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Fwd: August 28 for ST
by via OE 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

Number four. -----Original Message----- From: Jaime R Vergara <pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com> To: editor <editor(a)saipantribune.com> Sent: Fri, Aug 22, 2014 3:00 pm Subject: August 28 for ST I have a Dream Proprietaryrights on the tape of MLK, Jr.'s I have aDream, a speech delivered at theLincoln memorial in 1963 was bought by magician David Copperfield, who donatedit to the National Civil Rights Museum to promote King's message ofnonviolence. Copperfield said Kinginspired people to dream. "That's too important for one person topossess," Copperfield said of the recording. "You have to share that with people toremind as many people as possible of the message." My youth was shapedby the same poetry and images. It markeda turning point in the Civil Rights' movement towards the tactic of activenon-violence, later linked to the war in Southeast Asia to counter racialpersecution off the back of America's dark skinned to the squinty slit eyedOrientals. Today marks the 51styear of that speech. It was a year afterthat this probinsyanong Pinoyze arrivedin the Midwest of America, starry-eyed about what I thought was already the endof racial discrimination only to find out that violent defiance over legislatedlaws were just beginning. George Wallace, afellow Methodist (when I still counted myself in the group) and AlabamaGovernor who entered office with a liberal record, turned out to be the posterboy of southern resistance against the abolition of the then recognized laws onsegregation that legitimized white folks being more equal before the law thantheir darker skinned fellow citizens. Racialdiscrimination followed my footsteps, from the benign patronizing kind as wellas the vicious exclusionary variety. My laterprimal spouse's mother in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a white suburb of Chicago atthe time, said of me when her daughter and I started to be more romanticallyinvolved: "Look how dark he is?" It was a mark of her daughter's progressiveness that she went ahead andmarried me anyway, even following my vocational service halfway around theworld! One of my first LPalbums in '65 was titled "In White America", which had MLK's recordedI have a Dream speech with othervirulent pronouncements from white supremacist voices. The speech inspired an audience, especiallyso when the King's voice was muted by a shot at a Nashville Motel in April'68. However, the dreaming could not bestilled; it turned into a process replicated around the globe, later finding aforgiving voice in the streets of Soweto in South Africa. On a sunny Februaryday in 1968, I joined some students in an all-day, all-night drive from Dallas,Texas where I attended seminary, to Washington, D.C. to join Civil Rights andAnti-War activists in a joint march to Arlington Cemetery in protest of theVietnam War that was sucking the lifeblood of the nation's resources meant tofund LBJ's War on Poverty. King spoke to thegathered audience at the Presbyterian Church on 13th Street and New York Avenuedescribing how the American Dream has been preempted by a policy parading aspatriotism that saw Vietnamese as "gooks" upending the American wayof life with its 'communist' sympathies. King with dignitaries was locked-in-step in front of marchers, as I,with my University Press card, took pictures of the fateful march. What made thisintensely personal was what happened to me on the day Martin bit a bullet amonth later. I was in a car crash thatknocked me out only to awaken to the heavy fumes of gasoline so I got out ofthe back seat and managed to call my school roommate who immediately came tofetch me. The natural adrenalineserved me well until 30 minutes into the ride when we drove into the Universitycampus. I could not move a muscle. I was put on a wheel chair at the infirmary andI did not recall being dressed to bed. Iwoke up feeling groggy and sedated. It was midnight inGreensboro, North Carolina where my GF attended College. She phoned in tears bewailing that her citywas in flames as rioting followed King's assassination, doubly mournful to findout that her BF was in the infirmary from a car accident. My attending nurse who came in to check onme, who otherwise was just a pleasantly plump addition to the room, when sheheard the news of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., blurted out the vilestvenom from a racist southern heart: "Thank God, they finally got theNigger!" Literally a deadman walking among the living, I girded my soul with MLK's brand of dreaming andjoined a global band of folks who did not hesitate to lay down their being inthe barbwires of history in order to manifest the reality that belonging meansbeing a part of those who made these truths to be self-evident: all the goods of the earthbelong to all the people; all the decisions of history belongto all the people; all the gifts of humanness belongto all the people; all the earth belongs to allthe people. A decade of livinga lifestyle reflecting the pronouncement, it finally dawned on me, horror ofhorrors, that the earth, the people, and I, are one! To love the earth, one took the planet andall its creatures as one's self. j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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Fwd: August 27 for ST
by via OE 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

