Dear ICA/OE Friends, Next week will be the last week PROGRESSING SPIRIT will be sent out via the ICA/OE list serves. Dick Kroeger began sending this e-newsletter to the list serves around 2006 or 2007 when it was a John Shelby Spong newsletter entitled "A New Christianity for a New World". Spong was still writing books, doing speaking engagements and sharing his popular thoughts about the Bible, church, theology and critical national/world issues. Dick Kroeger died in 2008. Our church was studying Spong's books, so I decided to pick up the Spong subscription and continued to forward it to the ICA/OE list serves. In 2016, Spong suffered a stroke and was no longer able to write. We heard him speak at Chautauqua a couple of months before his stroke. He died in 2021 at the age of 90. He had been working with a number of progressive leaders who decided to pick up the mantle and continue the newsletter, eventually transitioning in format and title to "Progressing Spirit", highlighting both well-known speakers/authors as well as new ones but also including previous published Spong articles. A lot has changed since 2006, including the amount of email traffic that most folks receive as well as changing interest in Spong, progressive thought, etc. I have also sent this newsletter to other non- ICA/OE folks on another list. In order to simplify this process and to eliminate this email from those who are no longer interested, I am consolidating my lists to one list, beginning June 1. This will also make it easier to be deleted from the email, should you so choose, which was not possible on the list serves. If you would like to continue receiving the Progressing Spirit e-newsletter, please email me DIRECTLY. PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" VIA THE ICA/OE list serves, as that further clogs everyone's inboxes. If, in the future, you wish to be deleted, that can be done. Thanks! Ellie Stockelliestock@aol.com Planting Seeds in the Kin-dom#yiv6751484939 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv6751484939 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv6751484939 h1, #yiv6751484939 h2, #yiv6751484939 h3, #yiv6751484939 h4, #yiv6751484939 h5, #yiv6751484939 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv6751484939 img, #yiv6751484939 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv6751484939 body, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939bodyTable, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv6751484939 img{}#yiv6751484939 table{}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv6751484939 p, #yiv6751484939 a, #yiv6751484939 li, #yiv6751484939 td, #yiv6751484939 blockquote{}#yiv6751484939 a .yiv6751484939filtered99999 , #yiv6751484939 a .yiv6751484939filtered99999 {color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;}#yiv6751484939 p, #yiv6751484939 a, #yiv6751484939 li, #yiv6751484939 td, #yiv6751484939 body, #yiv6751484939 table, #yiv6751484939 blockquote{}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass p, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass td, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass div, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass span, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939ExternalClass font{line-height:100%;}#yiv6751484939 a .yiv6751484939filtered99999 {color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939bodyCell{padding:10px;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939templateContainer{max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv6751484939 a.yiv6751484939mcnButton{display:block;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImage, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnRetinaImage{vertical-align:bottom;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent{}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent img{height:auto !important;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnDividerBlock{table-layout:fixed !important;}#yiv6751484939 body, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939bodyTable{}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939bodyCell{border-top:0;}#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939templateContainer{border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv6751484939 h1{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv6751484939 h2{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv6751484939 h3{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv6751484939 h4{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent a, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateHeader{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateHeader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateHeader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateHeader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent a, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateHeader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent a, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;}#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent a, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939templateContainer{width:600px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 body, #yiv6751484939 table, #yiv6751484939 td, #yiv6751484939 p, #yiv6751484939 a, #yiv6751484939 li, #yiv6751484939 blockquote{}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 body{width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnRetinaImage{max-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImage{width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCartContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageGroupContent{padding:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent{padding-top:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv6751484939mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent{padding-top:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageGroupBlockInner{padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 .yiv6751484939mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templatePreheader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateHeader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateHeader .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateBody .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent, #yiv6751484939 #yiv6751484939templateFooter .yiv6751484939mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} By Rev. Lauren Van Ham | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Planting Seeds in the Kin-dom | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Lauren Van Ham May 18, 2023Ahead of Pentecost, the month of May offers International Labor Day, Beltane, and Mother’s Day (United States). Each one is ripe with spirituality, and combined, they invite us to choose one another, to look out for one another’s wellbeing, and to move continually toward the kin-dom of God. In Genesis 3:20, Eve is described as, “the mother of all living.” And, wow, what a mother! A mother of all living offers reassurance: She is within me, beyond me, and I can rest in Her wisdom. A mother of all living invites awe: being the mother of all is a whole LOT of mothering. A mother of all living levels the game: all means all – humans, whales, sycamores, amoebas, raccoons, cacti, we are kin. In the Northern hemisphere, Beltane (May Day), marks the midpoint between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Celtic in origin, Beltane and other earth-based rituals of this season celebrate flowers, planting and fertility. The songs and ceremonial prayers ask for our Mother’s protection of the fields and animals. As the new season begins, Beltane festivals revere and encourage growth. One Beltane[i] chant begins, May the Lady's touch again, rest upon the barren plain, With the sunshine and the rain, let the sleeper awake! I love this imagery. In Northern California, the rains have coaxed our Mother awake, turning the hills green and lush. Her rivers are rushing. In states to the North, daffodils have finally appeared. After a needed sabbath, farmers and gardeners alike are sinking their hands into the soil, inviting the microbes to wake up and begin their hugely important work. Let the sleeper awake! What will emerge from the sacred soil this season? It depends on what gets planted. When we entrust seeds of goodness to the care of the community, what nourishment will result? The Beltane chant continues, Let the flames of Beltane burn, may the Old Ones now return, May we of their magic learn, let the sleeper awake! Let the streams and fields be pure, Earth and sky be clean once more, Love and laughter long endure, let the sleeper awake! As we wake from our sleep to acknowledge those who, for hundreds of years, have cared for the lands we currently call home, and as we wake to see and admit the harm we have caused one another, the damage we have done to our lands, water and air, we ask for ancestral insight. We welcome back more ancient ways of knowing, to guide us away from extreme individualism and toward divine interdependence. In addition to our one shared mother, another experience that unites us is labor. Everything living takes energy from the sun and converts it into power to create, forage, parent, teach, build, etc. Whether recognized, rewarded, or taken for granted, we work every day. In the time of Jesus, the kingdom of Rome gave each act of labor varying degrees of value. Sound familiar? Jesus reminded everyone who listened that all labor done in the name of Life, holds value. International Labor Day (May 1st) has become a worldwide attempt to honor our labor. On this day, workers “rise up,” with marches, songs and unified messaging to be sure we all see the disparity our current practices perpetuate. Two weeks ago, I saw this disparity vividly when I met Gloria, Irma and Jessie near where they live in San Cristobal, Mexico. These women, each self-employed, are part of a group savings circle. Graffiti and murals painted around town remind everyone that femicide and violence toward women has reached a state of national attention. The dominant system, there and here, has not created an equitable or just existence for many, and certainly not for women. But what happens when we choose one another, when we plant seeds of goodness in our community and inhabit God’s kin-dom? These women, and more than sixty others, are acquiring skills to tend their various operations. Gloria is a community organizer, Irma is a gardener, Jessie is a cosmetologist and every woman in the community savings program is able to take out loans in order to better respond to family needs or emergencies. Each savings circle is comprised of not more than 6-10 participants to engender trust. When other women wish to join, a new circle is started. Loans are paid back within 6-12 months. In its three-year