December 2020 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

FW: Celebration of life for John Weir Singleton, 1931-2020
by Lynda C 05 Nov '24

05 Nov '24

From: Rob Singleton <rob.singleton(a)hsc.utah.edu> Date: Saturday, July 11, 2020 at 3:51 PM To: Rob Singleton <rob.singleton(a)hsc.utah.edu> Subject: Celebration of life for John Weir Singleton, 1931-2020 This email is sent on behalf of Louise Singleton- Dear Family and Friends, We plan a virtual Gathering of Gratitude to celebrate the life of John Singleton on August 8 at 11:00 a.m. MDT. The celebration will consist of a service and, after a five minute break, a virtual reception. Details of the service and instructions for how you can participate are contained in the attached Word document. Please register to join the celebration at: http://bit.ly/johnweirsingleton which also contains additional information. With love and appreciation to all of you who made John's life abundant. Louise Rob, Martha, David, and Will Louise Singleton 3101 Old Pecos Trail, Unit 509 Santa Fe, NM, 87505 lrsingleton85(a)gmail.com<mailto:lrsingleton85@gmail.com> J. Robinson Singleton, MD Professor and Vice Chairman for VA Programs, Department of Neurology, University of Utah Chief of Service, Neurology, Salt Lake City Veterans Medical Center Office 801-581-6770 Cell- 801-201-4525

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John Epps completed life
by John Epps 16 May '23

16 May '23

Dear Communion of Saints, John's earthly existence was completed on Wednesday morning, June 24, 2020. His last words were "thank you," the same words he wrote to you on June 9 in his brief comments, "Thanks for the memories." For five days we were privileged to be in the lovely Denver Hospice which enveloped us with grace and compassion. I am grateful for your many comments of appreciation for John in response to his "Last Collegium." His remains will be interred at the Montview Presbyterian Church Columbarium in Denver. Grace and Peace, Ann

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In memory of Nan Grow -- please join us on January 9
by Marsha Hahn 08 Jan '21

08 Jan '21

Rebecca Grow has asked me to forward this invitation to a memorial for Nan Grow: We invite you to join us in an online gathering to honor the lifeof Nan Grow on Saturday, January 9, at 2:00 p.m. US Eastern Time. We wish we could be with you inperson, but, given the continuing need for social distancing during thepandemic, we will meet via Zoom Webinar. We are inviting several people whohave known Nan at different times in her life to tell stories and sharerecollections of Nan. The event will include poetry, prayer, and we will evenhear from Nan in a video clip. If you would like to attend, please click this link to register: https://bit.ly/nangrow The process is quick. In your confirmation, you will receive alink that you would use to join us for the event. Close to January 9th, wewill send reminder emails. These emails will include links to access the event and to obtain the program sothat you may follow along. If you do not already have Zoom downloaded on your computer ordevice, you will need to do so prior to the service. You can download itfor free. We hope you can help us memorialize Nan’s amazing life. Many thanks, Bill, Brad, Ian, and Rebecca Grow P.S. Please feel free to forward this message to others whomight be interested.

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Happy New Year! I Guess!
by mellowmilan2＠gmail.com 01 Jan '21

01 Jan '21

Ode to 2020 (Try singing this to 'O Tannenbaum') Oh 2020, Oh 2020! I wish I could explain you. Oh 2020, Oh 2020! I wish we could forget you! Election wars, pandemic cruel How did the world survive you? Oh 2020, Oh 2020! I wish we could embalm you! In wintertime, we sang and danced Our stock portfolios quite enhanced Then springtime came, our bubble burst And summer gave no respite. When autumn fell, we breathed a sigh With Joe and Kamela riding high But Trump refused to quit the race He'll hang around forever. Oh 2020, Oh 2020! The frontline workers, heroes The year rolled on, the death toll rose Our Pres. looked more like Nero Black lives mattered not so much Until George Floyd was murdered Then some woke up to feel the pain And future hope revived again. Oh 2020, Oh 2020! We wish we could explain you Oh 2020, Oh 2020! We wish we could redeem you. The climate crisis coming fast With not much time before we pass Oh 2021, Oh 2021! We hope you will forgive us! Milan Hamilton 12 31 20

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Study of TEN LESSONS FOR A POST PANDEMIC WORLD
by James Wiegel 01 Jan '21

01 Jan '21

32 of you have signed up to study Fareed Zakaria's TEN LESSONS FOR A POST PANDEMIC WORLD. Our first session (via ZOOM) is a week away -- Monday, January 4, 2021. 7:00-8:30 pm CST (Chicago time)12 weeks. 1/4/2021 to 3/22/2021 Intro, Ten Lessons, Conclusion Join us if you have interest. For those of you who have signed up, do you have the book? Is it paper? digital? audio? 1. We are looking for 1 or 2 of you who know Zoom to work with David Rebstock on set up and helping folks get connected. 2. We need 5 small group guides for break outs during the sessions3. We need volunteers to take each of the chapters, go through it in advance and do a 10-15 minute walk through of the chapter. Here is the last paragraph of the book:CONCLUSION: NOTHING IS WRITTEN 233 Inhis own way, Dwight Eisenhower was making a similar point to WalterCronkite as they sat overlooking the rows of graves in Normandy. Thesoldiers who died during World War II gave us all a chance to build abetter and more peaceful world. So, too, in our times, this uglypandemic has created the possibility for change and reform. It hasopened up a path to a new world. It’s ours to take that opportunityor squander it. Nothing is written. 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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12/31/2020, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Irene Monroe: Where Do We Go from Here, Redux; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 31 Dec '20

