March 2020 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

3/26/20, Progressing Spirit: Irene Monroe: COVID-19 And The World Community; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 26 Mar '20

26 Mar '20

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | COVID-19 And The World Community | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Irene Monroe March 26, 2020In a responsible response to the corona virus outbreak, also known as COVID-19, church and worship services across the globe are canceled. Traditional Bible study has gone online. Sermons are watched on Zoom, and old videos of singing church choirs have popped up in my inbox. Our global engagement with one another right now is social distancing while staying connected, revealing our acts of spiritual communion. This pandemic doesn’t call for pandemonium, petty divisions, political wrangling, or panic buying. We are all in this together! Our collective concern should be about saving lives and not the momentary upending of our lifestyles. This global crisis highlights how we are bound in shared humanity. And as such, we are to take seriously medical historian and epidemic expert Howard Markel's advice: “Coronavirus is a socially transmitted disease, and we all have a social contract to stop it. What binds us is a microbe – but it also has the power to separate us. We’re a very small community, whether we acknowledge it or not, and this proves it. The time to act like a community is now.” The act of an inclusive community is a difficult concept and lived reality to actualize. Markel’s words that we should act like a community are heartfelt, particularly in this time of polarization that we witness on local, national, and international levels. This “us versus them” mentality” infects places like even our churches that by their very essence and ethos means community. For example, on March 15, I was invited to be the guest preacher at a United Methodist Church. However, I didn’t preach because of the COVID-19 warning to remain out of congregate settings, avoid mass gatherings, and maintain distance (approximately 6 feet or 2 meters). For months the senior pastor and I had been finalizing plans for me to come out to preach and celebrate with the church its upcoming 15th anniversary as a Reconciling Congregation in March. UMC Reconciling Congregations welcome people of all gender expressions and sexual orientations. In his letter inviting me he wrote the following: “Given the proximity of this year’s observance to the next UMC General Conference vote re: LGBTQ legislation in May 2020, it is important to us to invite a preacher who will encourage us during a tumultuous time in our relationship with our global connection and, to be honest, in our congregation’s own internal connections.” Just minutes after our phone call ended, my smartphone flashed the Associated Press headline: “Methodists propose split in gay marriage, clergy impasse.” I let out a long sigh of despair, thinking, why are we LGBTQ+people of faith loving a church that doesn’t love us. On March 15, I looked forward to delivering a homily about healing our “isms.” LGBTQ inclusion in the policy and practices of UMC has been a long contentious and exhausting battle- both nationally and globally. The proposed schism to be voted on in May at General Conference in Minneapolis would divide the nation’s third-largest denomination worldwide. While the current UMC will allow LGBTQ marriages and clergy, the impending split will create a new “traditionalist Methodist” denomination, allowing outright discrimination and denunciation of LGBTQ people in the name of God. “The best means to resolve our differences, allowing each part of the Church to remain true to its theological understanding, while recognizing the dignity, equality, integrity, and respect of every person,” the proposal, “PROTOCOL OF RECONCILIATION & GRACE THROUGH SEPARATION” stated. In the sermon I didn’t preach, I wanted to convey that it is not enough just to look outside ourselves to see the places where society is broken. It is not enough to talk about institutions, churches, and workplaces that fracture and separate people based on race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation, and not see these prejudices and bigoted acts in ourselves. We cannot heal the world if we have not healed ourselves. So perhaps the most significant task, and the most challenging work we must do first- is to heal ourselves. And this work must be done in relationship with our justice work out in the world. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” he was struggling to change a nation. King was disheartened to receive criticism from clergy he considered to be his colleagues and on the battlefield toward justice with him. However, King understood the interconnectedness of human life and the intersectionality of oppressions. His worldview of a global community resounds in these words: “In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be... This is the inter-related structure of reality.” Let us be united in this struggle together to not only heal ourselves of our indifference toward one another but to also heal a world fighting to save its life. We have never been where we are today as a nation, from natural disasters to terrorist attacks, hate crimes and unmentionable acts of violence, to now a health pandemic. In honoring the sanctity of all human life, let’s care for ourselves and each other.~ Rev. Irene Monroe Read online here About the Author The Reverend Monroe does a weekly Monday segment, “All Revved Up!” on NPR's WGBH (89.7 FM). She is a weekly Friday commentator on New England Channel NEWS. Monroe is the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail, Guided Walking Tour of Beacon Hill: Boston’s Black Women Abolitionists. A Huffington Post blogger and a syndicated religion columnist; her columns appear the Boston LGBTQ newspaper Baywindows, Cambridge Chronicle, and the Boston Globe. Monroe stated that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American, queer and religious studies. As a religion columnist I try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Because homophobia is both a hatred of the “other” and it’s usually acted upon ‘in the name of religion,” by reporting religion in the news I aim to highlight how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy, but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism.” Her papers are at the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College’s research library on the history of women in America. Click here to visit her website. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader It has been suggested that over ten religions have a version of the Golden Rule. For Christians it is the core of faith and transcends tradition, ritual and doctrine. In military conflict one strategy is to divide the opposing force to conquer it bit by bit. Is it possible that evil is using that strategy to keep the Golden Rule faiths separated? A: By Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Dear Reader,I grew up in a context where interfaith work was considered radical and borderline dangerous. Yet, it is this exact realization of the Golden Rule’s existence in such a wide variety of faith traditions that compelled me to interfaith work in my community. I have created, participated in and written about interfaith work for several years. The one truth I continue to come back to again and again is we are more alike than we are different. But, could evil be using a divide and conquer strategy on us? In many regards this could be proven true. Daily, we watch an endless stream of information and news cycles revealing a general lack of compassion for the other. A divisive spirit surely runs rampant through our society as we watch politicians and those in power manipulate our differences for their own benefit. Yet, it is precisely because of the Golden Rule that I don’t lose hope. The Golden Rule is a universal reminder that we are more alike than we are different. It is true that we often utilize parts of our human nature similarly, including things like fear, suspicion, or anger. However, the same is true for what matters most: our ability to love, extend empathy, practice compassion and peacemaking. These are the kinds of things that hold divine power. They are proof of the Spirit of God living within each of us. The Golden Rule helps us to understand this truth because it helps us find the inherent goodness of each person and therefore, recognize the divine in all people. So, to answer your question: Evil may try to divide and conquer us all it wants, but it won’t be able to use the Golden Rule to do it. As long as there are faithful people in every tradition speaking the truth of its message (and I believe there are!), there will always be faithful people following these wisdom teachings in their daily lives. When we not only believe, but also practice the message of the Golden Rule, we can and will overpower any force that would attempt to keep us disconnected from the humanity of one another. Interfaith work is the healing work needed to bridge our various golden rule messages together. It is the perfect antidote to the division threatening to keep us from common understanding. You can read more about my thoughts on the Golden Rule and its relationship to interfaith work here.~ Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Read and share 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. | | | | | | | | 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 XXIV: The Book of Ruth Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong April 2, 2020 There are three books in the Hebrew Bible that are designated as “protest literature;” that is, they are all representative of a literary device used by an anonymous author to make a point, human or political, in a particular moment of history. The three books are Jonah, Job and Ruth. None of these books ever pretended to be literal history; the three main characters are not real people who ever lived. They are literary characters created by their respective authors to allow the drama to unfold and as such to carry a specific narrative purpose. Only one who is completely ignorant of biblical history would ever suggest that these three works were ever written to be read as literal history or as the “inerrant word of God.” We have already looked at Jonah and Job in this “Origins of the Bible” series. Jonah is located, incorrectly I believe, in what the Jews call the “Book of the Twelve” and the Christians tend to call “The Minor Prophets.” In our consideration of Jonah we noted that, whereas modern people might signal the fictional nature of a story by beginning it with the words “Once upon a time,” the Hebrews used gross exaggeration to make the same point. So we read in Jonah of a great fish in whose belly the prophet can live for three days and three nights. In Job the exaggeration takes the form of a rich man whose righteousness was tested by God by having his life wrecked by a series of calamities that his moral character did not deserve in order to see how he will react. Those things signal the fact that these narratives are not history, but fictional stories with a powerful purpose. Today we turn to the last of the protest books, the book of Ruth. This small, four-chapter-long story is hidden away in the Bible between the books of Judges and First Samuel. It was written in the post-exilic period of Jewish history, probably near the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, somewhere between 425 and 360 BCE. It received its present position in the Bible prior to the establishment of the house of David and the royal line of Davidic kings because it purports to tell the story of King David’s great-grandmother. That was, indeed, the whole point of the book, but to note that here is to get ahead of my story. Let me set the stage. During the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jewish nation went through a period of intense xenophobia, which grew out of an enormous fear that is always the mother of dislocating prejudices. The Jewish people had had to face the possibility of their own annihilation. First, they had been defeated in battle by the Babylonians in 596 BCE. Their supposedly impenetrable walls around Jerusalem, which had not been breached by an enemy for more than 400 years, had given way to the army of Nebuchadnezzar. Their holy city had been laid waste. The Temple built by Solomon around 935 BCE and believed to be the earthly house of their God Yahweh had been leveled. These traumatized Jewish people, who believed themselves to have been chosen by God and thereby promised the land they occupied, and who were also convinced that their holy homeland was not only the center of the earth but the place where heaven and earth touched, now found themselves unceremoniously marched away into a Babylonian captivity far from their sacred soil. They had thus been ripped away from everything they believed to be holy. They even wondered if they would ever again sing the Lord’s song, since it could not, they believed, be sung in a foreign land. When some of them were finally allowed to return from exile some two generations later, around the year 538 BCE, these newly freed descendents interpreted their restoration to mean that finally God would vindicate them and proceed to establish the long-anticipated kingdom of God back on Jewish soil. Surely the end of their captivity was the sign that the kingdom was near and that God was back in charge. That, however, was not what happened. A second return around 490 BCE under Zerubbabel also did not give rise to the expected kingdom. A third return under Nehemiah about the year 450 BCE met a similar fate, as did a fourth under Ezra between 400-350 BCE. With each disappointment the hopelessness of their dreams seemed to be given new confirmation, so they raised haunting questions. Why was God not protecting them? Why would God allow the chosen people to be so badly treated with defeat and exile, and then to experience a return made up only of the bitterness of being small, defenseless and continually abused? It was a strange way for God to act, unless God was angry. So they sought to determine what they had done to infuriate their God and to bring about their fate. By the time of Ezra they became convinced that they finally understood the reason for their suffering: They had ceased to be a racially pure people. Some Jews had married non-Jews, who had polluted their pure blood and had even corrupted their true faith. This, they thought, must have angered their God and they came to believe that nothing would change until the Jewish nation purified itself. A new national strategy was thus adopted. All foreign elements were to be purged. Xenophobia set in. Husbands or wives married to non-Jews were to be banished from the land, along with any half-breed children that had issued from these unholy unions. The new Judah was to be for Jews only. This was the context in which an unknown author wrote his protest that we today call the book of Ruth. Listen to this story now from this perspective. A Jewish man named Elimelech and his Jewish wife, Naomi, took their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, and moved to the land of Moab. Perhaps it was a time of a downturn in the Jewish economy and work was hard to find in Judah. While dwelling in this foreign land, however, Elimelech died and the care of his widow Naomi was left in the hands of their sons. These sons, living far from Judah, then proceeded to take Moabite wives for themselves, one of whom was named Orpah and the other Ruth. Then tragedy struck again, and Mahlon and Chilion died. In that patriarchal society this left a vulnerable and economically non-viable family made up of three single women. Naomi decided that her only choice was to return to Judah, and so she urged her two daughters-in-law to return to their fathers’ families. It was a sign of disgrace for them to do so, but an older, widowed mother-in-law without sons had no way to care for these now single younger women. One of them, Orpah, agreed to do so, but the other, Ruth, declined and, in a piece of writing that has been quoted as a mark of fidelity through the ages, said to Naomi: “Entreat me not to leave you………where you will go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God my God and where you die, I will die and there will I be buried.” The two of them thus returned to Judah without a male protector. It was a hazardous life in a patriarchal world. Determined to survive, they settled near the fields of a man named Boaz, who was a distant kinsman of Naomi’s deceased husband. Jewish law required that the poor be allowed to glean in the fields of the rich for enough grain to keep them alive, and so each day Ruth brought enough from Boaz’ fields to make bread to keep the two of them alive. In the process, Ruth, this foreign woman, won the admiration of her Jewish neighbors, including Boaz, who ordered her to be protected while alone in the fields and to be given access to water. Naomi, knowing that Boaz was kin to Elimelech, was also aware of the Jewish law requiring the male nearest of kin to a deceased husband to take the widow of his departed kinsman into his care as part of his harem, so she devised a plan to confront Boaz with his responsibility for herself and for Ruth. The plan involved seduction. At the end of the harvest there would be a celebration at which wine would flow freely. Naomi instructed Ruth to bathe, anoint herself with perfume, put on her best dress and go to the party. Ruth was instructed to see that Boaz’ heart was made merry with much wine. When well drunk, Boaz lay down on the floor and went to sleep. Ruth gave him a pillow and covered him with a blanket. Then she crawled under the blanket with him. When Boaz awoke the next morning, he found this woman at his side. He had no idea what he had done. “Who are you?” he asked. “I am Ruth,” she responded. “Spread your skirt over me for you are next of kin.” What she was saying was, “Marry me!” Boaz demurred, admitting his kinship but saying there was a nearer kinsman than he who must be given first refusal on this new wife. When this man declined, Boaz did the honorable thing and he and Ruth were married. They had a son, whose name was Obed. He in turn had a son named Jesse and Jesse had a son named David. That is where the book of Ruth ends. Ruth was a Moabite. She was David’s great-grandmother. David, the hero of the super-patriotic Jews who were at that moment purging from the land all people whose bloodlines were compromised, was himself part Moabite! David would have qualified for purging. That is why the protest book of Ruth was written. It was designed to confront the reigning xenophobia and to reveal its inherent weakness. As the fear subsided, the xenophobia also faded. It always does. The call of God to human beings is always a call to wholeness. No one is whole when, acting out of fear, he or she seeks to diminish the worth and the dignity of one who is judged to be somehow impure or inferior by reason of some ontological difference: those whose skin color is of a different hue, whose religion is thought to be deviant and thus not true, or whose sexual orientation is not that of the majority. Ruth is a book written to protest all of the limits that human prejudice forever tries to place on the love of God. How wonderful that such a book was included in the sacred scriptures of both the Jews and the Christians. The book of Ruth provides us with a biblical mirror into which we can stare at our own prejudices and then be led to free ourselves of them. That is why the Bible is called “Holy.”~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Practical Wisdom from Six Legendary Yogis Since 1893, a stately parade of swamis, gurus, and yoga masters have journeyed from India to grace the shores of the United States. They have irrevocably changed the spiritual landscape. Regardless of our own path or tradition, we’ve all been influenced by them to one degree or another, often in ways we’re not even aware of. Now, in this e-course, we turn to six legendary teachers to dramatically enhance our spiritual growth.With the help of audio and video recordings, the course dives deeply into the fascinating lives and groundbreaking teachings of six masterful teachers:* Swami Vivekananda * Paramahansa Yogananda * Maharishi Mahesh Yogi * A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (aka Srila Prabhupada) * Swami Satchidananda * Swami Muktananda Click here for more information/registration. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Copyright © 2020 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. #80, Gig Harbor, WA 98335 253-507-8678 - contact(a)progressivechristianity.org You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. | | | |

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Resending: pleated face mask pattern without green background
by Ellie Stock 25 Mar '20

25 Mar '20

Hi Folks, Sarah asked if the pleated face mask pattern could be sent without the green background. David Dunn was able to remove the background, so here it is attached. Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com Hi Ellie. Hope this helps. Anyone who owns Adobe Acrobat (not the free Adobe Reader) can remove the background. I’ll do the same with other handouts if no one has Acrobat. David — "Mystery, possibility, and the power to choose” Deacon David DunnChurch of the Holy Family Cell: 720-314-5991Email: dmdunn1(a)gmail.com

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Another pattern for a DIY Face mask
by Ellie Stock 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

A second pattern for face masks from a friend: https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Cloth-Face-Mask/ Use mask 1 pattern with filter pocket. This pattern is what a pulmonologist from Barnes Jewish Hospital (St Louis) sent to me.If any of your email friends are quilters, they will have lots of 100% cotton on hand. Ellie:)elliestock@aol.com | | Virus-free. www.avast.com |

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Here is the pattern for sewing face masks
by Ellie Stock 23 Mar '20

23 Mar '20

Hi Folks, Forwarding this pattern for sewing face masks from our daughter Chenoa, a PC(USA) Mission Co-Worker in Peru ( now sequestered at home during Peru's mandatory, military enforced lockdown). This might be of interesnt to some of you sewers or someone you know who sews. Hope you all are staying well in the midst of this pandemic. Grapes, and peas, Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Chenoa Stock <chenoa.stock(a)gmail.com> To: Ellie Stock <elliestock(a)aol.com>; Evajworks <evajworks(a)aol.com>; Lingan S Randolph <marilee79(a)juno.com>; mhadams <mhadams(a)centurytel.net>; Ahren Stock <astoc(a)hawken.edu>; Charity McDonald <charityrmcdonald(a)gmail.com> Sent: Mon, Mar 23, 2020 01:54 PM Subject: Fwd: Here is the pattern for the face mask Do you all know anybody who sews? A church member passed the attached pattern for fwce masks on to me... Chenoa Stock PC (USA) Mission Co-Worker for PERUSAPeru https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/chenoa-st…

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3/19/20, Progressing Spirit: Toni Anne Reynolds: Faith and Fate; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 19 Mar '20

