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Love, Eva (note from Eva Stock Neszpaul)
by Ellie Stock 29 Jan '20

29 Jan '20

from Eva (Stock Neszpaul): Thank you everyone, for your prayers, encouragement and words of comfort. You are brilliant, God- loving and God -loved friends/family who are a testament to the fact that life is indeed good- no matter our setbacks and sufferings. Your selfless support has meant everything to us Stocks. As you pray for us, our prayers are with you as well. Love, healing, and blessed because you are in our lives and a part of this world,Eva P.S. "Our strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord."

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Global Buzz reminder
by ICA International 29 Jan '20

29 Jan '20

Reminder for entries This reminder is for the Global Buzz that will be published February 5th. 2020 (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 fevrier 2020 (Veuillez envoyer vos entrées au moins une journée à l'avance) Veuillez envoyer toutes vos entrées maintenant par courriel ordinaire à : inform(a)ica-international.org avec votre entrée comme un attatchment. Envoyer les détails des articles de nouvelles, des programmes de formation, vos connexions peer to peer avec d'autres CIAS, de toute préoccupation que vous pourriez avoir et de tous les événements qui sont à venir à votre emplacement. Votre rapport peut être longue ou courte, mais rappelez-vous que toutes les autres CIAS aimerait vraiment savoir à propos de choses qui importe où vous êtes et ce que vous faites comme une ICA. Recordatorio de las entradas Este aviso es para el Global Buzz que se publicarán 5 febrero 2020 (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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1/23/20, Progressing Spirit: Matthew Sydal: Christian Imagination and the Return to Myth; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 23 Jan '20

23 Jan '20

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.yiv7491073994mcnTextContent, #yiv7491073994 #yiv7491073994templateHeader .yiv7491073994mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7491073994 #yiv7491073994templateBody .yiv7491073994mcnTextContent, #yiv7491073994 #yiv7491073994templateBody .yiv7491073994mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv7491073994 #yiv7491073994templateFooter .yiv7491073994mcnTextContent, #yiv7491073994 #yiv7491073994templateFooter .yiv7491073994mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Myth is the foundation of life. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Christian Imagination and the Return to Myth | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Matthew Syrdal January 23, 2020 “Myth is the foundation of life; it is the timeless pattern, the religious formula to which life shapes itself… Whereas in the life of mankind the mythical represents an early and primitive stage, in the life of an individual it represents a late and mature one.” - Thomas Mann As a boy of ten, I will always remember a sacred encounter with a large male orca, the elder of its pod, breaching right off the starboard side of our boat on a summer trip with my family. Its six foot tall dorsal fin rising silently, then descending, splitting the black surface of the body of the Salish Sea mere meters from my elated wind-drowned shouts. As this numinous image plunged back into the mysterious depths of my memory, it left an indelible mark on my soul — a wake of wildness rippling through the coastlands of my ripening identity — like a story that was waiting to be overheard so that it might one day be spoken in human tongue. Childhood numinous experiences connect the outer wildness of an untamed world, teeming with the wondrous treasures of biodiversity, with our own inner wildness. A wildness that both mirrors, and is mirrored by, the deep world itself. Children who are raised with free time in nature exploring the outdoors will learn the magic of kinship with the more-than-human world. Our childhood imaginations effortlessly absorb whispers from this living world untamed by culture, untainted by the concerns and projects of our ‘civilized’ world. >From my early childhood experiences of the totemic imagery of native Pacific Northwest coastal tribes, and from their diverse stories, I have always been drawn to myth. Throughout history, myth has functioned to help humans remember who we are in relation to a whole ecology of place. Our storied relationship within the intricate and delicate web of the more-than-human world — with the wild itself. The ‘wild’ is that which is pure, uncontrolled, unmanaged, untamed nature. By wildness we might assume there is something inherent in all natural systems: an original, primordial wisdom, a deeper pattern, or blueprint, in all earth processes, bioregions and species — including the human — moving towards some mysterious, yet wild, equilibrium. From our own creation accounts in Genesis and the prologue to John’s gospel, we find an indigenous sophia-logos that is both evocative and liturgical. In the beginning was the speech, the singing, the courtship. This living Mystery and Myth of our origins, it seems, is coded into our cellular memory—our bodies, our DNA—by way of image and archetype. These basic universal energetic patterns appear in myths across all cultures and languages. It seems to me that over the centuries, theology and doctrine have domesticated and deadened our attunement to the poetic and mythic that since the beginning is even now creating worlds full of astonishing beauty and meaning. To be fully human, that is, to follow the path of individual maturation—our own ontogeny as a species—is to become allured by the deeper mysteries of nature and the soul. It is to be summoned on a dangerous quest to find, what Jesus cryptically referred to as, the kingdom hidden like treasure in the field. This quest is the journey of individuation coded into the mythic structure of Jesus’ parables and actions. There is a certain image or energy latent in each of us, conjured by crisis, loss, or maturation, alluring us into the dismemberment and darkness we previously denied and avoided in the ‘first half’ of our lives. As Sanford writes, “There is an inner reality within each of us that is like a great treasure lying hidden in the field of our soul waiting to be discovered. (John Sanford, Dreams: God’s Forgotten Language)” When we finally find this inner treasure, and recognizes its supreme value, with wild joy we will give up all other goals and ambitions in order to make it real in our lives. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field. When someone found it, in their joy they hid it again, and then went away and sold everything they had to buy that field.” “Losing,” “searching” and “finding” are symbolic themes that create a dreamlike thread running through many of Jesus’ parables. Dreams of becoming lost, losing car keys, searching for spouse or children, are common themes for many of us. The parables of the Treasure in the field and the Pearl of great price form one unit that function to amplify the meaning of each other. (Matthew 13:44-46) In the first parable of the Treasure hidden in the field, the “kingdom” is a treasure that we must search for and find. In the very next parable, which amplifies the first, the kingdom is compared to a merchant who is searching for something of great value. In this parable of the Pearl of great price, we are the pearl, we are the treasure found by the kingdom of heaven. I believe the paradox of this parable lies at the heart of the split in the West from the realm of nature and the soul, the kingdom. The kingdom is both that which we find within, the inner treasure of our true Life, and also that which is searching to find us. The kingdom is a living reality—it is what I call, the Deep World. Sanford says, when we are found we become something of “supreme value in the eyes of God. We are the fine pearls if the kingdom can take root within us, and to us God gives a place of supreme value in his creation. (Sanford, Dreams)” As an indigenous Messiah, Jesus was one who listened deeply to the song of Creation, to the living dialogue that is in the beginning, the heartbeat of the universe itself. In this sense, Jesus was the mythteller of the community he was forming around his own ministry of power, healing, and renewal. His parables of the kingdom of heaven are stories that have always existed, in the soul of the world, waiting to be heard, ‘whoever has ears, let them hear.’” As I have written in a previous article Rewilding Our Narrative, “The key to our uniquely human role as homo poeta, in the evolution of the universe seems to be in the power of our story-telling, meaning-making in the cultivation of the world — the power to tell ourselves stories about who we are, and what we really are, our ultimate place in the world.” In the beginning was the Logos, the Speech, the Singing, the living Story actively creating meaning and life itself. Myth is the ecology of the soul and the world itself. As Sean Kane explains, “myth is in effect a whole ecology holding itself in place in a part of the world, and expressing itself through the storytelling of local humanity.” (Wisdom of the Mythtellers, 51) Myth in the oral form of passing on of stories from generation to generation—“take their inspiration, not from texts, temples or other monuments at the center of the human effort, but from the life of nature surrounding it.” Reimagining the bounds of the ‘kingdom of heaven’ to include Earth and cosmos, body and soul, as well as spirit, requires the courage to deconstruct our cultural and anthropocentric distortions of our inherited patriarchal theology that had become severed from its rootedness in the natural world, the Creation. What is needed is a return to the primal pattern of myth, image, and imagination. As Moses says in Deuteronomy 30 “the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction… this day I invoke the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life…” (vv. 14-19). We are at a turning point in our history where we must make a choice, and our choice affects the viability of our future as a species. To paraphrase, language has the power to domesticate or to rewild the soul of the community and the more-than-human community. In order to restore biodiversity on our planet, and enhance life for future generations of species including our own, it is important to become educated and involved in conservation efforts. But this alone is not enough. The renewal of the Christian imagination and return to myth invites us to radically reconceive our identity and role as a species for such a time as this. We are now being called to rewild the very stories we tell ourselves about what we are and what the world is. We must reclaim the wild roots of the Christian story. We must choose to rewild the Way. ~ Rev. Matthew Syrdal Read online here About the Author Rev. Matthew Syrdal M.Div., lives in the front range of Colorado with his beautiful family. Matt is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian church (USA), founder and lead guide of WilderSoul and Church of Lost Walls and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild. Matt speaks at conferences and guides immersive nature-based experiences around the country. In his years of studying ancient Christian Rites of Initiation, world religions, anthropology, rites-of-passage and eco- psychology Matt seeks to re-wild what it means to be human. His work weaves in myth and ceremony in nature as a way for people to enter into conversation with the storied world in which they are a part. Matt’s passion is guiding others in the discovery of “treasure hidden in the field” of their deepest lives cultivating deep wholeness and re-enchantment of the natural world to apprentice fully and dangerously to the kingdom of god. Matt has been coaching, and guiding since becoming a certified Wild Mind nature-based human development guide through the Animas Valley Institute and is currently training to become a soul initiation guide through the SAIP program. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By John I subscribed to your messages and to expand the understanding of God through Jesus because of the open-hearted, loving messages of John Shelby Spong and several others that I had read. Lately, it seems to have many messages spewing hatred toward white, heterosexual males like me. I agree with the general premise that people who look like me have dominated and abused the world, and I am working for change much to the chagrin of many people who know me. Today’s message insists Jesus was an African, but nobody really knows. By the time he walked the earth, Jews had spread around the Mediterranean, traveled all over, and had mixed with Europeans. Yes, those horrible Europeans! Jews were taking converts from everywhere. It is unnecessary for anybody to throw stones because of anybody’s race or ethnicity. It repulses me and is plain not Jesus-like. It is prideful and hateful. A: By Rev. Mark Sandlin Dear John, Thanks for sharing your thoughts and concerns. I'd like to start by recognizing that, like you, I am a white, cisgendered male. I'd also like to start from a point of common agreement. As you so aptly put it, “people who look like me have dominated and abused the world.” So, right off the bat, there are a few things in common. I can't, however, join you in the implied idea that Jesus might have been, like you and me, white (or had some “white” heritage). From a pragmatic point of view, Jesus was a Jew living in the Middle East. A particularly high percentage of the people who fit that description at that time looked like Middle Eastern Jews. That is, they had dark skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. It was so common, if Jesus had not fit that description, it most certainly would have been pointed out in the scriptures, maybe particularly by the Sadducee and Pharisees in their efforts to discredit him. There is not a reference to his possible “whiteness” in the whole of the Bible, nor in the non-canonical writings, or even in writings from outside sources of the time. Not only that, several of the earliest colored deceptions of him show him clearly with brown skin. So, the idea that he could have been white (or had “white” heritage), while isn't completely unlikely, it is highly improbable. The good news is that the larger overriding issue here is something that we both can (and already have) agree upon: “people who look like [us] have dominated and abused the world.” Imagine, as much as either of us can, that you aren't white. Imagine what it would feel like to be told that the son of God was much more like those who have “dominated and abused” you and your people than he is like you. I have to believe that would be difficult, particularly when the reality is that it isn't even close to the likely reality. Consider the fact that the domination and abuse from folks who look like us frequently was backed up with scripture. I can only imagine how oppressive and subjugating it would be to also be told that the people who are doing it to you are the most like Jesus. Now, if we'd like to stray from the likely historical reality of Jesus' heritage, I can't help but believe it would be decidedly more helpful, decidedly more Jesus-like, to consider the image of Jesus as one of the various images that white men have dominated and abused over the centuries. I'm not saying we should believe that Jesus was anything other than a Middle Eastern Jew, but I am saying it is clear that he identified more with the marginalized than with the powerful. It can be very insightful to imagine Jesus being more like those he identified with. I actually ran into the issue of the identity of important spiritual figures while raising my kids. I have a girl and a boy. Around the age of seven or so, my daughter received a praying doll as a gift. When you placed its hands together it said the Lord's Prayer. After many nights of hearing her praying “Our FATHER, who art in heaven,” it hit me that I was reinforcing a particular view of God that isn't the only view of God in the Bible. For example, there are plenty of more feminine images in the Bible. (You can read more about all of this in my article “On a Genderqueer God”). I also realized that in the language we were using, it was being reinforced upon my daughter that God was more like her brother than like her – and that simply isn't true. So, the next few days she and I talked about God and she came to the conclusion that from now on she'd pray the prayer saying, “Our Creator...”. I guess what I'm saying is that it can do us and the world a lot of good to not have the only or primary image of Jesus and of God, look a whole lot like the people who “have dominated and abused the world.” It's not just helpful and healing for those who have been oppressed and subjugated, but it also can bring to those of us who live in places of comparative privilege (like male and white) spiritual insight that we could have never gained from our places of advantage in the world. ~ 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. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His work has been published on “The Huffington Post,” “Sojourners,” “Time,” “Church World Services,” and even the “Richard Dawkins Foundation.” He’s been featured on PBS’s “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” and NPR’s “The Story with Dick Gordon.” 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 our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Origins of the Bible, Part XV: Ezekiel Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong November 20, 2008 When Americans are asked to name the great presidents of this nation, four names appear more often than any others: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. The thing that each of these presidents has in common is that they presided over a time of trauma, transition and change in our nation’s history: Washington at the birth of our nation; Lincoln during the dissolution of the Union; Wilson over World War I; and Roosevelt during both the great depression and World War II. This list thus begs the question: Does the nation in crisis call forth great leaders? Or do leaders become great because they have to deal with a crisis? I suggest that it is the latter, but historians will debate that forever. When we study the prophets, the same question arises. Does a crisis in the life of the Jewish people serve to call great people into leadership or do these leaders become great because they had to deal with a crisis? Once again I suspect it is the latter, but biblical scholars will debate this forever. There have been two great crises in Jewish history where the extinction of the whole nation was a real possibility. One was in the 20th Century when six million Jews were exterminated by the Nazi government in Germany. The other was the time of the conquest of the Jews at the hands of the Babylonians and their subsequent exile in the land of Babylon. The crisis in the 20th Century called David Ben-Gurion into leadership. The earlier biblical crisis, occurring in the first half of the 6th Century BC, called the Prophet Ezekiel into leadership. This week in our series on the origins of the Bible we turn to a consideration of this great figure upon whom the continuation of the Jewish nation literally hung. The book of Ezekiel is the third of the “Major Prophets”. We have looked already at the first two, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Ezekiel is probably not as well-known as these, but perhaps he should be. His star still burns brightly in the Jewish diadem as a critical life in Jewish history. It is hard to recreate the person Ezekiel from the text of the book that bears his name, since we now know that the text has been edited a number of times, corrupted badly and even that chapters 40 to 48 are generally regarded as a later addition to this text by another author, a kind of II Ezekiel. Yet there is a real figure who stands in the shadows behind the words of this book, one who lived in history and who changed the character of the Jewish people. Since his life overlapped with Jeremiah they shared some common background. Let me review it. In the late 8th Century BC, the nation of Assyria was the scourge of the Middle Eastern world. They had a disciplined and fierce military establishment. The first nation to develop horse-drawn iron chariots, the precursor of tank divisions, to hurl into battle, they destroyed their enemies on every side. The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to them in 721 BC and in the process, its people became known as “The Ten Lost Tribes” that today live only in mythology. The fate of these Jews in defeat was to be removed from their land, resettled across the Assyrian Empire and ultimately to disappear in to the DNA and gene pool of the Arab-Semitic world. The Southern kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem, survived this scourge by becoming a vassal state of Assyria, who then ruled that world with an iron fist until falling to the rising power of Babylon in 612 BC. After a period of consolidating their power, the army of the Babylonians swept down on and destroyed Judah and Jerusalem in 596 BC. This was the first time the city of Jerusalem had been conquered in 400 years. For the “Holy City”, believed by the Jews to be the dwelling place of God, to fall was devastating. Leading Jewish citizens were then rounded up and marched off to Babylon to be resettled as an underclass in the service of their conquerors. They appeared destined to disappear as the Northern Kingdom had done about 125 years earlier. Among those exiles, however, was a young prophet whose name was Ezekiel, who was apparently a member of a well-respected priestly family. In that crisis this young man rose to become a determinative leader of his people. The first problem to be faced in the exile was that of survival as an identifiable people. What could keep these exiled people intact and separate, the bearers in history of a national destiny? Even if they never saw their homeland again, they had to create the desire in their descendants to do so. The fate of the Jews of the Northern Kingdom must not be allowed to be the fate of these Jews. Ezekiel saw that as his primary task. This man was a psychiatrist’s delight. He had vivid dreams, perhaps even in Technicolor, which he used to galvanize his people. Two of his dreams made such indelible impressions on future generations that they have been turned into Negro spirituals and used to illumine the black experience of being first exiled from their native Africa and second being enslaved by their white oppressors. The first of these spirituals was based on the first chapter of Ezekiel and proclaimed that “Ezekiel saw the wheel, way up in the middle of the air”, words that expressed a yearning for deliverance to come from on high. The second, based on Ezekiel 37 was entitled “Dem bones gonna rise again”. In this dream, Ezekiel saw the Jewish nation under the analogy of a valley filled with dead, dry, fleshless bones. There was no hope of restoration or resurrection. God speaks to Ezekiel in this dream, addressing him by his favorite title, “Son of Man”, to ask: “Can these bones live again?” To which Ezekiel replied, “Lord, only thou knowest!” Hope for a future life for the Jewish nation was at that time beyond Ezekiel’s imagination. Behind both of these dreams was the biblical idea that God was the source of life. In the Jewish myth of creation, it was the breath of God that was breathed into Adam, transforming him from being an inert body of clay into a God-infused living soul. God’s breath had also been identified in the Jewish tradition with the wind that animated the forest. Now, Ezekiel’s dream proclaimed, the breath of God also has the ability to recreate the lifeless Jewish nation. So it was that in Ezekiel’s dream the breath of God blew over that valley and caused those dead bones to be reassembled. That is, “the toe bone connected to the foot bone, the foot bone connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone to the leg bone” until they were all standing up again. The Jewish nation was destined to be revived with the life force, the breath of God. That dream now became Ezekiel’s task to fulfill. Of course it was a task that no one person could accomplish on his or her own. It would indeed be the task of several generations. One person, however, had to have the dream, see the vision, stamp it on the minds of his people and turn it into a reality. That person was Ezekiel. The exiled people under Ezekiel’s influence made separation, which was the prerequisite to survival, their highest priority. In three distinct ways they set out on a national agenda to make themselves different, to keep themselves separate and to maintain their Jewish identity. Firstly, they resurrected the ancient Sabbath Day observance, a tradition that had long ago fallen into disuse. They codified every detail of the Sabbath. Jews not only refrained from work on that day, they even immobilized themselves. A Sabbath Day’s journey was defined as three-fifths of a mile. No Jew could walk more than that on the Sabbath without violating the law. These Jews were “different” and “separate” and to remain so they made these Sabbath Day observances the very mark of their Judaism. This was the time when the seven-day creation story with which the Bible now opens was written and added to their sacred text. Its purpose was to ground the Sabbath Day observance in the act of creation as the command of God. The second thing they did was to adopt kosher dietary laws. The Jews would not eat the flesh of swine or shellfish and Jewish food had to be prepared in kosher kitchens. So Jews never ate with Babylonians. It was, they said, the law of God, designed to keep them separate. The third thing they did was to revive the practice of circumcision that had also fallen into disuse. This meant that they literally carved into the flesh of every Jewish male the mark of Judaism, making intermarriage very difficult and enhancing separation. To ground these practices in the will of God a group of priestly writers, inspired by Ezekiel, edited the entire sacred narrative of the Jews so that these traditions were seen as unique to the entire history of their call from God to be God’s people. Thus the priestly version of the scriptures came into being. It worked. The Jews were the only defeated and exiled people in human history to return intact to their homeland after defeat and exile to re-establish their national history. That vocation was burned deep into the Jewish psyche and would forever remain a characteristic of these people. They would need it again some 2,500 years later: in 70 AD, Jerusalem was destroyed again, this time by the Romans and the Jewish people were scattered across the face of the earth. The maps of human history contained no Jewish state from 70 until 1948, when the nation of Israel was established in accordance with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. During that exile time the Jews endured many horrors, much persecution and even the Holocaust, but the lessons of Ezekiel were too deep to be ignored and so they survived once more to return to the land of their fathers and mothers. I do not mean to minimize the pain and dislocation that the return of the Jews to Israel and to the land of Palestine caused in 1948 and since. I do mean to suggest that a people who can maintain their national identity for almost 1900 years as a homeless people is a remarkable accomplishment. They have Ezekiel to thank for this survival. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Trusting in Life – 2020 Online Course February 3rd - 28th Grateful living as a valid spiritual practice opens the door to what in the Christian tradition have been called the three "Divine Virtues." They are good habits that have become second nature and connect us to the deepest reality of life, the divine spark within us. These three virtues — attitudes towards life, really — are faith, hope, and love. You find them in all religious traditions and spiritual paths. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Oe List ...] Reflections on service, life, and death
by jill＠jlpersi.com 22 Jan '20

22 Jan '20

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Reflections on service, life, and death
by Robertson Work 21 Jan '20

21 Jan '20

You're welcome. Look forward to your reflections, Lynda. Best wishes to you and John. ................................................................................................ New book (2020): Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love, and Gratitude https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684716160<https://www.amazon.com/Serving-People-Planet-Mystery-Gratitude/dp/1684716160> Previous book (2017): A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617 Blog: https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/<https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/><https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/ ________________________________ From: Lynda C <lynda860(a)outlook.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2020 6:05 PM To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Robertson Work <warkers(a)msn.com> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Reflections on service, life, and death Thanks to you and Lulu for the fine discount. Looking forward to reading this. Lynda Cock From: Dialogue <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of ICA Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Reply-To: ICA Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2020 at 3:34 PM To: ICA Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>, OE List <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Robertson Work <warkers(a)msn.com> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Reflections on service, life, and death Wonderful, Elsa. Hope the Hubert Humphrey Fellows will enjoy it. Thank you for your insightful review of the book ( https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/2020/01/elsa-baticas-reflect…<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcompassio…>). ................................................................................................ New book (2020): Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love, and Gratitude https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684716160<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazo…> Previous book (2017): A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazo…> Blog: https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcompassio…> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linke…> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.faceb…> ________________________________ From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of E B via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2020 3:31 PM To: Robertson Work via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: E B <marosel2000(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Reflections on service, life, and death I ordered 5 copies! Elsa Batica Minneapolis, MN On Tuesday, January 21, 2020, 11:18:51 AM CST, Robertson Work via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Dear colleagues, I would like to share with you some of my reflections on, among other things, old age, sickness, and death, and would look forward to learn of your own thoughts. My just-published autobiography includes reflections on the death of my wife Mary after our 35 years together, and the deaths of my parents, and parents-in-law. Each one has its own meaning and lessons. Click below: http://www.lulu.com/shop/robertson-work/serving-people-planet-in-mystery-lo…<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lulu.c…> [Image removed by sender.]<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lulu.c…> Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love and Gratitude by Robertson Work (Paperback) - Lulu<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lulu.c…> Buy Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love and Gratitude by Robertson Work (Paperback) online at Lulu. Visit the Lulu Marketplace for product details, ratings, and reviews. www.lulu.com The book is also full of stories of global service to the "least, the lost, and the last" and to Those Who Care, when I was with the EI/ICA, UNDP, and NYU, and shares some of my reflections on commitment, joy, and sorrow, as I try to be of service to people and planet. It also contains my vision of what is needed at this critical moment in history and how we can participate in bending history. For the next four days, there is a 40% discount offered on Lulu Publishing. Please click on the URL box above to be taken there. I look forward to hear from you. In mystery, love, and gratitude, Rob ................................................................................................ New book (2020): Serving People & Planet: In Mystery, Love, and Gratitude https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684716160<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazo…> Previous book (2017): A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546972617<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazo…> Blog: https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcompassio…> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsonwork/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linke…> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionatecivilization/<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.faceb…> _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.wedg…>

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Re: [Oe List ...] Eva update: surgery rescheduled
by Ellie Stock 21 Jan '20

21 Jan '20

Thanks, Isobel, for your continuing prayers and your lit violet candle. Eva loves violet and purple! Yes, we definitely pray unceasingly for both of our nations. While the issues may seem different, they are all connected. Grapes and peas,blessings and love, Ellie. :) -----Original Message----- From: isobeljimbish--- via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: isobeljimbish(a)optusnet.com.au <isobeljimbish(a)optusnet.com.au> Sent: Tue, Jan 21, 2020 04:28 PM Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Eva update: surgery rescheduled Dear Ellie, Thank you for keeping us in touch. That is frustrating for Eva and your family. However the good news, is hearing about Eva’s steady improvement. My candle is lit daily. It is coloured Violet and made in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is scented too, just discreetly. Remembering you and your family and thinking of your country and it’s open struggles. With love, Peace within, Problemlessness living. Isobel Bishop Sent from my iPhone > On 22 Jan 2020, at 6:58 am, Ellie Stock via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > > Hi Folks, > > Greetings from Pittsburgh where I came last night to be with Eva and family for her 1/22 surgery. However, this morning, the surgeon's office called and said, due to insurance issues (too long a story), her surgery has been rescheduled for Weds. Feb. 5--welcome to the US healthcare system. If you are someone or know someone who knows how to navigate this system, please let me know. > > Thank you for your continuing thoughts, prayers, and lit candles as Eva continues to regain strength, stamina, use of her arm and hand and recover her full speech. > > Will update after Feb 5. > > Grace and peace, > blessings and love, > > Ellie :) > elliestock(a)aol.com > _______________________________________________ > 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

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Eva update: surgery rescheduled
by Ellie Stock 21 Jan '20

21 Jan '20

Hi Folks, Greetings from Pittsburgh where I came last night to be with Eva and family for her 1/22 surgery. However, this morning, the surgeon's office called and said, due to insurance issues (too long a story), her surgery has been rescheduled for Weds. Feb. 5--welcome to the US healthcare system. If you are someone or know someone who knows how to navigate this system, please let me know. Thank you for your continuing thoughts, prayers, and lit candles as Eva continues to regain strength, stamina, use of her arm and hand and recover her full speech. Will update after Feb 5. Grace and peace,blessings and love, Ellie :)elliestock@aol.com

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Sunday, daughter Eva update
by Ellie Stock 17 Jan '20

17 Jan '20

Dear Friends, Greetings from Pittsburgh where I have spent the last week with our daughter, Eva, and her family. Thank you for your emails, cards, calls, thoughts, prayers and lit candles since her 12/30 stroke--we are so grateful for all of these expressions of love and concern, and we are riding on all of them. So here's a Sunday update on Eva... Eva continues to improve each day: strength, mobility, stamina and use of left side of her body. Her leg is fully functional, just a slight balance issue. Her arm, hand and fingers still have some numbness, and function is continuing to improve. The left side of her face has a slight asymetry and some words are still slightly slurred. All in all, however, she has had an amazing recovery. Her first physical and speech therapy sessions were Friday, and she did well in both. Earlier in the week she met with the neurosurgeon who was pleased with her progress and rescheduled her surgery (endoarterectomy--unclogging 99% blocked right carotid artery) for Wednesday, January 22. Eva is able to do a number of things around the house now and sees the activity as a form of physical therapy. We went grocery shopping yesterday and today we will go to church. She just goes slower and needs more rest to help her body heal. But what a difference from two weeks ago! Next week she has a consultation with the stroke dr and has physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions. I return to St Louis Monday 1/13 for a week and then fly back to Pittsburgh Monday 1/20 before her surgery and stay for another week. Post surgery she will be in ICU a day or two and then return home for a 4-6 weeks' recovery time. We will feel better after this surgery is successfully completed. This surgery is necessary to prevent another stroke. So, we invite your continued prayers and emails, all of which I have read to her. Some have asked about cards--they may be sent to Eva at her home address: 446 Union Avenue; Pittsburgh, PA. 15205. Will keep you updated after surgery. Grace and peace,blessings and love, Elinor/Ellie/ EJ :)

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Birthday Witness. Now the New York Times chimes in . ..
by Del Morrill 16 Jan '20

16 Jan '20

We visited and so enjoyed Kangaroo Island. It’s hard to imagine the devastation in that one place. Wonder if Shep’s art studio is affected. Best always, Del Del Hunter Morrill Tacoma, Washingtn USA H/W: (253) 752-1506 delhmor(a)wamail.net <mailto:delhmor@wamail.net> <http://www.facebook.com/del.morrill.85> www.facebook.com/del.morrill.85 Web site: www. hypnocenter.com “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” – Maya Angelou From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> On Behalf Of Margaret Helen Aiseayew via OE Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2020 12:53 PM To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: aiseayew(a)netins.net Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Birthday Witness. Now the New York Times chimes in . .. Isobel, I want you to know that you cannot possibly send us too many updates. The fires lead almost every newscast here and there is no end to our concern. I am particularly devastated by the loss of wildlife. I found myself crying after a BBC interview with a farmer/rancher who had just been out shooting his cows who had been so badly burned he felt it necessary to spare them further pain. As I think of whole species becoming extinct that we may have never known existed, I was driven to go back to the Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley to read 'the skull.' My hopes are with yours. My prayers are almost all confession for what I have done and what I do not know to do. Please know that your posts come as lifelines for survival of our concerns. Stay safe and be blessed, Margaret On 2020-01-08 21:08, isobeljimbish--- via OE wrote: Thank you Del and all of you who have emailed and Fb us. The country is on fire indeed. We hope that leadership will prevail and that those former Fire Commissioners who asked to meet the Prime Minister in March last year, to discuss preparations for what conflagration they predicted was coming in the summer- that now he and his colleagues will listen, at last. Another positive outcome I believe, is that the First Peoples will have a platform to share their own skills and fire management strategies, thousands of years old. Already their wisdom is being sought. I live with hope in my heart that these two drives forward will happen. We do much appreciate your concern. Thank you all. Grace and peace and love be yours, Isobel Bishop Sent from my iPhone On 9 Jan 2020, at 10:43 am, Del Morrill via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> > wrote: With these disastrous fires in Australia our thoughts are often with our friends there, and more than a bit worried. Del (and Justin too) From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net> > On Behalf Of isobeljimbish--- via OE Sent: Saturday, January 4, 2020 12:17 PM To: Judi White <sophiacircle(a)gmail.com <mailto:sophiacircle@gmail.com> > Cc: isobeljimbish(a)optusnet.com.au <mailto:isobeljimbish@optusnet.com.au> ; Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> > Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Birthday Witness. Now the New York Times chimes in . .. Thank you Judi for this reflection. Yesterday Elaine Telford celebrated her 80th Birthday in style ! Family and friends gathered with the vast network of people Elaine has touched with her extraordinary life.! I A happy moment, in the midst of our raging bush fires. With love, Isobel Bishop Sent from my iPhone On 5 Jan 2020, at 2:54 am, Judi White <sophiacircle(a)gmail.com <mailto:sophiacircle@gmail.com> > wrote: http://m.dailygood.org/story/2236/the-joy-of-being-a-woman-in-her-seventies…. Yessterday was the funeral for a friend. She and I and five others in our local social group reached 75 this year. She found out 3 months ago that her days were incurably numbered. She prepared for yesterday in extensive detail and spent all her remaining time loving being near her family. In the one conversation I had with her she shared that she was at peace with deeply acknowledging that the upcoming final moment is a natural conclusion, from which she was not exempt. She also said that each day of decline was presenting a new challenge for her to embrace. She said she was grateful for these challenges which gave her an opportunity to ask her resilience to support her. I imagine that she, a long time 5th grade teacher, did not pass up one opportunity to role model and share her perspective with her family as they remained close to her. The happiness that she brought to their lives and ours reigned throughout yesterday's celebration of Beverly Phillip's life now completed. On Sat, Jan 4, 2020, 4:19 AM isobeljimbish--- via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> > wrote: Dear Randy, Thank you for this reflection. I appreciate it very much as it occasioned me to remember how my Dad and I spent a month in preparation for his death. With love Isobel Bishop Sent from my iPhone On 4 Jan 2020, at 6:39 am, Randy Williams via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> > wrote: My mother died in March of 2001 at age 90. I spent every waking hour of her last five days with her. She was conscious and cognizant until about the last eight hours before she died. We had some incredible conversations on: What is death? What is it like to die? What will it be like after we die? I attribute the quality of the dialogue to, one, neither of us acted as if we actually knew the answers to the questions but we were both willing to struggle for some clarity. And two, neither of us tried to kid the other about the fact that she was dying. This freed us both up to share honestly and from the depths. I feel certain we both had our lives changed and our love for each other deepened during those five unforgettable last days for her. I would love to talk with a loved one about those same questions when my time nears. Randy On Jan 3, 2020, at 12:39 PM, James Wiegel via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> > wrote: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/nyregion/ruth-willig-oldest-death.html?t… <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/nyregion/ruth-willig-oldest-death.html?t…> &nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_NN_p_20200103&section=longRead?campaign_id=9&instance_id=14935&segment_id=20013&user_id=505cb1dd7896a746e64ebf529d31e095&regi_id=77723647ion=longRead With Respect, Jim Wiegel _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net

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1/16/20, Progressing Spirit: Mark Sandlin: Just War?; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 16 Jan '20

16 Jan '20

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}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 h3{ font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 .yiv4190248458mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent, #yiv4190248458 .yiv4190248458mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templatePreheader .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent, #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templatePreheader .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templateHeader .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent, #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templateHeader .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templateBody .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent, #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templateBody .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media only screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templateFooter .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent, #yiv4190248458 #yiv4190248458templateFooter .yiv4190248458mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } It is laughable to say that Jesus wasn’t political. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Just War? | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Mark Sandlin January 16, 2020As I write this article, the world awaits Iran's response to the Trump administration's ill advised decision to kill Qassem Soleimani, the high-profile commander of Iran’s secretive Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Let it be said, Soleimani is one of the bad guys. If you believe in evil, this guy is one of the poster children. Even though I see him as one of the harmful actors in the world today, I say that his killing was ill advised, in part, because former Presidents from both parties have consistently made the decision not to kill him because of the extreme response such an action is expected to draw from Iran. Indeed, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the next day that “a severe revenge awaits those who have tainted their filthy hands with his blood.” You see, while most of the world saw him as a very dangerous man, he was a bit revered in Iran. It'd be easy to let that fact somewhat villainize Iranians, but we must keep in mind that Americans have supported some pretty wicked leaders of our own – including the man who gave the final go-ahead on taking out Soleimani. Before I go any further, I'd like to pause here and address what I imagine might be the elephant in the room for some folks: Why am I getting so political on a religious/spiritual newsletter? Well, basically because I'm a Christian minister who tries to follow the teachings of Jesus. An article I wrote in 2015 explains my perspective: .........“It is laughable to say that Jesus wasn’t political. .........Jesus confronted the very political structures and people who were twisting .........and using religion to step on those thought of as “the least of these.” .........He confronted the politically powerful Sadducees and Pharisees at every turn, .........calling out their hypocrisy and distorted use of the Hebraic Law. .........And, he then taught what the Law was really meant for: the expressing of Heaven .........on earth; a place where grace, love and justice were practiced. Not just any justice, .........the justice of love, of equality, of God. .........If you want to follow Jesus, it decidedly means being political. .........If you want to follow Jesus, it decidedly means advocating for the “least of these.” .........If you want to follow Jesus, it decidedly means being willing to confront abusive .........power structures and people, and being willing to flip a few tables in the process. .........You simply can’t fully follow Jesus if you aren’t willing to be political and stick .........out your own neck, challenging the hypocritical power structures and leaders on .........behalf of the oppressed.” You can read the rest of the article here. That brings us back to the question of war. More precisely, it brings us to the question of the rich and powerful dragging the rest of us (“the least of these” in comparison) into war. “Just War” is a question that has occupied the minds of a lot of great thinkers for a very long time. Just War Theory itself has many of its roots in theology. What's important to note is that even if a war meets all of the criteria for being a "just war", that doesn't make it a “good war.” In fact, the opposite is true. All war is evil. “Just War” just tries to determine the path to the least amount of evil. War is always a horrific option. Always. I actually wrote one of my final papers for my M.Div. at Wake Forest School of Divinity on Just War Theory. My conclusion was, given the criteria, there has never been a major just war. World War II came close, but the U.S.'s early lack of effort to prevent the rise of Hitler negated its ability to call it a Just War. For all of the brilliant minds that have focused on the question of “justifying” war, determining when it is a necessary thing, I'm not sure we have made much progress. We still fight wars over people believing differently than we do, over nations seeking material gains, and so many other less than morally based rationale. In modern terms, we also have to add the money making potential of the War Machine to the less than morally based rationale for war. For me, the equation for determining the “rightness” of a war (if, indeed, there is such a thing) is lacking a primary emphasis on compassion for the innocent. I'm a bit of an amateur chef. Like a lot of folks who love cooking, I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain. His CNN show, “Parts Unknown” traveled to Iran. This was one of his thoughts on the people of Iran, “Iran was mind-blowing. My crew has never been treated so well by total strangers everywhere. We had heard that the Persians are nice. But nicest? Didn't see that coming.” The thing is, while I am not the world traveler that some are, I certainly have traveled to many parts of the world. Each time, I am humbled and made hopeful by the people I meet and the friendships I form. War tends to call some of these people “collateral damage.” When compassion is trumped by consumption, when people are trumped by power, when humanity is trumped by hubris, when morality is trumped by money, when grace is trumped by greed, war begins to look like a good idea and people's lives begin to look like “collateral damage.” Having just passed through the celebration of Jesus' birth story, I hope we can see more clearly that there's a reason why he was called the Prince of Peace. Sure, you can quote, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,” and even two or three other verses, but they don't hold a candle to the more than fifty-some verses where Jesus speaks about peace and peacemaking. It's funny how things keep coming back to love and compassion, but it needs to be said, it is way far away from loving a person to killing them. Which makes it all the more ironic that a day after Soleimani was killed, the man who gave the final go ahead, was being celebrated by a gathering of Evangelicals in Florida as he claimed that, “we have God on our side. No. You don't. God is not on the side of killing. God is not on the side of war. God is not on the side of “collateral damage.” God is on the side of love. I guess there's a reason why we say, “God is love.” In the end, love wins.~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read online here About the Author Rev. Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His work has been published on “The Huffington Post,” “Sojourners,” “Time,” “Church World Services,” and even the “Richard Dawkins Foundation.” He’s been featured on PBS’s “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” and NPR’s “The Story with Dick Gordon.” Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By A Reader Why do we still pay attention to the Bible in 2020? A: By Rev. Fran Pratt Dear Reader,I consider the Bible to be the story of one particular segment of world culture's interaction with the Divine over time. The story begins with one insular clan relating to the Divine in all the ways complex and fallible humans do, getting some ideas right and misunderstanding others. It has traditions, assumptions and rituals surrounding its understanding of higher power; some of which is timeless, others hopelessly limited. The clan grows into a tribe, then into a nation, gradually fractalizing and spreading across places and cultures; all the while struggling to connect with and understand the Divine, and never quite realizing that the Divine is within them all along. There's a grand search for moral truth threading through the whole story - humans asking how best to be in the world? How best to live wisely? And we can see the Divine pointing the way and remaining compassionately present when It's guidance is rejected or scorned. Then a Person emerges from the community who is able to sum up the story and speak Divine Truth with humanity's own voice. In this Person the Divine is wholly present; the best is fully embodied. This Person is so compelling that his brief physical presence on the earth changes the course of history in innumerable ways. He embodies Divine Love and Light, and believes that ordinary folks can do the same. He’s the catalyst for a whole new branch of the world's Wisdom Tradition, and inspires many other Saints and Sages in history and in much of today's compassionate work. So, yes, I consider the Bible to be a very special and authoritative piece of world literature. The stories it contains, and the overarching story it tells, inspire and guide us still. We’re more enlightened because it exists. To me, this is good enough reason to read it. I don't need it to serve as scientific or historical Truth (although I do think it points to *some* of that), or a rulebook. To me, the story of the Christ's emergence from that particular Hebrew/Judaic wisdom tradition speaks to the character of the Divine. I'm grateful the Christ helped clear up so many of humanity's misunderstandings of the Divine. And the story of the people's movement from insular clan to the "community of heaven" speaks to the Divine's bent toward Oneness. I have problems with how the scriptures have been misused to justify oppression and greed, and with how the Canon was solidified (reinforcing Patriarchy, erasing women's contributions to the faith), but that's humanity for you. I'm free to read whatever was left out, plus the wisdom literature of other world traditions, with gratitude and curiosity. Humanity is far from moral perfection, but the Biblical scriptures have contributed to our being collectively closer to it than we ever have been. I attribute much of that to the legacy of the Christ recorded in scripture. I think the Christ is a trustworthy representative of moral truth. He embodies Love, and Love is universal moral truth. ~ Rev. Fran Pratt Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Fran Pratt is a pastor, writer, musician, and mystic. Making meaningful and beautiful liturgy to be spoken, practiced, and sung, is at the heart of her creative drive. Fran authored a book of congregational litanies, and regularly creates and shares modern liturgy on her website and Patreon. Her prayers are prayed in churches of various sizes and traditions across the globe. She writes, speaks, and consults on melding ancient and new liturgical streams in faith and worship. Fran is Pastor of Worship and Liturgy at Peace of Christ Church in Round Rock, Texas. | | | | | | | | 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 our FB community today! Spread the word, share with friends. Thanks! | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Origins of the Bible, Part X: The Rise of the Prophetic Movement: Nathan - Prophecy's Father Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 15, 2008The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures are not religious versions of Drew Pearson or Jeane Dixon. They do not predict future events. Prophets are those who are in touch with values, truth, perhaps we could call it God, and who thus see the issues of life more deeply than other people see them. Perhaps they are the ones who, by standing on the shoulders of others, can perceive future trends and speak to them before others see them developing. We have known artists to whom prescience has been attributed. A well-known Spanish painter, for example, painted a scene several years before the Spanish Civil War that portrayed his country torn apart in a violent struggle. The Bible might well have called him prophetic. He saw what there was to be seen, but not everyone was able to see it. The power of the prophets was also derived not from the established structures of the social order, but from the prophet’s vision. They were always outside the lives of either political or ecclesiastical authority. As such, they were what King Ahab called the prophet Elijah, “Troublers of Israel”. The established priesthood always resented the prophets for they were not ordained or trained. They were free spirits who somehow spoke with an authority that established figures wished they possessed. The ability to speak to authority in a way that demanded the authority’s attention was the signal mark of the prophetic spirit. None of this, however, answers the question of just why it was that the role of the prophet was able to rise in Israel to such heights that the religion of Israel was said to rest with equal weight on the law (the Torah) and the prophets. It all began, I believe, in a charismatic confrontation between Israel’s most powerful king and a man armed only with a sense of God’s righteousness. That story is told in the Second Book of Samuel and it remains powerful today. King David lived in the biggest and tallest house in the city of Jerusalem, which meant that when he was out on his roof top he could look at the rooftops of all of Jerusalem’s citizens. One afternoon when he was doing just that, he spied a beautiful woman taking a bath in what she assumed was the privacy of her own roof top. The king was smitten with her charms and at once sent a messenger to her with an invitation to visit the palace to have a tryst with her king. The woman came. Perhaps in the power equations of that world she had no choice, perhaps she wanted to come, the text doesn’t tell us and so we will never know. The two of them, nonetheless, became lovers at least for this brief time. When the lovemaking was over, the woman, whose name was Bathsheba, returned to her home. I suspect this was neither the first nor the last such affair that King David had had and so he did not think much about it once the rendezvous had ended. So it was that that weeks passed and memories faded until they were newly called to mind by a message arriving at the palace directed to the king’s eyes alone. The message read: “King David, I need for you to know that I am expecting your child.” It was signed, Bathsheba. When David read it, he responded in a typically male, evasive way. “You are a married woman”, he said. That is the first time that we learn from the biblical source that this tryst was an adulterous relationship that the king had had with a married woman. “Why do you assume that I am the father of this baby?” To which Bathsheba responded immediately, “I am indeed a married woman, but my husband Uriah is a soldier in the king’s army. He has been fighting the king’s wars under Joab, the king’s military leader and thus he has not been home for months. There is no doubt, O King, that you are this baby’s father.” Still unwilling to accept responsibility, the king decided on an alternative course of action. It was plan B. He would grant Uriah a furlough so that Uriah could then come home, enjoy the privilege of his wife’s bed and then, in this pre-DNA testing world, they could say this baby came early. It would not be the first time that tactic had been employed. So this permission for leave was conveyed by a royal messenger to the field and a very surprised Uriah found himself being granted an unprecedented furlough. What King David did not anticipate, however, was that Uriah had the make-up of the “original boy scout”. He was a soldier first, drunk with the camaraderie of warfare. “It would not be fair or appropriate for me to enjoy the comforts of my home and my wife while my buddies are bleeding and dying on the battlefield from which I have somehow been removed. Therefore, in solidarity with them”, he concluded, “I will not enter my home on this leave.” Very ostentatiously Uriah set up a pup tent on the walk beside his home and spent his entire leave there. On viewing this, David, feeling trapped, said: “What a turkey” and began to develop Plan C. Once again a sealed royal order was conveyed to Joab, the commanding officer, this time by the hand of Uriah himself. In this letter David commanded Joab to organize his army into a flying wedge and hurl it at the gates of his enemy’s capital city. Uriah was to be placed at the front tip of the flying wedge, where his death was all but inevitable. It was done. Uriah was struck down and killed. Joab then notified the king that his problem was now solved. King David sent for Bathsheba and she became a member, perhaps the dominant member, of his harem. Finally, King David felt that his problem was solved. This outrageous kingly behavior, however, did not escape the notice of a highly respected holy man whose name was Nathan. He decided that he must confront the king about the king’s action. The reputation of Nathan was such that the king, unsuspecting of what was to come, granted him the audience that he requested. It must have been a strange confrontation. Here was King David in his royal chambers surrounded by all the wealth, power and opulence of royalty. Standing before him was Nathan, armed only with a sense of righteousness that is contained in what he believed was the moral law of God and the universe. When the two of them were alone Nathan said to the king that an episode of gross injustice in the king’s realm had occurred and that Nathan felt compelled to bring it to the king’s attention. The king encouraged Nathan to speak on. Nathan did so in terms of a parable. A certain poor man, he told the king, had a single ewe lamb that was treated as a pet in his family. This lamb was fed from the family’s table, slept in the family’s home and shared in the family’s love. Another man who lived nearby, Nathan continued, was very wealthy and owned great flocks of sheep. One day this rich man had a distinguished visitor that he was required by the mores of his culture to honor by entertaining him at a banquet. Instead of taking a lamb from his own flocks, however, he went to the house of his poor neighbor, took his only ewe lamb, slaughtered, dressed and roasted it and set it before his guest. The rich man and his guest dined sumptuously while the poor man and his family were grief stricken. Nathan let the pathos hang as he finished his story. David, upon hearing this tale, was filled with anger and declared: “The man who has done this thing must surely die”. Then in one of the Bible’s most dramatic moments, Nathan fixed his eyes on the king and said: “Thou art the man!” The king, thought to be all powerful, had been called to answer for his deeds. No one is above the law of God, he learned. That was a lesson rare in the ancient world, indeed it was a message unique to the people of Israel. David might have been divinely chosen to be king, as the biblical story suggests, but the King of Israel still lived under the authority of the law of God and must answer for his behavior. David, to his great credit, did not banish Nathan from his presence, but heard the voice of God through the words of Nathan and publicly repented. He sought to do acts of restitution. When the child of this adulterous liaison died shortly after his birth, David and the biblical writers interpreted this death as divine punishment. Perhaps in a further act of trying to make things right, David lifted Bathsheba out of his harem and into the public role as his queen. Their second child was born a while later. His name was Solomon and he was to be the successor to David’s throne and to solidify the royal line of David that was destined to last, at least the Southern Kingdom, for over 400 years until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586BC (BCE). For Nathan’s act of courage to be included in the Jewish Scriptures meant that this episode had entered the annals of Jewish memory. By becoming part of the sacred text of the Jewish people, it was destined to be read in worship settings over the centuries and in time to become identified as a mark of Judaism. In retrospect, Nathan was called a prophet and because of that the prophet’s role in Jewish life was established. It was the duty of the prophets to speak for God in the citadels of power, to claim for God’s law a place of absolute influence and to assert that there is no one in the land who was not subject to the law of God. Monarchy was not absolute in Israel from that moment on. Nathan originated the prophetic role in Israel. He established Israel as the one nation where no one’s power would be above the power of the law. This was the reality that made the Jewish nation different from all the other nations of the ancient world. Certainly it was this nation alone that was destined to produce the prophetic tradition that would become so strong that it was not “the law and the Temple” but “the law and the prophets”, that would characterize this people. We will look at a number of the prophetic voices as this series on the origins of the Bible continues.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Join one of ProgressiveChristianity.org’s favorite rabbis for some fun and learning. Ten weeks. Ten emails. January 18 – March 21, 2020 Rabbi Brian’s Reflections on the Book of Exodus. Jews throughout the world study one section of the five books of Moses each week. Follow along with Rabbi Brian for an outside the box text study on the book of Exodus. 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