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Re: [Oe List ...] Archives Sojourn Dates coming up
by Jim Baumbach 18 Jul '12

18 Jul '12

Hi Marge, I'm about to send you 5 DVD's of photos and slides that I took during the time Alice and I were in Fifth City. Each DVD contains several hundred photos of both Fifth City pictures including several trips we took and many order events. Each photo or slide required hours of recovery work due to aging and deterioration. I would like to participate with the Global Archives work. My particular gift is in the arena of photo recovery and digitizing. However, this task is very time consuming and requires solitude. Since I have all the necessary equipment here in my "man cave" in Appleton, I would enjoy digitizing any slides, negatives or photos that need to be transferred. If you would like to have me do this for current photo materials in the archive, we can have them shipped to me here and I could work on them. After I am finished, I could send all the materials back to you including the digitized photos. Jim Baumbach On 3/28/2012 12:05 PM, Marge Philbrook wrote: > The Global Archives Team invites you to consider the following sojourn > coming up soon. > > April 30-May 12, 2012Spring Sojourn Session > > One Team will be working with the Town Meeting Collection.People who > worked with the Town Meetings on the ground and at Centrum are needed. > We will focus on the design, planning, implementation, evaluation and > monitoring of the Town Meeting Program.Anyone who wants to learn about > Town Meetings is welcome. > > The Other Team will work with the Training Programs: The Academy, > International Training School, and Human Development Training > School.We need people who were there teaching, participating, enabling > (or wish they had been). We will organize the files by year and by > subject. > > October 8-19, 2012 Fall Sojourn Session > > The focus will be on the Global Social Demonstration Collection.We > have located substantial files that have not been processed. We also > need to review the categories to be sure they are most helpful in > locating needed documents. We especially invite people who are > interested in a particular project like Maliwada or Gibson. > > Sojourns will also include samples of our audio-visual archival > collections (tapes, slide shows, posters, etc). > > Please contact us to register. We'll send you a form with > explanations about accommodations and meals. > Marge Philbrook, Paul Noah, Sally Fenton, Jean Long, Rosemary > Albright, Beret Griffith, and Frank Knutson > > __ > > We're getting a new ica address but it isn't "up" yet. So you can > just reply to my address. Marge > > > _______________________________________________ > OE mailing list > OE(a)wedgeblade.net > http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/oe_wedgeblade.net

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Annie Leonard's new movie: The Story of Change
by Ellie Stock 18 Jul '12

18 Jul '12

Dear Elinor, Our new movie -- The Story of Change -- has just been released. Please watch it and take the Personality Quiz following the movie to find out what kind of changemaker you are. Then be sure to share it with everyone you know! We made The Story of Change to inspire our viewers, Community members and others to step out of the consumer mindset and into our full power as citizens to build a better future. That's because too often, when faced with daunting environmental and social problems (say, disruption of the global climate) many of us instinctively flex our power in the only way we know how: as consumers. Plastic garbage choking the oceans? Carry our own shopping bag. Formaldehyde in baby shampoo? Buy the brand with the green seal. Warming planet? Change our lightbulbs. Without a doubt, those are all good things to do. But the fact is, better shopping isn't going to change the world. If we really want to build a better future, we have to move beyond voting with our dollars and come together to demand rules that work. That's the lesson we learned when we looked back at a series of effective movements for change, from the U.S. civil rights movement to the environmental victories of the 1970s. They didn't just pester people to perfect their daily choices; they said we will work together until the problem is solved. That's not simple, and it won't be easy. We'll have to aim high and act boldly. But we're convinced that history is on our side. So let's get to work and make the kind of change we know is possible. Sincerely, Annie, Michael, Allison, Christina, Renee, Naomi, Bill and Toni The Story of Stuff Project team P.S. Along with the movie we've launched the Changemaker Challenge, a platform for Story of Stuff Community members to share their action ideas and commitments. Post yours today! -- Socialize with us! Forward to a Friend This email was sent to: elliestock(a)aol.com This email was sent by: Story of Stuff 1442 A Walnut Street, #272, Berkeley, CA, 94709, We respect your right to privacy - view our policy Update Profile and Subscription Preferences | Unsubscribe From All Emails

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Road trip
by James Wiegel 18 Jul '12

