- Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

OliveAnn Slotta
by J and O Slotta 07 May '21

07 May '21

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OliveAnn Slotta
by Ellie Stock 07 May '21

07 May '21

Oh, Jim, we are so sorry to hear this news of OliveAnn's death. As you, we were hoping this round of treatments would bring a new lease on her servant-filled life. We have long admired the the way OliveAnn just bloomed beautifully wherever she was planted--be it as Teacher of the Year, golding Canada via community forums or creating Acclerate Climate Change communities in the Denver area. She was a great spirit woman of compassion and justice who gently but consistently, persistently, graciously, and creatively fully expended and extended her care and many gifts on behalf of Earth and all that is in it. We weep at the the thought that she is no longer walking with us on this sacred ground but celebrate the incredible life she has lived and the gift she has been to so many. May her legacy of love and care live on through those whose lives she touched. For all the Saints... Jim, our prayers and hearts are with you and all your family. Grace and peace blessings and love, Carleton and Ellie :)carletonstock@aol.com elliestock(a)aol.com On Friday, May 7, 2021, 04:53:52 AM CDT, J and O Slotta via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: OliveAnn Slotta passed away unexpectedly early Mondaymorning May 3rd from complications surrounding B-cell lymphoma. She had beenreceiving treatment for several weeks. Her doctors had been pleased with herprogress, but she was taken to the emergency room on Sunday evening and passedaway several hours later. The first of two Memorial Services will be held Tuesday, May 11for family and close local friends. A second Service will be held at a laterdate at the University Park United Methodist Church in Denver; remote attendancewill be included. Her Obituary, and an announcement and link to the Servicewill be shared on this Order list serve. We celebrate her long life of service, and we struggle with herloss. -Jim Slotta_______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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Global Buzz for May
by ICA International 06 May '21

06 May '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: May 2021 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-21/2021-05-01.php Read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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5/06/21, Progressing Spirit, Rev. David M. Felton: The Measure of a “Genuine” Progressive Christian; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 06 May '21

