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The Good Earth from Jaime
by via OE 24 Nov '14

24 Nov '14

The Good Earth Pearl Buck's novel, TheGood Earth, is one of her trilogy written in the 30s referring to the richsoil in China's river plains. We nowbrush into the ever-present particle that clings to clothes and fills the airin the northeast: dust. Growing up in a rainforest coastal town in the Philippinesmeant verdant fields. A speck of dust wasan intruder, the presence of its kind an indication of a duster's lethargy not abundance. With the accelerated cutting of trees from the forest came stirreddust twice a day from passenger buses that plied the Aparri-Laoag traffic. Soon, dust was no longer a benign stranger tobe gently nudged out but an enemy to be banished, belligerently guardedfrom. Their tribe multiplied with thelogging trucks. Unless the rains failed to arrive as scheduled, Aparri's dustdrenched with the sand. We were a deltaat the mouth of the Cagayan River and the sand was more plentiful than theirairborne cousins. Still, I developed theobsession of dusting while I grew older. I tolerated or fought the dust, depending which nook of the planet I wasin, tolerating it in Saipan where one mostly grabbed the hankie while inhaling dustat the motorbike races north of Banzai Cliff. It was in Kano, Nigeria where I was overwhelmed by dust inthe air, confronted for the first time by a humongous sand storm from theSahara forcing our Lagos-bound plane to prematurely land. I ended up in Ijede by the Lagos Lagoon so Ilearned to tolerate the soil as part of the scenery rather as grime. Specks of soil were my first nemesis in Dong Bei, not because they were present but because they weretolerated everywhere. And, yes, it iseverywhere. I lived for three years ending last year on the 11thfloor of SAU's Friendship Villa where the faculty and staff of the InternationalEducation College were located and where foreigners are billeted. For the absence of a northern sun in the roomassigned to me, I went for a south-facing room that received the sun all yearround. A mistake. It also faced a four-lane street to thecoal-littered grounds of the steam generating plant across, with swirling dust on the uplift of the Siberian winds that sweptdown Manchuria's plains. Spoiled for the adequacy of University heat and water, I wastolerant of the outside dust as long as I had it under control in my room. A wet mop was a constant, never far fromperiodic touches to the floor and accumulations in ends and corners got thereach of hand rugs. The PMI (particulate matter index) alert is quite literally anothermatter! When I moved off-campus, I realized how valuable the water wasand how the dust is taken for granted in peoples' daily lives. My solarium plants drown in H20; myneighbor's are misted. My plants are robustwhile the neighbor's are like bonsai. Shefavors plants that require little dampness. Half of her garden grows cacti. Myspider plants with a taro and a few florae bearing white flowers that bloom inthe morning and pink in the evening join crawling vines next to the laundryline while bell peppers droop their branches. I germinate durian seeds in the cold! My neighbor washes clothes and utensils on the sidewalk. She uses the water well before it is thrownout into the street to settle the dust on the ground. Sponged bath gets the children cleaned, withliberal use of wash clothes applied to strategic lymph nodes to insure hygiene. I've since learned how to handle water, the kitchen faucets nolonger continuously heard running; ditto on shower spouts. I also discovered why the toilet bowl doesnot hold standing water; one does not flush in doing number three. It goes down by gravity! My host family's home near downtown Shenyang proved to be a painfulvenue of an unforgettable learning occasion. The host Mama went out to the store after a festive meal while the housePapa snored in bed, so I had the kitchen to myself. I did my hosts a favor, dusting off the piledChinese cabbage, washed the carrots, potatoes, and radishes on the kitchensolarium. A mistake. It turned out the soil delayed the veggiesrotting, absorbing the dampness as it dried, giving it the protective cover neededrather than the rapid wrinkling of the skin exposed to air after cleaned. Dust bugged me in San Jose at Oleai. That was benign compared to the PMI that alarmsDong Bei lungs. Temperature feels cold evenunder sunshine compared to the greenhouse effect of smog that retains atmosphericheat in the overcast skies; this welcomed paradox goes with the facemask. Host mother lost cover protection of thecabbage outer leaves, and the carrot-potato-radish aged faster due to mydust-phobia. Turkey and pumpkin are in American tables tomorrow, started ina rite of gratitude for the Good Earth's bounty when Massachusetts’s indigenes andPilgrim neighbors feasted on the fruits of the New England soil. Dust on the food table these days is my good earth's bountyin Manchuria; also, the color of my true loves hair! j'aime la vie yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate! __._,_.___ Posted by: wangzhimu2031(a)aol.com Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (1) VISIT YOUR GROUP • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use . __,_._,___

