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12/15/16, Spong/Roger Wolsey: I and many others stand upon Bishop Spong's shoulders
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 15 Dec '16

15 Dec '16

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR I, and many others, stand upon Bishop Spong's shoulders We continue this week with guest author Roger Wolsey, United Methodist Pastor and author. It’s accurately said that “we stand on the shoulders of giants” and John Shelby Spong is one of mine. Bishop Spong has been a tremendous influence on my life as a pastor who is also a theologian and writer. Though we’re not of the same denomination, we are birds of a feather and kindred spirits. We share similar vocational callings. We give a damn about Christianity and its capacity to serve as a source of healing and prophetic transformation in a world that sorely needs those things. And, we care enough about the lineage we’re part of to critique the hell out of it – literally – to help separate the wheat from the chaff in ways that help the faith to be relevant and meaningful in this new millennium. I first discovered Spong’s writings the summer before I started seminary in 1992. My home church, Hamline UMC in St. Paul, MN, had book discussion group called “The Phoenix Group” comprised of people who had fallen away from conventional Christianity and some forward thinking member of that group invited us to read the book that established Spong’s fame and renown – “Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism.” Without the benefit of having started my work at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO, the book blew me away with its boldness and its avoidance of pulling any punches. It sensed that Bishop Spong was a veteran of numerous experiences of seeing the Church at its worst. I was impressed by his owning of his stances. As a Minnesotan, who grew up with the value of “nice,” I found myself blushing for how strident and crass some of his rhetoric was. It was clear that he wasn’t seeking to make friends within certain quarters of the Church family. It was obvious that he was done suffering fools kindly and that he was prepared to be estranged from some people. I’d never seen anything quite like this before in the reading I’d done to that point in life. Informed by the critical insights of Rescuing the Bible – along with my earlier degree in philosophy – I hit the ground running at Iliff and blazed my way through my coursework with a a passion to de-and re-construct the faith in ways that made sense to me and my generation (X). Though not on any required reading lists, his book Born of a Woman: a Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus was in the seminary bookstore. I devoured it in the Spring of 1993 and wished I’d read it in the fall of 1992 – before I preached my early sermons as a student pastor – as the insights from it completely changed my understanding of Mary. Instead of reducing my faith in Christianity, Spong’s debunking the false notion that Mary was a virgin, and backing it up scripturally, increased my appreciation of how the scriptures were formed, via processes of midrash, and helped me to celebrate how Jesus’ truly ordinary, and arguably even shameful, entry into the world was a kick-ass declaration of God’s actual glory – including a feminine glory – and the miracle of turning something chaotic and embarrassing into something – someone – who would grow-up to forever change the world – for those who let it. After seminary, Spong again rocked my socks with his book “Resurrection: Myth or Reality”. I read it in 1995 and it greatly informed how I preached my Easter Sunday sermons throughout my career as a pastor. Spong clearly showed how a belief in a physical resurrection of Jesus is not at all necessary in order to be a good and faithful Christian follower of Jesus. Indeed, it was an encounter with a spiritually resurrected Jesus that the apostle Paul had on his way to Damascus, and if that was good enough for Paul, it’s jolly good enough for me. I can relate to this view of things. I too have had spiritual encounters with the Risen one. I too have experienced new life and resurrections from my many failures and face-plants in life. Belief that those can happen is what matters. Furthermore, this text helped me to be more aware about the anti-semitism that has colored Christianity over the years – and how Christians can become better Christians by learning more about the Jewishness of Jesus, the Jewishness of all the authors of all of the texts in the Bible, and the Jewishness of early Christianity. My reading of Spong’s next book “Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible With Jewish Eyes” only increased this. I then found myself becoming caught up in my work as pastor, as a husband, and as a political activist – especially seeking to do what I could to prevent the U.S. from waging that senseless war in Iraq. I eventually divorced and felt called to write my own book, “Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity.” I had become increasingly more informed by the writings of John Cobb, Jr; Marcus Borg; and John Dominic Crossan and felt moved to offer an introduction to progressive Christianity from a Gen X perspective. During those years, it struck me that Spong, like one of my other mentors, Dr. Delwin Brown, was still more in the camp of liberal Christianity than thoroughly in the arising movement of progressive Christianity. In the same way that Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ” was one of the last efforts of conventional evangelical evangelism, I felt that Spong’s works were largely late expressions of liberal Christianity; i.e., a bit too beholden to science, and not quite enough embracing of paradox, Mystery, and the possibility of personal relationship with God. It was only after I’d published my book that I got around to reading Spong’s books: A Christianity for New World, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Living in Sin?, and Here I Stand. The reading of those texts has both confirmed and challenged my assessment of his theology. I’ve come to realize that I was too quick to label him and put him into a box. While it is true that Spong’s rhetoric – e.g., “God is not a noun, that demands to be defined, God is a verb that invites us to live, to love and to be” – can be ironically over-stated, and notably dualistic (either/or) polarizing – not values in progressive Christianity as I understand it. It’s also the case that his views defy easy categorization and are highly nuanced and have evolved over the years. Spong is very much a fellow progressive Christian. Indeed, he’s one of our movement’s founding-parents. I’ve been blessed by his boldness, brashness, and uncompromising commitment to his integrity. Here he stands – and here I, and many others, stand upon his shoulders. 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 Blogs on Patheos “The Holy Kiss” Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Bob From Fresno, California, writes, Question: The Bible speaks of God addressing particular people, e.g. Abraham, Moses, Elijah and Nathan directly. Other people claim that God has spoken directly to them. How do you account for or explain that? Answer: Dear Bob, In a word very carefully!! I think we need to heed the wisdom of the man who said, "When I speak to God it is called prayer. When God speaks to me it is called paranoia." People who have a deep sense of vocation do feel that God is directing their lives and so they might well refer to that by saying, "God spoke to me and called me to this vocation." That, however, must be understood metaphorically not literally. Does God have vocal cords that enable the Divine One to speak? Does God have a larynx through which words can be formed? Does God speak in Hebrew, Greek or English? Does God have a heavenly accent? Literalism gets silly when we ask such questions. When Moses at the burning bush felt the call from God to go to Egypt to seek freedom of the Jewish people from slavery, was that a literal happening? Was it external? Could it have been photographed or recorded? Or was it internal, subjective, and seen only with the eyes of the mind? People, who claim that they have visions, hear voices or who believe that they bring messages from God are either mentally unbalanced or deceptive, since they appear to need external validation for their internal yearnings. Either way they need to submit their insights to a larger community for both judgment and validation. Great harm has been done to too many people as the direct result of such claims. I distrust them almost 100%!! ~John Shelby Spong Read and Share Online Here Announcements A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel. In Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, Spong annotates the Gospel of Matthew and so provides a blueprint for the Church’s future—one that allows the faithful to live inside the Christian story while still embracing the modern world. Click here to read more or purchase book Please send your notes of get well to Bishop Spong addressed to admin(a)progressivechristianity.org and we will forward them on for you. .

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DIRECTORY READY TO MAIL
by via Dialogue 11 Dec '16

11 Dec '16

Dear Friends and Colleagues: >From Mike Tippett: The 2017 Directory Of Those Who Care is now being printed. Copies for The those who have already ordered a Directory will be mailed out by the end of this week. There is still time for you to order your copy! For those who aren’t familiar with The Directory, it is a listing of names, addresses, phones, emails and occupations of several hundred people who have been at one time or another associated with the I.C.A., or the Ecum enical Institute, or its programs and projects. It’s fun to see where everyone is living and what each is doing. (I’m in Florida and am semi-retired) If you would like a copy of your listing, either write or email me. I have a special email for The Directory: _MovementDir(a)aol.com_ (mailto:MovementDir@aol.com) If you would like a copy of The Directory, send in the form below. Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form or a CD. If you order two forms, it will cost $30.00. New This year: An email attachment is only $15.00 ORDER FORM NAME: ______________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________ CITY/STATE/POSTAL(ZIP) CODE: ____________________________ COUNTRY: ________________________ EMAIL: ______________________________ Make Check/Money Order out to Michel Tippett and send orders to: Michael B. Tippett, 46 Meadow Circle - Ellenton, FL 34222 Phone: (941) 417-7120 Email: MovementDir(a)aol.com Please send me a copy of the directory: [ ] Booklet form [ ] CD [ ] Email Attachment Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form, or a CD. If you order two forms, it will cost $30.00. I enclose $___________

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THE 2017 DIRECTORY
by via Dialogue 11 Dec '16

11 Dec '16

Dear Friends and Colleagues: (SORRY IF THIS IS A DUPLICATE - DON'T WAN T TO MISS ANYONE >From Mike Tippett: The 2017 Directory Of Those Who Care is now being printed. Copies for The those who have already ordered a Directory will be mailed out by the end of this week. There is still time for you to order your copy! For those who aren’t familiar with The Directory, it is a listing of names, addresses, phones, emails and occupations of several hundred people who have been at one time or another associated with the I.C.A., or the Ecum enical Institute, or its programs and projects. It’s fun to see where everyone is living and what each is doing. (I’m in Florida and am semi-retired) If you would like a copy of your listing, either write or email me. I have a special email for The Directory: _MovementDir(a)aol.com_ (mailto:MovementDir@aol.com) If you would like a copy of The Directory, send in the form below. Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form or a CD. If you order two forms, it will cost $30.00. New This year: An email attachment is only $15.00 ORDER FORM NAME: ______________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________ CITY/STATE/POSTAL(ZIP) CODE: ____________________________ COUNTRY: ________________________ EMAIL: ______________________________ Make Check/Money Order out to Michel Tippett and send orders to: Michael B. Tippett, 46 Meadow Circle - Ellenton, FL 34222 Phone: (941) 417-7120 Email: MovementDir(a)aol.com Please send me a copy of the directory: [ ] Booklet form [ ] CD [ ] Email Attachment Cost of the Directory is $20.00 for either the booklet form, or a CD. If you order two forms, it will cost $30.00. I enclose $___________

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12/0816, Spong: The Common Roots of Hanukkah and Christmas
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 08 Dec '16

08 Dec '16

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR The Common Roots of Hanukkah and Christmas (Originally published December 2003) Religious people frequently assert that they have received their truth by divine revelation. It is a strange assertion, leading almost inevitably to the power claim that there is a single “true church” or religious system that alone offers salvation. It also produces such irrational doctrines as papal infallibility and scriptural inerrancy. A study of religious history, however, reveals the irrationality behind such claims. Religion is always a very human creation. Every religious tradition participates in and is shaped by cultural factors, time-bound understandings of the world of nature, and prevailing tribal prejudices. Nothing illustrates this better than a look into the origins of both Hanukkah and Christmas and especially at how these celebrations were placed into the calendars of the western world when daylight was in short supply. Both holidays play on the theme of the restoration of light in a darkened world. Both reveal in these realities that they are the product of people living in the northern hemisphere. Hanukkah was not a Torah festival. It rather developed late in Jewish history, coming into the cycle of liturgical observances no earlier than the second century B.C.E. It was designed to celebrate the time when a military leader named Judas, nicknamed “The Hammer” [or Maccabeas in Hebrew], routed the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, driving his army out of their land. In that process the Jews reclaimed their sacred Temple in Jerusalem and restored to it the “true worship of Yahweh.” The Syrians, showing utter contempt for this conquered nation, had desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by replacing the sacred symbols of the Jews with pagan ones. In the Holy of Holies, regarded by the Jews as the very dwelling place of God, the Syrians had placed the head of an unclean pig that the Jews referred to as “the Abomination of Desolation.” When Judas Maccabeas and his victorious rag-tag army of guerilla fighters entered the city in triumph, they went immediately to the Temple. Stripping away the offending images, they restored the Star of David, cleansed the ‘holy of holies’ and rededicated their Temple to its sacred purposes. Then, the tradition states, Judas lit the eight-branched candelabra called the Menorah to initiate a time of great celebration and enjoined upon the Jews in every succeeding generation a proper remembrance of this moment. These candles, the story suggests, burned miraculously for eight days. In the minds of the Jewish faithful this act not only restored light to a dark time in their history, but it also replaced idolatry with true faith. That was what Hanukkah celebrated. For Christians, the great festival that interrupts the darkness of human history is called Christmas, that in the old tradition lasted from December 25th to January 6th. This 12-day celebration was designed to recall the birth of Jesus who, the Christian faith system asserted, came to be called “the light of the world.” These nativity narratives, created by second-generation Christians, provided the content for this observance. In the earliest birth story of Jesus, written by Matthew (1 and 2) somewhere between the years 80-85, the primary symbol of light was a star–bright, radiant and beautiful– that illumined the darkness of the night. This star was said to have had the power to guide Magi through that darkness to the birthplace of this newborn savior in Bethlehem. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth (1 and 2), written sometime between the years 88-92, the light symbol was not a star but a resplendent angel accompanied by a heavenly host, who cracked the midnight sky with heavenly brightness. To shepherds recoiling before this unearthly light, the tradition said that the angels announced the birth of Jesus, the “true light,” who “came down from heaven.” Historical records from that period of time are scant, and no one today can date with precision either the date of the defeat of Antiochus by Judas Maccabeas or the actual time of the birth of Jesus. That did not stop either tradition, however, from locating their celebrations in the dead of winter. That choice was not designed to coincide with literal history, but to meet a deep and ancient human yearning that antedates by thousands of years both Judaism and Christianity. As far back as human records go, it is clear that people in the northern hemisphere have observed with acts of worship that moment when the daylight stopped its relentless retreat into darkness and began its march back into the world. That human yearning for light to come to a dark world shaped both Hanukkah and Christmas. Indeed it captured them. That is why both celebrations are located in the darkest month of the year, Kislev in the Jewish calendar and December in the Western calendar. Modern people have difficulty imagining the fears of our primitive human ancestors. We live today in an artificially lighted world. We can hurl back the darkness of night with the flip of a switch. We can travel in darkness far from home by turning on the headlights of our automobiles, or by utilizing the lights marking the landing fields of our airports. We live in cities with electrified streets and neon signboards. For our ancestors, however, the only light of night was provided by the moon and the stars. When the moon faded each month into a total blackout the darkness of night was illumined only by the distant twinkling stars. When clouds made the stars invisible, the darkness was total. With darkness came danger and fear. The darkness was inhabited, it was suggested, by “ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night.” The relatively recent human ability first to capture fire and later actually to ignite it, was a gigantic step in the quest to defeat the always-threatening darkness. The vast majority of the human beings who have inhabited this earth lived with the presence of an unconquered and unrelieved darkness. When one further embraces the fact that people in the ancient world did not understand the relationship between the heavenly bodies and the earth, it is easy to understand why mythology and ritualistic acts were wrapped around these mysterious natural wonders. Modern men and women deal with these realities in a quite secular manner. We manipulate our clocks with various time zones and with something we call ‘daylight savings time.’ We anticipate and name the shortest day of the year as the winter solstice. We understand that the earth rotates on its axis as it journeys around the sun every 365 1/4 days. We know the months when we are closer to the sun and the months when we are farther away. None of this, however, was known by our forebears. They only knew that the sun seemed to retreat into darkness as the winter came. They wondered why, and they speculated about this observable phenomenon using a wide variety of religious explanations. They lived with a chronic fear that one year the enveloping darkness that came each winter might finally capture the light of the sun forever and thus doom their lives to be lived without any light at all. For this reason in almost every human culture there was a great religious celebration when the sun stopped its relentless retreat into an ever enveloping-darkness and began its slow but steady return. Both Hanukkah and Christmas became later historical expressions of this ancient celebration. They thus reveal their northern hemisphere, and obviously human origins. It is time to recognize that religious truth, like all truth, can only emerge out of human experience. Once that is understood, then religious people will recognize that their exclusive claims to possess some external, divine revelation is nothing but a part of our human security system. These claims also create the mentality that fuels that religious imperialism that, even in the 21st century, underlies human conflict. The only way for the Christmas yearning for peace on earth to be achieved is for every religious system to face its human origins, and to recognize that all worshipers are nothing but human seekers walking into the mystery and wonder of the God, who is beyond anything that human minds can finally imagine. That would represent a gigantic step both into a new sensitivity and away from the negativity that religion perpetually pumps into the human bloodstream. In our observances of Hanukkah and Christmas this year, that could well be our most important learning. ~ John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Kenneth from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, writes: Question: Are the creeds, the doctrines and the dogmas of the church, an expression of the way people thought 2000 years ago? Answer: Dear Kenneth, All creeds, doctrines and dogmas will reflect the worldview of those who framed them. No creed drops out of heaven, fully written, complete with paragraphing and punctuation. All creeds are shaped in debate and represent the winning formula, some times having been forced to consensus by something as human as political compromise. The first creed of the Christian Church was just three words: Jesus is Messiah. In time Messiah was translated Lord. When Constantine became Emperor after the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 C.E. he sought to unify his country under the Christian banner. This was why he called the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. to force the Christians to form a creed that would be the basis of that unity. That is the Council that produced the Apostles' Creed. But unity did not result and the Church discovered that Christians could say the creeds verbatim while meaning very different things. The creed had too much interpretive room in it to be the basis for unity. So another Council was called to close out the loopholes. That is when the Nicene Creed was created with all of its loophole closing clauses. Who is Jesus? "God of Gods, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father." Each phrase was designed to diminish wiggle room and thus create unity and conformity. Even that did not work so, much later, an even more convoluted faith statement was adopted called the Athanasian Creed. The primary purpose of each creed was to define who is part of the true faith and who were outside the true faith. So every creed is a boundary maker. I do not regard any creed, doctrine or dogma as eternal. I am not sure that in the light of modern biblical scholarship we would have or could have come to the same creedal conclusions and I wish we would go back and reargue the issues of Nicea, Ephesus and Chalcedon. I say the creeds regularly. I do not think of them as strait jackets to be worn whether they fit or not. I view them rather as love songs that our ancestors in faith sang to their God. Love songs like the creeds always use language that cannot be literalized. Try to view the creeds this way and see what a difference it makes. ~ John Shelby Spong Read and Share Online Here Announcements If you would like to send Bishop Spong a get well note please send it to admin(a)progressivechristianity.org and we will forward it to him. -----------------------------*****************------------------------------------ The Fourth Gospel was designed first to place Jesus into the context of the Jewish scriptures, then to place him into the worship patterns of the synagogue and finally to allow him to be viewed through the lens of a popular form of first-century Jewish mysticism. The result of this intriguing study is not only to recapture the original message of this gospel, but also to provide us today with a radical new dimension to the claim that in the humanity of Jesus the reality of God has been met and engaged. “No one has done more to articulate a vibrant, post-mythic vision of Christianity than John Shelby Spong. Bishop Spong’s masterful interpretation is destined to become a classic.” — Michael Dowd, Author of Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World

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Fwd: Decolonize Your Mind With the Original Nations Anthem [Video], dedicated to Standing Rock
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 06 Dec '16

06 Dec '16

Original Nations Anthem, dedicated to Standing Rock Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com Decolonize Your Mind With the Original Nations Anthem [Video] BY Steven Newcomb 12/5/16 Greetings Everyone, This “Original Nations Anthem” is dedicated to Standing Rock and their supporters, as well as our ancestors and “All Our Relations.” Our video (two minutes and ... Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/story/dakota-pipeline

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Global Buzz December Issue
by ICA International via Dialogue 06 Dec '16

06 Dec '16

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICA International website Please click the link below for the October 2016 issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: December 2016 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-16/2016-12-01.php ICAI Communications

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Re: [Dialogue] Resource Extraction Update: Standing Rock: Post "Victory": 10 questions that need to be asked
by via Dialogue 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

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Resource Extraction Update: Standing Rock: Post "Victory": 10 questions that need to be asked
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

Dear Standing Rock Friends, Time will tell whether Sunday's Army Corps of Engineers announcement was a victory or a postponement of the inevitable to avoid bad PR for this administration, letting the next administration take the blame, if DAPL actually goes through. In the meantime, Honor the Earth raises 10 questions that need to be asked [see below], and the Water Protectors are staying at Oceti Sakowin, hunkering down for the winter. In another post, Honor the Earth talks about Beyond DAPL--other pipeline battles that loom on the horizon, specifically Enbridge's proposed Line 3, similar size to Keystone XL, that will bring tar sands oil from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin, right through the heart of Anishanaabe territory and some of the best lakes and wild rice beds in the world, endangering three of the continent's major watersheds including the Great Lakes, home to one fifth of the world's fresh water. For those affiliated with the Christian Church, we are in the time of Advent: a time of preparation, waiting and alertness. Watch Ye Therefore and Keep your Lamps Trimmed and Burning--ready to respond to and be the presence of the Great Spirit God's protection of Creation. WATER IS LIFE ~ MNI WICONI ~ Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com Honor the EarthLike Page 17 hrs · Today the US Army Corps announced that it will not grant the last remaining easement needed for Dakota Access to cross the Mni Sose (Missouri River). Their sta...tement says they intend to "explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing" and that a consideration of alternative routes "would be best accomplished through an Environmental Impact Statement with full public input and analysis." This is all the information provided. This is an enormous victory for our movement to protect the water! It shows what is possible when we come together and take action. However, many questions remain. Here are the 10 questions we need to be asking in the days and weeks ahead: 1. Will the Army Corps actually conduct an Environmental Impact Statement? If so, on what portion of the project - just the river crossing, or the whole pipeline? 2. What issues will the EIS take into account? (for example, will it include an analysis of spill risk? how about sacred sites? will it reassess the economic need for the pipeline now that the bakken is busting?) 3. Which alternative routes will be considered? Will a "no-build" option also be considered? 4. How long will the EIS take? 5. What input will the tribe have? What will the public participation process look like? 6. In what way(s) was the original Environmental Assessment prepared by the Army Corps deemed inadequate? 7. What was the result of the tribal consultation process exploring possible changes to the regulatory process for pipelines in general? have any changes been proposed? 8. How easily will these decisions be reversed by a Trump administration? 9. How will these decisions be affected by the outcomes of DAPL's lawsuit against the Army Corps, scheduled to be heard on Friday? 10. Is the US government prepared to use force to stop the company from drilling under the river without a permit, if necessary? #NoDAPL #LoveWaterNotOil https://www.army.mil/…/army_will_not_grant_easement_for_dak…

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BREAKING: Dakota Access Pipeline construction halted!
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 04 Dec '16

04 Dec '16

Dear Friends of Standing Rock, Some good news: Victory's Cry: this afternoon the Army Corps of Engineers announced it would not give Energy Transfer Partners the permit to construct the Dakota Access Pipeline under Lake Oahe/MO River. They plan to do more studies and reroute the pipeline. [Below are links to articles and an article from Sierra Club--email/call Pres. Obama to thank his administration for this decision. HOWEVER, one news account quoted the head of Energy Transfer Partners who said the President Elect would approve it when he begins his term. Sooo, we'll see. Now, it's a moral victory for Standing Rock. But the bigger concern is our dependence on fossil fuels and having oil and gas pipelines criss-crossing our land and waterways rather than investing in renewable resources. Native American and other communities across the country continue to deal with similar issues as Standing Rock. This has been a lesson in what can happen when people from all over can come together to say ENOUGH, ALREADY. The Earth and all that is in it is sacred, and WATER IS LIFE ~ Mni Wiconi.. You can google Standing Rock or the Sacred Stones FB page to see some of today's activities from Standing Rock. People there participated in a prayer service and made a huge ring around the Oceti Sakowin Camp. No news yet on the status of the eviction notice or if people will stay in the camps to make sure the pipeline doesn't go through. But tonight, they are celebrating a well-earned victory, thanks to their resolve, courage, commitment and stance of prayer and non-violence. Thanks for your being a friend of Standing Rock and Mother Earth, for your care, compassion, and actions to support the Water Protectors. Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com Standing Rock protesters celebrate as Army Corps of ... Raw Story - 24 minutes ago Spontaneous celebrations are erupting in the protest camps and on the Sioux reservation. More on this story as it develops. ... Standing Rock Protestors Score Win as Army Blocks Dakota ... Variety - 22 hours ago The protestors of Standing Rock scored a big victory on Sunday when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would block ... JUST ANNOUNCED: The Army Corps of Engineers will conduct an environmental review BREAKING:The Obama administration just announced it won't grant the final easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline. Send a thank you message now. Dear Friends, History made! The Obama administration just announced that it will not grant the final easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline! Instead, the Army Corps of Engineers will conduct an environmental review and explore alternate routes for the project, away from the Missouri River crossing which would impact Tribal land and cultural resources. Take action: Thank the Obama administration for listening to the Water Protectors' call for an environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Under this announcement, Energy Transfer Partners must stop construction of the pipeline on the Standing Rock Sioux's ancestral homelands until an environmental review has been conducted that includes public input. The fight to reject the Dakota Access Pipeline isn't over and we aren't going to back down until this pipeline is rejected once and for all, but the administration's announcement today ensures Energy Transfer Partners can't continue its assault on the Standing Rock Sioux's ancestral homelands. This couldn't have happened without the Standing Rock Sioux and the Water Protectors standing up for what's right and solidarity from millions of Americans. Sierra Club supporters like you made an unprecedented 20,000 calls and sent 115,000 letters to the White House last month alone on this issue. Thank the Obama administration for doing the right thing by conducting an environmental review of the dirty and dangerous Dakota Access Pipeline. Over the past few months, thousands of people and hundreds of Tribes from around the world have traveled to North Dakota to peacefully support the Standing Rock Sioux and oppose this dangerous pipeline. Their prayers and songs were increasingly met by a militarized police force using dogs, water cannons, rubber bullets, pepper spray, concussion grenades, and other tactics designed to intimidate, antagonize and invoke fear. This weekend more than 2,000 veterans traveled to the camps to show their support for Standing Rock and serve as self-proclaimed "human shields." History has taught us that it's never a question whether a pipeline will spill, rather a question of when, and a comprehensive environmental review will show that this dirty and dangerous project will threaten the safety of every community it cuts through. The 1,168-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, if completed, would carry 450,000 barrels of fracked oil every day through four states. It would cut through communities, farms, sensitive natural areas, wildlife habitat, and tribal lands like the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's ancestral lands. It would also cross under the Missouri River just upstream of the Tribe's drinking water supply, where a spill would mean a serious threat to the Tribe's health, culture, and way of life. Thank President Obama for hearing the calls of the Standing Rock Sioux and conducting an environmental review of Dakota Access Pipeline. Thank you for showing your support, Lena Moffitt Director, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Share this alert on Facebook Share this alert on Twitter

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TODAY, for Standing Rock :: A Global Synchronized Prayer with natives, spiritual teachers, and you!
by Raymond Caruso via Dialogue 04 Dec '16

04 Dec '16

Dear friends: > > Take a moment today and join with others around the globe and Pray with Standing Rock. Tune into the live stream Broadcast from SR @ 2:00pm CST. Dianne and I are at the Blue Water Battle ( massacre ) site where many Little Thunder Lakota women & children were killed by General Harney and his troops 150 years ago. This site is only 3 miles from Dianne’s home in Lewellen, NE. We will offer prayers from that site today. We will bring sacred water from Blue Creek and present to the SR council in solidarity on Tuesday, Dec 6; and be in prayer up there for most of the week. We will also be bringing supplies to warm the tents and some food for the winter stores. > > Be well. Stay resilient. > > Salvatore & Dianne > >> WATER IS LIFE ~ MNI WICONI! >> >> >> >> <about:blank> >> Greetings, Friends, >> >> Join us today, Dec 4th, for a Global Synchronized Prayer with Standing Rock. >> >> Thousands will pray around the camp's sacred fire joined by over 72,000 of you from around the world in over 40+ countries! United in solidarity. >> >> Today at 10:00am CST at the central Sacred Fire that has been burning continuously since the camp started Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation holder of the White Buffalo Calf pipe, will lead interfaith prayers alongside 50+ spiritual leaders who have flown in from all over the world. >> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=pf0_CZSE3mVhwvhr…> >> They will then walk together to the front lines where the violent attacks occurred only days ago and at 2:00 pm CST hold another interfaith prayer session which will be shared with you via a facebook livestream at this link <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=eAd7XM00XgTSTCd2…>and also on our broadcast website. <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=tz7FXxmovRHpip6R…> >> >> Starting at 10:00am CST there will be guided prayers available here: www.praywithstandingrock.com/broadcast <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=tz7FXxmovRHpip6R…> >> >> You are welcome to listen to the prayer and then pray/meditate in your own way. >> >> We are honored to share that our partner organization United Religions Initiative has sent a delegation to Standing Rock that arrived two days ago which includes representatives from 32 different faiths. >> >> Along with nearly 1,000 prayers from 54 countries from the URI global interfaith community, the delegation will also bring their version of sacred waters to Standing Rock: two vials of water, that have been collected from 162 sacred sites worldwide. >> >> This project has been 10 years in the making, and includes water from the Nile, the Ganges, the Amazon, even Joan of Arc's well in France. This sacred water will be presented to the Standing Rock Tribal Council for all the water protectors gathered. >> >> Together our vibration will lift the spirits of those Protecting the Water while inviting the people looking down from the other side of the razor wire to pray with the world. >> >> Broadcast Access Here <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=tz7FXxmovRHpip6R…> >> <about:blank> >> You may join us by finding a local event <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=pf0_CZSE3mVhwvhr…> near you, tuning in to the broadcast <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=tz7FXxmovRHpip6R…>through your computer or smartphone, or pray/meditate in your own way. >> At the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock our team is meeting with the tribal council, indigenous youth representative groups, and dozens of partner organizations on a daily basis to ensure our Global Synchronized Prayer is in collaboration with, and approved by the Tribal Council. >> >> Other ways to support: >> Click here <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=ORWngCvd0tlcZLA0…>to join our facebook event and invite your friends! >> Click here <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=IzlMkCuGUD1QFIQf…> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=JLr3mNp8FyC8FlM9…>to donate to projects on the ground >> Click here <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=RSCIyd7gepi8uKSa…> to read about how to be a culturally conscious ally >> Click here <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=lkFHfd5_E1Dv2b.V…> to donate to sign the petition to Obama >> >> This week of prayers and meditation is one way we say Thank You as one human family as we stand together to protect, heal, and nourish the sacredness of life. >> >> Pidamiyapi (Thank You in Lakota), >> Pray with Standing Rock Team >> >> P.S. With gratitude and trust we stand strong in our mind, body and spirit and are able to amplify it out into the world as we unify to protect what is sacred. >> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=pf0_CZSE3mVhwvhr…> >> >> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=pf0_CZSE3mVhwvhr…> >> Culminating on December 10 (United Nations Human Rights Day) our coalition of organizations will be supporting Standing Rock protectors by hosting multiple online live-stream events, along with local events around the planet. >> >> Our website with interactive map is a hub for individuals and organizations to find each other and grow our global community towards a sustainable future that honors our many diverse cultural traditions. www.praywithstandingrock.com <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=pf0_CZSE3mVhwvhr…> >> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=bThS4NmhQ1uyqIWY…> >> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=d2pRK679ajOj3Mcc…> >> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=MIF_6.6TLooaFYR2…> >> <http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=67H11&m=iRMSqqoxATlPFCU&b=l5DlE44BLJyHQ4v_…> >> PO Box 4449 >> Santa Rosa CA 95402 >> USA >> >> Unsubscribe <http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?LCyczOzsbLRsTGzsnOyMnLRGtMwsjBxsLMxM> | Change Subscriber Options <http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?LCyczOzsbLRsTGzsnOyMnLRGtMwsjBxsLMxM> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Dialogue mailing list >> Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net>

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