Dialogue

Download

dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net

6 participants
3135 discussions

Hope to see you at one of these two events!
by Karen Snyder 21 Nov '21

21 Nov '21

The Global Schedule Team is inviting ICA Colleagues & friends – from around the world TO CELEBRATE 2021 AND ANTICIPATE 2022 Who: People interested in Community, Organization and Personal Transformation Love for the Planet Earth And Any Other Areas of Caring What: A sharing of stories and yarns from 2021 In the world – your work – your personal life And — looking forward to 2022!! Where: On Zoom – Join Zoom Meeting <https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82510448495?pwd=UmpHMFlSVlN3T0FhamhpNFM2QVhrdz09> 10 minutes ahead of time, please. When: Choose the time that suits you best and register. DECEMBER 11 (happening twice) 12:00 PM – Noon Togo Time – REGISTER HERE <http://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-ica-community-year-end-celebration-ticke…> and / or (See separate event listing for 3:00 PM Central Standard Time USA) A FREE FUN EVENT! To see Global Schedule events: https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events <https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events>

1 0

11/18/2021, The Rev. Gretta Vosper: Catching Flight on the Wings of Thought; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 18 Nov '21

18 Nov '21

Catching Flight on the Wings of Thought#yiv9066695891 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv9066695891 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv9066695891 h1, #yiv9066695891 h2, #yiv9066695891 h3, #yiv9066695891 h4, #yiv9066695891 h5, #yiv9066695891 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv9066695891 img, #yiv9066695891 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv9066695891 body, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891bodyTable, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv9066695891 img{}#yiv9066695891 table{}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv9066695891 p, #yiv9066695891 a, #yiv9066695891 li, #yiv9066695891 td, #yiv9066695891 blockquote{}#yiv9066695891 a .filtered99999 , #yiv9066695891 a .filtered99999 {color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;}#yiv9066695891 p, #yiv9066695891 a, #yiv9066695891 li, #yiv9066695891 td, #yiv9066695891 body, #yiv9066695891 table, #yiv9066695891 blockquote{}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ExternalClass, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ExternalClass p, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ExternalClass td, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ExternalClass div, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ExternalClass span, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891ExternalClass font{line-height:100%;}#yiv9066695891 a .filtered99999 {color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891bodyCell{padding:10px;}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891templateContainer{max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv9066695891 a.yiv9066695891mcnButton{display:block;}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImage, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnRetinaImage{vertical-align:bottom;}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent{}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent img{height:auto !important;}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnDividerBlock{table-layout:fixed !important;}#yiv9066695891 body, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891bodyTable{}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891bodyCell{border-top:0;}#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891templateContainer{border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv9066695891 h1{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv9066695891 h2{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv9066695891 h3{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv9066695891 h4{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent a, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateHeader{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateHeader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateHeader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateHeader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent a, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateHeader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateBody{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateBody .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateBody .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateBody .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent a, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateBody .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateFooter{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateFooter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateFooter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;}#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateFooter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent a, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateFooter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891templateContainer{width:600px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 body, #yiv9066695891 table, #yiv9066695891 td, #yiv9066695891 p, #yiv9066695891 a, #yiv9066695891 li, #yiv9066695891 blockquote{}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 body{width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnRetinaImage{max-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImage{width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCartContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageGroupContent{padding:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent{padding-top:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv9066695891mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent{padding-top:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageGroupBlockInner{padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 .yiv9066695891mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templatePreheader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateHeader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateHeader .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateBody .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateBody .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateFooter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent, #yiv9066695891 #yiv9066695891templateFooter .yiv9066695891mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} The Legacy of Bishop John Shelby Spong | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Catching Flight on the Wings of Thought The Legacy of Bishop John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Gretta Vosper November 18, 2021The number of people whose death would be felt around the world is limited. Bishop John Shelby Spong was surely one of them. So many met his gracious and brave spirit through his books, lectures, and travels, and so many more - influenced second- and third-hand - as his thoughts were shared beyond those direct experiences. It is impossible to determine how far or wide his influence has and will continue to be. The Measure of Thought My partner reads a lot of philosophy. Mostly, he keeps it to himself, for which I am, mostly, grateful. But every now and then, he’ll share something he finds intriguing or outrageous, and explains it to me well enough that I am able to share in his intrigue or outrage. This past week, he read something about the line of thought that argues that nothing is really real unless it can be measured in some manner by human instrument. That might not be accurate, but it was my takeaway and got me thinking: How on earth do we measure ideas? How can a concept be huge, wide-ranging, life-changing if it really has no substance? I’m sure some of you might be able to answer that but for the purposes of this tribute to my mentor and friend, Bishop John Shelby Spong, I’m running with the idea that thought is one of the most powerful things we have, even if it remains forever immeasurable. The Measure of Legacy Similarly, how do we measure legacy? Often, the word refers solely to material possessions passed on to heirs or organizations after an individual’s death. It can be easily calculated. But for those of us who truck in the business of ideas and the ethereal, legacy is much more difficult to measure. Indeed, when we are influencers, as Bishop Spong certainly was, ideas can travel far and wide, morph and grow as they are met with enthusiasm or opposition, and traverse borders or generations through a single conversation. Once past lip or pen, ideas have a life of their own. Measuring their legacy becomes impossible. Church Anyone sitting in church is the beneficiary of legacies of thought that reach back through generations to their original sources, most of which are obscured regardless of efforts to expose them. Some return to church week after week to feel the familiarity of the liturgy and the comfort of faces known and friends long-loved. Others drop in from time to time, scheduling their appearances around contemporary society’s refusal of the quaint idea of a day of rest. Many “darken the door” rarely, if at all, either because they have been generationally removed from the idea of church or because they are impatient with its seeming refusal to address their needs or concerns. Bishop Spong was comfortable with each of these groups but he may be significantly responsible for the last one: those who find attending church an exercise in frustration and mind-numbing brought about by its use of archaic language, unsupportable doctrine and meaningless ritual, and it failing entirely to fulfill one of its most urgent roles: to edify and convict its members by placing them within a context of wisdom, beauty, and awe. Are We There Yet? Perhaps one of the most generous elements of Bishop Spong’s work was his encouragement and support of those leaders, including me, who found ourselves leading within contexts that were somewhere along the spectrum made possible by his thought. On the one end, we are burning to share Bishop Spong’s progressive interpretations of the faith but are pressured or even bullied by parishioners or church councils to keep it to ourselves or risk dismissal. Our office bookshelves are laden with lectionary guides to worship, contemporary biblical commentaries and concordances, and maybe even a Greek or Hebrew interlinear bible. But our home libraries and bookmarked websites, away from the eyes of our parishioners, explore the very different, pot-holed road of our personal faith stories. We may have found a pulpit where we can preach openly about contemporary issues, framing them with Christian beliefs as they evolved into the mid-20th century. But we don’t dare toy with any of the other elements of the service; hymns, prayers of confession, petition, and intercession. I have yet to meet a clergy person dismissed for ineffectual prayer; parishioners suffer from disease and die regardless of our efforts, but those of us who pray for such miracles on Sunday mornings and at the bedsides of the sick and dying, are legion. We may be fortunate enough to be called to a congregation with a strong studying community that is eager to continue the journey of progressive Christian thought. On weekday evenings, members boldly toss out most of what they’ve been taught about Christian doctrine and revel in their exploration of the “heretical”. Sunday mornings become less important for them than the faith discussions that take place in their study group, so much so that often they stop attending services regularly, distilling the gathered worshippers into a more conservative set than might have otherwise evolved. Or, like me, we find ourselves in a congregation with passionately progressive members who refuse to give up what they know for the comforts of others – a challenging reality. They choose the difficult road that leads them on in their journey, not losing sight of the elements that are crucial and meaningful, but with a creative spirit with which to recast them. These are the congregations with pews full of those who distilled from the traditional tenets of Christian faith and the ways it has been transmitted only those elements considered core, upon which any great religious or ethical belief system might have been or might yet be built. And because the work they allow, because of the intentionality of that work, they create space where believer and non-believer alike can flourish in their pursuit of wisdom, beauty, love, wonder, and right relationship. Vision Forward In 2004, I met Bishop Spong at the launch of the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity and my life changed. That same year, West Hill United Church, which I serve, completed its first VisionWorks document, an attempt to distill what it was upon which the congregation could build its ministry. I was involved in that first draft. But VisionWorks is revised every five years and I have not been involved in any subsequent versions. This month, the congregation was introduced to the document’s fourth iteration, created by local, distance, and international members of the church. I can think of no other way to honour Bishop Spong’s legacy than to share this document. This is how far he encouraged me to go. This is how far we can all go. Because he spoke out. Because he embarked on the journey. Because his courage was a gift to us all. Because, with the gift of his thought, he invited us to fly.VisionWorks 2021 Copyright West Hill United Church, 2021 VisionWorks is an evolving document that articulates West Hill’s core values. We use it to inspire, affirm, and guide us as individuals in community. Grounded in life Life: connections With a deep sense of awe and wonder, we acknowledge life, in all its diversity and complexity, as an interconnected web of relationships beyond our full comprehension. Life: experience We recognize our place within this web of life: we are each affected by natural forces and human choices, and, in turn, have an impact on the natural world and the human community, helping or harming by our actions and inactions. Life as source >From these realities we draw our sense of identity and belonging, and form our views on humanity, meaning, and morality. While we are aware of our limited perspectives and fallibility, we are also eager to discover, understand, and experience life. Guided by love Love in action: choice In light of our interconnectedness in life, we choose love as our highest value and guide. We take love to mean actions that embody justice, compassion, honesty, openness, integrity, courage, kindness, forgiveness…for self, others, and the planet. Love in action: advocacy Our choice of love leads us to acknowledge the worth of all beings, and therefore their right to be treated with dignity and respect. We seek to increase our awareness of the places of hurt in the world and our sense of responsibility for the consequences of our actions and inactions. We strive to promote justice, resist injustice, and bring about reconciliation. Love in action: decisions As we encounter ethical complexity, cultural diversity, and conflicting worldviews, we acknowledge inevitable uncertainty, seek a comprehensive understanding, and support one another in making choices in line with our values. Love in action: interpersonal relationships We strive to interact with one another in a caring, honest manner, expressing views respectfully, listening attentively, and responding with empathy. We work toward consensus and creative conflict resolution, and in times of broken trust, seek mutual understanding, forgiveness, and healing. We meet to experience and contribute to community: we celebrate and commemorate life events, share joys, express concerns, develop relationships, study and challenge, engage in self-reflection, and commit to action. Growing in wisdom The pursuit of wisdom In light of our interconnectedness in life and our choice of love as our guide, we strive to grow in wisdom for living. We seek knowledge and insight that will deepen our understanding of our values and strengthen our commitment to them so that we may effectively apply them personally, locally, and globally. Sources of wisdom We seek wisdom in all historical eras, diverse cultures and traditions, and varied forms of expression, including word, music, art, dance, symbols, and silence. No source is assumed to be inherently authoritative or to contain absolute or universal truth, nor is any source accorded a privileged status based on claims for its supernatural or transcendent origin. Love alone is our guide for discerning wisdom in any source. We encourage one another to seek, interpret, and create meaning for ourselves, valuing exploration and questioning over the pursuit of certainty. Sharing wisdom We gain insight for living out our core values as we share diverse views, experiences, interpretations, and resources, and consider them together in light of love for self, others, and the planet. Conclusion As we strive to live in these ways as individuals in community, we often soar and often stumble; yet in joy and sorrow, in certainty and doubt, we travel together in a spirit of love. ~ Rev. Gretta Vosper Read online here About the Author The Rev. Gretta Vosper is a United Church of Canada minister who is an atheist. Her best-selling books include With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe, and Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief. She has also published three books of poetry and prayers. Visit her website here. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Donna My cousin is pressuring me to become “Born Again.” She says that it’s the only way to guarantee not being punished in hell for all eternity. That seems like a pretty harsh consequence for not uttering what seems like “magic words.” A: By Rev. David M. Felten Dear Donna,Thanks for resisting the pressure. Many of us have been brow-beaten by some well-intentioned believer about the need to be "born again” – or else! Most of them, however, are doing it out of love and haven’t thought through the threatening implications. Unfortunately, all they’ve been taught is that to be “born again” is THE definition of being a Christian. You’ve already identified the first problem with this approach: insisting that people be “born again” is not only a litmus test (a form of elitist legalism that clashes with Jesus’ sensibilities of grace and inclusivity), it can also be weaponized with threats of eternal condemnation. Regrettably, there’s a word for this kind of malevolent god and the people who follow this god: sadistic. And what makes it all the more frustrating is these all-important “magic words” aren’t even in the Bible. People THINK these words appear in John 3 because early translators finessed the text and put the words “born again” into Jesus’ mouth. But if you consult the New Revised Standard Version, the Scholars Edition, or any translation that actually takes the text seriously, they simply don’t appear. In a conversation Jesus is having with Nicodemus, Jesus says that no one can be a part of the program without being born “from above.” The Greek word John has Jesus use is anothen, or the “up place.” Nicodemus’ promptly makes the typical fundamentalist mistake of taking Jesus’ words literally instead of metaphorically and says, “Huh? What? Born a second time?!? I don’t get it!” Then Jesus has to explain it to him: “I’m talking about a re-orientation of your priorities and perspective.” So, as familiar and important as the King James version is to many Christians, Jesus simply doesn’t say you have to be “born again.” It’s not what the Greek says – and misses Jesus’ more subtle point. Sadly, today there’s a whole theological industrial complex built up around the phrase “born again” and all its attendant dogmatic expectations and implications. For those still publishing the King James Version and other Bibles used in Evangelical-leaning churches, literary accuracy simply doesn't matter. Their client base has too much invested in the phrase, “born again," so they leave it in. Some publishers have enough integrity to include an asterisk with the footnote, “actually, it’s born ‘from above’,” but not all. I’m not so naïve to think that any conversation with your cousin would change her mind, but for your own sake, let me offer you some assurance that Jesus’ alternative of being born “from above” promotes a totally different (and I’d argue, healthier) spirituality. Being born “from above” suggests that the source of wholeness, that which guides your direction and purpose, is something beyond legalistic rules or “magic words.” It's relational, dynamic, and, if we’re lucky, part of a life-long journey. It’s not a static, one-off event like being “born again.” Later in the same passage, Jesus says to Nicodemus: "The spirit blows every which way, like wind: you hear the sound it makes but you can't tell where it is coming from or where it's headed. That's how it is with everyone reborn of the spirit.” What Jesus had in mind was not an incantation of “magic words” one has to speak in order to be inoculated from some fantasy eternal damnation. It’s a process. It’s a journey. And I wish you well on yours. Hope this helps! ~ Rev. David M. Felten PS: For more on this same topic, you could refer your cousin to a recent message I preached on the dangers of being “being born again”. Read and share online here About the Author Rev. David M. Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions” and authors of Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity. A co-founder of Catalyst Arizona and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. David is the proud father of three reliably remarkable human beings. | | | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Lecture Tour of Germany Part I: Background and Content Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 14, 2011Earlier this summer as part of a European lecture tour, Christine and I went to Germany for three public lectures in three cities and two press interviews. The invitation to include Germany on this trip came from a retired Lutheran pastor named Gerhard Klein, who has translated four of my books into German, which have now been published there by Patmos Press in cooperation with my publisher HarperCollins. Through these books and these lectures, I am able to enter the theological conversation now taking place in Germany, primarily in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, but also touching the issues roiling within German Roman Catholicism, which are fueled in part by the response to the German Pope, Benedict XVI. The story of how Gerhard Klein became aware of me and of my work reveals the power of chance happenings. For a number of years Gerhard Klein served as the founding pastor of an Evangelical Lutheran congregation in Melbourne, Australia. There he perfected his English and pursued his own ever-questing theological journey. This man had grown up in Germany under the Hitler regime. He was eight years old when World War II began with the German invasion of Poland in September of 1939. Gerhard was torn, as many Germans were, by the inner conflict between his love for his homeland and his vigorous opposition to Nazism and, in particular, his revulsion over the treatment of the Jews. He felt deeply compromised by either the unwillingness or the inability of the two primary Christian bodies in Germany to stand up to Hitler’s abuse of power. His own Lutheran Church was essentially co-opted by the Nazis, while the Roman Catholic Church, under the primacy of Pope Pius XII was, depending on which version of history one reads, either an active supporter of Hitler or one who turned a blind eye to the horrors of the Nazi regime. The fact that the Roman Catholic Church is today still pressing forward with the process that leads ultimately to the beatification of Pius XII is deeply disturbing to many Germans who know of the role this man played in the rise of Nazi atrocities. For Gerhard it was the presence of a single ordained Lutheran leader, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who made the crucial difference. Bonhoeffer, as a pastor, became publicly involved in the resistance movement and thus was for Gerhard the sole witness that Christianity still had integrity. Bonhoeffer had written a book entitled “The Cost of Discipleship” and he had paid that cost. Following Jesus for Bonhoeffer ultimately meant a willingness to participate in a plot to assassinate Hitler. When the plot failed, he was captured, arrested, convicted and ultimately hanged by the Nazis in 1945 at a prison camp in Flossenburg just two weeks before that camp was overtaken by the Allied army. Before his execution Bonhoeffer engaged in an extensive correspondence with a friend named Eberhard Bethge, who preserved his letters and published them after the war under the title Letters and Papers from Prison. In these letters Bonhoeffer spelled out his vision of a post-war Christian future. It was thus through those letters that Gerhard Klein felt his own call, not only to ordained ministry in general, but to the stance of giving birth to the radically-reformed Christianity that Bonhoeffer had envisioned. In one of Bonhoeffer’s letters from prison, he had speculated on what Christianity might look like once it had separated itself from the confines of organized religion, which in his opinion had been mortally wounded by the rise of scientific knowledge and morally compromised by its failure to stand up for the Jews. It was Bonhoeffer who coined the phrase “Religionless Christianity” and began to talk about the God beyond religion. Those were the things that had inspired Gerhard, just as they had inspired me. Near the end of Gerhard’s service with his church in Australia he happened to be watching the news on television when I was being interviewed. It was in 2003 and I was on a book tour of Australia with my book Why Christianity Must Change or Die. I have always received maximum media attention in Australia because the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Sydney is dominated by the most out of date fundamentalist mentality one can imagine. Not only do they refuse to ordain women, they will not ordain an unmarried man for fear that he might be gay! These prejudices are regularly supported by appeals to the literally understood Bible. Whenever I travel to Australia the Sydney Anglicans denounce my arrival as if the Anti-Christ were about to land. The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jenson, states publicly that I am not welcome in any of the Anglican churches in his diocese as if I actually wanted to go to one of them. Their diocesan newspaper, “The Southern Cross,” runs articles designed to arm its readers to be able to resist the appeal of this American infidel. In the past they have even appointed a “Truth Squad” to follow me around New South Wales in order to straighten out the people who might be “confused” by my words! With that kind of free publicity, Harper-Collins, Australia, has no trouble getting extensive media coverage for my visits. So it was that an Archdiocese of Sydney-inspired television interview was the catalyst for bringing me and my work to the attention of Gerhard Klein. On this television interview, Gerhard heard me articulating thoughts he himself held, but had not yet publicly expressed. He felt an intense need to learn more about this American bishop, who was at that time unknown to him. He began to read my books and that in turn led him to the determination to translate these books into his native German. Returning to his homeland, Gerhard has over the last decade or so done that on four separate volumes. Five years ago, while we were lecturing in the United Kingdom and France, we accepted Gerhard’s invitation to spend a few days with him in private conversation at his home in Grebenstein. It was a wonderful meeting and the beginning of a very deep friendship. He became almost like a brother to me and was certainly a theological partner in our common effort to call the Christianity, to which we were both committed, into a new reformation. As a direct result of that visit, this year’s lecture tour of Germany was organized. Germany’s role in the development of Christianity in the Western World has always intrigued me. This is the country, above all others, that has given us critical biblical scholarship and relevant theological thinking. It was a German biblical scholar named David Friedrich Strauss whose book, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined, published in 1835, that first introduced critical biblical scholarship to the Western World. Strauss, a professor at the University of Tubingen, was 27 years old when he wrote this monumental book. For his efforts he was fired from the faculty at Tubingen and banished from the academy across Europe. Later, in that same century, it was two German scripture scholars, Julian Wellhausen and Karl Heinrich Graf, who cracked the code to the source theory of the Torah that is still today the basis for the study of the Old Testament. Germany was clearly the leader in developing modern biblical scholarship. That was also true in the field of Theology. It was a German named Karl Barth, who first called Christianity out of its 19th century liberalism, which had been best articulated by another German, Friedrich Schleiermacher. Barth became the father of what came to be called Neo-Orthodoxy that dominated Protestantism during the first half of the 20th century. That emphasis was then succeeded by a series of German scholars, who wrestled with re-stating the Christian faith in the light of the knowledge of today’s world. One thinks of such names as Emil Bruner, Rudolf Bultman, Paul Tillich and the aforementioned Dietrich Bonhoeffer. My own theological debt to German scholarship is immense. Paul Tillich who escaped Nazi Germany to enjoy a spectacular career at both Union Theological Seminary in New York City and Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shaped my thinking more substantially than any other theologian. Rudolf Bultman, probably the 20th century’s leading New Testament scholar, shaped my biblical understanding more than any other. Dietrich Bonhoeffer taught me, as few others could have done, that standing for truth has consequences and if you are not willing to pay that price or run that risk, nothing you do will ever be worthwhile. Finally there were the Niebuhr brothers, Reinhold and Richard, who, while being American, were the children of German immigrants, who shaped my understanding of the social demands for justice that must be part of the Christian faith. My own mentor and friend, John A. T. Robinson, who sounded the clarion call for post-religious Christianity in a ground breaking book entitled Honest to God was primarily popularizing the thought of Tillich, Bultman and Bonhoeffer, and in that process, he initiated a new debate in the Christian world. So, I felt an enormous indebtedness to German scholarship and was filled with gratitude for this opportunity. The tour began in Grebenstein where Gerhard lives. The first lecture was attended primarily by friends specifically invited by Gerhard. They were generally professional people not clergy or theologians. They gave me a sense of the current state of German Church life. God for most educated Germans, not unlike their counterparts in other Western nations, is still an external being, equipped with supernatural power and able to invade this world to answer prayers or impose the divine will. That deity has become not only irrelevant in modern life but also unbelievable for modern minds. So to analyze why “Christianity must Change or Die” or to spell out what a “New Christianity for a New World” might look like became my agenda on this tour. I laid the groundwork for that task with this gathering of Gerhard’s friends and professional colleagues. It was a good place to begin. In Parts II and III of this series, I will describe the tour in detail and the reaction to it. So stay tuned.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Navigating the Holidays from Our Highest Self The holidays can be challenging. Getting caught up in the busyness, becoming immersed in difficult emotions, spending time with family members whose opinions repel us — it is easy to lose our grounding in our highest and truest Self. Online November 20th: READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

