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Six ways the US is building a people-powered economy
by James Wiegel via OE 16 Jan '15

16 Jan '15

http://gu.com/p/447by/sbl Article by Sarah Van Gelder Jim Wiegel We have to fall in love if only to provide an alibi for the random despair we were going to feel anyway. Albert Camus 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353 Tel. 011-623-936-8671 or 011-623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com Upcoming public course opportunities click here http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=10 For online registration go to http://www.top-training.net The AZ ToP® Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, 1-4 pm, starting again on Sept 5th at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003 AICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP® courses

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1/15/15, Spong: Part XXXVII Matthew - The Impact of Deuteronomy on the Journey of Jesus to Jerusalem
by Ellie Stock via OE 15 Jan '15

15 Jan '15

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Part XXXVII Matthew The Impact of Deuteronomy on the Journey of Jesus to Jerusalem When the Transfiguration experience was over, Matthew tells us that Jesus and his disciples came down from that mountain. It had been a transformative experience for the disciples, Matthew suggests, because they had seen a new dimension of Jesus’ life opening before them. He has been portrayed in the Transfiguration story as the “New Temple,” the new place where God and human life came together. The claim was also being made for him that Moses, the father of the Torah, and Elijah, the father of the prophets, were both to find their fulfillment in him. Matthew had even suggested in this “Transfiguration” story that the proposal to build three equal tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus to commemorate the new insight, was rejected by God. To that proposal, which came from Peter, a heavenly voice was said to have spoken to confirm Jesus’ uniqueness. He was not to be regarded as one of three gigantic figures. “This is my beloved son,” the heavenly voice was made to proclaim. Thus the story of the Transfiguration was a narrative attempting to describe both this growing understanding and a dawning awareness of what the Jesus experience really was. Powerful as this new insight was, however, the disciples were still instructed by Jesus “to tell no one” about this vision “until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” This was Matthew’s first signal that the road to the cross had begun. In the narrative that Matthew places just after the Transfiguration, he deals with the failure of those disciples, who had not been on that mountain with Jesus, to cleanse an epileptic boy of his “demons.” That was the popular explanation for epilepsy in the first century. Jesus is presented as now being constantly in an explanatory mood. The disciples have failed, he says, because their faith was not sufficient. When their faith developed, said Jesus, they would then be able to “move mountains.” The disciples then asked how the Kingdom could come if Elijah had not come to be the herald of the messiah’s arrival. Jesus once again responds, explaining that Elijah had in fact already come and the authorities did not recognize him or heed him. The identification of John the Baptist with Elijah had now become set, affirmed by Jesus himself. Then Jesus went on to say that his own fate would not be different from that of John the Baptist. “The Son of Man will suffer,” he said, “at the hands of the same ones who put John to death.” Matthew again and again is portraying the shadow of the cross as falling visibly on the life of Jesus. Next Matthew described Jesus gathering with his disciples in Galilee, ready to begin the final and fateful journey to Jerusalem. On this last journey, Jesus will be cast in the role of the teacher. It will be as if he is giving his disciples his final word on a variety of topics with which they will have to deal after he has gone. The text even reads something like a last will and testament. What will be the relationship between the followers of Jesus and the Roman authorities? Who is to be recognized as the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? What is the place of children in the Jesus movement? How are they to deal with various temptations? What is the value of each individual in the Kingdom? How often are we to forgive those who sin against us? How are we to deal with conflict among the followers of Jesus? How are people’s talents to be used? What is the nature of forgiveness? What we have in this particular place in Matthew’s gospel is the fourth of the five long teaching segments that Matthew has included in his text. We have discovered each of these teaching segments was related to a major celebration in the liturgical year of the Jews. Let me review quickly. The first one is the Sermon on the Mount, which was related to the Jewish observance of Shavuot (Matt. 5-7). The second was related to the coming of Rosh Hashanah (Matt. 10:1-11:1). The third was related to Sukkoth, the harvest festival (Matt. 13:1-53). Now we have the fourth of Matthew’s five long teaching segments and this one is related to the eight-day celebration of Dedication-Hanukkah. The last of the five we shall soon discover is related to Passover (Matt. 24:3-26:1). Every time we turn around in this gospel, we are confronted anew with insights drawn from the liturgical year of the synagogue on which Matthew’s story of Jesus is based. He follows quite deliberately the pattern of the Jewish year in the development of this gospel. When this Dedication-Hanukkah segment of teaching ends, the journey to Jerusalem begins. Matthew’s words are quite clear, “When Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan and large crowds followed him” (Matt. 19:1-2). One other thing is operating here about which those not familiar with Jewish liturgical practices would never see or understand, yet it would have been obvious to the worshiping Jews in the synagogues for whom Matthew’s gospel was written. Those Jews would have understood the method he was employing and its background. Let me pull that background out of the Jewish consciousness and lay it out for all to see. In the strict synagogues, like the ones for which Matthew wrote, the practice of reading the entire Torah in public worship on the Sabbaths of a single year was deeply ensconced. In most of the synagogues of the first century, the Jewish year began with the month of Nisan, which would come usually in early to mid-March on our calendar. This meant that