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Heidi's Celebration
by Jeanette Stanfield 08 Dec '19

08 Dec '19

Celebration of Heidi’s Life Join us to raise a glass to Heidi ! To celebrate her many different passions and endeavors, On Monday December 16th, from 6 to 9pm Enjoy sharing stories with a glass of wine, cheese and light refreshment. We will share stories together at 7:00 At 757 Victoria Park Ave. in the Party Room on the first floor. Toronto,ON Canada This is immediately south of Victoria Park subway station. Parking can be found at the TTC lot across the street and at the mall at corner of Victoria Park and Danforth. Stories and memories may be sent to Rachel at sherluck(a)hotmail.com. Thank you for the cards and notes you have already sent. Rachel Holmes

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Prayers & Healing for Shirley Henschen
by Timothy Wegner 08 Dec '19

08 Dec '19

Patricia sent the following out to the WSR (Women's Spirit Retreat) mailing list and asked me to forward to OE and Dialogue: ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Patricia Henschen <phenschen(a)verizon.net> Date: Wed, Dec 4, 2019, 8:55 PM Subject: Prayers & Healing for Shirley Henschen Dear Women of the WSR: As some of you know, our mom, Shirley Henschen, has been undergoing treatment for cancer since January of 2018. Last week, she began her third regimen of chemo. This coming Saturday is her birthday. The Henschen family invites you to participate in a time of prayer and healing for her, to increase her strength & resiliency and the efficacy of the chemo. So that as many people can participate as easily possible, I suggest setting aside a few minutes at noon in your time zone to send healing thoughts and prayers to Shirley. If you are a healer (Healing Touch, Reiki, etc.), please use your gifts to uplift Shirley and restore her well-being to the greatest extent possible. If noon is not a feasible time, please select whatever time is available to you. Shirley was one of the founders of the WSR South, and when she and my dad moved to Arizona in 1996, she continued the tradition of semi-annual retreats for amazing women by founding the WSR West. Kindly share this with the prayer warriors and healers you know in your network. I know without a shadow of a doubt that all of the love and positive intentions of so many good people will help her immeasurably. Those of you who know Shirley know that she is the epitome of goodness and kindness; she has helped many, and she really needs our help now. God bless you all. Blessings and peace, Patricia Henschen

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Greetings
by Mary Kurian D'Souza 08 Dec '19

08 Dec '19

Dear colleagues on the journey, While remembering the birth of the man (who represented all humanity) who taught us to love unconditionally and revealed the possibility of the miraculous dimension in our lives May peace and joy be woven into the web of life that you sustain and care for. May 2020 be a time of resolving and healing of our national and inter-national traumas and issues. May we learn to be simple to reduce unwanted waste and recover planet earth's resources. May we continue to be abundant in our care for each other and the planet. With deep respect to each of you, Mary DSouza

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Death of Craig Brummel
by Margaret Aiseayew 07 Dec '19

07 Dec '19

I am saddened to report the death of colleague Craig Brummel. He came from Detroit and returned there to operate a locksmith business. For many years he supported us with issues around the spaces in the Greenrise building, including the removal of the 'safe' on the fourth floor. He had many stories of the struggle to get through airline security with all the locksmithing equipment he would bring to work in Chicago for a weekend. He was a perpetual seeker. He staved off a six months to a year diagnosis of lung cancer for nearly ten years by sheer dint of will and his desire to continue his penchant for life research. His most faithful lock clients continued to call for his assistance because the conversations he had with them changed or challenged their lives. His son Joe reported that he was ready to let go and that it was a blessing. Let us celebrate the expenditure and completed life of Craig Brummel. Margaret Aiseayew

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Global Buzz for December
by ICA International 07 Dec '19

07 Dec '19

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.... Global Buzz Report: December 2019 Click above or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-19/2019-12-01.php And: 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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Heidi Holmes
by jstanfieldica 06 Dec '19

06 Dec '19

Dear colleagues,Heidi died peacefully at 3:05 pm today with Rachel and Duncan by her side. We celebrate her completed life.Peace,Jeanette StanfieldAt the request of the family.Sent from my Bell Samsung device over Canada's largest network.

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12/0519, Progressing Spirit: Kaitlin Curtis:The Power of Liminal Spaces In Changing Times; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 05 Dec '19

05 Dec '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9463160548 #yiv9463160548templateBody .yiv9463160548mcnTextContent, #yiv9463160548 #yiv9463160548templateBody .yiv9463160548mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv9463160548 #yiv9463160548templateFooter .yiv9463160548mcnTextContent, #yiv9463160548 #yiv9463160548templateFooter .yiv9463160548mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } We are all, always, changing, and accepting that truth is the beginning of everything. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Power of Liminal Spaces In Changing Times | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Kaitlin Curtice December 5, 2019I was thinking recently about how much I loved getting my hair cut growing up. If I became bored with something in my life, I chose a new style. If I felt like I needed to express myself in a new way, I decided to get bangs, or chop all my hair off, or try something completely new. My hair was a part of me that could shift and change as I shifted and changed. My hair, in a way, was the space where I asked questions and took chances, when I couldn’t do that in other realms of my life. I grew up in the conservative southern Baptist tradition, in a conservative town, where, even at the public school, there were rules based on Christian principles. Girls couldn’t wear tank tops with straps less than two inches , or shorts and skirts above the knee, so the evangelical purity movement was alive and well in all realms of life. Even though I followed all the rules, I expressed myself through my fashion sense, through my hair, and through the music I listened to and wrote. I pushed the boundary only as far as I felt comfortable without crossing a line, and I found that creativity was an outlet, a safe space for me to be exactly who I am as a beloved person. I’m not southern Baptist anymore, and would loosely call myself a Christian. And today, while I still have an eclectic style and love of music, I’ve found that the power of words and identity are also ways of expression, especially coming out of a religion that does not greatly value either one when they belong to women. I write as an act of resistance. I identify myself as a Potawatomi woman within the church as an act of resistance. This means that I live in a lot of gray areas. Many of us who grew up in fundamental spaces were taught to live in dualities: black and white, in and out, saved and unsaved. In those spaces, there isn’t liminality. There aren’t many safe spaces to ask really hard questions, to show anger toward injustice, or even to grieve when we need to grieve. We are taught to brush it off, smile, move on, trust God, and believe. But the cost of those dualities is our identities. The cost is the identity of a gender non-binary or trans person who can’t fully, safely live into who they are. The cost is a sense of self-love for a mixed-ethnicity or bi-racial person who is made to feel ashamed of who they are. The cost is young girls and women expressing themselves only within the boundaries of patriarchal relationships and marriages. The cost is disabled people being told they don’t belong and they aren’t enough. Can we create spaces that are not built by those dualities, but built in the liminal spaces, where we gather to ask questions, to lean into difficult conversations with grace and truth-telling? I’ve been thinking lately about Bob Dylan’s song The Times, They Are A-Changin’. Written in the 1960s, this song was an anthem during a hard time in America. It pointed to injustice and called all people into the work of doing what is right, of not being silent, of using whatever gifts they had to create change and foster wholeness. This particular line speaks to me: Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won’t come again As a writer who often criticizes the church and the false and harmful narratives America has told for generations, I live in a space that is difficult to inhabit sometimes. But I know I am not alone, and I stand alongside others who are asking hard questions. I am standing in a lineage of people, in Dylan’s generation and before, who are pointing to change that is coming, whether we are ready for it or not. When we do not know where to go from here, we can look to our children. Another line in Dylan’s song says this: Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don’t criticize What you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly agin’ I am a mother of two children, and so much of my own religious deconstruction has happened because they challenge me daily to ask hard questions about the God I grew up with and the God I now know and the God that I will learn about tomorrow. Because our children are the future, we ask hard questions now for them and because of them, and we allow them to ask their own questions. We listen to their wisdom and learn from their passionate way of loving the world. This is where so much of the American white church has fallen short. This is why there are studies, books and conferences about why the younger generations aren’t interested in worship and are abandoning the faith of their parents and grandparents. My generation, millennials, are considered lazy and anti-religion because we are naming our own trauma and working to dismantle institutions that have traumatized us. If we are trapped in a religion or spirituality that doesn’t allow us to ask questions, those questions either die (and our souls die along with them) or we begin to break out of those toxic boxes. Sometimes we leave religion altogether, and sometimes we stay, always pushing for things to change, for equity, for justice. We do it for the sake of our own wellness. We do it for the sake of future generations. And what waits on the other side, in the liminality, is more questions, more unknowing, more mystery. For many, it’s scary there. We try to force answers. We hate the process. But the young ones lead us. Their dreams carry us forward. Their persistence and passion create a path where we didn’t see one before. We are all, always, changing, and accepting that truth is the beginning of everything. Today, while I’m not getting haircuts to express who I am on a regular basis, I am using words to guide me, to lead me, to push those boundaries and show me what the next step might be. For now, that is enough. For now, I know that no matter what changes are coming, I am not alone in this work.~ Kaitlin Curtice Read online here About the Author Kaitlin Curtice is a Native American Christian author and speaker. As an enrolled member of the Potawatomi Citizen Band and someone who has grown up in the Christian faith, Kaitlin writes on the intersection of Indigenous spirituality, faith in everyday life, and the church. Her first book, Glory Happening: Finding the Divine in Everyday Places, was published with Paraclete Press in 2017. It is a series of fifty essays and prayers focusing on finding the sacred in everyday life. Kaitlin is currently working on her second book with Brazos Press, set to come out in 2020. It has been named by Publisher’s Weekly as a Religion and Spirituality book to watch for. Kaitlin has contributed to OnBeing, Religion News Service, USA Today and Sojourners, among others, and she was interviewed for the New Yorker on colonization within Christian missions. In 2018 she was featured in a documentary with CBS called “Race, Religion and Resistance,” speaking on the dangers of colonized Christianity. Kaitlin travels around the country speaking on faith and justice within the church as it relates to Indigenous peoples. She has been a featured speaker at Why Christian, Evolving Faith, Wild Goose Festival, The Festival of Faith and Writing, and more. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By John Would you comment from your Christian perspective on the Buddhist assertion that we have no separate self or separate existence because we cannot understand who we are without understanding who we aren't, and our separate existence is known only because of everything we are? Is the sense of self an illusion? A: By Brian McLaren Dear John,First, I should say that although I have studied some dimensions of Buddhism, I am not deeply enough conversant with Buddhist understandings of self to offer a cogent counterpoint of Christian and Buddhist views. I wrote a book on Christian identity in a multi-faith world (Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?), and as I explain there, I tend to agree with John Cobb, who says that different religions are "incommensurable." In other words, different religions are not saying different things about the same thing, or the same thing about the same thing. Rather, having developed in different contexts, they're different research projects, so to speak, saying different things about different things. They each have their own unique backstory and are addressing problems and challenges unique to their own contexts. That doesn't mean they have nothing to say to one another, but it does suggest that it is best to try to approach each religion as its own language or its own world, and to try to enter it and understand it from the inside, rather than thinking that one can understand one religion fully when operating within the mind and assumptions of another religion. Having said that, I do recall a story told about the Buddha that relates directly to your question. I found the story here (https://tricycle.org/magazine/there-no-self/) When Vacchagotta the wanderer asked him point-blank whether or not there is a self, the Buddha remained silent, which means that the question has no helpful answer. As he later explained to Ananda, to respond either yes or no to this question would be to side with opposite extremes of wrong view (Samyutta Nikaya 44.10). Some have argued that the Buddha didn’t answer with “no” because Vacchagotta wouldn’t have understood the answer. But there’s another passage where the Buddha advises all the monks to avoid getting involved in questions such as “What am I?” “Do I exist?” “Do I not exist?” because they lead to answers like “I have a self” and “I have no self,” both of which are a “thicket of views, a writhing of views, a contortion of views” that get in the way of awakening (Majjhima Nikaya 2). I take the Buddha's guidance to heart. Rather than speculate about whether a separate self exists, I would say that if a self exists, in a truly Christian understanding, it cannot be separate. That's because every person, along with every other creature and reality, lives within the love and attention and presence of God. In God and in God's love, each thing is connected to all other things. This, I think, is what Paul is pointing to in Romans 14:7 where he says no person lives to himself or herself alone, and no person dies to himself or herself alone. This, I think, comes close to the concept of inter-being that many Buddhist teachers explain. The self-ness of a sentient being doesn't require it to be separate. The selfness of one can inter-be with the selfness of another. This is what love, communion, and unity are about. Howard Thurman spoke of this when he said: Now if I hear the sound of the genuine in me, and if you hear the sound of the genuine in you, it is possible for me to go down in me and come up in you. So that when I look at myself through your eyes having made that pilgrimage, I see in me what you see in me and the wall that separates and divides will disappear and we will become one because the sound of the genuine makes the same music. Here, I think, the Christian teaching of the Trinity also can be helpful. I don't bring in the Trinity as an exclusive and coercive dogma, but as a healing teaching in the Christian tradition that suggests that in the One-ness of God, there is harmonious otherness. There is a Fatherness, we might say, that includes but doesn't absorb and eradicate Son-ness, and a Son-ness that includes but doesn't absorb or eradicate Spiritness, and so on. The threeness of the Trinity is diversity-in-unity or unity-in-diversity. In other words, in God, there is not oneness that opposes otherness, nor is there otherness that violates one-ness. Rather, in God there is infinite one-anotherness. Dynamic relational harmony is what God is, or as John puts it, "God is love" (1 John 4:7-8). In this sense, Paul can quote (Acts 17:28) an ancient poet, "In God we live and move and have our being." Our self can exist within God, without separation, and yet without a hostile takeover or absorption. In short then, we might say that in a Christian framework (I say "a" rather than "the," because there are many viewpoints in Christian communities), the separate self is an illusion, or better put, a delusion. We often promote this delusion because it gives us permission to be selfish, arrogant, bigoted, egotistical, even narcissistic. The Christian self is a relational self, a self that seeks to love one's neighbor as oneself, because God loves both myself and my neighbor's self without discrimination. When this insight goes beyond a notion that one sees and actually becomes the way one sees, that, I believe, is at the heart of the Christian mystical experience. There is no separation, no condemnation, no male or female, slave or free, Jew or Greek, no clean or unclean, but God becomes all in all. God is all because I see all in love, and God is in all, because the love and presence of God fill without obliterating. We might say the fullness of God doesn't replace, but rather fulfills the self. The self, whatever it is, is a bush that burns with the fire of God but is not consumed.Thank you for your question.~ Brian McLaren Read and share online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors, church planters, and lay leaders called Convergence Leadership Project. He works closely with the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent joint project is an illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story. Other recent books include: The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World). Brian has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors since the mid 1980’s, and has assisted in the development of several new churches. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings – across the US and Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations. A frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs, he has appeared on All Things Considered, Larry King Live, Nightline, On Being, and Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. His work has also been covered in Time, New York Times, Christianity Today, Christian Century, the Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN.com, and many other print and online media. Brian is married to Grace, and they have four adult children and five grandchildren. His personal interests include wildlife and ecology, fly fishing and kayaking, music and songwriting, and literature. | | | | | | | | 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 Origin of the Bible, Part IX: The Judges - Transition Between the Law and the Prophets Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 7, 2008When one initiates a series of columns on the origins of the Bible and how it came to be written, there are inevitably times when there are transitions. They are not the most exciting part of the story, but they are essential if one is going to hear the story in its entirety. We come to such a transition part of the story in this column. Let me set the stage. Thus far we have examined the development of the Torah, the name by which the Jews refer to the first five books of the Bible. Though they are popularly known as "The Book of Moses", today scholars are universal in denying the Mosaic authorship of these books for three reasons that, upon examination, seem quite obvious. Firstly, Moses had been dead some 300 years before the first verse of the Torah was written, making it, shall we say, somewhat impossible for him to be its author. Secondly, the Torah contains an account (Deuteronomy 34) of Moses' death and burial, a rather remarkable thing for an author to be able to write. Thirdly, an analysis of the Torah reveals it to be the combination of at least four separate strands of material written over a period of some 500 years from 950BC (BCE) to 450BC, but reflecting events in Israel's earlier history. Recent scholarship has finally and completely dismissed one of the prevailing fantasies marking biblical literalism. In this week's column, we transition beyond the Torah and toward the prophets. Jewish tradition was built on the "twin towers" of the law and the prophets. Moses was the Jewish face of the law and his name became a synonym for the law. The prophets, however, were not identified with a person in the same way, even though Elijah has been designated, I think inaccurately, as the father of the prophetic movement. Elijah lived in the 9th Century BC, a time in which the Jewish people were divided into competing nations, the Northern Kingdom, with its capital in Samaria and Judah with its capital in Jerusalem. Elijah was identified with the Northern Kingdom. The Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy) covers Jewish history from the moment of creation to the time when Israel was poised on the edge of what they called "The Promised Land". The Exodus and the Conquest of Canaan are located in the 1250-1200BC period. The prophetic movement appears in the reign of King David, but its golden age does not arrive until the 8th Century BC. So there is a considerable gap of time between the Torah and the prophets. During this gap the solitary Jewish nation divided through a civil war into two separate nations. The Northern Kingdom lasted until 721BC, when it was destroyed by the Assyrians and the nation called Judah lasted until 586, when it was destroyed and its people exiled to the land of the Babylonians. These constitute the stories related in the biblical books from Judges to II Kings, which now come into our focus. These books probably do not give us much real history. They are rather filled with folk tales, hero stories and national propaganda, but they do provide information into the character of Judaism. We look first at the books of Joshua and Judges. It is still a much debated question as to whether Joshua was a historic person. Historians wonder whether the conquest of the land of Canaan was done in a single military conflict resulting in a Jewish victory, as the Bible suggests, or whether that conquest occurred over hundreds of years as marauding Semitic bands settled in this land and only later did their stories merge into a consistent Jewish history. What we do have in the biblical story is that Joshua was the successor to Moses and that he was of the tribe of Ephraim, which made him a member of one of the two Joseph tribes that would someday constitute the bulk of the Northern Kingdom. Many Moses stories appear to have been wrapped around Joshua. Certainly the splitting of the Jordan River so that the people of Israel could walk across it on dry land on their way to conquer Jericho is a Red Sea story being retold. The conquest of Canaan by Joshua is portrayed in the Bible as being total, but later history shows Jews and Canaanites living side by side and even intermarrying long after Joshua, which would seem to indicate that Joshua enjoyed something less than total victory. The Book of Joshua actually only relates three major military campaigns: The Battle of Jericho, which is told in great detail; the battle against the kings of the South and the battle against the kings of the North, both of which have scant details. If you read the word kings here as if they were more like mayors of various villages, you would have a truer picture of these battles. After these three campaigns the Bible suggests that the people settled down into loosely-knit confederations under the leadership of local judges. The period of the Judges in Jewish history produced folk tales, hero stories and myths that are quite distinct even in the Bible. People tend not to be familiar with these stories, except for the narrative about the strong man, Samson and of his dramatic undoing at the hands of his lover, Delilah. As delightful as the story of Samson is, it is only one of many that we find in the Book of Judges. There is also the account of Jael, who finds the number one enemy of her people, a Canaanite general named Sisera, delivered miraculously into her hands. After giving him a glass of milk laced with sufficient drugs to render him unconscious, she proceeds to nail his head to the floor with a mallet and a tent peg. It is a rather gory story! There is also the story of Jephthah and his rash vow to sacrifice anyone who comes out to greet him on his return from a military victory. The innocent one who gets trapped in this vow turns out to be his own daughter. Then there was the story of Ehud, the left-handed judge, who managed to drive his sword so deeply into the stomach of Eglon, the hugely fat king of Moab, that his hand actually disappeared in the king's flesh. Perhaps the most repellent story in the Bible is the narrative in the Book of Judges about a man who travels with his concubine to Jerusalem where, to save himself from abuse, he offers his concubine to the men of the city for gang rape. When they have done their worst to her, they threw her unconscious body on the porch of the home where this man was staying. He then proceeds to carve this woman into twelve pieces, sending part of her to each of the twelve tribes of Israel to call them to arms (Judges 19). The stories found in the Book of Judges are not necessarily the passages one reads in church and then says, "This is the word of the Lord!" This period in Jewish history when local judges were the real rulers might best be understood as analogous to that period of American history when the people of this nation lived under the articles of confederation as a loose union of states with little or no national power. Having just endured the life of submissive colonies ruled by a foreign power, these early Americans were not eager to cede local authority to anyone. The Israelites also had searing memories of their oppression at the hands of the Egyptians and so, having found freedom, they were also not eager to be submissive to a distant authority again. That is a natural reaction, but it is hardly ever a permanent solution. The American Colonies would never have maintained their independent life had they not become a unified nation. The tribes of Israel would never have maintained their independent life had they not become a nation. The new union in both nations was, we recall, quite fragile and was tested by secession. It was 80 years after the kingship of David was established that the ten Northern tribes seceded from the nation ruled by the tribe of Judah. It was 73 years after the United States established the central government, under the presidency of George Washington that secession from this union occurred that ultimately involved eleven states. The process of nation building seems to go through certain inevitable stages. The period of the Judges came to an end under the leadership of the final judge, whose name was Samuel. He is clearly the pivotal figure in this period of Israel's history between being a people in the wilderness and having an established nation. As seems to be the case with every pivotal figure in Jewish history, Samuel becomes a model for Jewish messianic thinking. Certainly the Jesus story shows the influence of Samuel. Samuel had something of a miraculous birth. His mother, Hannah, had been unable to have children until, as the story says, God intervened to answer her prayers. When Samuel was born Hannah was said to have sung a song that is quite similar to the Song of Mary that we call the Magnificat. When Luke tells the story of Jesus going up to the Temple at the age of twelve, there are many similarities with Hannah taking Samuel to the shrine where Eli the priest lived. Samuel is also the pivotal figure in the establishment of the monarchy. At first he was said to have resisted the pressure to have a king, warning the people that kings can be tyrants and yet he anoints Saul to be the first king of the unified Jewish nation. When Saul proved to be a poor choice, Samuel sought out and anointed a shepherd boy named David, the son of Jesse, to be the second king and it was David who established the lasting monarchy. It was also during the reign of King David that a lone man, armed with nothing except a sense of his belief in the immutable moral law of God, challenged King David publicly for what he believed was the king's immoral behavior. By this act this man established the prophetic principle, which was rare indeed among the ancient nations, that even the king must live under and be judged by the law of God. Ultimately this principle would make Israel a very different nation from all of the rest. To this man's story and its role in the rise of the prophetic movement we will turn when this series continues.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Advent and Holiday E-Courses from Spirituality & Practice A collection of holiday opportunities for spiritual retreat. Looking for a spiritual retreat to tide you over in quiet contemplation during the holy days leading up to Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Day, and Epiphany? Here are many choices — some Christian and inclusive, others multifaith — from which you can find a perfect match for your needs. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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Re: [Oe List ...] Greetings
by William Schlesinger 04 Dec '19

04 Dec '19

!!!😄 On Wed, Dec 4, 2019, 4:47 PM mary hampton via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > And as I loved from Planned Parenthood, Australia, “Hope is not a method.” > > mary > > > > Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for > Windows 10 > > > > *From: *isobeljimbish--- via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > *Sent: *Tuesday, December 3, 2019 11:08 PM > *To: *Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > *Cc: *isobeljimbish(a)optusnet.com.au > *Subject: *Re: [Oe List ...] Greetings > > > > Greetings, and may we gain strength and hope from Mary’s words and the > gift in words from all others > > who write them, at this festive time. > > In peace and love, > > Isobel Bishop 🐨🌏🌠🦋🌍🌎 > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > On 4 Dec 2019, at 3:26 am, Richard Alton via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > wrote: > > That is what hope is- a plan.. read* Active Hope* by Joanna Macy > > Dick > > > > On Tue, Dec 3, 2019 at 5:47 AM Bill Schlesinger via OE < > oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > Hope. Of course, as my friend Don Bushman reminds me, hope is not a plan. > J > > > > Grace – and peace. > > > > > > Bill Schlesinger > > Project Vida Health Center > > 3607 Rivera Avenue > > El Paso, TX 79905 > > (915) 533-7057 ext. 207 > > (915) 503-1014 FAX > > > > > > > > > > > > *From:* OE [mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net] *On Behalf Of *Mary > Kurian D'Souza via OE > *Sent:* Tuesday, December 3, 2019 5:10 AM > *To:* Order Ecumenical Community <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > *Cc:* Mary Kurian D'Souza <marykdsouza(a)gmail.com> > *Subject:* [Oe List ...] Greetings > > > > Dear colleagues on the journey, > > While remembering the birth of the man (who represented all humanity) who > taught us to love unconditionally and revealed the possibility of the > miraculous dimension in our lives > > > > May peace and joy be woven into the web of life that you sustain and care > for. > > May 2020 be a time of resolving and healing of our national and > inter-national traumas and issues. > > May we learn to be simple to reduce unwanted waste and recover planet > earth's resources. > > May we continue to be abundant in our care for each other and the planet. > > > > With deep respect to each of you, > > Mary DSouza > > > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE TO RECIPIENT: This transmission may contain > confidential information belonging to the sender that is legally privileged > and proprietary and may be subject to protection under the law, including > the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). If you are > not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are prohibited from sharing, > copying, or otherwise using or disclosing its contents. If you have > received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by > reply e-mail and permanently delete this e-mail and any attachments without > reading, forwarding or saving them. Thank you > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net > > > > > -- > > Richard H. T. Alton > > One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF) > > Green Community Connections > > Interfaith Green Network > > T: 773.344.7172 > > richard.alton(a)gmail.com > > **Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2019, March 1-10* > > http:www.oneearthfilmfestival.org > > > > Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > -- CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE TO RECIPIENT: This transmission may contain confidential information belonging to the sender that is legally privileged and proprietary and may be subject to protection under the law, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are prohibited from sharing, copying, or otherwise using or disclosing its contents. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete this e-mail and any attachments without reading, forwarding or saving them. Thank you

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Global Buzz reminder for December
by ICA International 28 Nov '19

28 Nov '19

Reminder for entries This reminder is for the Global Buzz that will be published December 5th. 2019 (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 decembre 2019 (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 diciembre 2019 (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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11/28/19, Progressing Spirit: Brian McLaren: Why do we use Christ as a synonym for Jesus?; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 28 Nov '19

28 Nov '19

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!important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateBody .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent, #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateBody .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateFooter .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent, #yiv1903795420 #yiv1903795420templateFooter .yiv1903795420mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } I’ve been pondering this question too … for decades! | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Why do we use Christ as a synonym for Jesus? | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Brian McLaren November 28, 2019 This week's essay is in response to a question we received from Janet: I wonder who “Christ” is. I know when people use the term, they are referring to Jesus. But Christ didn’t walk on water, Jesus did. So why does Christianity so often use the word Christ for Jesus; I find it confusing and incorrect. Some say there is a “Christ event;” so what is/was that event? Is that when Jesus became the Christ? “Christ” is the equivalent of Messiah, “anointed one.” Saul was a messiah; so was David as well as others. So why do we use Christ as a synonym for Jesus–or are they not one and the same? Janet - thanks so much for this question. I’ve been pondering this question too … for decades! As you may know, Fr. Richard Rohr recently wrote a book on the subject, called the Universal Christ, and the former Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, recently wrote a book called Christ, The Heart of Creation. So if you’re wondering about the meaning of Christ, you are not alone! Let’s start by saying the obvious: Christ isn’t Jesus’s last name. It’s a title, like doctor, reverend, president, or governor. It’s the Greek translation for the Hebrew word for Messiah, and both words mean “smeared,” as in smeared or anointed with oil. In ancient times, scented oils were smeared on people being honored, named, or recognized for a special role, much like placing an Olympic medal on an athlete, or giving an important person the keys to a city, or putting a crown on a prom queen. In passages like Isaiah 61, this oil of anointing was associated with the Spirit of God. In the Jewish tradition, a powerful spiritual, theological, and political movement developed around the idea of the Messiah. For centuries, the Jewish people were oppressed and occupied by one foreign power after another, and they dreamed of a mighty liberator or freedom fighter who would unite them, rally them, and lead them into war to overthrow their oppressors so they would be free at last. Various would-be-messiahs arose and staged uprisings, but one after another were crushed. For some, the dream of a messiah died, but for many, with each defeat, the hope would become even more fervent. You can think of it this way: there were kings over Israel who were puppets or accomplices of Caesar in Rome. They were not liberating kings. They were oppressive, corrupt, complicit kings. Someday, the people dreamed, God will send us a new leader who will be both a spiritual leader and a powerful political and military leader; he will be anointed as our liberating king. Some years ago, I participated in a new translation/paraphrase of the New Testament called The Voice. I was assigned the books of Luke and Acts, and my assignment was to try to render the Greek and older English texts into contemporary terms that would make the meaning as clear as possible to people today. I struggled with how to translate the word Christ, and with this background in mind, I decided to use the term Liberating King. Today, I might simply render it Liberator instead. Many of Jesus' contemporaries dared to believe that he might be their liberator, their long-awaited Christ. Yet he refused to fulfill their expectations. They wanted him to unite and revive the people spiritually so they would go to war against their Roman oppressors. But Jesus wouldn’t comply, because he wanted to liberate people, not simply from violent oppression, but also from violence itself. “My kingdom is not of this world,” he once said. “If it were of this world, my disciples would fight.” So he dared to proclaim an alternative kingdom that would be planted nonviolently, like seeds in the middle of the existing one. He was flipping the script on what it meant to be “smeared” or anointed as the Messiah. Paul, when he was still called Saul, preferred the violent Messiah, and in fact he used violence to suppress the fledgling Jesus movement. Eventually, when he had a spiritual experience that convinced him that Jesus was in fact the Messiah or the Christ, it turned his life around. One of his favorite terms came to be “in Christ.” Just as “in the kingdom of God” is one of the key phrases in understanding Jesus, “in Christ” is one of the key phrases in understanding Paul. Think of it like this: in Jesus, Paul encountered the Christ, the Messianic or Liberating Spirit, moving in the world of his day. But the life of Jesus radically redefined his understanding of what Messiah or Christ meant. The way of the Christ was not a way of violence (as he once thought), but the way of nonviolent love. By repenting (having a paradigm shift, rethinking everything, having his whole world turned upside down), he came to see himself as part of this new liberation movement. Now, he was “in Christ,” in the Messiah, in the Spirit, a citizen, an ambassador, and an agent of God’s kingdom, a member of the body of people in whom the liberating work of Jesus continued, now in many human bodies instead of just one. Paul traveled around the Mediterranean world inviting people to join him “in Christ,” as part of the Spirit’s movement for justice, peace, and joy (see Romans 14:17). Paul’s vision, as I understand it, was that the world would be transformed as more and more of us offered our “bodies as living sacrifices,” meaning opening our lives so that the Christ, the Messianic Spirit, the Spirit of liberation and love, could fill us, transform us, and empower us to do what the Christ manifested in Jesus: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. In-Christ people would be messianic people, people being healed and liberated so they could be sent out to heal and liberate the world through love. The in-Christ people would learn to live a new way of life with a new code and a new vision and a new identity (which is what a kingdom is). Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and anointed (smeared, marked as messianic) to preach good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberation to captives and freedom for prisoners. When we join that movement of love and liberation, when we enter “in Christ” (in the messianic movement), we become participants in the ongoing embodiment of Jesus, which is why we can be called “little Christs” (the literal meaning of Christians). Sadly, this meaning of Christ and Christian has been largely lost. Now, to be a Christian means little more than to belong to an institution or assent to a list of beliefs. (Some so-called Progressive Christians still understand Christian identity as a matter of beliefs. They just uphold different beliefs than their conservative counterparts. They’ve changed their beliefs, but not their fundamental understanding of Christian faith as a way of life rather than a system of beliefs.) This helps explain why the behavior of so many, if not most Christians, is so far from messianic. Nobody ever actually explained the real good news to them, the real good news that the Spirit of love and liberation is at work in the world, and if we will rethink everything — our values, priorities, purpose, even our politics — we can join the liberation movement! When we “get” the original understanding, I think we quickly discover that the messianic Spirit, the Spirit of love and liberation, doesn’t care about labels. As Jesus said (in John 3 and 4), the Spirit blows and flows where it will, and is happy to work with any willing people, whatever their label. If all this is true, then a number of other insights follow. For example, if “the Christ” means the presence of the Spirit of love and liberation, and if this is another name for God, then we would expect, as Richard Rohr says, to be able to see Christ “in every thing” through the universe, and as Rowan Williams says, we would expect to see Christ “at the heart of creation.” And if the Spirit of Christ, the Messianic Spirit, the Spirit of love and liberation is not the wholly owned subsidiary of one person or one culture or religion (as the story of Pentecost surely indicates), then we should expect to see the Christ showing up everywhere … even in us, and even in our neighbor! In that light, just as Moses didn’t want to hoard his spiritual power and role, but said, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Numbers 11:29), we can see why Jesus didn’t want to hoard the title “Christ.” Jesus was happy to share it and spread it far and wide. Just as he said "I am the light of the world," he also said, "You are the light of the world." As my friend Doug Pagitt explores in his excellent new book, Outdoing Jesus (Eerdman’s, 2019), Jesus wanted his disciples to be like their teacher, and to even do greater things than he did. He wanted us all to be filled with the messianic Spirit. He wanted us all to be embodiments or incarnations of the Spirit of love and liberation. As he was in the world messianically — for its nonviolent liberation, so he sends us. So your question, Janet, isn’t just a theoretical one. It’s one that invites us all into the movement of love and liberation in our world today. Imagine what that could mean for the planet, for the poor, for peace, and even for politics … if more and more of us join God’s ongoing movement to liberate the world from all that steals, kills, and destroys, and to fill it instead with justice, joy, and peace! ~ Brian McLaren Read online here About the Author Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow and a member of the faculty of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He works closely with Vote Common Good, the Center for Progressive Renewal/Convergence, the Wild Goose Festival, and the Fair Food Program‘s Faith Working Group. His most recent projects include The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey and an illustrated children’s book (for all ages) called Cory and the Seventh Story. Other recent books include: The Great Spiritual Migration, We Make the Road by Walking, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World). Brian has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors since the mid 1980’s, and has assisted in the development of several new churches. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer for denominational and ecumenical leadership gatherings around the world. He has written for or contributed interviews to many periodicals, including Leadership, Sojourners, Tikkun, Worship Leader, and Conversations. A frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs, he has appeared on All Things Considered, Larry King Live, Nightline, On Being, and Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. His work has also been covered in Time, New York Times, Christianity Today, Christian Century, the Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN.com, and many other print and online media. Brian is married to Grace, and they have four adult children and five grandchildren. His personal interests include wildlife and ecology, fly fishing and kayaking, music and songwriting, and literature. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Ed I fundamentally agree with your theology (Progressing Spirit) but need a clarification. I once considered myself an atheist (after FINALLY abandoning a strict Southern Baptist brainwashing). However I now consider myself an ‘a-theist’ vs an ‘atheist’. This to me means I have abandoned the Biblical personal God. However, I cannot pull away from ‘Universal Mystery’; especially when I see a real merger of that Mystery with modern Quantum Mechanical concepts. Just wondering if you too have ‘a hole in your soul’. A: By Rev. Brandan Robertson Dear Ed, Thank you so much for sharing a bit of your spiritual journey with us. I want you to know that your spiritual journey is very common. I bet that many, if not most readers of Progressing Spirit, feel the same way that you do. During the season when I was leaving the evangelical Christianity of my youth, I too jumped to an atheist position. This was primarily a result of my belief that the Church, or its leaders, had access to or represented God; and if their God was supposed to be the real one, there was no way I could believe in him. But as my journey continued, as I have studied science, anthropology, and learned about the evolution of human consciousness - I became utterly convinced that there was a Divine Life that animates and is at work in the Universe. I never feel this more acutely than when I stare into a star-filled night sky and contemplate the reality that we are here, on this ball of dirt, floating in an expansive cosmos. This seems to be the most ridiculous and unlikely reality - and yet, here we are. And as I stare into the sky, contemplating the mystery that is existence, I can’t help but think that such beauty was created for a purpose. That there is some sort of design behind this all. That some consciousness, somewhere has carefully crafted the Reality that we experience. I think science is overwhelmingly beginning to point in this direction, and the indigenous spiritual traditions of our ancestors have, in many ways, always pointed our gaze away from ourselves into the expansiveness of the Universe, and invited us to wonder at the majesty of it all. In those transcendent moments, I feel that “hole in my soul” fill up for just a moment. And then I return to my rational, modernistic thinking and have all sorts of questions about the validity of religious claims, and I become skeptical of theism altogether once again. This rhythm of profound awe and deep skepticism is, I think, part of the spiritual rhythm of progressive people of faith. Rather than fearing or judging it, I think we are better served to accept it as a gift, to be honest about our experiences, and to continue walking this journey with others who are traversing similar terrain. I hope you can find that where you live, and I hope that you know that this community here on Progressing Spirit is on this same journey of skepticism and awe with you! ~ Rev. Brandan Robertson Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press. | | | | | | | | 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 Origin of the Bible, Part VIII: The Priestly Revision of the Jewish Sacred Story (B) Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong June 18, 2008 While the first wave of Jews entered the Babylonian Exile around the year 596, a second wave came in 586 after a rebellion was put down by the Babylonians and all of the identifiable descendants of King David were executed. Both groups of captive people carried with them their sacred story, which at that time consisted of the merger of the Yahwist strand from the dominant land of Judah, the Elohist strand produced by the breakaway Northern Kingdom and the book of Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic revisions of the entire text carried out probably by Jeremiah and the Deuteronomic writers with the encouragement of King Josiah. When they left their Babylonian captivity, which they did in waves from 50 to 150 years later, that text had been completely rewritten and greatly expanded by a group of priestly writers, one of whom appears to have been the prophet Ezekiel. Now the Jewish sacred story reflected two things: the Jewish struggle for survival, which they had accomplished by making isolation from their captors a primary religious requirement, and a new understanding of their ultimate mission in this world, which was to return someday to their sacred soil, rebuild their capital city of Jerusalem and restore their ordered life of worship centered, as it had previously been, in the Temple. It was the stated mission of the priestly writers to create such a deep sense of what it meant to be Jews that their identity would never again be compromised individually or corporately. This could only be done by asserting that their sacred scriptures were in fact the absolute law of God, that these scriptures expressed the will of God for them and that their obedience to the Torah must be total and complete. So the priestly writers edited the sacred text of the Jews to illustrate that the story of their ancestors included the mandates of Sabbath observance, kosher dietary laws and the absolute requirement that all of the males of the tribe be circumcised. They also wrote into the Torah rules that were to govern every aspect of their common life. Representing a monumental revision, the priestly writers set about to accomplish this literary task, and accomplish it they did. The opening segment of the Torah was rewritten to reflect God’s command at the beginning of the world that all Jews must obey the Sabbath. This was a new creation story, actually modeled on a Babylonian story of God creating the world in a specific number of days. It suggested that creation was accomplished in six days so that God could obey the Sabbath by resting from the divine labors on that day, thus setting the pattern for all Jews to follow. This creation narrative moved from the idea of the spirit of God brooding over the chaos of darkness to bring forth life to the story of how light was separated from darkness on the first day. On the second day a firmament to be called “heaven” was made to separate the waters above the earth, from whence the rains came, from the waters below that presumably at that time covered the entire planet. On the third day the waters of the earth were gathered into one place and called the seas, and thus separated from the dry land which was to be called the earth. This enabled the dry land to bring forth grass, herbs, fruit trees and vegetables to be used for food as soon as living things arrived. On the fourth day God created the sun to light the day and the moon to light the night, dividing day from night and creating both seasons and years. God was also said to have made the stars on that day. On the fifth day the fish of the sea and the birds of the air were created and ordered to fill the sea and the air. On the sixth day God made the beasts of the fields and “everything that creeps in the earth.” Finally, on that same day as the last divine act, God made the man and the woman, together, instantaneously, both in the image of God. These human parents were also ordered to be fruitful, to multiply and to fill the earth. The work of creation was now finished and God pronounced it to be complete and good. So on the seventh day God inaugurated the Sabbath of rest, blessed it and hallowed it; enjoining its observance upon the subsequent generations of the Jewish people as their sacred duty. This whole creation story was the product of the priestly school in the Babylonian Exile and was designed, not to inform people about what happened at the dawn of creation, but in order to make observance of the Sabbath the original and defining mark of Judaism. It was the opening salvo of the priestly writers’ campaign to reshape the sacred story of the Jews in order to aid their goal of tribal survival as a distinct group of people living in and through a critical experience. Once that purpose in the creation story is understood, then the other priestly editorial changes can be noted and understood. In the story about God providing manna to the hungry Jews in the wilderness on their original trek from slavery in Egypt to what they believed was their Promised Land, the priestly writers inserted new details to reinforce the Sabbath. The manna from heaven was said now to have fallen only on six days of the week so that neither God in sending, nor the people in gathering up this heavenly gift had to work on the Sabbath. When the priestly writers came to the story of the Ten Commandments being given by God at Mt. Sinai, they added their creation story motif to the Sabbath Day Commandment as commentary. The earlier reason for the Sabbath (see Deuteronomy 5) was that the Jews were to remember from their days of slavery in Egypt that even slaves are entitled to a day of rest. It had nothing to do with a creation story since that story had not yet been written. Now, however, that was the reason the Commandments gave for a strict observance of the Sabbath. The priestly writers then sought in their revision to locate each of the distinctive marks of Judaism in the earlier narratives in order to attribute them all to Moses. So the kosher dietary laws were written into the Book of Leviticus as the commands of God through Moses. Circumcision was placed into the stories of both Abraham and Moses as something mandated by God. The elaborate rites of Jewish worship were spelled out in detail and adapted to their exile status, so that they could be observed even in captivity. Synagogues, as local teaching centers, were established to compensate for the loss of the Temple. Even the story of Noah was adapted so that Noah would have on board sufficient animals to carry out all of the required ritual sacrifices without jeopardizing the future of any species of which there was supposedly only a single pair that made it into the ark. The revision process of the sacred story went on for perhaps as long as 200 years. It was thus not the product of a single author or even of a single generation, but it accomplished its stated purpose. It stamped an identity on the Jewish people that became indelible. The Torah or Sacred Scriptures of the Jews was now the Jahwist-Elohist-Deuteronomic-Priestly version. The text had more than doubled in size. Great chunks of new material had been added, mostly to govern worship and behavior. Priestly additions included almost all of the Book of Exodus after the story of Sinai (Exodus 20), all of the Book of Leviticus and significant parts of Numbers, as well as editorial revisions of the entire text. It may not have come into its finished form until as late as the fourth century BCE. There is a narrative in the Book of Nehemiah (Chapter 8) in which a group of the Jewish people, having returned from the Exile and having rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, were gathered “before the Water Gate.” There upon orders from the Governor, Nehemiah, Ezra the priest had brought to him “The book of the law of Moses” and he proceeded to read it to them in its entirety. This reading occurred, we are told, on the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish year. That was the day on which the New Year or Rosh Hashanah was to be celebrated and the people covenanted to be bound by this law. What Ezra read on that day was in all probability pretty much the substance of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Two results of this new text of the law of God through Moses would soon affect the pattern of Jewish history. First, the passion to keep separate from Gentile infiltration in order to survive as a recognized people in exile got interpreted, when they returned to their homeland, to be a passion for ethnic purity. Genealogies were kept so that people could demonstrate their blood lines and prove their unpolluted Jewish heritage. This led to purges of those husbands, wives and children who were not demonstrably full blooded Jews, as well as to the judgment, found in New Testament times, that Gentiles were by definition unclean and thus to be avoided. It also led to the violent prejudice against those who came to be called Samaritans. These were the descendents of the people who had been brought in to resettle the land after the Jews had been exiled to Babylon, who had intermarried with those few Jews who had been left behind. Not only was their Jewishness compromised, but their religion was also corrupted by foreign and thus pagan elements. This meant that prejudices went deep and were justified by appeals to the “word of God” found in the Law of Moses. In time this prejudice against both the unclean Gentiles and the heretical Samaritans would reach such high levels of intensity that it produced protest books like Jonah and Ruth that somehow managed to remain in the Jewish Scriptures. Jonah expressed God’s concern for Gentiles and Ruth suggested that even King David would not have passed the racial purity test. The other result was the elevation of the Torah into the status of being the “Holy of Holies” in the Jewish Scriptures and this led to the synagogue practice of requiring the Torah to be read in its entirety on the Sabbaths of a single year in the stricter observing congregations and over three years in those less strict. The essence of Judaism was said to be the “law and the prophets.” The Torah was the law. We will turn to the prophets when this series continues. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Climate Conversations: Dialogue in a Virtual Global Space Sometimes the most valuable conversations come about informally – a coffee break at a conference, a chance meeting on the street, an introduction at a community gathering, or a friendly greeting in a new setting. Global Conversations are an opportunity for informal dialogue in a virtual global space. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

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