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Fwd: A World Held Sacred...
by Karen Snyder 01 Mar '22

01 Mar '22

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Two Personal connections in Russia and Ukraine
by David Dunn 01 Mar '22

01 Mar '22

Hello colleagues. Background ICA Denver colleagues and others organized a Jean Houston Mystery School in 1990–1991. Three Russians visited the Mystery School one weekend and were introduced by their host in the US, Dr. Laura Dodson, a Denver Jungian analyst who had visited Russia to meet psychologists and teachers as Russian opened to the world in the 1980s. For reasons unknown to me at the time, I vowed to attend one of the [Virginia Satir] Family Camps—the second one, as it happens—organized by Laura and her new Russian colleagues. I was in Moscow the week before and during the attempted coup of August 19, 1991. I met a man at the family camp who was interested in facilitation methods. We discovered that both of us had been born on November 12: me in 1942, he in 1956. Alexey’s and my friendship has grown ever since, first by fax, then by email, then in each other’s homes, then by Skype and most recently by Zoom and WhatsApp. Connection 1. During the build up of Russian troops around Ukraine in recent weeks, Alexey and I talked at length about the build up of troops. I would say, “This is against international law.” Alexey would say, “But’s it’s complicated.” Both of us agreed we did not have access to all the facts. And then Russian troops invaded Ukraine. My friend emailed the next day: Subject: Ukraine I could not believe that it may happen. As well as many people in Russia. But it happened. I was wrong. Terrible. I replied: You are a dear and faithful friend. Now friends watch in horror. Connection 2. MacPaw is a private Ukrainian software company doing business all over the world. I’ve used two of its products for many years. This morning, Oleksandr Kosovan, Founder and CEO of MacPaw, sent a message about the current situation in Ukraine️. I do not know Mr. Kosovan, accept by his association with a modern technology company that I have appreciated for many years. His email contains a link to sites for information about Putin’s war on Ukraine. Mr. Kosovan wrote: We have selected for you a list of verified sources that objectively cover what is happening in Ukraine. Follow the links and draw your own conclusions. Find out the truth about the events in Ukraine️ <https://macpaw.esclick.me/GodnQZuJy7mu> The screenshot attached below shows part of his message. Stay safe. Lobby for dealing seriously with Russian, protecting Ukraine, and being facilitative leaders and sources of funding for the European Union and NATO. I wish everyone well. David — "Mystery, possibility, and the power to choose" David Dunn 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247 720-314-5991 dmdunn1(a)gmail.com

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Verified resources re war in Ukraine
by David Dunn 28 Feb '22

28 Feb '22

These are the sources sent this morning from a tech company in Ukraine by MacPaw’s founder and CEO, Oleksandr Kosovan. David Dunn Sources in Russian Новая Газета <https://novayagazeta.ru/> Новое Время <https://nv.ua/> Медуза <https://meduza.io/> Дождь <https://tvrain.ru/> Журнал “Холод” <https://holod.media/> Медиазона <https://zona.media/> Русская служба BBC <https://www.bbc.com/russian> Настоящее Время <https://www.currenttime.tv/> Цензор <https://censor.net/ru> Зеркало Недели <https://zn.ua/> Эспрессо TV <https://ru.espreso.tv/> Солидарность (BY) <https://gazetaby.com/> 200RF <http://200rf.com/> Sources in English Vox <https://www.vox.com/russia-invasion-ukraine> BBC <https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c1vw6q14rzqt/russia-ukraine-war> Politico <https://www.politico.com/> The Washington Post <https://www.washingtonpost.com/> Foreign Affairs <https://www.foreignaffairs.com/> The Economist <https://www.economist.com/ukraine-crisis> CNN <https://edition.cnn.com/> The Guardian <https://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine> Telegram-channels NEXTA <https://t.me/nexta_live> Медуза <https://t.me/meduzalive> Медиазона <https://t.me/mediazzzona> Радио Свобода <https://t.me/radiosvoboda> Дождь <https://telegram.im/tvrain> Журнал “Холод” <https://t.me/holodmedia> Украинская Правда <https://t.me/UkrPravdaMainNews> — "Mystery, possibility, and the power to choose" David Dunn 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247 720-314-5991 dmdunn1(a)gmail.com

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2/26/2022, Progressing Spirit re Ukraine: Speak Love & Hope into Despair + links to article and resources
by Ellie Stock 26 Feb '22

26 Feb '22

FYI: Also check out links (also included in article text): Religion Dispatches article (Excellent article on role schism between Orthadox churches are playing in the current situation and also in Africa. and ProgressiveChristianity.org : -Resources highlighted (Check it out if you haven't read it): Book by R. James Addington: TRAGIC INVESTMENT, How Race Sabotages Communities and Jeopardizes America's Future and What We Can Do About It. 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!important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3021401078 td .filtered99999 td .filtered99999 , #yiv3021401078 td[class=yiv3021401078footerContainer] td[class=yiv3021401078mcnTextContent] p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:115% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3021401078 td[class=yiv3021401078footerContainer] a[class=yiv3021401078utilityLink]{display:block !important;}} | | | | | “Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” ~Martin Luther King Jr. | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This has been quite a week in global affairs, as we have watched in horror as Russia began the invasion of Ukraine. We know that while this is a territory dispute there is so much at play, including religion. Take a look at this Religion Dispatches article for more background on the religious dimensions of this conflict. We also heard this week about Texas Governor Greg Abbott calling on people to report parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears that those youth are receiving gender-affirming care. Transphobia is one of the greatest sins being committed by Christian fundamentalists today. During times like these, when it’s tempting to wallow in despair, I find deep hope in being a part of ProgressiveChristianity.org, which strives to be a voice for inclusion, compassion, peace, and justice. After all, those are the values that Jesus taught us to pursue. The Progressive Christian voice needs to be amplified, especially now. If you are in a church this week, it will be so important to speak words of love into the difficult situations of our world and we hope that you will draw upon our resources to do so. If you find our resources helpful or you simply care about giving a louder voice to a more authentic form of Christianity, please consider making a recurring or one-time donation to support our work. If you use our resources frequently, now is a wonderful opportunity to give for the first time! Thank you for your generosity, Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines Co-Executive Director ProgressiveChristianity.orgProgressing Spirit.com | | | | | | | | The Moonshine Jesus Show - Every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time! Check out this week's Promo. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Share | | | | | | | Tweet | | | | | | | Forward | | | | | | | +1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | ProgressiveChristianity.org is a 501c3 Non-Profit Organization. Thank you for supporting our mission to bring you the latest and best progressive Christian resources. Our mailing address is: ProgressiveChristianity.org4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. #80Gig Harbor, WA 98335 | | | | |

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FW: An invitation from the ICA Organisation Sustainability Team
by Kevin Balm 26 Feb '22

26 Feb '22

Dear Colleagues, reposting this. From: Kevin Balm <balmkevin(a)gmail.com> Sent: Monday, 7 February 2022 12:30 PM To: ICA Dialogue <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: FW: An invitation from the ICA Organisation Sustainability Team Dear Colleagues The ICA Organisation Sustainability Team is one of several teams initiated at the ICAI July 2022 General Assembly. The team focused on developing a set of triangles in the style of the Social Process triangles as a comprehensive screen for describing the sustainability of an ICA organisation. This is an invitation to colleagues from Member ICAI organisations and the wider ICA community to engage in this next phase of the team’s work. At its most recent meeting the team turned its attention to developing a self-assessment tool based on the triangles. Our current image is the self-assessment would take the form of a series of Focused Conversations on each of the dynamics of Economic Sufficiency, Organisation Resilience and Mission Relevance. The team developed a template and applied it to one of the nine arenas (page 1 of document via the link below). Firstly, we want to ask you to brainstorm questions to frame each of the nine conversations (page 2 of document via the link below). A draft template for ‘Funding Diversity” has been developed as an example. You can see the draft and contribute your questions in all 9 arenas in this Google document link: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KeF_lWg8Rj2UeAccxB1olew_zq3mzN6UkDHHlu3…> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KeF_lWg8Rj2UeAccxB1olew_zq3mzN6UkDHHlu3… Secondly, you are invited to attend the team’s next meeting, 2 March 2022 at noon Lome, Togo time (GMT+0) to help refine the design of the conversations. Thank you. The ICA Organisation Sustainability Team

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Intimacy with all of Life*
by Ellie Stock 24 Feb '22

24 Feb '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6720293822 #yiv6720293822templateBody .yiv6720293822mcnTextContent, #yiv6720293822 #yiv6720293822templateBody .yiv6720293822mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6720293822 #yiv6720293822templateFooter .yiv6720293822mcnTextContent, #yiv6720293822 #yiv6720293822templateFooter .yiv6720293822mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Intimacy with all of Life* | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Lauren Van Ham February 24, 2022 How monotonous our speaking becomes when we speak only to ourselves! And how insulting to the other beings – to foraging black bears and twisted old cypresses – that no longer sense us talking to them, but only about them, as though they were not present in our world… Small wonder that rivers and forests no longer compel our focus or our fierce devotion. For we walk about such entities only behind their backs, as though they were not participant in our lives. Yet if we no longer call out to the moon slipping between the clouds, or whisper to the spider setting the silken struts of her web, well, then the numerous powers of this world will no longer address us – and if they still try, we will not likely hear them. ― David Abram, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology On the list of things that year two-going-on-three of COVID-19 has shown us, monotony ranks high. Winding our way through this week’s Zoom meetings, ensuring everyone has their mask, and continuing to discern which activities can happen safely has been highly consuming and has often limited our creative impulses to think beyond the expectations of rinse, dry, repeat. Much in the same way that too many hours in front of a screen feels draining and flat, the monotony that we’re feeling as a species is a fantastic indicator that we have forgotten to look beyond ourselves, to really look, listen and share intimacy with all of Life.The late Thomas Berry, catholic priest and geologist, spoke of, “the new story.” This story (perhaps new but very ancient), is the point in time when ALL humans practice intimate reciprocity with the wisdom and instruction seeping from every morsel of the Living System (G-d).There is a creation story shared by the first people of North America’s Great Lakes regions[1] that describes the “Original Instructions” given from the Creator to the first humans. The Creator asked them to follow the paths made by all those whose home this already was. The Creator told the humans to learn the names of all the beings, to watch how they lived and to learn what gifts they carried, to learn from all the creatures how to find food, how to clean the food, how to build and make tools, how to sit quietly and ask permission to take, how to live in right relationship with the land and creatures and that he must protect life on earth.[2]There is so much humility, discipline, curiosity and vitality in what the Creator asks of us – anything but monotonous! In the Abrahamic origin story, there are some similarities as it centers Creation first and begins in a garden. In most translations of Psalm 8:6, the word “dominion” describes the relationship God has given humans in our stewardship of Earth. We have been short-sighted and ego-driven when texts like this one are interpreted to mean other creatures are “less than” humans. We know quite well that whether a Bengal tiger, mosquito or poison oak, every glimmering tidbit of life possesses value and potency. Moreover, it is in our intimacy with a beloved animal or the medicine derived from herbs and plants that we find forgiveness, relief, and healing.A Joyful Path, Year 3 is the final piece in Progressive Christianity’s 3-part curriculum series for young people. It will be available very soon and I’ve had the incredible privilege of working to co-design nearly forty Earth-centered lessons exploring our spiritual formation as integral with Creation.Unfathomable harm has come from misinterpretations of scripture, like Psalm 8:6, which never meant that our species had God’s blessing to use our power over other forms of life, but rather to take full responsibility for the power we have been given, to use the privilege we hold as humans, to care for all Creation and to develop intimacy with all beings.With our imbalanced priorities and amidst the monotony, really SEE-ing the world and listening to the Life around us requires practice. Recently, I took myself on a silent retreat. I couldn’t help but touch the moss on the rocks, to smell the crushed Bay Laurel leaves on my fingertips, to climb up in the low branches of a Great-Grandmother Oak Tree. These were my retreat teachers and companions and they challenged me in uncomfortable ways. What were they saying? Did they need water? Were they glad I had come? What of those coyotes on the ridge? And the deer who watched me sit in the meadow that was probably theirs? You might wonder, why does any of this matter? My answer feels connected to the David Abrams quote above: “If we no longer call out to [them], then the numerous powers of this world will no longer address us – and if they still try, we will not likely hear them.”Meister Eckhart, the 12th century mystic proclaimed, “Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God… If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature – even a caterpillar – I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature.”Around us, we see the limitations of mono-species problem-solving. Why – when God has created volumes of wisdom – would we only listen to human thoughts for the, “answers?” Intimacy, we know, takes work. And while relationships are rewarding, they also need our time, humility, and vulnerability. This is true with our partners and our children; it is also true in our prayer life and our attempts at conversation with those who appear to be so different from us that we don’t know where to begin. Learning a new language makes us feel self-conscious, but when we endure the awkwardness, we find connection, new understanding. Our need for intimacy and relationship cannot be overstated. If intimacy with all of life is a new practice for you, perhaps one of the following exercises will encourage you to open the Books of God that are every creature:Option 1: Recall a book or a movie where trees, animals, or mountains have become animate and communicative in ways we readily recognize (i.e. they have eyes, speak English, share their opinions, etc.) What have you appreciated in these stories? What have these more-than-humans shown you about yourself or your role in creation? Journal about this as you wish.Option 2: Spend time with your pets or the other members of Life nearby. Quiet your large, human energy to receive the teachings of this other relative from our Earth family. Consider: how do you relate to the water flowing from your showerhead, the pebble caught in your shoe tread, your cat splayed in the sunbeam or the wrinkled grape that is now a raisin in your cereal? Send out your praise, prayers, or gratitude!When life feels monotonous, when the horrifying headlines fall into an abyss of powerlessness, when the billboards and advertisements fill you with dissatisfaction, pause to look and listen for Life. Just like us, every member of the Living Family is ready to feel the blessing of connection. In the Christian Letter to Ephesians 4:6 we read, “There is one God and Father (Mother) of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” May this invite us to learn from every creature, the many books of God.~ 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 have supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. 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.__________________________*NOTE: Much of the content in this article comes from one of the 38 lessons in A Joyful Path (Year 3), a new curriculum for young people that will be released soon. Please visit Progressive Christianity.org for updates.[1] The Great Lakes region of North America is a bi-national Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as the Canadian province of Ontario.[2] Adapted from stories in Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader What if I can’t be fully me in my church? A: By Rev. Deshna Shine Dear Reader,Find another church. If you aren’t able to be who you truly are in your church (or relationships) find or create a different community. It is not easy, I know, but they are out there. Be you, be proud. If that isn’t ok, then they are not following the teachings of Jesus. Period. Jesus taught radical inclusion and that we are all one as divine creations of God. Jesus taught that God is within all. If you have to change yourself to be welcomed, then I am sorry, but this isn’t the right fit for you.Ask questions like — how does this church live out its beliefs? How does this church welcome the marginalized? How is this church making a positive impact on its local community? Does this church love me as I am? Does this church love their neighbors?Keep seeking, practice radical trust and you will find what you seek. If not, then think about creating a radically inclusive community. It can start small and simple. Many blessings on your journey.~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Children’s Curriculum. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, author, international speaker, and visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She was Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org, Executive Producer of Embrace Festival and has co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. Deshna is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited “Think Different - Accept Uncertainty” Part II Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 26, 2012A recent letter from an Anglican priest in Canada revealed what this priest believes to be the dire straits into which Christianity has fallen in that gentle land to our north. “So many of the churches are empty,” he wrote, “and the people who are left are old and tired. Clergy do their best, but no one is really positive about the future.” He went on to say, “We are seeing the death of the church in our own lifetime.” This Canadian clergyman had gone so far as to urge the bishops of his church to address this issue, but, he wrote, “They are reluctant to do so.” One bishop told this priest that the bishops “didn’t want to hear any more bad news.” If one looks at the life of Christian churches in other parts of the world through anything other than “stained glass lenses,” one sees a similar pattern everywhere.Of course, there will be those who will offer anecdotal evidence to the contrary. They will point to individual gifted clergy whose success appears to counter this analysis. People also like to cite third world statistical growth in church membership, but Christianity in the third world has yet to confront the intellectual revolution that has shattered traditional religious images in the developed world. They will not be able to ignore these things forever. It may still be comforting and even emotionally satisfying to think that there is a heavenly father beyond the sky who watches over us and who is able to come to our aid, but wishing for it does not make it real. We are, rather a space age people. We travel through the skies on spacecraft and we study distant galaxies with telescopes. The image of God as an external being, equipped with supernatural power and ready to come to our aid is simply no longer a compelling one.Elie Wiesel looked at this image of God through the dreadful reality of the Holocaust. A deity who could rescue the Jews from slavery in Egypt in the ancient world as the scriptures tell us, did not seem to be available to rescue the Jews from Hitler’s concentration camps in the 20th century. We are post-Galileo people, post-Isaac Newton people and post-Einstein people. We cannot think about God in the same way that previous generations have done. People in America did little more than laugh when evangelist Pat Robertson explained why God had not stopped the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. It was to punish us, he said, for making abortion legal, for tolerating feminism and for recognizing homosexuality as part of a person’s being, not an explanation of his or her doing. When he later explained that the hurricane that hit New Orleans did so because it was the birthplace of lesbian comedian Ellen DeGeneres and that the earthquake that rocked Haiti was God’s response to the Haitians for making “a pact with the devil” when they threw the French out in the early years of the 19th century, his words served only to raise the approval ratings of the late night comedians.All of these things are symptoms of the demise of traditional religious thinking. The God we have defined theistically is simply no longer believable. Pretending that this is a temporary phase through which we human beings must pass will not help. Trying to do better or louder the same things that have not worked for years is to be so out of touch with reality as to qualify under the definition of insanity. If the theistic definition of God is no longer viable, we need to ask: “Is atheism then our only alternative?” That is the clear conclusion to which the rising tide of secularity seems to be announcing as its own. If we can begin to “think different” or “accept uncertainty” in the world of religion, as Steve Jobs did in his technological world, I believe the first step is to seek an alternative beyond theism. That is what I hope to do in this series.Was theism ever a proper understanding of God? That is the first question we have to raise. Is theism not rather an expression of the essence of our own self definition? Is the theistic deity not a God created in our own image to serve our needs?A study of the origins of human religion reveals that the birth of self-consciousness was simultaneous with the birth of religion. It was in the trauma of awaking to an awareness of self-hood in the midst of a vast and frequently inhospitable world that caused human beings for the first time to postulate the existence of a power greater than ourselves to whom we could appeal for help. This power had to be like us, but with all our limitations removed. That definition is still apparent in the words we use to describe the theistic God we continue to worship. When analyzed that deity is little more than a human being freed from the limits of human life. Human beings are “mortal” and “finite.” God transcends that limit and is therefore called “immortal” and “infinite.” Human beings are limited in power. God is not limited and is therefore called “omnipotent.” Human beings are bound inside time and space. God is not so bound and so we call God “timeless” and “omnipresent.” Human beings are limited in knowledge, but we presume that God knows all things and so we call God “omniscient.” We could go on and on but the pattern is clear. We human beings created the theistic definition of God as a way to define our yearning for God to be what we needed God to be. It was not the other way around. We never stopped, however, to recognize that the idea of God as a being, outside the limits of time and space and equipped with the supernatural power to come to us in times of need was not a revealed truth about the nature of God, but a human creation, a human construct! No human creation is eternal. Theism, as a human idea, can, therefore, die without God dying. Our definition and the reality we are trying to define are never the same. The death of theism seems to me to be what we are experiencing today. If that is the only definition of God that we know, we will inevitably experience theism’s death as the death of God!We have also created intermediate creatures who are somewhere between human and divine that we call angels. They are generally depicted as human figures except for the addition of wings. Angels are normally thought of as males and in the Bible are given male names. In the biblical story, one of the names for God is “El” and that name is incorporated into the angel’s names: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. We think of angels as somehow sharing in the being of God. The addition of wings to the bodies of angels is also fascinating. Wings, of course, were borrowed from the world of birds that could soar above the natural limits placed on human life. So wings presumably lifted these angelic creatures above the boundaries inside which human life is condemned to live, signifying once more that angels participate in God’s power.We need to ask if there were any non-theistic words and concepts used in the biblical story to define God. A biblical search reveals that there were, but the theistic definition was so dominant that those other ideas never rose to become anything more than a very limited minority presence. Perhaps, however, in these minority understandings something might be found to help us to separate “God” from our “definitions of God.” It is worth taking a look.The earliest biblical “minority report” on the understanding of God’s nature is found at the very beginning of the biblical story. God in that narrative is identified first with breath and later with wind. God breathed into Adam at the moment of creation and that enabled Adam to come alive. The idea in this metaphor was that God was to be understood not as a being, but as a permeating presence that lived in us and through us. The effect of the presence of God within us was to enable us to come alive. In a secondary way, breath in living things was then identified with the wind, but its function was identical with breath. The wind was the life force which animated and vitalized the whole natural order. The wind was mysterious. It could be experienced, but not captured. We could see the wind’s effects, but not the wind itself. We did not know from whence the wind came or where the wind went. We could never contain it. All we knew was that wind made vital the trees and the forests. So the wind came to be thought of as the breath of God flowing through the whole world and whatever it touched it brought to life. It was still only an analogy, but it was a non-theistic analogy, and as such it brought us into a new realm of possibility. In time the wind became a synonym for the Holy Spirit, the most mysterious part of God. In the dream of Ezekiel recorded in the 37th chapter of the book that bears his name, the wind of God was said to have blown over a valley filled with the dead, dry bones of the Jewish nation, now defeated and with no hope for life, and that wind brought those bones back to living. “The toe bone got connected to the foot bone.” In the Pentecost story found in the 2nd chapter of Acts, the Spirit fell upon the gathered community of believers and called them to a new level of life, life beyond the boundaries of their defensive, tribal fears. In the power of the Spirit they were one people and could communicate in the language they each understood. In our creeds we still define the Holy Spirit as “the Lord and giver of life.” So God, even in the Bible, was not always an external invader of life. God was life itself. The theistic definition is not, therefore, the only way that human beings can conceive of God. God was thought of as that which flows through and unites all living things from the original single cells of life to the self-conscious creatures who can and do commune with this life force in an activity called worship. Worship is not just a ritual act, it is also self-conscious living. It is living fully!The primitive theistic being who answers our prayers and comes to our aid has been destroyed by the advance of human knowledge. As theism dies, however, does this not call us into the development of a new way of understanding that which is unlimited, transcendent and yet still might be real? As the God definitions of antiquity die, can we still be God-intoxicated, fully alive believers and yet not be theists? I think we can and this is the first step, I believe, into thinking differently and accepting uncertainty inside our religious life.File these thoughts for now. We shall return to this exploration.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Book Discussion Group – How To Heal Our Divides Announcing new How to Heal Our Divides Monthly Book Discussion Group! This free online discussion group takes place via Zoom on the first Thursday of each month at 12 noon Eastern time, starting March 2nd. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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2/27/2022, Progressing Spirit; Rev. Deshna Shine: Hope For The Future; Spong Revisited
by Ellie Stock 17 Feb '22

17 Feb '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateBody .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent, #yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateBody .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateFooter .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent, #yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateFooter .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hope For The Future | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Deshna Shine February 17, 2022I will begin with a story I recently shared in a Seminar for the Progressive Christian Network in Britain. A young girl falls in love with the passion and message of a teacher she learns about from her step-dad, a youth pastor and a TV evangelist. So she asks her parents to take her to church. She also knows at this young age of eight years old, that she too wants to be a pastor. She feels it in her bones and it is a calling that will stick with her through life.Her step father, raised in Seventh Day Adventism, only knows his own experience and so takes her to their local Adventist church. She gets dropped off because she is the only one in her family who actually wants to go to church.She becomes enveloped in the church community. There she finds meaningful work, has a group of loving and kind fellow youth, and has opportunities for learning and leadership. She travels all over the world on mission trips mostly building schools, churches and renovating hospitals. She is confident in the ministry and belief system she is immersed in.But deep within her she also knows she is different. She knows she isn’t a “normal” girl. She likes girls not boys. And she always has. But she keeps that to herself because she knows that isn’t acceptable. She is something like a tomboy but that isn’t quite right either.Her parents tell her she is too sensitive, too needy, even as a baby. And her church tells her that those desires and feelings she holds within her are wrong, she is told Jesus can change this sinful part of her.So she pushes the feelings down and denies her longing and who she really is. She goes on to lead churches and communities for 20 years of her young adult life. She is exceptionalized for playing the part in a fundamental system that prioritizes pseudo-supremacy, masculinity, and whiteness even though she is only some of those. She marries a man because that is what thought she should do. She doesn’t question the beliefs she is taught. She, along with everyone else, is not allowed to question. She must show a solid faith.She is successful but she is not fully herself.Until one day her authenticity can not stay hidden any more - it is pushing at the tight lid, threatening to emerge of its own accord. Her true essence is brimming over and her questions are getting too big.She has an affair with a woman. She leaves the Church and the only community she has ever really known in the midst of a full explosion of all the pieces in her life. She gets a divorce and she begins to question her faith and herself. Her parents are hurt and disappointed. Her church responds in love but they don’t understand. Her friends aren’t surprised that she is with a woman but many hoped it wouldn’t be true. She can no longer push down her true self. With the accompaniment of a therapist (also ex-vangelical) she will risk everything to find herself.She discovers that she is a seeker, a questioner, a musician, a Queer person in a woman’s body, and in her truest heart a pastor and a follower of Jesus.She is left without community, without a solid belief system, and with a lot of guilt, shame, and confusion. She leaves Seventh Day Adventism and begins her search for a spiritual path and community where she can be her fully authentic self. Eventually, she comes across progressive Christianity but she still has a lot of questions and doubts.Fast forward 8 years, she has found her soulmate and is married to this woman. She is candidating for a pastoral position in a progressive christian church. She is voted unanimously by both the Search Committee and the Board.But the big day is when she will stand in front of the largest church in the conference, with in person and online attendees and she will tell them who she is. And not some watered down, careful version, but the truest version of herself because she is at a point in her life when she can only be her authentic self and she will take nothing less than full acceptance of that.She tells them who she is and she makes the congregation laugh and cry and she calls them to live into their beliefs. She calls them to remember themselves as the Beloved community. Perfect and whole even as they are broken and growing. Like her.At the end of the service, she and her wife are asked to step out of the church while they vote. They wait in an office down the hall, holding each other and quiet.She is asked back into the church. The church voted unanimously yes to call her into their pastoral leadership.When she and her wife return to the sanctuary, hundreds of people wave colorful banners and cheer as they walk down the aisle together, hand in hand. They are received.She is extravagantly welcomed. Radically welcomed and celebrated. With her gayness, her mestizo self, her questions, her doubts, and her vision of a Beloved community.She is seen for who she is and she is radically included and celebrated. Inside of her is a young being who is fully seen and loved in community.I was recently remembering this moment of radical and extravagant welcome when I was a part of a conversation with a local church about why historically under-represented groups aren’t showing up to church. I remembered that story I shared and I imagined a church where people who want to, can stand in front of their community and share their fullest, messiest, truest selves and be extravagantly welcomed and celebrated.I imagined they are asked to step out and the rainbow colored flags and banners are pulled from under the pews and readied. I imagined each person is cheered for as the doors open and they walk down the aisle to shouts of joy and smiling faces. “We see you! We welcome you just as you are!”I thought back to a ritual I attended during my Interfaith Ministry training. Similarly, we were asked to wait outside. Our ritual guides were inside and one by one we went in the door to a room where people waited with colorful scarves, music, welcomes and hugs. “You are here!” They cheered, as they rang bells and pounded on drums. “You are welcomed!” They cried out with open hearts as they hugged us. We were given an instrument and we then turned and welcomed together the next person to enter the room. And the voices grew and the community grew.Imagine if we are all seen in our fullest selves and extravagantly welcomed by communities of faith. Imagine if we all feel safe enough to been seen — the messy parts, the broken parts, the grieving parts, the growing parts, and the unique gifts we each bring to this world.During an interview with Bishop Yvette Flunder, the Senior Pastor at City of Refuge in Oakland, California she told me,“I don’t think church was ever supposed to be theatre style and choreographed, down to a fine science. I don’t think that was ever the intent or the heart of God. I think it was supposed to be less ceremonial and more familial."She said: “The success of church should not be determined by the number of people in seats on Sunday. That is one of the things we do, we ask ourselves at the end of the week: How many people did we serve? That is a different number. I see that as church unusual.”And when I asked her, “How do you imagine the future of the church?”Her answer was, “A familial sacred community. Secure, inclusive, welcoming, raggedy. In that raggedy environment, we don’t need choreography because our people show up with all their realness and their unique needs and authentic selves.”She says church should be full of real moments, like your mama’s house. “In your mama’s house, she said, “if Mama knows that one of your children is real different, then your mama is going to make provisions for that child. And she will start with the child that needs the most support.”And so I ask, how many people did we welcome? How many did we serve? They go hand in hand, I believe.This story, shared by Deepa Bharath, in the Orange County Register, is another example of that welcome we all deserve. Lorraine Fox of Mission Viejo, raised as a Christian fundamentalist, was ostracized from her church because she was gay. “They kicked me out of Bible school,” she said. “For the next 25 years, I stayed away from church. I just couldn’t sit with people who sang about love but didn’t practice it.” In 1991, she heard about the church in Irvine that had opened its doors to the LGBT community. “The minute I walked in, I cried,” she said. “And I cried the entire service. I felt like I’d come home.” Fox says she has never wanted to go to a “gay church.” “It’s just like going to a gay bar,” she said. “It’s like I have to hide for being gay. But here was a place where I could practice my faith and be myself.” That was exactly how Christine Roy, a transgender woman, says she felt, too. Roy had stopped going to church when she “got serious” about her identity because she believed the two were mutually exclusive. The Irvine (UCC) church was the first one she “went to as Christine.” “It’s a big deal to be able to go to church as yourself – your true self,” said Roy, of Laguna Hills. “That’s how you get a deeper connection to your faith.”“We belong to each other,” as indigenous teachers have said. So, how do we create a bigger table with every voice in mind and make sure every one is there when we start to wrestle with solutions? How do we create a safe, loving, familial community who embraces each human being in their truest self? How do we extravagantly welcome our community members as they are? Perhaps this is something you can explore in your own community.Following the path of Jesus means we live and love with Wild Abandon. Can we love wildly, extravagantly welcoming our neighbors to our communities?~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Children’s Curriculum. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, author, international speaker, and visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She was Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org, Executive Producer of Embrace Festival and has co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. Deshna is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By S J I have been researching Paul's mental and physical ailments, and it seems that he fits exactly the profile of someone suffering from Geschwind syndrome, as well as bipolar disorder and some degree of dissociative disorders. My question has always been, since it is evident that Paul's "Visions" from Jesus were probably nothing more than hallucinations, brought on by temporal Lobe epilepsy, and influenced by postictal events including perhaps being prayed over by Christians, then WHY should people today misinterpret Paul's writings as divine in nature? In Paul's time it was commonplace to accept hallucinations and altered mental states as Divine prophecy, example the Oracle at Delphi. So why can't we see Paul for who he really was, which was a sufferer of neuro-psychiatric disorders to whom no treatment was available, instead of some great prophet, of which he should not be? A: By Rev. Roger Wolsey Dear S J,Thank you for submitting a fascinating question to ponder. I’ll begin by saying that many people have speculated about “the thorn in Paul’s side” – as well as about his general psychology. I’ve seen people (frequently homosexual persons) suggest - or even flat out claim - that Paul (or Jesus) was a homosexual and that this was “the thorn” he struggled with. He wasn’t married that we know of, and he chose to be celibate, but that isn’t exactly much evidence to work with. I’m reminded of two things. First, an emphasis of the liberal Christianity of the modern era (1880s-1900s) was embracing science – to a fault. Many liberal theologians sought to explain (away) miracles described in the Bible by saying things like, “Well, we know there are certain weather patterns that take place where the Red Sea could have parted by known winds that can take place; or that Jesus could’ve used certain medicinal herbs to heal people; or that, …, etc. The progressive Christianity that evolved from liberal Christianity fully embraces stories of the Bible, as story. Not something that we need to explain as fact or history, but rather, to read ourselves into so that they might speak to us and invite personal and collective transformation. [For discussion about the shift from liberal Christianity to progressive Christianity see these articles: “Christianity for People Who Don’t Like Christianity" & Progressive Christianity isn’t Progressive Politics” ] Second, Anaïs Nin invited us to realize that “we don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Essentially, we often engage in eisegesis, rather than true exegesis. Eisegesis is the process of interpreting texts colored by one's own presuppositions, biases, experiences, and agendas. As an example, how wealthy, straight, white men interpret scripture can be quite different from how poor, lesbian, brown women experience the same texts. Similarly, how psychiatrists, lawyers, social workers, and migrant workers read the Bible may differ rather markedly. I, and quite a few other people I know, have had mystical experiences with the Divine, including God “talking to me” in my call experience. People will interpret what I just stated via their own biases, experiences, and prejudices, yet I highly doubt if many would suggest that I suffer from “neuro-psychiatric disorders.” Paul didn’t claim to be a prophet and neither do I. I do feel called to promote the way, teaching, and example of Jesus and to help the Church be the best it can be. I wrote an essay for Progressing Spirit a few months ago that I think will help many progressive Christians who currently have less than glowing views of the apostle Paul soften their take on him and perhaps come around to embracing him as a valid and needed voice within the Christian lineage. See: “Paul: Friend or Foe?” I hope these reflections have been helpful.~ Rev. Roger Wolsey Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey, a United Methodist pastor, is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity and blogs for Patheos as The Holy Kiss and serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org. He values the Wesleyan approach to the faith and, as a certified spiritual director, he seeks to help others grow and mature. Roger served as Director of the Wesley Foundation campus ministry, University of Colorado for 14 years, and currently serves as the pastor of Fruita UMC in Colorado. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Let me get right to the point: I believe that this year will be the best year ever for ProgressiveChristianity.org. We've recently launched a podcast, are working on all new liturgical resources, will be releasing the 3rd year of our children's curriculum, and are in early stages of developing a video series on the key points of progressive Christianity. It's a lot for our little organization, but it is so exciting. And, we believe, much needed. As I said, I believe this will be the best year ever for ProgressiveChristianity.org, but we cannot do it without your help. Let's make this the year that the progressive Christian voice is heard loud and clear. We are a non-profit and rely on our members to support us. If you believe in what we are doing, the best way to do this is by contributing monthly as a sustaining donor, but we completely understand that is not the right path for some folks. So, you can also make a one-time donation to help keep this movement... well, moving. Thank you for all of your continued support. Together, we really are making a difference. PEACE! Rev. Mark Sandlin Presiden, Co-Executive Director * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited “Think Different – Accept Uncertainty” Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 19, 2012I recently read Walter Isaacson’s provocative and fascinating biography of Steve Jobs, the founder of the Apple Corporation. He was innovative, iconoclastic, weird and a genius. He built his company not only into a successful giant, but made it the highest valued company in the entire world. One of Steve Job’s secrets was that he was never willing to live inside the boundaries of the given. He adopted as the motto of his company the words, “Think Different.” I grant you that he would have been more grammatically correct if his words had been “Think Differently,” but things like that mattered very little to this man. Later he added the slogan “Accept Uncertainty.” The more I thought about Steve Jobs’ slogans, the more I yearned to make them the mottos of the Christian Church, though there is little evidence inside institutional Christianity today that any one would be responsive to either slogan. Nonetheless that idea fed my theological fantasies and caused me to wonder what the Christian Church would look like if its members and leaders had the courage “to think different” and to “accept uncertainty.”The timeliness of this idea also intrigued me. If there ever was a moment in which Christianity needed to step outside the traditional theological formulas and speak in bold new accents, it is today. Such exciting possibilities are, however, overwhelmingly resisted in religious circles where security, peace and the absence of either conflict or change are all regarded as virtues. So I have decided to do a series of columns throughout the coming year through which I can invite Christians into a new kind of dialogue. I want to speculate about what Christianity might actually evolve into if Christians had the courage to do things like Steve Jobs did, that is, not to let what is be the limits of what can be. What would be different, for example, if we were able to free the Christ experience from the first century interpretation of that experience as we now have it in the New Testament? Why do we continue to pretend that a first century interpretation is somehow going to embody truth for all ages? What would Christianity look like if we were willing to separate the Christ experience from the fourth century’s interpretation of that experience as presently found in the creeds? Why do we continue to pretend that fourth century words are adequate to be the bearers of ultimate truth for all time? Recently I had a letter from a friend who wanted to start a book study group in her Methodist Church in Mississippi to be a meeting place for those who wanted to explore the edges of Christianity. They wanted to read some of the boundary-breaking theologians. Her request was denied by her current minister. It was his job, he said, to “defend the faith not to question it.”How can either the scriptures or the creeds be studied in any meaningful way if the assumption is that they are, in their present forms, identified with unchanging reality? That dated attitude precludes the possibility of any different thinking from that of the first century in regard to the scriptures or the fourth century in regard to the creeds. The world’s knowledge has, however, increased exponentially from that which marked the minds of people in New Testament times or those at the time the creeds were formed. No one today, for example, believes that demon possession is the cause of either mental illness or epilepsy, that Jesus could literally ascend into the sky of a three-tiered universe in which the planet earth was the center or that everything not understood in life had to be explained by an appeal to a supernatural miracle. Modern Christian scholars no longer even debate the traditional claims made through a literal reciting of the creeds that the virgin birth is about biology or that the resurrection is about the physical resuscitation of a deceased body back into the life of this world. If the only choices we have in dealing with either scripture or creed is to believe these words literally or not at all, then the future is bleak indeed. We can either become “true believing fundamentalists” (and they come in both Protestant and Catholic varieties), or we can give up Christianity altogether as an ancient, but now irrelevant superstition and take our places as citizens of “the secular city.” If we choose the former then we will watch Protestants protect themselves from change by claiming an inerrant Bible and Roman Catholics protect themselves from change by claiming an infallible Pope. Both claims are preludes to death and both are today widely regarded as absurd. If the latter alternative is adopted then the dying of Christianity will continue, but at accelerating speed until the Christian God takes a place in the museums of human antiquity along side other deceased deities like Baal, Marduk and the gods of the Olympus.Increasingly modern men and women can no longer live their lives within the boundaries set by the church. Popular Christianity is today represented in the media in devastatingly negative terms. We are the ones who are trying to protect our children from learning about evolution in public schools; we are the opponents of the feminist movement, battling to keep women outside equal rights to in all areas of their lives, including control over their reproductive abilities, and we are the ill-informed bearers of religious homophobia who continue to hold to prejudiced definitions that have long ago been dismissed in medical and scientific circles. This characterization of Christianity is a major, but undeniable embarrassment to which few people will be drawn. “Think Different – Accept Uncertainty” provides us with a new alternative.When the insights of our space age became almost universally acknowledged as true in the educated world, the God we defined as dwelling above the sky, watching over us, answering our prayers and intervening supernaturally in human history became quite simply unimaginable. Yet to listen to the words in most church liturgies one gets the impression that little has changed in how we understand the world since the high Middle Ages. Most of the hymns we sing and the prayers we pray on Sunday mornings still reflect this theistic definition of God. As believers we have somehow closed our minds to the reality that the planet earth is not the center of anything. It rather revolves around a mid-sized star, our sun, which is located about two-thirds of the way toward the edge of our galaxy, called the Milky Way, in which there are about 200 billion other stars, most of them larger than our sun. Beyond our single galaxy there are in the visible universe between100 billion and one trillion other galaxies, separated by distances that the human mind simply cannot fathom. So if people inside the church continue to define God in that familiar theistic pattern as an external being located somewhere above the sky and ready to come to our aid, they are engaging in little more than pious language that is untranslatable inside the bounds of current human knowledge. The fact is, however, that traditional Christians seem to know of no other way to talk about God and have made no effort to “think different” in the 500 or so years since Copernicus first challenged our three-tiered mentality and construct. Is it any wonder that modern people who come to worship services have a glazed-over look before much time inside church has passed? How would we worship, however, if we dared to “think different” or “accept uncertainty?” Yet as obvious as this question is, anyone who asks it inside church walls on a Sunday morning would be considered quite controversial, even radical! Someone will surely charge that person with being an atheist!In our world Newtonian laws are counted on to operate in mathematically precise ways until we reach the realm of the subatomic world on one side and the astrophysical world on the other. There is, therefore, in Newton’s world no room for a God who lives above the sky and who operates on our lives with supernatural power. Yet we read of miracles in the Bible. People continue to tell of sightings of the Virgin and even to make their way by the thousands to such religious shrines as Lourdes. In popular culture a person like Tim Tebow, the former University of Florida and now Denver Broncos’ quarterback, kneels to give thanks to God for the victory of his team on the gridiron and sportscasters, citing six last minute victory drives that carried the Broncos into the National Football League playoffs, claim on national television to be “believers” though in what I am still not sure. Their belief seems not so much about Tebow’s prayer life as it is in Tebow’s strong will to win. Does anyone really think that God intervenes in human history to help the Denver football team win because Tim Tebow is a convinced believer? If this power is real then why did God not intervene to stop the holocaust, to end slavery and segregation, to guide the hurricane away from New Orleans or to protect the Haitians from the earthquake? Does this not make God so trivial as to be unbelievable? Yet if someone were to say in a church on a Sunday morning that there is no longer a supernatural deity above the sky, who answers our prayers, a deep and hostile response would be inevitable. The gap between the knowledge by which we live and the faith we continue to practice is vast. Our unwillingness to part with these woefully inadequate concepts continues primarily because we know no others and we fear the bottomless pit of nothingness far more than we are embarrassed by continuing to parrot unbelievable mantras as if they were still capable of being held by any thinking citizen of the 21st century. No one appears willing or eager to “think different” or to “accept uncertainty.”There is no chance that human thought is going to turn away from the demonstrated wisdom of Copernicus, Galileo or Isaac Newton. If there is no other way to envision the holy, the God of yesterday will simply die. That is why it is so imperative that those of us who love the Christian faith be willing to “think different” and “accept uncertainty.”How can we learn to think as Christians outside the theological boxes of antiquity? It begins I believe by dismissing “theism” as an adequate definition of God and to recognize that the opposite of theism is not “atheism.” Can we do that? Will people still experience God in the definitions that emerge beyond theism? Time alone will tell, but for now just let these questions resonate. To them we will return.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Forgiveness: A Growth in Love - 2022: A Lenten E-Course with Contemplative Outreach This course is formatted to be used during Lent. We will explore a contemplative prayer practice of forgiveness with twelve emails delivered on Mondays and Thursdays. Online: March 3rd – April 11th READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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February 17 Environmental Film: "2040", hosted by Ferguson Eco Team
by Ellie Stock 16 Feb '22

16 Feb '22

Dear Friends, February greetings! You are invited to watch "2040", the next environmental film hosted by the Ferguson Eco Team: Thursday, February 15, 2022, 7:00 PM Central Time via ZOOM. A conversation will follow the film viewing. TO REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK: https://bit.ly/FETFeb2022 2040 is an innovative feature documentarythat looks to the future but is vitally important NOW. Award-winning directorDamon Gameau embarks on journey to explore what the future would look like bythe year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to usto improve our planet and shifted them into the mainstream. Structured as avisual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon blends traditional documentaryfootage with dramatized sequences and high-end visual effects to create avision board for his daughter and the planet. —GoodThing Productions For more information, please contact:Carleton or Ellie Stock (314) 521-8418carletonstock@aol.comelliestock@aol.com #yiv6665059736 -- filtered {}#yiv6665059736 filtered {}#yiv6665059736 p.yiv6665059736MsoNormal, #yiv6665059736 li.yiv6665059736MsoNormal, #yiv6665059736 div.yiv6665059736MsoNormal {margin:0in;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;}#yiv6665059736 a:link, #yiv6665059736 span.yiv6665059736MsoHyperlink {color:#0563C1;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6665059736 span.yiv6665059736EmailStyle19 {font-family:sans-serif;color:windowtext;}#yiv6665059736 .yiv6665059736MsoChpDefault {font-family:sans-serif;}#yiv6665059736 filtered {}#yiv6665059736 div.yiv6665059736WordSection1 {}#yiv6665059736

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2/10/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Roger Wolsey: A Time of Theological Déjà vu?; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 10 Feb '22

10 Feb '22

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and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 .yiv1027401536mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 .yiv1027401536mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templatePreheader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templatePreheader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateHeader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateHeader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateBody .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateBody .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateFooter .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateFooter .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A Time of Theological Déjà vu? | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey February 10, 2022Wait. Haven’t we seen this before? There are certain dynamics taking place today that may remind us of dynamics that took place early in the last century. I suggest that pondering such similarities is not only warranted - but needed. Let’s begin by defining some terms. Progressive Christianity is the post modern influenced evolution of historic mainline Protestant liberal Christianity (and an heir to the Social Gospel movement). Liberal Christianity was a theological response to modernity – to the modern era, especially in light of Darwin’s theory of the evolution of the species, i.e., embracing science. Fundamentalism, of course, was the other modern era response to modernity – and especially Darwin; i.e., rejecting science. Liberal Christianity held a high view of humanity and believed that humans could effectively manifest and live-out Jesus’ prayer for God’s Kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven.” Liberal Christianity was wedded to the Social Gospel movement and many needed reforms to labor conditions in the West were implemented (e.g., promoting unionizing of workers, worker safety, worker rights, the creation of the 40-hour work week, etc.). New laws were also put into place to put an end to the “robber baron” era of corporate fat cats exploiting the masses and monopolizing the financial sector and the economy. Real progress took place and there was a high spirit of optimism for humanity and the world. ….But then…. the world was rocked by the truly senseless and utterly barbaric World War I – a war in which 10 million soldiers were cruelly killed – often in trenches via caustic mustard gas; and 10 million civilians were also killed. And many more people survived suffering profound trauma. In the last year of that that four-year war, the world was also hit by a devastating influenza – the so-called “Spanish” flu which wiped out an estimated 50 million people across the globe. That pandemic was perceived by some as God’s wrath against sinful humanity. Soon after that war, a marked rise in zealous nationalism arose including a growing populist trend toward favoring authoritarian strong-man leaders – culminating in Hitler, his genocides, and yet another world war. The former spirit of optimism was challenged, and Christianity experienced a theological crisis. A response to this intellectual crisis arose and has since been referred to as “Neo-Orthodoxy.” Prominent figures in this movement included Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr. Key teachings of this movement included: a reduced estimation of the essential goodness of humanity; increased emphasis on original sin, human sinfulness, and a need for Divine intervention to properly address this problem of sin – i.e., Jesus’ death on the cross and the exclusivity of Christianity as the vessel of salvation in the world. Moreover, God was presented as “wholly other” from humans. A case could be made that these teachings fostered a renewal of Calvinism (humans viewed as utterly depraved) and Gnosticism (enfleshed humans viewed as the opposite of the transcendent glory of the Spirit Divine which loathes the worldly realm). The wake of that movement lingers in contemporary evangelicalism which would have Christians be focused more on believing the right things in order to go to heaven (“the better place”) when we die, rather than be focused on, or even concerned about, temporal matters on the earth in the here and now. Progressive Christianity has been around for roughly 30 years and it shares the high regard of humans and our essential goodness. Most progressive Christians either reject the doctrine of original sin, and the substitutionary theory of the atonement – or hold that belief in, and subscribing to, those things isn’t required for Christianity. Many progressive Christians instead believe in original blessing and embrace the moral example theory of the atonement. We embrace the way, teachings, and example of Jesus as our way of experiencing salvation – understood as wholeness, well-being, and healing – far more than understood as the rectification of “the sin problem.” Progressive Christians often do speak of sin, but the focus tends to be far more on systemic sins such as racism, homophobia, misogyny, financial exploitation, and poor stewardship of planet earth. Many progressive Christians also value mysticism and spiritual practices which help us to experience the Divine within us. Many of us thus embrace panentheism and reject notions of God as “wholly other.” Finally, progressive Christians don’t believe that Christianity has a monopoly on God or salvation. We honor and celebrate other religions as valid and effective vessels of God’s love. …. But then… the world was hit by: 20 years of warfare between the West and fundamentalist Islamist terrorists (or put another way, 20 years of the U.S. seeking to maintain superpower status and to maintain its effective empire); the rise of Trumpism - renewed populist movements around the globe whereby many people are rejecting the “spirit of hope” Obama sought to convey – and instead favoring authoritarian strong-man leadership and rejecting experts and scientists. There is a collective denial about the reality and gravity of human aggravated global warming and there is a similar collective denial about the reality and seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic – which has killed nearly 6 million people so far. Déjà vu. What I’m suggesting is that there are certain dynamics in our contemporary world at the start of this new century that are in some ways reminiscent of dynamics at the start of the last one. I’m also suggesting that there is a theological crisis at hand – and there are likely to be some similar responses to it. One possible response is a rejection of progressive Christianity and the rise of a new neo-orthodoxy, perhaps in the form of the hyper Calvinist, macho theology of Mark Driscoll, et al. Another response might be a call for a “course correction” within progressive Christianity to help it better align with facts on the ground - at least half of the public don’t care if people die of COVID (or suffer handicapping long-term conditions if they do survive it; and we clearly aren’t doing anything significant to combat or mitigate Climate Change. Perhaps we’d do well to lower our expectations of what it means to “be our brother’s keepers” and to “love our neighbors.” Perhaps we’d experience less cognitive dissonance and inner turmoil if we simply embrace compassion fatigue and give our blessings to the mess of a status quo and “go along to get along.” Perhaps we should say, “It’s God’s will that people are failing to do right be each other and the planet. And “only God” can save us – and only if ‘He’ wants to.” And still another response might be a redoubling of our efforts to deepen into the values and perspectives of progressive Christianity – boldly going against the grain and swimming against the current currents. I don’t have “the” answer here, though I happen to lean toward the aforementioned “redoubling” option. What I feel called to do is to lift-up the parallels of our present socio-political climate and point out the need for intentional, mindful, and prayerful response by those of us who embrace progressive Christianity. I’d like to invite the readers of this forum to please weigh in with your thoughts about all of this. We need as many caring minds addressing this as possible. What do you make of these apparent similarities? How do you think progressive Christians might best respond? Yours in hope, optimism, and non-exclusive, inter-faith mystic connection to each other and the Divine,Rev. Roger Wolsey Read online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is a United Methodist pastor who resides in Grand Junction, CO. Roger is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity and blogs for Patheos as The Holy Kiss and serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org. Roger became “a Christian on purpose” during his college years and he experienced a call to ordained ministry two years after college. He values the Wesleyan approach to the faith and, as a certified spiritual director, he seeks to help others grow and mature. Roger enjoys yoga; playing trumpet; motorcycling; and camping with his son. He served as the Director of the Wesley Foundation campus ministry at the University of Colorado in Boulder for 14 years, and has served as pastor of churches in Minnesota, Iowa, and currently serves as the pastor of Fruita UMC in Colorado, and also serves as the "CRM" (Congregational Resource Minister/Church Consultant) for the Utah/Western Colorado District of the Mountain Sky Conference. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader The 'broken' language I hear from other Christians sometimes has never felt right to me. Are we all really broken?” A: By Rev. Mark Sandlin Recently the above question from a reader prompted me to share this perspective on social media. Based on the responses, it clear there are a lot of folks whose spiritual journey would benefit from hearing this. So, I wanted to share with you my answer. A lot of Christianity has it wrong. We are not broken. We are not fallen. We are not flawed. We are simply fragile. We are beautifully distractible. We are self-invested because of love but that love also gives us a slight bias toward justice. We are so deeply invested in life that we can, at times, deny the larger good for the experience of the moment. We are not broken. We are human. We are flesh and blood, and we are experiential. Sometimes that makes us better. Sometimes that makes us worse. It never makes us less. Or sinful. Or unredeemable. It means we are real. It means that life has a relentless hold on us. The struggles, the stumbles, the seemingly endless short-fallings simply point to our humanity not to our unworthiness. They mean life is difficult — but they also mean life is vibrant, pulsing with potential, ripe with possibility, constantly presenting lessons from which to grow. YOU — you are not broken. You are a unique expression of God here on Earth. You are bursting with potential that has not yet been expressed. You are God’s beloved. You are NOT broken. You are in process. You are love hoping to not only be expressed but to be recognized. ~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Mark also serves as the President and Co-executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His Podcast The Moonshine Jesus Show is on Mondays at 4:30pm ET. Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | | | | This Week's Featured Author Moonshine Jesus Show With Rev. Mark Sandlin and Rev. Dr. Caleb Lines Weekly on Mondays at 4:30 p.m. EST, streaming live, a weekly podcast on our Facebook and other social media called “Moonshine Jesus Show”! The podcast is hosted by our Co-Executive Directors Mark Sandlin and Caleb Lines and brings Progressive Christian perspectives on pop culture, theology, and politics while having a lot of fun. We hope that this will be an entertaining, yet meaningful way to deepen your Progressive Christian journey! READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited My Second Great Mentor: David Watt Yates (1904-1967) Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 12, 2012His name was David Watt Yates. As an Episcopal priest he fought for the integration of the races in North Carolina in the 1940’s! He was a conscientious objector during World War II even in the face of such compelling moral issues as theories of the “Master Race” and the reality of the Holocaust. He was a rare tee-totaling Episcopalian, who did not even honor the Anglican clerical tradition of “a bit of sherry” at cocktail time. He was unmarried and, as far as I knew, was never significantly attracted to a permanent relationship of any sort. He possessed an authenticity that was breathtaking, a character that was uncompromising and a devotion to the priesthood that was uncommon. His bishop in North Carolina, Edwin Anderson Penick, who was under constant pressure from this man’s critics who were always seeking to have him silenced, declared him to be “the conscience of this diocese” and this bishop never wavered in his support of this priest. When I first met him he was the rector of the Chapel of the Cross, a large Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, located between the Morehead Planetarium, the Arboretum and a female dormitory called Alderman near the center of The University of North Carolina campus. He was a powerful presence and as influential a priest as I have ever known. During his years as rector of this parish, more young men (women were not then admitted to the priesthood) became Episcopal priests from this university than from any other university in America. Some of them went on to become theological professors, deans of theological seminaries, bishops and outstanding parish priests. David Yates was undoubtedly the primary reason for this. He was certainly a role model and a powerful influence on me. This week, let me introduce you to David Watt Yates in this column – my second significant mentor.David was born in Charlotte, N. C., on September 4, 1904. He grew up in St. Peter’s Church in downtown Charlotte, a church I would join before my 12th birthday. Its rector was Edwin Anderson Penick, who while still in his mid-thirties, would be elected bishop of North Carolina. David’s life, Bishop Penick’s life and my life would intertwine again and again. David graduated from Central High School in Charlotte in 1928. I would graduate from that same school in 1949. He did his undergraduate work at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, a flagship college of the Episcopal Church in America, famous in that day for producing more Rhodes Scholars per the size of its student body than any other institution of higher learning in the United States. He received his degree at the height of the depression in 1931. A tall, well coordinated, graceful man, David lettered in baseball, playing for the Sewanee Purple Tigers varsity team and was known to wear his purple sweater with the attached letter “S” in white for many years after his playing days were over.Desiring to become a priest, he went to the Virginia Theological Seminary, receiving his Master’s degree in Theology in 1934. Of personal interest to me is the fact that his sister Claire Yates Owens, remained in Charlotte, became a school teacher and was my teacher in the fifth grade. I recall vividly that she started each day with a Bible story and a prayer. That was quite legal in North Carolina in the 1940’s. She also required her students to memorize the Ten Commandments in the long form! David and Claire were made of similar stuff. David was ordained deacon and priest by his former rector, now Bishop Penick, who would ordain me priest 21 years later. He was then assigned to be an assistant at Calvary Parish and its surrounding missions in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, where he served for two years. Twenty-three years later, I would be rector of that parish, so David’s ghostly presence was quite familiar to me. In 1935, he moved from Tarboro to become the rector of St. Philip’s, the downtown Episcopal Church in Durham, where he remained until the end of World War II in 1945.There was a popular story that I have never been able to verify, but believe to be true since it is so in character. On VJ Day in August of 1945, the people of America took to the streets to celebrate the end of World War II, pouring into the churches across this land to give thanks. David met the assembled host in his Durham church and, true to his pacifist stand, instead of prayers of thanksgiving he offered prayers of penitence for ever having gotten into the war. The crowds entered St. Philip’s in a celebratory mood, but left seething with rage.I do not know that this end-of-the war experience led to his departure, but the record shows that later in 1945, he moved twelve miles away from Durham to Chapel Hill, known by those who live there as “the southern part of heaven.” UNC’s school color is sky blue, which has caused its graduates to assert that God is surely a Tar Heel fan since God has painted the sky Carolina blue. He stayed in that Chapel Hill post until 1959, long enough to assist students to become conscientious objectors in the Korean War, helping them to adjust to a desegregating world and in both instances creating anger. I was a student during those years, entering in 1949 and receiving my degree in philosophy in 1952. David Yates was all over my UNC experience.David offered rooms in the parish house to poor boys at the university who were Episcopalians. I qualified on both counts and lived for all of my years at UNC in that building. Six of us shared two rooms. In exchange for our rooms, we did the Sunday bulletin on an ancient linotype machine, answered the phone after office hours and provided security at night. Of my seven roommates over my years there five became Episcopal priests, one became an art historian and one went into public relations. Both of these non-clergy roommates, however, became active lay persons serving the church in major leadership roles.As students we spent a lot of time making fun of David. His sermons were long and always had three points, which he regularly illustrated with three fingers. The second point usually made him look like he was giving the finger to his congregation!When the University Episcopal students would meet with David at what we called the “Canterbury Club,” we would begin with a hymn sing. Someone always insisted on singing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” to taunt David’s pacifism. We also made fun of his stark, almost puritan churchmanship and would buy him presents like a biretta he would never wear and a thurifer for incense that he would never swing. The university was racially segregated in those “separate but equal” days with black students going to North Carolina College in Durham, which was certainly separate, but it was radically unequal. Even our basketball team had twelve white players and was such low status on campus that people barely followed it. We know today of the UNC star named Michael Jordan, but no one remembers Nemo Nearman, who was our star center in the late forties. David spoke out against this prevailing racism, but it was too deeply entrenched for many to notice. He was dismissed as a dreamer or visionary. David, however, lived what he believed with enormous skill and with visible integrity. We laughed about him in public, but admired him in private and we were shaped by him more than we could admit.David presided over my marriage to a Carolina co-ed named Joan Lydia Ketner (who died in 1988). He followed me through seminary, was a presenter when I was ordained a deacon and priest and, early in my priesthood, invited me to return to Chapel Hill to speak to the Men’s Club at his church. My assigned topic was “The Message of the Prophet Habakkuk”! Even as a seminary graduate I barely knew where to find Habakkuk in the Old Testament and I could not imagine that the men of the Chapel of the Cross would have any more interest in that subject than I had. What fascinated me about this evening, however, was that in this audience of Episcopal men was Professor Louis Kattsoff, the head of the Philosophy Department and my faculty advisor as an undergraduate. Dr. Katsoff was Jewish by ethnicity, but an atheist by persuasion. When he learned of my plans to major in philosophy as preparation for a career in the priesthood, he was quite disdainful, dismissing Christianity as an “outdated medieval superstition that needed to be removed from the modern world!” Needless to say, I did not find him supportive in the pursuit of my goals. Now, however, four to five years after I had graduated from this university, I discovered Dr. Katsoff in the audience I was addressing at the Episcopal Church. I was amazed and asked him how he happened to be present. “I have been baptized, confirmed and am now active in this church,” he said. “Louis,” I responded, “When this is over may I come by your home and hear your story?” “Of course,” he said. Shortly after I had forgotten everything I had said about Habakkuk, I was in his home listening to his story. “It was David Yates who got to me,” he said. I found that almost unbelievable. “Louis,” I said, “I know both of you well and David Yates is not in your intellectual league. You can think rings around him.” To this Louis Katsoff replied, “David did not outthink me, he outlived me.”That was his power. He outlived us all, not in length of days, but in character, in devotion, in honor and in commitment. David left Chapel Hill in 1959 to become rector of the parish church at Sewanee, Tennessee, where he remained until 1966 and then went to St. Timothy’s in Columbia, South Carolina where his ministry was interrupted by the sickness that was to claim his life within a year. If this man had objected on moral grounds to World War II and Korea, we can only imagine his response to Vietnam, Granada, Iraq and Afghanistan. He died in Charlotte in 1967 at the relatively young age of 63, leaving a trail of people deeply in his debt. I am one of them. I am glad I knew him. I am a better person because I did.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Gift of Black Students to Graduate Theological Education. Register now for a special Black History Month virtual event Feb. 17 at 4pm Eastern Time with The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas in conversation with The Rt. Rev. Dr. Nathan Baxter discussing The Gift of Black Students to Graduate Theological Education. Read on... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Global Buzz February
by ICA International 07 Feb '22

07 Feb '22

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... And please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: February 2022 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-22/2022-02-01.php Read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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