Thanks, Ellie, your posts are helpful.  My struggle at the moment is how little I know of all the infusion of scientific discoveries from the underpinnings of DNA to the Dark Holes and planets beyond planets, and how disconnected religion, institutional, spiritual and otherwise is from the world I think I’m living in.  Your readings, some of which I’ve read, are encouraging.  It would seem to me that religion has always grown out of its experience with the world.  Floods, earthquakes, star bursts have led to understandings of a god who creates, punishes, saves, guides, etc., and to understandings of how to relate to each other, as those perceptions of reality shifted religion has had to reinterpret its stories both of the world and its relationships to each other.  My understanding is at the heart of all religion is the love of neighbor as the only sane course, with lots of qualifications from time to time to allow hatred, distrust and separation in certain circumstances.  I believe religion, spiritual, institutional and otherwise all have a role to play in our conscious lives, but what is it now? In talking to the millennials I know, who have the time to talk with an old geezer, they do not appear to have much of a grasp of the past and less interest in formal religion, spiritual or otherwise.  Their focus seems to be almost exclusively on the here and now, especially as viewed through their digital lens.  Some call this secularization. What does this mean for us going forward?  

The horrible conditions of poverty and injustice in so many parts of the world from North Dakota to the poor even in the wealthiest nation in the world, along with climate change, gets such little play.  Again our knowledge is minimal and our religious response fuzzy at best.  The Pope has made some loud statements, but most religions remain somewhat muted.  Large foundations like the Gates, Clinton’s, the work of the Carters catch the headlines, but by and large they have side stepped formal religion.  The furious wars such as in Syria have produced minimal response from the religious dynamic.  Is there a new religious dynamic afoot that we don’t see? (Remembering the RS-I illustration of the church working underground) And will it reconnect with our scientific search and the quest for justice, peace and love?

I do see folks here and there trying to forge a new reality.  An attorney I know  who is a woman, who has given herself to working on behalf of the immigrant families imprisoned on our Texas border and working to change laws using science and reason, those in North Dakota, and so many here and there.  Is this the new form of religion?  Can you know any of this and sit on the sidelines? So much to explore.

George Holcombe
14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
Austin, TX 78728
Mobile 512/252-2756
geowanda1@me.com

"Whatever the problem, community is the answer.  There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about."  Margaret Wheatley


On Sep 23, 2016, at 5:06 PM, Ellie Stock <elliestock@aol.com> wrote:


Hi George,

Greetings from St. Louie!  Hope you and Wanda are doing well.

Following up on your listserve email and what I just sent re science/theology... this is just an addendum... 

Sunday, August 21, Carleton and I led Second Presbyterian Church's annual outdoor service (coordinated by our Earth Care Team) and picnic at a nearby park in the Turkish Pavilion which had 14 tables set up in a circle.  The theme of the service was The Tree of Life.  The tables were covered with green cloths with helium earth balloons attached.  In the middle was a covered card table with an earth beach ball on it, flowers, the offering baskets, two toy red-eyed tree frogs, and 2 pots of sunflowers on the floor next to it.  An Earth banner was at the designated "front" of the circle.

During the service, instead of a sermon, I did a Scripture/Arts Reflection, using a painting done by a friend and colleague of ours--a physician and member of First PC, Ferguson and resident of Ferguson.  A picture of the painting was on an easel in the front of the pavilion by the Earth Banner and was also printed on the bulletin cover. 

This is one way we try to weave together the science and theology themes at the local church level..  Last Sunday we studied PC(USA)'s "Affirmation of Creation".  Over the years at the church from which we retired, I have done studies on evolution and Christianity and other "Big History/Picture" themes (not creationism).

Attached are copies of the bulletin and the Scripture/Arts Reflection.

Ellie Stock

<21st Sunday in Ord Time 2016 - Aug. 21, 2016.docx><SCRIPTURE-ARTS, Second PC, Outdoor service, 8-21-16, LARGE PRINT.docx>