May 2013 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

The Landfillharmonic Orchestra
by PSchrijnen＠aol.com 06 Jul '13

06 Jul '13

All is possible.... THE LANDFILL ORCHESTRA http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=UJrSUHK9Luw Paul Schrijnen 13 Bloemfontein Avenue London W12 7BJ +44 7973 206 766 skype: paulus.schrijnen ____________________________________ From: PSchrijnen(a)aol.com To: luisa.violine(a)hotmail.com Sent: 17/04/2013 03:18:56 Malay Peninsula Standard Time Subj: The Landfillharmonic Orchestra THE LANDFILL ORCHESTRA http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=UJrSUHK9Luw Paul Schrijnen 13 Bloemfontein Avenue London W12 7BJ +44 7973 206 766 skype: paulus.schrijnen ____________________________________ From: meadce(a)aol.com To: pschrijnen(a)aol.com, stefan.schrijnen(a)accenture.com, chiaretta13(a)yahoo.de, maxschrijnen(a)hotmail.com, pschrijnen85(a)googlemail.com Sent: 17/04/2013 02:11:39 Malay Peninsula Standard Time Subj: Fwd: [hsotherinfo] FW: The Landfillharmonic Orchestra THE LANDFILL ORCHESTRA http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=UJrSUHK9Luw

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We are collecting stories for Marge Philbrook's 85th Birthday Celebration
by Paula Philbrook 05 Jun '13

05 Jun '13

Many of you were on assignments with her in various places and we would like to know those stories. I tried to make a list. Lagos, Manila, Tokyo, Boston, Kansas City, Detroit, Dallas, & 3444. Of course, recently back at 4750. She loves to tell us from her perspective but we would like to hear them from yours as well. *Her first official RSI was in 62 or 63 in Phoenix. Joe and crew were in Phoenix staying with us and he was speaking for Religious Emphasis week at Arizona State. When they asked the opening question, "Name and what grounds you in history? she replied. "My name is Marge Philbrook and I run a motel".* * * *One summer after we had first moved to the 4750 building, she was asked to coordinate the print shop. She told JWM, she would do it if she had 2 men would not go to the bathroom unless she told them to and so they assigned Wayne Nelson and ????. She went to Sears and bought 2 blue dresses exactly alike so she could wash one each night and have a clean one to put on the next day. Then when the program was over she threw them away. I remember they had a sign on the wall "ODD before EVEN" because when you are printing you want 4 on the back of 3 or 9 with 10 on the back.* *Once when I visited Kansas City, Dallas Z told me, when there was nothing in the kitchen to cook, they would send Marge into the kitchen because she could always find something make fried rice.* * * *Marge Philbrook, 2013* *“I don’t understand why you wait until someone is dead to say all the good things about them. I want people to tell the good things to my face. Then when I die, you can get together and tell all the bad things.”* *It would be great if you would join us to celebrate- June 9th at 4750 North Sheridan in Chicago, 2 to 5 PM*. But if you cannot make it, send us your story. We will be sure to tell ‘em to her face. She knows about the party if you want to call her directly, I will give you her phone number. Please reply to mhsp1928(a)gmail.com. You're the greatest! Paula *Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow*. *Melody* Beattie

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"Journey Reflection" May 2013 Top-viewed Blogs
by Lynda Cock 31 May '13

31 May '13

Dear colleagues, Following are the top-viewed blog posts during May <blocked::http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2013/05/journey-reflection-blog-revi ew-may-2013.html> 2013. As always, we appreciate your quote suggestions, comments, and sharing blog posts with others. Gracious June to you all, Lynda and John >Daily Blog: "Journey Reflection" at 4 links ... Google: <http://www.rejourney.blogspot.com/> www.reJourney.blogspot.com Google Plus: <https://plus.google.com/u/0/114307312715975337692/posts> Journey Reflection/Google Plus Facebook: <https://www.facebook.com/transcribebooks> https://www.facebook.com/transcribebooks Twitter: <https://twitter.com/transcribebooks> https://twitter.com/transcribebooks >Web Page: <http://www.transcribebooks.com/> www.transcribebooks.com >Books: <https://www.amazon.com/author/johnpcock> https://www.amazon.com/author/johnpcock

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Re: [Oe List ...] We are collecting stories for Marge Philbrook's 85th Birthday Celebration
by Gene Marshall 30 May '13

30 May '13

Dear Marge, I first met you sometime in the early 1960s in your home in Scottsdale AZ. At that time you were raising a herd of children and the biggest St Bernard dog I ever saw. You had already begun, I believe, doing whatever had to be done and doing it well. Thank you for your persistence and your longevity of service. Gene Marshall On May 29, 2013, at 11:01 AM, Ken Fisher wrote: > > > Begin forwarded message: > > Many of you were on assignments with her in various places and we would like to know those stories. I tried to make a list. Lagos, Manila, Tokyo, Boston, Kansas City, Detroit, Dallas, & 3444. Of course, recently back at 4750. > > She loves to tell us from her perspective but we would like to hear them from yours as well. > > Her first official RSI was in 62 or 63 in Phoenix. Joe and crew were in Phoenix staying with us and he was speaking for Religious Emphasis week at Arizona State. When they asked the opening question, "Name and what grounds you in history? she replied. "My name is Marge Philbrook and I run a motel". > > One summer after we had first moved to the 4750 building, she was asked to coordinate the print shop. She told JWM, she would do it if she had 2 men would not go to the bathroom unless she told them to and so they assigned Wayne Nelson and ????. She went to Sears and bought 2 blue dresses exactly alike so she could wash one each night and have a clean one to put on the next day. Then when the program was over she threw them away. I remember they had a sign on the wall "ODD before EVEN" because when you are printing you want 4 on the back of 3 or 9 with 10 on the back. > > Once when I visited Kansas City, Dallas Z told me, when there was nothing in the kitchen to cook, they would send Marge into the kitchen because she could always find something make fried rice. > > Marge Philbrook, 2013 > > “I don’t understand why you wait until someone is dead to say all the good things about them. I want people to tell the good things to my face. Then when I die, you can get together and tell all the bad things.” > > > > It would be great if you would join us to celebrate- June 9th at 4750 North Sheridan in Chicago, 2 to 5 PM. > > > > But if you cannot make it, send us your story. We will be sure to tell ‘em to her face. > > > > She knows about the party if you want to call her directly, I will give you her phone number. Please reply to mhsp1928(a)gmail.com. > > > > You're the greatest! > > > > Paula > > Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. > Melody Beattie > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net >

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Re: [Oe List ...] We are collecting stories for Marge Philbrook's 85th Birthd...
by LAURELCG＠aol.com 30 May '13

30 May '13

Thank you, Evelyn, for this wonderful tribute. Thank you, Marge, for inspiring it and all the others that are coming in to celebrate your 85 years of grace and giving. It's such a privilege to be a part of our mysterious League. Your faithfulness on the journey inspires me. Love and blessings, Jann McGuire In a message dated 5/29/2013 9:11:54 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, joyful52(a)gmail.com writes: Dearest Marge, You are the Greatest! I know that many daughterinlaws might not understand why I enjoy coming to Chicago and visiting with you. I have never had any mother-in-law problems and just the opposite. You have always been the spark who hosted everyone and made them feel welcome. I could see gifts that I had given you decorating your apartment and clothes that I had bought were being worn. You hem and sewed everyone's clothes and typed over 100 words per minute without blinking an eye. We borrowed your car, shared your frig and even use your tv and computer which are available to residents so they can feel right at home too. Time and again you see the need and do the deed. When my children came to Green Rise (I want to say Kemper) after living most of their life outside the USA, you were watchful, but gave them the space to decide what they want to do and how they would go about doing it in their college years. I remember asking about their grades. You said, it is none of my business. If they want to tell me they will. They can decide. They say people who are creative can say "Yes and....", or "What if"...you were way ahead of the curve and I thought may be you created the slogan "Yes we can", and not Obama! A couple of times when Larry was not with me, I even shared a bed with you and this amazed my Chinese girlfriends to no end! You and Phil actually came to Kenya to marry us ...but that is another story... Our family's history is like building memories with stories that become legend. Lela always liked chicken and heard your story about learning to cook fried chicken for Sunday dinners and guess what... now Lela fries her own chicken! We heard about your wheat bran and pineapple juice reducing cholesterol and are still having it in the morning. ETF is just a sample... all the tapping and all the DIY books are really about deciding to care for yourself and take responsibility for your own health. Half the goal of healing is believing you can be healed and can heal others. It is saying the Divine has always been with us and always will be with us. Alpha and Omega. God is Good, Life is Good. Amen... You are a walking miracle worker and such a gift to us all. Thank you for being you! I am sorry we will not join you and Conan for your birthday this year! We will be there at Christmas instead! So everyone should raise their glasses and toast to Marjorie Philbrook...she likes pineapple juice, eats turkey and salmon and has watermelon instead of cake for her birthday! Go Girl! You are the Greatest! l Love, Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook who has lived in Taiwan over 22 years and never been to the Great Wall of China, so we celebrate Marge's birthday by doing just that with my special partner, Larry Philbrook, who has waited to all these years to see it.

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5/30/13, Spong: Part I: The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic
by Ellie Stock 30 May '13

30 May '13

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Part I: The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic The publication date is June 11, 2013. The books will actually be shipped to bookstores across the nation in the last week of May. The rights to publish this in Italian and Korean have also been sold and these two translations will appear in their two respective countries later in the year. I live now in a quiet state of expectation, anxiety and emptiness; the emotions that always seem to grip me in the time between the book being finally finished, all its corrections entered, its index and bibliography done, its copy editing and fact checks completed and the moment the first reader opens this volume and begins to read. So to relieve my emotions let me introduce this book to you through this column. The title is The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic. I think it is fair to say that I could not have written this book 25 years ago. For most of my career, I was almost repelled by the Fourth Gospel. It seemed to me to portray Jesus with his humanity no longer intact. In this gospel, he does not appear to suffer. There is no sense of the Jesus who was portrayed in the synoptic gospels as apprehensive in anticipation of his death. John’s Jesus never prays that “this cup might pass from me.” Indeed, he actually rejects that idea with the statement, “It was to drink this cup that I was born!” The Fourth Gospel relates to the cross of Jesus, not as a place of suffering, but as the place where Jesus is to be glorified. From John’s cross the cry of dereliction (“My God, why have you forsaken me?”) has disappeared and has been replaced by the triumphant assertion, “It is finished!” Jesus is informing God that the work “Thou hast given me to do” has been successfully completed. John’s Jesus appears to have no human limits. This gospel seems to claim for him a pre-existent status. “Before Abraham was, I am!” he is made to say and “Moses rejoiced to see my day.” This gospel has God designate Jesus as the son of God not at the resurrection, as Paul appears to do (Romans 1:1-4) or at the baptism by John the Baptist as Mark appears to do or even at the miracle of the virgin birth as both Matthew and Luke appear to do. John’s Jesus was, according to the prologue, the son of God from the dawn of creation. He was “the Word of God” that said “Let there be light” and thus called the world into being. That same “Word of God” simply became flesh in human history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. One cannot, however, be fully human and at the same time be a part of who God is since the beginning of time. The Jesus of John’s gospel seemed to me to be related to God in the same way that Clark Kent was related to Superman. Clark Kent was not really a newspaper reporter, he was Superman in disguise. The Jesus of John’s gospel does not appear to be a real human being; he is God in disguise. In this gospel, Jesus was made to say such things as “The Father and I are one” and, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” To affirm this divine status the author of this book has taken the name of God, “I AM,” out of the story of Moses and the burning bush and has placed it into the mouth of the Jesus of history. So Jesus is made to identify himself with the God “I AM” over and over again in the Johannine text. “I AM the bread of life,” “I AM living water,” “I AM the door,” “I AM the way, the truth and the life,” “I Am the vine,” “I AM the good shepherd” and “I AM the resurrection.” Jesus is also made to claim that he alone is the only way to God and that only when he is lifted up (on the cross) will that “I AM” presence be revealed. Only in that picture of the dying Jesus on the cross will the world see God. Since I could find no way to relate to this non-human Jesus I tended to hope that portrait would go away. The Fourth Gospel has also, in my opinion, served to feed the anti-Semitism that has stained Christian history through the ages. From the Fourth Gospel it appeared to spread through the church fathers (there were no mothers) culminating in the horrifying genocidal outburst in the 20th century that we know as “The Holocaust.” There are times when this gospel seems to spit the words “the Jews” out of its author’s mouth with contempt. This gospel is the only place in the Bible where Jesus is quoted as calling the Jews “the children of the devil.” Those were some of the reasons I was never drawn to this book and why attempting to study it deeply was not something I would have chosen to do at an earlier part of my life. There was one other reason for this negativity that comes out of Christian history. The Fourth Gospel was installed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE as the ultimate and final arbiter of what came to be called “Christian orthodoxy.” In that council, the battle not only for the soul, but also for the future of Christianity, was fought out under the watchful eye of the Emperor Constantine, who wanted unified Christianity to be a unifying force in his empire. In that defining debate, the chief protagonists were a priest named Arius and a deacon, soon to be a priest and later a bishop, named Athanasius. The content of this battle was over the nature of Jesus, that is, was he of “like substance” or “identical substance” with God? Arius, using quotations from all four of the gospels, argued passionately that Jesus was of “like substance” with God. Athanasius, quoting only the Fourth Gospel as his authority, argued that Jesus was of “identical substance” with God. When the smoke of the battle cleared, Athanasius was declared the winner and the Nicene Creed was adopted, sealing Athanasius’ victory with these words describing Jesus: He was “the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father.” This creed closed every loophole used in the debate with Arius and magnified Jesus’ divinity to the exclusion of his humanity. It also opened the door to what became the defining doctrines that we call “Incarnation” and “Holy Trinity,” which were not fully developed until the 5th century. This Fourth Gospel-supported definition became the substance of Christian orthodoxy. In time this definition of Jesus led to religious wars, religious persecutions, heresy trials, the Inquisition and the condemnation of anyone who dared to think outside the box. Thus this gospel came to be associated with everything that repelled me about Christianity and so it had little appeal. That is why I did not have any interest in studying it much less trying to write about it earlier. Well, things change and my latest book on the Fourth Gospel will soon be in bookstores and a new debate of John, I hope, will ensue. How did that change occur? It took two steps. First, I discovered that the Fourth Gospel had been misread for centuries; that it is a deeply and passionately Jewish book. That insight was initiated when I discovered only a dozen or so years ago, a book written in the 1960′s by an English scholar named Eileen Guilding, herself the academic child of two gigantic New Testament scholars, F.F. Bruce and Austin Farrer. It was as if I had just found a long lost key. Guilding’s book was entitled The Fourth Gospel and Jewish Worship. I realized then that the Johannine community, which had produced this gospel, was itself a profoundly Jewish community so that when they battled those they called “the Jews,” it was an intra-synagogue conflict between Jews and Jews, one group called “Revisionist Jews” and the other “Orthodox Jews.” Then I searched this gospel for its Jewish base and only when I discovered this could I feel the Jewish pain of their being excommunicated from the synagogue by the Orthodox party, an event that occurred around the year 88 CE. The words expressing this pain were later used in the text of this gospel to castigate all Jews, for these texts were quoted throughout the centuries with no sense of their historical context. The second step came when I realized that only when the members of the Johannine community found themselves outside the synagogue did they begin to place their Christ experience into a more universal language than the one they had known while still a part of the synagogue. This was when they turned to a form of first century Jewish mysticism to find a new vocabulary inside which they could express their faith. Jewish mysticism, like mysticism everywhere, understands the limits that words possess. To talk about their transcendent understanding of Christ, they stretched the words they used to the breaking point to make them big enough to capture the Jesus they had experienced as the mystery and the presence of the Ultimate, which they called God. So they painted Jesus in mystical language, not designed to be literalized. Literal words can never carry mystical meaning without being distorted. They then turned what had once been called “miracles” into what this gospel would call “signs.” “Signs” pointed to a reality they could never capture. Thus I discovered that the language of the Fourth Gospel is not the language of the orthodox understanding of reincarnation. It is the language of Jewish mysticism. It does not lend itself to creedal formulas or doctrinal debates, but to the processing of mystical experiences. Armed with this gospel’s original Jewishness, recognizing the pain of separation that the Johannine community felt when Orthodox Judaism could not stretch to include them and finally recognizing that what they did was to turn to the inclusive, unlimited vocabulary of Jewish mysticism in order to record their experience of Jesus, I then went back to the Fourth Gospel to read it anew. It was not the same book that once repelled me. Indeed, it captured me as no other book has done before and I devoured it until I was transformed by it. Only then could I write the words that appear in this book’s preface: “Part of my task in this book is to pull anti-Semitism out of Christian history and to pull creedal orthodoxy out of Christianity. I now find this gospel not to be about religion or sin and salvation, but to be about life, expanded life and expanded consciousness. I believe that the Fourth Gospel, properly understood, will lead Christianity into an entirely different direction from the one traditional Christian teaching has followed from Nicaea to this day.” It is now for me a blueprint for a new Christianity for a new world. ~JSS Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Steven Holmes via the Internet, writes: Question: I recall your writing that there is a major disconnect between what is being taught in the religious educational academies and the message delivered to the average pew occupier. The point seeming to be that pastors do not want to pass on the more "sensitive" aspects of their training due to the potential upset sensibilities and possible loss of weekly donations from their parishioners - even though these church leaders may very well agree with their formal instruction in these areas. Can you direct me to additional information as to exactly what is taught and believed by these higher learning institutions that is not being conveyed to the normal churchgoer - either somewhere in your writings or possibly those of someone else? Thanks upon thanks for all you have done and continue to do. Answer: Dear Steven, Thanks for your letter. I know of nowhere that someone has written out what is taught in the academies of Christian learning. Of necessity, it is never codified because it is always growing, evolving or changing. I have just completed a five-year study of the Gospel of John, for example, and I can now tell you the differences between 19th century Johannine scholarship, 20th century Johannine scholarship and 21st century Johannine scholarship. It is always being transformed as we learn more about ancient sources. None of these scholars, however, would have related to John’s gospel as if it were a literal report of an eye witness. In my last book Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World I sought to present current biblical scholarship on each book of the Bible. There are many others who work in the field that I am plowing. I list them in the bibliography of my book. Studying one of these books in a church group would help to create the conversation that builds a new community within the church. My guess is that most clergy would welcome that initiative and if they did not, perhaps you should look for another church. Theological seminaries are also not created equal. Some are great centers of academic excellence. I think immediately in this category of Harvard Divinity School and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Some are denominational schools that have tied themselves into ecumenical consortiums. In this category I think of the theological schools in the Berkeley, California, center and the seminaries that revolve around Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some are denominational schools that are connected to a university. I think of the Drew Theological School on the campus of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Some denominational schools, however, are little more than propaganda institutions in the service of denominational comfort. These institutions engage the world and its thought very little, tolerate their critics very uneasily and tend to bless the status quo. The fact is that most of the biblical scholarship that informs my ministry and my writing has been around for about 200 years and yet I did not learn about it in my denominational training school in the 1950’s. That illustrates the problem. Thank you for your good words. John Shelby Spong Announcements Recapture the Original Message of The Fourth Gospel Pre-Order The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic Today! John Shelby Spong, bestselling author and popular proponent of a modern, scholarly and authentic Christianity, argues that this last gospel to be written was misinterpreted by the framers of the fourth-century creeds to be a literal account of the life of Jesus when in fact it is a literary, interpretive retelling of the events in Jesus’ life through the medium of fictional characters, from Nicodemus and Lazarus to the “Beloved Disciple.” The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic was designed first to place Jesus into the context of the Jewish scriptures, then to place him into the worship patterns of the synagogue and finally to allow him to be viewed through the lens of a popular form of first-century Jewish mysticism. The result of this intriguing study is not only to recapture the original message of this gospel, but also to provide us today with a radical new dimension to the claim that in the humanity of Jesus the reality of God has been met and engaged. Click here to read the: Preface of The Fourth Gospel- by Bishop Spong “We now approach our scriptures with a literalism that is unparalleled in the history of religion. This new and imaginative book by John Shelby Spong will liberate many people from this unnecessary complication of the religious life.” — Karen Armstrong, author of A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam “No one has done more to articulate a vibrant, post-mythic vision of Christianity than John Shelby Spong. Bishop Spong’s masterful interpretation is destined to become a classic.” — Michael Dowd, Author of Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World “Spong is always readable and informative, but this book reads like a cross between a detective story and an adventure saga that is founded on excellent scholarship. I could not put it down.” — Fred C. Plumer, President of ProgressiveChristianity.Org (read this whole review here) Any questions or concerns, please contact us at support(a)johnshelbyspong.com or 1-503-236-3545. Clicking the unsubscribe link below will remove you from our list but you will still need to contact us at: support(a)johnshelbyspong.com to cancel your account or you can login to the website to do so. Copyright © 2013 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have a membership at our website. Our mailing address is: ProgressiveChristianity.org 3530 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Unit 1 Portland, OR 97214 Add us to your address book

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Salmon: For Paula Philbrook
by William Salmon 29 May '13

29 May '13

Paula -- Please share a couple of brief stories for us. Beverly remembers the Philbrook collegiality and family care. It is another example of our corporateness. We had just returned from Korea and took an interim appointment in the United Methodist Church. Our youngest daughter Julie was in Chicago and needed to be sent to our home base to Salina, Kansas. In order to make the connection, Marge was on her way to the Kansas City House, and she was asked to take Julie to Kansas City to be put on the bus. It always amazed us concerning the care of the Emerging Generation and how they could travel around the world. It took special people that had the vision of what it meant to live as an extended family. My story involves the memory of Phil and Marge. I have an idea that there are not many people in the Order that has as long a memory of this couple as Beverly and I do. This was the decade of the 1950's, Phil was a United Methodist Minister serving at South Haven, KS--there is nothing further in Kansas before crossing the border into Oklahoma. Our paths crossed many times at our Annual Conference meetings. When I was contemplating an internship with OE, I visited in 5th City. What a lovely mess that was--take that statement and face-value, please. Who should I run into but Phil and Marge? >From that moment on, they served as an example of what was possible for me to make the decision, for Beverly to accept it, and for our children to take up the Wedge Blade and live the missional life. Marge--you've been the matriarch of one of the signal Order families. All of us--and I mean everybody--knew you always had our backs, and I mean all of us. You, your husband, and your family taught us to live "the hell out of life." What else would we want "out" of our lives, but the hell? Thank you, and celebrate well. Inner Peace, Bill and Beverly Salmon PS: I'm doing something similar next April when I turn 80. To celebrate I'm getting a tatoo on my butt. This is the image of the "Power Cat" from Kansas State University. The words under it will be, "Last laugh!" What's so funny? Well, I've donated my body to the medical school at Kansas University. So, when some future doctor at KU turms me over. . . then, I'll have the last laugh. Wadcha think? Bill

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Happy Birthday
by jlepps＠pc.jaring.my 29 May '13

29 May '13

Happy Birthday, Marge. We remember our many meetings fixing up the McKinney St. House in Dallas in the late 60s, and our work with you in ESI. We also remember the way you kept the "typing pool" clicking away in a symphony of productivity in the early 70s that turned out a lot of what you're now archiving. But mostly we remember your mantra "You're the greatest!" that pronounced the Word whenever it was needed. Now we get to say it back to you: Your life is pleasing to the Lord -- and to a lot of others, too! Grace & Peace John & Ann Epps

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GreenRise successes at 4750
by Terry Bergdall 29 May '13

29 May '13

Last week, I invited folks to go online and vote for the rooftop garden project coordinated by a young 21-year old member of the GreenRise Intentional Residential Community at 4750, Joseph Taylor. I am delighted to announce that, with your help, this project won the Ford Community Green Grant today at the Chicago Green Festival, A Project of Green America and Global Exchange. There are similar Festivals happening in Los Angeles (Oct 19-20), San Francisco (Nov 9-10), Washington, DC (Sept 21-22), and New York (April 19-21). The prize was for $5,000. If my attachment is successfully transmitted, you can see a photo from the awards ceremony. Joseph is the tall one in the middle surrounded by supporters. On a related note, we also received notice last week that the GreenRise Building "solar project" has been awarded a $359,000 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to install renewable energy panels on our rooftop. The building at 4750 Sheridan is becoming a VERY high profile embodiment of "green culture" to complement our neighborhood sustainability work across the 77 community areas of Chicago. Terry Bergdall

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Fwd: Tuesday OpEd from Jaime
by Jaime R Vergara 27 May '13

27 May '13

This was on the Tuesday edition of the ST, for those who might be interested. j'aime la vie Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate! A candle forJanice American Janice of our acquaintance formerly taught in thePhilippines, then married a Filipino who worked for Eastman Kodak in Rochester,New York. They acted as guardians (anorganizational and functional category) to a social movemental force I was anactive member of in the 70s and the first half of the 80s, operating out ofChicago, Illinois. We performed as aglobal servant (word used intentionally rather than the neutral “service”)force in human (economic, political, and social) community development. The group labored under a high intensity of social engagement foralmost three decades, then organizational inertia and entropy set in, but thegroup had enough selfhood that when it realized its meeting its own body needsreplaced its passion for its mission, it intentionally dissipated out of beingwith the same lucidity as it did in its own analysis of the rise and decline ofother organizations that preceded it. Itwas called Order: Ecumenical, for those of us who thought it was revolutionaryto be oikumene when others wereparochial in their religious orientations. Of course, being ecumenical grew old and irrelevant so fast that itis just as well the group disbanded. I’ve used the word “intentional” in two paragraphs now. A global network of "those whocare" (nebulous but real) intentionally remained in touch while eachexpended one’s self in one’s own burst of light – into “a thousand light”, inelder George Bush’s imagery. The group’sprogram arm was actually referred to by the GOP of Orange County in UScongressional record as “communist”, so the group’s dissipation into numerouslights in essentially GOP terminology, is more descriptive rather thanideological. Janice and I exchange messages in a common listserv we are a part ofonce in a while, on the state of our being as well as our vocation. Slightly older than I am, she has just joineda few of my colleagues in bouts with chemotherapy. As has become customary in the last threeyears, I light a candle on my ledge to lift up the facticity of those in mycircle of acquaintances continuing to be treasured and celebrative presence onthe planet even in the midst of battling the onerous challenge of cancerouscells. I lit a candle for the late Ruth Tighe of Saipan, the honored mavenof local commentators, until she gloriously downed her last swig ofScotch. She once commented that Ieulogized her exit too early. Sheoutlasted her Doctor’s prognosis a few years longer. She once bought me lunch at a new health foodrestaurant, driving to the place with her oxygen tank in tow. In her retinue, imminent death had no dominion. Our current five now includes Janice of New York joining four othersfrom Seattle, Maui, Sydney, and Saipan. Specific as to who the candles represent, taken as a whole, they manifest our relationship to those considered by society to be“differently-abled” (including the "handicapped"). Being father to two autistic children, the act of regularly lightingcandles are personally of deep significance. Janice’s forte is music and the arts, and a colleague offered for herthe lyrics to Cris Williamson’s Song ofthe Soul, metaphors of the heart in a song. It turns out to be a song sung by an intentional community out ofSeattle that was a result of my group’s thousand light bursting. Part of the lyrics are: Love of my life Iam crying I am not dying, Iam dancing Dancing along inthe madness There is nosadness Only the song ofthe soul Chorus: And we'll singthis song Why don't yousing along Then we can singfor a long, long time Why don't yousing this song Then we can singalong Then we can singfor a long, long time For those who follow our reflections, they would not be surprised tosee us latch into Williamson’s imagery (which, we gather, may have been derivedfrom a Walt Whitman poem). I am not dying, I am dancing, fits thesentiment of one of our candle persons who went through chemo for nine monthsand is prone to say, “why are folks afraid to talk about dying?” That, and a small dynamo we know down Sydneyway two-steps us to the great dance that is life! As a former Methodist clergy, one could say that we have had ourshare of sending off personages into the great unknown. While grief is a legitimate response to thereality of death, I used to conduct funeral services not for the dead but forthe living. I did not hesitate to remindmy audiences that the reason we grieve is not primarily for the departed asthat the parting reminds us too vividly of our mortality. It is the affirmation of our finitude that iscelebrated in the completion of a life! The song for Janice is also a song for all our lives. j'aime la vie Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!

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