June 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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6/30/2022: Progressing Spirit: Rev. LaurenVan Ham: A Different Kind of Optimism; Spong revisitd
by Ellie Stock 30 Jun '22

30 Jun '22

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A Different Kind of Optimism | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Lauren Van Ham June 30, 2022 Recently, I was in consultation with a colleague who is First Nation Cree. Throughout the conversation, there was a steady stream of confidence, curiosity, and hope. Really smiling at one point, my colleague said, “I’m an eternal optimist who comes from a history of despair.” Wow. And yes. And why then, I wondered, is my inner optimist in hiding? My optimism has been tempered by the stories I see and hear about the despair that has been, the despair that is present, and the predicted despair, yet to come. But, Lauren, you’re a chaplain. Isn’t there a different kind of optimism that might be helpful right now? There is and I’ll get to that, but it’s so important to look first (eyes and heart wide open) at what is happening to life everywhere right now. Whether it’s the most recent IPCC report or progress updates on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the current data makes it clear that the necessary global commitments, or the required changes in human behavior and infrastructure, will not happen in time to keep global warming within 1.5 °C (and not even under 2°C); nor will we reach the SDGs by the 2030 target. The consequences will continue to be devastating and interrelated. They will be interrelated because everything is interrelated. Our living system is interrelated. And, the SDGs are interrelated. Just as soil, birds, and trees work together to create a healthy ecosystem, gender equality, job security, and clean water work together to create healthy communities. At first glance, the 17 SDGs seem obvious and in line with everything we were taught in kindergarten or religious education: “Goal 1: No Poverty,” “Goal 2: Zero Hunger.” But there are interdependencies within the 17 goals that become more uncomfortable and less convenient: “Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production,” Where are our teachers for this practice? “Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.” What kind of economic growth? What about economies that aren’t dependent on that “growth” word? In his encyclical letter, Laudato Si (2015), Pope Francis wrote, “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.” Although the word, “sustainable” has become tricky, “integral” offers greater clarity, does it not? Sometimes, caring for Earth looks less like planting a garden and more like helping girls stay in school. And tending our communities might mean buying locally but it’s also about divesting wisely, relinquishing excess, and thoughtfully considering what land stewardship or “ownership” means to us individually, and collectively. Working to restore Earth and taking good care of one another are always related. Integrally. Relationships and systems that are truly sustaining involve some back and forth; there is tending, reciprocity, and flow. Again, from the Laudato Si: “The time has come to accept decreased growth in some parts of the world, in order to provide resources for other places to experience healthy growth.” Think controlled burns in our neglected forests. Of course, this requires trust and a belief in sufficiency and enough. It asks us to consider endings and deaths like our own. It’s a huge unlearning for most of us, and we’ve no time to lose. What is your relationship to growth? Excess? Enough? And what are we each doing about our answers, individually and across the greater web of relationships? Since its release in December 2020, an international scholars’ warning[i] to slow and prepare for societal disruption and breakdown has been signed by over 500 scientists and scholars in dozens of subjects, from over 30 countries. In the midst of extreme temperatures, flooding, supply chain disruption, food insecurity, wars, political divisiveness, refugee camps, and wavering economies, the letter advises, “Only if policymakers begin to discuss this threat of societal collapse might communities and nations begin to prepare and so reduce its likelihood, speed, severity, harm to the most vulnerable, and to nature.” Thankfully many faith groups are not waiting for the policymakers. Important, life-preserving work is being done by houses of worship and spiritual communities in the form of disaster preparedness, and by becoming cooling centers or resilience hubs in their neighborhoods. The scholars’ letter continues, “Some of us believe that a transition to a new form of society may be possible. That will involve bold action to reduce damage to the climate, nature, and other people, including preparations for major disruptions to everyday life… We have experienced how emotionally challenging it is to recognize the damage being done, along with the growing threat to our own way of life. We also know the great sense of fellowship that can arise.” And this brings me back to a different kind of optimism. Within every world religion, there is the mystical and the prophetic. We are instructed and inspired by both. Recall those mystical moments when you have been “right-sized” by a mountain summit or the stars at night; and the reverence that comes alive in us with the “hush” that permeates a cave, cathedral, or seashell when held to our ear. This reverence places us within the family of all beings. We are finite and we are a part of the infinite. And consider the prophetic: the messages that call us home to our ancient knowledge, or propel us toward care for future generations. Prophetic wisdom is engaged reverence! When we bring reverence into our actions, we create resilience. And when we do this in the community, we experience connective, collective resilience. What can we be doing to create more of this, right now, in our homes, neighborhoods, and cities? I suspect that it is this kind of reverence-invites-resilience that my colleague meant when he described feeling optimistic. So often, in the stories of those whose ancestors survived forced relocation, enslavement, or genocide, there is a quiet, steady source of trust…hope? Resilience? What if our inspiration came from our reverent awareness that our one temporary existence is amazingly precious and… enough? Encounters with reverence (spiritual practice) encourage us to live and give fully, especially because we know that we will not always be in this body, contributing and experiencing in this way. Can that be more fantastic than fearsome? More optimistic than pessimistic? The state of our world is calling us on a journey of uncertainty. A number of us are creating circles of support and looking for more and better ways to become adaptive in the face of great change and significant loss. As it has always been for those living close to Earth, let’s ask for reverence and resilience combined to be our optimism. Because when facing despair, if another more resilient, deeply loving, and directly caring way is possible, isn’t it who we are and what we believe to choose it? ~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read online here About the Author Born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest, Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University, and The Chaplaincy Institute. Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care), and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Lauren’s passion for spirituality, art, and Earth's teachings have supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. Currently, Lauren tends her private spiritual direction and eco-chaplaincy consulting practice; and serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative (URI), and as guest faculty for several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. [i] I encourage readers to watch a 4 min video of the letter being read by some of the signatories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0frHoqXLB0&t=35s | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader Is it possible that religion has less to do with what’s true and more to do with where and when you were born? A: By Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Dear Reader, Everything that is, as it is, as it arises at this moment, is what I call Reality. With each moment, Reality arises completely anew. On a macro scale, we can say that Reality is refracted by each culture. This means that each culture, constituted by the shared meanings and values (such as religion, art, etc.) of its people, sees Reality from a certain perspective. This cultural perspective is quite complex, being enriched by social systems (such as education, politics, science, communication, etc.) and unique persons. Each person emerges as an enculturated being, with their genetic disposition formed by their culture and its myriad systems. Truth is a claim both individuals and cultures make about their experience of Reality. A religion is one cultural force that helps a given group and its members make sense of their experience of Reality within the context of their culture. An Indian Hindu might interpret her spiritual experience as a vision of Krishna; a Roman Catholic in Mexico might interpret a similar experience as a vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a Zen Buddhist might interpret it as a vision of Avalokiteshvara. Each spiritual experience is a personal perception refracted through the religious-cultural lens of our formation as a human being. To the degree that an experience discloses Reality as it is, it speaks or embodies truth – in this instance the dimension of Reality might be the strength of love. Where religion becomes lost is when exclusive claims are made about a culturally embedded experience of Reality. Each perspective embodies truth and is partial. Where we are born is where our personal journey begins but not where it ends nor even where our most formative experiences might occur. Religion does have to do with where and when we are born. Religion has to do with what and how we learn, and how curious and open we are. Buddha, Jesus, Marguerite Porete, Rumi, Julian of Norwich: each of these teachers was greatly shaped by their time and place of birth, but none of them was completely determined by them. Their curious hearts led them to question the assumptions of their cultures and to see with new eyes what was possible for the human being. So it is with each of us. ~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Read and share online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including I Have Called You Friends, Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms, and My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You and Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland. Visit Kevin’s Blog: Essential Living: For The Soul’s Journey. | | | | | | | | 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, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited "Think Different—Accept Uncertainty" Part XIV: Analyzing the Miracles Attributed to Jesus Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 2, 2022 When most people think of the miracles included in the gospels, they usually think of a broad series of apparently supernatural acts. They tend not to be familiar with the intimate details of the biblical narrative. When those details are revealed, questions are inevitably raised as to the purpose the gospel writer had in mind when he was writing, and the possibility that these stories were never meant to be taken literally rises substantially. Allow me to illustrate that with some easily discovered biblical data. I begin with the most miraculous of the biblical claims. Did Jesus literally raise people from the dead? A search of the gospel texts reveals these biblical facts. The gospels suggest that three different people are called by Jesus from death into life, but only one of those stories occurs in more than one of the gospels. That is the account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter. It makes its first appearance in Mark (5:21-24, 35-43), a book written in the early seventies. The details in this original narrative tell us that Jairus was a “ruler of the synagogue,” who comes to Jesus beseeching him to heal his daughter “who is at the point of death.” Jesus begins to move toward Jairus’ home. As he does so, there is another healing miracle, the story of the woman with an issue of blood, inserted by Mark to take up the time during which they were on the way to Jairus’ house. Having completed that episode the journey continues only to be interrupted by Jairus’ servants coming to inform the synagogue ruler that the child has died and he is not to trouble the “teacher” any longer. Jesus, apparently unmoved by this report, speaks to Jairus telling him not to be fearful, but to believe and so the journey continues. Arriving at the house, Jesus is greeted by a host of mourners, who are weeping and wailing. He asks them why they are mourning, informing them that the child “is not dead but sleeping.” The mourners laugh at him. Closing the door on the mourners, Jesus goes with the child’s parents and his disciples into the child’s room. He takes the child’s hand and commands her to rise. She does. Mark then tells us that she is twelve years old. Jesus orders them to give her food and departs leaving behind him a trail of wonder and amazement. That same story is told next with only slight variations by Matthew (9:18-26) writing in the mid-eighties and then once again by Luke (8:40-56) writing in the late 80’s to early 90’s. Both Matthew and Luke incorporated substantial portions of Mark into their gospels and so we are not surprised to find the story not only repeated in each, but in exactly the same context of events, that is the message of the child’s sickness, the journey, the healing of another on the way and then word of the child’s death. It is obvious that in these three accounts we have a single story in three slightly different versions. For help in understanding this story, we turn to a remarkably similar episode that was said to have occurred in the life of the prophet Elisha recorded in the book of II Kings (4:8-36). In that story, Elisha raises a child of about twelve from the sleep of death. The only difference is that for Elisha the child is a boy, not a girl. In each story, there is a message sent to the “healer” while he is a long-distance away. In both stories, the healer continues to the child’s house, and goes directly into the room where the child is lying on the bed. Elisha is said to have done mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, stretching himself on the body of the child. Jesus is portrayed as taking her hand and speaking the word of healing. In each story, the child is restored to health. Could it be that this Jesus story was originally nothing more than a re-telling of an Elisha story as if it had occurred in Jesus’ life as a way of relating Jesus to the tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures and claiming for him the status of being a new Elisha? I think that is highly likely. The only other raising from the dead story that occurs in the synoptic gospels is told in Luke (7:11-17). In this miracle account, the only son of a widow is restored to life by Jesus in the village of Nain. There is little doubt that this man is dead, for his body is on the funeral bier in a procession toward his place of burial. Yet once again by looking at an older Elijah story (I Kings 17:24), we find remarkable similarities. There we discover that Elijah was also said to have raised the only son of a widow from the dead. We also know that Luke will draw on more than one occasion from the Elijah stories to relate his understanding of Jesus. Is that what this raising of the dead story, found only in Luke, is all about? I believe it is. There is only one other raising from the dead story in the gospels and it is the very dramatic account of the raising of Lazarus recorded only in the Fourth Gospel, a work that is generally dated at the end of the first century, ca. 95-100 or 65-70 years after the crucifixion. The details are these: It is a public, not a private act. Jesus’ disciples, his friends, and even his enemies are present. The person, who is to be raised, is not only dead but he has been buried for four days. John’s text even warns Jesus that there will be an odor if the tomb is opened. Jesus, nevertheless, orders the stone covering the mouth of the cave to be removed, and then he literally calls Lazarus out of the grave. Lazarus comes like a walking mummy, bound by the grave cloths in which he has been wrapped and from which he must be freed. If such a credibility-stretching episode had really occurred, ask yourself whether it is likely that no one in that public gathering would mention it for more than three generations before John writes it down. I will return to this story in this series next week but suffice it now to say that no biblical scholar today regards the account of the raising of Lazarus as history. So this brief analysis reveals that the three gospel stories of Jesus raising someone from the dead might mean something quite different from that arrived at by reading them as literal history, an insight confirmed again and again as we look at the miracles of Jesus more closely. The next category of miracles, attributed to Jesus, is what we call “nature” miracles: Jesus walking on water, stilling the storm, and feeding the multitude with loaves and fishes. A close look at these narratives also yields new possibilities for non-literal interpretation. Most people are not aware, for example, that there are six separate versions of the feeding of the multitude story in the four gospels. There are two in Mark, two in Matthew, one in Luke, and one in John. Since Mark and Matthew are older than Luke and John, it looks like the multiple accounts of the feeding stories are the earlier tradition. So we look first at Mark and Matthew. The symbols present in these narratives then begin to pop out of the text. In Mark, Jesus, on the Jewish side of the lake, feeds 5000 men (plus women and children) with five loaves and two fish. Afterward, twelve baskets of fragments are gathered up so that “nothing is lost.” Then Jesus moves to the Gentile side of the lake and proceeds to replicate the experience, but this time he feeds 4000 people with seven loaves and a few fish, and afterward, seven baskets of fragments are collected. The numbers employed: five loaves, 5000 people, and twelve baskets of fragments on the Jewish side of the lake and seven loaves, 4000 people, and seven baskets of fragments on the Gentile side of the lake scream at us not to read these narratives as literal history, but as symbolic feedings, perhaps as early Eucharists. By the time we get to John’s gospel those eucharistic connections are clear since John has Jesus liken his flesh to the manna that fell on the starving Israelites in the wilderness, making it clear that these stories are related to the Moses accounts in which God feeds the children of Israel with heavenly bread. Thus it becomes apparent that these feeding stories are not to be understood as literal happenings, but as interpretive narratives being retold about Jesus, the “New Moses.” I wonder how many people who sit in the pews have ever been invited to view miracles from this non-literal perspective. Moving on to the miracles of healing, let me illustrate this same non-literal approach by looking at just one narrative, the restoration of sight to a blind man from Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26). This miracle story is unique because the first application of the hands of Jesus on the eyes of this blind man was not successful, at least not completely. After Jesus anointed this man’s eyes with clay and spittle the blind man can see only “trees walking.” Only with the second laying on of hands was his sight fully restored. If this is really a miracle story then why was Jesus’ power inadequate the first time? The literal mindset is buffeted by these questions, but a look at the context in which this story appears in Mark offers a powerful clue. Mark places this story just before the account of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. In Peter’s confession he says the right words “You are the Christ,” but he clearly does not know what they mean. When Jesus begins to tell him what the Christ role is to be – suffering, rejection, and death — Peter objects eliciting from Jesus the stern rebuke: “Get thee behind me Satan, for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” Peter is surely portrayed as a blind man who begins to see but not clearly, and a second experience must precede his full entry into both faith and sight. It should not come as a surprise when we discover Peter hails from Bethsaida. Is this then really a miracle story, the account of a supernatural healing of a blind man? I do not think so, nor do I think that this is what Mark intended us to understand as we read his gospel. Mark is rather writing a parable about the conversion of Peter, a blind man who has to be led to seeing and thus to faith in stages. There are many more things that I can say about the miracle stories of the gospels, but I will devote only one more column to this subject to allow me to deal more fully with the fascinating story of the raising of Lazarus. For now let me say bluntly that I no longer think that the miracles of the gospels have anything to do with what we once called the miraculous. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Watch on Facebook or YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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6/23/2022, Progressing Spirit: Kevin G Thew Forrester, Ph.D.: Christ Heart: Discovery of Holy Mystery; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 23 Jun '22