history, no one has defaulted and nearly every woman has added to her baseline savings. As I listened to their stories, the laughter of joyful satisfaction filled the room. They beamed! Together, these women are finding agency. They are not fearful of debt but rather of supporting the successes of each other within their community. They are making an alternative way to recognize the value inherent in their labor. And so must we all. Friends that in the circle stand, heart to heart and hand to hand, Bringing Beltane to the land, let the sleeper awake! The way we hold ourselves and recognize the inherent value of our labor is in direct relationship with our regard and care for our non-human kin. Separation, fear and scarcity like to convince us otherwise but when we meet our own needs while also looking out for the needs of one another, including our land, air and water, right relationship becomes obvious. In the kin-dom of God there is enough. The practice of enough looks and feels different, but because it’s a communal practice, we don’t have the insecurity of figuring it out alone. Shall we try it? No need to change the entire system! That will only happen as we begin to grow the kin-dom with the seeds in our hand right now. During my visit to Chiapas, I learned a powerful phrase, “Sembrar es Resistir.” To Plant is to Resist. Let’s grow together in the name of Life, Our Mother, the Kin-dom!~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read online here About the Author Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA, was born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest. Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University and The Chaplaincy Institute. Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care) and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Lauren’s passion for spirituality, art and Earth's teachings has supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. Her ideas can be heard on Vennly, an app that shares perspectives from spiritual and community leaders across different backgrounds and traditions. Currently, Lauren tends her private spiritual direction and eco-chaplaincy consulting practice; and serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative (URI), and as guest faculty for several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. [i] Doreen Valiente’s Spring Rite, 1971 | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Oscar What is your view on the value of the Bible for today? A: By Dr. Carl Krieg Dear Oscar,Before deciding on the value of the Bible, we need to understand exactly what it is. First of all, it is not a book. It is, rather, a collection of documents written over a period of at least 2500 years, coming from different places and with differing intent. Scholars date the Hebrew Yahwist source in the Pentateuch from either the 10th or 5th century BCE and various books in the Christian writings as late as 110 CE. Different dates, different places and intent, and also different genres. Some of it sounds like history, some songs and prayers, some straight out mythology, some biography, and some prophetic denunciation of the rich and powerful. Furthermore, what we have today has been edited and re-edited, combined and recombined, transcribed and transcribed again, lost and found. We no longer have original documents, if ever we did, but copies of copies. Having said that, scholars have been able to put the pieces together and come up with reasonably reliable renditions of the various books. The history of the documents does not invalidate their veracity. Taken together, what we find in the Bible is human reaction to what was believed to be divine action, whether in the Hebrew or Christian writings. For example, the earliest sources in the Hebrew writings present a mythology that attempts to understand why human beings deny their own loving being, thereby turning from the beauty and happiness offered by the Creator. The history of Israel as presented portrays continual rebellion by the people and subsequent forgiveness by their God. The prophets of old denounce the corruption of the king and his court, proclaiming the destruction that will come from the hand of God. Over and over, the Christian gospels describe the encounter between Jesus and those who came into contact with him, as well as various theological attempts to understand the power by which this Jesus touched so many lives. One of those lives was Paul, who in turn travelled the empire, founding small congregations of the faithful, and then, in many cases, criticizing the manner in which they were straying from the path. His letters to those churches are the earliest strata of the Christian writings. So, yes, from all the writings there is much to value. Unfortunately, that value is undermined by those who would take it all literally rather than faithfully. There are scriptural literalists in every religion, Judaism and Christianity are no exception, and what they do is to destroy that very value they seek to promote. No one can claim full title to the word of God, and the more that fundamentalists, aka evangelicals, proclaim their truth as the only truth, the more they cast the Bible into oblivious irrelevance. On the contrary, open-minded investigation into biblical context and meaning at least allows it to be what it is, thereby providing value for future generations. ~ Dr.Carl Krieg Read and share online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, The Void and the Vision and The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Part XVI Matthew Did Jesus Teach Us to Pray the Lord's Prayer? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 6, 2014If it is true, as I have suggested, that Jesus never preached the Sermon on the Mount then we immediately have to face other startling implications. That conclusion would raise questions about the authenticity of “The Lord’s Prayer,” which is first introduced into the developing Christian tradition in Matthew as part of the Sermon on the Mount. If the Lord’s Prayer turns out to be Matthew’s creation, would it still be proper for us to say: “And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,” which are the words by which this prayer is liturgically introduced? So we turn now to look at the Lord’s Prayer.I begin with some facts. There is no mention of a prayer taught to the disciples by Jesus in any Christian writing before Matthew introduces it in the 9th decade. If this prayer carried the imprimatur of Jesus himself, would his followers have gone that long ignoring this directive? Paul, who wrote all of his epistles between the years 51 and 64, never alludes to what we call today “the Lord’s Prayer.” If the claim made for this prayer that it came directly from Jesus were historically accurate, would Paul have declined to reference it in any way? These questions become even more provocative when we recognize that Mark, the earliest gospel, usually dated about 72 CE and on which Matthew leaned so heavily, also does not include any reference to this prayer. To make this biblical analysis complete we need to note that when John, the last gospel to be written, appeared near the end if the first century, there was once again no reference to a prayer that Jesus had taught his disciples to pray. Did this final gospel writer do this because he knew it was not authentic? Most people are simply not aware of these biblical facts.In Matthew’s gospel, the Lord’s Prayer is introduced as part of his commentary on the Fourth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied.” For the Jews “righteousness” was a synonym for God’s kingdom. To “hunger for righteousness,” therefore, meant to hunger for the coming of the kingdom of God. That identification would be one with which the Jews were thoroughly familiar. The prophet Isaiah referred to Israel as “God’s Vineyard,” where “righteousness,” that is God’s kingdom, is to be established. Later this same prophet writes: “God shows himself present and holy” in the manifestation of “righteousness.” Matthew first introduces the word “righteousness” in his story of Jesus’ baptism. John, viewing himself as secondary to Jesus, objects to his baptizing Jesus saying: “I have need to be baptized of you.” Jesus responds to this by saying that his baptism is a necessary step in “fulfilling all righteousness,” that is, as a means of establishing the kingdom of God. Later, but still in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew portrays Jesus as exhorting his followers not to be anxious about what they are to eat, to drink or to wear, insisting that they spend their every moment seeking God’s kingdom and its “righteousness.” “Righteousness” is a word that the deeply Jewish Paul uses frequently and every time he uses it, it refers to the kingdom of God. So when Matthew has Jesus say: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,” he is referring to those who live in anticipation of the kingdom of God and who prepare themselves for that kingdoms arrival by fasting, praying and studying the Torah. In Matthew’s mind the kingdom is present and becomes visible when God’s righteousness is lived out or when God’s presence is seen in human life.The earliest Christian prayer recorded in the New Testament is not the Lord’s Prayer, but a prayer for Jesus to come again. Paul closes the first epistle to the Corinthians with the words, “Our Lord, come.” The book of Revelation ends with Jesus promising to come soon and the prayer of the people in response is “Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.” It is with this understanding that Matthew introduces the Lord’s Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount along with a discussion on prayer itself. The Lord’s Prayer thus serves as an example of the things about which he has been speaking. Matthew has Jesus begin by describing the proper prayer attitude. Jesus is portrayed as exhorting his followers to observe a proper tradition when praying. Prayers for the kingdom are not to be done for show, so they should not be uttered on street corners, but in the privacy of one’s own room. Prayer should not be the stringing together of pious phrases and empty words. God, Jesus reminds his hearers in the Sermon, knows their needs before they ask. Prayer is thus not the activity of reminding God as to what it is that God can do for you. That is when in the Sermon Matthew has Jesus say “Pray then like this” and the words of the Lord’s Prayer follow. It is quite clearly a prayer for the kingdom of God to come in human history. This prayer begins by addressing itself to the One who is beyond all limits, for that is what “heaven” means. Heaven for the Jews was never a “place” located above the sky, but an expression of the limitlessness of God. God’s kingdom is not a physical realm, but an experience of God’s presence, a moment in which the life of