| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Dr. Carl Krieg February 4, 2021 | | | | | | | | | | America’s Greedy and America’s Gullible: Ezekiel Speaks “Behold, I am against the shepherds, says the Lord. I will feed my people in justice”. Ezekiel 34 The United States is not in a good place. The times are dangerous. About 10 years ago the news hit: By about 2040 the majority population would be people of color. Whites realized that they would be in the minority and they did not like that. Under the leadership of the Republican party, they tried every tool to disenfranchise those whom they perceived as a threat, most obviously gerrymandering and purging voter rolls. Racism, previously partially latent, became overt and violent. All the while, wealth has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few, to the point where the vast majority of Americans are either poor, becoming poor or feel insecure and under seige. The mistakenly perceived cause of this poverty-in-the-making, again under the Republican leadership, is either people of color, immigrants or elites who secretly run the country. The pandemic has vastly disrupted and undermined our economy, but prior to that the system was skewed to favor those who had already become successful. The rich and the powerful give themselves trillion dollar tax breaks, they attempt to steal social security funds and they deny health insurance for the population. The greed is unbearable. They hide themselves well under the guise of being true Americans - which translates, of course, into being white Americans. Appealing to the mass racism, the wealthy have incited hundreds of thousands of people to the verge of violent sedition and beyond. Our current history is the story of the greedy seducing the gullible, who in turn become the bullies, a deadly combination that endangers the very democracy we enjoy. Feeling protected by their mistaken belief that anyone can publicly carry an assault weapon, terrorist militia stand ready for a nod from the wealthy to seek the violent overthrow of a duly elected government.  Add to this the fact that practically all Republicans believe that the 2020 election was stolen and that the results are invalid. The majority of House Republicans wanted to invalidate the results in swing states, Trump and his advisors consider imposing martial law in these states and instituting a new election, and the militia stood ready. Throw into this mix conspiracy theories, wholesale indoctrination via social media and the psychological need for authoritarianism in a huge segment of our population, and you are given the blueprint for takeover by a dictator. The next presidential election is critical for the life of our democracy, and the next four years will tell the story. There is no cosmic mandate that decrees that the rich must become richer and that those with power should increase in power. It need not be. In fact, it must not be. Should that trend continue, the ultimate outcome is catastrophe. No society can live forever when the majority of people are poor and insecure and the wealthy treat them as expendable.  The order of the universe, proclaimed by the prophet Ezekiel, is that peace and justice form the bedrock of reality. Ezekiel lived at the time when Judah was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The northern ten tribes of Israel had been conquered by the Assyrians more than a century previously and no longer existed as an entity, leaving only the tribes of the south, Judah and Benjamin, constituting the Kingdom of Judah. The invading Babylonian army of  Nebuchadnezzar carried the leaders into exile, including Ezekiel. The prophet consequently  lived both in Palestine and in Babylon, and he blamed the exile on the greed of the rich and powerful who had cared only for themselves and neglected the flock. Hear the words of Ezekiel describing the injustices that led to the downfall of the Southern Kingdom. “The word of the Lord came to me:  Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them - to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:  As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep;  therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, I am against the shepherds; ... I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” Few today believe that God will come down from heaven, slay the wicked and himself become shepherd of the flock. That solution was embodied in the Jewish concept of the messiah, and each time a would-be messiah arose to challenge the occupying army, Jews were slaughtered by the thousands. But we can translate the word “God” into other words. We do not expect God to intervene in history, but we can have faith in the moral order of the universe, an order shaped by love. If we lack that basic faith, if we believe that the universe is amoral, then there is no absolute basis on which to fight for justice and equality. Ezekiel expresses the profound hope and belief that the rich and powerful, and their accompanying greed, can and will be overcome by the power of justice and love. “I will seek the lost , and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” This faith is the same proclaimed first by Jesus and then his disciples after the crucifixion. Jesus lived and taught a life in community, a life of caring and sharing, a life that rejected the extreme wealth disparity and consequent injustice so prevalent in the culture, both then and now. And his followers carried forth that very same message, convinced as they were, that Jesus lived on.  The shepherds, greedily rich and powerful as they are, however, do not stand alone as the guilty party. There is also that segment of the population that one might call the bullies, those who push and shove, display their assault weapons, and believe that they alone are in the right. They exist symbiotically with the wealthy, one feeding the other. They are the mob that can be incited, the ones susceptible to hints and suggestions sent out by those with the dog whistles. Stand back and stand by, says the leader, and they do. The full extent of their violent nature has yet to become manifest, but the threat is plain. There is also a more subtle variant of bullying that calls itself evangelical Christianity. Their basic claim is that they alone know the truth. They alone hold the key to eternal salvation. They alone know what God wants. Surveys tell us that over 80% of these people support the shepherds and Trump the leader, heedless of the immorality and callousness rampant in our current economic/governmental complex. Prosperity, not justice, is their gospel, and theocracy is their goal, wherein their pretension of omnipotence would assume an aura of authenticity.  Ezekiel also confronted the bullies:  “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.” As with the injustice spawned by the immoral disparity of wealth, God decries the violence of one group against another, violence both physical and psychological. And, says the Lord, I will save the flock. God is against not only the shepherds, but the bullies as well. Unlike Ezekiel, we today do not anticipate overt divine intervention, but we do believe in kindness and civility, in the moral arc of Reality that bends toward justice, framed as it is by love. 

