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October 2020

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10/22/2020, Progressing Spirit, Matthew Sydal: “Liminal Grief”; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 22 Oct '20

22 Oct '20

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Matthew Syrdal, MDiv. October 22, 2020 ............Those who will not slip beneath ............the still surface on the well of grief, ............turning down through its black water ............to the place we cannot breathe, ............will never know the source from which we drink, ............the secret water, cold and clear, ............nor find in the darkness glimmering, ............the small round coins, ............thrown by those who wished for something else. - David Whyte, The Well of Grief As the leaves turn color and fall into the ground, and the migratory patterns and bird songs slowly shapeshift into a dirge, as the sap sinks into its source, we might listen closely to our bodies and psyche. If we allow ourselves the space to pay attention we can feel the shift towards the liminal time of fall. Fall in-between the erotic vigor and embodiment of summer, and the pale, dormant latency of winter. We seem to have been abducted into liminal time as a culture without fully understanding why or what it really is. The word ‘liminal’ comes from the word limen, a threshold between worlds, like crossing a doorway into new space or territory, where we find ourselves no longer here, but not yet there - betwixt and between. ........................The truth is, liminal time is really uncomfortable. There is a quiet, but very real, temptation to not allow ourselves to fully feel into how uncomfortable liminal time really is. Like Noah, or Utnapishtim perhaps, we are sailing together through liminal time on several different levels: culturally, ecologically, and mythically. These ambiguous losses we are experiencing include the very ways we make meaning as a people. The god-images, centers of ultimate meaning, value, and power at the very core of our cultural identity, are decomposing. It's like kneeling on the ground frantically sifting through this 'heap of broken images’, to borrow a phrase from T.S. Eliot. Under the still surface of the ‘well of grief’ are feelings that we haven't allowed ourselves to fully feel, deep anger, wounded rage, grief, longing. We might feel strong resistance to one another or whole groups of people, to polarizing language, to anything that feeds our distrust in the human project. A stark numbness or a wallowing sense of lostness are symptoms of our disorientation. These emotions are all important indicators that we are crossing a liminal threshold together and we find ourselves in tomb-time, an often neglected, repressed, or glossed over phase of the death and resurrection journey. The great pause of the pandemic might be showing us that we have been too steeped in “Easter Sunday consciousness" as a culture, without passing through the agony of Good Friday, or the death of Holy Saturday. This liminal unraveling of control and identity can be terrifying and painful, and everything seems to conspire to pull us back up to the surface of urgency. As we approach the festival of Samhain, All Souls Day, or Hallowtide we are reminded that tomb-time is also womb-time, when the veil is thinnest. For the Celts, sacred wells were indicative of potent and pregnant space. The wells of this potent water have always been suppressed, covered over with a sign marked ‘threatening’ and ‘dangerous’ in a culture that has lost its way. Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted, writes, “During its early days the Christian church, finding it impossible to forbid people to visit their sacred places, developed a strategy of taking them over. It built chapels and baptistries over the wells; it walled them in. And so there are many wells which, like Madron, are named now for the saints — but under their shallow surface ripples lie the deep, clear traces of far older stories.” It is important to understand the significance of the underworldly imagery of the sacred well in its relation to the kingdom (queendom) of God. In Jesus’ teachings, the kingdom is never defined, only alluded to — pointed to — by way of metaphor, allegory, parable — the language of dreams and mythos. To say that the kingdom “is like,” is to illustrate by way of relationship and, more deeply, story. The kingdom is really the story of our unique and ultimate relationship with the world, revealed in mythic time. For Jesus there is a hiddenness to the working of the Otherworld that is already present in this world. The working of the kingdom is hidden, almost imperceptible. It is surprising — often invasive like a mustard seed, or offensive even dismantling, like the woman who hid yeast in a lump of dough. The two worlds touch in the person and actions of Jesus. The living power of the Otherworld overflows and floods like a wellspring into this world. As David Whyte says, “To re-member the otherworld in this one is to live in your true inheritance.” Jesus’ teachings of “entering” or participating in the kingdom is an invitation to re-enter, to re-member the primeval story of Creation itself. Jesus reenacts the original, primordial powers of Creation inaugurating the kingdom through human words and acts from a deeper mythic reality. The image runs deep in our collective imagination. The word itself conveys so much more than the source of a stream or a spring. It signifies a deeper meaning, the source of life itself. A wellspring is the source of continual abundance, and is the reason why wells, in the same way as rivers and lakes, are recognized the world over as sacred by almost every culture on the earth throughout every age. John O’Donohue writes, “Wells were seen as threshold places between the deeper, dark, unknown subterranean world and the outer world of light and form… Wells were reverenced as special apertures through which divinity flowed forth.” But the source of life, even divinity, like all things, must be cared for, cultivated and tended. The sacred well runs deep in Celtic tradition, as Sharon Blackie tells the story in If Women Rose Rooted: ............‘In the old days, as I was saying, the kingdom of Logres was rich ............and beautiful, and the land offered nourishment for all, for it was ............properly tended and cared for. It’s a contract you see, people and ............the land. You care for it, and it cares for you. The source of the ............kingdom’s life, the life-giving blood which surged in its veins, was ............the sacred water of the wells, which flowed up out of the deep ............potent waters of the Otherworld. Christianity, like other world religions in their zenith of empire building, adapted to people’s need to visit their old sacred places, and would build chapels and baptistries over the wells to wall them in. Ancient baptistries were often built underground beneath the nave. The font was constructed in stone descending into a natural source of water — “living water.” These vestiges of a much older nature-based form of ritual and sacrament, were now enculturated into a Western Latin ethos in which the wells were renamed after the saints. But under the surface ripples, Blackie writes, “Lie the deep, clear traces of far older stories.” ............The wells were tended by maidens, and these maidens were the ............Voices of the Wells. And this is how they served: if a traveler in ............need should pass by a well in those times, a well-maiden would ............appear and, if he asked reasonably, offer him the food he liked ............best, and a drink of well-water from her golden grail. This gift ............was given to all, freely given in the spirit of service to the land. Today, many are feeling the loss of the voices of the wells. There is an ‘as yet’ untapped reservoir of anger and grief over the suppression of the sacred feminine and the generative matrix of a wild world that has birthed its human aspect. Grief felt perhaps as a crack in the source of life itself. In the Westernized world we are experiencing a spiritual thirst of mythic dimensions, a collective longing for a deep draught of that life-giving water with none to offer us true drink. Perhaps we, like Jesus, are called to re-member, or rediscover mythic consciousness. To live our lives and our life together as a poem, a prophecy, a narrative that runs counter to the dominant story that has oppressed and exploited all that is deeply human and more-than-human. To live as if our actions and words inhabit this hidden realm, this primordial queendom, beneath the shallow torrent of political life and the pirated and empty storerooms of religion. What would it look like to compassionately bridge our common anxieties, fears and injustices as an isolated and wounded people with the deep well of the life of the soul through attending to grief, to the land, and to ceremony? ~ Rev. Matthew Syrdal, MDiv. Read online here About the Author Rev. Matthew Syrdal MDiv. lives in the front range of Colorado with his beautiful family. He is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian church (USA), founder and lead guide of WilderSoul and Church of Lost Walls and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild. Matt speaks at conferences and guides immersive nature-based experiences around the country. In his years of studying ancient Christian Rites of Initiation, world religions, anthropology, rites-of-passage and eco- psychology Matt seeks to re-wild what it means to be human. His work weaves in myth and ceremony in nature as a way for people to enter into conversation with the storied world in which they are a part. Matt’s passion is guiding others in the discovery of “treasure hidden in the field” of their deepest lives cultivating deep wholeness and re-enchantment of the natural world to apprentice fully and dangerously to the kingdom of god. Matt is a coach and a certified Wild Mind nature-based human development guide through the Animas Valley Institute and is currently training to become a soul initiation guide through the SAIP program. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Beverly I keep hearing about “”Centering prayer” but I’m not sure what this is exactly. Can you give me a definition or where I can read about it? A: By Skylar Wilson Dear Beverly, The name “Centering Prayer” was taken from Thomas Merton's description of contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer is considered to be a much older and more traditional practice. Essentially, any prayer that is focused entirely on the presence of God. Centering Prayer is a form of meditation as well as the act of creating space for being rather than thinking. It’s being present to stillness. It’s listening with one’s whole heart and body. It’s opening to the most intimate and direct experience of the divine. Centering Prayer is a mode of experiencing oneself and the world as one. It’s about opening to our inner experience without judgement, recognizing that God is, if anything, the emptiness and stillness found within and beyond all ideas, thoughts and things. The modern concept of Centering Prayer in Christianity can be followed back to several books published by three Trappist monks of St. Joseph's Abbey in the 1970s: Fr. William Meninger, Fr. M. Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating. ~ Skylar Wilson, MA Read and share online here About the Author Skylar Wilson, MA is the founder of Wild Awakenings, a conscious community of change-makers dedicated to the thriving of Earth, life, and humanity. He has led wilderness rites of passage journeys as well as ecological restoration teams for 18 years, specializing in creating sacred wilderness immersion experiences and interfaith ceremonies. Skylar is the cofounder and co-director of the Order of the Sacred Earth, a network of mystic warriors and activists dedicated to being the best lovers and defenders of the Earth that we can be. Skylar is the coauthor of the book by the same title as well as the co-host, with Jennifer Berit, of the podcast: "Our Sacred Earth" on Unity online radio. Skylar works closely with schools and organizations including the Stepping Stones Project in Berkeley, CA over the last 8 years while guiding organization-wide retreats, mentoring youth, group leaders, parents and elders. He also produces transformational events for thousands of people around the country including the Cosmic Mass, an intercultural healing ritual that builds community through dancing and the arts. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part XIII: The Theology of Paul as Revealed in Romans Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 28, 2010 Paul of Tarsus was a first century man. He thought in categories consistent with the world view of his time. He believed that he lived in a three-tiered universe over which God reigned from a heavenly throne just above the sky. Paul had never heard of a weather front, a germ or a virus. He viewed both the weather patterns and human sickness as being divine punishment sent from this external, supernatural God and based on our deserving. One should not, therefore, read the first century Paul as if he spoke from the vantage point of eternal truth. That is what biblical literalism does. The Bible, which many Christians call “the Word of God,” includes letters that Paul wrote. They are personal, passionate, argumentative and sometimes even vindictive. Paul would probably be the most surprised person in the world, and the most disturbed, to learn that the words in his letters had been elevated by the people of the Christian Church to a realm in which they have achieved the position of ultimate authority in which Paul’s voice is actually confused with the voice of God. This is not to say, however, that Paul was without insight. He was a keen observer of human life and one who was a perceptive, even if an introverted, examiner of his own inner thought and being. Our task as modern interpreters of Paul is to separate Paul’s incredible insights into human life from the dated and thus distorting world view of his day. It is not an easy task, but it is a doable one. Paul was a human being with intense feelings. Prior to his conversion experience he was an uncompromising persecutor of the Christian movement. Following his conversion he was an uncompromising advocate for the Christian faith. While the object of his passion shifted dramatically his personality remained quite constant. Almost inevitably he interpreted both what he believed was the meaning of the claim of Jesus’ divinity and what he believed was the meaning of salvation out of his first century understanding of human life, and in the process he always universalized the lens through which he viewed his world and himself. One must, therefore, never forget the highly subjective nature of Paul’s insights. Paul was also a Jew. He had studied under the great rabbi Gamaliel. He identified himself as a Hebrew, a member of the tribe of Benjamin and a zealot for the Torah. Judaism was the tradition in which and through which he viewed all of life. Paul did nothing, certainly including his religious life, in a halfway or lukewarm fashion. We start to unravel this Pauline viewpoint first by looking at his understanding of the human situation. What does it mean to Paul to be human? From where comes the pain, the fear and the insecurity that marks human life? Paul was quite sure, out of his Jewish background, that human life was created in God’s image with God’s law written across the human heart. This human creature, who was in Paul’s mind almost divine, had fallen from that lofty status into what he called “sin.” It was, he believed, a cosmic fall that affected every human being, and it doomed all people to a life in bondage to the incalculable power of sin. So Paul, looking at all human life through his own experience, lamented: “We cannot do the things we want to do, indeed we do the very things that we do not want to do.” Sin for Paul was an alien power. “It is not I” who does these things, he offers defensively, but “sin that dwells within me.” We are not now and we cannot ever be, he stated, what we were created to be. The human impulse toward sin was, for Paul, so deep that it actually prompted the act of sinning. This impulse is not and cannot be part of nature, lest God be blamed for it, but it nonetheless holds human life in its power. Listen to the pathos in Paul’s words: “I delight in the law of God in my inmost nature, but I see in my members another law which is at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law that dwells in my members.” It almost sounds like schizophrenia, but that is how Paul perceived himself, and when he writes we hear his yearning to be freed from this state and his desire to be capable of directing his own life toward the purpose for which he believed he was created. To find the ability to do just that was for him the meaning of salvation, and it was this gift of salvation that he believed he had experienced in Jesus. Human life, which was, he thought, created for fellowship with God, instead has been estranged from God, divided within itself and separated from all others. His dream was to be made whole, to be at one with God. He sought a biblical explanation for this human reality in the creation story that, true to the mind set of his day, he assumed to be history and thus a divinely inspired analysis of the human condition. St. Augustine, the fourth century bishop of Hippo and the primary theologian in the first thousand years of Christian history, would take this Pauline insight and make it the basis for what is still called “traditional Christianity.” It was because of this Paul/Augustine line of thought that Christianity still today wallows in sin and traffics in guilt. The Protestant mantra, “Jesus died for my sins,” expresses it. So does the Catholic interpretation of the Mass as the constant reenactment of the moment in which Jesus overcame the sin of the world with his death on the cross. It was out of this mentality that guilt became the coin of the realm in institutional Christianity and that is how and why behavior control has become the primary activity of the Christian Church. When this “original sin” was tied by Augustine into sex and reproduction, the repression of sex became in Christianity an aspect of salvation. Celibacy and virginity became the higher paths. Repression, however, including sexual repression, never gives life. It rather creates victims. Christianity has become the major religion of victimization in the western world. Bad anthropology inevitably creates bad theology. Paul, perceiving what he believed was this fatal flaw in human nature, saw Jesus ultimately as the rescuer of the flawed ones. Since all human life shared in that flaw, salvation was a universal gift given to all, “to the Jews first but also to the Gentiles.” In this gift Paul believed that Christianity had the power to transcend all human divisions, including religious divisions, even the divisions created by the holiness of the Torah, the Jewish law, which excluded all who were not bound to the Torah. Salvation in his mind was that process in which human wholeness is offered to all. In Christ, he wrote, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, bond nor free. Salvation was a call to a new humanity and it was this vision that compelled Paul to become the missionary to the Gentiles, the one charged with turning the message of the Jewish Jesus into the gift of salvation offered to the entire world. When he wrote his letter to the Church of Rome, he spelled out this point of view hoping that the Roman Christians would feel as strongly about this vocation as he did and would thus be willing to provide him with the means that he hoped would carry him and his missionary activities to Spain and thus to “the uttermost parts of the world.” Paul’s message was in this one sense profoundly true. There is about human life a sense of separation, of loneliness and a drive for survival that does indeed make us chronically self-centered, at war with our higher instincts. Paul’s way of understanding and dealing with that humanity was and is, however, profoundly mistaken. Indeed it is inoperative and, by literalizing this mistaken understanding, Christianity is today threatened with extinction. As post-Darwinians we now know that there never was a perfect creation. All life has evolved from a single cell into our present self-conscious, enormously complex human life, which is for the time being at least at the top of the evolutionary process. Since there was no perfect creation, then there could not have been a “fall” from perfection. One cannot fall from a status one has never possessed. If we have not fallen from perfection, we do not need to be saved, redeemed or rescued. So the way Jesus has traditionally been interpreted falls into irrelevance. One can only artificially resuscitate a dying form as long as the presuppositions under-girding that form are still believable. The human experience, however, still cries out for some other explanation of this experience. What is it? We are self-conscious creatures. All living things are survival oriented. Plants stretch to receive the light of the sun in order to live. Animals fight for life or flee danger in order to survive. Neither plant life nor animal life, however, is aware of its survival drive. Human beings are. When self-conscious creatures make their own survival their highest goal, they then organize their world around that need. That is what makes human life inevitably and universally self-centered, separated and cut off from others. We are our own worst enemy and we do violence to others in our drive to survive. This is not, however, because we have fallen into sin, as religious people still operating in a Pauline context continue to assert; it arises directly out of the given nature of our biological life. As still incomplete, evolving creatures we do not need to be “saved,” we need rather to be lifted to a new level of humanity, a new level of consciousness where we can live for others, give ourselves away in love for others and be empowered to become all that each of us can be. This is what salvation means. This is what Paul experienced in Jesus, but he was trapped inside the presuppositions of his first century, Jewish view of human life. He found in Jesus the power to accept himself, to love himself and to become himself. “Nothing,” he said, “nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” Paul’s experience of human life was correct. His explanation was wrong. His experience of Christ as life-giving love was correct. His explanation of how that love was manifested in Jesus’ life was wrong. Next week, we will push this study of Romans to a new place and seek to translate Paul’s experience into our presuppositions. I hope you will join us then. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The power to improve the lives of others is to many a sacred privilege and one we take seriously at ProgressiveChristianity.org. Such as bringing your Progressing Spirit Newsletter every week! Please help us to continue our work by donating today! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Indivisible is organizing "Protect the Results" protests if Trump refuses to leave office
by David Dunn 21 Oct '20

21 Oct '20

Hi colleagues. Here’s the URL for the "Protect the Results” project, which is organizing direct actions in the event that President Trump’s response to a Joe Biden win is messing around with the Constitution and the election laws. Copy and paste this URL <https://mblz.io/GkjNzK> -or- click here <https://mblz.io/GkjNzK> to locate the nearest protest event in your part of the country. We’re getting down to the wire aren’t we! Action relieves some of the anxiety that good intentions can't prevent. David 😎 — 🙏🏻 "Mystery, possibility, and the power to choose" David Dunn 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247 720-314-5991 dmdunn1(a)gmail.com

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For all the Saints
by Herman Greene 17 Oct '20

17 Oct '20

I'm way behind in expressing my condolences for the completed lives of Nan Grow, David Zahrt, Lynn Bailey, George Holcombe and there are no doubt others. I was always moved by Psalm 103 which states (with my changes): Our days are like the grass; we flourish like flowers of the field; later the wind passes over the field, and the flowers are gone, and the field knows them no more. How can this be? Yet is so. Thank God for the flower who once in glory stood giving birth to new flowers that still brighten the field. Though I left the order long ago, my "colleagues" in the Order are still like a second family to me. Yes, they still stand tall within me and I love them so. Herman -- __________________________________________________ Herman F. Greene 2516 Winningham Road Chapel Hill, NC 27516 919-942-4358 (ph & fax) hfgreenenc(a)gmail.com

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Books
by Jann McGuire 15 Oct '20

15 Oct '20

I recently sold my house and am downsizing for the move. If anyone wants Kazantzakis books (The Last Temptation of X, Freedom and Death, The Greek Passion, Japan China: A Journal of Two Voyages to the Far East in 1935, Saint Francis and Zorba the Greek) Also his wife's biography of him, based on his letters, published in 1935.) Let me know and I'll send them to you for the cost of postage. Grace, dear Colleagues, and Peace, Jann McGuire

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10/15/2020, Progressing Spirit, Rev. Dr. Velda Love: Racism - How Did We Get Here; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 15 Oct '20

15 Oct '20

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p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1855989009 #yiv1855989009templateBody .yiv1855989009mcnTextContent, #yiv1855989009 #yiv1855989009templateBody .yiv1855989009mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1855989009 #yiv1855989009templateFooter .yiv1855989009mcnTextContent, #yiv1855989009 #yiv1855989009templateFooter .yiv1855989009mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Racism - How Did We Get Here | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Velda Love October 15, 2020 The United Church of Christ has a long history of working towards addressing systemic and institutional racism. In 2003, during the UCC’s General Synod the voting body adopted a resolution calling for the UCC to be an anti-racist church stating that "racism is rooted in a belief of the superiority of whiteness and bestows benefits, unearned rights, rewards, opportunities, advantages, access, and privilege on Europeans and European descendants." In 2018 Sacred Conversations to End Racism (SC2ER), a Restorative Racial Justice Journey study guide was created to address and dismantle racism within the Christian Church and society. The study guide and accompanying resources debunks and corrects myths that claim Europeans and Anglo Saxons are a dominant culture. Dominant people groups do not exist, and race categories were created to justify practices of genocide and enslavement. Sacred Conversations to End Racism (SC2ER) provides research and resources that substantiates the myth of race. Christians must do no more harm to people of non-European descent. The Christian Church, U.S. Supreme Court and government officials instituted policies and developed laws that continue to support in 2020 the myths. As a result, people of color continue to be oppressed, marginalized, stereotyped, and murdered by state sanctioned violence and white supremacy acts of vigilantism violence. How did we get here—Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and so many other women and men of African descent murdered in the past six months by white supremacy violence? One only needs to go back and study history in order to understand the contemporary times we live in. One must go back and begin in a beginning. The earth is approximated to be about 4 billion years old. Prior to the existence of the first known humans the planet was undergoing changes that eventually sustained animal, vegetation, and human life. In [a] beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light was good… This text is a poetic narrative that was likely used for liturgical purposes. It is commonly assigned to the Priestly tradition, which means that it is addressed to a community of exiles. This account of creation is orderly with humans created last, a sign of God’s climatic work. This is Israel’s story held in tension and variation from the creation story in Genesis 2:4b, which comes out of the Yahwist’s tradition. The lessons for the hearers in exile in Genesis 1:1 may resonate with those who feel exiled in this present moment. The text helps readers focus on God as the source of everything that exists. God is the Creator. Everything that was, is, and will be is God’s. God is the sustainer of life and creation. God does not need humans, humans need God. Humans are not equal to God. The earth and everything in it belong to God (Psalm 24:1). Our species is an African one: Africa is where we first evolved, and where we have spent the majority of our time on Earth. The earliest fossils of recognizably modern Homo sapiens appear in the fossil record at Omo Kibish in Ethiopia, around 200,000 years ago. Although earlier fossils may be found over the coming years, this is our best understanding of when and approximately where we originated. (National Geographic: Map of Human Migration). Mitochondrial Eve, a woman who lived in Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago is the ancestor to all living humans. Geneticists traced her identity by analyzing DNA passed exclusively from mother to daughter in the mitochondria (Africa’s Great Civilizations). The documentary Africa’s Great Civilizations is an in-depth study of the world’s first humans, the cradle of civilization, and the birthplace of the Christian religion. Episode one begins a journey through anthropological and scientific discoveries where viewers learn that Africa is the genetic home of all currently living humanity. Episode two debunks the myth that Christianity came to Africa with European colonialism. In this episode, Gates travels to the center of Christianity’s beginnings and the people who built churches to honor Christ on the continent of Africa. As Genesis 2:10-14 claims, the Garden of Eden extended from Africa (ancient Cush/Ethiopia) to Mesopotamia (Euphrates River). All ancient cultures presented creation as controlled by their god(s) and set in their own backyard, thus there are numerous creations stories handed down and borrowed over time. (People’s Companion to the Bible, Page 111) Genesis 1:26, 31 Lesson “And God created human beings in God’s image, in the image of God humans were created, male and female.” God created them. (Revised gender neutral, non-hierarchy, imperial and ethnic-cultural inclusive rendition developed by Velda Love) Africa is indeed the cradle of civilization and one of the earliest and most spectacular civilizations of antiquity. Africans have been known for their trade with other nations, military acumen, early intellectual and artistic expressions, which reside in museums around the world. The term African is not an original name for people who originate on the Continent. The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afri" (plural, or "Afer" singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia. We must never forget that Christianity was birthed and flourished for centuries alongside the Jewish and Muslim faiths on the African continent. It is vital and important for the Christian Church to remember that our history is not complete until we go back further than colonial narratives. Grounded in the truth of history and living faithfully means actively participating in the work of restorative justice. God is calling the Christian Church to restore a broken world based on the harm of racism. Christianity influenced by Western ideology and Eurocentric beliefs in supremacy has been used for centuries to justify violence in order to maintain its claims of being a dominant religion and its people as exceptional and worthy to rule the world. All others outside this realm were considered—other, heathens, animals—to be in need of conversion. Other included Christian beliefs that did not conform to Eurocentrism and empire. Heterodox Christian teachings considered rebellious, nonconformist, and freethinking were seen as unorthodox and blasphemous. Unorthodox “others” would not be tolerated within the imperial elite and exclusive religious hierarchy. The Doctrine of Discovery shaped modern theology and racists structures within the United States. The beliefs serve (the myth) of white supremacy and was further accepted into law by US Chief Justice John Marshall, and the basis for Andrew Jackson’s displacement of Cherokee Indians in Georgia so whites could occupy the land. Make America Great… Again? There is an historical precedence for how history continues to repeat itself in the Christian Church and society. The mantra quoted over and over again during the 2016 campaign by then candidate Donald Trump is reminiscent of the 1493 papal bull. The edict remains the same; only in 2020 the population within the United States has increased in culture-ethnic people groups, and faith traditions. Immigrants are threatened with expulsion, children have been separated from their parents, and language depicting their character is dehumanizing. When we review the historical content of the construction of race and then witness the impact through microaggressions, use of militaristic tactics and lethal weapons in communities of color, acts of vigilante violence, and white supremacy behaviors from local, state, and government officials, as believers in Christ there needs to be more proactive engagement and responses that facilitate reparatory justice. Our role is to be repairers of the breaches created by those who mythologized beliefs in white skin supremacy. We are called to engage and share healing restorative practices that de-centers whiteness. Christians who profess a belief in Jesus whose lineage is directly connected to African ancestry must eradicate beliefs in white supremacy. Christianity in 2020 means reclaiming radical theologies of liberation, non-binary spirituality, intersectional justice, and genderless depictions of God. There is beauty in diverse cultures and identities. Sacred Conversations to End Racism is an invitation to be part of a life-long learning journey of restorative practices that helps us see each other through God’s eyes…very good creations. Sacred Conversation to End Racism moves us beyond just talking about the realities of racism, white supremacy, and white privilege in its many forms. It challenges us to decolonize our very thinking and ways of being, and then leads us to take action to shape a new theology and way of being. This is a groundbreaking resource connected to a strategy and plan of action to end racism throughout our relationships and communities. It’s more than another call to action it’s a demand to transform into the reality of who God calls us to be. If you consider yourself to be a person of justice, you must take the journey. - Rev. Marvin Silver, Associate Conference Minister, Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ "It is difficult to express how this SC2ER study has affected me in terms of my personal, spiritual, psychological being. To be clear, it is the most difficult course of study in which I have ever participated. And in all of these areas, it has been the most liberating. Sacred Conversations is an unprecedented invitation to be part of a transformative vision whose goal it is to eradicate racism. Through in depth study into the historical myths of race, one is called upon to examine all implicit and explicit beliefs about what one thinks they know, in order to truly grasp the gross and immoral impact racism has had, and continues to have, on every system in this country. This study requires commitment to study, a listening heart, a desire to share what you've learned and an immense amount of humility. I promise you will never be the same.” - Rev. Clare Twomey, Senior Pastor, Vista Grande Community Church ~ Rev. Dr. Velda Love Read online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Velda R. Love, Minister of Racial Justice in The Justice and Witness Ministries of The United Church of Christ. Velda has a working knowledge of critical race theory and creates comprehensive and strategic approaches for UCC national conferences, congregations, and staff colleagues to explore and understand the intersection of racial justice with other justice issues. Velda brings an African-centered approach inclusive of biblical and theological knowledge in liberation and womanist perspectives. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Philip Do you think that Jesus believed he was the Son of God/Son of Man (Daniel 7) and that he physically cured people of diseases and serious disabilities.? If not,what do you think he was trying to achieve by wandering around the countryside with his disciples. A: By Dr. Carl Krieg Dear Philip, The question that you posed, “What was Jesus trying to achieve?”, is perhaps the basic question that Christians ask. With respect to the other two issues you raised, Jesus never called himself “son of God”, but he did call himself “son of man” which is another way of saying “man”. As for Jesus healing disease and disability, I do think that the oppressive nature of the ruling regime broke minds and bodies and that by offering love and hope Jesus could help in recovery. I remember a student who was blind and was asked by a fundamentalist group to come to a meeting so that they might pray over him and restore his sight. He was eager to do so, so that he could remove his glass eyeballs in front of them. Jesus did not turn glass into flesh, but psychosomatic healing is another matter. What was Jesus trying to do? I don’t think Jesus was trying to do anything other than to help others become fulfilled human beings and to live together in peace and justice. As I argued in my column “Jesus and the Void”, Jesus was a fully human being, continually in tune with God and fully loving other people. Part of that being was to teach others about love and truth, to help others open their eyes to God and to embrace one another as children of one God. That was the person and that was the message. Some people caught on, others did not. Psychosomatic healing was a possible manifestation in those whose lives were changed. Speculation about who Jesus was and who he thought he was, begins in the New Testament itself. Layer upon layer was added to the original story and what we have today in the Christian Writings is far removed from the initial encounter between Jesus and the disciples. One of the last to be added is the famous prologue to John, which states that the eternal Word became flesh in the person of Jesus. The disciples may have been curious about Jesus, but did not come to John’s conclusion. It was not until 325 CE that the Council of Nicaea concluded, under imperial pressure, that Jesus was God. It was in 451, at Chalcedon, that the church threw up its hands and confessed that it had no idea how Jesus could be both God and man. The contemporaries of Jesus confronted no such issues. For them, Jesus was a man, but a man like no other, a man who presented to them who they were and could become. Because of all the later additions, the original story of Jesus and his followers has been transformed into a story alien to what he intended and what they experienced. We now have someone born of a virgin who dies for our sins, appeasing an angry god, who will come in the future to judge all who have ever lived, and whose power is now controlled by the church. As a consequence, people who are told that they have to believe this to be saved are leaving the church in droves, and secular society sees the story as ludicrous. So the fundamentalist narrative is harmful on three levels: it betrays the message of Jesus, it forces thinking Christians to leave the church, and it prevents any relevance that Jesus might have for secular society. Clearly what’s required is to rediscover the Jesus story, and that brings us back to your question: What was Jesus trying to do? Answer: Trying to help us become the creatures of love and compassion we were created to be. By what power, we may ask, was he able to be so totally loving? Was it because he was God incarnate, or because he was a human being that succeeded in overcoming temptation and was perfect? We’ll never know, and any answer to that is speculation. All the disciples knew was that Jesus empowered them to discover the truth of their humanity. ~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read and share online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, and The Void and the Vision. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife, Margaret, in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part XII: Romans — Paul's Most Thorough Epistle Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 14, 2010 If there is one book in the New Testament that might be called “The Gospel of Paul,” it is the Epistle to the Romans. This letter is different from all of Paul’s other work in several ways. First, Paul had never been to Rome and so he had no relationship whatsoever with the Roman church. He was not unknown to these Roman Christians, but this church did not view him as related to them in any special way. Neither Paul nor any of his disciples had been its founder. He was thus not in charge of its ongoing life and it was not his responsibility to adjudicate their disputes or to solve their problems. These were the things that had in large measure framed the context of Paul’s other letters. Second, and as a direct consequence of this first distinguishing mark, this letter was a reasoned theological treatise with universal themes rather than a response to critical but nonetheless local issues. Third, Paul was a supplicant in this letter to Rome. He was in the position of asking a favor from them, so he was eager to present himself favorably in order to win their support. Paul wanted this congregation in Rome to assist his missionary endeavors by providing him with a base of support, so that he might expand his journeys to places as far away as Spain. To gain that support, Paul was concerned to put his theological understanding of the Christian faith clearly before them and to minimize the negativity that always followed him from conservative parts of the Christian community. For these reasons, Paul’s Epistle to the Romans reflects a clear and concise statement of Paul’s conception of Jesus, the meaning of salvation as he understood it and his version of what Christianity was all about. The Epistle to the Romans is Paul at his studied best. It is also the longest and most carefully organized piece of Paul’s writing that we possess and is a logical, orderly and systematic treatise. He moves from his introductory and salutary opening verses (1:1-15) to the statement of the theme basic in all of Paul’s work. Salvation, he argues, is the gift of God and it is available to all people. This theme is overtly stated in 1:16-17. Next, he proceeds to build his case by articulating his perception of the need present in both the Gentile world and the Jewish world for the Christian gift (1:18-3:30). Then he spells out his understanding of the Christ (3:21-4:25). He concludes this section of the epistle with what is probably the most crucial and carefully stated words of Paul’s career by articulating his understanding of what life in Christ is and can be (5:1-8:39). That brings his basic theological argument to its climax and conclusion as he reaches his crescendo in verses 38 and 39 of chapter 8, where he pens these climactic words: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.” We will return to the totality of this Pauline argument in the columns over the next few weeks in order to explicate the earliest understanding we have of the role of Christ in the drama of human salvation. For now, however, I want to move quickly in an effort to create in the minds of my readers a clear picture of the totality of this epistle. Having come to his powerful conclusion at the end of Chapter 8 Paul next moves on to what can only be understood as a large parenthesis that consumes him in chapters 9 through 11. Here he addresses a question close to his heart as a Jew and about which the Christian movement was at that time still torn in conflict. Why was it that the people of his Jewish nation as a whole appeared to be rejecting the promised gift of salvation that Christ came to bring, which he believed had been promised to them and for which, in Paul’s mind, both the Jewish Scriptures and all of Jewish history had been preparing them? So deeply did the Jesus message resonate with the Jewish Paul that he found it all but unfathomable that all Jewish people did not see it as he saw it. So he wrestles with this question in this great parenthesis in a very public way. Paul introduces Chapter 9 with assertions that cause us to recognize how painful this dilemma was for him. “I am speaking the truth in Christ, “he begins. “I am not lying,” he assures them. “My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.” No one uses those particular phrases unless that person is quite apprehensive as to whether his argument will prevail. Then Paul goes on, with much emotion, to express his “great sorrow and increasing anguish in my heart.” He would rather, he says, find himself accursed and cut off from Christ forever than to find his people, his tribe, in their present negative position. He argues that the people of Israel have been given a special relationship with God, which he characterizes with the word “sonship.” He recites the treasures found in Judaism: “The glory of the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship in the Temple and the promises of God.” He traces this Jewish heritage as it flowed down the centuries from the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph until it came to what Paul believes is God’s ultimate gift of salvation found in Christ Jesus. Yet he is aware that the majority of his own kinsmen stand apart from and are even negative to that gift. “Has the word of God failed?” he asks. He finds some consolation in that part of biblical history that suggests that not all the descendants of Abraham were destined to share in the promise. God had chosen Isaac, Abraham’s second-born son, over Ishmael, the firstborn. God had chosen Jacob, the younger twin, over Esau, the older twin. These were not examples of God’s injustice, he argues, but a recognition of the fact that no one receives the promise of God as a birthright, but only as a gift of grace. It is, he argues, God’s prerogative to have mercy on those on whom God decides to have mercy. It is a matter of being receptive. The clay, he states, does not tell the potter what the potter can mold the clay into being. He quotes first from Hosea and then from Isaiah to fortify his argument. He calls Moses to his aid. He suggests that Israel is still caught in its tribal identity and does not yet recognize that there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek since God is Lord of all and does not limit divine grace by nationality or even religion. Paul wants no one to suggest that God has rejected the chosen ones. He reminds them that he is an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. He then recalls that the Jewish scriptures inform us that both Elijah and Elisha were sent to others and not just to the Jewish people. Finally, as if the answer he was seeking dawned on him as he wrote, Paul came to a new insight, a new conclusion. The rejection of Jesus by the Jews was simply part of God’s plan. Because of Israel’s apparent inability to hear or to see, the door to salvation had been opened for the Gentiles to enter the Kingdom of God and thus the message of salvation could reach the entire world. Israel’s negativity must be seen as playing a role in the divine drama. The hardness of heart that Jews now displayed toward the gift of salvation was an act of divine providence since it was the means whereby God would offer salvation to the world. In many ways this was a strange argument, but it managed to bring resolution to what was for Paul an enormous conflict. Salvation was God’s free gift to all beyond every human division and even Jewish rejection was destined to serve that purpose. So Paul, greatly relieved by this new insight, brings this segment of his letter to the Romans to an end with a doxology: “O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.” Even as Paul says this, he offers his explanation of how the mind of God works. Having completed this long parenthesis, Paul now employs the word “therefore” to hook together the theological argument of his first 8 chapters with the ethical implications of that argument, to which he now turns in chapter 12. He reminds his Roman readers that they are to treat their bodies as a living sacrifice, “acceptable to God.” He urges them not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed so that they do not think of themselves more highly than they ought to think. He repeats his body analogy that the church must be like the human body, a single whole but with many members. Christians are to rejoice in the gifts of all the members. He urges them to let their love be genuine, to hold fast to what is good, to contribute to the needs of the saints and to practice hospitality. Followers of Jesus are not to be overcome with evil but to overcome evil with God. Next Paul addresses the responsibility of Christians to the civil authorities. He suggests that all authority comes from God so they are not to resist political power. All earthly rulers, he declares, are “God’s servants on earth.” It was a variation of the later divine right of kings argument. We might note in passing that this or similar texts have been used throughout history against all revolutionary movements. The British used it against the Americans in 1776 and the North used it against the South in 1860. Martin Luther King, Jr., had to set Paul’s words aside to carry out his role as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. It is a perennial tactic of the established authority against the rising of a new consciousness. Paul finally introduces relativity into things when he says that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but it is unclean for those who think it unclean. This idea was contained in Paul’s plea for followers of Jesus to be sensitive to the values of one another. Christ, he concludes, was even willing to become a servant to the circumcised in order that Gentiles might glorify God. Having glimpsed the sweep of his entire argument, we will turn in the next weeks to examine the core of Paul’s thought in much deeper detail. I hope you will stay tuned. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Women Rising: is a virtual gathering Oct 30th - 31st of women from across the country, empowering one another to bring hope, healing, and transformative change into our own lives and to the world around us, inspiring each other to awaken to our full potential and to deepen our partnerships with men to be effective co-creators of the future. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Fw: Save the date: November Virtual PSU on the Social Research Center (November 7-11)
by James Wiegel 12 Oct '20

12 Oct '20

Subject: Save the date: November Virtual PSU on the Social Research Center (November 7-11) “Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour, Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun, but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric.” Edna St. Vincent Millay, from “Upon This Age That Never Speaks Its Mind,” Collected Sonnets (New York: Harper Perennial, 1988), 140. Your past support of the Global Archives is greatly appreciated and we'd like to invite you to participate in a new initiative of the Archives In Quarter 2 of 2020 (May) the Global Archives made an historic transition to becoming “The Social Research Center” with a Virtual Global Research Assembly (GRA) involving more than 100 participants from around the globe. The virtual global nature of that event caused us to rethink our “Fall and Spring Sojourn rhythm” with a central US Time Zone focus. We shifted gears and now think of “Quarter 2 and Quarter 4” instead of “Fall and Spring” We also shifted from “Sojourn” to “Research.” Now in Quarter 4 (November) we will hold a Virtual Problem Solving Unit (PSU) on the functional design of the Social Research Center (SRC). This will allow us to focus on the future of the SRC and its function, form, governance, and calendar so that the Social Research Center becomes a viable resource worldwide for supporting and inspiring positive global social change. Let's brainstorm and see what we come up with. Attached is the Article published in the Next issue of the Global Buzz.. We will be sending more detailed information in November about how to connect. On behalf ot the Social Research Center, Doug Druckenmiller Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com

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10/08/20, Progressing Spirit: Dr Carl Krieg: Jesus and the Void; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 08 Oct '20

08 Oct '20

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and (max-width:480px){#yiv1498735389 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1498735389 .yiv1498735389mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent, #yiv1498735389 .yiv1498735389mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templatePreheader .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent, #yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templatePreheader .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templateHeader .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent, #yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templateHeader .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templateBody .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent, #yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templateBody .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templateFooter .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent, #yiv1498735389 #yiv1498735389templateFooter .yiv1498735389mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jesus and the Void | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Dr. Carl Krieg October 8, 2020We all are painfully aware that we in the US are living in a time of extreme violence and anxiety. What we may not know is that Jesus lived in such a time as well, and the parallels are quite striking. We suffer from a would-be dictator. Jesus actually lived under one. We experience extreme wealth disparity. In Jesus’ time, the wealthy oppressed the poor by increasing the tax burden and appropriating land when those taxes were not paid. We live with the consequences of a national history defined by racism. The Roman empire survived by the work of slaves. In both times, women are relegated to second class citizenry. We might speculate that this is the way it has always been. And we wonder why it must be so. We know very little about Jesus prior to his public ministry. He had siblings and he possibly was a day laborer in the city of Sepphoris. We can be fairly certain that he was a disciple of John the Baptist. We know this because the gospels include the story of Jesus being baptized by John, a fact that the early church would rather not have had to explain. John’s fiery preaching by the river Jordan created converts who went back to their homes and awaited the imminent coming judgment of God. Jesus apparently assumed a different attitude and left John to preach and teach about changing life in the present, and not waiting for the end of time. Some of his friends, who were disciples of John, left with him and became his compatriots. And then we wonder, what happened next? What did Jesus do? Who was he such that people saw, listened, and followed? In the history of humankind, nobody has had more written about their life than Jesus, some accurate, some not. The speculation about who he was began right in the New Testament itself, with everyone having their own particular slant. Who was he? The messiah expected by the Jews? A miracle worker? A mystic? By what means did he impact people? Because he was god? Because he walked on water or fed thousands with a few loaves? Because his teaching was so irresistible? No. No to all those questions. The disciples did not live with Jesus because they believed any of this. They did not believe in Jesus at all: they experienced him. And what they experienced in Jesus was who they really were and could become. The power of Jesus was in the truth of his humanity. Everything else listed above is speculation by those who came later. The disciples experienced a person to whom they could relate. If we need an image for this person, we can look to Popular Mechanics, where an artist uses scientific methodology to portray an image of Jesus — short, black curly hair, dark skin. Not at all the calm, tall, flowing-haired white man so popular in our culture. It was that short dark man who created his family of women and men disciples. But how did he do that? What was the attraction? If his humanity was true, what does that mean? Since Jesus was Homo sapiens just as we are, are there observations that apply to him as well as to us? I think the answer is yes, and that there are at least four: 1) each and every one of us creates an egocentric worldview, 2) locked in our isolated ego we experience an absence of meaning, a void, and we fill that void with whatever suggests itself, 3) we need community, and 4) we all experience moments when that world is temporarily invalidated and we are set free from our closedness. Considering all these together, from beginning to end our life is bombarded with stimuli, a disorder out of which we need to create order. It just happens. The chaos of sensation would be just that — chaos — without an organizing function of the brain. We need an orderly world in which to function, and so we create one, placing new information into already-existing mental categories. Your resultant world is different from mine, and neither corresponds exactly with the reality that is “out there”. Consequently, we all have a distorted perspective of which we are pretty much unaware. But there is more: we are inclined to believe that our world is the real world and that the world of everyone else is at best inaccurate and at worst, untrue. We judge others and universalize without justification. Our egocentricity drastically impacts our ability to function openly and lovingly. Because we live in a mental construct of our own making, we have lost depth awareness of the environment in which we live and move and have our being. Essential to that loss, our communion with other people is broken. The combined result is that in the deepest reservoir our life feels empty and without meaning. This is so because, in fact, we have cut ourselves off from two dimensions of existence that offer a connection to what is: the objective world and our fellow human beings. Our egocentric world is a lonely, isolated place. We don’t like that, so we look for ways to escape that feeling by filling the void. All of us experience that crisis of meaning and we seek to fill the void in whatever way is enticing and available. Any activity, which in and of itself can be good and necessary, can also function as an escape. Shopping, TV, cell phones, working, eating, drinking — the list is endless and includes everything. It all depends on how it functions in our individual life. The void, however, is not continuous. There are times in our life when the fabrication of our egocentric world is challenged, and we are momentarily set free from it. The examples here also are numerous, and include everything from the starry sky above to the conscience within. Holding a baby. Confronting death. Awed by the beauty of a field of flowers. Playing your game while in the zone. Moments come in an infinite variety, but, unfortunately, they do not last, and we return to our egocentric world, with its void and its escapes. What does all this have to do with Jesus? Plainly and simply, he did not create an egocentric world, as we do. He was continually aware of the divine thou surrounding him, living a continual moment, as we are not. He was totally in communion with his friends and disciples, again, as we are not. His life was filled with meaning, experiencing no void and needing no escapes, quite contrary to our lives. This is the life Jesus lived. It was who he was. And it was this person, this life, that impacted his friends and followers, because in him they saw who they really were. In him they were encountered by a humanity they knew in their hearts and could now identify because of Jesus. It was so simple: living, caring and sharing in community, overcoming narrow perspective with its attendant void requiring to be falsely filled, and being open to the Spirit — this is what life is about. Contrast this with their surrounding culture, built on the architecture of falsely and feverishly escaping the void. The rich and powerful dealt with their void by a plethora of escape mechanisms. On the one hand, they found meaning in wealth and its accumulation and increase. On the other hand, they built their life in opposition to and oppression of others, whether they be the poor, slaves, women, or whomever “other” they chose to denigrate. The revolution inaugurated in Jesus totally threatened this established egocentric world of the wealthy elite, powerful because it was a revolution not of the sword, but of the mind. It didn’t take long for the rich and powerful to sense that their power was being undermined. In reaction, they attempted to exterminate the threat. They persecuted the early followers, to be sure, but more insidiously they infiltrated and captivated the thinking of the group. The evidence is clear. By the end of the first century, the church had lost the revolution inaugurated by Jesus and reverted to the old way. According to 1 Timothy, slaves must obey their masters, women must obey their husbands, and everyone must obey the rich and powerful. Because of their influence in shaping cultural norms, the wealthy were able to lead the new generations away from the radical model created by Jesus and back to the old ways that sustained their power. And so it is today. Here in the US we have millions of people so trapped in their void and looking to fill it, that they are easy prey for those seeking ever-increasing power and wealth. What is a rally of red hats other than an escape from the void? What is carrying an assault gun down the street other than a vain attempt to prove that you are a man? What is shooting a Black man other than a demonstration that you have totally lost your way and succumbed to the void? What is suppression and violence against women other than an unenlightened and dark mentally constructed world? And where do these ideas and actions originate? With those utilizing their controlling power to shape peoples’ minds. Searching for meaning, people will follow the devil. That’s where we are today. We live in a nation where the violent escapes from the void now define who we are. The good news is that this is not really who we are. None of us. Jesus showed us that, and we all know it in our hearts, in the depths of our being. The truth of our humanity, manifest in Jesus, requires that we dismantle the egocentricity that encapsulates us so that we can reconnect with ourselves, with one another and with God. The truth of our humanity is to embrace our fellow humans as kindred spirit and not as a threatening “other”. The truth of our humanity is to be open to the Loving Spirit that surrounds and supports us. This is who we are. The disciples of knew. They watched firsthand as the authorities dragged Jesus away to be crucified, and they were briefly confused, afraid and distraught. But that mood did not last, for in their time with Jesus they had experienced the new life together and they now knew the truth of their own humanity. Like the apple in the garden, only now in reverse, once you taste the fruit there is no going back. The revolution continued. The authorities continued to counter the new vision, and they succeeded in part. They brought the newer generations in the church back to the old way as epitomized in 1 Timothy, back to the void. But the spark carried on and lives in us today. As we create good trouble, as John Lewis advised, just like the disciples we can be assured that God is alive and that love will win. The powers that be cannot overcome the power of Being Itself. Jesus overthrew the tables of the money changers in the Temple. It is our time to do the same. ~ Dr. Carl KriegRead online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, and The Void and the Vision. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife, Margaret, in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader How do today’s elections compare to Bishop Spong’s thoughts on the 2012 elections? A: By Bishop John Shelby Spong Dear Reader,In the two recent conventions it was clear that women are a crucial voting block that must be wooed. The rhetoric was far more positive than the platforms, however, which in the Republican case reflected issues not debated in America since the 1950’s. Both campaigns featured women. Both showed off their elected female senators, governors and representatives. Both listened to magnificent speeches made by the wives of the presidential nominees. I have a hard time imagining Pat Nixon or Bess Truman giving a speech!As I look at America today, it seems to me that we are in a dramatic period of consciousness raising. It began to be visible in the campaign four years ago when among the serious and viable candidates for the presidency were a woman, a Hispanic, an African-American, a Mormon and a man who had been married three times. None of these would, in all probability, have been taken seriously twenty-five years earlier. Consciousness breakthroughs always raise up a hostile reaction from those who feel displaced by the broadening of those who are considered acceptable for leadership. We are living with that reaction. The real issue to be measured in this year’s election is how rapidly we, as a people, will be able to embrace this new consciousness. One party says it focuses on individuality and freedom, the other on the quality of our corporate society and the corporate good. One party is rooted in the quality of leadership coming from traditional sources and it does not appear to be welcoming to newcomers. They value merit, ability and the kind of competitiveness that produces wealth. The other is rooted in a wider demographic pool, stressing openness to rising minorities. One party is conservative because it values and wants to conserve the virtues of the past, which, it argues, have made us the great nation we are. The other party is liberal because it believes that all people must have equality of opportunity that will allow a steady influx into leadership of those, who have not been born into wealth and privilege, enabling merit to rise to the top of our political, economic and social pyramids. I think both emphases are needed. Conservatives need the challenge of new ideas and new people lest they become quickly dated and irrelevant. Liberals on the other hand, need the witness of the traditional values that conservatives espouse lest they become wide-eyed and kill the goose that lays the golden egg.The nation is healthiest, I believe, when elections are close. The minority must be strong enough to challenge and to rein in the excesses of the majority. Progress should come through the hard task of compromise. We are in danger of losing that in today’s polarized politics. Someone once observed that “politicians are like underwear, the only way you can keep them clean is to change them regularly.” In the last 52 years of American history, the Republicans have controlled the White House for 28 years, the Democrats for 24. That balance is part of what makes our nation great.~ Bishop John Shelby Spong Read and share online here | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | | | | It All Matters ... Your vote is critical even if you don't think so. It is the Electoral College that determines your state's vote - they need you, we need you, to show up and vote! Another way to make a difference is to contribute to those organizations like ProgressiveChrisitanity.org who brings you this Progressing Spirit newsletter each week, represents your values and works to protect the rights of all people. We need your support too! | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part XI: Resurrection as Paul Understood It Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong December 31, 2009It is quite easy to see how one could read Paul, especially those epistles known as I Thessalonians and Galatians, and come away believing that Paul saw the resurrection of Jesus as a literal miracle in which a deceased body, quite physically, was restored and walked out of a tomb alive and once more was part of the life of this world. That distortion in understanding Paul is the all but inevitable result of reading Paul through the lens of the later gospels, especially Luke and John, in which this understanding of resurrection had clearly come to be believed. Paul, however, had never seen and would never see a gospel. He died before the first gospel was written. His view of resurrection, as a matter of fact, is quite different from what most suppose.Nothing makes this as clear as an examination of other writings that are authentically from the pen of Paul. In Romans (1:1-4) Paul writes: God declared (or designated) Jesus “to be the Son of God” by raising him from the dead. That does not mean physically resuscitating him back into the life of this world, as many have argued. If it did the words attributed to Paul in Colossians would make no sense. In this epistle Paul is made to suggest that the resurrection was the account of Jesus being raised into the presence and eternity of God: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Please be aware that the story of Jesus being at the right hand of God is a reference to the resurrection, not the ascension, since the story of the ascension, against which these words are misinterpreted, would not be written for almost thirty more years. The word “raised” in Paul’s mind embraced both dimensions of what would later be separated into the dual activities of “resurrection,” that is, being raised from death and the grave, and “ascension,” which meant being united with God in heaven. For Paul those two actions were one thing. Jesus was not resuscitated back into the life of this world; he was raised into being part of who God is. It was not resuscitation, it was transformation. This interpretation is confirmed once more in another text from Romans that we quoted earlier in this series. There Paul writes: “Christ being raised from the dead, will never die again, death has no more dominion over him — the life he lives, he lives to God.” A person raised physically back into the life of this world would surely die again. That is the universal law of life — all living things ultimately die. It is clear that resuscitation back into the physical life of this world is not what Paul had in mind when he spoke of Jesus “being raised.” Again in Romans, Paul suggests that “As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life.” That is, in this Christ figure a new dimension has been added to our lives that is not subject to death. Paul later speaks of being raised to the “new life of the spirit.” He says that the one (Jesus) “who was raised from the dead, and who is at the right hand of God,” has been enthroned as part of the life of God, understood as dwelling above the sky, external to the life of this world. Still later Paul writes to the Romans: “Who will ascend to heaven to bring Christ down?” In the mind of Paul, resurrection raised Jesus into the presence and being of God. Paul argues in 1st Corinthians that “flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” He is so obviously not talking about the physical resuscitation of the body of Jesus so that he could return to his former life. It is not for this life that we have hope. Resurrection was rather the transformation of who he was to a realm or to a state of consciousness beyond the boundaries of time and space. That is why Paul goes to such lengths to make a distinction between our natural bodies and something he called “a spiritual body.”We have trouble envisioning what this is all about for two primary reasons. The first is that we are using human words that are bound by both time and space to describe an experience that, if it is real, is beyond time and space. Second, our minds have been corrupted by later understandings of resurrection, shaped primarily by the last two gospels to be written, Luke and John. In those gospels the physicality of the resurrected Jesus is emphasized. The portrait of the raised Jesus drawn in these two 9th and 10th decade pieces of writing is a body in which death has been reversed. He asks for food to demonstrate that his gastrointestinal system is functioning. He is portrayed as both walking and talking to demonstrate that his skeletal system, his vocal chords and his larynx are functioning. He is interpreted as teaching and opening their minds to the meaning of scripture to demonstrate that his brain is functioning. He is said in Luke to have argued that he was not a ghost and to have urged the disciples to touch his very physical flesh to demonstrate that he was in fact fleshly. In John he is pictured as inviting Thomas to examine his wounds. Of note is the fact that only in Luke and John are resurrection and ascension portrayed as separate events. As two distinct acts resurrection and ascension have very different meanings. Resurrection gets Jesus physically back into the life of the world; ascension gets him back to his origins that were thought to be in God, God’s self.What we need to embrace is the oft-forgotten fact that Paul was a Jew and that he thus processed everything that he experienced in and through the life of Jesus in terms of the Jewish traditions. So to hear Paul’s words in this proper Jewish context, we have to look at the traditions of the Jews for examples of people being raised from life or even being “translated” from death into God’s presence. In none of these cases was this act conceived of as a physical resuscitation back into the life of this world. There are three such episodes in the Hebrew Scriptures and each one of these three finds itself referred to in the Christian story. It is clear that these Jewish stories served as the examples that were destined to shape not only Paul’s thought on the resurrection, but also informed all early Christian thinking.The first one of these Jewish stories involved a man named Enoch, whose story is told in a single verse in the fourth chapter of Genesis. He is identified simply as the father of Methuselah, who was presumed to be the oldest person in the Bible, having reached according to the Bible the ripe old age of 969 years. Of Enoch it was said that he “walked with God and was not, for God took him.” Enoch was considered to have lived a life of such goodness and holiness that his virtue was rewarded by being lifted beyond death into the immediate presence of God. Later much mythology gathered around the figure of Enoch, and during the inter-testament years he was said to have authored a book that described the realm of God as only an eyewitness could do. This “Book of Enoch” found a place in writings called the “Pseudapigrapha” and from that position exercised great influence on the developing Jesus story.The second of these Jewish stories described the final events in the life of Moses, the greatest of all the Jewish heroes, the founder of Israel and the father of the law. The death of Moses is recorded in Deuteronomy 34 with great care, but also with much mystery. Moses was said to have died in the wilderness of the land of Moab with only God present. God was said to have buried him in a grave that God had prepared, the location of which is “unknown from that day to this.” God was portrayed as writing an epitaph that presumably was designed to eulogize this gigantic figure. It was not long, however, before the tradition began to grow that Moses had not actually died, but had been transformed and transported into God’s presence and was now himself an inhabitant in the dwelling place of God.The final figure in this Jewish trilogy was Elijah, probably second to Moses alone in the hierarchy of Jewish heroes. Elijah was deemed to be the father of the prophets and thus of the prophetic movement in Judaism. When the Jews defined Judaism, it was in terms of its twin towers — the law and the prophets, or Moses and Elijah.The story of Elijah’s death is told in II Kings, again with details that are full of wonder and mystery. In effect the narrative says that Elijah did not really die at all. He was rather transported into the presence of the living God by a magical, fiery chariot drawn by magical, fiery horses and propelled heavenward by a God-sent whirlwind. In that new status, as one who shares in the presence of God, Elijah was portrayed as dispensing a double portion of his spirit onto his single disciple, Elisha, who had been chosen to be his successor. When Luke wrote the story of Jesus’ ascension in the book of Acts, he borrowed many of the details from this story of the ascension of Elijah. In a revealing interpretive clue, Mark, Matthew and Luke all relate the story of the “Transfiguration” of Jesus in which it was said that Jesus conferred with Moses and Elijah, both of whom had transcended the limits of death and were already dwelling in the presence of the God of life.These were the things that the Jewish Paul had in mind when he said that Jesus had been raised from the dead. The resurrection was for Paul the act by which God affirmed the life of Jesus as holy by raising him at death into the eternal life of God. Jesus was thus able to offer to his followers a pathway through himself into the eternity of God. The raised Jesus was thus the mediator of this access, the way into eternal life for all who came through him. The resurrection of Jesus in its earliest formulation thus had nothing to do with empty tombs, physical resuscitations and apparitions. Those expansions would all come later in the developing Christian story. This is, however, where Paul was and this is what the resurrection of Jesus meant in the primitive Christian community.When this series resumes, we will look at Paul’s most systematic work, the Epistle to the Romans.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements FORUM2020: Science, Spirituality, the Climate Emergency and Our Future: Online Oct 16, 2020 Over forty international speakers will be offering their wisdom and perspectives through keynote addresses, diverse panels, inspiring prayers and sacred music. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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On Remembering the Completed Life of Nan Grow
by Dawn Collins 07 Oct '20

07 Oct '20

I Dear Bill, Bradford, Rebecca, and Ian, The time was 1968, a year of another crack opening in the consciousness of the nation. It was the year I joined the Ecumenical Institute and shared Nan's small office on the West Side of Chicago. I was fortunate to continue to draw my salary from Western Electric that year. Coming from 2 short blocks down the street, I followed the Call after an exciting year of introduction to the Institute in our midst and wrote a letter to JWM to become a member of that structural revolutionary body. My task was to transcribe talks from spiritual colleagues attending special programs around the globe while Nan and Bill spent hours compiling punch cards on the data entry machine down the hall with lots of TLC and briefing their results with JWM in his office. Those cards represented visits made to 5th City residents by soon-to-be Institute colleagues, crisscrossing the neighborhood to compile the hopes and dreams of 5th Citizens for the future. Needless to say, I was also being exposed to other facets of the mission as time went by soon recruiting future attendees of the first Black Academy from the south and west sides of Chicago. With her quiet, sober demeanor, Nan was one of many of our somewhat diverse collegial group who helped actualize a vision of an engaged 5th City community being given the tools to let their voices be heard and reckoned with in determining their destiny. May you rest in eternal peace, my dear Nan, leaving a legacy of wonderful memories down the years as a caring mentor and friend. Kindfully yours, dawn303 388 1454 We love the Final Reality because the Final Reality loved us first.- 1 John 4:19

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Global Buzz for October
by ICA International 07 Oct '20

07 Oct '20

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... And please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: October 2020 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-20/2020-10-01.php Read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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10/01/2020; Progressing Spirit: Rev. Deshna Shine: Time to Be Radical; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 01 Oct '20

01 Oct '20

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv7911773631 #yiv7911773631templateBody .yiv7911773631mcnTextContent, #yiv7911773631 #yiv7911773631templateBody .yiv7911773631mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv7911773631 #yiv7911773631templateFooter .yiv7911773631mcnTextContent, #yiv7911773631 #yiv7911773631templateFooter .yiv7911773631mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Time to Be Radical | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Deshna Shine October 1, 2020Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, in Southern California, I used the term “rad” quite a bit as a child and teen. Back then, it seemed like many things were rad. That shirt, that movie, that trip, that song… rad was like something extra cool. It meant “not normal or boring.” “Radical dude!” the surfers would say about a huge wave. That word lost its power as the 80’s and 90’s faded and thank goodness, because it’s actually way cooler than we gave it credit for back then. And it is time that we reclaim it. Ok, maybe not “rad” but I refer here to being rad. Namely, radical. Often when we think of radicals today, we think of religious extremists or we associate a negative connotation with it. But the word radical actually means far-reaching fundamental transformation. And fundamental transformation is exactly what we need today, individually and collectively. It is time for us to embrace our radical nature. Once we allow our radical nature to fire up, we can enter into three important phases of radicalness: radical acceptance, radical transformation and true radical inclusion. We can shift the fundamental nature of our way of being, individually and collectively. We can be far-reaching and thorough. This is the epitome of Jesus’ story and many other sacred stories. Isn’t it what we need today? Jesus was a radical and his embodiment of Christ’s nature radically transformed those who followed his teachings and were impacted by his life. A perfect and classic example of this is the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19). Zacchaeus was known to the Jewish people of the time as a sinner and a traitor. His family was Jewish and many believed he sold his soul to Rome to exact taxes from his people. When Jesus came to his town of Jericho, Zacchaeus heard the news of his arrival. Hundreds of people gathered to hear Jesus teach. The crowd was so large that many people couldn’t see. Since Zacchaeus was “short in stature,” (also read “small egoic self”) he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up into a sycamore tree to have a better view of Jesus. The sycamore tree is a symbol of regeneration and rebirth and my hunch is that it was intentionally chosen for this story for that reason. I can imagine the eyes rolling as his Jewish neighbors sneered “Always taking the best seat, always being selfish…” I have heard that voice come from my own mouth plenty of times, so I know it well. “He’s so short he has to climb a tree to see our teacher,” they laugh and say loudly enough so that Zacchaeus can hear them. Disgusted by the traitor (out there), we snort and shake our heads. But what does Jesus do? Does he point out Zacchaeus’ sins as an example of what not to do? Does he laugh alongside? Does he ignore the sinner? Turn his back? No. He stops what he is doing, calls to Zacchaeus and says, “Hurry and come down, for I must eat at your house today.” Zacchaeus beams with joy, but the crowd grumbles some more and murmurs in complaint that Jesus "has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." Imagine that moment, if you will. Put yourself in the position of Zacchaeus. Decades of tax collecting, of people complaining about him, of family pleading for him to change his ways, of calling him a traitor and a sinner. He was despised. They called him corrupt, so maybe he should just be corrupt. And yet, in that moment, the Beloved teacher turns to him and asks to be a guest in his home. Jesus changes his plans and sits down at the table with someone whom everyone thought was a lost cause. Zacchaeus has a few of options here — pride and arrogance or acceptance and transformation. We don’t know what Jesus said or didn’t say to Zacchaeus during that meal, but we do know that his heart was so softened, that he accepted the error of his ways and resolved to change. Zacchaeus promised to give half his belongings to the poor and pay back, from his own pocket, four times as much to anyone he had cheated! However, it can’t end in a promise or resolution. What’s more damaging is claiming a radical change with our words, posts, or tweets, but never actually changing who we are. That’s why spiritual abuse persists under the guise of transformation. Being saved is not transforming. Being the radical change we wish to see is. How many of us can embrace the radical transformation that Zacchaeus did? How many of us, flawed humans, would give half of our belongings away and truly shift our thinking, beliefs, or feelings? How many of us are willing to see ourselves for who we really are? How many of our churches are willing to give back that which we have stolen? To dedicate half of the budget toward reparations? When we are faced with an opportunity for radical transformation, most of us shy away, turn our chin up in pride, self-doubt, and run away in fear. Change is frightening. Radical shift is foundation shaking. Radical acceptance opens the door for radical transformation. Giving away half of your things is radical. Repentance is radical. Reparations are radical. Middle Church in NYC, created a series of popular antiracism workshops and then dedicated $100,000 of the income from the workshops to Black Lives Matter education toward reparations. The United Church of Christ has paid off over $12 million dollars in medical debt of low income families, in cooperation with other non-profits, and is speaking out against the systemic injustice in the healthcare system that disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous peoples. A United Methodist Church in Ohio is returning 3 acres of land to the Wyandotte Nation. The mission church in the middle of a cemetery was built two centuries ago with $1,333 and First Nations people’s labor. Deeding the three acres of land back to the Wyandotte Nation is a small but powerful acknowledgement of the suffering its members endured when the government made them leave their land and the part the church played in the stealing of those lands. It also acknowledges them as our siblings who have worth, a radical concept. These are just some examples of what happens when we move past the guilt, shame and fragility that keeps us in avoidance and denial and into radical acceptance of our debts, our sins, and the error of our ways. The story of Christ calls each of us toward this radical acceptance and transformation. It is the epitome of Jesus’ story -- to be reborn and to begin to see the sacred in all. When I look at my life, it is easy to see that my greatest as well as most common suffering is rooted in my resistance to reality, my resistance to what is. Just one example is that it took me years to come to terms to the reality of my marriage. I kept thinking, if just these few things would change… if I could change this part of myself, or if he was different in these ways. I tried everything. I tried denying parts of myself. I tried getting my ex to change aspects of himself. We tried being open, we moved, we fought, we cheated. I tried couples counseling. I tried being the perfect wife. Nothing changed. And I suffered and I rebelled and I got reckless. He got angry, resentful, distrustful and more stubborn. I avoided the truth because I was terrified. I was terrified to lose my family and terrified to hurt the people I loved the most. Then one day, after years of struggle, denial, and a growing sense of self hatred, it just hit me. Reality hit. And it came in the most simple moment. It was a beautiful Sunday and I, normally being the family planner, wanted desperately for my husband at that time to be the one to plan a fun family outing. He kept saying, “I am up for whatever!” After years of being with someone who would always go with the flow, I was yearning for him to be different, to take the reins and make a plan. I told him, “I am tired and not feeling so great, can you please make a plan for today? I am open!” He turned around and asked our then 9-year-old, “What do you want to do today?!” Ugh, my stomach churned. In my mind, I thought, No! You! I need you to decide! Out loud, I said, “Stop trying to figure out what we want. Stop trying to please us and look inside! What do you want? If you could do anything today, what would it be? Just tell me, I won’t get mad.” I wanted so bad to see the authentic him. He looked worried. I was definitely on the edge and we were entering into dangerous territory. “Anything?” He asked tentatively. I smiled in encouragement. “Yes.” “Ok…” he gulped and finally said, “I just want to go to the bar, drink a beer and watch the football game.” My heart dropped in every sense of the phrase. This was so far from what I wanted, so far from my own heart, that I was in a moment of shock. How could my partner be so different from me?! How could he want something so entirely opposite of what I wanted?! I would have done nearly anything else on that beautiful day. I wanted to be with my family and to have some adventurous outing together. A picnic at a new park, a hike, a visit to the museum. Rob a bank! Anything other than being inside a dingy dive bar and watching men run around in tights, chasing a ball, wearing some team jersey that changed cities as many times as the money changed hands. I burst into tears. My ex looked at me, so confused and distraught. He didn’t want to hurt me. He definitely didn’t want to disappoint me again. “You said to be honest!” he cried out. I balled. Deep heart-wrenching grief surged through me. It had hit me. I was no longer blind. He wasn’t going to change. I wasn’t going to change. This was exactly who we are. And there is nothing wrong with it. All my anger left me. All my resistance dissipated. He stood there holding me as I sobbed. “I am just a boy, babe, you know that.” You are right, I thought. This is who you are. And all these years, I have been complaining about it, putting you down, and trying with all my effort to get you to be someone you are not. On top of that, I have been trying to be someone I am not. Some other wife would have run upstairs, grabbed their 49’ers jersey and called a babysitter. “Let’s go honey! I can’t wait to order some fries and wings!” Someone else would have said, “Go ahead babe, we will go to the park and meet up with you later. Have fun!” Instead, for years I had drenched the relationship in guilt and denial. I was resisting reality and dragging my denial like a 1000 pound steel ball connected to my ankle. I blamed and I blamed. I tried so hard. I tried some more. When I saw and accepted both of us as we are, I saw and accepted the marriage for what it was, and that huge weight lifted. It did not make anything perfect and easy, but it uncovered the truth. And it made it impossible to stay. It was the first step on the long and scary path to radical acceptance of myself and what I want and need. With it came the hardest letting go I have yet to experience, the radical acceptance of my shadow, repentance, deep grief and the slow painful process of transformation and rebirth. I am still re-birthing, but I am no longer blind. Carl Rogers wrote: “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” The Christ Consciousness is there, within you to say, slow down. What is really happening here? Name it. Accept it. See it simply as it is. You are afraid. You are lonely. You are angry. You have erred in your ways. This is hard. This is scary. You are so sad. You can change. I see you. I see you. Just as you truly are — broken, lost, blind, trying so very hard. And I love you and welcome you. The Amazing Grace is there to say, pause and open your eyes for you have been blind. Come down from that tree, I want to dine with you today. For Zacchaeus, once he accepted himself as he was, he saw the truth, the reality. He awakened. Then he was able to transform. In the presence of the Christ Consciousness, he saw himself as he truly was: radical worth, radical love. He turned from his previous ways of being and began to repair the damage he caused. Radical acceptance is not condoning or agreeing, or staying when you aren’t happy. It is not fixating or focusing on the past or just doing nothing. Radical acceptance is not forgiveness, though it often leads to authentic forgiveness (including of ourselves). It is not ignoring a broken situation or spiritual bypassing. Radical acceptance is looking at reality as it is and removing the cover, to see things as they are, to reveal the truth. It is seeing the fundamental racism that exists systemically across this globe for what it is and how deep it goes… so that we might transform it. It is seeing the failings of the modern-day church for what they are, identifying our part within that system; removing the cover of pride and ignorance and denial to see the truth, so that we can radically shift how we live together and how we serve each other. It is seeing a corrupt system which we continually buy into and fund. But most importantly, it is seeing all human beings as suffering and worthy of love just as you are. Just as Jesus saw Zacchaeus. Be that voice for you, so that you may be that voice for others. So that you may see others with the eyes of God. What could happen if we progressed in this journey? Would we become more like the teacher, and more able to call out that radical transformation in each other? Our churches? Our communities? Being a follower of the teacher Jesus compels us to live radically different than the culture around us. That’s hard. How can we move past fragility into radical acceptance? How can we repent and commit to reparations? How are we being called to radically transform, so that we might transform this broken world?~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Charron Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org's Children's Curriculum and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She is an author, international speaker, and a visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. She was the Executive Producer of Embrace Festival. She is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually, and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Darrell A friend of mine recommended the book, “The Case for Christ,” by Lee Strobel. Have you read the book and if so, is it a good read? A: By Rev. David M. FeltenDear Darrell,Thanks so much for reaching out about the veracity of Strobel’s book. Here are some things you might want to consider about The Case for Christ (and Strobel’s agenda): Strobel claims to be an objective journalist who uses the well-established methods of investigative journalism to arrive at his conclusions. However, his argument is more propaganda than journalism. He only interviews the proponents of one kind of Christianity: the most traditional and orthodox of Evangelical leaders. Many of these high-profile apologists criticize or outright dismiss (or lie about) the theological perspective of mainline Christianity as heresy (or Strobel misrepresents their opinions for his own purposes). Strobel outright ignores the work of contemporary Biblical scholarship in seminaries like the one I attended (Boston University) and negatively skews the views of the scholars who have influenced me and become my mentors – many of whom were a part of “The Jesus Seminar,” “Living the Questions,” and other efforts to promote contemporary Biblical scholarship outside of academia. Strobel doesn’t interview a single one of them (carefully avoiding all but a few hand-picked academics from mainstream institutions of higher learning). So, right out of the gate, he’s misrepresenting himself as being objective, undermining his claim to have “made a case.” Some of the things he points to as “evidence” are just plainly silly. The only scholars/pastors who agree with Strobel’s perspective are those who have isolated themselves in a dogmatic bubble and refuse to deal with modern scholarship, archaeology, history, and literary criticism. For instance, Strobel claims that the Gospels are “eyewitness” evidence written by the actual apostles. Nobody who actually reads the texts and takes them seriously can believe this. Yet Strobel enthusiastically defends the perspective of those who misrepresent and distort the text. Case in point: Strobel’s sources deny the obvious textual evidence that the Gospels were written many years after the fact by, in some cases, people who clearly had never been in Palestine (and could not possibly have known Jesus personally). The “synoptic problem” (where it’s clear that Mark was written first and Matthew and Luke copied from him) is dismissed. The existence of the “Q” gospel is disregarded altogether. Never mind that the Gospel of John is all out-of-whack with the other Gospels: different orders of events, different theology, Jesus in ministry for a different number of years, Jesus’ message being completely different than in the Synoptic Gospels, etc. Despite being glaringly obvious, the people Strobel consults for his “proof” just ignore it all. Overall, Strobel only goes to people who will tell him what he wants to hear. In regard to “historical” evidence, Strobel finds a person who totally ignores the vast majority of historians and scholars to support his “case.” Take the story of the Roman census as recorded in the beginning of Luke; there is no evidence outside of or anywhere else in the Bible that would support this event as historical. Likewise, there is no evidence that Matthew’s story of children being massacred by Herod ever happened. But somehow, Strobel is able to twist this information in his favor. It’s never mentioned that Matthew’s Gospel has Mary and Joseph living in Bethlehem (with no need to travel from Nazareth for Jesus’ birth). So, it’s clear from reading the text alone (I know, I know – reading the Bible is such a pain!) that Matthew made these stories up. They’re stories. But Strobel doesn’t like that, so he finds a person who will tell him what he wants to hear so he can include it as “evidence” in his “case.” Strobel also spends a lot of time laying out the typical Evangelical arguments for how we know that Jesus is “actually” God incarnate and how we know that the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus actually occurred — but the details of why this is problematic will have to be the topic of another column. If your friend is a casual Christian (and by that I mean someone who goes to church, is convinced that Jesus died for him, and tries to be a nice person), then I can see how “The Case for Christ” would be a book in which they find comfort and assurance. However, if a person is sincere about taking the Bible seriously and actually following Jesus’ teachings, then I think The Case for Christ is not only unhelpful, but misleading. Because there are so many outright lies and misrepresentations in the book, I find it excruciating to read. It makes me sad that it is as popular a book as it is – but a lot of people just want to have their childhood beliefs affirmed and don’t want to think too hard about religion. As an alternative, let me suggest another “introductory” kind of book that completely changed my outlook on faith and my approach to ministry, Marcus Borg’s: Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. It definitely makes its own “case,” but for a much more credible and relevant Jesus. Thanks for inquiring about the Strobel book. I’m always happy to make my own “case” for why Strobel should be thrown out of court. ~ Rev. David M. Felten Read and share online here About the Author Rev. David M. Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions”. A co-founder of Catalyst Arizona and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community! | | | | | | Join our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the New Testament, Part X: Resurrection According to Paul — I Corinthians Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong December 24, 2009The first written account that we have of the Easter event in the Bible — Paul addressing the congregation in Corinth around the year 54-55 — gives us material that is both scanty and provocative. In order to understand his meaning fully, we need to cleanse our minds of the traditional Easter content found in the gospels. When Paul wrote, no gospel existed. Indeed Paul died without ever knowing that there was such a thing as a gospel. To go where this column needs to go I must not allow myself to be influenced by ideas of which Paul had never heard. So to understand what resurrection meant to Paul I seek to put myself and you, my readers, into the actual frame of reference that was present a generation before any gospel had entered history.To show how thorough this purge is we need to be aware that there is in Paul’s writing no hint of a special tomb in a special garden owned by one named Joseph of Arimathea, no account of a stone that had been placed against the mouth of this tomb, no mention of either a messenger or an angel making the resurrection announcement and no reference to women coming to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week, bringing spices to anoint him. Paul has no narrative detail such as the setting Matthew employs on a mountaintop in Galilee, which enabled the raised Jesus to give the divine commission. He reveals no knowledge of Luke’s narrative of the two disciples walking to the village of Emmaus who are overtaken by a stranger, who turns out to be Jesus, or of John’s narrative that focused on a resurrection appearance with Thomas absent, his subsequent doubt and his later ecstatic words, “My Lord and my God.” Paul only provides a list of those to whom he claims this raised Christ was manifested. In Paul, there are no supernatural signs accompanying either Jesus’ crucifixion or his resurrection. Paul knows nothing about the supposed darkness of the sun from 12 noon to 3:00 p.m. on the day of the crucifixion, of which all the gospels take notice. He mentions no earthquakes, no Eucharistic context for the resurrection and no cosmic ascension, all of which play a large role in the various gospel narratives. If these things were part of the original Easter story then we must conclude that Paul was either not interested in or aware of them, or we must raise the distinct possibility that these traditions were not part of the original Christian story but were developed after Paul’s death and thus are not historical at all. As these realizations dawn, the traditional reading of the resurrection stories, as if they are literal recollections, begins to fade as realistic possibilities. Paul thus provides us with the earliest glimpse we have into primitive Christianity and it is quite revealing, even troubling, since it challenges what has become “common Christian wisdom.”When Paul finally gets around to listing the key witnesses to whom, he asserts, the raised Christ had made himself “manifest,” we enter a world of mystery and intrigue. Even Paul’s list calls most of our pious Easter conclusions into question.Was the resurrection of Jesus a physical event that took place within the boundaries of time, an event that could be documented as a literal, observable, historical occurrence? I do not think so. Paul actually asserts in the letter to the Romans (written some four years after I Corinthians) that it was in the resurrection itself that God “designated” Jesus to be “the Son of God.” By the standards of the Nicene theology of the 4th century, Paul was thus a heretic, for he asserts that God raised Jesus into the status of being the divine son only at the resurrection. This attitude would later be called “Adoptionism” and was condemned by a future church council as an “impaired” understanding of Jesus. Our study, therefore, begins to force us to probe a far deeper mystery, that is the nature of Jesus, himself.When Paul gets around to listing his witnesses, he begins with Cephas. Cephas was the Aramaic nickname for the disciple whose given name was Simon. Tradition suggested that Jesus had called him “the Rock.” The word for rock in Greek is “petros,” so Peter was his Greek nickname. The word for rock in Aramaic is “kepha,” so Cephas became his Aramaic nickname. Paul always called Peter “Cephas.” There is nothing unusual about Cephas being listed first. Simon was generally regarded as the head of the disciple band, but one wonders whether this was a reading back into history of the role that Simon played in the life of the early church and thus in the resurrection drama. We will never know for sure, but the primacy of Peter is a note present throughout the gospel writing period. In Mark, the messenger of the resurrection says to the women, “Go tell the disciples and Peter.” Peter is the one portrayed as making the confession that Jesus is the Christ at Caesarea Philippi. Peter is the one for whom Jesus says he will pray that “when you are converted, you will strengthen the brethren.”Next on Paul’s list is “the twelve.” The designation “the twelve” is fascinating for two reasons. First, while the number twelve for the disciples is a constant in the gospels, they do not agree on who constituted that body. Mark and Matthew have one list. Luke and Acts have another. John does not ever provide a list of the twelve but he refers to people not on any other list, like Nathaniel, whom he portrays as clearly at the center of the Jesus movement. It is quite possible that the number twelve was a more important symbol than were the actual people who constituted the twelve. The second fascinating thing about Paul’s use of the designation “the twelve” is that Judas is clearly still one of them. Paul quite obviously had never heard of the tradition that one of the twelve was a traitor. The betrayal involving Judas Iscariot thus also appears not to have been an original part of the Christian story. When Judas does appear in the gospels, he is a literary composite of all of the traitors in Jewish scriptures, which hardly suggests that he was himself a person of history.Next Paul says that the raised Jesus appeared to “500 brethren at once.” There is nothing in any later gospel that provides any clue as to the content of this claim. An early 20th century New Testament scholar sought to establish a connection between the appearance to these 500 brethren at once and the Pentecost experience described in the book of Acts, but that is a huge stretch! This strange list will get even stranger as it gets longer.Paul moves on to say that next the raised Jesus appeared to James. Who is this James? Is he James, the son of Zebedee; James, the son of Alphaeus; or James, the brother of the Lord? Those are the three “James” included in the pages of early Christian history. By a process of elimination, James, the brother of the Lord, appears to be the probable one. James, the son of Zebedee, was killed by King Herod in the early years of the Christian movement, according to the book of Acts (12:1). James, the son of Alphaeus, is a total unknown, never mentioned again in any Christian writing that we can locate beyond this inclusion on the list of twelve disciples. James, the brother of Jesus, however, was a major player in early Christian history. It is this James at whom Paul directs his anger in the Epistle to the Galatians. It is this James who appears to have been the leader of the Christians in Jerusalem when Peter departed on his missionary journeys. It is this James who insisted that Gentiles had to become Jews first before they could become Christians. The weight of scholarship suggests that this is the James to whom Paul is referring. The idea that Jesus had no brothers and sisters was born in a much later period of history, when the attempt was being made to prove that the mother of Jesus was a “perpetual virgin.” Mark, the first gospel to be written, refers to Jesus’ four brothers by name (Mk. 6:3): James, Joses, Judas and Simon. Mark further states that Jesus had at least two sisters, neither of whom in that patriarchal world was deemed worthy of naming. So the intrigue deepens.The next name on Paul’s list only adds to that mystery. “Then,” says Paul, “he appeared to all the apostles.” Who are they? He has already mentioned the twelve. This must be a different group. Paul was not given to vain repetition. A distinction between “the twelve” and “the apostles” was clear to Paul, but it had disappeared by the time of the gospels.The final name on the list is the most fascinating of all. “Last of all,” Paul writes, “as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” Paul was making the startling claim that he too had been a witness to the resurrection and that his resurrection experience was identical to the experience that everyone else on his list had, except that his was last.How much later would “last” be? The early 20th century church historian Adolf Harnack made a study of this and came to the conclusion that the conversion of Paul could not have happened any earlier than one year or any later than six years following the crucifixion. No one has challenged that finding. If that is accurate, as I believe it is, then we have to conclude that Paul understood the resurrection very differently from the way it is portrayed in the later gospels. For Paul, the resurrection was not an act of a dead man walking out of a tomb and back into the world. It was not the physical resuscitation of a three-days-dead body. A resuscitated formerly deceased body does not wait around for one to six years to make another dramatic appearance. Even St. Luke recognized this when he placed the ascension of Jesus forty days after the first Easter, at which time, he states, the appearances ceased. Resurrection thus clearly meant something different to Paul in the early years of the Christian Church. By the time the gospels were written (71-100 CE) the idea of resurrection had evolved until it had become quite physical and stories were told about the resurrected Jesus walking, talking, eating, drinking and interpreting scripture in a physically functioning, resuscitated body. That, however, is clearly not Paul’s understanding. What, then, did the resurrection mean to Paul? Can we ever recover that original meaning of Easter? We can try and I will seek to do that in next week’s column.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Expressing Wonder 2020 There is wonder in learning about the life experience and courage of others, gaining empathy and choosing actions in the spirit of justice, respect, and compassion. Join us for a weekend of learning and appreciation through speaker presentations, interactive discussions, spoken word and other poetry, storytelling, art, and music. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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