1 0

11/11/2021, Progressing Spirituality: Rev. David Felten: “White Too Long” – A Conversation with Robert P Jones, Part 2; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 11 Nov '21

11 Nov '21

“White Too Long” – A Conversation with Robert P Jones, Part 2#yiv3513149672 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv3513149672 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv3513149672 h1, #yiv3513149672 h2, #yiv3513149672 h3, #yiv3513149672 h4, #yiv3513149672 h5, #yiv3513149672 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv3513149672 img, #yiv3513149672 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv3513149672 body, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672bodyTable, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv3513149672 img{}#yiv3513149672 table{}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv3513149672 p, #yiv3513149672 a, #yiv3513149672 li, #yiv3513149672 td, #yiv3513149672 blockquote{}#yiv3513149672 a .filtered99999 , #yiv3513149672 a .filtered99999 {color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;}#yiv3513149672 p, #yiv3513149672 a, #yiv3513149672 li, #yiv3513149672 td, #yiv3513149672 body, #yiv3513149672 table, #yiv3513149672 blockquote{}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ExternalClass, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ExternalClass p, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ExternalClass td, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ExternalClass div, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ExternalClass span, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672ExternalClass font{line-height:100%;}#yiv3513149672 a .filtered99999 {color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672bodyCell{padding:10px;}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672templateContainer{max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv3513149672 a.yiv3513149672mcnButton{display:block;}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImage, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnRetinaImage{vertical-align:bottom;}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent{}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent img{height:auto !important;}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnDividerBlock{table-layout:fixed !important;}#yiv3513149672 body, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672bodyTable{}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672bodyCell{border-top:0;}#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672templateContainer{border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv3513149672 h1{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3513149672 h2{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3513149672 h3{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3513149672 h4{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent a, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateHeader{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateHeader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateHeader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateHeader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent a, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateHeader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateBody{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateBody .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateBody .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateBody .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent a, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateBody .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateFooter{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateFooter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateFooter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;}#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateFooter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent a, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateFooter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672templateContainer{width:600px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 body, #yiv3513149672 table, #yiv3513149672 td, #yiv3513149672 p, #yiv3513149672 a, #yiv3513149672 li, #yiv3513149672 blockquote{}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 body{width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnRetinaImage{max-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImage{width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCartContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageGroupContent{padding:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent{padding-top:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv3513149672mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent{padding-top:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageGroupBlockInner{padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 .yiv3513149672mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templatePreheader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateHeader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateHeader .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateBody .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateBody .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateFooter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent, #yiv3513149672 #yiv3513149672templateFooter .yiv3513149672mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | "White Too Long" - A Conversation with Robert P. Jones, Part 2 | | | | | | | | | | Interview by Rev. David Felten November 11, 2021The following is Part 2 of a series drawn from an interview with Robert P. Jones, author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity on September 9th, 2021. It has been edited for length and focus. Read Part 1 here. ___________________________ David Felten: You've already talked about having been brought up in the gauzy kind of unreality of the Southern Baptist Church. What burst your bubble? Robert Jones: It's been a long journey. Things began to seep through cracks in the façade and eventually, the whole thing shattered. When a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary said that the beginning of our denomination was all about the theological defense of slavery, that moment shook me. And then I had a professor who had us read black theologians like James Cone and Howard Thurman. Their Christianity indicted the kind of white Christianity I'd grown up with, giving me a very different way of thinking. It was not just about personal piety, but justice, which had been pretty absent in the Christianity I'd grown up with. David Felten: But your religious upbringing was not just about the absence of justice. It was about the preservation of long-standing racial prejudices. Your statistics show a direct correlation of being a white Christian in America and white supremacist leanings. That’s scary. Robert Jones: Yeah, the data is disturbing. I culled public opinion data from the Public Religion Research Institute (which is the organization I founded and currently run) and used fifteen public opinion questions that were essentially about denials of systemic racism in the country. One example would be, “Do you believe that the killing of African Americans by police are isolated incidents or are they part of a pattern of how police treat African Americans?” Other questions referred to the removal of Confederate monuments and flags — all kinds of other things. Then I built the responses into an index where zero is holding the least racist attitudes and 10 is holding the most racist attitudes. What I found was that white Christians of all stripes score fairly high on this index. David Felten: And you were surprised? Robert Jones: Given our history, it may not be that surprising that white evangelicals and the more Southern conservative group of white Protestants scored eight out of 10 on this composite index. But what was surprising was the other two groups of white Christians, white mainline Protestants (like United Methodists) and white Catholics (who have their own history of being persecuted in this country) scored seven out of 10 on this index. David Felten: Did you take into account the responses of non-Christians? Robert Jones: I think that’s the lynchpin to understanding the role of Christianity here. Whites who are not Christian — who claim no religious affiliation — only score four out of 10. In other words, if you take your average white person in America and add “Christian,” it moves them up the racism index, not down. David Felten: When I heard you speak recently, an audience member said that it sounded like what you were saying was the most effective way to eliminate racism in America is to encourage white Christians to stop going to church. Robert Jones: Even when I controlled for all kinds of other variables and tried to isolate just the role of attending church, the frequency of church attendance for white mainline and white Catholics made no difference. But for white evangelicals, it was actually the opposite. The relationship between white evangelical identity and holding more racist attitudes was stronger among those who attended more frequently than it was among those who attended less. David Felten: So what practical suggestions can you offer to curb this phenomenon for those of us who are still in predominantly white Christian churches? Robert Jones: Well, out of my own personal experience, one suggestion is to know your own history and story better. We are living with a mythology of who we are and where we've been and what role we've played. If you pick up the glossy histories that churches publish about themselves (where the founders are all great people and did no wrong and were saints and all of that), those are not accurate histories. They’re at best partially true. Then every white church in America needs to ask itself, why is our building where it is? Why are we located where we are? Were we in a part of the city that was zoned all white at one point? Were we part of a racially-restricted neighborhood covenant? If we're out in the suburbs, where did we move from? If we were founded out in the suburbs, why did we plant ourselves in the suburbs rather than in the middle of the city? Were we following white flight out to the suburbs? David Felten: In other words, if we’re honest, many of these decisions are driven by elements of systemic racism and a grounding in white supremacy. Robert Jones: Yes, and because it’s not just what is taught, but what is seen, I think another thing to do would be a visual inventory. Is there a white Jesus in your stained glass or in the church narthex? David Felten: Ahhh, the infamous Warner Sallman.[i] Robert Jones: Yeah, is that there? And if it is, what is that teaching the next generation? What do the children's Sunday school materials look like? The illustrations in those? Is it a white Jesus with children on his knee? And that children's Bible that so many of us have seen? What can we do about that? David Felten: And one of my favorite parts of your book is the story of the healing and emotional experiences people had when the white and black congregations partnered together. Robert Jones: Yes, real partnerships with churches of color are a must. David Felten: One last question. Your previous book, The End of White Christian America, details the declining membership and influence of evangelical mainline churches across the U.S. So, six years later, what would you want to update? Robert Jones: I think the trends I outlined have continued. Six years ago, white Christians in the country crossed into non-majority territory, declining from 54% to 47% of the population. Since then it's continued to slide, from 47% to 44% — not quite a percentage point a year. I’ll tell you one thing I’m less optimistic about. I ended that book saying that, as these trends continue, white Christians would have no choice but to accept the changing demographics in the country and become more welcoming and hospitable fellow citizens with the rest of the country. But that book was published in 2016, prior to the entire Trump era, and I think we've actually seen more of a digging in. David Felten: A hardening. Robert Jones: Yeah. Instead of smaller numbers motivating people to reintegrate into a more diverse country, among white evangelical Protestants particularly there’s been a hardening and a kind of doubling down—even to the point of openly advocating violence--that I didn't quite anticipate. David Felten: The image of a wounded, cornered animal comes to mind. Robert Jones: That's not far off the mark. David Felten: So you would not shy away from saying that at least part of the reason for the division in the country and the growing hatred, animosity, and suspicion of one another is at least in some part, if not in large part, due to the fear of a predominantly white supremacist Christian culture becoming a minority. Robert Jones: I've written that thesis on a number of occasions almost word for word. I think that's exactly right. It's one of the dangerous things we're living through right now. And we needn't look any further than January 6th where we saw this toxic stew of Christian symbols, Trump flags, Confederate flags, white supremacy, and antisemitism. Christian symbols were very prominent. The Confederate flag got a lot of press as it got marched through the chamber, but right in tandem was the Christian flag that many of us have hanging in our sanctuaries — that white flag with a blue canton and a red Latin cross in the corner. That flag was carried alongside the Confederate flag and all these other symbols of white supremacy by the violent insurrectionists on January 6th. David Felten: And the response from churches was the sound of crickets. Robert Jones: Yeah. The fact that there wasn't a massive outcry from white Christians across the country about that — a renouncement — particularly from white evangelical circles, tells you what a dangerous time we're in. And again, remember that white mainline Protestants voted nearly 6 out of 10 for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. All the press covers is that white evangelicals voted 8 out of 10 for Trump. But white mainline Protestants voted 6 out of 10 for Trump AND scored 7 out of 10 on the racism index we used in White Too Long. So, there is plenty of work to do in the mainline churches. ____________________________ Read online here. About the AuthorsRev. David M. Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions” and authors of Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity. A co-founder of Catalyst Arizona and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. David is the proud father of three reliably remarkable human beings.Robert P. Jones is the CEO and founder of Public Religion Research Institute[ii] (PRRI), and the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, winner of a 2021 American Book Award. He writes a weekly #WhiteTooLong newsletter dedicated to the work of truth-telling, repair, and healing from the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity: robertpjones.substack.com*** Get your FREE copy of White Too Long!*** Three signed copies of Robert P Jones’ White Too Long will be given away to three lucky readers of ProgressingSpirit.com. Just add a comment with the hashtag #whitetoolong to the comments below or on the Progressive Christianity Facebook page and you’ll be entered in the drawing to win![i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_of_Christ | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Michael What are your thoughts on the existence, activity and power of the individual soul/spirit after death? Do these individual souls still exist and do they have any power or inclination to relate to us? If God is indeed Being, Life and Love, do not all human souls melt back into this Absolute after death? In a larger sense, if the individual spirits of the saints remain intact, does not the soul of every human endure eternally as a unique spirit? A: By Rev. Lauren Van Ham Dear Michael,This is a wonderful series of questions in this season of All Hallow’s Eve, Dia de los Muertos, All Soul’s, and All Saint’s Day. It is of concern, perhaps, for our egos to know whether or not we remain “ourselves” after death. Cultural expressions from around the world, and Earth-centered origin stories provide some imagery that I find inviting and helpful. In his great work, The Labyrinth of Solitude (1961), Octavio Paz spends an entire chapter explaining what Dia de los Muertos means to his people, and also why the holy-day is so important: “The opposition between life and death was not so absolute to the ancient Mexicans as it is to us. Life extended into death, and vice versa. Life, death and resurrection were stages of a cosmic process which repeated itself continuously. Life had no higher function than to flow into death, its opposite and complement; and death, in turn, was not an end in itself: man fed the insatiable hunger of life with his death… To the ancient Aztecs the essential thing was to assure the continuity of creation; sacrifice did not bring about salvation in another world, but cosmic health; the universe, and not the individual, was given life by the blood and death of human beings.” In this description, each of us might feel less focused on whether or not we endure as an individual soul and find comfort, instead, in the service our death gives to the collective cosmic process, or "Absolute Love", as you’ve beautifully described it. But you have also asked about a soul’s “inclination to relate to us.” We know about ancestral encounters. They’re real. The lives you and I are living right now are the foundations for the kind of ancestors we will be one day. Will we be called upon? I call upon ancestors (biological and chosen) when I am needing the sort of wisdom they wielded during their embodied experience on Earth. In this way, God as "Being, Life and Love" appears to me in a way I readily recognize and put to use: as the whimsy that was Jim Henson, as the courage that was Harriet Tubman, as the solidarity that was Cesar Chavez, as the loving, resourcefulness that was my paternal grandmother and so on. Perhaps then, we return to the One Love, and "high-beam" our specific gifts of motivation or comfort when called upon. As a massive family of ancestors – the souls we remember and the souls we one day will be – we are unique and we are inseparable, serving the continuity of creation. May it be so.~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read and share 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. | | | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Examining the Meaning of Resurrection, Part VI: Seeing Through a Glass Darkly Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 7, 2011Something happened at the first Easter. Some insist that it was an event that occurred on a single day. Others suggest that an experience was identified with that day making it a symbol of a breakthrough to a new consciousness. Theologians and biblical scholars alike still debate whether it was an internal or external happening, the result of sight or insight, but something clearly happened. We can measure the results even if we cannot identify the cause. Enormous shifts in attitudes are discernible, even measurable. We learn from Mark, the earliest gospel, that when Jesus was arrested, “all the disciples forsook him and fled” (Mark 14:50). In view of the fact that the disciples were heroes by the time this gospel was written, the inclusion of this negative report on their behavior in a time of crisis rings as an authentic memory that simply could not be expunged from the public record. The disciples clearly deserted Jesus. The gospels even developed a biblical rationale for this desertion, something that does not happen unless the charge was real. At some point, however, something brought them back and, more than that, they were brought back with convictions that were so unshakable that the Christian movement was born. If the tradition is correct, its leaders were willing to die for the reality of their new vision. What can account for so dramatic a change? The disciples were Jews, taught from the crib to recite the Shema: There is one God, nothing other than God can be called holy or worshiped without idolatry becoming their reality. Something in their experience with Jesus of Nazareth, however, convinced them that this Jesus was somehow related in a powerful way to what they called God. What does it take to create so vast a shift in the deepest religious convictions of these Jewish people? Whatever the Easter moment was, it came within one generation to be identified with the first day of the week. Jewish people for whom the observance of the Sabbath was a defining characteristic, found themselves gathering on a new day for worship identified with this Jesus. The Sabbath was not abandoned so much as a new holy day was added alongside it. What does it take to create a new holy day or to relativize in that creation the most unique, defining practice of one’s ancestral faith tradition? Something must account for that, but what was it? None of this demonstrates that a literal resurrection occurred, but it does suggest that an experience, which could not be denied, called Jesus’ followers into a new place, a new understanding of God, a new consciousness and a new sense of the presence of the divine. When they tried of necessity to place that experience into human words, they called it “resurrection.” The Greek word, which they chose to stand for “resurrection,” however, was an inadequate word, for it literally means only “to stand up” (anastasis). That was as close as human language could take them to what they were trying to describe. They looked for other words. They called it overcoming death. They symbolized what they were trying to describe by suggesting that the veil in the Temple, which separated the faithful from the Holy One, had been split from the top down. One gospel writer, Matthew, likened it to the experience of an earthquake. Paul saw it as the breaking of those barriers that inhibit our full humanity from developing. Mark said that the impact of the life was so great that even a Gentile soldier at the foot of the cross pronounced him “Son of God.” Matthew tells us that all he heard the risen Christ say was: “Go into all the world.” Go, beyond your fears, your insecurities and your xenophobia. Go to those you have defined as different, as subhuman, and tell them that the love of God embraces all people regardless of how diverse. Out of Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond and free, there has been created a new humanity. Luke hears this death-conquering Christ tell them they must be witnesses to his life-changing power in their homes, i.e. Jerusalem; in their immediate countryside, i.e. Judea; in the land of their deepest prejudices, i.e. Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth where a universal humanity will be known. People filled with the spirit, says Luke, will discover that there is no barrier of language or ethnicity that will divide them. John tells us that the death of this Jesus was his moment of glorification and that in the powerlessness of death in which the human drive for survival is at last escaped, God will be revealed and eternal life will be entered. The biblical writers tried in a wide variety of ways to find adequate words to make sense of their life-changing experience. As the years went by words that the original users knew were inadequate came to be regarded as literal and objective descriptions of reality and in time these descriptions became more and more miraculous and less and less transformative or real. When Paul wrote between the years 51-64, it is of interest to note that he left not a single narrative detail of what resurrection meant or how it dawned. He gave us only a list of “witnesses” who were, he said, the ones who “saw,” however, he never tells us what it was that they “saw.” The earliest Gospel, Mark, written in the early seventies, relates no story of Jesus appearing to anyone. There was for them just a promise that it would be in their homes in Galilee, among the familiar things of their lives that they would “see’ him. When Matthew wrote in the mid eighties he became the first to describe Jesus appearing to the disciples after Easter, but he did so in terms of a Jesus who was transformed and newly clothed in the image of the heavenly Son of Man, borrowed from the book of Daniel, one of the most highly developed images of the Jewish messiah found in the Hebrew scriptures. Next Luke, who wrote in the late ninth decade or maybe in the early tenth decade and John, who wrote near the end of the tenth decade, both made the risen Jesus quite physical, making it hard not to think of what happened to him as a bodily resuscitation. Here was, they said, a physically deceased body reversing the death process, restoring destroyed cells to life and destroyed brains to thinking. These last two gospels make the resurrected Jesus eat to make obvious a functioning gastrointestinal system, to speak to make obvious a functioning larynx and vocal chords, to walk, to make obvious a functioning skeletal system, and to interpret scripture, to make obvious a functioning brain. Yet as crude as theses literalizations are, both writers also attached to these descriptions of the raised Jesus the power to materialize out of thin air and to dematerialize into thin air, to walk into a room where the doors are barred, to breathe on the disciples in an act that imparted the Holy Spirit and even to ascend into the sky of a three-tiered universe in order to return to where God was thought to be. Such language is literal nonsense, but it pointed to a real experience that words could never embrace. In this series of columns exploring the resurrection, I have tried to isolate the evidence that points to the reality of the experience. The meaning of Easter dawned in Peter, who then opened the eyes of others so that they too might see what he had seen. It happened in Galilee in places that were part of the memory of Jesus. The dawning of this reality did not occur all at once, but rather it grew slowly over a period of time, perhaps as long as a year. It was more like the birth of a new consciousness than it was a sighting or a vision. It is noteworthy that in the gospel narratives no one sees the risen Christ except believers. Surely there was an internal, subjective quality to Easter that must have been more real than any possible external, objective quality. Does this mean that Easter was not real, but merely a figment of someone’s imagination? I do not think so for reality is so much more to me than objective data. The impact of Jesus’ life on his followers was so intense it simply did not fade after his death. They kept awaking to new dimensions of what he meant. No act of human cruelty could destroy his life, no barriers could withstand his love. Jesus embraced the outcasts, whether lepers, Samaritans, Gentiles or the woman caught in adultery. His life could not be contained within the boundaries of religion. He allowed the touch of the woman with the chronic menstrual flow; he proclaimed that all religious rules had no value unless they enhanced human life. His followers found in him a life that reflected the Source of Life, a love that reflected the Source of Love and the being that reflected the Ground of Being and so they said “all that we mean by the word “God” we have experienced in him. His call was to enter a new consciousness, to become free of the boundaries inside which we feel we must live if we want to be secure; to recognize that beyond self-consciousness, there is a universal consciousness that we can enter and experience what Paul called “The glorious liberty of the children of God.” There we escape the uniquely human struggle to become and simply begin to be. That was resurrection. That was Easter and it was Jesus who opened this new dimension of life to them. In the power of his example, undiminished by his death, they entered that vision and experienced resurrection. In that moment, they began to see that God lived in them and that they lived in God and nothing was ever the same thereafter. None of this happened on the third day. That time measure is not to be literalized. The dawning of a new insight never occurs quickly. Jesus was the door, the way into life, they said, and they followed him into an unending new consciousness. Of course it was real. Of course it cannot be reduced to words. Of course in time the inadequate words they employed were literalized in an attempt to preserve them forever. Literalizing truth, however, always destroys truth, compromises truth and even falsifies truth. “Behold I show you a mystery,” Paul exclaimed. I wonder why we cannot allow the mystery to remain a mystery. “We see through a glass darkly,” Paul also said, but we do see and what we see is that when we have the courage to walk beyond the limits of life, we walk simultaneously into the mystery of God. That is where Easter begins.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | | | Announcements The Charter for Compassion’s Global Gala November 20th 8 am PST and 5 pm PST The Gala will be presented at two different times—purchase of a ticket will allow you to join either of the events. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

