April 2022 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

4/28/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev Dr Matthew Fox: “Do you Create or do you Destroy?” Evil at Our Doors; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 28 Apr '22

28 Apr '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateBody .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent, #yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateBody .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateFooter .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent, #yiv8062599750 #yiv8062599750templateFooter .yiv8062599750mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | “Do you Create or do you Destroy?” Evil at Our Doors | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox April 28, 2022This probing question was posed by the second secretary of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold. Hammarskjold was a bona fide mystic as well as a peace maker and world leader who died in a mysterious plane crash while in office in 1961. Evil is very much in the news these days. George Floyd being slowly choked to death by police officers in Minneapolis; Black Lives Matter reminding us of the burdens of slavery that still haunt us; the “me 2” movement naming the reality of sexism; Pope Francis recently asking forgiveness for the church boarding schools that violated children of First People Nations. There are the scandals of priestly pedophilia and its cover up in the highest ecclesial places; there is the ongoing attempt to destroy a dying democracy in America by a former president and his party epitomized by the January 6 insurrection and obstructing voting rights wherever possible; there is the complete betrayal of the Supreme Court’s ideals by the utter politicization of the court and its decisions to allow dark money to flood political campaigns, dismantling the Voting Rights Act on two occasions and recent revelations of far right wing activism by the wife of a supreme court judge who alone voted against allowing presidential papers to be seen by the January 6 congressional committee.AND, of course, there is our ongoing war against Mother Earth which scientists tell us we have seven years left to turn back before extinction of our species and millions of others becomes irreversible. AND, we have live streaming on our televisions sets daily, a gruesome war for no apparent reason other than to satisfy a lust for power by Mr. Putin who, we are told, wants to be remembered as another Peter the Great. But who more likely will be remembered as Putin the Terrible a la Ivan the Terrible. AND the ever-present threat of nuclear destruction.It is enough to applaud Thomas Aquinas who, eight centuries ago, said “one human being can do more evil than all the other species put together.” I marvel at this prognostication—how did he know this 700 years before Hitler or Stalin or Pol Pot or Putin? He knew it because he recognized the immense creativity and intellectual acumen of our species and thus anticipated Hammarskjold’s question: “Do you create or Do you destroy?” What do we chose to do with our vast knowledge and intelligence and creativity?”Not only does our species do great evil with our vast creativity and intelligence, we also do amazing positive things as well. We are capable of the Awesome as well as the Awful. We build bridges and airplanes and communities and rituals and healing centers and vaccines. We create stories and novels and paintings and movies and music and dance and a Webb Telescope that will soon be sending us pictures of Light from the earliest era of the universe and much, much more. Yes, we know evil but we also know about compassion and justice and, sometimes, democracy.One lesson being driven home today by all this unveiling of evil in our midst is this: That Evil exists and is very active, very smart, and omnipresent. It is not just in that individual or this individual--we are all subject to it, we all have decisions to make, we all participate or choose not to. Shadow is present among and within us. It is present like a spirit is present, it is not mortal, it keeps returning with every generation. We don’t have to call it Satan or Beelzebub or Lucifer or the Anti-Christ. We might call it more contemporary names such as Racism; Sexism; Narcissism; Militarism; Patriarchy; the Reptilian Brain unleashed; Injustice; Capitalism unbridled, Matricide, the killing of Mother Earth.A second lesson about Evil is that it is far bigger than sin. By reducing evil to “sin,” religion has left us bereft of 1) a language to deal with Evil and 2) ways to combat Evil. Indeed, to trivialize Evil easily serves the purposes of Evil.A friend and colleague of mine, Lakota teacher Buck Ghosthorse, once said to me, “in our tradition, fear is the door in the heart that lets evil spirits in.” Evil is a spirit, it appears as numerous spirits, such as Fear, Hatred; Envy; Lust for power; Power-over; Greed; Arrogance, etc. Indeed, all seven “capital sins” or “sins of the spirit” name the doors that, like Fear, “let evil spirits in.” Paul alerted us to how our struggle is against “powers and principalities,” i.e. spirits, since powers and principalities are angels or spirit beings. This is another way of talking of Evil as a force among us.In my major study on Evil, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, I devote a large section to comparing the seven capital sins of the West to the seven Chakras of the East in order to develop a new language born of both East and West for disempowering Evil. In a recent Forward to that book, Deepak Chopra makes an important point when he says the number one spiritual issue of the 21st century will be Evil.A chakra represents a center of energy in our physiological, psychological and spiritual bodies and when healthy is a very powerful reality. What about when it is unhealthy or off-center? Aquinas defines sin as “misdirected love”—in doing so he is echoing the Jewish understanding of sin as “missing the mark” or bullseye. What is the misdirected love in each of the seven chakras? By understanding this question we come face to face with medicine for redirecting our species’ proneness to bad choices that in turn put us in league with evil.Let me briefly summarize the seven chakras and the seven “misdirected” or off-centered chakras we know as the capital sins. This may provide some needed insight and imagination to wrestle more effectively with Evil.The first chakra is found at the tailbone (interestingly, we call it the sacrum or “holy bone) and connects to a sub chakra in the knee and the foot. It connects us to the earth therefore, and we can engage it by dancing, and its essence is vibration. We now know that all atoms in the universe are vibrating so it follows that the first chakra connects us also to the cosmos itself. When it is off-center, we are cut off from the cosmos and the earth. The result is two capital sins: Arrogance (Pride is not a sin but arrogance is); and Acedia or the “lack of energy to begin new things.” (Aquinas)The second chakra is our sexuality. When off center it is about power-over rather than healthy power with. Lust is not a sin—none of us would be here sans lust—power-over dynamics or lust for power is a door that lets evil spirits in.The third chakra is in our gut where we experience moral outrage and, when healthy, compassion kicks in. Off-center is violence. Anger is not a sin, violence is.The fourth chakra is the heart. Not only fear but hatred too is the door that lets evil spirits into the heart. Compassion is the healthy heart chakra.The fifth chakra is the throat. When healthy, the throat is a birth canal for sharing our wisdom and for this reason is located between the mind and heart chakras, for wisdom is a combination of both heart and mind. When off center, the throat chakra is about gluttony (which comes from gluttus, the Latin word for throat) and gluttony is not just about too much food or drink but too much of anything. It is greed and avarice and consumerism unbridled and also the gagging of the throat or allowing one’s voice to be gagged. A healthy fifth chakra occurs when one finds one’s voice. The prophet speaks out (pro-pheto).The sixth chakra is about our minds including both left and right hemisphere of our brains. When it is healthy, we talk about the “third eye” located in the center of our forehead, a naming of a healthy and holy balance of left and right brains, of the rational and the intuitive (or mystical). When unbalanced, we have the (new) capital sin of Rationalism which plays so big a role in Patriarchy and patriarchal education and for which reason Albert Einstein complained that he “abhorred” American education. Why? Because, he insisted, values do not come from the rational brain but from the “intuitive brain” which is so often ignored in American education. In the seventh chakra all the light and kundalini energy that travels up the spine and through the other six chakras comes to a kind of culmination. From the crown chakra we send our light out to link up with other light beings whether they be ancestors or angels or other light-filled people committed to making community and wellness happen. An off-centered seventh chakra would be Envy. Envy acknowledges the light in other beings but instead of linking up with it to do good things together, wants to shoot it down. Envy is at the heart of patriarchal interaction and surely at the heart of wars including Putin’s current barbarous war. He envies a budding democratic state adjacent to his empire.To render war (and other atrocities) obsolete we need to build up our seven positive powers that the chakras name. This work of biophilia displaces necrophilia which is Erich Fromm’s definition for evil. “Necrophilia grows when biophilia is stunted,” he warns us.~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Read online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 40 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 78 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship (called The Cosmic Mass). His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are A Way To God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey; Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times; Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times; Order of the Sacred Earth; The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times; and Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic – And Beyond, Original Blessing; The Coming of the Cosmic Christ; Stations of the Cosmic Christ; A Spirituality Named Compassion. To encourage a passionate response to the news of climate change advancing so rapidly, Fox started Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Larry Why do fundamentalist believers take every word of the Bible as totally correct, when no one, to my observation, has an answer to the exact quotes of Jesus, Moses, Samuel, etc. Do you remember the game where a conversation was started about a subject, and then passed on to others until it came full circle and related back to the originator. Usually, not the same. I think the Bible accounts such as the creation story exemplifies that game! A: By Brian D. McLaren Dear Larry,Thanks so much for this question. I grew up in a strict fundamentalist sect of Christianity, so I’m in a pretty good position to try to answer it.Your question is why, and I think there are at least three answers: historical, psychological, and social. Some other time we could look at the psychological and social reasons for biblical literalism and inerrancy. For now, it makes sense to begin with history.In the 1400’s the Christian countries of Europe found themselves in a series of wars with Islam. As a result, the Pope found himself in a situation of mutual dependence with the kings of Europe: if they prospered, the Church prospered. If they were defeated, the Church would share in the defeat. So here’s what he did: he gave the kings of Europe a carte blanche or blank check to colonize the world, to enslave all nonChristian nations and expropriate their wealth. That wealth would help them win their wars in Europe, and it would put Europe, and Christianity, in the global drivers’ seat. (The proclamations that gave permission for this global colonization are known collectively as The Doctrine of Discovery. You’ll find a good introduction here: https://wirelesshogan.com/doctrine-of-discovery/, and here: https://www.amazon.com/Unsettling-Truths-Dehumanizing-Doctrine-Discovery/dp…, and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFinFW3_shs. I also give a short overview in Chapter 3 of my upcoming book, Do I Stay Christian?)The church thus helped give birth to the era of Christian conquistadors, slavery, genocide, and European empires.Right around the same time, the Reformation happened. In addition to the theological arguments northern Europeans had with the Catholic church, there was a financial advantage to schism: if the contemporary counterparts of England, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and other Northern European countries used the Doctrine of Discovery’s permission slip for colonization, they wouldn’t have to share profits with Rome.But for the Reformation to work, it needed to justify its existence apart from the Catholic hierarchy. It did so by appealing to the Bible. The Bible alone (sola scriptura) became the rallying cry of the Reformers. We don’t need the Pope or Cardinals to legitimize us, they said. We are legitimate if we can defend our actions based on the Bible alone. About a century after the Reformation was up and rolling, a new movement swept across Europe: the Enlightenment. The leaders of the Enlightenment realized that people quoting the Bible could do a lot of harm — burning witches, launching wars, and the like. So they said, You Protestants don’t need the Pope, and we Enlightenment Rationalists don’t need the Bible! Reason alone is sufficient to guide us and give us legitimacy!Suddenly, the Protestants were left vulnerable. Since they had used the Bible to legitimize their break from Rome, many of them doubled down on the Bible when they were threatened by the Enlightenment rationalists. This tradition, of doubling down on the Bible as a sole source of authority, is the lineage of fundamentalism today.When Charles Darwin and Karl Marx raised uncomfortable scientific and economic questions in the 19 Century, they answered them by doubling down on the Bible even more. When Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein raised uncomfortable questions of psychology and physics in the 20th Century, they did the same. When Walter Rauschenbusch and Martin Luther King, Jr. raised uncomfortable questions about poverty and race, they did the same. In my upcoming book, Do I Stay Christian?, I describe this use of the Bible not simply as anti-intellectualism, but as constricted intellectualism, an engagement of the intellect in the service of confirmation bias (and related biases).Again, this isn’t the whole story. But it’s a start, and it leads to many other important and fascinating conversations. I hope that helps, Larry!~ Brian D. McLaren Read and share online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent book is Faith After Doubt. He is the author of the illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story, The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Brian's next book, Do I Stay Christian?, will be available May 24, 2022 (https://read.macmillan.com/lp/do-i-stay-christian/) He is a popular conference speaker, a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings, has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations, and is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Saving the Earth with Good Theology April 22nd was Earth Day and something profound struck me… Christianity has played a major role in the climate crisis. Unfortunately, bad theology that focuses on “subduing the earth” or preparation of one’s soul for the end times has caused Christians to neglect the earth at best, or to actively harm it with the hope of hastening the end times at worst. Here’s the Good News: you can help save the earth with good theology! One of our 8 Points of Progressive Christianity is that we “strive to protect and restore the integrity of the earth.” That’s because we believe that the earth is sacred, it is our common home, and it is the source of life that connects us. Moreover, we know that climate change disproportionately affects those who are already marginalized, that environmental racism is very real, and that we must take every possible step to confront climate change and the ways that this earth can be exploited to oppress others. At ProgressiveChristianity.org, we strive to confront bad theology at every turn and to help people embrace good theology that not only helps us to live more authentic lives, but in the case of environmental stewardship, can literally save the earth. You might want to check out a few of our environmental resources here. We need you to be a part of our movement. Could you donate $20 today to help save the earth [and all of us who live here!] with good theology? Thank you for your generosity! Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines Co-Executive Director, ProgressiveChristianity.org Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited "Think Different - Accept Uncertainty" Part X: The Christ - He Is Not the Savior of the Fallen Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 24, 2012In my studies of the origins of life and its evolution, I have become convinced that the traditional and primitive claim that involves the concept of “original sin” has got to go! This mythological misunderstanding was based on the assumption that human life began perfect, but that we had our perfection destroyed by our disobedience, which left us separated from God. This was our “original sin” and no human life escapes its effects. In the light of all we know about the origins of life “original sin” has first become quaint, then bankrupt and finally harmful and destructive of our humanity. The Christianity of the future must jettison this outdated idea if it intends to live and to participate in the world that is emerging in the 21st century.This will not be an easy transition for the Christian Church or for individual Christians to make. The concept of “original sin” has been so deeply instilled into the heart of the way that Christianity has defined itself, that for many people abandoning “original sin” feels like abandoning Christianity itself. The task before Christian leaders is therefore the task of developing a compelling new understanding of Christianity that can provide an alternative to this former understanding. This alternative will have to be far more radical and far more extensive than most people in the church can now even imagine. It will also have to be positive and in touch with what we know of the origins of life.One aspect of this alternative Christianity will be that we must see that the word “savior” is no longer a title that we can use for Jesus. Think of what that title assumes. One cannot be the “savior” unless there is something or someone who is in need of salvation. One cannot see Jesus as the “savior” unless one believes oneself to have fallen from an original perfection into the mire of “original sin.” Since that is not the way we now understand human life, what content is left in the title “savior?” What do evangelists mean when they ask: “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?” What is the meaning of either the Protestant mantra: “Jesus died to save me from my sins” or the Catholic mantra which describes the Eucharist is the “Sacrifice of the Mass,” that is, a liturgical reenactment of the cross on which Jesus died for our sins?So extensively has the title “savior” permeated the Christian story that it is the primary way that Jesus is described in most Christian liturgies. Other forms of the word “savior” are the words “redeemer” and “rescuer.” We Christians even name some of our churches “The Church of the Redeemer.” We speak of redemption in Christ Jesus. This word means to restore full value to that which has been compromised, to make whole that which was broken. One redeems one’s valuables from a pawn shop by paying a premium.“Rescuer” is the word that lies behind many Protestant hymns like “Throw out the lifeline,” “Love lifted me” (when I was sinking deep in sin) and a variety of others. We are told in thousands of ways that Jesus’ act of saving us had to do with his death and with the shedding of his blood on the cross. The images are somewhat gory as we sing words such as “Washed in the blood,” “Saved by the blood” and “There’s a fountain filled with blood,” all of which imply that we are “dirty,” that we are sinful and that the blood of Jesus is endowed with cleansing power. For many people there is no other way to understand either Jesus or the Cross. It might, therefore, surprise us to know that Paul, the earliest writer of material that came to be included in the New Testament, never used the word “savior” to describe Jesus. Paul wrote between 51 and 64 C.E. If Paul is representative of the thinking about Jesus in those years before any gospel was written, we get the hint that to think of Jesus primarily as “savior” was not present among the followers of Jesus in the early years of Christian history.Neither Mark, who wrote the first gospel in the early years of the 8th decade, nor Matthew, who wrote the second gospel in the middle years of the 9th decade used the title “savior” for Jesus. So, we can surmise, that “savior” was still not the title of choice for Jesus when the 9th decade of Christian history arrived. The word “savior” makes its first appearance in Christian writing in the Gospel of Luke, a work written in the late 9th to early 10th decade of Christian history, somewhere between the years 88-93. Luke uses the word “savior” twice. The first time is in the song sung by Mary called “The Magnificat.” There she says “My spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Note that the first biblical use of the word “savior” is not a reference to Jesus, but to God! The second Lucan use of the word “savior” does apply to Jesus and is found in the song of the angel in Luke’s version of the birth of Jesus: “for to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). The only other use of the word “savior” as a name for Jesus in the gospels comes in John’s story about the Samaritan woman by the well who, after her conversation with Jesus, returned to her village and announced that “This is the savior of the world” (John 4:42).Both of these gospel uses of the word “savior” could better be translated “messiah,” for they are references to the messianic function of bringing about the “Kingdom of God” on earth in which the Jewish people would be rescued from such perils of history as slavery, defeat, exile and oppression. In the Hebrew Scriptures to ask God to save meant to save the Jewish people from the clutches of an enemy, a natural disaster or a personal tragedy. It was never a reference to being saved from one’s sinfulness or one’s fall from an original perfection.It is not until one gets to the Pastoral Epistles (I & II Timothy and Titus) and the General Epistles (I & II Peter, I, II & III John and Jude), all of which are dated from about 90 to about 135 C.E., that the word “savior” comes to be applied regularly to Jesus. These are the biblical data that cause me to question just how this title “savior” comes to be the one by which Jesus is primarily known today. It clearly was not the original way the disciples thought about him.To see human life as distorted, fallen and in need of a “savior” is an idea that does not get attached to Jesus until the 4th century and was, I submit, the contribution of a man named Augustine, who was the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, and whose writings shaped Christian thinking for about a thousand years. It is his view of the origins of human life and the birth of sin that still infect the Christian message in 2012.Augustine collapsed the two competing creation stories in the book of Genesis into a single narrative to form the background for telling the Christ story. From the first story (Gen. 1:1-2:3) he got his sense of the original perfection of the world and all that is within it. That story says that God created the world in six days and when God had finished, God looked out on all that God had made and pronounced it not only good, but complete. Human life, this story says, shared in this perfection for in the “image of God,” the man and the woman were fashioned. From the second creation story (Gen. 2:4 -3: 24) Augustine got his understanding of human rebellion, disobedience and the fall into sinfulness. Eve, tempted by the serpent, ate the “forbidden fruit” then fed it to Adam and “their eyes were opened.” God’s creation was ruined by this act of disobedience. Their sinfulness resulted, according to this primitive story, in the banishment of the original human family from God’s presence in the Garden of Eden. It caused human distress from the woman’s pain in childbirth to the man’s need to gain his daily bread from the soil of the earth. The ultimate punishment for this act of disobedience was death. The fact that everyone died meant two things to Augustine. First, it meant that everyone shared in the fall and, second, that sin was universal and original. It could not be escaped. It was part of the “being” of human life into which we were born. We needed to be saved from it, redeemed from it, rescued from it. That was the human condition. In order to free the world from its sinfulness the “savior” had to be external to the world, which of course meant that the savior had to be sent from the God who lived above the sky. In time, it became clear that the savior had to be, in some special sense, of the very nature of God.That became Augustine’s frame of reference and into that frame, he told the story of Jesus. Messiah no longer meant the one who would usher in the Kingdom of God on earth but the one who would save human life from the fall and from the power of original sin.That is thus the context in which the Jesus story has traditionally been told and it is obviously dependent on that understanding of human life’s origins. You and I, however, live in a post-Darwinian world in which this story is nonsensical. There was no original perfection from which one could fall; there was rather the emergence of life out of an evolutionary process in which survival became the driving principle and the highest value. Our ancient forebears interpreted this basic survival drive, present in all living things but self-conscious in human life, to be a manifestation of a self-centeredness that resulted from the fall, thus viewing self-centeredness moralistically when they should have viewed it biologically. Our survival-driven self-centeredness is, however, not sinful, it is in the DNA of life itself.Being saved, therefore, does not mean that someone has to pay the price of our evil in order to satisfy the judging God and to restore human life to a status it has never before possessed. It cannot mean that “Jesus died for my sins.” It cannot mean that baptism is the liturgical act to wash away the stain of the fall. It cannot mean that the Eucharist is the liturgical reenactment of the divine rescue operation accomplished on the cross. When one pulls out this central plank of the Christian story, then the whole superstructure of doctrine, dogma, creeds and liturgy collapses. That is when we know that we must “think different” and “accept uncertainty.” The future of our Christian Church depends on our doing just that. So we will continue to develop these new themes as this series continues.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements THE CHRIST PATH SEMINAR Hosted by Matthew Fox and Andrew Harvey NOW AVAILABLE DIGITALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME A previously recorded live event exploring Creation Spirituality and Sacred Activism hosted by Matthew Fox and Andrew Harvey. Enjoy over 10-hours of dialogue from Matthew Fox and Andrew Harvey and BONUS FOOTAGE from Joanna Macy and Bruce Chilton. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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4/27/22 PHOTOS
by Frank Knutson 27 Apr '22

27 Apr '22

❤

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Re: [Oe List ...] 4/26/22 PHOTOS
by Terry Bergdall 27 Apr '22

27 Apr '22

You, Catherine, are absolutely correct. He was President of the Fifth City Men’s Club while I was there. Terry > On Apr 27, 2022, at 10:38, Catherine Welch via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > I believe the person shaking hands with JWM is William Glover, a great Fifth City leader and resident. > Catherine Welch > > Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows > > From: Frank Knutson via OE <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> > Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 4:53 PM > To: ICA-USA Order Ecumenical <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> > Cc: Frank Knutson <mailto:frankknutson2@gmail.com> > Subject: [Oe List ...] 4/26/22 PHOTOS > > > > > > > > > > <3bd10e21a7944b58ca7d0400_177x259 2.jpg><C06 a031.jpg><5TH city +++ 381.jpg><024_2.jpg><DANC.jpg><clip_image002.png>_______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net>

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4/26/22 PHOTOS
by Frank Knutson 27 Apr '22

27 Apr '22

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] 4/21/2022, Progressing Spirit: Brian D. McLaren: The Religious Question — and the Human Question; Spong revisited
by James Wiegel 23 Apr '22

23 Apr '22

This probably complicates rather than clarifies what you are asking . . . https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/04/laurie-penny-on-the-sexual-revolution Jim Wiegel “We are all time travelers journeying into the future. But let us make that future a place we want to visit. “ Stephen Hawking > On Apr 23, 2022, at 9:21 AM, Karenbueno <karenbueno(a)aol.com> wrote: > > > The reprint of an article by Spong at the bottom raises the question of abortion in a way that counters the approval and legality of abortion. Look at it again and see how those of us who support abortion rights can justify this. Is it absolutely paradox? > > Karen Bueno > > > -----Original Message----- > From: James Wiegel via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > To: dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; Ellie Stock <elliestock(a)aol.com> > Cc: James Wiegel <jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com> > Sent: Thu, Apr 21, 2022 3:29 pm > Subject: Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] 4/21/2022, Progressing Spirit: Brian D. McLaren: The Religious Question — and the Human Question; Spong revisited > > Article below underlines our human identity crisis these days. Reminds me of something from the archives: > > " We tried to get the established Church to see that it's not about peddling abstract dogma but about awakening men into life and significant engagement in the historical process so that life might truly experience the glory of' life through intensification of' consciousness and intensification of' engagement. The hope that is God 's hope belongs to humanity. The joy that is unspeakable is of the Lord. The peace that passeth understanding is yours-on loan from God, of' course. I hope it breaks through its provincialism of' defending the doctrine of' Church members into concern for all humanity which will save the Church and purify it." > Joseph Wesley Mathews to Msgr. John Egan > October 13, 1977 > > > Jim Wiegel > The unknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plain sailing. John Lennon > > 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 > 623-363-3277 > jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com > www.partnersinparticipation.com > > > On Thursday, April 21, 2022, 06:54:16 AM MST, Ellie Stock via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > > > > View this email in your browser > > > The Religious Question — and the Human Question > > Essay by Brian D. McLaren > April 21, 2022 > Every day, it seems, I get another reminder about the struggles many of us are having with religious identity. Just yesterday, someone said, “I don’t identify as Christian anymore. It’s just not where I feel at home.” The day before that, a Jewish friend said, “While I still deeply appreciate my Jewish heritage, the truth is that I’m inter-spiritual. Every time I encounter a religious tradition in a deep way, I find something to love, and I can’t separate myself from it.” The day before that, I was in a group discussing the “spiritual but not religious” identifier. Several folks said that their problem wasn’t simply with any specific religion — Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or whatever. Their problem was with the whole idea of “organized religion” itself. > In The Great Spiritual Migration (Convergent, 2016), I explored the term organized religion. Perhaps the problem, I suggested, wasn’t that religions are organized. After all, I don’t think anyone is saying, “I would really love my religion if it were just a little worse organized!” I don’t think it’s “disorganized religion” that people are longing for. I think the problem is that religions are organized (well, or poorly) for the wrong goals or objectives, and they are not well enough organized for the goals and objectives we need most. > For example, major sectors of the Christian religion of which I am part are super well-organized to help people attend to the problem of original sin and how to achieve exemption from eternal conscious torment in hell. They are highly organized at protecting the interests of an all-male clergy (or almost all-male). They are highly organized to support the economic system from which they scavenge the crumbs of donations that fall under the table. They are highly organized to maintain their status as a socially respectable organization in society. > The American mystic and sage Howard Thurman diagnosed this problem with his usual understated brilliance when he said (in his 1949 masterpiece Jesus and the Disinherited), “Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak.” > If Jesus was right when he said, in his inaugural address (as found in Luke 4), that the Spirit of God’s agenda is to help the oppressed, the weak, the broken-hearted, those with (in Thurman’s words) their backs against the wall, then no wonder many people are struggling with their religious identity. Wherever sincere Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, or Christians are sensitive to the Spirit (however they would express it), they want to organize their energies for the vulnerable, the outsider, the outcast, the outlier, the other, those with their backs against the wall. They find deep frustration when their local “house of religion” organizes them otherwise. > Over the last couple years, I’ve been working on what is probably my most ambitious writing project, Do I Stay Christian? As the title suggests, it is a book about conflicted religious identity in the world’s largest, wealthiest, most powerful, and well-armed religion. The book naturally fell into three parts. > First, I felt I should explore the No answer to the title’s question. So in Part 1, I tried to articulate the best reasons I could think of not to stay Christian. These ten chapters took shape: > 1. Because Christianity Has Been Vicious to Its Mother (Anti-Semitism) > 2. Because of Christianity’s Suppression of Dissent (Christian vs. Christian Violence) > 3. Because of Christianity’s High Global Death Toll — and Life Toll (Crusader Colonialism) > 4. Because of Christianity’s Loyal Company Men (Institutionalism) > 5. Because of Christianity’s Real Master (Money) > 6. Because of the White Christian Old Boys’ Network (White Patriarchy) > 7. Because Christianity is Stuck (Toxic Theology) > 8. Because Christianity is a Failed Religion (Lack of Transformation) > 9. Because of Christianity’s Great Wall of Bias (Constricted Intellectualism) > 10. Because Christianity is a Sinking, Shrinking Ship of Wrinkling People (Demographics) > As I completed these chapters, I could imagine many people thinking, “Well, McLaren has finally laid his cards on the table. He is definitely not a Christian any more.” And frankly, I have to admit that as I wrote, I repeatedly wondered how much longer I could claim Christian faith, having faced so much evil in our past, so much harm in our present, and so much threat to our future. > Any scientist knows you don’t give up on your data collection halfway through the experiment, any entrepreneur knows you don’t give up on your new venture as soon as you have your first cash flow crisis, and any writer knows you can’t stop writing when you have identified the problem. So I kept writing, and the ten chapters of Part 2 took shape giving reasons to say Yes to staying Christian. > 1. Because Leaving Hurts Allies (and Helps Their Opponents) > 2. Because leaving Defiantly and Staying Compliantly Are Not My Only Options > 3. Because … Where Else Would I Go? > 4. Because It Would Be a Shame to Leave a Religion in Its Infancy > 5. Because of Our Legendary Founder > 6. Because Innocence Is an Addiction and Solidarity is the Cure > 7. Because I’m Human > 8. Because Christianity is Changing (For the Worse and for the Better) > 9. To Free God > 10. Because of Fermi’s Paradox and the Great Filter. > As I finished Part 2 of the book, three realizations hit me as never before. First, I realized that there are plenty of solid reasons for Christians to leave Christianity, just as there are plenty of powerful reasons to stay Christian. Whatever the theoretical reasons we might offer for or against staying, practically speaking, some people are just too wounded by Christianity to be able to stay, and some people are too bonded to Christianity to be able to leave. That led to a second realization. > For Christian communities to survive without repeating the problems addressed in Part 1 of the book, they need to boldly face their deep problems. But that’s not easy. Often, the only thing that gives them the courage to do so is watching their sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, teachers and students walking out the door. In this way, both those who stay and those who leave can end up contributing to the needed outcome. > Third, I realized that the question of Christian identity is not the ultimate question. Deeper and broader is the question of human identity. What kind of humans do we want to be, whether we label ourselves Christian or something else? How can we be the kinds of people — Christian or not — who do not perpetuate the significant problems we see in Christianity today, and across our first twenty centuries as a religious community? > That How? question framed the third part of the book. As I wrote it, I realized that every single human identity I can think of is facing an identity crisis that parallels the identity crisis we face as holders of religious identity. > For example, democracy seemed to be on the march over tyranny, but over the last few decades, many democracies have slid back into autocracy, and even the democracy I inhabit in the USA has lost the innocence we once knew as “peaceful transition of power.” > Or consider capitalism. If the Twentieth Century posed the question, “Will capitalism prevail over communism?”, the Twenty-First Century raises the question, “Will capitalism preside over our self-destruction?” In other words, the world’s most successful and prosperous economic identity is now the greatest threat to our future, because it produces comfort and profit for the privileged at the expense of the climate, air, water, soil, and living ecosystems upon which we all — including the exploited or abandoned poor — depend. > Or consider reason, or rationalism. Catholic philosopher Jack Caputo once defined postmodernism as getting enlightened about the Enlightenment. Over the last several decades we have begun to realize that we aren’t nearly as rational or enlightened as we thought. Who of us in the US can trust our Supreme Court, that supposed palace of reasonable objectivity? Every few months this supposed sanctuary of objective rationality shows the world how highly vulnerable it is to partisan folly. > So you can see how for me, the question of “Do I stay Christian?” gradually morphed into another question: how do we become more fully, truly, and beautifully human? > And that is the question around which Christianity and other religions could, if they so choose, organize themselves to address. The answer would not come in words alone, however. The answer would come in actual ways of living, in actual ways of being human. And central to those ways of being human, I imagine, would be the humility and curiosity to learn from one another and share with one another, so that we could contribute together from within each tradition to the common good of all. > Whatever we call ourselves, that human question of human identity is the one we must answer together, if we are to survive. > ~ Brian D. McLaren > > Read online here > > About the Author > Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent book is Faith After Doubt. He is the author of the illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story, The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Brian's next book, Do I Stay Christian?, will be available May 24, 2022 (https://read.macmillan.com/lp/do-i-stay-christian/) He is a popular conference speaker, a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings, has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations, and is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. > Question & Answer > > Q: By Thomas > > I find it so confusing trying to understand not only racism, but bias against any human who is considered "different". Elitism, the belief that I am better than you, continues with frightening repercussions. Do you see a world/time when that will end - what will it take? > > A: By Toni Anne Reynold > > Dear Thomas, > > I’ve heard the basis for prejudice explained as a fear reflex, an attempt for people to protect themselves from the unknown that strangers seem to embody. It feels like a reasonable sociological, and psychological reason for the existence of bias. And yet, I think your question is about the more nuanced workings of systemic racism, capitalism, etc., that seem to function at high speed efficiency. > > In my opinion, the work of creating a world free of bias starts with examining yourself. I mean really truly examining and reexamining yourself; changing your environment to support the habits you wish to nourish - truly creating a world in, and immediately outside of yourself that supports the racist/bias free world you desire. In my own personal experience, the work of undoing racism within myself has needed to be a constant, daily practice. Every day I’m fed images or recycled stories and symbols that keep the framework of racism active and well. We all are fed these images, we hear the recycled narratives in news stories, we have the thoughts arise without awareness when we pass by someone in the grocery store. The attack is consistent, so our efforts to mitigate it have to be just as consistent. > > The work of undoing racism within myself requires that I use my spiritual life, mental health resources, the medicine of community, and other tools, to keep from being swallowed up by this ill you ask about. Honestly, I don’t think most people are doing this type of active work to uproot the racism that we have been and continue to be force fed. > > For most folks, racism is the burning of crosses, or the use certain old timey words, the most egregious acts. The danger with this limited view is that it facilitates denial. The more you distance yourself from the potential to behave in biased/racist ways, the easier it gets for the force-fed messages to take root in your shadow and start spilling out in moments when you least expect it. Racism is not just “that thing that those people do, but not something I am capable of.” Each of us has the capacity to employ, to keep alive, these monstrous things. Accepting that fact, I think, is the surest way to hampering the success of these programs. > > If we are to see a world free of, or at the very least with a milder version of, racism, eradicating this denial inside of ourselves feels like step one in a multi-step process. I don’t know all that it might take, but I do think starting with ourselves is the most radical step. > > Yours on the road to Liberation, > ~ Toni Anne Reynolds > > Read and share online here > > About the Author > Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. > 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 a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. > > For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. > > We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. > > Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! > > * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. > > Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: > The Moonshine Jesus Show > - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podme > Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited > > A Meditation on the Meaning of a Brief Life > > Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong > May 10, 2012 > They were a very happy young couple. Both the wife and the husband were successful professionally. They had worked hard to achieve this success, postponing much of what young adults think of as fun in order to pursue their goals. They were in their early thirties when they met, fell in love and decided to get married. Their marriage was an occasion of great joy for themselves and for both of their families. The wedding brought together customs old and new, uniting two distinct cultural histories into one life-giving and flowing stream. They settled into their new home and began to build their own traditions. > > They wanted a family and after a year or so were delighted to learn that they were expecting a baby. Both families rejoiced in this news and it seemed that their happiness broke any boundaries that they had known before. Inspired by their joy they seemed to soar through the days. A month or so later to their amazement and heightened pleasure, they learned that they were expecting twins. With the realization that they had started their family a little bit later than usual, they were overjoyed. When all of their friends warned them about sleepless nights, double barreled diapers and no time for themselves, it fazed them not one bit so ecstatic was their anticipation. > > All went well for about five months and then complications arose. The young mother began to dilate prematurely and threatened to go into labor. The lives of these babies were barely on the edge of viability outside the womb. Modern medicine that is so amazing sprang into action. The expectant mother was taken to the hospital and placed under twenty-four hour observation. If necessary, she would spend the rest of her pregnancy in the hospital. Every day she got through in that setting without further complications was a day that made the lives of these twins more hopeful. > > Two weeks later, however, the mother’s body was attacked by e coli bacteria while she was in the hospital. The medical team began to treat this infection with the massive drugs at their disposal, but it soon became clear that a caesarian-section would be required to save the babies from both the virus and the drugs. The c-section was performed. Only one of the twins made it through that transition. The boy, Julian Edward was the name they had chosen for him, lived but a moment. The girl, Chloe Emma was her name, was on the borderline, but she seemed to have that tiny edge that pushed her to the side of life. She is still living and the hopes and expectations are that after time in the neonatal unit of this hospital, she will go home to her parents vital and healthy. The mother also finally passed the crisis point and she too will recover fully, but the emotional price that she and her husband were called on to pay was very high. It was a price that their extended families also had to pay. No one who ever loves another is immune to the pain to which that love makes us vulnerable. As this situation unfolded, I learned yet again something of the mystery of life as well as something of its terror. > > If someone had told this young couple a year ago that they would be the parents of a precious and happy baby girl, they would have been thrilled. They would have seen that as the fulfillment of their dreams. Now, however, their joy has been compromised by grief. Joy at the birth and life of their daughter, grief at the death of their son, these conflicting emotions – feelings both bitter and sweet – engulfed them simultaneously. Questions about life’s strange twists raged in their minds as well as in the minds of those of us who love them. The necessity of absorbing pain over which one has no control was real, hopes that ran so high were dashed so cruelly and a haunting wonder surrounded them. They needed to mourn their lost boy, but what is the form that their proper grief can take? Can one ascribe purpose to a life that lived so very briefly? Is there any redemptive meaning that can be attributed to the death of a premature baby? > > In generations past, comfort came through the suggestion that the will of God must in some way have been served by this tragedy. The religious assumptions of that age were clear. God had to be in control of this world. No tragedy would have occurred without purpose or if God had not somehow willed it. God must have a plan, we said, into which this little lad fitted. If life were ruled by nothing other than chance or blind fate, then the anxieties we would have to face in the task of living would simply be too difficult and too debilitating for us to manage emotionally. Those comforting convictions of an earlier time, however, have not endured. We have been forced to note time after time that history is replete with illustrations that reveal that God is apparently not in charge, for things do not always turn out well and good does not always prevail. Elie Wiesel came to that conclusion when he lived through and survived the Holocaust, being the only member of his family to do so. The poor of the city of New Orleans came to that conclusion when they had to endure the fury of Hurricane Katrina. The people of Haiti came to that conclusion when the tectonic plates beneath the island of Hispaniola shifted, creating an earthquake in which over 200,000 people perished. Trayvon Martin’s family had to come to that conclusion as he became yet another victim of an all too familiar pattern of a deep-seated and blind racism. > > All of us face this same reality every time disease strikes; every time an innocent child dies or is killed; every time irrational anger on someone else’s part ends the life of another, whose only fault was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one can deny life’s dark and painful side. Nor can we today cover it over with the simple and pious rhetoric of the past. Our questions are rooted in life not in the religious convictions of the previous era. > > How are we to observe or honor a life that only lives for a moment? Should grieving parents and grandparents note the reality of that life by giving that baby a name? Should a memorial or funeral service be planned to honor the tiny life that was there? Would that make life easier for the parents, the grandparents or even for the way they will all relate to the surviving daughter? Would those gestures be anything more than an act of sentimental and hopeful delusion? > > This particular experience caused me to think about these questions and to come to these conclusions. I am convinced that all life, no matter how brief, is of value. I do not want to spend my time trying to explain why bad things happen to good people or by trying to assess guilt and attempting to find someone or something to blame for life’s tragedies. I have no interest in turning to yesterday’s religious certainty and seeking comfort by assigning this tragedy to the “enigmatic will of God.” > > Instead I find that I yearn to engage this family in a new kind of discussion by asking them to think with me about a new set of questions. How was your life touched by this child who did not make it? Did anticipating this baby’s birth expand your consciousness and enhance your life? Did it increase in you a capacity to love and to know the joy of anticipation? Was there any role this now-deceased infant played in strengthening the love that holds a marriage together? Did this infant boy serve to deepen the bonds of affection that create the extended family? Is it possible that the survival of the infant girl was made possible by the death of the infant boy? Did he absorb the e coli bacteria and thus protect his twin sister from the fate that he experienced? Was the noblest of all human experiences operating here, the principle of sacrifice: one dies so that another might live? If any of these questions can be answered with a “yes” then I think we should call this boy by the name his parents had chosen for him, to remember him, to give thanks for him and to acknowledge that, while his time on this earth was short, it was not insignificant. This is also why I believe that we should mark the passing of this brief life with some kind of liturgical event in which he is remembered, his remaining effects placed into the ground or in some appropriate place with care, ceremony and sensitivity. He did live. He affected positively those who still live. He made a contribution to life that needs to be acknowledged and for which thanksgiving needs to be expressed. > > Life at any level is a miracle. Only those who are able to love and to love self-consciously and deeply can feel the trauma of loss, of separation. So anyone who participates in life, if only for a moment, that one still lives, still contributes and still needs to be acknowledged. Every life no matter how he or she lives is still an expression of the Source of Life. Every life is, therefore, holy because the Source of Life is holy. It is that holiness that we acknowledge when we come together in grief and with heavy hearts to commit one, who lived only momentarily, to the Source of life, which he surely embodied. So, yes, let us treat this tiny life as we treat every life. Let us hear in worship the words, “dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.” Let us give thanks for the meaning that this life has brought and commend this life to the Source of Life. It is our self-consciousness that allows us to be grateful, to commune with and even to worship, that which makes us alive even if for but a moment. > ~ John Shelby Spong > Announcements > > > Fierce Love for a Hybrid World > > April 23, 2022 - April 24, 2022 > Online and/or In-Person > Come dream with us about how we can rescue democracy from the brink, and get the skills to help repair this national breach. READ ON ... > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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4/22/22 PHOTOS
by Frank Knutson 22 Apr '22

22 Apr '22

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe.” ~Steve Jobs

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HAPPY EARTH MONTH--no foolin'!
by Ellie Stock 22 Apr '22

22 Apr '22

HAPPY EARTH MONTH! May we learn to live and "BE alive" in a way that will allow Earth and all that is in it to thrive to the seventh generation and beyond. Below: 1-Link to song video: Let the Earth Breathe2-We Are the Web of Life Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com 2.15.21 Let the Earth Breathe.mp4 WEARE THE WEB OF LIFE We are the Web of Life, threads of all creation, common origin bursting bright spins common destination-- twining from atom's flight to galaxies' mutation. Planets, creatures, humans alike disclose cosmic imagination. Earth's beauty and suffering plight craft universal incarnation. Will it endure darkest night in bonded collaboration-- exuding elegant delight and bounteous celebration or will its warping song decry to sustain strands' vibration and its woofing dance succumb to fright in panicked conflagration? Or can we confide in trust's reconciliation and ever abide in Heaven and Earth's consummation? We are the Web of Life. What we do to the web is our own consecration. ejhs

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Re: [Oe List ...] 4/21/22 PHOTOS
by Lynda C 21 Apr '22

21 Apr '22

Lovely Sandra. Looks like a gathering of 5th City House to the North Side with Mark Welch, and George and Carol. From: John Peyton Cock <jpc2025(a)outlook.com> Date: Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 5:13 PM To: Lynda Cock <lynda860(a)outlook.com> Subject: FW: [Oe List ...] 4/21/22 PHOTOS From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Reply-To: OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Date: Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 10:53 AM To: OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Frank Knutson <frankknutson2(a)gmail.com> Subject: [Oe List ...] 4/21/22 PHOTOS [cid:image001.jpg@01D855B6.5DE5CDE0][cid:image002.jpg@01D855B6.5DE5CDE0][cid:image003.jpg@01D855B6.5DE5CDE0][cid:image004.jpg@01D855B6.5DE5CDE0] [cid:image005.jpg@01D855B6.5DE5CDE0][cid:image006.png@01D855B6.5DE5CDE0]

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4/21/2022, Progressing Spirit: Brian D. McLaren: The Religious Question — and the Human Question; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 21 Apr '22

21 Apr '22

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!important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 .yiv9574914041mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 .yiv9574914041mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv9574914041 .yiv9574914041mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 .yiv9574914041mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 .yiv9574914041mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 .yiv9574914041mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templatePreheader .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templatePreheader .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateHeader .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateHeader .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateBody .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateBody .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateFooter .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent, #yiv9574914041 #yiv9574914041templateFooter .yiv9574914041mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Religious Question — and the Human Question | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Brian D. McLaren April 21, 2022Every day, it seems, I get another reminder about the struggles many of us are having with religious identity. Just yesterday, someone said, “I don’t identify as Christian anymore. It’s just not where I feel at home.” The day before that, a Jewish friend said, “While I still deeply appreciate my Jewish heritage, the truth is that I’m inter-spiritual. Every time I encounter a religious tradition in a deep way, I find something to love, and I can’t separate myself from it.” The day before that, I was in a group discussing the “spiritual but not religious” identifier. Several folks said that their problem wasn’t simply with any specific religion — Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or whatever. Their problem was with the whole idea of “organized religion” itself.In The Great Spiritual Migration (Convergent, 2016), I explored the term organized religion. Perhaps the problem, I suggested, wasn’t that religions are organized. After all, I don’t think anyone is saying, “I would really love my religion if it were just a little worse organized!” I don’t think it’s “disorganized religion” that people are longing for. I think the problem is that religions are organized (well, or poorly) for the wrong goals or objectives, and they are not well enough organized for the goals and objectives we need most.For example, major sectors of the Christian religion of which I am part are super well-organized to help people attend to the problem of original sin and how to achieve exemption from eternal conscious torment in hell. They are highly organized at protecting the interests of an all-male clergy (or almost all-male). They are highly organized to support the economic system from which they scavenge the crumbs of donations that fall under the table. They are highly organized to maintain their status as a socially respectable organization in society.The American mystic and sage Howard Thurman diagnosed this problem with his usual understated brilliance when he said (in his 1949 masterpiece Jesus and the Disinherited), “Too often the price exacted by society for security and respectability is that the Christian movement in its formal expression must be on the side of the strong against the weak.”If Jesus was right when he said, in his inaugural address (as found in Luke 4), that the Spirit of God’s agenda is to help the oppressed, the weak, the broken-hearted, those with (in Thurman’s words) their backs against the wall, then no wonder many people are struggling with their religious identity. Wherever sincere Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, or Christians are sensitive to the Spirit (however they would express it), they want to organize their energies for the vulnerable, the outsider, the outcast, the outlier, the other, those with their backs against the wall. They find deep frustration when their local “house of religion” organizes them otherwise.Over the last couple years, I’ve been working on what is probably my most ambitious writing project, Do I Stay Christian? As the title suggests, it is a book about conflicted religious identity in the world’s largest, wealthiest, most powerful, and well-armed religion. The book naturally fell into three parts.First, I felt I should explore the No answer to the title’s question. So in Part 1, I tried to articulate the best reasons I could think of not to stay Christian. These ten chapters took shape:1. Because Christianity Has Been Vicious to Its Mother (Anti-Semitism)2. Because of Christianity’s Suppression of Dissent (Christian vs. Christian Violence)3. Because of Christianity’s High Global Death Toll — and Life Toll (Crusader Colonialism)4. Because of Christianity’s Loyal Company Men (Institutionalism)5. Because of Christianity’s Real Master (Money)6. Because of the White Christian Old Boys’ Network (White Patriarchy)7. Because Christianity is Stuck (Toxic Theology)8. Because Christianity is a Failed Religion (Lack of Transformation)9. Because of Christianity’s Great Wall of Bias (Constricted Intellectualism)10. Because Christianity is a Sinking, Shrinking Ship of Wrinkling People (Demographics)As I completed these chapters, I could imagine many people thinking, “Well, McLaren has finally laid his cards on the table. He is definitely not a Christian any more.” And frankly, I have to admit that as I wrote, I repeatedly wondered how much longer I could claim Christian faith, having faced so much evil in our past, so much harm in our present, and so much threat to our future.Any scientist knows you don’t give up on your data collection halfway through the experiment, any entrepreneur knows you don’t give up on your new venture as soon as you have your first cash flow crisis, and any writer knows you can’t stop writing when you have identified the problem. So I kept writing, and the ten chapters of Part 2 took shape giving reasons to say Yes to staying Christian.1. Because Leaving Hurts Allies (and Helps Their Opponents)2. Because leaving Defiantly and Staying Compliantly Are Not My Only Options3. Because … Where Else Would I Go?4. Because It Would Be a Shame to Leave a Religion in Its Infancy5. Because of Our Legendary Founder6. Because Innocence Is an Addiction and Solidarity is the Cure7. Because I’m Human8. Because Christianity is Changing (For the Worse and for the Better)9. To Free God10. Because of Fermi’s Paradox and the Great Filter.As I finished Part 2 of the book, three realizations hit me as never before. First, I realized that there are plenty of solid reasons for Christians to leave Christianity, just as there are plenty of powerful reasons to stay Christian. Whatever the theoretical reasons we might offer for or against staying, practically speaking, some people are just too wounded by Christianity to be able to stay, and some people are too bonded to Christianity to be able to leave. That led to a second realization.For Christian communities to survive without repeating the problems addressed in Part 1 of the book, they need to boldly face their deep problems. But that’s not easy. Often, the only thing that gives them the courage to do so is watching their sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, teachers and students walking out the door. In this way, both those who stay and those who leave can end up contributing to the needed outcome.Third, I realized that the question of Christian identity is not the ultimate question. Deeper and broader is the question of human identity. What kind of humans do we want to be, whether we label ourselves Christian or something else? How can we be the kinds of people — Christian or not — who do not perpetuate the significant problems we see in Christianity today, and across our first twenty centuries as a religious community?That How? question framed the third part of the book. As I wrote it, I realized that every single human identity I can think of is facing an identity crisis that parallels the identity crisis we face as holders of religious identity.For example, democracy seemed to be on the march over tyranny, but over the last few decades, many democracies have slid back into autocracy, and even the democracy I inhabit in the USA has lost the innocence we once knew as “peaceful transition of power.”Or consider capitalism. If the Twentieth Century posed the question, “Will capitalism prevail over communism?”, the Twenty-First Century raises the question, “Will capitalism preside over our self-destruction?” In other words, the world’s most successful and prosperous economic identity is now the greatest threat to our future, because it produces comfort and profit for the privileged at the expense of the climate, air, water, soil, and living ecosystems upon which we all — including the exploited or abandoned poor — depend.Or consider reason, or rationalism. Catholic philosopher Jack Caputo once defined postmodernism as getting enlightened about the Enlightenment. Over the last several decades we have begun to realize that we aren’t nearly as rational or enlightened as we thought. Who of us in the US can trust our Supreme Court, that supposed palace of reasonable objectivity? Every few months this supposed sanctuary of objective rationality shows the world how highly vulnerable it is to partisan folly.So you can see how for me, the question of “Do I stay Christian?” gradually morphed into another question: how do we become more fully, truly, and beautifully human?And that is the question around which Christianity and other religions could, if they so choose, organize themselves to address. The answer would not come in words alone, however. The answer would come in actual ways of living, in actual ways of being human. And central to those ways of being human, I imagine, would be the humility and curiosity to learn from one another and share with one another, so that we could contribute together from within each tradition to the common good of all.Whatever we call ourselves, that human question of human identity is the one we must answer together, if we are to survive.~ Brian D. McLaren Read online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent book is Faith After Doubt. He is the author of the illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story, The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? Brian's next book, Do I Stay Christian?, will be available May 24, 2022 (https://read.macmillan.com/lp/do-i-stay-christian/) He is a popular conference speaker, a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings, has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations, and is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Thomas I find it so confusing trying to understand not only racism, but bias against any human who is considered "different". Elitism, the belief that I am better than you, continues with frightening repercussions. Do you see a world/time when that will end - what will it take? A: By Toni Anne Reynold Dear Thomas, I’ve heard the basis for prejudice explained as a fear reflex, an attempt for people to protect themselves from the unknown that strangers seem to embody. It feels like a reasonable sociological, and psychological reason for the existence of bias. And yet, I think your question is about the more nuanced workings of systemic racism, capitalism, etc., that seem to function at high speed efficiency. In my opinion, the work of creating a world free of bias starts with examining yourself. I mean really truly examining and reexamining yourself; changing your environment to support the habits you wish to nourish - truly creating a world in, and immediately outside of yourself that supports the racist/bias free world you desire. In my own personal experience, the work of undoing racism within myself has needed to be a constant, daily practice. Every day I’m fed images or recycled stories and symbols that keep the framework of racism active and well. We all are fed these images, we hear the recycled narratives in news stories, we have the thoughts arise without awareness when we pass by someone in the grocery store. The attack is consistent, so our efforts to mitigate it have to be just as consistent. The work of undoing racism within myself requires that I use my spiritual life, mental health resources, the medicine of community, and other tools, to keep from being swallowed up by this ill you ask about. Honestly, I don’t think most people are doing this type of active work to uproot the racism that we have been and continue to be force fed. For most folks, racism is the burning of crosses, or the use certain old timey words, the most egregious acts. The danger with this limited view is that it facilitates denial. The more you distance yourself from the potential to behave in biased/racist ways, the easier it gets for the force-fed messages to take root in your shadow and start spilling out in moments when you least expect it. Racism is not just “that thing that those people do, but not something I am capable of.” Each of us has the capacity to employ, to keep alive, these monstrous things. Accepting that fact, I think, is the surest way to hampering the success of these programs. If we are to see a world free of, or at the very least with a milder version of, racism, eradicating this denial inside of ourselves feels like step one in a multi-step process. I don’t know all that it might take, but I do think starting with ourselves is the most radical step. Yours on the road to Liberation,~ Toni Anne Reynolds Read and share online here About the Author Minister Toni Anne Reynolds is committed to singing flesh onto the bones of the Christian tradition by incorporating recently found texts of the ancient world into liturgy, sermons, and poetry. Toni’s Christianity forms a holy trinity with the psychological medicine of Tibetan Buddhism and the eternal Life found in Yoruba traditions. Balanced in an eclectic faith and focused in theology, Toni’s ministry offers a unique perspective on life, theology, and spirituality. | | | | | | | | 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 a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podme | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited A Meditation on the Meaning of a Brief Life Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong May 10, 2012They were a very happy young couple. Both the wife and the husband were successful professionally. They had worked hard to achieve this success, postponing much of what young adults think of as fun in order to pursue their goals. They were in their early thirties when they met, fell in love and decided to get married. Their marriage was an occasion of great joy for themselves and for both of their families. The wedding brought together customs old and new, uniting two distinct cultural histories into one life-giving and flowing stream. They settled into their new home and began to build their own traditions. They wanted a family and after a year or so were delighted to learn that they were expecting a baby. Both families rejoiced in this news and it seemed that their happiness broke any boundaries that they had known before. Inspired by their joy they seemed to soar through the days. A month or so later to their amazement and heightened pleasure, they learned that they were expecting twins. With the realization that they had started their family a little bit later than usual, they were overjoyed. When all of their friends warned them about sleepless nights, double barreled diapers and no time for themselves, it fazed them not one bit so ecstatic was their anticipation. All went well for about five months and then complications arose. The young mother began to dilate prematurely and threatened to go into labor. The lives of these babies were barely on the edge of viability outside the womb. Modern medicine that is so amazing sprang into action. The expectant mother was taken to the hospital and placed under twenty-four hour observation. If necessary, she would spend the rest of her pregnancy in the hospital. Every day she got through in that setting without further complications was a day that made the lives of these twins more hopeful. Two weeks later, however, the mother’s body was attacked by e coli bacteria while she was in the hospital. The medical team began to treat this infection with the massive drugs at their disposal, but it soon became clear that a caesarian-section would be required to save the babies from both the virus and the drugs. The c-section was performed. Only one of the twins made it through that transition. The boy, Julian Edward was the name they had chosen for him, lived but a moment. The girl, Chloe Emma was her name, was on the borderline, but she seemed to have that tiny edge that pushed her to the side of life. She is still living and the hopes and expectations are that after time in the neonatal unit of this hospital, she will go home to her parents vital and healthy. The mother also finally passed the crisis point and she too will recover fully, but the emotional price that she and her husband were called on to pay was very high. It was a price that their extended families also had to pay. No one who ever loves another is immune to the pain to which that love makes us vulnerable. As this situation unfolded, I learned yet again something of the mystery of life as well as something of its terror. If someone had told this young couple a year ago that they would be the parents of a precious and happy baby girl, they would have been thrilled. They would have seen that as the fulfillment of their dreams. Now, however, their joy has been compromised by grief. Joy at the birth and life of their daughter, grief at the death of their son, these conflicting emotions – feelings both bitter and sweet – engulfed them simultaneously. Questions about life’s strange twists raged in their minds as well as in the minds of those of us who love them. The necessity of absorbing pain over which one has no control was real, hopes that ran so high were dashed so cruelly and a haunting wonder surrounded them. They needed to mourn their lost boy, but what is the form that their proper grief can take? Can one ascribe purpose to a life that lived so very briefly? Is there any redemptive meaning that can be attributed to the death of a premature baby? In generations past, comfort came through the suggestion that the will of God must in some way have been served by this tragedy. The religious assumptions of that age were clear. God had to be in control of this world. No tragedy would have occurred without purpose or if God had not somehow willed it. God must have a plan, we said, into which this little lad fitted. If life were ruled by nothing other than chance or blind fate, then the anxieties we would have to face in the task of living would simply be too difficult and too debilitating for us to manage emotionally. Those comforting convictions of an earlier time, however, have not endured. We have been forced to note time after time that history is replete with illustrations that reveal that God is apparently not in charge, for things do not always turn out well and good does not always prevail. Elie Wiesel came to that conclusion when he lived through and survived the Holocaust, being the only member of his family to do so. The poor of the city of New Orleans came to that conclusion when they had to endure the fury of Hurricane Katrina. The people of Haiti came to that conclusion when the tectonic plates beneath the island of Hispaniola shifted, creating an earthquake in which over 200,000 people perished. Trayvon Martin’s family had to come to that conclusion as he became yet another victim of an all too familiar pattern of a deep-seated and blind racism. All of us face this same reality every time disease strikes; every time an innocent child dies or is killed; every time irrational anger on someone else’s part ends the life of another, whose only fault was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one can deny life’s dark and painful side. Nor can we today cover it over with the simple and pious rhetoric of the past. Our questions are rooted in life not in the religious convictions of the previous era. How are we to observe or honor a life that only lives for a moment? Should grieving parents and grandparents note the reality of that life by giving that baby a name? Should a memorial or funeral service be planned to honor the tiny life that was there? Would that make life easier for the parents, the grandparents or even for the way they will all relate to the surviving daughter? Would those gestures be anything more than an act of sentimental and hopeful delusion? This particular experience caused me to think about these questions and to come to these conclusions. I am convinced that all life, no matter how brief, is of value. I do not want to spend my time trying to explain why bad things happen to good people or by trying to assess guilt and attempting to find someone or something to blame for life’s tragedies. I have no interest in turning to yesterday’s religious certainty and seeking comfort by assigning this tragedy to the “enigmatic will of God.” Instead I find that I yearn to engage this family in a new kind of discussion by asking them to think with me about a new set of questions. How was your life touched by this child who did not make it? Did anticipating this baby’s birth expand your consciousness and enhance your life? Did it increase in you a capacity to love and to know the joy of anticipation? Was there any role this now-deceased infant played in strengthening the love that holds a marriage together? Did this infant boy serve to deepen the bonds of affection that create the extended family? Is it possible that the survival of the infant girl was made possible by the death of the infant boy? Did he absorb the e coli bacteria and thus protect his twin sister from the fate that he experienced? Was the noblest of all human experiences operating here, the principle of sacrifice: one dies so that another might live? If any of these questions can be answered with a “yes” then I think we should call this boy by the name his parents had chosen for him, to remember him, to give thanks for him and to acknowledge that, while his time on this earth was short, it was not insignificant. This is also why I believe that we should mark the passing of this brief life with some kind of liturgical event in which he is remembered, his remaining effects placed into the ground or in some appropriate place with care, ceremony and sensitivity. He did live. He affected positively those who still live. He made a contribution to life that needs to be acknowledged and for which thanksgiving needs to be expressed. Life at any level is a miracle. Only those who are able to love and to love self-consciously and deeply can feel the trauma of loss, of separation. So anyone who participates in life, if only for a moment, that one still lives, still contributes and still needs to be acknowledged. Every life no matter how he or she lives is still an expression of the Source of Life. Every life is, therefore, holy because the Source of Life is holy. It is that holiness that we acknowledge when we come together in grief and with heavy hearts to commit one, who lived only momentarily, to the Source of life, which he surely embodied. So, yes, let us treat this tiny life as we treat every life. Let us hear in worship the words, “dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.” Let us give thanks for the meaning that this life has brought and commend this life to the Source of Life. It is our self-consciousness that allows us to be grateful, to commune with and even to worship, that which makes us alive even if for but a moment.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Fierce Love for a Hybrid World April 23, 2022 - April 24, 2022 Online and/or In-PersonCome dream with us about how we can rescue democracy from the brink, and get the skills to help repair this national breach. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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4/21/22 PHOTOS
by Frank Knutson 21 Apr '22

21 Apr '22

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