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8/08/19, Progressing Spirit: Lauren Van Ham: And Like the Sun, Our Generosity Continues
by Ellie Stock 08 Aug '19

08 Aug '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateBody .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent, #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateBody .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateFooter .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent, #yiv6964385742 #yiv6964385742templateFooter .yiv6964385742mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } All around us we feel the well-worn groove of capitalism and competition | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | And Like the Sun, Our Generosity Continues | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Lauren Van Ham August 8, 2019 It has become so easy now to feel anxious, worried or irritable by the state of things, by the frantic commotion modeled all around us, focusing on just about everything except what’s actually important. Many of us have been following Greta Thunberg of Sweden; I consider her to be one of our new prophets. At 16 years of age, Ms. Thunberg is clearly, passionately speaking for humans everywhere when she asks the members of the European Parliament to panic. Greta says, “To panic, unless you have to, is a terrible idea. But when your house is on fire and you want to keep your house from burning to the ground then that does require some level of panic.” She then succinctly summarizes the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change scientists’ report that states we have 10 years to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 50%. Fifty percent in ten years is a very tall order in a very short time. In the Gospel of Matthew (6:25-33), we are instructed not to worry. At first glance, this text might appear to contradict with what I have just said: that we have only 10 years to figure out a lot of stuff if we want our children to have a planet that’s livable. And this juxtaposed with, “Don’t worry. God is going to take care of it.” A closer read, however, reveals a deeper truth. Jesus observes the flurry of busyness surrounding what we will eat, how we look, or the clothes we wear. He describes the, striving Gentiles, who become consumed by the “who’s who.” And then, he presents an alternative. He suggests that, instead, we see the world through the eyes of Creation - the living world - where things happen according to cycles and seasons. Within Creation’s creativity, there is an order and flow that provides trustworthy results. Do you know this poem, by the 12th century poet, Hafiz? Even After All this time The Sun never says to the Earth, "You owe me." Look What happens With a love like that, It Lights the Whole Sky All around us we feel the well-worn groove of capitalism and competition. Like an addiction, even when we want to stop, even when we voice our yearning for something different, the hugeness and inefficiency of the system can leave us feeling trapped in its maze. Eight years ago, His Holiness the Dalai Lama convened a climate crisis think tank with a group of religious leaders. Christian theologian Sallie McFague was in attendance and said, “The culture of consumerism… has now become like the air we breathe, and this is the nature of culture… it becomes natural…” She described our current, individualist, self-fulfillment practices as a new religion and as a lie. And it is here where language and behavior become entangled and tricky. The dominant worldview for our species is dependent on growth and competition but it is NOT the worldview embodied throughout creation… and there are plenty of humans who, for thousands of years have recognized this and lived abundantly within creation’s rhythms. Each one of us has examples of this from rural communities, villages we have visited around the globe, and the stories we are beginning to retain from our brothers and sisters who were raised to learn and honor the ways of the living world. One of my favorite examples comes from our relatives in the Pacific Northwest, the people of the Salmon Nation. In her incredible book, Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer paints the scene of the joyful ceremony created annually to welcome the salmon’s return. Mindfully burning the headland grasses, the native people establish a ring of fire on the coast to serve as a beacon of hospitality for the fish, still out in the ocean, assembling for their big and final journey upstream. By sunrise, in their finest dress, the humans gather alongside the river, singing songs to welcome the salmon home. Kimmerer writes, “The nets stay on the shore; the spears still hang in the houses. .....The hook-jawed leaders are allowed to pass, to guide the others and ......to carry the message to their upriver relatives that the people are ..... grateful and full of respect. The fish course by the camp in great .. ...throngs, unmolested as they make their way upstream. Only after four ......days of fish have moved safely by is the First Salmon taken by the most ......honored fisher and prepared with ritual care. …The salmon bones are ......placed back in the river, their heads facing upstream so that their spirits ......might follow the others. They are destined to die as we are all destined ......to die, but first they have bound themselves to live in an ancient agreement ......to pass it on, to pass it on. In so doing the world itself is renewed.” Where, in this practice, do we find scarcity? Where do we feel worry? Is there any place, in this way of living that we feel anxious or threatened by competition? On the contrary, there is collaboration and appreciation! There is community and joy! There is abundance and dance and song! Furthermore, there is an understanding, among the humans, that our lives are woven into this story – it is with our tending that the grasslands are renewed, that the soil receives the nitrogen it needs, and that the salmon are sung to, encouraged to flourish and provide renewed sustenance for the seasons and years to come. It feels a little slippery, doesn’t it? The earliest humans didn’t need Einstein’s theories to know that the stars were in them. But we have been so schooled in the concept of separation that leaning in to Creation’s understanding of belonging can almost feel like a fairytale. Upon hearing Rev McFague’s analysis that consumerism has become a religious way of life, the Dalai Lama took the think tank in a new direction. He offered that, while everyone understands there to be theistic and nontheistic religions, that it is time now for a third one – a religion without scripture, that is based simply on common sense, our common experience, a warmhearted sense of concern for the well-being of all, and respect for the rights of all beings. I believe this is where our sun comes in. Every day, whether it’s frustrated with us or not, it generously pours its sustaining light upon us, with non-discriminating extravagance! Each second our sun transforms four millions tons of itself into light, which becomes photosynthesis in the plants, which become our dinner salad, which becomes us – each of us, made from and radiating the sun’s light. And because of this magnificent stellar generosity in the center of our solar system, human generosity becomes possible… yes, that’s right, because the sun is IN us! The sun’s light readily translates into creativity -- the creative potential to grow the seeds, to dry what’s wet, to heat what’s cold, and our task is to embody it for ourselves. We are filled with this Holy Spirit – a sustaining light, a Living Christ, our Chi, our Prana… Filled with the urgency to live according to the renewable, sustaining cycles of creation, Greta Thunberg’s words speak truth to the false emptiness all around us. Again, her words: “If our house was falling apart… you wouldn’t talk about buying & building your way out of a crisis that has been created by buying and building things. Well, our house IS falling apart… Everyone and everything needs to change… The bigger your carbon footprint, the bigger your moral duty.” Mary Oliver’s poem “The Sun,” is a prayer of confession when she asks, .....do you think there is anywhere, in any language, a word billowing .....enough for the pleasure that fills you as the sun reaches out, as it .....warms you as you stand there, empty-handed -- or have you too turned .....from this world – or have you too gone crazy for power, for things? Her words beg me to admit my wild love for this massive burning star (For Life! The Cosmos! Living Spirit!) , to attempt to describe the contentment I feel basking in the glow that allows plants to make sugar; and to admit how routinely I take it all for granted, my sheer dependency on the steady stream of life it provides. When we transform the sun’s gift of energy into creative action, we too become the lilies Jesus was speaking of. This is how we re-member ourselves to our roles in the interdependent belonging of Creation. Like the lilies, our lives blossom into the unique offering that makes us who we are, and that informs the life and action we are called to create. Living faithfully as lilies (easier said than done), it just might be that we can call others back to the trustworthy lens of Creation. As lilies, we just might change the course of things in our communities, our marketplace, our bio-sphere. It is time to view our world through the eyes of Creation. Let us be those lilies receiving the sun, and turning the holy light that is us, into Right Action. This is the way of Life! And like the sun, our generosity continues… ~ 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). Her passion and training in the fine arts, spirituality and Earth's teachings has supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Lauren's work with Green Sangha (a Bay Area-based non-profit) is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of environmental activism taking place in religious America. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women. Lauren tends a private spiritual direction practice and serves as Dean for The Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, CA. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader How can we keep the Church without having to keep all the doctrines, dogmas and creeds of the religious past? How can we encourage that minority of people who remain inside the Church's fundamentalist majority to stay there? How can we encourage the "Church Alumni Association" members to return, if what they have to come back to is the very thing that made them want to leave? A: By Rev. Roger Wolsey Dear Gentle Reader, You have asked not one, but three very profound questions. I’ll speak briefly to each. First, re: How can we keep the Church without having to keep all the doctrines, dogmas and creeds of the religious past? The Church has been in existence for over 2000 years – and there have been numerous versions of it over those millennia. There are currently at least 25,000 different denominations within four major sectors of the Church, including The Roman Catholic, The Eastern Orthodox, the mainline Protestant, and, broadly - the Evangelical, Charismatic, and independent denominations. Clearly, not all varieties of Christianity (churches within the Church) hold to the same doctrines, dogmas, and creeds. I spoke to your question in an earlier piece I wrote for Progressing Spirit, “Where the Rubber Hits the Road” where I brought up the “Ship of Theseus” paradox as an analogy and framing to consider the evolving of Christianity(ies). You may also find the essay “The Baby and the Bathwater?” I wrote last December to be insightful and helpful as well, as it considers how we can call ourselves Christians if we reject many of the things that many Christians tend to view as “essential” to the faith. Second, re: How can we encourage that minority of people who remain inside the Church's fundamentalist majority to stay there? I’ll begin by reminding us that even though it may be hard for us to fathom, God/Spirit is at work through all sectors of the Church – including the conservative and fundamentalist ones. Sure, we have good reasons to feel that God works far more effectively, and perhaps fully, through the more progressive forms; but, it is the case that many Christian brothers and sisters are being loved by God and experiencing spiritual growth and benefit through their participation in conservative congregations. Yes, there are some members of that tribe who engage in wretched rhetoric and behavior, but many of them are truly kind, compassionate, and lovely people. That said, there’s nothing wrong with us informing people about the more progressive options within the Church family. There’s nothing wrong with us sharing about how we are being blessed by more progressive approaches to the faith. According the thinkers such as Jim Fowler and Ken Wilber, the members of a given society are all at different places in personal growth, development, stages of faith, and perspective, etc. Certain ways of being and doing church appeal to people at those various places. A really high percentage of the population are at what Fowler referred to as stages B and C. That’s reality. But, there is always some portion of the people at those perspectives who are on the fringe and ready to “level up” as it were. We can share what we see as the merit and value of our progressive approach and trust that “those who have ears to hear and eyes to see” – will. Finally, re: How can we encourage the "Church Alumni Association" members to return, if what they have to come back to is the very thing that