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Attention: See note re revised sending of this: 5/18/2023; Progressing Spirit: Rev. Lauren Van Ham: Planting Seeds in the Kin-dom
by Ellie Stock 18 May '23

18 May '23

Dear ICA/OE Friends, Next week will be the last week PROGRESSING SPIRIT will be sent out via the ICA/OE list serves. Dick Kroeger began sending this e-newsletter to the list serves around 2006 or 2007 when it was a John Shelby Spong newsletter entitled "A New Christianity for a New World". Spong was still writing books, doing speaking engagements and sharing his popular thoughts about the Bible, church, theology and critical national/world issues. Dick Kroeger died in 2008. Our church was studying Spong's books, so I decided to pick up the Spong subscription and continued to forward it to the ICA/OE list serves. In 2016, Spong suffered a stroke and was no longer able to write. We heard him speak at Chautauqua a couple of months before his stroke. He died in 2021 at the age of 90. He had been working with a number of progressive leaders who decided to pick up the mantle and continue the newsletter, eventually transitioning in format and title to "Progressing Spirit", highlighting both well-known speakers/authors as well as new ones but also including previous published Spong articles. A lot has changed since 2006, including the amount of email traffic that most folks receive as well as changing interest in Spong, progressive thought, etc. I have also sent this newsletter to other non- ICA/OE folks on another list. In order to simplify this process and to eliminate this email from those who are no longer interested, I am consolidating my lists to one list, beginning June 1. This will also make it easier to be deleted from the email, should you so choose, which was not possible on the list serves. If you would like to continue receiving the Progressing Spirit e-newsletter, please email me DIRECTLY. PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" VIA THE ICA/OE list serves, as that further clogs everyone's inboxes. If, in the future, you wish to be deleted, that can be done. Thanks! Ellie Stockelliestock(a)aol.com Planting Seeds in the Kin-dom#yiv6751484939 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv6751484939 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv6751484939 h1, #yiv6751484939 h2, #yiv6751484939 h3, #yiv6751484939 h4, #yiv6751484939 h5, #yiv6751484939 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv6751484939 img, #yiv6751484939 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv6751484939 body, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939bodyTable, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv6751484939 img{}#yiv6751484939 table{}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv6751484939 p, #yiv6751484939 a, #yiv6751484939 li, #yiv6751484939 td, #yiv6751484939 blockquote{}#yiv6751484939 a .yiv6751484939filtered99999 , #yiv6751484939 a 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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} By Rev. Lauren Van Ham | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Planting Seeds in the Kin-dom | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Lauren Van Ham May 18, 2023Ahead of Pentecost, the month of May offers International Labor Day, Beltane, and Mother’s Day (United States). Each one is ripe with spirituality, and combined, they invite us to choose one another, to look out for one another’s wellbeing, and to move continually toward the kin-dom of God. In Genesis 3:20, Eve is described as, “the mother of all living.” And, wow, what a mother! A mother of all living offers reassurance: She is within me, beyond me, and I can rest in Her wisdom. A mother of all living invites awe: being the mother of all is a whole LOT of mothering. A mother of all living levels the game: all means all – humans, whales, sycamores, amoebas, raccoons, cacti, we are kin. In the Northern hemisphere, Beltane (May Day), marks the midpoint between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Celtic in origin, Beltane and other earth-based rituals of this season celebrate flowers, planting and fertility. The songs and ceremonial prayers ask for our Mother’s protection of the fields and animals. As the new season begins, Beltane festivals revere and encourage growth. One Beltane[i] chant begins, May the Lady's touch again, rest upon the barren plain, With the sunshine and the rain, let the sleeper awake! I love this imagery. In Northern California, the rains have coaxed our Mother awake, turning the hills green and lush. Her rivers are rushing. In states to the North, daffodils have finally appeared. After a needed sabbath, farmers and gardeners alike are sinking their hands into the soil, inviting the microbes to wake up and begin their hugely important work. Let the sleeper awake! What will emerge from the sacred soil this season? It depends on what gets planted. When we entrust seeds of goodness to the care of the community, what nourishment will result? The Beltane chant continues, Let the flames of Beltane burn, may the Old Ones now return, May we of their magic learn, let the sleeper awake! Let the streams and fields be pure, Earth and sky be clean once more, Love and laughter long endure, let the sleeper awake! As we wake from our sleep to acknowledge those who, for hundreds of years, have cared for the lands we currently call home, and as we wake to see and admit the harm we have caused one another, the damage we have done to our lands, water and air, we ask for ancestral insight. We welcome back more ancient ways of knowing, to guide us away from extreme individualism and toward divine interdependence. In addition to our one shared mother, another experience that unites us is labor. Everything living takes energy from the sun and converts it into power to create, forage, parent, teach, build, etc. Whether recognized, rewarded, or taken for granted, we work every day. In the time of Jesus, the kingdom of Rome gave each act of labor varying degrees of value. Sound familiar? Jesus reminded everyone who listened that all labor done in the name of Life, holds value. International Labor Day (May 1st) has become a worldwide attempt to honor our labor. On this day, workers “rise up,” with marches, songs and unified messaging to be sure we all see the disparity our current practices perpetuate. Two weeks ago, I saw this disparity vividly when I met Gloria, Irma and Jessie near where they live in San Cristobal, Mexico. These women, each self-employed, are part of a group savings circle. Graffiti and murals painted around town remind everyone that femicide and violence toward women has reached a state of national attention. The dominant system, there and here, has not created an equitable or just existence for many, and certainly not for women. But what happens when we choose one another, when we plant seeds of goodness in our community and inhabit God’s kin-dom? These women, and more than sixty others, are acquiring skills to tend their various operations. Gloria is a community organizer, Irma is a gardener, Jessie is a cosmetologist and every woman in the community savings program is able to take out loans in order to better respond to family needs or emergencies. Each savings circle is comprised of not more than 6-10 participants to engender trust. When other women wish to join, a new circle is started. Loans are paid back within 6-12 months. In its three-year history, no one has defaulted and nearly every woman has added to her baseline savings. As I listened to their stories, the laughter of joyful satisfaction filled the room. They beamed! Together, these women are finding agency. They are not fearful of debt but rather of supporting the successes of each other within their community. They are making an alternative way to recognize the value inherent in their labor. And so must we all. Friends that in the circle stand, heart to heart and hand to hand, Bringing Beltane to the land, let the sleeper awake! The way we hold ourselves and recognize the inherent value of our labor is in direct relationship with our regard and care for our non-human kin. Separation, fear and scarcity like to convince us otherwise but when we meet our own needs while also looking out for the needs of one another, including our land, air and water, right relationship becomes obvious. In the kin-dom of God there is enough. The practice of enough looks and feels different, but because it’s a communal practice, we don’t have the insecurity of figuring it out alone. Shall we try it? No need to change the entire system! That will only happen as we begin to grow the kin-dom with the seeds in our hand right now. During my visit to Chiapas, I learned a powerful phrase, “Sembrar es Resistir.” To Plant is to Resist. Let’s grow together in the name of Life, Our Mother, the Kin-dom!