April 2022 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

Anyone interested in a book study?
by James Wiegel 18 Sep '22

18 Sep '22

Jamie Mudd, aka Jaimie Leopold, a close ICA and ToP colleague from Phoenix days and I are wondering if you would be interested in studying this book over the next couple of months RECOVERING ABUNDANCE My colleague Andy Henry's marvelous book is due in March! I'm looking forward to Recovering Abundance: Twelve Practices for Small-Town Leaders. This book invites readers to live a new story--to join a movement of renewal for small towns and rural communities. Offering twelve civic-spiritual practices, rooted in Jesus's miracle among the multitude, that rural and small-town leaders can use to renew their congregations and communities. Through these twelve practices, Henry helps readers tune in to an alternative story, one he discovered in his own rural Ohio community. Yes, he saw the commonly lamented decline and devastation that have brought suffering to rural Americans and that seem to foster resentment and despair. However, as he dug deeper into the stories of his neighbors, he began to notice that small towns and rural regions are working. They are working to build inclusive, thriving, local economies, to weave a welcoming social fabric in their region, to cocreate a positive future--following the practices he explores in this book. Recovering Abundance is a new story about the agency and creativity of what Henry calls "ordinary leaders," not a story about scarcity and deprivation but one of abundance and generosity. Jim Wiegel “A revolution is on the horizon: a wholesale transformation of the world economy and the way people live.” Fred Krupp

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] 4/28/22 PHOTOS
by Terry Bergdall 30 Apr '22

30 Apr '22

Jim, You asked for a word more (see below). The CFLC “Letter to Laymen" uses very unusual language to speak about the urgency of the moment and deliver a radical call to action. Very few people spoke, or wrote, like that then or now. It was “special” if not unique. Somewhere I have a clipping of one of those communiques from the Ecumenical Institute that was reprinted on the “about town” humor page of The New Yorker. After a full paragraph describing the urgency of our times in this intense over-the-top, somewhat confusing, style, it ended by asking “how will you respond?’ The New Yorker then simply asked “when can I get back to you?” In the face of climate change, etc., my wife reminds me that it would be a good thing if we could recover even a small degree of that unembarrassed, let-it-all-hang-out, urgency today. It is true that many of us back then were enthralled with, and responded to, a call for action that was radical, total, and unconditional. I remember seeing a movie many years ago with Michael Caine and Sigourney Weaver. Her character sees a photo of him taken several years before and says “oh, you used to be a radical.” His response in his posh apartment was “I like to think I still am.” Don’t we all? Terry > On Apr 28, 2022, at 20:25, James Wiegel <jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Say a bit more, Terry . . . I would like to hear. > Jim Wiegel <http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=123> > > On Thursday, April 28, 2022, 06:04:42 PM MST, Terry Bergdall <bergdall2(a)gmail.com> wrote: > It’s fascinating, Jim, to see the style (and content) of this writing now. Thanks, Terry > >> On Apr 28, 2022, at 19:30, James Wiegel via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote: >> >> Lynda, that looks like a picture of a television screen -- Could that be David McCleskey on the left? I vaguely recall something about a series done in Texas --- This from Letter to Laymen (CFLC) in March of 1962 : >> "A pilot television presentation utilizing this approach to serious conversation and art has been made by the Community (a transcript of which is on page three) in cooperation with a New York television production company and movie producer Stanley Kramer." >> >> Full text here: >> THE RADICAL DEMAND TODAY >> >> We are living in an new age. It is a time of radical and comprehensive revolution. In a manner of speaking. Western Civilization has reached an end. Our total world view is undergoing transmutation affecting every part, as well as the whole, of the human enterprise of civilization. Not only has Ptolemaic cosmology of the Middle Ages vanished, but Nations once modern model of the world as a great machine has dramatically collapsed. The expanding universe of Dr. Einstein is now penetrating every concept of life and image of history. Man is launching forth on a brand new venture. >> >> This historical crisis is not basically theoretical or abstract. On the contrary, what is happening to us is very practical, very concrete. It is at once thoroughly personal and utterly social. Furthermore, the center of the revolution is located not in the political or economic facets of the civilizing adventure, but in the cultural dimension. "Culture" here means the common sense, the common symbols. and the common life-style of a people. Precisely because it is in these areas of our life where the present upheaval becomes manifest, the center of gravity of the whole social body has been shaken. And therefore, every sensitive and reflective individual on the street is deep]y involved. Of this he is aware, however uneven]y this awareness may be distributed among men. >> >> Our common man is certainly frightened by the new world about him, but cynics to the contrary, he is also excited. He is acutely experiencing his universe as complex, impersonal, mysterious, routine, paradoxical, tragic, capricious and so on. This is frightening indeed. Yet the same individual is raising anew and in depth the question of what it means to be a real human being in the midst of this. Underneath the superficial readings, the reflective every day person is not really trying to ignore, dismiss and escape the new world and its demands. Rather, he is asking for practical images, symbols and more patterns which will illuminate this new age and enable him to participate creatively and as a genuine person, in the forging of the new responses, personal and social, that the age requires. This need of the "average" man brings us to the artist and his work. >> >> THE ROLE OF ART >> >> Art is human. It is necessarily a part of human life in both its individualization and socialization. It is not limited to special groups such as the leisure class or the intellectual strata. It is an essential part of life for all men. However unequal the exposure of men may be to significant art or the capacity of men to be significantly present to art, no one can or does live without it. Here are unveiled the very basic questions: Is the art we live before significant? And how does one live significantly before art. >> >> Let us turn first to the question of whether the art to which one is exposed is good or bad, true or false, adequate or inadequate. For our present purposes, three issues are raised: Integrity, relevance and utility. Does the artist speak THE ROLE OF ART (continued from page one) >> >> honestly about the human situation in his time? Does his work deal importantly and compellingly with the basic and actual human needs and concerns of his world? Does it call forth in the viewer the kind of images that will enable him more adequately to forge his responses to the real world about him? To speak of art in this fashion, is to insist that art has a vital functional role in culture and society. Indeed, we are seeing today that art is very utilitarian in the rich and fresh sense of genuinely contributing to the inner workings of the great civilizing venture of man. >> >> Such a view insists that art is not a sophisticated capstone that is added to society when the basic tasks are done. It is rather an essential ingredient of society that affects the whole and every part, at every moment. Furthermore, it follows that the role of art is not an escape valve for the sophisticate at the end of an era, as many are wont to think. Its most crucial hour is at the beginning of a new age when new images are required. Indeed the very function of art is to question and destroy old, false, inadequate images and to prompt and create new authentic and useful models for practical human response. The everyday reflective man of our time is crying, as we have seen, for exactly this kind of assistance. >> >> Perhaps this is the clue to the interest in art that our age is experiencing which in depth and scope and variety has no equal in all history. In brief, there is emerging in the new world a fresh understanding of the function and place of art in civilization. To fulfill her role today, however, art may need an ally: serious conversation. This brings us to the third focus of the PROVOCATION series. (see page three) >> >> THE PLACE OF SERIOUS CONVERSATION >> >> Serious conversation itself might well be considered an art. Not simply in the sense of a skill-it surely is that-but in the sense of an art form. Be that as it may, it seems clear that it is an essential catalytic agent to the art form in our day. The contention is that art, the indispensable midwife to the new man in the new world, is itself in need of a midwife if it is effectively to fulfill its role in accomplishing significant psychological and social change. >> >> The man of today, amidst his fears and bewilderments, wants to be a self-conscious historical being. He senses that history is made as well as experienced and latently, at least, he yearns so to participate in it. This is to suggest that behind and in the midst of the twentieth century man's more observable struggles, is the problem of intentionality. He is no longer content to be simply a passive victim of the impressions that play upon his inner history. He insists on being self-consciously present to those images and engaging in a dialogue with them. This means that he must become intentional about art. The question of PROVOCATION is: How can the man in the street learn to become intentional about the art that speaks to him in such a fashion that creative action ensues? >> >> Serious conversation is the means whereby one becomes self-consciously attentive in depth to the manner in which he is affected by a work of art and the means whereby he is enabled to carry on his own dialogue with the art object. This in turn both prompts and directs decisive and creative action in the midst of the civilizing process. >> >> Authentic dialogue in relation to art, is not primarily an educational endeavor in the sense of accumulating information, though of course this may happen in the midst of it. The art object and the way it speaks to the individuals conversing supplies the content. The serious conversation, where mind meets mind in reflection upon a common object and experience, enables one to articulate the impressions made upon him and to draw them together for himself into a more or less comprehensive complex. This model is then brought to bear upon his inner and outer historical situation in such a fashion that new practical insights, meanings and strategies emerge, which both motivate and direct his activity. To say this another way, serious conversation does not intrude ideas or images, but awakens the latent ones that are already present, and occasions the birth of new ones. In and through this process, social change is initiated. Art plus dialogue equals intentional involvement in history. >> >> To sum up: new and imaginative human responses to life are urgently required by the new world about us. The art of the times injects into this situation new images of human possibility. Serious conversation enables the individual to clarify these images in such a fashion that fresh and imaginative responses can be forged. >> >> A pilot television presentation utilizing this approach to serious conversation and art has been made by the Community (a transcript of which is on page three) in cooperation with a New York television production company and movie producer Stanley Kramer. >> >> Jim Wiegel <http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=123> >> The unknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plain sailing. John Lennon

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4/28/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev Dr Matthew Fox: “Do you Create or do you Destroy?” Evil at Our Doors; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 28 Apr '22