Number three. -----Original Message----- From: Jaime R Vergara <pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com> To: editor <editor(a)saipantribune.com> Sent: Fri, Aug 22, 2014 2:59 pm Subject: August 27 for ST Listen (ting) and repeat (chungfu) Pimmsler's work on language learning is popular. The Internet come-on is the by-line oflearning a new language in ten days without a book or CDs, though I suspect,the winsome smile of the lady promoting the website probably got our attention;I clicked more than once! I was only methodologicallycurious, of course, only to find out what I already knew in my more than30-years of pedagogy; one relies on the way students naturally learned theirnative tongue as a child: listen and repeat. In the three years I taught oral English to students at theShenyang Aerospace U and tutor children at the Shou Wang weekend school, two ofthe only Chinese words I used were ting (listen)and chungfu (repeat). I used the classic character ting, not the simplified one currently used to denote payingattention with one's ears. The earlierversion began with a radical that set the meaning of the word. In this case, there were three major groupsof strokes. The first one on the left wasthe "ear" with an emphasis on it being huge (open wide) written belowit. The second was the "eyes"so that listening also involved viewing and watching with intensity. This occupied the top right quadrant. The third written just below the"eyes" was the "heart", thoroughly engaged. I called it the hooker. The one word was equivalent to "activelistening" in English. Just this one word had enormous implication in the conductof the classroom. It required my students to be at fullattention all the time. Normal classeshave teachers equipped with a mini-microphones and portable speakers so that zevoice was amplified throughout the room. In lecture halls, the room was equipped with a sounds system and giventhe popularity of Power Point presentations, lectures were conducted with thelights dimmed save the one by the board; the front row listened in earnestwhile the rest of the class behind them did something else, or caught up withtheir z-z-z-s. Thus, my class architecture was designed so there was noescape from the gaze of the neighbor. Classnumbers varied in size from 30 to 60 students. When it was over 30, they had two sessions per week so I split them intotwo, no more than 30 per, each attending a session and skipping the other. I assigned them seats, my way of learning toidentify each person by their birth names rather than the "English" onesthey chose or acquired in other English classes, usually for the convenience ofthe foreign teacher. Not only did assigned seats break roommates who tended tostick together (there are four in a room in the dorm) but it also broadened student'scircle of co-learners. I had them workin small groups with people they did not normally associate with. It also worked to their advantage since theywere assigned work outside the class, each one encouraged to teach two aslearning is best accomplished when one taught what one learned, in this case, learninghow to learn. Seating arrangements silenced the loquacious, and engaged theshy, in two rows of semi-circles if the class numbered 30. Smaller groups were in tight but cozy one rowaround the room. On the center of the room was a table covered with akerchief (mine was a simple black and white alaPalestinian head gear) with a hankie centerpiece laden with a broken cupand spilled uncooked rice, local stones from the schoolyard and one or two gemsfrom my collection. I walked around thecenter table so there was no defined front of the room. When someone was called to speak, ze spoke tothe whole class, and discovered "public" voice. And talked, they did, though not at first. They had to overcome "face" so theywere asked to leave their "faces" outside the door of the room. This was hard for many trained to bebackbench warmers. They were in aspeaking class and if they had to worry about "face", they would notopen their mouths. Read and write, they didnot hesitate, but speaking from experience, of personal feelings, thoughts anddeeds was "private", not in the normal comfort zone. They listened to the teacher, their classmates, and to one'sself. It was on the last that we askedthem to speak, first, to repeat what they heard so that they can hear their voice, and get comfortable with theirown sound in English. We get them torepeat familiar ads and public signage, but mostly, sang along popular English songs. Then I got them to talk about themselves byidentifying parts of their bodies that included words they were not toofamiliar with like forehead, cheeks,chin, chest, hip, thigh, calf, shin, etc. I designed varied games to do this and they had fun learning. Listen and repeat begin the learning of languages. In class, I described what I saw, heard,smelled, tasted, and touched over the weekend, and asked the class to do thesame individually in their assigned groups. There were no right or wrong answers. There was only the courage to speak. Everyone worked doubly hard on the courage! j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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Fwd: August 26 for ST
by via OE 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

Number two. -----Original Message----- From: Jaime R Vergara <pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com> To: editor <editor(a)saipantribune.com> Sent: Fri, Aug 22, 2014 2:54 pm Subject: August 26 for ST Shou Wang "Hang on to hope" is the name of the school whereI last taught children how to handle their oral English. They were thought to be too young to learn ontheir own. I remember parents anxious toget their children ahead of the curve so they rammed English lessons down theirthroats so they can qualify to enter the bilingual schools like Yu Chai. At first, the parents were belligerent about the no-textbookapproach their child's new teacher followed. After all, they invested heavily on many aids provided by theCambridge/Oxford/Princeton Press related publications that might have beenhastily copied by enterprising shops in Shanghai and Beijing. Besides, learning meant suffering. Parents came prepared to sit through the hoursession to make sure their child paid attention. The children were so fear stricken with sternMom's look in the class that their brain shriveled under the pressure of sessions. One mother even interjected herself in a classwhen her child did not answer fast enough, and responded as a matter of prideto a question for her "baby". I allowed parents to remain in the classroom, ever lookingfor the opportunity to hit "two birds with one stone" (an unfortunatemetaphor) until I reminded myself that my priority were the kids; the parents, onlya distant second. Not surprisingly, whenthe children were left to themselves with the teacher, the learning processaccelerated. Our method was simple. Students listened to what was uttered, and repeated them so they canhear their own vocal chords making sounds. We shunned reading; the focus was on hearing, so I got them to listen (ting) and repeat (chungfu). For a start, we focused on what they heard publicly. We had ample materials. They listened to English songs but they didnot repeat the words since mimicking is a gift and a talent. Not many claimed the ability to sing, thefirst balloon to be punctured since everyone can utter a sound. One song used was familiar, about butterflies (hudie), sang first in Chinese andlater, in English. There were three suchsongs. The translations were notstandard Oxford, but a Chinese singer sang them with "Chinesecharacteristics"! That's when Icame up with the Deutsch englisCHe wordto denote the British Isles' mixed Celt, Norman, and Angle tongues, now gettingglobal massaging including that of the Chinese (CH) with its own characteristics. The trick is to get the students to pronounce words, lettingthem hear themselves do so. They neededto hear themselves repeat the word. Thisseemed to be a step skipped in the classroom as the intent was usually to"understand" meaning; they were taught how to use the dictionary,write and recognize words, but for all practical purposes, retained the Chinesecharacters, and forgot the English word save when it was memorized beforetaking tests. We unearthed other songs inthe popular media, particularly from animated movies. I will get a lot of mileage from Frozen in the coming months to come. A recitation that I used with motion patterned after the tai-chi without bothering with meaning,is about a watermelon, Yi ge da xi gua,familiar to local audiences. We start withbreathing, deeply and continuously, sansstress or strain. The same goes with themovement of muscles and bones, where the stressed chop and jab, usually associatedwith martial arts, takes gracious form in fluid body muscle and bone movement,and heavy soul (breathing). I have one big watermelon. I slice it in half. One for you, and one for me. The motions are simple. We stand with feet slightly apart, childrenfacing teacher, beginning with a sustained deep inhaling through the nose andexhaling of breath through the mouth while arms are down; palms facing inwardare then lifted to the middle of the body trunk, palms now crossed and turned downand out to the top of the stretch and swinging outward to make the form of abig "O" ending with palms resting together in front below the stomach. This was done while loudly reciting the firsttwo lines above. The "slice" part began where the big "O"ended, the palms facing up, the right atop the left were raised just to thelevel of the chest, turning it so both faced in and then out until both palms reachedthe top of the stretch and with palms together like the universal gesture ofprayer were brought down to cut the front air straight down in half, palmspointing to the ground together. The "belonging" part had the hands with limpwrists raised back, the left above the right and shoving a cloud to the side,and doing the reverse on the right side. It was an uncomplicated exercise, with the students mouthingtheir English words to gestures they already knew on a ritual they alreadyunderstood. They listened and repeated,a lesson we wanted them to internalize for learning to learn on their own. Lessonsadvanced to describe sense experiences, express feelings, articulate thoughts,and declare acts. It followed a naturalprocess. That simple! j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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August 25
by via OE 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

The next five postings ends my writing of a daily column for the Saipan Tribune. So you get the five. The usual caveat: curious, you're welcome; not, see you at the bend! Jaime -----Original Message----- From: Jaime R Vergara <pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com> To: editor <editor(a)saipantribune.com> Sent: Fri, Aug 22, 2014 2:53 pm Subject: August 25 Hang Gong Hang TianDa Xue My Lei Feng (anordinary male volunteer who died young is China's exemplar in volunteer work)while teaching at the Hang Gong Hang Tian Da Xue was spent on weekends with ShouWang school for children. Tian is "sky"that gives us "Aerospace", and DaXue is "big school", i.e., a university, thus, Shenyang AerospaceU. Other than the fact that the schoolname is lent to the subway stop a block away from the main gate, to delve into theschool's character is probably best read from calligraphy emblazoned near thefront gate. The phrase is De Neng Bin Jin Yong Yi Xiang Yuan. Individually, they denote for de = virtue, neng =competence, bin = together, jin = advance, yong = courage, yi =resolute, xiang = soar, and yuan = forever. My take is prosaic: "Resolutely advancetogether with competence and virtue soaring forever." I suspect that the aestheticprecedes consideration of the authentic; beauty trumps reality in the understandingof the phrase. The calligraphy rather thanthe spoken Putunghua is more helpfulto the Chinese reader. Big words to describe processes around educational aims inthe East include the influence attributed to Kong Fu Tzu, aka, Confucius, and the Mao-think that redefined it. In the West, the renaissance and enlightenmenteras girds the great walls of its learning. Since the Han of 206 BCE transcended the preceding Qin'sadherence to strict rules (often referred to as legalism), the thoughts of KungFu Tzu dominated the rhetoric of governance, simply because the activity ofrationalization followed the path of stability rather than the unsettling of thepugua paradigm, a pillar ingovernance "with Chinese characteristics." Two thousand years of dynastic turmoil is often analyzedthrough a ruling dynasty's adherence to the "mandate of heaven" that legitimizeda reigning family's status to rule justly and earned the fealty of the learnedand privileged class that in turn guided the affairs of the hoi polloi. The lower class correspondingly stayed faithful butsubservient to the upper class that supported ruling families until a change isdeemed necessary, not of the system itself but on the ruling family. In all these, the model of relationships fromtop to bottom, and bottom to top, is that of the "family", heavily virtue-ladenas a clan. The merit system in China judged one's familiarity withcalligraphic representations of Confucian thoughts and history; the civilservice exam that choose government roles had for a long time been the gaugedon one's acquaintance with the corpus of Confucian thoughts until Mao camealong and noticed that academia held the gates to the Communist Party andproceeded to chasten the halls of academy through exposure to agrarian postingand learning. Self-taught, the CulturalRevolution spawned the informal Dong NongBing Da Xue (Worker-Farmer-Soldier University) that upended the stability,equanimity, and tranquility of many urban dwellers and the illuminati. The renaissance in Europe 1400 CE was a return to classicalforms in literature and art, harking back to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle,influencing the secular thought patterns of the west, and adhered to byJudeo-Christian-Muslim theologies. Ithankered back to Greco-Roman civilization. The constant was a transcendent Will of Deity emanating from themysterious YHWH of Jerusalem, Olympus' Zeus and the Forum's Deus. Thrones and miter were determined by articulatedcoherence of theologies invoking sacred writ. The enlightenment of the 1700 CE came as shock to the systemas evolution suggested that discernable cosmic intelligence referred to as deityis but personified human rationality that one aligned to or stand-up against inproud but resolute defiance. Chaos was theorder of creation, manifested notably in the changes brought about by the Americanand French revolutions. China's 1912 revolution challenged Confucian order, awakenednational sentiments against colonizing Europe and Imperial Japan, but retained thestranglehold of its decrepit civil service. The revolution in Russia erupted in 1917 that birthed a revolutionary whothought of contradictions; Mao-think got quoted in red books later. In 1949, change took the front seat whileConfucian stability sat at the back. Deng Xiaoping found a way of keeping stability in the yin-yang of chaosand order, and in pushing industrialization, introduced "nuclear"family as a live option and the individual as democracy's necessary component. Continuity is big in Chinese thought; chastened Confucius isback. Much of China's educational thrustremains on getting "certificated" in society though no longer on themandate of heaven as it is on the skill to assemble gadgets in the factoryline. When "certificated" U grads prefer to hawk shoeson the sidewalk's night market rather than wear office attire, it is time torevisit formal pedagogy. I have sevenyears to inject my contribution from inside the ramparts of its great wall. j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031(a)aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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Fwd: GMCA Aug 18
by David Zahrt via OE 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

*MON AUG 18* *Ladora to Homestead, IA* It was a 16.8 mile route to Homestead. Highway 6 is parallel to the railroad so it was mostly level. At Marengo I chose not to go by Grandma and Grandpa Zahrt’s house. As I remember the last time I went to the location, the house had been demolished and replaced. I went by the Cemetery but I don’t know where their stones are, so I decided not to spend a lot of time in the cemetery. One of the stones readable from the highway read ‘John Zahrt’. I’m sure he would have been a relation of mine! I looked forward to Homestead because that’s where we had our meal for those attending our wedding 55 years ago. The building is still there but it is no longer a restaurant. Homestead is an Amish community and most of the residential area is off from Hwy 6. A fellow that established a community store/produce center hosted us. He let us use his grounds. There were a series of meetings in the afternoon. Gavain returned and indicated his truck is not worth repairing. So we’ll have to find another way to pull the Commode. A new Marcher from Iowa has arranged for his brother to pull it to West Branch. We have a stay-day in Coralville/Iowa City so that will give us some time to find an alternative. (*Did you notice in the picture of the windmill on the hood of Gavain's truck? One resourceful guy! Bet he is in mourning. lz)* I spent my time journaling and setting up the tent. The evening meal was provided for us—a series of casseroles in aluminum pans. It was delicious and nutritious. A neighbor brought some rhubarb—stalks, leaves, and all—and dropped it on one of the tables. I discovered it, found a cutting board and a knife, and ‘dressed’ it up. When Mary (one of our self-described kitchen-maids) came by I asked what she would do with the rhubarb. She didn’t know and asked what I would do with it. I spelled out the steps and she asked me to cook the rhubarb for breakfast. That would mean getting up at 4:30 AM so I went to bed. -- Peace, David

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Fwd: GMCA Aug 17
by David Zahrt via OE 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

*SUN AUG 17* *Brooklyn to Ladora, IA* We got up late. I helped pack up the kitchen then left for Ladora and found there are no public facilities. The only gas station in town is closed and For Sale. Our campsite was the Soccer Field. It had restrooms and a giant shed with walls on the east and west sides. I also discovered that the trucks had not arrived. Gavain is running his truck on vegetable oil--a bio-diesel truck. It alternatively burns diesel if need be. We’ve labeled it the commode truck. It had a leak in the fuel system that has damaged the engine. JJ’s pickup, the Gear truck, and the Kitchen Truck all stayed behind to help find the means needed to repair the truck. Gavain has been with the March pulling the Commode since Lincoln, NE. He had fuel line troubles that he, and some of the Marchers repaired shortly before we reached Des Moines last Monday. When the vehicles finally arrived (minus the Gavain’s truck) the Kitchen Truck was pulling the Commode trailer. We've rented the Kitchen Truck from U-Haul and by contract the only trailer they’ll allow us to pull is a U-Haul trailer. It will be interesting to see how we work this out. (*Photo of bio-diesel truck and commode, below.)* There were 2 meetings in the afternoon. The first was a phone conference with our WDC coordinator to begin the conversation on how and what we do when we reach DC. We arrive on Saturday, Nov 1, but no one is in the office on Saturday. And the following week all of the legislators will be in their home states. We have some work to do! Later on there was a meeting to evaluate the Des Moines Rally. The reflection on the Rally was designed to further enhance future rallies. After dinner Bernice told her life story. [image: Inline image 1] -- Peace, David

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Fred
by Darlene via OE 22 Aug '14

22 Aug '14

I remember Fred in so many ways, his kindness, his sense of humor, his love of process, his willingness to work hard, his awareness of himself and how could I forget , his love of sports. He use to tease me about fact sometimes he would have to wait for me when a football game wasn't quite finished. I pray for you, Fred, that your wonderful mind will remain strong and that you will feel God's love and presence. Darlene Erickson Sent from my iPhone

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Global Buzz September Issue
by ICA International via OE 21 Aug '14

21 Aug '14

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICA International website Please click the link below for the September issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: September 2014 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://ica-international.org/buzz/7dayreport-14/2014-09-01.php ICAI Communications

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8/21/14, Spong: On Teaching at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley
by Ellie Stock via OE 21 Aug '14

21 Aug '14

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR On Teaching at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley They came mostly from the West Coast, although one was a Methodist minister from Chesterfield, Virginia. They represented the vast array of the traditions in American Christianity. Two were Roman Catholic, some were Episcopalians, several were Presbyterians and American Baptists, but the majority was from the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. There were three representatives of Judaism and they added a unique dimension that I greatly appreciated. Most of them were ordained, but about a dozen were in seminary, preparing for ordination. All of them were lively, engaged, receptive and eager. What is it I am describing? This is a brief outline of those I met during a week of teaching at the summer school of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. It was an exciting week and clearly one of the highlights of a remarkable and stretching summer for me. The Pacific School of Religion is one of the nine theological schools that formed a consortium around the University of California in Berkeley between the years 1958 and 1968. The others were the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (Episcopal), the San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), the Starr King School for Ministry (Unitarian-Universalist), the American Baptist Seminary of the West, the Pacific Lutheran Seminary, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (Roman Catholic), the Jesuit School of Theology (Roman Catholic) and the Franciscan School of Theology (Roman Catholic). Since the formation of the consortium, two “centers” have also moved into the area, one the Center for Judaic Studies and the other the Center for Black Studies. Without losing their individual identities, these schools have formed a close knit coalition. Under the terms of their agreement, they eventually pooled all of their books and resources to create a single magnificent theological library, known today as the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library. It rivals the best theological libraries in the Western World. Then they instituted open class registration to allow any student in any of the member schools to enroll in any class offered by any member of their corporate faculty. The best New Testament scholar, the best ethicist, the best church historian or the best theologian may not be on the same denominational faculty. Relationships among the potential ordinands are formed across denominational lines. The member schools then created the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), where PhDs are offered in all of the major areas of theological learning. Today GTU graduates hold key faculty appointments in denominational schools across the country. They also formed a summer school to which alumni could come for a “refresher graduate course of study.” On a number of occasions over the past twenty years, I have had the pleasure of serving on the faculty of this summer school, which is now under the auspices of the Pacific School of Religion, universally referred to as PSR. It is my major opportunity to be in dialogue with the various Christian expressions in the western part of the United States. This summer school still operates on the academic standards of its first parent, the Graduate Theological Union. It also continues to include all traditions and it maintains its commitment to walk on the edges of faith. PSR was originally affiliated with the denomination that we today call the United Church of Christ, but it now has also formed ties with the United Methodist Church and the Christian Church, sometimes known as the Disciples of Christ. The United Church of Christ traces at least one of its many roots back to the work of the reformer named Huldrych Zwingli, who was probably the most radical of the fathers of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. True to this heritage this church has been deeply engaged in the cultural struggles against racism, in support of women’s equality in both church and state, and in the fight for justice and the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons. Many churches that began as “Community Churches” have wound up affiliating with the United Church of Christ. People who feel trapped in pockets of rabid fundamentalism can normally find a home in the United Church of Christ. The UCC has been a tower of strength for me throughout my career, upholding and affirming me and my ministry in ways that the Episcopal Church and indeed my own seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, sometimes found it difficult to do. I have always felt a debt of gratitude to them. PSR reflects the values of the United Church of Christ and I appreciate its affirmation. The week that I teach in the summer session of PSR is always the hardest week of my year. In the five days I was there in July, I delivered 11 lectures, while presiding over 22 hours of class time. Twenty of the hours were from 9:00 a. m to 1:00 p.m. each of the five days from Monday through Friday. The other two hours came in a Tuesday evening “public lecture” of an hour’s duration to which the entire Berkeley community was invited, and which was followed by a full hour of questions and discussion. When the time required for the preparation of this much content is added to the class time spent in delivering it there were very few moment left for anything other than the necessary sleeping and eating. Those who were taking my course for credit were also required to produce in that one week a paper of 5-10 typed pages. So reading and grading these papers also required time. Before I left on Saturday, I had returned the papers to their authors and handed in their grades. My subject for this week was the gospel of John and it was based on my newest book, The Fourth Gospel: Tales of Jewish Mystic. The assignment given to the students for their papers was to take a single episode or a single character out of the Fourth Gospel and, working with my book plus one other drawn from the ranks of the greatest Johannine scholars, to develop that episode or that character in a full way. By the world’s greatest Johannine scholars, I meant people like Rudolph Bultmann, C. H. Dodd, Edwyn Hoskyns, E. F. Scott, Raymond Brown, John Ashton, C. K. Barrett, Urban von Wahlde and B. F. Westcott, who are, in my opinion, the authors of the classics in this field. I also added to that list two women biblical scholars, Sandra Schneiders, a Roman Catholic, and Elaine Pagels, an Episcopalian, both of whom have moved me greatly, plus two non-Western biblical scholars, Ravi Ravindra and Jey J. Kanagaraj, both natives of India and both of them reflect an “Eastern spirituality.”. Since I had become convinced by my own Johannine study that none of the episodes described in John’s “Book of Signs,” (i.e. chapters 2-11), ever happened in history and that almost all of the major characters in John’s gospel are literary figures not historical figures, I was interested to see how each student would approach the assigned task in developing his or her paper. The results exceeded my greatest expectations. In the classes themselves, however, there was some shock expressed at some of the Johannine ideas that I proposed. I share some of those with my readers so that you might get a sense of the way the classes went: 1. The Prologue of John’s gospel (John 1:1-18) is not about either pre-existence or Incarnation. It was rather based on a passage in Proverbs 8. 2. The Epilogue (John 21) is a later addition to this gospel and needs to be looked at separately. 3. John’s entire gospel (John 1-20) is not the work of a single person, but of at least three separate authors and none of the three was John, the son of Zebedee! 4. The “Second Coming” in the Fourth Gospel is not a future event to be anticipated, but one that has already actually occurred. John relates it in chapter 20, when Jesus breathed on his disciples in the locked room on Easter evening and “they received the Holy Spirit.” Thus the “second coming” occurred just “a little while” later as John’s Jesus promises constantly. 5. Nicodemus, the star of chapter 3 of John’s gospel, was not a person of history, but a symbol of those Jews who came close to Jesus, but only under cover of darkness, and who were never able to become disciples. 6. John refers to two members of the twelve, Nathaniel and the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” neither of whom is mentioned in any other part of the Christian tradition. These two figures also serve as bookends for John’s gospel. Nathaniel stars in chapter 1 and “the Beloved Disciple” stars in the last week of Jesus’ life (13-20). I regard both of them as literary symbols, not as people of history. Nathaniel is a symbol for Paul, an idea I got from E. F. Scott, a Canadian scholar whose John book was published in 1907. The “Beloved Disciple” is a symbol of the ideal believer, who is willing to follow Jesus all the way to the cross and through it to the resurrection, an idea I received first from Rudolf Bultmann, long time Professor at Germany’s University of Marburg, whom I regard as the greatest New Testament scholar of our time… 7. Other literary characters in the Fourth Gospel, and therefore not people of history, include the Samaritan woman by the well (John 4), the man crippled for 38 years (John5), the man born blind (John 9) and Lazarus who was raised from the dead (John 11). 8. John has given to other characters, who clearly were people of history, entirely new personalities. On this list are the mother of Jesus, Peter, Pilate, Thomas, Andrew and Phillip. To convince my students that all of these speculations were in fact true was not my purpose. I wanted to inspire them rather to raise different questions, to let their minds escape the boundaries of yesterday’s biblical assumptions. Did it work? The only way to know is to listen to the sermons from the pulpits from which my students will preach in the next year. They may well become controversial, but I am convinced that Christianity will die of boredom long before it dies of controversy. So I am not bothered by that possibility. I only know that they were great students. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Shirma Cadogan, via the Internet, writes: Question: I read your answer your answer to a question from Ken Austin from Maroubra, Australia, and I was deeply moved. I understand and agree with all you said in your answer to Mr. Austin, but please go a little further (and forgive me if you’ve answered this before), but what did John mean to imply when he put the words in Jesus’ mouth, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me.” Exactly what is meant by that declaration? Thanks for taking the time to answer the question. Answer: Dear Shirma, Yes, I have answered that question before, but it seems to keep coming year after year. It is one of those biblical texts which, over the centuries, has been used to validate a missionary imperialism and to denigrate the other religious traditions of the world. My experience is that whenever a person, a church, a denomination or a religion claims to possess the truth and thus be the only valid pathway to God, that person, that church, that denomination and that religion turns demonic. There is an incredible arrogance present when any human being or any religious tradition believes that it has cornered the market on the truth of God and can therefore judge anyone who disagrees with them as wrong, inadequate, heretical or whatever. To quote this text from John 14 to justify that concept also reveals little more than a profound biblical ignorance. This Johannine text is in what we call the “farewell discourses” in that gospel, which constitute chapters 13-16. It reflects a struggle between the synagogue authorities and the Christian movement, which was until about 88 CE still a part of the synagogue. After the split which separated the synagogue from the church, various new claims were made for Jesus by his followers. Among these claims in John’s gospel was a series of sayings we now call the “I AM” sayings. No one other than the Fourth Gospel ever suggests that these “I AM” sayings were spoken by Jesus in history and most scholars assume that John wrote these words, not that Jesus ever said them. “I AM” was the name of God revealed to Moses in the Exodus story of the burning bush. The synagogue authorities had declared that the followers of Jesus were outside the synagogue, outside the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. The followers of Jesus countered that claim by saying that in Jesus they had found a new revelation of the God of Abraham and Moses and that the same God the Jews met in Abraham and Moses, the followers of Jesus had found present in Jesus. So they portrayed Jesus as the one in whom the life of God was newly revealed. It is the life of God in Jesus that we Christians dare to worship. Jesus is our gateway to understanding God, so we have said that to follow Jesus is to enter God. This was their counter claim hurled against the excommunicating Orthodox Jews, who dismissed them from the synagogue. It never occurred to that author of the Fourth Gospel that these words would someday be used as a weapon of religious imperialism. I treat the “I AM” sayings more thoroughly in my book, The Fourth Gospel; Tales of a Jewish Mystic so that is as far as I can go in this brief format. The lesson one might learn from this text is that NO ONE should quote a text from the Bible unless he or she knows and understands the context out of which those words come. John Shelby Spong Announcements Have you checked out our online store recently? Buy a Bishop Spong classic and help support our mission! 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Winds and Waves December Issue - This is your invitation to contribute
by Robyn Hutchinson via OE 19 Aug '14

19 Aug '14

To read in your browser click here Dear ICA and many other colleagues around the world, We have had quite a lot of exciting feedback from the Back to the Future edition of Wind and Waves. We hope you saw it, and other previous issues (see here) We are constantly exploring how we can make this magazine more user friendly and accessible to as wide an audience as possible, and are always delighted to have your suggestions. Now we prepare for the December issue. ICA's PLEASE FOWARD THIS INVITATION, or similar, TO ALL YOUR MEMBERS, for their contribution, and that of their networks, as appropriate. "Image shift through coaching and mentoring" The Wind and Waves team invites submission of articles for the next edition of Wind and Waves Magazine. We hope that each ICA would take responsibility for sourcing relevant articles from members and non-members for each edition. December WW Theme working title is: "Image shift through coaching and mentoring Sharing a wide range of practice in the field of coaching and mentoring across the globe stories and examples of processes and practices help to change peoples lives please see attachment for more ideas and aspects of mentoring and coaching that you might like to consider writing about. See here Winds and Waves format: 1. In-depth leading topic article 2. Supporting articles on theme 3. Other theme related items 4. Reports, stories, events, works in progress (Guidelines see here) For the December edition featuring COACHING and MENTORING, we are looking for items from: * those involved in this work, in a paid or voluntary capacity, and its impact * personal stories from colleagues around the world who have experienced life change through practical application of these processes and methods, and the future potential * anyone involved in other exciting human development works in progress Contributions could include reports, poems, images, songs, and stories about the people and organisations that you are working with, the breakthroughs that you have had, your learnings and insights, and your thoughts on future directions. We also want to include reports and notices from ICAs and other organisations of initiatives, programs, significant events and dialogues taking place anywhere in the globe. Does your ICA, individual members, or someone you know have a story to share? Please forward an invitation as appropriate to your networks. TIME FRAME for WIND AND WAVES - December edition Leading Topic: Image Shift Coaching and mentoring Indication of article to be sent: by Friday, October 3 (send to Isabel, Peter, Robyn) Finished article deadline: Friday, October 24, 2014 (send to Isabel, Peter, Robyn) Publication: December, 2014 By October 3, Please let us know these details on the article you / other person plans to write: 1. Title - subject line: story proposal........ 2. In the email body: 2 SIMPLE sentences not "paragraph-sentences" a. The story to share is about: .......... b. The point of the story for the reader is:....... 3. Estimated length............ 4. The number of photos, diagrams, images, that will accompany the article.... 5. Your name and author's name....email addresses for both Please send the above information to Isabel, Robyn and Peter Ellins, by October 3. Some guideline tips for your attention, include: - avoiding jargon; remembering that this is a public magazine; - audience is ICA and many others - Items can be in English and Spanish. With many thanks in anticipation, Robyn Hutchinson: hutchinsonsydney13(a)gmail.com Isabel de la Maza: isadelamaza(a)vtr.net Contributions Coordinators, for the W&W team Please send cc to Peter Ellins, peter(a)icai-members.org If you did not receive a copy or notice of the last edition of the magazine, please contact: Peter Ellins: Email: peter(a)icai-members.org; or Robyn Hutchinson: Email: hutchinsonsydney13(a)gmail.com

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