1 0

Re: [Dialogue] A question about the distant past This has turned
by Vera M Barber 10 Nov '21

10 Nov '21

1 0

Global Buzz for November
by ICA International 05 Nov '21

05 Nov '21

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: November 2021 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-21/2021-11-01.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

1 0

11/04/2021' Progressings Spirit: Rev Lauren Van Ham: Walking In The Good Way; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 04 Nov '21

04 Nov '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Walking in the Good Way | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Lauren Van Ham November 4, 2021 Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, “We will not walk in it.” Jeremiah 6:16 If this passage from Jeremiah stopped after the word, “souls,” it would be instructive enough. But it keeps going, and I’m going to come back to that. First, though, let’s reflect on our current moment and the crossroads where we find ourselves. Our planet is on fire and our species is simultaneously causing and navigating incredible chaos. Some historians suggest that things are better today than they were a few hundred years ago. And, depending on the example, they’re right. Others will say that things are worse today than they were a few hundred years ago. And, depending on the example, they’re also right. Which ancient paths are the good way? Which ancient paths will offer rest for our souls? The most ancient path I know is the ecological one. Creation is an intricate living system that honors life, death and rebirth within Earth’s natural cycles; where reciprocity is honorable, and all life is sacred. We humans, who happen to be mammals (but also a bit of a virus), have trouble remembering the path of Creation. We’re so wildly creative that sometimes we expand for the sake of expansion, which hurdles some of us into having a lot and others into having very little. And here, a different path emerges: the way of Empire, or supremacy. In this book, “Come Out, My People!: God’s Call out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond”, Wes Howard-Brook suggests some ways to perceive the differences between the path of Empire and the path of Creation. Here are a few examples (and more can be found in the book on p. 6): | Feature | Religion of Creation | Religion of Empire | | God’s “home” | Beyond & within creation and among people | In a temple near the palace in the royal city | | Places of sacred encounter | Earth; mountains, rivers, wilderness; direct encounter; meals together; human intimacy | Urban temple, mediated by priestly elite; urban royal rituals | | Purpose of human life | Praise God with joy in gratitude for the abundant gift of Life | Serve the gods through loyalty to “empire” | | Basic economic structure | Gift, barter, collaboration amid abundance | Money, debt, competition amid scarcity | | Religions “obligations” | Love & praise of God and neighbor in “right relationship” (justice) | Rituals expressing loyalty to “patrons,” both “divine” and human | | Relationship with Earth/Land | Belongs to God; people are “tenants” | Belongs to kin and those who can afford to buy it | | Relationship with “enemies” | Love them | Destroy them | Where do you recognize yourself in these columns? For all of us on Earth today, we feel and see how we are born to both paths. And this is why the last sentence of verse 16 is so sobering! Many, many times, Empire has won out. Our fixation on Empire is killing us, everything we love, and everything that keeps us alive. There is an assumption that the path of Creation will mean “lack,” but how can this be? When we are living in right relationship with all people and all species, then will we not be held in Earth’s balance and divine abundance? Later in Jeremiah (29:11-13) we read, For surely I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call on me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord. In the first verse, I’m struck by the word, “ask.” Ask for the ancient paths. I am quite sure that the path of Creation invites conversation. On the path of Creation, we get to ask for directions, we get to slow down when we’re tired or disoriented, we get to commune with one another and all life, so as to hear the messages and read the signs. In the second verse, I pause on the words, “search,” and “seek.” The path of Creation invites engagement and exploration. There is no hurry but there is no GPS either. We search the map of heart and Spirit, we receive clarity and guidance that comes from observation, contemplation, becoming intimate with the life and death around us. On the path of Creation, we look, we ask. Like rocks shaped by water, we make ourselves vulnerable to God’s plans for us. This is it. For the first eleven days of November, leaders from around the world will meet in Glasgow, Scotland for the COP26 climate talks. Will they, at the crossroads, ask for the ancient path? Let’s love them and pray that they will! And let’s remember that Empire, terrified by this thought, will say, “We will not walk in it.” Faith-based organizations and houses of worship control 8% of the habitable land surface of Earth, 5% of all commercial forests, 50% of schools worldwide, and 10% of the world’s total financial institutions[i]. The potential aggregate impact of our spiritual communities on present and future development is powerful. The good way – the path of Creation – is here and has always been here. It is complete and balanced and generous and joyful. Do not be fooled by the falsity of Empire. Together, as individuals and in our communities, we must untangle ourselves from its insatiable, soul-sucking greed. Choose creation. Choose life. ~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read online here [i] https://www.faithinvest.org/zugguidelines 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. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader With the influx of so much contradictory information coming at us today, why are churches and religious leaders not doing more to help their members navigate the rapidly changing world we live in? A: By Rev. Roger Wolsey Dear Reader, A most timely and relevant question. Agreed, I haven’t noticed many churches addressing this matter either. I have heard a few pastors speak to this carefully in certain sermons in regard to the big lie that “Trump won the last election,” and regarding conflicting things on the internet said about the Covid-19 virus, wearing masks, and the vaccines. I optimistically hope some churches may have written about how to identify fake news in their church newsletters or as social media posts – though I haven’t verified this. I think the reason for the lack of attention to this is likely largely due to pastors and church staff not feeling trained or equipped to address these matters – and/or, they fear that some of their parishioners will interpret such efforts as being “political”, “partisan,” or coming across as being opposed to their political leanings and loyalties. (Feel free to largely read that as, “they don’t want to upset the Trumpers.”) I can offer the following advice: * Make a point to listen/read/watch news sources that are rated as being more objective and factual (PBS, NPR, ProPublica, AP, Reuters, WSJ, CBS, ABC, Forbes, The Hill, The Economist, BBC, Newsweek, New York Times, The Guardian, etc.) – and to avoid sources that are rated as being less so. See adfontesmeia. * If you come across a story about, or “quote” from, religious or political leaders who you are opposed to that seems to really get your heart rate up, and causes you to feel outrage, before you share it on social media, take some time to verify whether it’s true or not, or taken out of context. The last thing we need to be doing is to mindlessly feed the “outrage machine” – simply because of “confirmation bias.” * Similarly, if you come across a quote that you really love and it’s attributed to Plato, the Buddha, etc. before you pass it on, take some time to search online if it’s a vetted and verified quote. If you really like the words, it’s better to find the original source and provide proper attribution - or, if you can’t find the original source, simply type out the text and put – source unknown. * If you come across seemingly “remarkable” studies about Covid-19, masks, vaccines, Ivermectin, etc. online (esp. on YouTube), before you share that information, search (“Google”) to see if those claims have been verified or debunked. These links can also help: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check ; https://apnews.com/hub/ap-fact-check ; https://www.usatoday.com/news/factcheck/ ; https://www.snopes.com/ ; https://www.politifact.com/ ; & https://quoteinvestigator.com/ * Finally, here is an article, and two podcasts that address these matters: 1. “Science, Nonscience, and Nonsense” 2. Developing Media Literacy 3. Disinformation Society Update: just as I was finishing this response, I came across this blog from a mainline Protestant denomination that speaks to this: “Sifting Through Misinformation” ~ Rev. Roger Wolsey Read and share 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. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Great Digital Commission Embracing Social Media for Church Growth and Transformation By Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines Attendance in US churches continues to sharply decline. As church leaders struggle to identify both root causes and possible responses, they often feel a sense of despair… but there is hope! When social media is used intentionally, it is the greatest tool that the church has ever had to fulfill the Great Commission. In our time, we should hear a Great Digital Commission. The Great Digital Commission offers a theological reflection on the importance of social media – while acknowledging its shortfalls – and suggests practical steps that can help congregations think about strategies for church growth and transformation. Read On... | | | | | | | | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Examining the Meaning of the Resurrection, Part V: The "How" Question — What Was the Context in Which Easter Dawned? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 30, 2011 We come now to our fourth and final question in search of the meaning of Easter. Then with clues, hopefully well established, I will seek to draw some conclusions in the final column in this series. We have thus far identified Simon Peter as the person who stood in the center of the resurrection experience and, if hints present in the gospel accounts themselves direct us properly, he was the one who opened the eyes of others to see what he had seen. Perhaps that is what lies behind words attributed to Jesus and recorded only by Luke where Peter is admonished: “When you are converted, strengthen the brethren” (22:32). We then suggested that if Peter was believed to be the “first witness” then every Peter story in the New Testament might be read as a resurrection story and thus mined for additional clues that are there. Then, to answer the “where” question, we looked at the biblical records to try to determine the place or the location in which “resurrection” dawned first in Peter and then in the disciples. All of the evidence points to a Galilean setting as primary with Jerusalem being quite secondary. Then we noted that all of the exaggerated resurrection symbols, the stone, the tomb, the guard, the earthquake, the apparitions and the physical body of the resurrected Jesus are connected with that secondary Jerusalem tradition. So authenticity pointed us to Galilee. Once that was clear, we began to read other Galilean stories like Jesus walking on the water and the account of the Transfiguration in search of additional resurrection clues that are there. Next, in response to the “when” question, we examined the time references in the Easter stories. Was the time between crucifixion and resurrection three days? Or was the phrase “three days” meant to be understood as a symbol for whatever time passed between Good Friday and Easter. To gain insight into that, if indeed it was a symbol, we looked at all the places in the gospels themselves that seem to indicate a greater separation of time between Good Friday and Easter than most of us have ever imagined to be possible. My conclusion was and is that the followers of Jesus collapsed what was originally somewhere between six months and one year into “three days” and they did it primarily for liturgical purposes. If Friday is observed liturgically as the day of the crucifixion, then Sunday had to be observed as the day of resurrection. That is what the gospels suggested happened even while hinting at vastly longer periods of time between the two. Now today, we come to look at the context in which the Easter experience was first encountered. This is the “how” question. Are there echoes of how “resurrection” dawned in the gospel story? I think there are. So into the resurrection narratives of the gospels we now plunge anew in search of answers or at least hints. St. Paul gives us no help other than to note that within a single generation, the followers of Jesus clearly began to gather on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread and they called that day “The Lord’s Day.” When this custom actually began is hard to pinpoint, but it had to be quite early. The first two gospels to be written, Mark and Matthew, give us no direct help either, at least not in the narratives that deal specifically with the Easter story. In the earlier parts of these gospels, however, we may find some hints, but we are not able to discern them until we have a better idea of what the original context of the resurrection experience was. It is a late clue, coming first in Luke, but since it is all we have, we will pursue it. Luke is the only gospel to record the narrative that has come to be called the Emmaus Road story. That story seems to reflect the experience of the followers of Jesus in the days, weeks and even months that followed the crucifixion. Cleopas and his traveling companion were portrayed as living in inner turmoil. They had hoped that Jesus was messiah but now he was dead. In their minds there was no concept of messiah as victim. Jesus, therefore, as an executed one, could no longer make a messianic claim in their minds. Unable, however, to deny their transformative experiences with him, they began to search the scriptures trying to find clues that might give them a new understanding of his death. This is represented in this Emmaus Road story as Cleopas and his companion having the scriptures opened to them by this as yet unrecognized stranger. Finally, with the light of day fading, the Emmaus travelers invited their still unrecognized interpreter of the scriptures to turn aside with them and to share their evening meal. He did so, but in a twist in proper protocol, Jesus, the guest, became the one who presided over that evening meal and when he gave the ceremonial blessing he took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. That was the moment, according to Luke, when “their eyes were opened and he vanished out of their sight.” Returning to Jerusalem, these travelers related their experience to the disciples using this revealing phrase, “He was known to us in the breaking of the bread.” That is the first biblical reference that suggests that it was within the context of reenacting the “supper of the Lord,” in which the bread was identified with the broken body of Jesus and the wine was identified with his shed blood, that their minds were opened and they saw that he revealed himself in his death as triumphant over death. Holding that reference for a moment, we begin to look for other clues that might connect the experience of the resurrection with obeying the commandment that was supposedly given by Jesus at the last supper. “Whenever you gather together in my name, do this (break bread and share wine) in remembrance of me.” When the resurrected Jesus first appears to the disciples in Luke, we are told that he asked for food and they gave him a piece of fish to eat. When Jesus appears to the disciples for the first time in John’s gospel, the narrative is set, “when it was evening” that is 6:00 pm, which is the time of the evening meal. When the second appearance to the disciples occurs in this last gospel, this time with Thomas present, John tells us that it was a week later (literally after eight days), but once again meant to coincide with the time of the evening meal. When we turn to the epilogue of John (chapter 21), not believed by most scholars to be part of the original gospel, we find nonetheless a primitive Galilean story of the disciples recognizing Jesus as they ate together beside the Sea of Galilee. The familiar dialogue that Jesus has with Peter in this episode turns on the verb “to feed.” “Peter, you must feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep.” In the book of Revelation, the verb used by this author to describe the continuing presence of the risen Christ is the verb to eat or to dine. Jesus is represented as saying, “I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you and you with me.” (Rev. 3:20). In the memory of Jesus’ followers there appears to be a connection between seeing the risen Christ and sharing the common meal with its symbols of broken bread and poured out wine. That is the way they brought together their growing conviction that he was the promised messiah with the reality that he had been crucified. Ultimately they appear to have found in the image of the servant from II Isaiah (40-55) and of the shepherd king of Israel who was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver by those who bought and sold animals in the Temple (II Zechariah (9-14), scriptural references to salvation coming through pain and death. So it was, I believe, that it was the Eucharist that opened the eyes of Jesus’ followers to see beyond the limits of their humanity to an image of messiah revealed through death but alive as part of who God is. With that insight, we now return to the gospel narratives and look at every text that refers to a feeding story. They are then suddenly revealed as interpretive Eucharists. In Mark there are two feedings of the multitude stories, one on the Jewish side of the lake in which 5,000 are fed with five loaves and afterwards twelve baskets of fragments are gathered up, enough to feed the twelve tribes of Israel. Then Mark moves Jesus to the Gentile side of the lake where the act is repeated but this time 4,000 are fed with seven loaves and afterwards seven baskets of fragments are gathered up, enough to feed the seven great Gentile empires under which the Jews had lived, the Romans, the Syrians, the Macedonians, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the Egyptians. Clearly these feeding of the multitude stories are Eucharistic accounts masquerading as miracle stories. In all of them, the gospel writers each employ the four Eucharistic verbs. “He took, he blessed (or gave thanks), he broke, he gave.” In the fourth gospel, the author locates all of his Eucharistic thinking in the story of the feeding of the 5,000 (see John 6) and then omits any further account of the last supper, a clear sign that he saw it as symbol. Next, we look at all the parables that focus on “banquets.” Why did a banquet become the symbol of the kingdom of God breaking into human history? Why was it said that when that kingdom arrives people will come from the North, South, East and West to sit at Abraham’s table? Why was Jesus called by the Fourth Gospel the “bread of life?” So, our search for the context in which resurrection was first experienced, takes us to the Eucharistic meal. So, when resurrection dawns in human history, we conclude that Peter was in the center of that experience. He was in Galilee. It was some time after the crucifixion, perhaps many months. Finally, the interpretive context was the reenactment of the common meal at which Peter opened the eyes of the others to understand. Now, given these clues, my task is to try to put them all together in a meaningful narrative that may come close to enabling us to enter the experience of the first Easter. I will attempt to do that next week when this series concludes. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements * Have you considered Santa Claus is God-with-training-wheels?* Want to learn the 5-faith-stages and the 6-components of a spiritualigious life? * Do you get uncomfortable when someone asks if you believe in God (and you do), but you are pretty certain their conception of the divine isn’t the same as yours? Questions, learning, laughter, and fun as Rabbi Brian helps you learn to take the G-O-D-word from something breakable to approachable. Interactive. (To your level of comfortable.) And, fun. Read On... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

1 0

10/28/2021, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Roger Wolsey: Loving the Earth is Essential; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 28 Oct '21