28 Apr '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateBody .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent, #yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateBody .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateFooter .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent, #yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateFooter .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | “Do you Create or do you Destroy?” Evil at Our Doors | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox April 28, 2022This probing question was posed by the second secretary of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold. Hammarskjold was a bona fide mystic as well as a peace maker and world leader who died in a mysterious plane crash while in office in 1961. Evil is very much in the news these days. George Floyd being slowly choked to death by police officers in Minneapolis; Black Lives Matter reminding us of the burdens of slavery that still haunt us; the “me 2” movement naming the reality of sexism; Pope Francis recently asking forgiveness for the church boarding schools that violated children of First People Nations. There are the scandals of priestly pedophilia and its cover up in the highest ecclesial places; there is the ongoing attempt to destroy a dying democracy in America by a former president and his party epitomized by the January 6 insurrection and obstructing voting rights wherever possible; there is the complete betrayal of the Supreme Court’s ideals by the utter politicization of the court and its decisions to allow dark money to flood political campaigns, dismantling the Voting Rights Act on two occasions and recent revelations of far right wing activism by the wife of a supreme court judge who alone voted against allowing presidential papers to be seen by the January 6 congressional committee.AND, of course, there is our ongoing war against Mother Earth which scientists tell us we have seven years left to turn back before extinction of our species and millions of others becomes irreversible. AND, we have live streaming on our televisions sets daily, a gruesome war for no apparent reason other than to satisfy a lust for power by Mr. Putin who, we are told, wants to be remembered as another Peter the Great. But who more likely will be remembered as Putin the Terrible a la Ivan the Terrible. AND the ever-present threat of nuclear destruction.It is enough to applaud Thomas Aquinas who, eight centuries ago, said “one human being can do more evil than all the other species put together.” I marvel at this prognostication—how did he know this 700 years before Hitler or Stalin or Pol Pot or Putin? He knew it because he recognized the immense creativity and intellectual acumen of our species and thus anticipated Hammarskjold’s question: “Do you create or Do you destroy?” What do we chose to do with our vast knowledge and intelligence and creativity?”Not only does our species do great evil with our vast creativity and intelligence, we also do amazing positive things as well. We are capable of the Awesome as well as the Awful. We build bridges and airplanes and communities and rituals and healing centers and vaccines. We create stories and novels and paintings and movies and music and dance and a Webb Telescope that will soon be sending us pictures of Light from the earliest era of the universe and much, much more. Yes, we know evil but we also know about compassion and justice and, sometimes, democracy.One lesson being driven home today by all this unveiling of evil in our midst is this: That Evil exists and is very active, very smart, and omnipresent. It is not just in that individual or this individual--we are all subject to it, we all have decisions to make, we all participate or choose not to. Shadow is present among and within us. It is present like a spirit is present, it is not mortal, it keeps returning with every generation. We don’t have to call it Satan or Beelzebub or Lucifer or the Anti-Christ. We might call it more contemporary names such as Racism; Sexism; Narcissism; Militarism; Patriarchy; the Reptilian Brain unleashed; Injustice; Capitalism unbridled, Matricide, the killing of Mother Earth.A second lesson about Evil is that it is far bigger than sin. By reducing evil to “sin,” religion has left us bereft of 1) a language to deal with Evil and 2) ways to combat Evil. Indeed, to trivialize Evil easily serves the purposes of Evil.A friend and colleague of mine, Lakota teacher Buck Ghosthorse, once said to me, “in our tradition, fear is the door in the heart that lets evil spirits in.” Evil is a spirit, it appears as numerous spirits, such as Fear, Hatred; Envy; Lust for power; Power-over; Greed; Arrogance, etc. Indeed, all seven “capital sins” or “sins of the spirit” name the doors that, like Fear, “let evil spirits in.” Paul alerted us to how our struggle is against “powers and principalities,” i.e. spirits, since powers and principalities are angels or spirit beings. This is another way of talking of Evil as a force among us.In my major study on Evil, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, I devote a large section to comparing the seven capital sins of the West to the seven Chakras of the East in order to develop a new language born of both East and West for disempowering Evil. In a recent Forward to that book, Deepak Chopra makes an important point when he says the number one spiritual issue of the 21st century will be Evil.A chakra represents a center of energy in our physiological, psychological and spiritual bodies and when healthy is a very powerful reality. What about when it is unhealthy or off-center? Aquinas defines sin as “misdirected love”—in doing so he is echoing the Jewish understanding of sin as “missing the mark” or bullseye. What is the misdirected love in each of the seven chakras? By understanding this question we come face to face with medicine for redirecting our species’ proneness to bad choices that in turn put us in league with evil.Let me briefly summarize the seven chakras and the seven “misdirected” or off-centered chakras we know as the capital sins. This may provide some needed insight and imagination to wrestle more effectively with Evil.The first chakra is found at the tailbone (interestingly, we call it the sacrum or “holy bone) and connects to a sub chakra in the knee and the foot. It connects us to the earth therefore, and we can engage it by dancing, and its essence is vibration. We now know that all atoms in the universe are vibrating so it follows that the first chakra connects us also to the cosmos itself. When it is off-center, we are cut off from the cosmos and the earth. The result is two capital sins: Arrogance (Pride is not a sin but arrogance is); and Acedia or the “lack of energy to begin new things.” (Aquinas)The second chakra is our sexuality. When off center it is about power-over rather than healthy power with. Lust is not a sin—none of us would be here sans lust—power-over dynamics or lust for power is a door that lets evil spirits in.The third chakra is in our gut where we experience moral outrage and, when healthy, compassion kicks in. Off-center is violence. Anger is not a sin, violence is.The fourth chakra is the heart. Not only fear but hatred too is the door that lets evil spirits into the heart. Compassion is the healthy heart chakra.The fifth chakra is the throat. When healthy, the throat is a birth canal for sharing our wisdom and for this reason is located between the mind and heart chakras, for wisdom is a combination of both heart and mind. When off center, the throat chakra is about gluttony (which comes from gluttus, the Latin word for throat) and gluttony is not just about too much food or drink but too much of anything. It is greed and avarice and consumerism unbridled and also the gagging of the throat or allowing one’s voice to be gagged. A healthy fifth chakra occurs when one finds one’s voice. The prophet speaks out (pro-pheto).The sixth chakra is about our minds including both left and right hemisphere of our brains. When it is healthy, we talk about the “third eye” located in the center of our forehead, a naming of a healthy and holy balance of left and right brains, of the rational and the intuitive (or mystical). When unbalanced, we have the (new) capital sin of Rationalism which plays so big a role in Patriarchy and patriarchal education and for which reason Albert Einstein complained that he “abhorred” American education. Why? Because, he insisted, values do not come from the rational brain but from the “intuitive brain” which is so often ignored in American education. In the seventh chakra all the light and kundalini energy that travels up the spine and through the other six chakras comes to a kind of culmination. From the crown chakra we send our light out to link up with other light beings whether they be ancestors or angels or other light-filled people committed to making community and wellness happen. An off-centered seventh chakra would be Envy. Envy acknowledges the light in other beings but instead of linking up with it to do good things together, wants to shoot it down. Envy is at the heart of patriarchal interaction and surely at the heart of wars including Putin’s current barbarous war. He envies a budding democratic state adjacent to his empire.To render war (and other atrocities) obsolete we need to build up our seven positive powers that the chakras name. This work of biophilia displaces necrophilia which is Erich Fromm’s definition for evil. “Necrophilia grows when biophilia is stunted,” he warns us.~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Read online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 40 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 78 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; 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, Original Blessing; The Coming of the Cosmic Christ; Stations of the Cosmic Christ; A Spirituality Named Compassion. To encourage a passionate response to the news of climate change advancing so rapidly, Fox started Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Larry Why do fundamentalist believers take every word of the Bible as totally correct, when no one, to my observation, has an answer to the exact quotes of Jesus, Moses, Samuel, etc. Do you remember the game where a conversation was started about a subject, and then passed on to others until it came full circle and related back to the originator. Usually, not the same. I think the Bible accounts such as the creation story exemplifies that game! A: By Brian D. McLaren Dear Larry,Thanks so much for this question. I grew up in a strict fundamentalist sect of Christianity, so I’m in a pretty good position to try to answer it.Your question is why, and I think there are at least three answers: historical, psychological, and social. Some other time we could look at the psychological and social reasons for biblical literalism and inerrancy. For now, it makes sense to begin with history.In the 1400’s the Christian countries of Europe found themselves in a series of wars with Islam. As a result, the Pope found himself in a situation of mutual dependence with the kings of Europe: if they prospered, the Church prospered. If they were defeated, the Church would share in the defeat. So here’s what he did: he gave the kings of Europe a carte blanche or blank check to colonize the world, to enslave all nonChristian nations and expropriate their wealth. That wealth would help them win their wars in Europe, and it would put Europe, and Christianity, in the global drivers’ seat. (The proclamations that gave permission for this global colonization are known collectively as The Doctrine of Discovery. You’ll find a good introduction here: https://wirelesshogan.com/doctrine-of-discovery/, and here: https://www.amazon.com/Unsettling-Truths-Dehumanizing-Doctrine-Discovery/dp…, and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFinFW3_shs. I also give a short overview in Chapter 3 of my upcoming book, Do I Stay Christian?)The church thus helped give birth to the era of Christian conquistadors, slavery, genocide, and European empires.Right around the same time, the Reformation happened. In addition to the theological arguments northern Europeans had with the Catholic church, there was a financial advantage to schism: if the contemporary counterparts of England, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and other Northern European countries used the Doctrine of Discovery’s permission slip for colonization, they wouldn’t have to share profits with Rome.But for the Reformation to work, it needed to justify its existence apart from the Catholic hierarchy. It did so by appealing to the Bible. The Bible alone (sola scriptura) became the rallying cry of the Reformers. We don’t need the Pope or Cardinals to legitimize us, they said. We are legitimate if we can defend our actions based on the Bible alone. About a century after the Reformation was up and rolling, a new movement swept across Europe: the Enlightenment. The leaders of the Enlightenment realized that people quoting the Bible could do a lot of harm — burning witches, launching wars, and the like. So they said, You Protestants don’t need the Pope, and we Enlightenment Rationalists don’t need the Bible! Reason alone is sufficient to guide us and give us legitimacy!Suddenly, the Protestants were left vulnerable. Since they had used the Bible to legitimize their break from Rome, many of them doubled down on the Bible when they were threatened by the Enlightenment rationalists. This tradition, of doubling down on the Bible as a sole source of authority, is the lineage of fundamentalism today.When Charles Darwin and Karl Marx raised uncomfortable scientific and economic questions in the 19 Century, they answered them by doubling down on the Bible even more. When Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein raised uncomfortable questions of psychology and physics in the 20th Century, they did the same. When Walter Rauschenbusch and Martin Luther King, Jr. raised uncomfortable questions about poverty and race, they did the same. In my upcoming book, Do I Stay Christian?, I describe this use of the Bible not simply as anti-intellectualism, but as constricted intellectualism, an engagement of the intellect in the service of confirmation bias (and related biases).Again, this isn’t the whole story. But it’s a start, and it leads to many other important and fascinating conversations. I hope that helps, Larry!