrifice aren't personal experiences, but ones that must happen in community, as is still the custom of Jewish theology. Salvation is not individual, as modern evangelicalism has taught you to believe. Jesus was Jewish and his theology was different. Salvation happens when we find the Sacred Oneness of all and the world is ever changed for it.~ Rev. Deshna Charron Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Charron is Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org and Progressing Spirit and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is an author, international speaker, and a visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She is a lead author and editor on the children’s curriculum: A Joyful Path, Spiritual Curriculum. She co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. She is the Executive Producer of Embrace Festival. She is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually, and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part XIII: II Isaiah — The Figure of the "Servant" Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong October 2, 2008If I were to ask an ordinary group of people, even church people, to tell me about the message of the prophet we call II Isaiah, I suspect I would be greeted by a glassy-eyed stare. Yet if I were to ask the same group if they had ever heard or even sung in a production of Handel’s Oratorio, entitled “Messiah,” almost every hand would go up. The sad fact about our educational system, both secular and ecclesiastical, is that few people seem to know that Handel’s Messiah is in large measure a musical rendition of II Isaiah and that the “expected” one about whom II Isaiah writes in this work is not Jesus, but a mythical figure that we know simply as the “Servant,” sometimes called the “Suffering Servant.” It is about this “Servant,” not Jesus, that Handel sets to music II Isaiah’s words to form a magnificent contralto solo: “He was despised, rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” The confusion of the “Servant” with Jesus should not be surprising, since the earliest gospel, Mark, drew heavily upon II Isaiah to compose his narrative of the crucifixion. People are accustomed to reading the Good Friday story as if it were a historical recollection of Jesus’ death. It is not. It is, rather, an interpretive portrait of Jesus’ death drawn not from eyewitnesses on the scene, but from II Isaiah. It is II Isaiah, not history, that supplied such familiar details in the crucifixion story as Jesus’ silence before his accusers (Isa. 55:7), the presence of the thieves on either side of him during his crucifixion (Isa. 55:12) and the narrative of the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, providing a tomb for his burial (Isa. 53:9). The interpretation of Jesus’ death as an act of vicarious suffering also originates in II Isaiah, as does the way the gospels and even St. Paul interpreted the meaning of the death of Jesus as one of vicarious suffering. It was the “Servant” who was punished in place of the guilty. It was about the “Servant” that II Isaiah wrote: “Surely he has borne our griefs, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted; but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed (Isa. 53:4, 5 KJV).” Over the years, however, these words have been so deeply associated with Jesus in our memories that most people think they were actually written about him. The familiar Protestant interpretation of the cross, “Jesus died for my sins,” comes directly from II Isaiah. The Catholic understanding of the Mass as a sacrifice, in which Jesus paid the price of Adam’s fall to bring about salvation, is also drawn from II Isaiah. The words of II Isaiah have shaped Christianity so deeply that we have, by a process of religious osmosis, absorbed much of II Isaiah into our conscious and unconscious minds. When these words then got literalized in Christian history as doctrine and dogma, the significant distortions that mark the Christian faith today, that focus on blood, sacrifice, guilt and atonement, began to take shape. That was, however, not the original meaning of these words. What then was? And who is the “Servant?” To answer these questions we must undertake an historical analysis of II Isaiah, which is, I believe the most influential of all the Jewish prophetic works. The book we call II Isaiah is made up of the words written by an unknown Jewish person who lived during the time that the Babylonian Exile was coming to an end, roughly between 550 and 500 BCE. The thing that brought that exile to an end was the rise to power of the Persians (roughly modern day Iran) which challenged the hegemony of the Babylonians (roughly modern day Iraq). Cyrus, the king who led the Persian onslaught, awakened such hope among the captive Jews that II Isaiah described him with these words: “How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth tidings of good that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth (Isa. 52:7 KJV).” Cyrus was well known for his policy of allowing conquered peoples to return to their homeland and in this reputation the Jews vested their hopes. These exiled people, who were to be the beneficiaries of Cyrus’ policy, were by now the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who had originally been taken from their homes by the conquering Babylonian army some 50-60 years earlier. Thus they saw Cyrus as God’s instrument, who would enable them to go home. The beauty of Jerusalem, the glory and grandeur of the land of the Jews, had been passed on by those who died in captivity to these second and third generation descendents who had never set a foot upon the land of the Jews. The fantasies accompanying their desire to return to that “promised land” clearly grew as they always do in the absence of reality. They were thrilled at the prospect of going “home.” It was for this purpose that they kept themselves intact as an identifiable people. If they were going to reclaim what they believed was their national destiny, to be the “people through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed,” they then had to restore their nation. That destiny would only come from a revived people who had reclaimed their place of honor among the nations and re-established the city of Jerusalem as the center of the world, even as the place where heaven and earth touched. Those were the thoughts that motivated their yearning to return to the land of their ancestors. The defeated Babylonians were no longer their conquerors and so the migration back to their ancestral home began. These exiles, however, were not prepared for the sight that greeted them when they reached the land of which they had dreamed for so long. Judah was a wasteland and Jerusalem a pile of rubble. It took only one glimpse of this devastation to put an end to their dreams and their hopes. There was no way a nation so defeated and so downtrodden could ever aspire to become “a light to enlighten the Gentiles.” They saw no way that they could ever be “a blessing to the nations of the world.” Click here to continue reading. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Secret Power of Human Vision: Discover the Transformative Art of Deeply Seeing and Appreciating the World Around You 3 Free Online programs: January 14th, 18th and 23rd. One of the most effective ways of tuning into and channeling that power is through the way we use our own eyes to “see” and interpret the world around us. These three highly respected spiritual teachers have come together to share with you the unique skills and insights that will enable you to avoid getting held back by the negative and destructive elements in the world, and make it possible for you to instead be a more potent and effective force for positive expression and change. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Prayers for daughter, Eva; update
by Ellie Stock 02 Jan '20