~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read online here About the Author Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA, was born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest. Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University and The Chaplaincy Institute. Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care) and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Lauren’s passion for spirituality, art and Earth's teachings has supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. Her ideas can be heard on Vennly, an app that shares perspectives from spiritual and community leaders across different backgrounds and traditions. Currently, Lauren tends her private spiritual direction and eco-chaplaincy consulting practice; and serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative (URI), and as guest faculty for several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. [i] Doreen Valiente’s Spring Rite, 1971 | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Oscar What is your view on the value of the Bible for today? A: By Dr. Carl Krieg Dear Oscar,Before deciding on the value of the Bible, we need to understand exactly what it is. First of all, it is not a book. It is, rather, a collection of documents written over a period of at least 2500 years, coming from different places and with differing intent. Scholars date the Hebrew Yahwist source in the Pentateuch from either the 10th or 5th century BCE and various books in the Christian writings as late as 110 CE. Different dates, different places and intent, and also different genres. Some of it sounds like history, some songs and prayers, some straight out mythology, some biography, and some prophetic denunciation of the rich and powerful. Furthermore, what we have today has been edited and re-edited, combined and recombined, transcribed and transcribed again, lost and found. We no longer have original documents, if ever we did, but copies of copies. Having said that, scholars have been able to put the pieces together and come up with reasonably reliable renditions of the various books. The history of the documents does not invalidate their veracity. Taken together, what we find in the Bible is human reaction to what was believed to be divine action, whether in the Hebrew or Christian writings. For example, the earliest sources in the Hebrew writings present a mythology that attempts to understand why human beings deny their own loving being, thereby turning from the beauty and happiness offered by the Creator. The history of Israel as presented portrays continual rebellion by the people and subsequent forgiveness by their God. The prophets of old denounce the corruption of the king and his court, proclaiming the destruction that will come from the hand of God. Over and over, the Christian gospels describe the encounter between Jesus and those who came into contact with him, as well as various theological attempts to understand the power by which this Jesus touched so many lives. One of those lives was Paul, who in turn travelled the empire, founding small congregations of the faithful, and then, in many cases, criticizing the manner in which they were straying from the path. His letters to those churches are the earliest strata of the Christian writings. So, yes, from all the writings there is much to value. Unfortunately, that value is undermined by those who would take it all literally rather than faithfully. There are scriptural literalists in every religion, Judaism and Christianity are no exception, and what they do is to destroy that very value they seek to promote. No one can claim full title to the word of God, and the more that fundamentalists, aka evangelicals, proclaim their truth as the only truth, the more they cast the Bible into oblivious irrelevance. On the contrary, open-minded investigation into biblical context and meaning at least allows it to be what it is, thereby providing value for future generations. ~ Dr.Carl Krieg Read and share online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, The Void and the Vision and The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Part XVI Matthew Did Jesus Teach Us to Pray the Lord's Prayer? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 6, 2014If it is true, as I have suggested, that Jesus never preached the Sermon on the Mount then we immediately have to face other startling implications. That conclusion would raise questions about the authenticity of “The Lord’s Prayer,” which is first introduced into the developing Christian tradition in Matthew as part of the Sermon on the Mount. If the Lord’s Prayer turns out to be Matthew’s creation, would it still be proper for us to say: “And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,” which are the words by which this prayer is liturgically introduced? So we turn now to look at the Lord’s Prayer.I begin with some facts. There is no mention of a prayer taught to the disciples by Jesus in any Christian writing before Matthew introduces it in the 9th decade. If this prayer carried the imprimatur of Jesus himself, would his followers have gone that long ignoring this directive? Paul, who wrote all of his epistles between the years 51 and 64, never alludes to what we call today “the Lord’s Prayer.” If the claim made for this prayer that it came directly from Jesus were historically accurate, would Paul have declined to reference it in any way? These questions become even more provocative when we recognize that Mark, the earliest gospel, usually dated about 72 CE and on which Matthew leaned so heavily, also does not include any reference to this prayer. To make this biblical analysis complete we need to note that when John, the last gospel to be written, appeared near the end if the first century, there was once again no reference to a prayer that Jesus had taught his disciples to pray. Did this final gospel writer do this because he knew it was not authentic? Most people are simply not aware of these biblical facts.In Matthew’s gospel, the Lord’s Prayer is introduced as part of his commentary on the Fourth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied.” For the Jews “righteousness” was a synonym for God’s kingdom. To “hunger for righteousness,” therefore, meant to hunger for the coming of the kingdom of God. That identification would be one with which the Jews were thoroughly familiar. The prophet Isaiah referred to Israel as “God’s Vineyard,” where “righteousness,” that is God’s kingdom, is to be established. Later this same prophet writes: “God shows himself present and holy” in the manifestation of “righteousness.” Matthew first introduces the word “righteousness” in his story of Jesus’ baptism. John, viewing himself as secondary to Jesus, objects to his baptizing Jesus saying: “I have need to be baptized of you.” Jesus responds to this by saying that his baptism is a necessary step in “fulfilling all righteousness,” that is, as a means of establishing the kingdom of God. Later, but still in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew portrays Jesus as exhorting his followers not to be anxious about what they are to eat, to drink or to wear, insisting that they spend their every moment seeking God’s kingdom and its “righteousness.” “Righteousness” is a word that the deeply Jewish Paul uses frequently and every time he uses it, it refers to the kingdom of God. So when Matthew has Jesus say: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,” he is referring to those who live in anticipation of the kingdom of God and who prepare themselves for that kingdoms arrival by fasting, praying and studying the Torah. In Matthew’s mind the kingdom is present and becomes visible when God’s righteousness is lived out or when God’s presence is seen in human life.The earliest Christian prayer recorded in the New Testament is not the Lord’s Prayer, but a prayer for Jesus to come again. Paul closes the first epistle to the Corinthians with the words, “Our Lord, come.” The book of Revelation ends with Jesus promising to come soon and the prayer of the people in response is “Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.” It is with this understanding that Matthew introduces the Lord’s Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount along with a discussion on prayer itself. The Lord’s Prayer thus serves as an example of the things about which he has been speaking. Matthew has Jesus begin by describing the proper prayer attitude. Jesus is portrayed as exhorting his followers to observe a proper tradition when praying. Prayers for the kingdom are not to be done for show, so they should not be uttered on street corners, but in the privacy of one’s own room. Prayer should not be the stringing together of pious phrases and empty words. God, Jesus reminds his hearers in the Sermon, knows their needs before they ask. Prayer is thus not the activity of reminding God as to what it is that God can do for you. That is when in the Sermon Matthew has Jesus say “Pray then like this” and the words of the Lord’s Prayer follow. It is quite clearly a prayer for the kingdom of God to come in human history. This prayer begins by addressing itself to the One who is beyond all limits, for that is what “heaven” means. Heaven for the Jews was never a “place” located above the sky, but an expression of the limitlessness of God. God’s kingdom is not a physical realm, but an experience of God’s presence, a moment in which the life of God becomes visible in another. This prayer then moves on to express our yearning to be sustained until that day when the kingdom arrives. “Give us this day our daily bread” and “do not bring us to the test” or into temptation that we can not overcome lest we miss the kingdom’s arrival. In this prayer Jesus has been cast in the role of the messiah who inaugurates that kingdom, which is an understanding of Jesus that surely was not fully worked out until well after the defining experience of crucifixion and resurrection, through which the followers of Jesus had to walk Thus it becomes obvious that the Lord’s Prayer was a prayer developed by the church, the followers of Jesus, after they came to the conclusion that in his life they had seen divinity through the lens of the human and they had seen life overcoming death. Jesus was thus a glimpse of what the kingdom of God was like, but it would not be known in all its fullness until Jesus came again at the end of the age. So what we call the Lord’s Prayer was created as a prayer to be prayed by those who lived between the first coming of Jesus, when the kingdom was glimpsed and his second coming, when God’s kingdom would be established in all its fullness.To complete the biblical analysis of the prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer we need to recognize that there is a second version of this prayer in the gospel of Luke. It is recognizably similar, but not identical. It is shorter and a bit truncated. It reads as follows: “Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.” That is Luke’s version in its entirety.When we confront these two obviously similar, but not identical versions of the same prayer we are driven back once again into the debate about the Q hypothesis. Do these two versions of the Lord’s Prayer reflect a common tradition that would have been present in an earlier, now lost source of Jesus’ sayings to which both Matthew and Luke had access? Or is Luke editing out the deeply Jewish elements of this prayer, which he had acquired from Matthew, in order to appeal to his more cosmopolitan and less Jewish audience? Increasingly I am convinced it is the latter. Luke’s community was made up primarily of dispersed Jews, who were increasingly adapting to a Gentile world, along with Gentile proselytes, who had been drawn to the non-cultic, ethical monotheism of Judaism. They would have had little interest in Matthew’s rendering of the Sermon on the Mount, which was written to give Christian content to the Jewish festival of Shavuot, the 24 hour vigil ceremony designed to recall Moses on Mt. Sinai receiving the Torah as God’s greatest gift to the Jewish people. Luke reflected a later and far more Gentile phase of the life of the Christian Church. He understood God’s greatest gift to God’s people to be, not the Torah which the Jews celebrated fifty days after Passover at their Pentecost, but the coming of the Holy Spirit and the growth of the Christian Church which the Christians celebrated fifty days after Easter at their Pentecost. For Luke it was the growth of Christianity not the second coming of Jesus that would be the means by which the Kingdom of God was to arrive on earth. So Luke has edited out the cultic elements of Matthew’s gospel and he adapted the Lord’s Prayer to fit his understanding and his circumstances. It is worth noting that the Fourth Gospel, written even later than Luke, is quite specific in stating that when the raised Christ breathed the Holy Spirit on his disciples on the evening of Easter Day that this was the “second coming” of Jesus. Perhaps that is why the Lord’s Prayer does not appear in the Fourth Gospel since a prayer for God’s Kingdom to come did not seem appropriate after the Holy Spirit had already come at Christian Pentecost.So if Jesus never composed the prayer we call “The Lord’s Prayer” and did not enjoin these words on his disciples, does this prayer then have no value for us? That is not our conclusion, but it does mean that this prayer must be understood in an entirely different way.“Our Father who art in heaven” means that God cannot be limited by human creeds, doctrines or dogmas. It means that we must seek to define the holy beyond the theistic definitions we have for so long used uncritically. “Hallowed be thy name” means that the ultimate, the holy, the mystical, the ineffable can never be captured in human words. “Thy Kingdom come” means that our eyes must be trained to see the divine inside the human. It means that the kingdom of God comes when we are empowered to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that we are capable of being. It means that the work of the kingdom of God is the work of enhancing human wholeness that occurs when the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap and the mute sing and when all demeaning human prejudices die. That is when the kingdom of God dawns and when God’s righteousness is revealed. So we pray – Come, Lord Jesus, establish the realm of God in each one of us. Show us what it means to be human and what it means to be Christian for they are one and the same.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements An Evening with the Mystics and Mirabai Starr Spirituality & Practice is honored that Mirabai Starr will be sharing some of her favorite readings from the mystics as a benefit for S&P’s Website Redesign Fund. May 26th- 5 to 6:30 pm. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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5/17/23 PHOTOS—B½ OF ARCHIVE PROJECT
by Frank Knutson 17 May '23

17 May '23

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Re: [Dialogue] Dialogue Digest, Vol 134, Issue 20
by Lawrence Philbrook 16 May '23

16 May '23

How glad I am that these 4 were part of our community - Joe, Bud, Bill and Nelson. How honored I was to meet and work with them even briefly. Each served and cared in such profound and different ways. (I feel I do not have the words to describe the gift each was to our community and to my life. Writing these is hard because my relationships were nuanced as a child, youth, adult and now "striving to figure out” Elder.) Joe Crocker I met when I was about 11 in Boston and his presence and spirit always struck me as as joy filled and able to see the spirit and the humor in many situations. Bud Ames I knew as a gentle servant always seeming to be where he was needed and doing exactly what was needed before it was. I only knew him briefly but it was profound illustration of transparent service. Bill Grow happened to be a pivot point in my life. At 16 I went to a CSI (Cultural Studies), Bill was one of the teachers and during this course the 7 revolutions spoke to me personally about where I wanted to dedicate my life. Later the relationship came through his children, which was its own nuanced and flowing reality. Then in the time of the Diaspora I went to Colquit and spent a brief time in dialogue reconnecting old ICA to new. His passion, joy and disciplined focus gave me support in my own exploration. Nelson Stover - I have known Nelson many years but our intimate conversations started in 2006, we were part of many struggles trying to figure out how ICAI can survive and thrive in the reality of our overlapping communities and service. I always knew I could trust Nelson to be Nelson, to struggle for consensus and once reached to live into it with dedication and zeal. Everytime we would be on a zoom call together he would check in and ask what was happening and then listen with intent to understand. He will be missed. Another aspect of each of them is that they were a part of a profound couple in which both parties made the other even better. I send love to them and their familkies, those with us and those who have gone before. Love and respect, Larry Philbrook Taipei

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Passing of Nelson Stover
by balmkevin＠gmail.com 16 May '23

16 May '23

Hi Tim Thank you for the link. I was wondering how we might get to participate so great news! Please pass on to Elaine that she is in my thoughts and prayers at this time. Regards Kevin From: ica-network(a)ica-international.org <ica-network(a)ica-international.org> On Behalf Of Tim Leisman Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2023 3:13 AM To: Lawrence Philbrook <icalarry(a)gmail.com>; Robyn Hutchinson <rjhutchinson48(a)gmail.com> Cc: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; ICA Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; Lynda C <lynda860(a)outlook.com>; ICA Members <ica-network(a)ica-international.org>; greenschemes(a)bellsouth.net; traceybe(a)gmail.com Subject: RE: [Oe List ...] Passing of Nelson Stover Dear friends, It has been absolutely remarkable to take in the responses from around the world to the news of Nelson's passing. I have been spending time with Elaine and want to share that the depth of your care and commitment means so much to her. We have just today received confirmation of the link that the UU Church of Greensboro will provide to those friends who want to tune in to Nelson's memorial service this Sunday at 4pm US Eastern Time. Please access on YouTube by using: https://www.youtube.com/@UUGreensboro Tracey Brown (traceybe(a)gmail.com <mailto:traceybe@gmail.com> ) and I, who worked closely with Nelson as part of Emerging Ecology, have been helping to support these logistics and other considerations. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns and we will try to answer as best we can. Thank you! Tim Leisman From: ica-network(a)ica-international.org <mailto:ica-network@ica-international.org> <ica-network(a)ica-international.org <mailto:ica-network@ica-international.org> > On Behalf Of Lawrence Philbrook Sent: Saturday, May 6, 2023 12:46 AM To: Robyn Hutchinson <rjhutchinson48(a)gmail.com <mailto:rjhutchinson48@gmail.com> > Cc: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> >; ICA Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> >; Lynda C <lynda860(a)outlook.com <mailto:lynda860@outlook.com> >; ICA Members <ica-network(a)ica-international.org <mailto:ica-network@ica-international.org> > Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Passing of Nelson Stover Dear Colleagues of ICA ICA globally I have received notes from Shankar Jahdav and Archana Deshmukh and Robyn Hutchinson about Nelson Stover's passing. Nelson has been our colleague and supported our work globally and specifically in the US and in Indie. I have included Elaines and Robyn's note. Nelson will be missed and his passion and sense of story will be a part of our collective memory for ever. With love and respect, Larry ICA Taiwan ----------- Elaine Stover has requested that we notify the OE/ICA Community of the passing of Nelson on May 3, 2023. We celebrate the life and passion and compassion of this fellow North Carolina Care-of-the-Earth guru. A memorial service is being planned for Sunday May 21, at 4 pm. at the Hilltop UUC in Greensboro, NC Elaine invites you to include North Carolina in your travel plans. The spring weather is wonderful and beautiful. Shared stories, photos, and poetry are welcome as we remember this dear colleague and surround Elaine with care. Elaine's contact info: 5911 Western Trail, Greensboro, NC 27410 <mailto:greenschemes@bellsouth.net> greenschemes(a)bellsouth.net <http://www.greenschemesnc.com/> www.greenschemesnc.com 336-605-0143 Journey on, dear colleague with Grace and Peace, Lynda and John Cock Former Greensboro "neighbors" with the Stovers

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5/16/23 PHOTOS—B½ OF ARCHIVE PROJECT
by Frank Knutson 16 May '23

16 May '23

2 1

Bill Grow
by Karen Snyder 15 May '23

15 May '23

Brad Grow emailed that his father, Bill Grow, died May 14. He said, "Dad passed away about six hours ago. It was quiet, peaceful and painless. We are beginning the process of developing memorial thoughts. He was very grateful that there was someone to receive their archives.” Two weeks ago twenty boxes of Bill and Nan Grow's archives arrived at the ICA GreenRise. In one of the last acts of his life, Bill was determined that their family archives would be sent to the ICA to be added as needed to the Global Archives website. The boxes are waiting now to be sorted and scanned at the July 16-30 Archives Sojourn. Peace, Karen Snyder Troxel

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Fwd: Bill Grow's Passing
by Mari Crocker 15 May '23

15 May '23

> Begin forwarded message: > > From: Mari Crocker <maricrocker(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Fwd: Bill Grow's Passing > Date: May 15, 2023 at 3:37:35 PM EDT > To: Ben Crocker <jbcrocker11(a)gmail.com>, Jon Crocker <jtcrocker1(a)gmail.com> > > FYI Mom 🥰 > >> Begin forwarded message: >> >> From: Mari Crocker <maricrocker(a)gmail.com <mailto:maricrocker@gmail.com>> >> Subject: Bill Grow's Passing >> Date: May 15, 2023 at 3:28:58 PM EDT >> To: Rebecca Grow <rjgrow(a)gmail.com <mailto:rjgrow@gmail.com>>, "bradford.grow(a)gmail.com <mailto:bradford.grow@gmail.com>" <bradford.grow(a)gmail.com <mailto:bradford.grow@gmail.com>>, Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> >> Cc: Mari Crocker <maricrocker(a)gmail.com <mailto:maricrocker@gmail.com>> >> >> Dear Order Colleagues, Rebecca, Brad and Ian, >> >> It is with deep sadness that I learned this news, but rejoice that Bill’s passing was peaceful and painless. I still see Bill and Nan the way they looked on August 16th, 2020 (during our months of being masked if inside) to celebrate their anniversary with a picnic on our front porch. This was just six weeks before Nan passed. As always, Bill knew how to symbolize and remember the sacred family moments, even if this required a long, round-trip drive from Wallingford CT to Wells ME. >> >> Similarly, when Nan turned 80, Bill coordinated (long distance from York, PA) a grand birthday party at our home in West Newfield, ME, complete with a roast lamb dinner, lots of “Robbie Burns” poetry recitations, and the company of friends they knew in the greater Portland area. Joe had just turned 80, and so advised Nan that the next 20 years were to be all about Contemplation. Joe and I always looked forward to the Grow Family Christmas Letter — and I missed receiving it this year. It was always a masterpiece of poetry, annual history, prayer and music. >> >> Speaking of music, I was honored when Bill invited me to join him and the Yale Alumni Chorus in its annual performance at Milton Academy, MA back in the late 90s/early 00s. He said, “You know, Marilyn, back in my day, there were NO women at Yale — so I got permission to invite a Smith Chamber Singers alumna, because we need strong altos.” Not surprisingly, the program was challenging : Brahms Liebeslider Waltzes. I not only had to engage a neighbor to coach me in German pronunciation, but also took a few lessons to “recover my feminine voice”, having sung tenor for years in my local church choir. I could never have declined such a generous and complimentary offer from Bill. >> >> Bill’s passion for the renewal of the Local Church was palpable, even after our Turn to the World in 1972. And yet he (always also with Nan) graciously flexed to the shift our Order/EI/ICA made to serve as the sensitive and responsive force for renewal in the world through extensive work with ITIs and HDPs and so much more. I love the video Jim Wiegel shared about Bill’s testimony that “our methods give voice to the nobodies of the world.” >> >> Finally, I was always deeply moved by Bill's (and Nan’s) commitment to love, unconditionally, their four children. Their grief at losing Cameron was profound; as was their love, respect and pride in Rebecca, Brad and Ian, and their six grandchildren. I was blessed to know and come to love each of these four fine offspring as they were maturing, off and on, between 1968 and 1984 specifically, and since then as accomplished, gifted adults. >> >> Go gently into this blessed night, dear Bill — we love you >> >> Mari (and Joe) Crocker >

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5/15/23 PHOTOS—B½ OF ARCHIVE PROJECT
by Frank Knutson 15 May '23

15 May '23

2 1

5/14/23 PHOTOS—B½ OF ARCHIVE PROJECT
by Frank Knutson 15 May '23

15 May '23

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5/11/2023, Progressing Spirit: Dr. Carl Krieg: Blood and Bananas; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 11 May '23

11 May '23

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!important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent, #yiv5587244534 .yiv5587244534mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 .yiv5587244534mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv5587244534 .yiv5587244534mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 .yiv5587244534mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 .yiv5587244534mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent, #yiv5587244534 .yiv5587244534mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templatePreheader .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent, #yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templatePreheader .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templateHeader .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent, #yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templateHeader .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templateBody .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent, #yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templateBody .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templateFooter .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent, #yiv5587244534 #yiv5587244534templateFooter .yiv5587244534mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} Dr. Carl Krieg | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Blood and Bananas | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Dr. Carl Krieg May 11, 2023I went to the hospital the other day. Off and on throughout my life, I have had a few irregular heartbeats, and the latest round was sufficiently disconcerting that I thought it was time to talk with my doctor. She ordered some blood tests, and lo and behold, one number stood out. When The thyroid number should have been above 4.5, my number was .06, way low, a huge change from just one year ago and a possible cause of increased premature atrial contractions. We’ll know in six weeks.Change. Often referred to as the only certainty in life. From year to year, day to day, hour to hour. And it happens everywhere, all the time, one state of affairs transforming into another. It particularly struck me because I was in the hospital, and it was the part of me I call “my” body that had changed and was continuing to change. But it goes beyond bodily change. Our consciousness is also being steadily transformed. There may not be a sudden new awareness, but our ideas progress or regress, as the case may be. Our mind today is not what it was last year, or even yesterday.But the changing goes way beyond the personal level. On whatever scale we choose to examine our relationships with other people they are continually in flux, often not noticeable on a daily basis, but happening nonetheless. And then, one day, we consciously realize that things are not the same, be it at home, at work, or in school, and our relationship is on a different level.Even as a species, and not only as an individual, nothing remains the same. The COVID pandemic reminds us that life is continually evolving, in this case, a virus adapting to new environments. And homo is no exception. Preceded by perhaps a half dozen other species of homo [Neanderthal and Denisovan being the latest], Homo Sapiens is the last remaining manifestation of the species. Lest we fool ourselves into believing that we, therefore, are the top of the pile, let us remember that evolution continues, whether we want it to or not. What we are today is not what we will be 10,000 years from now, should we survive that long. This is especially so as AI encroaches on our “humanity,” inevitably transforming our very nature.Earth as well is continually changing. Once upon a time, all the land mass was together in one location, and then the tectonic plates began to drift apart, a process that continues today and most likely will continue until the earth is no more. And that ending is on the horizon. In about four billion years the sun will transmogrify into a red giant star, engulfing and incinerating our lovely home. But, no worries, that will not happen because in half that time, the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will have collided, destroying Earth forever. Change, the ultimate.The universe itself is no different. There was once a time, not that long ago, when cosmologists thought that we lived in a static universe, wherein what is, is what was, is what will be. Then the star-gazing and the mathematics exhibited a universe more dynamic than one could imagine. Theoretically, it had a beginning in space and time and has been expanding ever since. Not static at all, the galaxies that surround us are continually in motion, changing within themselves and growing more apart from one another. Hubble and now Webb show a universal creativity beyond imagination, cosmic dust coalescing to form the stars that are in turn drawn into galaxies, which are then in turn gathered into clusters, a never-ending process of creativity. A long way from a trip to the hospital, but it’s all happening, now.There was a second, almost irrelevant abnormality in the blood test, and that was a high potassium level. That was no worry, however, and easily explained. I had had a banana for lunch just two hours earlier, and asparagus for dinner the night before, both high in potassium. This comes as no surprise to anyone knowledgeable about nutrients, but it is a reminder that things impact things, that everything is interconnected with everything else, and, further, it’s not just a matter of food and health.We have heard that a butterfly flapping its wings can create a typhoon. Literally true or not, it points to the impact that even the smallest of elements can have on the greater area. Literally unimaginably, particle entanglement shows this to be true. Imagine a particle, perhaps an electron or proton, that is split in two. There are properties of these two particles that interact with one another, such that if you change one of the particles, the other is automatically changed as well, regardless of how far apart the particles may be, even if separated by the ends of the universe. This has been demonstrated in the lab at close range and mathematically shown to be true universally. Changing one, automatically and inevitably, without any causality, changes the other. Unbelievable. Cosmic connection without touching.Another demonstration of this cosmic interconnectedness is grounded in the creation of the universe. Beginning with hydrogen atoms, the intense energy of the Big Bang fused hydrogen into helium, which, when attracted and combined under the force of gravity, began to form stars. Inside those stars, the accumulation process continues, forming all the known elements that comprise the universe. All of the carbon and nitrogen and oxygen and…, i.e., all the stuff of the universe, was created in the stars. We- and everything around us- are all stardust. We are one, and all is one.This oneness of all is elegantly described in John Donne’s poem, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” It was customary in his time to ring the village bell when someone died, and so he writes: No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend’s were. Each man’s death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee. We live in a world defined by the cheapness of human life, indeed, all life. Migrants and refugees are treated no better than the Amazon rainforest. And yet, as entanglement shows us and as the tolling bell reminds us, all is One. How is it possible that we cannot see this? Painfully felt in combat, the killing of another is a killing of oneself. In turning away the refugee, we turn on ourselves, drawing boundaries where there are no boundaries.But such we do, and in so doing, we deny the reality both of change and of the interconnectedness of all creation, the denial of reality itself. Buddhism realizes that impermanence is the nature of everything, just as a sand mandala meticulously created by the monks is ceremoniously thrown into the river. So-called religions of the book [Christianity, Islam and Judaism], on the other hand, can reject change by absolutizing holy writ. Fundamentalist wings of these religions go so far as to absolutize their scriptures, identifying them as the word of god “himself”. But it is not only religion that absolutizes the static and denies change and interconnection. It is also any group of human beings who believe that they are special, beyond changeability and interconnection. In the US, these would be white nationalists who deny the stardust nature of their existence, some of whom also claim god in their image.In addition to the religious and political realms, economics also tends to instigate forgetfulness of change and connection. Concentration of wealth in the hands of the few is a blatant denial of interconnectivity, and it is founded on the false belief that riches are everlasting, which they are not. As surely as the universe expands, the rich and powerful will be brought low and made humble. As surely as we are born of the same stardust, the poverty of even one is a loss to all, regardless of power and wealth. Ignoring the plight of others lessens our own being.One might ask: is nothing, then, eternal? is there anything that transcends change? is there something that continues even as the continuum moves along? I believe there is, and I believe that something is love. Love in this sense is not a denial of change, but an undergirding of change that is good. This is a love grounded in the interconnectedness of all that is, not apart from the One, but manifest in it. This love is a cosmic embrace, supporting the All even as the current embodiment of this One is created anew in each moment.~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, The Void and the Vision and The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Joseph With the co-opting of the term Christianity by those who act very un-Christian like, is it time to rethink the name Progressive Christianity? A: By Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin Dear Joseph,I hear you loud and clear. I have struggled with this very issue for years now. Frankly, because of what the word has come to represent to many folks, there are times I don't even like the way it feels in my mouth, “Christian.” Seeing the hateful ways some of the loudest Christians treat others even make it feel like a curse word to me at times. Because of it, I spent many years being reluctant to call myself a “Christian” in public. I tried coming up with other terms that might work, “People of the Way,” “Originist” (as in following the original meaning of Jesus' teachings), ”Jesus Followers,” and many others. They were all too wordy or just a bit unclear without an explanation. I realized that the concept I was trying to relay, “follower of Jesus” or even “little Jesus,” already had a word – Christian. After even more thought and consideration, I am inclined to take our cues from the LGBTQAI+ community. Their work to take back the words “gay” and “queer” that were so frequently used as a pejorative is nothing short of inspiring! I believe we need to do the same for “Christianity.” WE need to reclaim the name from those who are using it to manipulate, marginalize, and maltreat others for the sake of their own power, profit, and prestige. Sure, we still might need to add “not that kind of Christian” from time to time as we reclaim the moniker, but I for one believe that it is time to reclaim the name until it becomes most clearly defined by its love, inclusivity, and tireless work for justice.~ Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Mark also serves as the President and Co-executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His Podcast The Moonshine Jesus Show is on Mondays at 4:30pm ET. Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. 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Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Part XV- Matthew: Understanding the Sermon on the Mount: Conclusion Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong February 27, 2014Jesus never preached the Sermon on the Mount! That needs to be said again and again until it is embraced as a fact. The Sermon on the Mount was composed by the author of Matthew’s gospel in order to fill out his interpretive portrait of Jesus, not only as the messiah, but also as the expected prophet of whom Moses spoke and even one who was thought to have relived the life of Moses. This suggestion will be startling to some, which is why I have been so deliberate in developing the background material. Biblical ignorance is not a virtue, especially when the background material that I have cited has been known in the world of biblical scholarship for at least the last 200 years. The facts supporting these ideas are plentiful. Nowhere else in the New Testament was Jesus ever said to have preached the Sermon on the Mount. If, as Matthew suggests, it was such a climactic moment in Jesus’ life, does it not seem strange that this event did not make an indelible impression on anyone else in the developing Christian tradition? Paul, Mark, Luke and John never mention it. In fairness, let me say that some of the material included in Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount is also included in Luke as part of Jesus’ preaching on the plains, but it is not nearly so beautifully set forth or dramatic. Luke’s Beatitudes, for example, are shortened to four and are accompanied by a series of four woes, portraying neither the grandeur nor the depth of Matthew’s sermon. Indeed, it appears to be derivative. Some scholars adhere to what is known as “the Q hypothesis.” They believe that both Luke and Matthew had an additional, now lost, common source other than Mark, which they have called “Quella,” the German word for “source,” which was quickly abbreviated to Q. Q, they argue, contained a number of the sayings of Jesus and is used to explain the similarities between Matthew and Luke that are not derived from Mark. Other scholars who deny the Q hypothesis, and I am increasingly one of them, argue that what has been called “the Q material” is really Matthew’s midrashic adaptations written on the text of Mark, and that Luke had both Mark and Matthew before him when he wrote his gospel. Thus Luke incorporated into his gospel some of Matthew’s adaptations and additions to Mark. This, rather than a speculative, now lost document, would account for the sometimes almost identical non-Marcan passages found in both Matthew and Luke. This would mean that Q is nothing but Matthew’s adaptations to Mark, which were then incorporated into Luke. The Q hypothesis has been a standard assumption of