~ Brian D. McLaren Read and share online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent book is Faith After Doubt. He is the author of the illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story, The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Brian's next book, Do I Stay Christian?, will be available May 24, 2022 (https://read.macmillan.com/lp/do-i-stay-christian/) He is a popular conference speaker, a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings, has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations, and is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Saving the Earth with Good Theology April 22nd was Earth Day and something profound struck me… Christianity has played a major role in the climate crisis. Unfortunately, bad theology that focuses on “subduing the earth” or preparation of one’s soul for the end times has caused Christians to neglect the earth at best, or to actively harm it with the hope of hastening the end times at worst. Here’s the Good News: you can help save the earth with good theology! One of our 8 Points of Progressive Christianity is that we “strive to protect and restore the integrity of the earth.” That’s because we believe that the earth is sacred, it is our common home, and it is the source of life that connects us. Moreover, we know that climate change disproportionately affects those who are already marginalized, that environmental racism is very real, and that we must take every possible step to confront climate change and the ways that this earth can be exploited to oppress others. At ProgressiveChristianity.org, we strive to confront bad theology at every turn and to help people embrace good theology that not only helps us to live more authentic lives, but in the case of environmental stewardship, can literally save the earth. You might want to check out a few of our environmental resources here. We need you to be a part of our movement. Could you donate $20 today to help save the earth [and all of us who live here!] with good theology? Thank you for your generosity! Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines Co-Executive Director, ProgressiveChristianity.org Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org 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. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited "Think Different - Accept Uncertainty" Part X: The Christ - He Is Not the Savior of the Fallen Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 24, 2012In my studies of the origins of life and its evolution, I have become convinced that the traditional and primitive claim that involves the concept of “original sin” has got to go! This mythological misunderstanding was based on the assumption that human life began perfect, but that we had our perfection destroyed by our disobedience, which left us separated from God. This was our “original sin” and no human life escapes its effects. In the light of all we know about the origins of life “original sin” has first become quaint, then bankrupt and finally harmful and destructive of our humanity. The Christianity of the future must jettison this outdated idea if it intends to live and to participate in the world that is emerging in the 21st century.This will not be an easy transition for the Christian Church or for individual Christians to make. The concept of “original sin” has been so deeply instilled into the heart of the way that Christianity has defined itself, that for many people abandoning “original sin” feels like abandoning Christianity itself. The task before Christian leaders is therefore the task of developing a compelling new understanding of Christianity that can provide an alternative to this former understanding. This alternative will have to be far more radical and far more extensive than most people in the church can now even imagine. It will also have to be positive and in touch with what we know of the origins of life.One aspect of this alternative Christianity will be that we must see that the word “savior” is no longer a title that we can use for Jesus. Think of what that title assumes. One cannot be the “savior” unless there is something or someone who is in need of salvation. One cannot see Jesus as the “savior” unless one believes oneself to have fallen from an original perfection into the mire of “original sin.” Since that is not the way we now understand human life, what content is left in the title “savior?” What do evangelists mean when they ask: “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?” What is the meaning of either the Protestant mantra: “Jesus died to save me from my sins” or the Catholic mantra which describes the Eucharist is the “Sacrifice of the Mass,” that is, a liturgical reenactment of the cross on which Jesus died for our sins?So extensively has the title “savior” permeated the Christian story that it is the primary way that Jesus is described in most Christian liturgies. Other forms of the word “savior” are the words “redeemer” and “rescuer.” We Christians even name some of our churches “The Church of the Redeemer.” We speak of redemption in Christ Jesus. This word means to restore full value to that which has been compromised, to make whole that which was broken. One redeems one’s valuables from a pawn shop by paying a premium.“Rescuer” is the word that lies behind many Protestant hymns like “Throw out the lifeline,” “Love lifted me” (when I was sinking deep in sin) and a variety of others. We are told in thousands of ways that Jesus’ act of saving us had to do with his death and with the shedding of his blood on the cross. The images are somewhat gory as we sing words such as “Washed in the blood,” “Saved by the blood” and “There’s a fountain filled with blood,” all of which imply that we are “dirty,” that we are sinful and that the blood of Jesus is endowed with cleansing power. For many people there is no other way to understand either Jesus or the Cross. It might, therefore, surprise us to know that Paul, the earliest writer of material that came to be included in the New Testament, never used the word “savior” to describe Jesus. Paul wrote between 51 and 64 C.E. If Paul is representative of the thinking about Jesus in those years before any gospel was written, we get the hint that to think of Jesus primarily as “savior” was not present among the followers of Jesus in the early years of Christian history.Neither Mark, who wrote the first gospel in the early years of the 8th decade, nor Matthew, who wrote the second gospel in the middle years of the 9th decade used the title “savior” for Jesus. So, we can surmise, that “savior” was still not the title of choice for Jesus when the 9th decade of Christian history arrived. The word “savior” makes its first appearance in Christian writing in the Gospel of Luke, a work written in the late 9th to early 10th decade of Christian history, somewhere between the years 88-93. Luke uses the word “savior” twice. The first time is in the song sung by Mary called “The Magnificat.” There she says “My spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Note that the first biblical use of the word “savior” is not a reference to Jesus, but to God! The second Lucan use of the word “savior” does apply to Jesus and is found in the song of the angel in Luke’s version of the birth of Jesus: “for to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). The only other use of the word “savior” as a name for Jesus in the gospels comes in John’s story about the Samaritan woman by the well who, after her conversation with Jesus, returned to her village and announced that “This is the savior of the world” (John 4:42).Both of these gospel uses of the word “savior” could better be translated “messiah,” for they are references to the messianic function of bringing about the “Kingdom of God” on earth in which the Jewish people would be rescued from such perils of history as slavery, defeat, exile and oppression. In the Hebrew Scriptures to ask God to save meant to save the Jewish people from the clutches of an enemy, a natural disaster or a personal tragedy. It was never a reference to being saved from one’s sinfulness or one’s fall from an original perfection.It is not until one gets to the Pastoral Epistles (I & II Timothy and Titus) and the General Epistles (I & II Peter, I, II & III John and Jude), all of which are dated from about 90 to about 135 C.E., that the word “savior” comes to be applied regularly to Jesus. These are the biblical data that cause me to question just how this title “savior” comes to be the one by which Jesus is primarily known today. It clearly was not the original way the disciples thought about him.To see human life as distorted, fallen and in need of a “savior” is an idea that does not get attached to Jesus until the 4th century and was, I submit, the contribution of a man named Augustine, who was the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, and whose writings shaped Christian thinking for about a thousand years. It is his view of the origins of human life and the birth of sin that still infect the Christian message in 2012.Augustine collapsed the two competing creation stories in the book of Genesis into a single narrative to form the background for telling the Christ story. From the first story (Gen. 1:1-2:3) he got his sense of the original perfection of the world and all that is within it. That story says that God created the world in six days and when God had finished, God looked out on all that God had made and pronounced it not only good, but complete. Human life, this story says, shared in this perfection for in the “image of God,” the man and the woman were fashioned. From the second creation story (Gen. 2:4 -3: 24) Augustine got his understanding of human rebellion, disobedience and the fall into sinfulness. Eve, tempted by the serpent, ate the “forbidden fruit” then fed it to Adam and “their eyes were opened.” God’s creation was ruined by this act of disobedience. Their sinfulness resulted, according to this primitive story, in the banishment of the original human family from God’s presence in the Garden of Eden. It caused human distress from the woman’s pain in childbirth to the man’s need to gain his daily bread from the soil of the earth. The ultimate punishment for this act of disobedience was death. The fact that everyone died meant two things to Augustine. First, it meant that everyone shared in the fall and, second, that sin was universal and original. It could not be escaped. It was part of the “being” of human life into which we were born. We needed to be saved from it, redeemed from it, rescued from it. That was the human condition. In order to free the world from its sinfulness the “savior” had to be external to the world, which of course meant that the savior had to be sent from the God who lived above the sky. In time, it became clear that the savior had to be, in some special sense, of the very nature of God.That became Augustine’s frame of reference and into that frame, he told the story of Jesus. Messiah no longer meant the one who would usher in the Kingdom of God on earth but the one who would save human life from the fall and from the power of original sin.That is thus the context in which the Jesus story has traditionally been told and it is obviously dependent on that understanding of human life’s origins. You and I, however, live in a post-Darwinian world in which this story is nonsensical. There was no original perfection from which one could fall; there was rather the emergence of life out of an evolutionary process in which survival became the driving principle and the highest value. Our ancient forebears interpreted this basic survival drive, present in all living things but self-conscious in human life, to be a manifestation of a self-centeredness that resulted from the fall, thus viewing self-centeredness moralistically when they should have viewed it biologically. Our survival-driven self-centeredness is, however, not sinful, it is in the DNA of life itself.Being saved, therefore, does not mean that someone has to pay the price of our evil in order to satisfy the judging God and to restore human life to a status it has never before possessed. It cannot mean that “Jesus died for my sins.” It cannot mean that baptism is the liturgical act to wash away the stain of the fall. It cannot mean that the Eucharist is the liturgical reenactment of the divine rescue operation accomplished on the cross. When one pulls out this central plank of the Christian story, then the whole superstructure of doctrine, dogma, creeds and liturgy collapses. That is when we know that we must “think different” and “accept uncertainty.” The future of our Christian Church depends on our doing just that. So we will continue to develop these new themes as this series continues.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements THE CHRIST PATH SEMINAR Hosted by Matthew Fox and Andrew Harvey NOW AVAILABLE DIGITALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME A previously recorded live event exploring Creation Spirituality and Sacred Activism hosted by Matthew Fox and Andrew Harvey. Enjoy over 10-hours of dialogue from Matthew Fox and Andrew Harvey and BONUS FOOTAGE from Joanna Macy and Bruce Chilton. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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4/21/2022, Progressing Spirit: Brian D. McLaren: The Religious Question — and the Human Question; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 23 Apr '22

23 Apr '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateBody .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateBody .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateFooter .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateFooter .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Religious Question — and the Human Question | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Brian D. McLaren April 21, 2022Every day, it seems, I get another reminder about the struggles many of us are having with religious identity. Just yesterday, someone said, “I don’t identify as Christian anymore. It’s just not where I feel at home.” The day before that, a Jewish friend said, “While I still deeply appreciate my Jewish heritage, the truth is that I’m inter-spiritual. Every time I encounter a religious tradition in a deep way, I find something to love, and I can’t separate myself from it.” The day before that, I was in a group discussing the “spiritual but not religious” identifier. Several folks said that their problem wasn’t simply with any specific religion — Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or whatever. Their problem was with the whole idea of “organized religion” itself.In The Great Spiritual Migration (Convergent, 2016), I explored the term organized religion. Perhaps the problem, I suggested, wasn’t that religions are organized. After all, I don’t think anyone is saying, “I would really love my religion if it were just a little worse organized!” I don’t think it’s “disorganized religion” that people are longing for. I think the problem is that religions are organized (well, or poorly) for the wrong goals or objectives, and they are not well enough organized for the goals and objectives we need most.For example, major sectors of the Christian religion of which I am part are super well-organized to help people attend to the problem of original sin and how to achieve exemption from eternal conscious torment in hell. They are highly organized at protecting the interests of an all-male clergy (or almost all-male). They are highly organized to support the economic system from which they scavenge the crumbs of donations that fall under the table. They are highly organized to maintain their status as a socially respectable organization in society.The American mystic and sage Howard Thurman diagnosed this problem with his usual understated brilliance when he said (in his 1949 masterpiece Jesus and the Disinherited), “Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak.”If Jesus was right when he said, in his inaugural address (as found in Luke 4), that the Spirit of God’s agenda is to help the oppressed, the weak, the broken-hearted, those with (in Thurman’s words) their backs against the wall, then no wonder many people are struggling with their religious identity. Wherever sincere Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, or Christians are sensitive to the Spirit (however they would express it), they want to organize their energies for the vulnerable, the outsider, the outcast, the outlier, the other, those with their backs against the wall. They find deep frustration when their local “house of religion” organizes them otherwise.Over the last couple years, I’ve been working on what is probably my most ambitious writing project, Do I Stay Christian? As the title suggests, it is a book about conflicted religious identity in the world’s largest, wealthiest, most powerful, and well-armed religion. The book naturally fell into three parts.First, I felt I should explore the No answer to the title’s question. So in Part 1, I tried to articulate the best reasons I could think of not to stay Christian. These ten chapters took shape:1. Because Christianity Has Been Vicious to Its Mother (Anti-Semitism)2. Because of Christianity’s Suppression of Dissent (Christian vs. Christian Violence)3. Because of Christianity’s High Global Death Toll — and Life Toll (Crusader Colonialism)4. Because of Christianity’s Loyal Company Men (Institutionalism)5. Because of Christianity’s Real Master (Money)6. Because of the White Christian Old Boys’ Network (White Patriarchy)7. Because Christianity is Stuck (Toxic Theology)8. Because Christianity is a Failed Religion (Lack of Transformation)9. Because of Christianity’s Great Wall of Bias (Constricted Intellectualism)10. Because Christianity is a Sinking, Shrinking Ship of Wrinkling People (Demographics)As I completed these chapters, I could imagine many people thinking, “Well, McLaren has finally laid his cards on the table. He is definitely not a Christian any more.” And frankly, I have to admit that as I wrote, I repeatedly wondered how much longer I could claim Christian faith, having faced so much evil in our past, so much harm in our present, and so much threat to our future.Any scientist knows you don’t give up on your data collection halfway through the experiment, any entrepreneur knows you don’t give up on your new venture as soon as you have your first cash flow crisis, and any writer knows you can’t stop writing when you have identified the problem. So I kept writing, and the ten chapters of Part 2 took shape giving reasons to say Yes to staying Christian.1. Because Leaving Hurts Allies (and Helps Their Opponents)2. Because leaving Defiantly and Staying Compliantly Are Not My Only Options3. Because … Where Else Would I Go?4. Because It Would Be a Shame to Leave a Religion in Its Infancy5. Because of Our Legendary Founder6. Because Innocence Is an Addiction and Solidarity is the Cure7. Because I’m Human8. Because Christianity is Changing (For the Worse and for the Better)9. To Free God10. Because of Fermi’s Paradox and the Great Filter.As I finished Part 2 of the book, three realizations hit me as never before. First, I realized that there are plenty of solid reasons for Christians to leave Christianity, just as there are plenty of powerful reasons to stay Christian. Whatever the theoretical reasons we might offer for or against staying, practically speaking, some people are just too wounded by Christianity to be able to stay, and some people are too bonded to Christianity to be able to leave. That led to a second realization.For Christian communities to survive without repeating the problems addressed in Part 1 of the book, they need to boldly face their deep problems. But that’s not easy. Often, the only thing that gives them the courage to do so is watching their sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, teachers and students walking out the door. In this way, both those who stay and those who leave can end up contributing to the needed outcome.Third, I realized that the question of Christian identity is not the ultimate question. Deeper and broader is the question of human identity. What kind of humans do we want to be, whether we label ourselves Christian or something else? How can we be the kinds of people — Christian or not — who do not perpetuate the significant problems we see in Christianity today, and across our first twenty centuries as a religious community?That How? question framed the third part of the book. As I wrote it, I realized that every single human identity I can think of is facing an identity crisis that parallels the identity crisis we face as holders of religious identity.For example, democracy seemed to be on the march over tyranny, but over the last few decades, many democracies have slid back into autocracy, and even the democracy I inhabit in the USA has lost the innocence we once knew as “peaceful transition of power.”Or consider capitalism. If the Twentieth Century posed the question, “Will capitalism prevail over communism?”, the Twenty-First Century raises the question, “Will capitalism preside over our self-destruction?” In other words, the world’s most successful and prosperous economic identity is now the greatest threat to our future, because it produces comfort and profit for the privileged at the expense of the climate, air, water, soil, and living ecosystems upon which we all — including the exploited or abandoned poor — depend.Or consider reason, or rationalism. Catholic philosopher Jack Caputo once defined postmodernism as getting enlightened about the Enlightenment. Over the last several decades we have begun to realize that we aren’t nearly as rational or enlightened as we thought. Who of us in the US can trust our Supreme Court, that supposed palace of reasonable objectivity? Every few months this supposed sanctuary of objective rationality shows the world how highly vulnerable it is to partisan folly.So you can see how for me, the question of “Do I stay Christian?” gradually morphed into another question: how do we become more fully, truly, and beautifully human?And that is the question around which Christianity and other religions could, if they so choose, organize themselves to address. The answer would not come in words alone, however. The answer would come in actual ways of living, in actual ways of being human. And central to those ways of being human, I imagine, would be the humility and curiosity to learn from one another and share with one another, so that we could contribute together from within each tradition to the common good of all.Whatever we call ourselves, that human question of human identity is the one we must answer together, if we are to survive.~ Brian D. McLaren Read online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent book is Faith After Doubt. He is the author of the illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story, The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Brian's next book, Do I Stay Christian?, will be available May 24, 2022 (https://read.macmillan.com/lp/do-i-stay-christian/) He is a popular conference speaker, a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings, has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations, and is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Thomas I find it so confusing trying to understand not only racism, but bias against any human who is considered "different". Elitism, the belief that I am better than you, continues with frightening repercussions. Do you see a world/time when that will end - what will it take? A: By Toni Anne Reynold Dear Thomas, I’ve heard the basis for prejudice explained as a fear reflex, an attempt for people to protect themselves from the unknown that strangers seem to embody. It feels like a reasonable sociological, and psychological reason for the existence of bias. And yet, I think your question is about the more nuanced workings of systemic racism, capitalism, etc., that seem to function at high speed efficiency. In my opinion, the work of creating a world free of bias starts with examining yourself. I mean really truly examining and reexamining yourself; changing your environment to support the habits you wish to nourish - truly creating a world in, and immediately outside of yourself that supports the racist/bias free world you desire. In my own personal experience, the work of undoing racism within myself has needed to be a constant, daily practice. Every day I’m fed images or recycled stories and symbols that keep the framework of racism active and well. We all are fed these images, we hear the recycled narratives in news stories, we have the thoughts arise without awareness when we pass by someone in the grocery store. The attack is consistent, so our efforts to mitigate it have to be just as consistent. The work of undoing racism within myself requires that I use my spiritual life, mental health resources, the medicine of community, and other tools, to keep from being swallowed up by this ill you ask about. Honestly, I don’t think most people are doing this type of active work to uproot the racism that we have been and continue to be force fed. For most folks, racism is the burning of crosses, or the use certain old timey words, the most egregious acts. The danger with this limited view is that it facilitates denial. The more you distance yourself from the potential to behave in biased/racist ways, the easier it gets for the force-fed messages to take root in your shadow and start spilling out in moments when you least expect it. Racism is not just “that thing that those people do, but not something I am capable of.” Each of us has the capacity to employ, to keep alive, these monstrous things. Accepting that fact, I think, is the surest way to hampering the success of these programs. If we are to see a world free of, or at the very least with a milder version of, racism, eradicating this denial inside of ourselves feels like step one in a multi-step process. I don’t know all that it might take, but I do think starting with ourselves is the most radical step. Yours on the road to Liberation,~ Toni Anne Reynolds Read and share online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org 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. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited A Meditation on the Meaning of a Brief Life Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 10, 2012They were a very happy young couple. Both the wife and the husband were successful professionally. They had worked hard to achieve this success, postponing much of what young adults think of as fun in order to pursue their goals. They were in their early thirties when they met, fell in love and decided to get married. Their marriage was an occasion of great joy for themselves and for both of their families. The wedding brought together customs old and new, uniting two distinct cultural histories into one life-giving and flowing stream. They settled into their new home and began to build their own traditions. They wanted a family and after a year or so were delighted to learn that they were expecting a baby. Both families rejoiced in this news and it seemed that their happiness broke any boundaries that they had known before. Inspired by their joy they seemed to soar through the days. A month or so later to their amazement and heightened pleasure, they learned that they were expecting twins. With the realization that they had started their family a little bit later than usual, they were overjoyed. When all of their friends warned them about sleepless nights, double barreled diapers and no time for themselves, it fazed them not one bit so ecstatic was their anticipation. All went well for about five months and then complications arose. The young mother began to dilate prematurely and threatened to go into labor. The lives of these babies were barely on the edge of viability outside the womb. Modern medicine that is so amazing sprang into action. The expectant mother was taken to the hospital and placed under twenty-four hour observation. If necessary, she would spend the rest of her pregnancy in the hospital. Every day she got through in that setting without further complications was a day that made the lives of these twins more hopeful. Two weeks later, however, the mother’s body was attacked by e coli bacteria while she was in the hospital. The medical team began to treat this infection with the massive drugs at their disposal, but it soon became clear that a caesarian-section would be required to save the babies from both the virus and the drugs. The c-section was performed. Only one of the twins made it through that transition. The boy, Julian Edward was the name they had chosen for him, lived but a moment. The girl, Chloe Emma was her name, was on the borderline, but she seemed to have that tiny edge that pushed her to the side of life. She is still living and the hopes and expectations are that after time in the neonatal unit of this hospital, she will go home to her parents vital and healthy. The mother also finally passed the crisis point and she too will recover fully, but the emotional price that she and her husband were called on to pay was very high. It was a price that their extended families also had to pay. No one who ever loves another is immune to the pain to which that love makes us vulnerable. As this situation unfolded, I learned yet again something of the mystery of life as well as something of its terror. If someone had told this young couple a year ago that they would be the parents of a precious and happy baby girl, they would have been thrilled. They would have seen that as the fulfillment of their dreams. Now, however, their joy has been compromised by grief. Joy at the birth and life of their daughter, grief at the death of their son, these conflicting emotions – feelings both bitter and sweet – engulfed them simultaneously. Questions about life’s strange twists raged in their minds as well as in the minds of those of us who love them. The necessity of absorbing pain over which one has no control was real, hopes that ran so high were dashed so cruelly and a haunting wonder surrounded them. They needed to mourn their lost boy, but what is the form that their proper grief can take? Can one ascribe purpose to a life that lived so very briefly? Is there any redemptive meaning that can be attributed to the death of a premature baby? In generations past, comfort came through the suggestion that the will of God must in some way have been served by this tragedy. The religious assumptions of that age were clear. God had to be in control of this world. No tragedy would have occurred without purpose or if God had not somehow willed it. God must have a plan, we said, into which this little lad fitted. If life were ruled by nothing other than chance or blind fate, then the anxieties we would have to face in the task of living would simply be too difficult and too debilitating for us to manage emotionally. Those comforting convictions of an earlier time, however, have not endured. We have been forced to note time after time that history is replete with illustrations that reveal that God is apparently not in charge, for things do not always turn out well and good does not always prevail. Elie Wiesel came to that conclusion when he lived through and survived the Holocaust, being the only member of his family to do so. The poor of the city of New Orleans came to that conclusion when they had to endure the fury of Hurricane Katrina. The people of Haiti came to that conclusion when the tectonic plates beneath the island of Hispaniola shifted, creating an earthquake in which over 200,000 people perished. Trayvon Martin’s family had to come to that conclusion as he became yet another victim of an all too familiar pattern of a deep-seated and blind racism. All of us face this same reality every time disease strikes; every time an innocent child dies or is killed; every time irrational anger on someone else’s part ends the life of another, whose only fault was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one can deny life’s dark and painful side. Nor can we today cover it over with the simple and pious rhetoric of the past. Our questions are rooted in life not in the religious convictions of the previous era. How are we to observe or honor a life that only lives for a moment? Should grieving parents and grandparents note the reality of that life by giving that baby a name? Should a memorial or funeral service be planned to honor the tiny life that was there? Would that make life easier for the parents, the grandparents or even for the way they will all relate to the surviving daughter? Would those gestures be anything more than an act of sentimental and hopeful delusion? This particular experience caused me to think about these questions and to come to these conclusions. I am convinced that all life, no matter how brief, is of value. I do not want to spend my time trying to explain why bad things happen to good people or by trying to assess guilt and attempting to find someone or something to blame for life’s tragedies. I have no interest in turning to yesterday’s religious certainty and seeking comfort by assigning this tragedy to the “enigmatic will of God.” Instead I find that I yearn to engage this family in a new kind of discussion by asking them to think with me about a new set of questions. How was your life touched by this child who did not make it? Did anticipating this baby’s birth expand your consciousness and enhance your life? Did it increase in you a capacity to love and to know the joy of anticipation? Was there any role this now-deceased infant played in strengthening the love that holds a marriage together? Did this infant boy serve to deepen the bonds of affection that create the extended family? Is it possible that the survival of the infant girl was made possible by the death of the infant boy? Did he absorb the e coli bacteria and thus protect his twin sister from the fate that he experienced? Was the noblest of all human experiences operating here, the principle of sacrifice: one dies so that another might live? If any of these questions can be answered with a “yes” then I think we should call this boy by the name his parents had chosen for him, to remember him, to give thanks for him and to acknowledge that, while his time on this earth was short, it was not insignificant. This is also why I believe that we should mark the passing of this brief life with some kind of liturgical event in which he is remembered, his remaining effects placed into the ground or in some appropriate place with care, ceremony and sensitivity. He did live. He affected positively those who still live. He made a contribution to life that needs to be acknowledged and for which thanksgiving needs to be expressed. Life at any level is a miracle. Only those who are able to love and to love self-consciously and deeply can feel the trauma of loss, of separation. So anyone who participates in life, if only for a moment, that one still lives, still contributes and still needs to be acknowledged. Every life no matter how he or she lives is still an expression of the Source of Life. Every life is, therefore, holy because the Source of Life is holy. It is that holiness that we acknowledge when we come together in grief and with heavy hearts to commit one, who lived only momentarily, to the Source of life, which he surely embodied. So, yes, let us treat this tiny life as we treat every life. Let us hear in worship the words, “dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.” Let us give thanks for the meaning that this life has brought and commend this life to the Source of Life. It is our self-consciousness that allows us to be grateful, to commune with and even to worship, that which makes us alive even if for but a moment.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Fierce Love for a Hybrid World April 23, 2022 - April 24, 2022 Online and/or In-PersonCome dream with us about how we can rescue democracy from the brink, and get the skills to help repair this national breach. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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HAPPY EARTH MONTH--no foolin'!
by Ellie Stock 22 Apr '22