18 Jul '12

Looking for someone, possibly, to share driving on a road trip leaving Exeter, NH around the 25th of August, going to Denver area by Labor day and then on to Phoenix. Anyone? Jim Wiegel Jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com “One cannot live in the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie.” – Carl Jung Partners in Participation Upcoming public course opportunities: ToP Facilitation Methods, Sept 11-12, 2012 ToP Strategic Planning, Oct 9-10, 2012 The AZ Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday- Sept 7, 2012 Facilitation Mastery : Our Mastering the Technology of Participation program is available in Phoenix in 2012-3. Program begins on Nov 14-16, 2012 See short video http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=55 and website for further details. >

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] The right question, continued
by David M Dunn 17 Jul '12

17 Jul '12

These two questions create a clearer context in which my question ("who are we companioning and mentoring?") is revealed as one approach to creating provisional answers. On Jul 17, 2012, at 4:42 PM, jlepps(a)pc.jaring.my wrote: > Our existential question is “How can we operate?” that is, “How can we be in this world together?” and even the “we” is not clear. > John Epps In a message dated 7/16/2012 6:50:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com wrote: > Maybe the question is, how are we as a human species, going to generate a level of courage, wisdom, care and creativity that is more than adequate to meet the challenges of this new century? My answer to John's and Jim's questions is: We might all find a person(s), at least a decade younger than ourselves to journey with: living the questions, mutually mentoring each other, co-creating strategies of engagement. I think my approach is something like: find a "we," settle in for the long haul, and co-create a new way of being together in mission. This has been Karen Bueno's strategy (or so it seems to me) at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Thornton, Colorado, for a very long time. David David Dunn 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247 -- dmdunn1(a)gmail.com 720-314-5991

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] asking questions
by David M Dunn 17 Jul '12

17 Jul '12

Colleagues. I appreciated the juxtaposition of Jim's paragraph on 'this movement in human history' and his Carl Jung quote in Jim's email signature. I found myself thinking about the Order Ecumenical, our Archive work and the ICA's 50th anniversary celebrations, and the dialogue about questions. This was the question that I had posed for myself earlier today and offer up for the "afternoon of life": "With whom are you partnering as a soul friend?" (By which I meant, "With whom are you—as a sensitive and responsive one, formed by our experience as the Order Ecumenical—in deeply intentional relationship as listener, companion, mentor, partner, co-learner, and servant?) My partner and soul friend is Fr. Scott Jenkins, the priest at Church of the Holy Family in Aurora, Colorado, and one of the founders of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion 13 years ago. David On Jul 17, 2012, at 11:08 AM, James Wiegel wrote: > There has been this movement in human history of being the sensitive and responsive ones, with many manifestations, forms and stories. Certainly, stuff like the Santa Fe institute represents this reality in our lifetimes. This phenomenon emerges all the time, even, I think, among other species than our own. The Ecumenical Institute interpreted Historical Christianity as a movement which celebrated, had faith in, and gave form and blessing to this phenomenon with the expectation that this movement could be renewed. -- based on signs of creative turmoil like the ecumenical movement, the numbers of leaders in emerging nations who had been formed through Christian churches, Vatican II, etc., the theological turmoil and creativity which came after the second world war, etc. > > Jim Wiegel > Jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com > > “One cannot live in the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie.” – Carl Jung David Dunn 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247 -- dmdunn1(a)gmail.com 720-314-5991

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The right question, continued
by KarenBueno＠aol.com 17 Jul '12

17 Jul '12

Maybe Jim got it said (below) In a message dated 7/16/2012 6:50:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com writes: Maybe the question is, how are we as a human species, going to generate a level of courage, wisdom, care and creativity that is more than adequate to meet the challenges of this new century? Because it deals with the human dimension, which is what, as EI and ICA, that is what we have recognized. Karen Bueno

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Frank Knutson
by Herman Greene 17 Jul '12

17 Jul '12

I just sent an email to Frank and it bounced. Could someone give me his current email address? Thanks, Herman _____________________________________________ Herman Greene 2516 Winningham Drive Chapel Hill, NC 27516 919-929-4116 (h) 919-624-0579 (c) 919-942-4358 (f) Skype: hgreene-nc hfgreene(a)mindspring.com

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Can Christianity Be Saved--correction to the link to Bass's article
by R Williams 16 Jul '12

16 Jul '12

You can access the article by Diana Butler Bass, referred to in the previous email, directly through this corrected link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-butler-bass/can-christianity-be-saved_1… "Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires." -Martin Buber (adapted)

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Can Christianity Be Saved? Can Religion Be Saved?
by R Williams 16 Jul '12

16 Jul '12

Last week New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote an article asking "Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?" in which he asserted that manifestations of liberal Christianity, like the Episcopal Church, are facing imminent death. Diana Butler Ross, author of the recent book Christianity After Religion, responded to Douthat this week in the HuffPost, suggesting that conservative churches as well as liberal ones are declining. She broadens the question to, "Can Christianity Be Saved?" She ultimately asks, can liberal churches save Christianity? She refers to isolated instances of local churches that are experiencing renewal, but suggests "the denominational structures have yet to adjust their institutions to the recovery of practical wisdom that is remaking local congregations." You may access Bass's article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-butler-bass/can-christianity-be-saved-1… The question could perhaps be taken to yet another level by asking, "Can religion be saved?" Or perhaps even more relevant, using our language and concerns from the 60s and 70s, is the question, "Can movemental Christianity survive and thrive without the institutional church?" Randy "Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires." -Martin Buber (adapted)

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7/12/12, Spong: On Baptizing Hadden
by Ellie Stock 12 Jul '12

12 Jul '12

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR On Baptizing Hadden It is a rare treat in the life of a bishop in general and in the life of a retired bishop in particular to participate in a pastoral act like a baptism. It normally has to come at the invitation of a family member or a very close friend. Seven years ago I married a couple, the groom of which had been such a friend, growing up together with my stepson Brian and, therefore, very close to my wife Christine, close enough indeed that all of his life he had called her “Mom.” When he became engaged to a lovely young woman named Cushman they asked if I could perform their marriage ceremony at a summer chapel, named All Saints by the Sea on the coast of Maine. His family had spent every summer season of his childhood vacationing on this lovely island. I accepted this invitation and so I shared in that transition moment with them and their respective families. When this couple’s first baby arrived it seemed important to them for me to baptize this young lady at the same summer chapel in Maine. It is a church that is open only in the summer season and to which worshipers can and do arrive on Sundays both by boat and car. I agreed to do so and back to Maine we went for this happy occasion. Preparing for this baptism I read over the baptismal liturgy from my church’s prayer book and I embraced once more just how antiquated and even offensive some of its language still is. I began to wonder how a child being baptized would hear those words, if that child had the ability both to listen and to understand. If in the baptismal service we had the ability to allow the child to speak in reaction to those words, I wondered what she might say. With my imagination engaged I decided that for the sermon at this service I would try to frame just how this baby might react and respond to the words being used in the church’s baptismal liturgy. The result of that exercise follows: TO THE MEMBERS ALL SAINTS BY THE SEA CHURCH IN SOUTHPORT, MAINE Dear Friends: Today, July 1, 2012, I was baptized in this church. My family and friends gathered from as far away as Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Vermont and New Jersey to be present for this occasion. It was a happy day for me – and I hope it was for others of you who attended. Let me tell you, however, that it was also a strange day in many ways. In that baptism service you said some words that sounded pretty weird to me. You asked my parents and godparents to renounce some things in my name. They had to renounce the world, the flesh and the devil. How can you renounce the world when it is July in Maine – the sky is blue, the sea is calm, the temperature is moderate and the world seems to be wonderful? How can you renounce the flesh when it is through the flesh that we experience the world – our fleshly eyes see its beauty, our fleshly ears hear its sounds, our fleshly taste buds enable us to savor the wonders of the sea? With our fleshly arms we embrace one another and with our fleshly lips we kiss those we love. Who among us really wants to renounce the flesh? How can you renounce the devil? Is there a real creature with horns, tail and pitch fork who is responsible for all that is evil? Is that not some form of projection? We can’t even agree on what color the devil is – at Duke University they think of him as blue, but if you are a hockey fan in New Jersey we think of him as red! For me to renounce the world the flesh and the devil sounds like I’m being programmed to be a nun! Is that really your intention? You also said in the baptismal liturgy that you were baptizing me for the forgiveness of sins. I’m not old enough to have done much! So what are my sins? I have never robbed a bank; I have not committed adultery; I have not been willfully disobedient or talked back to my parents. I understand that babies can sometimes be inconvenient, but are we sinful? Someone once said that all babies are born with loud speakers on one end and no sense of responsibility on the other, but does that make us blameworthy? Let me suggest to you that what you have done in the baptism service is to literalize some ancient biblical stories and you have drawn some conclusions from those stories that I suggest you might want to revise and even to challenge. One of those biblical stories was about how God created the world in just seven days. That story emphasizes that God created a perfect world, so perfect that when God finished God looked out on all that God had made and said: “This is a good world.” Human beings were part of that goodness and that story goes on to say that we human beings were created “male and female” in God’s image. Why would one be called evil when we are created in God’s image? That story also states that when the work of creation was ended, God not only pronounced it good, but also complete – so complete that God could take a day off and that is how the Sabbath was created. It is hard to understand why one should be asked to renounce the world that God pronounced complete. Is there something profoundly wrong with the baptismal liturgy? There is a second story in the book of Genesis, however, in which the biblical writers sought to account for the presence of evil. They did not understand that in the biology of every living creature there is a drive to survive. It is that drive that makes life appear to be self-centered. If survival is my highest value then I will organize my life around my survival agenda. I will not always be consciously aware of this drive, but it will always be present. One strategy we human beings seem to use to accomplish this is build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. This destructive behavior is not rooted in something sinful; it is rooted in our biology. That is the source out of which prejudice arises; that is the source of religious persecution. That is the reason we are prone to hate and fear people who are different. Evil does not originate in human misdeeds. It is not, as this second ancient story says, something we do because one of our ancestors was disobedient and ate of the forbidden fruit, which resulted in our banishment from the Garden of Eden. It was out of this story, however, that we developed the strange idea that human life is fallen, sinful, evil, distorted and broken. I must tell you that it sounds very strange to me to listen to a worship service in church that tells me over and over again how evil I am, that I am a miserable sinner, that I am not worthy to gather up the crumbs under the divine table, that there is no health in me and that I must spend lots of time in church begging God to have mercy on me. How many times does one have to beg God to have mercy in a Sunday service? How many times do you have to tell me that I am fallen, infected with original sin? Have you ever known anyone to be helped by being told how terrible they are? Why do you think God’s greatness is affirmed by denigrating our humanity? You can’t even sing about how amazing God’s grace is without reminding yourselves that God’s grace is amazing only because it saves a wretch like you or me. Am I a wretch? Are you wretches? Is that what Christianity has come to. Perhaps we have distorted our faith story far more than most of us realize. Did Jesus come to make us religious? Did he come so that God could control our behavior through guilt? Is guilt ever life-giving? Does guilt help to make us religious? Can religion save the world? There is lots of religion in this world today, but is not most of it distorted? Have you not heard of religious wars, religious persecution, the Inquisition? Have you not observed how religious Catholics and religious Protestants react to each other in Ireland or how religious Shiites and religious Sunnis react to each other in Iraq? I do not think that Jesus came to make us righteous either. People who are very, very moral and very, very righteous seem to know a great deal about judgment, but almost nothing about loving. Jesus also did not come to give us the “True Faith” – to make certain that our religion is better than any other, that my faith is the only true faith, my church the only true church and that no one can come to God except by my pathway. People who think that they have the “True Faith,” always seem to put their wagons in a circle and start shooting at those with whom they disagree. In John’s gospel Jesus suggests a very different purpose that perhaps the framers of the baptismal liturgy somehow missed. Jesus says: “I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly.” That is, I believe, what Christianity should be all about – giving life. So as I identify with this faith tradition today in baptism I ask you to help me to become fully human, help me to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that I can be. May I suggest that this is the church’s vocation and therefore your vocation. Your task is to give abundant life, and not only to me, but to every person who is a child of God. Thank you for listening to my letter and thank you for loving me just as I am. Hadden Charlotte Brinegar And because she is a good little Episcopal girl she ends her letter with AMEN. Has the time to come to bring the liturgy of baptism into dialogue with all that we now know about human life? I believe it has. ~John Shelby Spong Read the essay online here. Bishop Spong's Summer Session at the Pacific School of Religion! Re-Claiming the Bible in a Post-Christian World Instructor: John Shelby Spong Dates and Times: One week: July 16-20, 9am - 1pm Description: Can the Bible, written 2000-3000 years ago, speak in any meaningful way to the 21st century? If it cannot, then is Christianity at an end? If it can, will Christianity look anything like what we have known in the past? Since creeds and doctrines are all constructed on the basis of what was believed to be "Biblical Truth," can any of the current formularies stand? Since liturgy is based on biblical definitions of sin, salvation and God, none of which make much sense to 21st century people, can Christianity tolerate the revolution that it faces? This class will be taught by one who has been a priest and bishop for 56 years with one foot in the institutional church and the other in the academic world of new insights. It is specifically designed for clergy and questing lay people. Course Credits & Cost: 1.5 credits - $990; audit - $495; 2.0 CEUs - $350 Course Number: BS-2117 (credit); BS-0003 (CEUs) Required Text: John Shelby Spong, Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World, 2011 HarperCollins, San Francisco. Purchase here. Syllabus: Re-Claiming the Bible in a Post-Christian World Register Question & Answer Michael from Hamilton, New Zealand, writes: Question: This is not a question, rather a message of appreciation of what you have achieved for one family. My wife and I were hugely encouraged and relieved to read your book, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism after it was published. I have attended most of your public lectures in Hamilton. As a Methodist Lay Preacher for 50 years and also a Presbyterian elder (for reasons of geographic location, I have been involved with farming all my life), I used to struggle with much of the doctrine I was taught. I was, however, fortunate to have clergy of progressive thinking to stimulate and encourage the questions. However, the main point of this note is to tell you that my 97 year old mother is still probably the most radical member of our family. Each of your newsletters I print in a bold 20 font so she can read them. At 90 she said, I am glad to have lived this long because I keep learning more and more. In the 60’s she was the first to read J. A. T. Robinson with the encouragement of our then minister Rev. Dr. (now Dame) Phyllis Guthardt. During World War II, she and my father were persecuted for their Christian pacifist stand, so she knows what fires of faith mean. Today, I received an e-mail from one of our sons who is a PhD in engineering, was NZ young manager of the year some years ago and was recently made redundant when the government dept he headed was amalgamated with another. His comments reflect I believe many of our younger generation, in Richard’s case he has found a church where his intelligence and leadership skills are appreciated and his beliefs stimulated. Your newsletter he refers to is the one concerning Barabbas. I send these on to all of my family. “Always a delight to read and see what a truly clear mind and impeccable scholarship can bring to scripture. I always feel like slapping my head and crying “How obvious, when Spong lifts the scales from my eyes. Thanks for keeping me in touch with someone (like you and Mum) who makes me proud to call myself a Christian.” - Love, Richard Answer: Dear Michael, Some time ago when I was being interviewed on a radio station in Johannesburg, South Africa, the interviewer asked me what country I would most look forward to visiting again and I replied without hesitation, New Zealand. We have been there on nine different occasions and treasure the friends we have in that country, starting with one who is almost a national monument, Dr. Lloyd George Geering, who was one of the original voices of progressive religious thought in the world and who paid for it by being put on trial for heresy by the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. Dr. Geering was exonerated, but the Presbyterian Church was revealed as so limited and closed-minded that it has never been the same since. New Zealand surely has it share of small-minded religious zealots and one of them follows me around when I’m there and hands out tracts to those attending my lectures so that they will be able to resist “the onslaught of the Devil.“ I am sure that he thinks he is serving God and the cause of truth, but any God who has to be defended by that kind of person is clearly sick unto death. New Zealand’s Anglican clergy have also included some great leaders. I think of Paul Reeves, David Coles, Dean Peter Beck of Christ Church and Glynn Cardy, the vicar of St. Matthew-in-the-City in Auckland. There were, of course, other Anglicans who will die of boredom long before the courageous ones die of controversy. When I think of New Zealand, I think of things like beautiful landscapes, Kiwi fruit and Kiwi birds, ripe avocadoes picked off the tree and spread on toast for breakfast, the Franz Joseph Glacier, the Abel Tasman Park, the Milford Track, a wonderful international religious leader in the world council of Churches, named Dr. Brash, now deceased, and his two children, Don and Lynn, now themselves impressive adults and last but not least two of our closest personal friends, Geoff Robinson, the voice of New Zealand, and his wonderful wife Liz, who is a theological rebel with a cause. Thank you for your letter and please give my love to your 97-year-old mother. ~John Shelby Spong Announcements Read what Bishop Spong has to say about A Joyful Path Progressive Christian Spiritual Curriculum for Young Hearts and Minds: "The great need in the Christian church is for a Sunday school curriculum for children that does not equate faith with having a pre-modern mind. The Center for Progressive Christianity has produced just that. Teachers can now teach children in Sunday school without crossing their fingers. I endorse it wholeheartedly. Subscribers, please remember that your subscription is automatically renewed. You can unsubscribe at any time. Simply login to access your profile page and cancel your account. Login to be able to comment directly on the website. Join in the discussion! Look for Bishop Spong on Facebook and LIKE the Facebook page for ProgressiveChristianity.org You can also follow Bishop Spong on Twitter. Thank you for taking this journey with us! Any questions or concerns, please contact us at support(a)johnshelbyspong.com or 503-236-3545. Copyright © 2012 ProgressiveChristianity.org, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have a membership at our website. Our mailing address is: ProgressiveChristianity.org 4916 Pt Fosdick Dr, NW #148 Gig Harbor, WA 98335 Add us to your address book .

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