23 Jun '22

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Christ Heart: Discovery of Holy Mystery | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. June 23, 2022 What is a heart alive with compassion and joy and spontaneity? A heart not continually weighed down by drivenness, anger, and fear? A heart at rest? A heart wholly embodied, not walled-off in pain and searching for someone or something to hurt? I call this the Christ Heart, a heart awakening as Holy Mystery. Buddhism speaks of realizing Buddha Heart. In Christianity there is Christ heart: a human being awake and alive and engaged with the world in its suffering and its longing to be free. Looking and Longing Once we have separated and individuated ourself from our primary caretaker – who most often is our mother – our sense of who we are becomes a conglomeration of the many object-relations in our life. We have an ever-evolving sense of our self in ever-changing relationships and there is the affective bond, or felt-feeling, between the two. One feelings we long for most – and it is more than a feeling – is that of fullness, rest, completion: all qualities of love. In the language of spiritual poetry, our young heart is searching for the Holy Land, the New Jerusalem, the Garden of Eden, of the soul. There are many names in poetry, all signifying that the deepest longing of the human heart is universal. We are searching for that object that will fully and completely satisfy the soul. We are longing for that something that will bring us rest, allow us a secure inner peace, and set us free from being driven by oh so many things. This, at least, is how the spiritual journey initially is experienced and understood. We long to sense in our bones that we are whole, complete, beautiful – perfect as we are with all our imperfections. We are seeking love; love that abides without fail, and that invites our soul into wondrous exploration of this present moment, and all such moments, whatever they might be. This is true freedom. The capacity to be the truth of what we are regardless of circumstance. This is love without conditions. Boundless love. I find it helpful to distinguish three stages in the human spiritual journey: Discovery of Holy Mystery, Living with Holy Mystery, and Awakening as Holy Mystery. The spiritual journey is the unfolding path of becoming an authentic, free, spontaneous, and thriving human being. The fruit of this journey, in our awakening as Holy Mystery, is also the realization of being Christ Heart. We awaken as compassionate, joyful, persons aware that all creatures are innately good because their true nature is Holy Mystery. In this initial reflection we’ll plumb some of the meaning of Discovery. Discovery of Holy Mystery For most of us there is an early experience of love touching our being. Maybe it’s when a neighbor gazed gently into your eyes as they lifted you from the pavement after having fallen and badly skinned our knees. As their eyes met yours there was simple kindness, generosity without measure. Although you couldn’t name it at the time, you felt safe in a pool of boundless love in their kind, gentle eyes. Or perhaps a friend or parent embraced your shoulder as you slumped under the weight of having failed to be accepted into a group or club or team. Or there was a time you laid upon the soft July grass, grounded upon mother earth, relaxing as the endless azure sky bathed your being. We each have our experiences. Each of these is an initial experience of boundless love that unfolds without end. Love is not a thing but the texture of life itself – the fluid fabric of being. Life-as-love is graciously enfolding our being and inviting us to trustingly unfold. We have an inchoate sense that we are whole, we are complete, and we are beautiful. This incipient feeling of innate goodness then rubs up against our daily experiences of being not enough, inadequate, incomplete, and dissatisfied. Love as the fluid fabric of being tends to recede into the chimeric realm of faded memory. Our soul has been partially awakened, however, in these powerful experiences of grace. They remind us, not consciously for the most part, that we arise from a Source that is good, and at that arising, we are primordially whole – regardless of what the culture and our ordinary mind may say. The truth of our nature is that we are complete. We are beautiful. We lack nothing. We are beings of love unfolding. It is only because we have this deep sense of Reality that we recognize our ordinary self’s relentless drivenness as somehow misguided. Without consciously knowing it, we have encountered Holy Mystery, which is boundless love forever unfolding. We have tasted, touched, heard, and smelled something extraordinary in an utterly ordinary encounter. A traditional word for this encounter is sacrament. Life is pregnant with love since love is the fluid fabric of being. Creation ceaselessly gives birth in and through ordinary acts of intimate care and generosity. Reality is Holy because in its essence it is always whole. But our conventional self doesn’t feel or believe that to be true. We believe our inner critic that we are deficient. But in the recesses of our being there is a soul-compass that knows true north. That soul knowledge is what invites us to continue our search. Discovery is about trusting our longing to realize the truth about our nature. Our hearts know, without knowing, that there is something more to life than our conventional self would have us believe. This something more is not a thing that fills a hole we believe we have. It is not a thing that satisfies our dissatisfaction. The more is a less. The more is the realization, the awakening, to the truth about who and what we are. We need less than we believe because the truth is that we are always already whole. We need less in the sense that to discover what is already true about our being we need to divest ourself of our daily preoccupations and develop a consciousness that is pruned from distraction and more focused. At the start of our spiritual journey, we are slowly realizing there is more to life than being driven to do and accomplish and succeed. There is more to life than winning the admiration of parents and friends, and the accolades of colleagues. There is more to life than our regular stops to fill ourself up from being depleted from the daily grind. Our early encounters with being touched – being graced – by someone’s love, or some creature’s beauty, draw forth our heart to begin the spiritual journey. We want to discover the Source of our self. We want the moon to press her face once more upon our being. We want to drink in those azure waters of sky and sea so that they fill every pore and touch every cell of our being. We want to flow as easily as a river to the sea, nurturing and caressing all in its path. We long to discover as conscious adults, to know with an awake heart, that we are beloved beings; we are the fluid fabric of being. A discovery that allows the encrusted layers of deficiency, shame, guilt to fall away like exhausted autumn leaves. When Jesus makes his way down to the Jordan River, allowing John to bathe his body in those living waters, his journey is the human sojourn of the heart to discover the Source of our being. I don’t know when he was touched as a boy by the eyes or hands or voice of love. Maybe he received kindness in the eyes of Mary, a river of love coursing through the difficult life of being a Jewish boy of unknown paternity. Maybe there was an uncle or aunt or village elder who took him under their wing. We don’t know. But there was an early encounter, or encounters, with love that held his heart and beckoned it forth. Jordan is Jesus’ discovery of Holy Mystery. What is your Jordan, or Jordans? It’s important for us to identify and appreciate our discovery of love – boundless and unfolding love. Maybe it was when a friend stood with you without question during your divorce? Maybe it was during a walk on the beach at dusk alone? Maybe in the tears of loss of a partner? Maybe at an open-air concert as a lone note of the oboe lighted upon your breast? Maybe as you stood side-by-side to thwart the construction of an oil pipeline. When we discover Holy Mystery, we begin to truly awaken from our slumber. We are beyond an unconscious fleeting encounter. We are standing in the river of life with our heart open. We are vulnerable, soft, receiving with our soul what life is giving in the moment. We are aware of the ordinary being pregnant with extraordinary simply as it is. The question that now arises is how shall we live with Holy Mystery in the next moment? ~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Read online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including I Have Called You Friends, Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms, and My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You and Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland. Visit Kevin’s Blog: Essential Living: For The Soul’s Journey. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Frank What are some essential steps that can be taken to improve America's gun problem? A: By Rev. Mark Sandlin Dear Frank, If we take seriously our call to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, it is far past time to act. We must protest in the streets. Over and over again we must demand our elected officials do the things we already know will make a difference. Things like banning assault rifles; requiring background checks, training and licensing, and gun insurance; reducing easy access to dangerous weapons; requiring waiting periods; campaign finance reform; and holding manufactures responsible for irresponsible marketing and sales. We also need to do more to reduce situations that can end up with folks deciding that a gun is their best option. That includes a reduction of poverty and food insecurity, politicians that work to unite us rather than work to divide us, access to affordable or free healthcare for all people; police who have received deescalation and anti-racism training; supporting healthier ideas of masculinity; and a stronger emphasis on trauma care in our health systems. For Christians a lot of the things we need to do are things we should already be doing. We must work more actively and lovingly for our neighbors. There are far too many of them dying unnecessarily because of guns and because of our nation's lack of will to do something about it. We must live more honestly into the humanistic and spiritual call to make care of our neighbors a primary mandate in our lives, because far too many hearts have been shattered as a loved one's life is ended with a bullet. There are certainly many other things that can be done, but this is a pretty good starting point. As you probably picked up on, I believe we all need to take seriously our call to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and to act on it, demand change, and to never let up until our neighbors are safe. ~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Mark also serves as the President and Co-executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His Podcast The Moonshine Jesus Show is on Mondays at 4:30pm ET. Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We’re so excited to announce that ProgressiveChristianity.org was recently named the top Progressive Christian blog on the internet by Feedspot! A group of panelists looked at web traffic, content, social media, and overall impact and decided that this organization was doing the best job on the internet of promoting Progressive Christian values. While we're thrilled about this news, we know there's a lot more we can do! We are currently preparing an updated version of our study guide, finishing the final year of our Joyful Path Curriculum, launching new podcasts, expanding our social media reach, and working on diversifying the voices featured on our site so that we are an even better reflection of Progressive Christian values. If we’re going to continue to do this work, we need your help and support. Could you make a small donation to help us with this important work? $10 or $20 can help us reach tens of thousands of people on social media! Have you considered becoming a sustaining member of ProgressiveChristianity.org by making a recurring donation? Sustaining members help keep this organization afloat! Thank you so much for helping to make us the top Progressive Christian Blog! The 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, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop Spong Revisited "Think Different–Accept Uncertainty" Part XV: Was Lazarus Raised from the Dead? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 2, 2012 Before leaving my brief analysis of the miracle stories of the New Testament, I want to look at what is probably the best known miraculous act attributed to Jesus in the entire gospel tradition. That is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It is a narrative told only in the Fourth Gospel (John 11), which means it does not appear in the Christian tradition until near the very end of the first century, between the years 95-100. Because it is in John’s gospel only, we need to be aware of the role it plays in that gospel. From chapters 2-12 there is in John what scholars now refer to as “The Book of Signs.” In this section John records seven signs around which he will tell his story of Jesus. The first one is the account of Jesus changing water into wine at Cana in Galilee and the last one is the story of the raising of Lazarus. By calling these otherwise apparently supernatural acts “signs” John was, I believe, indicating that they should not be viewed as miracle stories, but as narratives that point beyond themselves to something of great meaning and significance. That was John’s way of saying that these “signs” are not to be literalized. When we turn to the actual narrative of the Lazarus story itself, there are many other things that look as if they are meant to be warnings that this story is not to be read literally. First, there is the biographical detail that Lazarus is introduced as the brother of Mary and Martha, who live in the village of Bethany. That is a strange detail because Mary and Martha are well known figures in the gospel tradition, but nowhere has it ever been suggested up until this moment that they had a brother named Lazarus. The second detail in John’s story that causes questions to be raised is that Jesus is notified of Lazarus’ sickness and, we are told, he deliberately refuses to go to him until the report comes of his death. The death of Lazarus was, said Jesus, for the purpose of the “glory of God” that the son of man “might be glorified by means of it.” That is interpretive language, used in an attempt to make sense retrospectively of the meaning of the Jesus experience. It is not the language of a reporter describing a supernatural event that was supposed to have happened in history. The third thing that is noteworthy in this story is that although no actual person named Lazarus has ever before been mentioned anywhere in the Christian tradition, when he appears here we are told that he was especially close to Jesus. In this narrative an intense emphasis is placed on how much Jesus loved him. When Jesus is first informed of Lazarus’ sickness the words used are: “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” When the crowd observes Jesus weeping with grief, the text quotes the bystanders as saying: “See how he loved him.” Again and again in this narrative we are told that the relationship between Jesus and Lazarus is very, very close. Yet, none of the earlier gospels have ever heard of him. To add to this mystery two chapters later this gospel introduces an enigmatic, but crucial figure around whom John will weave the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection. John calls this figure “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and he is known in biblical circles as the “beloved disciple.” In John’s gospel the “beloved disciple” is beside Jesus at the Last Supper. Peter has to go through him to get his question to Jesus. He is the one at the cross with Jesus and the one to whom Jesus’ mother is commended. He is the first person to stare into the empty tomb and to believe that its inability to contain Jesus was a sign of triumph and resurrection. He was the first to recognize Jesus by the Sea of Galilee in John’s epilogue in chapter 21. So both the figure of the “beloved disciple” and the figure named Lazarus raised from the dead, appear in the mind of the author of this gospel to be deeply linked in Jesus’ affections. Both must, therefore, be seen as major, even pivotal figures in John’s attempt to proclaim a new understanding of God in the life of Jesus. This leads us to the conclusion that in all probability neither of these figures was a person of history. A close reading of the Fourth Gospel raises the prospect that this author creates a whole string of literary characters through whom he seeks to tell the Jesus story. Many of them are, like Lazarus and “the beloved disciple,” characters about whom no one has ever heard before John writes. I think of such figures as Nathanial, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman by the well, the Gentile official whose child is healed, the man crippled for 38 years and the man born blind. It is the literal reading of John’s gospel that has led us over the centuries to think of these figures as people of history. They are, I am now convinced, no more of history than Jane Eyre, Sherlock Holmes or Harry Potter. To understand John’s gospel we must begin to see this ability to create memorable characters as a mark of his literary genius. With the non-historical nature of Lazarus now before us we turn to John’s story and read it for the “high drama” it is. These are the details: Jesus arrives in Bethany well after the funeral of Lazarus has been completed. Indeed he has been buried for four days. John informs us that the crowd of mourners is still there. This crowd includes some who are followers of Jesus, some who are his critics and some who are his sworn enemies. This “sign” is going to be performed in public with hostile witnesses present. When Jesus first arrives he is berated by both Martha and Mary for not coming quickly when he received the urgent message. “Lord, if you had been here our brother would not have died,” they say. Jesus is then made by John to engage in a long conversation with Martha about life after death. In that conversation, John injects the last of his “I AM” sayings. “I AM” is the name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush in the book of Exodus. John takes this holy name and places it onto the lips of Jesus over and over again. Only in John’s gospel does Jesus say such things as “I AM the bread of Life,” “I AM the living Water,” “I AM the Good Shepherd.” “I AM the door,” “I AM the vine,” “I AM the Way” and in this episode Jesus is made to say: “I AM the Resurrection.” Even more enigmatically in other places in this gospel Jesus is quoted as having said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” and “when you see the son of man lifted up, you will know I AM.” So whatever else we do with this story we need to read it inside its Johannine context. The final thing to notice is the heightened miraculous character of this story. Lazarus is not only dead, but he has been buried for four days. Martha warns Jesus that there will be an odor if the grave is opened. Jesus, nonetheless, accompanied by a great crowd goes to the tomb, rolls back the covering stone and calls to the dead man: “Lazarus, come forth.” To the amazement of the crowd, a mummy-like figure appears bound in burial cloths, struggling to get free. Jesus says: “Unbind him and let him go.” What is the response to this scene? Some believed, said John, but many more conspired to put Jesus to death. Indeed in John’s gospel this is the event that brings on the crucifixion. John in this episode even has Caiaphas the High Priest, speak these words: “it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people.” From the story of the raising of Lazarus onward the death of Jesus is inevitable in the Fourth Gospel. If this story is not literal, then what does it mean and from where did John draw the details. Earlier in this series, we noted the parallels between the story of Elisha raising a child from the dead and Jesus raising the child of the synagogue official named Jairus, from the dead. We also noted that the story of Elijah raising from the dead the only son of a widow is reflected in Luke’s account of Jesus raising from the dead the only son of a widow in the village of Nain. In the Hebrew Scriptures, however, there is no parallel to the raising of Lazarus. So no interpretive help flows from that source. There is, however, a parable in the synoptic tradition, told only by Luke, in which there is a character named Lazarus. He is a beggar who dies and goes to the “bosom of Abraham,” a Jewish synonym for heaven. His adversary in this parable is a rich man, sometimes called Dives, who also dies and he goes to a place of torment. Once there, Dives asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him with water. Abraham responds that one cannot get there from here. Dives then asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to warn his brothers lest they too come to this place of torment. To this Abraham responds, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.” Dives counters this by saying if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent. To this Abraham speaks the key word that unlocks John’s story. “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced even if one should rise from the dead.” John has taken this Lucan parable and has made its meaning come true as an event in history. Lazarus is raised and they are not convinced. Instead this story is the catalyst that leads to the crucifixion. John never intended this to be viewed as history. This is an interpretive story told in the midst of the tension between the followers of Jesus and the synagogue authorities over how Jesus is to be understood. We must learn to read the Bible without imposing our frightened literalism on it. That is not only an important task, but a deeply rewarding one. The Lazarus story is not a miracle; it is a “sign.” ~ Bishop John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Now, more than ever, our world desperately needs compassion. And we especially need it in our families and communities. You are invited to join us for a highly interactive, experiential and inspiring introductory workshop on Compassionate Listening. Online June 27, 2022 - July 25, 2022 READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Kitty's obituary & funeral info
by Terry Bergdall 17 Jun '22