22 Apr '22

HAPPY EARTH MONTH! May we learn to live and "BE alive" in a way that will allow Earth and all that is in it to thrive to the seventh generation and beyond. Below: 1-Link to song video: Let the Earth Breathe2-We Are the Web of Life Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com 2.15.21 Let the Earth Breathe.mp4 WEARE THE WEB OF LIFE We are the Web of Life, threads of all creation, common origin bursting bright spins common destination-- twining from atom's flight to galaxies' mutation. Planets, creatures, humans alike disclose cosmic imagination. Earth's beauty and suffering plight craft universal incarnation. Will it endure darkest night in bonded collaboration-- exuding elegant delight and bounteous celebration or will its warping song decry to sustain strands' vibration and its woofing dance succumb to fright in panicked conflagration? Or can we confide in trust's reconciliation and ever abide in Heaven and Earth's consummation? We are the Web of Life. What we do to the web is our own consecration. ejhs

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4/14/2022, Progressing Spirit: Toni Anne Reynolds: The Banjo – A Symbol of Endurance in the Midst of Great Suffering; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 15 Apr '22

15 Apr '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0547404288 #yiv0547404288templateBody .yiv0547404288mcnTextContent, #yiv0547404288 #yiv0547404288templateBody .yiv0547404288mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0547404288 #yiv0547404288templateFooter .yiv0547404288mcnTextContent, #yiv0547404288 #yiv0547404288templateFooter .yiv0547404288mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Banjo – A Symbol of Endurance in the Midst of Great Suffering | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Toni Anne Reynolds April 14, 2022Over the last four years I’ve fallen in love with the banjo. It has been an interesting journey to take up this instrument. I’ve heard friends and family make comments about how strange it is to see a black woman with a banjo. A few have even expressed mild disapproval of seeing me with it, recalling the devastating era of chattel slavery that created the stereotype of “the banjo picking negro”. But really, the banjo is so much more than that. When I explain that I have taken up this instrument to remind myself of my connection to Spirit, that I love the banjo because it is a symbol of endurance, I watch their doubt slowly begin to soften. Growing up I didn’t have much thought of the banjo. I certainly shared that distance from the instrument that my friends and family communicated. The banjo was an instrument that Uncle Tom played. It was a visual agreement to submit to the plantation politics that subverted black bodies underneath white ones. Without the use of any words to elaborate, the haunting dynamic of racial violence and capitalism could be summed up with a person of a certain complexion holding this instrument. Simultaneously, the banjo freely roamed the worlds of bluegrass and country music. I remember seeing music videos and live performances of white musicians playing vibrant music with the help of the banjo. I was, and continue to be, unable to discern even an ounce of tension or lament about the visual story being told now that a body of a different complexion was playing the same instrument under the gaze of an audience. This contrast is of great interest to me. In my quest to understand my own connection to the banjo I’ve happened upon a variety of essays, books, and documentaries that explore its history and evolution through present day North America. The most compelling moment happens in a documentary created by world renowned banjoist, Belá Fleck. The documentary is called “Throw Down your Heart” and it depicts Fleck and his crew traveling to various countries on the African continent. The point of the sojourn was to trace the roots of the banjo to its origins on the great continent of Africa. As the team stops in Senegal and The Gambia to visit Tony Jatta and his family, they explore the akonting as the ancestor instrument of the banjo and a brief, yet potent history lesson, is shared: Therese Senghore: “Our parents explained to us that in the evening, they used this akonting to sing. So they would be in the forest singing, singing and suddenly they would disappear. And they would not see them again. So, they would say ‘Ah, the white man captured the slaves.’” Tony Jatta: “The first trip, they had so many casualties. But the second trip, because of that instrument it actually helped them to gain more strength and they reached [the other side].” Therese: “They cannot do it without the akonting.” That line by Tony Jatta fuels me during this phase of my relationship with the banjo and my particular ancestry. “…because of that instrument it actually helped them to gain more strength and they reached [the other side].” More than the contrast between which bodies get to play the banjo without contention, how people survive the histories that try to annihilate them is of even greater interest to me. Not long after the trafficked Africans were docked in the Caribbean and later sold throughout present day United States, the akonting slowly evolved into an early version of the banjo. The descendants of the Stolen Ones continued to use the banjo to endure the horrors of the chattel slavery and the legacies that persisted beyond it. Though the instrument had morphed, the power and connection to Spirit remained the same. As the first waves of kidnapped Africans endured the Middle Passage with the help of the akonting, the enslaved Africans who were born into this brutal system had the help of the banjo to find a way to stay alive, to stay tethered to Spirit while enduring unspeakable horrors. History was preserved in the rhythms and divine love and strength was woven into the chords. They couldn’t have done it without the banjo. So, how, and why, is it that seeing a black woman with a banjo is so odd? The tiktok version of this history lesson goes something like this. As the banjo continued to spread throughout the country, white musicians began to take interest in it. The banjo evolved even more, the resonator was added to improve the sound quality of the instrument during performances, different playing styles were popularized, and the fame of black face minstrel music grew in right alongside that of the banjo itself. From the United States to Europe, minstrel music, black face and the banjo, dominated the music scene for the better part of about 50 years. The prominence of black face minstrel music, the banjo, and the growing violence against the black folks who were caricatured in minstrel music (and the rest of US society) all functioned to sever people of the African diaspora from this instrument of power. To be close to the banjo meant to be close to the, now global, horrendously negative portrayal of black folks. To favor this instrument has meant a cosigning with the visual violence and skewed perceptions of an entire people. Luckily, the story doesn’t end with any of these atrocities. There are many people, artists, activists, historians who work in service to the complex history of this instrument. Stewards who are helping to broaden the historical view of the banjo so that it reaches beyond black face; revealing the potency of this instrument not just for the social lives of a people, but for the spiritual lives as well. The importance of such work cannot be understated. (At the bottom of this essay you’ll find a list of some of these culture workers who focus on the banjo.) The temptation to sterilize history for the sake of modern, and privileged, comfort is a seductive temptation. Yet, it promises nothing but continued harm by way of delusion. Enduring the discomforts of remembering how the banjo came to be is far different from enduring the actual discomforts (aka – evil) inflicted on the many generations of stolen and enslaved Africans who created the banjo. Between the two positions, ours is luxurious to say the very least. Malidoma Patrice Somé, a recently departed elder of the Dagara people says it best in his book “The Healing Wisdom of Africa” He says, “the symbolic and the spiritual are not far apart. In fact, in Dagara, there is no word that directly translates as symbol. There is no word for symbol other than the word Spirit, because there is an assumed indivisible connection between Spirit and symbol.” I write what I write because I want the banjo to be known for what it is – a symbol of endurance and the persistence of Life, even, if not especially amid inconceivable suffering. These times continue to be trying ones. Whether you are cued into your personal suffering, the collective suffering, or some combination, it is important to employ reliable tools in the name of life abiding. In my spiritual imagination we are all encouraging one another with our personal symbols of strength, hope, etc. in beautiful formation ready to do the Care Bear stare and melt down the source of our woes. As we gather together to remember our indivisible connection with Spirit, I’ll be sending my love with a radical strum on the banjo. ~ Toni Anne Reynolds Black Banjo Resources - Black Banjo Reclamation Project - “On the Lost History of the Black Banjo” with Rhiannon Giddens - American Roots Music “The Banjo” - Throw Down Your Heart, Documentary Read online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Roy The Resurrection - Instead of reading the resurrection story of Jesus literally, can we understand it as a spiritual truth about how each one of us can transform our lives towards being more loving and kind? A: By Rev. James Burklo Dear Roy,To answer you simply: yes!But the sacred myth of the resurrection is not just about transformation. It is a sacred myth that transforms. After his crucifixion, the gospel tells us that Jesus was in the tomb for three days, corresponding to the three trimesters of human gestation. And then he resurrected. Jesus’ body went into it, and the eternal and ever-present Christ, who is God, who is Love, came out. The pain and terror and horror of crucifixion went in, and hope and promise came out. Anger and fear went in, and forgiveness and peace came out.Jesus’ body went into the tomb, and the Christian church came out, three days later. As St. Paul wrote much later, “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body . . .” (1 Corinthians 15:44) Jesus’ body was a seed sown in the earth, and from him sprouted a beloved community that lives and bears fruit to this day. The myth of the resurrection is itself a seed. We receive it into the soil of our souls, and there in the darkness of our unconscious it grows within. The myth changes the narrative of our lives from being victims of abuse to being agents of reconciliation and renewal. This potent story becomes the scaffold upon which we take the rough, raw material of our lives to construct a new and beautiful edifice.At Easter, Christians celebrate this spiritual transformation by coming together in the “spiritual body” that is the church. We are the compassionate community that rolled away the stone and emerged from the tomb. The Christ lives through us! That’s what we mean when we repeat the ancient Greek chant: “Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!”—“Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”~ Rev. James Burklo Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Jim Burklo is the Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Southern California. An ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, he is the author of seven published books on progressive Christianity, his latest book is Tenderly Calling: An Invitation to the Way of Jesus (St Johann Press, 2021). His weekly blog, “Musings”, has a global readership. He serves on the board of ProgressiveChristiansUniting.org and is an honorary advisor and frequent content contributor for ProgressiveChristianity.org. | | | | | | | | 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/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org 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. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited "Think Different - Accept Uncertainty" Part IX: What is the Human Reality Our Ancestors Called Original Sin? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong April 26, 2012What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be alive? Why are we constituted the way we are? What was there and what is there about our humanity that caused our ancestors to develop a mythological understanding of human life, portraying it as fallen and infected with what they called “original sin?” To answer these questions seems to me to be the first step in building a new way to tell the Christ story. So allow me to roam deeply into the field of anthropology out of which these questions arise.When I was preparing to write my book that was published in 2009 under the title Eternal Life: A New Vision: Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell, I made a simple determination. I could not research life after death. I could not interview people who had made that transition. I could not get to the place where these people now existed. What I could do, however, was to study life itself. Life before death would have to yield the clues to the possibility of life after death, if I were to have anything to say about the greatest of life’s mysteries. So, into the study of living things I plunged.My wife and I went to examine life in the Amazon rain forest of South America. Here we looked at vines, some as thin as shoelaces, some as thick as an athlete’s thigh, but all of them apparently motivated by the drive to survive. These vines sought out the darkest places in the jungle because they seemed to sense intuitively that the darkest part of the rain forest contained the tallest trees and if they attached themselves to these tall trees they gained access to the life-giving rays of the sun. Vines are not thinking things, but the quest for survival still motivated their lives.We also saw ants’ nests and wasps’ nests that appeared to have worked out a mutual defense treaty. In every tree of the rain forest where there was an ants’ nest in the lower part of the tree there was a wasps’ nest in the higher branches of that tree. The reason for that was that the primary enemy of the wasps was another variety of ants called army ants that would climb the tree and devour the wasps’ larvae, thus destroying the future of the hive. The wasps armed only with stingers were helpless before these tiny creatures. These army ants, however, would not go beyond a regular ants’ nest, so by locating their hive above the regular ants’ nest, the wasps were safe and therefore capable of surviving. The natural enemy of the ants on the other side of this equation was the anteater, which would climb the tree and devour all of the ants in the nest in a single sitting. The anteaters, however, were large, visible and slow-moving targets for the stingers of the wasps. So the wasps drove off the anteaters and saved the regular ants and those same ants provided a defense line against the army ants for the wasps. The survival interests of both kinds of insects were met. Seeing this mutual defense treaty in operation, one might even imagine that Henry Kissinger had come to the rain forest to negotiate this settlement.In another part of the rain forest, we discovered parakeets by the thousands, perhaps by the tens of thousands. Parakeets live off the fruits of the rain forest, but the primary nutrients present in the fruit are contained in the seeds, which are toxic to the parakeets. So if they eat enough of the nutrients to live, they die of toxicity. The rain forest, however, offered them a survival technique. Throughout the forest there are places called “clay licks,” the soil of which contains an ample supply of anti-toxins. Each day swarms of parakeets descend on the “clay licks” until all have received sufficient anti-toxins from the soil to enable them to eat the toxic seeds of the fruits of the forest. Nature in the service of life had provided the parakeets a natural alka-seltzer to fortify them before they eat their over-rich fruit banquets. This drive for survival is in every living thing.We went to the Galapagos Islands to follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin. There we discovered that long ago pirates, hiding in wait for their next target on these islands, had imported goats into the Galapagos so that they could have fresh meat while there. The Galapagos Islands do not have enough fresh water to support mammalian life. The only mammals on the Galapagos Islands are sea lions that are related to their cousins in the Pacific Ocean near California, and bats that have a remarkable range making fresh water always available. These goats, however, gradually adapted to the salty brine available in the Galapagos in order to survive and because they did they then threatened to wreck the ecology of these islands because there they had no natural enemies. Life is powerfully driven by survival needs.We went to Northern Queensland in Australia near the Great Barrier Reef. There, on a boat trip down a tidal river near the city of Cairns we discovered something the local people call “The Sacrificial Leaves” of the mangrove tree. Along the banks of this river were groves of mangrove trees, a freshwater plant with dark, slick green leaves. In this river basin, however, they were living in a place where the ocean tides brought great amounts of salt into the water. To survive in this environment, these trees had to deal with the salt. They did so in two ways. First, they developed a huge root system with hairy tentacles stretching in all directions that served as filters against the salt. Still, however, too much salt entered the trees for them to live, requiring some additional step if they were to survive. So second, the mangrove tree developed a system that routed the incoming salt to designated leaves on the trees. These leaves first absorbed the salt, then turned orange and finally fell off. They were called “Sacrificial Leaves.” These leaves died so that the tree could live. Survival drives every living thing.We went to Kruger Park in South Africa, the world’s largest, natural game preserve. There at incredibly close range, we could see the survival techniques of higher animals, all of which were equipped with a “fight or flight” syndrome. When a predator appeared, the flocks would flee as one for survival. When a single creature was cut out of the flock and trapped by the predator in a one on one chase, it fled until it could run no more. Then it turned to face its enemy in one last, hopeless fight for survival. No creature sacrifices life without a struggle. Suicide is not an option in the subhuman animal world. We even discovered that among the herds of impalas or springboks from which the great cats of the jungle got their dinner every day, the flocks tended to be organized so that the older and less productive members of the herd were put into the more vulnerable positions on the edges of the herd, a kind of natural death panel, though I do not think anyone should tell Sarah Palin about this.Everywhere I looked at life, whether plant, insect or animal life, I found it driven, even motivated by the drive and will to survive. The nature of life is survival. Since human beings are part of the animal world, it should not surprise us that we too are survival-oriented creatures. There is, however, one major difference in human life. Human beings are self-conscious and thus we are capable of rational planning, even scheming about our own survival. We do not just adapt to an environment like an unthinking vine or a mangrove tree. We do not even adapt by natural instinct like the animals of the world that survive and thrive in the jungle. We rather install the natural survival instinct at the center of our conscious life. Our own survival is the highest value in our lives. That being so we look at all things, at all events and at all people from the vantage point of how each will affect our own survival. We are, therefore, biologically wired to be self-centered creatures. Our self-centeredness is not the result of some fall from perfection, it is present biologically in our very DNA. We gained the competitive edge in the struggle for supremacy in our evolutionary history by sharing in this biological reality. That was the behavior that our religious ancestors observed and what they called “original sin,” which they defined as a pre-disposition toward that which they regarded as evil.Out of our survival instinct evil does flow. That is why we fear and hate people who are different. This is why we are tribal people, racist people, homophobic people, and xenophobic people. We relate to that which we do not understand as if these realities threaten our survival. We will kill when we believe our lives are in danger. We will push others down in order to build ourselves up, to enhance our chances of survival. That is the nature of human life. Like all living things, we are survival-oriented creatures, but because we are self-conscious people and capable of charting our own destinies in rational ways, our survival instincts are far more powerful and far more pervasive that these found in any other living creature.So, if this is what was once called “sin” or “original sin” then what does salvation from this understanding of sin look like? Can we be saved from this reality by an invading deity? Can we be set free from an essential element in our biology? Can we evolve beyond our survival mentality? What in the world does the Christ figure have to offer to this diagnosis of human life?We will attempt to address these questions as the series develops.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Mystery of Death Starting April 18th, this e-course consists of 12 emailed lessons delivered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Each has an essay by Bourgeault on the themes of The Mystery of Death, along with questions for conscious reflection and spiritual practices to do; the latter will focus on surrender or “letting go” practices, common to all the world’s sacred traditions. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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How time flies
by David Dunn 13 Apr '22

