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1/27/22, Progressing Spirituality: The Rev. Michael Dowd: My G🌎 D, What Have We Done?
by Ellie Stock 27 Jan '22

27 Jan '22

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Michael Dowd January 27, 2022 On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan — the first time such a catastrophic weapon was used in conflict. As the city disappeared under a mushroom cloud, Captain Robert Lewis, co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the weapon, “Little Boy”, wrote in his journal “My God, what have we done?”I had originally planned to title this essay “Honest to G🌎D”, in honor of Bishop John A.T. Robinson’s 1963 book that inspired a generation of progressive Christians. But upon my third watching of the Netflix movie "Don’t Look Up”, I realized that the co-pilot's now-famous lament would be my lead.My thesis is simply this: A comet actually is heading our way. We ourselves set it in motion millennia ago. But only recently have scientists, echoing longstanding Indigenous warnings, charted its course and voiced the alarm. Its name is Anthropocentrism and these are the End Times because human-centeredness will prove to be nearly as devastating as the comet in the movie.By Fate or by Failure Fate, in human experience, is a future that happens to us regardless of our own actions. As defined by sociologist C. Wright Mills, “Fate is the summary outcome not intended by anyone but resulting from innumerable small decisions about other matters by innumerable people.” ~ William R. Catton, Jr.The gifts of awareness and understanding brought forth by the scientific endeavor have been trailing a latent and growing shadow. This shadow is now so immense and terrifying that there is much to lament about the course we have taken. Could it have been different?Let us reflect on just one facet of how the discoveries of science have been applied: access to and deployment of Earth's reserves of stored energy.To begin, might the British have said "no" to digging coal in Newcastle? What about using that coal to power steam engines for digging deeper, transporting it across oceans? Could Americans have said "no" in Pennsylvania or Texas to turning a foul-smelling liquid into black gold? What about fracking bedrock to dislodge the remaining natural gas and petroleum liquids in Ohio, Oklahoma, the Dakotas?What about leases for deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico? (Oops, the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in 2010.) Then selling leases again December 2021?And what about utilizing the same energy stores to produce plastic and to draw nitrogen fertilizers out of thin air?How, in sum, could any new technology that offered big and immediate human benefits have been thwarted by the mere possibility of future risks? Indeed, if problems did arise, the thinking went, human ingenuity would once again come to the rescue. We imagined there were no limits to the advance and growth of industrial civilization!I have come to accept that each step of energy extraction and technological deployment was, in a way, inevitable. No council of wise elders could have assessed the true costs and benefits — and certainly not if charged to consider the consequences seven generations ahead. Equally, for those in power, who could remain in power if they accepted a "no" vote of such counsel?What aggregation of peoples could survive long saying no to any new technology if a yes was eventually put in play somewhere else?Recent history offers an example. The Chinese found a way to mix chemical elements to produce the marvels of fireworks. But when other peoples on the Eurasian continent began using the same mixture for propelling cannonballs and bullets, "gunpowder" became a necessity everywhere in the world. Dubbed "the parable of the tribes," this kind of evolutionary arms race is regarded by some historians as a matter of fate. Ditto "ecological overshoot" and now also the anthropogenic causes of today's biodiversity and climate crises.Looking to the future, we come to this: Whether we arrived at our species predicament by fate or failure, the period of industrial exploitation is over. Peak energy, peak consumption, peak globalization, peak soil, peak phosphorus, peak food, peak habitat, peak progress — each is already in the rearview mirror.Progressive Christianity TodayFundamentally, it is time for progressive Christians to reckon with the very notion of progress — that anthropocentric “advancement” is even a good thing in the long run. What may well have presented as a template for human progress a half century ago can no longer be viewed through the same lens.I offer here a possibility. Let's stop trivializing God.As modeled in the title of this essay, I propose that "God" be spelled (and more importantly, taken to heart) as G🌎D. The planet in all its manifestations thus becomes the center of what is holy; not the entirety, but what rivets our attention. G🌎D, our living Creator, Sustainer, and End, is indeed our “ultimate concern" — that which we respect and revere, that which we serve above all else.Following on the teachings of Jewish scholar Martin Buber, the living biosphere transforms into a greater “Thou”, no longer a lesser “it”.Today's movement for the rights of nature (Earth jurisprudence) is another path toward biocentric valuation. Indigenous peoples are, in this case, leading the way. They and their allies have already secured legal personhood for sacred lands and rivers in Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, India, Bangladesh, New Zealand, and most recently in the Canadian province of Quebec. Surely, this is an inviting path forward for progressive Christians. A flag we can carry to demonstrate our alliance, our allegiance, our support might well be this: G🌎D.In a 2017 essay, "The Way Home for the Prodigal Species," and two recent videos, "G🌎D: Owning Our Error, Accepting Our Fate" and "Sustainability 101: Indigenuity Is Not Optional," I reinterpreted our biblical heritage in ecocentric ways. We are in fact the prodigal species. We have squandered not only our own inheritance but that of nearly every other form of life. Human-centeredness has proved to be the most heinous form of idolatry. The ancients may have dissed God; we are defiling G🌎D.Human-centeredness in our language, in our portrayal of the divine, in our notion of rights and responsibilities is inherently anti-future. It cannot be sustained. As Edward Goldsmith details in his magnum opus, The Way: An Ecological Worldview, virtually every sustainable culture that we know of held three things in common: (1) they related to the local, living presence of reality (what we dismissively call “the environment”) in a humble, reverential, I-Thou way; (2) this incarnational presence of the divine (G🌎D) was honored as the source of all benefits and all real wealth for the community; and (3) preservation of the health and wellbeing of the body of life was the sacred responsibility.Human wellbeing is thus a consequence of right relationship to reality — not the focal point for decision-making. Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer encourages us all to regard plants and animals as kin. More, they are "our first teachers." Fruit and flesh are gifts, warranting gratitude and reciprocal action.Meanwhile, and drawing upon early Greek expressions of ecological wisdom, American scholar William Ophuls presents humility, moderation, and connection as a trinity of virtues worth reviving.G🌎D’s Judgment“Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson“G🌎D’s Judgment” is of course a mythic phrasing of “our banquet of consequences.” Accumulating over generations long before our own, this unwelcome feast can also be understood as “karma.” It is the inevitable fruit of anthropocentric institutions, governance — and religions.Industrial civilization is threatened by a "planet killer" of its own making. Here is where we now stand: • No matter who is voted into or out of office, no matter how many people take to the streets, become vegan, stop flying or reproducing, no matter how much ‘evolution of consciousness’ might be cultivated, and no matter how many solar panels and wind turbines are installed… • The ice of the world will keep melting and weirding out the jet stream. Methane and nitrous oxide (super-potent greenhouse gasses) will continue to belch from permafrost and polar seas. Forests everywhere will continue to incinerate, overwhelming our carbon-mitigation efforts. Acidifying oceans will continue to dissolve the calcium casings of coral, plankton, and shellfish. Hurricanes, tornados, heat domes, floods, droughts: all will grow ever more damaging, deadly.Our human-centeredness is causing the 6th mass extinction. Homo colossus is surely on the list. Homo sapiens may be, too.RedemptionDenial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance: where are you in the vaunted "stages of grief"? And is doom automatically the end point?Mid 2019, and building upon Paul Chefurka's notion of finding the gift on the other side of acceptance, I began to explore (with others) the possibility of compassionate “post-doom" forms of awareness. (I see “post-doom” as akin to compost theology, or regenerative grace — a secular name for resurrection.) Sure enough, multiple paths were already recognizable and inviting. Quite a few of my interlocutors (Paul Chefurka, Joanna Macy, among them) call upon Buddhist teachings for their ways forward. Several (notably, Shaun Chamberlain) speak of the emotional and spiritual equanimity he gains from Taoist writings.Post-doom conversations from a Christian platform were numerous: Richard Rohr, Damaris Zehner, Sid Smith, Robert Jensen, Gail Tverberg, and the Seminary of the Wild Guides (Victoria Loorz, Matt Syrdal, Brian Stafford, and Bryan Smith). I encourage readers of this publication to explore them all, as well as the mind-expanding post-doom resources and soul-nourishing “post doom, no gloom” zoom calls.But here, I will close with the final prayer of Jesus at his own end time, on the cross. For me, these words are comforting, even redemptive…”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”~ Rev. Michael Dowd Read online HERE To listen to an audio narration of this essay, click HERE To see a video presentation of this essay, click HERE About the Author The 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 has delivered two TEDx talks (“Why We Struggle and Suffer” in 2012, and “Reality Reconciles Science and Religion” in 2014) and a program at the United Nations. He has also conducted three acclaimed online conversation series: “The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity” (2011), “The Future Is Calling Us to Greatness” (2015) and “Post-doom: Regenerative conversations exploring overshoot grief, grounding, and gratitude” (2020-21). Dowd's work provides audiences with applications of evolutionary and ecological wisdom that break through the confusions of these rapidly shifting times.As of September 2020, 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 regarding climate change, ecological overshoot, true vs. faux sustainability, and how to discern what to accept and what to passionately engage in.Rev. Dowd’s websites: MichaelDowd.org / TheGreatStory.org / PostDoom.com | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader With the continuing political polarity across our nation for those of different races, cultures, sexualities, and genders, where do LGBTQIA+ people find the resources and advocacy to thrive in today’s less progressive churches? A: By Rev. Brandan Robertson Dear Reader,This is an interesting question- the truth is that all around the world, thousands of progressive, inclusive churches are emerging that are drawing LGBTQ+ people and our allies out of the pews of non-inclusive churches into spaces of true inclusion and embrace. (To see many of these churches, check out GayChurch.net) For those who may not have a progressive, inclusive church geographically near them, many turn to the internet to find inclusive community. Through social media groups to progressive clergy on TikTok, millions of people are being connected to resources that help them reinivision their faith in ways that allow them to bring their full self to the table. In the past two years, for instance, I have gained a following of nearly 200k people on the app TikTok where I proclaim progressive Christian messages every week. I actually left ministry in a brick-and-mortar church, in part, to start a virtual faith community for these thousands of people and now every week through Metanoia Church, (metanoiacenter.org) hundreds gather via Zoom to be a part of a fully virtual inclusive community. So, our virtual world has made it easier than ever for people in every part of the world to be connected to resources and real community that embraces them just as they are. The last thing I’ll mention is that there are dozens of international non-profits dedicated for reformation within the Church around LGBTQ+ inclusion. Groups like Q Christian Fellowship, The European Symposium of LGBTQ+ Christians, One Body, One Faith, We Are Church, Changing Attitudes, and the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBTQ+ Lives all offer resources for LGBTQ+ Christians and our allies to cultivate a progressive, inclusive faith and I’d highly encourage you to check them out!~ Rev. Brandan Robertson Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press. He leads Metanoia, a digital spiritual community at MetanoiaCenter.org | | | | | | | | 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, 2022Italy is a Roman Catholic country! That was stated time after time as we journeyed through Florence, Tuscany and the Cinque Terre. The signs of this faith tradition were everywhere. The major tourist attractions in Italy, ranging from the Vatican to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, to the storied museums of the land in which the artistic creations of the Christian past are on display, all serve to make this Catholic history visible. Every Italian city is home to many churches, to stories of miracles emanating from a bygone era, to multiple shrines and to statues of religious heroes of the past. The influence of Catholicism obviously finds constant expression in Italian culture. The powerful mother of the Italian family, the “Mama Mia,” is undergirded by the image of the Virgin who is universally present. The suffering of the people, especially of those mothers who lost sons in the almost endless warfare throughout history between Italian cities or regions, is reflected in portraits of the Virgin at the cross cradling the limp body of her deceased son, Jesus. The “hot blood” of the Italian psyche is reflected in the images of the wrathful father God and in the sensuous appeal of Mary Magdalene. The great festivals and holidays of Italy all have Christian content, not only the universal ones like Christmas and Easter, but also the more favored local ones like the Flower Festival of St. Zita on April 27 in the city of Lucca, which commemorates one whose body, so the legend says, has been miraculously preserved from decay, so she is displayed in her final resting place, visible behind glass and serving as a tourist attraction not unlike Scotland’s Loch Ness monster. Underneath these overwhelming, religious facades, however, is a vast and pervasive emptiness. The external forms of religion reflecting the Catholic faith no longer seem filled with religious content. The city of Lucca in Tuscany illustrates this reality. Lucca, a small city of less than 100,000 people, has eighty-seven churches dotting its landscape with their steeples punctuating the skyline. Sixty-seven of these churches, however, have been officially deconsecrated and turned over to secular purposes. Of the twenty that remain, attendance is very low with only a few of the pews occupied on any given Sunday. The myths of miracles continue to be passed on, but with the glimmer of make believe, a vain attempt to capture the magic of their religious past. No one, save for some of the elderly and uneducated, still ascribes any reality to the details. They remain as cultural artifacts of a time that is no more. In the Middle Ages almost the entire purpose of life was to prepare the faithful for the life to come. It was focused on penance; pilgrimages and the spiritual discipline of mortification, combined with prescribed acts of kindness and generosity were thought to assure one of the bliss of heaven. Guilt was the omnipresent reality in that system that motivated all behavior. Today, life is centered in the present. The search for pleasure now has long since replaced the yearning for bliss later. Wine is the beverage of choice and it is drunk in great quantities at dinner and is anticipated as fully as is the food. Clearly it gladdens the hearts of the Italian citizenry. Lots of homes have small vineyards from which their own wine is made. They cannot imagine alcohol control as a function of government. Few ever associated wine with the sacrament of the Eucharist. They would understand those words culturally, but they would never employ them. Biblical ignorance is also rampant throughout the land. The Catholic Church never put a premium on Bible Study and the last two hundred years of critical biblical study has not made a significant impact on either the Catholic hierarchy or the priesthood. It has certainly not permeated the minds of the average person. If one were to tell an Italian audience that none of Jesus’ disciples wrote the gospels or that the miracles were far more symbolic than historical, they simply would not listen. Jesus was born in Bethlehem one Italian told me, totally unaware that the stories of the miraculous birth of Jesus, which includes moving his birth from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the city of David, did not enter the Christian tradition until the 9th decade of the Christian era. The artifacts of their Christian past are simply like pieces of antique furniture, honored by, but not used in a typical household. The people are proud of their artistic treasures. Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the statue of King David as a youth, was adopted as symbolic of an insight into modernity by the people of Florence, but none of them could tell me why a Jewish king, who reigned about 3,000 years ago, was chosen to be a symbol of a new age. Yet this gigantic, nude statue carved and chiseled with incredible skill and talent, draws millions of viewers a year. The non-biblical aspects of what they assume to be biblical portraits are astonishing. As I noted last week there were numbers of paintings of Jesus and John the Baptist, playing together as children under the careful watch of Mary and Elizabeth, found in every museum. Yet there is not a shred of evidence in the Bible of any association between Jesus and John the Baptist in childhood. Most of the tradition that has grown up around this theme reflects only an earlier story of the relationship between Esau and Jacob in Genesis. In both narratives, the elder must decrease and the younger increase. The Stations of the Cross, painted and hanging as portraits on the walls of churches, tell the story of Jesus’ passion with little regard for the facts related in the biblical narratives. So the people enjoy the art, ask no questions about it and generally ignore its meaning. What do empty religious symbols mean? What power sustains them? Why do these symbols remain so prevalent when the faith that gave them meaning has so little residual power? That was the issue that intrigued me. While I was in Italy, I saw only one person wearing a cross. So rare was this experience that I inquired if she would be willing to tell me what that simple act meant to her. It was an intrusive question, but she responded without taking offence. “I’ve always liked the symbol, she said, but I don’t like the things it traditionally stands for – suffering, pain and death. It says to me that one human life lived out his destiny by giving his life away – so for me it is a sign of radical freedom,” an interesting non-religious response. That response, however, helped me to answer my own questions about the continued impact of Catholic forms in a nation and a culture that has largely abandoned Christianity’s content. Certainly the Italian people are not obedient to the rules of their church. The birth rate in Italy, 1.2 children per family, is the lowest in all of Europe. Does anyone really believe that this startling rate is achieved without birth control or legal abortion? Churches are closing, worshippers at those that remain open are few and the number of priests is in free fall. The tourist guides wink knowingly when they relate the miracle stories connected with the various shrines. The Pope is treated like a piece of furniture or a maiden aunt. No one is unkind, but no one pays attention to anything he says. “He is not popular,” one Italian told me. “Why is that?” I inquired. “Because he’s German,” came the answer. “The Germans are blunt, they say what they think and don’t care who likes it. Previous Popes knew how to make everyone think the Pope agreed with them.” When the substance of Christianity is largely absent from Italy’s life, but the ancient forms of Christianity are everywhere there is bound to be confusion. One can, however, move beyond the forms of the past without moving beyond the substance to which those forms were originally but pointers. If we identify the forms with the substance then when the forms die the substance also dies. That is where institutional Christianity is in Italy, indeed in Europe and increasingly in the United States. Yet most people still seek in some way meaning, ultimacy and God, but so often it is the dead forms of the past that force our search to remain inside the increasingly empty symbols of yesterday. Traditional Christianity is clearly dying in Italy – perhaps it has already died. The human experience, however, which traditional Christianity once interpreted, is as real today as ever. Our task is to find new forms through which our eternal yearnings can find expression. That is never achieved by reviving the past. It comes by embracing the future, walking courageously into it and in the process redefining the meaning of being human. To accomplish this Christians must begin by freeing ourselves of binding creeds and dated liturgies. We need to cast aside pious ignorance, the fear of science and of new insights. We probe the dimensions of our humanity, identifying those things that lift us beyond our limits and those that force us to live behind defensive barriers. We look at the freedom and the wholeness of Christ and seek those same qualities in ourselves without worrying about what will become of our traditional and familiar symbols. People living today might not recognize what the Christianity of the 22nd century evolves into being, but we must nonetheless be about this journey. Perhaps the secularity of Italy gives the Italians a head start, while we in America still have to push aside the thin, lingering religious veneer. We still see at political rallies in America a hard and harsh presence called “the religious vote,” which suggests that those without health care insurance be allowed to die; boos a gay soldier, who has served courageously, when he seeks equality under the law, and tries to define the religion of a presidential candidate as a “cult.” The Bible is still quoted to defend popular prejudices. Christian liturgies remain pre-Copernican and Christian theology pre-Darwinian, while we search for meaningful answers to such perennial questions as: Who am I? What is my purpose, my destiny? Who is my neighbor? When we begin to ask those questions in honesty with no preconceived religious answers, the time will have arrived for the Christian faith to be born to new dimensions of truth. I yearn and work for that day with confidence that it will arrive.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Exploring Engoldenment1-Hour Course + Live and Recording of Q&A Session + A specially created film of Kabir poetry - Online January 31st. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Copyright © 2021 ProgressiveChristianity.org, a 501(3)c. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. #80, Gig Harbor, WA 98335 253-507-8678 - contact(a)progressivechristianity.org You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. | | | |

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FYI: Zoom Conversations with Matthew Fox: Be Involved in the Great Turning: Join Us Tomorrow Tues, 1/25!
by Ellie Stock 24 Jan '22

24 Jan '22

Hi Folks, FYI: See below: Zoom conversation with Matthew Fox, Order of the Sacred Earth regarding responding the present/futre times of societal collapse and the future of Earth and rebirthing community. Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Order of the Sacred Earth <orderofthesacredearth(a)gmail.com> Sent: Mon, Jan 24, 2022 5:32 am Subject: Be Involved in the Great Turning: Join Us Tomorrow! 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collaborate with a dynamic global Earth-centered community in 2022? Read on for more information and be involved! | | | | | | | | | Order of the Sacred Earth | | | | Dear Beloved Community, Happy (almost) Lunar New Year to you all (February 1st)! It feels like life is speeding up and inviting us to come out of our caves of 2020 and 2021. Join us tomorrow (information below!) for an online council to connect with the amazing folks within the OSE community and to get involved! Please read on for other ways to collaborate in moving our communal efforts forward as we create a more just and ecological human presence on Earth. As so much continues to change in our world, it's often difficult to keep track of it all and to stay focused. As our lives continue to be challenged in this time of collapse and rebirth we feel that community is more important than ever. We give thanks for the privilege of being alive by making space for Earth to move through us in unique and new ways. We strive to listen and respond from the inner knowing that we are each held and supported by life. In this way, we allow ourselves (again and again) to trust in life's intelligence as we seek to bring forth vitality and connection. We're calling in the strength necessary to show up for the substantial grief and loss we're all experiencing in order to give our best efforts to the Great Turning now underway. | | | | It is in this spirit that we gather tomorrow around our virtual council fire. Join us on Tuesday, January 25th at 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern time for our monthly OSE Council Meeting. | | | | | | Our Councils are on the last Tuesday of each month. Join Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson, Mariko Middleton and others from the global OSE movement as we come together to listen, share, and to support one another within this growing movement. There are many ways to plug into our network as we create more avenues for cross-pollination and community support so please come with an open heart and mind! | | | | Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88665302478 Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478 One tap mobile +13017158592,,88665302478# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,88665302478# US (Chicago) Dial by your location +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478 | | | | This will be a time to connect in community around the themes of working sustainably and consistently to build and expand a culture that honors the sacredness of the Earth and all life. Our intention is to create a container for connection and networking with other mystic warriors who are putting forth the intention and effort needed to make a difference within these crucial and challenging times. We have also enjoyed providing a space for new people to join us to learn more about this movement and share how they are being called to participate in the Great Turning of humanity. In the past, we've had between 12-65 people join us from all over the world so the format changes from month to month. There will be time to briefly share what you're up to, what is present in your heart, or anything else that feels relevant to you and this movement. More than anything, this is a place to listen to one another and what has been happening within our extended network of ecoregional Pods who are meeting and rooting into their communities while creating change in both internal and systemic ways. | | | | | | Here are two video recordings of recent council meetings in case you're curious: https://youtu.be/ouo4okdROIw https://youtu.be/q9o6YJhKQ_M | | | | | | | | | | If you haven't already, please check out and subscribe to Matthew Fox's daily meditations: https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/ | | | | | | | | Again, we would love to hear from you! Please send us your ideas, stories, essays, poems, content, related and important events etc. and spread the word about this community within your circles so that we may continue to grow in service of all that we are. In community, Skylar, Matthew, and Mariko | | | | Join an Online Collaboration Group to Support the OSE Community in Developing A Place for Deeper Conversation for Organizing Effectively! Anita Manuel and Jesse London are exploring/creating an online space to connect for discussion, community making, and collaboration to organize Earth-Centered community. This is a space to hold some of the messy confusion and chaos present in our current moment while remembering our very real connections with life. It's a space for practicing pragmatic decision-making/acting within the web of life while simultaneously being faced with so much complexity. This could include exploring collaborative decision-making processes like Circle Forward: https://circleforward.us/lifting-up-gerard-endenberg-founder-of-sociocracy/ Please Contact Anita and Jesse for more information and to collaborate: orderofthesacredearthoc(a)gmail.com and almanuelnw(a)gmail.com OSE Community Member Seeks Your Stories Do you have a short personal story that describes an experience of awakening to racial/social/ or environmental justice in ways that changed your life? Often this can begin in the realm of a deep contemplative experience. Together with friends from the Game Changer Intensive sponsored by the Pachamama Alliance, we began to uncover and share our stories convinced that they were powerful tools capable of shifting oneself and others toward engaged acts of justice. Once the stories appeared, they kept coming: The Poor People’s March brings me for the first time face-to-face with police brutality. While hitching a ride from Texas to Michigan with a migrant family we confront racism. A Day of the Dead celebration brings healing to the family of a murdered child. Viewing a bomb shelter exhibit at the age of five convinces me that a nuclear war can never be won. If you are interested in meeting others who are writing stories for awakening dreamers and moving toward the Great Turning, contact: Marijo Grogan at: marijogro(a)gmail.com. Connect with Conservation Biologists and Restoration Efforts in your Ecoregion! At the last gathering of the Council, Conservation Biologist Tom Baugh (hiddensprings2(a)gmail.com) introduced us to an order of saints who are responsible for an incredible type of verifiable miracle. We called them Conservation Biologists, or Ecologists and their colleagues are Stewards or Rangers. And we described their miracles as quite literally the restoration of life on Earth. That is truly a miracle in this day and age. These saints are often funded and supported by specialized nongovernmental organizations and sometimes governments. For example, the Bezos organization recently contributed $100 million dollars to the World wildlife Fund to save life on Earth (talking about buying indulgences). Also very recently, and more to the point, the government of Scotland approved the reintroduction of a small animal (about a meter long) called a beaver into Scotland. This little rodent does amazing things with logs, limbs and twigs, building dams across streams and other flowing water. The dams create ponds and the ponds attract plants, fish, birds, and other life of Earth. The last wild beaver in Scotland was killed some 400 years ago. Other saints and their support teams have introduced beaver in other places with outstanding results. The miracles in this case include cleaner water better, storm water control and improved habitat for many forms of life… including humanity. Is this a little thing, a small miracle? Well maybe, but over the past several months I have read reports claiming that a beaver pond here and a beaver pond there add-up to helping offset climate change…and that’s a big miracle. The reintroduction of beaver is only one of the efforts throughout Europe undertaken by the many of the 'rewilding' efforts and those efforts are succeeding. Saints…miracles and returning life to Earth....meditate on that! ~Tom Baugh is a Biologist with a focus on Ecology and 30+ years experience in various aspects of Conservation Biology with one university and two US federal agencies. He has worked in wetland habitats from the US deserts and coasts, to the southern Appalachian Mountains and with numerous taxa from fish to plants. Tom is a member of several professional organizations and is published in the scientific, technical, and 'popular' literature. Contact Tom to find out how to get your hands dirty while helping to create miracles in your area: hiddensprings2(a)gmail.com. | | | | | | | | | Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the OSE! Even a small donation would go a long way for growing our non-profit organization! Among our goals for the coming year, we plan to make a directory of all of the local groups around the world who are participating in this movement. In this way, we hope to facilitate the support and cross-polination of the work that you are each doing on behalf of the healing of our Earth-based communities. Donate via Paypal to: orderofthesacredearth(a)gmail.com Donate via Check to: Matthew Fox Legacy Project PO Box 424533 San Francisco, CA 94142 Memo: Please indicate this is for the OSE (we have other projects that go into a different account). All of the work we do to gather support for the Earth is done freely and any donations received simply help our reach to extend further! | | | | | PS: Visit us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Orderofthesacredearth/ | | | | | | | | | | Click the graphic above to purchase a copy of the book, ' Order of the Sacred Earth'. | | | | Click the graphic above to hear about the Order of the Sacred Earth. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Copyright © 2022 Order Of The Sacred Earth, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Order Of The Sacred EarthPO BOX 424533SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94142 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. | | | | |

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Re: [Oe List ...] OE Digest, Vol 118, Issue 20
by Richard and Maria Maguire 24 Jan '22

24 Jan '22

Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism Thanks Dharma for your question about the RS1 comments about stoicism. Yes, the RS1 comments about a number of things were in relation to how they were understood in our current culture. Besides "stoicism" another term was "meditation" (misunderstood as "navel gazing"). Maybe there were others. I also used to think that "stocism" was like the British "stiff upper lip" or the Australian "she'll be right". In the meantime I have learned that it appears to be about being an authentic human being in the situation you are in. People can learn a lot about stoicism and the stoics on this website for instance. https://www.holstee.com/blogs/mindful-matter/stoicism-101-everything-you-wa…. Another term in popular culture that RS1 did not talk about but could have was "epicurean", understood as seeking out the most desirable things for yourself. This was also a misunderstanding of the philosophy, which emphasised that the good life was being in commmunity and living on "enough", rather than luxury and consumption. I learned from a documentary by contemporary philosopher Alain de Boutton that an epicurean king in ancient Asia Minor put an inscription on the wall of the marketplace which is still visible. It went something like this, "Be aware that nothing you can buy here will give you happiness" I realize from things like these that we can have many more "ancient friends" than is generally realized. From the perspective of 60 years after my first encounter with RS1, I realize that the use of those terms and others back then was polemical, intended to close off escapes that people were trapped in and prevented real living of the life you have now. Best wishes Richard Maguire On 22/01/2022 6:40 am, oe-request(a)lists.wedgeblade.net wrote: > Send OE mailing list submissions to > oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > oe-request(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > oe-owner(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of OE digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Stoicism (Dharmalingam Vinasithamby) > 2. Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism (James Wiegel) > 3. Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism (Dharmalingam Vinasithamby) > 4. Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism (Milan Hamilton) > 5. Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism (Nancy Trask) > 6. Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism (Beret Griffith) > 7. Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism (Jim) > 8. Re: [Dialogue] Stoicism (Diann McCabe) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 00:27:15 +0000 (UTC) > From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby<dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> > To: OE Listserve<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>, Dialogue List > <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > Subject: [Oe List ...] Stoicism > Message-ID:<1071180527.308516.1642724835413(a)mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Dear colleagues, > > I need help with an idea I?m trying to sort out. If you have the time and inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following:? > > Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There is also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that internal pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I want to know is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a degraded understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative light? What was our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded form or were we looking at it in its original sense? > regardsDharma > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL:<http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/2022012…> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 03:17:19 +0000 (UTC) > From: James Wiegel<jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com> > To:"dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net" <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>, > "oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net" <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>, Karenbueno > <karenbueno(a)aol.com> > Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Stoicism > Message-ID:<2130564282.888309.1642735039425(a)mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Does anyone recall (have notes on) the lecture introductions from RS-1?? They were quick and insightful, and I don't find anything in our archives on them . . .? > One intro, maybe on Saturday afternoon -- would have been an intro to the freedom lecture / section / holy spirit / life style was a series of little triangles . . .? > Everyone lives out of some sense of their final reality What am I upagainst in life?? what is my situation?and they have "A word" that releases them -- gives me the capacity to liveand a life style that comes out of that > Anyway, I think one of them was the final reality is bad, and the word was just survive, and the life style was the stoic > I don't quite remember the other ones . . . and the one course I had on philosophy did not emphasize the stoics. > > > Jim Wiegel ? > > > > Theunknown is what is.? And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat.? Unknown is what is.? Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing.? ??John Lennon > > > > 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 > 623-363-3277 > > jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com > > www.partnersinparticipation.com > > > On Thursday, January 20, 2022, 07:54:09 PM MST, Karenbueno via Dialogue<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > Stoic: I'm fine.? > Me: Are you telling the truth?Stoic: Well, even if I hurt, what can I do.? I will just bear it.Me: Have you tried what the doctor advised?Stoic: Oh, I probably will soon.? Stop worrying about me.? I'm fine. > Another day--Stoic: I don't see how we need to worry about climate change.? It will destroy us and the rest of life on the planet soon.Me: But shouldn't we do a few actions that might help.Stoic:? Oh, we are too far gone.? The oceans are rising, the ice is about gone.? We might as well just enjoy the life we have.Me: but what about our kids and grandkids and their kids?Stoic:? Look.? We are human.? The planet it too far gone.? We may as well just accept it. > Another day--Stoic: Well, I think we have gone as far as we can to abolish racism in the United States.Me: I think there is still a lot of suffering from racism.? I think we should find some way to pay reparations.Stoic: You pay for it.? I have some other things I want to do with our money. > Another day--Me: Did you hear about how the Wisconsin government is giving back some of their land to the Indians?Stoic: Oh for Pete Sake.? That war is long over, and we are getting along fine. > Another day--Stoic: Listen to those shovels!? They are finishing my work!Me: No, honey, they are digging your grave. > Another day--Me: They say that faith is belief in things not seen.Stoic: Ha.? Sounds pretty magic to me!Me: But if you trust that the creative power of God is in charge, you can have hope that the future is open, and we can act!Stoic: Naptime now. > > > Karen Bueno > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via Dialogue<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > To: OE Listserve<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; Dialogue List<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > Cc: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby<dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> > Sent: Thu, Jan 20, 2022 5:27 pm > Subject: [Dialogue] Stoicism > > Dear colleagues, > > I need help with an idea I?m trying to sort out. If you have the time and inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following:? > > Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There is also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that internal pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I want to know is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a degraded understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative light? What was our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded form or were we looking at it in its original sense? > regardsDharma_______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL:<http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/2022012…> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 06:20:15 +0000 (UTC) > From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby<dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> > To:"dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net" <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>, > "oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net" <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Stoicism > Message-ID:<945319551.358776.1642746015855(a)mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Thanks everyone for your responses. Some of these touched on what is happening to our planet, which is also what triggered my question.?It is clear that we have pushed our biosphere over the tipping point into a trajectory that will bring mass extinctions, perhaps even that of our species, in its wake. Whatever we do cannot change this, at least till after several decades. So whatever good we do, we won?t be around to see its result.So the question for me is what does it mean to say Yes to life in this situation and to live out of that stance. To use a metaphor, if we are led to the gallows, can we approach it saying Yes to what our life has been and what is going happen? By ?can we?, I mean how do we generate the courage and spirit for this.?A related question, how do we tell others what is in store truthfully and yet not leave them without hope or drive??If we live like this, could it be described (in a positive way) as Stoicism? I remember we seemed to have reservations about thi > s during our RS1 courses. But I?m not sure whether they were about the popular understanding of Stoicism, as Karen illustrates in her email, or something deeper in that philosophy.? > Dharma > > > On Friday, 21 January 2022, 11:17:28 am MYT, James Wiegel via OE<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > Does anyone recall (have notes on) the lecture introductions from RS-1?? They were quick and insightful, and I don't find anything in our archives on them . . .? > One intro, maybe on Saturday afternoon -- would have been an intro to the freedom lecture / section / holy spirit / life style was a series of little triangles . . .? > Everyone lives out of some sense of their final reality What am I upagainst in life?? what is my situation?and they have "A word" that releases them -- gives me the capacity to liveand a life style that comes out of that > Anyway, I think one of them was the final reality is bad, and the word was just survive, and the life style was the stoic > I don't quite remember the other ones . . . and the one course I had on philosophy did not emphasize the stoics. > > > Jim Wiegel ? > > > > Theunknown is what is.? And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat.? Unknown is what is.? Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing.? ??John Lennon > > > > 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 > 623-363-3277 > > jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com > > www.partnersinparticipation.com > > > On Thursday, January 20, 2022, 07:54:09 PM MST, Karenbueno via Dialogue<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > Stoic: I'm fine.? > Me: Are you telling the truth?Stoic: Well, even if I hurt, what can I do.? I will just bear it.Me: Have you tried what the doctor advised?Stoic: Oh, I probably will soon.? Stop worrying about me.? I'm fine. > Another day--Stoic: I don't see how we need to worry about climate change.? It will destroy us and the rest of life on the planet soon.Me: But shouldn't we do a few actions that might help.Stoic:? Oh, we are too far gone.? The oceans are rising, the ice is about gone.? We might as well just enjoy the life we have.Me: but what about our kids and grandkids and their kids?Stoic:? Look.? We are human.? The planet it too far gone.? We may as well just accept it. > Another day--Stoic: Well, I think we have gone as far as we can to abolish racism in the United States.Me: I think there is still a lot of suffering from racism.? I think we should find some way to pay reparations.Stoic: You pay for it.? I have some other things I want to do with our money. > Another day--Me: Did you hear about how the Wisconsin government is giving back some of their land to the Indians?Stoic: Oh for Pete Sake.? That war is long over, and we are getting along fine. > Another day--Stoic: Listen to those shovels!? They are finishing my work!Me: No, honey, they are digging your grave. > Another day--Me: They say that faith is belief in things not seen.Stoic: Ha.? Sounds pretty magic to me!Me: But if you trust that the creative power of God is in charge, you can have hope that the future is open, and we can act!Stoic: Naptime now. > > > Karen Bueno > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via Dialogue<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > To: OE Listserve<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; Dialogue List<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > Cc: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby<dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> > Sent: Thu, Jan 20, 2022 5:27 pm > Subject: [Dialogue] Stoicism > > Dear colleagues, > > I need help with an idea I?m trying to sort out. If you have the time and inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following:? > > Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There is also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that internal pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I want to know is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a degraded understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative light? What was our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded form or were we looking at it in its original sense? > regardsDharma_______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL:<http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/2022012…> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2022 22:49:21 -0800 > From: Milan Hamilton<mellowmilan2(a)gmail.com> > To: Order Ecumenical Community<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > Cc:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net, Dharmalingam Vinasithamby > <dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Stoicism > Message-ID:<A7F062F9-75A4-4A74-9016-FCE0A89EB48E(a)gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > I majored in philosophy also and especially Studied Kierkegaard with one of the preeminent American teachers of SK, But can?t say I got much beyond the surface until RS-1. I do think there was more depth to Stoicism as a philosophy than hearing the word elicits in our psyche. But as to offering a way into the question Dharma is raising, I would suggest reading Jem Bendell?s Deep Adaptation paper and if interested getting into the conversation on the Deep Adaptation Forum; secondly, Michael Dowd?s ?Post Doom? series of 78 fifty minute interviews on You Tube with all sorts of climate scientists and writers, as well as some of his own videos; third, check out Joanna Macy?s ?The Work that Reconnects.? These are some resources we have found helpful to avoid getting stuck in one or more of the philosophy rabbit holes,Stoicism being only one of them. > Humbly, Milan H. > > Sent from my iPad > >> On Jan 20, 2022, at 10:20 PM, Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via OE<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >> >> ? >> Thanks everyone for your responses. Some of these touched on what is happening to our planet, which is also what triggered my question. >> It is clear that we have pushed our biosphere over the tipping point into a trajectory that will bring mass extinctions, perhaps even that of our species, in its wake. Whatever we do cannot change this, at least till after several decades. So whatever good we do, we won?t be around to see its result. >> So the question for me is what does it mean to say Yes to life in this situation and to live out of that stance. To use a metaphor, if we are led to the gallows, can we approach it saying Yes to what our life has been and what is going happen? By ?can we?, I mean how do we generate the courage and spirit for this. >> A related question, how do we tell others what is in store truthfully and yet not leave them without hope or drive? >> If we live like this, could it be described (in a positive way) as Stoicism? I remember we seemed to have reservations about this during our RS1 courses. But I?m not sure whether they were about the popular understanding of Stoicism, as Karen illustrates in her email, or something deeper in that philosophy. >> >> Dharma >> >> >> >> On Friday, 21 January 2022, 11:17:28 am MYT, James Wiegel via OE<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >> >> >> Does anyone recall (have notes on) the lecture introductions from RS-1? They were quick and insightful, and I don't find anything in our archives on them . . . >> >> One intro, maybe on Saturday afternoon -- would have been an intro to the freedom lecture / section / holy spirit / life style was a series of little triangles . . . >> >> Everyone lives out of some sense of their final reality What am I upagainst in life? what is my situation? >> and they have "A word" that releases them -- gives me the capacity to live >> and a life style that comes out of that >> >> Anyway, I think one of them was the final reality is bad, and the word was just survive, and the life style was the stoic >> >> I don't quite remember the other ones . . . and the one course I had on philosophy did not emphasize the stoics. >> >> >> >> 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, January 20, 2022, 07:54:09 PM MST, Karenbueno via Dialogue<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >> >> >> Stoic: I'm fine. >> Me: Are you telling the truth? >> Stoic: Well, even if I hurt, what can I do. I will just bear it. >> Me: Have you tried what the doctor advised? >> Stoic: Oh, I probably will soon. Stop worrying about me. I'm fine. >> >> Another day-- >> Stoic: I don't see how we need to worry about climate change. It will destroy us and the rest of life on the planet soon. >> Me: But shouldn't we do a few actions that might help. >> Stoic: Oh, we are too far gone. The oceans are rising, the ice is about gone. We might as well just enjoy the life we have. >> Me: but what about our kids and grandkids and their kids? >> Stoic: Look. We are human. The planet it too far gone. We may as well just accept it. >> >> Another day-- >> Stoic: Well, I think we have gone as far as we can to abolish racism in the United States. >> Me: I think there is still a lot of suffering from racism. I think we should find some way to pay reparations. >> Stoic: You pay for it. I have some other things I want to do with our money. >> >> Another day-- >> Me: Did you hear about how the Wisconsin government is giving back some of their land to the Indians? >> Stoic: Oh for Pete Sake. That war is long over, and we are getting along fine. >> >> Another day-- >> Stoic: Listen to those shovels! They are finishing my work! >> Me: No, honey, they are digging your grave. >> >> Another day-- >> Me: They say that faith is belief in things not seen. >> Stoic: Ha. Sounds pretty magic to me! >> Me: But if you trust that the creative power of God is in charge, you can have hope that the future is open, and we can act! >> Stoic: Naptime now. >> >> >> >> Karen Bueno >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via Dialogue<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> >> To: OE Listserve<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; Dialogue List<dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> >> Cc: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby<dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> >> Sent: Thu, Jan 20, 2022 5:27 pm >> Subject: [Dialogue] Stoicism >> >> Dear colleagues, >> >> I need help with an idea I?m trying to sort out. If you have the time and inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following: >> >> Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There is also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that internal pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I want to know is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a degraded understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative light? What was our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded form or were we looking at it in its original sense? >> >> regards >> Dharma >> _______________________________________________ >> Dialogue mailing list >> Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net >> _______________________________________________ >> Dialogue mailing list >> Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net >> _______________________________________________ >> OE mailing list >> OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net >> _______________________________________________ >> OE mailing list >> OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL:<http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/2022012…> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 07:48:07 -0600 > From: Nancy Trask<nlt462(a)gmail.com> > To: Order Ecumenical Community<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Stoicism > Message-ID: > <CAAsR2TE+jqzOe8c99QzS+NePB13fgd436jRnz__7UtHdTi_qEg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Dharma and all, it?s a very timely push for deeper understanding ? so glad > you raised this angle on the topic. Thanks also to Milan for sharing > resources from Jim Bendell, Michael Dowd, and Joanna Macy. I will have a > look. The YouTube series of 78 interviews sounds fascinating. And I had > recently happened on a presentation about adaptation, which has stuck with > me. > Could consider starting a new study series on some of these resources. > Nancy Trask > > On Fri, Jan 21, 2022 at 12:49 AM Milan Hamilton via OE < > oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > >> I majored in philosophy also and especially Studied Kierkegaard with one >> of the preeminent American teachers of SK, But can?t say I got much beyond >> the surface until RS-1. I do think there was more depth to Stoicism as a >> philosophy than hearing the word elicits in our psyche. But as to offering >> a way into the question Dharma is raising, I would suggest reading Jem >> Bendell?s Deep Adaptation paper and if interested getting into the >> conversation on the Deep Adaptation Forum; secondly, Michael Dowd?s ?Post >> Doom? series of 78 fifty minute interviews on You Tube with all sorts of >> climate scientists and writers, as well as some of his own videos; third, >> check out Joanna Macy?s ?The Work that Reconnects.? These are some >> resources we have found helpful to avoid getting stuck in one or more of >> the philosophy rabbit holes,Stoicism being only one of them. >> Humbly, Milan H. >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On Jan 20, 2022, at 10:20 PM, Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via OE < >> oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >> >> ? >> >> Thanks everyone for your responses. Some of these touched on what is >> happening to our planet, which is also what triggered my question. >> It is clear that we have pushed our biosphere over the tipping point into >> a trajectory that will bring mass extinctions, perhaps even that of our >> species, in its wake. Whatever we do cannot change this, at least till >> after several decades. So whatever good we do, we won?t be around to see >> its result. >> So the question for me is what does it mean to say Yes to life in this >> situation and to live out of that stance. To use a metaphor, if we are led >> to the gallows, can we approach it saying Yes to what our life has been and >> what is going happen? By ?can we?, I mean how do we generate the courage >> and spirit for this. >> A related question, how do we tell others what is in store truthfully and >> yet not leave them without hope or drive? >> If we live like this, could it be described (in a positive way) as >> Stoicism? I remember we seemed to have reservations about this during our >> RS1 courses. But I?m not sure whether they were about the popular >> understanding of Stoicism, as Karen illustrates in her email, or something >> deeper in that philosophy. >> >> Dharma >> >> >> >> On Friday, 21 January 2022, 11:17:28 am MYT, James Wiegel via OE < >> oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >> >> >> Does anyone recall (have notes on) the lecture introductions from RS-1? >> They were quick and insightful, and I don't find anything in our archives >> on them . . . >> >> One intro, maybe on Saturday afternoon -- would have been an intro to the >> freedom lecture / section / holy spirit / life style was a series of little >> triangles . . . >> >> Everyone lives out of some sense of their final reality What am I >> upagainst in life? what is my situation? >> and they have "A word" that releases them -- gives me the capacity to live >> and a life style that comes out of that >> >> Anyway, I think one of them was the final reality is bad, and the word was >> just survive, and the life style was the stoic >> >> I don't quite remember the other ones . . . and the one course I had on >> philosophy did not emphasize the stoics. >> >> >> >> Jim Wiegel<http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=123> >> >> 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 >> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+North+Beverly+Way,Tolleson,+Arizona+…> >> >> 623-363-3277 >> >> jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com <marilyn.oyler(a)gmail.com> >> >> www.partnersinparticipation.com >> >> >> On Thursday, January 20, 2022, 07:54:09 PM MST, Karenbueno via Dialogue < >> dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >> >> >> Stoic: I'm fine. >> Me: Are you telling the truth? >> Stoic: Well, even if I hurt, what can I do. I will just bear it. >> Me: Have you tried what the doctor advised? >> Stoic: Oh, I probably will soon. Stop worrying about me. I'm fine. >> >> Another day-- >> Stoic: I don't see how we need to worry about climate change. It will >> destroy us and the rest of life on the planet soon. >> Me: But shouldn't we do a few actions that might help. >> Stoic: Oh, we are too far gone. The oceans are rising, the ice is about >> gone. We might as well just enjoy the life we have. >> Me: but what about our kids and grandkids and their kids? >> Stoic: Look. We are human. The planet it too far gone. We may as well >> just accept it. >> >> Another day-- >> Stoic: Well, I think we have gone as far as we can to abolish racism in >> the United States. >> Me: I think there is still a lot of suffering from racism. I think we >> should find some way to pay reparations. >> Stoic: You pay for it. I have some other things I want to do with our >> money. >> >> Another day-- >> Me: Did you hear about how the Wisconsin government is giving back some of >> their land to the Indians? >> Stoic: Oh for Pete Sake. That war is long over, and we are getting along >> fine. >> >> Another day-- >> Stoic: Listen to those shovels! They are finishing my work! >> Me: No, honey, they are digging your grave. >> >> Another day-- >> Me: They say that faith is belief in things not seen. >> Stoic: Ha. Sounds pretty magic to me! >> Me: But if you trust that the creative power of God is in charge, you can >> have hope that the future is open, and we can act! >> Stoic: Naptime now. >> >> >> >> Karen Bueno >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via Dialogue < >> dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> >> To: OE Listserve<oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; Dialogue List < >> dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> >> Cc: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby<dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> >> Sent: Thu, Jan 20, 2022 5:27 pm >> Subject: [Dialogue] Stoicism >> >> Dear colleagues, >> >> I need help with an idea I?m trying to sort out. If you have the time and >> inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following: >> >> Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a >> relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There is >> also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that internal >> pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I want to know >> is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a degraded >> understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative light? What was >> our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded form or were we looking >> at it in its original sense? >> >> regards >> Dharma >> _______________________________________________ >> Dialogue mailing list >> Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net >> _______________________________________________ >> Dialogue mailing list >> Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net >> _______________________________________________ >> OE mailing list >> OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net >> _______________________________________________ >> OE mailing list >> OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net >> >> _______________________________________________ >> OE mailing list >> OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net >> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net >> -- *Transforming individuals and organisations towards a future worth living now.* Phone: +61 2 9896 3839, Post: 18 Sturdee St, Wentworthville NSW 2145 Australia Winners of Zest Award as Outstanding Community Leaders in Western Sydney. /*We live and work on the land of the Darug nation in Western Sydney and pay respect to the Elders past, present and emerging.* We acknowledge the wisdom and sovereignty of all Indigenous people and support The Uluru Statement from the Heart, calling for Voice, Treaty and Truth./

3 3

Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Stoicism
by James Wiegel 21 Jan '22

21 Jan '22

Does anyone recall (have notes on) the lecture introductions from RS-1? They were quick and insightful, and I don't find anything in our archives on them . . . One intro, maybe on Saturday afternoon -- would have been an intro to the freedom lecture / section / holy spirit / life style was a series of little triangles . . . Everyone lives out of some sense of their final reality What am I upagainst in life? what is my situation?and they have "A word" that releases them -- gives me the capacity to liveand a life style that comes out of that Anyway, I think one of them was the final reality is bad, and the word was just survive, and the life style was the stoic I don't quite remember the other ones . . . and the one course I had on philosophy did not emphasize the stoics. Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com On Thursday, January 20, 2022, 07:54:09 PM MST, Karenbueno via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Stoic: I'm fine. Me: Are you telling the truth?Stoic: Well, even if I hurt, what can I do. I will just bear it.Me: Have you tried what the doctor advised?Stoic: Oh, I probably will soon. Stop worrying about me. I'm fine. Another day--Stoic: I don't see how we need to worry about climate change. It will destroy us and the rest of life on the planet soon.Me: But shouldn't we do a few actions that might help.Stoic: Oh, we are too far gone. The oceans are rising, the ice is about gone. We might as well just enjoy the life we have.Me: but what about our kids and grandkids and their kids?Stoic: Look. We are human. The planet it too far gone. We may as well just accept it. Another day--Stoic: Well, I think we have gone as far as we can to abolish racism in the United States.Me: I think there is still a lot of suffering from racism. I think we should find some way to pay reparations.Stoic: You pay for it. I have some other things I want to do with our money. Another day--Me: Did you hear about how the Wisconsin government is giving back some of their land to the Indians?Stoic: Oh for Pete Sake. That war is long over, and we are getting along fine. Another day--Stoic: Listen to those shovels! They are finishing my work!Me: No, honey, they are digging your grave. Another day--Me: They say that faith is belief in things not seen.Stoic: Ha. Sounds pretty magic to me!Me: But if you trust that the creative power of God is in charge, you can have hope that the future is open, and we can act!Stoic: Naptime now. Karen Bueno -----Original Message----- From: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: OE Listserve <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Dharmalingam Vinasithamby <dvinasithamby(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Thu, Jan 20, 2022 5:27 pm Subject: [Dialogue] Stoicism Dear colleagues, I need help with an idea I’m trying to sort out. If you have the time and inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following: Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There is also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that internal pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I want to know is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a degraded understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative light? What was our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded form or were we looking at it in its original sense? regardsDharma_______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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FW: Celebration of Forrest Craver's Life. Feb. 6, 3 pm MT.
by Lynda C 21 Jan '22

21 Jan '22

On behalf of the Craver family, I wanted to share this invitation with our OE community as the completed life of Forrest Craver is celebrated. Forrest and Susan were part of our Washington DC Religious House back around 1972-74 as I recall. We were in the very old Rhode Island Ave. Carmelite Monastary at first. Then followed a series of moves as the Carmelites wanted to use their old building for some of their social work projects. In 1973, a site was found that was deemed a good face to the world in the nation’s capital. The recently- built Viatorian Seminary near Catholic University was such a site. Forrest’s skills as a grant writer and lawyer put him the forefront of that difficult time of search and transition but finally resettling into the lovely new facility. With care to the family and fond memories of working with Forrest, Lynda and John Cock Davidson, NC 336-404-0770 From: Joshua Craver <joshuacraver(a)hotmail.com> Date: Friday, January 21, 2022 at 10:45 AM To: Lynda Cock <lynda860(a)outlook.com>, Larry & Ann Hatcher <larry_hatcher(a)msn.com>, "ann_hatcher(a)msn.com" <ann_hatcher(a)msn.com>, "murielcgriffin2(a)hotmail.com" <murielcgriffin2(a)hotmail.com>, "larry(a)thelotusinstitute.org" <larry(a)thelotusinstitute.org>, Joyce Sloan <jsloan45(a)gmail.com>, Eileen and George Howard <eileen(a)singouteileen.com>, "LenH(a)efn.org" <LenH(a)efn.org>, David & Sherry Greenwald <degreenwald(a)gmail.com>, Jack and Louise Ballard <ballardica(a)gmail.com>, "1492kc(a)gmail.com" <1492kc(a)gmail.com>, "marlaburton1996(a)gmail.com" <marlaburton1996(a)gmail.com>, "lyndacock(a)gmail.com" <lyndacock(a)gmail.com>, "valmundy20(a)gmail.com" <valmundy20(a)gmail.com>, "tmenz81(a)gmail.com" <tmenz81(a)gmail.com>, "palafox.caqb(a)gmail.com" <palafox.caqb(a)gmail.com>, "gena4090(a)yahoo.com" <gena4090(a)yahoo.com>, "NancyDinCO(a)gmail.com" <NancyDinCO(a)gmail.com>, ADI Consulting <Adiconsultingpr(a)gmail.com>, "noahkier(a)gmail.com" <noahkier(a)gmail.com>, "hughmility22(a)gmail.com" <hughmility22(a)gmail.com>, "yaya.moyiondesign(a)gmail.com" <yaya.moyiondesign(a)gmail.com>, "lorirose(a)gmail.com" <lorirose(a)gmail.com>, "wildrose.mira(a)gmail.com" <wildrose.mira(a)gmail.com>, "iwillreyni(a)gmail.com" <iwillreyni(a)gmail.com>, "noahkier(a)gmail.com" <noahkier(a)gmail.com>, Prema Rose <premarose13(a)gmail.com>, Susan Craver-Erickson <craversf(a)gmail.com>, "rogercraver(a)gmail.com" <rogercraver(a)gmail.com>, Caity Craver <caity.craver(a)donortrends.com>, Chris Craver <christophercraver(a)gmail.com>, "andrewcraver(a)yahoo.com" <andrewcraver(a)yahoo.com>, Kevin <kmcgovern11(a)gmail.com>, murad <murad528(a)gmail.com>, T-bird Moran <tmcmoran(a)gmail.com>, J Gilles <jackcgilles(a)gmail.com>, Paula Craver <colindee(a)3rivers.net> Subject: Celebration of Forrest Craver's Life Greetings Everyone, Please join us for a celebration of Forrest Craver’s life Feb. 6th@3pm MT. The zoom details for the gathering are listed below. During our celebration you will be given the option to share a story, poem, memory or anything else you like based on your interactions with Forrest. Feel free to forward this invite to any others who we may have missed that would like to join us. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85915281389?pwd=R0tTWnJKZFRUeEs0MXp1aTJSdnFMQT09 Meeting ID: 859 1528 1389 Passcode: 321849 One tap mobile +13126266799,,85915281389#,,,,*321849# US (Chicago) +19292056099,,85915281389#,,,,*321849# US (New York) Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 859 1528 1389 Passcode: 321849

2 1

Stoicism
by Dharmalingam Vinasithamby 20 Jan '22

20 Jan '22

Dear colleagues, I need help with an idea I’m trying to sort out. If you have the time and inclination, I would love to hear from you on the following: Saying Yes to life and Stoicism. Stoicism seems to be understood as a relationship to life where you keep going on despite the odds. There is also an inuendo that this may not be humanly possible and that internal pressures will eventually cause the person to crash. What I want to know is, was that the Stoicism that Zeno founded or merely a degraded understanding? Why did we as an Order cast it in a negative light? What was our beef with it? Was it a reaction to the degraded form or were we looking at it in its original sense? regardsDharma

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1/20/2022, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Brandan Robertson: Why You Need to Be a Progressive Evangelist; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 20 Jan '22