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Salmon: request for info
by William Salmon via OE 24 Nov '14

24 Nov '14

I have written a reflection on my July event, "My Memorial For Me!" This is an 11-page pdf document. I'd like to get a copy to the archives and then a copy for general distribution. Please advise! Thank you. Bill Salmon

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Re: [Oe List ...] OE Digest, Vol 32, Issue 21
by Cheryl via OE 24 Nov '14

24 Nov '14

Bill - your idea is an interesting one. I know it takes a lot of commitment to succeed, having facilitated planning sessions for a group that wanted to create the "Real World charter school" and has since quit planning. Wayne Jennings in the Twin Cities area, has had a lot of success developing charter schools. You may want to contact him at wayne(a)designlearn.net Cheryl Kartes, Mpls From: James Wiegel Sent: ?Saturday?, ?November? ?22?, ?2014 ?12?:?55? ?PM To: Bill Schlesinger Cc: Karen Snyder, K. Elise Packard, Timothy Dove, Oliveann Slotta, Marilyn RCrocker, Lynda Lieberman Baker, Donna Campbell, Eric Brooks, Glenda and Dane Adkinson, Steve Har, Loren Weybright, Tatwa Timsina, Mary Kurian D'Souza, Robyn & John Hutchinson, Pam Santesteban, John Oyler, Raul Jorquera, OE Serve, Colleague Dialogue See email below. I got this from a long time colleague working in local community in El Paso. Get back to me or Bill if you can help / have wisdom or resources. Jim Wiegel Never trust atoms. They make up everything. a billboard From: Bill Schlesinger <pvida(a)whc.net> To: 'James Wiegel' <jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2014 8:55 AM Subject: Charter school resource Jim We're looking at the possibility of opening a charter school in the neighborhood we serve; the school district is considering (again) closing the neighborhood school of about 300 students because they want all schools to house 600-800 students and the building is 85 years old. We?re thinking of a Pre-K or K-8 program based on the Kahn Academy resources, and using TOP and IE methods in the classroom. We?ll need a lead staff person to work with us to develop and lead the grant planning process with stakeholders and community residents. It?s probably a 9-12 month process with the possibility of remaining with the school if it?s funded. Would you let folk in your networks know of the project and, if they?re interested, have them contact me? Again ? this is very much in the exploration stage at this point. Thanks, Bill Schlesinger Project Vida 3607 Rivera Avenue El Paso, TX 79905 (915) 533-7057 x 207 (915) 503-1014 FAX pvida(a)whc.net www.projectvidaelpaso.org -----Original Message----- From: via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>

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Address only the list please
by Timothy Wegner via OE 24 Nov '14

24 Nov '14

Here's one of my very rare administrative posts concerning how the lists work. Please try to post messages with only the lists as an addressee, and not include a whole bunch of other people Messages such as the recent ones concerning charter schools had many addressees. The list software requires my approval to post these. This is a mechanism to attempt to prevent spam. I went ahead and approved the original message, but then the problem propagated because respondents did "reply all" Thanks. Don't expect everybody to keep track of this, but do your best. But I do expect you to understand and obey, Mr. Wiegel :-) Tim The usually invisible list administrator

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Tagore
by via OE 23 Nov '14

23 Nov '14

Trying to locate Tagore's quote on "meeting their own requirements" and "they did it themselves" on community development. Anyone have them handy? Jaime in China

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Re: [Oe List ...] Charter school resource
by James Wiegel via OE 22 Nov '14

22 Nov '14

See email below. I got this from a long time colleague working in local community in El Paso. Get back to me or Bill if you can help / have wisdom or resources. Jim Wiegel Never trust atoms. They make up everything. a billboard From: Bill Schlesinger <pvida(a)whc.net> To: 'James Wiegel' <jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2014 8:55 AM Subject: Charter school resource Jim – We’re looking at the possibility of opening a charter school in the neighborhood we serve; the school district is considering (again) closing the neighborhood school of about 300 students because they want all schools to house 600-800 students and the building is 85 years old. We’re thinking of a Pre-K or K-8 program based on the Kahn Academy resources, and using TOP and IE methods in the classroom. We’ll need a lead staff person to work with us to develop and lead the grant planning process with stakeholders and community residents. It’s probably a 9-12 month process with the possibility of remaining with the school if it’s funded. Would you let folk in your networks know of the project and, if they’re interested, have them contact me? Again – this is very much in the exploration stage at this point. Thanks, Bill SchlesingerProject Vida3607 Rivera AvenueEl Paso, TX 79905(915) 533-7057 x 207(915) 503-1014 FAXpvida(a)whc.netwww.projectvidaelpaso.org

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Wellness unto life
by via OE 21 Nov '14

21 Nov '14

Wellness unto Life We are unapologetically making a play on the Dane'sreflection on Sickness unto Death, aphrase that has since been used to characterized the conscious human condition. Soren Kierkegaard identifies sickness as"despair", defines its three forms as not being conscious of having a self, not willing to beoneself, but also despair at willing to be oneself. He connects the word "spirit" andties it to the notion of "God": A man’s life is wasted when helives on, so deceived by the joys of life or by its sorrows, that he neverbecomes decisively conscious of himself as spirit, as self, that is, he neveris aware in the deepest sense that there is a God. I waswith him on the first half, the reality of despair, but was left behind when hemoved "self" as spirit towards God. Modern theologians talks of despair and its identification with humandepravity, but nebulous when delving in "the other world in the midst ofthis world", a metaphor born in our age but easily subverted to a returnto the medieval G-o-d up in the sky, or lurking behind every apparition ofexistence, embodied in Jesus as the Christ, leaving it as convenientexplanation of everything deus ex machina. MysticTeresa de Avila wrote: Christ has no body butyours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, Yours are the eyes, you are his body. WhileG-O-D disappears and the upward longing avoided, Christ remains a mysticalredeemer and savior where the Jesus "self" is subsumed under the aegisof idolatry cum exalted role popular in mainstream Christian circles. The Carmelite'scovenant of marriage to Jesus as the Christ, and the Jesuits to Mary, mother ofGod, spawns psychological perversions! RodneyRippel, a colleague with the Ecumenical Institute (EI) took the categories of NikosKazantzakis' Savior of God and HermannHesse's Journey to the East imagery,and wrote a self-reflection. In Miles from Moberly: A Man's Journey To The 21stCentury, he rehearses both his external experience in space and time withthe roles he played and the story he spun. It is unfinished. One hopes that if writing is cumbersome, thatorally recording incidences in the remaining years of his life istechnologically available. His speakingis probably more down to earth than the syntactical requirements of writinganyway. He toucheson the paranormal in one (out of 50) chapter. In a poem, he asks god to get real,and sums up his Christian heritage: "wedo not require a Messiah" is God's Messianic Word -- a final word, theUltimate Word. To desire more than Godprovides is an illusion. That there isno savior is the Saving Word. Thelast two chapters are reserved for Jesus of Nazareth sans the Christ role and Mary of Magdala. Rippeltreats parental traits and history as definitive of the personae of offspring,not unlike the medieval penchant to explain things away on the unknown. Inour time, we are no longer preoccupied with final causality to explain things. Narrative of the way life is, suffices andsustains. Rippelexemplifies what will be the literary form of the "selfie" age, withGeorgie Bush's "love account" on his father close to the genre. I call these the "wellness unto life"accounts, to affirm the facticity of individuals with feet on the ground,neutral without the bias of dejado (ata disadvantage) at the gate, or in the garden of Eden. Rippel and I just are, our showed-up-ness ourvalue, for which the decision to be grateful becomes its own virtue. Theclassic lifetimes in Hinduism are four Ashrama,the student, the householder, the hermit, and the ascetic wanderer. Eighty as a very ripe age, the four lifetimesmay be transposed to increments of 20 years. The first is of youth learning. Nextis the adult establishing a household. The third is the hermit in self-consciousness to the minutest ofdetails, and the fourth is the ascetic wanderer who empties himself unto the wholeness(holiness) of creation, a wellness unto life! Shakespearehas seven ages in As You Like it, frominfancy to incapacity bookended by helplessness. Mine has five phasedexistence of 17 years each, the first, an age of innocence, the second, a journeyof adventure, the third, the expenditures in service, and the fourth,sharpening skills in a profession. Ijust entered my fifth, seven years of writing and ten years of silence to theportals of completion and oblivion. Allfive phases constitute a Wellness UntoLife journey, where birth is the supreme achievement and everything thatfollows a matter of choice. The questionis not the validity of my phases, the feasibility of the Hindu scheme, or Shakespeare'slaughter. What is the wellness unto lifethat your journey is about? Or, are youstill bewailing your sickness unto death? j'aime la vie yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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Three reflections anticipating Grand Jury announcement re Ferguson
by Ellie Stock via OE 20 Nov '14

20 Nov '14

Three resurrected reflections in anticipation of the Grand Jury announcement here in St. Louis/Ferguson... HOW UNFORGOTTEN How unforgotten the unexpected that bombs love with hate and explodes in burning tears and smoldering whys then lingers a while in smoking derision and stinking distrust. How absurd the destroying and rebuilding! My God, how absurd . . SEVEN TIMES SEVENTY WHAT? Both black Both white-- depending on light-- small white lambs and little black sheep isolated in pigmented crevices echoing bleat and bells unheard unseen unsought by shepherds watching flocks by night with lamps furnished by foolish virgins. WE ARE THE WEB OF LIFE We are the Web of Life, threads of all creation, common origin bursting bright spins common destination-- twining from atom's flight to galaxies' mutation. Planets, creatures, humans alike disclose cosmic imagination. Earth's beauty and suffering plight craft universal incarnation. Will it endure darkest night in bonded collaboration-- exuding elegant delight and bounteous celebration or will its warping song decry to sustain strands' vibration and it woofing dance succumb to fright in panicked conflagration? Or can we confide in trust's reconciliation and ever abide in Heaven and Earth's consummation? We are the Web of Life. What we do to the web is our own consecration. If you are interested in the updated summaries re Ferguson from October and November, let me know. I don't remember where I left off sending them before. They are long but might be of interest to some and include info not in media. Grace and peace~ Thanksgiving blessings~ Ellie Stock elliestock(a)aol.com

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11/20/14, Spong: The School of Theology at Drew University Installs Javier Viera as its New Dean
by Ellie Stock via OE 20 Nov '14

20 Nov '14

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR The School of Theology at Drew University Installs Javier Viera as its New Dean From time to time, I have an experience inside organized Christianity that is filled with such excitement that it creates in me the hope that there might be a genuine future for the Christian faith. Most frequently this experience takes the form of hearing that someone with some authority within institutional Christianity actually sees, actually knows and actually understands. It suggests that the issues facing Christianity today might really be engaged creatively. Such an experience gives me a deep sense of personal affirmation, for it indicates that the path my life and career has followed is not only valid, but that it is also beginning to prevail. Such was my privilege recently when I attended the installation of a new dean for the Theological School at Drew University. This is a Methodist Theological Seminary about five miles from my home, which has been a major part of my life for about 25 years. I have been invited to teach at this theological school on three occasions over the last several years. When my book entitled Eternal Life: A New Vision – Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell, came out in 2011, this was the only seminary in America that asked me to give a public lecture on this book. This university has given me faculty status in its library. I have used it regularly for research and it is the place where most of my books have been written. I have my own study carrel there when the “pressure times” in writing comes. I have good friends among the members of both the faculty and the administration of this university. I attend public lectures at Drew regularly and my wife and I frequent the Shakespeare Theatre that is on its campus. It is clear that my life is enormously enriched by Drew University and its theological school. The Theological School at Drew University has consistently taken a progressive path. Each of the last three deans of this seminary has been a barrier-breaking appointment. Maxine Beach, a gifted woman, who served as dean from 2000 to 2010, was one of the first women in America to be chosen to head up a major theological seminary. Her successor was Jeffrey Kuan, a Hebrew Scripture scholar, who was teaching on the faculty of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley when he was elected to be Drew’s dean. Kuan, a native of Malaysia, was the first Asian scholar to head a Methodist seminary in America. He left Drew last year to become president of the Claremont School of Religion in California, which is one of the premier centers of theological learning in the United States. It was Dr. Kuan’s successor, the Reverend Doctor Javier Viera, whose installation I was recently privileged to attend. Dr. Viera is a Latino scholar, who represents another breaking of a barrier in Methodism. It was clear at his installation that he is also a man of great vision. It was also clear that the new President of Drew University, Dr. Mary Ann Baenninger, not only shared in but also supported his vision. Far too many of our church related seminaries seem to be controlled by the most frightened, traditional, hierarchical figures in the supporting denomination. Those theological schools that are part of a university complex tend to be more tolerated than appreciated by the university officials. That is certainly not the case at Drew. At this installation President Baenninger spoke these words about the theological school’s faculty: “Our esteemed theological professors are experts in the history of the Hebrew Bible, feminist philosophy and everything in between.” Broadness appeared to be a virtue that she celebrated. “This faculty,” Drew’s new president went on to say, “includes published authors, musical composers and world travelers. They understand social and ecological concerns, ethical responsibility, how to preach and how to break down barriers to create a more inclusive world. These faculty members excite and ignite the minds of our students who are becoming the clergy of this pre-millennial age.” Wow! I thought. This woman is describing what a theological faculty ought to be, but what very few denominational leaders ever encourage their faculty members to be. If that were not surprise enough, President Baenninger then went on to describe the student body at Drew Theological School: “Our theological school is like no other,” she began. “I challenge you to find a seminary that is as inclusive or as diverse. Twenty-one percent of our theological students come from other countries. Nearly ten percent of them have served in the military. Sixteen percent of them identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or queer. Twenty-five percent of them are already serving congregations.” President Baenninger was daring to claim as a virtue for theological learning the things that so many of our churches today are denying or trying to control. Just recently, the special conclave of Roman Catholic bishops, summoned by Pope Francis to look at the crisis facing that Church, could not even pass a statement that welcomed gay couples to the Roman Catholic worship. The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, had constantly defined homosexual persons as “deviant.” The television evangelists, like Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, made gay bashing a part of their regular presentations, while Joel Osteen avoids the subject as if it were an Ebola outbreak. Bishops and clergy both walked out of the Episcopal Church when homosexual people were openly affirmed and welcomed. What a contrast to hear the Methodist Seminary at Drew University being described by the University president at this installation service as something different, something valued and something transformational. Diversity of race, gender, nationality and sexual orientation is a virtue to be treasured, she was stating boldly. Finally, at the conclusion of this service we heard from the new dean and he proved to be the dessert at the symbolic banquet that this installation ceremony was creating. Dr. Javier Viera began his inaugural address not with the pious platitudes of traditional religion, but with an analysis of the world to which Christianity must speak in the 21st century. The “dominance of secularity is growing at unprecedented rates,” he stated, “and it is growing in sophistication. Religion as it is practiced today,” he continued, “is an evolutionary phase in human life that is long past its shelf life. It is against that reality,” he went on to say, “that those of us engaged in theological education must ask: What are we doing here today?” He declared that the way religion currently functions in our world is simply no longer relevant. “There are daily witnesses,” he continued, “to how ways of being Christian are evolving so rapidly that it is increasingly difficult to understand our current religious landscape. We are living through a seismic shift in what it means to be Christian and, more important, what it means to be an institution that trains religious leaders and scholars.” In my experience many religious institutions seem almost to pride themselves on being immune to change. The result of this anti-reality stance is that many people walk away from the church today finding nothing in it that makes contact with their lives, while the ones who remain construct for themselves a religious ghetto in which they hide from a far too painful reality with which they simply cannot cope. “The church,” Dean Viera went on to say, “without radical change will become a mere shell of spiritual platitudes and self-help philosophies, incapable of speaking in relevant ways to the modern person and ill-prepared to lead in the transformation and healing of our world.” To challenge this mentality he called for this seminary to begin to train clergy in dramatically new ways so that they can “navigate the complexities of religious life.” To complete this inaugural address, Dean Viera stated his goal as Dean of the Theological School at Drew University. It was almost breath taking. “My vision for our theological school is that it will be the most thriving, spiritually dynamic, intellectually inventive, risk-taking theological school in the world.” I went home with my spirit soaring. Dean Viera spoke to the issues the leadership of the Christian Church so desperately needs to hear. Will those church leaders listen? In recent years, the United Methodist Church has fallen to near the back of the line in its ability to embrace changing attitudes. It has a large right wing fringe of biblical fundamentalists, who traffic in deep gender and sexual orientation prejudices. Nationally, this uniquely American denomination has expressed a general unwillingness to embrace its own prophets. It has removed from its ministry incredibly talented people like the Rev. Jimmy Creech, former pastor of the First Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska, because he presided over the wedding of two homosexual members of his congregation. It has dismissed from its ministry the Rev, Frank Schaefer, a Methodist pastor, who presided over the marriage of his own gay son. It has at several General Conferences in a row been controlled by its most retrogressive members. With this kind of track record, will this denomination’s leaders be able to rejoice in the boldness of Javier Viera, the risk-taking new head of one of its major theological seminaries? Time will tell, but if they prove unable to do so, they will be sounding the death knell of American Methodism. Our culture will not tarry long to allow the Methodist Church the time it will need to catch up with the world to which they demonstrate themselves incapable of addressing. The Theological School of Drew has made a powerful statement in their choice of this dean. Drew University, through its new president is clearly supportive. I hope the Methodist Church is ready to hear him, to embrace him and to celebrate him! If I were still an active bishop, I would take every opportunity available to me to steer those who seek ordination to do their training at Drew Theological School under Javier Viera’s leadership. I hope other judicatory heads, who understand the reality facing the Christian Church in today’s world, will in fact also do just that. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Frederick Somerville from Canada writes: Question: On your recommendation, I read Carl Jung’s book, The Answer to Job, and as you said, it is a difficult book – the language is not the easiest nor is the conclusion. What comes across to me is that the God portrayed has some really big issues with his self-image. Since your recommendation was a response to my question if God has both good and evil, then must I conclude that the divine encompasses both? Yet, you often refer to God as the source of love, but isn’t it the hard truth that God is also the source of hate and evil? Perhaps the unique thing about being human is that we can actually choose which of God’s qualities we nurture. I think there is an Indian saying that the side of God (good/evil) that becomes the strongest in you is the one you feed. So my belief is that our quest is maybe to give God the answer God cannot give to Godself – namely which of God’s sides is the better one? I can see that this is perhaps the conclusion that Jung drew. God needs man and woman to become human – not the other way around. Answer: Dear Frederick, Thank you for your letter and for your comments. I believe you have understood Carl Jung better than you think! What Jung said about the Catholic dogma of the bodily assumption of the Blessed Virgin into heaven, declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950 was that now, at last, “the feminine has been lifted into God” in Western religion. Jung regarded this as a major accomplishment. Church leaders rejoiced in his affirmation. Then Jung went on to say that the next step in the “development of God” would be for the devil, that is for evil, to be lifted into God and then God would be complete. Church leaders did not rejoice in that Jungian suggestion. That is, however, because the church leaders do not understand symbols as well as Jung did. God is beyond gender so God cannot be male or female, but must represent and transcend both. If human life has a shadow, as Jung suggests that we all do, then human wholeness will not be found until we embrace that shadow and make it part of ourselves. One cannot split off and reject a part of what one is, one must embrace it and transcend it. That is what Jung meant when he said that the devil, evil, is like the shadow side of God. Yes, God is the source of love, but where love is absent and evil is present that evil could be said to root in God. Human life is always a struggle between survival and love. If we could see Jesus, not as the savior of the sinful as the church has so often proclaimed, but as the love that calls us beyond survival into wholeness, then I think we would be closer to understanding the meaning of Jesus. We would also begin to understand the meaning of Jung’s idea that God cannot be separated from evil. I think your last sentence captures this truth powerfully and succinctly “God needs man and woman to be human not the other way around!” My best. John Shelby Spong Announcements Get to know the publishers of this column: ProgressiveChristianity.org ProgressiveChristianity.org is a non-profit organization that provides guiding ideas, networking opportunities, and resources for progressive churches, organizations, small groups, and individuals that long to craft a spiritual life connected to the way of Jesus. About Us Mission Our History What is Progressive Christianity? Staff and Leadership Donate today for a more compassionate Christianity!

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Fwd: GMCA Nov. 1st. It's the end of the trail!
by David Zahrt via OE 19 Nov '14

19 Nov '14

*SAT NOV 01* *U. U. Church, Bethesda, MD. to Lafayette Park, WDC* The March got up at 6am, had breakfast at 7am. We loaded the rental truck, cleaned the Church, and left by 8am. Incredible! We were scheduled to have several stops along the way for people that planned to join us. All together it was a 6 mile walk to Lafayette Park. The March had rented a megaphone and used it periodically to lead group chants. Eventually it went quiet. I was given the megaphone to lead the group in a new version of the song *Which Side Are You On.* I sang the verses into the megaphone and the March sang the chorus (song below). I also sang *The Impossible Dream.* I saw Izzy’s daughter as we marched. I stopped and talked with her. Izzy must have been at the tail end of the March. When we got to the park, Izzy pulled out his guitar and led us in the Sunset song. While I was waiting for the Lafayette Park Rally to begin David Rebstock came up to me. He introduced himself and I didn’t recognize him. I was surprised and delighted that a colleague of mine joined the March Rally. Kathy was the MC and introduced Ed who welcomed the crowd and reflected on the March. Then a series of us read comments that we collected along the March. Mine was from Penasco, NM. A Native American named Marvin MacAuley said to us, “Don’t forget us little people.” After the card readings there were additional presentations. The sound system didn’t work and it was difficult to get the speakers to speak into the megaphone. Once the Rally was completed David R. and I went to the Unitarian Universalist Church to a presentation by Michael Doud. On the way over we reflected on the times our families had spent together. Having been to a presentation he made in Santa Fe, NM I was familiar with Doud’s material. His presentation took an hour and ½. Then David and I went to the Presbyterian Church where we were having dinner, the closing reflection on the March, and sleeping overnight. David stayed for dinner and the closing reflection. It finished at 10:15pm and since David had crowded into a parking place, I went with him to help him squeeze out. I forgot that Daylight’s Saving time was falling back. I thought I was going to bed at 10:45pm. I was actually going to bed at 9:45pm. *Which Side Are YOU On – Climate Style* *CHORUS* *WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?* *WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?-- Tell Me -- WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?* *Verse 1* They say where Sandy came ashore, there are no neutral souls You’re either on the Climate March, or a still for oil and coal. *CHORUS*--*Verse 2* Come all of you good people, some real news I will tell Of how the age of climate change has come in here to dwell. *CHORUS*--*Verse 3* People, can you stand Fox News, oh tell me how you can? Will you march in New York town *[ WDC ]* and help us take a stand. *CHORUS—Verse 4* The Maldives and Miami are sinking in the waters. Not the world we want to leave our sons or our daughters. *CHORUS—Verse 5* In the state of California the water’s going fast. Mother Nature’s getting pissed, you know that she bats last. *CHORUS*—*Verse 6* We’ve got storms and we’ve got droughts; we’ve got deniers’ lies. The only way to win this fight is March and organize! Thank you all for following these 'blogs' of sort, and for your continual support and prayers all of these long 8 months. It was a once in a life time journey that I am still getting my mind around. It is very good to be home and get my feet on the ground here. -- Peace, David -- Peace, David

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