19 Mar '20

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.yiv8500205981mcnTextContent, #yiv8500205981 #yiv8500205981templateHeader .yiv8500205981mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv8500205981 #yiv8500205981templateBody .yiv8500205981mcnTextContent, #yiv8500205981 #yiv8500205981templateBody .yiv8500205981mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv8500205981 #yiv8500205981templateFooter .yiv8500205981mcnTextContent, #yiv8500205981 #yiv8500205981templateFooter .yiv8500205981mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Faith and Fate | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Toni Anne Reynolds March 19, 2020 The below offering was inspired by a conversation with my favorite Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer and the late, great Peter Tosh. Thanks for inviting the Selah, Rabbi. Rest in Power, Peter. ..............___________________________________________ After a half hour catch up session, Rabbi fills the natural pause in the conversation,“So, what do you think about fate these days?”. I hear “faith” so I proceed accordingly. I have a habit of talking fast, and that’s what I was doing before Rabbi blessed me with a Selah. A request to pause. It was then that he informed me that he said “FATE, not faith. But faith works too!” How poetic. As my mind moved faster than my mouth, I realized that my sense of faith is in close relationship with fate. These days I’m thinking of faith more differently than I ever have. Not by way of any theological shift. But a shift in personal power, or truth perhaps. I used to think that faith had much more to do with the belief in a force somewhere out there. Over the rainbow. Up in the clouds. On the edge of the Universe. Even in a volcanic place beneath my feet held a power far beyond me. There were certainly entities that had the power to create and destroy. To make life, take life, and dangle life in front of me as a perfectly motivating carrot that I may never reach. Both God and “anti”-God (the Devil or Satan) felt wobbly, like frienemies (friends+enemies=frienemies) just older and much, much smarter than me. If I wasn’t careful, disaster could strike at any moment because of a negative thought or a simply human moment wherein the fear of God failed to motivate me in the way of righteousness. Or, I could be experiencing a streak of luck and find that it was really the work of the Devil tricking me, or so I was told. All of it was so confusing. I don’t think I ever had the details fully etched out in my spiritual imagination, but the silhouettes of person-like beings were there. Profoundly there, in the depths of my mind and at the root of my worries, prayers, actions, etc. Truthfully, I was as afraid of God as I was of the Devil. Yet, I would say the prayers I was taught “I am in you, you are in me, and we are in God.” Or, the completely worn out John 3:16. I would move from affirming God’s love for me to being sick with worry that he would find a reason to drown me like he did the people of Noah’s day, and was predicted to do in the end days yet to arrive. These fears seeped to the base of my mind. My dreams became intense, and I started working with a Jungian analyst to better understand the language that was being spoken to me. I need this symbolic view because something about this belief set felt... not quite “right”. If my body was a temple because God lived there, then why would it be a temple full of so much fear? Selah. “Love is what first made my heart to beat”, Peter Tosh said some years before he was murdered. This quote has taken up residence in my mind since I heard it 5 years ago. It made me think about the first heartbeat of a human being, how electricity suddenly causes a human, submerged in water, to hold a rhythm in their own body. I was once on course to be a doctor, so I get the science of it enough to know it can be explained in at least one way. But that way falls short in a profound way for me. “Love is what first made my heart to beat.” My heart. Something made it beat once years and years ago. Right now, I trust that the Something was inclined to a type of love that will take the rest of my life to fully understand. A Something that trusts me enough with its electric pulse to live a life in the flesh. And this quote from the late, great Tosh feels like a lightning bolt itself. It feels like each time I say it, I can aim it at a particular doubt and the truth of this phrase will transform the doubt. After many a lightning strike I have found that the faith I need has been living in my chest all this time. With help from the holy, and persistently truthful dreams, and an incredible Jungian analyst, I’ve spent the last two years reimaging the Force I have faith in. It has meant that before I look to the stars for a faceless God, I turn inward to see if there’s something I can learn about the rhythm that’s held in my chest. As a result of this new and improving practice, my sense of fate has changed, too. If I move with the truth that Love is literally living in my chest, trusting me with such a strong power, can’t I operate with some confidence? Can I trust myself the way this force has trusted me? Maybe this first heartbeat was really an invitation to co-create something. To participate in fate because I have faith in this spark that’s keeping me alive. I said all this to Rabbi, in some form. Except probably less coherent because of the speed talking thing. Again, he asked me to slow down. Selah. Such a great Rabbi move. Selah. Then, I found myself sharing another currently loved quote from the analyst that’s been helping me fish through my un/subconscious mind. Some months ago, after working through some heavy symbols, he said to me “Toni, do you know the difference between fate and destiny?” I was a little annoyed that I didn’t have some answer saved in my pocket so I admitted to him that I didn’t know the difference. He continued with this gem, “Fate is the cards you’re dealt and destiny is how you play them.” Selah. I wanted to weep when he told me this. So, I did. The perfect paradox. From zero control to freedom. Freedom to choose. Freedom to fold. Freedom to cheat. Freedom to see a way forward and win. Freedom of choice. Before I knew I was an “I”, Love found me. You, too. Selah. My faith was so outwardly turned that part of me felt wholly incapable of directing this life of mine. Sure, I’ve done some cool things and have my name on some cool hardware and pieces of paper. But all of those things were done while I was following some North star, hoping that I didn’t mix up my cardinal directions. Following a Light without, and having a pretty great go of it. But, what about the Light within? What about this Love that gave my heart its first beat? I wish I could convey the way that question makes me feel! Your fate was, and is, the same as mine- to receive Love. I know this with certainty because your heart is beating while you read this. The first and foremost faith I need(ed) to maintain is in the Love that first sparked my heart to beat. As long as that Spark is still playing its rhythm in my body, my faith ought to begin with an inward turn in order to face that reality. The truth that my fate was to receive such a profoundly mysterious love. That is my fate. This is the basis of healthy faith. From there, movement outward can be stabilized. From center, my own heart can be the grounding force as I continue to travel the road and search for greater inner-standings. Your fate was to receive Love. Something out there trusts you to use it well. What destiny will you make with this precious hand you’ve been dealt? Selah. ~ Toni Anne Reynolds Read online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Bryan Hi, I am An Episcopalian now, I was Roman Catholic up to about four years ago, I’m 62. I would consider myself a progressive christian, but I’m wondering is it necessary to go attend Sunday services? I sometimes wonder if I’m doing it out of guilt or that God will show me favor or listen better. Yours thoughts please and any reading on said topic would be much appreciated. A: By Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft Dear Bryan, I think “necessary” might be the wrong word here. Necessary says to me obligatory, and my faith doesn’t tell me I’m obligated to attend Sunday services…. especially considering how organized Christianity is largely colonized and thrives within a white supremacist patriarchal system. I often ask the question instead - what does God desire? God desires being in relationship with her, so that we can best know and bring about her kin-dom on Earth as it is in heaven. So then we ask, how does one know God’s desires? We learn God’s desires through the practices of our everydays. In waking our children up for school, in commuting to work, in seeing a stranger across from us on the Subway, in the clouds, in our meditative practices, in our study of Biblical texts, in our prayers. Additionally, we know God in community, and therefore attending SOMETHING with other God seeking and believing people enhances and equips our faith and our relationship with God. This could be a book study, a dinner group, a service activity, or worship. All of these things, then, become rehearsing the reign of God, which is important to our faith. Finally, I do not believe that God shows favor or “listens better” based on our Sunday service attendance; but rather, we become more like God in our intentional relational practices to seek and see and commune with the Divine. ~ Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft is an activist, organizer, Baptist minister, and mother of five-year-old twins Zane and Levi and four-year-old Skyler. She is the Executive Minister for Justice and Movement Building at Middle Collegiate Church and the founder of Raising Imagination, a platform that examines social change at the intersections of faith, parenting and politics. Her activism has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal, Refinery29, and Bust and she is a regular writer and inaugural board member of The Resistance Prays. She and her family live in the East Village of Manhattan and fight the patriarchy and examine their racism and spirituality together, one cheerio at a time. | | | | | | | | 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 XXIII: Job, the Icon of New Consciousness Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 26, 2009 Three books of the Bible, Jonah, Job and Ruth, are known as "protest literature". We treated Jonah in the section of this study on the prophets. We turn now to Job and Ruth. To those outside the traditional religious circles, the Book of Job is probably the best known book in the Bible. It raises the deepest human question and deals with the most ancient of human fears. It examines the issue of meaning through the lens of human suffering and the absence of fairness and justice. As such, the Book of Job has a counterpart in every religious tradition of the world. The great 20th Century psychiatrist Carl Jung used this book as the basis of his probing the dimensions of human life in what I want to believe is his most profound work, The Answer to Job. Solving the question of why there is evil and suffering has been part of the human inquiry forever. It should surprise no one that these themes find a place in the Bible. The original story of Job seems to date from about 1000-800 BC (BCE) and versions of it can be found among many nations, leading us to suspect that this is a universal human narrative. The biblical version of this story, however, did not get written until the 500s. We can date it fairly accurately, since it reflects elements of Persian religion that came into Jewish awareness during and after the exile of the 6th Century BC. The Book of Job, for example, introduces the figure of Satan into the biblical story, but in this book Satan is not yet an evil figure or even a fallen angel. That would develop later. In Job Satan is simply a part of the heavenly court who acts on God's command. The prologue to this book sets the stage for the drama. God and Satan are discussing the faithfulness of God's servant Job. Satan suggests that Job's faithfulness is only because he has been blessed with riches and a large family. "Why should he not be faithful?" Satan asks, "since the system of reward and punishment works for him?" Would he still be faithful, Satan wonders, if his faithfulness was not so abundantly rewarded? God defends Job's faithfulness as sincere, but resolves to determine whether God or Satan is correct. God authorizes Satan to test Job for a season. Satan would remove the rewards of the good life from Job in order to determine whether his faithfulness would continue. This is when tragedy sweeps down on Job. His wealth is destroyed, his wives and children are killed and his health is taken from him. Job then tries to reconcile the established wisdom that God rewards faithfulness and punishes evil with his experience. Job is a righteous man. There is no debate about that since even God has certified his goodness in the introduction. Job, however, has now been brought low by these calamities. If calamities result from an evil life, he wonders, how can the righteous Job goodness explain his misfortunes? The stage is set for the entrance of Job's comforters. Three of Job's friends, Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad, hear of Job's tragedies and come to console him. The conversation between Job and his friends goes on for some thirty chapters. Supporting their conclusions, Job's friends have the common wisdom of that age, made up of undoubted "truths". God, as a just deity, rewards righteousness and punishes evil. For God to punish a righteous man would not only be inconceivable, but blasphemous. Job's friends buttress their argument by quoting scripture, since the Bible was filled with this traditional interpretation of God. Every defeat that the people of Israel had ever endured was seen by them as God's punishment for their disobedience. The message of the prophets was clear. The Jewish people had been punished with boils when King David conducted a census that displeased God. Moses had been punished with death because he had put God to the test in the wilderness of a place called Meribah. God had rewarded the people of Israel with the Exodus and the miracle at the Red Sea for the faithful endurance of their sufferings under the oppression of the Egyptians. This idea that if one obeyed the law and worshiped God properly one could count on blessings from heaven was a central tenet in popular Jewish religion. If one did not, the vengeance of God was said to be sure and swift. Deep down this firmly held belief delivered the Jewish people from the threat of meaninglessness. There was purpose, not chaos, in life. This purpose was best revealed in that human behavior controlled the response of God. Human goodness put God on one's side with rewards. Human faithlessness and evil brought God's wrath and divine retribution. Job's friends were confident in the rightness of their convictions. When they confronted Job's calamities, there was, therefore, only one possible explanation. Job must be guilty of some unseen evil, so they came to help him come to grips with his sinfulness, to beg for forgiveness and to seek the mercy of God. They felt compelled to get Job to see the evil of his ways, believing that to be the only way to bring an end to his tragedy. Theological correctness was thus confronted by human experience and, as so often is the case, it simply did not fit. Job stood alone against this common theological wisdom. He knew he was not deserving of these calamities. He could not deny the experience of his own character. He knew himself to be upright and honest, one who not only obeyed the law faithfully, but who also paid proper homage to the God of his ancestors. Yet he also knew that he had witnessed the loss of all that he valued - his family, his fortune and his health. In the most dramatic moment in the story, Job is portrayed as sitting on top of a garbage heap, scratching the infected sores of his body with a piece of broken pottery, alone with his inner integrity. None of his calamities made rational sense unless he was deserving of this treatment. The pressure from his friends was to face and to admit these things, to judge himself as evil and thus to make his suffering make sense. The meaning of life itself was thus at stake in this debate. Only by the admission of his evil could he keep at bay the deep and perennial human fear that maybe there was not a God who was in control. If there is no God then perhaps life was chaotic, ruled only by chance, fate or luck, possessing no purpose, no meaning and no redemptive qualities. If that turned out to be the case then the human alternative was only to hope for the chance of blessing, since one could not earn it, or to endure endless suffering if that was to be his fate, with no further court of appeal. If the common theological wisdom did not operate then Job had to decide either that God was not just or that there was no God. This was the unspoken fear that Job's tormentors were resisting and like all theological fundamentalists, that was why they pressed their case with such single-minded fervor. Job, on the other hand, was willing to run this enormous risk because the common theological wisdom simply did not interpret properly his experience. With the unprecedented courage of one seeking a new human breakthrough, he stood against the conclusions of his friends, forcing on them a new alternative. The Book of Job ends not with a negotiated settlement of this dispute, but with a new vision of God who spoke out of the whirlwind to challenge the inadequacy of every human attempt to state how God works and to discredit every human effort to define the holy. The voice of God reminded Job that the human mind cannot embrace the reality of God. "Where were you when the foundations of the word were laid?" The ways of the divine are not the ways of the human. That is always the fatally wrong theological assumption. Religion at its core is based on the arrogance of believing that human beings can not only discern the ways of God, but they can also act in such a way as to control the actions of God. The human sense of fairness is read into the understanding of God. The human attempt to control human behaviour reinforces the common theological wisdom that expresses itself in a reward and punishment mentality. Heaven and hell are nothing more than the assertion that the mind of God, as we human beings have created it, is still operating to reward or punish us after our deaths. Religion almost inevitably creates God in the image of the human being and then tries to force reality into that frame of reference. That is why there is no religious system that is eternal. That is why when human experience can no longer be interpreted adequately inside the traditional religious framework, the framework itself begins to die. The death of a religious system is never easy. The fear engendered by the loss of religion, or even what we think of as the death of God, engulfs human life in a sea of potential meaninglessness. Such a death always produces emotional denial or fundamentalist fervor; a killing hostility directed toward that which or those who have shattered our religious delusions. It also, however, always produces emancipation from the evils of religion that many people welcome. It is the evils of religion that force us either into a new religious oppression or the building of a new secular city. The struggle to find a new alternative, however, also stretches our consciousness into new dimensions of what it means to be human and that is where hope is born. Job resisted the theological conclusions of his day. Job refused to let his experience be interpreted by the categories of the past. He held on until the birth of a new consciousness engulfed him. Job is thus an icon through which we can see the meaning of a profound religious paradigm shift. Today we are experiencing exactly that sort of paradigm shift. Our experience has rendered the religious answers of yesterday to be inoperative. The defenders of the inadequate answers of the past are anxious. The critics of those answers feel a new freedom. The God of yesterday dies as we struggle to view the birth of the God of tomorrow. Job is thus an eternal symbol of that eternal human struggle. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Tips and Tricks for Running Video Services/Classes Rabbi Brian has been teaching and running online services for 7+ years and has offered a free webinar for clergy folk looking for help on tips and tricks for streaming classes and services. He will be paying special attention on “how to do hybrid live and virtual at the same time.” Friday, March 27, 2020 at 9am PST / 12pm EST https://zoom.us/j/678409961 Free for ProgressiveChristianity.org friends and clergy. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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St Patrick's Day Eve Greetings
by Ellie Stock 17 Mar '20

17 Mar '20

Dear Friends, Greetings on this Eve of St. Patrick's Day. I hope you are staying well in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic crisis, and taking all the precautions needed to prevent the spread of the disease as well as sustaining your own health and the health of your families, friends and the wider community. A Celtic creation prayer . . . Deep peace of theRunning waves to you.Deep peace of the Flowing air to you.Deep peace of the Quiet earth to you.Deep peace of theShining stars to you.Deep peace of theSon of peace to you. There have been many inspiring and encouraging words and acts of compassion shared online and through other media. Continue to share them as we continue to support one another in new patterns of physical self-distancing and isolation. We remain connected in spirit and solidarity through these kind gifts of communication, prayer, and lighting of candles for each other and for the world, especially for health care workers and those who are on the front lines of battling the coronavirus. I was struck by the video of the Italian Airforce Tri Color (Frecce Tricoloi) accompanied by Pavarotti's aria from Turondot's "Nessun Dorma" (we will win)--the famous formation becoming a symbol of hope for Italy and the rest of the world as we work together to contain and stop the coronavirus. Below is the link with some background info. Scroll down to the video link (sorry it's in the midst of a tweet...). The Story Behind The Frecce Tricolori Video That Has ... theaviationist.com/2020/03/16/the-story-behind-the-frecce-tricoloris-video.… scene of the Italian Air Force display team performing their trademark final maneuver has gone viral, so much so President of the United States used it for a message of encouragement to Italy. … I continue to reflect that this present mobilization will not compare to the mobilization and society/life style changes needed to combat the complexifying issues and global crises related to climate change and global warming. Perhaps this is a much need warning and dress rehearsal. May we continue to enter these next days, weeks, months--not being overcome by fear and panic-- but instead with an abundance of consciousness, care, creativity, courage, and compassion. I leave you with a familiar prayer of St. Patrick... Grace and peace,blessing and love ~ Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com

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Fwd: My best witness so far
by Richard Alton 16 Mar '20

16 Mar '20

Dear Colleagues, I loved Brian's witness. I think to get us started we should all put up our best witness we have done so far- this is mine- love the phrase to keep the world sane when it falls apart. Dick Fuck It, I am 70 So, this is my 70th birthday witness: I am actually writing this is on my way to Nepal to help prep the 2012 Nepal ICAI Conference. I will stay 3 weeks afterwards with Sally Stovall joining me to do two weeks of trekking; a little adventure for entering this 70th decade which I assume will be wild. To celebrate 70 in Nepal, a country which is considered the center of the religious world, seems appropriate as I do consider myself religious. Buddha was born here and I want to get a taste of Nepal’s fabulous spiritual stew. But this getting older has been on my mind a lot lately. Just the number of funerals is enough to catch one’s attention. I was talking to a person from our Church- just general chit-chat and she mentioned that she had come up on two great books: How We Die and The Art of Aging by Professor Sherwin Nuland, a medical professor at Yale. Now this grabbed my attention because both seemed topics that one should be on top of in this new 70th decade. You will not get through this decade without dealing with these two topics. So I read the two books- not bad- some great stories but nothing earth shattering. But, I was intrigued by the author so I googled him. First, Nuland is a surgeon and an associate professor at Yale. I happened to see that he had just done a TED video. Now TED videos are very intriguing. They are to be by famous people who talk on a topic they have never talked about before. So I clicked on Nuland’s video. He starts by saying he wants to talk about electric shocks which immediately catches my attention since my father had a nervous breakdown when the 5th kid came highly unexpectedly. Dad was sent off to a sanatorium and given electric shock that kick started his life again. So, Nuland starts off by talking about how electric shock was discovered as a treatment. Doctors in Italy noticed that depressed people that also had seizures seemed to get better after a seizure. So these researchers went to the police and asked them to bring someone who seems extremely depressed or pretty out of it. So they brought a man who was unable to communicate and seem to be in a stupor. They hooked him up to a wire from the electrical outlet and gave him a short burst . The man suddenly jerks up,” what the fuck are you assholes doing?” Now, Nuland says he is not telling this to you for your academic knowledge but this is very personal. In the middle of his life he was a surgeon at Yale when he started a very difficult period in his life. His wife and he were barely able to stand each other..he became extremely depressed..he did not even have enough energy to turn down the bed covers and could not get out of bed until noon..his surgery work was getting less and lessr..who wants to be operated on by a depressed surgeon? So he went to his doctor and they decided to have him committed to a mental institution. They tried everything to help him, but nothing worked. Finally, the doctors decided to perform a lobotomy as the last possibility. But luckily, he had an intern who was his supervisor and he spoke up..” why not try electrical shock?” Ok, the doctors agreed, so they started the first treatment of shocks and just at the end Nuland begins to feel something. The second round of shocks he begins to feel colors and the grayness of his life started to lift. Nuland relates that his compulsions and dryness of life was a long struggle to control but he did it. One of the tricks of compulsions is that you have to have keys that you use once you begin to find yourself starting to fall or the old compulsions start in again. Nuland, decided his phase would be Fuck It. He still uses this phrase to watch over his psychic. Nuland, ends his presentation by looking at the audience and saying, “I look at this audience and it seems you are about in your 30s and maybe 40s and are at the top of your game. Well, I want you to know that things will go wrong and you will fall in a hole...and I just want you to know recovery is possible, a resurrection is possible.” I, Dick, was resurrected in my early 20s and am counting on it in my 70s. PS, the story on Nuland is a true story. Just watch the video..google TED and look for Sherwin Nuland. And, theologically, it is a true story because it is the way life is! -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Green Community Connections Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2020, March 6-15* http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Green Community Connections Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2020, March 6-15* http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2

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2010 Lifetime Achievement: John Gibson | Cultural Vision Awards | nuvo.net
by Lynda C 14 Mar '20

14 Mar '20

https://www.nuvo.net/culturalvisionawards/lifetime-achievement-john-gibson/… This was linked in Nancy Trask’s article, but I couldn’t get it to open at first. When I did, I wanted to share it broadly in celebration of John’s dedication to the cause of Care of the Earth. We can use this as motivation to continue to our work as elder citizens for Environmental Justice in the communities and regions where we live. Lynda and John

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3/12/20, Progressing Spirit: Aurelia Davila Pratt: Breaking Free From Supremacy Theology, Part One; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 12 Mar '20

12 Mar '20

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}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 h3{ font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 .yiv3079202436mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent, #yiv3079202436 .yiv3079202436mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templatePreheader .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent, #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templatePreheader .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templateHeader .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent, #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templateHeader .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templateBody .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent, #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templateBody .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templateFooter .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent, #yiv3079202436 #yiv3079202436templateFooter .yiv3079202436mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Supremacy theology is sustained across all Christian traditions | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Breaking Free From Supremacy Theology, Part One | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt March 12, 2020 Even though my current context is theologically progressive, I am entangled in supremacy theology. I need to break free. I define supremacy theology as any theological framework that is propped up by systems of oppression. These domination systems, such as (but not limited to) racism, sexism and homophobia all tend to thrive under the umbrella of white supremacy. Supremacy theology is sustained across all Christian traditions through its doctrine and practices. Liberation work is my antidote to supremacy theology. It is the work of freedom from oppressive power structures that have us bound. We name these structures, we confess our complicity in sustaining them, and we repent through their dismantling. My process for dismantling is called ambitious fasting. It is best understood through the definition of fasting God provides in Isaiah 58:1-12. At the heart of the Isaiah text is verse six, in which God says “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” Ambitious fasting is a decisive shift away from doctrine-obsessed inaction and toward liberation, which is concerned with the here-and-now. As people of faith, Liberation work is our calling. When referencing this shared responsibility, I often use terms such as Resurrection Work, Peace-making, One-ness Work, and Kin-dom work. These are all a part of the restorative work of Liberation. It is an often disruptive and highly uncomfortable job, but I have rolled up my sleeves, hunkered down, and am totally committed. However, as a woman of color (WOC) faith leader, the perpetuation of a theological framework largely informed by white supremacy continues to cause me significant harm. Part one of this article will explore how supremacy theology holds me captive to its oppressive ideologies, even as I participate in the work of Liberation. Part two will name the specific messaging I seek to break free of, as well as offer a healing process for all of us. While this article focuses on my experience, the ideas presented are relevant to anyone engaged in justice work. Our ministry, pastoral care, writing, coaching, preaching, teaching, consulting, advocating about Liberation is not sustainable as long as we are not active participants in our own inner work. Liberation absolutely must begin with self-reclamation. We must each explore the question: What is keeping me bound? This is a prompt that is always with me, offering guidance as I seek to break free from the supremacy theology that has shaped much of my life. Every week, I make sacred art with my faith community. I use a lot of language to describe the work I do: I’m a pastor. I’m a preacher. I’m a social worker. I’m a teacher. I’m a student. I’m a wanna-be mystic activist who has a hell of a lot to learn. But my favorite descriptor is I’m a paradigm shifter. I think this is most fitting because I spend most of my time and energy cultivating relationships, creating content and providing safe space so that necessary paradigms can shift. This is my beloved contribution to Liberation work. In my small, but mighty community, we are shifting from spiritual observance to ambitious fasting. We are shifting from a history of exclusion toward an inclusive, centered-set ideology. We are shifting from the Church as a domination system and prioritizing healthy, equitable community instead. We are moving away from oppressive theological frameworks in favor of the prophetic wisdom tradition of Liberation Theology. This shifting is a constant movement that considers all of creation and requires continuous effort. We are putting new wine into new wineskins. We are letting the church die so that it can be reborn. We are becoming the Transfigured Church, almost unrecognizable as we abandon our shackles. It’s tiring and difficult, yet valuable work. I am grateful to be a part of changing the narrative with an entire community of kindred souls. However, I must turn inward and assess my own need for Liberation. I must do this with the same attention and loving-kindness in which I do it for my community. This inner work involves the same steps of Liberation as on the macro level, which I mentioned earlier: naming wounds, confessing complicity and repentance through dismantling. However, before I can truly begin this healing process, I must make some important acknowledgments. First, I acknowledge my particular privileges. I am cisgender, heterosexual, and able-bodied. I am financially stable, young, and educationally privileged. As a pastor, I hold a position of power within my church and community. I also acknowledge my intersections. My womanhood as well as my Chicana/Filipina experience predominantly shape my understanding of living within the confines of a patriarchal and white supremacist paradigm. Finally, I acknowledge my perspective as both a limitation and a strength. I have much to unlearn and learn. But part of my education is listening to my inner voice and instincts and trusting that my own experience has value to add to the theological conversation. I lend my voice to this particular conversation because I know my experience does not live in isolation. Women clergy will understand. Actually, many women who work in male dominated professions will understand me. Speaking specifically from within my field, being a woman pastor can feel like a hazing process that never ends. Fewer job opportunities, less pay, double standards or tokenism are to be expected. If you are lucky enough to get the gig (that you are likely overqualified for), you have to work twice as hard as your male counterparts in order to a similar level of respect from colleagues, laypeople, and prospective members. Meanwhile, you will also have to navigate regular interaction with male clergy in your community, assuming you get included. And no matter how hard you work, you will still get asked where your husband is on a regular basis. Even in a progressive context, people cannot fathom a woman pastor working independently. Many women pastors experience all this while also juggling the care of their family’s households, often as the primary caregiver to their children. And if they don’t, they often have to deal with the stereotypical assumptions that arise for daring to be identified outside the labels of “wife” or “mother”. Personally, it’s no wonder I consistently go through a cycle of insecurity, agonizing, questioning and self-loathing before I can actually get to my work. I am strong and resilient so the work gets done, and I do it well. But not without first crossing over several mental and emotional hurdles threatening to keep me bound. It’s a time consuming and frustrating practice. This oppressive theological messaging comes at me regularly and with full force. It is so deeply rooted into my consciousness that it prevents me from stepping into the fullness of my Imago Dei. It is during my sermon preparation when I take notice of this messaging most often. I have been writing sermons for nearly a decade. I have grown in both skill and confidence, and I believe I am a good preacher. Yet I continue to be overcome by a sense of incompetence and dread the process every time I prepare a sermon. For years I thought myself self-centered for agonizing about something that has little to do with me and should have everything to do with the Christ-agenda of radical love. It was only until very recently that I was able to verbalize what is taking place. Every time I write a sermon, I go through this process of breaking free from supremacy theology. As a woman of color whose theological training took place primarily from and among white men, the best thing I ever did was put down the commentaries. While I still make use of them as needed and continue to value thoughtful biblical exegesis, waking up to my imago dei required putting them away. This forced me into the work of learning to trust the Spirit of God dwelling in me, which has made me a better preacher and pastor. And bonus: I am better positioned to name (and soundly reject!) the messaging that has previously kept me bound. In part two of this article, I will name the specific microaggressions and messages I need to break free of as a WOC faith leader doing Liberation work. I believe this naming is an essential part of the healing process. Supremacy informed theology has ingrained in me the subconscious belief that I am less than, I should shrink, I don’t belong, I can’t be trusted, and my voice has nothing to contribute. But my work as a paradigm shifter speaks against the lies of supremacy theology. Instead, it has its roots in Imago Dei theology, which suggests that each of us were made in God’s own image. Imago Dei is why we do the work, beginning with ourselves. It is why we ask the ongoing question “What is keeping me bound?” Surviving is not good enough. But if we are going to thrive, we must be free of anything that keeps us from the good work of Liberation. This idea of breaking free is something each one of us ought to consider for the sake of our collective wholeness. Our ability to thrive is limited when we are not fully living into the power of our Imago Dei. But the catch is: if one of us is bound, so is the other. You aren’t free until I’m free. And I will never be free until you know the fullness of Liberation. We are connected. We are in this gritty and beautiful work together. ~ 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 Kimberly, How does a Christian who thinks she is on the Spiritual/ Interfaith path – evolving, becoming, opening evermore – deal with the death of a loved one rooted in “traditional” Christian ideas about The Afterlife? I find myself desperately hoping there is a physical Heaven – a childhood concept that I thought I had moved beyond- because I want to hold Dad’s hand again someday, and I want to believe he is with my cousin and dear friends who have died. It suddenly feels more secure and yet non-existent. I am surprised, saddened, and grieving (thank goodness). A: By Rev. Fran Pratt Dear Kimberly, I hear and acknowledge your grief, surprise, and sadness. Hopefully something I can say will be helpful. But if not, I'm sending you love from afar. I'm fond of the saying, "we are spiritual beings having a human (embodied) experience," which is a quote from the Catholic theologian, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. For me this offers particular comfort, even though I too have deconstructed my ideas about the afterlife, and let go much of traditional Christian afterlife mythology. Perhaps you can resonate with the idea that we are, at our core, in our truest selves, spiritual beings which transcend physicality and 3-dimensional reality. Like me, maybe you can find comfort in the idea that when our time of being inside this physical reality is over, we return to Spirit, and to our truest and most brilliant selves. This concept is supported in scripture, particularly in the writings of St. Paul. Consider 1 Corinthians 15:44; and Colossians 3:3 - "You have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." If your journey has taken you even further afield than this, I offer some more ideas. You've said that you are a Christian, so I'll assume that something about the Christ and his representation of the Divine as Love is compelling to you. I'm comforted by that understanding of the Divine as Love; the ground of our being is love. For me the idea of returning, or of my loved ones returning, to the Ground of Being that is Love is comforting - that after death there is the essence of all life, the Source from which life came, which is Love, our home. My opinion is, if there's a physical heaven, it's going to be here on earth. I get this idea from Christ's often-repeated words: "The kingdom of heaven is near!" But honestly I've come to a place where I don't need or want heaven to be anything other than here on earth. I don't need heaven to be some alternative 3D reality. So thinking of the afterlife as returning back to my original life, the one I have as a spiritual being created in the imagination of The Divine/Love, feels positive to me. I think of this sometimes in terms of video games. My kid plays minecraft, which is a world-building game, but it's contained within this world we actually live in. I like to think that this 3D reality is as to Spiritual Reality as Minecraft is to current-day 3D life on earth. A world within a world, with these temporary bodies as free-willed avatars. We've been home all along, as have all our transitioned loved ones. Beyond these thoughts, my suggestion is this: let yourself grieve. Give it all the time and space it requires to do it properly and authentically. It's non-linear, not a "one and done" deal. You'll have to feel your feelings and no one can tell you how to do that. I wish you the best on that very personal journey. ~ Rev. Fran Pratt Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Fran Pratt is a pastor, writer, musician, and mystic. Making meaningful and beautiful liturgy to be spoken, practiced, and sung, is at the heart of her creative drive. Fran authored a book of congregational litanies, and regularly creates and shares modern liturgy on her website and Patreon. Her prayers are prayed in churches of various sizes and traditions across the globe. She writes, speaks, and consults on melding ancient and new liturgical streams in faith and worship. Fran is Pastor of Worship and Liturgy at Peace of Christ Church in Round Rock, Texas. | | | | | | | | 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 XXII: Malachi and the Dawn of Universalism Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 19, 2009 Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament as Christians organize the scriptures and it is the last voice to be heard in the Book of the Twelve as the Jews organize the scriptures. It will also be the last of the prophets to whom I will give major attention in this series. Of the twelve so-called “minor prophets” we have examined Hosea, Amos, Micah, Jonah, Zechariah and now Malachi. This means that I have chosen not to treat Joel, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and Haggai. Of course, that is a value judgement, but I have determined that they are not worthy of much time. That may offend those who think that every word of the Bible is the inerrant word of God, which makes a dismissal of any of its content border on blasphemy. This attitude always amazes me and more so when I ask these critics what the message of Obadiah or Nahum is and watch them sputter. These books are little read; they do not reach any heights of spirituality and they are filled with images of a vengeful deity who hates the enemies of the Jews. To make this series complete, however, let me say a few words about each of the omitted books. Joel is the most quoted of the books I will not cover. Joel 1:14 is regularly read on Ash Wednesday in liturgical churches: “Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly”. Joel 2:22 forms a familiar Lenten theme of repentance: “Rend your hearts and not your garments”. Joel 2:28 is quoted by Luke in Peter’s Pentecost sermon (Acts 2): “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions”. Beyond these three verses, however, Joel is little more than a cultic prophet. Obadiah consists of a series of oracles against Israel’s enemies, none of which are profound. Nahum is a tribal hymn of praise at the destruction of Nineveh, assuming that since he hates the Assyrians, God must also. Habakkuk contents himself to pronounce woes on wicked nations, apparently not able to hear the universal themes of God’s unbounded love. Zephaniah is the work of a Jewish puritan and like “puritans” in all religious traditions, he is more self-righteous than helpful. Haggai, a contemporary of Zechariah, had only one song to sing and that was that the Temple must be rebuilt. If all of these omitted books were lost and for all practical purposes they have always been ignored, the world would not be much poorer for it. Malachi, however, is different and as such he is a worthy figure to round out our study of the prophets because he helped move the consciousness of the Jews out of their tribal mentality and opened the doors that allowed their religion to grow to levels of universal understanding. The first thing that must be noted is that Malachi is not the name of the author of this little book. The name comes from the first verse of the third chapter, where we find the words, “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you will seek will suddenly come to his Temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts”. The Hebrew word for “my messenger” is “mal’akhi” (not dissimilar from the name of the current Prime Minister of Iraq) and that is the name by which the book came to be known. It seems to have been the second anonymous work that was copied onto the scroll of Zechariah and thus might be called III Zechariah. Dating this book is easier than most since it refers to events in history that we can date fairly accurately from other sources. Jerusalem is under the rule of a governor, but both the political and religious life of the nation is at a low ebb. It seems not to be aware of the priestly code that was added to the Torah in the late 5th Century BC (BCE). It refers to the priests as sons of Levi, rather than sons of Aaron, as the priestly code does and it mentions that the Edomites, their hated foes, have been conquered by the Nabataean Arabs. These things all point to a time before the great reforming governor Nehemiah came into power in 444 BC, so Malachi is dated somewhere around 450 BC. The situation is far enough after the Exile for a strong sense of disillusionment to have set in among the people. They had clearly believed their own propaganda that the return from exile would usher in a glorious messianic age. Hopes had skyrocketed, as they tend to do with a change of circumstances or government, but none of these hopes seemed to find fulfillment. Instead, only a small number of Jews actually returned to their homeland and they soon discovered not the messianic age, but a difficult and dangerous life. There were no walls behind which to seek protection from either enemies or robbers. Despair was heavy and people asked why they should bother to continue to worship, when clearly the God of the Jews did not appear to be concerned with the welfare of God’s chosen. This little book was thus designed to give hope to these discouraged people. In the process, however, Malachi’s message broke the traditional boundaries of Jewish tribal thinking and quite literally redefined the God of the Jews. That is what makes this book so strong and so powerful. Using a question and answer format, this prophet points first to the same issue that we will discover in the Book of Job. If you are suffering you must deserve it, you must have acted in a way that precipitated God’s wrath or that at least caused God to abandon God’s people. Searching for an answer, this writer points to their cultic sins and offers those as the reasons for God’s punishment. Yet he continues to struggle against the limitations of this kind of tribal thinking, asserting that the God of the Jews is still in control. As evidence of God’s continuing presence he cites the destruction of the Edomites, suggesting that this was God’s punishment of their traditional enemies because the Edomites had celebrated the sack of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. He continues to insist that the “Day of the Lord” will come, which meant to the Jews that God will yet intervene at the end of history and vindicate the chosen people. It was tribal religion at its tribal best. As this unknown messenger wrestled with these realities of history, however, a crack began to appear in his tribal mentality. Modern readers need to realize that the world seemed very small to ancient people. Most of them had never been to the sea. They had no idea what lay beyond their coasts or the boundaries formed by mighty rivers or even mountain ranges. They were certain that the earth was the center of the universe, that the sun rotated around the earth and that the God who lived above the sky had the chosen people in the center of the divine gaze. They believed that this God controlled the weather, their sicknesses and the plight of the chosen people in history. They had no understanding of either the size of this planet or the vastness of the universe. They viewed life from the center of their limited self-consciousness. The whole world revolved around their lives and they believed that all of their behavior, whether it was liturgical and ethical, was judged only on how it pleased God and how God responded to it. When Malachi finally broke open this mindset, he walked into a stunning new understanding of both God and the world. It began when he observed that all worship, even that of those he called “heathens”, was offered to God. If that is so, he concluded, then God must be thought of as a heavenly parent with all people being God’s children. In this patriarchal world, he articulated this as the “brotherhood” of the human family under the “fatherhood” of God. The Hebrew Scriptures had hinted at this earlier with its explanations of the origins of the other nations of whom the Jews were aware. Jewish mythology had suggested that the Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, from whom Jacob stole the birthright. The Ammonites and Moabites were the grandchildren of Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. The Arabs were the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. There was indeed a sense of kinship that permeated the region; indeed, a common DNA permeated them all. This insight is what finally caused Malachi to say: “Have we not all one father, has not God created us all?” As he thought about these things, Malachi appears to have stepped into a new human awareness and when he did, a majestic monotheistic God suddenly came into view and universality finally broke through the tribal minds of the Jewish people. It was then that Malachi could write: “From the rising of the sun to its setting God’s name shall be great among the Gentiles”. He did not realize how wide an arc the sweep of the sun created. He did not know that Europe, China or the Western hemisphere existed, but his mind was expanding. He then went on to say, “And in every nation incense shall be offered to God’s name”. A new realization about the oneness of God had dawned. Tribal thinking was beginning to die. Some people say today that God is evolving. I do not think that is accurate. Whatever and whoever God is, surely God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The fact is, however, that the human perception of God is always evolving. We have gone from a multi, spirit-filled, animistic world, first to identifying God with nature’s cycles of fertility, then to the warrior deities of tribal life and ultimately to a sense of the oneness and universality of God. The biblical story moves from a God who hates the Egyptians so much that God sends multiple plagues on them and even closes the Red Sea so that the Egyptians drown and a God who hates the Amorites so much that God stops the sun in the sky to allow more daylight in which Joshua’s army can slaughter them, to a place where through the eyes of Malachi the Jews begin to see the human family as one. Without Malachi’s searing insight it would not have been possible for Jesus to take the next step as he did when he enjoined us even to “Love our enemies”. Malachi, the unnamed voice, is thus a major person in the evolving definition of the Jewish God and through the Jews in human development itself. He thus becomes a fitting close to that section of the Bible we call the prophets. We will next look at the protest literature of the Bible and at its wisdom writings. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Death and Dying: Grief and Climate Change March 16, 2020 Duration: 4 weeks (includes two one-hour interactive sessions online. Each, available in two different time slots for participants in different parts of the world.) We face an uncertain future, and it is time for humanity to come together and use its collective skills, knowledge, and heart. In this course, we explore grief from the massive losses suffered and yet to come from climate change, using concepts and key terms from the study of death and dying. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Old photo brings many memories
by Nancy Lanphear 11 Mar '20

11 Mar '20

Dear Friends, How many memories of being together could we name... “ let me count the ways”?❤️ I’m sorting stuff and finding treasures. You are a big part of the treasury! Loving you, Nancy

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