God becomes visible in another. This prayer then moves on to express our yearning to be sustained until that day when the kingdom arrives. “Give us this day our daily bread” and “do not bring us to the test” or into temptation that we can not overcome lest we miss the kingdom’s arrival. In this prayer Jesus has been cast in the role of the messiah who inaugurates that kingdom, which is an understanding of Jesus that surely was not fully worked out until well after the defining experience of crucifixion and resurrection, through which the followers of Jesus had to walk Thus it becomes obvious that the Lord’s Prayer was a prayer developed by the church, the followers of Jesus, after they came to the conclusion that in his life they had seen divinity through the lens of the human and they had seen life overcoming death. Jesus was thus a glimpse of what the kingdom of God was like, but it would not be known in all its fullness until Jesus came again at the end of the age. So what we call the Lord’s Prayer was created as a prayer to be prayed by those who lived between the first coming of Jesus, when the kingdom was glimpsed and his second coming, when God’s kingdom would be established in all its fullness.To complete the biblical analysis of the prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer we need to recognize that there is a second version of this prayer in the gospel of Luke. It is recognizably similar, but not identical. It is shorter and a bit truncated. It reads as follows: “Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.” That is Luke’s version in its entirety.When we confront these two obviously similar, but not identical versions of the same prayer we are driven back once again into the debate about the Q hypothesis. Do these two versions of the Lord’s Prayer reflect a common tradition that would have been present in an earlier, now lost source of Jesus’ sayings to which both Matthew and Luke had access? Or is Luke editing out the deeply Jewish elements of this prayer, which he had acquired from Matthew, in order to appeal to his more cosmopolitan and less Jewish audience? Increasingly I am convinced it is the latter. Luke’s community was made up primarily of dispersed Jews, who were increasingly adapting to a Gentile world, along with Gentile proselytes, who had been drawn to the non-cultic, ethical monotheism of Judaism. They would have had little interest in Matthew’s rendering of the Sermon on the Mount, which was written to give Christian content to the Jewish festival of Shavuot, the 24 hour vigil ceremony designed to recall Moses on Mt. Sinai receiving the Torah as God’s greatest gift to the Jewish people. Luke reflected a later and far more Gentile phase of the life of the Christian Church. He understood God’s greatest gift to God’s people to be, not the Torah which the Jews celebrated fifty days after Passover at their Pentecost, but the coming of the Holy Spirit and the growth of the Christian Church which the Christians celebrated fifty days after Easter at their Pentecost. For Luke it was the growth of Christianity not the second coming of Jesus that would be the means by which the Kingdom of God was to arrive on earth. So Luke has edited out the cultic elements of Matthew’s gospel and he adapted the Lord’s Prayer to fit his understanding and his circumstances. It is worth noting that the Fourth Gospel, written even later than Luke, is quite specific in stating that when the raised Christ breathed the Holy Spirit on his disciples on the evening of Easter Day that this was the “second coming” of Jesus. Perhaps that is why the Lord’s Prayer does not appear in the Fourth Gospel since a prayer for God’s Kingdom to come did not seem appropriate after the Holy Spirit had already come at Christian Pentecost.So if Jesus never composed the prayer we call “The Lord’s Prayer” and did not enjoin these words on his disciples, does this prayer then have no value for us? That is not our conclusion, but it does mean that this prayer must be understood in an entirely different way.“Our Father who art in heaven” means that God cannot be limited by human creeds, doctrines or dogmas. It means that we must seek to define the holy beyond the theistic definitions we have for so long used uncritically. “Hallowed be thy name” means that the ultimate, the holy, the mystical, the ineffable can never be captured in human words. “Thy Kingdom come” means that our eyes must be trained to see the divine inside the human. It means that the kingdom of God comes when we are empowered to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that we are capable of being. It means that the work of the kingdom of God is the work of enhancing human wholeness that occurs when the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap and the mute sing and when all demeaning human prejudices die. That is when the kingdom of God dawns and when God’s righteousness is revealed. So we pray – Come, Lord Jesus, establish the realm of God in each one of us. Show us what it means to be human and what it means to be Christian for they are one and the same.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements An Evening with the Mystics and Mirabai Starr Spirituality & Practice is honored that Mirabai Starr will be sharing some of her favorite readings from the mystics as a benefit for S&P’s Website Redesign Fund. May 26th- 5 to 6:30 pm. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |