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by A.M. Noel 22 Feb '22

22 Feb '22

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2/27/2022, Progressing Spirit; Rev. Deshna Shine: Hope For The Future; Spong Revisited
by Ellie Stock 17 Feb '22

17 Feb '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateBody .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent, #yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateBody .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateFooter .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent, #yiv1700538341 #yiv1700538341templateFooter .yiv1700538341mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hope For The Future | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Deshna Shine February 17, 2022I will begin with a story I recently shared in a Seminar for the Progressive Christian Network in Britain. A young girl falls in love with the passion and message of a teacher she learns about from her step-dad, a youth pastor and a TV evangelist. So she asks her parents to take her to church. She also knows at this young age of eight years old, that she too wants to be a pastor. She feels it in her bones and it is a calling that will stick with her through life.Her step father, raised in Seventh Day Adventism, only knows his own experience and so takes her to their local Adventist church. She gets dropped off because she is the only one in her family who actually wants to go to church.She becomes enveloped in the church community. There she finds meaningful work, has a group of loving and kind fellow youth, and has opportunities for learning and leadership. She travels all over the world on mission trips mostly building schools, churches and renovating hospitals. She is confident in the ministry and belief system she is immersed in.But deep within her she also knows she is different. She knows she isn’t a “normal” girl. She likes girls not boys. And she always has. But she keeps that to herself because she knows that isn’t acceptable. She is something like a tomboy but that isn’t quite right either.Her parents tell her she is too sensitive, too needy, even as a baby. And her church tells her that those desires and feelings she holds within her are wrong, she is told Jesus can change this sinful part of her.So she pushes the feelings down and denies her longing and who she really is. She goes on to lead churches and communities for 20 years of her young adult life. She is exceptionalized for playing the part in a fundamental system that prioritizes pseudo-supremacy, masculinity, and whiteness even though she is only some of those. She marries a man because that is what thought she should do. She doesn’t question the beliefs she is taught. She, along with everyone else, is not allowed to question. She must show a solid faith.She is successful but she is not fully herself.Until one day her authenticity can not stay hidden any more - it is pushing at the tight lid, threatening to emerge of its own accord. Her true essence is brimming over and her questions are getting too big.She has an affair with a woman. She leaves the Church and the only community she has ever really known in the midst of a full explosion of all the pieces in her life. She gets a divorce and she begins to question her faith and herself. Her parents are hurt and disappointed. Her church responds in love but they don’t understand. Her friends aren’t surprised that she is with a woman but many hoped it wouldn’t be true. She can no longer push down her true self. With the accompaniment of a therapist (also ex-vangelical) she will risk everything to find herself.She discovers that she is a seeker, a questioner, a musician, a Queer person in a woman’s body, and in her truest heart a pastor and a follower of Jesus.She is left without community, without a solid belief system, and with a lot of guilt, shame, and confusion. She leaves Seventh Day Adventism and begins her search for a spiritual path and community where she can be her fully authentic self. Eventually, she comes across progressive Christianity but she still has a lot of questions and doubts.Fast forward 8 years, she has found her soulmate and is married to this woman. She is candidating for a pastoral position in a progressive christian church. She is voted unanimously by both the Search Committee and the Board.But the big day is when she will stand in front of the largest church in the conference, with in person and online attendees and she will tell them who she is. And not some watered down, careful version, but the truest version of herself because she is at a point in her life when she can only be her authentic self and she will take nothing less than full acceptance of that.She tells them who she is and she makes the congregation laugh and cry and she calls them to live into their beliefs. She calls them to remember themselves as the Beloved community. Perfect and whole even as they are broken and growing. Like her.At the end of the service, she and her wife are asked to step out of the church while they vote. They wait in an office down the hall, holding each other and quiet.She is asked back into the church. The church voted unanimously yes to call her into their pastoral leadership.When she and her wife return to the sanctuary, hundreds of people wave colorful banners and cheer as they walk down the aisle together, hand in hand. They are received.She is extravagantly welcomed. Radically welcomed and celebrated. With her gayness, her mestizo self, her questions, her doubts, and her vision of a Beloved community.She is seen for who she is and she is radically included and celebrated. Inside of her is a young being who is fully seen and loved in community.I was recently remembering this moment of radical and extravagant welcome when I was a part of a conversation with a local church about why historically under-represented groups aren’t showing up to church. I remembered that story I shared and I imagined a church where people who want to, can stand in front of their community and share their fullest, messiest, truest selves and be extravagantly welcomed and celebrated.I imagined they are asked to step out and the rainbow colored flags and banners are pulled from under the pews and readied. I imagined each person is cheered for as the doors open and they walk down the aisle to shouts of joy and smiling faces. “We see you! We welcome you just as you are!”I thought back to a ritual I attended during my Interfaith Ministry training. Similarly, we were asked to wait outside. Our ritual guides were inside and one by one we went in the door to a room where people waited with colorful scarves, music, welcomes and hugs. “You are here!” They cheered, as they rang bells and pounded on drums. “You are welcomed!” They cried out with open hearts as they hugged us. We were given an instrument and we then turned and welcomed together the next person to enter the room. And the voices grew and the community grew.Imagine if we are all seen in our fullest selves and extravagantly welcomed by communities of faith. Imagine if we all feel safe enough to been seen — the messy parts, the broken parts, the grieving parts, the growing parts, and the unique gifts we each bring to this world.During an interview with Bishop Yvette Flunder, the Senior Pastor at City of Refuge in Oakland, California she told me,“I don’t think church was ever supposed to be theatre style and choreographed, down to a fine science. I don’t think that was ever the intent or the heart of God. I think it was supposed to be less ceremonial and more familial."She said: “The success of church should not be determined by the number of people in seats on Sunday. That is one of the things we do, we ask ourselves at the end of the week: How many people did we serve? That is a different number. I see that as church unusual.”And when I asked her, “How do you imagine the future of the church?”Her answer was, “A familial sacred community. Secure, inclusive, welcoming, raggedy. In that raggedy environment, we don’t need choreography because our people show up with all their realness and their unique needs and authentic selves.”She says church should be full of real moments, like your mama’s house. “In your mama’s house, she said, “if Mama knows that one of your children is real different, then your mama is going to make provisions for that child. And she will start with the child that needs the most support.”And so I ask, how many people did we welcome? How many did we serve? They go hand in hand, I believe.This story, shared by Deepa Bharath, in the Orange County Register, is another example of that welcome we all deserve. Lorraine Fox of Mission Viejo, raised as a Christian fundamentalist, was ostracized from her church because she was gay. “They kicked me out of Bible school,” she said. “For the next 25 years, I stayed away from church. I just couldn’t sit with people who sang about love but didn’t practice it.” In 1991, she heard about the church in Irvine that had opened its doors to the LGBT community. “The minute I walked in, I cried,” she said. “And I cried the entire service. I felt like I’d come home.” Fox says she has never wanted to go to a “gay church.” “It’s just like going to a gay bar,” she said. “It’s like I have to hide for being gay. But here was a place where I could practice my faith and be myself.” That was exactly how Christine Roy, a transgender woman, says she felt, too. Roy had stopped going to church when she “got serious” about her identity because she believed the two were mutually exclusive. The Irvine (UCC) church was the first one she “went to as Christine.” “It’s a big deal to be able to go to church as yourself – your true self,” said Roy, of Laguna Hills. “That’s how you get a deeper connection to your faith.”“We belong to each other,” as indigenous teachers have said. So, how do we create a bigger table with every voice in mind and make sure every one is there when we start to wrestle with solutions? How do we create a safe, loving, familial community who embraces each human being in their truest self? How do we extravagantly welcome our community members as they are? Perhaps this is something you can explore in your own community.Following the path of Jesus means we live and love with Wild Abandon. Can we love wildly, extravagantly welcoming our neighbors to our communities?~ Rev. Deshna Shine Read online here About the Author Rev. Deshna Shine is Project Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s Children’s Curriculum. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister, author, international speaker, and visionary. She grew up in a thriving progressive Christian church and has worked in the field for over 13 years. She graduated from UCSB with a major in Religious Studies and a minor in Global Peace and Security. She was Executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org, Executive Producer of Embrace Festival and has co-authored the novel, Missing Mothers. Deshna is passionate about sacred community, nourishing children spiritually and transforming Christianity through a radically inclusive lens. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By S J I have been researching Paul's mental and physical ailments, and it seems that he fits exactly the profile of someone suffering from Geschwind syndrome, as well as bipolar disorder and some degree of dissociative disorders. My question has always been, since it is evident that Paul's "Visions" from Jesus were probably nothing more than hallucinations, brought on by temporal Lobe epilepsy, and influenced by postictal events including perhaps being prayed over by Christians, then WHY should people today misinterpret Paul's writings as divine in nature? In Paul's time it was commonplace to accept hallucinations and altered mental states as Divine prophecy, example the Oracle at Delphi. So why can't we see Paul for who he really was, which was a sufferer of neuro-psychiatric disorders to whom no treatment was available, instead of some great prophet, of which he should not be? A: By Rev. Roger Wolsey Dear S J,Thank you for submitting a fascinating question to ponder. I’ll begin by saying that many people have speculated about “the thorn in Paul’s side” – as well as about his general psychology. I’ve seen people (frequently homosexual persons) suggest - or even flat out claim - that Paul (or Jesus) was a homosexual and that this was “the thorn” he struggled with. He wasn’t married that we know of, and he chose to be celibate, but that isn’t exactly much evidence to work with. I’m reminded of two things. First, an emphasis of the liberal Christianity of the modern era (1880s-1900s) was embracing science – to a fault. Many liberal theologians sought to explain (away) miracles described in the Bible by saying things like, “Well, we know there are certain weather patterns that take place where the Red Sea could have parted by known winds that can take place; or that Jesus could’ve used certain medicinal herbs to heal people; or that, …, etc. The progressive Christianity that evolved from liberal Christianity fully embraces stories of the Bible, as story. Not something that we need to explain as fact or history, but rather, to read ourselves into so that they might speak to us and invite personal and collective transformation. [For discussion about the shift from liberal Christianity to progressive Christianity see these articles: “Christianity for People Who Don’t Like Christianity" & Progressive Christianity isn’t Progressive Politics” ] Second, Anaïs Nin invited us to realize that “we don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Essentially, we often engage in eisegesis, rather than true exegesis. Eisegesis is the process of interpreting texts colored by one's own presuppositions, biases, experiences, and agendas. As an example, how wealthy, straight, white men interpret scripture can be quite different from how poor, lesbian, brown women experience the same texts. Similarly, how psychiatrists, lawyers, social workers, and migrant workers read the Bible may differ rather markedly. I, and quite a few other people I know, have had mystical experiences with the Divine, including God “talking to me” in my call experience. People will interpret what I just stated via their own biases, experiences, and prejudices, yet I highly doubt if many would suggest that I suffer from “neuro-psychiatric disorders.” Paul didn’t claim to be a prophet and neither do I. I do feel called to promote the way, teaching, and example of Jesus and to help the Church be the best it can be. I wrote an essay for Progressing Spirit a few months ago that I think will help many progressive Christians who currently have less than glowing views of the apostle Paul soften their take on him and perhaps come around to embracing him as a valid and needed voice within the Christian lineage. See: “Paul: Friend or Foe?” I hope these reflections have been helpful.~ Rev. Roger Wolsey Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey, a United Methodist pastor, is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity and blogs for Patheos as The Holy Kiss and serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org. He values the Wesleyan approach to the faith and, as a certified spiritual director, he seeks to help others grow and mature. Roger served as Director of the Wesley Foundation campus ministry, University of Colorado for 14 years, and currently serves as the pastor of Fruita UMC in Colorado. | | | | | | | | 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! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Let me get right to the point: I believe that this year will be the best year ever for ProgressiveChristianity.org. We've recently launched a podcast, are working on all new liturgical resources, will be releasing the 3rd year of our children's curriculum, and are in early stages of developing a video series on the key points of progressive Christianity. It's a lot for our little organization, but it is so exciting. And, we believe, much needed. As I said, I believe this will be the best year ever for ProgressiveChristianity.org, but we cannot do it without your help. Let's make this the year that the progressive Christian voice is heard loud and clear. We are a non-profit and rely on our members to support us. If you believe in what we are doing, the best way to do this is by contributing monthly as a sustaining donor, but we completely understand that is not the right path for some folks. So, you can also make a one-time donation to help keep this movement... well, moving. Thank you for all of your continued support. Together, we really are making a difference. PEACE! Rev. Mark Sandlin Presiden, Co-Executive Director * 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” Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 19, 2012I recently read Walter Isaacson’s provocative and fascinating biography of Steve Jobs, the founder of the Apple Corporation. He was innovative, iconoclastic, weird and a genius. He built his company not only into a successful giant, but made it the highest valued company in the entire world. One of Steve Job’s secrets was that he was never willing to live inside the boundaries of the given. He adopted as the motto of his company the words, “Think Different.” I grant you that he would have been more grammatically correct if his words had been “Think Differently,” but things like that mattered very little to this man. Later he added the slogan “Accept Uncertainty.” The more I thought about Steve Jobs’ slogans, the more I yearned to make them the mottos of the Christian Church, though there is little evidence inside institutional Christianity today that any one would be responsive to either slogan. Nonetheless that idea fed my theological fantasies and caused me to wonder what the Christian Church would look like if its members and leaders had the courage “to think different” and to “accept uncertainty.”The timeliness of this idea also intrigued me. If there ever was a moment in which Christianity needed to step outside the traditional theological formulas and speak in bold new accents, it is today. Such exciting possibilities are, however, overwhelmingly resisted in religious circles where security, peace and the absence of either conflict or change are all regarded as virtues. So I have decided to do a series of columns throughout the coming year through which I can invite Christians into a new kind of dialogue. I want to speculate about what Christianity might actually evolve into if Christians had the courage to do things like Steve Jobs did, that is, not to let what is be the limits of what can be. What would be different, for example, if we were able to free the Christ experience from the first century interpretation of that experience as we now have it in the New Testament? Why do we continue to pretend that a first century interpretation is somehow going to embody truth for all ages? What would Christianity look like if we were willing to separate the Christ experience from the fourth century’s interpretation of that experience as presently found in the creeds? Why do we continue to pretend that fourth century words are adequate to be the bearers of ultimate truth for all time? Recently I had a letter from a friend who wanted to start a book study group in her Methodist Church in Mississippi to be a meeting place for those who wanted to explore the edges of Christianity. They wanted to read some of the boundary-breaking theologians. Her request was denied by her current minister. It was his job, he said, to “defend the faith not to question it.”How can either the scriptures or the creeds be studied in any meaningful way if the assumption is that they are, in their present forms, identified with unchanging reality? That dated attitude precludes the possibility of any different thinking from that of the first century in regard to the scriptures or the fourth century in regard to the creeds. The world’s knowledge has, however, increased exponentially from that which marked the minds of people in New Testament times or those at the time the creeds were formed. No one today, for example, believes that demon possession is the cause of either mental illness or epilepsy, that Jesus could literally ascend into the sky of a three-tiered universe in which the planet earth was the center or that everything not understood in life had to be explained by an appeal to a supernatural miracle. Modern Christian scholars no longer even debate the traditional claims made through a literal reciting of the creeds that the virgin birth is about biology or that the resurrection is about the physical resuscitation of a deceased body back into the life of this world. If the only choices we have in dealing with either scripture or creed is to believe these words literally or not at all, then the future is bleak indeed. We can either become “true believing fundamentalists” (and they come in both Protestant and Catholic varieties), or we can give up Christianity altogether as an ancient, but now irrelevant superstition and take our places as citizens of “the secular city.” If we choose the former then we will watch Protestants protect themselves from change by claiming an inerrant Bible and Roman Catholics protect themselves from change by claiming an infallible Pope. Both claims are preludes to death and both are today widely regarded as absurd. If the latter alternative is adopted then the dying of Christianity will continue, but at accelerating speed until the Christian God takes a place in the museums of human antiquity along side other deceased deities like Baal, Marduk and the gods of the Olympus.Increasingly modern men and women can no longer live their lives within the boundaries set by the church. Popular Christianity is today represented in the media in devastatingly negative terms. We are the ones who are trying to protect our children from learning about evolution in public schools; we are the opponents of the feminist movement, battling to keep women outside equal rights to in all areas of their lives, including control over their reproductive abilities, and we are the ill-informed bearers of religious homophobia who continue to hold to prejudiced definitions that have long ago been dismissed in medical and scientific circles. This characterization of Christianity is a major, but undeniable embarrassment to which few people will be drawn. “Think Different – Accept Uncertainty” provides us with a new alternative.When the insights of our space age became almost universally acknowledged as true in the educated world, the God we defined as dwelling above the sky, watching over us, answering our prayers and intervening supernaturally in human history became quite simply unimaginable. Yet to listen to the words in most church liturgies one gets the impression that little has changed in how we understand the world since the high Middle Ages. Most of the hymns we sing and the prayers we pray on Sunday mornings still reflect this theistic definition of God. As believers we have somehow closed our minds to the reality that the planet earth is not the center of anything. It rather revolves around a mid-sized star, our sun, which is located about two-thirds of the way toward the edge of our galaxy, called the Milky Way, in which there are about 200 billion other stars, most of them larger than our sun. Beyond our single galaxy there are in the visible universe between100 billion and one trillion other galaxies, separated by distances that the human mind simply cannot fathom. So if people inside the church continue to define God in that familiar theistic pattern as an external being located somewhere above the sky and ready to come to our aid, they are engaging in little more than pious language that is untranslatable inside the bounds of current human knowledge. The fact is, however, that traditional Christians seem to know of no other way to talk about God and have made no effort to “think different” in the 500 or so years since Copernicus first challenged our three-tiered mentality and construct. Is it any wonder that modern people who come to worship services have a glazed-over look before much time inside church has passed? How would we worship, however, if we dared to “think different” or “accept uncertainty?” Yet as obvious as this question is, anyone who asks it inside church walls on a Sunday morning would be considered quite controversial, even radical! Someone will surely charge that person with being an atheist!In our world Newtonian laws are counted on to operate in mathematically precise ways until we reach the realm of the subatomic world on one side and the astrophysical world on the other. There is, therefore, in Newton’s world no room for a God who lives above the sky and who operates on our lives with supernatural power. Yet we read of miracles in the Bible. People continue to tell of sightings of the Virgin and even to make their way by the thousands to such religious shrines as Lourdes. In popular culture a person like Tim Tebow, the former University of Florida and now Denver Broncos’ quarterback, kneels to give thanks to God for the victory of his team on the gridiron and sportscasters, citing six last minute victory drives that carried the Broncos into the National Football League playoffs, claim on national television to be “believers” though in what I am still not sure. Their belief seems not so much about Tebow’s prayer life as it is in Tebow’s strong will to win. Does anyone really think that God intervenes in human history to help the Denver football team win because Tim Tebow is a convinced believer? If this power is real then why did God not intervene to stop the holocaust, to end slavery and segregation, to guide the hurricane away from New Orleans or to protect the Haitians from the earthquake? Does this not make God so trivial as to be unbelievable? Yet if someone were to say in a church on a Sunday morning that there is no longer a supernatural deity above the sky, who answers our prayers, a deep and hostile response would be inevitable. The gap between the knowledge by which we live and the faith we continue to practice is vast. Our unwillingness to part with these woefully inadequate concepts continues primarily because we know no others and we fear the bottomless pit of nothingness far more than we are embarrassed by continuing to parrot unbelievable mantras as if they were still capable of being held by any thinking citizen of the 21st century. No one appears willing or eager to “think different” or to “accept uncertainty.”There is no chance that human thought is going to turn away from the demonstrated wisdom of Copernicus, Galileo or Isaac Newton. If there is no other way to envision the holy, the God of yesterday will simply die. That is why it is so imperative that those of us who love the Christian faith be willing to “think different” and “accept uncertainty.”How can we learn to think as Christians outside the theological boxes of antiquity? It begins I believe by dismissing “theism” as an adequate definition of God and to recognize that the opposite of theism is not “atheism.” Can we do that? Will people still experience God in the definitions that emerge beyond theism? Time alone will tell, but for now just let these questions resonate. To them we will return.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Forgiveness: A Growth in Love - 2022: A Lenten E-Course with Contemplative Outreach This course is formatted to be used during Lent. We will explore a contemplative prayer practice of forgiveness with twelve emails delivered on Mondays and Thursdays. Online: March 3rd – April 11th READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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February 17 Environmental Film: "2040", hosted by Ferguson Eco Team
by Ellie Stock 16 Feb '22

16 Feb '22

Dear Friends, February greetings! You are invited to watch "2040", the next environmental film hosted by the Ferguson Eco Team: Thursday, February 15, 2022, 7:00 PM Central Time via ZOOM. A conversation will follow the film viewing. TO REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK: https://bit.ly/FETFeb2022 2040 is an innovative feature documentarythat looks to the future but is vitally important NOW. Award-winning directorDamon Gameau embarks on journey to explore what the future would look like bythe year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to usto improve our planet and shifted them into the mainstream. Structured as avisual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon blends traditional documentaryfootage with dramatized sequences and high-end visual effects to create avision board for his daughter and the planet. —GoodThing Productions For more information, please contact:Carleton or Ellie Stock (314) 521-8418carletonstock@aol.comelliestock@aol.com #yiv6665059736 -- filtered {}#yiv6665059736 filtered {}#yiv6665059736 p.yiv6665059736MsoNormal, #yiv6665059736 li.yiv6665059736MsoNormal, #yiv6665059736 div.yiv6665059736MsoNormal {margin:0in;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:sans-serif;}#yiv6665059736 a:link, #yiv6665059736 span.yiv6665059736MsoHyperlink {color:#0563C1;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6665059736 span.yiv6665059736EmailStyle19 {font-family:sans-serif;color:windowtext;}#yiv6665059736 .yiv6665059736MsoChpDefault {font-family:sans-serif;}#yiv6665059736 filtered {}#yiv6665059736 div.yiv6665059736WordSection1 {}#yiv6665059736

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2/10/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Roger Wolsey: A Time of Theological Déjà vu?; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 10 Feb '22