13 Apr '22

This image appeared unbidden in my camera roll. There may or may not be any significance in that fact, but it is provocative 🧐. David Sent from my iPhone

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Digest members can't see pictures posted as attachments
by Timothy Wegner 10 Apr '22

10 Apr '22

This sudden interest in pictures is very exciting! Thanks to folks posting them! I have been getting feedback from people whose accounts are set up to read the digest. The digest does not show attachments, so if you are one of these folks you will not see the pictures posted as attachments. There are two cures, one for folks posting the pictures, and one for the recipient of list mail. 1. For people posting pictures, if you put pictures in a publicly visible place (e.g. google drive or one drive) and post a link to the pictures in list messages, rather than attaching the pictures, everyone will be able to see them. 2. If you are subscribed to digests of the mailing lists, you will not see pictures posted as attachments. You can change your list membership to not receive digests, and then (for the future) you will see pictures attached to messages. You can do this yourself, or ask me, I can easily do it for you. I hope this helps. If anyone needs help with any of this, just email me directly. Tim

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NYTimes: Globalization Is Over. The Global Culture Wars Have Begun.
by Jo Nelson 08 Apr '22

08 Apr '22

A provocative article that raises the question of our role in creating the future. Globalization Is Over. The Global Culture Wars Have Begun. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/opinion/globalization-global-culture-war… From the mobile desk of Jo Nelson

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4/07/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev James Burklo: Walking Points: How to Respond to Evangelical Christians; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 07 Apr '22

07 Apr '22

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Walking Points How to Respond to Evangelical Christians | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. James Burklo April 7, 2022 All of us at some point will be approached by evangelical Christians attempting to convince us to become their kind of Christians. What’s the most Christian way we can respond to them? -- whether we are Christians or not? I’ll share here an outline of how I respond to the evangelical efforts to convert me, a Christian pastor for over 40 years, to Christianity. I imagine myself and an evangelical Christian having a chat while taking a walk together. Here I share my side of the conversation: “I really sense the depth and significance of your faith in Jesus, and also the sincere concern you have for me. I can at least begin to imagine how it must feel for you to believe that I am in danger of eternal damnation. To think that I and so many other people you genuinely care about might experience such a horrible future – that must be deeply disturbing to you. How do you cope with such a huge concern? Tell me more about how that feels… “Is it okay for me to respond? I may say some things that could disturb you even more, though that is not my intention. My goal is not to weaken your faith, but just to share what my faith is like. I do hope that what I have to say might be helpful to you. Should I continue?... “For me, Christian faith is the practice of compassion. “Heaven” is giving and receiving the unconditional love that is God, here and now, on earth – and that “hell” is a metaphor for what life is like when we fail to give or receive divine love…. “It seems to me that our conversation about faith in Jesus involves some other initial assumptions that we might best explore together before going much further. Tell me, what do you mean by the word “God”?.... “My understanding about God resonates with 1 John 4 in the New Testament: “God is love.” It seems to me that this statement has very big implications. Love is real, it is powerful, it is everywhere. But the nature of love is that it does not force itself on the world: it is attractive, not controlling. It invites us to do good, but can’t prevent us from doing wrong. If God is love, then God is natural – not supernatural or omnipotent. If God is love, then God is a quality of personal relationships, so it is natural that we would use the language of personhood to talk about God, even though God is not a sort of “person” like you or I…. “You’ve quoted the Bible to me quite a bit as we’ve started our conversation. What do you say the Bible is?... “I read the Bible as a collection of ancient writings by people about their spiritual experiences. I see it as a language of faith, rather than as a prescription of what we’re supposed to believe or do. Its writings come from times and circumstances that in many cases are far removed from our own. Its myths, stories, and poems have always been precious raw material for Christians to use in creative ways in expressing their journeys of faith. That’s the way Jesus used the Hebrew scriptures, and that’s the way I read the Christian scriptures. So for me it does not make sense to take the Bible literally, nor does it make sense for me to “believe” the Bible. Instead I seek inspiration in it where it is to be found, seek to understand its historical contexts, and make creative use of it in expressing my faith and growing in it. There is deep truth in many of the Bible’s myths, even if they are not based on facts. So when you use passages from the Bible to “prove” your points, that approach does not fit my understanding of what the Bible is nor how we best can read it and use it…. “Yes, I understand that you believe the Bible to be the word of God, even though the Bible doesn’t refer to itself at all, since its writers didn’t know their writings would be gathered together later into what we now call the Bible. The Bible does not say that the Bible is the word of God. So clearly, much later than when the books in it were written, people decided what would be included in the Bible and what would be left out. And then they came up with the idea that the Bible was the word of God. I respect that idea as something important in the history of Christianity, but I don’t find it to be a useful idea today. I treasure the Bible as a human record of human experiences of spirituality over thousands of years. It is the language of myths and story and poetry that I use to express my faith…. “I understand that you believe in the miracle stories in the Bible – that Jesus was literally born from a virgin, that Jesus literally walked on water and literally rose from the dead. I take these stories seriously but see no point in taking them literally since they don’t fit with our modern understanding about how the world works. There was nothing like science, nothing like history in the modern sense of the word, in the time of Jesus and the early church. People believed that the Roman emperor was born from a virgin. Lots of stories circulated of people rising from the dead and performing miraculous healings in the first century. To me, it seems like a cruel threat to say that to avoid hellfire in an afterlife, we must accept stories as factual that were much, much easier to believe in the early days of Christianity than they are for us to believe today… “I understand that you believe human beings are hopeless sinners who deserve eternal punishment for their sins, and that you believe that God sent Jesus to die on the cross as a sacrifice to pay for our sins, and that if we believe in him the way you do, then we’ll be saved from hell in the afterlife. Is this what you think is the central “take-away” message of Christianity?.... “I understand how important you believe the message of blood atonement for sin to be. In the context of first-century Israel, that theology would have had a cultural context that made it deeply meaningful. For instance, all meat that people consumed came from animals that had been ritually sacrificed to establish or maintain a relationship with various supernatural divinities. So the idea of blood sacrifice was universal at the time. Today, we buy meat in shrink-wrapped packages in grocery stores, with no rituals associated with the process. So we are culturally very distant from the idea of blood atonement for sin. I don’t find it to be the most compelling or meaningful message of Christianity. I see the cross confronting us with human suffering, making us look at the ways we impose suffering on others, and pointing us toward reconciliation and forgiveness and compassion…. “The take-away message of my faith is this: Rabbi Jesus discovered that the center of his being was not his body or his ego, but God, who is unconditional love. He taught people to discover this for themselves, and to practice the radical compassion that follows from this awareness. He organized the church to cultivate this awareness and put it into action in the world. He demonstrated unconditional love so profoundly that the Roman government considered him a threat to its authority and killed him on a cross. Out of love he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus’ followers turned the cross into the symbol of his unconditional compassion, and his church has strived to follow his way ever since… “I hope that our conversation leaves us both with deeper understanding of each other… and that we can keep on sharing love – who is God - with each other!” ~ Rev. James Burklo Read online here About the Author Rev. Jim Burklo is the Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Southern California. An ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, he is the author of seven published books on progressive Christianity, his latest book is Tenderly Calling: An Invitation to the Way of Jesus (St Johann Press, 2021). His weekly blog, “Musings”, has a global readership. He serves on the board of ProgressiveChristiansUniting.org and is an honorary advisor and frequent content contributor for ProgressiveChristianity.org. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader I don’t know if this is a question or just an expression of exasperation. A Roman Catholic priest recently resigned and all of his baptisms were declared invalid because he said “we” baptize instead of “I” baptize. Words fail me. A: By Rev. David M. Felten Dear Reader, This kind of legalism leaves me gobsmacked, too. Especially if one considers the ripple effect: imagine that one of these invalid baptizees went on to be ordained a priest himself. Since his baptism is now invalid, then he’s not really a Roman Catholic, his ordination is invalid and all the sacraments he’s ever performed are, likewise, invalid. Too bad for those who can’t come back for a re-do of their last rites (Commendation of the Dying)! This kind of obsession with the letter of the law is a perfect example of why people get fed up and abandon organized religion. Where’s the grace? Where’s the kindness? Look, I’m not a Roman Catholic and I’m certainly no canon lawyer, but in thinking about this situation my thoughts go back to a question raised in seminary: what about the efficacy of sacraments distributed by morally flawed clergy? Traditionally, the effectiveness of the sacrament isn’t supposed to depend on the merit of the person doing the dispensing. A sacrament is effective simply because it is being performed. The fancy Latin term is “ex opera operato.” This was first clarified back in the 4th century in a dispute with the soon-to-be-declared-heretics, the Donatists (who believed the validity of the sacrament was contingent upon the holiness of the clergyperson). St. Augustine said, whatever the sacrament, it was Christ doing the “work” and flawed clergy performing the sacraments are just a spigot through which the blessing flows: If that power “should pass through defiled beings, it is not itself defiled.” (In Ioannis evangelium tractatus, 5, 15) The issue in today’s case, though, is control. Since the priest said “we” baptize (instead of “I” baptize), he is accused of implying that the community at large possesses a modicum of “power” in the administering of sacraments. The presiding Bishop, Thomas J. Olmsted, said, “it is not the community that baptizes a person, rather, it is Christ, and Him alone, who presides at all of the sacraments, and so it is Christ Jesus who baptizes." In other words, the church holds the licensing agreement to all things “Jesus.” God forbid anyone (especially “the people”) threaten that monopoly. So, it finally comes down to being a turf issue. The Church knows that it is losing influence and has ceased to be authoritative in any real way in the world. It’s only hope in maintaining any relevance is to protect what it perceives to be commodities that are available nowhere else: in this case, baptism. Any hint of a loss of control over this product cannot be tolerated. This also plays into the longstanding effort to infantilize the faithful into believing that the sacraments are not symbolic, but actually some sort of magic. If the incantation (expellio ridiculoso!) is not done exactly as printed in the book of spells, there’s no telling what dark magic could be unleashed. Sound silly? It is. If only it were as simple as assuming that the person participating in the sacrament receives whatever “power” is advertised by virtue of their having agreed to participate in the sacrament in the first place and leave it at that. But alas, an increasingly desperate and irrelevant Church needs to protect its “turf” — even when doing so means reinforcing its reputation for pettiness and magnifying its obsolescence. ~ Rev. David M. Felten Read and share online here About the Author Rev. David M. Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions” and authors of Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity. A co-founder of Catalyst Arizona and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. David is the proud father of three reliably remarkable human beings. Visit his website here. | | | | | | | | 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/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org 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. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | | | | This Week's Featured Author Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack In his Introduction to Matthew Fox, Dr. Burack recounts the life and influences that helped form Fox’s outlook and spirituality, from the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart to 20th century Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. The book then presents selections from all Fox’s major works. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited "Think Different - Accept Uncertainty" Part VIII: Deconstructing the Story of the Fall Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 29. 2012 The way Christians have told the Christ story, beginning with Augustine in the fourth century and continuing through Anselm in the twelfth century, is to postulate an original and perfect creation from which human life has fallen. This original perfection was first perverted and then lost by an act of human disobedience. At least that was the way the biblical story of the Garden of Eden was interpreted. Expelled from paradise because of this act of disobedience, the only human hope was that God would somehow come to rescue us from this fall; to save us from this original sin and to redeem us from our lostness. Given these presuppositions it should come as no surprise that Jesus was portrayed as God’s special rescue operation. His death on the cross represented the terrible price that God had to pay to accomplish our salvation. So on the Protestant side of Christianity we learned to say such things as, “Jesus died for my sins,” and on the Catholic side of Christianity we began to refer to the Eucharist as “the Sacrifice of the Mass,” which meant that the Mass re-enacted liturgically that moment when Jesus died for our sins. My last column in this series ended with the question: “What is wrong with these familiar concepts?” My answer was “Everything.” Today I seek to put theological flesh on those bare bones. It is interesting to note how negative Christian churches have been about the work of Charles Darwin. Enormous religious energy has been spent in attempts to blunt the insights of Darwin over the last 153 years since the publication of The Origins of Species by Natural Selection in 1859. This negativity has given rise to a more militant fundamentalism, brought John Scopes to trial in Tennessee and spawned attempts to promote as alternatives such discredited concepts as “creation science” and “Intelligent Design.” It has captured the attention of State legislatures and even of the 43rd President of the United States. It has motivated politicians to force upon school districts the judicious editing of public school textbooks to allow alternatives to evolution to appear to be credible. One does not see this kind of emotional reaction unless there is a deep emotional threat. The work of Charles Darwin has clearly disturbed the security that traditional religion seeks to provide. What, we must ask, is the nature of that threat? Well, in its earliest phase Darwin clearly challenged the literalization of the Bible and especially of the Bibles’ creation story, rocking the claims of the fundamentalists. That, however, does not seem enough to generate the levels of emotional hostility toward evolution that has been expressed in churches over the last century. Indeed, very early in the dispute, fundamentalists decided that each day in the creation story could have been a billion years or so and that was enough to save their literal Bibles, or so they thought. It was an answer that did not meet any scientific criteria of competence, but it did lower the threat and calm the fears. The real reason for this continuing visceral hostility must be deeper than that. It is as we shall see! The real and unrelenting hostility of traditional Christians to Darwin rises out of the fact that Darwin has annihilated the familiar way the Jesus story has been told through the years. If Darwin is right, and the world of science is overwhelmingly convinced that he is and his insights have been confirmed by the discovery of DNA, then the way traditional Christians have told the Christ story explodes before our eyes. Let me examine that idea for a moment. The traditional telling of the story, adapted from a literal reading of the opening chapters of Genesis, begins with a picture of the perfection of creation, which was both good and complete. One cannot claim perfection for creation unless it is a finished process. A still evolving universe could make no claim to be finished or complete. Yet that was at the heart of Darwin’s insight. Darwin said that there never was a perfect, finished creation, but that we have been evolving for a very long time. Darwin himself did not realize just how long that had been he only knew that it was ongoing. At this moment new galaxies are still being formed. There was, therefore, no such thing as a state of perfection in which human life was formed. Human beings as part of life have been evolving since life began about 3.8 billion years ago, when in the form of a single cell it began its journey. During hundreds of millions of years it evolved first into multi-celled complexity; then into the division between plant and animal life with primitive forms of consciousness appearing on the animate side; then into the journey of living things out of the sea and on to dry land that occurred about 600 million years ago; then into the rise of reptile dominance epitomized by the dinosaurs; then into the climactic changes that took place about 65 million years ago rendering the dinosaurs extinct and allowing for the emergence of the dominant mammals; then into the development of higher forms of consciousness, and finally into the majestic step from consciousness into self-consciousness that finally produced the recognizable form we call human life. Depending on how one defines human life, that last step occurred anywhere from four million to 250,000 years ago. There is absolutely no biological evidence anywhere that with human life the permanent goal of evolution has been achieved. Homo sapiens assume that, but my guess is that the dinosaurs also assumed that 65 million years ago. Instead evolution indicates that life is a work in progress, not a finished product. Certainly it makes no sense to claim today that human life began in an original perfection. Look now at what this now established conclusion might mean for the traditional telling of the Christ story. If there was no original perfection, there could be no fall from that perfection into a state we have called original sin. So the idea of original sin is at best nothing more than pre-Darwinian mythology and at worst nothing more than post-Darwinian nonsense. It is obviously no longer a viable way to describe the flaw we observe in human life that we call evil. To continue the carnage, if there was no fall from perfection into sin, there could be no need for a divine rescue so the idea of seeing Jesus as the savior of the sinful, the redeemer of the fallen or the rescuer of the lost becomes nothing other than inoperable word constructs and, as a direct consequence, to call Jesus savior, redeemer or rescuer becomes untranslatable. If there was no fall, not even metaphorically, there could be no restoration from this fall, for no one and no thing can be restored to a status that persons or things have never before enjoyed. So Darwin first challenges and then demolishes the frame of reference in which Christians for centuries have told the Jesus story and the tragedy is that we know of no other way to tell our story. So, if Darwin is right, Christianity, as we have understood it, is wrong and its days are therefore numbered. This is a theological system based on a now abandoned understanding of human anthropology and good theology can never be constructed on the basis of bad anthropology. This means that no divine figure ever came from God into this world to be the savior of a fallen humanity! Yet this theology has shaped our worship, our understanding of the Eucharist, our hymns, our prayers and our sermons, to say nothing of our creedal understandings of both God and Jesus for centuries. When we understand the depth of the Darwinian challenge, perhaps we will then begin to understand why fundamentalists cling so passionately to their outdated concepts and even seek to impose them on everyone else as the only way for their point of view to survive. It also helps us to understand why mainline churches are in a statistical freefall. They know that the old literalism no longer works, but they do not know how to replace it, so they drift without a message and they are no longer able to bind people out of loyalty to their institutional forms. Separating oneself from religion is now relatively easy. Does that mean that we are witnessing the end of Christianity? I suspect it does, if by Christianity we mean the traditional way of telling the Christian story. The question we need to ask, and it is a deeply radical question coming at us from many angles, is this: Is the traditional way of telling the Christ story the only way to tell that story? Is the only way to talk about God the theistic way, that is, to define God as a supernatural being who dwells somewhere external to this world and who can and will invade the world to come to our aid or to answer our prayers? Is the only way to speak of Christ something that involves us in seeing him as the incarnation of this theistic deity, as one who, in the words of Charles Wesley’s Christmas hymn, was a divine being simply “veiled in flesh?” The fact is that only inside these dated categories, can we still talk about being “saved,” about salvation, about meaningful worship, about achieving forgiveness or even about life after death. Once we pull the central piece from this carefully constructed puzzle, is there anything left? Does not the whole religious system of the past 2000 or so years come apart, shattering like a piece of precious glass into a million shards, never to be reassembled again? To be able to think differently about the Christian faith or to accept uncertainty in the presence of this kind of challenge does not mean merely nibbling around the edges of our religious system. It does not mean simply doing a facelift on the corpse of traditional Christian thinking. It calls us, rather, to a radical re-visioning of our faith story. It requires that we find a new entry point. It means that we become willing to give up everything we have ever known in order to move to a place where there are no road maps or road signs and we still have the responsibility of putting one foot in front of the other as we are forced to step into the cloud of unknowing. Many are no longer willing to risk this journey. They are the new fundamentalists. The pain of this transition is too intense, but the alternative is little more than a life of deception and illusion. Theological honesty requires that we admit that we have arrived at the status of the total bankruptcy of our traditional Christian symbols. What do we do now? We first must recognize that good theology can never be built on the basis of bad anthropology. So we must begin by understanding what it means to be human. We will pick up this thread and see where it leads us when this series resumes. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Session #1, Friday 7:00 – 9:00 pm The First Creed: Discovering a Hidden Faith in Humanity Session #2, Saturday 9:00 – 11:30 am Dismantling the Ancient Caste System: The Creed Then Session #3, Saturday 1:00 – 2:30 pm Faith and the American Caste System: The Creed Now READ ON... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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