- Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

4/30/20, Progressing Spirit: Deshna Smith:May Our Sins be Washed Away; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 30 Apr '20

30 Apr '20

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.yiv5833894595mcnTextContent, #yiv5833894595 #yiv5833894595templateHeader .yiv5833894595mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5833894595 #yiv5833894595templateBody .yiv5833894595mcnTextContent, #yiv5833894595 #yiv5833894595templateBody .yiv5833894595mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv5833894595 #yiv5833894595templateFooter .yiv5833894595mcnTextContent, #yiv5833894595 #yiv5833894595templateFooter .yiv5833894595mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Why we must continue to remove judgment and dogma from progressive Christian theology. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | May Our Sins be Washed Away: Why we must continue to remove judgment and dogma from progressive Christian theology. | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Deshna C. Shine April 30, 2020 It was 1980, I was three years old, living in a rural town in Colorado, in a tiny house with no hot water, and my parents owned a restaurant and a nightclub. They were a strange hybrid between hippies and wannabe cowboys. New agers who had left the non-stop hustle of Newport Beach, California, their boat and their fancy car, to grow hydroponic food and live off the land in a town that wasn’t fully ready to embrace them. They worked their behinds off though and somehow became a part of the small town community after 8 years. But something was broken. You could say it was their marriage… but that wasn’t quite it. It was more like their dreams, their hearts, and nearly their will. I was unaware at three. I ran around the forest naked with my dog, rolled in leaves in the Fall, put my red cowboy hat on with my boots and snuggled close to my mama every night to keep warm. I bathed in the big metal tin in the kitchen with hot water from the kettle and ate watermelon on blankets in a sunny field of grass and wildflowers. I was a blissful, chubby faced child with large green eyes that held one’s attention. You see, a nightclub and a restaurant in a cowboy town meant another kind of hustle. One that had both my parents working 15 hour days and making some highly questionable decisions on the side. Drugs, random people, all-nighters, and making deals with the big boys in town had gotten my dad in trouble on more than one occasion. My mom was at her wits end, wondering if she would ever be truly loved, and ready to leave it all behind with me. My Dad could leave with us, but that was it, she was done. She knew they had to let go of this one dream in order to survive. Though my dad was a loving, fun, creative, and passionate person, he just couldn’t see how he had gotten to that point in his life. He was full of frustration and disappointment. He was about to lose the love of his life, his family, and everything he had left in the world. He had problems in his marriage, problems at work, and a ton of pressure. He had worked so hard! He was a good person. Why was this happening to him? At a loss of what to do and brimming with regret, he packed an overnight bag and hiked to the top of a nearby mountain. On the way up he kept ticking off the unfairness and the wrong done to him. “Why go home?” he asked himself. “Why should I keep trying so hard? Why am I even alive?” By the time he reached the top of the mountain, he was so fed up with his life and all the things people had done and all the ways he had failed, that he decided he was just going to stay there. He would not return to his wrecked life. He sat near a bottomless lake for hours, just thinking, crying, and feeling utterly alone. Night came… and then morning. He fell into a deep trance state. Suddenly, a huge fish leapt out of the water and then swam toward him. He could almost hear the voice of this strange animal. Was he dreaming? Hallucinating? Dying? It hardly mattered anymore. And then a strange, seeming out of nowhere thought came to him: What would Jesus do? My dad had been in communication for years with the local UCC church pastor and their conversations just kept coming back to him as he sat there. He had studied Philosophy and Political Theory at UC Riverside and the history of Christianity had always fascinated him. He knew quite a bit about the story of Jesus but had never fully related to it until that moment. What would Jesus do? Well, for one, he wouldn’t be sitting there blaming the whole world for all of his problems. He would forgive. One by one, my dad saw the people in his life that he held so much anger toward and felt that just fall away. “I myself have caused just as much pain. I myself am to blame for where I am.” He began to forgive people for all the blame that he had placed on them. “How can I judge others when I myself have made so many mistakes? They are just struggling along in this life just as I am.” All of a sudden, the money owed to him, the arguments, the games, the pride…all of it just began to fall away. It didn’t matter anymore. It was certainly not the load he wanted to carry down the mountain. He started to relate his experience to the story of Jesus. He thought to himself, “this guy had it figured out and we aren’t even listening.” He realized that he had something to share. Suddenly, there was another way to see the world. He walked off that mountain and everything had changed. This mountain-top experience had relieved him of his anguish. He felt a huge swelling of gratitude and compassion rising up in him. He felt deep sadness for the pain he had caused. When he arrived home, he asked for forgiveness from my mom and then later others. His “sins” were washed away by Jesus. His sins of ego, blame, selfishness, and pride were washed away. That is the beauty in the story of Jesus! That is why he is called a savior. Following the teachings of Jesus can save us from ourselves. “The invitation of Christ is the invitation to move out of the house of fear and into the house of love: to move out of that place of imprisonment and into that place of freedom: ‘Come to me, come into my house, the house of love.’” Henri Nouwen Shortly after that strange day, my parents sat on a hillside, the wind was blowing through the trees, and I was playing with the dog. My dad shared his story and my mom looked into his light blue eyes and said, “You need to go to Seminary.” They didn’t even know what Seminary really was, but something deep within him knew she was right. We left everything we owned behind, including our home in Colorado, my parents sold their businesses for $1, and we moved into a trailer in Montana on the property of a cowboy friend. Winter came, the car broke down and we were broke. My parents cut firewood to sell to get by and wondered how they were going to survive. The cat had wandered off into the depths of snow, not yet to return. My Californian parents were shocked by the bone chilling cold and the height of the snow and then they were told it wasn’t even real winter yet. Just because you know what you need to do does not mean the road will be easy. Four years later, after Seminary at the Pacific School of Religion, we moved back to Southern California to grow a small church. I was 7. For years I watched my dad get up every Sunday and find something meaningful to share with our growing progressive Christian church community. We were radicals back then — fighting for equality, health care and immigration rights. We got death threats from fundamental Christians and my dad left at night more than once to bring a suit jacket and $40 to someone who needed help. I was in awe of the life my parents led and the teachings my dad would share. 35 years later I am still deeply involved in the progressive Christian movement as the Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org, primarily because of what I learned from my dad. I share this story today for a couple of reasons. One, to remind us all that people come into the progressive Christian movement for a huge variety of reasons, from a vast diversity of backgrounds and with complex stories and needs. Some come from a deeply fundamental family history and have major spiritual trauma they are healing. Others are leaving behind a life of blame and anger. Some are seekers and feel moved by the story of Jesus. Two, to remind us all that Progressive Christianity does not actually have a linear theology. Due to its very nature the one solid aspect of Progressive Christian theology is an openness and willingness to question others’ and one’s own beliefs. The theology of progressive Christianity is more like a spiral. Always turning, always growing in both directions. And people find themselves entering the journey at many different points in that spiral. I use the spiral metaphor imagery in the hopes of dissolving the patriarchal colonizing linear form of thought theology usually takes. Progressive Christianity did not actually start at one point and progress in an exact way to an endpoint. There is no end or beginning here. There is no finish line. There is no, “I am way ahead of you,” or “I am past that outdated belief.” You are just perfectly where you are meant to be on your authentic journey. If someone calls themselves a progressive Christian and you balk because they talk about God in a more personal way or they talk about Jesus as their savior, what does it matter to you? Are they asking themselves, “What would Jesus do?” Are they doing it? That is what matters, not if their story is right or true, but how they are living their lives. And even more important than that is how are you living your life, today and everyday forward? To be a progressive, one must have the ability to think for oneself, to examine what they have been told and what they read. To be a progressive Christian means we find the courage to both question and to find our own authentic answer. And that takes bravery. Let’s celebrate our bravery together! Beyond the core approach that progressive Christians have to living in the world, their theology is actually quite varied. Due to its authentic nature and the ability to question and doubt, progressive Christianity is always being shaped by the people who call themselves progressive Christians. And it will always be shifting and growing and expanding. Frankly, I am tired of progressives arguing about beliefs and getting all high and mighty. “You aren’t a progressive if you still believe in the literal resurrection.” “You aren’t a progressive if you think of having a personal relationship with God.” “We moved past that years ago.” No, my friends, we didn’t. You shifted in your language and your perception. You shifted in the story you are telling and how you are interpreting the story. It’s just a story. It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. Every person’s story is just as valid as yours. Just like the story I told today, I am sure that I didn’t get it perfectly right and I took some liberties because I wanted to find the meaning in the story and I wanted that meaning to affect how I view the world. You know who isn’t a progressive Christian? One who judges others without looking first at him or herself. One who can’t forgive those who have hurt him. One who holds her pride so high, she can’t see that each person’s relationship to the story is just as valid, if it leads them to actually follow the teachings. One who thinks they have all the answers. Can we please come back to the teachings? Can we please search within our hearts for the mountain top experience of Jesus? To forgive, to be like a child and find awe in our hearts, to stop judging because someone is at a different point in their journey. To love our enemies. To do good to our enemies and expect nothing back. To give and then give some more. To continue to be students and seek for our eyes to be opened to what they are blind to. Can we focus on entering the house of love? Come with us friends, leave that house of fear! Progressives just entering the journey are a blessing. Welcome them to this house of love! Welcome the doubters! Welcome the believers! Welcome their stories that are true and meaningful to them. Ask them: “How are you living this life? How has Jesus informed your decisions and your actions?” And then listen and learn. Remember, we are all just as blind and we do not know what we do not know. As progressives, we are here to ask questions, to learn, and to follow the teachings. Maybe it is time for us all to go sit on top of a mountain and stay there until we too can release our judgements, our hatred, our fears, our anger, our lack of ownership, and our pride. Let the fish tell you their stories. Let the trees listen to your cries. Let the ground hold you. Let the sky sing God’s praises. Let the sun bathe you in love. Let the rain wash away your pride. Forgive yourself. And then forgive some more. And when you are ready…come down that mountain and tell your story of how your sins were washed away when you found Jesus. (Or found again.) Walk with Jesus. Let Jesus guide your feet, sisters and brothers. And always ask: “What would Jesus do?” “Oh happy day, oh happy day, oh happy day when Jesus washed my sins away!” ~ Rev. Deshna C. Shine Read online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Charron Shine is Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org and Progressing Spirit and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is an author, international speaker, and a visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She is a lead author and editor on the children’s curriculum: A Joyful Path, Spiritual Curriculum. She co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. She is the Executive Producer of Embrace Festival. She is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually, and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By a Reader I understand you come from an Evangelical background. Can you help me understand why Evangelicals are so resistant to science? First it was teaching evolution. Then it was homosexuality. Then it was climate change. More recently, a lot of them seemed to think they couldn’t catch COVID-19 so they kept their churches open and resisted social distancing. I just don’t get it. A: By Brian D. Mclaren Dear Reader, I do indeed come from a conservative Evangelical background. It would take many books to even begin to explain the shared ethos that leads to this anti-science bias. But let me sketch out three dimensions of it. First, you can look at the larger history of western Christianity. Back in the 17th Century, European Christians had to deal with first Copernicus and then Galileo challenging the prevailing model of the universe. Then came the Enlightenment in the 18th Century, launching a battle between faith and reason. European Christians responded in two ways, one liberal and one conservative. Liberal Christians were willing to negotiate the scientific and historical claims of the Bible and focus on its deeper meaning. Conservative Christians doubled down on the incorrigible (uncorrectable) trustworthiness of their authority structures (papal infallibility for Catholics, biblical inerrancy for Protestants). After the Enlightenment, new rounds of challenge just kept coming: Darwin and evolution, Marx and socialism, Einstein and relativity, Hubble and the expanding universe, the Big Bang, etc. Faced with these challenges, conservative Christians enmeshed their identity with the idea of biblical inerrancy, epitomized in maxims I heard as a child: “The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it,” and “If the Bible says the whale swallowed Jonah, I believe it. If it said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I’d believe that too.” For centuries now, standing for literalistic readings of the Bible and standing against science have been baked into the recipe of what it means to be a conservative Protestant, and since the 1980’s, it’s gotten worse, as hard-core Fundamentalists have staged a near-complete takeover of the Evangelical movement. (The few remaining non-fundamentalist Evangelicals by and large have to lay low and speak in whispers.) Second, it helps to understand the psychology and sociology of authoritarian and patriarchal communities. In a hostile, scary, or uncertain world, many people find safety in the shadow of a powerful authoritarian leader. The leader protects them (or at least gives them the feeling of being protected), and in exchange for protection, the group submits to the leader. The flip side of this arrangement is also important: if anyone dares to challenge the rightness of the leader, the group unites to exclude the dissenter. So, as long as the leaders of Evangelicalism fall in line behind their acknowledged leaders (these days, Trump and his allies, Fox News and its pundits, and all those who are silently compliant with this arrangement), the followers will comply Third, I would just say, “Follow the money.” Some Evangelical leaders know that if they contradict Fox News or President Trump (who through most of March were minimizing the threat of COVID-19, calling it a liberal hoax, etc., etc.), they will alienate their top givers. Others run such tight margins that staying open a few extra Sundays, even risking the spread of COVID-19, is seen as a business decision. The money follows the conservative message, not the scientific facts (or the actual message of Jesus!), and many Evangelical leaders got where they are by following the money. These, of course, are generalizations about the system as a whole. Many rank-and-file Evangelicals wouldn’t have any awareness of any of these dynamics. They are captives or victims of the system, “sheep without a shepherd” in the words of Jesus. ~ Brian D. McLaren Read and share online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. He is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. A leader in the Convergence Network he also 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 joint project is 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). | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Wales: Where Visions of a Christian Future Are Being Born Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 24, 2009 The land of Wales is a beautiful, intriguing and mysterious part of the world. Most Americans would be hard put to answer the question as to which four nations form the United Kingdom. Yet Wales, a land of some four million people, is one of them. The Welsh people are proud and fiercely independent, most of them dedicated to preserving their ancient Celtic language and heritage. Parts of Wales were never subdued by the Romans or any other invader and remain today quite isolated and very traditional. Wales’ best known poet, R. S. Thomas, has described his homeland this way, “You cannot live in the present, at least not in Wales…there is no present in Wales and no future, there is only the past, brittle with relics, wind bitten towers and castles with ghosts.” In a recent surge of Welsh nationalism, this nation now requires that all children be educated in two languages, Welsh and English. This means that a number of people are employed to teach Welsh to immigrant children. When I asked on my recent visit to this country which nation provided most of the immigrants for these classes, I was told, “England.” Most people would have never guessed that answer. I have been privileged to visit Wales on many occasions in the past. I have done lectures in Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth, Hawarden and Barrie. One of my four grandparents was a Welshman, so I have always been drawn to this land and its people. This past spring I had two assignments to fulfill in that wondrous land. One of them took me deep into northwest Wales to the town of Porthmadog, and the other to the eastern edge of Wales about ten miles from the ancient English fortress city of Chester. What I experienced in both places, however, was not the shadows of the past, but the profound energy of Welsh people pressing the edges of knowledge and engaging the future. Both of my stops caused me to wonder if Wales has changed since their poet R. S. Thomas wrote his words about Wales having only a past. Porthmadog, my first assignment, is a small town in a sparsely populated rural part of Wales. Set in the midst of exquisite mountains and on a tidal river, this community reflected the beauty for which Wales is famous. The power and the energy that I met there, however, was quite unlike what one would expect from the stereotype of contemporary Welsh people. They were totally engaged with the future. The energy that produced this invitation came from a group of people who were expressing discontent with the current state of Christianity in Wales. So instead of simply complaining, they decided to put on a weeklong conference to be held in the center of that town to which people from the entire region were to be invited. Although the sessions were held in a Welsh church, the agenda was clearly to point institutional Christianity in another direction. They called the conference “Prifio,” which is a Welsh word meaning “growth.” The vicar of St. John’s Church, where the conference was held, was the original source of the vision. His name was Aled Jones Williams. In addition to being an Anglican priest, he is also a poet and a playwright. Indeed, he had a play entitled “Christa,” about Jesus as a woman, which is even now playing to packed houses in Cardiff. It is not his recognized genius, however, that was so remarkable to me; it was rather his ability to bring other people who shared his interest in his vision. Two of these were incredible lay people. Nick Golding, the co-owner with his partner, Michael Bewick, of a highly regarded bed and breakfast known as Plas Tan-yr-allt, was one, and Carys Lake, who teaches “Immersion Welsh” for newcomers to Wales, was the other. Two of them were clergy: The Rev. Nia Morris from Bala, and the Rev. John Butler, who once served as Chaplain at the University of Wales at Bangor. Demonstrating that this conference was not one person’s dream, these four people took over the details of the conference and drove it successfully to a conclusion without Aled even being present, since an illness removed him from any participation at all in the scheduled week. Among the invited guests who served as the faculty for this weeklong gathering were Richard Holloway, a Scottish writer and broadcaster, who retired as the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church in 2000 and who calls himself today a “Post Christian” or even “Post Religious.” There is no doubt from his most recent writings that this gifted man walks the religious frontier. Others were Mark Vernon, formerly an Anglican priest, who left the priesthood to become an atheist and who now describes himself as an agnostic, and Menna Elfyn, a poet and playwright, who has been appointed “Poet Laureate” for the children of Wales and who describes herself as a “Christian anarchist.” No one would mistake the speakers at this conference to be those who would turn this event into one more humdrum act of religious propaganda. This faculty was specifically called together to define quite openly the reasons why Christianity was in the death throes and what it might take to enable it to return in a new form. It is hard for me to imagine many church groups that would assemble such a faculty, especially for a conference to be assembled in a parish church in a small town in rural Wales. Yet that is what happened at Porthmadog and I found it not just dynamic and exciting but beyond any of my expectations. I served as the closing lecturer at the “Prifio” conference in the final session held on Saturday night. More than 200 persons crowded into that small church to participate. My topic was “Why Christianity Must Change or Die.” In the discussion that followed the lecture, there were no questions that revealed threat, fear or the kind of anger that so often marks religious behavior. I know of few religious groups able or willing to talk with their critics or to listen to those who have moved beyond religion or out of religion in order to learn why traditional religion no longer satisfies them. Yet this is exactly what these people in Wales did. Other tangential but interesting things were noted. A number of women, both lay and ordained, were in significant leadership roles. Openly gay and lesbian couples were visible and involved and the number of clergy who had ventured far out of their security systems were present sharing in leadership. This conference empowered people to dream. Seldom have I personally received so sustained and long lasting applause following a presentation. It was as if the presence of a Scottish bishop to open this conference and an American bishop to close it conveyed permission for the people to venture beyond traditional boundaries. A community of people that bold and that visionary is clearly living in the present and preparing for the future. When this conference ended we traveled through Wales about two hours north and east from Porthmadog to Hawarden, where St. Deiniol’s Library and Conference Center is located. This library is named for a Welsh saint and was originally part of the estate of William Gladstone, Prime Minister of England in the 19th century. It was built to house the prime minister’s extensive library, but it grew into a center to which scholars come to do research, and an Anglican Church center housing small but intense conferences of about 50 people. St. Deiniol’s is, I believe, unique among the church-related conference centers of the world. I have led conferences there on six occasions over the past 12 years. Its trustees have elected me to the honorary position of being a “Fellow of St. Deiniol’s Library.” If one were to look at the prefaces of my last few books, a number of references to St. Deiniol’s would be apparent. Here I developed the material that would later form my books. The title of this conference was the finally adopted title of my yet to be published book, Eternal Life: A New Vision…Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell. This was to be the last testing place. Under the brilliant guardianship of its current warden, Peter Francis, this center has become a place of challenging and progressive thought. In a church that so often has been visibly afraid of contending with new thought, in a faith that condemned Galileo, resisted Darwin, and encourages a ghetto religious mentality, St. Deiniol’s has become a place that celebrates and welcomes the future with all of its challenging new knowledge. In the Anglican Communion that seems to place ecclesiastical unity ahead of either truth or justice, St. Deiniol’s has become a place where the search for truth and justice is held to be the highest virtue. In a religious tradition that hides and resists with passion and anger the world’s emerging new consciousness that relegates the prejudices of yesterday, like racism, sexism and homophobia, to the dustbin of history, St. Deiniol’s Library welcomes in both word and deed those who help to open up to the light of day yesterday’s darkness. In a world in which the traditional forms of the Christian Church are in steep decline, St. Deiniol’s Library is dedicated to being a place where the world can glimpse what the church of tomorrow might be like. The New Testament warns Christians time after time against the distortions that come when churches forget that their purpose is not to conquer, to dominate or even to shape the world. The New Testament assumes that Christians will never be more than a determining minority. Christians are to be the saving remnant, light in the darkness, salt in the soup and leaven in the loaf. The age of Christian domination of the western world has long passed, yet institutional Christianity still pretends to have vast power and it still assumes that people listen to its medieval pronouncements, holding steadfastly to these illusions even when death surrounds it. No Christian future is to be found there. That future will rather be discovered in tiny cells of people like those I found in Wales. R. S. Thomas might think that Wales is a strange place to look for the future, but the gift of Wales to me this spring was to remind me once again of what seems to be a fact of history, namely that renewal always comes from the edges of institutional life and that it is in those that the institutions tend to marginalize that future hope is always born. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Compassionate Integrity Training May 4th - July 9th Have you ever wondered how you could cultivate the compassion called for in the Charter or help others cultivate that compassion? Compassionate Integrity Training (CIT) is a great place to start! CIT is a resiliency-informed online program that cultivates human values as skills, so we can thrive as individuals, and a society, within a healthy environment.t READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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The Last Chapter- Charles Hahn
by Richard Alton 30 Apr '20

30 Apr '20

CHARLES F. HAHN: ON ASSIGNMENT AT THE ECUMENICAL INSTITUTE/ INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS: 1964-1986 Charles and Doris Hahn, along with their daughters, Marsha and Shelley moved to Fifth City in Chicago, August 1964. The first year in Chicago, Charles spent much of his E.I. life working on pedagogy. He was routinely assigned to RS-I and PLC teams both in Chicago and across the U.S. Then, at the end of the summer of 1965, Charles and Doris along with Joe and Carol Pierce, were assigned to a three-month research trip across the Arab world. This was the last of a series of such trips undertaken to study the depths of life in continents around the world. In September of 1968 the Institute set out to expand its work through establishing Religious Houses rather than working solely in and through Chicago. The Hahn family along with two other families from our Chicago base moved to Los Angeles, CA to join four other families who wanted to be a part of our life and work. After searching for suitable property, we chose to establish the Los Angeles House in Santa Monica where Charles served as Prior until the following summer. In June, the Hahn's moved back to Chicago to participate in the Summer 69 Academy. The following Spring (1970) Charles travelled to the U.K. where he and Doris visited families from across England who had attended Religious Studies I courses held during the earlier part of the year. E.I. courses followed, along with an invitation from the local Church of England Vicor to establish a Religious House in Thornaby-on-Tees where Charles became House Prior. He continued to visit clergy around the U.K. and to set up courses. In the Summer of 1972, the Thornaby House sponsored "Summer 72” with participants from across the U.K. In the Fall of 1972 Charles returned to Chicago where he become Prior of Development Centrum. In the summer of 1974, the Institute established several coordinating centers or Nexus around the world in order to spread the work done in Chicago. Charles was assigned as Prior of the Brussels Nexus, which coordinated Institute work in Europe and Africa. Charles also served as Prior of Development Centrum for Africa as well as Europe. He set up appointments across Europe, especially with Roman Catholic Orders in Rome, where occasionally an Institute presenter was asked to tell our story at a national meeting of a Catholic Order. In 1975 Charles went to the opening of the Kawangware Human Development Project in Nairobi, and often he hosted members from Africa Houses who came to Europe on Development trips. In 1976-77 Charles was assigned to Chicago but spent most of his time back in Europe working in Development. In 1977 Charles was reassigned to Brussels where he stayed one more year. In 1978--82 Charles was Prior of Management Centrum at the Chicago Nexus. And in 82-84 he went to the Bombay Nexus as prior of Research Centrum. That team did the local planning and set-up for the IERD (International Exposition of Rural Development) in 1984. The Research team split their time between planning the event to be held in Delhi and visiting established rural development projects sponsored by many different groups. Research Centum evaluated these projects in order to set up visitation plans for those who came from around the world to Delhi for the actual meeting in 1982. In 1982 Charles was again assigned as Prior of Management Centrum at the Chicago Nexus. And 1984-86 he was assigned to the Houston House, where he worked in Research. The life and work of the Institute(s) and the Order: Ecumenical were dear to Charles, not only until 1986, but for the rest of his life. In the face of great loss, no words convey the sadness we feel for those who loved Charles Hahn. Yet we dare to say Death is neither a curse nor a blessing, an end or a beginning, but only that it is a wondrous, frightening and redemptive reality. It is a step into the Unknown Unknown. It is sacred, and it is good. Even though Death is universal, it is also unique---because every life is unrepeatable. It arrives in its own time and is always shocking, even when it is anticipated. It can be painful or peaceful, timely or not, tragic or strangely welcome, or all of the above at once. We don’t choose the manner or the moment and can only respond by acknowledging its finality and trusting what was, is and will be. We go on. Whether you celebrate death as a Home Going or as a finality that prevents you from being with your loved one physically, acknowledging death is important. We accompany you in your grief. We pray for you in your journey. We hope for your experience of being accompanied by the Divine Spirit. May it sustain you in your sorrow. Our hearts are with you. We are grateful for what we learned and how our lives were enriched because of the unique life of Charles Hahn. We offer here our appreciation for the contributions he made to the life and work of the Ecumenical Institute/ICA. -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Green Community Connections Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2021, March * http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

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Fwd: The Last Chapter
by Richard Alton 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

Dear Colleagues, below is the ICA Appreciation given by ICA's staff person Seva Gandhi at Sally Stovall Memorial Service on May 25, 2019. As part of the Last Chapter work we will be celebrating the lives of our late colleagues over the next month. Dick The Institute of Cultural Affairs exists today because of dedicated people who decided to live their lives on behalf of something bigger than themselves. Individuals who decided to operate out of a different value system than the world was accustomed to, and to demonstrate with their lives that that which seemed impossible, was in fact, possible. Today we celebrate Sally Stovall, a dedicated and fierce leader who helped ICA realize its mission to ‘create a just and equitable society.’ Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, Sally worked in a variety of roles and places for ICA - from Development Staff to Project Manager and Director, sharing her gifts and talents on behalf of the organization in Louisiana, South Dakota, Washington, New York and Taiwan. In the past decade, as ICA’s mission was amended to include ‘in harmony with planet earth,’ something Sally was already so clearly devoted to, she became a key supporter in our initiative toward Solar energy, and a trusted partner on all things sustainability-related. ICA recently went through an exercise to distill the core values of our organization. I share these, because organizational values do not live on a shelf somewhere but rather in the actions and souls of those who have shaped the institution and continue to live out its mission every day. Sally exemplified these values ICA holds up in a way few others are able. The value of Continuous Learning – Sally was never afraid to challenge herself, learn something new, or be honest about what she did not know. She was curious without being skeptical, and always willing to learn something new from anyone who was willing to share. The value of Facilitative Leadership – This value is extremely difficult to embody - but Sally seemed to do it with such ease and grace. Sally’s leadership looked so different from being front and center that it might have been unrecognized to those who weren’t paying close attention. She was great about being a ‘guide on the side’ instead of a ‘sage on the stage’. She worked tirelessly to support others to take action on the change they were seeking as many of you who worked with her have likely experienced. The value of Equity as a way to create a more just world. Sally had a deep commitment to inclusion and accessibility, and was on a journey of doing the hard work of internal inquiry and exploration to understand her unique role and place in creating a more just system. The value of Collaboration. Sally seemed to defy the adage If you want to go quickly, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together-- She was somehow clever enough to get everyone to go far, quickly, together. And lastly, the value of Spirit. Of being present and connected to those around you and giving of everything you have on behalf of something greater than yourself. Sally shared her spirit, her laugh and her being generously, and we are forever different because of it. We will always be grateful for Sally, and her spirit will be with us as we continue her legacy. The question the ICA posed to Sally over 50 years ago, was ‘What will you DO with your unique and unrepeatable life’, and we can see Sally’s answer clearly through her mission and work. And I bet, Sally would like nothing more than for us all to ponder, what will we do with our unique and unrepeatable life, and how are we willing to actively, not passively -make the change we know the world so desperately needs. -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Green Community Connections Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2021, March * http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor? -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Green Community Connections Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2021, March * http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

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The Last Chapter- John Singleton
by Richard Alton 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

*An ICA Tribute to John Singleton* In the face of great loss, no words convey the sadness we feel for those who loved John Singleton. Yet we dare to say Death is neither a curse nor a blessing, an end or a beginning, but only that it is a wondrous, frightening and redemptive reality. It is a step into the Unknown Unknown. It is sacred, and it is good. Even though Death is universal, it is also unique---because every life is unrepeatable. It arrives in its own time and is always shocking, even when it is anticipated. It can be painful or peaceful, timely or not, tragic or strangely welcome, or all of the above at once. We don’t choose the manner or the moment and can only respond by acknowledging its finality and trusting what was, is and will be. We go on. Whether you celebrate death as a Home Going or as a finality that prevents you from being with your loved one physically, acknowledging death is important. We accompany you in your grief. We pray for you in your journey. We hope for your experience of being accompanied by the Divine Spirit. May it sustain you in your sorrow. Our hearts are with you. We are grateful for what we learned and how our lives were enriched because of the unique life of John Singleton. We offer here our appreciation for the contributions he made to the life and work of the Ecumenical Institute/ICA. As a representative of the Institute of Cultural Affairs I would like to hold up and celebrate the unique contribution of John Singleton’s to the work of the Institute: John participated in the Institute work in the Local Church Experiment with a cluster of Denver churches and particularly at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church. The focus was on lay leadership to bring intentionality to the church’s role as mission to the world. John also worked with the Institute in Africa designing a community-based program to combat HIV/AIDS first in Ghana in 2002. This was during a time that Africa was the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. John was part of a team to visit hospitals and clinics and document the Ghanaian health system response to HIV/AIDS. Later John would go to Uganda to help launch the Institute's Community based HIV/AIDS program to empower and enable communities to challenge HIV/AIDS. The Institute would like to celebrate John’s life and his unique contribution to caring for this planet and being part of the People of Care. Death is an experience that each and every living creature will finally experience. However, we also understand that every single life is unique and unrepeatable, and, therefore, today we come to acknowledge a very unique death. There has been no death like the death of John Singleton and no life such as the unique and unrepeatable life of John Singleton. What he did and what he was will never be repeated again. John Singleton died February 3, 2020 -- Richard H. T. Alton One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) Green Community Connections Interfaith Green Network T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2021, March * http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

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Two weeks from Sunday -
by Karen Snyder 24 Apr '20

24 Apr '20

ICA Social Research Center Virtual Gathering - Update May 10-13,2020 May 10: Sun Chicago Time* May 11: Monday May 12: Tuesday May 13: Wednesday · Context the ICA Social Research Assembly Lynda Cock Jim Wiegel 3-5:00 PM Chicago Time STRUCTURAL REFORMULATION What assistance do social structures need to realize their full potential? CONTEXTUAL RE-EDUCATION What methods and interchange enable people to respond creatively and transform the lives of others? SPIRIT REMOTIVATION What opens people to possibilities for significant engagement and shifts hopelessness to the hope that does not disappoint? 10:00 – 12:00 1 Human Development Catalyzing global/local community development Doug Druckenmiller ddrucken(a)gmail.com 4 Imaginal Education Creating structures and events for transformative education Karen Snyder karen.snyder10(a)gmail.com 8 Inner Life Experimenting with methods to strengthen one’s interior life Jeanette Stanfield jstanfieldica(a)gmail.com 12:30 – 2:30 2 Social Change Researching how to influence social trends Jim Wiegel jfwiegel(a)gmail.com 5 Facilitation Methods Facilitating group creativity with tools for depth reflection, effective dialogue and action Beret Griffith beretgriffith(a)gmail.com 9 Spirit Movement Giving form to Those Who Care Lynda Cock lyndacock(a)gmail.com 3:00 – 5:00 3 Awakenment Forums Awakening community/ organizations to their potential thru planning/action OliveAnn Slotta oslotta(a)gmail.com 6 Collaborative Networking Learning from and strengthening multiple networks Nelson Stover fnelsonstover(a)gmail.com Summary and Next Steps OliveAnn Slotta Nelson Stover * Convert your local time here: www.thetimezoneconverter.com/ <http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/>. The collection guides are preparing unique procedures that will reflect this generic outline: Context: Meet those gathered and discover the concerns and hopes each person brings related to this collection. Part I: Review collection intention and what is going on in the world today with current challenges, climate change and the virus. Part II: Recall what we learned in the past and discern how website can share relevant learnings. Part III: So what? Dialogue about new perspectives, resolves, potential actions. Reflection: Session summary and reminder of next collection dialogue. ***** Bear with us as we learn how to virtually gather and dialogue together. Our team is testing the Google Meet platform which allows up to 200 to participate. We intend to record each dialogue and have a notetaker. In conversation with Larry Philbrook, he enthusiastically agreed to host follow-up session(s) this summer to build on the May meeting and engage people on the other side of the world – truly making this a global research assembling. If you are interested in participating in the collection dialogues, (1) Review the archives website (https://icaglobalarchives.org <https://icaglobalarchives.org/>), to identify your passion and interests; (2) Go to Google and sign up for a gmail address (Open Google, click on circle with letter of your name in upper right corner, next to nine dots – add new email under manage accounts); (3) register by emailing Lynda Cock (lyndacock(a)gmail.com <mailto:lyndacock@gmail.com>), telling her which collection(s) you are interested in participating in. Instruction on how to connect to Google Meet will come with your registration confirmation. Peace, The Social Research Center Team Lynda Cock, Doug Druckenmiller, Steve Ediger, Jack Gilles, Beret Griffith, Mary Laura Jones, Frank Knutson, Paul Noah, Wendell Refior, Oliveann Slotta, Karen Snyder, Jeanette Stanfield, Nelson Stover, Tim Wegner, Jim Wiegel

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4/23/20, Progressing Spirit: Lauren VanHam: Befriending an Intruder; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 23 Apr '20

23 Apr '20

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Befriending an Intruder | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Lauren VanHam April 23, 2020 When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into [our] lives, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become [humans] of mature character with the right sort of independence. New Testament, Book of James 1:2-4 Rumi, the beloved 12th century Sufi poet wrote, “Be grateful for whatever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” And in a letter to the early Christians, James the Apostle wrote, “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into [your] lives, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!” Since early March, a poem[i] by Kristin Flyntz has been circulating widely wherein she imagines what the Covid-19 virus might be saying. More than once it says, “Just stop. Be still. Listen. Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well. We will help you, if you listen.” In any number of ways, we are being encouraged to treat Covid-19 as a holy prophet. In exponential fashion, this microbe has arrived to remind us of everything that is broken: our capitalist economic system, our healthcare system, our social-caste system. In exponential fashion, this microbe is pointing to all of the places we try to create separation between ourselves and Creation, between the powerful and the disempowered, and between ourselves and the Divinity that lives in each one of us. Very uncomfortably, this holy prophet is showing us that we are intimately connected. This intruder traveled from one of our animal relatives into our airways, and transmits its life-threatening-self through direct contact and – in record time – it has spread itself around the globe. We can no longer deny that we are one breath! Furthermore, we are so inextricably connected that we are under orders to isolate! This startling moment of awe and recognition has also brought fear and panic. On the frontlines, this intruder holds hundreds of thousands in its grip, some fighting for their lives, and others tragically surrendering. In the marketplace, this intruder has halted everything that is not essential; it calls into question everything we have perceived to be normal activity or business as usual. And for a great many of us, sheltering in this sea of uncertainty, this intruder presents itself as a continued onslaught of information, a density of numbers, maps and metrics coming at us, 24/7. In our hope for control and greater understanding, we attempt to take it all in, to assimilate it in some way that will offer instruction and clarity. But this is not the whole picture of this moment. We are being invited to something much bigger still. This moment is not only about reacting to the intruder, it is about how we respond to the intruder, as prophet and friend. In his provocative and helpful article, “Covid-19: A War Broke Out in Heaven,” professor, philosopher and theologian, Zachary Stein says it this way: “This is it: we have arrived at the end of the world. Finally. Now we can start to build a new one. This is our chance to reshape ourselves as spiritual, scientific, and ethical beings.[ii]” Instead of the blind hope that one leader can fix this, or the delusion that our country or economy will recover by throwing money at it, we are being asked to re-imagine ourselves and our civilization! And so, here we are in a giant moment of reset and it’s happening in our lifetime! What does the new world look like – you know, the one in which God created us, to love and to tend and to care for? And how now, in our physical distancing, might we move through the fear to a place of ingenuity and action? I want to offer three ideas: First, honor the Sabbath. This in an unprecedented time on Earth – a planet-wide “time out.” The Sabbath is about connecting with God through family, walks, prayer, rest and other life-affirming activities so that when we return to life’s other demands, we feel renewed and ready to engage. So, let’s agree to protect ourselves and one another from the seduction of alarmist media. In the ways we can, let’s retreat from the world that was. Yes, we are working from home, or finishing a semester. We are on-hold with un-employment offices and home-schooling children. Let us also be thoughtful and dedicated about the ways we want to return to life’s demands in a more integrated way – spiritually, scientifically and ethically. Second, love one another. Every Faith Tradition teaches this. Let’s focus our lives and lifestyles on the nurturing of relationships: We help small farmers when we eat organic and buy locally. We fund community resiliency when we move our finances away from mega banks and into community banks and micro-lending efforts. We direct the future economy when we divest from fossil fuels. And if you don’t need the stimulus check that is coming your way, give it to the person or cause who does. These acts of care and compassion are transformative, both for the recipients and for us. Third, hold space for what is changing: our feelings, our thoughts, the people around us, all that is crumbling, and all that is trying out new ways of being. In no way can we befriend this intruder without feeling our fear, our anger, our grief. We must feel it. All of all it. And after that, there is the outpouring of anger and grief that comes from everyone else. Breathe…. Let’s ask ourselves again and again, who will I become because of this loss, grief and upheaval? Another breath… Let’s encourage and invite the changing, so we don’t get blinded by the deception of putting things back the way they were. There is no safety there for us! It was already broken and running on borrowed time. In his letter, James instructs his fellow followers to undertake the quality of “endurance,” to become, “mature.” In the Eastern traditions, this maturity is called, “enlightenment.” Enlightenment is not an end point but rather an alive and dynamic state where wisdom and compassion conspire, each informing the other, and acting together. Exercising enlightenment is not always obvious or straightforward. For example, when the voice of Covid-19 (Flyntz poem above) says, “Ask us about what might be required so that all may be well.” It does not say so that “some” may be well. It says “all.” The voice of the virus reminds us that it has been trying to get us to stop for some time –with floods, with fires, and we can add with hurricanes, and oil spills, and refugee camps and detention centers. “All” doesn’t mean the country where we live, or the hemisphere we’re in. “All” doesn’t mean humans living everywhere. “All” means All – the insects, the rainforests, the cheetahs, the Chihuahuas, the oceans, the people we love, along with the ones we don’t and the ones we will never even know. Bringing both wisdom and compassion to the multiplicity of demands is very challenging. It requires practice, and the support of community. Our individual actions matter enormously, and when performed along with others, their potency multiplies! Together, we become an even more powerful – bear with me – a more powerful virus; a force that takes in the reality of all that is unraveling, and responds with enlightened action – together, we can bring wisdom and compassion as we apologize to all the ones we have “other-ed,” and offer reparations widely. Together, we can bring wisdom and compassion to Earth as we re-tool ourselves for a life that is tenable for humans to continue for generations to come. An intruder is in our midst. If we only react, we will be inviting further retaliation. If we respond, we will taste enlightenment. We will demonstrate our willingness to learn from our mistakes; we will honor the indigenous and ancient wisdom within us and around us; we will act compassionately and firmly, so that each of us becomes that which is required so that ALL may be well. This is what befriending an intruder looks like. It is not without fear, grief and confusion. But in our response, we will grow and learn, we will listen and create, and ultimately, we may celebrate with relief that we found the courage to bring the medicine so that ALL are well.~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read online here About the Author Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA was born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest, Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University and The Chaplaincy Institute. Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care), and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Lauren’s passion for spirituality, art and Earth's teachings have supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. Her ideas can be heard on Vennly, an app that shares perspectives from spiritual and community leaders across different backgrounds and traditions. Currently, Lauren tends her private spiritual direction and eco-chaplaincy consulting practice; and serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative (URI), and as guest faculty for several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.[i] The full poem may be found here: “Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans,” by Kristin Flyntz[ii] The full Zachary Stein article, “Covid-19: A War Broke Out in Heaven,” may be found at whatisemerging.com | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Dr. Wally Why have Christians abandoned the sabbath established by God? A: By Toni Ann Reynolds Dear Dr. Wally,I fear I have more questions in response to your question. Mostly because when I think about the biblical rules “established by God” it seems that very few people currently abide by them in the way they were initially prescribed. I do not think this is a bad thing. Good faith, practical faith, adapts and metabolizes as it needs to. I wonder what your idea of keeping the Sabbath looks like? I also wonder what kind of growth you had to endure in order to learn that keeping the Sabbath means what it means to you. What gentle, and graceful help can you be to others as they volunteer their struggle of keeping the Sabbath? I’m tempted to go into a short diatribe about a potential reason being the dysfunctional culture of congregational life. The same culture that means pastors have no time for a spiritual practice of their own because of the excessive, and often absurd, expressions from congregations. I’m wondering if some of the reasons the Sabbath keeping practices look different now has to do with our culture. We can click buttons and have just about anything done for us, delivered to our door, cleaned up, etc. Are we expecting faith leaders to do our spiritual work for us, the way that hired people in our Monday-Saturday lives do other difficult work for us? I do not agree with you completely- that Christians have abandoned the Sabbath. I don’t know all Christians, and I don’t know how all Christians actually do/don’t observe the Sabbath, nor how they have adapted their readings of scripture to make sense in a world where boxes talk to us and we can see our living rooms from the other side of the world. The prescription given to the people who wrote the bible, again and again before it reached the NIV or NRSV, was not this world you and I now occupy. This is a moment where my former Christian self would envy Judaism and Islam for the way they value successive interpretations of scripture for each generation of followers. Despite their controversies, these collective attempts to make sense of scripture in an ever-changing world are models of metabolizing faith practices as the world around us evolves. Since Christians don’t have this aspect, I like to think that it’s an invitation to healthy freedom. Freedom to decide what element(s) of your weekly life hinder, or simply strain your relationship with God. Whatever the answer is, that’s the thing that should be put on rest. If not for a full day, then after 5pm; or before noon each day. Ultimately, rules aside, it is up to each of us to govern ourselves in a way that keeps us moving in the Light of Love. Regardless of what all other Christians are doing, perhaps it is most advantageous to become lovingly disciplined about your personal respect for a day that is of utmost importance to you. That way your presence can speak and people can learn from you as they witness the power of your practice.~ 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 our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Masada, the Jewish-Roman War of 66-73, and the Writing of the Gospels Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 4, 2009The most impressive memory I have from my last trip to Israel is not of a religious site at all but of a military site, one that played an enormous role in Israel’s history. I refer to our visit to the desert fortress of Masada where, according to Josephus Flavius, a first-century Jewish historian, the war against Rome that began in the hills of Galilee in 66 came to an end in 73. Masada, an almost impenetrable fortress located near the Dead Sea, had once been a winter palace for Herod. Rising sphinxlike out of the desert, it was destined to be etched into Israel’s proud military history, not as the place of a great victory, but as the site of one of its most tragic, if noble, defeats. It is also not far from Nag Hammadi, where so many of the scrolls were discovered that were destined to revolutionize biblical studies in the 20th century. Most people are not familiar with the Roman-Jewish War, though I suspect it shaped the writing of the gospels as dramatically as anything that happened in the life of Jesus. In Jesus’ day, “freedom fighters,” which was what the Jews called them, or “terrorists,” as the Romans referred to them, were active in the hills of Galilee. One aggressive and uncompromising group was called the “Sicarii,” which means “political assassins.” From this word many scholars believed the name of “Iscariot” was derived. Generally, these guerillas were designated “the Zealots,” a name that was attached to Simon, one of the Twelve, in Luke’s Gospel. Whether these titles reflected a reading back into the Jesus story of memories from the Jewish-Roman War or whether this long-simmering Jewish hostility toward the Romans simply boiled just beneath the surface at the time of Jesus before finally erupting into open warfare about two generations later, is still subject to debate, but clearly there is some connection. The fact remains that in the year 66 CE, some thirty-six years after the crucifixion, and probably as much as five years before the first of the gospels was to be written, an open and full-scale war on Rome was begun by the Jewish Zealots in Galilee. Deciding that they had absorbed all of the Roman oppression that they could endure, these patriots took to arms. It was a hopeless quest for glory, because the might of Rome was unmatched and it was surely not going to be toppled by these roving bands of armed Jewish guerillas hiding out in the mountains of Galilee. Despite the odds, however, the Jews enjoyed great success with their hit-and-run attacks. They would swoop down on an outnumbered band of Roman soldiers, destroy them, take their weapons and armor and disappear, as if by magic, back into those hills. These successful attacks happened so frequently that they finally got the attention of Rome, arousing considerable anger. The Jews had always been a difficult conquered province for Rome to govern, so that no love was lost between them, but now they were becoming so costly in terms of both military lives lost and equipment stolen that Rome could tolerate them no longer. So Rome decided to act. First, they strengthened their presence in Galilee, requiring that their military personnel travel in larger units and in battle-ready stances. When that failed to diminish their losses, Rome decided that this war would no longer be fought on the turf chosen by the Jews. Reasoning that no enemy is destroyed by attacking its extremities, Rome decided to strike at the Jewish jugular. First under a general named Vespasian, and later under his son Titus, a Roman army was moved into siege positions around Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish nation. In the year 70 CE, the city of Jerusalem fell and the Romans legions, filled with a loathing for these troublesome people, decided to show the Jews how costly defiance of Rome could be. That city was laid waste and the Temple was leveled. The Jews were treated with great hostility, justified, Rome felt, by their willingness to enter this war with Rome. The Temple authorities, primarily the strict constructionist Sadducees, were publicly persecuted. The Jewish nation was stricken from the maps of human history. Except for a brief revival in the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-135, it would not reappear on those maps until 1948. Jerusalem was repopulated with non-Jews. A temple to Jupiter was built where the Temple of Solomon had once been. For all practical purposes, Rome believed that they had ended the existence of the Jewish people in history. A few of the defeated defenders, however, managed to escape, and with some new recruits picked up on their retreat into the desert, they marched to join the Jewish defenders in the fortress at Masada. There in that remote place this war would continue. Rome pursued, but not vigorously, until their opponents were isolated in Masada, where cisterns caught and held enough rainwater to sustain life and where great amounts of grain and food were stored to help the defenders maintain themselves during a siege. There could be no retreat from Masada. This place was designed as the ultimate last stop. Rome seemed content at first simply to bottle up their enemies and wait, so the Masada siege held out for three years. Finally, with supplies of both food and water all but exhausted, with weapons in short supply — a spear or a rock once thrown could never be recovered — the moment of defeat was at hand. Ultimately, the Roman legions constructed a ramp with a tower that would lie against the side of that fortress mountain enabling them to attack the defenders from the same height and finally to leap over the walls. The Jewish commander, Eleazar ben Ya’ir, urged a suicide pact on the remaining defenders, still numbering in the hundreds, as a better alternative to crucifixion or slavery at the hands of the Romans. The pact was agreed to and so, by lot, ten of the men among the defenders were chosen to be the executioners. With their swords they struck the bared throats of the defenders until all were dead. Then again by lot, one of the defenders was chosen to execute the remaining nine then to fall on his sword in an act of suicide. It was in this manner that the Jewish-Roman War ended, and only a strange quiet greeted the Romans when they finally entered the mountain fortress. We rose in Be’er Sheva at 4:00 a.m. on the Wednesday after Easter to make the trip to Masada, in order to climb by foot into this mountain stronghold to view the rising of the sun over the Dead Sea and to examine the various rooms within this fortress where that ancient drama had been lived out. Above all, we sought to relive that dramatic moment in world history. Christians need to know that the first gospel, Mark, was probably written between the fall of Jerusalem and the fall of Masada. Its apocalyptic end of the world chapter 13 describes the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple and the persecution that enveloped the Jews, including those Jews who were followers of Jesus. It was written as if this devastating destruction was a prelude to Jesus’ second coming and the expected dawning of the Kingdom of God. That is why Mark portrays Jesus as the messiah at whose second coming the world would come to an end. That is also why Mark wraps miracles around the memory of Jesus because the Jews believed that when the Kingdom of God arrived in human history, it would be accompanied by acts of healing. The prophet Isaiah had written that the messiah would be recognized by the fact that at his coming the blind would see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the mute sing. That is also why in the ninth chapter of Mark a story is told in which Jesus is made translucent by the light of God that previously was said to fall only on the Temple. It further suggests that Israel’s two greatest heroes, Moses and Elijah, not only share that light, but also find their fulfillment in him. It is clear in this “transfiguration” narrative that Jesus was being presented as the “New Temple,” the new meeting place between God and human life, an idea that would have been unthinkable if the Temple had not already been destroyed by the Romans. That is also why the activities of both Moses and Elijah are wrapped around Jesus throughout the gospels. Mark, Matthew and Luke all included accounts of Jesus taken directly from the Elijah-Elisha cycle of stories. Matthew in particular would develop these Markan themes to portray Jesus as the new Moses. That is why Matthew has Herod, like the Pharaoh of old, try to destroy the male messiah at birth. Then he parallels Jesus’ baptism with the Red Sea, Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness with Moses’ 40 years in the wilderness, and the trials of Moses are retold as the temptations of Jesus. Then Matthew puts Jesus on a new mountain to deliver a new interpretation of the Torah, which we today call “The Sermon on the Mount.” Luke, on the other hand, portrays Jesus as the “New Elijah,” retelling Elijah stories about Jesus as if he had actually replicated Elijah’s life. This culminates in Luke’s account of both the ascension of Jesus and the Pentecost story, both of which are little more than Elijah stories adapted to Jesus. This context may also explain why Mark, the first gospel to be written, introduces the traitor as a man named Judas. My study has convinced me that Judas Iscariot is a Christian creation, not a figure of history. The idea that Jesus had been betrayed by one of his own was unknown before Mark. After the fall of Jerusalem, Jewish Christians, seeking to separate themselves from the Temple Jews, who were being blamed for starting that war, decided to show that they had a common Jewish enemy, just like the Romans, so they made the anti-hero of the Jesus story a man who bore the name of the Jewish nation. Judas is nothing but the Greek spelling of Judah. Increasingly, while both Mark and Matthew were making the Jews the villains of the Jesus story, they were also portraying Pontius Pilate, the Roman official, as sympathetic to Jesus. The fall of Jerusalem in 70 and Masada in 73 became the context in which the gospel tradition was formed. If you ever get to Israel, spend some time at Masada and then read the gospels through the context of those days in which the gospels were written instead of pretending that they describe the time of Jesus. It will be a new lens, a powerful and accurate lens, and the gospel stories will never be the same. I recommend a visit to Masada if one wants to be a serious New Testament scholar.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Practicing Spirituality in Nature April 20th – May 29th - registrationremains open until the last day of the course Come along with Spirituality & Practice on a retreat conducted via email and explore all the ways you can discover and celebrate the Divine in nature. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Seeking your wisdom
by Nancy Trask 20 Apr '20

20 Apr '20

Thinking about the concept of Stakes, the One Earth Film Festival is one program done by Dick Alton’s organization, Green Community Connections. The film festival now has an internet-based access during this very week for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It appears that we can register online and fully participate. Another program that seems to be truly Stake-based is the Green Block Party. Green Block Parties: 1. Mobilize for Monarchs 2. Family-Friendly Lawns 3. Plastic-Free Living 4. Sustainable Food Wouldn’t it be great to replicate the Green Block Parties around the world! Both of these concepts (internet-based & stake-based) seem RIGHT ON to me. Nancy Trask On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 8:45 PM James Wiegel via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > In what way, Mary? > > Jim Wiegel > > “We are all time travelers journeying into the future. But let us make > that future a place we want to visit. “ — Stephen Hawkings > > On Apr 19, 2020, at 5:24 PM, Mary Kurian D'Souza via OE < > oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > > > Dear colleagues on the journey, > I think our community development model is a critical dimension of our > offering to society at this time after the Covid 19 pandemic dies down. > I think the stake dynamic is a particularly important offering at this > time. > > I am trying to figure out how we go about offering this . > Mary > _______________________________________________ > 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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Summer '71 - another story
by Karen Snyder 16 Apr '20

16 Apr '20

On April 2nd Dick Alton shared Louise Singleton’s story about her experience of the Summer Research Assembly in 1971. This occasioned a memory Jim Troxel had from that same event. Because of his telling about Audrey Ayres response to the summer, I encouraged him to write it up; and said I would send it to the dialogues. So here it is: Peace, Karen Snyder Troxel

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ICA Archives Spring Virtual Sojourn 2020
by Lynda C 16 Apr '20

16 Apr '20

Colleagues In this time of social isolation, the Spring Sojourn 2020 will be a virtual event. See attachment. More details will follow soon. Hold the dates open to join us during the May 10-14 time frame. Praying for caring, healing structures all around the world. the Archives Advisory Team ICA Global Social Research Center

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4/16/20, Progressing Spirit: Brian McLaren: What Should We Be Learning in the Time of COVID-19?; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 16 Apr '20

16 Apr '20

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.yiv6973172984mcnTextContent, #yiv6973172984 #yiv6973172984templateHeader .yiv6973172984mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6973172984 #yiv6973172984templateBody .yiv6973172984mcnTextContent, #yiv6973172984 #yiv6973172984templateBody .yiv6973172984mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv6973172984 #yiv6973172984templateFooter .yiv6973172984mcnTextContent, #yiv6973172984 #yiv6973172984templateFooter .yiv6973172984mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | What Should We Be Learning in the Time of COVID-19? | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Brian McLaren April 16, 2020 When all of my speaking engagements got cancelled in early March, I remember feeling a certain relief. “Wow,” I said to myself, “I could use a rest.” As it turns out, I have been even busier than I would have been otherwise because every organization and network I’m part of has become even more active than before as we respond to a surge in requests for help in coping with the COVID-19 crisis. Many of us are part of this veritable laptop army of peace and goodness activists. COVID is putting high demands on all of us, including … Health care professionals, essential store and service workers, and many others who risk their own health every day to show up, protect the vulnerable, help the infected, and serve the common good. Moms and/or dads having to work from home while caring for and homeschooling their kids — too much for anyone to handle! People with special vulnerability to the virus who must take extra precautions and deal with the real threat to their survival. People who have lost loved ones, are losing loved ones, or are caring for loved ones who are sick. People who have lost their jobs, or who were unemployed or underemployed before this crisis began. People whose income depends on people coming together for concerts, plays, movies, meals, and liturgies. People who struggle with anxiety in the best of times, who now are barely able to make it from one minute to another. With all the added stress, it’s easy for us to miss the lessons and opportunities this moment can offer us. That’s why I’m always trying to keep one ear open to the voice of the Spirit, either in my own heart or in the heartfelt poetry and prose of others. You may have heard the saying, “In the school of life, first you take the test and then you learn the lesson.” I’d like to learn the lesson during this test, and not have to repeat anything like it again. Of many lessons we can learn, here’s one that I feel is of primary importance: we can’t return to the old normal. Yes, the old normal was better for most of us than the current situation: having jobs, having a routine, having an in-person social life, having income, not fearing for the welfare of our parents - or ourselves, being free to travel, etc., etc. But there was more wrong with the old normal than we realized. For one thing, it left us vulnerable to pandemics like COVID-19. Our leaders were too focused on other dangers to take this one as seriously as they should have, even though experts were sounding the alarm. For another, it provided quality health care for a few, mediocre health care for many, and little or no health care for most. Now, it turns out, the richest of the rich are at the mercy of viruses that spread among the rest of us. On top of that, it invested trillions of dollars in weapons that injure and kill, while investing too little in institutions and services that promote and protect health. In addition, the old normal was framed by deeply embedded systems of white supremacy and oligarchy, leaving so many outside and behind. Beyond all that, the old normal was unsustainable because of its baseline of harm to the planet we all share. And to mention just one more, in the old normal, too many people acted as if lines on a map could protect us from our greatest dangers. The old normal was based on a lie: that we are all islands, little monads of self-reliant self-interest, living in an economy that will protect us from all evil if we just work hard enough and make enough money. In this lie, our survival depends on self-interest. We can’t afford to return to that lie. In the new normal that we can create together, we can lean into a truth that we are all learning in our bones thanks to this crisis: we are all connected, participants in local, regional, and global societies, living in an ecosystem that requires us to seek the common good with one another and with all our fellow creatures. Or to put it more simply: our survival depends on love, on mutual concern, on being our brother and sister’s keeper, on a common commitment to the common good. This is exactly the logic that I see in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 - 7. At the heart of this moral masterpiece, Jesus tells his followers to stop imitating the empire-builders (i.e. the Gentiles, meaning the Romans who are occupying their land like a human pandemic). Instead, Jesus says to imitate the flocks of birds flying by overhead and the wildflowers swaying in the meadow nearby. In other words, he tells us all to take this opportunity to defect from the status quo of our society and its social and economic systems. He tells us to transfer our trust to the natural ecosystem of God, to rejoin the larger system of the divine economy which he calls the kingdom or empire or commonwealth of God. This new reality could become the new normal, he said, if we would just be willing to repent (or rethink everything) and believe. In this new normal, rather than seeking first food, clothing, and shelter for ourselves as anxious individuals, we seek first the common good (what Jesus calls “the commonwealth and justice of God” in 6:33). Without the common good, nothing will go sustainably right, and with it, there will be enough for all. In the coming days, I know we all will miss “the good old days” of normalcy before the quarantine. And there will be many good reasons to feel this nostalgia. But nostalgia is not a good survival strategy. When we feel exasperation about the present, rather than wishing for the past, what if we did something a little more creative? What if we imagined how the new economy we build after the current and coming chaos could be truly new and better, not just a return to the same-old same-old? What if we take serious stock of the failures of our current governments and leaders, not just to hold individuals and parties to account for their failures (which, no doubt, must be done to a degree), but more, to imagine what kind of systemic changes could be initiated that make more sense in a world like ours? What if we admit that our current approaches to health care aren’t working, and start imagining creating a new and better system that makes sense for the reality of a globally connected world? What if we opened the way for a new approach to church — to imagine what kind of church we need for the world of tomorrow, just as our founders and reformers did in past centuries? What if we threw out the old conservative notion that “government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem,” along with the old more liberal notion that “government alone is the solution” — and instead, imagined a new normal where government plays a pivotal role along with every other human institution in not just remembering the past and governing for the present, but also in preparing for the future, including the inevitability of climate change and our need to flatten the curve before it’s too late? Those are just a few dimensions of the old normal that we must leave behind and the new normal that we must create together. Of course, in the coming weeks and months, many of us will simply have our hands full surviving. But in the midst of surviving, we can nurture a vision for the future we are surviving for. ~ Brian 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. His most recent joint project is 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 Kim How does a Christian who thinks she is on the Spiritual/Interfaith path – evolving, becoming, opening evermore – deal with the death of a loved one rooted in “traditional” Christian ideas about The Afterlife? I find myself desperately hoping there is a physical Heaven – a childhood concept that I thought I had moved beyond; because I want to hold Dad’s hand again someday, and I want to believe he is with my cousin and dear friends who have died. It suddenly feels more secure and yet non-existent. I am surprised, saddened, and grieving (thank goodness). A: By Kevin G. Thew Forrester, PhD Dear Kim, I feel the sadness, perhaps connected to a sense of loss, in your questions. Isn’t it amazing that we can “think” we are on a path and want to “believe” something, but our heart and body are in other places? The path we are actually on is the one we are experiencing in our body. And this is neither right nor wrong. It simply is what is. Neurologically we now know that for all the signals sent from the neurons in our head down to our body, that number is dwarfed by the stream of neurological traffic upwards from the body to the head. In other words, it is a losing battle, and it does indeed feel like a battle, to convince our heart and body that reality is different than our experience. You are on a Spiritual/Interfaith path, which is richer and more mysterious than our mind can conceive. Where I invite you to begin is with your experience of sadness and loss. This experience is much more than a thought – it is sacred and fertile ground for you. Begin with where you experience the sadness/loss in your body. Follow that thread of your experience, by sensing/feeling into it. For example, you might discover that there is tightness in your solar plexus. The head will want to solve and judge and categorize. But practice being curious. Honor your not knowing. Practice simply honoring and holding. See where your soulful-attention is led; that is what I mean by following the thread of your experience. Respect, also, your sense of want, honor it, and sense into its origin in your experience. Let your mind drop down into your heart and body and be guided by your heart-centered curious inquiry. This takes courage, for you will move in, through, and beyond beliefs which are held out of fear. And oddly, “hope” often takes us away from our present experience and trusting in that experience to teach and guide us. Holy Hope is the realization that in the Present, which is the Reign of God, there is present what you need. In this spiritual practice you won’t be egoically vanquishing fear, or getting what you want; you won’t be trying to stake out a position ahead of time. What you will be doing is trusting your own experience and touching what it is your soul is longing for. Who knows what you will discover as you courageously trust? Perhaps there will be the realization that there is already a connection with your Dad that is deeper and sweeter than anything your mind might imagine. ~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, PhD Read and share online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of St. Paul’s Church in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including I Have Called You Friends, Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms, and My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You and Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland. Visit Kevin’s Blog: Essential Living: For The Soul’s Journey. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Galilee: The True Origins of the Jesus Story Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 28, 2009 I spent several days recently in the region of Israel called Galilee. Contrary to what most people might expect I found my time in Galilee to be far more authentic than my time in Jerusalem. I actually wondered why, for it seemed counterintuitive. Seeking an answer to this question, I plunged into a brief study of the relationship between Jerusalem and Galilee in the Jesus story and in the history of the Jewish people. The Jewish nation has always been divided into two competing parts. Throughout history they have been called by a variety of names: the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, Galilee and Judea, and Samaria and Jerusalem. Even Jewish mythology found in the book of Genesis recognized the division and sought to explain it by suggesting that the patriarch Jacob, who according to the tradition was the father of twelve sons who formed the twelve tribes of Israel, had two principle wives, both of whom were the daughters of a man named Laban. According to this biblical narrative Jacob loved Rachel and agreed to work for Laban for seven years to receive her hand in marriage. Laban, however, veiled his older daughter Leah and tricked Jacob into marrying her instead, arguing rather lamely that it was not proper for the younger daughter to be married prior to the older one. Jacob was then allowed to marry Rachel as his second wife by agreeing to give Laban seven more years of labor for that privilege. This story was clearly written by those sympathetic to Rachel since it always portrayed her as beautiful, while Leah was described in rather unflattering ways (she was said to have had eyes like a cow). Leah, however, bore Jacob a number of sons, which in that culture was supposed to have given her great status, while Rachel had trouble conceiving, having only one son, Joseph, before dying in childbirth with her second and Jacob’s last child, Joseph’s only full brother, named Benjamin. One of Leah’s sons was named Judah and his descendents became the dominant tribe that settled in the South. Jerusalem was in the land of Judah, which meant that the Temple was also there. The land of Judah was ruled by kings who were the descendents of King David, Judah’s most distinguished son. Rachel was the mother of Joseph, whose descendents populated the Northern Kingdom. As the son of Jacob’s favorite wife, Joseph is portrayed in the Genesis story as the favorite son and Jacob acted this out by making for him a coat of many colors. So it was that the mythology of the Jews located the traditional animosity between the two regions of Israel in the fact that their ancient patriarchs had not been full, but half brothers and that there had always been tension between the two. This is seen most poignantly in this biblical narrative when Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, an act which Judah instigated and from which he agreed to receive money for ridding their world of their irritating brother. When the tenuous unity of the Jewish nation was finally destroyed following the reign of Solomon about the year 920 BCE, the division was along this ancient fault line. When Solomon’s son Rehoboam succeeded to the throne in Jerusalem after Solomon’s death he faced immediately a rebellion in the North. Under the leadership of a military general named Jeroboam, demands for the redressing of Northern grievances were made to King Rehoboam, who refused to accede on any point. The people of the North declared themselves to be independent, and by making Jeroboam their king sought to create a new royal family as they seceded from the South. The two new competing entities were Judah, or the Southern Kingdom, organized around the city of Jerusalem, the Temple and the throne of David, and Israel, known as the Northern Kingdom, organized around Galilee, the ancient shrine of Bethel and the new capital city that when built would be called Samaria. The Northern Kingdom lasted from its birth around 920 to 721 BCE, when it was defeated by the Assyrians and its people were carried off into captivity. Without a long history and established institutions they lacked cohesiveness and finally disappeared through intermarriage, becoming part of the DNA of the Middle East, never to be heard from again. They are known today as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” The Southern Kingdom continued about 140 years longer than the North, from 920 to 586 BCE, when they were defeated by the Babylonians. Jerusalem and its Temple were both destroyed, and the people were carried off into captivity in the land of Babylon. These conquered Judeans, however, were possessed of a deeper sense of both purpose and unity and so they managed to keep themselves separate from their captors. They did this by being different. They observed the Sabbath every seventh day by refusing to work, they ate only kosher food prepared in a kosher kitchen and by reviving the act of circumcision they put the mark of Judaism quite literally on the body of every Jewish male. These things were all designed to make intermarriage difficult and to keep themselves separate. They were thus able subsequently to return home several generations later to reclaim their land and ultimately to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. By the time of the New Testament the remnant of the Northern Kingdom was called both Galilee and Samaria. These were generally looked down on as racially compromised regions. The remnant of the Southern Kingdom was called Judea and Judea became so dominant that the word “Jew” became the name by which all of the Hebrew people were identified. Jesus was, however, a product of Galilee. He was clearly identified with the village of Nazareth. In all probability that was the place of his birth. His ministry was carried out on and around the Sea of Galilee, a 13.5-mile-long and 7-mile-wide lake, sometimes called the Sea of Gennesaret, and in modern Israel known as Kinneret, and in such well known biblical towns near that lake as Tiberius, Bethsaida, Capernaum and Gedara. To visit these places today is to experience the physical setting that is not dissimilar from the way it was in Jesus’ day. The tourist industry has not yet wrecked the authentic imprint of Jesus. I arrived in Galilee the week before Easter and in Nazareth itself on Easter Sunday. It is a hilly town, not impressive then or now. It is easy to understand how Jesus’ origins there were something of an embarrassment. The New Testament even proclaims, “Nothing good can come out of Nazareth.” This negativity toward Nazareth and Galilee surely caused early Christians to develop the tales of his birth in the nobler town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David. This regional negativity also caused the story of the resurrection to be moved from Galilee to Jerusalem. The earliest sources in the Bible, Paul, Mark and Matthew, suggest that it was in Galilee that the experience of resurrection emerged. By the time the later gospels, Luke and John, were written Jerusalem had replaced Galilee as the center of the resurrection appearance stories and still later of the ascension and the Pentecost story. Even here, however, there are hints of a Galilean original behind the developed Jerusalem narratives. Luke goes so far as to have Jesus command the disciples not to return to Galilee, thus suppressing Christianity’s Galilean origins. In John the primacy of the Jerusalem tradition is also undermined by what is portrayed as a later Galilean story that is found in the epilogue or final chapter of John’s Gospel. Following the developed narrative of Thomas feeling the nail prints in Jesus’ body in a Jerusalem setting comes this much more primitive Galilean story, in which the disciples have returned home, still in grief, only to experience Jesus alive by the Sea of Galilee. They have a meal together by that lake and then Peter is restored following his threefold denial of Jesus. Time after time the authenticity of the Galilean origins of the Jesus story is affirmed, even though hidden in the gospel tradition. It was this authenticity of Galilee that I sensed and enjoyed the most while in the land of Israel. The terrain is rugged. Jesus and the disciples had to be strong physically. Their journeys through the towns and villages of Galilee were through a physically demanding countryside. The gentle Jesus of Sunday School fame, portrayed as sitting on a hillside inviting the little children to “come unto me,” is not the portrait that emerges in Galilee. The idea that Joseph could have taken his wife, who was described in Luke as “great with child,” on an almost 100-mile journey from Nazareth either by foot or by donkey so that the messiah could be born in Bethlehem stretches credibility beyond the breaking point when one sees the land of Galilee. Galilee was also a hotbed of resistance to the yoke of Rome. Its hills gave Jewish guerilla fighters the protective lair they needed to carry out their hit and run attacks on the legions of Rome. Was Jesus’ disciple band involved in these guerilla activities? That too is a source of much speculation. We do know from several references that the disciples of Jesus were armed. Jesus has to order them to put up their swords. We know that one of them was called “the Zealot,” which was the name of the resistance fighters. We believe that the word Iscariot comes from “Sicarii,” the name of a militant revolutionary group. These are the things that have compelled contemporary scholars to lean more and more in this startling direction. In any event, if you wish to have some sense of the Jesus of history, it is to Galilee, not Jerusalem or Bethlehem, that you will go. Galilee is the province that shaped Jesus of Nazareth. The story of Jesus is drawn into the Jerusalem orbit by the power of that city and by the negativity of the Jewish people toward Galilee in the first century. As the Bible tells the Jesus story, however, his Galilean roots and Christianity’s Galilean origins become obvious. My journey to Israel helped me to recover and reinforce those roots. I commend Galilee to you. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Wild Luminaries Webinar Series Starting May 5, 2020 through February 2, 2021, you are invited to journey virtually through zoom conferencing for this unique Wild Luminaries Webinar Series, featuring eleven of the top eco-theologians in the Western world. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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