New Testament scholars for at least the last 150 years, but I find a theory based on a lost document to be a rather weak argument and I am delighted to see confidence in the Q hypothesis begin to wane, although that waning is more obvious among scholars in the United Kingdom than it is among scholars in the United States. In the Jesus Seminar, a scholarly think tank made up primarily of American scripture scholars, the Q hypothesis has achieved the status of an almost unchallenged dogma. In that body I was a lonely voice of one, who was never convinced of the accuracy of the Q hypothesis despite the complete confidence of the Seminar’s other fellows in it. My reasons for this skepticism are located in the Jewishness of the gospels in general and the Jewishness of Matthew’s gospel in particular. The Sermon on the Mount is the cornerstone of my dismissal of the Q hypothesis The more one understands that the organizing principle behind each of the three synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) is not the remembered life of Jesus, but the pattern of synagogue worship in which the Jesus story was told and retold during the first two to three generations of Christianity’s life, the less need one has for the existence of a lost source called Q. As we look at the Sermon on the Mount from a Jewish perspective, the more this Jewish liturgical background becomes both apparent and appealing. Indeed the relationship between the Sermon on the Mount and the festival observance of Shavuot is only the first of these connections, which I will set opposite one another as we walk through the rest of Matthew’s gospel. It is on these connections that in my mind the necessity for the Q hypothesis disappears. What the Sermon on the Mount is to Shavuot the crucifixion will be to Passover, and between those two great celebrations Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth, and Dedication will all be related to significant and appropriate Jesus stories. In this analysis, literalism as a viable way of reading the gospels will quite simply die and we will begin to see new dimensions in the Christ portrayal, which will enable us to lay a new claim on our faith story. To begin this process we must make sure that the connection between the Sermon on the Mount and the celebration of Shavuot is clear. If you notice that I am repeating some ideas from the column last week, be assured that it is on purpose. New ideas have to be repeated until they find permanent lodging in our minds. Shavuot, as noted previously, is a festival coming 50 days after Passover and observed in the synagogue with a 24 hour vigil. For this vigil Psalm 119, the longest Psalm in the Psalter was specifically written. Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount is modeled on that psalm. Psalm 119 provides a psalm reading for the eight segments of the 24 hour vigil. Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount reflects this psalm in many ways. It too is divided into eight segments. In Matthew’s introduction to the Sermon on the Mount he frames eight verses in such a way that each begins with the word “Blessed,” causing these verses to be named “the Beatitudes.” In the introduction to Psalm 119 two of the eight verses begin with the word “Blessed.” Matthew’s sermon is then made up of eight commentaries on each of the eight Beatitudes, but he will do these commentaries in reverse order; that is, his first commentary is on the eighth Beatitude and his last commentary is on the first Beatitude. Psalm 119 in its entirety is a hymn to the beauty and wonder of the Law, the Torah. Among its words are these: “Blessed are those who walk in the law (the Torah) of the Lord.” “Let me not wander from your commandments (your Torah).” “Blessed are thou, O Lord; teach me your statutes (your Torah).” “I am a sojourner on earth; hide not your commandments (your Torah) from me.” “I will run in the way of your commandments (Torah) when you enlarge my understanding.” We could continue this kind of quotation with many, many references out of that Psalm’s text. Psalm 119 was clearly created to serve the liturgical needs of the synagogue during Shavuot’s 24 hour vigil. Both Matthew and his readers would know this and would recognize that the Sermon on the Mount was patterned after Psalm 119, the psalm of Shavuot. It was not a foreign practice for the Jews at the great celebrations of their liturgical life to read the biblical passages that tell the story behind the celebration each year. Liturgy is, after all, the act of recalling the historical moments in a nation’s sacred history. The book of Esther had been written to be read at the Feast of Purim, to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews from genocide in the days of the Persians. The book of Lamentations had been written for the Ninth of Ab, the day when the Jews recalled the destruction of the Temple at the hands of the Babylonians. The basis of the celebration of Shavuot would be the Sinai story from the book of Exodus in which the Torah was given to Moses, so this was the Torah lesson that was always read at this celebration. Before we can understand the Sermon on the Mount we must understand its Jewish antecedents. The Torah began with the Ten Commandments and Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount touches on each of the Ten, some quite overtly, but not missing any of them. Matthew’s readers would also recognize how the Sermon on the Mount was modeled on Psalm 119, the Psalm of Shavuot. That was how they understood Matthew’s gospel. From about 150 CE on, however, the Christian Church became a Gentile movement, so the Jewish background to the gospel’s Jesus stories was unknown. More than that there was an active and virulent anti-Jewish prejudice that was operating in this Gentile Church. So it was that the Jewish meaning behind the gospel stories was lost. That meant that for the next 2000 or so years of Christian history the only people who read, studied, taught or wrote commentaries on the gospels were Gentiles who were ignorant of and prejudiced against their original Jewish frame of reference. In that process symbolic Jewish stories were read as if they were literal history. Biblical literalism is at its heart a Gentile heresy, born in the ignorance of the Jewish background to the gospels. To recover the essential meaning of our own gospels we must learn to read them through a Jewish lens or with Jewish eyes. We must understand the Jewish context in which and for which the various segments of the synoptic gospels were written. We must be able to identify what I call the “Gentile Captivity of the Christian Story.” It was in the service of Gentile ignorance that Christians were taught first that the Bible must be understood literally; later it was the 4th century Christians were taught that the creeds had to be believed literally, and finally in the 13th century Christians were taught that worship forms were handed down from on high and were, therefore, not subject to change. The future of Christianity depends on breaking this stranglehold of imposed literalism, based on Gentile ignorance of Christianity’s Jewish roots and origins. I seek to counter the ignorance of literalism week by week in this study of Matthew’s Gospel. It is the celebration of Shavuot that makes the Sermon on the Mount what it is– deeply true, but not literal history. Stay tuned! The narrative becomes more and more exciting as its organizing secret is revealed.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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