October 2016 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

8/11/16, Spong: The Unlikely Honored Guest at the Democratic National Convention
by Ellie Stock via OE 01 Aug '18

01 Aug '18

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He was surrounded in that reserved and exclusive seating area by the power-elite of the Democratic Party: A former President, the sitting Vice-President and the “second lady,” the spouses and children of the nominees, as well as those especially invited guests, who were uniquely and politically related to the convention’s eventual nominee. This unlikely guest was in his own way quite unique. He was a Republican, one who had been elected to a state-wide office as a candidate of the opposition party. He served as the governor of Virginia from 1970 – 1974 and was the first Republican governor of Virginia since 1869 in the last days of reconstruction. Later he sought his party’s nomination to the Senate of the United States, losing to another Republican, John Warner, who served with distinction from 1979 until he retired in 2008. The name of this mystery quest is Abner Linwood Holton. He is now, and has been since the day I first met him, an extraordinary man. People, unaware of the history of the Democratic Party in Virginia, find it strange that the man I regarded as the best governor of Virginia during the years I lived in that state would be a Republican. Let me tell you his story.</p> <p>Linwood Holton was born in 1923 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, a town deep in the heart of Appalachia. He was a Republican from the moment of his birth. He was also bright and ambitious. Being a Republican in Virginia in those days was to be part of a distinct minority, perhaps even an endangered one! The Democrats of Virginia were the only cohesive political force in the state. This majority party was run by Virginia’s senior United States Senator, Harry Flood Byrd, who after serving a term as governor from 1926 to 1930, effectively ran the state until he died in 1966. It was said of Harry Byrd that he and a few of his closest political advisors would sit on the porch at his home in Berryville, Virginia, and pick the candidates for every political vacancy in Virginia from governor on down. The electorate was deliberately kept small by poll taxes, which effectively discouraged both blacks and poor whites from voting. A Byrd loyalist was in every county seat in Virginia to run the party. Racism was deep and “States Rights” was a holy slogan designed to make racism seem socially acceptable. Virginia was a one party state. Frequently the Republicans would not even nominate candidates and, even when they did, no one paid much attention to them because whoever won the Democratic primary seldom even campaigned in the general election, since Republicans simply did not win in this state! Linwood Holton made it his life’s ambition to establish two-party politics in Virginia.</p> <p>He graduated from Washington and Lee in Lexington, Virginia, and then entered the law school at Harvard University. Along the way he married a Roanoke girl, named Virginia Rogers, who went by the name of Jinks. She was the daughter of Frank Rogers, an upright, but ultra-conservative, successful and well-connected Roanoke citizen, who was the grandson of the first Episcopal Bishop in Southwestern Virginia. In his mind, the two greatest virtues were to be a conservative Episcopalian and a loyal Byrd Democrat. Jinks, the more rebellious of Rogers’ two daughters, chose to marry a Republican and a Presbyterian! Supported by this remarkable woman, Linwood began his life’s task of strengthening Virginia’s Republican Party. This party’s base, such as it was, had always been in the mountains of the western part of Virginia. As a force in opposition to Byrd Democrats, the Virginia Republican party tilted slightly leftward. There was no room to the right of the Byrd machine. The Virginia Republicans were known for their party’s efforts to improve education statewide and to develop better state mental health facilities. Linwood’s organizational efforts were so successful that in 1965 he was the Republican nominee for governor opposing the Southside, Virginia, Byrd Democrat, Mills Godwin, who had emerged as the new leader of the Democratic Party. The sickness, retirement and subsequently the death of Senator Byrd meant that the torch of party leadership had to be passed to the next generation. It is interesting that Harry Byrd, Jr., always known as “Little Harry,” who was appointed to succeed his father in the Senate, did not succeed him in the leadership of the statewide Democratic Party. Holton was defeated in that first run for the governor’s office, but he garnered a respectable total of votes and succeeded in introducing himself to the state. The day after the defeat, he began planning for his second run in 1969. The governorship in Virginia, we need to note, is limited by the Constitution to a single term.</p> <p>National issues soon began to erode the Byrd majorities. Poll taxes were declared unconstitutional in 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the ballot to people of color. The feminist movement began to galvanize women into an effective political force. A national- thinking Virginia Democrat, named Henry Howell, began to build a liberal political base made up of labor unions, blacks, women and young people. His challenge to the Byrd machine resulted ultimately in his election as Lt. Governor in 1971, but he could go no farther. He remained anathema to Byrd Democrats. In the Democratic Primary of 1969, the Byrd candidate, William Battle, the son of former Governor John Battle, defeated Henry Howell in a bitter contest. The party could not heal this division, so in the General Election, Linwood Holton, supported by many of Howell’s still angry voters, rode to victory with a 65,000 vote majority.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Holton called for an end to Virginia’s pattern of racial discrimination and its racist politics. No Virginia Governor had ever uttered such words before. Words, however, were not enough. People looked for actions. They would follow soon.</p> <p>In the most dramatic step imaginable, the new governor and his wife made the decision not to put their children in the church-related or independent private schools of Richmond, where all governors’ children had previously attended, but to enroll them in Richmond’s public schools which were at that time about 80% black. It was such a startling action for a Virginia politician that the New York Times covered it with a front page story and a picture of Virginia’s Governor Holton escorting one of his daughters into a school surrounded by a host of black faces smiling broadly. In a state where the official response of the ruling Democratic machine to “Brown vs. the Board of Education,” had been to call for “massive resistance to the law of the land,” a state in which some counties chose to close their public schools rather than to integrate them, here was the highest elected official in the state escorting his children into the majority black public schools of Richmond, Virginia. No action could have announced better that a new day was dawning in what had once been the capital of the Confederacy. One of those Holton children entering those public schools on that day was their oldest daughter, Anne.</p> <p>The white population of Virginia was shocked. They believed and stated that their new governor was sacrificing his children on the “altar of integration.” Many suggested that the “inferior education” that his children would receive in those heavily black schools would cripple them for life. It was a strange argument that gave the lie to the previous white claim that all of its racially segregated schools were “separate, <em>but equal</em>.” Anne, in her early teens, would be an exemplary student. She received a fine education and upon graduation from high school would be admitted to Princeton University, from which she graduated <em>magna cum laude</em>. She seemed not to have been penalized at all in her educational achievements. After Princeton she was accepted into the class of 1983 at the Harvard Law School, from which she now holds a doctor of Jurisprudence degree. From there she went into a legal career that in time would include being a domestic relations judge and Virginia’s Education Secretary.</p> <p>While at Harvard she met, fell in love with and married a fellow law student, who was born in Minnesota and educated at the University of Missouri. His name was Tim Kaine. She lured him back to Richmond, where his earlier life experiences, including his Jesuit high school education, his year as a volunteer missionary to Honduras and his mastery of the Spanish language, prepared him to begin his Richmond law practice as a civil rights attorney. Then responding to an expressed community need, he entered politics at the most local of levels, running for a seat on Richmond’s nine-member City Council. In a majority black city, Tim not only won that seat, but was also later elected by that majority-black city council to be Richmond’s Mayor. Two years later, in 2001 he moved to the state level, being elected Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor. In 2005, he won the governor’s office. His wife, Anne Holton, became the first person to be at one time living in the governor’s mansion as the child of a Republican governor and then a second time as the state’s first lady and wife of a Democratic governor. In 2012, Tim Kaine won a seat in the United States Senate. In 2016, with two years remaining in his first term as senator, he was chosen by the presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, to be her vice-presidential running mate. Anne Holton was there with him, waving to the crowd on the final night. As Hillary Clinton raised Tim Kaine’s hand high, former president Bill Clinton was at her side and Anne Holton was at Tim Kaine’s side. The crowd roared with approval.</p> <p>In the VIP section of that vast Philadelphia arena sat the former Republican Governor Linwood Holton, now 92 years old, with his wife Jinks, both still vibrant and attractive, watching their daughter being introduced to the nation. There is sometimes a reward for integrity. Linwood and Jinks Holton, who would not allow their lives to be twisted by the prejudice of racism, challenged the distorting and debilitating social structures of his generation in Richmond, Virginia. Doing what is right sometimes carries with it intimations of transcendence and even immortality. To this day he remains one of my heroes.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong</p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alberto Mejia Aguilera from Mexico writes via the internet:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>I am from Mexico and I would like to know your opinion about Liberation Theology. Do you think that this theology is still an inspiration for the struggle against the social injustice?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer:</h4> <p>Dear Alberto,</p> <p>Liberation theology was, I believe, was born in Latin America, so you should be especially proud of it. I associate the name of Leonardo Boff, primarily, with it, but there were others like the murdered Bishop Oscar Romero. It was born in an attempt to apply the principles of the gospel not just to individuals, but also to the structures of our society, which so often drive the masses into poverty. It identifies God with the poor. For those reasons it tended to be resisted in ecclesiastical circles, especially by the leaders of the Roman Catholic during the years of Popes John Paul II and Benedict, both of whom were so politically conservative that they saw it as another manifestation of Communism. I think they were both wrong in this judgment. Liberation theology, I believe, constituted a call to Christianity to see that its alliance with power, both in Europe and the new world, had corrupted the essential justice that Christianity requires.</p> <p>Christianity was born among the poor and the outcasts. It rose to dominate society and so became the religion of kings. Liberation Theology was a necessary correction.</p> <p>I wish you well.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Read and Share Online Here</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="262" style="width: 350px;height: 262px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="350" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/e67ac6a0-334…"></a></div> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:26px"><span style="color:#000000">Bishop Spong at the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan September 10th & 11th</span></span></h2> <strong>Schedule:</strong> Saturday, September 10, 2016 1:00 pm at the Reynolds Recital Hall, Northern Michigan University 7:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette Sunday, September 11, 2016 2:00 pm at the Memorial Union Building , Michigan Technological University At each location, there will be an opportunity for Q&A and book signing.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_1c149769-41d3-4c3b-8300-eaccdde19ae7 td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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"Journey Reflection" > Sept. 2016 most viewed blog posts
by John C via OE 31 Dec '16

