August 2014 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

Transition Announcement
by Terry Bergdall via OE 06 Aug '14

06 Aug '14

At my initiative last May, I informed the ICA-USA Board of Directors that I thought it was time for them to begin the process of identifying my replacement as ICA’s executive officer. Since this listserv represents the community to which I feel accountable, it is appropriate that I share with you my thoughts about this decision. It also is my effort to answer questions that I suspect many people will have when they hear the news. It was in early January 2007 when I was first presented with the idea of becoming Executive Director of ICA-USA. My initial response was strongly negative. I was enjoying the fruits of nearly 20 years, following the disbanding of the Order, as a successful independent consultant. I considered myself to be an eager and active player in expanding the reach and impact of the OE community, the “flowering of the Order” as some have called it, through a wide array of creative activities that were generally beyond its grasp when it was more tightly bound. Why give that up to wrestle with the problems, and potential drudgery, of institutional life? Despite my initial “no,” a seed was planted and ideas about ICA’s future continued to grow within my imagination. The reason for embracing institutional challenges is because they have a way of outlasting us all. I wanted to ensure that the principles, perspectives, values, and wisdom that have motivated people during the past 50 years would continue to have a living home. This is manifest in new programs that give practical form to truths like: (1) everyone has gifts, assets, and capacities; (2) the external situation is never the problem; (2) people live out of images and when images change, behavior changes; (4) an emphasis on cultural dimensions of the social process is the key to addressing economic and political contradictions. My passion was, and is, to ensure these points, and others like them, are embedded in the institutional fabric of an organization that will continue beyond my lifetime. The vision, therefore, is ICA as a branded vessel for profound insights that inspire people to action. My commitment when I took this job involved three objectives: create innovative new programs built upon the legacy of ICA’s past while addressing new realities, obtain economic stability, and to pass on the organization to new leadership looking toward the next 50 years. I feel very good these days about the dynamic programs for which ICA-USA enjoys a growing high-profile reputation -- the neighborhood work with “Accelerate 77,” the emergence of the “GreenRise Learning Laboratory” at 4750, leadership development of university students through contextual education and civic engagement, and the spreading of ToP facilitation methods throughout the country. ICA’s international connectedness is a powerful feature of its work. Economic stability remains an elusive objective requiring constant diligence but is never reason for inaction. Based on all of the above, I believe now is the right time to enable a successful transition to new leadership from among those who are attracted to ICA’s underlying purpose and in-depth programs. To that end, I will post information very soon from the ICA-USA Board of Directors about the succession process to appoint a new CEO.

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Global Buzz
by ICA International via OE 05 Aug '14

05 Aug '14

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICA International website Please click the link below for the August issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: August 2014 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://ica-international.org/buzz/7dayreport-14/2014-08-01.php ICAI Communications

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ICA GreenRise Building
by Terry Bergdall via OE 03 Aug '14

03 Aug '14

The commissioning of the ICA GreenRise solar project is scheduled for 10:00am on Wednesday morning, September 24, 2014, with notable public figures in attendance. This has attracted widespread interest because it is the largest installation of PV solar panels on a commercial building in Chicago outside of downtown. It will generate a quarter of the building's electrical use. It is a dramatic complement to ICA's neighborhood program on local sustainability initiatives, Accelerate 77. The commissioning event will highlight work with communities, service programs of building tenants, and other Uptown organizations during an Open House. Celebrate with us, wherever you are, and attend if you can!

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Paul Clements, 2nd generation ICA
by Lynda Cock via OE 02 Aug '14

02 Aug '14

in Michigan race for Congress. Jesse and Molly's son. Share this with your 2nd generation. Lynda Cock <https://act.myngp.com/el/8796870771805062912/-2130756387025385728> Can we count on your support to help us keep the ad on the air and take the fight to Congressman Upton? This ad talks about issues our movement is deeply invested in, like making college more affordable, strengthening our economy by making investments in high tech and clean energy jobs, and providing incentives to keep our young people here at home. It talks about the need to use data to guide policymaking and focus on results.

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Fw: Dialogue] "Journey Reflection" Blog Review (July2014)
by Rod Rippel via OE 02 Aug '14

02 Aug '14

Please add me. Thanks Rod Rippel From: Robert and Cynthia Vance via OE Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2014 3:54 AM To: John Cock Cc: Dialogue ICA ; OE Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Dialogue] "Journey Reflection" Blog Review (July2014) Would like also. Thanks. Cynthia and Bob Vance Nancy Lanphear via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: I do want to be added. Thanks, Nancy On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 3:16 PM, John Cock via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: From: John Cock <mailto:transcribebooks@triad.rr.com> Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 2:23 PM Subject: "Journey Reflection" Blog Review (July 2014) Colleagues of OE and ICA, Following are the most viewed blog posts of the month “Journey Reflection” Blog Review (July 2014). And below is a sample of today's blog post e-mail via Mail Chimp that goes to couple hundred OE/ICA colleagues, plus. Let us know if you would like to be added (would come to your e-mail at 7 a.m. US Eastern Time). Journey on, Lynda and John View this email in your browser Journey Reflection July 31 Interior Conversion Thomas Berry: As spirit is one, so the universe in its primordial origin, its movement through time, and its final fulfillment, is a single, if infinitely diverse, mode of being. [Our Universal Spirit Journey* book] is a simple, direct, and exuberant statement of the all-pervasive presence and power of spirit … and its ever-present support for the Earth Venture and the Human venture…. Journer: Berry is talking about the heart of the profound journey for all. Nez: Prophetically he warns that without spirit all the economic, political, and cultural processes of humanity will not make it via “our [present] dysfunctional interior life.” Namaste. ______ * from Berry’s Foreword, pp. 10-11, of jpc’s book (2002) Image: source ------------------------------------------------ Xtra Blog Post: Profound Journey Learning (Wyatt Prunty) 3,600+ Daily Blog Posts since August 2004 JPC & LLC Links: Website Books Facebook Twitter Google Plus Share Tweet +1 Share Forward Copyright © 2014 Transcribe Books, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Transcribe Books P O Box 38432 Greensboro, NC 27438 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list This email was sent to transcribebooks(a)triad.rr.com why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Transcribe Books · P O Box 38432 · Greensboro, NC 27438 · USA John P. Cock >Daily Blog: "Journey Reflection" at this link > Google or Google+ : www.reJourney.blogspot.com >Web Page: www.transcribebooks.com >Books: http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW _______________________________________________ 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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Re: [Oe List ...] Dialogue] "Journey Reflection" Blog Review (July 2014)
by Robert and Cynthia Vance via OE 02 Aug '14

02 Aug '14

Would like also. Thanks. Cynthia and Bob Vance Nancy Lanphear via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >I do want to be added. > >Thanks, > >Nancy > > > >On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 3:16 PM, John Cock via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > >From: John Cock <jpc2025(a)triad.rr.com> > >Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 2:23 PM >Subject: "Journey Reflection" Blog Review (July 2014) > > >Colleagues of OE and ICA, > > >Following are the most viewed blog posts of the month “Journey Reflection” Blog Review (July 2014). > > >And below is a sample of today's blog post e-mail via Mail Chimp that goes to couple hundred OE/ICA colleagues, plus. Let us know if you would like to be added > >(would come to your e-mail at 7 a.m. US Eastern Time). > > > >Journey on, > > Lynda and John > > >View this email in your browser > >Journey Reflection > >July 31 >Interior Conversion > > > >Thomas Berry: As spirit is one, so the universe in its primordial origin, its movement through time, and its final fulfillment, is a single, if infinitely diverse, mode of being. [Our Universal Spirit Journey* book] is a simple, direct, and exuberant statement of the all-pervasive presence and power of spirit … and its ever-present support for the Earth Venture and the Human venture…. > > >Journer: Berry is talking about the heart of the profound journey for all. > > >Nez: Prophetically he warns that without spirit all the economic, political, and cultural processes of humanity will not make it via “our [present] dysfunctional interior life.” > > >Namaste. > >______ > >* from Berry’s Foreword, pp. 10-11, of jpc’s book (2002) > >Image: source > > >Xtra Blog Post: Profound Journey Learning (Wyatt Prunty) > >3,600+ Daily Blog Posts since August 2004 > >JPC & LLC Links: > >WebsiteBooksFacebookTwitterGoogle Plus Share Tweet +1 Share Forward Copyright © 2014 Transcribe Books, All rights reserved. >Our mailing address is: > >Transcribe Books > >P O Box 38432 > >Greensboro, NC 27438 > > >Add us to your address book > > >unsubscribe from this list >This email was sent to transcribebooks(a)triad.rr.com >why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences >Transcribe Books · P O Box 38432 · Greensboro, NC 27438 · USA > > > >John P. Cock > >>Daily Blog: "Journey Reflection" at this link > > Google or Google+ : www.reJourney.blogspot.com >>Web Page: www.transcribebooks.com >>Books: http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW > > >_______________________________________________ >OE mailing list >OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net > >

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Jaime Wednesday to Friday for ST
by via OE 02 Aug '14

02 Aug '14

The following is in today's Saipan Tribune paper. Thanks to all who sent greetings for the day. Self-immolate They were monks during the Vietnam War who protested thecontinuing presence of American forces and the tragic conduct of an unpopularwar of attrition. Their method wasself-immolation in busy thoroughfares for maximum publicity. With their bodies, they called attention to asituation that demanded a radical response. Charles Moore in some quarters was dubbed a madman. At 79-year old retired United MethodistMinister colleague who I knew briefly in the late 70s, his teenage son oncegiven to our family's care in Saskatoon while parents conducted training inIndia, doused himself in gasoline and lit his being up in flames in GrandSaline, Texas. Those unfamiliar with theprofundity of the Buddhist act of self-immolation were quick to condemn Charlesas a kook. EmileDurkheim categorized suicides into four types: egoistic, altruistic, anomic(moral confusion), and fatalistic. Self-immolationinvolves and covers all counts, in his estimation. It is an act of despair and defiance, a symbolat once of resignation and heroic self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is big in Christendom with theimage of the crucified Christ so folks like quiet but dour Charles, consumedwith a burning cause, who takes on the ultimate self-sacrifice. Todaymarks the end of my 69th year in the Gregorian calendar and thefirst day of my 70th year in the lunar one of the Far East. No, I am not anywhere close toself-immolating. I am mesmerized by themetaphor of having one's being in flames. Thepoetry of light and the metaphor of heat are as old as humanity itself. Light particularly is often compared toclarity, as the waters of the Aegean Sea was once seen as crystal clear, andone of Europe's eras from where we derived some of our mental behavior arethose of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The picture of transcendence looking down from Olympus informs this viewof "seeing the light." Heat isa bit more immanent. It is allconsuming, the image of the self and the fire as one, completely embraced. This is more than the unity of the Om, or the harmony and balance of the yin-yang in the pugua. It is the flamingavatar stealing fire for humanity. Thistheme recurs in many world mythologies, e.g., Matarisvan in the Rig Veda, and Prometheus in Greeceenabling progress of civilization while Azazel in the Jewish Book of Enoch taught humanity to usetools and fire. Maui of the Polynesiansstole fire from the Mudhens, the alae birds. The spider for the Cherokee, the coyote forthe Pacific Northwest, the crow from the volcano in the Yukon, the weasel tothe Creek, the rabbit to the Algonquin, and the hare to the Ojibwa, all stoleand provided humanity with fire. As Itraverse the last 17-16 years of my one-moment-in-time, I adopt the lifestyleof an embodied scorching avatar rather than the sedate and resigned retiree ina quad by the metro stop of Hang KongHang Tian Da Xue in Shenyang. Mysword shall be words in englisCHe, sharpand vivid as they come. It hasbeen a long way from the agrarian fields of Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija where I wasborn, to the wind-swept Manchurian plains of my current residence. The many causes that added verse and prose tothe interior mythos of my self-story stacks in the database of my memory downto the level of the unconscious. Now, Iprune the top of my iceberg as my willful engagement in scrapping wayward postingson walls, washing telephone numbers on steps, picking the trash off thewalkways and sidewalks, and keeping the green of summer in community nodes andgardens. It isthe mental self that I immolate. I am not into saving myself for social glory,nor finding ways to work my name into anyone's marquee. As the term "immolate" implies, itis my life's goal and daily task to set the "self" aflame, let itburn into ashen nothing with the heat bringing warmth where needed, and lightwhere it is shunned. Intrusive but notcoercive, collaborative rather than combative, I side with other selves engagedin their own self-immolations. Fornow, the warmth spreads amongst young learners prodded to pay attention totheir innate sense faculties, to describe what they see around them, theobjects that they touch, the aroma and odor they smell, the sounds and musicthey hear, and the various cuisine of their heritage that they gulp. They are too young to fall into the morass ofabstractions that learning in China imposes. They are, at first blush, what they sense. Slowly,they are urged to narrate their responses to experiences at home, on the road,at the playground and in school, and start expressing their feelings, of fearand delight, pointing out things they hate and like. Then they segue into the world ofabstractions that the Chinese language is good at. Tooyoung to make their own behavioral choices, they are nevertheless, made awareof the little things that make them whine at their parents' feet for thingsthey wish to do. Or, decide to pick-uptheir lives and walk! All theseexpressed in englisCHe, with CHcharacteristics! That's how I am setting myself on fire. j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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8/01/14, Spong: Carrying My Understanding of Christianity to France
by Ellie Stock via OE 01 Aug '14

01 Aug '14

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Carrying My Understanding of Christianity to France In two lectures in Paris, France, this summer and through various other media, I sought to place into the religious conversation of that nation a new way of looking at Jesus of Nazareth. The majority of both audiences that I addressed consisted of people who still have some relationship with institutional Christianity. The first was primarily those who had a Protestant orientation and the second those primarily of a Catholic orientation. In the Protestant audience some clergy were present. In the Catholic audience no clergy were visible, but one person in the question period did identify himself as a Jesuit. One of the Protestant pastors was the senior minister of the church which hosted the lecture. He was French and French speaking with only a limited facility in English. His church may have been the largest and most active, indigenous Protestant congregation in Paris. He was tall, about forty, clearly impressive in ability and his response led me to believe that he was on my theological wavelength. He had welcomed me warmly. His name was James Woody, which surprised me because it did not sound French at all. I discovered that he received his name from his grandfather, who had landed with the American army on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. He then fought the Germans until they were ousted from France. In the course of his service, he fell in love with and married a French woman. Their son was the father of this pastor; hence James Woody was the rather Anglicized sounding name of this French-speaking Protestant pastor. The second identifiable Protestant pastor was an expatriate, serving the American Protestant Church in Paris. His name was the Rev. Dr. Scott Herr and his ecclesiastical background was Presbyterian. His church was similar to the American Episcopal Cathedral located just a few blocks away. Both of these churches were built to serve the American business and diplomatic communities living in Paris. The Dean of the Episcopal Cathedral is the Very Reverend Lucinda Laird, who once served with great distinction as the rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Teaneck, New Jersey. She was not present for my lectures as she was attending a clergy conference in Baden-Baden, Germany, although Christine and I did get the chance to have dinner with her later that week. My sense is that her congregation is basically American with perhaps some English citizens who live in Paris. The questions that came in the discussion following the lecture in the Protestant Church reflected the same modern tensions we find in the United States. Sometimes, they also revealed a defensive clergy mentality and a fear of stepping too far outside the traditional formulas of Christianity. For example, one questioner asked, “Do I have to agree with all of your premises to get to your conclusions?” with which, he stated, he generally agreed. I suspect that if we had had time to develop his comments. I would have discovered that he was in fundamental disagreement with my conclusions in regard to such things as the necessity of finding a way to talk about “God” without using the familiar theistic vocabulary. People are not aware that theistic language always sees God as a being, supernatural in power, dwelling outside this world in some spatial realm and able to intervene in human history in invasive, miraculous ways. Christianity’s concepts of Incarnation, Atonement and its doctrines of the Holy Trinity, all assume a theistic God definition, and all of these ideas are very difficult to translate into categories understood by those who live inside an educated, modern world view. Despite that problem this theistic language continues to be used in Christian liturgies Sunday after Sunday, in both Protestant and Catholic churches. That is one of the major unrecognized reasons that so many people today find themselves unable to relate to the language of worship. Other questions also revealed this unrelatedness. “What specific changes would you call for in the liturgy for Christianity to be able to live in our world in a new way?” one asked. That question assumes that one can make minimal adaptations around the edges of Christian thinking and accomplish the goals about which I wrote in my book on Jesus. That is no more in touch with reality than those who re-arranged the deck chairs on the Titanic just before that ship sank into the sea. A radical reorientation of our understanding of both God and human life is required. We need a shift from the idea of God as a being to the possibility of God as “Being” itself. We need to drop atonement language altogether. We need to dispense with the concept of Jesus as the “savior of the sinful,” the “redeemer of the fallen” and the “rescuer of the lost.” We need to see salvation in terms of wholeness. We need to stop relating to God as if we are trembling children standing before an abusive parent or as if we are convicted felons standing before a hanging judge. We need to drop penitential language like, “Lord have mercy” and “Kyrie Eleison.” If I had spelled out these requirements more specifically I wondered if any of the clergy present that night would have been prepared to take on such a task. One of them described himself as a “generous conservative,” an interesting phrase that seemed to make a virtue out of clinging to the theological patterns of the past. Another worried about how these concepts would translate to our children. That is always a smokescreen. Our children have given us their answers; we simply have not been willing to hear them. Every poll shows that those we call the “millenials,” that is those who came to their maturity in the 21st century, are today stepping outside of organized religion in droves. Their parents know that and so parental questions about what kind of theological language will engage their children is little more than a reflection of the parents religious anxieties, but without the courage that their children seem to have in being able to admit it. If we adults do not face the fact that our churches are in a statistical freefall, we will never be able to take the action needed to address this reality. Most Christian congregations have never even dealt with the contemporary biblical scholarship of the last 200 years. If they cannot face that, there is little reason to think that they have the ability to grapple with creedal and liturgical issues that are challenged by current theological thinking. Protestantism is very weak in France, an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, but so is the Roman Catholic Church. Rigor mortis would be too lively a phrase to describe the life of Christianity in not just France, but in most of Europe today. When I arrived the next night at the Catholic venue, the previously mentioned self-designated Jesuit, was the only person who admitted to a significant relationship with this church. Catholic monuments abound in France, but Catholic practice is almost non-existent. The shortage of clergy is desperate and quite apparent. One priest might today serve as many as five churches, having time for little more than “saying Mass.” Take the tourists out of Notre Dame Cathedral and the congregations on Sunday mornings would be embarrassing. I found little here respect for what might be called “Catholic thinking,” since most French people assume that the Catholic Church has little wisdom to offer to this generation. When prodded they would regularly say something like “the hierarchy is so conservative, they are out of touch.” Some of the questions arising from my “Catholic” audience were these: “I wonder if you are not losing part of the incarnation in your approach?” “Why do you keep using the phrase fully human?” “How could the human Jesus step beyond the boundaries of his humanity?” “Was Jesus not religious? In your book, you cite 23 references to Jesus being in the synagogue. Does that not indicate that he was religious?” The Jesuit stated that he basically agreed with my concepts. Then he went on to say that no book can interpret Jesus completely and suggested that mine did not either. I did not disagree with him, but in my opinion he was seeking to appear open to new possibilities without ever having to commit himself to anything. In the last analysis he did not even ask a question, he only inquired as to how I might relate to his comments. “I do not have answers,” I responded. I only believe that we must start a new religious conversation. The first step is to let go of the language of the past; it no longer works. The second is to learn to walk faithfully into the unknown without yesterday’s certainties impeding us. Any religious system that purports to offer security is an empty idolatry. People trained in the traditional Christian pattern of history, so often cannot even get past this first step. It was my third audience, the totally secular representatives of the French Press that gave me hope. They like most of France were completely non-religious. They had no agenda or turf to protect. They asked questions not out of defensiveness or fear, but out of a quest for knowledge. For them this press conference was a possible story, nothing more. Their first response was shock, rooted in the fact that I was a bishop saying things they had never heard a bishop say before. Shock quickly turned into interest, however, not so much in my answers, but in what they perceived to be my authenticity. Religious debates in their experience were between two equally irrelevant positions. The debate I sought to inaugurate was about the search for truth with no “sacred cows” needing to be defended. It is about how human beings can process transcendence, about how I find meaning inside an institution which they had long ago abandoned, about how to deal with life’s limits and life’s fears, and about whether there is anything by any name that we can call ultimate. The most encouraging memory of my time in France is rooted in the fact that the press conference went on for three hours with no journalists leaving and then during a radio interview the following day, learning that the producer in the control room let out a few “wows” as the dialogue developed. If my writings ever make an impression in France, it will be because the media presents them to the nation. I discovered there that a “God shaped hole” is still in the soul of the secular French. The world in all of its non-religious secularity still yearns to have it filled with meaning. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer John Fugelsang, via the Internet, writes: Question: I've come to view Jesus much the way I view Elvis. I love the guy, but the fan clubs really freak me out. I think a lot of the times the mistake we make is confusing God and religion and thinking they're the same thing. What we have now is all the fundamentalist Christians who read the Bible and they skip right from the golden calf to Revelation - and then the "Left Behind" books and they kind of leave out the fact that Jesus was pretty much the most extremely liberal guy ever in history and literature or wherever your belief system locates him. You look at the character of Jesus and he scares the hell out of the conservatives even today. If Jesus came back today, you wouldn't be able to hear him talk over the sound of Christians calling him a socialist. Jesus was anti-wealth, anti-death penalty, anti-public prayer, never anti-gay, anti-abortion and never anti-premarital sex among other parameters. Answer: Dear John, Thank you for your letter. It is almost breathtaking in its scope. I can appreciate your point without necessarily agreeing with all the leaps you took to reach your refreshing conclusions. Let me try to respond. There are certainly some comparisons to be made between Jesus and Elvis Presley. They both had devoted followers and one could even say that the followers of both were unable to accept the reality of their heroes’ deaths. They both spawned movements dedicated to keeping the memories that inspired many alive. Those two movements obviously distorted the memory of their heroes in many ways, not the least of which was turning the movements into profit-making institutions. Lest we get carried away with easy comparisons, however, there are also some vast differences. Elvis was primarily an entertainer. Jesus was prophetic in that he led people to new understandings of life and removed many of the barriers that so many impose on life’s potential. Jesus called people to wholeness and, according to the only records we have, lived out that wholeness even when being publicly executed. Elvis exhibited the hedonistic indulgences of a broken and distorted life. He died, excessively overweight, addicted to drugs and to alcohol. Those are pretty substantial differences. The “Left Behind” books do in fact distort the Jesus story rather dramatically; so do the religious institutions that have been created to extend Jesus’ memory to future generations. I do not recognize Jesus frequently in the claims of those who purport to speak for him. Through the ages, the church in both its Catholic and Evangelical Protestant forms has been anti-Semitic, anti-Moslem, anti-women, anti-gay and racist. The Christian Church has carried out the Crusades, the Inquisition, endorsed slavery, resisted desegregation, advocated an inferior identity for women and people of color, called homosexual people deviant, evil and depraved, when the only “sin” of the homosexual was, we now know, to be born with a sexual orientation different from the majority. What you, John, do not seem to understand, however, is that the Christian Church has also raised up within itself visionary voices that bear witness to unpopular truths that eventually have forced institutional change. Abraham Lincoln, while never comfortable in church, read the Bible daily and that Bible informed his commitment to end slavery and to issue the “Emancipation Proclamation.” The Civil Rights movement was a movement led by Christian clergy of all denominations, first as courageous minority voices, but ultimately achieving a majority status. I remind you that Martin Luther King, Jr. was the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and that his homiletical genius was born in a deep engagement with Holy Scripture. The church also inspired and raised up the voices of women from Mary Magdalene to Julian of Norwich to Joan of Arc to Dorothy Day to Rosemary Ruether, Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza to Nancy Wittig to Barbara Harris to Katharine Jefferts-Schori. These women first challenged and ultimately defeated institutional sexism. No, that battle is not over. Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox Christians will not yet ordain women, but inevitably they will and sooner than their hierarchies now think! The Church of England has finally run out of delaying tactics and will open the bishop’s office to women very soon. There will be no turning back on this. The battle for gay rights, gay acceptance and gay justice has been fought inside the structures of the Christian Church as well as outside it. Great pioneers like Fr. John J. McNeill in the Roman Catholic Church, Louie Crew and the Rev. Robert Williams, the Rev. Barry Stopfel, The Rev David Norgard, The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton, The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, The Rt. Rev. Mary Glasspool, The Very Rev. Tracy Lind and countless others in the Episcopal Church have not only challenged, but in some cases, have overcome and defeated the homophobia of institutional Christianity. The followers of Elvis Presley have never raised up minority voices to purge and to purify their movement. The Bible asserts time and again that Christianity is called to be a minority movement, but always affecting the majority. We are told in the New Testament to be the leaven in the dough that causes the bread to rise, to be the salt in the soup that gives it flavor and to be the light in the darkness that will not be extinguished. I am a Christian, not because I am proud of the history of institutional Christianity, but because I believe that minority Christian voices can and do purge institutional Christianity of its excesses and of its life-diminishing prejudices. You seem to have some sense of who this revolutionary person called Jesus is that we Christians follow. I invite you to cease standing outside ecclesiastical structures as an external critic and to come inside, enter the trenches where the battles are being fought and there to make a difference. If you do you will know how shallow it is to compare the Elvis movement to the Jesus movement. ~John Shelby Spong Announcements **We apologize for the delay in today's essay. It was due to our Mailchimp account - which was temporarily suspended. The issue has now been resolved. We thank you for your patience. Do you or someone you know speak French or Spanish? Share and Visit these sites: Bishop Spong in French: protestantsdanslaville.org Bishop Spong in Spanish: johnshelbyspong.es

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"Journey Reflection" Blog Review (July 2014)
by John Cock via OE 01 Aug '14

01 Aug '14

From: John Cock <jpc2025(a)triad.rr.com <mailto:transcribebooks@triad.rr.com> > Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 2:23 PM Subject: "Journey Reflection" Blog Review (July 2014) Colleagues of OE and ICA, Following are the most viewed blog posts of the month ³Journey Reflection² Blog Review (July 2014) <http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2014/07/journey-reflection-blog-review-july-2 014.html> . And below is a sample of today's blog post e-mail via Mail Chimp that goes to couple hundred OE/ICA colleagues, plus. Let us know if you would like to be added (would come to your e-mail at 7 a.m. US Eastern Time). Journey on, Lynda and John View this email in your browser <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=8952b59f34&e=fbef96b95f> Journey Reflection July 31 Interior Conversion Thomas Berry: As spirit is one, so the universe in its primordial origin, its movement through time, and its final fulfillment, is a single, if infinitely diverse, mode of being. [Our Universal Spirit Journey* book] is a simple, direct, and exuberant statement of the all-pervasive presence and power of spirit and its ever-present support for the Earth Venture and the Human venture. Journer: Berry is talking about the heart of the profound journey for all. Nez: Prophetically he warns that without spirit all the economic, political, and cultural processes of humanity will not make it via ³our [present] dysfunctional interior life.² Namaste. ______ * from Berry¹s Foreword, pp. 10-11, of jpc¹s book (2002) Image: source <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a268 54c8af6&id=dff50aca17&e=fbef96b95f> Xtra Blog Post: Profound Journey Learning <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a268 54c8af6&id=d6b3015bd6&e=fbef96b95f> (Wyatt Prunty) 3,600+ Daily Blog Posts since August 2004 JPC & LLC Links: <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=23cb744cd6&e=fbef96b95f> Website <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a268 54c8af6&id=c65c4569e4&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a2 6854c8af6&id=b96cff07ff&e=fbef96b95f> Books <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a268 54c8af6&id=8d115918c3&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=9da2d6abbb&e=fbef96b95f> Facebook <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=199bc3d5ae&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=2501ee1aec&e=fbef96b95f> Twitter <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=f4ad53998b&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a2 6854c8af6&id=7b69fa63a2&e=fbef96b95f> Google Plus <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=bb6c927970&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=4bf58ed149&e=fbef96b95f> Share <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=47d68d8360&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a2 6854c8af6&id=e88f9b0708&e=fbef96b95f> Tweet <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a268 54c8af6&id=e2242d0d08&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a2 6854c8af6&id=8c2ec3672e&e=fbef96b95f> +1 <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a268 54c8af6&id=b3918f5ff8&e=fbef96b95f> <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a2 6854c8af6&id=38cd4a930f&e=fbef96b95f> Share <http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=16fbe6261dac75a26 854c8af6&id=9ac4ff8b8c&e=fbef96b95f> <http://us8.forward-to-friend1.com/forward?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6&id=b fef446ea8&e=fbef96b95f> Forward <http://us8.forward-to-friend1.com/forward?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6&id=bf ef446ea8&e=fbef96b95f> Copyright © 2014 Transcribe Books, All rights reserved. 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