made them want to leave? I guess a few things come to mind. First, there’s no need for such persons to return to situations that are exactly the same as what they rejected. In fact, suggesting that they do so could be considered abusive. The good news is that there are more and more congregations around the world that are evolving, with many overtly and outright embracing progressive Christianity. Some congregations even post “The 8 Points of Progressive Christianity” on their websites and as posters in their lobbies/narthexes. Here is something I wrote that many find to be helpful, “7 Ways to Find a Progressive Christian Church.” You will notice that I close that piece suggesting that one also seek to help a moderate congregation move more and more toward embracing progressive Christianity; and one can also start up a house church that meets in people’s homes, a coffee shop, or a community room in a library. There are lots of options. Some progressive Christians have been away from church life for a long time and, while God is with them right where they are and they don’t “need” to be part of a congregation, it is the case that humans are social creatures and we tend to thrive best in community with others. Here’s “Why I’m Spiritual AND Religious.” I hope these thoughts and resources are of help. Blessings, Rev. Roger Wolsey Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is an ordained United Methodist pastor who directs the Wesley Foundation at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity; The Kissing Fish Facebook page; Roger’s Blog on Patheos “The Holy Kiss | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Sexism! Still a Force in American Politics Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 12, 2008 The quest for the Democratic nomination continues to ebb and flow as the two rivals struggle to gain an edge. Senator Clinton was presumed to be the front runner prior to the Iowa Caucuses, but Senator Obama won that state impressively. Then Senator Clinton came back to win the New Hampshire primary and looked poised for a sweep on Super Tuesday. The sweep turned out to be more of a draw and launched Senator Obama on to a string of eleven straight primary or caucus victories from South Carolina to Wisconsin from Washington to Vermont. Once more he seemed on the crest of victory. The super delegates who had been pledged to Senator Clinton began to waver and defect. No one smells blood better than a politician. The pundits were now sure that he would wrap up the nomination on March 4. It was, however, not to be as Senator Clinton roared back dramatically, scoring impressive victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Next Senator Obama won a caucus in Wyoming and a primary in Mississippi to regain his frontrunner position, but he did not win so decisively that he was able to clinch the nomination. So the struggle now moves on to the key state of Pennsylvania in which Senator Clinton, according to the polls, stands poised to make her third comeback of this primary season. Beneath the excitement of what is surely the most interesting political contest in recent memory, there is another dynamic, always present, but seldom talked about. Two debilitating prejudices, sexism and racism, are in this political process being routed from their dwelling places deep in the psyches of our citizenry. Both have had long histories in the Western Christian world. Racism, the more overt and obvious of the two prejudices, was once protected by the laws of this nation, but it has had its back broken first by the bloodiest war in our nation’s history and second by a rising consciousness that found expression in the relentless pressure of the Supreme Court. Sexism on the other hand penetrated the culture in an almost assumed way that seemed to many to be appropriate, even proper. Even though sexism was also protected by the laws of this nation it was always more subtle and its evil less recognized. While no one would seriously argue today that racism in this society is dead, it is recognized at once when it rears its ugly head, while sexism is still widely supported in high places, including an obvious presence in the official statements of organized religion. Many church leaders continue to use a version of the “separate but equal” argument that has no credibility at all when applied in a racial context. No one in the political arena would dare to make an overtly racist comment, but overtly sexist comments have not been absent from this campaign. History tells us that while racism is crueler, sexism is more difficult to root out. Remember that this nation gave the vote to black men many years before it was given to white women. Data from this political season still points to the fact that sexism continues to be less recognized in the body politic than racism. Senator Clinton, who had been first defined nationally as the “First Lady,” had to establish her professional competence apart from her husband. She did this by winning a seat in the United States Senate, by mastering the intricacies of that most exclusive of clubs, by gaining the respect of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and by avoiding the spotlight of the media while doing her unglamorous homework. Her constituents in New York responded to these efforts and rewarded her with election to a second term by an astonishing 64% majority. Senator Obama, on the other hand, had been in the Senate for only two years when he announced his intention to seek the presidency. This is not to say that he is without significant credentials. He was an impressive student in law school, being chosen to be editor of the Harvard Law Review, an honor that goes only to Harvard Law School’s top student. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago’s Law School for ten years, during which time he was elected to and served in the State Senate of Illinois. Those accomplishments are not to be minimized, but it is to say that no woman with a resume as brief as that of Senator Obama would have been taken seriously as a presidential candidate. A woman still has to be twice as impressive to be viewed as equal. That is an expression of sexism. Hillary Clinton also had to carry the baggage of her husband in a way that no male politician has ever had to do. She is colored by the foibles of her husband’s administration. His negatives became her negatives. She wanted to keep her maiden name, Rodham, but political pressure on Bill Clinton after he lost the governor’s office in Arkansas forced her to become Hillary Rodham Clinton. The loss of her own identity, a reality that women have had to live with for centuries, has played a significant role in this campaign when people, defining Hillary as a Clinton, realized that in the elections of 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 there had either been a Bush or a Clinton on the presidential ballot. She was thus identified with the Clinton politics of yesterday, not the Rodham politics of tomorrow. She was implicated in what came to be called the Whitewater Affair, which was investigated endlessly and finally dismissed, yet its odor seems to cling to her. When the Clintons left the White House in 2001 charges were made about the Clintons removing things that were not theirs. These charges turned out to be nothing more than political attacks and were demonstrated to be false; nonetheless the stain on her integrity remained. When Hillary Clinton was cast in the role of violated wife in the sordid Lewinsky affair, she could not win. She was criticized by some for refusing to leave her husband and by others for standing by her man. None of these things would have been the fate of a male politician. Sexism was clearly operating below the surface. In 1972 when Shirley Chisholm became the first woman to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency, she carried with her candidacy the impact of both racism and sexism. It is interesting to note that she said overcoming her status as a woman was always more difficult than overcoming her status as an African-American. That was an indication that even long ago racism was more overt and easily identified in the public arena than was sexism. In support of that thesis, I cite the following data from this campaign. When Bill Clinton played the race card in the South Carolina primary, it backfired because people, aware of racism, were embarrassed by it. The sexist rhetoric that commentators let forth on Hillary Clinton, however, did not receive a similar rebuke in the Court of Public Opinion. Carl Bernstein on live national television referred to Hillary’s “thick ankles” and Tucker Carlson, an MSNBC conservative talking head, observed that “every time I get near Hillary Clinton I feel castrated.” Those were weird sexist comments, saying more about both Bernstein and Carlson than they did about Senator Clinton, but the point is that no female reporter could have gotten away with describing Governor Huckabee’s legs or with saying, “Every time I am in the presence of Mitt Romney, I feel like I am going to be raped!” A male radio host for Station KOA in Denver, Colorado, wondered on a live national network whether Chelsea Clinton “was going to wind up with a big posterior like that of her mother.” Can anyone imagine such a statement being made about a son of John Edwards? When a woman in a political gathering asked John McCain how he was going to “beat the bitch,” he knew to whom the question applied and proceeded to answer it without unloading its hostility. McCain later, however, rebuked a right wing radio host when he spoke of Senator Obama in a derogatory racist manner. Another radio talk show host accused a cable news channel of overreacting by suspending one of its political reporters, who had wondered aloud on national television “if the Clintons were pimping out their daughter as a campaign presence.” Is that not sexism? Senator Clinton also had the distinction of being the only candidate to be called “the anti-Christ” by a member of the religious right. That was, I believe, a sign of misplaced sexist rage. Why would the three times married, admitted adulterer, Mayor of New York, whose children will not speak to him because of his treatment of their mother, not be a candidate for that title? Yet he was spared this ultimate religious slander. Many people quite clearly still carry unconscious fears about a powerful woman. Look at the way Sandra Day O’Connor was negatively described by all of the Republican candidates except John McCain. Look at the number done on Geraldine Ferraro when she was the vice presidential nominee. Look at how Margaret Thatcher developed the aura of autocratic masculinity to win in Great Britain and how British male pride was displayed when they described her “as a man wearing a skirt.” Maybe no one ever forgets those years in our lives when we were helpless dependent infants being cared for by that seemingly all powerful woman we called mother. Maybe the fear of being made dependent again on a strong woman is still buried in our psyche. Maybe our sexist, male-oriented society, which still holds to the primary definition of a woman as a sex object, creates an unconscious difficulty in our ability to relate to women in a position of ultimate authority. Maybe women, who were taught how important it is to please a man to get ahead, were also threatened by her potential power. Perhaps that is why there have always been more “Aunt Jemimas” in the women’s movement than there were “Uncle Toms” in the black movement. There is much about which we can speculate, but the fact of which we are certain is that sexist barriers are still potent and that Hillary Clinton, is the current victim. People uncomfortable about this charge reply, “I am not opposed to women, only to this woman.” However, this woman was the only one who has battled to the place where she has a real shot at the presidency and, in the final analysis, she has not yet won a normal portion of the white male vote while she has consistently lost,, never the majority, but a substantial part of the female vote to her opponent. Hillary Clinton may or may not become our next president. That is yet to be decided. What is clear, however, is that she has taken some of the sexist poison out of the body politic by absorbing it. That will make it possible if she fails in this quest for another woman in another day to climb to the top of the hill. I am drawn to Hillary Clinton’s ability and to her intelligence. I admire the integrity and independence of John McCain. I am excited about the vision of a potential Obama presidency. I hope, however, that I will live long enough to see my nation and this world be able to celebrate the full humanity and the equal competence of women. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Global Spiritual Traditions and ChI Culture & Foundations Global Spiritual Traditions and ChI Culture & Foundations – Part 1 is the first of a 2-part series. These courses introduce students to ChI’s core philosophy and learning approach as well as to World Religions and/or spiritual paths that have their origins in earth-centered, indigenous practice (Africa, Pagan, First Nation and other indigenous world-views), or ancient Eastern philosophy and belief systems (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism). * This 5-day classroom course is required for all Interfaith Chaplaincy students but also open to others. There is additional online study required for completion of this course. Dates: August 13 – 17, 2019 Cost: $2403 Location: Berkeley, CA Register: Admissions Manager admissions(a)chaplaincyinstitute.org or 510-843-1422 READ | | | | | |

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8/01/19, Progressing Spirit: Roger Wolsey Lions, and Tigers, and Progressives - Oh My!; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateBody .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent, #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateBody .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateFooter .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent, #yiv9710327761 #yiv9710327761templateFooter .yiv9710327761mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Why are they afraid of what I’m saying? | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Lions, and Tigers, and Progressives - Oh My! | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey August 1, 2019I recently experienced something that is the stuff of many people’s nightmares. ProgressiveChristianity.org was a sponsoring partner of the annual Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina this year and, as a member of the Board of Directors, I was sent to represent the organization at a booth to distribute our literature, and solicit inquiries about our “A Joyful Path” children’s Sunday School curriculum. Little did I know, as I hadn’t submitted a topic to speak about, I was also listed in the Festival program as being a speaker as well! In fact, I didn’t learn about this until, I kid you not, 1 hour before I was supposed to speak on one of the larger stages! After an initial “Oh $#i+!” moment (which Rev. Mark Sandlin of Progressing Spirit witnessed), I gathered myself. I reminded myself that I’ve spoken at this Festival twice before, as well as at the Embrace Festival that we sponsored in Portland, OR two years ago, along with several other conferences around the country. I reminded myself that I’m capable, I trust Spirit, I don’t need to be afraid, it’s going to go just fine. I decided to share about some of the events in my life that have happened since I spoke at that festival last summer. As part of this, I shared about how I learned this past March, that 7 of my United Methodist clergy “colleagues” filed heresy charges against me last October. I was accused of “disseminating teachings contrary to established Church teaching.” This was triggered by a blog I posted on Patheos in May, 2018, “It’s time for progressive Christianity.” The 6 page, double-sided, complaint cited that blog, another blog I wrote, and numerous quotes from my book “Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity.” Essentially, they didn’t think my Christology was high enough, that I’m wrong to pray to the God who Jesus prayed to instead of to Jesus, that my understanding of the Trinity is too poetic, that I shouldn’t be saying that Jesus wasn’t literally born of a virgin, that there isn’t a literal hell, that the substitutionary theory of the atonement isn’t the only viable one, and that God is fully at work in other religions besides Christianity. I find myself asking, what would lead conservative Christians who haven’t even met me, and who live in a completely different state (all 7 of them in Texas) to veer from their lane like over-zealous junior high student hallway monitors and hypocritically file charges against someone – directly to a bishop – without even giving me the courtesy of letting me know about this, let alone without seeking to express their concerns directly with me privately first – as per actual Christian teaching. Why are they afraid of what I’m saying? Why are they afraid of contacting me directly in a Christian, relational, or even collegial way? What do they fear? Perhaps they somehow managed to be in the big tent of United Methodism their whole lives and somehow are unaware that our denomination is highly theologically diverse, and that we have 13 seminaries ranging from the conservative Asbury to the progressive Claremont and the Iliff School of Theology (my alma mater). Perhaps, as I understand my bishop told them, they “need to get out of Texas more.” Perhaps they were acting out of actual sincere concern for the best interests of the denomination, and they truly believe that my views are so vile and anathema that they pose grave danger to the well-being of the Church. I had the opportunity to face the primary accuser via a virtual video conference facilitated by the bishop, and I asked them if anyone in their congregations has been harmed by my writings. “No.” To which I replied, “So, the only one here today that’s been hurt by one of us, is me by having these charges filed against me in such a [cowardly] way.” Silence. Regarding the Trinity, I said, “Is it not the case that the orthodox understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity is that it’s a mystery of the faith?” “Yes.” “So we’re in agreement!” “No, you don’t understand it the right way!” “Did you hear what you just said? That I don’t understand a mystery the ‘right’ way?” And on it went. I had the chance to educate my detractor informing him that John Wesley intentionally didn’t include one particular Article of Religion adopted from the Church of England in forming the Methodist Church – the one concerning the creeds. Wesley sought to not have the Methodist movement be a creedal one, but rather, one of a truly ecumenical spirit that avoids unnecessary, likely triggers and divisions. More silence. The matter of fact, dispassionate lack of affect that I felt from my detractor during that video conference left me feeling that this really isn’t coming from a place of sincere concern about the authentic and transformative good news of the undying life, way, and teachings of Jesus – but more that it’s coming from some other ulterior motives. What could they be? Well, let’s stay with sincere concern about “right teachings” for a minute. If someone truly believes that there is a literal hell, and that the only way to avoid going there is for people to believe X, Y, and Z – with believe meaning intellectual assent to certain specific truth claims - then, sure it would be cause for concern if someone isn’t toeing that line and is saying something other than that. “This is a matter of life and death!” A matter of people we love and care about going to Heaven or roasting in the eternal fires of Hell! In such a literal, fundamentalist theological approach, faith is like a house of cards, and if you challenge any of those cards in that house, you risk the whole house coming down. “The possibility of salvation gone.” I can imagine how that might feel scary. The United Methodist Church, however, isn’t a creedal church. We haven’t adopted any theory of the atonement as the one, official one, and we are in fact called to “test, renew, and elaborate” our theological understandings in ways that help the faith be relevant to our world today. If people are seeking out a more fundamentalist way of being and doing church, there are countless options out there in the marketplace. The UMC isn’t one of them …unless, one is seeking to hijack the denomination in the way that happened to the Southern Baptist Convention in 1980. And what happened then wasn’t purely about matters of faith, but rather, politics. The birth of the so-called “Moral Majority” political movement. In doing my research I discovered that my accusers learned about me and my writings because they read a reprisal blog written by someone who works for the IRD – the so-called Institute for Religion and Democracy. This organization seeks to undermine the liberal and social justice advocacy wings of the mainline denominations, and they have a lot of money behind them from wealthy conservatives. In a legal proceeding there’s wisdom in “not asking a question you don’t already know the answer to.” So I asked, “Is it not the case that you learned about me and my blog because you read that attack blog written by that guy who works for the IRD? Silence. “I scoured the internet and the only blog that’s out there that refers to that blog I wrote was written by him.” “Um, well yeah maybe that’s how we learned about it.” “That is in fact how you learned about it. Don’t you realize that the IRD is no friend to the UMC? That it’s an entity that doesn’t have our best interests at heart? That by you doing what you’ve done to me, you’re being pawns in their political war games?” Silence. An easy case can be made that the IRD and their supporters aren’t sincerely concerned about proper theology, but rather, doing whatever it takes to sway the populace to create conditions more favorable for the US Congress and Supreme Court to pass ever more and more politically conservative policies, rulings, and agendas. I was already aware that I have been in the cross-hairs of the IRD as they wrote two blogs about my speaking at the Wild Goose Festival in the summer of 2018, both critical, one before, and one after. But I didn’t think they’d go out of their way to write what they distributed in that chap’s blog of June, 2018 – essentially throwing meat to the sharks, inciting their readers to “who’s going to file charges against him?!” So what is the fear here? One fear could be: “If we don’t get enough people on board with our way of articulating the faith, it’ll be harder for us to get our way in the marketplace of ideas and in the democratic governmental process!” Within that fear, there are two possible sub-fears. With one of them being employed as a tactic to assuage the other. People who fear the gradual movement of increased social justice and seek to instead adopt conservative political platforms that reduce taxes, reduce the role of government, and embrace a more so-called strict constitutionalist form of Federalism, intentionally appeal to base fears of the “useful idiot” minions – namely, homophobia, racism, misogamy - gay people, people seeking asylum, and women seeking reproductive rights and control of their bodies. These Powers and Principalities stir up the masses via scapegoating each of those oppressed people groups, rallying their base, and getting them to the voting booths to try to return our nation to some fictitious ideal – to “Make America Great Again” – which for them means no weddings for same-sex couples, no more gays on TV, fewer people of color in the electorate, and no abortions. Having those be “THE moral issues” is a cover and distraction from their real work, which is to cut taxes on the wealthy, prevent universal health care, grow the war machine and military industrial complex, and reduce governmental regulations on industry – including their ability to pollute the environment. And, frankly, when it comes down to it, the IRD and other such groups, are motivated by the fear of losing their cottage industry of fear-mongering. Like parasitic vampires, they feed, exploit, and capitalize on the fear of others. Simply put, they truck in fear. It’s their M.O. It’s their business. And they don’t want to see it threatened by Christians who actually are transformed by the good news of the Gospel to see that they don’t need to live in fear, but rather in faith. They thrive on people’s fear. After several uncomfortable months of effectively holding my breath wondering what would happen, the charges filed against me were dismissed as my accusers weren’t interested in signing any of the proposed just resolutions. So how are we to respond? Not to what happened to me, but to this constant raging from that part of the Church that would seek to limit our theological explorations – even to the point of seeking to clip our wings, control us, and even excommunicate us? We could seek to rally our own base and to fight fire with fire. We could assertively argue with them point by point. We could engage in proof-texting of our own. Yet, all that does is perpetuate bad theology and ecclesiology and fuel their fires and ire. No, instead what is needed is to truly be our transformed, faithful selves. To live out the fruits of the Spirit. To show self-control. To be as much of a non-anxious presence as possible. To be with our detractors, to hold space for them just as they are – including their fears. To seek less to argue with them, and more to love. We can’t argue anyone away from fear and into real, transformative faith, we can only love them there. There’s a song from the 1990s band Toad the Wet Spocket, called, “Pray your gods” with these lyrics: ...Is it that they fear the pain of death? Or could it be they fear the joy of life? Pray your gods who hold you by your fear For they are quick and ruthless punishers Or lay upon my altar now your love I fear my day is done There are armies moving on Be quick, my love It seems to me, when it comes down to it – there are fellow Christians who “fear the joy of life.” They (and likely we to some extent) fear that life might just possibly be bigger, more generous, and more gracious than they can fathom. There are people who fear being exposed to themselves for devoting countless hours of their lives, donating thousands of dollars, alienating themselves from members of their families – all for the cause of a false religiosity that isn’t an authentic faith that transforms lives. They fear that the legalism and nationalism that they’ve made into idols are in fact false gods – adventures in missing the point, dabbles in spiritual by-passing, and avoiding real transformation. They fear that maybe Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on God, and that the Holy Spirit is in fact at work in healing modalities and venues outside the Church (yoga, shamanism, kirtans, tarot, shadow work, EMDR, therapy, etc). They fear experiencing agape love – for fear that it might not actually be unconditional. They fear being real before their Maker – they fear possible rejection by “Him” as they fear that “He” is as petty and vindictive as they tend to be. They assume (in truth rightly) that progressive Christians also contain some pettiness in them, and, as an analogy, like the white people of South Africa (“conservatives”) after the end of Apartheid, they project and fear that the black majorities (“progressives”) will do unto them as they’ve been doing unto them. I can be petty. There are vindictive feelings within me. I’ve considered filing reprisal complaints of my own. I’ve imagined donating money to church youth groups near my detractors to toilet paper the trees outside of their homes... But I’m a product of my Mother and the United Methodist Church that I love. At their best – they bring out my best. For years, my mother has had a bumper sticker that reads, “Save the World, Hug a Republican.” I finally get it. And it isn’t about politics. It’s about love. Soulful, agape love, that while it may involve boundaries for self-care, primarily means presence. If nothing else, Jesus’s work was a ministry of incarnation, a ministry of presence, bold, heart-felt, sincere, genuine, compassionate presence. Being present to people and their fears. Owning and welcoming our own fears and wounds, to model for others how this is done, so we can transmute them – so we don’t transmit them. God bless my mother, and my fellow United Methodists (progressive and otherwise), for their increasingly converted hearts. God bless the actual possibility of being people of faith and not fear.~ Rev. Roger Wolsey Read online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is an ordained United Methodist pastor who directs the Wesley Foundation at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity; The Kissing Fish Facebook page; Roger’s Blog on Patheos “The Holy Kiss | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Jennifer How do I find a church community that aligns with my values, like for example, radical inclusion? A: By Rev. Deshna UbedaHello Jennifer,That is an excellent question! Thank you for asking. This is one of our most challenging tasks as humans today, in my opinion, and one of the most vital. I believe that being a part of Sacred Community is an essential aspect of living a whole and spiritually healthy life. It is what we seek, I believe, when we go to shopping centers or malls, to city squares and even to bars. As a whole, there has not been any new institution that effectively replaces or even improves upon church, so far. So there is a vacuum of sacred community in our societies. As spiritual beings living a human life, we need and yearn for meaningful community. Unfortunately, church has become more about the business model and saving something that is dying, and less about creating an experience of sacred community and personal transformation; which, I believe, is what we all seek, though we don't all know it. Once mainstream protestant church membership started declining, the focus became more toward saving the business of church. When that shift from community centered, healing and transformative spaces to economic centered and hierarchal businesses occurred something of great value was lost in the church experience. Now we have pastors that are afraid of saying what they really believe and challenging people to grow, because they are afraid that they will lose their old time funders. We have church leaders who are falling back into rigidity because that feels safe. It's the last gasp of a dying organism. Now, I know that there are many progressive church leaders out there trying to do something very different, and there are some that are succeeding in creating genuine sacred community and meaningful experiences in their churches. To me community becomes sacred when those that gather together and support each other do so with intentions that are meaningful and support personal and communal growth. Sacred community is the space in which people show up with courage to step forward in growth, to commit to practice loving kindness toward one another, to show up in vulnerability, to attend regularly, and to go deeper. At the heart of a thriving sacred community are shared values, usually around social justice issues. People of all generations are coming together in droves around the aim of shifting our culture toward equality. Because equality is so inherent in younger generations' views of the world, this value is interwoven into any thriving sacred community in which millennials are engaged. When all people are valued as unique and equal - women, men, youth, adult, older, younger, black, white, rich, poor - we are free to find connections with others based on a deeper, more meaningful, even indescribable force. So, when searching for a church community, I encourage you to look at the values the church states is has, and then look for the ways in which those values are being actively lived out. If, as you say, radical inclusion is important to you, then see if the church has a diverse group of people in leadership positions. Are there people of color? A range of ages? As many women as men? Are there LGBTQ people in leadership? Where does the money go and is it equitably distributed? Who holds the power? Because that is where the true values will be the most visible. Look at what action this church is taking to positively affect the community and its members? How much growth and transformation is the church willing to go through so that it can be radically inclusive, relevant to an intergenerational community, and be an agent of positive change in the world? Take as much time as you need to ask these questions and move on if you aren't satisfied. It is possible that you can affect change in the church from within, but, like with any institution, that can be fairly challenging. If you can't find a church in your area that aligns with your values, I encourage you to consider starting a small in-home or in the wild church community. Perhaps you meet weekly in a forest or a park somewhere near you and have 20 minutes of quiet contemplation, some songs, and some brave vulnerable conversation. Perhaps once a month you all volunteer somewhere together. Perhaps it's time to think outside of the box of Churchianity. More on this topic in some of my upcoming columns. Thanks again for your question.~ Rev. Deshna Ubeda Read and share online here About the Author Deshna Ubeda is Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org and Progressing Spirit and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is an author, international speaker, and a 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 is a lead author and editor on the children’s curriculum: A Joyful Path, Spiritual Curriculum. She co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. She is the Executive Producer of Embrace Festival. She is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually, and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part 1: Examining the Aura Created Around the Bible Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 5, 2008How did the Bible come to be written? Does it reflect a single point of view, even a single inspiration or has that been an idea imposed upon it by religious devotees? Since what we now call the Bible was written by many authors over a period of about 1000 years, what were the particular circumstances that prompted the writing of each piece? What was the process by which these individual pieces got designated as “Holy Scripture?” Were there other works that competed for inclusion in the Bible, but for some reason were not chosen? If so, who made those decisions and on what criteria? Are all parts of the Bible to be regarded as equally holy, equally valid or does the Bible embrace concepts that are demonstrably untrue and proclaim attitudes that modern sensitivity and an expanded consciousness now find both repellant and repulsive? Amazing as it may seem, these perfectly obvious questions are seldom raised in the various churches of the Christian world and indeed are regarded by some Christians as hostile, faithless and inappropriate. In the great theological centers of learning, however, these inquiries are routine and commonplace. Yet when one leaves these theological centers for a career as a pastor serving people who occupy the pews of our churches, there appears to be almost a conspiracy of silence about biblical knowledge. In the heartland of religious life, these newly minted clergy confront a Bible that has been covered with an aura of sanctity, which is so powerful that it blunts critical questions, regarding them not as a search for truth, but as attacks on holiness, upon God, on the Bible itself. So before beginning to look at the Bible itself, I want us to look first at this defense shield erected over the centuries by pious, but not well informed people, and designed to protect the Bible and its “revealed truth” from erosion. One runs into this biblical defense shield almost everywhere. It is present in the propaganda emanating from religious fundamentalists. Television evangelists like Albert Mohler, Pat Robertson, and the late Jerry Falwell constantly refer to the Bible as “the inerrant word of God.” They quote from its pages to attack evolution, the rise of feminism, homosexuality and even environmental concerns. These contemporary fundamentalists have their roots in a group of Evangelical Protestants who, between 1910 and 1915 in America, published, with the help from the Universal Oil Company of California (Unocal), and spread across the world, a series of tracts called “The Fundamentals,” which in fact produced the word “fundamentalism.” This tractarian movement proclaimed that the only true Christian position on the scriptures was to regard every word of the Bible as both revealed and inerrant truth. If one looks further back in history, one discovers that this mentality was present even at the time of Galileo in the 17th century, when representatives of Roman Catholic Christianity condemned Galileo’s idea that the earth was not the center of a three-tiered universe and that the sun did not rotate around it. What was the proof that they offered for this condemnation? It was a passage from the Book of Joshua (10:12-14) in which God, in response to Joshua’s prayers, stopped the sun in the sky to allow more daylight in which Joshua could pursue his military rout of the Amorites. This, the church fathers argued, was clear proof from the “inerrant word of God” that Galileo was wrong. This defensive shield around the Bible is also daily constructed even in those mainline churches that would be embarrassed to be called fundamentalists, since they regard themselves as more learned and sophisticated than those they think of as fundamentalists. Yet at the end of biblical readings Christian churches of all denominations still use some version of the phrase “This is the word of the Lord,” to which the people dutifully reply with some version of the phrase “Thanks be to God.” Click here to read full essay. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements John Shelby Spong’s Origins of the Bible: The Old and New Testament ...The full Series is now ...available as a PDF ...We will continue to post the ...remainder of the Series in our ...newsletter, and, the full ...series is now available for ...$9.00 in one PDF. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Fwd: Watched both nights of the Democratic debates. And a question came up for me
by James Wiegel 31 Jul '19

31 Jul '19

Suppose you are caught up in what is going on now in our broader society (I just watched the last 2 nights of the CNN debates among the Democratic hopefuls) > > And you were seeking guidance and wisdom to make sense of what is going on and to engage creatively — What would you find in our collective archive of experience that would be helpful? > Here is the link to the Archives Website if browsing around might help: > https://icaglobalarchives.org/ > > With Respect, thanks . . . > Jim Wiegel > > >>

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Fred Haman Completed Life-Memorial Service August 3rd in Houston
by Lynda C 24 Jul '19

24 Jul '19

https://www.monarchsociety.com/obituary/frederick-haman-jr My email is mielfrog(a)hotmail.com Juli's is jhpappano(a)gmail.com and Doug is dougchaman(a)yahoo.com. We would love to hear about our dad. You are welcome to give out our email to anyone who would like to reach out. Thank you. Lori This is the latest message I have had from Lori Haman: Good morning Lynda. Wanted to let you know that dad's memorial is scheduled for 10am on Saturday August 3rd at Christ the King Lutheran Church on Rice Blvd. In Houston. I just wanted to let you know the details. Lori We continue to hold this family in care and celebration of a great life lived among us. Grace and peace, Lynda Cock

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7/11/19, Progressing Spirit: Brandan Robertson: All The World A Thin Place; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 11 Jul '19

11 Jul '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6415130990 #yiv6415130990templateBody .yiv6415130990mcnTextContent, #yiv6415130990 #yiv6415130990templateBody .yiv6415130990mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6415130990 #yiv6415130990templateFooter .yiv6415130990mcnTextContent, #yiv6415130990 #yiv6415130990templateFooter .yiv6415130990mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } An Urgent Call for Eco-Theology | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | All The World A Thin Place: An Urgent Call for Eco-Theology | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Brandan Robertson July 11, 2019 The Celtic tradition has a concept called “thin spaces”, geographical locations where the veil between heaven and earth, the world we live in and the realm of the Divine, seems to be remarkably thin. I suspect that all of us have experienced such a place at least once in our lives- maybe it was a place of pilgrimage that we journeyed to over a great distance, longing to lay our eyes on this sacred place. Perhaps we wandered into a thin place without realizing it and we were mesmerized by the power and beauty we found pulsating around us. Whatever the case, when we arrive in a thin space we, like Moses, feel like we must take off our shoes and stand in awe at the glory of the place. Also, within the Celtic tradition, and most other indigenous spiritual traditions, is a belief that has become known as panentheism, the idea that the Divine impregnates every molecule of the Universe. Every person, every plant, every buzzing bee, and every drop of water is a channel through which the Divine is manifesting its Presence. There is nowhere we can go where our Creator is not. As the Jewish Psalmist wrote, “If I ascend to heavens you are there, if I descend to the depths you are there, if I rise on the wings of the dawn, even there you will find me.” At the heart of every major religious tradition there is a call to humility and wonder at the ordinary world that we live in, because there is a recognition of the Divine in and through all things. These two concepts, thin spaces and panentheism, which were once so essential to the spiritual understanding of humanity, all but disappeared during the modern era. Those who managed to hold on to religious faith seemed to revert to a mythic belief system that saw the Divine as a personified deity outside of this world, looking down on us with judgement, and occasionally interjecting the affairs of the world at his whim. This image of God caused us to begin to long for an escape from this present world, and a desire to go to whatever physical world that God resided on. It allowed us to begin to see our world as less than sacred, and we developed a posture of consumerism towards the created world- this world was given to us to consume, to use, to dominate, and to decimate, because we would one day be leaving it behind. Since the emergence of this theistic notion of God, our planet has been assaulted and nearly destroyed, largely by ideologies that have at their core the idea that our life is intended for another world, or that we will have a second chance somewhere else. God isn’t around, but is far away, and is calling us to leave this earth to be in his presence. So, we have exploited and pillaged our planet, we have innovated and found ways to make ourselves more powerful, elevating humanity to a God-like status, able to control, manipulate, and transform the elements for our own hedonistic desires. We desired full dominion over every aspect of planet earth, and by tapping in to our own divine potential, we have done quite well at establishing such dominion. The problem is the world that we are dominating, exploiting, and pillaging, as Fr. Richard Rohr often says, is the first incarnation of the Divine. Though we have placed blinders over our collective eyes, refusing to acknowledge the Divine presence in every centimeter of the created world, we none the less have been abusing and murdering God. This, of course, is not a new concept. At the heart of the Christian story is the narrative of God appearing in the form of a human being, who is grotesquely murdered at the hands of humanity who believed they knew how to see and be in the world better than the one who created it. And because God has granted us will over our lives and world, God will allow humanity to choose whatever path we desire. If we desire to crucify our Creator, the Creator will tragically allow us that choice. Since the Industrial Era we have indeed chosen to crucify our Creator. But in doing so, we are crucifying our own ability to survive. There is no life apart from the Source of Life. Every nail that we have pressed into the fragile skin of our Creator, through our unsustainable, human-centered industrial endeavors, has likewise been a nail pressed into our own collective body. Every time we have chosen to dominate and control the planet, rather than living in mutuality with it, we have been tightening the noose around our own neck, threatening to cut off our own ability to live, move, and have our being. We’ve been dashing towards the line of death with each passing century, ignoring the warnings that our Creator has been giving us through the Book of Nature. And now we’ve finally reached the threshold where we have the option to resist the consequences of our own actions. aWe can begin the long, costly process of repentance to bring healing to the world, or we can step across the finish line, ensuring our own destruction and the destruction of the world as we have known it. The situation is really, truly that dire. Astonishingly, we seem to be choosing death. The warning flares continued to be shot into the air, but instead of heeding them and making changes for our survival, we are sitting in our skyscrapers watching them as if they are fireworks, toasting to our own destruction. The most powerful and destructive nations in the world continue to choose their own pleasure and self-interest, rather than scaling back the practices and commodities they enjoy, thus saving the world. Most of us continue to walk through our days living as if destruction is just a far-off fantasy that could never actually come upon us. If there was ever a time for anxiety and panic among the masses, this is it. The Creation is breathing its last breath, it’s crying out from the cross of our own making, asking us, “Why have you forsaken me?” And we, like the centurions of old, are turning our heads and covering our ears. Many people will read this and desire to jump to the hope of resurrection. We want to grab onto an optimistic perspective that humanity will eventually wake up, or that God will somehow step in and reverse our course. But that isn’t the way the world works. I do believe that our planet will eventually heal itself and return to its full health and glory, but I believe that may very well come after humanity has become extinct. Humans have only been on the planet for a brief moment- the earth existed for billions of years before we appeared on the scene. And millions of species of living organisms have come and gone over the history of our planet. We must not allow our humanistic ideology blind us to the fact that we are but one more organism that can easily come and go in the history of this beautiful blue planet. God will be resurrected. The planet will heal. Our choice to kill and destroy the incarnation of God will only harm ourselves. Our Creator will overcome. Life will continue. But it may well continue without human involvement. That seems to be the trajectory that we are heading. How can we change course? How can we ensure our survival? I believe we must first start by returning to the wisdom of our ancestors who lived in worshipful relationship to the Created World. We must begin to acknowledge the presence of the Divine in every leaf, every ant, and every person. We must begin to live in loving, sacrificial relationship with God in Creation, allowing the world to sustain us as we seek to sustain it. We need to return to a synergistic relationship to God, giving back to the Divine Life as much as we receive. We need to begin to see all the world as a thin place, realizing that the realm of the Divine isn’t somewhere off in the cosmos, but is here on the ball of dirt and glory. The subconscious spiritual beliefs of any and every culture are an indicator of the likely actions that such a people will take. In our consumeristic, capitalistic Western culture, our subconscious beliefs tell us that we are the center and pinnacle of Creation, that our innovative capacities will continue to enable us to survive regardless of circumstances. But in the words of Jesus, these beliefs lead us down the wide road to destruction and many are walking upon it. The narrow road that leads to life calls us to challenge these subconscious beliefs, challenge the systems that we have created that pillage and exploit Creation, and be willing to point our innovative capacities towards devolving technologically and returning to simpler, more natural ways of being in the world. But again- in order for any significant change to occur, our beliefs must be changed. And it is one of the primary roles of institutions of religion to call society out of its position of complacency and into a posture of true repentance- that is, metanoia, the expanding of our minds. We must call humanity out of mythic consciousness that sees God as some Being out in the cosmos who will at last step in and save the day, and into an integrated view of Reality that sees God in our midst, around us, through us, and as us. We must, with urgency, call our communities to tear off our blinders and take a hard look at the destruction that is looming over our species, and then act in accordance to our spiritual traditions to enter into a right relationship with the Divine once again. “The End is Near” was once a catchphrase of right-wing fundamentalist preachers. Today, it must become a rallying cry for all who care about the future of humanity and the future of our planet. The end is in fact near, but we still have the opportunity to reverse our course. The end is in fact near, but a new beginning is still within the realm of possibility for humanity. One of the primary keys towards changing course and saving our world is going to come when we once again begin to locate the Divine in the midst of all that is, seen and unseen. Salvation will come when we embrace the wisdom of our Celtic spiritual forerunners who saw all the world as a thin place, who located heaven in the midst of here and now, and who saw this world and everything in it as pierced through with the Divine. May all people of faith heed these warnings, turn from our arrogance, and open our souls and lives towards a renewed kind of relationship with the Divine, in and through this sacred ball of blue and green.~ Rev. Brandan Robertson Read 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. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader Is God a Palestinian/Brazilian/Chilean/Russian/Khazak/…woman too? A: By Christena Cleveland This question was posed in immediate response to my assertion that God is a black woman. Before we scurry on to other metaphors for the Divine, it is important to recognize how our theological imaginations have been poisoned and impeded by anti-blackness. Because we associate the Divine with whiteness and “light”, it is difficult for us to embrace God in black skin, especially God in black female skin. Black women, who exist near the bottom of the racial-gender hierarchy, are saddled with both the “foolishness/weakness of women” and “dirtiness of black people” prejudices. In fact, Malcolm X famously said, “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman.” As a result, black women are perceived as wholly unholy; unfit to represent God much less be God. God as a black woman violates our expectations. Due to our conditioning, we expect God to be white and male. Social psychology research on expectations teaches us that when we encounter someone who violates our expectations, we feel threatened. In one study[1], participants interacted with a White or Latinx partner who described their family background as either high or low in socioeconomic status (SES). The researchers’ theorized that people are conditioned to expect white people to come from high SES backgrounds and Latinx people to come from low SES backgrounds. They predicted that when participants interacted with someone who violated those expectations, they would feel threatened and experience higher cardiovascular reactivity. Indeed, their hypothesis was correct. Participants who were paired with a relatively wealthy Latinx partner or a relatively poor White partner showed much higher levels of threat and cardiovascular reactivity than those who were paired with partners who met their expectations. This social psychology insight is key to helping us dismantle the anti-black misogyny that infects our theological imaginations. For all of us who have been conditioned by anti-blackness and misogyny, the invitation is to linger with– rather than rid ourselves of- the discomfort, threat, and cardiovascular reactivity that God as a black woman might pose. ~ Christena Cleveland Read and share online here About the Author Christena Cleveland Ph.D. is a social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist. She is the founder and director of the recently-launched Center for Justice + Renewal, a non-profit dedicated to helping justice advocates sharpen their understanding of the social realities that maintain injustice while also stimulating the soul’s enormous capacity to resist and transform those realities. Committed to leading both in scholarly settings and in the public square, Christena writes regularly, speaks widely, and consults with organizations. Dr. Cleveland holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara as well as an honorary doctorate from the Virginia Theological Seminary. She integrates psychology, theology, and art to stimulate our spiritual imaginations. An award-winning researcher and author, Christena has held faculty positions at several institutions of higher education — most recently at Duke University’s Divinity School, where she led a research team investigating self-compassion as a buffer to racial stress. She is currently working on her third book which examines the relationship among race, gender, and cultural perceptions of the Divine. Dr. Cleveland is based in North Carolina where she lives with her spouse, Jim. __________________________________ [1] Mendes, WB; Blascovich, J; Hunter SB; Lickel, B & Jost, JT (2007). Threatened by the unexpected: physiological responses during social interactions with expectancy-violating partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 698-716. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Fifth Fundamental: The Second Coming Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong October 31, 2007The last of the Five Fundamentals claimed by American Protestant Traditionalists as the irreducible essence of Christianity has to do with the second coming of Jesus. To modern ears it is the most bizarre of the five and is based, I believe, on a misunderstanding of the Christ experience that was later literalized. However, that misunderstanding has found a place in the gospels themselves, and so the distortion echoes through the ages. This fifth fundamental stated that Christians are required to believe that Jesus will return to the earth in a bodily form on the last day for two purposes. He will come, first to inaugurate the Kingdom of God and second to carry out the final judgment. This ancient concept involved pictorial images of Jesus coming physically out of the sky, which made sense only in a pre-Copernican world. It forces contemporary believers to affirm the literalness of a place called heaven, where great and eternal rewards are handed out and of a place called hell where great and eternal punishment must be endured. It also implies that the “Day of Judgment” has to be regarded as an event that will occur inside history at the end of time. For most modern people all of these concepts fall somewhere in between gobbledygook and complete non-sense. That is at least part of the reason why there is in our time a rush into secularism and why our modern world produces popular books espousing atheism. Yet, the fact remains that even in this generation those who predict the specific date for the second coming of Jesus still get media attention – though maybe only the kind of attention that one gives to the theater of the absurd. Occasionally, some person will actually claim that they are in fact the Jesus who will come again. The last one of these to gain major attention in the media was from Texas – enough said. Devotees of the second coming quote the Bible literally to justify their convictions. Perhaps we ought to start by looking at these biblical ideas. Apocalypticism, or concern with the end of the world, is indeed a note found first in the Hebrew Scriptures and later in Paul and the gospels. Apocalypticism appears to enter this tradition as a sign of the decline of hope among the Jewish people that their vindication would ever occur inside history. That despair was born after the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.E. That defeat for the Jews dispersed the citizens of the Northern Kingdom into the DNA pools of the Middle East, never to be isolated, identified or heard of again. These people are referred to today as The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” The Assyrians also reduced the last remaining Jewish state called Judah to vassal status and inaugurated a policy of collecting tribute, which left the Jews in poverty and allowed hopelessness to become their daily bread. It was out of that hopelessness that the Jews began both to dream of God’s restoration and to envision exactly what would occur at the end of history when the Kingdom of God would be established. Apocalypticism also fed the messianic dreams of the Jews, for one aspect of the messiah who would come, was that he would reestablish the Jewish nation, restore the Jewish throne and usher in the Kingdom of God at the end of time. These hopes grew in direct proportion to the rise of Jewish despair. After vassalage to the Assyrians, the Kingdom of Judah was defeated and destroyed by the new power of the Middle East, the Babylonians. This time Judah tried to hold out against this foe, fighting a brilliant defensive battle for two years before the walls around Jerusalem were breached and the victorious Babylonians poured in. The city was laid to waste, the Temple destroyed and all the able bodied citizens were deported to exile in Babylon never to see their holy land again. Some two generations later, the Persians overran the Babylonians and let the captive people finally return to their homeland, where they discovered that the nation of Judah was little more than a rock pile and that Jerusalem was so crippled that it would never again inspire grand dreams. In that climate apocalyptic thinking thrived. Someday messiah will come, they said, and draw history to a close. Messiah will usher in the Kingdom of God, judge the people of the world and begin the time after time and beyond history when God’s will is done “on earth as in heaven.” It was not long, however, before the Persians were overrun by the Macedonians and the Jews became again a conquered province now in the empire of Alexander the Great. Upon Alexander’s death, the Jewish state became a pawn between the Syrians and the Egyptians until Rome’s might once again united that part of the world under Roman domination. So when the Jews looked at history they saw it only as an arena of their constant victimization. In response they created apocalyptic fantasies that anticipated the end of the world. In that alone they found both comfort and hope. The promised one, they said, would descend out of the sky at the end of time and usher in the new age of peace under the dominance of these oppressed people. Many definitions floated around the idea of messiah in Jewish circles. He would be the Son of David, and thus the heir to David’s throne. He would be the new Moses and the new Elijah, the Son of Man and even the Son of God. Much of the gospel material in the New Testament was designed, not to describe things Jesus actually said and did, but to attach various images to him in order to demonstrate his claim to be the messiah. They believed that when messiah came he would be recognized because the signs of the kingdom would be the marks of his life: the blind would see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the mute sing. When Jesus was identified by his disciples as the messiah all of these images were attached to his memory. When Matthew attributed to him the parable of the Judgment in which the sheep and the goats were separated and dispatched, one to eternal life, the other to outer darkness, messianic thinking was clearly operative. Messiah would come out of the sky because that is where God lived. The “City of God” would descend out of heaven; living water would flow from above when the Kingdom dawned. All of these images assumed a three-tiered universe with heaven, the abode of God, just above the sky. Christianity’s incarnational language reflected that mentality. Jesus was the human form of God above, entering human history through a miraculous virgin birth. His life was filled with Godlike acts and people said that he was destined to return to the God above the sky through the miracle of a cosmic ascension. Those were the interpretive symbols used to tell the Christ story. Interestingly enough, however, these traditional story lines do not appear to be original to Christianity. The Virgin birth, for example, did not enter the Christian tradition until the 9th decade. Paul who wrote between 50-64 had clearly never heard of it. Neither had Mark, the first gospel, written in the early years of the 8th decade. The story of Jesus’ ascension, as something separate from the resurrection, is a 10th decade addition to the Christian story and try as we may, we find no evidence of miracles being associated with Jesus until the 8th decade. Something occurred, an experience that cannot be described, causing the disciples to identify Jesus with that promised messiah and immediately these “end of the world” images were wrapped around him, It quickly became obvious, however, that neither the life nor the death of Jesus had established the Kingdom of God. So echoes in the teaching of Jesus appeared suggesting that he would come again to complete the messianic task before “this generation has passed away.” He was called the “first fruits of the Kingdom of God.” A crisis developed in the church at Thessalonica when Jesus did not return immediately and Paul had to address this anxiety in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians. Two thousand years have now passed and the Kingdom has not yet dawned. Increasingly most people just assume that this was a misunderstanding that got incorporated into Jesus. In Luke’s gospel and in his second volume that we call the book of Acts, it begins to look like the hope for the second coming has already been replaced by the idea that the church has the universal mission to convert the world. Some have suggested that the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was really the second coming and that the church, presumably born in that Pentecost experience, was now the “Body of Christ.” That idea transforms the second coming symbol somewhat. Others have said that Christ’s second coming is in the lives of his faithful disciples, our commitment to live the Christ life. These explanations may be helpful to some but they are not to me. Neither are they to those almost to be pitied people, who fail to live now because they spend their lives getting ready to welcome Jesus in his second coming. All of the apocalyptic language, out of which talk of a second coming of Jesus arises, is mythological language expressing hope that is not bound by the pain of this world. It was never meant to be literalized. The classical fundamentalists, who wrote the Five Fundamentals of Christianity, are thus not the true interpreters of the Christ story but the ones, who by literalizing the interpretive myths have actually falsified the Christ experience so totally that 21st century people find it increasingly difficult to call themselves Christian. So our analysis of the Five Fundamentals of Christianity is now complete. Every single one of them is intellectually bankrupt in the light of modern knowledge. The Bible is not the inerrant word of God. The Virgin Birth has nothing to do with biology. The idea of substitutionary atonement is a barbaric idea that makes God an ogre, Jesus a victim and you and me the guilt-ridden causes of Jesus’ death. The resurrection of Jesus is not a physical, bodily resuscitation. The second coming is nothing more than a mythological way to express the human yearning for fulfillment. It has nothing to do with an event that might occur in time. So what is Christianity all about if none of these “fundamentals” are literally true? That will be my topic next week.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Wild Christ, Wild Earth, Wild Self A Nature-Based Introduction to Seminary of the Wild July 28 - August 2nd Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Seminary of the Wild offers an experiential, nature-based, journey of apprenticeship into the wild mysteries of the kingdom of God and an invitation into a deeper participation in the restoration of the world, tikkun olam. This gathering has been created for those who long for a more soul-infused life and who yearn to find ways to re-connect to to the natural world as a person of faith during a time of deep cultural unraveling. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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(no subject)
by pschrijnen 09 Jul '19

09 Jul '19

http://inventec.com.hk/zcjirpgu/5dlj033&70002?whivsjmaa07b

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Global Buzz for July
by ICA International 08 Jul '19

08 Jul '19

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... Global Buzz Report: July 2019 Click above or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-19/2019-07-01.php And: read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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7/04/19, Progressing Spirit: Christena Cleveland: Growing Up in a White Male God’s World; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 04 Jul '19

04 Jul '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9916234393 #yiv9916234393templateBody .yiv9916234393mcnTextContent, #yiv9916234393 #yiv9916234393templateBody .yiv9916234393mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9916234393 #yiv9916234393templateFooter .yiv9916234393mcnTextContent, #yiv9916234393 #yiv9916234393templateFooter .yiv9916234393mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } I began searching for other images of the Divine. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Growing Up in a White Male God's World | | | | | | | | | | Guest Author Christena Cleveland, Ph.D. July 4, 2019 One of the first things the Church taught me is that my blackness is abhorrent. I had just finished kindergarten and my resourceful mother had signed us up for every Vacation Bible School (VBS) in a twenty-mile radius. VBS was a cost-effective alternative to daycare, so each week she dropped me and my siblings at yet another church where our black bodies were engulfed by a sea of whiteness. A precocious child, I didn’t love the soulless VBS songs -- and though it wasn’t until college that I would encounter the term theodicy, I was already beginning to question how a loving God could possibly commit global genocide by flood. But I endured VBS because my mom told me to go and I prided myself on being an obedient child. One time, as soon as our mom dropped us off at that week’s VBS, my brother John-John and I spotted a towering tetherball set. At the first recess break, John-John and I sprinted to the tetherball and got lost in a competitive game. We must have missed our teacher’s call to return to the classroom, because the next thing we heard was, “Get in here, you niggers!” We both froze. The tetherball whizzed and spiraled around the pole. As a five-year-old, I hadn’t yet acquired this new vocab word, but I instinctively understood that it was negative, and that it referred to me. I knew that my brother and I looked different from our classmates, and it didn’t take long for me to deduce that nigger was about my blackness and that it was bad. This rudimentary knowledge was enough to make me duck my head in shame as I ran toward the classroom. I understand that not all white Christians are as explicitly racist as my VBS teacher. Many are implicitly racist. Some are anti-racist revolutionaries. But what shaped my childhood reality was the absence of messages from the Church that refuted my teacher’s proclamation that my blackness is abhorrent. In fact, many of the messages I received implicitly supported her proclamation. For example, I often encountered illustrations of God as a white man that associated God’s goodness with His whiteness and maleness. As a black girl, I never saw myself in God. Consequently, it was easy for me to internalize the shame my teacher heaped on me. Additionally, much like the powerful white men whose social location was distant from mine, God felt distant from me. I’m not the only black kid to question my identity in light of the prevalence of white male god. The late Black tennis star Arthur Ashe shared about his childhood experience with white male god: “Every Sunday, Arthur Jr. had to go to church, either First Presbyterian or Westwood Baptist, where his parents had met, and where he would look up at a picture of Christ with blond hair and blue eyes and wonder if God was on his side.”[1] We don’t just encounter white male god at church. He is everywhere. For example, “In God We Trust” is printed on money next to a picture of a powerful white man. Each time we look at a dollar bill, we are implicitly reminded that God is a powerful white man. In my early adulthood, as I discovered how ubiquitous white male god is, and how much its racial-gender identity determines who is sacred and who is profane, I grew to hate white Christ. I hated it not only for its historical inaccuracy, but also for its exclusivity. I hated white Christ because its existence was a powerful social force that caused little black kids like me and Arthur Jr. to wonder whether God shared our black identities, whether God was near our black bodies, and whether God was on our side. Ideas shape everything. In fact, social psychologists believe that ideas are the scaffolding of a culture; ideas impede or propel all that is possible within a culture. White male god rules Western culture. The more a person approximates white male god’s whiteness, the more desirable and holy they are perceived to be. Indeed, in the Judeo-Christian scriptures, darkness and blackness are often equated with ugliness and filth. I hated white Christ and I was committed to dismantling its supremacy…by any means necessary. So, in 2016 when Christianity Today (CT) magazine invited me to become a monthly columnist, I saw it as an opportunity to talk to a pretty conservative Christian crowd about how Christ is not white. That year I wrote a non-shocking essay about the historical inaccuracy of white Jesus that shocked the CT readers. In response to that particular column I received about five times as much hate mail as normal and four death threats. The vitriolic response simply proved my point: that many American Christians are violently attached to the idea of a white god and are threatened by any suggestion that God is not white. The overwhelming amount of hate mail and death threats simply affirmed that white Christ is a disease that infects people with anti-blackness. Consequently, I wasn’t at all surprised when, around the same time, America failed to resist Trump’s xenophobic and racist presidential campaign. Between white America’s general lack of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and its attachment to white god, I knew that a blatant racist could easily be elected in this country. Then Trump was caught boasting about sexually assaulting white women. I remember thinking, “I know from experience that white Americans typically lallygag when black and brown people are attacked and killed. But surely, they’ll rally to protect their own white women.” But the white silence in response to white women being attacked helped me grasp that god’s whiteness isn’t the only problem. Up until this point, I had singularly focused on the problem of God’s whiteness when other problems remained, namely God’s maleness. My singular focus is easily explained. As a black woman whose existence is defined by intersectionality, I must navigate a society that is often unwilling to accommodate my blackness or my femaleness, much less both at the same time! So, I’ve often had to choose. In this case, I chose my blackness, focusing on the problem of white Christ. But once I turned my attention to the problem of God’s maleness, I realized that I didn’t just hate white Christ, I also hated male Christ. A god who is exclusively white and male, or even predominantly white and male, is never going to be safe for people of color and/or women. Indeed, white male god is intersectional; we must be liberated from both its whiteness and maleness. The idea of a white male god has ruled American culture for so long that it’s not at all surprising that the Judeo-Christian scriptures depict women as foolish and licentious, that mass incarceration disproportionately affects black and brown people, that a gender pay gap persists in the world’s most prosperous economy, that black and brown people are being shot incessantly by a largely white police force, and that men who have been accused of sexual assault sit on our Supreme Court. When the ruling idea is that the Divine is proximal to whiteness and maleness, and distant from blackness and femaleness, it follows that the culture’s institutions and humans will support anti-blackness and misogyny. As both black and female in the aftermath of Trump’s election, I consciously found myself caught in the crossfire of anti-blackness and misogyny. I also realized that due to the limitations of my Protestant background, I didn’t possess a theological imagination that ventured beyond white male god. Consequently, I began searching for other images of the Divine. I didn’t have to search far. Just beyond Protestantism, from the depths of Catholicism rose the Black Madonna, a black female image of the Divine who is claimed by Catholicism but definitely not owned by it. Within the span of a few months in 2017, I read every book I could find on Her, lingering on the images of Her. But I knew in order to truly heal from the wounds of growing up in white male god’s world, I needed to encounter Her face to face. So, in the fall of 2018, I spent five weeks in central France, walking over 400 miles to visit 18 ancient Black Madonna statues in remote villages. I’m not what anyone would call an “outdoorsy” person, but as I’ve reflected on the ways that white male god has wreaked havoc on me, I’ve become more conscious of the ways in which slavery, domestic service, devalued labor and environmental racism have antagonized black women’s sacred relationship to the earth. Though I was scared to walk so many miles, alone, and much of it across winter mountain ranges, I chose to take on the challenge of a walking pilgrimage. I wanted to experience the liberation of intentionally connecting with the earth, with my body, with the air, with the people who lived in the Black Madonna villages – and most of all with an image of the Divine who looks like me, experiences the world like me, and is beloved and holy like me. ~ Christena Cleveland, Ph.D. Read online here About the Author Christena Cleveland Ph.D. is a social psychologist, public theologian, author, and activist. She is the founder and director of the recently-launched Center for Justice + Renewal, a non-profit dedicated to helping justice advocates sharpen their understanding of the social realities that maintain injustice while also stimulating the soul’s enormous capacity to resist and transform those realities. Committed to leading both in scholarly settings and in the public square, Christena writes regularly, speaks widely, and consults with organizations. Dr. Cleveland holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara as well as an honorary doctorate from the Virginia Theological Seminary. She integrates psychology, theology, and art to stimulate our spiritual imaginations. An award-winning researcher and author, Christena has held faculty positions at several institutions of higher education — most recently at Duke University’s Divinity School, where she led a research team investigating self-compassion as a buffer to racial stress. She is currently working on her third book which examines the relationship among race, gender, and cultural perceptions of the Divine. Dr. Cleveland is based in North Carolina where she lives with her spouse, Jim. [1] Kenny Moore, “Sportsman of the Year: The Eternal Example,” in Sports Illustrated (December 21, 1992), 21. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Nelda If/when ego is attuned or at Oneness there is no judgement or comparison. When ego gets disconnected from Source perception shifts… then that which I like I call ‘good’ and that which I do NOT like I call ‘bad’. As the spiritual path unfolds before me if I have finally learned each experience has within it an opportunity to be drawn closer to the Source, to develop reliance and trust in that Source. My life has presented some intense faith provoking experiences. When I meet them with the anticipation of eventual blessing to be revealed, it is NOT necessary to (even though I do at times) become despondent and hopeless. A: By Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Dear Nelda, You pack a lot into your reflections. In response, I’ll offer some distinctions you might find helpful. I would invite you to consider distinguishing the ego and the soul. By soul I mean our sense of self that is Being manifesting uniquely as you in each arising moment. You speak of the Source, and Being is the Boundless Source. You can think of the ego as your soul constricted by defenses, by armoring, by ignorance, by instincts. The ego imitates the soul, seeking the Source but unable to experience the connection, you might say, because of the boundaries it imposes to try to survive without being transformed. You also speak of “perception,” which is helpful and accurate. Since the soul is Being being you, she knows her Source. Yet it is also true that the soul needs to learn how to trust what she perceives and what she knows. For the ego, the spiritual world is often reduced to the small, moral, superegoic field bounded by “good” and “bad” or “right” and “wrong.” For the spiritual journey of the soul, the focus is the inner journey home to the truth of who she has always been but has forgotten. In a sense, the ego’s unrelenting concerns (anxiety) dulls the perception of the soul and lulls her to sleep about what truly matters: union with the Source. An essential quality within the soul is that of basic trust in the beauty and goodness of the Source. The ego cannot relax into trust because of the defenses, and so despondency and hopelessness arise. But the gift within the despondency and hopelessness is our realization that we can do nothing to acquire connection with the Source, or to gain value, or to become lovable. What we learn to do is nothing (wu wei, in Taoism), rest and relax in the arms of Being, because the Source is already the essence of our soul. This realization about the nature of reality moves the soul to engage in those spiritual practices (e.g., meditation, curious inquiry, service) that actually deepen her union with the Source without becoming lost in distracting egoic concerns about salvation or superegoic preoccupation with “good” and “bad.” ~ 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 of St. Paul’s Church 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 our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Fourth Fundamental: Miracles and the Resurrection, Part V Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong October 2007 Something clearly happened to the band of Jesus’ disciples at some point following his crucifixion that was profound, life changing and deeply real. We have no written records between 30 C.E. and 50 C.E. from any source that purports to describe what that experience was. However, we can chart some dramatic changes that occurred in that time span that can only be attributed to whatever that experience was. Let me state them quickly. According to Mark, the first gospel, when Jesus was arrested, all of the disciples forsook him and fled. I read this as a literal memory since by the time Mark wrote, the Twelve were heroes, yet the memory of their abandonment was still clear. Jesus is even made to predict this abandonment and to refer to how it fulfilled the Jewish Scriptures, citing a verse from Zechariah to give that claim particular emphasis. I do not think people go to this length to justify or excuse the disciples’ behavior if that behavior had not happened. So I read this abandonment as literal history and believe that the facts suggest that Jesus died alone and that his disciples engaged in an act of unbecoming cowardice. Yet something happened to these fleeing disciples that changed them dramatically. When it happened, we do not know. The time frame of three days is clearly an interpretive and liturgical symbol to allow for the later celebration on the first day of the week which would be the third day from the crucifixion. Where it happened we do not know since in the gospels themselves there are two competing traditions. Mark, Matthew and the appendix to John argue for a Galilean setting. Luke and the regular conclusion of John argue for a Jerusalem setting. Most scholars regard the Galilean tradition as the more original, the earlier tradition, and the Jerusalem tradition as the more developed, later one. This conflict is, however, present in the gospels themselves. How did whatever the Easter experience was actually happen? We do not know that either, but by reviewing the gospel material, we can pick up hints in a variety of places. The experience of the living Jesus that later came to be called resurrection seemed to have a liturgical context. Luke has the travelers on the road to Emmaus say, “He was made known to us in the breaking of the bread.” That phrase was in obvious liturgical use when the gospels were written. John’s appendix (Chapter 21) also suggests a common meal through which Jesus made himself known. The Book of Revelation uses the word “sup” or “dine” when describing what it means to commune with the raised Christ. The narrations of the Last Supper in Mark, Matthew and Luke carry resurrection connotations of the eschatological emphasis on the new meal that will be eaten in the Kingdom of God. John’s gospel, which has no last supper, refers to the cross as the place where the bread of life is taken, blessed, broken and given, but he turns the story of the feeding of the multitude with a few loaves and fishes into a great eucharistic feast and identifies eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus with the resurrected life that will be eternal. While we can only speculate about the when, where and how questions, we can be much more specific when charting the effects. Something brought the fearful and fleeing band of disciples back together. What was it? Something empowered them with such courage that they never again wavered in regard to their vision. Indeed they were quite willing to die for it. What has the power to change cowards into heroes, to redirect the lives of a group so dramatically? Whatever Easter was it had to be big enough to do that. The second effect that is obvious is that whatever the Easter experience was it changed the disciples’ understanding of God and how Jesus was related to that understanding. When we turn to the witness of Paul, who wrote between 50-64, he says in his epistle to the Romans that “God designated Jesus to be the Son of God” by the power of the “Spirit of holiness” and this designation was made operative in that God raised him from the dead. Long before any gospel writer had turned the Easter experience into a physical, resuscitated body, Paul had interpreted it as God raising Jesus into whatever God is and whatever God means. This transformation is then written back into the life of Jesus when, in the synoptics, Peter is made to call him “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” though, as it was later indicated, it would not be until the resurrection that Peter would understand his own words. When John has Jesus identify himself as being one with God and when Thomas is made to refer to him as “My Lord and my God,” the revolution was complete. It is quite clear that what Easter did to these Jewish disciples was to force a redefinition of God onto them so that forever after they could not see God without seeing Jesus as part of that definition nor could they see Jesus any longer as other than as deeply at one with God. It would be some four hundred years before the Christian Church would define this transformation in the doctrinal language of the Incarnation and the Holy Trinity, but the experience appears to have been connected to whatever it was that originally constituted Easter. People do not redefine God except when driven to do so by an experience that is undeniable. Whatever Easter was, it has to be big enough to account for this dramatic change. The final evidence of change is a little more vague and a little more stretched out in time, but it is powerful nonetheless. Whatever that life-changing, post crucifixion experience was, it came to be connected in practice with the first day of the week. My own study of the resurrection has led me to conclude that the first day of the week was never the day of the Easter experience but was rather the liturgical day set aside to celebrate the Easter experience. My best guess is that somewhere between six months and a year actually separated the crucifixion from what came to be called the resurrection, but what I call the Easter experience to keep it more vague and less literally defined. I see evidence for this in all of the gospels, especially in John (Chapter 21), but time does not permit me to spell that out here. There is no doubt, however, that very early the disciples of Jesus observed the Sabbath in the synagogue and then gathered for “the breaking of the bread” on the first day of the week. By the time Paul wrote to the Romans, the first day of the week was so deeply established that Paul could refer to it simply as “the Lord’s Day” without any further explanation. Within a single generation, “the Lord’s Day” rivaled the Sabbath in importance even among the Jewish disciples of Jesus. This was long before Christianity became a predominantly Gentile movement. When it did move from its Jewish womb into the Greek world of the Mediterranean region, it was the Jewish Sabbath that would ultimately be dropped by the increasingly non-Jewish Christians and the first day of the week became the exclusive Christian holy day. The change that created the first day of the week as a new holy day was, however, connected to whatever the transforming Easter experience was. Something clearly happened. Change in behavior, change in theology, change in liturgical practice all occurred and all cry out for explanation. The Easter experience lies under all of the explanations. The last thing I want to note in this column is that the various explanations of the Easter experience found in the four canonical gospels, which were written 40-70 years after the transformation they purport to describe, are completely contradictory in almost every detail. For those who want to literalize the Bible, the startling discovery is that in the Easter experience, on which the Christian movement so clearly stands, there is total disagreement on details. Who went to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week? Paul does not seem know that tradition at all, while none of the gospels agrees on who these women were. Three went says Mark; two went says Matthew; an undisclosed number went says Luke; only one went says John. The only thing they all agree on is that Magdalene was central in that drama. Did the women see the risen Christ at the tomb on that first Easter? No, says Mark; yes, says Matthew; no, says Luke; yes, says John but only on the second look. Who was the first witness to “see” the risen Lord? It was Cephas, says Paul. Mark never records anyone seeing. It was the woman in the garden says Matthew. It was Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus says Luke. It was Magdalene says John. Where were the disciples when the Easter experience, whatever it was, broke upon their consciousness? Paul doesn’t say. Mark says it will be in Galilee. Matthew says it was in Galilee on top of a mountain. Luke says it was never in Galilee but occurred only in Jerusalem and its immediate environs. John says it was originally in Jerusalem, but then he suggests much later it also occurred in Galilee. So it is that we have an event that so clearly brought about substantial changes, making its reality hard to dispute, but when people sought to explain what actually happened, they disagreed on almost every detail. This points, I believe, to the probability that the experience itself defied all human limits and forced those who were impacted by it to explain in human language this inexplicable action that was of God, but its effects were expressed inside human life. That is what the Easter experience was and is. That is also why those, who want to literalize its physicality and make the explanation of 40-70 years after the event a requirement for being a Christian, misunderstood so totally both the faith they seek to follow and the gospels they read so loosely. Neither the miracles of Jesus nor the Resurrection of Jesus can be understood as literal, supernatural events. They are far more, not less, than that. The crucial fourth fundamental, I think we can state with authority, does not defend Christian truth, but actually distorts Christianity badly. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements | | | | | | | | Wild Goose Festival July 11 - 14th in Hot Springs, NC A 4-day Spirit, Justice, Music and Arts Festival But it’s so much more than that. Author Brian McLaren sums it up this way: “At Wild Goose, people flock together to celebrate a way of life rooted in faith, justice, creativity, and beauty. It’s like a family reunion where you meet relatives you never knew you had. It’s a wild and wonderful convergence of stimulating conversations, campfires, music, kids, art, lawn chairs, prayer, fun, dance, frisbees, tents, food, sunshine, rain, laughter, and fresh air. There’s nothing like it, and I look forward to it as one of the best weeks of my year.” READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Celebrating the Completed Life of Fred Haman
by Lynda C 03 Jul '19

03 Jul '19

I had a note on messenger from Lori Haman Nash that Fred had passed this past weekend. Fred was part of the Chicago Religious House with us in Fifth City many years ago. (Jeremiah was in kindergarten or lst grade, so about 1983.) I recall that he was involved with a Lutheran congregation at that time and also trying to keep us all healthy with Shaklee vitamins which helped supplement his income. He also was part of the staff of Fifth City Business Careers as it started up. Fred’s gentle manner and hearty chuckle comes to mind as I remember him. Lori wrote the following in response to some of my questions: My daughter's and I were able to drive up from Texas to be with Dad and Juli for almost a week before he passed. He made it there days past his 89th birthday. It was a full life. I still love in Texas, but he was in Colorado with my sister, Juli, talking care of him the last four years. We are going to have a memorial service in Houston but are still trying to iron out the details. His obituary is now posted at https://www.monarchsociety.com/obituary/frederick-haman-jr Our deep care to Doug, Julie and Lori who were all part of our Phase I programs. Journey on, dear colleague, Lynda and John Cock

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6/27/19, Progressing Spirit: Forrester: Living Christs of Touch; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 27 Jun '19

27 Jun '19

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!important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5885945327 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5885945327 .yiv5885945327mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent, #yiv5885945327 .yiv5885945327mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templatePreheader .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent, #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templatePreheader .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templateHeader .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent, #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templateHeader .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templateBody .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent, #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templateBody .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templateFooter .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent, #yiv5885945327 #yiv5885945327templateFooter .yiv5885945327mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } As soon as religion forgets about its roots in the eternal, it fails in its central task. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Living Christs of Touch | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. June 27, 2019 If your life were ending and you were given the chance to write a few words to encapsulate its essence, what would you say? The story wouldn’t have to be historical, or literally true, but it would need to offer an authentic window into your soul and the heart of your heart. I ask this because I am amazed with the story presented in John’s gospel to offer us the essence of Rabbi Jesus. This is the only gospel in which, as Jesus’ death approaches, he is depicted as caring for his friends by touching their bodies – no meal, a few words, and the washing of feet. Of all the possible stories John could have created to convey his convictions – a stunning miracle or a captivating oration – the gospel author simply has Jesus essentially engaging in tender and intimate touch. Inviting his friends to do the same (which is so much more than learning to imitate.) As his prospect for survival fades and the death of his bodily self approaches, Jesus does not retreat, nor does he attack. He surprisingly reaches out. He loves – not abstractly, not theoretically. Jesus teaches his spiritual path through embodiment. The depth of his own realization manifests in the utter simplicity of his action. Being is Loving, even in the face of apparent annihilation. In Jesus, the human survival instinct, where we are driven at almost all costs to preserve our bodily self, is not destroyed. The instinct is transformed as it is subsumed into a larger seamless Reality – within John’s brief account we are offered a vision of a spiritual path for humanity that is one of a revolutionary mystic. I recently finished reading Yuval Noah Harari’s magnificent and provocative book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Harari pierces the bubble of the pervasive myth that homo sapiens reign triumphant at the summit of evolution after a rather peaceful, solitary and linear development. On the contrary, he chronicles how the dawn of homo sapiens is marred by our genocide of at least two other human species with whom we shared this earth – Denisovans and Neanderthals. Initially retreating back to east Africa after feeling their survival threatened, our ancient forebears reemerged, attacked and destroyed. Although there was some interbreeding among the various human species, detectable today in our own DNA, this was minimal. But, not only did our ancestors annihilate other humans, they were then responsible for the decimation of the majority of large mammals in Australia and the Americas (once thought to have been due to precipitous climate change). This violent dawn of the history of homo sapiens was a harbinger of countless tragedies to come over the following millennia. Often religion, as a cultural force that binds groups together, reinforced and offered justification for the destruction of others whose presence was perceived as threatening one’s own, and one’s tribe’s survival. Touch was neither tender nor intimate – it was terrifyingly terminal. Harari’s book is a sobering testament: Our species kills, and we destroy the lives of others readily and easily. When we fear for the survival of our bodily self, we feel compelled to retreat to find safety, or we ruthlessly attack: think Christ Church, New Zealand, or Sri Lanka, to name two recent atrocities. Our nervous system feels overwhelmed and we react out of desperation. Apart from Harari’s historical perspective, what I’m describing is not new. But the information does highlight the significance of John’s story about Jesus. Jesus is a wisdom figure in that vein of Axial spiritual teachers (chronicled in such illustrative detail by Karen Armstrong in The Great Transformation) who has realized that another human path is not only possible, such a path is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, our species will likely not survive, and neither will so many of the other magnificent and irreplaceable creatures with whom we share this sphere. John’s story of Jesus is the genesis of a new kind of spiritual path arising in Judaism – a revolutionary mystical path that offers homo sapiens a chance for our survival instinct not to be destroyed (which is impossible), but to be transformed by being incorporated into a larger Reality (John 17:21, “that all may be one”). If this path is to be fruitful, then Christianity will need to discover how to form faith-communities that are sources of instinctual transformation, rather than belief-clubs that reinforce the fear and prejudice and destruction deeply rooted in our species. This is complex, and my focus is simply one questioning thread within evolution’s tapestry: why do we exist as a Christian community? Even more fundamentally, what is it that is utterly unique about spiritual communities? What do they have to offer humanity that is absolutely necessary? The answer, as far as I can tell, has to do with realizing that our love of life needs to mature into the love of Being, which includes, yet transcends, the love of our bodily self. I believe that the one gift that a spiritual community can offer that is utterly unique, is that of being an experiential school providing an effective path for a soul to realize her true nature as a manifestation of Being. My sense is that this describes John’s community (as well as that of Thomas). John’s gospel has its own language to express this realization – Jesus comes to know himself as the Word become flesh. In John’s experience, when God speaks, the Logos manifests, and in history Jesus comes to be as the Logos. (Remember, this is poetry, not prose.) As I unpack the poetic insight of John, the Deep resounds and the song that is life sings. Each creature is a note of the Deep’s voice. There is no gap between the Deep and the Singing. Breath is expressed in sound and sound is shaped as word. Creatures are the sounding Words of God. A spirituality of Being is a radical and revolutionary mysticism in which all gaps disappear. Radical means rooted. Each and every creature is rooted in and as Being. We are each word uniquely shaping the exhalation (the creating flowing forth) of Being. This means that spiritual communities essentially exist that we might realize this truth of our nature, and in this realization become enraptured with the song of creating. Spiritual communities exist to invite us to fall in love with the moist breath of Being arising from our own depths – a Deep Source that never dies. In his captivating book, Resurrecting Jesus: Embodying the Spirit of a Revolutionary Mystic, Adyashanti writes in the spirit of John. He recognizes that “religion’s primary function is not about conveying ethical and moral codes”; it is “not about politics and power and hierarchy.” No, religion’s “primary function is to awaken within us the experience of the sublime and to connect us with the mystery of existence. As soon as religion forgets about its roots in the eternal, it fails in its central task.” And with that failing we are reduced to bestial destruction, with spirituality becoming a hollow shell of strident moral righteousness justifying the ego’s fears and desires to perpetuate the existence of our bodily self at all costs. If we, as homo sapiens, do not awaken to the sublime and realize our connection with the Holy Mystery of existence, which is Being, we will not know how to touch each other, and the creatures of creation, tenderly. Without our connection with the Holy Mystery of existence, we will continue our history of the destruction of life. But, with our direct realization that the mystery of Being is our true nature, then it becomes possible for us to mature, like Jesus, into revolutionary mystics. We become no longer preoccupied with the defensive protection of our small bodily self. We develop the capacity to be open to touch and healing in the face of threat. We become – not imitators of Jesus – but living, creative, Christs, where Word touches Word, and bodily death is incapable of harming or destroying Being. ~ 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 St. Paul’s Church 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 Helen What do you make of St. Matthew 25? A: By Bishop John Shelby Spong Dear Helen, Since the dominant narrative in the 25th Chapter of Mathew is the parable of The Judgment in which Jesus is purported to tell of that final moment when the Son of Man comes to separate the sheep from the goats, I assume that this is the content to which you are referring. The standard of judgment that is used as the basis of judgment comes as a surprise to both groups. Neither the sheep that were to be rewarded nor the goats that were to be punished seemed to know when it was they had done or not done the determinative deeds of feeding, clothing and visiting the Son of Man. The powerful conclusion was that "in as much as ye have done" (or not done) these acts of kindness "to the least of these" who are our brothers and sisters, you have done them to the Son of Man. It is a provocative parable. It suggests that the only way you can love God is to love your fellow human beings. The only way you can serve God is to serve the people of God's world. It points to the reality, recognized so powerfully by the prophet Amos, that the worship of God is nothing but human justice offered to God, and that human justice is nothing but the worship of God being acted out. This means that a religious system treating any human being out of a prejudiced definition, and thereby diminishing that person's humanity, cannot possibly be of God. It means that no one can rejoice in another's misfortune. It means that in the sight of God Iraqi casualties of war are as precious in the eyes of God as American casualties of war. This parable makes contact with that essential definition of God found in the first Epistle of John. "God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God." I am not impressed with the reward and punishment aspects of this parable. I think they reflect a rather outdated idea of God who is involved in behavior control. I do not think people mature if they do anything for either reward or punishment. The call of God in Christ is in my mind a call to step into a new humanity, beyond tribe and prejudice and all human definition of worth and status, so that each of us might be enabled to give away our love to others without stopping to evaluate whether our love is deserved. That is the meaning of Matthew 25 to me. ~ Bishop John Shelby Spong Published November 19, 2003 Read and share online here | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Fourth Fundamental: Miracles and the Resurrection, Part V Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong October 10, 2007 Did Jesus literally and physically walk out of his grave, restored to life, on the third day following his crucifixion? Those who drafted the Five Fundamentals thought so and insisted that anyone who did not say a convincing “yes” to that proposition could no longer claim to be a Christian. The resurrection of Jesus in a physical, bodily form was thought of as the central miracle, the one unwavering truth to which all must adhere. It gives one a sense of how badly eroded these fundamental convictions have become in our time when we realize that no reputable biblical or theological scholar today would be willing to assert that the resurrection of Jesus must be understood as a physical resuscitation of his dead body to live again inside the life of this world. Unfortunately, most people are not biblical scholars and they do not realize that this interpretation of the Easter experience that turns it into a narrative about the three days dead Jesus literally walking out of the tomb is the product of the third Christian generation and finds its origin primarily in the late ninth and early tenth decades when the gospels of Luke and John were written. This resuscitated body was never the transformative experience that occurred at some point after the crucifixion and that convinced Jesus’ disciples that something about his life transcended the ultimate barrier of death and opened a pathway into the eternity of God. Paul, the first writer in the New Testament knows of no resuscitated body. He does say that “if Christ be not raised we of all people are the most to be pitied.” The question is, however, what did he mean by the word “raised?” We note first that Paul always uses a passive word for the resurrection. Jesus never rises for Paul, God always raises him. God is the one who initiates the action. Jesus is the one acted upon. So the question becomes: to what did God raise Jesus? For Paul it was clearly that God raised him into what God is, that is into the eternal presence out of whom Jesus could manifest himself to certain chosen witness. In Romans (1:1-4), Paul states this very overtly. God designated or declared Jesus, to be the Son of God by the action of “the spirit of holiness” in raising him, not from death back to life in this world, but from death into God. Resurrection and ascension were two parts of the same action for Paul. Later when resurrection was changed to mean resuscitation, a means to get Jesus back into the life of God had to be developed. That is what accounted for the 10th decade narrative of Jesus ascending into the sky. When the minds of first century Christians tried to conceptualize their experience it was almost inevitable that they would in time literalize these symbols, but that was not the way this life changing experience was first understood. A second piece of Pauline writing develops this point even further with two specific references: In I Corinthians 15, written perhaps three years before the epistle to the Romans, Paul makes it clear that resurrection had nothing to do with a physically resuscitated body. He says, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.” He talks about a spiritual body growing out of the physical like a stalk of corn grows out of a seed. He stretches vocabulary almost to a breaking point to say that resurrection is real, but it is not physical. Later in that same epistle Paul lists those to whom the raised Christ “made himself known.” That word is frequently translated “appeared,” making people think of a physical encounter when the word more closely means “was made manifest” and suggests that the viewer has had his or her eyes opened to see a new reality. It has a sense about it of infinite sight, an insight or a second sight. Paul’s list of those to whom the raised Christ was made manifest is fascinating in many ways: Cephas (i.e. Peter) is first, and then come “the Twelve.” Please note that the group identified as “the Twelve” still apparently includes Judas Iscariot. Paul dates the resurrection “on the third day” by which time it would have been quite impossible for a replacement for Judas to have been elected. Indeed Luke says the choice of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot did not take place for weeks. It is interesting to trace the origins of the story of the betrayal. It makes its first appearance when Paul dates the Last Supper as having occurred “on the night he was handed over.” It is the word translated “handed over,” that was later rendered betrayed, that becomes the catalyst around which the narrative about Judas Iscariot developed. Judas Iscariot does not appear to have been an original part of the earliest Christian story. There is no other reference to a betrayal in the entire Pauline corpus. It is quite obvious that Paul did not know the tradition that one of the Twelve had been a traitor. That narrative begins only in Mark. Paul’s list of “witnesses” continues with the mention of “500 brethren,” a story that has no counterpart in any gospel. Then it moves to James who is unidentified. Is this James Zebedee, James the son of Alphaus or James the brother of Jesus? The consensus among scholars today is that this is James the brother of Jesus, who became the leader of the church in Jerusalem and Paul’s adversary. Next come “the Apostles.” Who are they? Paul has already listed “the Twelve.” Is this a different group? Finally, Paul lists himself as one to whom Jesus was made manifest. Paul’s conversion is placed by most scholars between one and six years after the crucifixion. Paul could not have possibly seen a resuscitated, physical body. The book of Acts calls Paul’s “seeing of the Lord” a vision on the road to Damascus. While Paul himself does not mention the road to Damascus, he does talk about an ecstatic experience in which he was lifted to the “third heaven,” where he saw things that people do not normally see. Reading Paul convinces the scholars that resurrection understood as a physically resuscitated body was not an idea that Paul ever entertained. Recall that Paul wrote between the years 50 and 64. Mark, writing in the early years of the 8th decade, never relates an account of the raised Christ appearing to anyone. He just confronts his readers with an empty tomb, a symbol of the conviction that death cannot contain him. Matthew, writing in the early to mid 9th decade takes the first step toward a physical understanding of resurrection when he portrays the women in the garden as being capable of grasping the feet of Jesus. My perception is that one cannot grasp feet that are not physical. Two things, however, call Matthew’s accuracy in this instance into question. First, he has quite deliberately changed Mark’s narrative upon which he bases his entire gospel. In Mark the women never see anything other than an empty tomb. Matthew has thus altered his original source. Luke, who also has Mark in front of him as he writes, follows Mark’s text accurately. In Luke the women do not see the raised Christ. Even if one is a biblical literalist one has to face the fact that in the New Testament, by a two to one vote, this story in Matthew is regarded as an inaccurate alteration of the original text. The second thing that calls into question the accuracy of Matthew’s story of the woman seeing a physical, raised Jesus in the garden is that in this gospel’s only other resurrection narrative it is clearly not a resuscitated, physical Jesus who meets with the disciples. It is rather a vision of a glorified Christ who comes out of the sky robed in all of the messianic symbols that were traditionally attached to the Son of Man who would inaugurate the Kingdom of God. This visionary Christ comes to give the disciples the great commandment that launched the church. It is clearly not a resuscitated body, but a transformed, glorified one. Please recall that when Matthew wrote, no account of Jesus’ ascension had yet entered the developing Christian story. When we discover that in our earliest New Testament sources of Paul and Mark there is no physical, bodily seeing of the raised Jesus, then it becomes obvious that the physicality of the resurrected body is a later development of the tradition. Mark’s women confront the emptiness of the tomb, hear a resurrection announcement given by a young man in a white robe and then flee in fear saying nothing to anyone, despite the fact that the messenger had instructed them to go to Galilee with the promise that Jesus would meet him there. Is this to be understood as the promise to meet Jesus in some resurrected, physical form in Galilee? Or is it the eternal command to return home to one’s roots if one is to encounter the holy? In time it was certainly read in the former sense, but the evidence points to the latter sense being the original meaning. When one comes to the late ninth and tenth decades writing of the gospels of Luke and John, the seeing of the raised Lord has surely become physical. The flesh of his raised body can be physically touched. Indeed Jesus invites them to do so, maintaining that he is not a ghost since ghosts do not have flesh and blood. This raised Jesus eats, demonstrating a functioning gastro-intestinal system, he talks, teaches and interprets Scripture, demonstrating functional vocal chords, larynx and brain, and he walks with Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus revealing a functioning skeletal system. The resurrection is now understood as a very physical phenomenon. Yet both Luke and John indicate that these images may be more symbolic than real since they also add very non-physical dimensions to the resurrected Jesus. In Luke, the body of Jesus can materialize out of thin air and it can also disappear in the same manner. In John, Jesus can enter the locked and barred upper room without bothering to open the doors. To turn the conviction that Jesus has somehow transcended the ultimate barrier of death and broken its power into a literal narrative about the resuscitation of a deceased body was probably inevitable, given the human need to use words to talk about life changing experiences. There are, however, great amounts of textual evidence that this was clearly not what Easter meant originally. What then did it mean? That is my topic for next week’s column. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements | | | | | | | | Beloved Festival, August 9-12, 2019 Tidewater Falls, OR Beloved is a 4-Day Sacred Art, Movement, and Music Festival on the Oregon Coast. Beloved is a healing event, intended to experiment with new models for culture. In the troubled times in which we live, people become divided against each other and can more easily feel isolated and separated from the Soul of the World. At Beloved, we become a sudden, mystical community where everyone can feel the touch of spirit while also deepening the soul of community. Click here for more information ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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