17 Jun '22

Here is a link to Kitty's obituary with info about her funeral on Wednesday, June 22. https://www.wenbanfh.com/obituaries/Kathryn-Kitty-Fish-Cole?obId=25104891#/… <https://www.wenbanfh.com/obituaries/Kathryn-Kitty-Fish-Cole?obId=25104891#/…>

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Kitty Cole
by Terry Bergdall 16 Jun '22

16 Jun '22

I just spoke to Kitty’s daughter, Brenda, and learned that Kitty completed her life’s journey a week ago on June 8th. I first worked with Kitty in Osaka, Japan, during the summer of 1976 and then for many years in Chicago. She was a great spirit and will be greatly missed. Funeral arrangements are still in process of being made and I will post more information as I learn about it. Grace and peace, Terry

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6/16/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev Deshna Shine: Transitions; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 16 Jun '22

16 Jun '22

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Deshna Shine June 16, 2022My wife’s Beloved grandmother lays in the hospital bed, a tiny sliver of a former dancer and child actor, long and thin, frail and still beautiful. When I walk into the room, her eyes light up and her mouth opens into a toothless smile. She stumbles slightly over words of comfort, of gratitude and yes, goodbyes.“I loved your wedding so much.”“Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for loving Jessica the way you have.”“Thank you for being there for her,” she says to me. “Please take care of her.”“I know no other way,” I tell her. “She is my Beloved. My one true love.” Tears. “How are you feeling? Are you feeling scared?” Yes,” she admits, “but I’m OK.“I just wanna get it over with,” she says. Ah, yes, I know that feeling. The impatient, fear fueled drive to get through the scary part and onto whatever is on the other side.How many times do we die and are reborn into our lives?When we retire, when we age, when we leave a marriage, when we lose a loved one, when we graduate, when we awaken to our darkest shadows, when we leave home, when we become parents or grandparents, when we learn to speak our truth.When these major shifts happens it’s the in-between stage that’s the hardest, scariest, and squishiest for me. The place where I have left something major behind but I have not fully arrived at the new Me.I myself am in the in-between now. In-between one home and another, in between one stage of my life and the next. It is an uncomfortable place to be.As I slowly pack boxes over the three month long “in between walk” of my journey, I think about how I finally found a home and a partner that I have dreamed about for years. And yet I am exiled to the thin place still. My new home and new life awaits me but I am here in transition witnessing my daughter as she prepares to graduate high school. I am clinging to both the past and the future and attempting to be present in the now. I have one foot here and one foot there and I wonder if that’s what it feels like in some ways to be in the process of dying?These major shifts often also remind me of childbirth. Truly there is nothing you can do to fully prepare for it. You can’t know what you’ll need or what you’ll feel or what you’ll experience until you are there, until you have fully arrived to that moment. At a certain point you have to surrender to the experience and trust your body will know what to do. Birth is the in-between as well. Birth, Death, Rebirth.Seeing my baby, this little person whom I have raised, get to the point in her life when it is up to her now how she lives and proceeds is such a strange, strange experience. She is not quite there yet, still my baby girl. But she is not quite what she used to be. She is becoming, unfolding. She is in the in-between, the space where the veil is thin and life is raw.I began to see a pattern that applied not just to babies, but to all human beings at all stages of their life! It reminded me of the hourglass. Imagine the hourglass and that you are held as a tiny piece of sand at the top. Things are moving slow and at a comfortable steady pace. You can see your surroundings, you know where you are, it’s familiar and safe. You, this little being of sand held at the top of the hourglass gently moving toward whatever is next. But then you get closer to the funnel part of the hourglass, you get closer to the change and the shift and what happens? Everything begins to move faster and you realize you’re about to drop in to something new. You are falling! You realize you have no control, actually, it was an illusion! You are about to leave behind what was and you don’t know what it’s going to be like on the other side. So, naturally, you feel scared. Scared of the unknown, scared of the squishiness.Scared to be trapped in the narrow part, of being stuck in the in-between, not being able to see where you will land or what awaits you. So naturally you try to work your way back up to the top… “no, no I’m not ready for that yet.”But life does not allow you to go backwards. The Mystery of Life only allows us to move forward. No matter how much we cling to what was or how much we resist, change is inevitable.One of the key teachings in Tibetan Buddhism is impermanence. The only real thing is change. Everything shifts. Everything around us is always changing. Our bodies, our cells are constantly dying and becoming new cells. Our physical form is incessantly mutating. Nature around us is evolving, dying and being reborn into something new.Does the tree fear the winter? Does the owl fear leaving her nest? I’m afraid. I’m afraid of my own death, I’m afraid of my parents’ death. I’m afraid of losing my beloved partner. And I can hardly speak of the fears I have for my daughter. For to speak them out loud somehow makes them more real. I find myself now in the squishy in-between and I’m afraid.I wonder what Jesus felt when he gathered his disciples for his last supper and he knew that everything was about to change. He knew what was upon him and that rebirth would come. He knew two days before Passover. He knew when Mary anointed him with her oil. Was he afraid? Was he grieving? Is there anything he regretted?What did he do in that moment, the in-between, when faced with imminent betrayal, loss and death? He leaned in. He surrendered. He offered his twelve disciples to drink and eat of his body. What more can I give, he must have wondered? What more can I leave them with? Have I done enough? He gave thanks. He ate, drank, served and sang.He leaned in with full acceptance and trust.He had more to give, even in that most fearful, desperate moment. His last evening, his last supper, he offered wisdom and grace.And finally when the hour was near, he prayed. He grieved in sorrow. Grief is the in-between as well.“Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”One thing is very clear — he walks toward the change. He doesn’t rush it or try to control it. He doesn’t cling to what was. He does not waste time with denial. He sees things with clarity and walks toward it. He calls his betrayer, friend. He declares what is real, he doesn’t resist it. He sits with the truth of his death and all the feelings that brings him.“From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven,”And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.And where is he now? On the other side? In another human? In the arms of God? Held? New? I don’t know. We don’t know.That is the greatest mystery of the human experience. And the greatest illusion is that we think we know what’s on the other side of all the changes and transitions in our life but in truth, it’s never as we think it will be.So I am here. I sit in the unknowing. I sit in the squishy discomfort and I practice being present with these edgy, heavy feelings and these fears. And at the same time I hold the truth of knowing that I will be OK. This too shall pass. On the other side of this will be something new and, because this is what I always do, I will make it beautiful and, because this is how I have always been, I will find my joy no matter what lies ahead.I often turn to Nordic Runes for guidance when I am in or heading into a transition. Today as I write this column and I think so deeply about the holy space of transitions and shift, I asked, “What wisdom do I need to see now?”Getting centered and present, I held this question in my mind as I grazed my fingers lightly over the Runes until I felt a small zing in my finger when I touched one. I pulled Algiz, the Rune of Protection, Sedge and The Elk. The first line of this rune goes like this,“Control of the emotions is at issue here. During times of transition, shifts in life course and accelerated self-change, it is important not to collapse yourself into your emotions, the highs as well as the lows.”“Remain mindful that timely right action and correct conduct are your only true protection. If you find yourself feeling pain, observe the pain, stay with it. Do not try to pull down the veil and escape from life by denying what is happening. You will progress; knowing that is your protection.”Oooohh, I could get deep into that right now! (You too? Let’s talk!)But what really struck me was these two teachings coming from different times, places and peoples of ancient wisdom saying the same thing. Jesus did not go into denial or resistance to the inevitable death and he trusted that there would be a rebirth. He let go. He did exactly as this ancient Rune wisdom divined and I am guessing what his ancient Jewish teachings taught him as well.We cannot pull down the veil to escape from life, from change, from pain. We must sit with it and be with the difficult feelings, the grief, the sorrow, anguish, and the fear. We must lean in to shift and practice trust in a Loving Supportive Presence, in Life. Transitions are our great teachers. Listen.~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Children’s Curriculum. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, author, international speaker, and visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She was Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org, Executive Producer of Embrace Festival and has co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. Deshna is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Carol We were having a discussion at church last night about theism and worship. How is the Eucharist relevant if theism is taken away, or more appropriately, how can our liturgy and worship change to reflect the loss of theism? A: By Rev. Brandan Robertson Dear Carol,Thanks for this important question. I believe that the Eucharist is perhaps the most central and important ritual of the Christian faith- and I don’t believe you need to be a theist to experience it as a transformative ritual. At it’s core, the Eucharist is a reminder for Christians of two things: the reality of what Jesus endured in the Gospel stories for his resistance to Empire, and the way we commit to live as followers of Jesus’ way. As you know, there are many atheists who still honor and learn from the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. When they come to the Eucharistic table, the invitation for them is the same as the invitation for the most devout theist- to come and reflect on the remarkable sacrifice that Jesus and many others after him offered in their attempt to create a more just and equal world. To reflect upon the brokenness of the systems of our world that respond to calls for grace and justice with injustice and murder. And ultimately, to ask how they might emulate Jesus’ example in their own life, breaking open their hearts and pouring themselves out for the healing of their world. The Eucharist has always been, first and foremost, a memorial meal to commemorate the life and death of Jesus. One doesn’t need to believe in the theological claims of the Christian faith to meaningfully participate and be transformed by reflecting and remembering the sacrifice of Christ. ~ Rev. Brandan Robertson Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press. He leads Metanoia, a digital spiritual community at MetanoiaCenter.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 On Baptizing Hadden Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 12, 2012It is a rare treat in the life of a bishop in general and in the life of a retired bishop in particular to participate in a pastoral act like a baptism. It normally has to come at the invitation of a family member or a very close friend. Seven years ago I married a couple, the groom of which had been such a friend, growing up together with my stepson Brian and, therefore, very close to my wife Christine, close enough indeed that all of his life he had called her “Mom.” When he became engaged to a lovely young woman named Cushman they asked if I could perform their marriage ceremony at a summer chapel, named All Saints by the Sea on the coast of Maine. His family had spent every summer season of his childhood vacationing on this lovely island. I accepted this invitation and so I shared in that transition moment with them and their respective families. When this couple’s first baby arrived it seemed important to them for me to baptize this young lady at the same summer chapel in Maine. It is a church that is open only in the summer season and to which worshipers can and do arrive on Sundays both by boat and car. I agreed to do so and back to Maine we went for this happy occasion. Preparing for this baptism I read over the baptismal liturgy from my church’s prayer book and I embraced once more just how antiquated and even offensive some of its language still is. I began to wonder how a child being baptized would hear those words, if that child had the ability both to listen and to understand. If in the baptismal service we had the ability to allow the child to speak in reaction to those words, I wondered what she might say. With my imagination engaged I decided that for the sermon at this service I would try to frame just how this baby might react and respond to the words being used in the church’s baptismal liturgy. The result of that exercise follows: TO THE MEMBERS ALL SAINTS BY THE SEA CHURCH IN SOUTHPORT, MAINE Dear Friends: Today, July 1, 2012, I was baptized in this church. My family and friends gathered from as far away as Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Vermont and New Jersey to be present for this occasion. It was a happy day for me – and I hope it was for others of you who attended. Let me tell you, however, that it was also a strange day in many ways. In that baptism service you said some words that sounded pretty weird to me. You asked my parents and godparents to renounce some things in my name. They had to renounce the world, the flesh and the devil. How can you renounce the world when it is July in Maine – the sky is blue, the sea is calm, the temperature is moderate and the world seems to be wonderful? How can you renounce the flesh when it is through the flesh that we experience the world – our fleshly eyes see its beauty, our fleshly ears hear its sounds, our fleshly taste buds enable us to savor the wonders of the sea? With our fleshly arms we embrace one another and with our fleshly lips we kiss those we love. Who among us really wants to renounce the flesh? How can you renounce the devil? Is there a real creature with horns, tail and pitchfork who is responsible for all that is evil? Is that not some form of projection? We can’t even agree on what color the devil is – at Duke University they think of him as blue, but if you are a hockey fan in New Jersey we think of him as red! For me to renounce the world the flesh and the devil sounds like I’m being programmed to be a nun! Is that really your intention? You also said in the baptismal liturgy that you were baptizing me for the forgiveness of sins. I’m not old enough to have done much! So what are my sins? I have never robbed a bank; I have not committed adultery; I have not been willfully disobedient or talked back to my parents. I understand that babies can sometimes be inconvenient, but are we sinful? Someone once said that all babies are born with loud speakers on one end and no sense of responsibility on the other, but does that make us blameworthy? Let me suggest to you that what you have done in the baptism service is to literalize some ancient biblical stories and you have drawn some conclusions from those stories that I suggest you might want to revise and even to challenge. One of those biblical stories was about how God created the world in just seven days. That story emphasizes that God created a perfect world, so perfect that when God finished God looked out on all that God had made and said: “This is a good world.” Human beings were part of that goodness and that story goes on to say that we human beings were created “male and female” in God’s image. Why would one be called evil when we are created in God’s image? That story also states that when the work of creation was ended, God not only pronounced it good, but also complete – so complete that God could take a day off and that is how the Sabbath was created. It is hard to understand why one should be asked to renounce the world that God pronounced complete. Is there something profoundly wrong with the baptismal liturgy? There is a second story in the book of Genesis, however, in which the biblical writers sought to account for the presence of evil. They did not understand that in the biology of every living creature there is a drive to survive. It is that drive that makes life appear to be self-centered. If survival is my highest value then I will organize my life around my survival agenda. I will not always be consciously aware of this drive, but it will always be present. One strategy we human beings seem to use to accomplish this is build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. This destructive behavior is not rooted in something sinful; it is rooted in our biology. That is the source out of which prejudice arises; that is the source of religious persecution. That is the reason we are prone to hate and fear people who are different. Evil does not originate in human misdeeds. It is not, as this second ancient story says, something we do because one of our ancestors was disobedient and ate of the forbidden fruit, which resulted in our banishment from the Garden of Eden. It was out of this story, however, that we developed the strange idea that human life is fallen, sinful, evil, distorted and broken. I must tell you that it sounds very strange to me to listen to a worship service in church that tells me over and over again how evil I am, that I am a miserable sinner, that I am not worthy to gather up the crumbs under the divine table, that there is no health in me and that I must spend lots of time in church begging God to have mercy on me. How many times does one have to beg God to have mercy in a Sunday service? How many times do you have to tell me that I am fallen, infected with original sin? Have you ever known anyone to be helped by being told how terrible they are? Why do you think God’s greatness is affirmed by denigrating our humanity? You can’t even sing about how amazing God’s grace is without reminding yourselves that God’s grace is amazing only because it saves a wretch like you or me. Am I a wretch? Are you wretches? Is that what Christianity has come to. Perhaps we have distorted our faith story far more than most of us realize. Did Jesus come to make us religious? Did he come so that God could control our behavior through guilt? Is guilt ever life-giving? Does guilt help to make us religious? Can religion save the world? There is lots of religion in this world today, but is not most of it distorted? Have you not heard of religious wars, religious persecution, the Inquisition? Have you not observed how religious Catholics and religious Protestants react to each other in Ireland or how religious Shiites and religious Sunnis react to each other in Iraq? I do not think that Jesus came to make us righteous either. People who are very, very moral and very, very righteous seem to know a great deal about judgment, but almost nothing about loving. Jesus also did not come to give us the “True Faith” – to make certain that our religion is better than any other, that my faith is the only true faith, my church the only true church and that no one can come to God except by my pathway. People who think that they have the “True Faith,” always seem to put their wagons in a circle and start shooting at those with whom they disagree. In John’s gospel Jesus suggests a very different purpose that perhaps the framers of the baptismal liturgy somehow missed. Jesus says: “I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly.” That is, I believe, what Christianity should be all about – giving life. So as I identify with this faith tradition today in baptism I ask you to help me to become fully human, help me to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that I can be. May I suggest that this is the church’s vocation and therefore your vocation. Your task is to give abundant life, and not only to me, but to every person who is a child of God. Thank you for listening to my letter and thank you for loving me just as I am. Hadden Charlotte Brinegar And because she is a good little Episcopal girl she ends her letter with AMEN. Has the time to come to bring the liturgy of baptism into dialogue with all that we now know about human life? I believe it has.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Conference on Death, Grief and Belief LIVE IN Portland, OR or register for just the recording July 15 – 17, 2022A weekend of shared wisdom, fearless exploration and community support for unpacking toxic religious beliefs that can be harmful when facing loss and grief. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Good Audio books
by James Wiegel 13 Jun '22

13 Jun '22

Judy and I are thinking of some cross-country travel the next couple of months -- any good Audio books to recommend?? sites to see??places to camp?social demonstrations to visit? Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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6/09/2022, Progressing Spirit, Rev. Mark Sandlin: Jesus – Queer Theology Incarnate; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 09 Jun '22

09 Jun '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv7687564931 #yiv7687564931templateBody .yiv7687564931mcnTextContent, #yiv7687564931 #yiv7687564931templateBody .yiv7687564931mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv7687564931 #yiv7687564931templateFooter .yiv7687564931mcnTextContent, #yiv7687564931 #yiv7687564931templateFooter .yiv7687564931mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jesus – Queer Theology Incarnate | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Mark Sandlin June 9, 2022 In his book Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology, the Rev. Dr. Patrick Cheng says, “God is the very manifestation of a love that is so extreme that it dissolves existing boundaries.” So, it seems to me, living a life that dismantles existing boundaries is the very definition of being in relationship with God. In the life and teachings of Jesus, we are provided with part of a road map to growing this radical relationship of love with God. It even turns out that the person the Gospel writers and the early church understood Jesus to be contained the seeds of queerness. Now, for those who might have been just a bit uncomfortable with me saying that about Jesus and “queerness,” let's very quickly talk about what I mean when I use the word "queer" like that. Many of us grew up in a time when “queer” was an insult. The word felt wrong in our mouths and we avoided it. It was meant to hurt people and regardless of what the children's rhyme says, words can truly hurt you, because they frequently are loaded with piercing judgement and soul-crushing baggage. Well, things have changed since then and much like the terms “gay” and “black,” “queer” has been reclaimed by the very people it initially intended to hurt. The way I see it, that's a beautiful thing. The work came out of the LGBTQIA+ community itself, particularly in the field of Queer Theory which built on the work of Gay and Lesbian theory as well a Liberation theory and others. The important part, in terms of understanding how I'm using the word, is what the meaning of the word has expanded to contain. In looking at how LGBTQIA+ folx were marginalized by a dominant society, themes began to emerge, particularly in regard to societal “norms” and expectations. Queerness, in part, became a critique of those false, binary boundaries that tried to normalize everything to the dominate society. While it started off as primarily challenging traditional understandings of sex and sexuality, in conversation with other groups who experienced the the heavy-hand of false binaries that marginalized them (groups like Black Theology, Liberation Theology, Feminist Theology, and several others), it expanded to become a call to deconstruct those false binary narratives in all categories and to dismantle the systems that support them and it was built on a radical sense of love and inclusion. With that understanding, let's go back to my statement that “in the person the Gospel writers and the early church understood Jesus to be contained the seeds of queerness.” Within the context of what I've just shared with you, hear my statement to say, in the person the Gospel writers and the early church understood Jesus to be you can clearly see an understanding that he was a person who sought to break through and to breakdown all of our assumed binary boundaries and barriers, opening us up to a more boundless faith. In some small ways, it has allowed me to regain an appreciation for what are frequently considered foundational understandings of our faith. There are parts of our faith that we are to claim whose traditional understandings that fly in the face of modern, scientific minds. Things like Jesus being “God incarnate.” Over the years, I've certainly developed my own understandings of how to incorporate these beliefs into my life. For me, the language of “God incarnate” became symbolic language pointing to the Divine within all of us. It felt very true for me, but sometimes it felt like it was a bit overworked just to make it work. Queer Theology provides a much more satisfying theological approach to many of these “foundational understandings of our faith.” For instance, it sees the story of Jesus as the beginning of a change to the understood boundaries between the Divine and humanity. Traditionally, the Church has understood the Gospels to tell the story of God incarnate, God came down, the Divine becoming human. Whether you believe it as literal or as symbolic, we are left with an understanding of a god that breaks one of the ultimate false binaries: divine and human. As I understand it, within Queer Theology, the story of Jesus places the Human/Divine relationship on a continuum that has no 'either or' boundaries. It forever changes the relationship between humanity and the divine. They are no longer like oil and water. They mix and mingle together in the person of Jesus and open that potential, that reality, to us all. Among other things, it means God is no longer this ineffable thing so far removed from us that we can never be in full relationship with it. Rather, God is also within us, within humanity. In our modern world, humanity can feel like it is working overtime to keep us all in a bound-up, meaningless place. There are so many deepening divisions and those divisions are almost always based on some kind of dividing line in the sand, some kind of defining boundary or border created by the dominant culture in an effort to implicate someone as “other,” dangerous, unworthy, “not like me,” in order to marginalize the “other” and to further protect the power of the majority. Frequently, religious texts (or, at least, religious contexts) are used to justify those mostly binary boundaries of division – “if you aren't like us, you are bad.” At times, they are even backed by scripture, but rarely is that scripture ever taken fully in context within the larger theology of the overall text. Those of us who attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus should take particular offense to this. These binary boundaries of division are the defining lines of injustice and the use of our sacred texts to try to justify injustice is unjustifiable. As a matter of fact, it is downright blasphemy. It's interesting, looking at the life of Jesus through a queer lens has also helped me in my understanding of “sin.” Up until now, my best understanding of sin had involved the concept of “missing the mark” when it came to expressing love through my words and actions. That's not a bad understanding, but it does call into question what those “actions” might look like. I believe Queer theology gives us a more pragmatic understanding to work from. I do still see sin as “missing the mark” of expressing love, but now I see it as being specifically done by refusing to dismantle or reinforcing borders and boundaries that separate us from others. Dismantling borders and boundaries in response to and as a result of radical love is at the heart of Queer Theology and at the heart of what it looks like to follow the life and teachings of Jesus. Dr. Cheng says, “God is the very manifestation of a love that is so extreme that it dissolves existing boundaries.” As it turns out, that solves another one of those “foundational understandings of our faith” that I've struggled with: being “saved.” There's really no theology about it that I can get completely onboard with. As a matter of fact, I find most of them to be somewhat ghastly. Until now. Now my understanding is that pulling down the boundaries that have separated us from each other, Creation, and God is how Jesus “saves” us. And that is not only a theology I expect we can all get behind, but it is also the way we begin to save each other and the world.~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Mark also serves as the President and Co-executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His Podcast The Moonshine Jesus Show is on Mondays at 4:30pm ET. Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Amy “My church says they are progressive and “Open and Affirming” but as a queer person, I don’t see any real progressiveness. Do you have any advice?” A: By Rev. Deshna Shine Dear Amy,Yes, I understand and as a queer person myself, I have seen this way too often. This is a fascinating moment in time when churches are either dying or they are transforming. Is your church open to transforming? You can find out pretty quickly if you bring your concerns and desires to the leadership. Do they get defensive and talk about all the ways they are progressive or some major change or some social justice movement they participated in many years ago? Or are they curious and want to know more? Do they ask you questions and for your ideas? Do they ask for you to share your experience and do they affirm and try to understand your experience?Unfortunately, many churches put a rainbow flag out, say they are progressive, march in a couple of marches, add a feminine pronoun for God and think they are done. They are not. To be progressive means to continually grow and progress. To continually rethink and re-ask how can we be more radically inclusive the way Jesus taught us? How can we offer a radical welcome to anyone who comes through our doors? Do they want you to conform to what they think a christian should be, look like and act like, or do they celebrate you in all your authentic uniqueness, just as you are?If they are open, I suggest sharing with them what you are experiencing. Use “I” statements and be clear about what you need. For example, “when I walk into this church, I feel like an outsider and lonely. I need this church to have liturgies that represent me as well, to have images that represent me as well, and to be a learning community open to change.” Keep pushing for the liturgies to evolve, the symbols, the language. Ask the church to center, listen and learn from black, brown, indigenous women of color and queer folx. Ask the church to be honest and accountable to the harm it has caused so they don’t repeat the same white supremacist patterns. Ask for contemporary inclusive music and for the leadership to reflect the diversity and inclusion the church claims to have or want.At the heart of Christianity is a wild hope and I believe in your ability to see clearly and make a positive change in your community. And, if they are not willing to change, well, let them go and begin your search for a community that is willing to grow and to love, accept and celebrate you just as you are. There are some gems out there, it is possible.~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Children’s Curriculum. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, author, international speaker, and visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She was Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org, Executive Producer of Embrace Festival and has co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. Deshna is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | 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, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited A Salute to the United Church of Christ Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 26, 2012Sometimes, as one goes about the normal duties of one’s professional life, a pattern of activity slowly becomes visible until one wonders why this had not been seen before. When that happens, it is good to stop, to notice, to put the pieces together, to seek to understand and then to formulate the new insight so that it can become common knowledge. This was my experience in the first part of this year when I was invited to a number of churches in what might be called the heartland of America. In every incidence, the church to which I was asked to deliver lectures stood out in its community like a beacon of light. It was always the church in that community that engaged the issues of the day. It was the congregation in that community that encouraged people to think and to study. It was a church more interested in genuine education than it was in ecclesiastical propaganda. It was a congregation willing to be controversial, willing to stand up for truth in the public marketplace. It was a church that did not require that the brains of its people be checked at the door prior to worship. It was a congregation whose members cared about their world, their community, themselves and their pastor. These churches also projected vitality and they were all growing. The revelation that ultimately emerged, however, was that each one of these congregations was a part the United Church of Christ-Congregational denomination. This fact was so consistent that I concluded it could not be just a coincidence and that something about the United Church of Christ must be at least in part responsible and so my appreciation for this denomination soared. Perhaps, I thought, this church can be the one Christian denomination that will inspire, bring about and participate in the necessary reformation required to break the Christian faith out of its dying patterns, its no longer believable theological understandings and its medieval worship practices. Maybe this can be the church that will break the traditional Christian paradigm based on human depravity and transform it to a paradigm based on human wholeness. Until these aspects of Christianity are faced, engaged and changed, there is, I believe, little realistic hope for a Christian future. Let me briefly tell you, my readers, the story of these four individual UCC congregations: The first one was the Plymouth United Church of Christ in Wichita, Kansas. Under the enlightened and competent leadership of its senior pastor, Donald Olsen, and his able staff, Plymouth Church has gathered to itself a group of members who are individually and corporately stepping beyond traditional religious formulas to build a church for tomorrow. Gifted young adults, well-educated and in positions of local and national authority, are finding the integrity of a new religious dimension for themselves by their participation in this church’s life. No one is fighting yesterday’s wars against Darwin, the equality of women or the oppression of gay and lesbian people. The Bible is not seen as a cudgel to be used in debate to shore up the conclusions of a long dead past. They appear to enjoy their life together and, during the time I was there to deliver these lectures, they also brought in a spectacular aCapella male singing group named Cantu for the joy and entertainment of those attending the lecture series. Cantu was magnificent and the combination of lectures and entertainment was a memorable experience for me and for that congregation. The second one was the First Congregational-United Church of Christ in Greeley, Colorado. This small Colorado city, founded by Horace Greeley in the 19th century, is the home of a community college that has grown into being the University of Northern Colorado and is now the third or fourth largest university in the state of Colorado. In a state where Colorado Springs has become the national headquarters for many right wing fundamentalist groups such as James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family,” this church in Greeley has accepted the vocation of speaking to this university with an understanding of the Christian faith that is well informed and not dedicated to the perpetuation of biblical ignorance. Its senior pastor, Nathan Miller, is respected as a leader in the entire community and one of this church’s most active members is the recently retired president of the University of Northern Colorado. The third church was in Norman, Oklahoma, the location of the University of Oklahoma, where former Democratic Governor and Senator, David Boren, is now the highly-regarded president. A small group of people led by an urologist formed a new Congregational Church to fill a vacuum in Norman, where fundamentalists and evangelical Protestants are the overwhelming majority. They were assisted in this birth by the UCC pastor at the Mayflower Church in Oklahoma City, Robin Meyers, who is one of America’s brilliant new religious leaders. They contracted with a retired UCC minister on a part time basis to lead this new congregation, which has no more than twenty-five members. Undaunted by their newness and their smallness, they organized a public lecture on progressive Christianity to be held in the University of Oklahoma’s Museum of Natural History. This was their way of announcing their presence in the city. I was invited to deliver that lecture and also to speak to the members of this congregation at their regular meeting place on Saturday morning. The public lecture attracted over 400 people. It was also the first time I have ever spoken with a mastodon on display immediately behind me! In their own worship space on Saturday, which seated less than seventy people, the two lecture seminar was sold out and every available chair was filled. This new congregation is dedicated to finding ways to serve the larger community and even the world. One program, organized by the urologist and including his two sons, both of whom are planning careers in medicine, has them volunteering for medical missionary duty in some of the deprived parts of the world. Vitality and the hope of good things to come mark this congregation. Finally, there was the First Congregational-UCC Church of Hendersonville, North Carolina, served so ably by its senior pastor, Richard Weidler. Hendersonville is a small town in the mountains of Western North Carolina, about 30 minutes south of Asheville. Calls to repent, invitations to be saved and warnings to prepare to meet your God are painted on signs on almost every nearby highway. Three crosses adorn the countryside in more than one field. A visit on the radio dial will reveal a steady diet of evangelical preaching, punctuated only by the ranting of Rush Limbaugh. Yet because of Hendersonville’s wonderful summer climate, it has attracted many retirees to that area who are left looking mostly in vain for a church if they do not want fundamentalism. Into that vacuum, this church has moved led by its former, now retired, pastor, David Kelly. About a decade ago a layman, named Walter Ashley, taught an adult Bible class in that church and it had been an erudite and transformative experience for many. A “Classics Scholar” with a degree from Oxford University in the UK, he had opened that congregation to a whole new way of being a Christian. They became the one church in town that was a haven for thinking Christians. When Walter died, his widow Jo Ann, an attorney well into her eighties, endowed a lectureship in memory of her husband. Twice each year, a well-known Christian scholar is invited to do the Ashley Lectures in this church in Western North Carolina. John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, Amy-Jill Levine and I have all been among those visiting lecturers. The event attracts people from miles away and has helped to identify this church as something quite different. Recently in North Carolina, there was a statewide referendum to ban gay marriage by a constitutional amendment. It seemed like every preacher in the state from Billy Graham on down came out in support of this amendment, identifying it with the Bible and the will of God. This was not true, however, of the First Congregational-United Church of Christ in Hendersonville. Instead they bought and ran a large advertisement in the local newspaper every other day for a period of time prior to that vote stating their opposition to North Carolina’s “Marriage Amendment.” In this ad they stated first the historical tradition of the United Church of Christ as a supporter of social justice and civil rights. They reminded readers that their forebears were Pilgrims who came to this country in 1620 seeking freedom from restrictions imposed in Europe. They recalled the history of their denomination, telling the newspaper’s readers that in 1785 the UCC ordained Lemuel Haynes, America’s first African-American pastor; in 1853 the UCC ordained Antoinette Brown, America’s first female pastor; in 1972 the UCC ordained Bill Johnson, America’s first openly-gay pastor. Now this church, representing this denomination, called on all to reject this prejudiced marriage amendment. This ad dramatically lifted this church into public awareness causing them to be attacked and ridiculed by almost every other church in the area, but it also caused the religiously disenfranchised to discover a new possibility for their religious lives. So, new people began to show up at their doors on Sunday Mornings. These four churches I have described so briefly had several things in common. They each had a well-trained and well-educated senior pastor. Each was linked to a national denomination that encouraged them to press the edges. Each had drunk deeply of that denomination’s courage in the public arena on the right side of the cultural issues of our day. If the United Church of Christ is represented locally by the churches I have encountered in Wichita, Greeley, Norman and Hendersonville, they must be doing something right. So to these churches and to the leadership of the National United Church of Christ, I first raise my hand in salute for your courage and your dedication. Second, I stand before you in awe for what you have meant in my life and in the life of Christianity itself. Third, I bow my head and my heart in thanksgiving for your witness to the Truth.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements We are gathering from across the nation to demand this nation do MORE to live up to its possibilities: READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] George West Memorial, YouTube link and comments Plus George's Book
by Lynda C 08 Jun '22