20 Jan '22

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screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5811705405 #yiv5811705405templateBody .yiv5811705405mcnTextContent, #yiv5811705405 #yiv5811705405templateBody .yiv5811705405mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5811705405 #yiv5811705405templateFooter .yiv5811705405mcnTextContent, #yiv5811705405 #yiv5811705405templateFooter .yiv5811705405mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Why You Need to Be a Progressive Evangelist | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Brandan Robertson January 20, 2022It’s been one year since an insurrection was launched against American democracy and I find myself wondering, like so many others, how we’ve collectively arrived at such a dire moment. During the insurrection of January 6th, 2021, I had just moved back to Washington D.C. and was living in a new row home on North Capitol Street, about a half mile from the U.S. Capitol complex. As I stood outside the local Metro station that morning, I witnessed a stream of red hat wearing people emerging from the escalator and headed towards the rally outside the White House. I took a moment to examine these people and realized that if they weren’t wearing their MAGA clothing, I wouldn’t have known that they were far-right extremists. I was deeply perplexed as to how these folks could be so caught up in the web of lies President Trump had spread and why they felt the need to travel to D.C. to support the effort to overturn the election. A couple of hours later, I like most of the country, sat in my office staring at a screen of these very same people jumping barricades, breaking windows, and breaching the Capitol. I could hear sirens and helicopters outside of my house. I was angry. I was afraid. I found myself asking once again, “how could these people get so caught up in this lie that they are willing to kill for it?” I’ve wrestled with this question throughout the year since, and I’ve come to two conclusions: first, that when people believe there is no hope, they will do anything, and second, that progressive people, especially people of faith, have failed to share the hope embedded in our vision of the world. Let me explain. We now know that most of the people who showed up in D.C. for the insurrection were people whose own life circumstances had been anything but great in recent years. These were people who increasingly feeling left behind by a country and culture that they once felt in lock step with in regard to values. It’s easy to forget just how swiftly social progress moved in American public life in the past twenty years; the LGBTQ+ rights movement is a great example. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, all major political leaders stood opposed to gay marriage and equal rights for queer people. By 2012, the first black President was announcing his support for marriage equality. By 2015, gay marriage was declared legal by the Supreme Court. In fifteen years, the social stance of the nation drastically changed for the better for sexual and gender minorities. But many people who didn’t live in or near the coasts or urban centers didn’t receive the same convincing arguments, nor did they know very many openly LGBT+ people, and thus stood by wondering what had happened to their country that caused it to shift so dramatically from their strongly held values. Now ignorance is not an excuse for injustice. But it is an explanation for it. The Jewish Prophet Hosea wrote, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:1) Those who didn’t have access to knowledge or a compelling reason to do research on a differing perspective found themselves in an unexpected defensive posture as their once generally accepted beliefs were now in the minority. And this continued to happen time and time again. They felt less understood and were increasingly critiqued for what they believed and how they lived. In 2008 and 2009, conservative politicians caught on to this sense of fear and desperation from these constituents and began to play upon it, giving birth to the Tea Party Movement which essentially claimed that America was being taken hostage by anti-American politicians and activists and that a revolution was necessary to take our country back. For a decade, conservative political leaders and pundits played on these fears as progress continued, until the most opportunistic political leader of our lifetimes, Donald Trump, decided to step into the fray and use his showmanship-style to capitalize on these narratives for his own benefit. He convinced these people that he would fight for them and would turn back the progressive reforms that had happened in our country, returning the country to the “good old days” when his constituents’ values were the values of most of the nation. And when that power was voted away from Trump in 2020, of course, he drew on his constituent’s fear and the conspiracy theories he had spun to literally leverage them to fight- warning that if they didn’t, the end of their country and their lives as they knew them was imminent. When fragile hope is on the line, people will do anything to maintain it- even revolt against the very democracy they claimed to love. The thing is that we progressives had the narratives and the resources to share our hope and vision for the future with this portion of the country. We have a compelling message of what our country could become- more just and equal for us all. We spread this message effectively in urban centers, on the coasts, and in our progressive bubbles, but we rarely, if ever, did the work to share our vision with those who were not already on our team. Now, let me issue a disclaimer here: I’m not at all claiming that progressives bear responsibility for the actions of January 6th, or the xenophobic bigotry that millions of Americans bought into during the Trump era. But what I am saying is that we must do a better job communicating our progressive, inclusive vision of the world in the years ahead. Especially those of us who are progressive people of faith. Progressive Christians tend to shudder at the word “evangelism” because of the way it’s been hijacked by evangelicals to essentially mean “colonize and convert”. But the idea of evangelism, rooted in the Great Commission of Jesus is actually a powerful and progressive idea- to share with others a better way of living and invite them to join in. Afterall, Jesus didn’t say “go into the world and convert people to a new religion”, but rather, “go into the world and teach people to do what I instructed you to do.” It was a demonstration and invitation to a new way of living and organizing the world that benefited the individual and the society. You see, the more I look at the people who have bought into the right-wing narrative that are hell bent on launching a revolution to stop progress in our country, the more I’m convinced that they’ve not been offered a compelling alternative. For them, it’s either right wing revolution or destruction. But what if they heard that there was another way to be Christian- one that actually understandings cultural evolution and progress as a move of the Spirit of God, one that invites them to join with God as agents of the Kingdom of God, bringing heaven to earth for themselves and for everyone? To put this in a more straightforward way, progressive people of faith have not marketed ourselves well enough- we’ve allowed our primary marketing to be the negative demonization of Trump and others like him. But we have an unprecedented opportunity to chance this: In the virtual reality that COVID-19 has moved us all into, we are invited to use digital platforms to advocate for another way to be Christian, to be American, and to be human. A way that doesn’t fear progress but participates in it. A way that values tradition and heritage, but also strains forward to create a more beautiful world that our ancestors dreamed of. Every person reading this has the ability through the power of social media to communicate to the masses- not divisive messages and punitive debates highlighting our division, but inspirational and educational messages that cast a progressive, inclusive vision for the world and invite people to join in. I am not naive- our divisions run deep and will require much more than a Facebook post or TikTok video. But I also do know that hearts and minds are changed through slowly introducing new stories and perspectives that stir empathy and curiosity in our hearts. I know that when hope is in short supply, I return to the simple vision of Jesus that has endured for thousands of years: if we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will transform the world. I’ve seen this change my own life. I’ve seen meditation on this message cause dramatic changes in the way my congregants live their lives. The message of Jesus is what makes me a progressive. A parsing out of the Gospels implications for our world is what’s missing in most churches and dialogue around faith in the United States today. And if we are ever to see Christian nationalism rooted out of our country, it will happen because millions of people of faith will be compelled to adopt a more progressive, inclusive faith. And for that to happen, progressive Christians must once again heed the call of Christ and become evangelists of his progressive, inclusive vision for the world once again.~ Rev. Brandan Robertson Read online here About the Author Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press. He leads Metanoia, a digital spiritual community at MetanoiaCenter.org. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Roy I come from a very conservative Christian family, and back in my younger days I believed in God. However I started losing faith in God. I can no longer believe in a God. I am still a Christian because I like Jesus and his message of peace and love. Is it possible to be a Christian and not believe in God? A: By Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Dear Roy,I have discovered in the authentic path of human spiritual development that our mature response to life is not to believe, but to question why. Belief is usually taken to mean our mind’s assent to propositions about reality, such as we find in the various creeds (and “credo” is Latin for belief). Jesus, like Buddha, however, is a wisdom teacher who is always asking questions. He is a person of abiding curiosity. His questioning, from my experience, is rooted in his basic trust of Reality. And that trust reflects his love. You might consider your “loss” of belief as the beginning of your journey of an authentic faith rooted in curiosity. Faith is a matter of trust in your experience, which is far different from belief. I would suggest you be curious about the questions that matter to your heart; trust that they do indeed matter and are sacred. Jesus, as a Jew, was a person who followed his heart and its deepest longings and stirrings. For me, such a path is the heart of the Christ movement. I wish you well. ~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Read and share online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including I Have Called You Friends, Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms, and My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You and Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland. Visit Kevin’s Blog: Essential Living: For The Soul’s Journey. | | | | | | | | 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 Studying Christian Art in Florence Italy Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong November 17, 2011The Florence Museum, known in Italy as the Musei Firenze, is best known for the massive marble statue of the youthful King David sculpted by Michelangelo. Housed in the section of the museum known as the Galleria dell’Accademia, this magnificent work of rare genius was accomplished with meticulous detail designed to reveal the beauty and splendor of the human body. The David statue draws thousands to the Galleria daily. This museum, however, also houses some of the world’s best known religious paintings. My wife Christine and I spent a day there in early October and I could not fail to note, as I have done before, that these masterpieces of religious art have played a significant role in the literalizing way that most people read the gospel narratives. Most of these well known paintings were commissioned originally to hang in churches during the time we call the early middle ages up to the 18th century. Since most people in that era could neither read nor write they gained much of their knowledge of the biblical story by looking at art. It never occurred to them to think that art was an interpretive idiom and not a literal one. They thus tended to see these paintings more like photographs that supposedly captured reality rather than as pieces of art that interpreted reality. That is also why what we call the “Stations of the Cross” were developed and became an almost universal mark of pre-reformation Christian churches. People could literally follow the final events of Jesus’ life as they walked past the scenes depicted in the paintings or wood carvings on the church walls. There was no such thing as critical biblical scholarship in those days. God was assumed to be the ultimate author of the scriptures. The people were not allowed to embrace the differences or the contradictions found in the various gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. So Christian art portrayed the mother of Jesus, frequently dressed in the garb of a nun, as present at the foot of the cross, even cradling the deceased body of her son. When Mel Gibson made his blockbuster movie, The Passion of Christ in 2004, this late developing image (and non-biblical without a gargantuan stretch) formed a central theme in his story. A search of the four gospels, however, will reveal that the mother of Jesus was nowhere near the cross in the earlier writings of Mark, Matthew or Luke, which were the first three gospels to appear. She makes her first appearance at the cross only in the Fourth Gospel, which is generally dated between the years 95-100. Her purpose in this appearance was so that Jesus could commend her to a figure who also is unknown outside the Gospel of John, the enigmatic figure referred to as “the Beloved Disciple.” He then, we are told takes the mother of Jesus to “his own home,” so she is not at the cross when Jesus dies. For those who study the Fourth Gospel seriously there is debate about whether this author intended to suggest in this episode that the mother of Jesus was to be understood as a literal person of history or as a symbol for Judaism, the mother of Christianity, and consequently, whether the Beloved Disciple was himself a person of history or a literary creation to represent the move of Christianity beyond the boundaries of Judaism into being a new entity. By commending his mother to the Beloved Disciple, Jesus was saying that the movement he was starting had to carry Judaism faithfully into a universal vocation. To support this symbolic conclusion, with which Rudolf Bultmann, who is probably the leading New Testament scholar of the 20th century, is identified, we note that only in this gospel is Jesus made to say, “Other sheep have I that are not of this fold. Them also I must bring until there is one flock and one shepherd.” None of those interpretative nuances, however, appeared in any of the artwork that I saw in the Florence Museum. Literalism was the only visible or viable interpretation, the only way to “read” the painting. I also saw three paintings, all dated in the first ten years of the 16th century that depicted not only Mary and the infant or youthful Jesus, but also, and always slightly larger, the youthful John the Baptist. These boys are portrayed in these paintings as closely associated in childhood, even growing up together. One of these paintings was by Bogliadini, one by Francesco Foschi and the third by Francesco de Ros. They had all painted the common myth that asserted a physical kinship between Jesus and John the Baptist. This kinship was defined by John Wycliffe in the early 14th century to be that of first cousins, his assumption being that Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Elizabeth, John’s mother, were sisters. There is only a tiny fragment in the Bible that will support such a conclusion and this single word does not appear in the tradition until the late 9th or early 10th decades. It is found in Luke alone, who is also the only writer to give us an account of the birth of John the Baptist. Typically, however, Luke compares John’s birth to the birth of Jesus, with John the Baptist always coming in less fantastic and less supernatural. It was as if Luke were saying that anything John could do, Jesus could do better. John was born to post-menopausal parents says Luke. That is pretty impressive, even though we now believe that this story was based on the Old Testament story of the birth of Isaac to his post-menopausal parents, Abraham and Sarah. Most scholars even doubt the historicity of the names attributed to John’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, finding Old Testament antecedents for both. When John was born, said Luke, the neighbors all gathered to rejoice and his father Zechariah’s inability to speak was broken as he sings: “Blessed be the Lord God of our Fathers for he has visited and redeemed his people.” Jesus, however, was said to have been born of a virgin, setting him apart from every other human life and, when he was born, it was not the neighbors who gathered to rejoice, but a host of angels who invaded the midnight sky to sing to shepherds. Luke’s tales of the biological origins of both John and Jesus were designed to bring the story of these two infants into proximity. He then embellishes this conclusion by having Mary, expectant with Jesus, go to visit Elizabeth, described as her “kinswoman,” (that is the single word) who was expectant with John. This visit, we are told, took place “in the hill country of Judea.” Even in this episode the purpose of the story is still to affirm Jesus’ superiority to John, for we are told the fetus of John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth leaps to salute the fetus of Jesus in Mary’s womb and that Elizabeth acknowledges the superiority of Mary’s child to her own. That is, I might add, a quite unusual thing for a Jewish mother to do! No one that I know of regards this episode as literal history. It is based to some degree on the story of Esau and Jacob contending together in the womb of Rebekah in the book of Genesis. The facts are historically that at first the Jesus movement and the John movement were related in that Jesus was originally a disciple of John and was baptized by John. Jesus’ first disciples were formerly disciples of John. Second, there is much evidence in the book of Acts and in the Fourth Gospel that there was a deep competition between the two movements with the followers of Jesus hard put to explain why Jesus had been baptized by John. By the time we get to the Fourth Gospel, written near the turn of the century, John does not baptize Jesus at all, but simply becomes a witness to him as messiah. Surely revisionist history is at work here. No hint of anything but objective history, however, is present in these famous paintings. They show Jesus and John as infants and as small children playing under the care of Jesus’ mother who was supposedly John’s Aunt Mary. Biblical scholarship was simply unavailable to the artists and was considered unnecessary by the people for whom they painted. Finally, there were many generic portraits of the crucifixion. I noted that every one of them portrayed Jesus bleeding from his side as well as from the nail prints in his hands and feet. The wound in his side was once more, however, a late addition to the crucifixion story, not making its appearance until the Fourth Gospel, written somewhere between 95 to100. In this gospel alone John says that a soldier went to hasten Jesus’ death by breaking his legs, but, finding him already dead, he hurled a lance or a spear into his side as a kind of coup de grace. The first three gospels know nothing of this spear wound. John adds it, he says, to show that it was the fulfillment of a text found in Zechariah (12:10): “They looked upon him whom they pierced and mourned for him as one mourns for an only son.” To portray Jesus as the fulfillment of the scriptures was a major theme in the early Christian movement and the memory of Jesus was frequently bent to portray that fulfillment. Indeed biblical scholars now even see the first description of the crucifixion, written by Mark in the early 70’s, not as the account of an eye witness at all, but as an interpretive piece of writing designed to portray the death of Jesus as the fulfillment of the scriptures. Mark’s account, we now recognize is not based on an eye witness, but primarily on Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. So what we have in the great works of medieval art is not scholarship, but an uninformed biblical ignorance designed to undergird the traditional version of the Christ story. Those images imprinted on our minds by this art have helped to squelch biblical scholarship through the ages and to teach us that any deviation from literalism is actually a deviation from “the true faith.” So in the life of the church scholarship was undermined as an act of unfaithfulness and even of heresy and those who dared to think outside the box were destined in that earlier era to be burned at the stake. In our day they are only destined to be marginalized as “troublemakers.” If one wonders why institutional Christianity is declining, perhaps even dying, in the modern world, one has only to look at how the art of the ages was used to support the literalism that turned the Bible itself into an idol. In the battle for the soul of Christianity and for the soul of the Christian Church in the 21st century, we must rescue the Bible from fundamentalism. A visit to any great museum to view the Christian art of the past makes this abundantly clear. ~John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements An Introduction to The Art of Circling Join our interactive group with international sensation and mindfulness practice leader, Andrea Bendewald, founder of the Art of Circling. Over the last eighteen months, Andrea’s circles have grown internationally as women from all over the world have participated in these transformational gatherings held virtually. January 29, 2022 12:30pm Pacific Time - READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Environmental Film: FACING ADVERSITY, CHOOSING EARTH, CHOOSING LIFE
by Ellie Stock 19 Jan '22

19 Jan '22

Dear Friends, The first film in 2022 winter/spring environmental film series hosted by the Ferguson Eco Team, (Ferguson/St. Louis, MO), will be FACING ADVERSITY, CHOOSING EARTH, CHOOSING LIFE and shown Thursday, January 20, 7:00 PM Central Time, followed by a reflection conversation. Due to COVID, the viewing will be via ZOOM. To register for the ZOOM linK: https://bit.ly/FETJan2022 . A ZOOM link will then be sent to you to access the event. Facing Adversity: Choosing Earth, Choosing Life is a 70-minute documentary that explores the speed, depth and magnitude of our growing planetary crisis, and the opportunity we have to meet this crisis consciously – with eyes and hearts wide open. Through a broad, whole-systems perspective, the film examines key challenges (climate change, inequities, species extinction, overconsumption, and more) and explores the deeper transformation being called forth from humanity. Woven throughout are stories from around the world illustrating both heart-breaking impacts and inspiring resilience. Engaging with this paradox — an unfolding global crisis paired with the opportunity to awaken to and serve the well-being of all of life — is the work of our lifetimes. The film features Duane Elgin, Victoria Santos, Jack Kornfield, Joanna Macy, Nate Hagens, Beena Sharma, Lynne Twist, and other contributors who are grappling with this paradox and offering guidance for navigating the times ahead. FACING ADVERSITY is based on the important 2020 book CHOOSING EARTH, Humanity's Great Transition to a Mature Planetary Civilization, by Duane Elgin, also author of the popular 1981 book, VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY. To register for the ZOOM linK: https://bit.ly/FETJan2022 . A ZOOM link will then be sent to you to access the event. If you would like a flyer for the event, we can mail it to you personally as an attachment. For more information, please contact: Carleton Stockcarletonstock(a)aol.com or Ellie Stockelliestock(a)aol.com

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(no subject)
by A.M. Noel 17 Jan '22

17 Jan '22

I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King .Jr HD (subtitled) - YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s> A.M. Noel

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1/13//2022, Progressing Spirit: Kevin G. Thew Forrester: Liturgy: Corporate Practice of Presence; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 13 Jan '22

13 Jan '22

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Thew Forrester, Ph.D January 13, 2022When Christians gather for liturgy; when we assemble for saying prayers, singing songs, hearing sermons; when we come together for Eucharist, it is simply assumed that we are engaging in worship. The last stanza of “An Affirmation of Faith” in the beautifully written A New Zealand Prayer Book, states: “You are our God. We worship you.” The mostly unquestioned and dominant vision of liturgy for millennia is that we gather to worship God, with kindred expressions in both Judaism and Islam. I sketch below a different, non-dual vision, reflective of the human experience of Reality in which every person is a human of Being. Presence and Jesus In this vision I am not speaking about presence as the presence of a god. Holy Mystery is not a reality that comes and goes. We are appreciating God as Presence. Presence is not a quality of a being but Being itself as the beating heart of existence. Theism is much too small. Being can in no way be circumscribed. Presence is a way of speaking about how Being, or Holy Mystery, is the Reality, the essence, of you, of me, and of every creature. All that exists only exists insofar as Being is its true nature, its essence. What the story of Jesus’ baptism points to is the beginning of his realization, in biblical poetry, that his Abba is his very heart. As he meditates, shares meals, teaches, dances, converses, grieves, his realization deepens. His egoic will is being transformed into “thy will,” which means his egoic wants are becoming transfigured into the soul’s spontaneous flow of living as Holy Mystery. Day-by-day, as his own defensiveness and egoic hungers diminish (what we call kenosis), Jesus is realizing his true nature is nothing other than Being. Presence is his being. This presence is not an abstract concept, or a theological position, but a palpably direct experience of being an authentic human being whose essence is boundless love. Softness, receptivity, non-judgment, sweetness, kindness, clarity, authentic strength, wisdom: these are some of the qualities of love, of Being, that Jesus comes to know directly and invites his community to realize as well. Jesus’ life, his path – and the liturgy of a gathered community – is about the personal realization of the presence of Being as the truth of our nature. In this realization of presence is begun the basic healing of the human heart and the unfolding of the soul. We begin the move from guarded egos to spontaneous souls. We not only fall in love with Reality, but we also realize that our own Reality is love. Love – the practice of being with the truth of the given moment – is the path. A Vision What might liturgy be for a Christianity become aware that Holy Mystery, or Being, is the Reality that is always already our true nature? When God language is no longer about some separate particular entity, but utterances of persons become aware that they are humans of Being. Anxiety about winning a god’s salvific favor has ceased to hold relevance. What matters to the human heart is the soul’s unfolding realization: her being is simply Being manifesting uniquely here and now in this beautiful fragile form. This Reality holds equally true for all creatures, great and small, sentient and insentient. Within this vision, Jesus, like Siddhartha, is a wisdom teacher because he has personally realized this truth as his own true nature and the true nature of Reality itself. In biblical language, he experiences his Abba as his heart. Jesus’ response is of one who has fallen in love, like a child with her mother, discovering that love itself is the fabric of life regardless of circumstances. Just as the realized Siddhartha takes on a new name – Buddha – so too does Jesus acquire a new identity in his personal realization – Christ. Both new identities, in this vision, bespeak human beings become fully aware of their own true nature, fully alive, fully human. With each – Siddhartha the Buddha and Jesus the Christ – there is the awareness that their personal realization requires tending, nurturing, struggle, practice, part of which is individual, part of which is essentially corporate. Human realization requires the support and presence of others in our lives rooted in a similar experience and thus committed to a similar vision. And so, Siddhartha the Buddha calls together and forms his sangha, and Jesus the Christ invites his disciples into a beloved community. The call is an invitation to experience the same realization as the teacher. Practice – both individual and corporate – will be the path and means of realization. Liturgy, Practice, Presence Within this vision, the “work of the people,” or liturgy, is the soul’s practice of becoming the truth of what and who we truly are. I am using the ancient word “soul” as shorthand for describing how each creature is Being present in a particular place and time. The ego, or personality, is the soul “contracted” by defenses and desires to secure the love it needs to exist; the spontaneity and freedom that is Being is blocked and mostly unconscious. The awakening of the soul is the person learning to live spontaneously as presence, their true nature. In liturgy, we gather to discover and deepen our awareness that there is no gap between us and Holy Mystery. Drawing upon Julian of Norwich we could say that grace and peace are always in in us, because they are us, but we do not always act from that love and peace. We become lost in our blindness to our own truth. We come to liturgy battered and bruised by our own inner critics, attachments, identities, societal prejudices – by the effects of human blindness. Liturgy is where we practice together and directly experience in our practice that in truth, we are love incarnate longing to live as such. In and through our practice we are gradually being born into the freedom that is our true nature. We gather to hear stories, sing songs, receive teachings, and be fed. Each of these, in this vision, has become a spiritual practice of presence. Liturgy – as a whole – is here re-grounded in a receptive listening flowing from the practice of meditation. Too much of corporate liturgy is busy “doing” rather than relaxed “being,” more reflective of cultural anxiety than spiritual awareness. Each authentic spiritual practice within liturgy flows from emptiness into embodiment such that it sparks curiosity, reignites the fire of soulful longing, and supports us in the gradual realization of our own Christhood. The path of Jesus is the soul’s gradual awakening to the truth that she is fully alive and thriving, become a living Christ. I envision liturgy that ceases to be the worship of a deity. It becomes our corporate spiritual practice of realizing that to be an authentic human being is to be nothing other than the unique presence of Holy Mystery here and now. Liturgy is the consistent corporate practice of together becoming the Reality of our true nature. ~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D Read online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including I Have Called You Friends, Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms, and My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You and Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland. Visit Kevin’s Blog: Essential Living: For The Soul’s Journey. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By John Is the Bible the final authority in Christian faith? A: By Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers Dear John, For Protestants, the unspoken assumption is that yes, the Bible is the final authority in Christian Faith. I grew up in a church tradition that took the Bible so seriously that we liked to say, Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent. Unfortunately, not everything that the Bible speaks about even matters anymore, nor do we consider its assumed premises to be equally moral. Take slavery for starters, or the second-class personhood of women. Both are “biblical.” Likewise with the idea that we should not speak about things the Bible doesn’t speak about—a kind of theology from silence. That leaves out of lot of things we all believe in now, even things we cherish. Electricity for starters, and the true manna of the church, the potluck casserole! So, it really depends on what you mean when you use the word “authority.” If that means infallible answers to any questions we might ask, then the Bible falls short. But if that means the collection of stories which comprise our formative and normative Story—which, though bound by time and culture still rings true in its essence so long as it is continually reinterpreted— then yes, the Bible is “authoritative” (as opposed to the final authority). But we should not be looking for a Paper Pope, as the Protestant approach to scripture is often described. Rather, we should remember that what is truly normative for our faith and life is love, and where love shines through the ages in scripture, we should celebrate it and be guided by it. But where the Bible warps the concept of love, or even distorts it, then we should fearlessly object. The Bible should be a signpost, not a hitching post, and we should take seriously all the other sources of truth, beauty, and wisdom in the world. Not every sermon needs to come from the Bible, nor does every word of the Bible deserve to be preached on. But whenever we use scripture to give authority to our preaching and teaching, our approach should always be guided by four principles: It should be biblical responsible, intellectually honest, emotionally satisfying, and social significant. As the United Church of Christ likes to say, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma. God is still speaking.” ~ Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers is retired senior minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church, Oklahoma City, Distinguished Professor of Social Justice Emeritus in the Philosophy Department at Oklahoma City University, where he still teaches. He is the author of eight books on religion and American culture, the most recent of which is, “Saving God from Religion: A Minister’s Search for Faith in a Skeptical Age.” More information is at RobinMeyers.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 Facing the Political Realities of Institutional Church Life in the Launch of Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong November 10, 2011On November 8, 2011, my publisher, Harper-Collins, released my newest book under the title Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World. The date of a book’s release is always a significant day in the life of an author, not unlike, I can at least imagine, the way a mother must feel when she gives birth to a baby. This book has been a growing part of me for the last three years, but during that time I could still change it, redefine concepts, rearrange parts, clarify places of confusion, improve a sentence here and there and even re-check a fact or a text. I still controlled this “baby’s” development. The publication date, however, signals that those days are over and separation between the parent-creator and the independent offspring has begun. The book now begins its own life. People will relate to it in a variety of ways. Some will find things in it that I did not know were there and did not even intend to be there. The book will receive a variety of responses, many of which will say more about the responders than they do about it. If past books are a guide, there will be expressions of appreciation from those who feel that it frees them from some of the restrictive and destructive ideas of their religious past, while others will express hostility since they will experience it as attacking their religious security. The first questions I will face in its launch will be about my motivation in writing it. Did I intend to upset the religious sensitivities of my critics? Is it simply an expression of my hubris that I place myself in opposition to traditional ideas that people assume, falsely I believe, have always marked the Christian faith? No matter how well prepared I am after years of experience as an author, it still amazes me to read the words of some reviewers and critics, who do not know me personally at all, but who will still ascribe motives of their own creation to my work. I am reminded once again that I should never underestimate the level of biblical ignorance that marks the lives of so many people, including some who actually head up fundamentalist theological seminaries and who presume to speak for God on television and radio. So before that tide begins to come in, I thought I would introduce this book personally to my readers and recall something of its birth and growth. People might be interested in this first hand bit of background that will put this book into the context that I, as its author, have envisioned for it. I have always had a dual career. My calling has been to the life of a priest and my church elected me to act out that calling in the role of a bishop. For 21 of my 45 year career I worked as a priest in cities like Durham and Tarboro, NC, and Lynchburg and Richmond, VA, and for 24 years I served as a bishop in the exciting and dynamic Diocese of Newark, which contains the suburbs of New York City west of the Hudson River in the seven northernmost counties of New Jersey. I found my priesthood the most deeply satisfying and personally fulfilling years of my career; while my years as a bishop were the most challenging and stretching. In both phases of that ministry, however, my life was marked with a hunger for knowledge and a deep thirst to understand and to communicate the symbols of my faith story in the language and concepts of my time in history. Early in my career, I expanded my ministry to a teaching role at such conference centers as Kanuga in Western North Carolina and then the Chautauqua Institute in Western New York. I spent summer vacations in places like the University of the South in Sewanee, TN, in graduate classes. I decided later in both Lynchburg and Richmond that my particular vocation was to introduce the people in my congregation to the world of biblical scholarship. I discovered that this knowledge when shared was generally welcomed and was received as my giving these people “permission to think” about God, the Bible and religion in ways that they somehow felt had been denied to them in the past. When I was elected bishop, I determined that I would be a teaching bishop, available to challenge and be challenged by the people I served. I deliberately went public in books and in lectures to open people to the theological debates of our generation. I wanted to give the clergy who worked with me the freedom to venture beyond the boundaries behind which so often both they and their congregations hid in a kind of false safety. To keep up with the scholarship in the field that is necessary to do this task, I did special study units at such eminent theological centers in this nation as Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge and ultimately included stints in the UK in such roles as “Scholar in Residence” in both Magdalen College and Christ Church at Oxford. I was elected Quatercentenary Scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1992. I also read voraciously, primarily concentrating on the area of the study of scripture. Later in my career I was elected “a fellow” in the Jesus Seminar and in 2000 was named the William Belden Noble lecturer at Harvard University. I was invited to teach at Harvard Divinity School, at both the Graduate Theological Union and the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA and at the Theological School of Drew University in Madison, NJ. With one foot in the academic world and one in the institutional church, I became aware of the enormous gap that exists between the two, about which I have spoken in this column just recently. Things that are essentially commonplace and even “old news” in the academy appear to be controversial and to create enormous tension in the congregations as well as becoming a source of great negativity and suspicion at “denominational headquarters.” In the academy to treat the Bible literally is regarded as absurd. In the churches, however, many people know of no other way to read scripture and their clergy actually collude in this ignorance. Do we really think that our people still believe that a star can travel through the sky so slowly that wise men can keep up with it? Can they still believe that God dictated the Ten Commandments when they discover three different and mutually contradictory versions of these Commandments in the Bible? Do they think that God simply did not get them right the first time? In the church in many places Darwin and evolution are still opposed in the name of “preserving the faith.” In academic circles evolution is the basis of biology and is assumed in the modern practice of medicine. Even when we get our flu shots we learn that the flu strains evolve from year to year to adapt to the vaccines of yesterday. In the light of what we know today about genetics and reproduction, can people still believe in the Virgin Birth as biology? In the light of what we know about what happens to a human body within minutes after it dies, can people still think of the resurrection as the resuscitation of a deceased body after three days? In the light of what we know about astrophysics and the size of our universe, can people still treat the story of the ascension of Jesus to return to God as a literal event? God has not lived above the sky in the educated Western world since the days of Galileo. Beyond these conceptual problems if people actually studied the Bible they would be well aware that these treasured books disagree with each other on very essential matters like who constituted Jesus’ twelve disciples and even on the basic details of the Easter story. There is hardly a detail in the Easter story found in one gospel that is not contradicted in another. Church leaders, who surely must be aware of these realities, seem eager not to allow it to be shared. Indeed, they tend to suppress this knowledge. Perhaps this is why there is something like a conspiracy of silence going on in our churches that prevents the knowledge available in the academy from filtering through the pulpit to engage the lives of the people in the pews. Institutional leaders, including many clergy, seem to fear that truth and scholarship might disturb the faithful and cause the institutions to decline and their revenues to drop. These leaders, perhaps fearful of controversy, need to realize that the people who are still in our churches do not live in a vacuum and that the number of people who find little or no meaning in the way Christianity is presented is increasing. Church leaders counter these realities with the assertion that the fundamentalist churches are growing and they offer this as a rationale for not doing the hard work of Christian scholarship. There is a statistical germ of truth in that assertion, but who among us thinks that ignorance will finally prevail or that cultivating an ecclesiastical fortress mentality that is resistant to new knowledge will finally succeed? Fundamentalism, in both its Catholic and its Protestant forms, is in fact increasingly ghettoized in our society today and the modern world is becoming increasingly non-religious. I still believe that Christianity can engage the modern mind in significant dialogue if we dare to take the biblical and theological knowledge that is currently available seriously. I believe that we ought not to seek to dodge, but to address the questions that impinge upon us daily from the world of knowledge. I have seen this engagement bear fruit when it has been practiced. I believe it can happen world-wide. To be a resource in this effort is why I wrote Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World. I want to make the knowledge available in the world of Christian scholarship equally available to the people in the pews and in a language they can understand. The seminary I attended had these words as its motto. “Seek the truth, come whence it may, cost what it will.” That has also been the motto of my ordained career and this book is published as a part of that same conviction. Truth and God can never be in conflict. If they are, either what we call truth is wrong or how we define God is wrong. I want us to be able to look at both possibilities.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Saturday Service Rabbi Brian’s spirituligious service Available on n Zoom, Facebook/YouTube and Audio Only Saturdays at 9:00 – 10:00 am (PT) READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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