31 Dec '20

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p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9732030778 #yiv9732030778templateBody .yiv9732030778mcnTextContent, #yiv9732030778 #yiv9732030778templateBody .yiv9732030778mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9732030778 #yiv9732030778templateFooter .yiv9732030778mcnTextContent, #yiv9732030778 #yiv9732030778templateFooter .yiv9732030778mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Where Do We Go from Here, Redux | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Irene Monroe December 31, 2020 The year 2020 has been a stressful one. With George Floyd's death as an inflection point about race and racism in America, an unprecedented presidential election, and social unrest during an ongoing pandemic with a rising death toll, something is deeply broken in America's body politic. America has been divided and broken before: The American Civil War and the 1960's Civil Rights Movement. However, is America so broken now we can't turn back? Do we want to turn back? The daunting question as we approach 2021 is, "Where do we go from here?" invoking the words of Dr. Martin Luther King. We have revisited this question several times in American history, but have resisted the work and change needed to be done - individually, collectively, and systematically. The long, hot summer of 1967 is when Martin Luther King wrote the book Where do we go from here? It was King's fourth and final tome before his assassination a year later. King wrote the book because in that summer of 1967, there were 159 race riots across America. Many wondered, with the rage and frustrations of young black America, if the government could extinguish the conflagration. Sadly, what caught the nation's attention was not the protesters' plight but rather the violence. "Everyone is worrying about the long hot summer with its threat of riots. We had a long cold winter when little was done about the conditions that create riots" King stated that summer at a luncheon in his honor. The riots were the need for better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, quality education, health care, voting rights, and to end mass incarceration and police brutality. In other words, it was a clarion call to end systemic racism. However, the more things appear to change on the surface for people of color through the years, the more they remain the same systemically. This year proved it. Consequently, the summer of 2020 was a long hot summer, too. According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), "between 26 May, the day after Floyd's death, and 22 August, ACLED records over 7,750 demonstrations linked to the BLM movement across more than 2,440 locations in all 50 states and Washington, DC." The protestors consisted of not only blacks but the entire face of America from all walks of life. Ninety- five percent of the protests were nonviolent. This year's demonstrations were the same old same old as 1967: the need for better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, quality education, health care, voting rights, and to end mass incarceration and police brutality. This time the clarion call is to end systemic racism, now! In order to know "where do we go from here?", we must honestly look at where we are now. While the Christian Right needs to talk to the right Christians, it doesn't excuse those who think they are the right Christians from looking at themselves, too. While many of the right Christians would not think of themselves as racist, the distinction must be recognized that being racist differs from being “anti-racist." White supremacy is an ideology and belief system. It is not the province of solely white people; there are black white supremacists, too. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Dr. Ben Carson are examples. They uphold a white heteronormative and nationalist government that has power shaping policy impacting us all - LGBTQ, women, and POC. The five pillars of white supremacy create dysfunctional notions of entitlement in the following ways: 1. Racial privilege in terms of internalizing beliefs in superiority. 2. Culturally in terms of relinquishing their actual cultural/ethnic/national identities to "become white." 3. Economically in terms of creating allegiance to an economic system that disempowers most whites, too. 4. Politically in terms of supporting public policy that is against their best interests. 5. Spiritually in terms of ritualizing white supremacist thought with dogma, creeds, theology, and liturgy. In Romans 12:2 Apostle Paul talks about the renewing of our mind. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." White supremacy is in the DNA of America. Clinging to it for as long as America has is precisely where we are today as a broken nation. The question "where do we go from here" means problems have not been solved. While the Covid vaccine will eventually stop the spread of the pandemic, sadly, the pandemic of racism will persist. Americans cannot be blamed for the misinformation we have been taught and have absorbed from our society and culture. However, we must be held responsible for repeating misinformation, unexamined racism and privileges in ourselves after we have learned otherwise. George Floyd's death, a cis-gendered male, symbolizes the new face of anti-black violence, as Matthew Shepard's face came to symbolize homophobic violence after his murder in 1998. His death forces us to look at what's broken in America as well as ourselves. But his death can also be an opportunity for reconciliation and healing the sacred in all of us, recognizing our shared humanity. It starts by calling out and addressing racists, whether they are well-intentioned white liberals or ill-intentioned white nationalists, because both erase our lived reality of a multiracial society. In the end, we cannot think that white supremacy and white privilege exist outside ourselves. Rather, it must be assumed. With that assumption, democracy can fully begin for those on the margin to experience what others take for granted. Otherwise, we won't be united as a country. Divided, we will continue to be petty people. ~ Rev. Irene Monroe Read online here. About the Author The Reverend Monroe does a weekly Monday segment, “All Revved Up!” on NPR's WGBH (89.7 FM). She is a weekly Friday commentator on New England Channel NEWS. Monroe is the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail, Guided Walking Tour of Beacon Hill: Boston’s Black Women Abolitionists. A Huffington Post blogger and a syndicated religion columnist; her columns appear the Boston LGBTQ newspaper Baywindows, Cambridge Chronicle, and the Boston Globe. Monroe states that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American, queer and religious studies. As a religion columnist I try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Her papers are at the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College’s research library on the history of women in America. Click here to visit her website. | | | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Susan I have been an on and off member of a Assemblies of God church 15 years - the pastor is more liberal in his style of message giving. They can’t and don’t speak to the issues of gayness and they would say that Jesus is the only way to God. This pastor has meant so much to me. He introduced me to the person of Jesus, which has led to my graduate studies in theology. Problem is, I am much more progressive than they are. I’ve had a troubled childhood, so my journey to God has been fraught with questions, which theology school is helping me to investigate. I also have a child who dislikes Sunday school at this church, which makes me sad. I want her to feel excited about knowing God, but the language they use sometimes is a bit unapproachable–even reading the Bible to a kid with words like “righteous” means nothing–even to me. I was going to try the Universalist Unitarian church, but it seems to denounce God and lessen Jesus. I want to be a Christian and I want to show my daughter who God is and can be, but I’m at a loss. Do I stay where I am or do I join a less Christian church? Either way I will feel like an outsider. A: By Rev. Jim Burklo Dear Susan, You are in excellent company in your quandary, and in your quest to find your way into a faith community that serves the souls of you and your dear daughter. I pray that you won’t despair, and that you will find the church home that is right for you. Your story resonates with my own. Jesus captured my heart in a conversion experience when I was sixteen years old. But I was that kid who asked questions that the youth leaders and pastor could not answer. Finally, the pastor told me: “If you keep asking all these questions, you’re going to argue your way into seminary!” And that's exactly what happened. What a relief it was to arrive at seminary and find other progressive Christians who valued the questions even more than dogmatic answers! It took a long time for me to “find my people”, but I’m grateful I did. And I really hope that happens for you and your daughter. Good news! In your area there are many wonderful progressive Christian churches: open-hearted, open-minded, Jesus-loving communities. Look them up here. And if you otherwise appreciate what you find in the Unitarian community, you might also explore the network of Christian UUA’s. UUA congregations differ substantially: some lift up their Christian heritage, others do not. As you “church shop”, ask about the curricula in Sunday Schools. A Joyful Path is the wonderful new curriculum produced by ProgressiveChristianity.org, used in many churches in our network. Some otherwise progressive churches continue to use denominational Sunday School curricula that are not in “synch” with what is preached and taught to adults, so it’s important to inquire about the details. I urge you to abandon shyness about asking hard questions about the churches you visit. It will save you a lot of time and heartache! Many churches seem “cool” because they have rock bands and the preachers wear designer street wear. But upon further examination, they turn out to be fundamentalists in skinny jeans! More and more evangelical churches make a big deal about welcoming gay and lesbian people, but in fact they do not affirm their sexuality and do not celebrate same-sex marriages. Before suffering disappointment, it’s good to discover reality up-front. Here’s a “cheat sheet” of questions, to get you started as you visit a congregation: 1. Can I make great new friends there? 2. Does it have meaningful worship? 3. Does it offer Bible study? 4. Will it help me grow in my relationship with Jesus? 5. Does it practice meditative prayer? 6. Can it help to get me involved in activism for service and social justice? 7. Do its members take the Bible seriously without having to take it literally? 8. Does it take scientific and intellectual exploration seriously - for example, does it accept the validity of the theory of evolution? 9. Are women given the same opportunities for leadership positions in the church as men? 10. Does it fully affirm LGBTQI sexuality, and celebrate same-sex marriage? 11. Does it teach that how we treat others is the true test of our faith, rather than belief in a fixed doctrine? 12. Does it respect and celebrate other faiths? Does it teach that other religions might be as good for others as Christianity is for us? 13. Does it teach that because God is love, nobody is going to hell? If “yes” is the answer to all of these questions, you’ve probably found a solid progressive church. Here’s a “next-level” set of questions to pose to pastors and lay leaders of the churches you are exploring: 1. Who or what do you mean by the word "God"? Do you experience God? If you say you believe in God, what do you mean by "belief"? (For a list of different understandings of God, see my blog article, "Varieties of God".) 2. Is the Bible the Word of God to humans, or is it humans' words about God? What is your relationship to the Bible? How literally do you take its miracle stories (walking on water, physical resurrection, etc), if at all? (See my “musings” blog entry on "How to Read the Bible" to explore this topic.) 3. Who was Jesus? Who/what is the Christ? What is your relationship to Jesus and/or the Christ? 4. Can people be "saved" without Christ or Christianity? Are there ways to experience God/Ultimate Reality outside of Christ or Christianity? Can other religions possibly be as good for other people as Christianity is for us? 5. Do you think it is okay for LGBTQ people to have sex? Under what circumstances? Do you support same-sex marriage? 6. Do you support women as leaders in all roles in church and society? Do you support a woman's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion? 7. Does your faith lead you to take political action for economic justice and peace? (Lots more on such issues at ProgessiveChristiansUniting.org .) 8. What other questions should I be asking? Let me know when you find the church home you’ve been yearning to discover! ~ Rev. Jim Burklo jtburklo(a)yahoo.com Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Jim Burklo is the Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Southern California. An ordained United Church of Christ minister, he formerly served as a community organizer, director of a homeless services agency, church pastor, and campus minister. He is a member of the board of directors of ProgressiveChristiansUniting.org and an honorary advisor for ProgressiveChristianity.org. Jim is the author of seven published books on progressive Christianity, including TENDERLY CALLING: An Invitation to the Way of Jesus, which will be in print in early 2021. His weekly blog, “musings”, has a global readership. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Howard Thurman reminded us that the work of Christmas goes far beyond a single day or even a season. The work of Christmas — social justice that lies at the heart of the Gospel — is absolutely central to how we must live year-round. As we prepare for a New Year, we need your help to do continue the work of Progressive Christianity in 2021. ProgressiveChristianity.org and Progressing Spirit strive to live authentically at the intersection of faith, reason, and justice. We strive to be a bold witness for the work of Christmas that Thurman described. If you have not yet made a donation to ProgressiveChristianity.org, but believe in the work that we are doing, we hope that you’ll consider making a year-end donation. Your gift makes an enormous impact and helps to ensure that a progressive Christian voice is amplified. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you from your friends at ProgressiveChristianity.org and Progressing Spirit! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of New Testament, Part XXII: The Figure of Moses as the Interpretive Secret in Matthew Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 6, 2010 Matthew’s gospel has always fascinated me more than the others. It is not the most profound of the gospels, but it does open interpretive eyes for me more widely than the others. The doorway into this perception is found in the process of being able to ask the right questions. Matthew is the “Jewish Gospel,” par excellence, and if one does not understand what it means to be a Jewish Gospel, one will never understand this book. Two biblical characters are taken by Matthew from the Jewish scriptures and used as symbols around which he weaves his story of Jesus. Today I will look at both of them in an effort to illustrate that Matthew is deeply dependent on his audience having a sufficient understanding of Judaism to recognize his allusions both to Jewish history and to Jewish scripture. The first of these Jewish characters is Joseph, the patriarch whose story is told in Genesis 37-50. This is the Joseph of the coat of many colors, the first born son to Jacob by his favorite wife Rachel. In our earlier trek through the Old Testament, we noted the deep and historic division between Judah, the dominant tribe in the south and the Northern Kingdom of which Joseph was the principle ancestor. Recall that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, both sons of this same Joseph, were the dominant tribes in that separate part of the Hebrew nation. You may also recall our earlier discussion of how it was that the tribe of Judah not only produced King David but also produced the Yahwist version of the Hebrew scriptures, while the Joseph tribes in the North produced the Elohist version of the same scriptures, and how these two strands of Jewish history were later put together by an interpreter to form a major step in the production of the Torah. One agenda that drove Matthew’s gospel was to present Jesus as the messianic life who was capable of binding up this deep historic division that had long divided the Jewish people. When we read Matthew knowing this background, we can watch just how he does it. Matthew opens his gospel with a seventeen verse genealogy in which he traces the lineage of Jesus through King David and the kings of the Jewish world that centered in Jerusalem. In this passage he clearly roots Jesus in the tribe of Judah, which was the tribe to which David and his royal house belonged. Jesus was clearly the son of Judah. Then Matthew introduced into the developing tradition the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth and, in the process, confronts us with a new character who is also going to be portrayed as Jesus’ father. His name is Joseph and he has never before been mentioned anywhere in Christian writing. In the new story of Jesus’ birth to a “virgin,” there is a clear need for someone to play the role of “earthly father” and to give the child the protection that only a man could give in that fiercely patriarchal society. By having Joseph name this child, thus claiming him as his own, Matthew sought to dampen the rumors of illegitimacy that were swirling around from the ninth decade critics of the Christian movement. In this manner, Joseph, the name of the other major patriarch of Jewish history enters the story as this child’s protector and defender. In this manner, Matthew has bound Jewish history together in the person of Jesus. Next look at the portrait of Joseph as Matthew painted him. Everything we know about Matthew’s character Joseph we learn in Matthew’s birth narrative. Joseph never appears in any part of the gospel tradition except in the birth narratives. From Matthew’s account we learn three things about Joseph. First, he has a father named Jacob (Matt. 1:16). Second, God only speaks to him in dreams (Matt. 1:20, 2:13, 2:19, and 2:22). Third, his role in the drama of salvation is to save the child of promise from death by taking him down to Egypt (2:13-16). Now go back to the story of the patriarch Joseph in the book of Genesis (37-50) and read that narrative. There you will discover three things about the patriarch Joseph. First, he has a father named Jacob (Gen.37:2). Second, he is constantly associated with dreams (Gen. 37:5-11) and was even called the dreamer by his brothers (Gen. 37:19). As the story of his life unfolds he is noted primarily as the interpreter of dreams (Gen. 40:1-19), and even rides into political power in Egypt based on that gift (Gen. 41). Third, his role in the drama of salvation is to save the people of the covenant from death by taking them down to Egypt (Gen. 46). Is this simply coincidence or are we beginning to discern how the Jewish Scriptures were used to interpret the Jesus experience? Matthew was not writing a biography of Jesus, he was interpreting Jesus in the light of the Jewish scriptures. Literalism is not the way to read a Jewish story. Literalism is, in fact, a late-developing Gentile heresy. To make Jesus simultaneously the son of Judah and the son of Joseph was something Matthew’s Jewish readers would understand. The second shadowy figure from the Hebrew Scriptures around which Matthew weaves the story of Jesus is Moses. Moses was the founder of the Jewish nation, the giver of the Law, or Torah, and the ultimate hero of Judaism. Moses makes his first appearance in Matthew’s birth narrative in the account of the wicked King Herod, who slaughtered the male babies in Bethlehem in a vain attempt to wipe out this threat to his throne (Matt. 2:16-18). Every Jewish reader of Matthew’s gospel would have recognized that story as a Moses story. When Moses was born, a wicked King Pharaoh decreed that all the Jewish boy babies were to be destroyed so that his power would not be threatened (Ex. 1:8-22). To save their son from this fate, Moses’ parents put him in a basket on the River Nile where, according to that story, he was rescued by the Pharaoh’s daughter. Matthew in these opening verses of his gospel is signaling to his readers that he was interpreting Jesus under the popular messianic image of the New Moses. This theme is picked up later in the birth narrative when Matthew quotes Hosea as saying, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” This was once again a clear reference to Moses but used by Matthew to mark Jesus’ return from his flight to Egypt to which he had fled to avoid Herod. Matthew next interprets the baptism of Jesus in such a way as to frame it as an analogy to Moses’ crossing of the Red Sea, by separating the waters so that the people could walk through the sea on dry land. Once again Jewish readers would recognize this theme for splitting the waters was a regular theme in the Jewish Scriptures. Moses did it at the Red Sea; Joshua did it at the Jordan River. Both Elijah and Elisha also split the waters of the Jordan River on their way to and from the place of Elijah’s departure in a fiery chariot. Now Matthew brings Jesus in the first story of his adult life to the Jordan River for baptism. In this narrative, he was clearly seeking to say that the God presence we have met in Jesus is even greater than the God presence our ancestors met in Moses. It was a stunning claim. How did he develop this theme? At the baptism, Jesus steps into the waters of the Jordan River, but he does not split these waters. That had been done so many times that it represented nothing special. Jesus rather splits the heavens that we are told in the creation story was “the firmament” that separates the waters above from the waters below (Gen.1:7). Jesus thus splits the heavenly waters, which then fall on him as the Holy Spirit, for that is what “living water” means in the Hebrew Scriptures (see Zech.14:8). What did Moses do after his “baptism” in the Red Sea? The Torah says he wandered in the wilderness for forty years trying to determine what it meant to be the “chosen people.” What did Matthew have Jesus do after his “Red Sea” experience in the Jordan River? He wandered in the wilderness for forty days trying to determine what it means to be the chosen messiah. While Moses was in the wilderness he had three critical experiences. The first involved the shortage of food and it was solved with manna from heaven. The second was when the shortage of water forced Moses to “put God to the test” by striking a rock and demanding that water flow from it. The third occurred when his people in his absence turned away from God and began to worship a golden calf as “the god who brought them out of Egypt.” Matthew, as noted previously, is the first gospel writer to give content to the temptations, which Jesus had to endure in the wilderness. Examine that content. The first temptation involved the shortage of food. “Turn these stones into bread, Jesus.” The second had to do with putting God to the test. “Cast yourself off the pinnacle of the Temple, Jesus. He will give his angels charge over you.” The third temptation had to do with worshiping something other than God. “Bow down before me, Jesus, and I will give you all the kingdoms of this world.” Once more, do you think this is coincidental? Or are you beginning to see Matthew’s gospel as interpretive writing designed to show that Jesus relived the messianic image of being the new Moses by having Moses’ stories from the Hebrew Scriptures wrapped around him. Matthew’s Jewish audience would immediately have understood the interpretive tools he was employing. Western, non-Jewish, literalists still do not comprehend. The most distinguishing marks of Matthew’s gospel begin to form a pattern. The baptism story with the heavens parting is a Red Sea story. The temptations are shaped by the Moses narrative. Then comes the powerful Matthean portrait of Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount. No other gospel in the New Testament includes the Sermon on the Mount. It is Matthew’s special creation because it enables him to portray Jesus as the new Moses on a new mountain, giving a new interpretation of the Torah. In this sermon, Matthew has Jesus compare Moses with him: “You have heard it said of old—-but I say unto you.” He reinterprets Moses driving the external Law of Moses toward the internal level of motivation. Moses is quite clearly one of the great interpretive clues to Matthew’s gospel. One has to read this book with Jewish eyes. ~ Bishop John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements | | | | | | | Contemplative Writing and Listening Starting January 3rd for 12 months - $299 Spirituality & Practice is excited to offer a year-long experiment in writing alone and listening together, facilitated by Judith Favor, a seasoned spiritual guide. This Practice Group will covenant together to form a community. We will ask participants to commit to regularly posting in the Practice Group and attending monthly Zoom listening sessions. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Facebook | | | | Twitter | | | | Website | | | | Email | | | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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grief and Christmas
by W. J. 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

Dear colleagues,This Christmas season has been loaded with a mixture of joy to the world and global grief unlike anything I have previously experienced in my 80 years on earth.Sometimes it's easier to let our celebrative spirit and holiday cheer obscure our communal grief over the dire straits so much of humanity is experiencing this year and the next. And the reality that our health and that of our family members may be at risk.In this moment I was 'inspired' last night to screen two Fellini movies--La Strada and Nights of Cabiria-- for a very small group of invited colleagues, along with a meal and movie discussion. It was our last weekly Movie Night in this year.Some of you may remember that we used to show La Strada on Saturday night in RS-1, long before Requiem for a Heavyweight became our standard fare. I recall showing La Strada at a Lake Junaluska Methodist youth conference back in the early '60's with Mathews, Slicker, and Pierce on the teaching team. And maybe Fred Buss. My memory is slightly dimmed with the passage of time and my brain drain.But the movie still ends with that powerful scene in which Anthony Quinn (as Zampanò, not Mountain Rivera!) is lying drunk on the beach and finally just wailing and overwhelmed with grief over realizing how much he's lost by living in his illusion that other people don't matter to him.They do. And especially the young woman he lived and worked with and then abandoned when it was convenient.Hearing a woman singing that little bit of Nino Rota's theme music brings it all back to him.It's the last of several transformative events (or 'Christ-events' as we called them) in the movie.Let us not forget that celebrating Christmas is about rehearsing the story of a transformative event happening in our midst. THE transformative event, if you will, that brings forth a new, transformative era in human history.In the movie Gelsomina is a very strange, weird, childlike female clown, a Nobody Christ-figure. Without exactly knowing what she's doing, Gelsomina embodies a transformative spirit that speaks to the pervasive suffering of human beings around her.In this Christmas season, let us be the Nobodies whose transformative presence acknowledges our common grief and calls others to hope.MarshallYou can stream La Strada for free on Kanopy (with a library card). Or on TCM, the Criterion Channel, or HBO Max.

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Global Buzz reminder for January 2021
by ICA International 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

Reminder for entries This reminder is for the Global Buzz that will be published January 5th. 2021 (Please send your entries at least a day or more ahead) Please send all your entries by regular e-mail to: inform(a)ica-international.org with your entry as an attatchment. Send details of news items, training programmes, your peer to peer connections with other ICAs, any concerns you may have and of any events that are coming up at your location. Your report can be long or short, but remember that all other ICAs would really like to know about the things that matter where you are, and what you are doing as an ICA. Peter, for ICAI Communications Pour les entrées de rappel Ce rappel est à la Global Buzz qui sera publié le 5 janvier 2021 (S'il vous plaît envoyez vos entrées au moins un jour à l'avance) Veuillez envoyer toutes vos entrées maintenant par courriel ordinaire à : inform(a)ica-international.org avec votre entrée comme un attatchment. Envoyer les détails des articles de nouvelles, des programmes de formation, vos connexions peer to peer avec d'autres CIAS, de toute préoccupation que vous pourriez avoir et de tous les événements qui sont à venir à votre emplacement. Votre rapport peut être longue ou courte, mais rappelez-vous que toutes les autres CIAS aimerait vraiment savoir à propos de choses qui importe où vous êtes et ce que vous faites comme une ICA. Recordatorio de las entradas Este aviso es para el Global Buzz que se publicarán 5 enero 2021 (Favor de enviar sus entradas al menos con un día de antelación) Por favor envíe todos sus entradas ahora por correo electrónico a: inform(a)ica-international.org con su entrada como un archivo adjunto. Enviar detalles de noticias, programas de capacitación, el peer to peer las conexiones con otros convenios o acuerdos internacionales, las preocupaciones que usted pueda tener y de los eventos que se aproximan en su ubicación. El informe puede ser a corto o largo, pero hay que recordar que todos los demás convenios quisiera saber realmente sobre lo que realmente importa, y lo que están haciendo una ICA.

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12/24/2020, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Jim Burklo: Just Looking at Christmas; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 24 Dec '20

24 Dec '20

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p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2427070595 #yiv2427070595templateBody .yiv2427070595mcnTextContent, #yiv2427070595 #yiv2427070595templateBody .yiv2427070595mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv2427070595 #yiv2427070595templateFooter .yiv2427070595mcnTextContent, #yiv2427070595 #yiv2427070595templateFooter .yiv2427070595mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Just Looking at Christmas | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Jim Burklo December 24, 2020 Our granddaughter Rumi and I have a Christmas tradition of doing arty projects together. Among them are making Christmas crèches out of wood and tin. We put them on the fireplace mantel at Advent. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, and wise men gaze at the baby Jesus in the manger. You could hardly call them “action figures”. You could call them “looking figures”. Not just "looking", but "just looking". My daily contemplative prayer practice aims at this experience. Most of the time, if I'm looking at all, I'm looking for something. Looking up something. Looking into something. Most of my looking has agendas, preconditions, prejudices, assumptions. There's something I want, and I'm using my senses to find it. Looking without preconditions, looking without the intention of seeing any particular thing in a certain way, looking only for the sake of looking - now, that's a very different experience. Every day I take a long walk up a hill, with the intention of being as mindful as possible, aiming to take a God's-eye-view of all that is present within and around me. I love rocks, fossils, native plants, grand vistas. I find myself looking for these things along the trail. And that quest has its own charms and satisfactions. But far greater and deeper is the satisfaction of looking at this impulse to "look for", letting it go, and then practicing "just looking". Looking without any purpose or goal or aim. Just observing what is, as it is, in the moment that it is, then moving on and just looking at what is next, as it is, in the moment that it is. Without naming or describing or presuming anything about what is. And then being aware that the One Who Just Is is doing the looking. And that One is beyond observation, time, judgment, opinion, evaluation, or description. This kind of looking leads to awe and wonder and discovery. It is the wellspring of creativity. It makes it possible to see the needs of other people that might otherwise escape attention. After a while of practicing this divine way of looking, I begin to appreciate what I am seeing on its own terms, not just my own. Such is the looking at the figures in the crèche scene at the birth of Jesus. The crèche is a window into the eternal quality of the now, an icon of the divine point of view. It is the slack-jawed, timeless, aimless, free, worshipful Awe that is Love that is God. Maybe the wise men came to Bethlehem looking for the newborn King. But when they got there, and laid down their gifts, I like to think that they ended that quest and just looked at a little baby lying in the hay. Without believing anything about him, without assuming anything about him, without defining him. Just looking with full attention, total presence, and pure love. So, too, the shepherds looked. They had been "keeping watch" over their sheep. Then they were "keeping watch" over Jesus. Just looking. So it was with the angels in the myth of Christmas. The biblical Greek word for angel means "messenger". Somebody who reports on what is, as it is. Not on what is supposed to be. Not on what we wish it was. Angels "watch over": they just look, and then report what they see. The Greek word for "gospel" is related: "euangelion" or "good message". The gospel is not just a set of writings in the New Testament. It is the way of seeing the world that was born at Christmas. It is what we see when we just look at what is, as it is, when and where it is, without filters or interpretations or preconceptions. Abba Bessarion, one of the early Christian “desert fathers” who spent their lives in contemplative prayer in the wilderness, offered up this admonition on his deathbed: “The monk should be all eye, like the cherubim and seraphim.” The Cloud of Unknowing is a profound text of Christian contemplative mysticism by from the 14th century. Its anonymous author wrote that unlike humans, angels “are unable to waste time.” I aspire to this quality of angelic nature. When angels are doing nothing but hovering close and watching, they are doing something purposeful, useful, and priceless. In the depths of our souls, each of us wants to be known and seen as we really are. Sometimes just staying close and watching silently, with an open heart and mind, is the greatest gift we can offer another person - more precious than any tangible gift that can be wrapped and laid under a tree. It's an epiphany - the biblical Greek word for a sudden appearance or manifestation - to discover the difference between "looking for" and "just looking". When I'm "just looking", I can see divine incarnations that I might miss when I'm "looking for". And that kind is the seeing that we celebrate at Christmas. I imagine one of the wise men, while “just looking” at the newborn Christ, meditating this way: What wisdom I have Awakens me to my blindness. I cannot see light itself: What I know of light Is only an alluring shadow Of what it is and does. >From billions of years away in space-time, Through darkness intervening, At its inconceivable speed The light of an exploding star passes Through the dark seas of my eyes, Illuminating the dark curves of their retinas. But I cannot see the glow of their cells: I can only perceive the messages they send To my brain, and from there to my soul. Thus Hope passes, Unseen and undetected, Through this dark world. What retina receives and translates it Into Joy and Wonder? An eye comes into the world: A retina I cannot perceive That will see for me, Beyond my dark despair. A star in the East! This eye tells me To follow it All the way to the Source Of the truer Wisdom That is Love. ~ Rev. Jim Burklo Read online here. About the Author Rev. Jim Burklo is the Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Southern California. An ordained United Church of Christ minister, he formerly served as a community organizer, director of a homeless services agency, church pastor, and campus minister. He is a member of the board of directors of ProgressiveChristiansUniting.org and an honorary advisor for Progressive Christianity.org. Jim is the author of seven published books on progressive Christianity, including TENDERLY CALLING: An Invitation to the Way of Jesus, which will be in print in early 2021. His weekly blog, “musings”, has a global readership. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Raymond I find the notion of human sacrifice abhorrent, and yet the whole dogma of the church is based on the crucifixion of Jesus. The cross wasn’t even used as a symbol for a hundred years AD, and yet we have it used in church today. I love the Lord, and I know my sins are forgiven, but worship in church is a problem. How do I cope? A: By Rev. Lauren Van Ham Dear Raymond, It’s true that some expressions of Christianity and different denominations lean more heavily on the crucifixion and Jesus’s death. Jesus, we know however, spoke for life and creation. Jesus looked for ways to include, to affirm and to love all beings, especially the ones who have been tossed aside. Jesus offered instruction, through teaching and acts of healing, that invited everyone listening to do their inner work and to find more and more ways to love publicly, generously, and inclusively so as to dismantle all forms of oppression and injustice. Jesus’s death - literal or symbolic - is important, but Jesus’s life and what the resurrection invites for His followers, is where Christian practice and community become engaging! If your current experience of church feels more connected with death than life, it might be an interesting experiment to notice and explore the places and spaces where you feel the life-affirming teachings of Jesus – is it in conversation with a dear friend? Prayer? In nature? Particular songs or pieces of art? Worship happens in many ways. Give yourself permission to discover what works well for you. Perhaps another piece is to expand the associations some of us hold with the cross. The late Angeles Arrien, a cultural anthropologist, researched 5 shapes that have appeared throughout the span of humanity, and across cultures and geography. The cross is one of the five, and regardless of the time in history or the geography in which it appears, interpreters agree that the cross speaks to relationship. Isn’t that interesting? In Dr Angeles’ words, the cross “symbolizes the process of relationship and integration. [It is a symbol] connected to a creative project, to another person or to oneself and it demonstrates balanced connection… Most societies see the symbol of the cross as two parts merging to create a greater whole.” (p.39)[i] In no way do I offer this as a distraction from how the cross was used at the time of public crucifixions. As you said, human sacrifice is abhorrent, and the public ritual that was Jesus’s torture and subsequent death evokes horror, grief, rage and disbelief because it should! But as you observe the cross in your church and in other spaces, perhaps there is additional wisdom in holding this multi-cultural understanding of the cross, as well? Jesus most certainly looked for and invited integration, balance and relationships that sought out the greater whole. Thank you for this provocative question! May there be some food for thought in the suggestions I’ve shared. ~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA was born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest, Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University and The Chaplaincy Institute. Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care), and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Lauren’s passion for spirituality, art and Earth's teachings have supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. Her ideas can be heard on Vennly, an app that shares perspectives from spiritual and community leaders across different backgrounds and traditions. Currently, Lauren tends her private spiritual direction and eco-chaplaincy consulting practice; and serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative (URI), and as guest faculty for several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. [i] Arrien, Angeles. Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them, Tarcher/Putnam. 1992 | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As we approach the season of Christmas this perspective on Christmas is profoundly needed. Peace on Earth. Good will. Bringing that vision into being. ProgressiveChristianity.org and Progressing Spirit have long been a key voice in working to bring that vision into being. The resources we provide help us all have a better understanding of who it is that the words of Jesus and the stories of the Bible call us to be. Builders of peace. Bearers of good will. Bringers of that vision to the world. As a non-profit organization, we rely heavily on the good will of donors, most years we basically hope to break even. During these tough times, that's harder than ever to do. We want to not only continue to bring you messages of Peace on Earth, along with many of the tools needed to be bringers of that vision, but we also hope to expand those tools and resources to provide an even more robust offering for progressive Christians. The simple fact of the matter is, that in order to do it we need you. Specifically, if you are in a financial position to contribute to our efforts, we would be grateful for your donations. At this crucial time of the year, it's more important for us than ever. So, thank you for your consideration and, if you are able, thank you for your donation. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Looking at Christmas Through a Rear-View Window Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 7, 2009 It still has magic power. Across the Western world hearts beat lighter during the Christmas season, generosity expands and romance overflows its normal boundaries. Of course, there is a minority of the population for whom this is never true. For them the Christmas season is a cruel reminder of their plight. The picture of family members smiling around the decorated tree exacerbates the loneliness of those who have no families. The warmth of the burning fireplace seems insensitive to those who are cold. Yet, despite these hard reminders that Christmas joy is never universal, it is nonetheless true that the Christmas season grabs and warms the Western consciousness as does no other time of the year. These are data that beg the question why? Why is this the season of good cheer and romance? What is there about this season that brings dreams of peace and hope of good will so powerfully into focus? Part of the answer to this query is surely that in the Northern hemisphere the Christmas season comes at the darkest time of the year, when human beings yearn for the return of the sun that will inevitably hurl back this winter darkness. Perhaps we are still in touch, at least subliminally, with those elemental anxieties that marked our ancient ancestors, who feared each winter that the sun might be disappearing permanently and who were thus gripped by a deep sense of insecurity or angst. We do frame the Christmas story as one in which the darkness is penetrated first by a bright star in the East and later by an angelic chorus that opens the night sky to sing its heavenly message to hillside shepherds. We explain the power of Christmas through the symbol of light breaking darkness. Symbols, however, are tricky. We are always tempted to literalize them. Yet, increasingly, men and women today dismiss the literal understanding of the biblical Christmas myths. Only the biologically naïve still argue that a virgin can conceive. Only the astronomically challenged believe that a star can announce a human event or wander through the sky so slowly that wise men can actually keep up with it. Only the historically inept can still pretend that a decree was issued to all the descendants of King David ordering them to return to their ancestral home in Bethlehem to be enrolled. The time between King David and Jesus was about 1000 years, or some 50 generations. King David had multiple wives and numerous children. Stories about this family echo through the books of I and II Samuel. If this king had 50 direct heirs in his generation, which would represent a very conservative number for a royal figure in that polygamous and patriarchal age, try to imagine the number of direct heirs there would be 50 generations later. At the end of five generations the number would be approximately 30,000. Ten generations later that number would have expanded to more than 40 million and, by the twelfth generation, it would have passed the one billion number. Fifty generations would produce hundreds of billions of direct heirs. Can you imagine a real king issuing such a decree designed to reach all of the descendants of one who lived a thousand years ago, or that they would obey it? If that were literally true it should surprise no one that there was no room at the inn at Bethlehem, a village of less than 500 people! The myths are beautiful and appealing but they were never meant to be taken literally. Nonetheless, they have been read as the “Word of God,” placed into hymns, liturgies, pageants and repeated so often that most people grow up thinking of them as history. While no one with any scholarly background today regards them as literally true, their power is still undiminished. At pageants, we love to see that manger, listen to the angels sing and watch the wise men journey to Bethlehem. Something is powerfully real underneath even our non-literal symbols. Pious believers do not like to be confronted with facts. In the world of our experience, however, virgins do not conceive, stars do not wander, wise men do not leave their homes in search of a newborn king, angels do not sing and shepherds do not search for a baby lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Beyond that, it is an established fact that the birth stories do not appear in the Christian tradition until the ninth decade. Paul, who wrote from 51-64 CE, obviously had never heard of this tradition. Mark, the earliest gospel writer, portrays the mother of Jesus as thinking he was “beside himself,” that is, out of his mind, a kind of family embarrassment that must be put away by the time he was grown. That is not the response one would anticipate from the Jewish maiden to whom angels had made the annunciation and the promise that she would be the bearer of the “Son of the Highest.” Of course, Mark had never heard of the miraculous tales of Jesus’ birth because they had not been formulated when Mark wrote his gospel. It was in the 9th decade when Matthew first introduced this tradition to the Christian community. He did so, we now believe, to counter rampant rumors about Jesus’ questionable paternity that were being circulated by the enemies of the Christian movement. These rumors are stated quite overtly by Matthew in verse 18 of his opening chapter: “When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child…. And Joseph resolved to divorce her quietly.” Then Matthew tells us that Joseph learned from angelic sources that the child was holy and not illegitimate. Matthew explains this by saying that the miraculous birth of Jesus was predicted by the prophets and cites Isaiah 7:14 to buttress his case, but we now know that he mistranslated his proof text. Matthew said that this verse read, “Behold a virgin will conceive.” That text, however, announces only that “a woman is with child.” That is quite a difference. Matthew surely knew that and perhaps that is why in his seventeen-verse introduction to this narrative of Jesus’ miraculous birth he describes the strange genealogical line that he claims led to Jesus of Nazareth. The DNA that produced Jesus traveled, said Matthew, through some dark and sexually compromised waters. One of Jesus’ ancestors, he tells us, was born through an incestuous relationship between Tamar and her father in law, Judah. Others were born to the prostitute Rehab, through an act of seduction performed by Ruth and through the adultery of Bathsheba. That is quite a way to introduce a narrative of Jesus’ miraculous birth, but that is exactly how Matthew does it. About a decade after Matthew, Luke wrote his version of Jesus’ birth. He disagrees with Matthew on many details. Matthew says that the family of Jesus lived in Bethlehem, while Luke asserts that they lived in Nazareth. Only Matthew tells the story of a star and wise men, while only Luke has an account of angels and shepherds. Matthew has the holy family flee to Egypt, later return to their home in Bethlehem and finally make an angel driven retreat to settle in Galilee and Nazareth. Luke has this family remain in the Jerusalem area until the child is presented in the Temple on the fortieth day of his life before returning home to Nazareth in a leisurely fashion. When we come to the Fourth Gospel the birth stories, about which John must have known, simply disappear. John calls Jesus “the son of Joseph” twice, suggesting that his birth was quite natural. In this gospel it is not one’s natural birth that is significant, but one’s spiritual birth. That, John argued, was what made Jesus who he was. There is nothing even controversial about these data in the academic world where all birth stories are regarded as interpretive myths. That, however, does not diminish these myths’ power. Mythological truth is of a different order from either literalism or history. The purpose of the biblical stories of Jesus’ birth is to introduce us to this order. Hidden beneath these myths are expressions of the human hope that even in the darkness of winter we are not alone in this universe. There is within all human life a yearning to know that the realm of the spirit does enter and indeed does permeate the earthly realm that we inhabit. In our imagination we always tended to locate that spiritual realm above the sky. So our myths speak of mysterious signs in the skies of heaven all of which serve to announce that the Christ Child is the one life in whom God is experienced as fully present in the human realm. These symbols remind us that this planet earth is not just a tiny clod related to minor star located about two-thirds of the way toward the edge of our galaxy, but rather makes the claim that on this earth we bask in the direct gaze of the God, who is the source of the life that fills the universe. We further claim that it is within this life itself that we find meaning and purpose and that is how we know that we are not alone. That is the Christmas claim and its appeal is a very powerful one. That is also why we cling to our interpretive myths so tenaciously. No myth is literally true. It is the nature of myth to point to a truth that limited words cannot embrace. That is what the biblical stories of Jesus’ birth do and that is why we love them passionately and respect them so deeply. Our assertion in these stories is that there is a place in this world where God and human life come together. We call it Bethlehem, but it is not an external town located on a map, but a place deep within each of us. There is a manger at the end of the human journey where each of us lies in the crib of God, but to find it we must go deep within ourselves. There is a hunger in the human heart that only God can fill and so we tell of wise men and shepherds who take their journey in hope. That is why the search for God is always identical with and part of the search for ourselves. These meanings in the Christmas narratives never emerge until we surrender our need for truth to be literal. Perhaps that means that literal religion must die before God can be known. That idea grows on me the older I get. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Contemplative Writing and Listening Spirituality & Practice is excited to offer a year-long experiment in writing alone and listening together, facilitated by Judith Favor, a seasoned spiritual guide. Starting January 3rd, each Sunday you will receive an email from Judith Favor with a focus word and writing prompts. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Season'Greetigs
by Judi White 21 Dec '20

21 Dec '20

A Solstice Greeting from Judi White www.anandasmantra.wordpress.com

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