28 Oct '21

Loving the Earth is Essential#yiv0668867785 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv0668867785 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv0668867785 h1, #yiv0668867785 h2, #yiv0668867785 h3, #yiv0668867785 h4, #yiv0668867785 h5, #yiv0668867785 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv0668867785 img, #yiv0668867785 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv0668867785 body, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785bodyTable, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv0668867785 img{}#yiv0668867785 table{}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv0668867785 p, #yiv0668867785 a, #yiv0668867785 li, #yiv0668867785 td, #yiv0668867785 blockquote{}#yiv0668867785 a .filtered99999 , #yiv0668867785 a .filtered99999 {color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;}#yiv0668867785 p, #yiv0668867785 a, #yiv0668867785 li, #yiv0668867785 td, #yiv0668867785 body, #yiv0668867785 table, #yiv0668867785 blockquote{}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ExternalClass, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ExternalClass p, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ExternalClass td, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ExternalClass div, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ExternalClass span, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785ExternalClass font{line-height:100%;}#yiv0668867785 a .filtered99999 {color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785bodyCell{padding:10px;}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785templateContainer{max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv0668867785 a.yiv0668867785mcnButton{display:block;}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImage, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnRetinaImage{vertical-align:bottom;}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent{}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent img{height:auto !important;}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnDividerBlock{table-layout:fixed !important;}#yiv0668867785 body, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785bodyTable{}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785bodyCell{border-top:0;}#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785templateContainer{border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv0668867785 h1{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv0668867785 h2{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv0668867785 h3{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv0668867785 h4{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent a, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateHeader{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateHeader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateHeader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateHeader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent a, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateHeader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateBody{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateBody .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateBody .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateBody .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent a, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateBody .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateFooter{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateFooter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateFooter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;}#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateFooter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent a, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateFooter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785templateContainer{width:600px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 body, #yiv0668867785 table, #yiv0668867785 td, #yiv0668867785 p, #yiv0668867785 a, #yiv0668867785 li, #yiv0668867785 blockquote{}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 body{width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnRetinaImage{max-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImage{width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCartContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageGroupContent{padding:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent{padding-top:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv0668867785mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent{padding-top:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageGroupBlockInner{padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 .yiv0668867785mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templatePreheader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateHeader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateHeader .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateBody .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateBody .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateFooter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent, #yiv0668867785 #yiv0668867785templateFooter .yiv0668867785mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Loving the Earth is Essential | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey October 28, 2021Our planet is not well. That’s an understatement. The Earth is in a state of crisis. Human aggravated global warming/Climate Change is a real and present danger. The frequency and severity of storms, flooding, and wildfires around the world is increasing. We Are to Blame. “Human activities have caused the world's wildlife populations to plummet by more than two-thirds in the last 50 years, according to a report from the World Wildlife Fund.” Globally between September 2020 and February 2021, 12.5 million people were displaced by adverse impacts of climate change, the annual average exceeding 20 million. Such displacement leads to increased human conflict including war. One of the reasons that I’m an advocate of progressive Christianity is its emphasis upon caring about the Earth that we live on. Unlike most other forms of the faith, progressive Christianity values the environment as part of our seeking to honor God and is committed to ensuring that we do our best to ensure a healthy plant for our children’s children to live upon. Indeed, a case can be made that Climate Change is the single most important moral matter of our day as all of the vital matters of social injustice can only be addressed if there is a sustainable planet upon which we can address them. Talk about inter-sectional. As a somewhat prominent progressive Christian writer I’ve been asked “Why do you continue to be a Christian?” - given that I don’t believe that all Christians need to believe in certain things that many have come to believe are “expected” for Christianity. I don’t believe that all Christians need to believe in a literal virgin birth, in a literal devil or hell, a literal physical resurrection, that Jesus is literally God, that Jesus performed literal miracles (violations of the laws of physics), or that Christianity is the only or best way for humans to connect to God, etc. Notice, I haven’t overtly stated whether or not I happen believe in those things, I stated that progressive Christianity doesn’t require adherence to such beliefs. I increasingly identify as a Christian mystic or as “a mystic who happens to be a Christian.” The mystics of the world’s religions tend to have more in common with each other than they do with the more conventional members of their respective traditions. In other words, I don’t really feel a need to be known or thought of as a Christian. That said, being a part of an established lineage matters to me. I seek to follow the way, teaching, and example of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus (and the faith that centers him) is my love language and I seek to grow and develop in my faith in communion with fellow devotees to the way of love exemplified by Jesus. If anything, my commitment to continue to serve the Church has amplified. My sense of calling has been redoubled, and part of that is an increased awareness of the importance of my work as a Christian writer. There are 2.6 billion Christians in the world and inspiring as many of them as possible to take stewardship of the planet – Creation care – as being essential to Christian discipleship, is the most important thing I can be doing with my time left on the planet. The planet needs it. I feel strongly that this is WJWD – what Jesus would do. Which brings us to an important matter – to what extent is the study of Jesus helpful in getting people to care about the environment? Are we progressive Christians engaging in eisegesis – forcing our agenda onto Jesus and Christianity – rather than truly adhering to the actual teachings of Jesus? Preaching about the environment and caring for God’s good green earth wasn’t exactly a top priority or emphasis for Jesus. I don’t think there’s any passages in the “red letters” attributed to Jesus where he is telling people to become environmentalists. Some scholars have suggested that Jesus truly felt that the world as we know it would end either within his lifetime, or within the lifetime of his first followers. To the extent that’s true, there isn’t much incentive to take care of the Earth or try to ensure it’s in good shape for future generations. And, despite the wishes of certain vegetarians, there’s really no evidence to go around saying that “Jesus was a vegetarian – and that he wants us to not eat meat.” Jesus hung out with fishermen, and served fish to people on several occasions, and, as a faithful Jew, he ate lamb at Passover meals. A story has Jesus driving demons pulled from a man he healed into a herd of pigs which then jumped off a cliff. His parable known as “the prodigal son” features a celebrating father calling his servants to kill a fatted calf (veal) as part of that celebration. Moreover, Jesus seems to imply that humans are of greater worth and value than the other critters “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26) and he goes on to suggest there’s no reason to worry about the future “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (v.34) Yet, if we look at the full constellation of his teachings we can find several very good reasons to believe that Jesus would bless and want us to step up our efforts to take care of this planet. It is clear that Jesus was highly familiar with the agrarian culture he resided in. Many of the stories he told and analogies he used demonstrate someone who was highly aware of botany, farming, animal husbandry, and even meteorology. He employed such references as he knew his followers were aware of those things too. When he interacted with a wealthy man (Mark 10:17-31) he implied that following the basics of the faith is foundational to experiencing eternal/abundant life and experiencing God’s kingdom. Jesus referred to the 10 commandments, but it’s fair to assume that he also meant to assume following God’s very first commandment to humanity – taking care of God’s creation found in the creation myth at the beginning of the Book of Genesis was also a given (Genesis 1:26-30). Jesus actively called for people to repent from their loyalties and addictions to the way of worldly empire, and to instead shift to living simply in relational communitarian community. This way of living, sharing of wealth, resources, and property, tends toward having a low carbon footprint. Furthermore Jesus was a Jew, and the Jewish understanding of salvation (“wholeness/well-being/healing”) is about the societal/collective just as much, if not more, than it is about the personal; and the same is true for its emphasis on the here and now – not just whatever happens after we die. Caring for the environment we live in is consistent for providing both societal and personal salvation. Finally, if nothing else, Jesus was someone who was a radical of love. He called people to expand their sense of who to consider as being “their neighbor” - e.g., persons left for dead on the side of roads, Samaritans, tax collectors, and Roman soldiers. Jesus called us to even love our enemies – including those actively harming us. Jesus called for increasing our circle of care – realizing that everyone on the planet is our brother, sister, and sibling, and seeing that everyone is our neighbor. It is thus entirely consistent for us to work with and expand that teaching to include the rest of Creation in our circle of care – to start seeing the otters, deer, cow, ducks, bats, bugs, ponds, rivers, oceans, land, aquifers, and sky as being our siblings and neighbors too. This isn’t colonialist appropriation of the animist views of native Americans. This is valid, relevant, and appropriate exegeting and interpreting of our scriptures for our current context. Considering the planet that we live upon to not merely be “a stage” for us to temporarily use and abuse – but rather, embrace as a being for us to actively love – is a game-changer. Many progressive Christians have come to reject the theology of supernatural theism and instead embrace the view of God via panentheism – i.e., fully immanent within all Creation as well as being fully transcendent from it. Many of us embrace Tillich’s view that God is “the ground of all being” and this jibes well with the mystic view of the Apostle Paul – that God is “the One in Whom we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) If those are our beliefs and understandings, then let’s behave accordingly. If we view the Earth as imbued with, and indeed part of, God - as being sacred and Divine - then we should practice what we preach and truly take care of the Earth and its environment as a priority. Progressive Christians also do well to learn from womanist and feminist theological perspectives. We also do well to consider the insights of Creation Spirituality. As Jesus put it, what we fail to do to “the least of these” we fail to do to him. (Matthew 25:45) We’re failing to love God by failing to reduce