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FW: Peru Newsletter - Shining God's Light
by Lynda C 17 Mar '21

17 Mar '21

Remembering all those who funded our travels and work around the world, I wanted to share this 2nd generation work going on in Peru and Bolivia, by Chenoa Stock and her husband Jose and son Leandro, working with the Presbyterian Church USA. A good opportunity to add our support. With care and gratitude, Lynda and John C. From: Stock Chenoa <chenoa.stock(a)pcusa.org> Reply-To: Stock Chenoa <chenoa.stock(a)pcusa.org> Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 8:59 AM To: Lynda Cock <lynda860(a)outlook.com> Subject: Peru Newsletter - Shining God's Light Greetings to you as we walk this Lenten journey together. With our Peruvian partners and the world on our hearts during these unknown and challenging times, we share our newsletter with you. View this email in your browser<https://mailchi.mp/f5ea59c654c3/peru-newsletter-shining-gods-light?e=943927…> [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/images/5552501e-b14d-42…] Thank you for your continued support of our family ministry through your prayers, messages and financial gifts. We continue to serve because of you and your accompaniment. Support Chenoa's Ministry<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b2cf12fee53…> Shining God's Light A Letter from Chenoa Stock, serving in Peru Lent/Easter 2021 Dear friends, Today, I write to you at 8,400 feet, from Cochabamba, Bolivia, my husband, José’s hometown. Like Mary and Joseph, we were called to return home to complete bureaucratic responsibilities. For years, José has been in the green card application process. As with so many things, the pandemic delayed his reaching the final step of this process: “the interview.” In December, when we received an interview date from the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia, we packed our bags, put on our face shields, and traveled to Bolivia. Like Mary and Joseph, we did not know exactly where we would be resting our heads, nor how long our stay would be. Unfortunately, the estimated time of our stay has been extended, as José’s interview was canceled in early January due to rising COVID-19 case numbers in Bolivia. What was meant to be Christmas and a few weeks of ‘Ordinary Time’ here has become a journey into Lent. Our arrival was based on hope and joy, much like Jesus’ birth for the world; and yet, as a family, as a global village, and as God’s people, we know we must sometimes walk in the darkness, waiting patiently, searching for God’s Light to reveal true Hope’s new relationship with God and those around us. As our family’s bureaucratic visit intersects with our Lenten journey, we hold on to a deep longing and expectation for strength and change amidst so much uncertainty – for our family and the world. But, thankfully, we do not carry that heavy burden alone. We continue to accompany our Peruvian partners from Bolivia as they serve vulnerable communities currently facing a second wave of COVID-19. By government decree, certain regions of Peru returned to a limited lockdown in January, and oxygen and ICU rooms are again scarce. [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/images/5bcc97e4-af8d-41…] Cecilia Ramirez Rivas, Director of CEDEMUNEP But this did not deter our partners and their commitment to their mission. We recently spoke with leaders of the Joining Hands Network partner, the Center for Development of Black Peruvian Woman (CEDEMUNEP), and learned about their work during the pandemic. CEDEMUNEP was founded 23 years ago and works to address issues of systemic racism and discrimination and to advocate at the local and international level for the empowerment of women, allowing them to find their voice and strengthen their role within society. Cecilia Ramirez, the Director of CEDEMUNEP, explains that CEDEMUNEP is a “great family,” a “network of trust, support, and advocacy.” The communities they serve would agree, as CEDEMUNEP has accompanied them throughout the pandemic by creating a COVID Committee with other institutions to facilitate outreach. They provide food baskets for vulnerable communities, as well as initiated a Biosecurity Campaign. With the support of the Peruvian Joining Hands Network, this campaign worked to offer the basic services of water and soap, as well as distribute masks, thermometers, and sanitizer. As many of these communities do not have access to the internet, smartphones, or government subsidies, they are isolated and seemingly forgotten. [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/images/55ad7fb4-18cb-4f…] [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/images/ad7c63bf-cfdd-46…] Left: CEDEMUNEP helped to deliver medical equipment to communities and hospitals in need. Right: Women of CEDEMUNEP deliver chicken to vulnerable communities in Comas, Perú. Although the way is dark, CEDEMUNEP has been able to shine God’s Light and Hope in corners where many have not ventured to go. They provide Solidarity Lunches for women, both to nourish their bodies and minds, offering emotional support, in addition to meals. Cecilia stated that CEDEMUNEP’s principle mission is focused on “teaching women to fish, not to give them the fish.” But, given these times of economic, social, and political crisis in Peru, they recognized that these communities need this direct giving for their survival. But CEDEMUNEP has not only given. Through their partnership with the Peruvian Joining Hands Network and their COVID Committee, they have learned more deeply how partnerships make a greater difference. CEDEMUNEP has worked with women to find their identities and to “re-invent” themselves. Cecilia proudly shared that, in their work, “faith is not lost.” Though many may begin without hope, they soon learn that they are loved and supported and are so much stronger than they knew. “We are a link for the women. We open a space for dialogue, but it is the women who speak. We only strengthen their gifts and abilities.” [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/images/df01f181-f764-4d…] Preparing a meal for the Solidarity Lunch in Pisco, Perú. God’s Light continues to shine, even in the shadows of an ongoing global pandemic, vaccination corruption, climate crisis, and yes, even in awaiting a green card interview. We are thankful that our arrival took place around Christmas, as it provided our family a solid and celebratory foundation for which to set up our ‘home’ here. Our Christmas lights remain hung around the front window as they bring delight to our son, Leandro, every night he turns them on. They lead to the star, hung in the center. These lights are a daily reminder for us to continue to journey through the darkness, following God’s Light towards the Star that brings us hope and new relationships with ourselves, others, and with God. [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/images/309162a2-bf6c-48…] Leandro enjoying the ever-present Light. Our partners’ endless efforts to shine and be that Light is an inspiration for me. Thank you for your support of and prayers for our ministry that allow us to accompany and learn from our partners, who shine God’s Light near and far. One way to continue your support for our partners and PC (USA) World Mission is to participate in the Matching Gift Opportunity<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b2cf12fee53…> that is being offered through Easter Sunday, April 4. Your gift will be doubled and support our ministry, as well as World Mission. You are a Light for all of us, as we know you are praying for us, sharing our stories and challenges, and shining God’s Light throughout this Lenten journey and beyond. If you would like to hear more stories or learn more about our ministry, you can sign up for my newsletters<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b2cf12fee53…>, and I am always available to share with your congregation, Bible Study groups, youth groups, etc., via pre-recorded videos or live discussions. Thank you for being our Light! Peace, Chenoa [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/video_thumbnails_new/45…]<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b2cf12fee53…> Leandro shining his light. [https://mcusercontent.com/6b2cf12fee5324d8a6278345e/images/2171c408-229a-43…] Matching Gift Opportunity!! Please consider taking part in the Matching Gift Opportunity that will be available until Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021. When you support our ministry in Peru<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b2cf12fee53…>, your gift will be matched to support God's mission around the world. Clarification for Giving: Many have recently asked me to clarify the difference between the ECO and DMS accounts for supporting my ministry. The following is an attempt to do just that. DMS (Directed Mission Support) - This account is to support the mission co-worker and is typically the account that congregations and mid-councils use. Individuals cannot use this account because according to the IRS, no person can support another person and receive a tax deduction for it. ECO (Extra Commitment Opportunity) - This is the account for individuals to use. Suitable for individuals to give to and receive a tax deduction. Click here<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b2cf12fee53…> to read any of Chenoa's past newsletters! Support Chenoa's Ministry<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b2cf12fee53…> Chenoa Stock and José Luis Claure Av Antonio Miroquesada 702, Departamento 1401 Magdalena del Mar Lima 15076 PERU chenoa.stock(a)gmail.com Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/profile?u=6b2cf12fee5324d8…> or unsubscribe from this list<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=6b2cf12fee53…> This email was sent to lynda860(a)outlook.com<mailto:lynda860@outlook.com> why did I get this?<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/about?u=6b2cf12fee5324d8a6…> unsubscribe from this list<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=6b2cf12fee53…> update subscription preferences<https://presbyterianmission.us14.list-manage.com/profile?u=6b2cf12fee5324d8…> PERUSA and Joining Hands Peru · Av Antonio Miroquesada, Dpto 1401 · Magdalena del Mar · Lima 15076 · Peru [Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp]<http://www.mailchimp.com/email-referral/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm…>

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Resources/materials available
by Ellie Stock 17 Mar '21

17 Mar '21

Hi Folks, I am clearing out some of our "library" from past studies. Attached is a list of available DVDs/CDs/books. Some of these materials are related to Cosmology/Cosmos/Understanding the Universe/Christianity and Evolution/Earth/The New Cosmology. The Great Courses DVDs/accompanying books are mostly new and come as sets and can't be broken up. Materials are free for the cost of mailing (materials rate). Email me if you are interested or have any questions. Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com

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3/11/2021, Progressing Spirit: The Rev. Roger Wolsey: The Soul of Progressive Christianity; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

| | | | | | | | | | | | The Soul of Progressive Christianity | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Roger Wolsey February 21, 2019Lent is a time where we’re invited to engage in deepened soul-searching. I’ve been feeling called to search the soul of progressive Christianity. Progressive Christianity is the post-modern influenced evolution of historic mainline liberal Christianity and is an heir to the Social Gospel movement. It takes the Bible too seriously to interpret much of it literally. It’s a focus on the religion of Jesus more than the religion about him. It embraces the insights of contemporary science; is committed to social justice including good stewardship of the Earth; celebrates the diversity of humanity including various sexes, genders, and sexualities; and doesn’t require belief in various historic doctrines of the Church. Progressive Christianity is in many ways an example of the late Dr. Phyllis Tickle’s observation that Christianity has had a major reform movement every 500 years to help it evolve and be relevant to new times and contexts. And, …progressive Christianity is very white. Before we get to the race issue, let’s remind ourselves of some backstory. Liberal Christianity and fundamentalist Christianity are two sides of the same modern era coin – both essentially arising in response to the relatively simultaneous rise of the historical-critical approach to scripture and to Darwin’s theory of the evolution of the species. In some ways liberal Christianity shared much in common with the so-called “Thomas Jefferson Bible” – his version of the New Testament with the miracles cut out, as well as portions that he felt were redundant, absurd and/or incredulous. Liberal Christianity’s concern with honoring science led it to try to explain the miracles in the Bible with appeals to science; e.g., “well the Red Sea is known to have a weather pattern that shows up occasionally where strong winds can push hard across the surface of the water, so that you could walk across it”, “Jesus could’ve used a special bag of known healing herbs and plant medicines to cure people,” etc. While progressive Christianity fully embraces the insights of science, it is less overly enamored with it and less willing to cede everything to it. Progressive Christianity is more willing to simply accept the Bible as received stories and as spiritual poetry that evokes new ways of understanding things – and not miss the forest for the trees. Moreover, progressive Christianity is less colonial and patriarchal than liberal Christianity was. Progressive Christianity is less modern and more post-modern – willing to accept that God’s fully at work in all other world religions. Progressive Christianity has more consensus that homosexuality isn’t a sin and it’s more willing to embrace paradox and mystery than liberal Christianity. Finally, it’s more eclectic and willing to draw insights, prayers, and practices from the entirety of the Christian – and even non-Christian – traditions. The term progressive Christianity was first coined by Rev. Jim Adams in 1994 upon the creation of The Center for Progressive Christianity (now ProgressiveChristianity.Org) and became more popularly used in the year 2000 upon its use in one of the late Dr. Marcus Borg’s books. Bishop John Shelby Spong was of course part of the rise and evolution of this movement. His 1991 book Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism threw a gauntlet down much in the way that the late Walter Rauschenbush’s “Christianity and the Social Crisis” did in 1907. Bishop Spong was a liberal Christian for most of his career and morphed toward and fully into progressive Christianity in the latter portion. Back to the racial matters. I’ve been engaged in shaping and advocating progressive Christianity overtly since 2007. I’ve attended and spoken at several of the Wild Goose Festivals; as well as the Embrace Festival; the Lion and the Lamb Festival; and Christianity21 conferences. I’ve blogged for Elephant Journal, Huffington Post, and Patheos and am aware of my colleagues and associates in this field – and … most all of them are white. One might be surprised that a movement that is concerned about social justice and expanding rights and liberties to more people isn’t more compelling and attractive to people of color. I’ve come to realize that such surprise and dismay on my part – comes from my place of privilege as a white person. It’s the same “dismay” that many mostly straight, white congregations have when they wonder “We don’t know why more gays, blacks, Hispanics, and young people don’t come here, …our doors are open to everyone!” Passive “openness” isn’t the same thing as intentional outreach, welcome, hospitality, inclusion, and celebration. >From my experience, I’d reckon that the vast majority of congregations that identify as embracing progressive Christianity are comprised of mostly straight, white people over 60 years of age. The same is likely true of the email list of those who subscribe to this Progressing Spirit newsletter. I’ve met many of the people who are part of such churches [and Spong’s so-called “Church Alumni Association”] and they are mostly warm, caring, intelligent, and well-read people. There’s clearly some sort of disconnect. It could be the term “progressive Christianity” is off-putting. It could also be that we’re seen as rejecting too many parts of the faith that many people are truly endeared to. Perhaps, but I suspect it primarily has to do with where many progressive Christian authors and churchgoers put the majority of our time, energy, dollars, presence, and attention. We tend to not reach out to people of color or historically black congregations when we send out our invitations to upcoming guest speaker events that our churches may host. It’s “not on our radars.” We tend to not invite people of color to be the guest speakers at our events. And we tend to not invite people to join us for worship - people of color, or really anyone for that matter. And, when it comes to worship, we tend to have great theology from our pulpits, but rather dry experiences in worship. And there’s a powerful resistance to incorporating contemporary music in many progressive Christian congregations. In fact, I’d hazard to suggest that it’s this lack of inviting and worshipful passion that we tend to convey that is what is most off-putting. We tend to be overly cerebral and less open to vigorous, palpable experiences of the Spirit in our lives or in the lives of others. As a mainline Protestant from Minnesota I can say that we’re fairly aptly considered “God’s frozen chosen.” (Yes, there are certain passionate, vivacious exceptions within our ranks, but I’m trying to make a point here ; ) Moreover, we seem to forget that some of the great innovators in shaping progressive Christianity – were black. I’d submit that the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in many ways the first progressive Christian (I’ve said that about John Wesley, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Thomas Merton too ; ). If he hadn’t been assassinated in 1968, Dr. King would be 92 today. Our beloved Bishop Spong turns 90 this June. They were contemporaries. These essays in Progressing Spirit aren’t long enough to be academic papers, so I won’t put forth a formal argument to prove anything. Instead, I’m inviting us to engage in some soul-searching. I would like to offer some documents and resources for our consideration - and toward our collective education about how progressive Christianity came to be. As we peruse them, let’s consider how Dr. King’s ideas and writings align with three sets of progressive Christian guidelines and principles: 1. The 8 Points of Progressive Christianity (put forth by ProgressiveChristianity.Org) 2. The Phoenix Affirmations 3. The Working Definition in Kissing Fish: Progressive Christianity is an approach to the Christian faith that is influenced by post-liberalism and postmodernism and: proclaims Jesus of Nazareth as Christ, Savior, & Lord; [interpreted differently than mainstream Xty] emphasizes the Way and teachings of Jesus, not merely His person; emphasizes God's immanence not merely God's transcendence; leans toward panentheism rather than supernatural theism; emphasizes salvation here and now instead of primarily in heaven, later; emphasizes being saved for robust, abundant/eternal life over being saved from hell; emphasizes the social/communal aspects of salvation instead of merely the personal; stresses social justice as integral to Christian discipleship; takes the Bible seriously but not necessarily literally, embracing a more interpretive, metaphorical understanding; emphasizes orthopraxy more than orthodoxy (right actions over right beliefs); embraces reason as well as paradox and mystery — instead of blind allegiance to rigid doctrines and dogmas; does not consider homosexuality to be sinful; and does not claim that Christianity is the only valid or viable way to connect to God (is non-exclusive) Documents re: MLK’s Progressive Views, Ideas, & Values: A. 880 Inspiring quotes by MLK B. Tillich’s influence on MLK C. MLK’s Progressive Christian Faith D. MLK’s PhD Thesis re: Tillich & Weiman E. Love & Justice in MLK F. MLK’s Theology of Social Action G. MLK drawing from Hinduism And these short pieces written by conservative Christians who don’t care for MLK: H. Was MLK a Christian? I. King was a Liberal Christian Finally, Rev. Dr. King was one of the founding members of the Progressive National Baptist Convention. See also that denomination’s website. I think you may well agree with me that Dr. King was either way ahead of his time, or that he was a person of his time who was already living out an expression of the Christian faith that takes the Bible seriously but not literally – inviting people to read themselves into the great stories of liberation; embraces the prophetic call to social justice, recognizes the inter-sectionality of various issues and dynamics; offers a generous and universalizing orthodoxy that honors how the Divine is at work in many religious and spiritual traditions in order to amass a collaborative coalition of kindred spirits; and inspires masses of people to envision a better world, a beloved community, and live it into being. Sounds like progressive Christianity. It could be that if we progressive Christians were to take the writings of brother Martin (as well as Frederick Douglass, Howard Thurman, James Baldwin, Fred Shuttlesworth, Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, Joseph Lowery, and Vincent Harding) more seriously, and to center them as obvious stepping stones – and cornerstones - in our formation, it’d both do us, mostly white, progressive Christians some (a lot) of good - and help our black peers realize we’re doing our work and finally recognizing and celebrating black contributions in our movement. This is part of the reparations work that white folk need to be doing – and in this case, similar to the work of admitting how so many white blues and rock singers appropriated (stole) the songs from the creative genius of the black musicians who wrote them. Progressive Christians who are white would also do well to notice where we live, and why we live there. My hunch is that a sizeable preponderance (perhaps even the majority) of white people who identify as progressive Christians a) are over 50 years of age; b) have a higher than average income; c) live in predominantly white communities (or at least neighborhoods); d) attend largely white congregations; e) if they’re part of a congregation, it’s one that doesn’t significantly embrace contemporary music; f) have fewer black friends (someone who we call or visit with more than four times a year) than the fingers on one hand (if that many); and g) haven’t invited anyone to experience a worship service with them in years (including online). In the midst of the trial for the officer who killed George Floyd, and in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement that necessarily continues – may we take to heart (not just to head) what faith in action really means and what orthopraxy really involves. May we engage in some needed soul-searching and experience ongoing metanoia - repentance and transformation - as we seek to help the cause of progressive Christianity be a blessing to the world. Not to survive as a movement known by that name that somehow works to ensure its own institutional longevity. But, rather, as a helpful ministry that seeks to truly help all of God’s people meaningfully, transformatively, and passionately embrace who and Whose they really are. ~ Rev. Roger Wolsey p.s. We would also do well to become aware of Rev. Carlton Pearson – a black mega-church preacher who expressed his doubts about the existence of hell, and came to embrace universal salvation (in 1994 & 2002 respectively). And also learning about the fine work of Rev. Irene Monroe; Rev. Dr. Velda Love; Rev. Dr. Jaqueline Lewis and Toni Reynolds. Read online here About the Author Rev. Roger Wolsey is a United Methodist pastor who resides in Grand Junction, CO. Roger is author of Kissing Fish: Christianity for people who don’t like Christianity and blogs for Patheos as The Holy Kiss and serves on the Board of Directors of ProgressiveChristianity.Org. Roger became “a Christian on purpose” during his college years and he experienced a call to ordained ministry two years after college. He values the Wesleyan approach to the faith and, as a certified spiritual director, he seeks to help others grow and mature. Roger enjoys yoga; playing trumpet; motorcycling; and camping with his son. He served as the Director of the Wesley Foundation campus ministry at the University of Colorado in Boulder for 14 years, and has served as pastor of churches in Minnesota, Iowa, and currently serves as the pastor of Fruita UMC in Colorado, and also serves as the "CRM" (Congregational Resource Minister/Church Consultant) for the Utah/Western Colorado District of the Mountain Sky Conference. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Judy * In general, what is the Progressive Christian understanding of the word "grace"? * Specifically, what is the grace referred to in the 5th point of Progressive Christianity, which says that Progressive Christians "Find grace in the search for understanding and believe there is more value in questioning with an open mind and open heart, than in absolutes or dogma." A: By Rev. Mark Sandlin Dear Judy, When it comes to religion, “grace” is a bit of a loaded term. That is to say, it tends to come with a lot of baggage. Because of that, it is frequently difficult to tell precisely what any given person means by it when they use it. Are they speaking theologically, biblically, colloquially, or from some other point of view? Even then, each one comes with multiple, differing understandings. I actually became a minister, in part, because of how I heard a Presbyterian minister define “grace.” He said (to the best of my memory), “Grace is that thing that pulls you through the darkness to the other side.” To me, that sounded like a warm and fuzzy bit of hocus-pocus. I mean, it didn't really say much and it certainly didn't get me any closer to an understanding of grace. I liked the fact that it moved away from the roots of the word which are tied back to the concept of receiving a gift that is unearned and undeserved. In some ways, his new-to-me definition was kind of saying that grace is not that, but knowing what something is and what it isn't are far from the same thing. At that point in time I was the IT Director for a medium size retail company and, as luck would have it I had to travel alone for six hours that day to fix a networking issue at one of our stores. I spent the entire six hours thinking about what my definition of grace would be. I ended up with something like this: Grace is a gift from God not because of our deserving of it or right to it, but rather, in spite of either. Not perfect, but it got me hooked on thinking more theologically. The reality is, “grace” means a lot of things to a lot of people and there simply is no definitive Progressive Christian Dictionary for looking up what the general Progressive Christian understanding of it is. I can, though, tell you how I currently understand it. Grace is a gift. It is a gift that opens you up toward love and fulfillment. There is no deserving or not deserving it. It just happens. It just is. For me that's what it means in our 5th point of Progressive Christianity. Learning to live in the questions rather than clinging on to the dogma, is a gift that opens us up toward love and fulfillment. There is no deserving or not deserving it. It just happens. It just is.~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Mark also serves as the President and Co-executive Director of ProgressiveChristianity.org. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Have you ever noticed how often we, as progressive Christians, have to define ourselves in negative terms; in terms of what we don’t believe rather than what we do? We don’t believe that you have to check your brains at the door of the church. We don’t take the Bible literally. We don’t tell people they are going to hell. We don’t exclude LGBTQ+ people. We have unfortunately had to respond in this way to counter what many people assume to be true about Christianity. One of the things that I appreciate the most about ProgressiveChristianity.org is that it helps progressive Christians to define our faith in positive terms, particularly through the 8 Points of Progressive Christianity. As the pastor of a progressive congregation that strives to be truly inclusive and intellectually honest, I am constantly amazed at how many people have never experienced this type of Christianity. There are so many people who have left Christianity behind, simply because the loudest voices have defined the faith in a harmful way. ProgressiveChristianity.org enables congregations and progressive people of faith to articulate their faith boldly and to counter the dominant narrative of an exclusive and often hateful faith. When you support ProgressiveChristianity.org, you help to amplify our voice so that we can transform the way that people see Christianity, the Church, and faith. Thank you so much for your generosity. Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines, Co-Executive Director Progressing Spirit and ProgressiveChristianity.org Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit 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 The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXXII: Introducing the Johannine Material Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 5, 2010The last series of books that I will consider to complete our study of the Bible’s origins is referred to as “The Johannine Literature.” It consists of five books: the Gospel of John, the three epistles, I, II and III John, and the Revelation of John. There was a time when people generally assumed that these five books were the products of the same author. That point of view has long been abandoned in academic circles. There are connections that bind the Johannine material together to be sure. I John and the Gospel of John are quite similar in content, style and word usage, sufficient to cause some scholars to assume common authorship. Others suggest that the author of the first epistle of John was writing a treatise on the gospel from which he quoted liberally and that this accounts for the similarities. There are more questions about II and III John, the texts of which claim as their author one who was known as “The Elder.” Almost no one today believes that the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John are products of the same person. There appears to have been a school of Christian thought near the end of the first century organized around a man known as John the Elder, who himself may have been a disciple of John Zebedee, which opens us to the possibility that these five books are the products of different members of that Johannine School. If that is so, it would account for the similarity found in these works as well as for the obvious differences. Although one can only be speculative about first century authors, this proposition makes more sense to me than anything else and I have adopted it until further study offers a better possibility. Without doubt the crown jewel of the Johannine literature in the Bible is the Gospel of John, frequently called the “Fourth Gospel” in academic circles. It is clearly the last of the gospels to be written. It is dramatically different from the first three, Mark, Matthew and Luke, which are known as the “synoptic gospels” and are deeply interdependent and bound together. John’s gospel, however, has exercised a disproportionate influence on the development of the Christian creeds and the doctrines that define “orthodoxy” in the western Christian Church. It is probably the favorite of most people who sit in the pews of our churches if they had to choose a favorite. It contains many passages with which church people are familiar. The Prologue, a hymn of praise to the “Logos,” translated as “word” in most English Bibles, has been the most frequently used part of the New Testament in Christian liturgies. Passages from John are the assigned reading in almost every Christian funeral — “In my Father’s house are many mansions” being the most familiar funeral line. The Fourth Gospel has created unforgettable characters that dot the landscape of the Christian imagination. One thinks of doubting Thomas, the Samaritan woman by the well, Lazarus who was raised from the dead, Mary Magdalene, alone and weeping at the tomb on Easter Day, Nicodemus who comes to Jesus by night, and the man born blind who is the hero of a long and detailed narrative. All of these figures are made vivid in our imaginations through the literary genius of the author of the Fourth Gospel. With the exception of Mary Magdalene, they are not mentioned in any other gospel, and she stands out in John in a way quite different from the synoptic accounts. Was the author of the Fourth Gospel familiar with the earlier gospels? Certainly there was a common body of tradition from which each of the gospel writers drew. We know that both Matthew and Luke incorporated great portions of Mark into their work. John certainly reveals a familiarity with the story line followed by the synoptics. All four gospels begin with the story of the adult Jesus in the presence of the figure of John the Baptist. In Mark, Matthew and Luke, John actually baptizes Jesus. John introduces John the Baptist in the proper place, but then only has him point to Jesus as the one who must increase as he decreases, but John never baptizes Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. All of the gospels conclude their narratives with a triumphal entry that we associate today with the Palm Sunday procession. The passion story of each has the account of a betrayal, arrest, crucifixion and resurrection. In Mark, Matthew and Luke, however, the only time Jesus journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem was at the time of the crucifixion, while in John Jesus goes back and forth between Galilee and Jerusalem on several occasions. Mark, Matthew and Luke treat the public ministry of Jesus as something that is told over a one-year period. John suggests that the public ministry of Jesus was up to three years in duration. We can find references that appear to point to a rather specific connection between Mark and Luke and the Fourth Gospel that suggests a possible dependence on these two as sources for John’s writing, but that is harder to do with Matthew. Yet despite all these similarities and connections, there are some very real differences between John and the other three gospels. There is no story in John of Jesus’ miraculous or “virgin birth.” On two occasions, in chapters 1 and 5, John’s gospel refers to Jesus as “the son of Joseph.” Jesus delivers no parables in John. The teaching of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel comes in long, somewhat convoluted theological discourses. John records no agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but rather has Jesus walk resolutely toward his crucifixion, which he expects to be his moment of glorification. The “High Priestly prayer” in John, chapter 17, appears to be John’s version of Jesus’ prayer “Let this cup pass from me” found in the synoptics. There is no account of the Last Supper in John; instead we read the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. John denies that the Last Supper was the Passover, while the earlier three gospels claimed that it was. John is the only gospel writer who places the mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross to watch the crucifixion. She is simply not present in the other gospels, a fact that renders most of Mel Gibson’s motion picture, “The Passion of Christ,” to be almost biblically illiterate and that also calls into question the accuracy of most of the piety of the ages that revolve around the Virgin Mary. Miracles present in the three synoptic gospels are turned into “signs” in John. The resurrection of Jesus in John is quite physical, sufficient to have Thomas be invited to touch the print of the nails in Jesus’ hands and feet and to thrust his hand into the wound in Jesus’ side, a wound that only John describes. In these details John is closer to Luke, whose resurrected Jesus asked the disciples to handle him because ghosts do not have flesh. This put John, however, into opposition with Paul, Mark and possibly Matthew, all of whom suggest that the risen Christ represents a new dimension of life and even of consciousness that transcends the realm of the physical. Indeed, the differences between the Fourth Gospel and the earlier three are so significant that a harmonization of the gospel tradition into a single theology of Jesus is almost impossible. In common language, Mark presents us with a fully human Jesus upon whom God’s Spirit was poured at his baptism, making him a God-infused, but still human life, while John suggests that Jesus was the pre-existent word of God, enfleshed in the life of Jesus. The Jesus of Mark can cry from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” The Jesus of John ends his life with the pronouncement, “It is finished,” which replicates the original creation story and portrays Jesus as the author of the New Creation. For John, Jesus is never separated from God: “The Father and I are one,” John’s Jesus says. When the Fellows at the Jesus Seminar were doing their work aimed at determining the authenticity of the words of Jesus recorded in the four gospels, they came to and published their conclusion, that only 16% of the words attributed to Jesus in the entire gospel tradition were actually spoken by him, which of course means that 84% were not. It is of interest to note that none of the words attributed to Jesus by John were deemed to be in the 16% that they claimed represented the authentic words of the Jesus of history. Yet, even if that judgment is correct (and as one fellow in the Jesus Seminar, I find no reason to argue with that conclusion) I still concur in the opinion that John’s gospel captures the essence of the Jesus experience more profoundly than any other part of the New Testament. That experience, however, simply cannot be contained within the boundaries of literalized human words. So I think of John as the least literal, but the most profoundly true of the four canonical gospel writers. I will return to this claim in subsequent columns to put more flesh on its bare bones. I doubt if there is any biblical book about which we could say that we have in the present, surviving text of that book the exact words the original author actually wrote. Things hand copied over a number of centuries lend themselves to the probability of having words edited, added and even deleted. The Gospel of John is no different. There are three textual conclusions about John that have gained wide, almost universal support. One is that chapters five and six need to be reversed. In their present order, they make no contextual sense. The second is that the beautiful story in chapter eight of Jesus standing between the woman taken in the act of adultery and her accusers is not and never was part of the original text of John’s gospel. The third is that chapter 21 is an appendix, an epilogue that was added later to the gospel and was not part of the original. I assume the truth of these three textual insights. With this introduction, I will turn now to look at John’s gospel then I will move on to John’s epistles and finally I will close this study with a look at the book the Revelation of John So stay tuned. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Humanity 360: Environmental Concerns That Affect Us All – and What we can do with it. Start Date: March 15, 2021 - Cost: $30 - 4 weeks Our ultimate goal is to awaken each participant to a sense of agency and self-determination. An understanding of how each issue can be addressed through action and engagement and how this in turn leads to a greater inner sense of fulfillment and purpose. 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Tragic Investment
by Terry Bergdall 10 Mar '21

10 Mar '21

As many of you know, the ICA Global Research Network is offering numerous opportunities for participation in upcoming book studies, podcasts, and discussions, etc. I would like to call your attention in particular to the four part series on James Addington’s book, TRAGIC INVESTMENT, that will commence on April 6, 2021. The series will delve into many relevant questions like: • How do we repair the damage done to communities as a result of our racial history? • Is racial oppression related to our ability to respond to ecological challenges? Addington suggests that racism harms us all, and he pays particular attention to the subtle ways white people are damaged. He also suggests that race sabotages the nation’s capacity to negotiate the challenges the future poses. Explore how overcoming racism and shaping a sustainable, resilient society are bound together in Tragic Investment. To register, simply send an email to < inaRja(a)comcast.net <mailto:inaRja@comcast.net>>. For more information, see https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/ <https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/> Best wishes to all around the world, Terry Bergdall

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(no subject)
by ICA International 05 Mar '21

05 Mar '21

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... And please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: March 2021 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-21/2021-03-01.php Read the latest ICAI Winds & Waves Magazine brought to you now on Medium.com See here: https://medium.com/winds-and-waves ICAI Communications

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CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH of the 2021 Global Schedule of Events
by Karen Snyder 05 Mar '21

05 Mar '21

The 2021 Global Schedule of Events four-month pilot (March-June) has officially begun. These events are led by or recommended by ICA colleagues. When you go to this website: icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events <http://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events>. you will find event offerings in four categories. · Purple: Reflections on books, talks, movies, podcasts, YouTube presentations. · Green: Conversations on topics resulting in new perspectives and actions. · Gold: In depth learning, training programs, and methods creation · Blue: Global, national and local gatherings available online. Check out March’s calendar to see what events are of interest to you, and then sign up for them! If you are interested in hosting an event, recommending other events, or giving feedback to this experiment, email us at icaglobalschedule(a)gmail.com <mailto:icaglobalschedule@gmail.com>. Alan Gammel Virginia Kanyognya Karen Snyder Sunny Walker

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IMAGE Publication - Missing Issues No Dates
by Beret Griffith 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

*IMAGE An early journal of the Ecumenical Institute 1963-1983 *Journal of the Ecumenical Institute - A division of the Church Federation of Greater Chicago Three issues of* IMAGE *cannot be found in the archives. If anyone happens to still have a copy please let Karen and myself know. Beret ___________________________________________________ The following issues of IMAGE are not in the archive collection in Chicago. *IMAGE #03*: Educating the Imagination of Modern Youth (*Unavailable*) *IMAGE #04: *EI Mission, Programme, Fifth City Presuppositions, Order ( *Unavailable*) *IMAGE #05:* Declaration of the Spirit Movement of the People of God Century Twenty (*Unavailable*)

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Adam Lingo and UnLadylike2020.com
by Lynda C 27 Feb '21

27 Feb '21

Found this in drafts from January. Maybe part of it was sent before. Generational and Gender Equality as parts of underrepresentation: You have to look hard at The Team at the very bottom of the link https://unladylike2020.com/where-are-the-women/<https://unladylike2020.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7ac0586f8a3a7248f…> to see that Adam Lingo is one of the film photographers of these 26 short films. Bookmark this to come back to in short bursts if you haven’t already seen some of these. Share with other educators. Share that there is in-service credit for participating in the Summit. Adam Lingo Editor Adam Lingo is an independent editor with experience in the short & long form documentary worlds. He is excited to work on projects that challenge and explore our shared humanity. His significant credits include the PBS verité documentary series 180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School (2014 Peabody award), numerous large and small format videos for the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016), the PBS Frontline: Blackout in Puerto Rico (2019 Loeb Award), Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius for the PBS American Masters Series (1999), and Great Books: The Autobiography of Malcolm X for the Learning Channel (1999 national Emmy nomination).

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Global Buzz reminder
by ICA International 26 Feb '21

26 Feb '21

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

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2/25/2021, Progressing Spirit: Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers: Saving God From Religion; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 25 Feb '21

25 Feb '21

| | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Saving God From Religion | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers February 25, 2021 Let’s be clear, this is an audacious idea. Writing a book about God is an audacious project. In fact, claiming to know anything about God is more than audacious—it is intellectual blasphemy. So, to begin, let me be clear. I have no idea what I am talking about. Nor do I possess even a shred of secret, spiritual information about God that is not available to anyone, or to everyone. Being a recently retired, lifelong parish minister (a “man of God” in the old patriarchal language) provides me no special knowledge either. Nor does being a person of prayer and meditation. Nor does it help to have advanced degrees in rhetoric, or to have published other books about Jesus and progressive Christianity. The Divine Mystery is not a rational idea; it is “trans-rational.” Indeed, not even being a white man of privilege, with tenure no less, is an advantage. It may be a disadvantage. All of which is to say that such a project should not be attempted. Do not write a book about God. When I told my wife that this was exactly what I planned to do, she responded, “That’s great, Robin. At least you picked a small, manageable topic.” No wonder it took five years. Books about God make editors nervous. They do not sell as well as books about Jesus. Both scholars and the reading public are prone to pick up such books and feel slightly nauseous. Why? Books about God usually fall into one of two categories: 1) An extended “proof” that God does in fact exist, since that is what the author believed to begin with. Or 2) an extended proof that God does not in fact exist, since that is what the author believed to begin with. Both things, of course, cannot be true. Such an approach was never my intention, however, since “existence” when it comes to God has never made sense to me. I have spent my life as an ordained “a-theist” (a non-theist). Why? Because everything that “exists” once did not, was brought into being by something that preceded it, and will one day cease to exist—hardly things that most people are comfortable believing about God. Neither does it make sense that humans could have a subject/object relationship with that which is beyond knowing or naming—unless, of course, we have created God in our own image--the opposite of imago dei--that beautiful idea that we are created in God’s image. Creating God in the image of humans, however, is exactly what we have done. Look no further than the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s most famous fresco, the creation of Adam, depicts the most iconic image of God in the western world. God is a white, bearded European elder, surprisingly buff, who is surrounded by a heavenly bevy of attendants, one of whom is embraced by Godfather God as if she is a gift that is about to be offered to Adam. Is that Eve, or is it Mary? Art historians are not certain, but the real focus has always been on the world’s most famous “gap”—the space between God’s outstretched hand reaching down to touch Adam’s hand, where their fingers do not quite touch. Theology has been “minding” that gap for centuries, promising to bridge it. Granted, many people reading this will say that they do not believe, at least intellectually, that God is an old White Guy in the Sky. Yet studies have shown that until an old image is replaced by a new one, the original image remains. It is the default image, if you will, and evidence abounds that we are still stuck with this default image of God. “He” is male (just listen to our liturgies, even in progressive churches); “He” is white (just look at much of the church art hanging in the vestibule), and more dangerous still, “He” is a kind of the heavenly vending machine (handing out favors to God’s chosen, while ignoring, or punishing everyone else—the unchosen?). God in western theological models is William Blake’s Nobodaddy. He is a heavenly Partisan, the fearsome and petulant head of the cosmic household, a jealous tyrant who must be appeased with gifts of supplication (obedience, prayers, praise) in order that “His” subjects may be restored to their right relationship with Daddy—who, for some strange reason, wants or needs to be worshipped? These traits remind us of many earthly fathers, of course, or kings, or authoritarian politicians, and that is no accident. Western God language is profoundly monarchical, as we crawl into the sovereign’s throne room with our petitions, unworthy wretches, or worms, that tremble as they seek divine favor or beg for forgiveness. What’s more, “His” eye never sleeps, and he is perpetually disappointed in what “He” sees. Consider that our image of God is not all that different from our image of Santa Claus: He sees you when you're sleeping/He knows when you're awake/He knows if you've been bad or good/ So be good for goodness sake! There is another way to think about the Sacred Mystery, however. It is more consistent with many Eastern religious traditions where God is not a “being” at all, but rather no-thing. Instead of God being just a bigger version of you and me, perhaps God is the animating Spirit of everything that does exit, a kind of evolutionary insurgency in the universe, a Primal Memory of the Big Bang, a transcendent, sacred Mystery that does not initiate discriminatory action, but is action and change itself. What if we are “entangled” in what Barbara Brown Taylor called The Luminous Web, where all actions have consequences, physical and spiritual. To assume otherwise, to think that any of us are exempt from the consequences of our actions, is sin, because separation is sin, as Paul Tillich put it. What if the life of faith means acknowledging and embracing the life of spiritual entanglement, and the time has come for the church to replace a theology of obedience with a theology of consequence? By their fruits you shall know them. Strange as it sounds, what if God does not do anything, but without God nothing gets done? What if, as quantum theory suggests, the universe is made up of “non-local stuff?” What if there is a spiritual version of string theory, so that instead of a God who pulls strings, God is the string? Since human being are always claiming to know what God is up to, and those claims have done great harm (as when a pastor tells a grieving mother that God wanted her baby in heaven early), wouldn’t it be better to think of God as up to nothing in the world? Wouldn’t this solve the problem of evil? What if quantum entanglement proves that everything really is connected to everything else—beyond time and space—in ways that baffled even Einstein? And what if, as chaos theory posits, there are no variables too small to change the outcome of complex systems? In other words, what if what we do, down to the smallest choices we make every day, chains out in an infinite and incomprehensible dance of cause-and-effect—rippling across the luminous web for good or for ill like the proverbial stone tossed into the pond? What if that Luminous Web is God? What’s more, what if—since we can never know what the ultimate aggregate of any single action may turn out to be—we could return personal responsibility to the life of faith, rejecting the idea that we are helpless and must be rescued. What if Process Theologians are correct when they imagine that even God is evolving? What if, instead of pretending that faith means believing things we know are not true in order to get rewards we doubt are available, we could return to the servant model of just trying to do the right thing. What if, in our small corner of the universe, we acted in love and then trusted in a “this-worldly” faith that Bonhoeffer called “religionless” Christianity? Dr. King called it the “moral arc of the universe.” He endorsed the “entangled spiritual life” as opposed to our intensely privatized, individualized gospel when he said, “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” Perhaps God is not, and never was, an Old Man in the Sky. Rather, God is something closer to Pure Relationship. When we enter into that relationship by trusting in the power of unconditional love, risking forgiveness, offering mercy with no strings attached, imagining the plight of others as if we were the other, and making the world a safer and more welcoming place for the weak and disenfranchised, then we act in faith. Freed from dogma and doctrine, we could stop believing stuff to get stuff, and live by trusting the power of the choices we make entangled in the Luminous Web. It is, after all, trust—not certainty—that makes us “believers.” ~ Rev. Dr. Robin R. Meyers Read 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 at Oklahoma City University, and Adjunct Professor of Homiletics at Phillips Theology Seminary. His is a fellow at Westar, a member of the God Seminar, and his most recent book is Saving God from Religion: A Minister’s Search for Faith in a Skeptical Age. Visit website here: RobinRexMeyers.com | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Oskar I'm agnostic and if it's true there is no hell it would be a relief, but this has raised some questions: What about those who have sinned? What happens to those who have broken some of God's rules or do you not believe in sin either? Or, if you are a guy like me, who couldn’t make up his mind that God does or does not exist? Or what about the very bad men in human history like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc? How will God deal with those mad men who have taken the lives of billions of peoples? Why doesn't God help our world, why does he let there be so much pain and suffering? A: By Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Dear Oskar, I feel the angst in each of your questions. They are so profound that piles of writings throughout history have attempted to chip away at them. First, I’d like to thank you for your vulnerability in voicing them. Second, I’d like to apologize. While I do intend to provide you with a response, I won’t be offering an answer. When it comes to matters of God, I simply despise black and white answers. Even more, I hate how often people assume they have them. While I resonate with these questions and continue to ask them myself, moving away from dualistic thinking has ultimately revived my faith. It’s not that I stopped having questions. I simply stopped needing answers to navigate my spirituality. I take comfort in Jesus, who very rarely gave hard and fast answers, and more often offered nuanced responses. Those who followed him were the ones willing to accept a faith paradigm where love and action in the present moment were more important than doctrine, prescriptions and future kin-doms. Jesus was about bringing heaven to earth now, and I believe this is the urgent work we have before us as well. As a result, I am less concerned with hypothetical what-ifs and more concerned with building the world I want to see right now. When I was taking my final course of seminary, I was asked to write an essay presenting a theological take on hell. I was filled with such angst over this assignment, not only did I skip writing it altogether, but I also didn’t show up to class on the day it was due. This resulted in the only “B” grade I received in my otherwise “perfect” seminary education. I know it sounds ridiculous, irresponsible, and even immature of me. But you see, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pretend to have concrete answers where I don’t believe they exist. And ten years later, I continue to believe it is unhelpful to provide answers to some of these theoretical questions. Instead, I choose to lean into embodied responses, which most often look like solidarity. And I do offer you my deepest solidarity. I have asked all your same questions at one time or another. Often, I find myself revisiting them. Wrestling and feeling lost; feeling peace and knowing fullness - these are cycles I’ve learned to receive with joy. They remind me I am human. They remind me I am normal (sort of, ha!). They remind me that this mystical Christ-space is right where I want to be. I am not a typical pastor. I have no interest in filling in the blanks for people. I am sorry I don’t have the best answers for you, but I do hope my response can be helpful as you piece together the puzzle of your own faith journey. If it helps, I have faith you are exactly where you need to be. ~ Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt is a pastor, writer, paradigm-shifter, and sacred spacemaker. She is an imago-dei enthusiast who finds real joy in helping people live into the fullness of their God-given divine image. Find her on Instagram or Twitter @revaureliajoy where she shares pastoral care nuggets for deconstructing Christians and people of faith. Aurelia is the Lead Pastor as well as a founder of Peace of Christ Church. She is the co-creator and co-host of the Nuance Tea Podcast, where she is redefining what it means to be a clergywoman of color. Aurelia is president of the Board for the Nevertheless She Preached conference and a regular contributor at Progressing Spirit. She is a licensed master of social work who currently serves on the Board of Advocates at the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. | | | | | | | | 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 relies heavily on the good will of donors. We want to continue to bring you the messages of progressive Christians via our Progressing Spirit Newsletter; however, the fact is, the cost of a subscription goes towards paying our authors. We therefore rely your generosity - specifically, if you are in a position to contribute to our efforts, we would be grateful for your donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit 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 The Origins of the New Testament, Part XXX: The Epistle to The Hebrews Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong July 22, 2010 We do not know who wrote it. We do not know the date of its composition. We do not know to whom this book in the Bible was actually written. We are clear that it was not authored by Paul. It was certainly not written as a letter or an epistle. Its format is much more that of an address, a lecture or a sermon. The “Hebrews” to whom this work is addressed do not even appear to be Hebrews, at least not in a religious sense. They were, rather, Jewish Christians — that is, people of Jewish background who had become followers of Jesus. They had roamed far from the strict orthodoxy of traditional Judaism, but they were still deeply familiar with and committed to Jewish liturgical practices. They were Hellenized and breathed deeply of the Greek culture that had spread over the known world from the time of the conquest by Macedonia in the forth century BCE under the leadership, first, of King Philip II and later of his son, Alexander the Great. This letter to the Hebrews was written in Greek, not Aramaic, the language of traditional Judaism. It nonetheless reveals a deep and significant connection to the Hebrew Scriptures, but it is noteworthy that, whenever the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes these scriptures, it does so from the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament done about 250 years before the birth of Jesus. Where these Greek-speaking, dispersed Hebrews lived when they received this book cannot be determined. The guesses as to the time of its writing range from the late 60’s CE at the earliest to about 140 CE at the latest. The weight of opinion, however, would fix its date no earlier than the late 80’s and no later than 100 CE. The Epistle of Clement, a well-known piece of early Christian writing which is generally dated in the middle years of the tenth decade, does in fact quote the book of Hebrews. This should provide us with an outer limit, but the proposed date of Clement is itself also widely debated, though most would gravitate to around 96 CE. All we can really do is to peruse the text of this book and learn whatever we can from its content about both its author and its audience. The atmosphere reflected in the Epistle to the Hebrews is tense. It speaks of those who are in danger of drifting away (2:1). It mentions those who have fled for refuge (6:18). It urges its hearers to hold fast to their confession of hope without wavering (10:23). It refers to those who have the need of endurance (10:36). It urges perseverance in the race or task set before them (12:1). Finally, it assures its readers that since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, their hearts should be strengthened by grace (13:8-9). Many scholars suggest that this level of tension in the Christian community reflects the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, which ravaged the Church between 81and 96, making the latter years of this reign our best guess for the date of the composition of Hebrews. The recipients of this treatise seem to reflect one constituency in the evolving Christian Church. While Christianity was born in a Jewish womb as a Jewish movement within the synagogue, it turned, primarily under the influence of Paul and of Paul’s followers like Luke, Timothy and Titus, into being more and more a gentile religion. This fact served to make it harder and harder for some of the earliest disciples of Jesus, who were traditional Jews, to continue to live and worship inside the Christian movement. That is a reality that has been replicated again and again in religious history. Growth always marginalizes the original members who feel left behind, and thus not part of the present consensus. They no longer felt that they fitted into what Christianity was becoming. They were tempted to pull away from their Christian convictions and were tempted to return to the Judaism of their childhood. The author of this book sought to dissuade them from this step by demonstrating the superiority of Christianity to traditional Judaism. The way this author chose to do that is quite telling. A significant holy day in the life of the synagogue was Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement. It came in the fall of the year and was observed with a 24-hour vigil of solemn penitence and somber mood. The liturgy focused on two animals that were brought to the high priest. Both animals had to reflect what the Jewish people yearned to be, physically perfect in body and morally perfect in mind and spirit. These two animals could be lambs or goats, or one of each, and they were gone over scrupulously by the high priest until he was assured first that they were perfect physical specimens; they could have no scratches, blemishes, scars or broken bones. Secondly, they were deemed to be morally perfect since they lived below the level of human freedom and were thus incapable of choosing to do evil. One of these animals, normally a lamb, was then slaughtered in a sacrificial, liturgical manner and its blood was smeared on the mercy seat of God in the Temple’s Holy of Holies. This blood was believed to possess cleansing power. Through the blood of this perfect lamb of God, the people believed they could now stand before God on this one day despite their sinfulness. They came to God “through the blood of the lamb” that washed their sins away. The second animal, referred to in Leviticus as a goat, was then brought into the assembly of the people and placed before the high priest who, taking the goat’s horns began to confess the sins of the people. The sins of the people were thus said to come out of the people and to land on the head and back of this goat, making this goat the bearer of the people’s sins. This animal was then banished from the assembly and run into the wilderness, leaving the people symbolically cleansed from their sins. This goat was called “the scapegoat” for he bore the sins of the people and vicariously endured the fate the people had earned for themselves. There is no doubt that the liturgy of Yom Kippur was instrumental in interpreting the Jesus experience among the earliest Jewish Christians. Echoes of this connection are found throughout the New Testament. Paul uses this Yom Kippur formula when he wrote in I Corinthians 15 that “Jesus, (like the lamb of Yom Kippur) died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.” Mark makes reference to this liturgical understanding when he wrote (10:45) that Jesus, like the lamb of Yom Kippur, gave his life as a “ransom” for many. When John the Baptist sees Jesus for the first time in the Fourth Gospel, he called him “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” a phrase lifted almost verbatim from the Yom Kippur liturgy. It was this understanding that later got incorporated into substitutionary theories of the atonement, which found expression in the Protestant mantra, “Jesus died for my sins!” and is referenced when Catholics refer to the Eucharist as “the sacrifice of the Mass.” The mass thus makes timeless the sacrifice of Jesus as the lamb of God, to take away the sins of the people. The author of the letter to the Hebrews was thus writing to discouraged Jewish Christians, who no longer felt at home in predominantly Gentile worshipping communities, hoping to prevent their return to the fold of Judaism. One cannot go back, he argues, to the ineffective sacrifice of the lamb at Yom Kippur, which has to be repeated annually because it affects nothing permanently. Yom Kippur, he contends, only expresses a yearning for change; it does not itself create change. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, he argues, did in fact break the power of sin that made sacrifices necessary in the first place. We can now enter the presence of God, the author of Hebrews argues, just as we are with all our warts and shortcomings visible, for in the cross of Calvary the love of God accepted the offering of the new lamb of God, embraced us in our sinfulness and transformed us by assuring us that nothing we can do and nothing we can be will finally separate us from the love of God seen in Christ Jesus. This was the message Jesus lived because he reached out in accepting love even to those who betrayed him, denied him, forsook him, tortured him and killed him. In the death of Jesus on the cross, a once-and-for-all act was accomplished, which brought God and human kind together in a new creation. So, he concluded, if one leaves the Christian faith to return to Judaism, one is actually leaving the sacrifice that made all future sacrifices unnecessary in favor of a sacrifice that must be repeated annually. Jesus was the perfect offering for which God yearned, while the Yom Kippur animals were only a symbol of the eternal human yearning to be whole. Thus, this writer argued that in the sacrifice of Christ all sacrifices were brought to an end and all human beings can now become new creations in the oneness of God. It is to our ears a strange argument, but it resonated with the audience to whom it was first addressed. The author of Hebrews also likens the priesthood of Jesus, not to the high priests of Jewish worship, but to the eternal priesthood of a figure named Melchizadek mentioned in the book of Genesis. His priesthood was without beginning or ending. Perhaps this is the place when the idea of pre-existence first entered the Christian story. In this paradigm, the Christ is at one and the same time both the new sacrifice and the sacrificing high priest. It was an argument based on ancient worship patterns, but it must have impressed some contemporary leaders since this book was quickly incorporated into the Canon of Christian scriptures. Yet, as the Church became more and more Gentile, the power of this argument faded. Today it sounds like another version of the old religious cliché: “My God is superior to your God!” In its day, however, it stated the essential Christian claim that all people can come into the presence of God “just as I am without one plea,” which is, I believe, the one irreducible Christian claim. Yet, strange as it seems, some parts of the Christian Church still deny that the love of God is extended to all regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or even creed. The Epistle to the Hebrews ultimately proclaims that there are no boundaries on the love of God. That is a worthy message, even when couched in an archaic form. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Tree of Life Training - 7 Steps to Living your Soul’s Mission & Purpose ONLINE dates: Feb 26-28, March 26-28, April 23-25, May 14-16 Over 4 intensive weekends you will connect deeply with your Soul’s Purpose and create a Soul Action Plan to manifest your Mission and create the Life you Love. Read On... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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