From Ezekiel to Jesus to the voices of the gospels, the proclamation is clear: civilization will not, indeed cannot, survive if wealth and power, and therefore food and shelter, are in the possession of but a few. Equally so, democracy will not and cannot survive if the bullies are allowed free reign. These facts are on full display in America right now, at this very moment, and the immediate outcome is terrifyingly uncertain. 

What can be done? On a personal level, we must take advantage of whatever opportunity comes our way to act in concert with others to share the love. That’s what Jesus did. Every moment of life became for him an opportunity to exercise divine love embodied in the human. In gathering disciples, he created a microcosm of what he called the Kingdom of God, a style of living in which the caring depth of our humanity is made manifest. We can do the same. In accepting that role of love we heed the call of both our God and our humanity that beckon us to be who we really are.   On the broad and general level, the answer is threefold. First, for the sake of everyone, the concentration of wealth must be reversed. The current level of inequality is both obscene and unsustainable. Second, bullies must not be allowed to intimidate the general populace. It is immaterial whether the bullies’ violence is physical or psychological. Both destroy the common good. And lastly, as a nation of bounty, we must provide basic food, shelter and health for everyone. To do otherwise is a violation of all that is true and good. There really is no choice. It will not be easy. It never is. But we have the assurance that love is the essence of what is. Ezekiel knew it. Jesus knew it. The disciples knew it. And they inspire us to know it as well. ~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith and The Void and the Vision. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer   Q: By A Reader What are your thoughts on Divine Ground? A: By Rev. Deshna Shine   Dear Reader, There are so many theories on who or what god is, or if they even exist. Whether god is in us or around us, separate from us or above us. For me the bottom line is there is more to our existence than can be explained by science. There is more to you than can be explained by science. Even the universe has a huge space from which it came that we can not explain.  Our goal as seekers is to use our intuition and our internal, eternal wisdom to look around us and within us for Divine Ground; and, to become more comfortable naming it as such, connecting to it, dancing with Her and surrendering to Her. 

From my viewpoint, we are never separate from the Divine. We exist within the Divine and the Divine exists within us. We walk on and are Divine Ground. We come from the Divine, we return to the Divine. Even if we look at Nature alone as God, what an incredible display of Divine Ground available to us at all times. And what happens there? Everything comes from and returns to the Ground. Everything works in perfect divine harmony when we surrender. 

For me, God is not separate from nature, but immanent within it. God is also the Unity which holds the universe together and feeds and nourishes it.  The invitation is to recognize and become aware of Divine Ground all around us and within us. To dance with the Divine, co-create with the Divine, play with the Divine, dine with the Divine, experience the ecstasy of the Divine. When we actively dance and play with the Divine, we are capable of shifting consciousness, ours individually and collectively.  There is no duality within Divine Ground. There is no other. It is the ground from which the seedling bursts forth. And it is also the fruit that it becomes.  ~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Children’s Curriculum.  She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, author, international speaker, and visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She was Executive Director of Progressive Christianity.org, Executive Producer of Embrace Festival and has co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. Deshna is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Why the mission of Progressive Christianity is so important  Over the weekend, the congregation that I serve in San Diego, CA was vandalized.  Our Black Lives Matter banner that hangs on the front of our church was splattered with pink paint.  Three of our six “Rainbow Doors” that read “God’s Doors Are Open To All” were ripped from our front pillars.  It was disheartening to see the damage, but more heartbreaking was the hate that inspired it.  It was a startling reminder that there are people who truly believe that black lives do not matter.  There are people who believe that LGBTQ+ lives do not have value or a place in the church.    Despite the hatred that inspired this event, when the community saw what had happened the outpouring of love and compassion was incredible.  People began collecting funds for the church, offering to clean up the paint, bringing new BLM banners to the church and working to replace the doors.  Many of these people were not affiliated with the church at all, they were just inspired by the witness of the congregation for peace and justice.  Within two days, everything had been cleaned up or replaced and we were making our visible witness to the community once again.   These events reminded me anew why the mission of Progressive Christianity is so important.  There are so many people who have a negative opinion of Christianity, simply because fundamentalist voices tend to be the loudest.  Many think that Christianity is inherently homophobic, xenophobic, sexist and anti-science. However, when you give to ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit you help the voice of an authentic faith resound.  