January 2021 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

Fw: 1/28/21, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Deshna Shine: What Pulls At Your Heart; Spong revisiteddialo
by Ellie Stock 28 Jan '21

28 Jan '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | What Pulls At Your Heart | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Deshna Shine January 28, 2021 Nearly 15 years ago I was asked to “help out” in the office of the new president of The Center for Progressive Christianity. I was told I would be filing paperwork, answering phone calls and helping with some basic accounting. My first response was, “No, thank you. I think I am done with Christianity.” Allow me to fill in the history a bit. As many of you know, I grew up as a pastor’s kid in a vibrant, thriving and meaningful progressive Christian church (United Church of Christ). We were one of the first churches to experience the Open and Affirming process. We marched in protests, and had a diverse, intellectual, justice oriented congregation. People of different sexual orientations, gender identities and a spectrum of Christian and non-Christian believers attended our church. Some drove an hour every Sunday, because it was the only church where they were welcomed and accepted. This was in the 80’s. I participated at every level of the church — in the choir, as a youth group leader, a camp counselor, a youth delegate and as a beloved community member. I will never forget the feeling of walking into that church building, being greeted with eyes of love, warm hello’s, familiar faces and many hugs. I had my regular seat at the front of the church where I laughed, cried and held hands with neighbors. Often I was joined there by several children, many of whom I babysat, and all of whom I loved dearly. My lap would be full, my heart soft and my mind stimulated. Now at 43 years old, I realize I have rarely felt so whole as I did when we were at Family Camp at Pilgrim Pines, singing around the fire, under the magnitude of stars. The crisp fall air swirled around us, pine fragrance filled the air, and I belonged to something bigger than myself. I felt directly connected to God then. She was all around us. My church was my extended family. And in my years of searching, I have yet to find a church like it, although I am sure they are out there. So, why did I feel like, at 29 years old, that I was done with Christianity? One, I couldn’t ignore the history of violence, misuse, mis-translation, abuse of power, sexism, racism, and the blatant oppression of people around the world. It seems like the Christian Church has often been at the center of these since it’s inception. This continued oppression is in opposition to the teachings of the Jesus I knew. Two, I couldn’t relate to the stories in the Bible, of a land in the middle east, and a people over 2,000 years ago. While many of the stories are timeless and universal, many for me simply were not. And it felt like a lot of digging to find those gems. I tried to imagine Jesus in our world today… and I simply couldn’t. He would likely be a homeless man, thought to be crazy. Or a black man imprisoned. An immigrant caged. The nation I was raised in, that calls itself Christian, is simply not. And three, growing up in Orange County, California our progressive church and our family were targeted by fundamentalist Christians on a regular basis. I had “friends” tell me I was going to burn for all eternity in Hell. My family and our church received bomb threats and death threats. We were called heathens, heretics and false prophets. All this because we dared to create a radically inclusive community. Like Jesus. So, I felt like I was done. I didn’t want to have anything to do with that Christianity again. In college, I moved on and studied Eastern Asian religions and I fell in love with Tibetan Buddhism. I taught yoga, worked with children, had my own child and eventually was asked help with this progressive Christian non-profit organization, known then as TCPC. In spite of my initial hesitancy, it felt like a good opportunity for some part time work. So I finally said yes. My role expanded and I began to learn more about progressive Christianity from a different perspective. I can’t tell you how many letters and emails and phone calls we received on a regular basis saying something like: “Until I found this organization, I felt completely alone in the world.” And “I have hope again.” Or, “My family doesn’t understand me and calls me a sinner. I now see that there is a path for me where I can still be a follower of Jesus and also be me.” Something like that over and over again. And, after some deep introspection, contemplation and a re-opened mind, I realized that what mattered was that we were offering a path of radical inclusion. TCPC, like my childhood church family, was trying to model the radical love of Jesus as we saw and understood it. That vision still matters now, even more so. Today, progressive Christianity is being called to level up. And big time. All that preaching from the pulpits about radical inclusion and justice? It’s time to take that to the polling place, grocery store, neighborhood and family dinner table. It’s time to examine how we have contributed to unjust systems because of our personal comfort. It’s time to acknowledge how these unjust systems have kept us from the community Jesus embodied. How do we level up? We must listen to our grief, individually and collectively. We are losing something, after all — our privilege, our perceived superiority and our comfortable and familiar ability to “other.” We must accept that our anger is telling us something is not right. We can no longer hide under the blankets of denial, guilt, fragility, shock and numbness. We must look at that grief with eyes wide open and ask how it is informing our spending, sense of ownership, actions and empathy today? We must act. Empire living, which embodies the sins of human nature, has been crushing us all. We can not pretend that because we are kind, liberal Christians that we don’t have to act or be in denial of our part. Black, brown and trans bodies are dying for our sins over and over again. We can no longer turn a blind eye. We must create a bigger table with every voice in mind and make sure every one is there when we start to wrestle with solutions. Because “we belong to each other,” as indigenous teachers have said. We must maintain hope. At the heart of Christianity and the path of Jesus is Wild Hope, living and loving with abandon. As John Shelby Spong says, “live fully and love wastefully.” “If God is the source of love, as I believe God is, then the only way you can worship God is by loving. Not by being right, but by loving. By loving wastefully. The image in my mind is an old sink in the basement, that you plug up the drains and you turn on all the [taps] and the water overflows the boundaries and goes all over the floor and fills up every crack and cranny… and never stops to ask whether that crack deserves this living water. You love because love is what you have to do, not because somebody deserves the love. You love wastefully.” Radical love, patience and trust require hope and we must maintain that burning light within if we are going to be a real part of transforming our communities and world. Hope tells us that there will always be more living water within to pour out of us. We must keep pushing. It is going to take hard, dedicated and exhausting work to continue to evolve Christian theology and to remove all echoes of racism from our liturgy and rituals. Take rest and take turns, but never stop pushing. Progressive leaders and communities need to continue (or start) modeling the transformation of systems that pervade our current global human experience through radical love. Push everyday to center, listen and learn from black, brown and indigenous people who will lead the way. United States Vice President Kamala Harris has been known to say, “I eat no for breakfast. I love that word.” She kept on pushing and isn’t going to let up now. Neither can we. We must not forget. Poet, leader and author Sonya Renee Taylor says, “white supremacist delusion demands amnesia” in order to survive. We can’t forget where the Church has done harm and has been oppressive and unjust or we will repeat the cycle of fear and othering, complacency and apathy. We must create new narratives and images. Progressive Christians, the time has come to be fully engaged in the world and active in our pursuits of radical compassion and service. Gather your church and ask, “How can we radically model the love Jesus offered to the world? The new, diverse, just and live giving narratives we create need to represent all of us and center the least of us. They must be a balance of accountability and radical empathy and forgiveness. What breaks your heart? You know when else I have felt whole? Marching in Black Lives Matter protests alongside thousands of other humans chanting and crying and singing songs of justice. Demanding an end to the hate and fear of racism. So let us take our 40 days in the desert while we wrestle our grief and what it means to you to be a follower of Jesus. But then, for the love of god, for the love of what is good and worthy, let us come out of the desert and do something. Look with honesty at the world and notice what breaks your heart. And then start with just one thing that lends healing to that brokenness. What breaks your heart can break open your community. So there is room for new growth in the cracks and a deeper cause. Pick one thing and do it well. And when you don’t know what to do, find BIPOC leaders who are already building those just systems Jesus longed for. They have been calling us to pay attention for hundreds of years. Listen, learn and show up. I stand with you as we step into our collective healing. I march with you as we commit to walking the walk. It is what Jesus asked of us all along. ~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Charron Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Children’s Curriculum. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, author, international speaker, and 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 was Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org, Executive Producer of Embrace Festival and has co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. Deshna is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually, and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Victor Trying to figure out what Christianity is all about, I ask a lot of questions. All I want is a simple answer, but I keep getting different opinions from different people. Is that all there is? Opinions? Where are the facts? A: By Rev. David Felten Dear Victor, As a pastor who’s also a musician, the best analogy I can think of is (what else?) musical. There are a lot of “facts” about music: we strive for the “A” above middle “C” to vibrate at 440 Hz, there are four musicians in a quartet, and the British Navy uses Britney Spears songs to scare off Somali pirates.[i] No kidding. But beyond that kind of thing, music is pretty subjective. I, for one, have eclectic tastes in music, ranging from the spare and simple to the avant-garde – not surprising in that my music education degree expected me to be proficient in everything from the obscure and esoteric discipline of the classical French saxophone repertoire to the jazz and pop styles that make up the bulk of what people listen to in the real world. I was trained and expected to be able to play it all. Not surprisingly then, the music that moves me and serves as the soundtrack to my life is from almost every style and period. It’s intensely personal and subjective. I know that some of the more experimental and “free” music that inspires me the most would leave a lot of people just shaking their heads in bewilderment (it does with my mom, at least), but that’s where my musical journey has taken me. So, here’s the thing: there’s one kind of music that I don’t listen to. In fact, I can’t stand it. And that’s contemporary country music. I understand it technically and appreciate how popular it is with regular folk. Be it the inane lyrics, superficial patriotism, or the monotony of the music harmonically, it’s just not anything I can listen to. Totally subjective, but there it is. That’s my opinion. I’m a musical elitist and snob. Suffice it to say, in the realm of theology and religion, there’s an abundance of opinion, but there just aren’t that many facts. As with music, my theological tastes are pretty eclectic, ranging from the spare and simple to the avant-garde. My theological degrees expected me to know about everything from pretty obscure historical and esoteric writings to the simplest pop Christian theology that most people relate to in everyday life. I was exposed to a lot; and now, where I’ve come to be in my own personal spiritual life turns out to be very confusing to most people. It’s intensely personal, subjective and fluid. I know that a lot of what I believe must make some people just shake their head in wonder, but that’s OK. I hope they can get a glimpse of my spiritual priorities through my actions in the world. Along the way, colleagues have called me a heretic, apostate, liar and “one of the tools the enemy.” All for just being honest? Hooray! They called Thelonious Monk incompetent and subversive. And yes, just like in music, in the world of faithing, there’s one kind of theology that I can’t stand – and that’s the kind of pop Christianity that has become the dominant civic/evangelical religion in the United States. And just like country music, it’s inane, monotonous and steeped in superficial patriotism. I understand it and appreciate how popular it is with regular folk, but it's disconnectedness from the teachings and intentions of Jesus make me really sad. What’s worse is its programmatic embrace of hateful and ignorant ideologies that not only discriminate against a growing laundry list of people and ideas, but deny reality and those precious “facts” you’re looking for. I used to think that they were totally out of touch with the reformation that is going on across the country and around the world, but that’s not true. They’re well aware of the threat posed by evolving mainliners, post-evangelicals and non-believers. The nature of God, blood atonement, Christology, the authority of the Bible – all of them (including “belief” itself) – are not just in the midst of major change, in the words of one of my mentors, “they’re not even in my rear-view mirror.” As a result, the Religious Right leverages fear-based campaigns to raise money and enhance their political influence to fend off what they perceive as dangerous religious and social trends. For us in the middle of it professionally, it’s daunting, exciting and challenging, but it’s just downright perplexing to most people in the pews who think that Christianity just “is what it is” and want “just the facts.” Sorry. There’s lots of change in process and on the horizon. The belief and practices of the last 1,500 years are being retooled, revised or just plain retired. For many of us, it’s not about being faithful to rigid creeds and doctrines, but about subjectively composing a whole new genre of spirituality (of which Jesus’ teachings are just one part). The challenge is that most people in most churches (and many clergy) have their theological beliefs pre-set to the “oldies station” and are either insulated from or intimidated by what’s going on outside their comfort zone. So, they simply plod along in the isolation of their bubble of orthodoxy without a clue that there are people who practice Christianity and follow Jesus in radically different ways. So there it is. I’m not only a musical elitist and snob but a theological elitist and snob, too. If you ask me what Christianity is all about, I’m happy to give you my opinion. But it probably won’t match the last person you asked. And just like my musical tastes, I reserve the right to change my opinion based on the latest release from Snarky Puppy or Die Berliner Philharmoniker. I urge you to abandon your quest for simple answers and embrace the journey that sifting through opinions offers. Any “facts” along the way may be helpful, but only insofar as they provide a means of evaluating the veracity of various opinions. In the meantime, I encourage you to take to heart the sage (and subjective) advice of Harry Emerson Fosdick: “Opinions may be mistaken; love never is.” ~ Rev. David M. Felten Read and share online here About the Author Rev. David M. Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions” and authors of Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity. A co-founder of Catalyst Arizona and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. David is the proud father of three reliably remarkable human beings. [i] https://metro.co.uk/2013/10/27/britney-spears-songs-used-to-scare-off-pirat… | | | | | | | | 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 us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org relies heavily on the good will of donors. We want to continue to bring you the messages of progressive Christians via our Progressing Spirit Newsletter; however, the fact is, the cost of a subscription goes towards paying our authors. We therefore rely your generosity - specifically, if you are in a position to contribute to our efforts, we would be grateful for your donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament Part XXVI: The Book of Acts Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 17, 2010 In the early manuscripts of the Bible, the book of Acts served the purpose of providing transition from the gospels to the epistles. There was a deep historical fallacy in this assumption though it seemed logical, at least historically, to have stories of the life of Jesus precede stories of the spread of Christianity after the end of Jesus’ earthly life. The fact is that the authentic epistles of Paul were written first (51-64) and then the gospels, or, at least, the first three gospels (70-93). John was much later (95-100). Into that framework also needs to be placed the Pastoral Epistles that claim Pauline authorship, but are clearly written in Paul’s name long after his death (ca. 64), and the General or “Catholic” Epistles that are called by the names of Peter, John, James and Jude, but which were clearly not written by the one to whom each is attributed and some of which are even quite clearly the products of the second century. Then there is this book of Acts, which purports to tell the story of the Christian movement and how it spread after the Easter event from Jerusalem to Rome. Although its title claims that it is the story of all the apostles, it features stories primarily about Peter, with John appearing in a secondary role before moving to its obvious star, Paul, who is known in the early church simply as “the Apostle.” Not only was he not one of the twelve, but there is no evidence that Paul ever met or knew the Jesus of history. Originally, Acts was designed to be volume two of the Gospel of Luke. The two works are clearly inter-related and are obviously the products of the same author. They agree in vocabulary usage, in common themes and in the fact that Luke’s gospel anticipates the book of Acts and the book of Acts looks back on the gospel of Luke. It is unfortunate that, when the New Testament was formed, the gospels — now four in number — were put in the beginning, which necessitated splitting Luke-Acts into two volumes, with the gospel of John breaking their original unity. In this study, however, I will try to rectify that mistake by treating Luke-Acts as one continuous story. We can then move with better understanding into the Pastoral Epistles, the General Epistles and that rather unique epistle we call the Letter to the Hebrews before concluding our journey through the biblical text with the Johannine corpus, which includes the gospel that bears John’s name, the three epistles purportedly written by him and the book of Revelation, which claims to have been written by John while he was imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos. So with that apologia for the placement of this book in both the Bible and in this series, let me bring into focus the Acts of the Apostles. I noted in our earlier study the impact the synagogue setting had on the organization and the content of the gospels themselves (I am speaking now primarily of the first three: Mark, Matthew and Luke) and raise the question about whether or not the book of Acts might fit into that same liturgical pattern. Please note first that the book of Acts is approximately the same length as both Matthew and Luke, so if Matthew and Luke were designed to enable Jesus stories to be read in the Sabbaths of the liturgical year, as I have suggested, Acts is a similar length so that it would also lend itself to be read in segments over the course of one liturgical year. We also need to be aware of the practice in the synagogue of reading the Torah first in the Sabbath liturgy. There appear to have been two patterns at the dawn of the Christian era. The pattern in the more traditional synagogues was to read the Torah in its entirety over the Sabbaths of a single year. This would mean a very long first lesson, some five to six chapters from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In those communities of “the Diaspora,” in which the Jews were dispersed throughout the empire into pockets in predominantly Gentile cities, the pattern developed of reading the Torah over a three year cycle, thereby making the lessons much shorter each Sabbath. Once the reading of the Law was complete, and probably following the recitation of a psalm, a second lesson would be read from the historical books that the Jews called “the Early Prophets” — the books of Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel and I & II Kings. Basically, this portion of the sacred story was the narrative of what happened to the Jewish nation after the end of the life of their founder, Moses. The Jews did not regard these writings as in the same category of importance as the Torah so the passion to complete their reading in a particular period of time was not a matter of great urgency. It appears to me that the book of Acts was designed by Luke after the analogy of this Jewish practice and was meant to provide Christians with a lesson tracing the history of the church as it moved out of the Jewish orbit and into the wider Gentile world. Like the books called the “Early Prophets,” the book of Acts chronicles the life of “the New Israel” following the death of its founder, Jesus. If that is true, we might look for stories in the book of Acts that would be appropriate to the various feasts and fasts of the liturgical year in the synagogue. The first one is obvious for in Acts 2, Luke gives us the narrative of Pentecost in which he tells the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Christian community. The Jews regarded the Law as the greatest gift God had ever given to Israel and they marked this at Pentecost. Christians, however, wanted to transform Jewish Pentecost into a Christian celebration to mark what they believed was the greatest gift God had given the Christians, namely the gift of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, which literally means 50 days, was also called Shavuot. When we previously examined Matthew’s gospel, we noted that Shavuot was observed by the Jews as a twenty-four-hour vigil focusing on the Sinai experience in which Moses received the law. We also noted that Matthew marked that holy day with the Sermon on the Mount that portrayed Jesus as the new Moses on a new mountain giving a new interpretation of the Torah, together with sufficient material to cover eight segments of three hours each in this twenty-four hour vigil. That is why there are eight beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount and eight commentaries or elaborations of each of the beatitudes. Matthew’s traditionally Jewish community observed Pentecost in an orthodox way. We also noted earlier that Luke’s community was constituted of dispersed Jews and an increasing number of Gentiles who had been attracted to the synagogue by its theology of ethical monotheism. These Gentile proselytes, however, were not attracted to the cultic elements of Judaism. They would thus not be particularly interested in observing a twenty-four-hour vigil. When we were considering Luke’s gospel, we noted that when this author came to the time in which Pentecost was celebrated, he simply had John the Baptist point to the narrative that he planned to write when he got to the second chapter of Acts where Luke would reveal his new understanding of Pentecost. He did this by having John say, “I baptize you with water, but one comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” In the fifty day period between Passover and Pentecost in the Jewish calendar, Pentecost will be reached on or near the seventh Sabbath. Luke, therefore, needed to provide six gospel lessons before he gets to Pentecost. As the Easter stories began to proliferate he provided for three of these in his gospel itself. The lesson for the Sabbath after Passover, when the Christians celebrated the resurrection, would be Luke 24:1-12. Next, he added the Emmaus Road resurrection story (24:13-35) that no other gospel writer recorded to be read on the second Sabbath after Passover. Then Luke’s gospel has a third resurrection story (24:36-53) in which Jesus appears to the disciples for the first time and commissions them to be his witnesses to “all the nations,” before he departed from them. The early Christian community would then turn to the book of Acts where Luke has three more quite distinct lessons to carry him to Pentecost. First, there is his introduction (Acts 1:1-5) in which continuity with the gospel of Luke is established together with the note that the appearances of the raised Jesus went on for fifty days. Second was the story of the Ascension that brought those appearances to an end (Acts1:6-14). Finally there was the story of the community choosing Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot so that the new Israel, like the old Israel, could continue to have twelve tribes. That brings us to the seventh Sabbath and the day of Pentecost. Right on cue, the reading was the story of how the Christians had turned Pentecost into a Christian celebration of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13). There are other stories in the book of Acts that seem to be appropriate to the other Jewish holidays and each comes in the correct liturgical order: Stephen is a kind of Rosh Hashanah figure as he points to the coming of the kingdom (see Acts 6:1-8); Yom Kippur is referenced when the Christian movement begins to enroll Gentiles (6:9-15); Sukkoth or Tabernacles is recalled when Stephen recites and recalls the time the Jewish people lived homeless in the wilderness (7:1-36). The festival of Dedication or Hanukkah, which came in the dead of winter, might well be replicated in the story of Paul’s conversion in chapter 9:1-22 in which the light of God comes not on the Temple as it did in the Hebrew observance, or even on Jesus as it does in the gospel story of the Transfiguration, but on Paul as he journeyed on the road to Damascus. When we get to the end of Acts, we discover the trial of Paul also appears to replicate in many places the trial of Jesus and would be read at the time when Passover for the Jews and the crucifixion for the Christians were being observed. My conclusion is that the book of Acts, like the Synoptic Gospels, was written as a liturgical book patterned after the synagogue’s holy day observances and in the proper order. Now we are ready to look at the content of this book. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Integrating social science research, dynamic storytelling, playful body movement, and interfaith/no-faith spiritual practices — Dr. Cleveland presents 5 stages of BIPOC racial identity development and 6 stages of white racial identity development. Online eCourse February 13th - April 24th. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Earthrise by Amanda Gorman
by Jo Nelson 27 Jan '21

27 Jan '21

This young woman is a prophet with a call to action. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOvBv8RLmo&fbclid=IwAR2H7SemFTuE-RBZEMb_wThI… Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

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1/21/2021, Progressing Spirit: Rev. David M Felton At Cross Purposes; Spong revisited was
by Ellie Stock 21 Jan '21

21 Jan '21

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p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9838129013 #yiv9838129013templateBody .yiv9838129013mcnTextContent, #yiv9838129013 #yiv9838129013templateBody .yiv9838129013mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9838129013 #yiv9838129013templateFooter .yiv9838129013mcnTextContent, #yiv9838129013 #yiv9838129013templateFooter .yiv9838129013mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | At Cross Purposes | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. David M. Felten January 21, 2021 On January 6th 2021, the day of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, smaller demonstrations took place at various capitols around the country. In Lansing, a mob of Proud Boys were seen raising a giant cross in front of the besieged Michigan state capitol building as part of a “Pray for Trump” rally. As one who’s had to endure a career in a denomination whose global trademark is a burning cross, it once again raised the question in my mind of how the cross, burning or otherwise, had become a symbol of hate and White Supremacy. I had always assumed that it was the Ku Klux Klan who had created the uniquely American symbol of hate that is the burning cross, but no, it was a movie. The original Klan was founded in 1865 by former Confederate Officers without any purpose beyond the amusement of its participants. It had no overt religious affiliations or aim. However, its members soon found the organization to be a means through which they could channel their resentments and anger toward Reconstruction policy in general and freed African Americans in particular. What followed were five years of ferocious vigilante violence, terror and mayhem, but no burning crosses. Eventually, after acts by Congress and other efforts, President Grant invoked the Insurrection Act and deployed Federal troops. Klansmen were apprehended and prosecuted in Federal court and, by 1872, the original Klan had been broken as an organization. Fast-forward to 1915 and the release of D.W. Griffith’s film, Birth of a Nation. Griffith’s vision was influenced by the romanticized portrayal of the Klan found in Thomas Dixon, Jr.’s novel, The Clansman, where, among other fabrications, Klan members wore white flowing robes and burned crosses. As it turns out, ritual cross-burnings by the Klan was total fiction. Dixon’s depictions were drawn from the writings of Sir Walter Scott, who described some Scottish clans being rallied by a messenger bearing a “bidding stick” or fiery cross as a call to arms. Griffith’s dramatic cinematic portrayal of Dixon’s fantasies went on to inspire an otherwise aimless, washed-up Methodist preacher by the name of William Joseph Simmons. He, along with a rag-tag group of fifteen “charter members,” traipsed up Stone Mountain on Thanksgiving night 1915. There, Simmons declared himself “Imperial Wizard” and, with an instinctive sense of the potential for intimidating symbols, burned the first cross of what was to become the second Klan. No doubt Simmons’ prejudice against Jewish and Roman Catholic immigrants contributed to the development of the second Klan’s emphasis on white Protestant religious sensibilities, including the singing of hymns and the reading of select scriptures. Even today, through all its various iterations of White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism, it can be said that “Not every White Christian is in the KKK. But every KKK member is a White Christian.”[i] They genuinely believe that the Bible is the history of the white race and that white Christians are morally and spiritually superior to other races. So, burning or otherwise, that’s how the cross was adulterated to become associated with the hatred and violence of White Supremacy. And beyond the burning of “Latin” crosses, several other crosses have come to represent White Supremacy in the U.S. and around the world: the white-on-red “Blood Drop Cross” and the pre-Christian Odin’s Cross popularized by Norwegian Nazis during World War II (and which resembles a modified Celtic Cross). Why the Proud Boys were raising a cross in Lansing on January 6th has nothing to do with any Christian affiliation on their part and everything to do with a disingenuous calculation that associating with Christianity will serve their overall “brand” of White Supremacy and toxic masculinity. Some of their fundraising has been done through a fringe Christian fundraising site that caters to outcasts and extremist groups (and casts itself as “a place to fund hope”),[ii] but nowhere do the Proud Boys claim to be Christian. Their core values include a hodge-podge of libertarian, nationalist, anti-Semitic, anti-communist, anti-political correctness ideologies, including “venerating the housewife” and “reinstating a spirit of Western Chauvinism.” But hey, in-so-far as tens-of-millions of Christians share those same core values, sure, they’ll help raise a cross in solidarity. But alas, there’s another burning cross with which I’m forced, against my will and conscience, to be in solidarity with: the “Cross and Flame” of the United Methodist denomination. As a global symbol, few religious logos are more recognizable. But any brand manager will tell you that the subconscious message a logo sends needs to be one of your first considerations. And heck, forget the subconscious and just do a Google search for images of “flaming cross” and what you get is alternating pictures of KKK rallies and United Methodist churches. The algorithm doesn’t lie. What is particularly egregious to me is not just the obvious racist undertones of the United Methodist logo, but the circumstances of its having been adopted. Back in the mid-60s, as the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist Churches were negotiating a merger, the call went out for a new logo. The designers worked away, apparently oblivious to the racial tensions of the 1960s and the riots across the United States. To add insult to injury, the final design was approved and rushed into distribution within a few months of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April of 1968. Granted, the committee had earnest theological and design arguments as to why a burning cross was the way to go, but the social and racial tone-deafness of this decision remains, to me, a staggering embarrassment. I guess you could say that the upside of the approaching United Methodist schism is the opportunity to disavow our not-so-subtle racist logo for something more in line with our current aspirations. So, be it the overt and intentional use of the cross as a symbol of terror and intimidation or the implementation of a counterproductive symbol through the laziness of institutional inertia, the cross has become, for many, synonymous with racism and White Supremacy. Add to that the use of the cross as a symbol of violent colonization and the ethnic cleansing of the American frontier, and the only ones surprised by the tainted reputation of the cross are people who aren’t paying attention. When a small, local synagogue accepted the offer to move into our church for Shabbat services, we did our best to help make it easy for the organizers to camouflage the large cross at the front of the sanctuary with a couple of artificial plants. However, at least one woman (whose parents had been killed in the Holocaust), was unable to even enter the church because of her traumatic personal experience with those who claimed to be Christian. The cross will continue to be misused. Christianity will continue to be misrepresented. It’s naïve to think that we’ll ever be able to redeem the symbol of the cross — or even Jesus — from all their cruel and offensive abuses. But therein lies the challenge. What to do? The Apostle Paul might want to jump in with a reminder from 2 Corinthians that “WE are the body of Christ” and encourage us to counteract the bad actors through lives lived with compassion and justice — but the cross will remain, in very real ways, our cross to bear going forward. The Proud Boys and Klan will continue to do what they do and I will continue to work to counter their hate and violence. I also look forward to taking part in what I hope will be the decommissioning of the United Methodist cross and flame. It may not be a lot, but it’s something, and right now, something is better than what we’ve got. ~ Rev. David M. Felten Note: See Kelly J. Baker’s book, Gospel According to the Klan for an overview of the KKK’s grip on Protestant America in the early 20th century. Read online here About the Author Rev. David M. Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions” and authors of Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity. A co-founder of Catalyst Arizona and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. David is the proud father of three reliably remarkable human beings. [i] https://medium.com/@brown.shannonelizabeth/the-kkk-is-a-christian-organizat… https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/a-place-to-fund-hope-how-prou… | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Jay I have a question about the relationship of Progressive Christianity and Jesus. I have always been told that despite their denominational difference all Christians understand Jesus to be the son of God. Not a man selected by God, or a special creation of God, but both God and man simultaneously in a way that is absolutely unique. From what I have read and heard Progressives see Jesus as inspirational, a great teacher and someone whose words and example should be followed. It seems Jesus, here, is more of an inspirational philosopher like Socrates or the Buddha. Is it fair to say that P.C.’s do not see Jesus as the son of God as it is traditionally understood? A: By Brian D. McLaren Jay, thanks for this thoughtful question about the term son of God. Many traditional Christians, I think, connect the term son of God with the virgin birth, as if God sent a divine or spiritual sperm to impregnate Mary, making God Jesus’s father and Jesus God’s son in an almost biological sense. If you want to read an interesting book that tells the story of how this misunderstanding led to conflict between Christians and Muslims, see Miroslav Volf’s Allah: a Christian Response (HarperOne, 2012). Other traditional Christians frame the term Son of God primarily in Trinitarian theology, with the Son a counterpart/partner with the Father and Spirit. Some progressive Christians affirm Trinitarian theology as expressed in the historic creeds. Others downplay or modify it, and some reject it. Personally, I find value in progressive re-articulations of Trinitarian thought in the writings of Cynthia Bourgeault, Richard Rohr, and a wide array of relational, process, and feminist theologians who take seriously the patriarchal problems embedded in father/son imagery. In my writings, I’ve focused on two primary lines of thought. First, I’m interested in the linguistic formulation son of God. The son of formation pops up a few different ways the New Testament. For example, James and John are called Sons of Thunder (Mark 3:17). In John 8:39 ff, the terms sons of God, sons of Abraham, and sons of the devil are put in conversation. This usage, I think, resonates with our familiar aphorism, Like father, like son (or like mother, like daughter). There’s a family likeness, a resemblance. In this light, son of God is roughly synonymous with reflecting the character of God. Luke 20:36 has a similar interplay between children of God and children of the resurrection. Of special interest, a blind Jewish man uses the term son of David (Luke 18, Matthew 20, Mark 10) to refer to Jesus, as does a Gentile/Sidonian woman (Matthew 15). Both seem to be saying, “You are a great leader like King David was,” with son of again bearing the idea of resemblance. That understanding resonates with John 1:12, where we all have the capacity to become children of God, a theme we see also in 1 John 3:2. It especially makes sense of Matthew 5:9, the beatitude where Jesus says that peacemakers will be called children of God. People who make peace resemble the God of peace. This idea of resemblance calls to mind an insight from Quaker theologian Elton Trueblood: the scandal of Christianity was not the claim that Jesus resembles God, but rather that God resembles Jesus: nonviolent, kind, merciful, healing, reconciling, inclusive, accepting. In other words, the life and teaching of the Son made us conceive of the Father in a radically new way. Second, I find great value in Dominic Crossan’s explorations of the political meaning of the term son of God. (God And Empire and Excavating Jesus are good places to start.) Crossan points to stone inscriptions still visible today that demonstrate that the Caesars were seen as sons of the gods. In this way, to call Jesus the son of God is to say that his authority challenges Caesar’s. We live in a time of resurgent nationalism, where the state and/or its leader are upheld by many as the absolute authority. To call Jesus Son of God can be, in our context as in the first century, a way of saying that we do not hold any human regime to be absolute. We believe there is a higher power, a higher authority, a higher wisdom, that relativizes any nation, any leader, any ideology, even any religion. We dare to believe that the love manifest in Jesus reflects the authentic nature or character of the Ultimate Reality, which makes Jesus a great teacher, an inspirational philosopher, and someone whose words and example should be followed indeed. ~ Brian D. McLaren Read and share online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent joint project is an illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story. Other recent books include: The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World). | | | | | | | | 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 us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org relies heavily on the good will of donors. We want to continue to bring you the messages of progressive Christians via our Progressing Spirit Newsletter; however, the fact is, the cost of a subscription goes towards paying our authors. We therefore rely your generosity - specifically, if you are in a position to contribute to our efforts, we would be grateful for your donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXV: Concluding Luke and the Synoptic Gospels Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 3, 2010 In this final segment on the third gospel we call Luke, I want to summarize and to establish firmly in the minds of my readers the major thesis that I have sought to develop in my comments on the synoptic gospels: Mark, Matthew and Luke. My thesis is that each of these gospels is organized on the basis of the annual liturgical cycle of the synagogue where Christianity lived in its first generations as a movement within Judaism, and so these gospels must be read through a Jewish lens. The later Greek thinking period, which shaped the creeds in the 4th century and informs Christian doctrine to this day, has actually distorted the gospel message in a radical way. We have already observed that Mark was the original gospel to be written and that both Matthew and Luke incorporated Mark into their work, expanding Mark in a way appropriate for the community for which each wrote. Matthew’s community was traditionally Jewish. Luke’s community was made up of dispersed Jews living far from home and interacting increasingly with their Gentile neighbors. Clearly Gentiles were beginning to come into Luke’s community, drawn by the ethical monotheism of Judaism, as they faced the demise of the gods of the Olympus. That was why, as we have seen, that the gigantic figure of Moses, the inward-looking father of the law became the popular symbol against which the Jewish Matthew told his Jesus story, and the gigantic figure of Elijah, the outward-looking father of the Jewish prophetic movement, became the symbol against which the more universally-minded Luke told his story of Jesus. It was also this one year liturgical cycle of the synagogue that caused each of these writers to portray the public ministry of Jesus as one year in duration. This time sequence, I am now convinced, has nothing to do with the actual time of Jesus’ ministry, but rather it had everything to do with the fact that Jesus’ ministry in these synoptic gospels was being recalled and retold against the liturgical year observed in the synagogue. The first holy day in the liturgical year of the Jews was, according to the book of Leviticus (23:24), the Passover, which was observed on the 14th and 15th days of the first month of the year known as Nissan. The Christians obviously told the story of Jesus’ crucifixion against the background of this Passover celebration and then adjusted the Jewish calendar by concluding their Jesus story on the Sabbath and first day of the week following Passover on which they celebrated the Resurrection. So the beginning of the Christian liturgical year was always at least a week and sometimes two weeks after Passover. Once we can embrace this crucial time disparity, the synoptic gospels go in a very orderly way through the other feasts and fasts of the Jewish year. With that preamble, I seek to focus our final consideration of Luke’s Gospel on how this particular gospel writer followed the liturgical pattern of the synagogue. That will put Luke’s gospel into a very different context from the literal pattern that traditional Christians assume to have been the case. Fifty days or seven Sabbaths after Passover the Jews observed the festival of Shavuot or Pentecost (which means 50 days). On that day they recalled God’s gift of the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Law was assumed by the Jews to have been God’s greatest gift to them. Luke, however, probably under the influence of Paul, had come to believe that the Holy Spirit, rather than the Law, was God’s greatest gift to the Christians. When he actually tells the story of Pentecost in chapter two of Acts, the second volume of his gospel, this becomes his focus. So in his gospel he wants to make sure that he presents the Pentecost theme with a suitable Jesus story that would thus be appropriate to Shavuot. Watch how cleverly he does it. First Luke needs to supply Jesus material for each of the seven Sabbaths between Passover and Shavuot. He does this by expanding the birth narratives with elaborate details about the nativities of both John the Baptist and Jesus. Next he relates some substantive content from the preaching of John the Baptist. Then when he arrives at the Shavuot lesson he has John the Baptist point to and interpret Pentecost exactly as Luke will later describe it in Acts 2, by saying: “I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I, will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire…” In effect, he has John say exactly what will happen when Pentecost rolls around. Then he adds an even longer genealogy than that of Matthew and expands the temptation story and the forty days Jesus supposedly spent in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. Then he proceeds to add enough Jesus material to complete the entire Galilean phase of Jesus’ ministry, using much of the content that Matthew had placed into the Sermon on the Mount. Finally, having produced a sufficiently long narrative to carry us through five and a half months into the year, he finds himself confronted by the celebration of the New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, where Mark had opened his gospel by having John the Baptist convey his Rosh Hashanah themes. Luke, however, like Matthew before him, has obviously used that story much earlier in his narrative so he needs to find a new way to convey the Rosh Hashanah message. Exactly as Matthew had done earlier, he re-introduces the Baptist with the story of John, now in prison, sending a messenger to ask Jesus, “Are you the one that should come?” To this question Jesus responds by quoting the favourite synagogue Rosh Hashanah lesson from Isaiah 35 in which the prophet announces that the signs of the Kingdom, when it comes, will be that “the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the mute sing”. When Luke gets to chapter 7:18-23, he is back in synch with Mark and both now have stories that allow the liturgical year to be introduced by John the Baptist. The shaping of the Jesus message by the life of the synagogue is in full view. Rosh Hashanah was the first of three major Jewish observances that occurred in the month of Tishri, the seventh month in the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah was on the first day of Tishri, Yom Kippur on the tenth and Sukkoth (the Harvest Festival) filled the eight days between Tishri 15-22. Since John the Baptist has been reintroduced and Rosh Hashanah has been observed, we need to be on the lookout for Yom Kippur and Sukkoth stories. They come right on cue. There is a series of verses (7:24-35) that are available for use on any Sabbath that falls between Tishri 1 and Tishri 10 and then, in 7:36-50, the Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, message comes front and centre. It is the story of the woman coming into the house while Jesus is at dinner and anointing his feet. Focus with me now on this story. The first thing we notice is that it is out of place, at least according to Mark and Matthew. In both of those gospels the anointing of Jesus by the woman was an event just prior to the crucifixion (see Mark 14:3-9 and Matthew 26:6-13). “She has anointed me beforehand for burial” (Mark 14:8 and Matthew 26:12), is how Jesus explains this action. Luke, however, has moved this story and placed it early in the Galilean phase of his ministry. In neither Mark nor Matthew is there even a hint of scandal, no suggestion that this woman is evil, no intimate fondling of Jesus’ feet and no drying of them with her hair. So Luke has not only moved this story to a new place, but he has also greatly heightened the sensuous quality of this act and made the woman evil. Luke has the woman identified as “a woman of the street”, that is, a prostitute who kisses and rubs his feet. She is by definition unclean and by touching Jesus, has presumably made him unclean. Jesus is even judged by his Pharisaic host not to be a prophet, for a prophet would know what kind of woman this is and would not allow her behavior! When we place this story in Luke on the grid of the liturgical year of the synagogue, we discover that it falls exactly where Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, falls and he has clearly chosen, moved and adapted this story to fit this observance. At Yom Kippur, the people are cleansed of their sins and made pure. Jesus is thus portrayed as entering the world of ritual uncleanness and instead of being corrupted by it, actually transforms it and purifies the evil. That is what atonement is all about. He concludes this story by having Jesus banish the demons from Mary Magdalene and other women, once again a Yom Kippur theme. When Yom Kippur is over, Luke connects again with Mark and uses Mark’s parable of the Sower for his harvest story to celebrate Sukkoth. That account begins in chapter eight, but, as we might expect, it is considerably shortened. Luke’s Gentile leaning community does not do eight day festivals or twenty-four hour vigils. When Luke’s story moves on he comes to the winter festival called Dedication, or Hanukkah and once again, like Mark, he relates the story of the Transfiguration, where the light of God is not restored to the Temple, but falls on Jesus, the new Temple. Then Luke has Jesus begin his journey to Jerusalem. Luke uses this journey sequence to be the hook on which he hangs the concentrated material that constitutes the teaching of Jesus. So here we have a series of teaching episodes until he has entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Luke completes the cycle now by having Jesus observe the Passover on Thursday, be crucified on Friday and be raised on Sunday. The journey from the Sabbath after Passover through the Jewish observances of Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth, and Dedication back to Passover is now complete. This was the cycle of remembering the story of Jesus and it is tied in every detail to the liturgical year of the synagogue. Here the form of the gospels – at least Mark, Matthew and Luke – was born. That is why I entitled one of my books Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Hiroshima, Japan is one of the only cities that celebrates Martin Luther King Day outside of the United States. Please join the conversation with Steve Leeper of Peace Culture Village and Ray Matsumiya of the Oleander Initiative as they discuss the devastating humanitarian impact of the atomic bombing AND the process of healing and rebuilding that resulted in Hiroshima’s extraordinary culture of peace. READ ON... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Anyone else seen THE SOCIAL DILEMMA?
by James Wiegel 19 Jan '21

19 Jan '21

Nancy Trask suggested it to me. Watched it tonight. Is helpful in peeling back what is going on Jim Wiegel “A revolution is on the horizon: a wholesale transformation of the world economy and the way people live.” Fred Krupp

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Lincoln Project Latest Video
by Cynthia Vance 16 Jan '21

16 Jan '21

WATCH: The New Jim Crow Caucus Is Here, Introduced by Lincoln Project (politizoom.com) Cynthia Vancefacilitationfla(a)aol.com

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Last Chapter Sign-ups
by Richard Alton 16 Jan '21

16 Jan '21

*The What:* We are piloting a workshop/seminar or series, that would allow people (no matter what age) to think seriously and intentionally about their final journey in life, their death, and make concrete decisions about their funeral/memorial service, organ or body donation, distribution of assets, obituary, burial/ cremation/ natural, etc. *The Why:* Many of us who have seen our parents or children die, are beginning to look at our own end of life decisions. In 2019 Dick Alton had a real-life health-related scare, followed by the unanticipated death of his partner of 14 years, Sally Stovall, which caused him to look death in the eyes. He discovered that one of the issues Americans in particular face, is a denial of death or anything to do with death. As an organization that has seen itself as one who brings significance to everyday life events, we are asking the question: “What could we create that would help everyone, no matter what age, to look at their own death, and make the necessary end of life decisions? *Our Ask:* The Third Cohort of the Last Chapter virtual learning community will take place on the fourth Friday from March - June 2021. May will be the third Friday to accommodate Labor Day plans. All classes will be from 9 am to 1 pm central. The Dates will be Friday, March 26th, April 23rd, May 21st and June 25th. If you would like to join this 2020 Virtual Learning Community. Please sign up here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXUVbbZzhhnqvm-AFS9HH8lQKGCoybtkF…> or copy and paste this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXUVbbZzhhnqvm-AFS9HH8lQKGCoybtkF… 2020 Cohorts · Cohort 1: Evelyn Philbrook; Larry Philbrook; Beret Griffith; Paul Noah; Ellen Howie; Joan Knutson; Elsa Batica; Terry Bergdall; Jim Wiegel; Lynda Cock; Marilyn Oyler; Dharmalingam Vinasithamby; Dick Alton; Pam Bergdall; Seva Gandhi · Cohort 2: Ann Jaecks; Herman Green; Nancy Lanphear; Sandra Conant; Margaret Aiseayew; Catherine Welch; Judy Lindblad; Alan Gammel; Cheryl Kartes; Jan Sanders; Jann McGuire; Judith Hamje; Mary D’Souza -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2021, March 5-14, 2021 * http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor? -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2021, March 5-14, 2021 * http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

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My son in law sent this . . . and from Pope Francis
by James Wiegel 15 Jan '21

15 Jan '21

https://cafod.org.uk/Campaign/Reclaim-our-common-home Jim Wiegel The unknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plain sailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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1/14/21, Progressing Spirit: Brian McLaren: Doubt, Faith, and Why Breaking Up (with Authoritarianism) is Hard to Do; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 14 Jan '21

14 Jan '21

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p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3363853681 #yiv3363853681templateBody .yiv3363853681mcnTextContent, #yiv3363853681 #yiv3363853681templateBody .yiv3363853681mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv3363853681 #yiv3363853681templateFooter .yiv3363853681mcnTextContent, #yiv3363853681 #yiv3363853681templateFooter .yiv3363853681mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Doubt, Faith and Why Breaking Up (with Authoritarianism) is Hard to Do | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Brian D. McLaren January 14, 2021 I grew up in a 6-day creation sector of Christianity. Evolution, we were taught, was a Satanic deception to make us lose our faith. It was a banana peel on the slippery slope to hell; and it led me to my first theological crisis when I was 12 years old. I’d been that kid always sneaking off into the woods - I was the tadpole hunter, the newt finder, the turtle spy, the snake discoverer, the raccoon tracker, the birdsong listener, always coming home with wet feet from tromping through a puddle or swamp. My immersion in the natural world (augmented by lots of reading at the local library) led me to find evolution compelling. So, after considerable struggle, I secretly gave my pre-teen self permission to doubt what my Christian elders taught me. I didn’t throw out Genesis, I just let it be what it obviously was (to me, anyway) - not a science textbook, but a visionary poem celebrating the goodness of all creation. The biblical literalism and corresponding distrust of science that I learned in church back in the ‘50s and ‘60s still thunders from pulpits and Christian radio today. Disbelief in evolutionary biology won’t kill you, but distrust of the science of pandemics and climate change might, and being a faithful Christian is not a vaccine. As I’ve sought to understand why so many of my fellow Christians risk harming their lives, families, churches and communities as an expression of being pro-faith and anti-science, I keep returning to the work of social psychologists like Bob Altemeyer. A growing body of research suggests that about a third of us react to anxiety, change, grievance and shame with an almost uncontrollable desire to find some individual (usually a powerful male) or group (usually led by a powerful male) who makes us feel safe. Unfortunately, this very human need for relief renders us susceptible to becoming authoritarian followers. Authoritarian leaders are clever and they know the messages that will convincingly make followers feel secure: Don’t believe the experts; believe me. It’s not your fault; it’s those guys over there who are to blame. Don’t worry; I can bring the good old days back again. I alone can fix it. I have the simple answer to your fears. Authoritarian groups spin all kinds of scary conspiracy theories to keep followers feeling safe, innocent, fearful of others, aggrieved, and importantly, under their control. As a result, it’s hard to break free, whether your brand of authoritarianism is religious or political. When it’s a powerful fusion of the two, authoritarianism has cult-like power that can undercut both Christian faith and democracy. For over 40 years, clever politicians have formed calculated alliances with authoritarian religious leaders to manipulate followers for mutual advantage. They’ve groomed millions of us to deny the evidence for evolution, climate change, an historic pandemic, and recently, the clear outcome of an election. Because I’ve lived my six decades of life in close proximity to religious authoritarians, I have this instinct about what they are about to say even before they speak, and I can still feel their power. I remember the twelve-year-old me, anxious about how much I could differ from my conservative Christian upbringing without being rejected by my church. And then I think of literally millions of conservative Christians in the same predicament today. Exiting that authoritarian superhighway requires a safe off-ramp, and there is one available. I know because I’ve taken the exit ramp that leads from a naive and controlling religion to deeper and more liberating faith and spirituality, namely, doubt. Not the reactionary, angry, swing-to-the-other-extreme kind of doubt. Not the doubt-everything-so-you-can-be-a-smug-cynic kind either. Responsible doubt - the kind of critical thinking that tests inherited or accepted beliefs and explanations and releases us from being under someone else’s control. This kind of doubt is not the enemy of true faith, it is the enemy of authoritarianism. Until they experience a disruption or intervention of some sort, many of our neighbors will remain drawn to the euphoria of authoritarian followership. They’ll keep tapping into the desired high at a rally or church service, through conspiracy theories like QAnon, and through mass and social media that reinforce their followership. They will put themselves, friends and families in danger by refusing to wear a mask, and as a sign of their faith, many will refuse a vaccine too. Some of these activated followers might even arm themselves for civil war to protect the leader to whom they have pledged their allegiance. What can the rest of us do as this process unfolds? First, we can set an example of grace, hope, kindness and mercy. If we use the rhetoric of shame, fear and grievance, these emotions will spread like a contagious virus, driving people deeper into authoritarianism for relief. Alternative social spaces of grace, hope, kindness and mercy can provide our neighbors a safe alternative to authoritarian belonging. Second, we can model freedom from the fear of doubt. We can see doubt not as the end of faith, but as a passageway to a deeper and wiser faith. We can go public with stories about how we've faced our doubts and changed our minds. We can simply testify, “I used to see it that way, but I no longer do.” The conversations that ensue can be an exit ramp out of authoritarianism. Third, we can understand how hard it is to break up with authoritarianism. It might take months or years for people we love to get out entirely. If we lack empathy and patience, we can easily scare people back into the perceived safety of authoritarian belonging. If we create safe social space for people to face and process their doubts without judgment or shame, if we let them know that doubt isn’t something to be ashamed of, if we help them see that doubt is actually a sign of honesty, curiosity and growth, then they can pass through the portal of doubt into deeper, more honest faith. So if you are able, increase your savvy about the lure and power of authoritarianism. And set an example of a better kind of faith, faith that is willing to pass through the valley of the shadow of doubt in the pursuit of truth, goodness, justice, joy and peace on the other side. ~ Brian D. McLaren Read online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is a best-selling writer, speaker, activist and an Auburn Senior Fellow. The author of over 20 books, his brand-new release is Faith After Doubt, St. Martin’s Press (January 2021). You may also be interested in his online resources on bias and authoritarianism, available at brianmclaren.net. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader What Christian principles can help us make it through difficult times like these? A: By Toni Anne Reynolds Dear Reader, It can feel so challenging to think that a tradition can remain relevant in a time of great tumult. I personally think that the most challenging times are the moments that birth the strongest aspects of a faith tradition. Despite not being able to gather in person there are many ways to stay grounded in Christian principles and find ways of connecting during this era of social distancing. I come from a faith community that used prayer trees. This can be especially powerful during this start of the new year, with the fresh energy of resolutions and high hopes for the times to come. Group prayer is such an old way of convening. You can organize a monthly or weekly prayer time and each of the members of your community, group can commit to join in prayer for 15 minutes at the same time. I know the gospel tells a different story of the moments just after Jesus’ execution, all of the disciples huddled together in one place. But Jesus and the disciples traveled with many people, and impacted many people. I suspect, with confidence, that their community was larger than the 13 of them. Surely, they experienced moments of separation, distance and uncertainty. These are the moments to employ the practices that were strengthened when things were “good”. Depending on your Christian persuasion, the principle of community is likely strong. This is a time of searching for new ways of being in community, but surely the strength of mind is always foundational. May you have the space to use your mind to connect with those in your community. My favorite principle is communion, at least in the form of eating together. You may already be doing something like this, but having a meal together via video call, or again, at a designated time, is a great way to use the energy of this connective principle right now. I know these seem like flimsy suggestions so I’ll end with the strongest one I’ve heard so far. If you were to wrap your arms around yourself as best you can, or simply massage your own feet or forearm, the brain doesn’t know the difference between it being your hand or someone else’s. But! The brain does register the contact as pleasing and helpful for that state of enjoyment we have when we receive a hug from another person. Healing touch is bringing on a whole new meaning in these times. So, as cheesy as it sounds, hug yourself, massage your own feet and do what you can to hear the voice of people who love you. ~ Toni Anne Reynolds Read and share online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | 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 us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org relies heavily on the good will of donors. We want to continue to bring you the messages of progressive Christians via our Progressing Spirit Newsletter; however, the fact is, the cost of a subscription goes towards paying our authors. We therefore rely your generosity - specifically, if you are in a position to contribute to our efforts, we would be grateful for your donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXIV: Introducing Luke Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 27, 2010 By the time the third gospel, the one we call Luke, was written, history had moved to the last years of the 9th decade at the earliest and quite possibly to the early years of the 10th decade. The Christian movement had journeyed beyond its earlier traumas and tensions and was now concerned about making a case for its legitimacy in the Roman Empire. I date Luke between 89 and 93, though with all proposed dating there is debate on both ends. This gospel, however, does reflect Christianity’s transition out of Judaism and toward to the Gentile world. The community for which Luke’s gospel was written appears to have been made up primarily of dispersed Jews, who no longer followed their traditions in a rigid pattern and, as a consequence, are beginning to attract a rising tide of converts from the Gentile world. These Gentile proselytes, as they came to be called, had little dedication to or interest in the cultic practices of circumcision, kosher dietary rules and unfamiliar liturgical practices such as a 24-hour vigil around Shavuot or Pentecost and the eight-day celebrations of the Harvest Festival known as Sukkoth. They were not intent on discarding or losing the meaning of these holy days, but they clearly were eager to reduce their place of importance and the hold they had once had on their lives. The author of Luke is unknown, but the tradition has always identified this book with Luke the physician, who accompanied Paul and is mentioned in both Colossians 4:14 and in II Timothy 4:11. Please recall, however, that Colossians is disputed as to its being genuinely Pauline, with the weight of scholarship against it, while no New Testament scholar of significance would attribute II Timothy to the pen of Paul, so this identification is tenuous at best. What we do know about the author of the gospel of Luke, and the same person clearly wrote the book of Acts as Volume II of his gospel, is that in all probability he was born a Gentile and had been drawn first into the ethical monotheism that marked Judaism. He appears to have actually converted to Judaism and to have joined the synagogue through which he moved into Christianity. He may well have been a convert of Paul’s, at least he has clearly identified himself with Paul’s point of view and he champions it in both the gospel and the book of Acts. The internal data that point us to these conclusions are plentiful. First, there is the genealogy of Luke in chapter three, which, quite unlike the genealogy in Matthew, carries the ancestry of Jesus back not just to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, but to Adam, who would have been understood in the world view of that day as the father of the whole human race, which would include the Gentiles. Also in Luke’s genealogy it needs to be noted that while he ties Jesus to King David, he does not carry that lineage through the royal lines of the kings of the Southern Kingdom as Matthew does, but suggests that the line ran not from David to Solomon but from David to Nathan. Biblical sources tell us of no son of David named Nathan, but David had many wives so he might have had many sons whose names we do not know. Where Luke got the name Nathan or why he settled on it is hard to say, but the moral hero of the story of David and Bathsheba was a prophet named Nathan, about whom I have written before. In other places, Luke appears to borrow names from Old Testament characters if it suits the message he is trying to articulate, so the connection with Nathan, the prophet, might be a good guess. We also know that Luke was not impressed with royalty or with magi, as they both get de-emphasized in this gospel. In other notes that may give us insight into Luke’s values, we note that this is the first gospel, and thus the first place in the Bible, ever to mention the Samaritans, and Luke does so with sensitivity and inclusiveness. Only Luke, for example, tells us the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” That is just one more indication that his community has moved beyond the Jewish point of view. Later in the book of Acts (chapter two), Luke emphasizes anew the universal theme in his narrative when he suggests that when the Holy Spirit fell on the gathered Christian community. He is quite pointed in noting that Pentecost was a worldwide event in which the Spirit fell not only on the Jews but on the peoples of the world, who then proclaimed the gospel in whatever language those hearing spoke. To make sure that his readers understood this point, he named those who were present. They were: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Egypt and Rome (Acts 3:4-10). Clearly Luke envisioned a Christianity loosed from the ethnic limits of Judaism and propelled into being a universal faith. We note also that the author of this gospel makes no claim to his ever having been an eye witness, but rather mentions the research that he has done, which enabled him to produce this work. He says in his preamble that “many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of the things which are surely believed among us, even as they delivered them to us, which from the beginning were eye witnesses and servants of the word (Luke 1:1-5).” We can now be certain that Mark was one of these sources since Luke reproduces in his gospel about half of Mark. Many scholars also suggest that Luke and Matthew both had a common source made up of a collection of Jesus sayings from which they both quote frequently and almost identically. This popular hypothesis requires the existence of a now lost book to which the title Q has been attached. There are some other scholars, a minority, who dismiss the Q hypothesis and assert instead that Luke also had Matthew in front of him when he wrote and that, while he preferred Mark, he did use a number of Matthew’s additions to Mark and that is what created the similarities between Luke and Matthew that are attributed to Q. While the majority of scholars still follow the Q hypothesis, I for one have never been convinced of it. It is not important to enter that debate here; I merely state it as a way of keeping the argument open. Luke also introduces a number of things into the developing Christian story that have not to our knowledge been there before. The first one is the account of the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1). It is a fascinating story from many angles, but it is clearly not history. It reminds me of a song popular in my teenage years entitled, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” John is born to post-menopausal parents. That is a wonder, but it pales into insignificance in the light of the story of Jesus being born to a virgin. When the birth of John occurs, the neighbors gather to celebrate. When Jesus was born, however, it was not neighbors, but angels who come crashing through the midnight sky to celebrate his arrival. Clearly, when Luke wrote, there was still some tension between the followers of Jesus and the followers of John the Baptist. That is why there is such a concentrated effort in all the gospels to assert that John the Baptist, who was clearly the first of the two on the scene, knew that he was subservient to Jesus: “He must increase, I must decrease.” Luke pushes this to the extreme by having the fetus of John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth leap to salute the fetus of Jesus in the womb of Mary (1:39-45). In this narrative, Luke appears to have borrowed a story from Genesis and applied it to his narrative (see Gen. 25:12-23). In both stories, a baby leaps in the womb of its mother. In the Genesis story, it is Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, who is pregnant with twins. As these twins struggle in Rebekah’s womb, she seeks the counsel of an oracle to determine the meaning of this leaping only to learn from the oracle that the older son (Esau) would ultimately serve the younger son (Jacob). In Luke’s story the babies are not twins, but Luke does make them kin — perhaps cousins — but the meaning is the same, the older boy, John, will serve the younger boy, Jesus. The custom of taking material from familiar Old Testament sources, such as the book of Genesis to tell the Jesus story, is discernible in other places. In Luke’s narrative about the birth of John, he says that the Baptist’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, conceived him when they were both post-menopausal. That motif was clearly borrowed from the story of Abraham and Sarah, who did the same thing when Isaac was born. The names of John the Baptist’s parents were also, in all probability, plucked from Old Testament sources. Luke will portray John the Baptist not as Elijah, but as “the voice crying in the wilderness,” a phrase that comes from the book of Malachi. The immediate predecessor to the book of Malachi in the Bible was the book of Zechariah, so Luke uses that name for the father or immediate predecessor of John the Baptist. Identifying the source of the name Elizabeth for John’s mother is more difficult. There is only one other Elizabeth in the Bible and she is the wife of Aaron, the brother of Moses and the sister of Miriam. Elizabeth, written as Elisheba in Hebrew, and Miriam (written as Mary in Greek) would thus be sisters in law and thus their children would be first cousins. Only Luke implies kinship between Jesus and John and I believe that he accomplishes this by his creative use of names drawn from the story of Moses and his siblings. As we look more deeply into Luke’s unique way of telling the Jesus story, we will see again and again that Luke’s purpose is to interpret Jesus in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures not to recreate him historically. Unless we understand this clearly and thus free our minds from the shackling literalism that distorts the modern ability to study the scriptures, we will never be able to hear the powerful message of Luke. This new vision also introduces into the study of the Bible a playful kind of speculation that leads us deeper and deeper into its truth. As our consideration of Luke moves on that will become clearer and even more obvious. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Good Mother Inner Child workshop In my upcoming Good Mother workshop, I’ll be sharing my secrets about how to internalize a Good Mother and why it is so crucial for your emotional health and well-being. Saturday, January 16, 2021 - Online from 10-4pm Pacific Time With storytelling & practical tools to internalize your Good Mother & heal your Inner Child. Price: $150 REGISTER HERE | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] grief and the New Year
by Ellie Stock 09 Jan '21

09 Jan '21

Thanks, Marshall. Ellie :) -----Original Message----- From: W. J. via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: W. J. <synergi(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Sat, Jan 9, 2021 9:54 am Subject: [Oe List ...] grief and the New Year Good morning from the Left Coast.When Twitter permanently removed Donald Trump's account yesterday, I became aware that what we are experiencing is a sudden, precipitous 'political death.'What I think we're all experiencing, to some degree, is the 'layering' of many forms of personal and corporate grief. Simultaneously. So that focusing on one layer can obscure the others.So, rather than expound on grief like a theological expert, I'm just offering an outline of my thoughts, so that each of us can build upon them or change them in true 'corporate mind' fashion.I'm sure that Jack will be up for this, and maybe many more!Here goes. 'Happy' New Year!Marshall Grief and the New Year being the sensitive and responsive part of society (HRNiebuhr)awareness that we participate in the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance (Elizabeth Kubler-Ross)political grief – sudden loss of a hero/saint: assassination, dethronement, impeachment (Humpty Dumpty effect)social grief – loss of our ability to be physically together in community and denial of our desire for others (Covid-19 pandemic)economic grief – loss of job, career, means of sustenance, economic fabric (the Great Depression)personal/familial grief – loss an intimate relationship due to death, divorce, miscarriage, or estrangementgrief over our awareness of our mortality, anticipatory grief, mass extinction eventsgrief is a natural social processholding on and letting gogrief and transformationindividual grief and corporate griefdenial of the grief process, inability to grieve, ‘rebound’ relationships _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

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Accessing Global Archives of ICA/EI
by Karen Snyder 08 Jan '21

08 Jan '21

Earlier this week Herman Greene was looking for the Knox paper from the New Testament course of the Global Academy. That paper is now available on the Global Archives website. For those wishing to access such a file, here are steps that should make finding information easy: Go to the archives website: https://icaglobalarchives.org <https://icaglobalarchives.org/>. On this ‘landing page’ (opening page), you see above the ‘Welcome' in the black box are five categories. To the right of the “Publications” category is a magnifying glass symbol to SEARCH for files you are interested in. Click on Search and a black box appears above it. In the black box on the far left is the word ‘Search’. Type identifying word(s) related to the file you are looking for on top of the word ’Search'. For example typing ‘Knox’ in the box reveals “Religious Curriculum”. Clicking on “Read More" takes you to all the Academy Religious Studies courses. Scrolling down is “RSIIB New Testament”with boxes for each session. Clicking on Session I Biblical Method, reveals the Knox paper. If you can’t find what you are looking for, please contact me, and I will do my best to help you. Karen Snyder 312.758.2551 karen.snyder10(a)gmail.com

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