08 Jun '22

Also in the ICA Archives under Publications is George’s book about Building Community. Books by colleagues are listed alphabetically by last names. A great deal of that book can be read on line. Our church in Davidson is sponsoring two Afghan refugee families. Interestingly, the page I turned to in George’s book was about the importance of starting a literacy/language program as one small step in creating community among new arrivals. I’m hoping I can find in our archives some of the wonderful Language Teaching Manuals that were created in various Human Development Projects. Or that some of you might have one in your files. With care as we remember George and his gifts to our community and the world. Lynda and John From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of OE List <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Reply-To: OE List <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 1:05 PM To: OE List <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Karen Snyder <karen.snyder10(a)gmail.com>, Order Ecumenical <oe(a)wedgeblade.net>, ICA Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] George West Memorial, YouTube link and comments Some of George West’s spirit talks are available in the Global Archives: *. The Other World: Trek I: https://icaglobalarchives.org/collections/exploring-inner-life/the-other-wo… *. New Religious Mode: Knowing, Doing and Contemplation: https://icaglobalarchives.org/collections/exploring-inner-life/new-religiou… *. Spirit Conversations: https://icaglobalarchives.org/collections/exploring-inner-life/introduction… *. Model Building under Academy Life Methods: Social Methods: https://icaglobalarchives.org/collections/spiritmovement/academy/methods-cu… Enjoy! Peace, Karen Snyder Troxel Living on the land of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi with representatives from 100 nations living in what is now called Chicago.

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George West Memorial, YouTube link and comments
by Terry Bergdall 08 Jun '22

08 Jun '22

An edited recording of George’s Memorial held last Saturday is now available on this YouTube link: https://youtu.be/K-kkIbccq5c <https://youtu.be/K-kkIbccq5c>. It is 47 minutes long. Additionally, please find below (1) a link to Larry Ward's spirit reflection that couldn't be inserted into the zoom program in a timely fashion, (2) Dick Alton's spirit reflection that couldn't be heard due to technical problems with his audio, and (3) stories and comments received after the event. Finally, there are (4) links to the music that was a part of the Memorial. They were not included in the edited version for YouTube due to "zoom distortions.” Take care, Terry ++++++++++++++++++++ From Larry Ward Hello Beloved Ones A few words of gratitude about George West: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EE_rdJQSROxu55TiGdQBeuwvbKYvXITk/view?usp=… <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EE_rdJQSROxu55TiGdQBeuwvbKYvXITk/view?usp=…> Grace and Peace, ++++++++++++++ "What I planned to say" about Death by Dick Alton, Chicago: I would like to take a moment to reflect on death- it seems to be my constant companion. In fact, I am fascinated with death. Want to share two reflections with you today. First, although Larry Ward could not be with us, I would like to share some of his new book and then a final reflection. Just read Larry’s new book, “America Racial Karma”, at the end of the book he talks of practices that enables one to act with integrity in the present. He starts every day when he wakes up with the Buddha’s 5 Remembrances. He reads the 5 lines and after each line takes a breath. I am going to read a line and if you could take a short breath afterwards. · I am of the nature to grow old. Breath · I am of the nature to have ill health. Breath · I am the nature to die. Breath · All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. Breath · My actions are my only belongings. Breath In the face of great loss, no words convey the sadness we feel for those who loved George West. Yet we dare to say Death is neither a curse nor a blessing, an end, or a beginning, but only that it is a wondrous, frightening and redemptive reality. It is a step into the Unknown Unknown. It is sacred, and it is good. Even though Death is universal, it is also unique---because every life is unrepeatable. It arrives in its own time and is always shocking, even when it is anticipated. It can be painful or peaceful, timely or not, tragic or strangely welcome, or all of the above at once. We don’t choose the manner or the moment and can only respond by acknowledging its finality and trusting what was, is and will be. We go on. Whether you celebrate death as a Home Going or as a finality that prevents you from being with your loved one physically, acknowledging death is important. We accompany you in your grief. We pray for you in your journey. We hope for your experience of being accompanied by the Divine Spirit. May it sustain you in your sorrow. Our hearts are with you. +++++++++++++++ From Marilyn Crocker What a lovely tribute to the life and service of George. I, like Martha, remember the power of George’s Spirit Conversations. Many of us learned the process well enough to lead meaningful reflections and touch on “the profound” with topics like “tears,“ or “fire”, or “birth,” but George was able to “bleed profound meaning” out of something as inanimate as “a pentel pencil”. The latter was a tool of the mission he carried in his shirt pocket always, loaded with the .7 size lead — just perfect for building 4 X 4 charts. Another memory that holds for me his willingness to experiment to create "something out of nothing” was his hydroponic garden on his porch in Litibu, laden with juicy tomatoes, hanging upside down. And finally, I am embarrassed to admit like others, I can’t remember the year George and Donnamarie were married and I should, because Joe and I were asked to stand in as “his parents” and give the family blessing, as it were. This was comical to me, because although Joe was 5 years older than George, I was 10 years younger. From then on I felt I had permission to say, “Now son, I need to share this with you…..” to which his eyes would twinkle and he would quietly chuckle. ++++++++++++++++ From Karen Snyder: Thank you for taking the leadership on providing this reflective time together in celebrating George’s life!! He was such an influence on my life in our Litibu years together. Here are some links to add to the compiled memories from the Memorial Service today. · What More Could We Ask For? Donnamarie West’s book: https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/16987.pdf <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/16987.pdf> · Creating Community: Finding Meaning in the Place We Live. George West’s book: https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/22231.pdf <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/22231.pdf> · Their mission news article: https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/21391.pdf <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/21391.pdf> ++++++++++++++ From Lynda Cock: When we were interning in Chicago, we moved into the Wests apt. at 314 S. Trumbull. (I think that was the address….near the Preschool). It was pretty rough, but a move up from the bunk beds and a desk in the dorm side of the building (above Room E side). They had knocked a hole in between studs with some remodeling in process, giving Johnny a little space of his own. We had a big double sized loft bed with desks underneath and a sofa with broken springs that practically sank to the floor. But with their Picasso print of the Blue Man, I thought we were in Hippy Heaven. I think they had left for the Urban Academy. Later John was in Cano Negro with George for the consult. We remember George as a very quiet man, full of wisdom and care for local people. His book on community building was a real gift to us all. +++++++++++++++++ From Jack Gilles: I have two stories to tell about George. One is about our conversations together and the other is about Transportation. No one spoke more with George as I did for all the years he was here. The fact that he enjoyed pipes was revealed to me as I often visited while smoking mine. He would comment on it and I would inform him a bit of the history of that particular one and the tobacco I smoked. Our conversations were either one of two topics; either Theology or Politics. George was always reading a book. Usually it was a book of one of the sources we had through RS-I file Bonhoeffer or Tillich pr One of JWM's talks from his two volume set. I would listen to his insights and then comment on them myself. We always enjoyed the discussions. The second area of conversation was Politics. He was a fan on Rachel Maddow, and I watched Morning Joe.. This was the long run-up to the 2000 election that led to Donald Trump. Right up until the result was in I was sure that Hillary Clinton would win and he kept worrying that Trump would. Like so many Liberals I thought that Hillary would come through it. But she didn't. I had to apologize to George for being wrong and we would talk and talk about it. The second item about George was his transportation. George was a horseman. In the early days of building his house he owned a horse and kept it in the village. Finally he had to give it up as it was costing him to much! His second mode of transportation was a four wheeler that Mike Stringer gave to him many years ago. Right up to the year of his death George would find time to use the 4 wheeler to go and get thigs from the Village. Finally there was the car, a 1985 Oldsmobile made in 1988. I believe Donna Marie's father gave it to them. George babied that car every time he drove it. It had such good shocks that the bumpy road had no affect on. We called it the "Float-mobile" . As George aged he used it less and less until finally he had to sell it to the mechanic in Higuera.. It is still sitting their waiting for repair. That is all I have to say about this topic. +++++++++++++++ From Bill Schlesinger: George was – I think – my first ‘First Teacher’ in RS-1 ‘out.’ I was probably 23 or 24 and feeling pretty young. George said something like, “Fix yourself in your mind that you’re 35.” I still do! ++++++++++++++ Here is a link to the two songs Lela sang during the memorial: https://photos.app.goo.gl/k89TXCPZVYGYpqg87 <https://photos.app.goo.gl/k89TXCPZVYGYpqg87> Below is a link to the instrumental music at the end of George's memorial from the Anders Widmark Trio, "Lov, Ära Och Pris:" https://open.spotify.com/track/1gu3jSUEeEf0BXmdsk23HF?si=48cacadb41244f8e <https://open.spotify.com/track/1gu3jSUEeEf0BXmdsk23HF?si=48cacadb41244f8e>

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