Your gifts provide resources that help communities like mine proclaim a message of radical inclusion, profound peace and social justice that is life-changing and confronts the negative associations that people have with Christianity.   If you’re able to give to support ProgressiveChristianity.org please consider making a donation.  Your gifts help Progressive Christians proclaim a Gospel that conquers hate, bigotry and fear. ~ The Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines, Sr.Pastor University Christian Church  (Disciples of Christ)/United Church of Christ Acting Co-Executive Director ProgressiveChristianity.org/ProgressingSpirit.com   | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXVII: Acts & the Rise of Universalism Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 24, 2010 The book of Acts is a travelogue, a journey, designed by Luke to bring fulfillment to the words he puts into Jesus’ mouth at the very beginning of this book: “You shall be my witnesses,” Jesus says, and then he tells them where: “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).” Luke is intent upon portraying the Jesus movement to be one that starts humbly in the hills of a remote Galilee and then moves through Samaria on its way to Jerusalem, where he records his first climax in the crucifixion of Jesus. Asserting that the death of Jesus is not the end of this movement, he then proceeds to tell the story of how this movement began to spread from Jerusalem until it reached its second climax in the capitol of the known world, the city of Rome. So this author has his story move only in one direction and he never has the story return to a place from which it has departed. One illustration of this becomes visible when the angelic messengers of the resurrection in Luke’s narrative do not order the disciples to return to Galilee as they do in both Mark and Matthew, but rather “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4).” To signal the beginning of the next phase of his story, Luke repeats the words of the promise originally stated earlier in his gospel by John the Baptist that, while John has baptized with water, the disciples of Jesus will be baptized by the Holy Spirit and in the power of that Spirit a world wide mission will be inaugurated. Then in quick succession, Luke begins his Volume II, which we now call the book of Acts, by bringing the appearances of the Risen Christ to an abrupt end. He removes Jesus physically from the earth in an act of ascension and then he inaugurates the Christian Church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the gathered community in which the people of the world discover a new sense of oneness. The reader is not allowed to miss the worldwide significance of this story, for Luke says that those gathered at that time included Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphilia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Crete and Arabia! Given the knowledge of geography available in that day, this is a rather impressive list. This vision of a new oneness in this vast world is celebrated by the symbol that in the power of the Spirit they were all able to speak the language of their hearers. It was, as many have observed, a reversal of the Tower of Babel story from the book of Genesis (11:1-9) in which the languages of the people of the world were confused and human isolation into protective tribes was both inaugurated and explained. Luke uses the device of sermons that he places on the lips of Peter (Acts 1:15-20, 2:14-36, 3:12-26, 4:8-12) and Stephen (7:2-56) to communicate his message. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures and his story announces that God has made Jesus “whom you crucified” both Lord and Christ — that is, both a divine presence and the expected messiah of the Jews. In the process, we are given a view of how Luke perceived the early Christian movement. With the election of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:22-26) the Christian Church was to be patterned after Israel with twelve tribes or leaders. The followers of Jesus devoted themselves to “the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:43).” They were to be capable of signs and wonders since the Spirit dwelled within them and they held all things in common (Acts 2:44 and 5:1-11). They attended the Temple “day by day” and in the privacy of their homes they conducted the Eucharist by breaking bread together. Peter was always cast as the leader according to Luke, sometimes accompanied by John, but Peter was clearly the spokesperson for the Christian movement. Next Luke introduces the first account of tension with the leaders of Judaism in the persons of Caiaphas, John and Alexander, together with all of the members of the high priestly family. That conflict came to a resolution, according to the book of Acts, in the words of a leader of the Pharisees named Gamaliel, who urged the rulers to wait upon the test of time. “If this movement is of God,” he said, “you cannot stop it and if it is not of God, it will fail without help from you (Acts 5:33-42).” It was sage advice and Gamaliel prevailed and we watch as this tension between church and synagogue began to fade. This is part of the process we use to date the book of Acts, for the author is describing life in the early church between the year in which the followers of Jesus were expelled from the synagogue around 88 CE and before the year 100. That original tension, however, was replaced by one within the movement of the followers of Jesus themselves and the book of Acts now turns its attention to this battle, which issued in the first intra-church battle. It was between the strict constructionist Jewish Christians on one side and the newly-converted Hellenist or Greek Christians on the other. The book of Acts will pivot on this conflict. Peter was the champion of the strict Jewish point of view, which argued that Jesus did not set aside the Torah, but rather fulfilled it. This meant that the power of Jewish law was still to be observed in Christian circles, including the rituals of circumcision, kosher dietary laws and the Sabbath worship traditions. This group also asserted that the only doorway open to Greek converts to Christianity was to become Jews first and then Christians. Paul is introduced in this book as the one who would ultimately become the champion of the Gentile Christian movement. Stephen entered the story as one of the clearly chosen deacons who would expand the Christian Community’s leadership in order to enable them better to care for the needs of the “Hellenists.” According to the book of Acts, Paul began his career as a defender of the full power of the Torah and as a persecutor of those who would relativize its claims. The narrative in the book of Acts pauses to allow the tensions in the Christian community to build by introducing another deacon named Philip, who also presses the boundaries of the Torah. Philip baptized an Ethiopian eunuch, who violated the way the strict constructionists interpreted the Law on two levels. First, the Ethiopian was a Gentile who was brought by his baptism directly into the Christian movement with no journey through Judaism required to reach his destination. Second, as a eunuch, this Ethiopian was a direct challenge to the literal truth of the Torah, for Deuteronomy could not be more specific on this issue since it states: “He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off should not enter the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 3:1).” Next, Luke moves to relate the story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, after which in quick succession he is baptized, has his blindness ended and begins his missionary career. From Paul’s writings we have already learned about the conflict he had with those he called “the Judaizers” and his showdown with Peter, their spokesperson (Gal. 1). By the time Luke wrote the book of Acts, however, that tension was more a part of history than it was currently alive and real. Luke even explains how it was overcome by telling how Peter had been converted to Paul’s perspective. This dramatic tale forms the end of the Peter section of Acts and opens the Paul section (Acts 10:9-16). Peter’s conversion took place on a roof top at noon where, Luke says, he was engaged in prayer. Being hungry, this narrative tells us, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened, from which a great sheet descended, laden with creatures, animals, reptiles and birds that were edible but not kosher, perhaps including both pigs and shellfish. A heavenly voice invited Peter to ease his hunger by rising, killing and eating. Peter declined by saying, “I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” To which the voice from heaven proclaimed, “Peter, what God has cleansed, you must not call common (Acts 10:15).” This vision was repeated, says Acts, three times before Peter got the message and went to the home of an “upright and God-fearing Gentile,” named Cornelius, and baptized him and his whole family. That was the moment, says Luke, when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. The words of Peter then became the new mantra for the Christian movement, “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him (Acts 10:34, 35).” The issue at stake in this battle was whether or not Christianity would become a universal movement. It was Peter himself, the champion of the “strict constructionists,” who forged the new way forward. Peter thus is portrayed not only as the one who launched the Christian movement, but also as the life through which the boundary between Jew and Gentile was breached and as the one in whom the new vision of universalism was born. His work being completed, Peter fades away and Paul now moves front and center. It is ultimately on the shoulders of Paul that the inclusive character of Christianity would be formed, one that would, as Paul says in Galatians, embrace: “Jew and Greek, male and female, bond and free.” So Luke turns to the story of Paul and through his life we watch Christianity reach Rome and the “uttermost parts of the earth.” The tribal boundary that separated the Jews from the Gentiles was enormous. As intense as this battle was inside Christianity, it would not be either the last or the bitterest fight that would mark Christianity in its journey toward universalism. There would be other fights before Christians were able to see women, people of color, adherents of other religions, homosexual persons, mentally ill persons and even left handed persons as fully human. There would also be others in history who would play the role of Peter and ease the Christian movement into its calling to bring abundant life to all. Only then could the invitation of Jesus, “Come unto me, all ye,” not “some of ye,” be fully heard. The book of Acts chronicles the story of Christianity’s walk into what it was created to be. Today we continue to write our chapter in this same ongoing narrative. ~  John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Spiritual Gifts from the Imaginal Realm This online course with Cynthia Bourgeault delves into some ancient Wisdom roadmaps that many of us may not be familiar with and yet which hold the key to understanding what's happening in our world (why are we so polarized, unable to take the steps needed to address global problems?) and where the path of healing lies. February 18, 2021 - April 10, 2021  -  READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |