- OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

6/13/19, Progressing Spirit: The Concepts of the Virgin Birth and Physical Resurrection; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 13 Jun '19

13 Jun '19

#yiv0137801257 p{ margin:10px 0;padding:0;} #yiv0137801257 table{ border-collapse:collapse;} #yiv0137801257 h1, #yiv0137801257 h2, #yiv0137801257 h3, #yiv0137801257 h4, #yiv0137801257 h5, #yiv0137801257 h6{ display:block;margin:0;padding:0;} #yiv0137801257 img, #yiv0137801257 a img{ border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;} #yiv0137801257 body, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257bodyTable, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257bodyCell{ min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;} #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnPreviewText{ display:none !important;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257outlook a{ padding:0;} #yiv0137801257 img{ } #yiv0137801257 table{ } #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ReadMsgBody{ width:100%;} #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ExternalClass{ width:100%;} #yiv0137801257 p, #yiv0137801257 a, #yiv0137801257 li, #yiv0137801257 td, #yiv0137801257 blockquote{ } #yiv0137801257 a .filtered99999 , #yiv0137801257 a .filtered99999 { color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;} #yiv0137801257 p, #yiv0137801257 a, #yiv0137801257 li, #yiv0137801257 td, #yiv0137801257 body, #yiv0137801257 table, #yiv0137801257 blockquote{ } #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ExternalClass, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ExternalClass p, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ExternalClass td, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ExternalClass div, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ExternalClass span, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257ExternalClass font{ line-height:100%;} #yiv0137801257 a .filtered99999 { color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257bodyCell{ padding:10px;} #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257templateContainer{ max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;} #yiv0137801257 a.yiv0137801257mcnButton{ display:block;} #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImage, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnRetinaImage{ vertical-align:bottom;} #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent{ } #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent img{ height:auto !important;} #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnDividerBlock{ table-layout:fixed !important;} #yiv0137801257 body, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257bodyTable{ } #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257bodyCell{ border-top:0;} #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257templateContainer{ border:5px solid #363232;} #yiv0137801257 h1{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv0137801257 h2{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv0137801257 h3{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv0137801257 h4{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader{ background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent a, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p a{ color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateHeader{ background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateHeader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateHeader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateHeader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent a, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateHeader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateBody{ background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateBody .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateBody .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateBody .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent a, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateBody .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateFooter{ background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateFooter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateFooter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;} #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateFooter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent a, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateFooter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p a{ color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} @media screen and (min-width:768px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257templateContainer{ width:600px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 body, #yiv0137801257 table, #yiv0137801257 td, #yiv0137801257 p, #yiv0137801257 a, #yiv0137801257 li, #yiv0137801257 blockquote{ } }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 body{ width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257bodyCell{ padding-top:10px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnRetinaImage{ max-width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImage{ width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCartContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{ max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{ min-width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageGroupContent{ padding:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent{ padding-top:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv0137801257mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent{ padding-top:18px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{ padding-bottom:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageGroupBlockInner{ padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{ padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{ padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnImageCardRightImageContent{ padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcpreview-image-uploader{ display:none !important;width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 h1{ font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 h2{ font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 h3{ font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 .yiv0137801257mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templatePreheader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateHeader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateHeader .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateBody .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateBody .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateFooter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent, #yiv0137801257 #yiv0137801257templateFooter .yiv0137801257mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } Many Christians struggle with both concepts. | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Concepts of the Virgin Birth and Physical Resurrection | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Irene Monroe June 13, 2019 Both the virgin birth and physical resurrection are the pillars of the Christian faith, and many Christians struggle with both concepts. The Virgin Birth As a present-day feminist theologian, I take issue with the androcentric canonization of the virgin birth narrative as either a misinterpreted text, at best, or a fictive tale, at worst. Jesus born of a virgin upholds religious patriarchy at the expense of demeaning women and justifying keeping us in non-powerful positions within the church. The traditional rendering of this narrative creates two competing and unrealistic female archetypes - sinful Eve and virginal Mary. Both of these archetypes denigrate and dismiss women’s sexuality and sexual desire; they spill out into society, impacting social issues like reproductive justice, sex work, same-sex relationships, to name a few. And these archetypes are harmful in the psychosexual development of young girls. Mary’s miraculous pregnancy, the Christian belief that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin mother, conceals a reality that Mary might have been sexually active, seduced or raped-that would not be contested in today’s #Me Too Movement. A virgin birth is not biologically possible. Without Matthew 1:23 and Luke 1:27 we would know nothing about it, because it’s not mentioned in the rest of the New Testament, and never mentioned in Paul’s epistles. This narrative man-splains a religious shift toward biblical inerrancy and blind obedience of scripture, versus employing a reasoned faith that asked questions. “The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time,” the New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, wrote. “The Virgin Mary is an interesting prism through which to examine America’s emphasis on faith, because most Biblical scholars regard the evidence for the Virgin Birth … as so shaky that it pretty much has to be a leap of faith.” The Hebrew meaning of the word ”virgin” means a young woman of childbearing age, which has nothing to do with virginity. The 1970 version of Isaiah 7:14 says “the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” In translation it would read the following: A young woman of childbearing age shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”). Mary was an unwed mother who gave birth to a child. This phenomenon occurs in everyday life, and has been occurring since before Jesus was born. The Physical Resurrection Jesus’s physical resurrection from his crucifixion is a fantastical tale. The narrative is framed within both Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature as both metaphoric and mystic. I preach about Jesus’s resurrection as a way to examine social injustices confronting marginal and disenfranchised people; for socially conscious Christians to think anew about a topic, and then act to bring about change. For example, it would be an egregious omission to gloss over the unrelenting violence that took place during Jesus’s time, especially in light of the ongoing violence in today’s society toward people of color, women, Jews, Muslims, and LGBTQ people, to name a few. However, the deification of violence as a resurrection narrative that has been spun as redemptive suffering has deleterious implications that are not-so-benignly played out today from the playground to the courtroom. The normative rendering of the resurrection text, in my opinion, desensitizes killing, giving rise not only to a cavalier attitude to kill those who pose a physical threat to our lives, but also giving rise to a self-righteous attitude to kill those who are believed to pose social and political threats to the status quo. In other words, the notion of equating violence to redemptive suffering is not only bad theology, it is also a bad paradigm to demonstrate how God, who so loved the world that he offered up his only begotten son to save all of humanity, sacrificed him in the form of a sadomasochistic flogging. Jesus suffered before and during his walk up the hill to Golgotha at Calvary. Without the contextualization and accountability of the violence enacted upon Jesus, cycles of violence continue in the world. As a figure that has dominated Western culture and Christianity for over 2,000 years, too little attention is paid to Jesus's death. If more focus was spent on the reasons for his death and the systems of oppression that brought about his demise, violence against marginalized people would cease to exist. However, by focusing on the death of Jesus, and how justice might be adjudicated from it, we are forced to remember history. In the year 33 A.D., Jesus was unquestionably a religious threat to conservative Jews because of his iconoclastic views and practice of Jewish Law. He was viewed as a political threat to the Roman government simply because he was a Jew. In other words, in conservative Christianity, the cross as the locus of God’s atonement for human sin raises a myriad of questions for those of us on the margins of society. As an instrument for execution by Roman officials during Jesus's time, the cross's symbolic nature and its symbolic value can both be seen as the valorization of suffering and abuse, especially in the lives of the oppressed. For those of us on the margins, a Christology mounted on the belief that "Jesus died on the cross for our sins," instead of "Jesus died on the cross because of our sins," not only deifies Jesus as the suffering servant, but it also ritualizes suffering as redemptive. While suffering points to the need for redemption, suffering in and of itself is not redemptive, and it does not always correlate to one's sinfulness. For example, the belief that undeserved suffering is endured by faith, and that it has a morally educative component to, it makes the powerful insensitive to the suffering of others, and it forces the less powerful to be complacent to their suffering - therefore, maintaining the status quo. Jesus' suffering on the cross should never be seen as redemptive any more than the suffering of African-American men dangling from trees in the South during Jim Crow America. The lynchings of African-American men were never as restitution for the sins of the Ku Klux Klan, but were, instead, because of their sins that went, for decades, unaccounted for. In other words, Jesus's death on the cross and the lynching of African-American are synonymous experiences. As a profoundly controversial icon in Christian liberation theologies for many feminists, womanists, African Americans, and LGBTQ people, the cross is the locus of redemption, insofar as it serves as a lens to critically examine and make the connections between the abuses of power and institutions of domination that brought about the suffering Jesus endured during his time. As well as, to the abuses of power and institutions of domination that bring about the suffering which women, people of color and sexual minorities are enduring in our present day. When suffering is understood as an ongoing cycle of abuse that goes on unexamined and unaccounted for, we can then begin to see its manifestation in systems of racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism in our everyday lives. With a new understanding about suffering and how it victimizes the innocent and it aborts the Christian mission of inclusiveness, Jesus’s death at Calvary and his resurrection invite a different hermeneutic than its classically held one. Many Christians do not realize that with the classical view of the cross held by many conservatives in their denominations as the exaltation of Jesus as male, Jesus as white, and Jesus as heterosexual, this view not only disinvites the many faces of God that should appear on the cross with Jesus, but it also disinvites solidarity among diverse groups of people who do suffer.~ Rev. Irene Monroe Read online here About the Author The Reverend Monroe is an ordained minister. She does a weekly Monday segment, “All Revved Up!” on WGBH (89.7 FM), a Boston member station of National Public Radio (NPR), that is now a podcast, and a weekly Friday commentator on New England Channel NEWS (NECN). Monroe is the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail, Guided Walking Tour of Beacon Hill: Boston’s Black Women Abolitionists (Boston) – Detour. Monroe’s a Huffington Post blogger and a syndicated religion columnist. Her columns appear in cities across the country and in the U.K, Ireland, Canada. Monroe writes a column in the Boston home LGBTQ newspaper Baywindows, Cambridge Chronicle, and Opinion pieces for the Boston Globe. Monroe stated that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American, queer and religious studies. As a religion columnist I try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Because homophobia is both a hatred of the “other” and it’s usually acted upon ‘in the name of religion,” by reporting religion in the news I aim to highlight how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy, but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism.” Her papers are at the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College’s research library on the history of women in America. Click here to visit her website. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Marlon What “exactly” is an atheist? A: By Rev. Gretta Vosper Dear Marlon, Just as the term “believer” means very different things to those who use it, so do to does the word “atheist” include a wide set of definitions. I’m digging into it in a fairly technical way here, but I hope it helps. There are different groups who use the term “atheist” and each uses it in a different way. Theologians Theologians might use the word "atheist" to describe a belief system that excludes the idea that the god called God is a being and is supernatural. They may acknowledge an idea of god, but not one that intervenes in human affairs (directly or by changing people minds so that they act differently). In my first book, I identified as a nontheist. In my second, having realized that many nontheists still held onto the idea of intervention, I identified as a theological non-realist which meant that I do not believe there is a god out there doing anything.[i] A decade into my ministry, however (and long before I wrote my first book on the subject or identified as an atheist), I realized that the idea of god that I held was invisible to others if I used the word "god" to talk about it. Everyone listening to me had a different concept of god, many of which got in the way of what I was trying to convey. My conception of god is one of relationship, represented in the United Church's most recent statement of faith by the term "Bond of Love": I do not believe in a being but I do believe in the enormous power of human community and the "god" created within meaning-making community. The “power of god” is the power created in human relationship, not something outside of it. I no longer use the term, however, for the simple reason that I want to be understood. Humanists There are those who use the term “atheist” to make it clear they do not believe in religious doctrine but hold a scientific view of the universe. “Humanist” is a term very closely aligned with “secularist,” but the two often differ. A secularist may hold religious beliefs but still argue that religion and state should remain separate - one of the fundamental definitions of secular. Additionally, the term humanist was often (if not originally) used to argue that humans are the most advanced of all life on the planet. Most humanists I know are humble folk who see humanity as part of the web of life, not as its crowning glory. Humanists may or may not use the term “atheist” to describe their beliefs. Atheists Atheists themselves, are divided on the meaning of term and use the words "strong" or "weak" to describe themselves. Many, even including Richard Dawkins, refuse the term "strong" atheist because it conveys that you "know" for a fact that there is no god. Dawkins even calls believers "weak atheists" because he argues that even very strong believers cannot possibly know if God exists. I'm pretty sure believers would argue he was wrong, but Dawkins would probably win since the burden of proof would be on the shoulders of the believers, and they wouldn’t be able to provide it. I'm a weak atheist; I do not see any proof for a god in our world[ii]. But, like Dawkins, I cannot identify as a strong atheist because I couldn't possibly know, as a matter of fact, that there is no god. The evidence against one, however, is pretty damning, I must say. Emotional Definitions All of the above are rational definitions of the term. The more common use of it is, I believe, emotional. For whatever reasons – fear, anger, arrogance – the term "atheist" is often used as a pejorative. Although my choice to identify as an atheist came long after I made it clear in my books that I did not believe in a supernatural god, or a being that could intervene in human affairs, people have reacted dramatically to the word. Even colleagues trained in theology have assumed what I mean and chosen to laden that assumption with negative stereotypes, primarily believing I am a religion-hater. They miss the more important facet of the work we do at West Hill, which is to take the core message of liberal Christianity – love one another – and deliver it without religious language for those who would embrace the work of loving one another but not the virgin birth, the Bible as God’s word, Jesus as Saviour, etc. By not using religious language, we welcome both believers who do not require it and everyone else, even those of other faiths. The emotional reaction to the word “atheist” has made many blind to the importance of our work. I chose to describe myself as an atheist as an act of solidarity with those around the world who are dying for the right to freedom of expression. People continue to be assassinated by religious zealots in Bangladesh and imprisoned elsewhere simply for being humanist or identifying as atheist. The bigotry that was revealed in my own denomination by my use of the term reminds me that we must all be advocates for those who identify as atheists, and consistently work to bring the emotional response down to a more considered and rational one. ~ Rev. Gretta Vosper Read and Share Online Here About the Author The Rev. Gretta Vosper is a United Church of Canada minister who is an atheist. Her best-selling books include With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe, and Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief. She has also published three books of poetry and prayers. [i] Philosophical non-realists argue that nothing exists; for example: I cannot prove my keyboard is beneath my hands; everything exists only in our minds. I am only a non-realist as far as gods go, so I call myself a theological non-theist: I do believe the keyboard is beneath my hands ... though I must admit, I have still not been able to answer the question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?"[ii] If you come across a youtube video in which I say I am a strong atheist, that’s simply because I mixed up the terms! | | | | | | | | 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 Why Should People Pay Any Attention to the Christian Church on Sexual Matters? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 29, 2007 In recent decades the primary battles that have been fought in the Christian Church have not been about theology, but about issues of human sexuality. Huge debates polarize the Church on whether priesthood will be limited to males; the morality of birth control and abortion; who has the right to decide on what birth control will be legally available; whether celibacy for priests should be required, and the role and place of gay and lesbian people in the Church. These debates have received front page treatment in newspapers across the world as the media, and presumably their audiences, continue to regard them as newsworthy. Those parts of the Christian Church that move ahead by ordaining women or qualified homosexual candidates into their ministry are portrayed as doing very controversial and extraordinary things. The attempt to excommunicate the ones who are initiating the change or to threaten the church’s fabric with schism is also regarded as newsworthy. The presumption behind this media coverage is that the Church is actually qualified to speak with competence on matters of sexuality. I challenge the correctness of that presumption. >From where does this presumption come? Why do people think that the Church has sufficient expertise in matters of sexuality to warrant any attention? Is this not the same institution that has taught us that sex is both evil and dirty, and that ‘sexlessness’ is the higher calling into holiness? The Christian Church has actually defined marriage as a compromise with sin. Is a sexless world imaginable or even desirable? This institution has so deeply attached guilt to sex that it has produced in Christian countries either a repression of healthy sexuality among the faithful or an irresponsible free love among the dismissive. Is either a healthy alternative? Throughout its history the Church has also systematically filled women with deep feelings of inadequacy by declaring that menstruation produces a state of uncleanness. No one today believes that attitude to be based on anything other than ignorance and prejudice. One unspoken, but always present, argument used to prevent women from being ordained in several churches is that menstruation makes women a potentially polluting presence in holy places. That is also why the choirs in the great European Cathedrals consisted only of men and boys. This institution has even informed the world that the ideal woman is a “virgin mother.” Since it is impossible for anyone to be both a virgin and a mother, no woman could ever live up to the ideal. Thus in one stroke all women were made to feel morally compromised. With the ideal not possible, this Church then proceeded to offer women a consolation prize. They could be virgins who joined the nunneries (as the brides of Christ and clearly the higher calling) or they could be mothers. If they chose marriage and motherhood they were still taught that the only redeeming purpose for sex was procreation, so any birth control practice that inhibited or minimized the possibility of pregnancy was a mortal sin. That is where the prohibition against birth control had its origin. In an overpopulated world is not the absence of effective family planning itself immoral? It was out of the Roman Church’s visceral negativity to birth control that it recently instructed its adherents in Africa that condoms were not even morally acceptable for use even inside marriage to protect a wife from becoming infected by her HIV positive husband. Is it not a sign of distorted values to place a religious rule ahead of a woman’s life? There is no end to this litany of ecclesiastical malpractice, that reveals both contradictory and incompetent behavior. This institution first limited its priesthood to unmarried men, and then refused to acknowledge the fact that vast numbers of homosexual males found in this celibate priesthood a place in which to hide. Attempts to deny the fact that “mandatory celibacy” created the largest closet in which gay men have found sanctuary in Western history are laughably naive. When a gay man, however, dares to be honest about his priestly identity, the Church reacts with ecclesiastical uproar. Does anyone really believe that Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire is the first gay bishop in the Anglican Church? He is not even the only gay bishop currently serving in that Church! His distinction is that he is the first honest gay bishop. Indeed to illustrate the total duplicity present in church hierarchies, some of the fiercest critics of homosexuality in the Church today are closeted homosexual bishops! I can name them on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. They have occupied the highest positions of ecclesiastical power. Repressed and dishonest homosexuality is never healthy, but that has been what the Church has practiced for centuries and yet people, for reasons that defy rationality, continue to listen to church leaders for guidance on sexual issues. The sexual values of the church are so deeply confused that travesties occur frequently. When the rampant abuse of children by priests was revealed, the church responded by covering up the evidence, transferring the violators and promoting their protectors like Cardinal Law. In England recently a man who was the trainer of clergy for one of that nation’s largest Anglican dioceses was forced to resign his appointment as a bishop because he was honest about his sexual orientation. No one seemed upset about that, however, when he was the trainer of clergy. Is this not a mixed message totally lacking in credibility? In the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI began his pontificate promising to remove homosexuals from the priesthood of his Church. When the fine print was read, however, he only wanted to prevent “activist” gay males from “entering” the priesthood. If he went beyond that, the shortage of priests in that church would become unbearable. Estimates are that fully half of their ordained clergy throughout history, including bishops, archbishops, cardinals and popes have been closeted gay men. I would not bet against the truth of that estimate. To bolster these irrational stances on sexual behavior, Church leaders regularly use the Bible as their final authority. In doing so, they reveal an amazing ability to be quite selective, while appearing oblivious to centuries of biblical scholarship. They seem not to notice that the Bible has been quoted through the ages on the wrong side of every social change, including ending the “divine right of kings” while clothing sexism inside high sounding phrases like “sacred tradition.” The Bible has also been used to promote immoral wars like the Crusades and to undergird the tyranny of right wing dictatorships in the third world. The Bible has even been quoted to justify the corporal punishment of children, producing in the process scandalous examples of abuse in both church and church related schools. In the light of these things why there any surprise that the Bible’s credibility has become minimal? With a record like that, why does anyone still listen to the public proclamations about sex emanating from the Christian Church? Why would any woman be willing to heed the “moral opinion” of an all-male ecclesiastical group that pontificates in the name of a God called “Father,” about what is moral for a woman to do with her own body? Women, who are precluded from the decision making ecclesiastical processes, are quite rightly refusing to be subjected to such uninformed ignorance. With these sexual battles draining its energy in hopeless conflicts they are destined to lose, no one seems to notice how little attention the Church leaders pay to the Christ figure, who identified himself with the marginalized of his society, the lepers, the Samaritans and even the woman taken in the act of adultery. He broke the bands of religious prejudice against women by engaging the woman by the well in conversation, by encouraging Mary, the sister of Martha, to choose the role of a pupil for herself and by having female disciples who “followed him all the way from Galilee.” How was it then possible for Christianity, formed by the followers of this Jesus, to diminish throughout its long history and always in the name of God, the lives and the humanity of so many? I think of the Church’s traditional victims: the Jews, the “heretics,” the scientists who introduced us to a new understanding of the world and finally people of color, women and homosexual persons everywhere, and wonder what these ecclesiastical victims think when they hear church leaders say: “the Bible is the inerrant word of God.” The gospel of John quotes Jesus, I think correctly, as saying “I came that they might have life, abundantly.” One cannot give life and diminish people’s humanity at the same time. Yet in spite of that record many people still seem to think that institutional Christianity must be listened to in the debate about changing sexual patterns among human beings. In the light of this record, I wonder why. I am a bishop in the Church. I am deeply devoted to the Christ who stands at the heart of the Christian story. I treasure the sacred scriptures of my faith tradition and study them daily. Nonetheless, I am repelled by so much that I see emanating from within institutional Christianity today. Everywhere I go I confront a spiritually hungry population, but one that is increasingly unwilling to listen to the religious claims of those who have done such evil to so many while claiming that they are speaking for Christ. Most people I meet think that their only options are to continue to be part of this kind of abusive tradition or to rid themselves of all religion. That is why atheism has become such a popular subject for books today. I think a better alternative is to call the Christian Church into a new reformation that will transform it from being a power-seeking institution designed to create religious conformists to one whose goal is to enhance our common humanity. That would be for the Church to walk in a vastly different direction. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Wild Goose Festival "At Wild Goose, people flock together to celebrate a way of life rooted in faith, justice, creativity, and beauty. It’s like a family reunion … .” Brian McLaren Click here for more information. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

1 0

Fwd: [Dialogue] The Transestablishment Stance
by James Wiegel 08 Jun '19

08 Jun '19

I am scared about the future, too, Carleton—especially when imagining the world my grandkids may live in. In some ways, it is a relief to me to follow our national news and just focus on the squabbles in Washington — and not just any squabbles, but the ones JUST NOW, the ones that JUST MIGHT HAPPEN later this morning or this week. I get lost in the flood of information. Trying for a bigger picture seems scarier. I read a poem in the book Bratsk Station that had a line in it that keeps coming back to me. It went something like this: > “I am past 30. I fear the future. At night I hug the sheets between my knees.” > > Working on the ICA Global Archives website on social change, I ran across this video clip from 1965 — seems relevant > A Brand New World That We Didn't Ask For The Bold Community 1965 > > > A Brand New World That We Didn't Ask For The Bold Community 1965 > > https://icaglobalarchives.org/collections/analyzing-social-dynamics/ This would be an example for me of Transestablishment — https://reform.ps/ > > Jim Wiegel > “That which consumes me is not man, nor the earth, nor the heavens, but the flame which consumes man, earth, and sky." Nikos Kazantzakis > > 401 North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona 85353 > 623-363-3277 > jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com > www.partnersinparticipation.com >

5 10

Global Buzz for June
by ICA International 08 Jun '19

08 Jun '19

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

1 0

7/6/19, Progressing Spirit: Gretta Vosper: The Future Church: Over to You; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 06 Jun '19

06 Jun '19

#yiv4794884649 p{ margin:10px 0;padding:0;} #yiv4794884649 table{ border-collapse:collapse;} #yiv4794884649 h1, #yiv4794884649 h2, #yiv4794884649 h3, #yiv4794884649 h4, #yiv4794884649 h5, #yiv4794884649 h6{ display:block;margin:0;padding:0;} #yiv4794884649 img, #yiv4794884649 a img{ border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;} #yiv4794884649 body, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649bodyTable, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649bodyCell{ min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;} #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnPreviewText{ display:none !important;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649outlook a{ padding:0;} #yiv4794884649 img{ } #yiv4794884649 table{ } #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ReadMsgBody{ width:100%;} #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ExternalClass{ width:100%;} #yiv4794884649 p, #yiv4794884649 a, #yiv4794884649 li, #yiv4794884649 td, #yiv4794884649 blockquote{ } #yiv4794884649 a .filtered99999 , #yiv4794884649 a .filtered99999 { color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;} #yiv4794884649 p, #yiv4794884649 a, #yiv4794884649 li, #yiv4794884649 td, #yiv4794884649 body, #yiv4794884649 table, #yiv4794884649 blockquote{ } #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ExternalClass, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ExternalClass p, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ExternalClass td, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ExternalClass div, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ExternalClass span, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649ExternalClass font{ line-height:100%;} #yiv4794884649 a .filtered99999 { color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649bodyCell{ padding:10px;} #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649templateContainer{ max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;} #yiv4794884649 a.yiv4794884649mcnButton{ display:block;} #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImage, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnRetinaImage{ vertical-align:bottom;} #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent{ } #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent img{ height:auto !important;} #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnDividerBlock{ !important;} #yiv4794884649 body, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649bodyTable{ } #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649bodyCell{ border-top:0;} #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649templateContainer{ border:5px solid #363232;} #yiv4794884649 h1{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv4794884649 h2{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv4794884649 h3{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv4794884649 h4{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader{ background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent a, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p a{ color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateHeader{ background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateHeader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateHeader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateHeader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent a, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateHeader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateBody{ background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateBody .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateBody .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateBody .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent a, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateBody .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateFooter{ background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateFooter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateFooter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;} #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateFooter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent a, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateFooter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p a{ color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;} @media screen and (min-width:768px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649templateContainer{ width:600px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 body, #yiv4794884649 table, #yiv4794884649 td, #yiv4794884649 p, #yiv4794884649 a, #yiv4794884649 li, #yiv4794884649 blockquote{ } }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 body{ width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649bodyCell{ padding-top:10px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnRetinaImage{ max-width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImage{ width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCartContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{ max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{ min-width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageGroupContent{ padding:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent{ padding-top:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv4794884649mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent{ padding-top:18px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{ padding-bottom:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageGroupBlockInner{ padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{ padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{ padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnImageCardRightImageContent{ padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcpreview-image-uploader{ display:none !important;width:100% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 h1{ font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 h2{ font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 h3{ font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 h4{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 .yiv4794884649mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader{ display:block !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templatePreheader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateHeader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateHeader .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateBody .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateBody .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;} }@media screen and (max-width:480px){ #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateFooter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent, #yiv4794884649 #yiv4794884649templateFooter .yiv4794884649mcnTextContent p{ font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;} } The Cost of the Future Church | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Future Church: Over to You | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Gretta Vosper June 6, 2019 It was a pretty normal Sunday morning. The pews were still frightfully empty but I’d become accustomed to the behaviour patterns of the West Hill congregation, a last-a minute crowd if ever I’d seen one. With the precision timing of a military drill, they spilled in from the parking lot and lobby just as the first significant bits of the service began filling the space. Normal, that is, except for what was about to happen. I had no sermon prepared to deliver. That isn’t as unusual as it may seem; clergy often have pastoral duties that undermine sermon preparation time. Four weddings and a funeral… It happens. We deal with it. But that Sunday, when I stepped up to preach, rather than inviting the congregation to a deeper understanding of their faith, a stronger belief in God, or richer spiritual practice of following Jesus, I did the opposite. In my defence, I didn’t know I was going to do that. Perhaps my brain, on some channel unfamiliar to me, had blocked me from knowing what it was about to do. As I preached, my words spilled out into a total deconstruction of the concept of a theistic god called God. Founder of the Universe: gone. Creator of All Life: gone. Source of All Goodness: gone. Purveyor of Divine Blessings and Answers to Prayer: gone. Arbiter of Justice: gone. In fact, not much was left at all but a surprised (and possibly appalled) congregation ready to embrace and comfort me as I recovered from whatever burden they believed had overcome my faith that morning. The rest, as they say, is history. Armed with fifteen years of exposure to critical contemporary Christian scholarship, the congregation’s leaders, rather than fire me, embraced the opportunity to explore what church beyond belief might look like. It has been a bumpy ride at times; there is no doubt about that. Still, the work was important, and we have proven that a church built on the values of liberal Christianity neither undermines nor requires belief in a supernatural, interventionist, theistic god called God. So, You Think That Took Courage Over the years since that pivotal moment, I have had opportunity to speak to many about the work we do at West Hill. I’ve heard the word « courage » over and over by those who have come to hear me express awe at my willingness to speak openly and honestly about what we do and do not believe. I was often uncomfortable about receiving that particular compliment, though it took me some time to figure out why: It’s because it wasn’t me being courageous. With my spontaneous deconstruction sermon, I had almost accidentally cracked the door open and expected dire consequences for doing so. It was West Hill’s Board members who threw the door wide open and held the congregation’s hand as it took its first steps into the unfamiliar territory of post-theism. It was the people of West Hill who chose to embrace their inner heretics. It was they who were courageous and it was blind luck that allowed me to pilot their incredible journey. Of course, journeys into the unknown are just that: journeys into the unknown. Not long after we set out, the Board at West Hill began asking for more and more significant changes. They created a committee – Elements of Worship – that became the fulcrum of change in the congregation. Early on, it dismissed the idea of capturing our beliefs in a new statement of faith (which could only ever be divisive) and distilled, instead, the values inherent in the Christianity upon which they chose to model their lives. To quote a member of the first writing team, it was a « daunting » challenge to each of us to live out our faith with integrity. And, while the Elements Committee never used the document it had written to proactively change things at West Hill, it boldly addressed issues raised by congregants and visitors and morphed or removed things that no longer held or represented meaning for the congregation. Why are you still here? If you are reading this, chances are you have long ago left the idea that the Bible is the literal word of God. You probably wrestle with the stories of Jesus and wonder which ones represent what he actually did and said and which represent the prejudices of someone who never even knew him. You have long questioned the idea of a benevolent god who would let people die of diseases we haven’t yet cured, and those we have but refuse to make the cure financially accessible to all. You don’t think you believe in that kind of god anymore. You are very likely a life-long Christian and have been in the church for decades. And decades. And you probably wonder why young people don’t come to your church like they used to. Figuring out why you are still in church may be something to which you haven’t given much thought. I want you to figure that out. But I’m going to spare you the soul-searching and see if I can get this right by suggesting: you aren’t in church because of the responsive calls to worship, or the majesty of the procession of clergy and choir, or the hymns you rise to sing, or your eagerness to find out which Bible passages will be read that week, or the prayers of intercession, or the carillon you’re raising money to repair, or the neighbours who all know you go to church (though they are likely the closest reason listed so far), or the preaching of your oratorically-gifted minister, or the Taize service you attend each month (though that may be another close one). I realize I’m out on a limb here, but I would wager (not allowed in my denomination!) it’s because of the people and the relationships you have developed in that place over all these years. You’ve fallen in love with being together, as I like to put it, and that has strengthened every good instinct you have ever had because falling in love with being together is the healthiest thing you could have ever done for yourself. And that, my friend, is a problem: loving your church is going to kill the church. We Are the Canary in the Belfry Many of you know that I write from Canada. Yes, thank you; we are a lovely people. But we are your church canary, if you will, gasping out our last few notes before folding our wings forever. Two generations ahead of you in the abandonment of traditional congregational life, we started fleeing the pews in the mid-1960s. No, I didn’t lead the exodus; I was five. But I’ve watched it and lived it. And I know that it spells trouble for the socially democratic country y’all admire. You see, subjective well-being is tied to the number of social connections we make and maintain. In church, when people fall in love with being together and create multiple connections on Sunday and throughout the week, they experience a surge in well-being - regardless of what they believe. And that surge in well-being leads to a statistically significant increase in voluntarism beyond the church and in the community, with bigger philanthropic donations, and higher voter turnout. It’s true. The best thing you ever got out of church was the friends you made there. If you look carefully at your denomination’s attendance and membership numbers through the lens of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), though, you’ll find a gently sloping downward curve which is going to head straight down very soon. That curve is being drawn by young adults who are refusing church affiliation in droves. You may have noticed a greying of the pews, a smaller group of children leaving for church school, or learned that your adult grandchild didn’t search out a church when they moved to another city. Your church leaders may have begun trying new programming or rebranding. There may be yoga classes mid-week. One Sunday a month is now « Messy Church Sunday ». The pastoral team is stirring things up a bit with innovative attempts to capture a younger demographic before things tank altogether. Wasting Precious Time Scheduling hip new programming and hiring a gay youth minister is not going to make a difference, believe me. While being hip may not be your forte, it isn’t what is killing your church. It’s loving all the stuff you don’t believe that is killing your church. Not the fact that you don’t believe it; obviously, if you’re still in church, your filters are pretty good. That you have to filter what’s being said, read, and sung: that’s your problem. Fewer and fewer young adults are willing to wade through the premise of belief upon which the church of their parents is built. And while you may be willing to manage the constant translation of scripture, liturgy, hymnody, and theology, they aren’t. Integrity won’t let them. If you are in a mainline Protestant church, you can assume that your pastoral staff know everything you know and more. Liberal mainline seminaries have taught contemporary critical scholarship for decades. In my denomination, it’s been over a century. The President of Union Theological Seminary, Serene Jones, exposed some of it in a recent interview claiming that the virgin birth was a «bizarre claim» and that belief in Jesus’ bodily resurrection was untenable to those who have true faith. She seemed surprised that anyone would think otherwise. .....The pervasive idea of an abusive God-father who sends his own ......kid to the cross so God could forgive people is nuts. For me, ......the cross is an enactment of our human hatred. But what happens ......on Easter is the triumph of love in the midst of suffering. Isn’t ......that reason for hope? Maybe it’s been a while since Jones was in church. Or maybe she is in that self-revered Christian demographic that knows all the secret handshakes and head-nods of the contemporary illuminati who know none of it is true but continue to talk as though it is. After all, what happens every time love triumphs over hatred, suffering, misogyny, racism, arrogance, and greed is reason for hope. But do we still need to read the horror of the crucifixion and the unbelievable story of bodily resurrection to get to the importance of love? I don’t think so. And neither do your grandchildren. Over to You Clergy are unlikely to throw the door open widely enough to welcome those for whom Christian language and theology is a barrier. They will feel the risk deeply. It’s not their fault; their recent memory holds too many stories about discomfited parishioners. It is you who needs to lead the charge. Yes, you. Not your kids. Not your pastor. Not the Presbytery or Deacon’s Board or Diocesan Council. It’s you. «There’s time enough but none to spare.» How many endeavours have been urged along by the word of the African American essayist, Charles Chestnutt? We will never know. But I am using his words to emphazise the truth that mainline American churches have time enough to protect the important work they do. And the other equally important truth: they have no time to spare. So let’s cut to the chase. The cost of your not doing something will eventually be the future of your church community, of the well-being of the community beyond its doors, of the town or suburb you live in, of the world your grandchildren inhabit and in which they will grow old. Because all of that suffers when churches fail, and fail they will. Even in the Christian country that America professes to be, the fastest growing religious demographic is the Nones, those who identify as having no religious affiliation. And those with no religious affiliation miss out on the off-label benefits that affiliation might provide. At the same age you fell in love with being together in the churches of your early adult years, your children or grandchildren are experiencing record levels of loneliness. A recent Economist study notes that over twenty percent of the population now identifies as often or always experiencing loneliness. Many of these people are seniors but a rising number of young people also experience the psychological challenge of isolation on a regular basis. A Cigna study found that over half the population feels that no one really knows them. These are disturbing trends that impact Millennials in challenging ways. The communities which the church has created in the past could provide exactly what young adults now need, but Millennials won’t sacrifice their integrity to solve their isolation. You will because you’ve out-survived the preposterous nature of Christian belief. They can’t. The Cost of the Future Church What will it cost to throw the door open wide and become theologically non-exclusive in a way that welcomes millennials? Theological language, for one. The exclusive use of the Bible for inspiration, for two. The constant reiteration of ancient myths about who Jesus was and what he did… The words of your favorite hymns and choral pieces. All that traditional liturgy, its grandeur, pomp, and ceremony. Almost everything ever accompanied by a pipe organ. A few or a lot of those currently in the pews who are unable to transition the things they lose in the public church gathering to their private spiritual practice. The ease of pick-up and teach lectionary-based Sunday School curricula. And likely lot of other stuff. Those costs will be significant. I won’t gloss that over. But the gains for future generations may be exponentially more valuable. Socially engaged citizens who are confident in their pursuit of truth, justice, and right-relationship. Strong commitment to the values distilled from the mainline Christianity you know and love. Leadership in social action and climate justice. Resilience in the face of great change, much of it catastrophic. The support of charitable causes that make up for civic deficiencies. Fewer people whose loneliness is their most constant companion. A generation that falls in love with being together and reaps all the well-being associated with that. It is a hard sell but I believe it is a crucial one. Remember, we are your canary. We cannot save you, but perhaps we can inspire you to build the future church now. Before it’s too late for you, too. ~ Rev. Gretta Vosper Read online here About the Author The Rev. Gretta Vosper is a United Church of Canada minister who is an atheist. Her best-selling books include With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe, and Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief. She has also published three books of poetry and prayers. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Barb I’ve always heard that Jesus’ ministry was three years long. Now I hear that it was only one year. How does something like that change? A: By Rev. David M. Felten Dear Barb, The short answer is, nothing’s changed. Depending on which gospel you read, Jesus’ ministry was both one year long and three years long. With no physical or archaeological evidence to fill us in on the details of Jesus’ life, the one thing we have to go on are the gospels – and even the so-called “synoptic gospels” don’t agree with each other on order of events and details. But as for the duration of Jesus’ ministry, the “synoptics” (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) share a timeline that includes only one Passover observance, suggesting a ministry of one year. John’s gospel, with a completely different (and some would say narcissistic) Jesus, different message, and different priorities, has also created a completely different timeline. Making mention of at least three annual Passover feasts (John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55-57), John super-sizes Jesus’ ministry into three years. Earnest apologists have tried to consolidate all four narratives into one “harmony” of the gospels, but to no avail. The accounts are just too different. The authors of the synoptics, by-and-large, moved the action right along, committing most of their ink to Jesus’ last week (In fact, I love how much Mark seems to be in a hurry. He uses the word “immediately” over 40 times!). On the other hand, John’s late developing tradition makes the bold choice to stretch out its spiritualized message and ripening anti-Semitism into three years un-syncable with the other gospels. As John’s portrayal of Jesus seems to make it the most popular gospel for many, the expanded timeline has come to be uncritically accepted among traditionalist Christians. However, that very timeline discrepancy is among the reasons why Jesus scholars have placed John into its own take-it-with-a-grain-of-salt category: call it “poetic but problematic.” Meanwhile, proponents of a three-year ministry go to great lengths to ignore the synoptic gospels altogether and try to overwhelm people with spectacularly complex theological gymnastics, interpreting Daniel 9 and the reigns of various rulers as evidence of the legitimacy of their chronological obsession (see examples HERE, HERE, and HERE). The bottom line is that nobody really knows how long Jesus’ ministry was – and it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is whether we’re taking the teachings of Jesus to heart and living them out in our everyday lives. A lot of otherwise very smart people attend churches where the Bible is presented as the inerrant, infallible word of God (“If the Bible says it, it must be true,” regardless of how nonsensical some of it has become thousands of years later). That means a lot of energy has to be spent in covering up or discounting blatantly obvious conflicts and trying to shoe-horn the Bible into supporting unjust and inhumane cultural prejudices. (See more on this from Marcus Borg HERE.) So, check it out for yourself. The Bible is crystal-clear: Jesus’ ministry was both one year and three years long. Don’t get distracted by those who would argue that it has to literally be one or the other. They’re missing the point. What’s important is Jesus’ prophetic call to make the world a more just and compassionate place. Anything that distracts from that challenge, while the very real troubles of the world go unaddressed, is betraying Jesus’ message – no matter how long his ministry was. ~ Rev. David M. Felten Read and share online here About the Author Rev. David M. Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living the Questions”. A co-founder of the Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet. David and his wife Laura have three children. | | | | | | | | 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 Fourth Fundamental: Miracles and the Resurrection, Part IV Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong August 22, 2007 The idea that one can raise a deceased person to life entered the biblical story in two narratives from the Elijah-Elisha cycle of stories. It is then picked up and repeated in the gospel tradition. Was this meant to be read literally? Did Jesus really raise the dead? Is it biologically possible to bring back to life one who has been dead for four days? Does one have to make this assertion in order to be a Christian as literal minded believers seem to believe? Fundamentalists say that since stories that make this claim are in the Bible and the Bible is the word of God, they have to be true. They argue that since Jesus was the incarnation of the holy God, he was capable of doing anything that God could do. It is a circular argument which depends, of course, on the acceptance of the first of the five fundamentals, which asserts that the Bible is indeed inerrant since God is its author. People living in the 21st century respond to these absurdities by saying if that is what Christianity is all about then they want no part of it. As universal education grows, more and more people begin to embrace what we know about the way the universe works and more and more educated people take leave of their religious heritage, choosing citizenship in what Harvard’s Harvey Cox called “the secular city,” but I call the “Church Alumni Association.” That sterile choice, which requires a closed mind, has risen in our time, I believe, because Christians have literalized their time bound and time warped explanations of both the God experience and the Jesus experience. Modern people can no longer believe the literalizations, because to believe literally violates their minds giving them the choice of sacrificing their brains or their faith. This week I focus this discussion on New Testament stories where Jesus is said to have raised to life one who has died. There are five biblical episodes that purport to show Jesus raising the dead. However, there are only three people who are raised since one of these stories is told three times, once in each of the synoptic gospels, Mark, Matthew and Luke. That gospel repetition should not surprise us because it is now universally understood that Mark was the original gospel and that both Matthew and Luke copied much of Mark into their expanded stories. The people that Jesus is said to have raised from the dead are: Jairus’ daughter, told in Mark, Matthew and Luke; the only son of an unnamed widow raised from his funeral bier, told only in Luke, and Lazarus, the most dramatic story of all, told only by the gospel of John. As we have done before, the first thing we do is to look for parallels among the miracle stories surrounding the foundational Jewish heroes of Moses-Joshua and Elijah-Elisha. The Moses-Joshua stories, as previously noted, are exclusively nature miracles and they have clearly shaped the nature miracles attributed to Jesus. Besides nature miracles the Elijah-Elisha cycle introduces one healing miracle, but on two occasions presents us with the idea that the dead can actually be raised back to life by a religious leader. When we examine these narratives it becomes clear that the accounts of Jesus raising a person back to life are closely connected to these Elijah-Elisha stories. The gospel account of Jesus raising the child of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, is patterned so totally on the account of Elisha raising a child from the dead, that it is hard to escape the conclusion that the raising of Jairus’ daughter is simply an Elisha story magnified and applied to Jesus. We need to recall that the power to raise the dead was a sign of messiah’s arrival so this story was designed to interpret Jesus as “the one that should come.” Encouraged by that pattern we search for a narrative that might lie under Luke’s unique story of Jesus raising from the dead the only son of a widow. In the Elijah narrative, this time we find a remarkable similarity. First note that Elijah-Elisha stories are a primary interpretive tool for Luke. Luke alone among the synoptic gospels does not identify John the Baptist with Elijah; rather he saves Elijah to be his primary model for Jesus. The one healing story in the Elijah-Elisha cycle in which a foreigner, named Naaman, is cured of leprosy by bathing in the Jordan River shows up in an account only in Luke of a Samaritan who is cured of his leprosy by bathing in the Jordan River. Now, like Elijah, Luke has Jesus raise from the dead the only son of a widow. This occurs, Luke says, in the village of Nain. The details are dramatically similar. In both stories it is an only son; in both stories the mother is a widow; in both stories the young man is ready for burial; in both stories the healing person touches the deceased body, and in both stories the restored son is delivered to his mother. Once again, we cannot escape the conclusion that Luke has simply adapted this Elijah story to serve his image of Jesus as the new Elijah and thus fulfill another messianic expectation. It is interesting to note the placement in Luke’s gospel of the story of this widow’s son. It comes just before the episode in which John the Baptist sends messengers to Jesus asking the messianic question: “Are you the one that should come or do we look for another?” Jesus replies by saying go tell John what you see and hear and then he quotes the prophet Isaiah, who said that when the messiah comes you will know it because the blind will see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the mute sing. To that list Jesus adds the uniquely Christian signs, “the dead are raised and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Up to this moment, however, Luke has no story about the dead being raised. The narrative about Jairus’ daughter comes later in his gospel. So if Luke is going to have Jesus tell John that in his life the dead are raised, he has to provide an example. So, I am suggesting, he simply adapts Elijah’s story and makes it a Jesus story. The story of the widow’s son is thus not intended to be a supernatural event that actually occurred; it is an interpretive Elijah story, wrapped around Jesus to demonstrate his claim to be the new and greater Elijah, which was one of the images that shaped the messianic expectations of that day. That brings us to the final and best known New Testament story about a dead person being raised. It is the story of Lazarus and it is told only in the Fourth Gospel, a book that was not written until between 95-100 C.E. There are many strange things about this Lazarus story that should raise our suspicions about its historicity. First, Lazarus is introduced as the brother of Mary and Martha. Mary and Martha, as well as their home in Bethany, have long been part of the synoptic tradition, but this is the first time their brother has been introduced. Second, Mary, Martha’s sister, is identified in John’s Lazarus story as the woman who washed Jesus’ feet and anointed them, an identification never advanced before. Third, the episode to which this reference refers has not happened yet in John’s gospel. Fourth, we are told that when Jesus is made aware of Lazarus’ sickness, he makes no effort to go to Bethany. Indeed he waits four days after Lazarus has died. Fifth, both Mary and Martha give voice to their resentment when they say that Jesus’ slowness in arriving doomed their brother to death. Finally, the Johannine author uses this narrative to record one of the “I am” sayings for which this gospel is noted. The “I am” saying combines the name of God, “I am,” with a claim about Jesus’ power, in this case portraying Jesus as “resurrection and life,” and thus as the only doorway to God. We need to grasp in these details the impossibility of this being a literal story. Note the way the story is told. The funeral is a public event attended by many, including some who are enemies of Jesus. The body has been dead for four days, the process of decay is well advanced. Jesus approaches the cave over which a large stone has been placed. He orders the stone removed. Martha objects because of the length of days he has been dead. The King James Bible quotes her as saying, “already he stinketh.” Jesus overrules her objection. The stone is rolled away. Jesus calls Lazarus to come forth. This strange creature wrapped in burial clothes that cover his entire body comes out of the tomb and is unbound. Everyone attending this public event reacts. The enemies of Jesus move immediately to rid the world of Jesus. Yet, despite the public nature of this very dramatic event, no one anywhere records this story for 65-70 years until John does so in his gospel! Surely something else besides literal history is going on here. There are no biblical antecedents to this narrative. No miracle story anywhere in the Hebrew Scriptures is similar to this one. We search the Moses and Elijah cycles for leads in vain. There is, however, one other Lazarus in the New Testament. Could he be a clue? He is a character in a parable told only by Luke. In that parable, Lazarus, a poor beggar, and a rich man both die. Lazarus goes to Abraham’s bosom; the rich man to a place of torment. The rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus with water to quench his thirst. Abraham replies there is no route than can take one from where Lazarus is to where the rich man is. Then the rich man begs Abraham to warn his brethren lest they too come to this place of torment. Abraham reminds the rich man that his brothers have Moses and the prophets. If they don’t hear Moses and the prophets, he says, they will not listen even if one is raised from the dead. This parable of Luke has surely been turned into history by John. Lazarus returns from the dead. No one listens. Indeed the raising of Lazarus, says John, actually sets in motion the crucifixion of Jesus. The story is not a supernatural act, it is another interpretive symbol. This convinces me that there is a way to interpret 1st century miracle stories other than as supernatural events. We have imposed an unnatural literalness on these stories that was never intended by the gospel writers. These miraculous narratives are interpretive signs used to tell the Jesus story. The requirement made by the fundamentalists that miracle stories must be accepted as literally true is thus revealed again to be an irrational fundamentalist claim based on misunderstood realties. Christianity is indeed far more than this. ~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements Two new classes from the Chaplaincy Institute Serving Those Who Identify as Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) June 11 - 12, 2019 Berkeley, CA In this 2-day course participants will explore different forms of ministry that may serve the SBNR. Collectively, we will look at where SBNR community is found, or emerging, and envision ways to nurture this part of our communal spiritual landscape. READ ON ... The Intersection of Science & Spirit June 13 - 15, 2019 Berkeley, CA This 3-day course will focus on science itself as a source of wonder, contemplation and transformative meaning. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Copyright © 2019 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. You have subscribed to our Weekly Essay and/or Q & A emails. Our mailing address is: 4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. NW #80 Gig Harbor, WA 98335 253-507-8678 - contact(a)progressivechristianity.org Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. | | | |

1 0

Marshallese community in Oklahoma
by Terry Bergdall 05 Jun '19

05 Jun '19

I've shared before that my hometown, Enid, Oklahoma (population about 50,000) hosts one of the largest Marshallese communities in the United States. I found the front page article today in the local newspaper to provide a glimpse into some of the challenges encountered by those have made the move. I thought some of the rest of you might, too -- especially those who have a direct connection with Majuro. Do a "cut and paste" if you'd like to read more: https://www.enidnews.com/oklahoma/news/expert-seeks-answers-to-marshallese-… Terry

2 1

Do you know Krista Tippett?
by Paula Philbrook 04 Jun '19

04 Jun '19

All: After rereading Robertson Work's book, I think it would be a great platform for sharing the substance compassionate living! Any leads? Paula

5 5

Re: [Oe List ...] Life as a Journey - Ithaca by Constantine P. Cavafy - Tolstoy Therapy-Poem for Jean Long
by Del Morrill 04 Jun '19

04 Jun '19

Thanks for this. Del Facebook.com/del.morrill.85 Location: USA, Pacific Northwest, Washington State, Tacoma <http://www.hypnocenter.com/> www.hypnocenter.com “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” From: OE <oe-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> On Behalf Of Lynda C via OE Sent: Tuesday, June 4, 2019 6:51 AM To: ICA Dialogue List <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>; OE List <OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Lynda C <Lynda860(a)outlook.com> Subject: [Oe List ...] Life as a Journey - Ithaca by Constantine P. Cavafy - Tolstoy Therapy-Poem for Jean Long https://www.tolstoytherapy.com/life-as-journey-ithaca-by-constantine-p/ Dear Colleagues, This was a poem read at Jean Long’s memorial service that I think you all will appreciate for the meaning it shares with Jean’s life and for all of us, and that those of us who were present will want to rehearse again. It was read by Jean’s sister-in-law Glenda Long Eggerling from Ames, IA, who along with her late husband Stan Long (Jean’s brother) journeyed with our community for about a decade including time at Faith and Life Community and recruiting Jean to join this journey. Glenda recently wrote : “I never want to lose those years in the ICA. In some ways, that decade in which I was with the EI/ICA represent Ithaka in my life.” (Glenda is listed in the Directory for those who want to reconnect with her.) “Splendid journeys” to all, Lynda Cock

1 0

Life as a Journey - Ithaca by Constantine P. Cavafy - Tolstoy Therapy-Poem for Jean Long
by Lynda C 04 Jun '19

04 Jun '19

https://www.tolstoytherapy.com/life-as-journey-ithaca-by-constantine-p/ Dear Colleagues, This was a poem read at Jean Long’s memorial service that I think you all will appreciate for the meaning it shares with Jean’s life and for all of us, and that those of us who were present will want to rehearse again. It was read by Jean’s sister-in-law Glenda Long Eggerling from Ames, IA, who along with her late husband Stan Long (Jean’s brother) journeyed with our community for about a decade including time at Faith and Life Community and recruiting Jean to join this journey. Glenda recently wrote : “I never want to lose those years in the ICA. In some ways, that decade in which I was with the EI/ICA represent Ithaka in my life.” (Glenda is listed in the Directory for those who want to reconnect with her.) “Splendid journeys” to all, Lynda Cock

1 0

Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Psalm
by James Wiegel 03 Jun '19

03 Jun '19

Still amazes me to have been a part of a group of people where stuff like this just happens. Jim Wiegel Sent from my iPad > On Jun 3, 2019, at 7:27 AM, Karenbueno via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > The way I remember it, Terry Wright, my husband at the time, was suffering from some sort of psychosis. In the 70s we knew little about mental disease compared to today. I read Psalm 13 from a traditional translation, and it just sang itself to "500 miles". "Lord I'm one, lord, I'm two, lord I'm three hundred miles..." (change to " How long, O Lord, will you quite forget me, How long will you turn your face from me?") It spoke to the grief I was experiencing when my talented, intelligent, educated husband became an unknown self. So I sang it to some others and it "got into history". > > Karen Bueno > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Doug and Pat Druckenmiller <dpat23(a)msn.com> > To: Karenbueno <karenbueno(a)aol.com> > Sent: Sun, Jun 2, 2019 7:57 pm > Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Psalm > > Thank you for your inspiration. What is the story for how this came about? > > On Jun 2, 2019 8:16 PM, Karenbueno <karenbueno(a)aol.com> wrote: > I did. > > Karen (Wright) Bueno > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Doug and Pat Druckenmiller via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > To: dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> > Cc: Doug and Pat Druckenmiller <dpat23(a)msn.com> > Sent: Sun, Jun 2, 2019 4:16 pm > Subject: [Dialogue] Psalm > > We (Pat and I) sang psalm 13 to the tune 500 miles this sunday in church. People were addressed. Who came up with this genius version? > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net > > _______________________________________________ > Dialogue mailing list > Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net > http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

2 1

Re: [Oe List ...] An Osprey Moment
by Randy Williams 03 Jun '19

03 Jun '19

Isobel, It is also reminiscent of Parker Palmer’s insight that your calling is where your deep joy intersects with the world’s deep need, or Joseph Campbell’s invitation to “follow your bliss.” All these writers seem to imply one way or another that you don’t find your calling, your calling finds you. I believe Kaz would concur. Best wishes, Randy > On Jun 2, 2019, at 2:59 AM, Isobel and Jim Bishop via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: > > > --Apple-Mail=_448367CB-6753-4EC2-9EDE-BB1370B4BE4C > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset=utf-8 > > Dear Randy and everyone who has gifted me in this exchange.=20 > > This reminds me of The Cry from Kazantzakis. Not to mention The Crimson = > Line. > > Thank you everyone.=20 > > xo > > Isobel Bishop.=20 > > > > Isobel and Jim Bishop > isobeljimbish(a)optusnet.com.au > > > > > >> On 2 Jun 2019, at 7:33 am, James Wiegel via OE = > <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: >> =20 >> Here you go Randy and all >> =20 >> https://youtu.be/XvJxR_OoNXo <https://youtu.be/XvJxR_OoNXo> >> =20 >> Jim Wiegel >> Sent from my iPad >> =20 >> On Jun 1, 2019, at 12:22 PM, Del Morrill via OE = > <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:

3 2