Passover, which came on the 14th day of Nisan, would be the first great celebration of the liturgical year. That made sense as Passover was the liturgical re-enactment of the birth of the Jewish nation out of Egyptian slavery. This also meant that on the first Sabbath of Nisan, the Torah readings would begin with the first chapter of Genesis. It would usually take approximately twelve Sabbaths to finish each of the five books of the Torah. Leviticus was actually the shortest of these books, but it also has the least narrative and therefore the hardest of the five to which to listen for long periods of time. So Torah lessons from Leviticus might have been a bit shorter that the other four Torah books. To cover the entire Torah in one year meant that the weekly Sabbath readings would encompass five to six chapters of material. Please remember, however, that chapters and verses were not imposed on these texts until the Middle Ages, so the way each reading was organized and divided was not uniform, but the essential outline for the year was. If each book of the Torah took about twelve Sabbaths that would mean that the Torah was read in 50-51 Sabbaths of the year, not 52, as is the case in our calendar. The Jews followed a lunar calendar not a Julian calendar. This meant that for them the year was made of twelve lunar months or approximately 360 days. This would mean that they were constantly falling behind the seasons of the year, which are based not on the moon, but on the time it takes our planet earth to orbit the sun one time, that is, 365 1/4 days. Now none of this did first century people, who still thought the sun rotated around the earth, understand. They did understand enough, however, to face the need periodically of adjusting the calendar to keep it in touch with the seasons. So the custom developed that in seven out of every nineteen years, the Jews would add an additional month called Adar II to the end of their year, a “leap month” if you will. Nonetheless, they started the Torah readings on the first Sabbath in Nisan and concluded their Torah reading on the last Sabbath of the year, which would be the last Sabbath of either Adar I or Adar II. Now all of this may sound a bit confusing, but I go into it primarily because there are about twelve Sabbaths between Dedication, which in that calendar would be somewhere around mid-December and the beginning of the new Jewish year with the month of Nisan, which in our calendar would occur about mid-March. So the time between Dedication and Passover would be about twelve weeks. During most of these Sabbaths, the Torah readings would be from Deuteronomy, the last book of the Torah. Why is that important? Because Deuteronomy is the account of Moses giving his final instructions to the people prior to his death. The death of Moses is described in the 34th and final chapter of Deuteronomy. So Deuteronomy, which is a kind of last will and testament of Moses, served to shape the way the journey section in each of the synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) was written. The “journey section” of all three of these gospels constitutes a similar last will and testament of Jesus. In the journey section of Matthew’s gospel, which is our focus, Jesus, like Moses, is giving his teaching on a wide variety of issues with which his followers must deal after his death. So the liturgy of the synagogue was shaping even this part of the writing of the synoptic gospels. There is one other detail about the liturgical practice of both the Jews and the Christians that becomes a factor in the way the synoptic gospels were organized. That has to do with how each faith community prepared new members for incorporation into either Judaism or Christianity. It also accounts for the development in Christian circles of the season of Lent. Finally, it reveals the nature of the first textbook ever written for instructing new members for incorporation into the worshiping body, that is, it provides the first text for confirmation classes or membership classes in Christian history. I find that rather fascinating and to that topic we will turn next week. John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Joe, via the Internet, writes: Question: It has been said that we do not know who or what God is. In light of that, do you believe that Jesus had a different concept of God, particularly since he referred to him as “Abba” and seemed to expect that his prayers would be answered? Answer: Dear Joe, First, let me affirm your opening line that no one knows who God is or what God is. The “Being” of God is simply beyond the capacity of the human mind to embrace. Insects cannot know what it means to be a bird, horses cannot know what it means to be a human being and human beings cannot know what it means to be God. That is why all human definitions of God are drawn from human experience with all human limitations removed. So God becomes, in our human speech, infinite, immortal, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent since we know ourselves to be finite, mortal, limited in power, limited both in knowledge and by time and space. These words tell us nothing about God, but much about the fears of our humanity. God is the mystery into which we walk, but that mystery is never finally entered and it is certainly never understood. It is difficult for human beings, and especially for human beings who think of themselves as “religious” to accept this reality, but it is true. Secondly, where do you propose to go to find out Jesus’ concept of God? Your quote about “ABBA” as the name for God used by Jesus comes first from Paul, who wrote 21-34 years after the crucifixion (Gal. 4:6 and Rom. 8:15) and who never had contact with the Jesus of history; and from Mark, who wrote 42 years after the crucifixion (Mark 14:10). Were Paul and Mark accurate? Why did none of the later writers use this term? You will not find “ABBA” as a name for God in Matthew, Luke or John. How did Jesus understand his relationship to and with God? The four gospels differ dramatically on that. In Mark, Jesus prays to God “to remove this cup from me” (Mark 14:36), while in John Jesus says, “Shall I not drink the cup which the father has given me” (John 18:1)? A person who prays, expecting God to respond, is one who does not understand that God is not ours to command. Life is so much more complex than your question seems to imply. So is God! Perhaps this answer can at least start a new conversation. My best, John Shelby Spong Announcements New Resource on ProgressiveChristianity.org Exclusive Interview with Ben Corey: Discussing The Wide Spectrum of Progressive Christianity, and more… By Eric Alexander Read Here!

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Dick Whanger's memorial service details
by Timothy Wegner via OE 15 Jan '15

15 Jan '15

Ken Whanger asked me to pass this on: Tim, we have finalized the memorial services for Dad and I wanted to let you know it will be Saturday 24 January 2014 at 2pm. Location will be Westbury Methodist Church, 5200 Willowbend Blvd, Houston 77096. Also, later this afternoon I will oull together comments about Dick posted here or sent to me personally and pass them on to Ken. Tim Wegner

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Selma Movie
by via OE 14 Jan '15

14 Jan '15

I still haven't seen the movie, but here is what Bill Moyers has to say about it. http://billmoyers.com/2015/01/14/whats-bills-mind/?utm_source=General+Inter… Jann

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Re: [Oe List ...] Selma
by Nancy Trask via OE 11 Jan '15

11 Jan '15

I just returned from Selma as well. Thought it was very well worth watching!!! Just went into a tizzy at the end when i saw in the credits Col. Al Lingo played by some actor ... couldn't wait to Google our Charles Allen Lingo to differentiate this policeman Col. Al Lingo. Google has added so many historical resources ... was great to read up on Charles Allen Lingo's role with Andrew Young and MLK in Alabama, and to watch him in a filmed interview as well. Best wishes, Nancy Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone <div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Doris Hahn via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> </div><div>Date:01/11/2015 3:24 PM (GMT-06:00) </div><div>To: OE List <oe(a)wedgeblade.net> </div><div>Subject: [Oe List ...] Selma </div><div> </div>We just returned from seeing the movie, Selma. It is not a documentary, but well done and very powerful. We recommend it. Doris and Charles

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JK Rowling takes on Rupert Murdock
by SteveHar via OE 11 Jan '15

11 Jan '15

JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has condemned and mocked the tweet from Rupert Murdoch which insisted that even peaceful Muslims must bear responsibilities for jihadi attacks. “I was born Christian. If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I’ll auto-excommunicate,” she tweeted on Sunday... In follow-up tweets, Rowling cited a recent study suggesting that eight times as many Muslims as non-Muslims had died in terrorist attacks. She also praised “the courage and compassionate actions” of Lassana Bathily, the Muslim employee of the kosher supermarket that was the target of the second siege in Paris, who hid Jewish customers from the gunman by leading them to a basement chiller room. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/11/jk-rowling-condemns-murdoch-tw… Message from: Steve Skype: consultharrington Social Media: LinkedIn, FaceBook, Google + Hangouts

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Selma
by Doris Hahn via OE 11 Jan '15

11 Jan '15

We just returned from seeing the movie, Selma. It is not a documentary, but well done and very powerful. We recommend it. Doris and Charles

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Salmon: Reply to Paul's request
by William Salmon via OE 10 Jan '15

10 Jan '15

Paul-- An interesting request. I suppose the last 15 weddings I've conducted had something of a secular focus. In particular was one in a Kansas State Prison to an atheist prisoner and an agnostic woman. We talked for 14 hours getting clear how his "reality" thinking could be translated into the Christian liturgy; it was a beautiful wedding for which they wrote the vows. Let me look through my files and do a little research to share with you. The altar is a place for several symbols: In place of a cross, a Mystery Rock is used. ==A Family Candle set is used consisting of a candle representing his side of the family, and another for hers. ==A Wedding Candle is used by the couple who use their Family Candles to light the candle representing a new family in history. I make the case that there are a lot more attending the wedding than those present in the seats. First is her family history, second is his family history, and another one representing the State of Kansas (or whatever). I place the State License on the altar and prepare to sign it at the time following the lighting of the Couple's Family Candle. In this way, the State of Kansas is present. In place of the candles, I've arrange for a small tube vase for each family and use colored balls usually used in fish bowels: one color for each side of the family--the couple take their color and combine it in a larger tube so that there is a mix of colors. At the very beginning with the seating of the families, they bring their color marbles to put into their jar. At the beginning of any counseling or conversation about the couple's expectations, I remind them that I'll be in prayer for them and will have a symbolic gift for them to be presented at the service. Frequently, I've used "Salt" reading from the Gospels: find a glass salt shaker (or an old aluminum Stove model) and engrave their name, wedding date, and the script. reference on it, requesting it be placed on their stove where it can be seen and used daily with the prayer that it become a reminder of their wedding vows. For this same purpose, I've used an old t-towel from the kitchen with stains and a hole in it and use it to tie their hands together at the end of the service; this is to remind them that every time they pick up a t-towel they are to recall their wedding vows. To this same end, I've use warm washrags asking each couple to wash the hands of the other--this can be particularly meaningful when children of blended families are involved. As you can see, use whatever comes to mind to use as metaphors for what the wedding ritual means. The couple can be asked to write their personal vows; or sing to each other. Whatever. Let me see what else can be found. Perhaps, this will get the juices flowing. Remember, the vows are really for the State. The ritual could be no more or less than: "You want him?" You want her?" You're married. Let's go party. (Ever see the movie "Joe versus The Volcano?" These were the vows standing on the lip of the volcano said by the Island Chief. Later, Bill Salmon ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Schrijnen via OE To: Order Ecumenical Community Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 10:32 PM Subject: [Oe List ...] Request for ideas for wedding service Dear colleagues, dear friends, My best wishes to you all for 2015. My son Patrick is getting married this summer and would like me to conduct a secular wedding service. I am looking for help and ideas. I suspect that a number of you have run such services - or would have a wealth of ideas for such a service. 1. what structure makes sense? 2. what congregational singing would work? - what secular songs might be easily sung by the group of guests? - what Church songs might work, even in a secular setting? His bride is Welsh… 3. ideas for readings, poetry. I appreciate your liturgical help! With best wishes, Paul Paul Schrijnen paulschrijnen(a)gmail.com pschrijnen(a)aol.com 13 Bloemfontein Avenue London W12 7BJ +44 7973 206 766 skype: paulus.schrijnen On 25 Dec 2014, at 17:35, Jeanette Stanfield via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Dear Colleagues, Thank you for being my global community throughout most of my adult life. With deep gratitude for all of you. Your constant compassion and care for this planet and all of its people is an unbelievable gift threaded into the very being of mother earth. Happy Christmas. Jeanette _______________________________________________ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.5577 / Virus Database: 4257/8892 - Release Date: 01/08/15

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Salmon: Non-traditional Wedding Service-8 pages
by William Salmon via OE 10 Jan '15

10 Jan '15

Paul and all: This is the last of materials I've found without going a lot deeper. A couple of things to note: Since the very beginning of my ministry in June 1960, every wedding received a "Love Knot." This is a knot tied of three strands representing the cord of family, the rope of love and the presence of faith. The scripture is Eccles. 4:12. I'll try to add an attachment of what it looks like. I ask the couple to put it over their common bed, the bathroom mirror, behind the toilet, etc. At the moment it does not surface. If you think about, please share with me--and OE--the service you do design. Inner Peace, Bill

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Salmon
by William Salmon via OE 10 Jan '15

10 Jan '15

Paul-- For several years now, I use this format with the couple to identify a "Family Statement of Purpose." The method is right out of Town Meetings. First is a brain storm of the individuals Hope and Dreams. These are grouped or gestalted into categories and then named. It is in the naming that the new-ness is discovered. From a theological point of view, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. A Second workshop identifies the "Anticipated Barriers." A Third workshop develops a ratonal chart, names the Goals, and then relates the goals into a Vison Statement.

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