06 May '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Measure of a “Genuine” Progressive Christian | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. David M. Felten May 6, 2021 So, what’s the measure of a “genuine” progressive Christian? For some, it’s proficiency in some obscure spiritual discipline. For others, it’s engagement in the work of social justice. Whatever we are, the media seems to believe the 2020s may provide a leg-up for those who are advocates and practitioners of a post-modern, post-evangelical, post-liberal, post-Christian approach to Jesus following (whatever we’re calling it this week).[i][ii][iii] For me, any measure of whatever it is we are as progressive Christians has got to include something I often find missing from the conversation: a sense of history. I often hear the complaints of church alumni/ae who’ve abandoned the effort because things aren’t changing fast enough for them. Wrapped in a blanket of righteous indignation, the choice to sit it out is indeed an attractive one. But as my own United Methodist denomination draws ever nearer to its next inevitable schism, separation, or disintegration (whatever we’re calling it this week), I’m reminded that we’ve been here before — and the challenge for anyone who considers themselves a progressive is two-fold: 1) to not succumb to the sense of futility and loneliness that is often a part of confronting the status quo, and 2) to ground oneself in the context of a struggle that has been unfolding for centuries — and will continue long after we’re gone. For me, the sense of responsibility to pass the passion for healing the world on to the next generation is a big part of pushing back the urge to just give up. So, as encouragement to those of us out there still trying to move things forward, let me share just a few of the radical and innovative ways the founder of my denomination shook up the status quo in his day. Was he perfect? Most would say he was insufferable. Was he “woke” by today’s standards? Absolutely not. But he did manage to shake up the status quo of his generation and set in motion efforts that are yet to be fully realized 250+ years later. Women in Leadership Wesley saw that the real power to change the culture in any village or community was through the influence of its women. In a society that denied women self-determination and basic human dignity, he not only appointed them to organize and lead meetings and make decisions, he empowered them to do the unthinkable: preach. For women who were reluctant, he said, "You have an extraordinary call." And when confronted by Anglican authorities for authorizing women to preach, he quipped with a wink and a nod, “They’re not ‘preaching,’ they’re ‘exhorting the scripture’.” Public Healthcare One of Wesley’s bestselling books, Primitive Physic, or An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases, gave access to remedies for those who could not otherwise afford a physician. He made free healthcare available to the poor and promoted basic hygiene as a means to maintain one’s health. First recorded in a sermon in 1778, Wesley is even credited with coining the phrase "Cleanness is next to godliness." He modeled his philosophy by exercising, being diet conscious, keeping clean, and drinking water daily (which was not the 18th century norm). While his intentions were good, not all of his recommendations were effective: one of his suggested cures for respiratory problems was to get down on one’s hands and knees and breathe in the smell of fresh mown lawn. Opposition to Slavery Wesley actively opposed the slave trade, repeatedly referring to it as the “execrable sum of all villainies.” Abolitionists point to the impact of his pamphlet, Thoughts Upon Slavery, as just one example of his influence. Just days before his death, the very last letter Wesley wrote was to a man who had been converted under Wesley's ministry and who was then a member of Parliament: William Wilberforce. In it, Wesley wrote, .........“O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and .........in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest .........that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.”[iv] Parliament finally outlawed England's participation in the slave trade in 1807. Elimination of Creeds Wesley was also radical theologically. When Methodists in the American colonies asked for some guidance on “what to believe,” he took the original 39 Anglican Articles of Religion and “distilled” them into just 25. When he did that, he intentionally removed Article XIII, “On the Creeds.” He made the following statement in a sermon in Glasgow: .........“There is no other religious society under Heaven which requires .........nothing of men in order to assure their admission into it but a desire .........to save their souls. Look all around you; you cannot be admitted into .........the Church, or Society of the Presbyterian, Anabaptists, Quakers, ........ or any other unless you hold the same opinion with them and .........adhere to the same mode of worship. The Methodists alone do not .........insist on your holding this or that opinion; but they think and let think. .........Neither do they impose any particular mode of worship; you may continue .........to worship to your former manner; be it what it may. Now, I do not know .........any other religious society, either ancient or modern, wherein such .........liberty of conscience is now allowed or has been allowed, since the age .........of the Apostles. Here is our glorying; and a glorying peculiar to us. .........What Society shares it with us?”[v] Granted, there are still plenty of United Methodist churches that recite the creeds, but they’re just not very good Methodists. According to Wesley, the Methodist movement was never meant to be “creedal” like other “societies.” Corporate Responsibility While engaging with the poor, Wesley taught the well-off that “Your wealth is evidence of a calling (not approval, but calling) from God, so use your abundance for the good of humanity.” To that end, he is said to have preached, “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.” Around the middle of the 18th century, a young Irish brewer got the message – and also got to work. The more his brewery grew, the more he saved and the more he gave – just like Wesley taught him. He poured money into founding the first Sunday schools in Ireland. He gave vast amounts of money to the poor, sat on the board of a hospital designed to serve the needy and bravely challenged the material excesses of his own social class. He was a veritable one-man army of reform.[vi] The man taught his children his Methodist values and they, in turn, decided to better society by bettering the lives of their employees. They started by paying better wages than any other employer in Ireland. With the passing of decades, they continued to innovate in offering an entire slate of services to improve the lives of their workers. That young man was Arthur Guinness — and today, over 250 years later, Guinness is one of the most well-known corporations in the world. Its Methodist-influenced founder built a legacy of good, achieved astonishing prosperity, and used his success to benefit his community in innovative and generous ways. Just last year, one of the directors of Guinness’ new American brewery in Baltimore announced a Diversity Apprenticeship Program focused on creating career pathways for members of Baltimore’s Black Community. She said, “Guinness has always been ‘made of more’ and… genuine give back efforts are in our DNA.”[vi] I’d like to think that what’s left of the post-pandemic church could be “made of more,” too. Over 250 years ago, Wesley worked to empower women, provide healthcare for the poor, oppose slavery, toss out outdated dogmas, and inspire corporate responsibility — and the work is still not done. So, what’s the measure of a “genuine” progressive Christian? I’d like to think it’s having a sense of one’s place in the struggle of the ages, of not being discouraged by current set-backs — of seeing oneself as a small and integral part of a transformation that has been in the works long before our participation and will continue long after we’re gone. How am I so sure? Because with Jesus and John Wesley, I know we can do better. And with evangelical, conservative, and even many mainline churches caught in the grip of increasingly unhinged political and religious delusions, the world is even more in need of the voice of those who not only see the big picture, but who have a sense of place in the midst of the struggle — and who refuse to give up hope. So, “… be not weary of well doing!” Embrace your place in the story and the gifts you have to make real that vision of a better world our hearts know is possible. ~ Rev. David M. Felten Read 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. [i] https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/25/religious-left-politics-l… https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/the-rise-of-the-religious-left/[iii] https://www.cupblog.org/2021/03/15/the-religious-left-on-the-rise-again-let… https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/wesley-to-wilberforc… Wesley, John in “Meet the Methodists” by Allen, Charles L. Abingdon Press, pg. 41.[vi] https://afro.com/guinness-open-gate-brewery-announces-1-million-fund-focus-… | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Phyllis Do you think that the Church has adequately explored and explained the spiritual aspects of evolution? What does it mean spiritually that we evolved from apes? A: By Brian D. McLaren Dear Phyllis, Thanks so much for your question. It’s one I have a special interest in. I’m a lifelong lover of nature, and from my earliest childhood, I would beg my mother to take me to the library to check out books on plants and animals. Like a lot of young boys, I was fascinated with dinosaurs, especially because there was a stream beside my house that was full of rocks with fossils. I thought evolution was beautiful and sensible, and I remember the conflict I felt when I heard preachers mock evolution and decry Charles Darwin as a devilish figure. When you ask if “the Church” has adequately engaged with evolution, in general, the answer is a clear no. Thankfully, there have been a few who pioneered a theology of evolution, especially among Catholic thinkers, notably Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 - 1955). He was a Jesuit scholar, trained in paleontology. More recently, other Catholic scholars like John Haught and Sr. Ilia Delio have engaged with Teilhard’s thought and enriched it with more contemporary scientific and theological insight. Another key figure in taking evolutionary thought seriously was the great philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947). He is often called the father of process philosophy, and in his wake, brilliant Protestant Christian theologians developed process theology. Notable among them are John Cobb, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, Catherine Keller, Philip Clayton, and Tripp Fuller. The great science fiction writer Octavia Butler could also be seen as a kind of process theologian, expressing her vision in fiction rather than nonfiction prose. Much of this work has not yet made it into the average pulpit or pew in churches, sad to say, even though it is gaining ground in academic circles. I’ve been working hard to remedy that, especially through my books The Story We Find Ourselves In, We Make the Road by Walking, and especially The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey, where I get to explore Darwin and evolution in some depth. As you know, according to evolutionary theory, we aren’t exactly descended from apes. Rather, we and apes descended from common ancestors, and our existence today is connected to the whole web of life, in which we are very literally all related, part of one family tree, part of one story that includes all of life and even all the planets and stars, matter and energy, and space and time. It is a beautiful and grand story, full of poetry and wonder, and it invites centuries of theological reflection and celebration — not just among academics, but among all of us who inhabit this evolving universe. May your question and this response hasten that reflection and celebration! ~ Brian D. McLaren Read and share online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent book is Faith After Doubt. He is the author of the illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story, The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Brian is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings. He has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations and is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. | | | | | | | | 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 my colleague and fellow Co-Executive Director, Mark Sandlin told you a couple of weeks ago, we need your help to make ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit financially sustainable. We are asking you to consider making a one-time or a recurring donation if you can. We know that there are so many worthy organizations to which you can contribute, so I wanted to share why Progressive Christianity is so important to me. When I was in college, I took a course on the New Testament. For the first time, the text was not filtered through the lens of belief and dogma. Like many who begin to deconstruct the Bible through a historical-critical lens, I began to wonder if the Church, God, and faith had any relevance in my life anymore. Around that time, a campus minister friend of mine handed me Marcus Borg’s Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. That book breathed new life into my soul. I found an articulation of a faith that was intellectually honest, compelling, and social justice focused; it was an expression of the Gospel that spoke to me in a way that resonated very deeply. This initial foray into Progressive Christianity opened up my mind to new ways of thinking and led me into a deeper search for truth and understanding of that divine mystery that is within us and all around us. I can honestly say that without Progressive Christianity, I would no longer be in the Church. Progressive Christianity has not only played an important role in my life and ministry but continues to play an essential role in our society. Without Progressive Christianity, the only Christian voice that many people would hear is the voice of fundamentalists who yell the loudest. That form of “Christianity” is a homophobic, xenophobic, jingoistic religion that is inauthentic to the values of Jesus. We need the voice lifted by ProgressiveChristianity.org, which promotes the Gospel tenets of unwavering love, radical hospitality, unqualified inclusion, and justice for those on the margins. These were the values of Jesus and ought to be the guiding principles for all Jesus-followers. I hope you will consider what a gift to ProgressiveChristianity.org accomplishes. Donating to this incredible organization not only supports the important work of resourcing people on the teachings of Progressive Christianity, but it also fosters hope for a better world and the values of Jesus. If you are able to make a recurring donation or a one-time gift, it truly can change lives. Peace and Love, Caleb Lines, Co-Executive Director ProgressiveChristianity.org Progressing Spirit 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 Stephen Hawking and the Death of Theism Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong Ocotber 7, 2010 Stephen Hawking, probably the best known and best read scientist of this century, has just published, with his co-author Leonard Mlodinov of Stanford University, a book entitled The Grand Design. This book has achieved headlines in newspapers around the world because Hawking’s conclusion is that one does not need the God hypothesis to explain the origin of the universe. The Grand Design has been hailed by such popular atheist authors as Richard Dawkins of Oxford in the United Kingdom and the author of the best-selling book, The God Delusion, who described Hawking’s book as “Darwinism for the very fabric of nature, not just for the creatures living within it.” It has been attacked by the standard defenders of the theistic God of yesterday such as the Vatican and Canterbury as well as a wide variety of fundamentalist spokespersons. Catholic News Service in Vatican City, in a display of enormous egocentricity, actually speculated that the book was published intentionally one week before the scheduled visit of Benedict XVI to Great Britain. I’m sure the publisher checked the papal schedule before starting the book on its long journey toward publication. Rowan Williams of Canterbury was content simply to dismiss Hawking’s conclusion without much commentary. The fundamentalists give abundant evidence that they don’t understand what Hawking is saying, but they do know that they are against it. I suspect that most of Hawking’s supporters as well as his religious critics have not read the book and probably never will. The reason that this deep-seated misunderstanding abounds in both the press and in current religious voices is that both the religious and the popular mind are still infected with the theistic definition of God. By this I mean that theologians and average citizens alike continue to conceptualize God as a being who exists in some place external to the world and who is equipped with supernatural power. This deity uses this supernatural power to intervene in history to guide life toward a particular conclusion or down a particular path. This theistic understanding of God, however, died in academic circles as long ago as the 19th century, but its shadow or its echo is still present and is reinforced constantly by the liturgies, hymns, sermons and prayers in the churches, synagogues, mosques and temples of the world. Theistic theology is not unlike the daily report of the weatherman, who informs us that the sun will rise and set at a particular moment each day, though we have known since the time of Copernicus in the 16th century that it is the earth’s rotation on its axis as it journeys around the sun each year that creates the illusion of the sun itself rising and setting. I welcome Stephen Hawking’s latest book as well as his religious insight as driving one more nail into the coffin of theistic thinking and forcing the religious world to begin the hard process of rethinking what it is that we mean when we say the word God. Maybe the word itself has become so corrupted that we cannot continue to use it, but I would argue that the experience of transcendence, otherness and even heightened consciousness is real and that this experience has pointed to and been part of what we have historically meant by the word God. We need to remember that despite all of our God assumptions, we have only a human language to use and it is by means of that language that we have always sought to translate our deepest yearnings. What Stephen Hawking is saying is that no matter how sophisticated our theological understanding is, the idea of God as a supernatural being who started the universe, and who from time to time has intervened in miraculous ways in the affairs of the universe in general or of this world in particular, is no longer viable. Since most people have no other frame of reference in which to think about God, they hear this as a denial of any divine reality. If one is not a theist, at least according to the limitations of the English language, the only alternative is to be an atheist. Theism, however, is not a name for God or even a name for one who believes in God. Theism is the name of a human definition of God that is no longer believable. Atheism does not mean that there is no God. Atheism means that the theistic understanding of God no longer translates into the world of our experience. Can God turn the path of a hurricane as evangelist Pat Robertson has so often argued? Can God intervene in history to stop something as evil as slavery or the Holocaust? Can God actually act to prevent such things as war and prejudice? If God has that power and does not use it, can we not state without equivocation that God is both malevolent and immoral? If God does not have this power, then does this not make God impotent? In either event such a view of God will have a very short shelf life in the world of human ideas. In each of these illustrations, however, it is clear that we have done little more than to create God in our human image, but with all of our human limitations removed. Why do we continue to envision God after the analogy of a limitless human being? Perhaps the reality is that we are not capable of transcending these boundaries. An insect could never describe a bird in any way other than in terms of the experience and world view of an insect, since the insect has no ability to transcend its limits. A horse cannot describe a human being in any other way except in terms of the experience and world view of a horse, since a horse has no capacity to transcend its limits. Human beings, however, even though limited to the experience and world view of a human being, still pretend to act as if the God we worship can and must be understood after the analogy of a limitless human being. That is the extent of our human capability. We human beings then insist, it seems, on going one dreadful step further, and that comes when we turn our God definition into creeds, doctrines and dogmas and immediately invest these ideas with the claim of infallibility or inerrancy. That is why we persecute those who disagree with our definitions or try to convert those who are amenable to our persuasion, both of which are acts of religious imperialism. Self-conscious human beings can escape our human limits, but only by analogy and pointers. There is clearly more to the idea of God than the human mind can ever understand, but we should have learned this by now, since this fact has been clear for centuries. Even St. Paul warned us that we now see only through “a glass darkly.” The Fourth Gospel tells us that the Holy Spirit “will lead us into all truth,” which seems to me to imply that none of us now possesses all truth. Yet in our pathetic human insecurity we still talk about an “inerrant Bible” and an “infallible Pope.” If we recognize that ultimate truth is beyond our limits, how can we continue to describe anyone anywhere as either a “heretic” or an “infidel,” to say nothing of proclaiming one to be an atheist? The God question will not be solved by postulating a supernatural invasion of a human-like deity at the moment of the “big bang,” or at any other moment in the unfolding of the universe or in the evolution of life. Intelligent design is just as foreign to the biologist as the God who inaugurated the universe is now to the astrophysicist. That does not mean, however, that there is no transcendent reality, no “other” that we can sense or discern as we seek to understand life. When I was working on my book Eternal Life: A New Vision, I became deeply moved by the wholeness of life. I saw a universe born in a physical explosion of matter that ultimately produced life, consciousness and self-consciousness; I am now convinced that matter carries within it the seeds of life. I see no dualism any longer between matter and life or between matter and spirit. I have also ceased to think of God theistically, that is, as a being — even a supernatural being. I think of God as the Source of life calling me to live, the Source of love, calling me to love, the ground of being calling me to be all that I can be. I think of God as the universal consciousness of which I am a part. All of these concepts are analogies, descriptions of our experience. They are not descriptions of God! I now see worship as the commitment to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that I can be. I see the mission of my faith not to be winning converts, but to be that of expanding life for all, enhancing love for all, increasing the being of all that renders every human prejudice as a violation of all that God means. I see the divine as the depth dimension of the human and thus as part of the human, not as the invasion of life by a being external to life. I see the symbols of my Christian faith story, trapped as they are inside a theistic belief system, struggling to cast that system aside so that they can be transformed and live again in dramatic new ways. The claim by Stephen Hawking that God is not necessary to account for the universe as we now understand it is a step in freeing our minds from the clutches of yesterday’s world view. I find the religious voices attacking Hawking in the name of preserving yesterday’s theistic system to be engaged in little more that the activity of institutional religion’s rigor mortis. As I learn more about the universe and life itself, I find myself called into an increasing sense of awe and wonder. Whatever God is, I believe that I am a part of that and whatever I am or can be God is present within it. The human being lives in the wonder of self-consciousness and perceives thereby the wonder of life itself. God is not external to that. I open my eyes every day to the wonder of life, the power of love, the mystery of being and I call that experience God. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Emily Dickinson & Julian of Norwich: Mystic Shamans For Our Time An Evening with Steven Herrmann, Cameron Trimble and Matthew Fox Both of these powerful women speak to our needs as a species today from deep within the creation spirituality lineage as we face climate change and eco-destruction and our and other creatures’ extinctions. May 11th at 4pm (Pacific Time) to mark a day for Mother Earth and all other mothers with two powerhouse women mystic-shamans eager to awaken and heal! READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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May Global Schedule
by Karen Snyder 02 May '21

02 May '21

Anticipating May events on the Global Schedule, you can participate in: * training related to race, technology and community response to crisis; * conversations about sustainability from a demonstration of reforestation in India, the gifts and challenges of aging, and what it takes to make changes in the U.S. constitution; * ongoing reflection on life’s ultimate reality; and * celebrating with Colorado's Climate Action Forums in an event where communities share their sustainable actions since participating in their forums. Click on this link to see the events and select those you wish to participate in: https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/ <https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/>. If you have feedback or questions, email icaglobalschedule(a)gmail.com <mailto:icaglobalschedule@gmail.com>. The Global Schedule Team Alan Gammel Virginia Kanyogonya Karen Snyder Sunny Walker

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Possible on line book study starting mid May. Options below. Survey link at the bottom to express your interest
by James Wiegel 01 May '21

01 May '21

BetweenJanuary and March of this year, about 30 folks participated in anonline study of Fareed Zakaria’s book, Ten Lessons for a PostPandemic World. We had a pretty good time with it. Click here fora session by session notes. Click here to see participantevaluations and recommendations | | | | | | | | | | | Ten Lessons for a Post Pandemic World | | | Hereare 3 options for books to study this spring and into the summer(perhaps starting mid May) HeatherMcGee’s book, TheSum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together Bookhere TheSum of Us. Reviewhere Video here DuaneElgin’s book, Choosing Earth Bookhere Reviewhere Video here DesigningRegenerative Cultures by Daniel Christian Wahl. Bookhere Reviewhere Videohere Interested??Click here toexpress your interest.General questions or comments? Reply. | | | | | | | | | | | >From January to March, a group of us studied Fareed Zakaria's book, Ten ... Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free. | | | Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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4/29/2021, Brian D. McLaren:: Science, Reductionism, and Faith; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 29 Apr '21

29 Apr '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Science, Reductionism, and Faith | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Brian D. McLaren April 29, 2021 I was teaching a class recently and a student asked me a question about the boundary between the natural and supernatural. As I answered, I told the student, “I’m sorry. I understand your question, but I have to tell you that I’m incapable of answering it. That’s because I no longer see the world in those two categories of natural and supernatural.” Like many, I grew up in a two-tier universe. The lower natural tier was physical, temporal, and ever-changing. The higher supernatural tier was spiritual, eternal, and changeless. God, the Holy Spirit, and human souls or spirits were in the higher tier. Human bodies, all nonhuman creatures, and all matter and energy were in the lower tier. Without the higher tier, the lower tier was seen to be meaningless and of little real value. Meaning and value, we could say, resided in the upper tier. This dualism applied to the physical body as well. The body was a physical machine; the soul or spirit was like a ghost that occupied it. At birth (or conception, or some other precise moment), the soul or spirit entered the body-machine and made it alive. At death, the supernatural element left it, and it was just lower-tier stuff again. For centuries, this dualistic universe made sense to Christians like me. Politicians and businessmen worked in the lower tier. Priests and ministers worked in the upper tier. Scientists studied the mechanisms of the natural world; saints, theologians, and mystics explored the supernatural. Many of our vexing moral issues were framed by this supernatural/natural dualism. Arguments about abortion, for example, often draw from assumptions about the precise moment when the supernatural spirit invades the fertilized egg. End-of-life arguments are similarly rooted in this dichotomy for many, as are many arguments about sexual orientation and identity. I remember being in a graduate school classroom back in the 1970’s and for the first time feeling this two-tiered universe threatened. “If scientists explain consciousness and show that what we call person or mind or soul is a just a matter of chemistry and physics, the jig is up for Christianity,” I thought. We’re still a long way from understanding consciousness. But with advances in brain science, it’s becoming clear that the old ghost-in-the-machine model is increasingly hard to maintain. Does that mean the jig is up for Christianity? Perhaps, if Christianity remains committed to that dualistic model. But I’m convinced that Christianity does not need to be stuck in the old two-tier universe. In fact, like a chick breaking out of an egg, Christianity is breaking out of its old assumptions. The fact is, the ancient Hebrews didn’t see the world this way, which explains why we don’t see it in the Hebrew Scriptures. At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people were divided. More “liberal” groups (the Hellenists, along with the Pharisees) were embracing assumptions from Greek philosophy and culture, and so they were re-articulating their theology in this two-tier framework. The more conservative Sadducees stayed with the older view. By and large, Christians embraced the two-tiered universe of the Hellenists, and it became a pre-critical assumption of what we know as orthodoxy today. The natural-supernatural distinction became even more important after the Enlightenment, when rational and empirical thinkers like David Hume proposed that the only reality was physical. Science was coming to explain everything by physical and natural mechanisms, reducing the upper tier of supernatural to a mythological category, a realm of superstition, an embarrassment. That proposal made God an obsolete item in an obsolete category. Christians responded to this challenge in three ways. First, some doubled-down on the natural-supernatural distinction. Miracles were real. God was real. They couldn’t be explained by natural means because they were in a separate category. That was the tradition in which I was raised. Second, some gave up Christianity entirely and became atheistic naturalists: the universe is physics, plus nothing, leaving religion to be an obsolete field for the unlearned or dishonest, on the level of alchemy at best. A third group largely capitulated to the collapse of the supernatural into the natural, but this traditional liberal approach said that God still existed. However, God created physical laws and mechanisms which ran creation. God was the designer and the moral authority, the divine watchmaker and moral judge. Emphasis for liberals shifted from defending miracles to defending ethics and aesthetics. I am not comfortable with any of these alternatives, because I think the dualistic framing they begin with is itself flawed. I find myself more in sync with two important theological movements, whose work I see as being deeply complementary. First, the non-reductive physicalists start with the physical universe, but they don’t stop there. They acknowledge the potential for emergent realities, realities like life itself, that emerge from lifeless physical processes but cannot be reduced to those processes. They are, in a sense, more than the sum of their parts. This “something more” is what Christians and others tried to capture metaphorically with words like spirit, which is itself a metaphor for a physical reality: breath. The physical, in other words, is fundamental, but reality cannot be flattened or reduced to physics and chemistry. Life, meaning, beauty, goodness, consciousness are emergent realities that arise from the physical world and can neither be separated from it nor can they be reduced to it. An analogy can be made to a book. An old-fashioned book is physical. It is paper, ink, covers, and glue, nothing more. But then again, it is would be improper to say that a book is nothing more than these things. The book exists as a physical expression of meaning, of communication. It contains meaning that cannot be reduced to physics and chemistry. Its whole purpose is to communicate meaning. Yet even in spite of this “something more-ness,” it can never be separated from physics and chemistry, because the living person who encoded the meaning in the book emerged in a brain and body whose life arises from physics and chemistry and depends on them. The same is true of the readers who engage with that encoded meaning. This non-reductive physicalism is a natural conversation partner with various process theologies. Process theologies look at the physics and chemistry of bodies and things, and they add the rather obvious but oft-forgotten dimension of time. When time enters the equation, what we thought of as things start to look more like processes. Pick up a rock. It is a thing in a certain moment. But a million years ago, it might have been part of a layer of rock deep within a mountain. A million years before that, it may have been magma flowing out of a volcano. Several billion years earlier, it may have been dust loosely dispersed around the sun, about to congeal into the earth. Before that, atoms in that dust may have been part of five now-extinct stars that exploded in supernovae. And so on, going back to the singularity of the big bang, and so on, going forward to an unimagined future — the rock in your hand is an event, a process within other processes. The same goes for me now, and you. Every atom in the body that is producing these words you are now reading was not associated with me before I was born, and the same is true for you. Some of the atoms that constitute us now once were, no doubt, floating in the sea. Others were in soil. Others were in any number of animals and plants. These physical atoms have been borrowed by the emergent phenomena known as you and me, and as our bodies, make you and me possible. We, in turn, are using symbols that have evolved among other human beings over millennia and we are engaged in a meaningful act of communication with one another. Although we’re using keyboards and screens rather than paper and pen, they too are physical objects which are being used for purposes that can’t be reduced to flattened physics and chemistry. Meaning, in other words, is an emergent phenomenon in this universe, and it must be accounted for. And the very idea of God, in this understanding of the universe, must also be grappled with in new ways. Is God the larger presence or field in which this whole event of the universe is taking place? Is God the creative force and meaning expressing itself through the universe, as I am now expressing myself through symbols and words? Faith in this sense, including Christian faith, need not be outdated superstitions, relics of ignorance. It can be part of the vitally important and ongoing human endeavor to de-flatten the universe, to take seriously the dimension of meaning, and to both find and make meaning in this amazing event in which we find ourselves, namely, our very lives in this very universe. ~ Brian D. McLaren Read online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. He is the author of an illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story. Other recent books include: The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World). Brian is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings – across the US and Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations and is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs, he has appeared on All Things Considered, Larry King Live, Nightline, On Being, and Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. His work has also been covered in Time, New York Times, Christianity Today, Christian Century, the Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN.com, and many other print and online media. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Gordon I am a "seeker." I know what that means, but when people ask, "What is a seeker?" I can never find an accurate or concise way to explain it. A: By Toni Anne Reynolds Dear Gordon There is so much to seek in this life we live. I wonder what gets lost when you attempt to make the response concise. As a seeker, there is so much that makes you one, and so much that you are asked to see. Your question reminds me of a quote that cannot accurately be attributed to any one figure, but is often credited to Gautama Buddha. The quote is something like “I am the finger pointing to the moon. Don’t look at me, look at the moon.” I wonder what good is accuracy when we have to rely on the thin medium of language to express such mystery? I think “what a seeker” is, is just as vast as the “thing” they are seeking. There’s a reason that the greatest mystics of the ages were artists, too. And, I don’t know that any of them told others that they were “seekers”, I think they just did what they did and shared what they saw as they did it. Because, what they sought, and no doubt found, was also not concisely conveyed. So, they relied on beauty to attempt the brevity. Music, paintings, even poems - though they are made of words - were ways to transcend the confines of grammar and logic in order to point to the boundlessness of That-Which-Is-Sought-After (think Hildegard von Bingen, Credo Mutwa, Rainer Maria Rilke, etc.). Typically, I hear folks identify themselves as a seeker in order to convey their desire to draw closer to the Great Mystery and all of the way it shows up in our day to day lives; a title fit for folk who live beyond religious boundaries, dogmas, historical moments. Maybe it would be of better service to you if you invited the other person to ask you a different question. There’s no reason we have to accept these invitations from others. We can gently offer them to open a different door in our hearts. For example, maybe something like “what happens when you find what you seek?” or even, “have you found what you’ve been seeking?” They assume you haven’t found what it is you seek, so you’re still a seeker. But, is that totally true? I mean, maybe you haven’t found the entirety of what it is that you seek, but I have some confidence that you’ve at least found traces of it. If not, you’d be using your time and attention to do any other number of things. What are the whispers that keep you going? Are those things instead worth sharing when someone asks you the question “what is a seeker?” Because ultimately your path as a seeker is centered on what you seek, not you, the one who is seeking. To be a seeker, in my opinion, is to be the finger that points to the moon. The focus is on the moon. I wonder what creative means you can tap into in order to give something of an answer to a version of that question “what is a seeker?” How can you tell people, even if it’s not with words, that “what a seeker is” is far less important than what the seeker is pursuing? ~ Toni Anne Reynolds Read and share online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | 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, Sermons, 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 Anti-Muslim America! The Meaning of our Current Political Anger Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong September 30, 2010 Early in my career, I had a colleague, now deceased, named The Rev. Joseph Kellerman, known to his friends as “Jody.” This man served then as the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, a suburban middle-class congregation on Park Road in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was also a well-trained specialist in the counseling and treatment of alcoholism. What was remarkable to me about Jody, however, was his understanding of human nature, which was best displayed in his ability to move his congregation effectively without alienating those rooted in yesterday’s value systems. One way he did this was to provoke a major debate each fall in his congregation about the choice of curriculum materials to be used in the Church School. Jody favored an avant garde, experience-oriented curriculum known as the Seabury Series. Vocal members of his congregation leaned toward a more content-centered, Bible-based curriculum that would introduce the children to the “historic faith.” Every fall this fight would be waged with the same results. Jody Kellerman always lost and the traditional members of his church always won. From the outside this annual rite looked very much like an ecclesiastical game, prompting me to ask him on one occasion why he insisted on fighting this battle every fall. In his answer he said, “Jack, a congregation can usually manage only one serious debate a year. So I focus the debate on a subject, the outcome of which I can tolerate either way. I fight, they win and then it’s over. They then don’t get upset about any other issue or anything else that I do.” That was a new insight for me. People are not emotionally capable, nor do they have sufficient internal energy to do battle on several fronts at the same time or to have more than one enemy at a time. When I was an active bishop I took a leaf from Jody’s book. At the annual convention of the Diocese of Newark, to which about 800 people were in attendance, I made sure we had one major debate on the agenda, on a subject about which people had strong feelings. We advertised these issues widely prior to the convention and sometimes even got major media coverage because the media always seems to think a conflict within the church is newsworthy. Among the topics debated were: “Is physician-assisted suicide a moral option for Christians?”; “Why can women not serve as priests and bishops?” (They can now, but not in the seventies when I became bishop); “How can the Bible be called ‘The Word of God’ when it affirms slavery, justifies war discriminates against women and calls for the execution of homosexual people?”; “Is corporal punishment of children ever appropriate parental behavior?”; “Should the church offer a liturgical service to mark a divorce and the end of a marriage or make the sacrament of marriage available to its gay and lesbian members?” What people never seemed to recognize was that the Diocese had no real power and that the purpose of these debates was not to settle this issue by majority vote. What mattered was the quality of the debate, for a moving debate is the process in which the consciousness of the people was raised. When these delegates returned to their local congregations they would in turn make the debate occur again in 130 different settings. It also meant that once great amounts of emotional energy got expended in this debate almost anything else that came before this gathered assembly would pass with little or no controversy. Jody Kellerman was correct; people do not have the ability to fight more than one major battle or have more than one enemy at a time. I have thought about this principle a great deal as I have observed our nation’s political behavior in recent months. There is a sub-stratum of anger in our society today and a desire to blame someone for the perceived malaise as this nation climbs slowly out of the jaws of a very deep recession. Irresponsible political operatives, ever seeking that wedge issue which will propel them into power, have mined this anger in search of their own success. The symptoms of the problems facing this country are easy to attack. The national, state and local debt is high, brought on by two as yet unpaid for wars, the necessity of rescuing major banks, insurance companies and automobile makers from financial ruin, which would have plunged the entire world into a great depression. In addition to these traumas jobs are fragile, spendable income is down and the house valuations, in which the biggest percentage of most Americans' wealth is located, are today at rock bottom levels. With anxiety so high and tempers so short our politics, reflecting the national mood, have become frightening and insecurity is rampant. The national tendency is to look for victims to blame. George Bush, the target in the last election, worked for a while, but he has faded from sight. President Barack Obama is a new, convenient and available target. As the first African-American president, he is a visible receptacle into whom we can pour our still repressed racism, hiding it under the camouflage of worrying about such things as “the expansion of government” or the national debt, topics which worried us not at all in the earlier and greedier years of this century as we lowered taxes, extended drug benefits and fought wars with no consideration of what these actions did to the nation’s economy. Today, however, anyone who is in power is destined to be the recipient of this anger, making it difficult for members of either party to run for office as incumbents. There is a great need to project that anger outward. Adolf Hitler once rose to power during the great depression by funneling German anger into a white hot hatred of the Jews. Arab states like Saudi Arabia maintain political power in the family of the House of Saud by focusing their schools, and thus the lives of their children, on fundamentalistic Islamic fury against “the godless infidels of the west.” Previous Republican administrations maintained power by hyping the color-coded alerts against “the terrorists” and when the terrorists began to fade, they began to attack “activist judges” and gay and lesbian people who were beginning to demand equality and justice. If it is true, however that one can only fight one major battle or have only one enemy at a time, these scattershot negativities were not emotionally satisfying so this nation’s anger began to look for a popular enemy who could be identified as the cause of our fear and distress, around which all could rally. That is exactly what I see happening in the United States at this moment. Look with me at the evidence! Homosexuality and homosexual persons no longer have much appeal as a target for our anger. Our consciousness and sensitivity on this subject has grown, making attacks on the homosexual quest for equality seem like little more than primitive ignorance, making this battle look antiquated. In recent weeks the California vote in favor of Proposition 8 was struck down by the courts. The long and detailed opinion of Judge Vaughn Walker actually ridiculed the arguments of opponents as little more than undocumentable fear and irrationality. The court, for example, discovered no evidence that opening marriage to gay couples would weaken marriage, destroy family life or that children raised by gay couples would be somehow impaired. The fascinating thing was that there was little public reaction to this opinion. Conservative political voices were almost mute, rising only to the level of whimpering. Clearly the nation has moved on. Yes, that opinion will be appealed until it reaches the Supreme Court where it could even be reversed, given the conservative makeup of that court, but it almost doesn’t matter. All that reversal could do is to postpone the inevitable. That battle is over. Marriage will ultimately be declared to be a constitutional right, guaranteed to all citizens regardless of sexual orientation. Lost causes do not drain hostility! The next revelatory moment came with the surprising announcement that Ken Mehlman, who ran the Bush campaign for the White House in 2004, was a gay man. Please remember that the 2004 Bush campaign, with Mehlman’s support, put gay marriage on the ballot in closely contested Ohio to maximize the evangelical vote and thus win a second term for Bush. Now this man has indicated that he is working for gay rights and equality in marriage for homosexual people! Once again, it was a one-day story, hardly commented on even by the 24-hour news channels that maximize ratings by hyping every story to “end of the world” proportions. Negative energy is still rampant in our country, but homosexual people are no longer its target. Where has it gone? Look at the passion aroused by the plans to build a Muslim community center two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center. This project has been called by one politician “a dagger aimed at the heart of every American mother.” Newt Gingrich began to campaign against “Sharia Law,” as if anyone was trying to impose it on this country. Then there was the story of the deluded preacher with a 50-member church in Florida, who was going to commemorate 9/11 by burning the Quran in a public ceremony. We no longer have the time to hate homosexuals because we are busy hating Muslims and Islam. Some even try to tie them to President Obama by hinting that he is himself a Muslim and an illegal alien. It is a scary time in American history and I hope our sanity and equilibrium will return before we vote some of this crowd of crazy politicians into office. So long as we can hate an external enemy we do not have to face such things as our own corporate greed, our insensitivity to the poor and our suppressed racism. We can have only one major battle or enemy at a time. So it is now “hate Muslims” time in America. Someday maturity and wisdom will be restored to our national discourse. We wait for that day! ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Practicing Spirituality at Home with Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat This popular e-course in our “Practicing Spirituality” series consists of 40 daily emails. It offers practices, rituals, reminders, and prayers to help you bring more focus and intentionality to the ordinary things you do at home. We will share some of the attitudes and actions recommended by 40 of our favorite writers on this subject, including Sue Bender, Edward Hays, Alan Morinis, Pema Chodron, Brenda Peterson, Gary Thorp, Deng Ming-Dao, Donald Altman, Melannie Svoboda, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Brian Doyle, Anthony Lawlor, Drew Leder, Henri Nouwen, and many others. Online May 2nd - June 10th. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] India plus emergency option.
by Ellie Stock 29 Apr '21

29 Apr '21

Dittos--prayers for India and so many nations that are now strugging without vaccines. Hope the US will share vaccines and also encourage the waiving of patents so they can be more easily, equitably, and less expensively shared with other countries that are in dire need of yhe vaccines. Ellieelliestock(a)aol.com On Wednesday, April 28, 2021, 05:21:29 AM CDT, James Wiegel via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: I guess I started this little thread with the picture of India and the numbers . . . Wanting to say I am in prayer for that great country and its people (those I have known and those I have not)— and for all of us as we continue to journey through this pandemic — I, too, am anxious and uncertain and surrounded by anxiety and uncertainty here in Tolleson, Arizona, both face to face and in cyberspace. Have we heard from colleagues there? Would that we had the care in all aspects that dear Tim demonstrates on these lists! Jim Wiegel “We are all time travelers journeying into the future. But let us make that future a place we want to visit. “ Stephen Hawking On Apr 27, 2021, at 8:52 PM, Sharon Fisher via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Thanks, Tim! On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 1:29 PM Mary Kurian D'Souza via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Thank you Tim.I support your posture. On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 2:07 AM Timothy Wegner via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: David, please don't spread vaccination misinformation on the list. It's actually NOT that hard to know what to believe if you make some effort. A simple google search suffices. I'm glad you got your vaccination. There actually is some peer reviewed science about Vitamin D helping providing some help to the immune system, but it's not a miracle cure or preventative. As far as your dubious Dr. Cole, here's what Factcheck.org says: https://www.factcheck.org/2021/04/scicheck-idaho-doctor-makes-baseless-clai… As list moderator, I hereby declare debates about vaccine efficacy off topic. Please no more, and feel free to email me privately. The problem is misinformation requires ten times the effort to refute as it takes to spread. We don't need that here. That said, I don't really want to ban helpful information on staying safe and getting vaccinated, though I expect our aging list members are pretty well along with being vaccinated. (signed) Tim, who moderates this list ever so rarely, but whose buttons were pushed by the ant-vax video David posted. On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 11:11 PM David Yost via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Dr. Cole is a Mayo Clinic trained Board Certified Pathologist. https://www.bitchute.com/video/hfzL5gUeQvxr/ I would encourage you to watch this as Dr. Cole says "the shot" is not really a vaccination, but that is what they want us to to think it is. Vitamin D may provide even better protection against a number of Viruses and any variant strains. Then there is Ivermectin - I am going to see how to get a prescription for that as well. I went ahead and got my "First Shot" (Moderna) on 4-20-21. So far so good, I am also taking Vitamin D3. Hard to know what to believe.-- On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 1:03 PM W. J. via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: More than you ever wanted to know about ivermectin.MarshallIvermectin and Covid-19: how a cheap antiparasitic became political | | | | | | | | | | | Ivermectin and Covid-19: how a cheap antiparasitic became political The common antiparasitic ivermectin is being touted as a miracle Covid-19 cure worldwide, despite health authori... | | | On Sunday, April 25, 2021, 11:07:13 AM PDT, Jack Gilles via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Sarah, I can give you feedback. I have a dear friend who lives in Mumbai,in one of the further suburbs. She was trying to go get her second shot tomorrow and has had to cancel. She says the whole thing is a Living Hell. Those numbers are the number of cases, not deaths. But the death rate is climbing. A city the size of New Delhi is down to 6 beds available for Covid patients. There are no jobs for a huge migrant population that work in the service industry. Having lived there for 22 years I can attest to how many and how well it functioned. Then Covid came and because they don’t have savings they are heading home. But trains now have limits to how many can travel due to Covid (with masks). You can see video of hundreds of cars sidelined because they cannot be used. Many people from other States in the country are reversing the journey and walking across the country. The Prime Minister is in deep trouble because his measures are not working. I live in Mexico now and India was the main source for much of its vaccines. India has stopped all exports. I am 81 and still can’t get a shot here in Nayarit. The good news is that we are quite separated from other houses, but the local village is not. It will just be a matter of time before the virus will strike here. Right now they are not vaccinating the whole population, only if you are over 60 years of age. There is lots more, but I hope that gives you a clearer picture. Peace, Jack On Apr 25, 2021, at 12:52 PM, Sarah H. Buss via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Is this map # of deaths, cases or what? My homework and meditation recommendations: send all available one dose Johnson & Johnson to India (and perhaps to US southern border). Additionally , Massive emergency and more easily implemented treatment might be ivermectin. A recent video of global panel of doctors suggests that ivermectin might be a safe and effective treatment for Covid. I am unable to type conversations on the subject but would welcome feedback.Sarah Sent from my iPhone On Apr 25, 2021, at 12:06 PM, James Wiegel via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: <1619370349826blob.jpg> Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com <1619370349826blob.jpg>_______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net -- Grace & Peace David Yost 720-365-6698 "What life means to us is determined not so much by what life brings to us as by the attitude we bring to life; not so much by what happens to us as our reaction to what happens". Lewis Dunning_______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net -- saf1220(a)gmail.com c: 503.807.7385_______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

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India
by James Wiegel 25 Apr '21

25 Apr '21

Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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4/22/2021, Progressing Spirit: Toni Anne Reynolds: Habits Can Help or Hurt…; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 23 Apr '21

23 Apr '21

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0606125086 #yiv0606125086templateBody .yiv0606125086mcnTextContent, #yiv0606125086 #yiv0606125086templateBody .yiv0606125086mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv0606125086 #yiv0606125086templateFooter .yiv0606125086mcnTextContent, #yiv0606125086 #yiv0606125086templateFooter .yiv0606125086mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Habits Can Help or Hurt… | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Toni Anne Reynolds About a year ago my partner and I relocated. The tale of doing so in the midst of a global pandemic makes great content for an SNL episode. Some of the scenes were tragic, some definitely hilarious, and others would include some profundity. One of the striking moments in the move happened as we traveled the road that leads to our new home. Surrounded by water, we saw all sorts of water fowl, most of which cannot be found on the mighty river Hudson where we had recently departed. Just off of this road we spotted two nesting Ospreys. Right off of the dock of a lonely bed and breakfast, we watched these two birds tend to their giant nest. As days went to weeks, extra heads popped up just over the edge of the nest. The locals say that this couple of hawks have been returning to this dock for at least the last three years to hatch more chicks. Despite the roar of pick-up trucks, hurricane winds, and dozens of fishing boats, these precious birds are left alone to do what they do. The environment in which they build their yearly home seems to support them well. The nature that dwells around our new home is just as beautiful to us. However, there are some challenges. Living below sea level, surrounded by water, means there are water moccasins, snapping turtles, and even occasional alligators. We’ve yet to come face to face with the most intense creatures in nature’s roster, but there have been less dramatic encounters with some other-than-human neighbors that are worthy of note. It took us about two weeks to realize it, but a wasp had been nesting in the gap between our back door and the screen door. Sneaking in through the smallest crack in the screen door, this wasp had managed to build a nest about the size of a golf ball. I was immediately conflicted. Though I do not like flying or crawling things in my living space, I am the kind who will find a cup and a piece of paper to capture the critter and escort it outside of our home. In this case, I didn’t know what to do. “We can manage without using the back door”, I thought. “A wasp nest can get to be the size of a basketball, or even bigger in some cases,” said Google. So, there it was decided. The nest had to go. These two examples get me thinking about a number of things. As I watch the United States begin to “reopen” after an already clumsy response to COVID 19, I’m mostly thinking about the decision-making process behind our regular habits. We have experienced a great disruption to our habits as the pandemic required a variety of shifts. Whether we liked the changes or not, they forced us to make new habits. Some of those habits have led to incredible bursts of innovation, and others have created a new kind of strain and suffering. Though it’s been only one year of our lives, we are likely to be responding to this past year of intense change for the foreseeable future. This means we get to be strategic about how we build habits as yet another shift is beginning to take place. While I am not personally optimistic about the idea of opening things up with the speed I see in my local community, it is happening. Without much help I find myself questioning if I will be more like the Osprey or the wasp. These ospreys have return to this particular dock because it works for them, even through difficulty. For a few years they have successfully reared the next generations of osprey. It makes sense for them to return to the dock again this spring for another round of generating. Despite the disturbances of two hurricanes, they found a way to push through and be well in doing so. The wasp, though it may not be the same wasp as last year, has returned to the space between our back doors. It is still not a good place to build a giant complex for baby wasps. If no one lived in the building it would be a different story. My grandmother, who has lived in the house for the last 30 years, said she’s been removing wasps from that door way for “a long time now”. She has three kinds of wasp killer under her sink, which seems excessive to me but they seem to persist. I wonder how many times it, or other wasps, will return to this 2-inch gap only to be forcibly relocated. It seems that there’s a wasp realtor spreading the word about this location without sharing the fact that it is a very temporary rental location. I know it’s not quite fair to compare the habits of two very different creatures. But I needed some way to illustrate the way our choices can affect our livelihood. I also needed some way to situate that illustration inside the very real context of our shared pandemic environment. We may very well be on the upswing. I hear lots of reports and celebrities talk about the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, but the habits we employ will make the way there. We can be osprey, returning to sites, employing practices that can withstand adversity. We can also be wasps, returning to gaps that are too small for us, in environments that do not serve our best interests. While most of life holds moments that we do not control, the habits we live by are most definitely within our reach. Despite the very wild hurricane year we have endured, we are still here to see another day. The choices we make, the relationships we nurture, the environments we spend our time nesting in, will make all the difference in our outcome. Knowing that the hammer of the pandemic landed harder on some communities than it did others means that each of us will have to navigate this transition with a personal type of discernment. The harder it was to survive the past year, the more support you may need as this so called “light at the end of the tunnel” approaches. Find the organizations, online communities, hotlines, resources that are available to help you out of the tunnel. If you feel like you fared it pretty well, consider how you can solidify the stuff that’s going well for you at the moment. The more stable you are through the upcoming/currently happening shift, the easier it will be to serve your community in meaningful ways. ~ Toni Anne Reynolds Read online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Alex God, as viewed in the Old Testament is a God who demands that we please him. He was a God of Punishment, and reward. Those who pleased him were rewarded and those who offended him were punished. Because they lived in a pre-Newtonian age God also controlled the weather and disease. Jesus came to teach us that this isn’t so. God loves us unconditionally. We do not have to please him in order to be accepted. God’s world is one of natural consequences. But the Church continued to operate in OT ways, salvation had to be earned and we were all sinners. Parents also use punishment and reward even though studies establish that punishment does not work, NEVER. When will the Church follow and show the teachings of Jesus and teach parents to discipline by using consequences within the limits of safety? A: By Rev. Fran Pratt Dear Alex,It sounds like you have some pretty definite ideas about parenting, which I appreciate and mostly agree with. I am trying to raise my own children to understand the natural consequences of their actions, and to move away from the “good behavior = acceptance” parenting paradigm. I’m trying to raise them gently, intuitively, and to validate their authenticity and inner voices. I even agree with you that there is a theological basis for making some parenting decisions, and that bad theology translates to bad (harmful) parenting practices. I myself was raised in the authoritarian way typical of Evangelical patriarchal churchy people in the 80’s and 90’s. I sustained much harm and have had many, many broken paradigms and patterns to break free of, despite the fact that I was well-cared-for by loving parents who did their best. But your question of WHEN your ideas as presented might be adopted by the larger Church, or even the smaller stream of Progressive Christian Churches … I could not possibly conjecture. I’ll tell you this: I’m hopeful. In my generation and pastoral work I see and interact with LOTS of thoughtful, kind, attentive, intuitive, gentle and intentional parents. I have so many friends whom I look up to as parenting models and whom I call when I’m in a parenting quandary. If you knew my friends you’d be hopeful too. I’d venture to guess that my own generation is parenting more diligently and more thoughtfully than any generation before - they/we have learned psychology, read studies and data, hire therapists, do our inner work, own our mistakes, apologize to our kids when we get it wrong. We expect ourselves and our kids to be imperfect and go with that perfectly imperfect flow. I’d encourage you to a) be encouraged and b) be non-judgmental. You may consider yourself an expert and your ideas about parenting may be the best ideas. But that doesn’t mean everyone else is going to be ready at the same time to adopt them, nor that that is their particular path, nor have you met every kid or parented through every tricky situation. You’ll probably have to be patient with people. Parenting is hard and Covid Parenting is even harder. These major paradigm shifts take time but they ARE happening. ~ Rev. Fran Pratt Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Fran Pratt is a pastor, writer, musician, and mystic. Making meaningful and beautiful liturgy to be spoken, practiced, and sung, is at the heart of her creative drive. Fran authored a book of congregational litanies, and regularly creates and shares modern liturgy on her website and Patreon. Her prayers are prayed in churches of various sizes and traditions across the globe. She writes, speaks, and consults on melding ancient and new liturgical streams in faith and worship. Fran is Pastor of Worship and Liturgy at Peace of Christ Church in Round Rock, Texas. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | This Week's Featured Author Brian McLaren A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith A New Kind of Christianity is Brian D. McLaren’s much anticipated follow-up to his breakthrough work of the emergent-church movement, A New Kind of Christian. In this controversial and thought-provoking book, McLaren explores the questions that will determine the shape of Christianity for the next 500 years. Read More ... | | | | | | | | | Thank you for enjoying our free Q&A each week. We would like to introduce you to our subscription newsletter with thousands of subscribers around the globe. Learn more about our history here.Progressing Spirit challenges the authors whom you have enjoyed reading in the free Q&A, who are some of the world’s top thinkers, to offer their best insights about what’s happening on the leading edge in an exclusive column sent weekly. Whether it’s about what will happen with the currently declining Church, what new models of intentional spiritual community may look like, or how we take part in the quest for equality and inclusivity, these conversations and many more are deeply explored by best selling authors, social leaders, and cutting edge innovators. To sign up is only $3 per month or $30 per year - this helps offset the payment to these wonderful authors. In addition to the exclusive column, you will receive a weekly Q&A based on questions from our readers, plus a Bishop Spong revisited column, as well as access to the full Archive of Bishop John Shelby Spong and our other authors! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited China Revisited, Part III Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong September 23, 2010There are no Gideon Bibles in the hotel rooms of modern China. There are not even books expressing the beauty of Buddhism, Taoism or the writings of Confucius. There is not even the last will and testament of Conrad Hilton! The emphasis of this nation is almost totally on material well being. I experienced religion in China as almost non-existent at best, still viewed with hostility at worst. In our time in this ancient land, I saw only two pagodas and both were places for tourists to visit and not places in which people might worship. I saw no Buddhist temples and no statues of Buddha to which human yearnings might be expressed. The only Buddhas I saw were in the tourist shops and they were icons of the fat Buddha, the laughing Buddha. One Chinese guide referred to obese American tourists as having “Buddha bellies” and told us that the purpose of the statues of the fat Buddha was that by rubbing the Buddha’s belly one could have good luck. That was as close to a religious motif as I experienced. In Thailand several years ago, Buddhist monks in their distinctive orange garb were a familiar public sight and occupied an honored position in the culture’s fabric. During the latter stages of the Vietnam War, the public immolation of Buddhist monks was a powerful, intense and effective protest against that war and became a world wide story. In all of the lectures and briefings heard while in China, religion was mentioned only once and that was pejoratively. The Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation, we were told, has served only the purpose of keeping people content with their then dismal status, since Buddhism promised that by being content with their lot now, they would gain for themselves a more favorable status in the next incarnation. Religion, they said, had been nothing more than a tool of the wealthy with which to control and to pacify the masses. It was an opiate for the people, which they were eager to erase from their memories. >From time to time an allusion to religion would come up tangentially. In a presentation on China’s “one child per family” policy, the government, we were told, made birth control devices, principally the contraceptive pill and condoms, universally and freely available without any protest from any religious source. In the discussion about determining the health and sex of the unborn, we were told that abortion for either a defective fetus or an unwanted gender was both government-sponsored and freely available. Once again, there was no debate, we were told, from any religious source. We also learned from background reading that during the implementation and enforcement of this one child per family policy, forced sterilization of women was widespread. When second pregnancies occurred, forced abortions were ruthlessly carried out even in the third trimester or at near term. The state’s right to control the population of the people was not treated differently from its controlling the use of the land or engineering the growth of cattle or sheep. The goals might well be laudatory but the tactics used were frequently a violation of the most basic of human freedoms. I met one person who admitted to being a Buddhist only to amend that statement quickly by saying “I was raised as a Buddhist.” When asked what she meant, she replied, “Buddhism is an internal thing. It is no longer an external religion. No one attends a Buddhist temple or participates in Buddhist worship.” The closest thing to a cultural religious celebration, she said, was the observance of the Chinese New Year. It appeared that religion had become so benign that no government energy was needed to oppose its influence. I found China to be the most secular, post-religious culture I have ever encountered. On an earlier trip to China in 1988, I had actually felt encouraged by what I saw of the Chinese Christian movement. It was small and statistically irrelevant as a force in China’s burgeoning population, but it seemed to me to possess integrity since it had shed its ties to western powers, abandoned western denominational structures and was well on its way to becoming indigenously Chinese. In that year I preached in a packed Chinese Christian church in Shanghai and visited a theological seminary where candidates for ordination were being trained. During its enforced exile, Chinese Christianity had become primarily a lay-led, largely non-institutional movement. On this trip, however, I saw no evidence of its presence. I am aware of the Vatican’s continuing struggle over who has the right to name China’s Catholic leaders, but while that might be a big issue in Rome it is not significant in China. The government officially is not anti-religious, but it is anti-any outside authority being imposed on anything Chinese. Two things came to my mind as I tried to understand China’s emerging future. One was a reference in Colleen McCullough’s Australian novel, The Thorn Birds, in which she described the attitude of outback sheep herders toward their flocks. Australian outback ranches would contain literally thousands of acres and tens of thousands of sheep. The flocks were indeed so numerous that one individual sheep seemed to be of little value. The process of castrating the lambs to ensure their use for eating needed to be done quickly and efficiently so these herders would accomplish this task simply by biting off the animal’s testicles and spitting them out. She compared this to the way pet dogs were treated in New York City where, in their scarcity, they were dressed for the weather, fed a healthy diet and cared for by a host of veterinarians. Her point was that great numbers of animals create an attitude in which no individual animal was valued while scarcity causes pets to be treated with almost excessive pampering and caring. Perhaps the same thing is true in regard to human beings. In the west, that has only recently begun to be aware of overpopulation, the individual and individual rights have generally been respected. In a massive population like China’s current 1.3 billion people individual rights can no longer be protected if they are in conflict with the needs of the whole society. Maybe it is inevitable that with overpopulation, individual rights will always be sacrificed for the well being of the whole. If that is so, the human rights violations visible in China today are simply the prelude to what the whole world faces if human population continues to expand uncontrollably, as it has done in the last century. It is a scary, even a sobering thought, but I suspect a real one. The other image that came to my mind was the famous kitchen debate that took place in 1959 in Moscow between Vice President Richard Nixon of the United States and Communist Party General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union. The debate was about which system, capitalism or communism, could produce the higher standard of living for its people. It was conducted at a World’s Fair that had all the most modern kitchen, labor-saving devices on display. It was also basically a materialistic debate. The goal was for each leader to tout the material splendor that provided “the good life” for the majority of its citizens. America’s ingenuity was at that time clearly superior to that of the leading nation in the communist world. Certainly, at that time, the average American standard of living clearly topped that of the Soviet Union. Even then, however, the material wealth in the west was unevenly distributed. In the richest land in the world, people at the edges were still homeless and still hungry and literally millions had no health care. In the Soviet Union, the wealth at the top was clearly capped, but the poverty at the bottom was also being addressed. What worried me in that debate, however, was that free enterprise capitalism was being advocated only for its ability to create material wealth. China has today combined communist control with market capitalism to create the most dramatic rise in the standard of living of a major nation that I have ever witnessed. They might even demonstrate in time that total state control of market forces for the benefit of the people might well win the contest for material plenty. What I saw in China would never convince me, however, that the sacrifice of human freedom for material plenty represented a superior system. It is the deepest principles of my religion that for me stand as the front line of defense against the violation of human dignity. Is self-conscious human life holy? I think it is. Is self-conscious human life made more deeply and fully human by the experience of being loved and infinitely valued? I think it is. Is the call of self-conscious human life to be all that each of us can be an ultimate value around which society must be organized? I think it is. I do not know how else the dignity of human life will ever be preserved if producing material plenty for all is the only and ultimate value affirmed by any government or any economic system. Human value rests, I believe, on a definition of human life as of infinite worth. I do not believe that value is one that can be sacrificed in the achievement of economic plenty. It is also not achievable unless the political and economic system contains a dedication to the idea of the sacredness of life. Free enterprise capitalism has its faults. It is propelled far too often by greed and ignores the plight of the poor. It shares its wealth with the masses too unfairly, but it nonetheless does not allow the individual to be totally dehumanized by the state and treated only as a cog in a great economic wheel. It still salutes individual rights grounded in a religious definition of what it means to be human. I will fight to maintain that value even as I fight to make the economic system of the west more fair and more compassionate. If we compete with the communist world only on the basis of which system can create the most wealth, China may very well win that contest in the future. Indeed today China finances America’s way of life by being the primary holder of America’s debt. Yet the value, the sacredness of human life, is so central and so important to me that it should trump economic plenty every time. It is that which I believe that only a religious understanding of life can ultimately provide. This is why I am a Christian. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World As an indigenous person, Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from a unique perspective, one tied to the natural and spiritual world. Considering how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation, he raises important questions. How does this affect us? How can we do things differently? Online May 4th - 6:00pm - 7:00pm READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Copyright © 2021 ProgressiveChristianity.org, a 501(3)c. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. #80, Gig Harbor, WA 98335 253-507-8678 - contact(a)progressivechristianity.org You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. | | | |

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