February 2021 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

IMAGE Publication - Missing Issues No Dates
by Beret Griffith 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

*IMAGE An early journal of the Ecumenical Institute 1963-1983 *Journal of the Ecumenical Institute - A division of the Church Federation of Greater Chicago Three issues of* IMAGE *cannot be found in the archives. If anyone happens to still have a copy please let Karen and myself know. Beret ___________________________________________________ The following issues of IMAGE are not in the archive collection in Chicago. *IMAGE #03*: Educating the Imagination of Modern Youth (*Unavailable*) *IMAGE #04: *EI Mission, Programme, Fifth City Presuppositions, Order ( *Unavailable*) *IMAGE #05:* Declaration of the Spirit Movement of the People of God Century Twenty (*Unavailable*)

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2/25/2021, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers: Saving God From Religion; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 25 Feb '21

25 Feb '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Saving God From Religion | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers February 25, 2021 Let’s be clear, this is an audacious idea. Writing a book about God is an audacious project. In fact, claiming to know anything about God is more than audacious—it is intellectual blasphemy. So, to begin, let me be clear. I have no idea what I am talking about. Nor do I possess even a shred of secret, spiritual information about God that is not available to anyone, or to everyone. Being a recently retired, lifelong parish minister (a “man of God” in the old patriarchal language) provides me no special knowledge either. Nor does being a person of prayer and meditation. Nor does it help to have advanced degrees in rhetoric, or to have published other books about Jesus and progressive Christianity. The Divine Mystery is not a rational idea; it is “trans-rational.” Indeed, not even being a white man of privilege, with tenure no less, is an advantage. It may be a disadvantage. All of which is to say that such a project should not be attempted. Do not write a book about God. When I told my wife that this was exactly what I planned to do, she responded, “That’s great, Robin. At least you picked a small, manageable topic.” No wonder it took five years. Books about God make editors nervous. They do not sell as well as books about Jesus. Both scholars and the reading public are prone to pick up such books and feel slightly nauseous. Why? Books about God usually fall into one of two categories: 1) An extended “proof” that God does in fact exist, since that is what the author believed to begin with. Or 2) an extended proof that God does not in fact exist, since that is what the author believed to begin with. Both things, of course, cannot be true. Such an approach was never my intention, however, since “existence” when it comes to God has never made sense to me. I have spent my life as an ordained “a-theist” (a non-theist). Why? Because everything that “exists” once did not, was brought into being by something that preceded it, and will one day cease to exist—hardly things that most people are comfortable believing about God. Neither does it make sense that humans could have a subject/object relationship with that which is beyond knowing or naming—unless, of course, we have created God in our own image--the opposite of imago dei--that beautiful idea that we are created in God’s image. Creating God in the image of humans, however, is exactly what we have done. Look no further than the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s most famous fresco, the creation of Adam, depicts the most iconic image of God in the western world. God is a white, bearded European elder, surprisingly buff, who is surrounded by a heavenly bevy of attendants, one of whom is embraced by Godfather God as if she is a gift that is about to be offered to Adam. Is that Eve, or is it Mary? Art historians are not certain, but the real focus has always been on the world’s most famous “gap”—the space between God’s outstretched hand reaching down to touch Adam’s hand, where their fingers do not quite touch. Theology has been “minding” that gap for centuries, promising to bridge it. Granted, many people reading this will say that they do not believe, at least intellectually, that God is an old White Guy in the Sky. Yet studies have shown that until an old image is replaced by a new one, the original image remains. It is the default image, if you will, and evidence abounds that we are still stuck with this default image of God. “He” is male (just listen to our liturgies, even in progressive churches); “He” is white (just look at much of the church art hanging in the vestibule), and more dangerous still, “He” is a kind of the heavenly vending machine (handing out favors to God’s chosen, while ignoring, or punishing everyone else—the unchosen?). God in western theological models is William Blake’s Nobodaddy. He is a heavenly Partisan, the fearsome and petulant head of the cosmic household, a jealous tyrant who must be appeased with gifts of supplication (obedience, prayers, praise) in order that “His” subjects may be restored to their right relationship with Daddy—who, for some strange reason, wants or needs to be worshipped? These traits remind us of many earthly fathers, of course, or kings, or authoritarian politicians, and that is no accident. Western God language is profoundly monarchical, as we crawl into the sovereign’s throne room with our petitions, unworthy wretches, or worms, that tremble as they seek divine favor or beg for forgiveness. What’s more, “His” eye never sleeps, and he is perpetually disappointed in what “He” sees. Consider that our image of God is not all that different from our image of Santa Claus: He sees you when you're sleeping/He knows when you're awake/He knows if you've been bad or good/ So be good for goodness sake! There is another way to think about the Sacred Mystery, however. It is more consistent with many Eastern religious traditions where God is not a “being” at all, but rather no-thing. Instead of God being just a bigger version of you and me, perhaps God is the animating Spirit of everything that does exit, a kind of evolutionary insurgency in the universe, a Primal Memory of the Big Bang, a transcendent, sacred Mystery that does not initiate discriminatory action, but is action and change itself. What if we are “entangled” in what Barbara Brown Taylor called The Luminous Web, where all actions have consequences, physical and spiritual. To assume otherwise, to think that any of us are exempt from the consequences of our actions, is sin, because separation is sin, as Paul Tillich put it. What if the life of faith means acknowledging and embracing the life of spiritual entanglement, and the time has come for the church to replace a theology of obedience with a theology of consequence? By their fruits you shall know them. Strange as it sounds, what if God does not do anything, but without God nothing gets done? What if, as quantum theory suggests, the universe is made up of “non-local stuff?” What if there is a spiritual version of string theory, so that instead of a God who pulls strings, God is the string? Since human being are always claiming to know what God is up to, and those claims have done great harm (as when a pastor tells a grieving mother that God wanted her baby in heaven early), wouldn’t it be better to think of God as up to nothing in the world? Wouldn’t this solve the problem of evil? What if quantum entanglement proves that everything really is connected to everything else—beyond time and space—in ways that baffled even Einstein? And what if, as chaos theory posits, there are no variables too small to change the outcome of complex systems? In other words, what if what we do, down to the smallest choices we make every day, chains out in an infinite and incomprehensible dance of cause-and-effect—rippling across the luminous web for good or for ill like the proverbial stone tossed into the pond? What if that Luminous Web is God? What’s more, what if—since we can never know what the ultimate aggregate of any single action may turn out to be—we could return personal responsibility to the life of faith, rejecting the idea that we are helpless and must be rescued. What if Process Theologians are correct when they imagine that even God is evolving? What if, instead of pretending that faith means believing things we know are not true in order to get rewards we doubt are available, we could return to the servant model of just trying to do the right thing. What if, in our small corner of the universe, we acted in love and then trusted in a “this-worldly” faith that Bonhoeffer called “religionless” Christianity? Dr. King called it the “moral arc of the universe.” He endorsed the “entangled spiritual life” as opposed to our intensely privatized, individualized gospel when he said, “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” Perhaps God is not, and never was, an Old Man in the Sky. Rather, God is something closer to Pure Relationship. When we enter into that relationship by trusting in the power of unconditional love, risking forgiveness, offering mercy with no strings attached, imagining the plight of others as if we were the other, and making the world a safer and more welcoming place for the weak and disenfranchised, then we act in faith. Freed from dogma and doctrine, we could stop believing stuff to get stuff, and live by trusting the power of the choices we make entangled in the Luminous Web. It is, after all, trust—not certainty—that makes us “believers.” ~ Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers Read online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers is retired senior minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church, Oklahoma City, Distinguished Professor of Social Justice Emeritus at Oklahoma City University, and Adjunct Professor of Homiletics at Phillips Theology Seminary. His is a fellow at Westar, a member of the God Seminar, and his most recent book is Saving God from Religion: A Minister’s Search for Faith in a Skeptical Age. Visit website here: RobinRexMeyers.com | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Oskar I'm agnostic and if it's true there is no hell it would be a relief, but this has raised some questions: What about those who have sinned? What happens to those who have broken some of God's rules or do you not believe in sin either? Or, if you are a guy like me, who couldn’t make up his mind that God does or does not exist? Or what about the very bad men in human history like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc? How will God deal with those mad men who have taken the lives of billions of peoples? Why doesn't God help our world, why does he let there be so much pain and suffering? A: By Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Dear Oskar, I feel the angst in each of your questions. They are so profound that piles of writings throughout history have attempted to chip away at them. First, I’d like to thank you for your vulnerability in voicing them. Second, I’d like to apologize. While I do intend to provide you with a response, I won’t be offering an answer. When it comes to matters of God, I simply despise black and white answers. Even more, I hate how often people assume they have them. While I resonate with these questions and continue to ask them myself, moving away from dualistic thinking has ultimately revived my faith. It’s not that I stopped having questions. I simply stopped needing answers to navigate my spirituality. I take comfort in Jesus, who very rarely gave hard and fast answers, and more often offered nuanced responses. Those who followed him were the ones willing to accept a faith paradigm where love and action in the present moment were more important than doctrine, prescriptions and future kin-doms. Jesus was about bringing heaven to earth now, and I believe this is the urgent work we have before us as well. As a result, I am less concerned with hypothetical what-ifs and more concerned with building the world I want to see right now. When I was taking my final course of seminary, I was asked to write an essay presenting a theological take on hell. I was filled with such angst over this assignment, not only did I skip writing it altogether, but I also didn’t show up to class on the day it was due. This resulted in the only “B” grade I received in my otherwise “perfect” seminary education. I know it sounds ridiculous, irresponsible, and even immature of me. But you see, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pretend to have concrete answers where I don’t believe they exist. And ten years later, I continue to believe it is unhelpful to provide answers to some of these theoretical questions. Instead, I choose to lean into embodied responses, which most often look like solidarity. And I do offer you my deepest solidarity. I have asked all your same questions at one time or another. Often, I find myself revisiting them. Wrestling and feeling lost; feeling peace and knowing fullness - these are cycles I’ve learned to receive with joy. They remind me I am human. They remind me I am normal (sort of, ha!). They remind me that this mystical Christ-space is right where I want to be. I am not a typical pastor. I have no interest in filling in the blanks for people. I am sorry I don’t have the best answers for you, but I do hope my response can be helpful as you piece together the puzzle of your own faith journey. If it helps, I have faith you are exactly where you need to be. ~ Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt is a pastor, writer, paradigm-shifter, and sacred spacemaker. She is an imago-dei enthusiast who finds real joy in helping people live into the fullness of their God-given divine image. Find her on Instagram or Twitter @revaureliajoy where she shares pastoral care nuggets for deconstructing Christians and people of faith. Aurelia is the Lead Pastor as well as a founder of Peace of Christ Church. She is the co-creator and co-host of the Nuance Tea Podcast, where she is redefining what it means to be a clergywoman of color. Aurelia is president of the Board for the Nevertheless She Preached conference and a regular contributor at Progressing Spirit. She is a licensed master of social work who currently serves on the Board of Advocates at the Diana R. Garland School of Social 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 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 XXX: The Epistle to The Hebrews Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 22, 2010 We do not know who wrote it. We do not know the date of its composition. We do not know to whom this book in the Bible was actually written. We are clear that it was not authored by Paul. It was certainly not written as a letter or an epistle. Its format is much more that of an address, a lecture or a sermon. The “Hebrews” to whom this work is addressed do not even appear to be Hebrews, at least not in a religious sense. They were, rather, Jewish Christians — that is, people of Jewish background who had become followers of Jesus. They had roamed far from the strict orthodoxy of traditional Judaism, but they were still deeply familiar with and committed to Jewish liturgical practices. They were Hellenized and breathed deeply of the Greek culture that had spread over the known world from the time of the conquest by Macedonia in the forth century BCE under the leadership, first, of King Philip II and later of his son, Alexander the Great. This letter to the Hebrews was written in Greek, not Aramaic, the language of traditional Judaism. It nonetheless reveals a deep and significant connection to the Hebrew Scriptures, but it is noteworthy that, whenever the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes these scriptures, it does so from the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament done about 250 years before the birth of Jesus. Where these Greek-speaking, dispersed Hebrews lived when they received this book cannot be determined. The guesses as to the time of its writing range from the late 60’s CE at the earliest to about 140 CE at the latest. The weight of opinion, however, would fix its date no earlier than the late 80’s and no later than 100 CE. The Epistle of Clement, a well-known piece of early Christian writing which is generally dated in the middle years of the tenth decade, does in fact quote the book of Hebrews. This should provide us with an outer limit, but the proposed date of Clement is itself also widely debated, though most would gravitate to around 96 CE. All we can really do is to peruse the text of this book and learn whatever we can from its content about both its author and its audience. The atmosphere reflected in the Epistle to the Hebrews is tense. It speaks of those who are in danger of drifting away (2:1). It mentions those who have fled for refuge (6:18). It urges its hearers to hold fast to their confession of hope without wavering (10:23). It refers to those who have the need of endurance (10:36). It urges perseverance in the race or task set before them (12:1). Finally, it assures its readers that since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, their hearts should be strengthened by grace (13:8-9). Many scholars suggest that this level of tension in the Christian community reflects the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, which ravaged the Church between 81and 96, making the latter years of this reign our best guess for the date of the composition of Hebrews. The recipients of this treatise seem to reflect one constituency in the evolving Christian Church. While Christianity was born in a Jewish womb as a Jewish movement within the synagogue, it turned, primarily under the influence of Paul and of Paul’s followers like Luke, Timothy and Titus, into being more and more a gentile religion. This fact served to make it harder and harder for some of the earliest disciples of Jesus, who were traditional Jews, to continue to live and worship inside the Christian movement. That is a reality that has been replicated again and again in religious history. Growth always marginalizes the original members who feel left behind, and thus not part of the present consensus. They no longer felt that they fitted into what Christianity was becoming. They were tempted to pull away from their Christian convictions and were tempted to return to the Judaism of their childhood. The author of this book sought to dissuade them from this step by demonstrating the superiority of Christianity to traditional Judaism. The way this author chose to do that is quite telling. A significant holy day in the life of the synagogue was Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement. It came in the fall of the year and was observed with a 24-hour vigil of solemn penitence and somber mood. The liturgy focused on two animals that were brought to the high priest. Both animals had to reflect what the Jewish people yearned to be, physically perfect in body and morally perfect in mind and spirit. These two animals could be lambs or goats, or one of each, and they were gone over scrupulously by the high priest until he was assured first that they were perfect physical specimens; they could have no scratches, blemishes, scars or broken bones. Secondly, they were deemed to be morally perfect since they lived below the level of human freedom and were thus incapable of choosing to do evil. One of these animals, normally a lamb, was then slaughtered in a sacrificial, liturgical manner and its blood was smeared on the mercy seat of God in the Temple’s Holy of Holies. This blood was believed to possess cleansing power. Through the blood of this perfect lamb of God, the people believed they could now stand before God on this one day despite their sinfulness. They came to God “through the blood of the lamb” that washed their sins away. The second animal, referred to in Leviticus as a goat, was then brought into the assembly of the people and placed before the high priest who, taking the goat’s horns began to confess the sins of the people. The sins of the people were thus said to come out of the people and to land on the head and back of this goat, making this goat the bearer of the people’s sins. This animal was then banished from the assembly and run into the wilderness, leaving the people symbolically cleansed from their sins. This goat was called “the scapegoat” for he bore the sins of the people and vicariously endured the fate the people had earned for themselves. There is no doubt that the liturgy of Yom Kippur was instrumental in interpreting the Jesus experience among the earliest Jewish Christians. Echoes of this connection are found throughout the New Testament. Paul uses this Yom Kippur formula when he wrote in I Corinthians 15 that “Jesus, (like the lamb of Yom Kippur) died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.” Mark makes reference to this liturgical understanding when he wrote (10:45) that Jesus, like the lamb of Yom Kippur, gave his life as a “ransom” for many. When John the Baptist sees Jesus for the first time in the Fourth Gospel, he called him “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” a phrase lifted almost verbatim from the Yom Kippur liturgy. It was this understanding that later got incorporated into substitutionary theories of the atonement, which found expression in the Protestant mantra, “Jesus died for my sins!” and is referenced when Catholics refer to the Eucharist as “the sacrifice of the Mass.” The mass thus makes timeless the sacrifice of Jesus as the lamb of God, to take away the sins of the people. The author of the letter to the Hebrews was thus writing to discouraged Jewish Christians, who no longer felt at home in predominantly Gentile worshipping communities, hoping to prevent their return to the fold of Judaism. One cannot go back, he argues, to the ineffective sacrifice of the lamb at Yom Kippur, which has to be repeated annually because it affects nothing permanently. Yom Kippur, he contends, only expresses a yearning for change; it does not itself create change. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, he argues, did in fact break the power of sin that made sacrifices necessary in the first place. We can now enter the presence of God, the author of Hebrews argues, just as we are with all our warts and shortcomings visible, for in the cross of Calvary the love of God accepted the offering of the new lamb of God, embraced us in our sinfulness and transformed us by assuring us that nothing we can do and nothing we can be will finally separate us from the love of God seen in Christ Jesus. This was the message Jesus lived because he reached out in accepting love even to those who betrayed him, denied him, forsook him, tortured him and killed him. In the death of Jesus on the cross, a once-and-for-all act was accomplished, which brought God and human kind together in a new creation. So, he concluded, if one leaves the Christian faith to return to Judaism, one is actually leaving the sacrifice that made all future sacrifices unnecessary in favor of a sacrifice that must be repeated annually. Jesus was the perfect offering for which God yearned, while the Yom Kippur animals were only a symbol of the eternal human yearning to be whole. Thus, this writer argued that in the sacrifice of Christ all sacrifices were brought to an end and all human beings can now become new creations in the oneness of God. It is to our ears a strange argument, but it resonated with the audience to whom it was first addressed. The author of Hebrews also likens the priesthood of Jesus, not to the high priests of Jewish worship, but to the eternal priesthood of a figure named Melchizadek mentioned in the book of Genesis. His priesthood was without beginning or ending. Perhaps this is the place when the idea of pre-existence first entered the Christian story. In this paradigm, the Christ is at one and the same time both the new sacrifice and the sacrificing high priest. It was an argument based on ancient worship patterns, but it must have impressed some contemporary leaders since this book was quickly incorporated into the Canon of Christian scriptures. Yet, as the Church became more and more Gentile, the power of this argument faded. Today it sounds like another version of the old religious cliché: “My God is superior to your God!” In its day, however, it stated the essential Christian claim that all people can come into the presence of God “just as I am without one plea,” which is, I believe, the one irreducible Christian claim. Yet, strange as it seems, some parts of the Christian Church still deny that the love of God is extended to all regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or even creed. The Epistle to the Hebrews ultimately proclaims that there are no boundaries on the love of God. That is a worthy message, even when couched in an archaic form. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Tree of Life Training - 7 Steps to Living your Soul’s Mission & Purpose ONLINE dates: Feb 26-28, March 26-28, April 23-25, May 14-16 Over 4 intensive weekends you will connect deeply with your Soul’s Purpose and create a Soul Action Plan to manifest your Mission and create the Life you Love. Read On... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Kaira -- new book
by James Wiegel 22 Feb '21

22 Feb '21

In Celebration of Black History and Black Futures – Parallax Press | | | | | | | | | | | In Celebration of Black History and Black Futures – Parallax Press Kaira Jewel Lingo is author of the upcoming book We Were Made for These Times: Skillfully Moving through Change,... | | | Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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2/18/2021, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Aurelia Davila Pratt: We are the Spacemakers; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 18 Feb '21

18 Feb '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We Are The Spacemakers | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt February 18, 2021 I am the pastor of a tiny, broke and thriving dream-church. Yes, I said all those words in the same sentence! We are not perfect by any means. Like any other sacred community, we are living and moving from within the constraints of our circumstances, our limited resources, and even our mistakes. We are doing our best to unlearn, undo, and create anew. As I contribute to this work, I am noticing that most of the people I listen to and learn from aren’t necessarily leading from within church settings or even involved in a church at all. Many deconstructing Christians have also left church behind, opting instead for the guidance and direction of these same thought leaders I follow. Because I choose to remain within the church, I have to ask myself regularly “why do I stick around?” Why do I choose to stay put when the church has caused so much harm? There is no denying that Christianity has been used as a system of oppression. It continues to use the Bible as its weapon of mass destruction via colonization, patriarchy, and white supremacy. Admittedly, a large part of why I stay is because I don’t want the dominant narrative to win out. But this decision cannot be based solely on reacting to power systems. Reacting to someone or something is neither a healthy nor a sustainable reason to stay in any relationship, the church included. Instead, the predominant reason I choose to stay is because I am part of a church context that lives into the radical ways of spacemaking. This is the answer to my why. For you, dear reader, the best answer may have been to go. There are many modes of spiritual community that can serve you well outside of the church. If this is you, I have utmost respect for your path, and I bless it. Heal, my friend. However, if you are still here - on the inside - and more than occasionally asking yourself “why?” allow me to frame your presence in a sacred community as that of a spacemaker. Please note, I am sharing insights based on my context: I am a church planter of ten years, operating from within the progressive Baptist tradition. Your context is likely very different from mine. Regardless, there is always room... to make room. Provide space for Spirit movement Here’s a good question no matter your context: are you providing space for Spirit movement in your congregation? Spirit movement does not involve inheriting traditions without asking any questions. A healthy, reimagined church follows the flow of Spirit into radical, untapped places. Instead of forcing programming or ministries that no longer feel right, we can work toward developing a collective intuition. This means we don’t do things just because they’ve always been done a certain way or because that’s how other churches do them. Instead, we regularly give ear to the voices of our people. We listen to their lives, and we observe their needs. After all, these are the folx who breathe life into our community. We create based on who we are and where we want to go. We do not create out of mindless tradition. Instead, we observe the Spirit movement in our congregation and follow where it leads us. What we will discover will often surprise us because it’ll be a beautiful mix of the following: We will discover real value in certain ancient traditions, and we will find permission to toss other things to the curb. This process will create space for new ideas, unexpected opportunities, and renewed spiritual health in our congregation. We are spacemakers providing space for the fullness of Spirit movement. Provide space for real critique The more we surrender to Spirit flow, the easier it becomes to look in the mirror and tell the truth about what we see. Spacemakers are spiritually resilient, meaning we have the capacity to honestly question ourselves. We are able to be consistent with this practice because we aren’t afraid of ending up wrong. We aren’t afraid of getting it wrong because we know we will be wrong often. Instead, we become comfortable with pivoting and we do so as needed. We are constantly evolving. >From this place, we are able to honestly critique the Church. More importantly, we are able to give ear to critiques from others. As we posture ourselves to listen, we center marginalized voices, understanding that scripture is chock-full of God giving preferential treatment to the most vulnerable. In the same way, we take our cues from the margins, and we center the lived experiences of the oppressed. We practice an embodied recognition of their imago Dei that extends from our belief to our practice. Unfortunately, money and church politics are barriers to this process and will continue to keep churches stunted if we let them. This could be the biggest uphill battle we face. Nevertheless, we need to direct all of our courageous energy to the work of real critique, followed by real change. Provide space for sacred art As you continue in this difficult work, remember that you are an artist, creating sacred art. To picture the world without art is to picture it without beauty. Can you imagine this world without poetry or song? Can you imagine it without brightly colored tapestries or photographs that speak directly to your soul? Art is divine imagination embodied. We need it because we weren’t meant to merely survive. We were meant to thrive. Now imagine the work of the church as a painting. Every bit of energy that you contribute, whether to a gathering, the liturgy, a conversation or idea, a song or a small group - all of these contributions are like a stroke from your brush. You have the ability to create something novel because there is only one you. As a result, no matter your role in your community, you are a part of the art. Your painting is a part of the collective gallery, which is to say the culture of the church. Your painting has value. The beauty your community is creating is incomplete without your contribution. This realization changes how we navigate our own personal faith. It changes how we lead. It changes how we exist from within our communities. We are sacred artists, creating art through our liturgy, rituals, and practices. We are creating meaning. We are creating safe, healing, empowering spaces. If this isn’t a work of art, I don’t know what is. Yes, my friends, even in these wild and crazy, often virtual times - we are spacemakers, providing sacred art as a balm to all our souls. Provide space for intuition It is an idealistic image to consider ourselves artists. But we must always hold this metaphor in tension with the difficult realities that come with spacemaking. For example, even as we work together to create our sacred art, we must provide ample room for individuals to develop their own intuition. This process will inevitably include forms of deconstruction. Spacemakers understand that our end goal is not to keep people in the fold. Rather, our hope is for all of us to fully experience the peace of God directly and consistently. Our work is to participate in the redemptive and collective work of Liberation no matter where or how that happens. So, we provide space. We provide room: for people to hurt. For people to heal. And also, for people to expand. Understand that when we do this, some people will expand beyond us. Our communities may eventually no longer be a fit for them. Wrong or right, they should feel free to ultimately decide for themselves. The fact is, people are rapidly deconstructing right on out of the church doors. When this happens, let us not frantically worry about the domino effect of who else might leave or what money we’ll lose. Let us not blame the necessary process of deconstruction. Instead, may we send them on their way with blessings and love. May we pray we can continue to create just the right space for the bodies and souls who need it. After all, we are spacemakers. We hold space for each person’s divine intuition. We have the capacity to deconstruct AND reimagine. We are postured for abundance. Provide space for other voices This entire section is speaking specifically to clergy and church leaders. Creating space is wonderful practice for our egos. The predominant way we can move from ego-centered to Spirit-centered people is by elevating a variety of voices every chance we get. We cannot do this without moving over more often. This means senior pastors need to be preaching less. Others need to teach and lead. Are we not trying our damnedest to understand God as best we can? Then we center other voices. Especially Black, Indigenous, and other voices of color. Especially LGBTQIA voices. Especially voices on the margins. Every chance we get, we make it happen. And because we are creative people, we are able to find a way to make it happen. We seek out voices from the margins who are able and willing, and as spacemakers, we ensure that it is both safe and radically welcoming when they enter our community. Then we do the most holy work of all, and we listen. Again, this takes courage because our egos will take a blow. We will second guess our giftings and our talent because we’ll bring in voices who are absolutely brilliant. We will second guess our calling because other parts of our job might not be as fulfilling. We will take on some grunt work and teach by example how to become nonhierarchical. Paid staff might be tempted to wonder if our congregation knows we are working. Perhaps they need the reminder as well: our job isn’t to talk. It’s to create space. We are spacemakers, providing sacred space for other prophetic voices. Provide space for healing Being a spacemaker means that the health of our church body is of utmost priority. But the bodies will rarely come in healthy and strong. Often, in our progressive contexts, we inherit the most spiritually wounded. This is why it is important that we create space for healing. We can belong to a church that is actively seeking and living into good health. We can spot signs of good health by the leadership, by the language used, and by the programming. Are leaders practicing good health in their own lives? Does the church protect them from burn out? Is there a collective culture, or does the load seem to fall on the same few people? Is the language in sermons inclusive of mental health? Is the programming trauma informed? Spacemakers: Be this church. Belong to this church. Provide space to totally reimagine Embracing our spacemaking is the most radical thing we can do as people who are still a part of a faith community. In fact, we must make space so that there is room within our collective heartbeat to reimagine church. We can become churches who truly extend embodied welcome, belonging, and inclusion. We can be churches that regularly ask itself, “Where does sacred community fit into this new reality? We can be people who, as Walt Whitman said, “re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency.” We re-examine because we are spacemakers. From our spacemaking we are breathing new life into our sacred communities. Whether you are clergy or lay, leading or attending, spacemaking is the invitation we have accepted by sticking around. So my fellow spacemakers, may we throw out our prescriptions. May we supply people with the tools needed to engage their own faith work. May we empower bodies and souls to embrace their own God-given authority. May we embrace ours. And may we always remember: there is enough room for all of us. ~ Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Read online here About the Author Aurelia Dávila Pratt is the Lead Pastor at Peace of Christ Church and co-host of the Nuance Tea Podcast. She is co-chair of the Religious Liberty Council of the Baptist Joint Committee and President of the board for Nevertheless She Preached - a national, ecumenical preaching event designed to elevate the voices of womxn on the margins. Aurelia is also a licensed social worker who serves on the Board of Advocates for the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University. Find her on Instagram or Twitter @revaureliajoy where she shares pastoral care nuggets for deconstructing Christians and people of faith. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader How important and relevant is the Gospel of Thomas in our continuing search for the real Jesus? How does it help us to interpret his message and mission? A: By Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Dear Reader, My experience is that there are two ways to approach the Gospel of Thomas. One is simply to pick up a current translation and read it with the heart as one would a mystical text or a lectio divina reading. The second is to read what scholars say first (such as Funk and the Jesus Seminar people in their translation and running commentary in The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say?). The first reading will be more magical. But the second reading will probably be more grounded while subtracting somewhat from the magic of the first reading. When the scholars finish with the text, there really is not a lot left other than some sayings that are very close to sayings we already know from the four gospels. For example, of the 114 sayings, Funk and Company recognize only 36 as being certainly from Jesus and many of them only partially so. Many sayings are already familiar from the Beatitudes or from familiar parables and kingdom of God sayings with slight variations from the four gospel versions. (Though # 113 is especially rich.) Those sayings not attributed to Jesus can nevertheless contain rich wisdom such as these wonderful “I am” teachings: #77. “Jesus said, “I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained. Split a piece of wood: I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.” The “I am” sayings add to those in John’s gospel which also are not those of the historical Jesus. They are wisdom sayings, however, just as many sections of the four gospels are not from Jesus’s lips but do house wisdom. There are provocative gender sayings which are not primary texts either such as # 114. In short, the book introduces us (once again) to the complexity of the sparse early sources of Christianity. Combinations and layers of texts from diverse sources mixing. Scholars stress how the gnostic tradition infiltrates the text in many instances and alert us to be careful of its dualism and overidentification of evil with matter and the body for instance. A good warning to heed indeed! Such passages take us far indeed from Jesus’s much more earthy and integrated worldview of spirit and matter. Just because few sayings can actually be ascribed to Jesus does not mean there is not wisdom there. After all, much of the Gospels’ words attributed to Jesus were not his words but this need not distract from the wisdom that is there. I have always marveled at how confident early Christians were in their own spiritual experiences that they did not hesitate to put words into Jesus’s mouth! So there is much in the Gospel of Thomas that can inspire and uplift and challenge us, whether it is traceable directly to the “real Jesus” or not. The spirit Jesus let loose by his teachings and presence continues to inspire many (including great mystics like Hildegard, Eckhart, Julian, etc) and we derive much benefit from reading them with heart as well as head. Why not the Gospel of Thomas also? ~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 35 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 74 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship (called The Cosmic Mass). His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are A Way To God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey; Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times; Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times; Stations of the Cosmic Christ; Order of the Sacred Earth; The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times; and Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic – And Beyond. To encourage a passionate response to the news of climate change advancing so rapidly, Fox started Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox - See Welcome from Matthew Fox. | | | | | | | | 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 XXIX: I and II Timothy and Titus — The Pastoral Epistles. We Have the Truth! Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 15, 2010 Thus far, as we have explored the origins of the various books of the New Testament, we have not yet come across that familiar form of human religion that asserts: “We have the Truth!” “If you disagree with me, the truth is not in you.” It is our “God-given duty to define truth, defend truth and impose truth.” Up until this point in the biblical story, the Christian movement has basked in the wonder of the Christ experience, sought words that can convey the power of that experience to another and has dealt with conflict only in the attempt by believers to clarify what this Christ experience really meant. Since, however, religious systems almost always, devolve into a security-giving system in which “my understanding” of God is assumed to be the same as God, we should not be surprised to discover this negativity making its appearance inside the Christian movement. When we turn to the Pastoral Epistles, the ones we have named I and II Timothy and Titus, our wait comes to an end. This mentality that suggests than any person can possess “ultimate Truth” in his or her propositional statements permeates almost every verse of these particular writings. This attitude is so apparent that it actually helps us to date these works. That, in turn, forms the data that makes us absolutely certain that Paul is not the author of any of these epistles. The Pastoral Epistles are so clearly the product of a later period of church history, when missionaries, prophets and teachers have been replaced by hierarchical and authoritative figures called bishops, priests or presbyters and deacons — all institutional functionaries. Even more, the office of a senior bishop, elder, or archbishop has had time to develop and the primary task of this official, it seems, is to impose order on the life of the various congregations in a given geographical region and to guarantee conformity in both their worship and their teaching. From other sources, we can identify this ecclesiastical structure as reflecting the period in church history no earlier than 90 CE and possibly as late as 120 CE. While these dates alone rule out Pauline authorship, they also make us aware that enough time has passed so that Paul is regarded as a respected not a controversial figure as the Paul of history certainly was. In these works, Paul has become the symbol of a revered elder apostle possessing such authority that these words are buttressed by being written in his name. Timothy and Titus, the younger companions of the historical Paul, named in his own authentic letters (Timothy in Romans, I and II Corinthians, Philippians and I Thessalonians) and (Titus in II Corinthians and Galatians), have been transformed into symbols of the next generation of Christian leaders who listen eagerly to the elder Paul’s advice. While the Paul of history could write his ode to love in I Corinthians 13 and speak about his own conversion in Romans 8:38, 39, the Paul of the Pastoral Epistles is only interested in order, “sound” teaching, proper obedience and the need to drive away erroneous and false teaching. In the Pastoral Epistles “orthodoxy” has been defined in non-flexible ways. In content, the Pastorals are quite similar to the five letters of Ignatius of Antioch, written between 110 and 113 CE while he was on his way to his own martyrdom. They reflect similar church structures, similar lines of authority and issue similar warnings against false teachers, once again demonstrating that they are the products of about the same time. The chief function of a bishop in both of these sources is “to defend the faith,” and to “establish orthodoxy,” which simply means “right thinking.” Words like “doctrine” and “teaching” are a major concern of these books that clearly favor “catholic-orthodox” formulas. It is apparent that something is threatening this sound doctrine. Historians have identified the enemy as a group of Christians who called themselves “Gnostics.” The Pastoral Epistles exhort younger leaders to protect the “true faith” by confronting evil, rebuking or silencing these false teachers who are disparaged as “imposters, unbelievers and deceivers.” The battle grew quite hostile with words like “stupid, unprofitable and futile” being used. God-given authority was claimed for established church leaders. They alone were authorized to determine what constitutes “true doctrine” and they alone had the power to ordain new leaders, who in order to qualify themselves for ordination, had to take vows to be faithful to the established tradition. Those who, in a previous generation, had themselves been “revisionists” in the synagogue were now determined to allow no revisionists in the church. The language of the Pastorals is replete with familiar religious hostility. Titus 1:13 refers to Cretans as “liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons.” I Timothy calls those opposed to sound doctrine “immoral persons, sodomites, kidnapers, liars and perjurers.” II Timothy says its enemies engage in “godless chatter” and likens their talk to “gangrene.” Church fights can frequently be anything but Christian! By this time in church history the disciples of Jesus seem to have moved rather far from Jesus’ admonition to “love your enemies!” Yet in the midst of this rather rampant hostility we are startled to find familiar and treasured words that we might have heard, but of their origin we had no clue. I refer to such phrases from the Pastorals as: “A little wine is good for your stomach.” “The love of money is the root of all evil.” “We brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.” Christianity so often blends good and evil. Someone once said that Christianity probably would not have survived had it not become institutionalized and that it might not survive because it did become institutionalized. Institutions, certainly including the Christian Church, always subvert truth to institutional needs. That is why the Church developed irrational power claims like, “My pope is infallible,” or “My Bible is inerrant,” or “There is only one true Church” and it is mine or “No one comes to the father except through my church or my faith tradition.” These assertions always arise in religious movements when the decision is made that the wonder, truth and mystery of God can in fact be captured inside human words developed inside human minds. God and my understanding of God become the same. The power needs of the religious institutions become identified with the truth of God and the well-being of church leaders. This mentality almost inevitably produces religious wars, religious persecution, the Inquisition and the incredible cruelty that we Christian people have poured out on our victims over the centuries. It also finds expression in the rudeness frequently seen in religious debate. Two stories will serve to make this point clear and to reveal why I have no great appreciation for the Pastoral Epistles, which not only introduced, but also justified these attitudes and helped to make them part of the life of institutional Christianity. The first story is personal; the second comes to me from another source. I have been on a number of book tours to Australia. In the Anglican Archdiocese of Sydney, Christianity has been captured by a Northern Irish Protestant fundamentalism of an 18th century variety and frozen in time in the South Pacific. The Bible to them has to be read literally, women can not be ordained or have authority over men and homosexuality is an abomination! So my presence there appeared to frighten Sydney’s Anglican leaders and call them to arms against the anti-Christ. When I came on a lecture tour for my book, “Resurrection: Myth or Reality?” these leaders quickly got out a fundamentalist paperback rebuttal that hit the bookstands the day my plane landed. In addition to that, they devoted a number of pages in their Archdiocesan newspaper, “The Southern Cross,” to arming their people with the “facts” necessary to resist the onslaught of this non-fundamentalist, and therefore non true-believing, Christian. Finally, they appointed a “truth squad” headed by one of their bishops, named Paul Barnett, to follow me around Australia to “correct my errors publicly” lest the people be corrupted. They contacted any radio or television station on which I was scheduled to appear to demand “equal time” for “the truth.” One noonday TV program decided to book us together rather than accede to “equal time.” The conversation went well at least from my point of view until Paul Barnett exploded with the words, “Jack, you’re nothing but a Gnostic.” I responded, “Paul, the wonderful thing about that charge is that 99% of our Australian viewers do not know whether you have just insulted me or complimented me.” I apparently bothered Paul Barnett as much as the Gnostics had bothered the authors of the Pastoral Epistles. The second story came to me from a member of a book study group in a large conservative Episcopal Church in the suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky. This group had been meeting for some time in this church to read and discuss some popular modern religious writers like Marcus Borg, John Crossan and even Rowan Williams. The local parish clergy got wind of the fact that this group was actually discussing theological ideas that did not fit their definition of orthodoxy, so they decided that one of them should sit in on the discussion to protect the participants from “heresy.” In the future, the group was informed, the clergy would pick the books the group would read, suggesting champions of yesterday’s orthodoxy like N. T. (Tom) Wright and Luke Timothy Johnson. If this group would not agree to these conditions they were told that space in this church would no longer be available for their gatherings. The group immediately found another church that would welcome them and so they moved on. Religious leaders need to learn that ultimate truth can never be fully captured in propositional statements at any point in human history: not in scripture, not in creeds and not in doctrines. That strange and destructive idea was first introduced to the Christian movement by the Pastoral Epistles. Christianity has been compromised from that day to this. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Science of Compassion: Live on Zoom Compassion can and must be learned. Practicing self-compassion, loving-kindness, experiencing pathways to forms of mindfulness, supporting new ways of learning, respectfully interacting with others and all living creatures, and knowing how to understand interdependency and systems are all avenues to a more supportive and flourishing future. Starting February 22nd. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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2/11/2021, Progresssing Spirit: Matthew Fox: What Is Patriarchy, anyway?; Spong Revisited
by Ellie Stock 11 Feb '21

11 Feb '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | What Is Patriarchy, anyway? | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox February 11, 2021 There is - and ought to be - plenty of criticism of Patriarchy at this time in history. But for that very reason there needs to be a critical understanding of what it is - and is not. A year ago I was part of a conference held in Florida where I interacted over a weekend with a scientist, theologian and Franciscan sister who specializes in Teilhard de Chardin, Ilia Delio. Often during our interactions she brought up the term “patriarchy,” never in a positive way. I understood what she was saying and did not bat an eye. But after our last interaction on Sunday afternoon, when the program ended and the auditorium, which held about 1000 persons was emptied out, a man came up to me. He was about forty years old and he was beside himself - the top of his head coming off - as he screamed at me. His first words went something like this: “Who does that lady think she is, putting down patriarchy all the time. I am a good and faithful husband. I work hard to support my family, etc., etc.” After listening for a while, and being ignored trying to respond to his rant, I screamed back at him something like: “Shut up! Do you want a reply or not?” I was very aware that I was returning shouting for shouting, yelling for yelling, reptilian brain for reptilian brain. It was the only way to get a word in edgewise. My response went something like this: “Patriarchy is not something personal that she is accusing you of. Not all men are patriarchal and not all women are exempt from it. The word “patriarchy” names a particular philosophy or way of seeing the world. It names a set of values that many men have profited from over the centuries. If you subscribe to it, then you are part of it. If you do not and if you stand for other values, then she is not talking about you. You have taken her criticism far too personally.” He seemed to calm down a bit and we talked (in normal language, no more shouting). After a while he walked away somewhat calmed it seemed. I then went on to lead a spiral dance closing ceremony outdoors. But I have never forgotten this exchange. I have tried to learn from it and keep my ears open. It is true that people - good people and smart people - often throw the term “patriarchy” around very freely (and very disapprovingly) without taking time to define one’s terms. In my general circles of interacting, living as I do in the Bay Area, it is not a loaded term. But I learned that day that in Florida, it is a super loaded term that had the effect on this fellow of setting his hair on fire. Patriarchy is not necessarily the same as “masculine.” When the masculine is toxic and un-thought-out however, which happens readily in a culture where masculinity is presumed and privileged, then masculinity can readily become Patriarchy and be its agent. What I call the “sacred masculine” or “healthy masculine” in my book on The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine is in many respects the opposite of Patriarchy, which is why I end the book with the “sacred marriage” of the divine feminine and the sacred masculine. The ten archetypes laid out in that book help us to reimagine the masculine employing deep images and lessons of our ancestors. I think it is safe to say that we witnessed an Epiphany of Patriarchy, on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 2021. Instead of honoring the divine in every child, as the gentile magi did, we saw a theater of Might Makes Right. Piles of lies/Lady Justice cries/democracy dies. What we saw on that day was patriarchy out of control, patriarchy unleashed. Toxic masculine philosophy was on display on Epiphany. Patriarchy ruled. After those events President Trump was quoted as saying that the reason he did not apologize or speak out against it was that “it makes me look weak.” Patriarchy’s deepest fear. When people ask me for an understanding of Patriarchy vs. Feminism, I invariably steer them to a poem written by M. C. Richards the morning after she was told that she was going to die. In that poem, called “I am dying,” she first lists understandings of death that certain men have come up with over the years such as “death be not proud,” etc. and she comments, “Such a masculine presence - part of our paternalistic culture - and religion.” Then she offers her own understanding of death which includes “relaxing into someone’s arms,” feeling “a softness as of sleep, a gentleness that is friendly.” And culminating in “backpacking in the hereafter.”* That poem is a perfect way of grasping the feminine philosophy of life (that includes death) vs. the patriarchal philosophy of life (that sees death as an enemy). Dualism in other words. Theologian Rosemary Ruether taught that dualism is the foundation of patriarchal thinking. Allow me to lay out some of the values involved in this philosophy or way of looking at the world that we call Patriarchy in contrast to those we call Feminism, which is another philosophy or way of seeing the world holding alternative values. I count 37 contrasts in this list. Patriarchy Feminism | Dualistic | Non-dualistic | | Dualism: “spirit is whatever is not matter” | "Spirit is the elan, the vitality in all beings" (Aquinas) | | (Augustine) | | Dualistic (either/or) | Dialectical (both/and) | | Knowledge | Wisdom | | Reptilian brain | Mammal brain | | Competition | Compassion | | Domination, control (see chimps) - bullying | Co-operation (see bonobos) - partnering | | Up, down | Round, curved | | Climbing Jacob’s Ladder | Dancing Sara’s Circle | | Escaping matter and the mother (mater) | At home on Mother Earth and loving it there | | Anti-sensual, dualistic spirituality | Integrative sensuality and sensuality” Julian) | | “God is in our sexuality as conquest | Sexuality as play and passion | | Eros as pornography | Eros as the passion for living we bring to all we do | | “I win, you lose” | Play: we both win - "win/win" | | Up oriented (make it to the top | Around oriented, circles as in nature | | of the skyscraper or penthouse or….) | | | Vertical | Embracing of a web of relationships | | Rugged individualism | Interdependence | | Serious and self-conscious | Laughter, humor matters | | “Fatalistic self-hatred” (Adrienne Rich) | Healthy self-love shared and projected onto others | | Pessimisticism that leads to cynicism | Hopeful and creative | | Fearful of creativity - control it | Creativity is the image of God in us | | Fear oriented | Love oriented | | Thanatos (how many people can we kill | Eros: passion for living | | with this weapon | | | Matricide (how much energy or fish or … | Loving of the mother including Mother Earth | | can we extract from Mother Earth?) | | | Mother Earth is inert | Gaia is alive | | Father Sky is inert and machine-like | Father Sky is alive and birthing constantly | | Obedience is a primary virtue and value | Creativity is a primary virtue and value | | Fight death and fear it | Accept “sister death” as integral to nature’s processes | | Men must control chaos | Chaos is integral to all creative processes in nature | | Faith is adherence to dogmas | Faith is trust | | Fight Death: “Death be not proud” | Yield to death,“backpacking in the hereafter” | | Punitive Father God | Mother God and Father too, in “delight” (Julian) | | Pessimistic (repression of creativity) | Creative and therefore hopeful | | Anthropocentric | Cosmological and ecological | | | (ecology is functional cosmology) | | Kill the mother: matricide and self-pity | Honor the mother in us all hierarchical mystical | | | (cf. Dorothee Soelle) | Men and women can be or choose to be in both columns or parts of both columns. This is NOT about women and men but about contrasting philosophies. ~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox *For the complete and marvelous poem see Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2015), 361f. Or Julia Connor, ed., Backpacking in the Hereafter: Poems by M. C. Richards (Asheville, NC: Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center, 2015), 19. Read online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 35 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 74 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship (called The Cosmic Mass). His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are A Way To God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey; Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times; Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times; Stations of the Cosmic Christ; Order of the Sacred Earth; The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times; and Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic – And Beyond. To encourage a passionate response to the news of climate change advancing so rapidly, Fox started Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox - See Welcome from Matthew Fox. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By John In my studies of the ancient Israelites, I am learning that the Israelites were very possibly Canaanites broken away from the various sites of Canaanite cities and that the DNA test of Canaanites skeletons reveals that the Israelites did not kill off the Canaanites but rather the Canaanites moved to Lebanon. The relationship of these two groups were much the same in language and even worshipping practices. The movement to a single God “Yahweh” only took place after the Babylon exile ended - not with Moses. The question I would like to ask is why this information isn’t known to the majority of Christians? A: By Dr. Carl Krieg Dear John, Thank you for your question, for it is one that speaks directly to the survival of the church. I have been asking this very same question for a very long time, and refer you to an article I wrote for Progressivechristianity.org, For Mainline Christian Clergy. I have read that the original Israelites were Canaanite hill people who moved down onto the fertile plains, but never about the DNA study. So thank you for that! We all need to keep on learning, and sharing that knowledge. The problem of ignorance in the modern church, and I use that word simply to mean without knowledge, began with the Enlightenment. There were those who wanted to apply the new tools of literary criticism to the Bible, and those who believed that such study would be sacrilegious. The latter, of course, are the fundamentalists who continue even today to refuse scholarly critique and who read the Bible literally. But what of the leadership in the mainline Protestant denominations? I have met so many pastors and preachers who speak as though biblical scholarship did not exist. I suspect that the cause of that neglect is the fear of offending the more conservative members of the congregation, who could leave and take their money with them. That fear creates an atmosphere that approaches fundamentalism even in liberal churches. The denominations will fight for justice and gay rights, but are shy about biblical critique. Consequently, the fundamentalist evangelicals have been able to define for the public what it means to be a “Christian”. As a result, society at large increasingly sees all church-goers as fundamentalists and disparages them as less than rational. It also makes it difficult for more open-minded folks in the pews to feel at ease, both in the church and on the street. It’s gotten to the point where one is almost embarrassed to admit that one goes to church on Sunday morning. Beside the alienation of secular culture and the failure to recognize the progressives in the congregations, the promulgation of non-critical “biblical” theology is confusing and detrimental to the faith formation of everyone. A few examples. You mention Moses. Must we believe that Israelites were slaves in Egypt? That God parted the Red Sea for them to escape? That Moses ever existed? That he really received all those laws from God while in the desert? Is that what our faith is all about? Most people suffer some tragedy in life, and some look to Job for an answer. How many are aware that the prologue and epilogue, wherein the patient Job is rewarded tenfold for his faith, is an addition that is separate and distinct from the main body of the poem, wherein Job is not patient and angrily shakes his fist at God. If I am suffering and angry, I might find it comforting to know that Job also was angry. I don’t know how many Pentecost services I have attended where the preacher spoke of the great miracle of the many tongues and how everyone heard the story in their own language. As if that really happened! Would it not be more helpful to recognize and relish the small moments of spiritual community that we experience every day? The list goes on, but the point is made. A deeper knowledge of the biblical material would enlighten folks in the pews, would make the gospel story much more understandable to the general public, and would shed light on the travails of life. I hate to say this, but I think that many clergy are doing a disservice to a lot of people. ~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read and share online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith and The Void and the Vision. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | 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 XXVIII: Acts III -- The Story of Paul Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 8, 2010 When the book of Acts moves beyond the conflict that set Jewish Christians against Greek Christians, it is ready to chronicle the story of how Christianity became a universal human religion. From the capital of Judaism to the capital of the Roman Empire is the story line that the book of Acts follows. The hero of this phase of the Christian movement is Saul of Tarsus, who would come to be known as Paul the Apostle. We have previously examined the content of his epistles, but now in the book of Acts, Luke begins to flesh out the portrait of his life and his personality as others experienced him. How much of this portrait is historical and how much is the product of Luke’ fertile imagination is often hard to determine. Luke writes the book of Acts some forty years or two generations after the death of Paul and legends about heroes do tend to grow after they have died. This fate may well have befallen Paul in the book of Acts. My rule for interpreting Paul is to follow the actual writings of Paul wherever they conflict with the much later narrative of Acts. This rule will place all of the details of Paul’s conversion story on the road to Damascus into doubt as something that actually happened in history. It is worth noting that Paul never writes about his conversion. He assumes a conversion from the role of the prosecutor of Christians, but he gives us no details, making Acts seem dramatically unhistorical. Acts does give us, however, the only cohesive picture we have of Paul’s adventurous missionary journeys, which correlates well with corroborative details in the Pauline epistles. This sense is strengthened when Acts introduces in Acts 16:10, and then continues through most of the rest of the book, a section of his travel narrative that does not use the descriptive pronoun “they,” but rather the autobiographical pronoun “we.” It is as if Luke found a diary of the journeys of Paul written by one of Paul’s companions and simply incorporated this diary into his larger work. These “we” sections of the book of Acts are accorded by many, but certainly not by all New Testament scholars, a place of greater significance and greater authority than any other part of the book of Acts so I simply call these passages to you for your attention and further study. When I try to flesh out the portrait of the Paul of history as we have received it from ancient times, I always find the “personal notes” dropped almost accidentally into the text of the book of Acts to be enormously helpful. These notes offer a kind of unplanned access to the person. I think, for example, of that tale in Acts about an event that occurred on his first missionary journey, during which he was the number two person to Barnabas on the missionary team. In this story, the two missionaries were in the city of Lystra (Acts 14:6ff) and it gives us an insight into Paul’s physical appearance. Barnabas and Paul were both mistaken for Gods visiting from Mt. Olympus. The people, looking at the two of them, began to refer to Barnabas as Zeus, the king of the Gods, and to Paul as Hermes, the messenger God. In the cultural patterns of that day, the tradition defined Zeus as tall and commanding in stature. We can, properly, I assume, suggest that Barnabas must have himself been a person of imposing size to have been mistaken for Zeus. Hermes, the messenger God, was portrayed as small and wiry and as constantly speaking. For Paul to have been thought of as Hermes he must have been similar in stature and above all talkative. Clearly Paul elicited that kind of image in the minds of his hearers. Paul is described in one other 2nd century apocalyptic source as thin, with dark connecting eyebrows stretched across the entirety of his face. There is some similarity in these two descriptions. In chapter 13:13-15, Barnabas and Paul were in the town of Perga in Pamphylia and the liturgical practice of the 1st century synagogue was described just by chance, giving us the best insight we have of how the synagogue functioned on the Sabbath in the 1st century. There we learn of the priority of the reading of the Torah, which contains the books Genesis through Deuteronomy, which were attributed to Moses. In the more traditional synagogues, the Torah was required to be read in its entirety on the Sabbaths of a single year. In some less traditional synagogues, a three-year cycle was followed, but the centrality of the law, the Torah, in both was crucial. Following the Torah came readings from the prophets. The Jewish tradition meant two things by the phrase “the prophets.” First, there were the “early prophets,” that is the biblical books of Joshua through II Kings, which told us, as I have previously noted, the history of the Jewish people after the death of their founder, Moses. Second, they meant the “latter prophets,” that is, those books attributed to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the book the Jews referred to as “the Book of the Twelve.” This volume contained on one scroll what we call today the Minor Prophets or the books from Hosea through Malachi. Please note that Daniel was not one of the prophets since Daniel was not written until about 168 BCE and had not yet been incorporated into the sacred text. Readings from either the early or the latter prophets did not have the same gravitas associated with the law, so those lessons were read in much smaller portions over an indeterminate amount of time. Next, the members of the congregation would be invited to speak, relating their own insights gained from these readings. I am now convinced that this is where the disciples of Jesus began the process of attempting to demonstrate that the Jewish Scriptures pointed to Jesus in almost every verse. By the time the gospels are written, this interpretative pattern is both assumed and operative. The author of Acts relates Paul’s sermon in 13:16-41 and provides us with dramatic insights into the way Christians employed the Jewish Scriptures and the way that Christianity emerged in the synagogue. The book of Acts also chronicles in some detail the hostility that broke out over Paul and his teaching on the part of the Orthodox Jewish world. On his journeys in whatever city he visited Paul always went to the synagogue first. He never thought of himself as anything but a Jew. In these synagogues, which were always outside of the Jewish homeland, there were three distinct groups gathered for worship: the orthodox, traditional Jews who believed that the entire truth of God was embodied in the Torah and who were not therefore prepared to welcome any deviations from or additions to the traditional text; the liberal-leaning Jews dispersed, from their homeland and more and more interacting with their Gentile neighbors; and finally those people known as “Gentile proselytes,” who were people drawn to the synagogue by the ethical monotheism of Judaism, but were unwilling to adopt and, some were even repelled by, the cultic practices of circumcision, kosher dietary laws and Sabbath day observance. Paul’s message appealed to these Gentile proselytes and significantly to the liberal Jews of the Diaspora, but he drew little more than hostility from those identified as the Orthodox party for whom any change threatened their security. So they were the primary source of the hostility toward Paul, which plagued him everywhere he went. Acts 15 describes a council of church leaders gathered to deal with this tension and, according to this Acts account, a compromise was worked out by James, the Lord’s brother, who appears to have headed the Jerusalem community of Jewish believers in Jesus. In this compromise, Paul was given carte blanche to continue his work among the Gentiles and was assured that his converts did not have to comply with Jewish ritual practices. The converts were asked, however, to agree to three things: to abstain from eating meat that had been offered to idols, from unchastity and from blood from any animal that had been strangled and was thus not ceremonially clean. Whether the details of this council are accurate is hard to say, but it did serve to set the Christian movement free from the constraints of those Jewish practices, and began its separation from Judaism which had birthed Christianity. When Paul and Barnabas prepared for their second journey, a dispute broke out leading to a split between the two. The issue, according to Acts, was whether to take John Mark with them. Mark appears to have abandoned them on the first journey to return home. Paul then became the senior member of a second missionary team and chose Silas to accompany him. Barnabas took Mark and in this manner the movement spread. On this second tour we learn that Paul had a dream of a Macedonian imploring him to come to Macedonia. Paul obeyed the vision and Christianity moved into what is now Europe. Paul had adventures in Greece including a debate in Athens that he clearly did not win. Paul’s direction was now set and he turned his efforts toward the vast Gentile world, which increasingly aroused the hostility of the Orthodox Jews. Paul returned to Jerusalem to bring money for the relief of the Jewish followers of Jesus there and his journey back to this holy city. His condemnation by the Orthodox party of Judaism, his appeal to Rome under his privilege as a Roman citizen and his subsequent journey to Rome by ship make up the bulk of the remainder of this book. On both the trip to Jerusalem and the trip to Rome, the book of Acts becomes an exciting adventure story. On one occasion, Paul began a sermon at midnight and preached so long that a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in a window, went to sleep and fell to the floor as if dead. Paul revived him, but the admonition against long sermons found a scriptural basis. On his trip to Rome, we read of storms, shipwrecks at sea, surviving the bite of a poisonous viper and many other adventures. In verse 16 of the final chapter 28 Paul finally arrives in Rome and there the book of Acts closes rather abruptly saying that Paul lived there at his own expense for two years under very loose arrangements, welcoming all who came to him. While the story of Paul’s death is not told, Luke’s purpose has been achieved. The Christian message has traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem to Rome and was now planted firmly in the capitol of the known world. As we say, “The rest is history.” Is Acts accurate history? We can never be sure. The Church did, however, move with Paul into all the world. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements 8 Lent eCourses for 2021 Lent 2021 begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17, and continues until Easter Sunday, April 4. The following e-courses are in Spirituality & Practice’s on-demand system, which means that you study independently and schedule the pace of the course yourself. Once you subscribe, go to your account page and choose a start date and how often you want to receive the emails. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Global Buzz
by ICA International 05 Feb '21

05 Feb '21

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... And please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: February 2021 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-21/2021-02-01.php Read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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2/04/2021, Progressing Spirit, Dr. Carl Krieg: America’s Greedy and America’s Gullible:Ezekiel Speaks
by Ellie Stock 04 Feb '21

04 Feb '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Dr. Carl Krieg February 4, 2021 | | | | | | | | | | America’s Greedy and America’s Gullible: Ezekiel Speaks “Behold, I am against the shepherds, says the Lord. I will feed my people in justice”. Ezekiel 34 The United States is not in a good place. The times are dangerous. About 10 years ago the news hit: By about 2040 the majority population would be people of color. Whites realized that they would be in the minority and they did not like that. Under the leadership of the Republican party, they tried every tool to disenfranchise those whom they perceived as a threat, most obviously gerrymandering and purging voter rolls. Racism, previously partially latent, became overt and violent. All the while, wealth has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few, to the point where the vast majority of Americans are either poor, becoming poor or feel insecure and under seige. The mistakenly perceived cause of this poverty-in-the-making, again under the Republican leadership, is either people of color, immigrants or elites who secretly run the country. The pandemic has vastly disrupted and undermined our economy, but prior to that the system was skewed to favor those who had already become successful. The rich and the powerful give themselves trillion dollar tax breaks, they attempt to steal social security funds and they deny health insurance for the population. The greed is unbearable. They hide themselves well under the guise of being true Americans - which translates, of course, into being white Americans. Appealing to the mass racism, the wealthy have incited hundreds of thousands of people to the verge of violent sedition and beyond. Our current history is the story of the greedy seducing the gullible, who in turn become the bullies, a deadly combination that endangers the very democracy we enjoy. Feeling protected by their mistaken belief that anyone can publicly carry an assault weapon, terrorist militia stand ready for a nod from the wealthy to seek the violent overthrow of a duly elected government. Add to this the fact that practically all Republicans believe that the 2020 election was stolen and that the results are invalid. The majority of House Republicans wanted to invalidate the results in swing states, Trump and his advisors consider imposing martial law in these states and instituting a new election, and the militia stood ready. Throw into this mix conspiracy theories, wholesale indoctrination via social media and the psychological need for authoritarianism in a huge segment of our population, and you are given the blueprint for takeover by a dictator. The next presidential election is critical for the life of our democracy, and the next four years will tell the story. There is no cosmic mandate that decrees that the rich must become richer and that those with power should increase in power. It need not be. In fact, it must not be. Should that trend continue, the ultimate outcome is catastrophe. No society can live forever when the majority of people are poor and insecure and the wealthy treat them as expendable. The order of the universe, proclaimed by the prophet Ezekiel, is that peace and justice form the bedrock of reality. Ezekiel lived at the time when Judah was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The northern ten tribes of Israel had been conquered by the Assyrians more than a century previously and no longer existed as an entity, leaving only the tribes of the south, Judah and Benjamin, constituting the Kingdom of Judah. The invading Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar carried the leaders into exile, including Ezekiel. The prophet consequently lived both in Palestine and in Babylon, and he blamed the exile on the greed of the rich and powerful who had cared only for themselves and neglected the flock. Hear the words of Ezekiel describing the injustices that led to the downfall of the Southern Kingdom. “The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them - to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep; therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, I am against the shepherds; ... I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” Few today believe that God will come down from heaven, slay the wicked and himself become shepherd of the flock. That solution was embodied in the Jewish concept of the messiah, and each time a would-be messiah arose to challenge the occupying army, Jews were slaughtered by the thousands. But we can translate the word “God” into other words. We do not expect God to intervene in history, but we can have faith in the moral order of the universe, an order shaped by love. If we lack that basic faith, if we believe that the universe is amoral, then there is no absolute basis on which to fight for justice and equality. Ezekiel expresses the profound hope and belief that the rich and powerful, and their accompanying greed, can and will be overcome by the power of justice and love. “I will seek the lost , and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” This faith is the same proclaimed first by Jesus and then his disciples after the crucifixion. Jesus lived and taught a life in community, a life of caring and sharing, a life that rejected the extreme wealth disparity and consequent injustice so prevalent in the culture, both then and now. And his followers carried forth that very same message, convinced as they were, that Jesus lived on. The shepherds, greedily rich and powerful as they are, however, do not stand alone as the guilty party. There is also that segment of the population that one might call the bullies, those who push and shove, display their assault weapons, and believe that they alone are in the right. They exist symbiotically with the wealthy, one feeding the other. They are the mob that can be incited, the ones susceptible to hints and suggestions sent out by those with the dog whistles. Stand back and stand by, says the leader, and they do. The full extent of their violent nature has yet to become manifest, but the threat is plain. There is also a more subtle variant of bullying that calls itself evangelical Christianity. Their basic claim is that they alone know the truth. They alone hold the key to eternal salvation. They alone know what God wants. Surveys tell us that over 80% of these people support the shepherds and Trump the leader, heedless of the immorality and callousness rampant in our current economic/governmental complex. Prosperity, not justice, is their gospel, and theocracy is their goal, wherein their pretension of omnipotence would assume an aura of authenticity. Ezekiel also confronted the bullies: “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.” As with the injustice spawned by the immoral disparity of wealth, God decries the violence of one group against another, violence both physical and psychological. And, says the Lord, I will save the flock. God is against not only the shepherds, but the bullies as well. Unlike Ezekiel, we today do not anticipate overt divine intervention, but we do believe in kindness and civility, in the moral arc of Reality that bends toward justice, framed as it is by love. >From Ezekiel to Jesus to the voices of the gospels, the proclamation is clear: civilization will not, indeed cannot, survive if wealth and power, and therefore food and shelter, are in the possession of but a few. Equally so, democracy will not and cannot survive if the bullies are allowed free reign. These facts are on full display in America right now, at this very moment, and the immediate outcome is terrifyingly uncertain. What can be done? On a personal level, we must take advantage of whatever opportunity comes our way to act in concert with others to share the love. That’s what Jesus did. Every moment of life became for him an opportunity to exercise divine love embodied in the human. In gathering disciples, he created a microcosm of what he called the Kingdom of God, a style of living in which the caring depth of our humanity is made manifest. We can do the same. In accepting that role of love we heed the call of both our God and our humanity that beckon us to be who we really are. On the broad and general level, the answer is threefold. First, for the sake of everyone, the concentration of wealth must be reversed. The current level of inequality is both obscene and unsustainable. Second, bullies must not be allowed to intimidate the general populace. It is immaterial whether the bullies’ violence is physical or psychological. Both destroy the common good. And lastly, as a nation of bounty, we must provide basic food, shelter and health for everyone. To do otherwise is a violation of all that is true and good. There really is no choice. It will not be easy. It never is. But we have the assurance that love is the essence of what is. Ezekiel knew it. Jesus knew it. The disciples knew it. And they inspire us to know it as well. ~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith and The Void and the Vision. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader What are your thoughts on Divine Ground? A: By Rev. Deshna Shine Dear Reader, There are so many theories on who or what god is, or if they even exist. Whether god is in us or around us, separate from us or above us. For me the bottom line is there is more to our existence than can be explained by science. There is more to you than can be explained by science. Even the universe has a huge space from which it came that we can not explain. Our goal as seekers is to use our intuition and our internal, eternal wisdom to look around us and within us for Divine Ground; and, to become more comfortable naming it as such, connecting to it, dancing with Her and surrendering to Her. >From my viewpoint, we are never separate from the Divine. We exist within the Divine and the Divine exists within us. We walk on and are Divine Ground. We come from the Divine, we return to the Divine. Even if we look at Nature alone as God, what an incredible display of Divine Ground available to us at all times. And what happens there? Everything comes from and returns to the Ground. Everything works in perfect divine harmony when we surrender. For me, God is not separate from nature, but immanent within it. God is also the Unity which holds the universe together and feeds and nourishes it. The invitation is to recognize and become aware of Divine Ground all around us and within us. To dance with the Divine, co-create with the Divine, play with the Divine, dine with the Divine, experience the ecstasy of the Divine. When we actively dance and play with the Divine, we are capable of shifting consciousness, ours individually and collectively. There is no duality within Divine Ground. There is no other. It is the ground from which the seedling bursts forth. And it is also the fruit that it becomes. ~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Deshna 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 Progressive Christianity.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. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Why the mission of Progressive Christianity is so important Over the weekend, the congregation that I serve in San Diego, CA was vandalized. Our Black Lives Matter banner that hangs on the front of our church was splattered with pink paint. Three of our six “Rainbow Doors” that read “God’s Doors Are Open To All” were ripped from our front pillars. It was disheartening to see the damage, but more heartbreaking was the hate that inspired it. It was a startling reminder that there are people who truly believe that black lives do not matter. There are people who believe that LGBTQ+ lives do not have value or a place in the church. Despite the hatred that inspired this event, when the community saw what had happened the outpouring of love and compassion was incredible. People began collecting funds for the church, offering to clean up the paint, bringing new BLM banners to the church and working to replace the doors. Many of these people were not affiliated with the church at all, they were just inspired by the witness of the congregation for peace and justice. Within two days, everything had been cleaned up or replaced and we were making our visible witness to the community once again. These events reminded me anew why the mission of Progressive Christianity is so important. There are so many people who have a negative opinion of Christianity, simply because fundamentalist voices tend to be the loudest. Many think that Christianity is inherently homophobic, xenophobic, sexist and anti-science. However, when you give to ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit you help the voice of an authentic faith resound. Your gifts provide resources that help communities like mine proclaim a message of radical inclusion, profound peace and social justice that is life-changing and confronts the negative associations that people have with Christianity. If you’re able to give to support ProgressiveChristianity.org please consider making a donation. Your gifts help Progressive Christians proclaim a Gospel that conquers hate, bigotry and fear. ~ The Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines, Sr.Pastor University Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)/United Church of Christ Acting Co-Executive Director ProgressiveChristianity.org/ProgressingSpirit.com | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXVII: Acts & the Rise of Universalism Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 24, 2010 The book of Acts is a travelogue, a journey, designed by Luke to bring fulfillment to the words he puts into Jesus’ mouth at the very beginning of this book: “You shall be my witnesses,” Jesus says, and then he tells them where: “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).” Luke is intent upon portraying the Jesus movement to be one that starts humbly in the hills of a remote Galilee and then moves through Samaria on its way to Jerusalem, where he records his first climax in the crucifixion of Jesus. Asserting that the death of Jesus is not the end of this movement, he then proceeds to tell the story of how this movement began to spread from Jerusalem until it reached its second climax in the capitol of the known world, the city of Rome. So this author has his story move only in one direction and he never has the story return to a place from which it has departed. One illustration of this becomes visible when the angelic messengers of the resurrection in Luke’s narrative do not order the disciples to return to Galilee as they do in both Mark and Matthew, but rather “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4).” To signal the beginning of the next phase of his story, Luke repeats the words of the promise originally stated earlier in his gospel by John the Baptist that, while John has baptized with water, the disciples of Jesus will be baptized by the Holy Spirit and in the power of that Spirit a world wide mission will be inaugurated. Then in quick succession, Luke begins his Volume II, which we now call the book of Acts, by bringing the appearances of the Risen Christ to an abrupt end. He removes Jesus physically from the earth in an act of ascension and then he inaugurates the Christian Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the gathered community in which the people of the world discover a new sense of oneness. The reader is not allowed to miss the worldwide significance of this story, for Luke says that those gathered at that time included Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphilia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Crete and Arabia! Given the knowledge of geography available in that day, this is a rather impressive list. This vision of a new oneness in this vast world is celebrated by the symbol that in the power of the Spirit they were all able to speak the language of their hearers. It was, as many have observed, a reversal of the Tower of Babel story from the book of Genesis (11:1-9) in which the languages of the people of the world were confused and human isolation into protective tribes was both inaugurated and explained. Luke uses the device of sermons that he places on the lips of Peter (Acts 1:15-20, 2:14-36, 3:12-26, 4:8-12) and Stephen (7:2-56) to communicate his message. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures and his story announces that God has made Jesus “whom you crucified” both Lord and Christ — that is, both a divine presence and the expected messiah of the Jews. In the process, we are given a view of how Luke perceived the early Christian movement. With the election of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:22-26) the Christian Church was to be patterned after Israel with twelve tribes or leaders. The followers of Jesus devoted themselves to “the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:43).” They were to be capable of signs and wonders since the Spirit dwelled within them and they held all things in common (Acts 2:44 and 5:1-11). They attended the Temple “day by day” and in the privacy of their homes they conducted the Eucharist by breaking bread together. Peter was always cast as the leader according to Luke, sometimes accompanied by John, but Peter was clearly the spokesperson for the Christian movement. Next Luke introduces the first account of tension with the leaders of Judaism in the persons of Caiaphas, John and Alexander, together with all of the members of the high priestly family. That conflict came to a resolution, according to the book of Acts, in the words of a leader of the Pharisees named Gamaliel, who urged the rulers to wait upon the test of time. “If this movement is of God,” he said, “you cannot stop it and if it is not of God, it will fail without help from you (Acts 5:33-42).” It was sage advice and Gamaliel prevailed and we watch as this tension between church and synagogue began to fade. This is part of the process we use to date the book of Acts, for the author is describing life in the early church between the year in which the followers of Jesus were expelled from the synagogue around 88 CE and before the year 100. That original tension, however, was replaced by one within the movement of the followers of Jesus themselves and the book of Acts now turns its attention to this battle, which issued in the first intra-church battle. It was between the strict constructionist Jewish Christians on one side and the newly-converted Hellenist or Greek Christians on the other. The book of Acts will pivot on this conflict. Peter was the champion of the strict Jewish point of view, which argued that Jesus did not set aside the Torah, but rather fulfilled it. This meant that the power of Jewish law was still to be observed in Christian circles, including the rituals of circumcision, kosher dietary laws and the Sabbath worship traditions. This group also asserted that the only doorway open to Greek converts to Christianity was to become Jews first and then Christians. Paul is introduced in this book as the one who would ultimately become the champion of the Gentile Christian movement. Stephen entered the story as one of the clearly chosen deacons who would expand the Christian Community’s leadership in order to enable them better to care for the needs of the “Hellenists.” According to the book of Acts, Paul began his career as a defender of the full power of the Torah and as a persecutor of those who would relativize its claims. The narrative in the book of Acts pauses to allow the tensions in the Christian community to build by introducing another deacon named Philip, who also presses the boundaries of the Torah. Philip baptized an Ethiopian eunuch, who violated the way the strict constructionists interpreted the Law on two levels. First, the Ethiopian was a Gentile who was brought by his baptism directly into the Christian movement with no journey through Judaism required to reach his destination. Second, as a eunuch, this Ethiopian was a direct challenge to the literal truth of the Torah, for Deuteronomy could not be more specific on this issue since it states: “He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off should not enter the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 3:1).” Next, Luke moves to relate the story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, after which in quick succession he is baptized, has his blindness ended and begins his missionary career. From Paul’s writings we have already learned about the conflict he had with those he called “the Judaizers” and his showdown with Peter, their spokesperson (Gal. 1). By the time Luke wrote the book of Acts, however, that tension was more a part of history than it was currently alive and real. Luke even explains how it was overcome by telling how Peter had been converted to Paul’s perspective. This dramatic tale forms the end of the Peter section of Acts and opens the Paul section (Acts 10:9-16). Peter’s conversion took place on a roof top at noon where, Luke says, he was engaged in prayer. Being hungry, this narrative tells us, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened, from which a great sheet descended, laden with creatures, animals, reptiles and birds that were edible but not kosher, perhaps including both pigs and shellfish. A heavenly voice invited Peter to ease his hunger by rising, killing and eating. Peter declined by saying, “I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” To which the voice from heaven proclaimed, “Peter, what God has cleansed, you must not call common (Acts 10:15).” This vision was repeated, says Acts, three times before Peter got the message and went to the home of an “upright and God-fearing Gentile,” named Cornelius, and baptized him and his whole family. That was the moment, says Luke, when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. The words of Peter then became the new mantra for the Christian movement, “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him (Acts 10:34, 35).” The issue at stake in this battle was whether or not Christianity would become a universal movement. It was Peter himself, the champion of the “strict constructionists,” who forged the new way forward. Peter thus is portrayed not only as the one who launched the Christian movement, but also as the life through which the boundary between Jew and Gentile was breached and as the one in whom the new vision of universalism was born. His work being completed, Peter fades away and Paul now moves front and center. It is ultimately on the shoulders of Paul that the inclusive character of Christianity would be formed, one that would, as Paul says in Galatians, embrace: “Jew and Greek, male and female, bond and free.” So Luke turns to the story of Paul and through his life we watch Christianity reach Rome and the “uttermost parts of the earth.” The tribal boundary that separated the Jews from the Gentiles was enormous. As intense as this battle was inside Christianity, it would not be either the last or the bitterest fight that would mark Christianity in its journey toward universalism. There would be other fights before Christians were able to see women, people of color, adherents of other religions, homosexual persons, mentally ill persons and even left handed persons as fully human. There would also be others in history who would play the role of Peter and ease the Christian movement into its calling to bring abundant life to all. Only then could the invitation of Jesus, “Come unto me, all ye,” not “some of ye,” be fully heard. The book of Acts chronicles the story of Christianity’s walk into what it was created to be. Today we continue to write our chapter in this same ongoing narrative. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Spiritual Gifts from the Imaginal Realm This online course with Cynthia Bourgeault delves into some ancient Wisdom roadmaps that many of us may not be familiar with and yet which hold the key to understanding what's happening in our world (why are we so polarized, unable to take the steps needed to address global problems?) and where the path of healing lies. February 18, 2021 - April 10, 2021 - READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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The completed life of John Hutchinson
by Karen Snyder 01 Feb '21

01 Feb '21

> > Robyn Hutchinson asked that this announcement be posted on the listserves about the completed life of John Hutchinson early Sunday morning. > > > Dear ICA family colleagues, > We just want to let you know that John passed away peacefully in my arms in the early hours of this morning, as I sang some of our beautiful spirit songs to him, and he let go and passed into the other world. We had the family here yesterday. > > We have been truly blessed to be part of this community of care. John was aware of the Asia pacific gathering on Saturday, and in fact participated in his own way. Thank you for candle lighting, and messages of care. > We hope to celebrate at South Sydney Uniting Church, Redfern, where the journey of a lifetime, all began for us, 54 years ago! > > Grace and Peace Robyn, with Kiran, Glen, Neeraj and Eiji >

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