02 Jan '20

Dear Friends, 2020 greetings from Pittsburgh. For some this email is first information about our daughter Eva. For others this is an update. We are asking for prayers for our daughter, Eva, our first born. She was in the Order with us in Chicago, New York City, Canada and Boston. If any of the "Second Generation got chicken pox during the summer '78 eg camp, she is the one who brought them from Canada! Last Monday we had just returned from Pittsburgh where we had spent some of the holidays with Eva and her family. We had a good time. Eva went for walks and beat Carleton in two games of ping pong. A few hours later, we received a phone call from our granddaughter Rayna, saying that Eva had had a stroke and was in the ICU at Allegheny General Hospital, conscious but had no feelimg or ability to move the left side of her body and unable to speak. She had blood clots on her brain. Not much sleep for us Monday night. Tuesday morning we headed back to Pittsburgh, and during the day learned her condition had stablized. We stayed at a motel Tuesday night when we were able to say goodnight to her over the phone. She didn't talk but understood us. A Wednesday morning phone call to the nurses station indicated that she had been able to move her arm and leg and could speak a little. We arrived at the hospital mid morning and found her mostly resting with her eyes closed. Ahren and Charity were there. Ahren, Carleton and I sang songs to ber that she requested--camp songs, hymns, and Christmas carols. She loves having visitors and listening, when she can't talk. She is receiving food intravenously to prevent aspiration and also a blood thinner. She has had an MRI and another scan. Heart is good as is blood pressure and no bleeding on the brain. Her left carroted artery has a 99% blockage which doctors believe was the cause of the stroke. She will need to have surgery on it as soon as she is strong enough, perhaps in a week or so. During the day she became more alert, talking more and joking with many visitors, such as pointing her red index finger ekg monitor and saying, "ET phone home." So, she is making progress slowly but surely. The main thing now is regaining her strength and mobility. We're not sure how long we will be here Thank you for your prayers. calls, emails, and visits--so much appreciated by Eva and all of us. New Year's blessings! Grace and peace and love, Ellie/Elinor. :)elliestock@aol.com

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