31 Dec '16

Colleagues, friends, family and others, Please view any of the 16 most viewed of the 60 posts during September 2016 @ Journey Reflection blog posts<http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2016/09/journey-reflection-blog-posts-septemb…> Namaste <http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2016/06/journey-reflection-blog-posts-june-20…> John & Lynda Cock ("Cook" online at Facebook ... long story) ________ You can view Daily Blog "Journey Reflection" at these links >> Google: www.reJourney.blogspot.com<http://www.rejourney.blogspot.com/> Books Page: http://www.amazon.com/JPC/LLC<http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW> Web Page: www.transcribebooks.com<http://www.transcribebooks.com/> Ask us to receive free blog posts via MailChimp email daily ... along with 200+ colleagues ... like the one below ... View this email in your browser<http://rejourney.blogspot.com/> Journey Reflection September 30, 2016 Love All? [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6/images/fccc8064-bf5…] Fyodor Dostoevsky: Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light.... If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.... And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.* Journer: I cannot love all, especially the growing Hitlers across the globe. Nez: St. Francis, Gandhi, Mandela and St. Teresa learned to love all-at least more than most of us. Let us especially learn love at home and at our places of religion, now that hate grows at an accelerating pace on Earth. Namaste ______ * The Brothers Karamazov, chp. 41 > read<http://www.online-literature.com/dostoevsky/brothers_karamazov/41/> under g) on the page Image: source<https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Karamazov-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140445277> ***** We celebrate the profound journey of Frank Bremner, whose memorial service is today. All is well. ***** ________________________________ Xtra Blog Post: "Free Am I"<http://rejourney.blogspot.com/2009/07/freedom-left-to-choose.html> (Conchis) 3.8 million+ views from 199 countries/territories 4,493+ viewable blog posts since September 2004 JPC & LLC Links: [Website]<http://www.transcribebooks.com/> Website<http://www.transcribebooks.com/> [Books]<http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW> Books<http://www.amazon.com/John-P.-Cock/e/B001K8Y5KW> [Facebook]<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Journey-Reflection/263036227044839> Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Journey-Reflection/263036227044839> [Twitter]<http://www.twitter.com/transcribebooks> Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/transcribebooks> [Google Plus]<https://plus.google.com/u/0/114307312715975337692/posts> Google Plus<https://plus.google.com/u/0/114307312715975337692/posts> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-facebook-48.png]<http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> Share<http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-twitter-48.png]<http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Journey+Reflection+9.30.2016:%20http%3…> Tweet<http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Journey+Reflection+9.30.2016:%20http%3…> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-googleplus-48.p…]<https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> +1<https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FchW-Ij> [http://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/icons/social-block-v2/color-forwardtofriend…]<http://us8.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6&id=67d…> Forward<http://us8.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af6&id=67d…> Copyright © 2016 Transcribe Books, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Transcribe Books P O Box 2333 Davidson, NC 28036 Add us to your address book<http://transcribebooks.us8.list-manage.com/vcard?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af…> unsubscribe from this list<http://blogspot.us8.list-manage1.com/unsubscribe?u=16fbe6261dac75a26854c8af…>

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FYI Conference Call re Standing Rock, Weds, 11/2
by Ellie Stock via OE 02 Nov '16

02 Nov '16

Hi Folks, FYI, if anyone is interested, I will be convening a conference call on Standing Rock that is hosted by the Presbyterian Church (USA) Joining Hands Partnerships. These are periodic calls related to Resource Extraction and Climate/Environmental Issues. Call # is at the top, more info about the call below. Ellie Stock elliestock(a)aol.com WEDNESDAY,11/02/16, 3:00PM EST/2:00PM Central, IS THE NEXT RESOURCE EXTRACTION AND CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AUDIO CONFERENCE CALL. COME GATHER AROUND THE TABLE! PHONE #: 605-475-3215 Access Code: 180305# THE FOCUS: WATER IS LIFE! MNI WICONI! STANDING WITH NATIVE AMERICANS AND OTHER WATER PROTECTORS AT STANDING ROCK VS. DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE (DAPL) [Black Snakes] NEW information below and actions that be done NOW before the call. Thank you for your continued concern and action. Oct 27, militarized law enforcement agencies moved in with tanks and riot gear on water protectors who stand in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline—a massive pipeline project that would cut through four states, impact the water to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and violate sacred sites and ancient grounds. While native elders prayed in peace, they were attacked with pepper spray, rubber bullets, as well as sound and concussion cannons. By the end of the day, more than 140 people were arrested.1 Please, add your name and demand that President Obama reject this pipeline once and for all. My name is David Archambault II, and I'm the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has long opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline project. This proposed pipeline presents a threat to our lands, our sacred sites, and our water. Current and future generations depend on our rivers and aquifer to live. Will you stand in solidarity and urge President Obama to reject the Dakota Access Pipeline, once and for all? Reject the Dakota Access Pipeline and declare this land a cultural district, eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, to ensure its protection. Sign the petition >From Sacred Stone Camp >From Bill Moyers: http://billmoyers.com/story/standing-firm-standing-rock-pipeline-protesters… Dear Friends, The time for our call is almost here and the situation at Standing Rock, ND is intensifying. In case you have missed the news, Native American and other WATER PROTECTORS from all over the country and world are gathering to support the Sioux at Standing Rock, N. Dakota as they try to protect their land and water from the encroaching Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Their mantra, as in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and so many other places is WATER IS LIFE!. So I thought I'd share a bit about how we are supporting that effort here through the Presbyterian Church (USA) networks. The PCUSA is supporting the Sioux's effort to protect their land and water at many levels: presbytery, synod, GA and through groups like the Joining Hands Partnerships and Presbyterians for Earth Care/Earth Care Congregations. Below is information about how we are trying to support the effort. Our next Joining Hands Resource Extraction and Climate/Environmental Issues Call is going to be Wednesday, November 2, 3:00PM EST/2:00PM Central. The focus of this call will be the N. Dakota Pipeline and Native American WATER IS LIFE movement and gathering at the Sacred Stones Camp in Standing Rock. The Rev. Irvin Porter, PC(USA) Associate in the Office of Native American Intercultural Congregational Support and The Rev. Paul Henschen, Coordinator of the Northern Plains Presbytery Presbyterians for Earth Care Team (see his article at the bottom about his trip to the Sacred Stones Camp) will be on the call. The Northern Plains Presbyterians for Earth Care Team has been involved in taking supplies to the camp. Anyone who is interested is welcome and invited to participate in this call. Joining Hands is trying to connect the dots between our Joining Hands work with resource extraction that has affected indigenous communities in Peru and Bolivia and also the Presbyterians for Earth Care/Earth Care Congregations with what is happening in N. Dakota. There are many ways we can be supportive of N. Dakota, if not being there, then financially and by contacting our congress members and President Obama. In St. Louis, the Joining Hands Peru Partnership and the Earth Care Team together, as well as individuals have given financial support for supplies for the Sacred Stones Camps. I hope many of you will be able to do the same. Maybe some adventurous spirits might be interested in travelling there to see first hand what is going on. Below are a few links and other info related to the Standing Rock Situation. 1-from our PCUSA networks; 2-Actions re Presidential debate questions 3-Indian Country Today Media Network 4-an article in today's St. Louis Post Dispatch: Dakota and the Geography of Racism 5-Democracy Now, speaking with the founder of the Standing Rocks Sacred Stones Camp 6-Democracy Now, speaking with Chairman Archambault of the Standing Rocks Sioux 7-A Bill McKibben Article: Why Standing Rock Needs to Be a Two-Front War 8-Article about President Obama's Partnership and Initiatives with Native Americans FOR CONTINUED INFO AND UPDATES: Native American Media source--check section on Standing Rock articles: Indian Country Today Media Network - Official Site indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com Indian Country Today Media Network is your essential Native American news and information site offering superb online services in the areas of education, business and ... Standing Rock/Sacred Stones Camp facebook tracking: https://www.facebook.com/CampOfTheSacredStone/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf https://www.facebook.com/SacredStoneCamp/posts/1778453112443719 Fighting for Our Lives: #NoDAPL in Historical Context BY Nick Estes 10/26/16 Little has been written about the historical relationship between the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the longer histories of Oceti Sakowin (The Great Sioux Nation)... DAPL: Former Vice President Al Gore Supports the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe BY Al Gore 10/26/16 Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/department/headline-news Google: -Standing Rock; Cannon Ball -N. Dakota pipeline -DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) -Sacred Stones Camp -Prayer Camps -Water Is Life or Mni Wiconi -PC(USA) Native American Ministries Contributions: Can be mailed to: The Synod of Lakes and Prairies 2115 Cliff Drive Eagan, MN 55122 Note on check: Dakota Access Pipeline Account #2087 or given online or by check hrough Presbyterians for Earthcare/Presbytery of Northern Plains: Donate to supplies for Standing Rock Make a donation through Northern Plains Presbytery (See Presbyterians for Earth Care --PEC--article at the end of the links) WATER IS LIFE! Ellie Stock elliestock(a)aol.com (314) 521-8418 Native American Ministries PCUSA | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Native-American-Ministries-PCUSA... Native American Ministries PCUSA. 