the spewing of global warming gasses. By engaging in such polluting of the atmosphere and aggravating global warming, we’re also “causing the little children on the planet to stumble” and not be able to thrive as God intends for them to do. (Matt. 18:6) Jesus may not have called for us to care about having long lifespans, but he did call us to live faithfully. Living faithfully in 2021 means not just giving lip-service to Creation care. It means more than just switching to LED light-bulbs. It means listening to prophets such as Greta Thunberg and getting all hands on deck to shut down as many coal and natural gas burning power plants as quickly possible, and replace them with as many solar, wind, hydro, and even nuclear power plants as quickly as possible. It means reducing our consumption of red meat. It means reducing our driving and switching over to electric vehicles. It means shifting away from global consumerism and adopting a more regional economy. It means these things and much more. As a member of the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org (formerly The Center for Progressive Christianity) I’ve been part of the ongoing work of continually revising the “8 Points of Christianity” they created decades ago. Our most recent iteration – yet to be posted – has within it a tenet overtly emphasizing seeking the sustainability and well-being of our planet. May God bless us as we become evangelical in spreading the good news of Creation Care, “Green Church,” and calling for people to repent from our addictions to behaviors that harm the planet. ~ Rev. Roger Wolsey (cover art: “Birth of a Planet” by Amanda Sage) 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 How do you deal with the suffering we experience as humans? A: By Rev. Deshna Shine Dear Reader,A wild-woman would say: There is no right or wrong way to deal with suffering, just effective and ineffective. There is often something positive that comes out of suffering, especially when we approach our suffering in an effective way. By effective, I mean, we feel it fully, we take time to process it and we maintain a sense of temporality. Everything is complex and sometimes things that seem “bad” or hard, challenging, frightening, un-grounding, unknown, or tragic in the moment lead to amazing things later that we can not predict. Sometimes, the suffering in the moment leads to evolution down the line that may not even be noticed or seen. My heart feels the suffering on this planet. I can literally close my eyes and tap into the immense grief, fear, and desperation that is being experienced out there. But I can not hold the whole weight of the world. I wouldn't last long. So, I practice beaming my light into the hearts of the souls around me near and far. I lean into the practice and ask that light to travel farther. How far can my love go? How wide can this blessing be? Nothing is permanent and everything changes. So in times of suffering, I remember: this too shall pass. And in times of bliss and abundance, I release, because: this too shall pass. I walk the middle path. Aware of the Darkness within. I send it to fight my battles when I am too sad or tired. And always, I seek to grow my Light. Each person I pass is an opportunity to bring light or to alleviate a bit of their suffering. Each breath is a gift, so I slow down time by being present with my breath, the ground I walk on, the people I am crossing paths with, the trees that breathe with me, the air the fills me, the water that nourishes me, the food that sustains me, the cats that need me, my daughter who sees me, my Beloved who frees me. I deal with suffering by feeling it with all my being and reminding myself that I am held by a loving supportive Presence. I transform my suffering into empathy. I journey into the Darkness and allow myself to be a fully authentic complex human being experiencing a training ground for the evolution of the soul. Suffering is an opportunity, an invitation to surrender into Spirit and to release control. ~ 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 served as 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. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Examining the Meaning of the Resurrection Part IV: What is the Meaning of Three Days? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 23, 2021First, we asked who stood at the center of the Easter experience and Peter emerged from our study as the one in whom the meaning of resurrection dawned. Then we asked “where” Peter and the disciples were when Easter broke into their consciousness and our study led us to the primacy of the Galilean tradition over the secondary Jerusalem tradition. Now we come to the “when” question. When did this experience occur? Here we begin to confront the unpredictable quality of the familiar symbol: “the third day.” Did the experience of resurrection dawn in Peter on the third day after the crucifixion? If the “third day” is to be treated as a literal measure of time that would place “resurrection” on Sunday as Paul asserts in I Corinthians 15. Recall that this is the first biblical reference to the time of the resurrection. Mark, however, the author of the first gospel to be written (70-72), changes that time reference from “on the third day” to “after three days.” These are conflicting traditions that do not give us the same day. “On the third day” would place the dawning of the resurrection on Sunday, the first day of the week. “After three days,” however, would place it on Monday. While the two phrases sound similar, the two traditions result in contradictory conclusions. The more wobbly of the two time references appears to be that of Mark. At least, we note that both Matthew and Luke had Mark in front of them when they wrote their gospels. Each of these authors actually wrote expanded versions of Mark, but when they came to Mark’s threefold reference to “after three days,” they each changed it, Mathew changed all three of Mark’s “after three days” references to read “on the third day,” while Luke changed two of Mark’s references and simply omitted the third. Why can they not agree on what seems like so small a matter? What, we wonder, is driving this changing time measurement in the early years of Christian history? I suspect it had to do with liturgy more than with anything else. The first day of the week, or Sunday, was celebrated as the day of the resurrection by the early Christians and so liturgical pressure appears to have driven the memory of the experience. If resurrection were to be observed on the first day of the week then the first awareness of it must have occurred “on the third day.” If the date of the crucifixion was Friday, the third day had to be Sunday. The deeper question, however, is what was the experience called “resurrection,” which they were describing? Was it an event that occurred inside history? The earliest references to resurrection that we have in the Bible do not, as we have noted previously, seem to think so. Paul, while listing those who are witnesses to the resurrection, never gives us a single narrative detail, yet he includes himself on that list even though his conversion seems to be no earlier than one year after the crucifixion and no later than six years. Later writings in the Pauline Corpus suggest that Paul saw resurrection and ascension as two parts of the same act with neither of them lying inside the bounds of history. For Paul, resurrection clearly did not mean being resuscitated back into the life of this world. It meant rather being raised into the life of God. How can we locate an event in the life of God within the framework of time and space in which human life is lived? So what seems to be described in these early writings in terms of a time reference is not the reality that happened to Jesus, whatever that was, but the time in which a new realization emerged in the minds of the disciples. That does occur within human history. The third day became a synonym for that emergence. Even that, however, does not clear up the problem. If one insists on reading the gospel narratives literally the actual the time between the burial of Jesus and the resurrection is never more than 36 hours. That is but a day and a half, not three days. The burial occurs shortly before sundown on Friday, which would be about 6:00 pm. From 6:00 pm on Friday until midnight on Saturday is six hours. From midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday is twenty-four hours. From midnight Sunday until dawn or 6:00 am is six more hours. Put them all together and the best you can get is 36 hours, a day and a half. The symbol “three days” appears to at best a kind of shorthand description, not a real measure of time. Then we go to the gospel narratives themselves and look for additional clues. We are surprised to discover that the first gospel to be written never relates a story in which the risen Christ appears to anyone. Mark’s gospel ends at Chapter 16 verse 8, where the messenger directs the women to tell the disciples that they are to go to Galilee and, there in their home region, they will see the raised Jesus. In response, however, Mark tells us that “the women fled in fear and said nothing to anyone.” If we then proceed to literalize the words of the messenger that the disciples must return to Galilee if they wish to see the raised Jesus, we need to observe that Galilee is a seven to ten day trip from Jerusalem, which means that there would be no resurrection appearance inside the three-day frame of reference. When we come to Matthew, the problem is the same. Matthew contradicts Mark and says that the women actually saw Jesus and “held his feet” in the garden on the first day of the week. Mark says that the women only saw the messenger and they fled in fear. Luke, written a little later, agrees with Mark. In the third gospel the women do not see Jesus at dawn on the Easter. So it is two to one against Matthew being accurate. Interestingly enough, Matthew later does describe an appearance of the risen Christ to the disciples in Galilee, but it would have to have occurred after the disciples had returned to Galilee or at least seven to ten days later. Perhaps even more important in this first described appearance of Jesus to the disciples, the Jesus who appears is the already ascended, glorified Lord from heaven, who comes to them out of the sky. This is more a vision of the triumphant Son of Man than it is a narrative about a resurrected body! The time references become even more mysterious in Luke, who portrays the risen Christ as appearing on Easter evening to Cleopas and his traveling companion in the village of Emmaus in the context of a Eucharistic meal. This Jesus, however, seems to have the ability to materialize and to dematerialize at will. When these Emmaus travelers return to Jerusalem to share what they have experienced, they are greeted by the disciples who proclaim that the raised Jesus “has appeared to Peter,” but no details, other than hearsay, are given. Luke then goes on to assert that Jesus himself appeared on a number of occasions over a period of 40 days and that finally all resurrection experiences ceased with the ascension. The Fourth Gospel’s witness is also fascinating and confusing. The risen Christ appears only to Mary Magdalene in the garden on Easter morning and there forbids her to touch him for “I have not yet ascended to the father.” By Easter evening, however, that ascension has taken place and any reluctance to any one touching Jesus has disappeared. Jesus then enters their presence in a transformed state. He is able to walk through locked doors to gain access to the disciples and there to breathe into them the gift of the Holy Spirit. He then disappears and does not return until “after eight days,” which, according to the way the Jews counted time, would be the first day of the second week. On this occasion, however, Thomas is present. Thomas then acknowledges him as “my Lord and my God.” At that point John’s gospel appears to end. There is, however, an epilogue attached to the apparently completed corpus of the Fourth Gospel. This epilogue seems to describe events that were weeks, perhaps even months later, when Jesus appears again, but this time in Galilee where he commands Peter to “Feed my sheep.” So to return to our question: when did resurrection dawn in the hearts and minds of the disciples? Was it on the third day after the crucifixion? Was it after three days? Was it seven to ten days after the crucifixion when the disciples had returned to their Galilean homes? Was it month’s later when they had actually picked up the pieces of their lives and reentered the fishing trade? These are our options. I think there was a significant amount of time – probably no less than six months, no more than one year – between the first Good Friday and the first Easter. There had to be time to allow the followers of Jesus to come to an understanding of how a crucified one could still be the messiah. They had to have time to overcome what they believed was the condemnation of the Torah, which pronounced one “cursed” who had been hanged upon a tree. They had to have time to come to the radical new understanding that the life of God can be experienced through a dying man on a cross. They had to have time to search the Hebrew Scriptures to find messianic images where through weakness and death, God could still be seen as life and love. So, in answer to the question “when,” my suggestion is that Easter dawned some six months to a year after the crucifixion. My third clue thus falls into place. Next we look at what was the context in which the meaning of resurrection moved into human awareness. That is the “how?” question and to that question I turn next week.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Jew Curious Let’s explore my culture… Judaism… Afterlife, the Bible, God, Sacred Texts, Traditions, Languages, Rituals, History... What You Will Get MEMBERSHIP TO: ROTB Online Community Clubhouse. Wisdom. Goodness. Good people. ACCESS TO ROOM: Jew Curious Three hour-long sessions to give you a taste of Judaism. Wednesday, November 3, 10, & 17. 4pm PT. Click here to learn more... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