10 Feb '22

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and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 .yiv1027401536mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 .yiv1027401536mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templatePreheader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templatePreheader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateHeader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateHeader .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateBody .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateBody .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateFooter .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent, #yiv1027401536 #yiv1027401536templateFooter .yiv1027401536mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A Time of Theological Déjà vu? | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey February 10, 2022Wait. Haven’t we seen this before? There are certain dynamics taking place today that may remind us of dynamics that took place early in the last century. I suggest that pondering such similarities is not only warranted - but needed. Let’s begin by defining some terms. Progressive Christianity is the post modern influenced evolution of historic mainline Protestant liberal Christianity (and an heir to the Social Gospel movement). Liberal Christianity was a theological response to modernity – to the modern era, especially in light of Darwin’s theory of the evolution of the species, i.e., embracing science. Fundamentalism, of course, was the other modern era response to modernity – and especially Darwin; i.e., rejecting science. Liberal Christianity held a high view of humanity and believed that humans could effectively manifest and live-out Jesus’ prayer for God’s Kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven.” Liberal Christianity was wedded to the Social Gospel movement and many needed reforms to labor conditions in the West were implemented (e.g., promoting unionizing of workers, worker safety, worker rights, the creation of the 40-hour work week, etc.). New laws were also put into place to put an end to the “robber baron” era of corporate fat cats exploiting the masses and monopolizing the financial sector and the economy. Real progress took place and there was a high spirit of optimism for humanity and the world. ….But then…. the world was rocked by the truly senseless and utterly barbaric World War I – a war in which 10 million soldiers were cruelly killed – often in trenches via caustic mustard gas; and 10 million civilians were also killed. And many more people survived suffering profound trauma. In the last year of that that four-year war, the world was also hit by a devastating influenza – the so-called “Spanish” flu which wiped out an estimated 50 million people across the globe. That pandemic was perceived by some as God’s wrath against sinful humanity. Soon after that war, a marked rise in zealous nationalism arose including a growing populist trend toward favoring authoritarian strong-man leaders – culminating in Hitler, his genocides, and yet another world war. The former spirit of optimism was challenged, and Christianity experienced a theological crisis. A response to this intellectual crisis arose and has since been referred to as “Neo-Orthodoxy.” Prominent figures in this movement included Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr. Key teachings of this movement included: a reduced estimation of the essential goodness of humanity; increased emphasis on original sin, human sinfulness, and a need for Divine intervention to properly address this problem of sin – i.e., Jesus’ death on the cross and the exclusivity of Christianity as the vessel of salvation in the world. Moreover, God was presented as “wholly other” from humans. A case could be made that these teachings fostered a renewal of Calvinism (humans viewed as utterly depraved) and Gnosticism (enfleshed humans viewed as the opposite of the transcendent glory of the Spirit Divine which loathes the worldly realm). The wake of that movement lingers in contemporary evangelicalism which would have Christians be focused more on believing the right things in order to go to heaven (“the better place”) when we die, rather than be focused on, or even concerned about, temporal matters on the earth in the here and now. Progressive Christianity has been around for roughly 30 years and it shares the high regard of humans and our essential goodness. Most progressive Christians either reject the doctrine of original sin, and the substitutionary theory of the atonement – or hold that belief in, and subscribing to, those things isn’t required for Christianity. Many progressive Christians instead believe in original blessing and embrace the moral example theory of the atonement. We embrace the way, teachings, and example of Jesus as our way of experiencing salvation – understood as wholeness, well-being, and healing – far more than understood as the rectification of “the sin problem.” Progressive Christians often do speak of sin, but the focus tends to be far more on systemic sins such as racism, homophobia, misogyny, financial exploitation, and poor stewardship of planet earth. Many progressive Christians also value mysticism and spiritual practices which help us to experience the Divine within us. Many of us thus embrace panentheism and reject notions of God as “wholly other.” Finally, progressive Christians don’t believe that Christianity has a monopoly on God or salvation. We honor and celebrate other religions as valid and effective vessels of God’s love. …. But then… the world was hit by: 20 years of warfare between the West and fundamentalist Islamist terrorists (or put another way, 20 years of the U.S. seeking to maintain superpower status and to maintain its effective empire); the rise of Trumpism - renewed populist movements around the globe whereby many people are rejecting the “spirit of hope” Obama sought to convey – and instead favoring authoritarian strong-man leadership and rejecting experts and scientists. There is a collective denial about the reality and gravity of human aggravated global warming and there is a similar collective denial about the reality and seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic – which has killed nearly 6 million people so far. Déjà vu. What I’m suggesting is that there are certain dynamics in our contemporary world at the start of this new century that are in some ways reminiscent of dynamics at the start of the last one. I’m also suggesting that there is a theological crisis at hand – and there are likely to be some similar responses to it. One possible response is a rejection of progressive Christianity and the rise of a new neo-orthodoxy, perhaps in the form of the hyper Calvinist, macho theology of Mark Driscoll, et al. Another response might be a call for a “course correction” within progressive Christianity to help it better align with facts on the ground - at least half of the public don’t care if people die of COVID (or suffer handicapping long-term conditions if they do survive it; and we clearly aren’t doing anything significant to combat or mitigate Climate Change. Perhaps we’d do well to lower our expectations of what it means to “be our brother’s keepers” and to “love our neighbors.” Perhaps we’d experience less cognitive dissonance and inner turmoil if we simply embrace compassion fatigue and give our blessings to the mess of a status quo and “go along to get along.” Perhaps we should say, “It’s God’s will that people are failing to do right be each other and the planet. And “only God” can save us – and only if ‘He’ wants to.” And still another response might be a redoubling of our efforts to deepen into the values and perspectives of progressive Christianity – boldly going against the grain and swimming against the current currents. I don’t have “the” answer here, though I happen to lean toward the aforementioned “redoubling” option. What I feel called to do is to lift-up the parallels of our present socio-political climate and point out the need for intentional, mindful, and prayerful response by those of us who embrace progressive Christianity. I’d like to invite the readers of this forum to please weigh in with your thoughts about all of this. We need as many caring minds addressing this as possible. What do you make of these apparent similarities? How do you think progressive Christians might best respond? Yours in hope, optimism, and non-exclusive, inter-faith mystic connection to each other and the Divine,Rev. Roger Wolsey Read online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is a United Methodist pastor who resides in Grand Junction, CO. Roger is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity and blogs for Patheos as The Holy Kiss and serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org. Roger became “a Christian on purpose” during his college years and he experienced a call to ordained ministry two years after college. He values the Wesleyan approach to the faith and, as a certified spiritual director, he seeks to help others grow and mature. Roger enjoys yoga; playing trumpet; motorcycling; and camping with his son. He served as the Director of the Wesley Foundation campus ministry at the University of Colorado in Boulder for 14 years, and has served as pastor of churches in Minnesota, Iowa, and currently serves as the pastor of Fruita UMC in Colorado, and also serves as the "CRM" (Congregational Resource Minister/Church Consultant) for the Utah/Western Colorado District of the Mountain Sky Conference. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader The 'broken' language I hear from other Christians sometimes has never felt right to me. Are we all really broken?” A: By Rev. Mark Sandlin Recently the above question from a reader prompted me to share this perspective on social media. Based on the responses, it clear there are a lot of folks whose spiritual journey would benefit from hearing this. So, I wanted to share with you my answer. A lot of Christianity has it wrong. We are not broken. We are not fallen. We are not flawed. We are simply fragile. We are beautifully distractible. We are self-invested because of love but that love also gives us a slight bias toward justice. We are so deeply invested in life that we can, at times, deny the larger good for the experience of the moment. We are not broken. We are human. We are flesh and blood, and we are experiential. Sometimes that makes us better. Sometimes that makes us worse. It never makes us less. Or sinful. Or unredeemable. It means we are real. It means that life has a relentless hold on us. The struggles, the stumbles, the seemingly endless short-fallings simply point to our humanity not to our unworthiness. They mean life is difficult — but they also mean life is vibrant, pulsing with potential, ripe with possibility, constantly presenting lessons from which to grow. YOU — you are not broken. You are a unique expression of God here on Earth. You are bursting with potential that has not yet been expressed. You are God’s beloved. You are NOT broken. You are in process. You are love hoping to not only be expressed but to be recognized. ~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Mark also serves as the President and Co-executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His Podcast The Moonshine Jesus Show is on Mondays at 4:30pm ET. Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | | | | This Week's Featured Author Moonshine Jesus Show With Rev. Mark Sandlin and Rev. Dr. Caleb Lines Weekly on Mondays at 4:30 p.m. EST, streaming live, a weekly podcast on our Facebook and other social media called “Moonshine Jesus Show”! The podcast is hosted by our Co-Executive Directors Mark Sandlin and Caleb Lines and brings Progressive Christian perspectives on pop culture, theology, and politics while having a lot of fun. We hope that this will be an entertaining, yet meaningful way to deepen your Progressive Christian journey! READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited My Second Great Mentor: David Watt Yates (1904-1967) Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong January 12, 2012His name was David Watt Yates. As an Episcopal priest he fought for the integration of the races in North Carolina in the 1940’s! He was a conscientious objector during World War II even in the face of such compelling moral issues as theories of the “Master Race” and the reality of the Holocaust. He was a rare tee-totaling Episcopalian, who did not even honor the Anglican clerical tradition of “a bit of sherry” at cocktail time. He was unmarried and, as far as I knew, was never significantly attracted to a permanent relationship of any sort. He possessed an authenticity that was breathtaking, a character that was uncompromising and a devotion to the priesthood that was uncommon. His bishop in North Carolina, Edwin Anderson Penick, who was under constant pressure from this man’s critics who were always seeking to have him silenced, declared him to be “the conscience of this diocese” and this bishop never wavered in his support of this priest. When I first met him he was the rector of the Chapel of the Cross, a large Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, located between the Morehead Planetarium, the Arboretum and a female dormitory called Alderman near the center of The University of North Carolina campus. He was a powerful presence and as influential a priest as I have ever known. During his years as rector of this parish, more young men (women were not then admitted to the priesthood) became Episcopal priests from this university than from any other university in America. Some of them went on to become theological professors, deans of theological seminaries, bishops and outstanding parish priests. David Yates was undoubtedly the primary reason for this. He was certainly a role model and a powerful influence on me. This week, let me introduce you to David Watt Yates in this column – my second significant mentor.David was born in Charlotte, N. C., on September 4, 1904. He grew up in St. Peter’s Church in downtown Charlotte, a church I would join before my 12th birthday. Its rector was Edwin Anderson Penick, who while still in his mid-thirties, would be elected bishop of North Carolina. David’s life, Bishop Penick’s life and my life would intertwine again and again. David graduated from Central High School in Charlotte in 1928. I would graduate from that same school in 1949. He did his undergraduate work at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, a flagship college of the Episcopal Church in America, famous in that day for producing more Rhodes Scholars per the size of its student body than any other institution of higher learning in the United States. He received his degree at the height of the depression in 1931. A tall, well coordinated, graceful man, David lettered in baseball, playing for the Sewanee Purple Tigers varsity team and was known to wear his purple sweater with the attached letter “S” in white for many years after his playing days were over.Desiring to become a priest, he went to the Virginia Theological Seminary, receiving his Master’s degree in Theology in 1934. Of personal interest to me is the fact that his sister Claire Yates Owens, remained in Charlotte, became a school teacher and was my teacher in the fifth grade. I recall vividly that she started each day with a Bible story and a prayer. That was quite legal in North Carolina in the 1940’s. She also required her students to memorize the Ten Commandments in the long form! David and Claire were made of similar stuff. David was ordained deacon and priest by his former rector, now Bishop Penick, who would ordain me priest 21 years later. He was then assigned to be an assistant at Calvary Parish and its surrounding missions in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, where he served for two years. Twenty-three years later, I would be rector of that parish, so David’s ghostly presence was quite familiar to me. In 1935, he moved from Tarboro to become the rector of St. Philip’s, the downtown Episcopal Church in Durham, where he remained until the end of World War II in 1945.There was a popular story that I have never been able to verify, but believe to be true since it is so in character. On VJ Day in August of 1945, the people of America took to the streets to celebrate the end of World War II, pouring into the churches across this land to give thanks. David met the assembled host in his Durham church and, true to his pacifist stand, instead of prayers of thanksgiving he offered prayers of penitence for ever having gotten into the war. The crowds entered St. Philip’s in a celebratory mood, but left seething with rage.I do not know that this end-of-the war experience led to his departure, but the record shows that later in 1945, he moved twelve miles away from Durham to Chapel Hill, known by those who live there as “the southern part of heaven.” UNC’s school color is sky blue, which has caused its graduates to assert that God is surely a Tar Heel fan since God has painted the sky Carolina blue. He stayed in that Chapel Hill post until 1959, long enough to assist students to become conscientious objectors in the Korean War, helping them to adjust to a desegregating world and in both instances creating anger. I was a student during those years, entering in 1949 and receiving my degree in philosophy in 1952. David Yates was all over my UNC experience.David offered rooms in the parish house to poor boys at the university who were Episcopalians. I qualified on both counts and lived for all of my years at UNC in that building. Six of us shared two rooms. In exchange for our rooms, we did the Sunday bulletin on an ancient linotype machine, answered the phone after office hours and provided security at night. Of my seven roommates over my years there five became Episcopal priests, one became an art historian and one went into public relations. Both of these non-clergy roommates, however, became active lay persons serving the church in major leadership roles.As students we spent a lot of time making fun of David. His sermons were long and always had three points, which he regularly illustrated with three fingers. The second point usually made him look like he was giving the finger to his congregation!When the University Episcopal students would meet with David at what we called the “Canterbury Club,” we would begin with a hymn sing. Someone always insisted on singing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” to taunt David’s pacifism. We also made fun of his stark, almost puritan churchmanship and would buy him presents like a biretta he would never wear and a thurifer for incense that he would never swing. The university was racially segregated in those “separate but equal” days with black students going to North Carolina College in Durham, which was certainly separate, but it was radically unequal. Even our basketball team had twelve white players and was such low status on campus that people barely followed it. We know today of the UNC star named Michael Jordan, but no one remembers Nemo Nearman, who was our star center in the late forties. David spoke out against this prevailing racism, but it was too deeply entrenched for many to notice. He was dismissed as a dreamer or visionary. David, however, lived what he believed with enormous skill and with visible integrity. We laughed about him in public, but admired him in private and we were shaped by him more than we could admit.David presided over my marriage to a Carolina co-ed named Joan Lydia Ketner (who died in 1988). He followed me through seminary, was a presenter when I was ordained a deacon and priest and, early in my priesthood, invited me to return to Chapel Hill to speak to the Men’s Club at his church. My assigned topic was “The Message of the Prophet Habakkuk”! Even as a seminary graduate I barely knew where to find Habakkuk in the Old Testament and I could not imagine that the men of the Chapel of the Cross would have any more interest in that subject than I had. What fascinated me about this evening, however, was that in this audience of Episcopal men was Professor Louis Kattsoff, the head of the Philosophy Department and my faculty advisor as an undergraduate. Dr. Katsoff was Jewish by ethnicity, but an atheist by persuasion. When he learned of my plans to major in philosophy as preparation for a career in the priesthood, he was quite disdainful, dismissing Christianity as an “outdated medieval superstition that needed to be removed from the modern world!” Needless to say, I did not find him supportive in the pursuit of my goals. Now, however, four to five years after I had graduated from this university, I discovered Dr. Katsoff in the audience I was addressing at the Episcopal Church. I was amazed and asked him how he happened to be present. “I have been baptized, confirmed and am now active in this church,” he said. “Louis,” I responded, “When this is over may I come by your home and hear your story?” “Of course,” he said. Shortly after I had forgotten everything I had said about Habakkuk, I was in his home listening to his story. “It was David Yates who got to me,” he said. I found that almost unbelievable. “Louis,” I said, “I know both of you well and David Yates is not in your intellectual league. You can think rings around him.” To this Louis Katsoff replied, “David did not outthink me, he outlived me.”That was his power. He outlived us all, not in length of days, but in character, in devotion, in honor and in commitment. David left Chapel Hill in 1959 to become rector of the parish church at Sewanee, Tennessee, where he remained until 1966 and then went to St. Timothy’s in Columbia, South Carolina where his ministry was interrupted by the sickness that was to claim his life within a year. If this man had objected on moral grounds to World War II and Korea, we can only imagine his response to Vietnam, Granada, Iraq and Afghanistan. He died in Charlotte in 1967 at the relatively young age of 63, leaving a trail of people deeply in his debt. I am one of them. I am glad I knew him. I am a better person because I did.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Gift of Black Students to Graduate Theological Education. Register now for a special Black History Month virtual event Feb. 17 at 4pm Eastern Time with The Very Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas in conversation with The Rt. Rev. Dr. Nathan Baxter discussing The Gift of Black Students to Graduate Theological Education. Read on... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Global Buzz February
by ICA International 07 Feb '22

07 Feb '22

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... And please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: February 2022 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-22/2022-02-01.php Read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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2/03/2022, Progressing Spirit: The Rev. Mark Sandlin: American Christianity as a Cover for Racism; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 03 Feb '22

03 Feb '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3230069955 #yiv3230069955templateBody .yiv3230069955mcnTextContent, #yiv3230069955 #yiv3230069955templateBody .yiv3230069955mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3230069955 #yiv3230069955templateFooter .yiv3230069955mcnTextContent, #yiv3230069955 #yiv3230069955templateFooter .yiv3230069955mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | American Christianity as a Cover for Racism | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Mark Sandlin February 3, 2022 Race plays a profound role in all aspects of life in the United States. When you stop to think about it, that is absolutely astounding considering that race, at least biologically speaking, doesn't actually exist. You see, for hundreds of years scientists assumed race was a biological reality because people look different to the naked eye: different skin color, different hair texture, different facial structure. “There must be different races!” But literally hundreds of scientific studies in the last forty some years have demonstrated there is no significant genetic difference between human beings regardless of differences in skin color, hair, and facial structure. Yet, we live in a nation, in a world, where we not only use slight cosmetic differences to marginalize, abuse, and take advantage of people. In extreme cases, we use it as a reason to kill them. It is imbecilic behavior that should be thwarted by the scientific facts of it. But, it is not. It makes me wonder if evolution quit working at some point. I mean, we certainly haven't evolved much on the issue of racism. What it really makes me wonder is how is there so much support for this kind of thing? What piece of our society continues to push and support such backwards way of thinking? Well, this may not be THE answer, but I think it's one of them. About 10 years ago, an analysis led by Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at USC College and the USC Marshall School of Business, found a positive correlation between religiosity and racial bias. But is religion really the problem here or is it something else? The analysis looked at data from 55 studies on religion and racism in America dating back to the Civil Rights Act. Combined, the studies include more than 22,000 participants, mostly white and Protestant. (And that's important, Protestant. Much of the current support for our racially biased government comes from the more conservative Evangelical Christian movement, not the Protestant). As the study reports: “A meta-analytic review of past research evaluated the link between religiosity and racism in the United States since the Civil Rights Act. Religious racism partly reflects intergroup dynamics. That is, a strong religious in-group identity was associated with derogation of racial out-groups. Other races might be treated as out-groups because religion is practiced largely within race, because training in a religious in-group identity promotes general ethnocentrism, and because different others appear to be in competition for resources. In addition, religious racism is tied to basic life values of social conformity and respect for tradition... The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members. Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant.” The analysis did not focus on how the racism/religion connection plays out in churches and religions predominantly populated by people of color, nor how non-Judeo-Christian religions affects adherents' racial attitudes. But the authors of the study hypothesized that their analysis would hold across world religions. Recognize here that the study did not find that religion causes racism. It's finding says that it is fertile soil for those who have tendencies toward racism. Progressive, Christian, author Anne Lamott puts it this way, “You can safely say that you've created God in your own image when it turns out God hates all the same people you do.” Or as I once put it, "If your religion doesn’t challenge you to care for people you might otherwise be dismissive of and, instead, reinforces your negative feeling about them, you don’t have a religion – you have a formalized structure for institutionalizing your biases." Basically, when religion isn't practiced with intelligence and compassion, it can easily be used as an authoritative confirmation of our biases. In churches that eschew the humanist perspectives of critical thinking and the innate value of individuals, perverting information to suit personal prejudices is far too easy. Add to it the dogmatic environment of most churches and it can be the perfect petri dish for growing cultures of racism. Putting racism into the hands of God also makes life easier when you are confronted with social injustices. If you can blame a group's oppression on the retribution of an angry god or some inherent deficiency, then you not only have no responsibility in it, but you'd be foolish to go against God. Not only that, you don't have to feel bad about the privileges that are given to you when you choose to not extend those same privileges to people who've already been judged by God (at least in your eyes). The harsh reality of race and religion in America is that religion has become a cover for racism. We all like to think that the idea "separate but equal" is something from a bygone era. That segregated lunch counters, race-divided bathrooms, signs reading "whites only" are concepts that died out in America decades ago. Except, well, they are not. A Public Religion Research Institute survey found that 10 percent of Americans believe business owners should be able to refuse to serve black people if they see that as a violation of their religious beliefs. Men were slightly more likely to agree than women, and Catholics slightly more likely than Protestants. Ten percent of the population may not seem like a lot, but it calculates out to about 32 million people. It also points to how racism and the concept of segregation are sadly still alive and well some 50 years after the end of Jim Crow. Yes, in the past five decades since the peak of the civil-rights movement, some racial policies have changed. For example, workplace discrimination has been outlawed. But, let's never forget that that doesn't mean prejudice has disappeared. It turns out that it is quite the opposite. The reality is that racial discrimination is now being touted as "religious freedom." Just as bad, the Trump era made many racists feel all too comfortable with publicly expressing their racism without feeling the need for anonymity as they may have in the past. Like I said, if your religion doesn’t challenge you to care for people you might otherwise be dismissive of and, instead, reinforces your negative feeling about them, you don’t have a religion – you have a formalized structure for institutionalizing your biases. You can wrap the law around it any way you want. You can call it religious freedom, freedom of speech, whatever you want. No matter what you call it, it remains morally repugnant and devoid of any god that I ever care to acknowledge. There is no space in a healthy spiritual community or life for racism, or for that matter anything that pits one group of people over another. That kind of thinking, that kind of acting, stands over and against everything that can grow a person or a community spiritually. That kind of thinking plays to the lowest forms of human pettiness and uses religion as a weapon rather than as a balm. It is a bastardization of spirituality and must be actively resisted at every turn and cast out like the demon that it is. It does not mean that we stop seeking to care for those who practice it. That would put us in a similar place of denying people for being different than us, but it does mean not sitting silently by as it is being practiced. It does mean actively resisting it in our churches and communities. We must call it out when we see it being done in the name of God. We must insist that our representatives stop supporting it with discriminating “religious freedom” laws and racially divided voting maps. We must persist in standing up to hate at every turn and in extending grace, acceptance, and love. Not just for the sake of our nation and for the sake of those who are the target of it, but for the health of our spiritual life as well. It is time for racism's religious cover to end. ~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Mark also serves as the President and Co-executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His Podcast The Moonshine Jesus Show is on Mondays at 4:30pm ET. Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader For the past two decades, you and your wife have traveled North America evangelizing evolution and big history. But recently your focus seems to have taken a more eco-theological and pastoral turn. What brought about this shift, and what would you say is the heart of your message and ministry now? A: By Rev. Michael Dowd Dear Reader,The shift culminated in 2018, just after Living the Questions published my video course, “Pro-Future Faith: The Prodigal Species Comes Home,” but was actually decades in the making. Here’s how it unfolded:I developed a passion for “evidential revelation” when I began my pastoral career in 1986, while attending Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Seminary). The following were especially significant. John A.T. Robinson’s book, Honest to God, and Gene Marshall’s essay, “What Reality Are We Pointing to with the Word ‘God’?”, helped me integrate the thinking of Paul Tillich, Rudolf Bultmann, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Gaian microbiologist Lynn Margulis, deep ecologists Joanna Macy and Dolores LaChapelle, and eco-feminist Sallie McFague were especially significant mentors. I discuss their influence in my video, “Honest to G🌎D: Reality 101”.In 1988 cultural historian Thomas Berry, cosmologist Brian Swimme, and bioregional educator Sr. Miriam MacGillis inspired a passion for big picture storytelling. Henceforth, interpreting the epic of evolution in spiritually nourishing ways would be my calling.My ministry took a practical, community organizing, sustainability turn in the late 1990s, and then expanded again soon after I remarried. Connie Barlow was a science writer and also a Thomas Berry enthusiast. From April 2002 until September 2020 she and I lived on the road, addressing some 3,000 religious and secular groups across North America on a range of subjects at the intersection of science, meaning, and "right relationship to reality.” (I see “reality” as God’s secular name, and “G🌎D” as reality’s mythic name.)In December 2012 I had a profound worldview shift. Watching David Roberts’ TEDx talk, “Climate Change is Simple (Remix)," woke me up to the looming climate consequences already unstoppable. Climate learning, advocacy, and activism took center stage, grounded in a passion to also learn the essentials of "ecological overshoot" (as presented by environmental sociologist William R. Catton, Jr.). I also dove deeply into the study abrupt climate change (10,000 years of change in half a human lifetime) and the rise and fall of civilizations. Key differences between unsustainable societies and Indigenous cultures are a current topic for learning and reflection. I find it helpful to regard the latter as having never been expelled from the Garden. Quite simply, Indigenous peoples did not violate what I now consider to be G🌎D’s first law: “Limits are sacred; violate them and your society will perish in a hell of your own making.”To freely share what I was learning in all these fields, I began audio recording and posting to Soundcloud classic books and articles that were only available in text format — a “sustainability canon” of sorts.I also began to create both educational and pastoral videos about how to cope and even thrive in existentially painful circumstances, including the ongoing collapse of both the biosphere and business as usual. “Post-doom” was the term I began using in 2019 to signify that becoming aware of the unstoppability of social and ecological downturns need not end in "doom." There are still opportunities for “finding the gift” and applying "love in action."As I see it, the shift from anthropocentrism (human-centeredness), to ecocentrism, (G🌎D-centeredness) points to a distinctly prophetic role for progressive religious and secular folk alike. Progressive faith leaders now have a once-in-a-millennium opportunity to speak on behalf of G🌎D (Life/Reality) in prophetic, inclusive, and universal (i.e., non human-centered) ways.This prophetic message is not grounded in old men or old books. Rather, evidential revelation (including the findings of science) is our "scripture", ecology is the heart of our theology, and our inspiration flows from the wisdom of women and indigenous leaders’ calls for environmental and intergenerational justice.What a time to be alive!~ Rev. Michael Dowd Read and share online here About the AuthorThe Reverend Michael Dowd is a bestselling eco-theologian, TEDx speaker, and pro-future advocate whose work has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Discover, and on television throughout the United States and Canada. His book, Thank God for Evolution, was endorsed by 6 Nobel Prize-winning scientists, noted skeptics, and religious leaders across the spectrum. Michael and his science writer, evolutionary educator, and fellow climate activist wife, Connie Barlow, have spoken to some 3,000 groups throughout North America since April 2002. Michael and Connie live permanently in Ypsilanti, Michigan, from where Michael delivers Zoom homilies and longer programs. Sample sermons can be found here and here and here. This video: “Serenity Prayer for the 21st Century: Pro-Future Love-in-Action” is especially recommended as a introduction to his current body of work. Rev. Dowd’s websites: MichaelDowd.org / TheGreatStory.org / PostDoom.com | | | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited What Do Christian Symbols Mean in a Land Where Christianity is No Longer Practiced? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong December 1, 2022This church was built in 1866 by John J. Harris to be used as an Episcopal summer chapel serving vacationers in the Lake George, New York area. In 1869 it was deeded to the vestry of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Glen Falls, New York. It was closed in 1883. It re-opened in 1918 as an inter-denominational summer chapel and closed again in the mid 1920’s. In 1930 it became Presbyterian and was part of a five point rural congregation of the parish of the Glenn Falls Presbyterian Church, served by a circuit-riding preacher. It became independent once more in 1947, calling itself Harrisena Community Church in honor of its original founder. Its first full time pastor was called in 1952 and the congregation grew to a membership of 98 people. In 1969 the congregation called its third pastor, a newly-ordained American Baptist clergyman just graduated from the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, the seminary that produced Martin Luther King, Jr. His name was Lamont Robinson and he arrived with his wife Dodi, who had also attended Colgate-Rochester, but trained to be a church musician. They were in their mid-twenties. This couple has now been at this church for 42 years. Today it has about 300 members; a newly-expanded building to house church and community activities, and a well-trained and talented choir of about 20 people. Its congregation, deeply dedicated to serving this basically rural community is made up of two distinct groups: retirees, drawn by the Lake, and long-time local and thus permanent residents. The blend is magnificent. It is one of the most exciting churches I have ever visited and Monty and Dodi Robinson have created in this place a spectacular gathering of people, who are self-defined as open, questing, questioning, stretching and progressive Christians. I am compelled to share with my readers the story of this church and of this remarkable couple.Harrisena Church is the focal point of community life around Lake George. Monty Robinson is a part of everyone’s family. Dodi Robinson has made it a place of exceptional music. To keep themselves up to date with contemporary biblical scholarship and theology, they have just instituted an annual Public Lectureship to enable their congregation and extended community to embrace new ways of thinking. I was privileged to be the inaugural lecturer in this series. It was for them a big venture, even a scary venture. Could they entice nationally known speakers to this remote and rural area? Would the community support or even appreciate this emphasis?They publicized the lectures widely through mailings, billboards and the media available to them, in this case a local newspaper called the Post-Star. In one published article a retired Methodist minister, who is not a member of the congregation, expressed the excitement that was building in the community with a bit of obvious hyperbole. Referring to my arrival he said, “It’s like having Bill Clinton come on Sunday morning! It’s that monumental!” Only my mother would have agreed with that assessment and not all people would regard that comparison as flattering, but it did reveal the expectations that are not untypical of this church.To take the pulse of this congregation, we have only to look at the liturgy and worship of their Church. They have turned the stated goals of the progressive Christian Movement in the United States into a statement printed on the back of the Sunday bulletin:We believe in the profound message brought to humankind by Jesus of Nazareth. We believe that it is in this message rather than the institutions conveying it that forms the most enduring foundation for a positive life. We believe that Christ’s message is at least as germane to the world today as it was two thousand years ago. We believe that this message better enables each of us to see and worship God in our own way. We believe that Christianity is enriched by human reason not in conflict with it. We believe that as a church family, we are responsible to one another and our community.Inside the bulletin they state that while Christianity is their pathway into the mystery of God, they are aware that there are other pathways that they must also honor. Their commitment is to be open to all people including, but not limited to: Conventional Christians and questioning skeptics-believers and agnostics-women and men-all sexual orientations-all classes and abilities.In this congregation, I met a woman who said that she was not only “out of the traditional religious box, but had never been in it;” others who were in various stages of their faith journey and even one just convicted of a felony and awaiting sentencing. Indeed, all were welcome.How has it been possible for this gem of a church to be born and to thrive in this relatively rural area of upstate New York? The answer is surely found in the leadership of its pastor and his wife. For forty-two years they have lived at the heart of this community, raising their family here and identifying with the people. As soon as they arrived, Monty joined the volunteer firemen and took training to be an Emergency Medical Technician working with the Rescue Squad. Dodi took the ten anthems that the church simply rotated every ten Sundays and stretched them into a music library that much larger churches would be proud to possess. To volunteer in activities that benefitted the whole community, regardless of creed or lack of creed, became the mark of the congregation. The Youth Group tended to be made up of non-church going teenagers and Monty made it a focus of his ministry from his first days as pastor until today. Alumni of that youth group have become significant leaders in the congregation.The current anxiety in the congregation is the contemplation of a future without Monty and Dodi. He is now 68. The time of his retirement cannot be many years away. Monty is such a fixture, indeed a lynchpin in the lives of so many that they cannot imagine life without his being part of it. He is also sensitive enough to wonder about the effect either he or his presence might have on his successor. Should he move away when the day of his retirement comes? To do so would be to ask him to move from all his roots, from all his friends and from the community that he has in large measure created. Retirement would thus be almost a prison sentence that would “send him away” for the balance of his life. If his moving away was a prerequisite for the new pastor to succeed, it would inevitably doom that new pastor, for he or she would always be thought of symbolically as the one who caused their friend, guide and spiritual leader to be lost to them. That is an emotional load that few can carry successfully. The future pastor will never replace this man and if that is the future pastor’s agenda, then he or she will fail. The new pastor must rather supplement Monty, build on his genius and appreciate his counsel.How did these two people accomplish all that they have accomplished? To quote a familiar commercial, they “did it the old fashioned way.” They earned the trust of the people in the community. They became an additional set of parents to every teenager. They did it life by life. No one’s needs were dismissed and no one’s confidentiality was compromised. There are few pastoral careers in the United States that continue in the same church for forty-two years, and fewer still that remain creative, exciting and life giving for themselves and for their congregations. Monty and Dodi Robinson are rare indeed in their accomplishments. There are few churches left in our society that are still the center of the life of the community they serve. Harrisena Church is exactly that. Unusual things like these do not happen accidentally. This pastor and his wife invested their entire careers in this single community. They constantly upgraded their skills, reinvented themselves and re-focused their ministries so as to be creative over long periods of time, not growing stale with familiarity. Monty and Dodi Robinson are rare specimens of a unique and unusual pastoral couple, each possessing quite independent talents. Colgate-Rochester Divinity School should honor them both with honorary doctorates. It was my privilege to meet them both; to enter into this congregation ‘s life for a single weekend; to be inspired by what I saw, and to embrace a picture of what I think the Church was intended to be.In 1993 this congregation decided to expand its buildings by erecting on its ten acre lot an assembly and educational facility to supplement its small stone sanctuary. The new structure would include an auditorium that would seat 250 people, a place in which they could house church dinners, public lectures, wedding receptions and even community functions. It was an enormous undertaking for this small congregation, but they believed it was a necessary one. When this building was nearing completion, the church trustees conducted a contest on what the new facility should be named. While these trustees were said to have received numerous suggestions, they kept the final decision secret until the day of the building’s dedication in 1994. There was a large plaque on the wall that when unveiled announced the winning name to the world. The plaque read “Robinson Hall,” erected “in thanksgiving for the lives, the presence and the ministries of Dodi and Monty Robinson.” That had been the only name submitted, they said, a fitting tribute to an incredible couple, whose names are not only on this plaque, but are written across the hearts of literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of people in the Lake George area.In our society, most of us are normally remembered for no more than three generations. Dodi and Monty Robinson will transcend that limit. Theirs is a ministry for the ages and people in that community generations from today will repeat the familiar stories and recall this unusual clergyman and his equally unusual and dedicated wife. ~ Bishop John Shelby Spong | | | | Announcements Schedule Monday, February 7: In the Heat of the Night with Rev. Darrell Hamilton Monday, February 14: Lillies of the Field with Rev. Darrell Hamilton Monday, February 21: To Sir, with Love with Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis Monday, February 28: A Raisin in the Sun with Rev. Dr. Jacqui LewisRead On... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Upcoming (and exciting!) events on The Global Schedule
by Sunny Walker 01 Feb '22

01 Feb '22

The Global Schedule for February is full of 11 fascinating presentations and workshops. To learn what is happening with the Learning Basket globally today, join any or all of the following presentations: 1. The Learning Basket DNA, Thursday, February 10 with Elise Packard. 2. The Learning Basket on the U.S. Border and in Guatemala, Thursday, February 17 with Joaquina Rodriqes and Angelica Rodriquez 3. The Learning Basket in Maharashtra, India, Thursday February 24 with Bhimrao Tupe and the Nagpur Team Don’s miss the papers and articles written about the Learning Basket program that are included in the Schedule invite. Catch up on this exciting program! February 4-6, Mission Joy: Finding Happiness in Troubled Times _A documentary film of the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu discussing Joy. There is a sign-in page on the Eden website. Register to receive the film link and password before Friday, February 4. Carl and Ellis Stock forwarded this opportunity to the Global Schedule. Join Michelle Zhang and Karen Lim to learn how to dance with fire in meetings and workshops. Take this opportunity to share learnings with our colleagues from the Asia/Pacific region. Wednesday, February 16. It's worth getting up early for - and it will be in English! After the very successful sharing event in December 2021, Michelle Zhang and Pat Nunis, two of the creators of the December campfire conversation are continuing the journey with a series of dialogues on "How can we create and maintain a stable and safe place for participants to share life stories?" There are 6 sessions between Friday, February 18 and Monday, March 29. Give your facilitation skills a boost with these global learning events! BE SURE TO SIGN UP! The Global Schedule of Events can be found here <http://www.icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/>. *Sunny Walker for the Global Schedule Team* *She/her/hers* *On **Arapaho, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) tribal land* Certified Facilitator (Also Certified ToP Facilitator) ToP Methods Mentor Trainer - Upcoming Courses <https://www.top-training.net/w/> Virtual Facilitation Collaborative Senior Facilitator sunny.sunwalker(a)gmail.com 303-587-3017 For virtual facilitation inquiries: sunny(a)virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com www.virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com

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Global Buzz reminder
by ICA International 31 Jan '22

31 Jan '22

Reminder for entries This reminder is for the Global Buzz that will be published February 5th. 2022 (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 février 2022 (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 febrero 2022 (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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FYI: A 2nd opportunity to see the "Mission: Joy" documentary about the freindship and wisdom of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu
by Ellie Stock 29 Jan '22

29 Jan '22

Hi Folks, A second opportunity to see "Mission Joy". Hope you are able to view it. Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Lawler, Steve <slawler(a)eden.edu> To: Leadership <Leadership(a)eden.edu> Sent: Fri, Jan 28, 2022 8:01 pm Subject: A 2nd opportunity to see the "Mission: Joy" documentary about the freindship and wisdom of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu #yiv9700719080 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}Dear friends, Because of the great response, we received to "Mission: Joy" https://missionjoy.org/ when we made it available to stream during the Dr. Martin Luther King holiday weekend, we obtained a second license for next weekend, February 4 the - 6th. The film is available from 12:01 am Friday the 4th until 11:59 pm on Sunday the 6th. We have created a sign-in page on the Eden site to provide the distributor with the number of people who view the film. https://www.eden.edu/events/mission-joy-screening I hope you will share this information with friends, colleagues, and family. And, you may want to watch it again. Having watched it three times, I am looking forward to seeing it again as each viewing provides new moments of inspiration and awe. We will release the link, and passcode to all who have signed up just ahead of the link going live at 12:01 am Friday am CST US/UTC -6 Please let me know if you have any questions, Wishing you joy in this time of challenges and hope, Steve Steve Lawler / Director Walker Leadership Institute / Leadership for the Common Good Eden Theological Seminary / 475 East Lockwood AvenueSt. Louis, MO 63119 / www.eden.edu o 314 918-2628 / c 314-753-7911 he/him

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Fw: Tuto and Da,ai Lama: An inspiring doumentary
by Ellie Stock 29 Jan '22

29 Jan '22

Hi Folks, Sorry for sending this so late. We just watched and were inspired by the documentary "Mission: Joy" about the friendship between Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama and wanted to share it with you. In these challenging times, we think you will find this movie a source. Access to the film runs kut tonight. If you have time, you can watch "Mission: Joy" by going to https://vimeo.com/showcase/missionjoyscreener2021. The password is joy 122. The film's subtitle, "finding happiness in troubled times," is shown in the way these two wise elders interact and in the lessons they have to share. As the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King approaches, this documentary shows us again what can be done when religious leaders act on behalf of the common good. I hope you and yours are staying healthy. Grace and peace, Ellieelliestock(a)aol.com

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