1,704 likes · 22 talking about this. Rev. Irvin Porter is the Associate for Native American Congregational Support in... October 4 from PCUSA: Information and action needed: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/native-american-groups-call-presb… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/eco-journey/2016/09/15/presbyterians-st… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/presbytery-northern-plains-sends-… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/presbyterians-join-lummi-nation-f… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/eco-journey/2016/09/02/lummi-totem-pole… https://www.presbyterianmission.org/eco-journey/2015/05/26/behalf-lummi-nat… Below is a link to "Dakota and the geography of racism" a 9/28/16 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/dakota-and-the-geography-of-racism/art… Standing With Standing Rock and Sacred Stone Camp ... www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-pruett/standing-with-standing-ro_b... Nodapl Dakota Access Pipeline Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Sacred Stone Camp Naomi Klein. This Blogger's Books and Other Items from... Reason and Wonder: ... Democracy Now! Speaks to Standing Rock Chairman David ... indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/08/30/democracy-now-speaks... ... Democracy Now! stands out for its stories on the ... Anchor Amy Goodman has since interviewed both Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II and ... Why Standing Rock Needs To Be A Two-Front War—Against Big ... www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/24/why-standing-rock-needs-to-be-a... Why Standing Rock Needs To Be A Two-Front War—Against Big Oil And Big Banks in Environmental Protection ... Bill McKibben wrote this article for YES! http://presbyearthcare.blogspot.com/2016/10/dakota-access-pipeline-and-stan… (below) My Trip to the Camp of Sacred Stones at Standing Rock Reservation by Rev. Paul Henschen, PEC Steering Committee Paul Henschen drove to Standing Rock Reservation, where tribes were camping to protest the Dakota Access pipeline, with water supplies and food from his Presbytery’s (Northern Plains) Earth Care Team. Here is part of Paul’s account, sharing what tribe elders had to say about the pipeline after a large delegation of Native Americans from the Northwest arrived bringing a huge Totem Pole they were taking to a tribe in Manitoba. After the procession that brought the Totem Pole ended, everyone gathered with drumming, chanting and dancing. Speeches were made to welcome everyone. Elders from all the tribes formed a circle and took their turn delivering speeches. They were very eloquent, and much of what they said was hard for me as a middle-class Caucasian to hear, but they spoke the truth. They talked of how the present white-dominated society was harming the earth and that this pipeline was just another in a long history of acts of desecration of the Creator’s world. They declared that this campsite was a place founded on prayer, and that no drugs or weapons were allowed. They spoke of how their people had been on this land from the beginning, and how white society had tried to get rid of them, but that they, the Indigenous People, would still be there in the end. They said that they would pray for what was happening at Standing Rock, and that they would especially pray for the whites, because they would need it when they came before the Creator and had to answer for what they have done to the earth. All the elders expressed a strong sense of family and unity for the tribes gathered there, and that the stance by the Standing Rock Sioux against the Dakota Access Pipeline had made them a stronger family. These and many other things were said—all of them with conviction yet with a calm and gentle spirit. Violence of any kind was forbidden. After two hours of speeches, songs were sung and a prayer circle was formed--much of this in Native American language. A press conference was held after which I left to return home. Going home I took a northerly route toward Bismarck, ND, and about 20 miles north of the campsite a roadblock had been set up by police. Why, I have no idea. They were checking vehicles headed south toward Cannonball and the campsite. The Native American elders had spoken of this roadblock and how many of them had to pass through it. Days earlier, the North Dakota governor had also sent police to the protest because of unfounded rumors. This roadblock seemed to be there as a reminder of police power—an action that was totally unnecessary. The Standing Rock Sioux and the other tribes of Indigenous People had gathered peacefully to protest—as is their right. Instead of coming together with them to learn, white society raised its ugly head in a show of force that created tension and resentment. As I stood there listening to the elders speak, there was a great deal of wisdom being shared that our white-controlled society needs to hear. I was personally challenged by what the elders said, and I am continuing to wonder how my life needs to change. And what will be the response of our society? Will we listen and learn from those who were here long before our ancestors arrived? Or will we stay on the same course toward destruction of the earth and ultimately of ourselves? Click here to donate to the Northern Plains Earth Care Team to purchase more supplies for them to take to Standing Rock. Mark your donation for Presbyterians for Earth Care Team and note that it is for Standing Rock. PNS article about Paul Henschen's trip Presbytery sends support to pipeline ‘protectors’ in ND Donate to supplies for Standing Rock Make a donation through Northern Plains Presbytery. Ask President Obama: Revoke permits for Dakota Access Pipeline PHP Fair Trade Coffee Trip to Nicaragua Apply by October 1st. PEC's next Conference Sept 26-29, 2017 Download Sept 2017 Save the Date flyers HERE See our new brochure! Take a look at our color brochure on our website. PEC has a new website Have a look and tell us what you think! Restoring Creation Loans from PC(USA) Apply for a low-cost loan for energy efficiency Recent Blog Posts A Picture Essay on the Shore The Cyclical Nature of Weather Connect with PEC: PEC's Website Become a member Email Us follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2016 Presbyterians for Earth Care, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of Presbyterians for Earth Care, or because you opted to join our email list. Our mailing address is: Presbyterians for Earth Care P.O. Box 9064 Asheville, NC 28815 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Resource Extraction and Climate" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to resource-extraction-and-climate+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to resource-extraction-and-climate(a)googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/resource-extraction-and-climate/1581ac212…. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

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Re: [Oe List ...] very familiar!
by Zoe Barley via OE 31 Oct '16

31 Oct '16

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very familiar!
by W. J. via OE 31 Oct '16

31 Oct '16

Somehow this sounds VERY familiar!"In 1961, when Clinton was a teenager, a youth pastor came blazing into Park Ridge behind the wheel of a red Chevy convertible. The Rev. Don Jones would inspire Clinton to see the world as her parish.Fresh from seminary after a stint in the Navy, Jones gathered the sheltered Methodist youth of Park Ridge and gave them crash courses in the "University of Life." He read them poems by e.e. cummings, introduced them to Christian intellectuals such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich, and asked them to interpret modernist paintings such as Picasso's 'Guernica'."Much later Tillich's sermon 'You Are Accepted' got Hillary through the Monica crisis.Joe Thomas tells about meeting Hillary in Baton Rouge some years ago and discussing her experience at The Ecumenical Institute.So GO VOTE already!MarshallThe public and private faith of Hillary Clinton | | | | | | | | | | | The public and private faith of Hillary Clinton By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton is reluctant to talk about religion, which is only half true. He... | | | |

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Neva (Forbes) Reece
by Shelley Hahn via OE 30 Oct '16

30 Oct '16

Leslie Forbes asked if I would share the following update re: her mother, Neva (Forbes) Reece. I asked if there is an address where people might send a card or note; she doesn't kknow the address but is trying to get it and will share it when she does. "My biological mother, Neva Reece, had a brain injury several years ago where her word-finding and word-understanding is impaired (she has a hard time talking and understanding and cannot read). She also has issues with rational thought and cannot do any numbers at all. I have been her medical and financial power of attorney until she hired a lawyer to remove me without my knowledge as she had done with my eldest brother. She is now a ward of the county and has been found to have pancreatic cancer. I do not get phone calls returned often so the information is sketchy. Doctors have not returned my phone call, but my brother Doug is on his way there for a consult where they will decide to have an invasive surgery or not. She is currently in a secured facility nursing home (she twice hit a resident at the unsecured facility so was moved). Her letters and phone calls are fairly incomprehensible. My brother and I talk it through to see what she might be talking about. I have been holding off posting this thinking that I would have a better picture of prognosis since I have been told it's dormant, but since they are talking about invasive surgery I don't know." -- from Leslie Forbes Please keep Neva in your thoughts and prayers. Shelley Hahn

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Fwd: Bingham, Annette Patton - Obituaries - News-Record.com
by Lynda C via OE 29 Oct '16

29 Oct '16

Colleagues, Linked below is the obituary for Annette Patton Bingham. Somehow, I had not known, or didn't remember that she was born in Greensboro. I also didn't know that she was born of Greek Orthodox parents with a family name for which Patton is a derivative. http://www.greensboro.com/obituaries/bingham-annette-patton/article_1a6c281… Nelson and Elaine Stover, Charles Lingo, Herman Greene and I represented the EI and ICA at her very meaningful memorial service in Raleigh this afternoon. Allen Bingham's words about his mother and his family's journey were especially meaningful as he spoke of being raised to the words of a song sung to the tune of Yellow Submarine, which grew out of his family's experience with the Ecumenical Institute and Institute of Cultural Affairs. He went on to relate the words of the song and admitted that it took him years to realize that these were words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's paper on Freedom. So, freedom, responsibility and duty all were keystones to their family's understanding of life. I can imagine that Allen is a very powerful shepherd to his UMC congregation, many of whom were there in the service. A representative from the NC UMC Conference Board of Missions spoke of Annette being known as the Draggon Lady because she was always Draggin someone off to some mission. A gentleman from Haiti who was introduced as "an adopted son" of the Binghams had flown from Haiti to be present. He is an engineer working on water systems in Haiti. I wondered if he could have been one of Engineer Bill's students. (By the way, Bill was an engineering professor, not an economics professor as I had previously reported.) Each of the four designated persons who presented the eulogies attested to the wide reach of this family's care regardless of race, gender or religion. Toward the end of the service a gentleman from the audience introduced himself as a member of the Muslim community and celebrated the difference that this woman (and Bill) had made for people of his community through their interfaith dialogue work. I met several people from Ghana and from Sierra Leone who were part of the welcoming outreach of Annette and Bill. Also celebrated was the about 20 years of a Kids' Café, co-founded by Bill and Annette, an after school care of enrichment, nutrition and tutoring for immigrants and minority students. With this family we celebrate a life fully and gratefully lived in service to others. "For All the Saints who from their labors rest...." .... Alleluia! Lynda Cock

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10/27/16, Spong/Farrin: Hospitality between I and Thou, A Meditation on Bishop Spong’s Thesis #9: Ethics
by Ellie Stock via OE 29 Oct '16

29 Oct '16

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR This week's guest author is Cassandra Farrin, Marketing Director of the Westar Institute and the Editor of Polebridge Press. Hospitality between I and Thou A Meditation on Bishop Spong’s Thesis #9: Ethics I need to speak candidly with you about hospitality, perhaps the most iconic of Christian values and one of the easiest to go on attributing to the historical Jesus in spite of how much else has been stripped away from his biography. We need to discuss this because of the scary things people have been saying about refugees, about Black men, about what can be done to women. Because of the people who are bleeding in the streets. Perhaps, like me, you’re often afraid to be hospitable. You were hospitable and you were hurt. Or you were hospitable and someone else got hurt. You were hospitable and then, as a result of your hospitality, you became responsible for something or someone so precious that you could no longer afford to let just anyone through your door. You were hospitable night after night, until you became too weary to get up and answer the door. Sometimes, you were the one knocking. The decision to open the door can’t be dictated in advance. To paraphrase Bishop Spong’s ninth thesis on ethics: Once we give up ancient codes like the Ten Commandments, our morality is no longer decided for us. It must be forged in the space between rules-of-thumb and real life. In The Folly of God, John D. Caputo describes this space as that which “calls” to us or that which we “are called” to do, without a clear subject: If we could identify the caller, assess the credentials of the source, evaluate its authority, we would get on top of it, make it our own. The call would come from an ontological caller ID. … If I could say this is God or biology or culture, there would be an end to it. My mind would be put at ease. … [But] that would deprive the call of its uncanniness, of its riskiness, of its madness and folly. (91) Caputo warns us that the risk of hospitality is irreducible. He says the person on the other side of the door really could be the person we most fear and it really could also be the person most dreadfully in need of our help. Each time, we have to decide whether we’re going to take the risk. And it doesn’t get easier, because the risk is renewed with each new knock at the door. Namsoon Kang of Brite Divinity School complicated this to yet another level at the Spring 2016 session of the Seminar on God and the Human Future (a recent successor of the Jesus Seminar). In recounting the story of Lot, who offered hospitality to angels, Kang observed that sometimes hospitality to the other requires the sacrifice of the familiar. In Lot’s case, he handed over his daughters to his neighbors to be raped in the angels’ stead. We must not forget this liability as well. I agree with Caputo and with Kang that these risks are real, and yet at the same time let me grant us all a modicum of relief. Habits and other rules-of-thumb exist for a reason. Habit is not always a sign of moral weakness; it can simply be common sense. What I’m trying to say is: Don’t feel guilty for preprogramming 9-1-1 into your phone and handing it to your sister before you open the door. But, let’s still open the door, as often as we can bear to. Speaking as a foster and now adoptive parent, I can tell you from direct experience that hospitality can also lead to love. There’s a recent, haunting poem by Anya Silver I want to share with you before I conclude. “In the Sanatorium” (2014) opens in an Austrian sanatorium with one dying German confessing his sins to another: Under orders, he had taken enemies of the state, shoved them between two stopped trains, and burned them to death. Then swept away remains. Could he ever be forgiven for such a sin? Unbeknownst to the confessor, the man in the bed beside him (the narrator’s father) was the son of one of the men he killed. But this is not a tale of hospitality, for when the father might have spoken, he turned his head away. Forget forgiveness; he doesn’t even breach the pain. The narrator, having inherited this unresolved moment, concludes: Riven, six more decades, between two ghosts: one wasted from coughing, pale; one burning. Both beyond any word he might have spoken. Now it is the narrator’s turn to decide her next move: How will this memory haunt her? Will it push her toward hospitality in her encounters with others, or will she also turn away (out of a natural fear, and who can blame her)? As the poet does, I’ll leave you with the question, but also with a lovely, non-apocalyptic image that I learned from Jeffrey Robbins, who in turn inherited it from Catherine Malabou: Rather than imagining our world apocalyptically like a phoenix that dies in a burst of flames but comes back perfectly out of the ashes, we might imagine it instead like the salamander, who may lose his limbs and retain scars, yet regrows the limbs, lives with the scars, and keeps going. Hospitality is like that, I think. We end up with the scars, but we also receive gifts we could never have counted on in advance. I think of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (the book, not the musical) who, after robbing the bishop who first showed him hospitality, was dragged back by the police only to be given back all that he stole and more. “Don’t forget, don’t ever forget,” the bishop said, although Valjean remembered promising no such thing, “that you promised me to use this silver to make an honest man of yourself.” Now, what is often forgotten about this story is that in the very next scene Jean Valjean steals a coin from a little boy by slamming his foot on top of it when the boy drops it. Only after the little boy leaves does his petty theft fold together with the bishop’s pardon, leading him, for the first time in nineteen years, to cry and shout, “I am a miserable bastard!” The rest of Les Misérables is the story of a very honest and good man who time and again outdoes himself in showing hospitality, resulting in much discomfort and yet also much love. In this world, is this not the closest thing we have to a miracle? Cassandra Farrin is the Marketing Director of the Westar Institute and the Editor of Polebridge Press. A US-UK Fulbright Scholar, she has an M.A. in Religious Studies from Lancaster University (England) and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Willamette University. She is passionate about books and projects that in some way address the intersection of ethics and early Christian history, and in that spirit has hosted the Ethics and Early Christianity blog since 2013. Her poetic retelling of the Nag Hammadi text “On the Origin of the World” will appear in Rape Culture, Gender Violence and Religion: Christian Perspectives (forthcoming; eds. Emily Colgan and Caroline Blyth). Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Toby of Burnsville, Minnesota writes: Question: What would an expurgated version of the Nicene Creed look like when its archaic imagery has been replaced? Answer: Dear Toby, That is not the way to relate to the creeds. Creeds are historic documents that attempt to place into the words of the time in which they were framed, the faith those people professed. Creeds are therefore human creations, written by human beings trying to make sense in their day, of their God experience. That is always what a statement of faith is. The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed are fourth century Christian creations. Inevitably they assume a fourth century worldview. It is not my duty or yours to purge those aspects of fourth century material, which has become unbelievable. It is rather our responsibility to discern the experience they were trying to articulate and to find 21st century words which can convey the same truth for our time that the creeds conveyed in theirs. If we relate to the creeds as documents divinely inspired, which were meant to control our faith and to keep us "orthodox", then we have become creedal idolaters! Creeds are not like girdles into which we have to fit our minds. Let me be specific. The creeds of the church were hammered out in ecclesiastical conventions in a very political way. They represent compromise and political bargaining. They were not dictated by God. They do not thus capture divine truth. One hopes that they point to divine truth. As such we honor them but we do not worship them. So I am neither interested in purging them nor in liberalizing them. I only want to seek to live inside the experience they were designed to communicate. ~John Shelby Spong Read and Share Online Here Announcements Bishop Spong continues his recovery and wants to thank all of those who have sent him get well notes. For those who would like to send Bishop Spong a get well note please sent it to admin(a)progressivechristianity.org and we will forward it to him. .

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Fwd: Request for the First Generation ICA Members
by Timothy Wegner via OE 28 Oct '16

28 Oct '16

Received this request from Alex St Clair to post: Hi Tim, I am Alex St Clair, the eldest son of Bob and Kathy St Clair who were in the Order from 1974 - 1981. I have something that I need to bring to the 1G. Sheila Johnson, a 2G, is making a stand with the #NoDAPL water protectors in Standing Rock, ND. She is staying with the camp over the winter, at least, to support this noble effort. We, the 2G, are working to raise funds to purchase a school bus for her and we would ask the 1G to help us in this endeavor. We need to raise $4000 for the purchase of the bus and then additional funds for refitting it and ongoing costs like licensing, insurance, etc. I have put together and explanation and proposal, and attached it. Would you be able to put it on the 1G listserv to get the word out? We want to move as quickly as possible since snow is already in the forecast and Sheila's current equipment will not suffice. I am hoping the 1G will answer the call. Please let me know and thank you in advance, Alex

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Thank You for Birthday Greetings
by Nancy Grow via OE 27 Oct '16

27 Oct '16

Dear Colleagues of the ICA.; O:E EI, etc. Many thanks to all of you for greetings received and treasured!! This has been quite a year - and more. Some "important" doctor" a couple of years ago, decided he could return my eye sight to its pristine state. For two years I suffered his shots in the retina with all their accompaying "joys" of being unable to read. This year I said "That's enough!" My eyes are worse than they have ever been. And now, five months later, I am able to read a little without the lines converging, etc. Hallelujah! Then in July Bill went in for a difficult but no too unusual operation: the removal of agrowth that had woven itself into a corner of his colon. Four hours later, the doctor announces it was successful and he could go home. But when he tried to get out of bed he couldn't move his left leg. He spent six weeks in hospital with attempts to "fix" it. He is much better now but still not able to walk without a"walker" (Old term for it!) The weather has been severe on all the kids, but all are OK at the moment. SOOO I am rejoicing in the memories many of you have sent of some other rather dire days we knew on the West Side of Chicago and a few other places we spread to since 1966. And tho' there have been many things for us, for our kids and the Order that I wish had not happened; I give thanks for the global outlook and concern that have resulted. The seeds sewn continue to sprout in unexpected but eye-opening ways here and around the world.(They make you smile, don't they, the growing adea that education should be for life in the future buillding on learnings from the past; that all nations and all religions have a base of goodness much needed in the world. I am reminded of many things, but will share just one. When I was assigned to Korea as a missiionary in 1953. I had been teaching a SS class in the Church of All Nations in Toronto. My students were from many nations:Africe, S America, China, Japan, Native Canadians, Europeans. When they heard I was assigned to go to Korea, they wanted to give me a gift. One girl said, "She'd better take a gun; Let's get her a gun!" But a child who knew what missionaries are about said, " Missionaries don't carry guns!! They take Bibles!" They got me one and tho' it is pretty tattered, I read it every day. No, that's not true: I read "The Message" every day. Thank you all for birthday greetings and memories. They are a treasure indeed! Grace and peace still abound, Nan/Nancy Grow

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