1 0

Drop Box scam
by Ellie Stock 27 Oct '21

27 Oct '21

Hi Folks, If you received an email/notice from me about opening a drop box link, it is a scam. I don't have a drop box account, so don't try to open it. Sorry for any inconvenience. Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com

2 1

A question about the distant past
by James Wiegel 24 Oct '21

24 Oct '21

What was the analysis and strategy that led to “the renewal of the local church for the sake of the world”?? I think there was one, but time wears away memories or, at least, hides them Anyone?? Jim Wiegel “A revolution is on the horizon: a wholesale transformation of the world economy and the way people live.” Fred Krupp > On Oct 21, 2021, at 5:32 AM, Ellie Stock via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > > > View this email in your browser > > > He Calls us to the Task of Loving > > Essay by Rev. Deshna Shine > October 21, 2021 > I miss him and he was never really mine. Meaning he was rarely even in my life. He was not my pastor, my family member or even really my friend. Though I would have loved to call him each of those. He was not mine. He was someone on the periphery of my life, a hero, a distant lighthouse. He was a giant to me and yet, he was one of the most down to earth humans I have ever known. And I miss him and deeply wish I had sat at his table more often. > When he wrote a recommendation letter for my application into the Chaplaincy Institute, he wrote, "I would welcome Deshna as my pastor and my friend.” I was in a bit of shock when I read that part. What in the world could I offer this incredible human being in either of those roles? I wish I had believed those words, believed in myself sooner and made the effort to become his friend. I regret not writing him more often. Yes, we were colleagues at some level. Yes, we respected each other, and yes, I had the honor of working with him as his new publisher of this newsletter. But here was a living hero inviting me to befriend him and I was just… what? Busy? Scared? Lacking confidence? Intimidated? Something got in my way of accepting that invitation. And it makes me wonder, as I look at the blur of those years and all those moments I could have reached out, how often do we get in our own way? > I read his words each week. His precise, wise, eloquent, compassionate, and passionate words. I made suggestions here and there, minor edits, paragraph spaces, meaningless things. Christine had already done the real work of editing and shaping his brilliant prose into words that made sense and moved us. I read them and was never not moved. He had the unique ability to bring to life the story of Jesus, to guide us past the literal and into the mystical. If I had been paying more attention, I would have seen how I was getting in my own way of living fully and loving wastefully. I would have seen his kind words as an invitation. > In his last lecture, in June of 2018 at the Chautauqua Institution’s Interfaith Lecture Series, Jack said, “I tried to develop a crucial distinction between the Christ experience and the Christ explanation. The experience is real and timeless; the explanation is in the language of its day and is thereby time-warped and time-bound. The explanation must be surrendered, but the experience does not have to go with it.” > He did not just try. He succeeded. Fully and with an impact on millions of people’s faith and lives. The Christ experience that he illuminated for us was one of deep profound love, boundarylessness, and a life fully lived. The Christ experience that Jack so clearly saw and shared, was one of universalism, of open doors and open hearts. Jack saw God within Jesus and within each of us. He set out to discover the “holy within every human” and he found powerful ways to live into that awareness by lifting up all humans as beloved, divine beings. > I wrote my last column on nuanced conversation and I intended to write this one on how Jesus used nuanced language in his teachings… but that will have to wait. However, it’s fitting, because today I write of a man who was so comfortable in nuance that he banished duality from his ministry! Dualism has no life force in nuance. Dualism is not a part of God or Christ. God is not a being, he taught, God is Be-ing. God is Being fully. Humans cannot conceptualize God, he said, it is not possible. God is not black or white, male or female, angry or loving. God is so much more complex and incomprehensible than that. Though we can’t conceptualize or frame God into some neat and tidy box, we can experience God. > Jack experienced God as the source of all life. There is no duality within God, there is only sacred oneness. And so he reminded us that if God is the source of all life, then the best way to worship God is to live fully. Jack also experienced God as the source of love. “Love is the power that embraces life. Love flows through the whole universe. The love of God is present in the mama cat taking care of her kittens, in the cow licking the new born calf. If God is the source of love, then the only way I can worship God is by loving and loving wastefully!” > I sit here today, tears streaming down my cheeks, wondering when have I refused this invitation. The invitation that Jesus called us to and showed us by example? When have I gotten in my own way of living fully and loving wastefully? When have I judged others, deemed them unworthy of my love? When have I seen someone as unclean? Undeserving? Where have I been stagnant, bored, lazy, scared, distracted, unmindful, when I could have been fully alive and present? > The answer, I know, is not to look back and feel shame and regret. The answer is to look fully at myself now and see a human who is trying so hard to become something that I am exhausted and full of guilt and shame! My effort to become gets in the way of my Being. In a world where God is hard to find, we hold ourselves to some unachievable level that we must get to if we are to deserve to be fully accepted and loved wastefully. > Jack said, “By wasteful love I mean the kind of love that never stops to calculate, never stops to wonder whether the object of its love is worthy to be its recipient. Wasteful love is love that never stops to calculate deserving. It is love that loves, not because love has been earned. It is an act of loving wastefully. That is where God is made visible.” At what point will I consider myself worthy of wasteful love? How can I be a beacon of wasteful love in my own life and ministry? > Jack taught me that Jesus calls us to the mission to transform the world so that every living being has the opportunity to live fully, love wastefully and be all that they can be. In this experience of God, there are no outcasts, no others. In this experience of God, we are fully accepted just as we are. That must and can only begin within each of us. First we must accept ourselves fully as we are, “without one plea.” And then we must put ourselves on task of growing to BE all that we can be and loving the world wastefully. > Jack told us a story of Jesus that embodied this mission. This Jesus was not changed by flattery or even the threat of death. He was fully himself always. He loved so totally, so wastefully, he was “an infinite source of love.” > And so, the brilliant man, my hero and would be friend, leaves us with such a simple mission “to live fully, love wastefully, and become all that we can be.” He invites us to embrace life, to increase love and to have the courage to be. I passed on his invitation before, I failed to fully live because I couldn’t fully love myself. I certainly couldn’t waste love on myself. But I hear you now, Beloved One. I see you and I stand with so many others who have heard your call. > The Christ in me is an infinite well of love that I can pour wastefully, over myself, over you, over all of life. God within me asks for nothing less than a life fully lived. May I rest from this eternal struggle of becoming and see within me a perfect being. May the infinite well of love within me overflow over all of humanity. May I see each living being with eyes of the Christ, where no boundaries exist. May my love “bring oneness out of diversity, wholeness out of brokenness, and eternity out of time.” May we join together in this ministry, the ministry of Be-ing a Christian and disciples of Jesus Christ. > To my friend, my dear Jack Spong. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation not just to work with you or to be your friend, but the one of your life’s calling and prophecy. The invitation to each of us to walk through the doorway of Jesus into the mystery of God. Thank you for your bravery, your courage, and your resilience. You didn’t just try, you succeeded. You lived fully, loved wastefully and became all that you could be. Thank you for showing us the way. > > ~ 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 Alice > > Growing up and attending a southern Baptist church, I was constantly aware of the term salvation. I am now, thankfully, attending a more progressive and open minded church (PCUSA), but still hear this word. I have never been comfortable with this term and would like to know how you see salvation and what it actually means in progressive Christianity. > > A: By Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers > > Dear Alice, > Great question, and a perennial one for those who grew up in more conservative churches where “salvation” meant believing certain things in order to get certain rewards, especially the assurance of going to heaven. Your discomfort comes from critical thinking, since to be “saved” assumes that you are lost and cannot save yourself. It also assumes that we are born into Original Sin as an inheritance, like being born left-handed or with red hair. Like so much of the language of evangelical Christianity, the “believer” is helpless and hopeless until we submit to a higher power. Or, more accurately, until we agree to say that we “accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior” and know that our sins were forgiven by his death on the cross. It also assumes that the whole purpose of the life of Jesus was to die, when in fact he was killed. So, when you begin to consider old words like “salvation” and what they might mean in progressive Christianity, it is always helpful to turn to the wisdom of Marcus Borg, whose work in helping us reconsider and even redefine words like salvation is found in a book called “Speaking Christian.” Here are some of his words on this topic that I hope will be helpful: > > The term “salvation” and the concept afterlife have been linked in Christian and religious conversation. Salvation has been made to be about gaining a “positive” afterlife. It has become a normative thought that this is the point of all religions—to ensure a happy eternal resting place. Borg would argue that the goal of the Christian life is salvation—but not primarily about before or after death ... . The best single English synonym for “salvation”—“transformation”. Transformation of ourselves and the world. It’s about personal transformation and transformation of society as a whole. Salvation can be experienced as healing—a salve. Salvation is a healing ointment. Giving the transformation from blindness to seeing. In Eastern orthodoxy—primary definition of salvation is enlightenment. Jesus came as a light in our darkness, etc. This speaks to the idea of living people who are dead inside—salvation being the transformation from death to life. Moving people from pre-occupation and anxiety to presence and compassion. Salvation is about the individual transforming and also the transformation of the world, transformation from a world justice to a world of justice. Transformation from a world of war to a world of peace. > ~ Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers > > Read and share online here > > About the Author > Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers is retired senior minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church, Oklahoma City, Distinguished Professor of Social Justice Emeritus in the Philosophy Department at Oklahoma City University, where he still teaches. He is the author of eight books on religion and American culture, the most recent of which is, “Saving God from Religion: A Minister’s Search for Faith in a Skeptical Age.” More information is at RobinMeyers.com > 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. > Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited > > Examining the Meaning of the Resurrection, Part III: > Where Were the Disciples When They Saw? > > Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong > June 16, 2011 > When people have a life-changing experience, they tend to freeze in their minds forever where they were and even what they were doing when the news broke or the new awareness entered their world. I can recall to this day where I was when, as a ten-year old child, I heard the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. When I was 32 and a young priest, I remember my precise circumstances in which I learned of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Almost everyone in America, but especially those of us who live in the New York City area, can recall where we were and with whom when the recognition dawned that the World Trade Center had been attacked with commandeered commercial airliners being driven into the Twin Towers. > > Each of these moments was a shaping experience and each would be lived and relived in our memories for the rest of our lives. The recent navy seal raid on Bin Laden’s secret hideout in Pakistan and the death of the planner and perpetrator of this monstrous act caused many to relive that original moment and to recall just how its awareness not only entered, but also shaped our lives. > > The New Testament clearly regarded the moment we have named “Easter” as a life-changing experience, indeed so powerful a moment was it that eventually the followers of Jesus decided to make it indelible for all of history by making the decision to view the life of Jesus as the life by which history was itself divided. So all of human history came to be seen and understood as having two distinct parts. There were the years before Christ, which were to be called BC, and the years after Christ referred to as years lived in the power of his ongoing and continued presence, which we called Anno Domini, or AD, “The Year of our Lord.” > > Given both that human proclivity of remembering and the impact which the first Easter brought to the followers of Jesus, it is surprising, perhaps even amazing, that the New Testament does not seem to know where the disciples were when whatever the experience occurred that we came to call “the resurrection of Jesus.” The gospels simply do not agree on the disciples’ location when Easter dawned in their conscious awareness. There are two centers that appear to compete for the honor, one is Galilee and the other is Jerusalem. Let me now go through the available biblical data and lay out the evidence contained therein. > > We start with Paul because he is the first author of any book or work that is today contained in the New Testament. Paul, however, turns out not to be particularly helpful. He gives us no location for any of his “witnesses.” All he tells us is that Peter was the first to see and then “the Twelve.” Clearly their natural setting would be Galilee since all of them were in fact Galileans. We are told, however, that they did go to Jerusalem for the Passover so they could have been in Jerusalem. If the connection between Passover and the crucifixion is a liturgical interpretation more than a historical recollection, as I have previously suggested, the argument would be stronger that the “appearances” to which Paul is referring were events that happened in Galilee. The best we can say, however, is that the witness of Paul on this issue is ambivalent and so we move on. > > Turning to Mark, the earliest gospel (70-72), we find the anomaly to which I have previously referred, namely, that this original gospel does not relate a resurrection appearance by Jesus to anyone. Mark has only a tomb story that would clearly be in Jerusalem, but at the tomb the women find the grave empty and they hear a proclamation from one who is described only as “a young man in a white robe,” who tells them that Jesus has been raised and who then directs the women to tell the disciples that Jesus “goes before you to Galilee and there you will see him as he said unto you.” The last few words in this quotation refer back to an earlier text in Mark in which Jesus predicts that the disciples will be scattered, but “after I am raised up I will go before you into Galilee.” It is clear that Mark believes that the disciples would and did encounter the risen Christ in Galilee. It is also clear to biblical scholars that Mark’s gospel ends at 16:8 and that both the shorter ending (16:9-10), an account of an appearance to Magdalene, and the longer ending (16:14-20), which recounts an appearance “to the Eleven” are added to Mark many years later, probably in the second century, in an attempt to harmonize Mark with the other gospels. The earliest manuscripts of Mark did not contain these additions and they are universally regarded in the world of biblical scholarship as inauthentic. So we have a probable vote in Paul and an overt suggestion in Mark that Galilee is the place where the disciples are located when the meaning of Easter comes to them and captures them. > > Matthew is a further witness to the Galilean tradition. This second gospel, written in the early to mid eighties, however, does contradict Mark, whose gospel he obviously has in hand and from which he draws much of his material, by suggesting that the women saw the raised Jesus at the tomb. That would be a witness to the Jerusalem tradition. Mark had said that they did not. Luke agrees with Mark and says the women did not see him, so Matthew’s contrary view is highly suspect. Matthew, however, does agree that it was only in Galilee that “the Twelve” have a resurrection experience. This, in fact, is the first biblical account of the risen Christ appearing to the disciples anywhere. Matthew, having heard by now the story of the defection of Judas, calls them “the Eleven.” This Matthean narrative is, however a very strange one. The risen Christ who appears is not a physically-resuscitated body, but rather a transformed and glorified one, and though the ascension story had not yet been written, he is clearly an ascended, heavenly being. He comes out of the clouds to a mountain top. Matthew says that Jesus had directed the disciples to this particular mountain, though there is no indication as to when that direction was given. Then in that Galilean setting, Jesus is said to have given the great commission: “Go into all the world.” This was the first time that a suggestion was made that the raised Christ had spoken to anyone. Matthew, though ambivalent is surely in the Galilee column. > > Luke counters the Galilean tradition sharply. The resurrection of Jesus for him is a Jerusalem area only event. In Luke the women do not see Jesus at the tomb, but Cleopas and his unnamed traveling companion experience him in the breaking of bread in the village of Emmaus, less than six miles from Jerusalem. Luke later tells us that the raised Christ has also appeared to Peter, presumably that was also in Jerusalem. Finally, according to Luke, Jesus appears to all the disciples in the afternoon of Easter Day, bids them peace, identifies himself clearly, asks for food to eat, opens their minds to understand the scriptures, directs them to remain in Jerusalem until “empowered” from on high and then departs. Luke specifically denies any Galilean experience connected with Easter. > > When we come to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus first appears to Mary at the tomb, then to the disciples that evening in Jerusalem in a locked and barred room without Thomas being present. One week later, still in Jerusalem, John tells us that Jesus appears again to the disciples, but this time with Thomas present. That is where the gospel of John seems to end. Then, however, we have an epilogue, relating yet another appearance to the disciples, but this time it is much later and it is in Galilee by the Sea of Galilee, and with this narrative the epilogue ends. > > That is the biblical data and it reveals significant conflict about where the disciples were, physically, when Easter was dawned on them. Paul probably, Mark by inference and Matthew specifically say that the disciples were in Galilee when they “saw” the risen Christ. Luke refutes that and makes the Jerusalem area the sole locale of resurrection. John supports Luke in the Fourth Gospel itself, but in the attached epilogue, the scene is clearly Galilee. With such inconclusive data, our next step is to look at the various accounts of the resurrection in each of the two locales. When we do that the scales begin to tilt toward Galilee for a number of reasons. The Galilean narratives are vague, primitive and mysterious and thus appear to be original. They express something of the stunned and startled response that feels natural in those circumstances. In the Jerusalem narratives, the miraculous has been heightened and the body has become quite physical. The resurrected body of Jesus can even be touched and handled. Only in the Jerusalem stories does the risen Christ do such physical things as eat, walk, talk and interpret scripture. By every measurement, Galilee seems to be original and Jerusalem seems to be a later development. > > We have one final test. Remembering that no gospel is written except in the light of the resurrection, we examine some other stories in the gospels that are set in Galilee and which seem to have resurrection themes attached to them. The accounts of Jesus walking on the water and stilling the storm are both Galilean stories. The narrative of the disciples confessing Jesus as messiah has a Galilean setting. Jesus being transfigured before their eyes together with the long- deceased Moses and Elijah is set in Galilee. All of these narratives have a numinous, mysterious quality about them. These are the data that tip our conclusion toward an original Galilean setting. It is far easier to understand how the resurrection experience might have been shifted out of Galilee to the much more prestigious location in Jerusalem, than it is to imagine a shift going in the other direction. Recall that the birth of Jesus, which in all probability occurred in Nazareth of Galilee, was also shifted to Bethlehem near Jerusalem to provide Jesus with a more prestigious place of birth. > > Our clues thus begin to be assembled. Peter appears to have been the first to “see” and thus the first to experience whatever resurrection was. That experience appears to have occurred to him in Galilee. We turn next to the “when” question and examine the meaning of “three days.” > ~ John Shelby Spong > Announcements > > Spiritual Psychology > November 3rd - December 5th > If you are working with clients, want to begin mentoring others, or want to deepen your own personal growth, join me in learning the Tree of Life model, a powerful transformative tool for psycho-spiritual development. READ ON... > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

13 18

Many, many times I have wished that everyone in the church I was attending
by Ann Jaecks 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

could attend an RS-1 weekend. Then we could have a meaningful conversation. We have walked miles down the road. And, did not build the bridges to keep the conversation going. We continually kept our own growth happening. The Local church did not expand or agree to expand to clarify the depth of love - or self-care needed to assist all involved. The pastors or priests that did not experience RS-1 did not or can not feel that "Call to Care". With deep respect and love, Ann

1 0

Jump to page: