Weekly Recap for Tuesday, 2 June 2015 from Progressive Christianity og Gig Harbor, Washington, United StatesWhat is holding you back? Read this week's liturgy recap on how to be the best person you want to be! Thank you for your support and interest!
Last Week At ProgressiveChristianity.org...
We delved into the topics of Christianity and Creeds, Sacred Activism, Drugs and Just Do It.
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Christianity And CreedsEdgar Zelle
Even during the lifetime of Jesus, people who followed Jesus had various opinions of who he was. Was he the promised Messiah and if so, what kind of messiah is he?Christianity And Creeds by Edgar Zelle
Even during the lifetime of Jesus, people who followed Jesus had various opinions of who he was. Was he the promised Messiah and if so, what kind of messiah is he? After Jesus’ death, the confusion multiplied. Some were convinced Jesus rose from the dead. Others believed he was the true God come to earth. Many thought of Jesus as a prophet who was inspired by God and uniquely obedient to the divine guidance. Followers of the Way [as Jesus’ followers were known] gathered around these various understandings.
Things changed when the Roman emperor, Constantine, wanted to use the growing Christian movement as a tool for uniting his empire. He called bishops of the church together at his mansion and insisted they agree on a unified understanding of the Christian faith. The resulting statement of faith became the core of what later developed into the Nicene Creed. It was predominately about their understanding of Jesus. Decisions were made by the majority vote of the bishops.
It is interesting that writers didn’t necessarily begin with statements of their belief, but rather made faith statements which eliminated the positions of the bishops in the minority. Thus the Creed became a document which separated those who were ‘in’ from those who were ‘out.’ The documents were expanded during later Councils to give even a more precise understanding of ‘correct’ belief.
For many, this had the effect of turning a living, fluid faith, into intellectual battles over ‘correct’ doctrine. This unfortunate struggle continues into the present, with the fracturing of the community of believers into groups, each of which claims a common belief in a doctrinal statement.
The words which follow are my opinion at this point in my faith journey.
Each of us is a unique individual. How we think, how we perceive certain events, what images we use to objectify our mental perceptions, etc., are unique to the individual. We don’t fit one common mold. Why should we think that we could expect uniformity in the most unique, complex area of personal consciousness: religious belief? It is my thinking that we should accept the historical Creeds of the Church as documents that served a purpose in their time of history, but that the historic Creeds of the past should not limit the working of God’s spirit in our own time.
I would like to see the development of a statement of faith which is faithful to the Christian tradition and yet broad enough so as not to exclude any follower of Jesus. Individual Christians could have additional beliefs which are part of their unique journey with Jesus. I propose the following as a beginning. I am open to suggestions for changes.
A Statement of Belief
I believe in God, the mysterious energy of creation which is all around us and in us.
We get glimpses of God in the world which is our home and the universe which expands beyond our imagination. We see God revealed in the earth as it nourishes us while renewing itself. We see God in the miracle of life as it comes into existence, produces offspring and dies.
We experienced God in the human family, and especially in Jesus of Nazareth. His life was so unique that in Jesus we see God’s nature revealed as a model for our lives. Jesus was not bound by the human barriers his contemporaries had set, but accepted the outcasts and extended his welcome to everyone. He advocated peace by demanding justice for all. Jesus was admired by his followers, killed by the oppressors of society, and yet he continues to be present with those who open their hearts to him.
In the midst of the distractions of human activity God’s spirit calls followers of Jesus into communities, and unites them in one timeless, universal church. The spirit reminds us that God is present in our lives and in everything that exists. God cares for creation and for us, God’s human likeness. Sustained by his love, we are called to reflect God with our lives.
Sacred Activism Andrew Harvey
Andrew Harvey, Oxford scholar and visionary, believes that our survival depends on Sacred Activism, a fusion of profound mystical awareness, passion, clarity and sacred practice with wise, dedicated, radical action.
Sacred Activism by Andrew Harvey
READ ON ...
What Harm Would Jesus Reduce? Jim Burklo
... a change in policy would reduce the sum of the harm caused by drug use and the war against it. A careful reading of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reveals what divine love asks of us: a drug policy based on mercy, not on perfection.What Harm Would Jesus Reduce? by Jim Burklo
It is now 141 years since the founding of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which preached total abstinence from alcohol and mounted the campaign that resulted in Prohibition in the United States. It’s 44 years since President Nixon declared a “war on drugs”. Both of these crusades resulted in disaster. Both were motivated by an essentially religious impulse for purity. Since religion helped get us into this mess, it’s time for religion to help to get us out of it.
Perhaps the best place to start is to re-read the Sermon on the Mount.
In it, Jesus expounded on an old Jewish tradition called “fencing”. It was a path toward total abstinence from sin. If you want to succeed in obeying the Law, you must build a “fence” far beyond the limits of the Law itself. Adultery is on the other side of the fence, but to avoid committing it, you have to put lust on the other side of the fence, too. Extreme revenge beyond “an eye for an eye” is on the other side of the fence, but to achieve zero tolerance for extreme revenge, you have to put anger off-limits as well. The Law says to love your family, but to be absolutely sure you don’t fail to do so, you must love everyone, even your enemies.
As Jesus continued his Sermon on the Mount, the fence encroached over an ever-larger area until there was nowhere left for mere mortals to stand. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” he said. (Matthew 5: 48) It’s a noble and inspiring challenge! But no matter how hard we try, we fall short of God’s glory.
The Sermon on the Mount is a reductio ad absurdum. To get zero tolerance for breaking the Law, you have to be perfect – which nobody is, nor ever will be. So Jesus cleverly argued that the “fencing” needed to obey the Law requires loving one’s enemies and refraining from condemning others. “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (Matthew 7: 1-5, NRSV) Everybody has a log in the eye, not just a speck! Jesus revolutionized religion by artfully turning its focus to love, and away from rote, slavish obedience to a set of purity standards.
America’s anti-drug crusade started as an over-reaction to the social unrest and youth counterculture of the 60’s and 70’s, and the drug use and abuse associated with it. But the war on drugs long ago became a reductio ad absurdum. Its spectacular failure to stop the use of drugs and cut off their sources, its creation of a vast prison gulag, provides further proof of what Jesus explained long ago in the Sermon on the Mount. Humans aren’t God. We can’t always stay on the right side of the zero-tolerance fence. Therefore, above all, mercy is asked of us.
The drug warriors read “be perfect” in the Sermon on the Mount and ran with it until we had 2,000,000 imperfect Americans behind bars and another 317,000,000 imperfect Americans footing the bill for their largely pointless incarceration. So it’s long past time for us to read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, and engage in the kind of compassionate harm reduction that Jesus practiced. Jesus told a group of men about to stone a woman to death for having committed adultery: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8: 7) Sure, adultery is a sin. But the punishment you are about to inflict is worse. Reduce the harm: drop your stones and walk away.
Marijuana is not harmless. That’s not the argument for legalizing it. Smoke a lot of it and you’ll suffer from a variety of unhealthy consequences. But by banning it, users and society as a whole have suffered even worse consequences. So it is time to reduce the overall harm by legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, regulating it carefully and consistently, and mounting a robust, smart public health campaign to dampen its use.
Some drugs are too dangerous to be legalized. But the abusers of these stronger drugs should be decriminalized. They should be treated as sufferers of the disease of addiction. The goal should not be the unattainable perfection of eradication, but rather the attainable reduction of harm to addicts and to society as a whole.
We Americans have fenced ourselves into a corner by waging a costly, ineffective, unrealistic, and counter-productive war on drugs since President Nixon declared it in 1971. Legalization of marijuana and decriminalization of other drugs won’t solve the problems of drug use and abuse. But such a change in policy would reduce the sum of the harm caused by drug use and the war against it. A careful reading of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reveals what divine love asks of us: a drug policy based on mercy, not on perfection.
Weekly LiturgyWeek of: May 24th - 30th, 2105
Just Do It
We all have reasons why we don’t do the things we say we want to. Our minds and hearts know the person we want to be and the life we want to live, but it seems awesomely difficult sometimes to put that knowledge into practice. Just Do It
Week of May 24, 2015
We all have reasons why we don’t do the things we say we want to. Our minds and hearts know the person we want to be and the life we want to live, but it seems awesomely difficult sometimes to put that knowledge into practice. Nevertheless, the answer is (with apologies to Nike) Just Do It. If you want to see a change, there is no substitute for action. In case you are tempted to think this is a modern problem, consider these words from the Talmud: Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Worship Materials: Moving Beyond the Victim Mentality
THEME Healthy and Unhealthy Use of Power
The superior/inferior relationship which produces the victim mentality does violence to both parties.read more
Live Fully
To live as fully as we can
In every human way
Is to fulfil our sacred right
Each moment of each day.read more
O God of Peace
O God of peace, be with us now.
Stand here beside us; bring hope this day.
Transform this world of greed and strife,
From domination to your new way.
read moreWorship Materials: Moving Beyond the Victim Mentality
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. (Bill) Wallace
THEME Healthy and Unhealthy Use of Power
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
The superior/inferior relationship which produces the victim mentality does violence to both parties.
In dependency, power is not under my control.
In independency, I claim the power.
In inter-dependency, we share-power without in any way diminishing what is ours.
Nothing liberates the human spirit as much as viewing past experience in the light of eternity.
I am my prime responsibility. I need to feel comfortable with being myself.
What you are seeking lies within you. No one can give it to you. All you have to do is to own it.
Before we can love another person, we have to learn to love ourselves.
It is much easier to love yourself if you believe that God (the Cosmos) accepts you unconditionally.
There is no greater pain than not being able to be yourself.
To give help without also being willing to receive it in return, can ultimately be destructive for both the giver and the receiver.
Shared power is the instrument of life. Stolen power is the instrument of death.
Interfering adults can be a major obstacle to children’s growth. So, why should we expect God, the Good Parent, to interfere in our lives in this way?
The wounded child sees itself as a victim. The nurtured child sees itself as a dancing partner.
The truly strong person does not deny their vulnerability but utilizes it as a door into compassion.
I need not be a prisoner to the emotions and patterns of thought which resulted from my childhood, if I am prepared to undertake the often painful task of lovingly reshaping my thinking.
To cuddle your wounded inner child is to be kind to yourself in a transforming way.
To be alienated from one’s own power is to allow oneself to become a slave of others, a dependent child.
We are called to move beyond a success/failure mentality, a victor/vanquished mentality, to a being mentality where we focus on the inner journey, not the outer manifestations.
If you love life and enjoy being yourself, any other love is a bonus. If you don’t love life and don’t enjoy being yourself, any other love is a substitute.
Like our images of God and our images of other people, our image of ourselves can either enhance or destroy our perception of mystery.
The phrase in the Lord’s Prayer “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” could be paraphrased “Release us from those who control us as we release those whom we control.”
The desire to possess is the enemy of true love.
In each person there is a mystic, prophet and artist waiting to be liberated.
The secret of wholeness is to immerse your wounds in the river of love and then to discover that you are more than your history.
Inner strength without tenderness produces oppressors. Tenderness without inner strength produces victims.
Those who seek to dominate loose their links with other people, with nature and with their own inner tenderness. Jesus said “love one another.”
PRAYERS
1. Teach us, O God,
to love ourselves,
to love others
and to accept their love for us as a gift from you.
2. O God, when my Inner Child languishes in dependency, may my Inner Warrior give it support and help it know its own strength.
When my Inner Warrior stands by itself and only for itself,
help it to embrace the vulnerability of the Inner Child,
that both may dance within the circle of love.
3. O God, give me gentle strength that I may neither overpower other people, nor allow them to overpower me.
HYMNS
Amid the many thoughts. (BL)
Not in grasping or in holding. (BL)
We are always part of the other. (BL)
When I pray to you for help, O God. (BL)
Repaying force. (BL)
If passion urges us. (BL)
“Weep not, weep not for me”. (BL)
O help us most loving and life-giving God.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
No outcasts were condemned by Christ.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
No one takes my life away.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
At the start of life’s great journey.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
The Way of Life.
As we give we shall receive.
Carol my heart, carol myself.
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011 World Library Publications
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
AN ADULT RELATIONSHIP
When my I AM is in touch with your I AM, we are one with
I AM everywhere. However, I am not even in touch with my own I AM,
let alone yours, when I seek to be at one with you because I need
your body, your mind, your wealth or your power to bolster my ego;
in other words to be your parent or your child.
O SELF THAT IS LESSER
O Self that is lesser
I relinquish you
and allow myself
to be embraced
by Self that is greater;
Self that is not self contained
but universally connected
to all people, all life,
all matter, all energy,
all love
and in that oneness find
my true distinctiveness,
my worth as part of a whole
of infinite complexity.
WHATEVER HAPPENS
“Whatever happens is alright”, is an unhelpful belief if it leads to fatalism, passivity or an abandonment of our responsibility and power to a paternalistic deity or human being. But it is healthy if it arises out of a point of stillness which enables us to focus and develop creative and healing possibilities contained within any situation no matter how unjust, tragic or destructive it may appear to be. To do this is to avoid allowing oneself either to be a passive or an unfocused, struggling victim of the situation.
FEAR OF THE MYSTIC AND THE PROPHET
To those who are in a dependency relationship with institutional religion or whose occupation depends on bringing people into and maintaining them in such a relationship the mystics and the prophets pose the ultimate threat. The mystics are essentially not dependent upon preaching, sacraments or devotional or theological systems nor upon priests, ministers, pastors or any other form of hierarchy for their entry into the mystery. The prophets having entered into the mystery of the future which is contained within the present moment have gained freedom from manmade systems and have gained awareness of how power is exercised and how its misuse can lead to tragic consequences in the future. Both the prophet and the mystic have the ability to unmask the unreal, laugh at the pretentious and expose the manipulations of the oppressors. The only action that the establishment understands as a way of coping with this threat is to either physically or psychologically marginalize the prophets and mystics, failing to realize that the real action is everywhere since divinity can never be confined to one time or place.
LIBERATION
Liberation comes through
Awareness of the Heroes and Monsters who live within us and outside us,
Loving transformation of the destructive powers within us,
Combining with others to transform or dismantle unjust structures in society,
Being empowered by appropriate celebration and sharing of our stories. (Through listening and articulation we receive confirmation of the common spirituality that lies behind the plethora of religious experiences and expressions.)
REPETITION?
When we look back long enough
Or out wide enough
We see our eyes, our shape of head,
Our facial asymmetry etc, etc
Repeated
In ancestors long dead
Or relatives far removed.
There is not much we can do about this
Unless we have a large bank balance and
A good cosmetic surgeon!
However, patterns of behavior are another matter.
Reluctant as we are to admit it
We are to some extent psychological clones
Of our parents and their approvals and condemnations,
Their ‘do this’ ‘don’t do that’,
‘naughty boy’, ‘naughty girl’,
‘good boy’, ‘good girl’.
But more than that we have learnt their mind games,
Their masks,
Their hates and fears,
Their ways of affirming or denying life.
Whether we copy or react they will continue to control our lives
Unless we dare –
Dare to compare
Our behavior with theirs,
Our deviousness, our forthrightness,
Our depression and elation.
Unless we dare
To say ‘I am in control of my own mind,
I don’t want to be a clone,
I want to be the most mature me that I can be.’
This road is not easy
But it is the only way
To fullness of life,
To the mind that was in Christ,
And to honor our ancestors
Rather than blindly reenacting their lives.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Dependence – You are my shepherd, I can’t live without you.
Independence – I do not need a shepherd or anyone else.
Inter-dependence – We are all shepherds for each other, we need to share.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
We treat people as victims when we attempt to modify their behavior, especially when we remind them of all their imperfections.
In so doing we increase their sense of guilt.
We empower people when we share with them in the process of gaining liberation from guilt, from perfectionism and from low self-esteem. In so doing we empower them to change their behavior of their own volition. This process also involves tackling our alienation from our own spirituality, our own bodies and from Creation as a whole.
It is therefore appropriate to ask the following questions:
Of all the people I know who is most in need of being affirmed?
Is there any way to draw their attention to their strengths?
Another way of describing the victim mentality is to speak of the Colonizer and the Nurturer.
The Colonizer operates with a superior/inferior mindset.
In a one way effort to change other people they attempt to bring morality to the immoral, civilization to the uncivilized, culture to the uncultured, wisdom to the ignorant, God to the godless, Christianity to the heathen, spirituality to the unspiritual.
The Colonizer worships God the colonizer and breaks in the land.
The Nurturer operates within two way relationships, a relationship between equals, a relationship of power sharing.
The nurturing relationship involves sharing riches of culture, morality and spirituality. It is peaceful and leads to both nurturing and being nurtured by the land. It is the relationship of unity.
The Nurturer worships God the nurturer.
In each of us there is both a colonizer and a nurturer.
Can I identify which is predominantly operating in the different relationships in my life?
Do you agree with the statement that to the extent the Church depends upon people being dependent, it is unable to liberate them from dependency?
The second temptation of Christ (Matthew 4:5) was to rely on divine intervention rather than using his own power of common sense.
Are there occasions when we pray for divine intervention instead of using our own power?
LOGO NOTE: At the heart of the mystery all the separate boxes disappear and all is one, all is love
Text and graphic © William Livingstone Wallace but available for free use.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. (Bill) Wallace
THEME Healthy and Unhealthy Use of Power
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
The superior/inferior relationship which produces the victim mentality does violence to both parties.
In dependency, power is not under my control.
In independency, I claim the power.
In inter-dependency, we share-power without in any way diminishing what is ours.
Nothing liberates the human spirit as much as viewing past experience in the light of eternity.
I am my prime responsibility. I need to feel comfortable with being myself.
What you are seeking lies within you. No one can give it to you. All you have to do is to own it.
Before we can love another person, we have to learn to love ourselves.
It is much easier to love yourself if you believe that God (the Cosmos) accepts you unconditionally.
There is no greater pain than not being able to be yourself.
To give help without also being willing to receive it in return, can ultimately be destructive for both the giver and the receiver.
Shared power is the instrument of life. Stolen power is the instrument of death.
Interfering adults can be a major obstacle to children’s growth. So, why should we expect God, the Good Parent, to interfere in our lives in this way?
The wounded child sees itself as a victim. The nurtured child sees itself as a dancing partner.
The truly strong person does not deny their vulnerability but utilizes it as a door into compassion.
I need not be a prisoner to the emotions and patterns of thought which resulted from my childhood, if I am prepared to undertake the often painful task of lovingly reshaping my thinking.
To cuddle your wounded inner child is to be kind to yourself in a transforming way.
To be alienated from one’s own power is to allow oneself to become a slave of others, a dependent child.
We are called to move beyond a success/failure mentality, a victor/vanquished mentality, to a being mentality where we focus on the inner journey, not the outer manifestations.
If you love life and enjoy being yourself, any other love is a bonus. If you don’t love life and don’t enjoy being yourself, any other love is a substitute.
Like our images of God and our images of other people, our image of ourselves can either enhance or destroy our perception of mystery.
The phrase in the Lord’s Prayer “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” could be paraphrased “Release us from those who control us as we release those whom we control.”
The desire to possess is the enemy of true love.
In each person there is a mystic, prophet and artist waiting to be liberated.
The secret of wholeness is to immerse your wounds in the river of love and then to discover that you are more than your history.
Inner strength without tenderness produces oppressors. Tenderness without inner strength produces victims.
Those who seek to dominate loose their links with other people, with nature and with their own inner tenderness. Jesus said “love one another.”
PRAYERS
1. Teach us, O God,
to love ourselves,
to love others
and to accept their love for us as a gift from you.
2. O God, when my Inner Child languishes in dependency, may my Inner Warrior give it support and help it know its own strength.
When my Inner Warrior stands by itself and only for itself,
help it to embrace the vulnerability of the Inner Child,
that both may dance within the circle of love.
3. O God, give me gentle strength that I may neither overpower other people, nor allow them to overpower me.
HYMNS
Amid the many thoughts. (BL)
Not in grasping or in holding. (BL)
We are always part of the other. (BL)
When I pray to you for help, O God. (BL)
Repaying force. (BL)
If passion urges us. (BL)
“Weep not, weep not for me”. (BL)
O help us most loving and life-giving God.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
No outcasts were condemned by Christ.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
No one takes my life away.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
At the start of life’s great journey.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
The Way of Life.
As we give we shall receive.
Carol my heart, carol myself.
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011 World Library Publications
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
AN ADULT RELATIONSHIP
When my I AM is in touch with your I AM, we are one with
I AM everywhere. However, I am not even in touch with my own I AM,
let alone yours, when I seek to be at one with you because I need
your body, your mind, your wealth or your power to bolster my ego;
in other words to be your parent or your child.
O SELF THAT IS LESSER
O Self that is lesser
I relinquish you
and allow myself
to be embraced
by Self that is greater;
Self that is not self contained
but universally connected
to all people, all life,
all matter, all energy,
all love
and in that oneness find
my true distinctiveness,
my worth as part of a whole
of infinite complexity.
WHATEVER HAPPENS
“Whatever happens is alright”, is an unhelpful belief if it leads to fatalism, passivity or an abandonment of our responsibility and power to a paternalistic deity or human being. But it is healthy if it arises out of a point of stillness which enables us to focus and develop creative and healing possibilities contained within any situation no matter how unjust, tragic or destructive it may appear to be. To do this is to avoid allowing oneself either to be a passive or an unfocused, struggling victim of the situation.
FEAR OF THE MYSTIC AND THE PROPHET
To those who are in a dependency relationship with institutional religion or whose occupation depends on bringing people into and maintaining them in such a relationship the mystics and the prophets pose the ultimate threat. The mystics are essentially not dependent upon preaching, sacraments or devotional or theological systems nor upon priests, ministers, pastors or any other form of hierarchy for their entry into the mystery. The prophets having entered into the mystery of the future which is contained within the present moment have gained freedom from manmade systems and have gained awareness of how power is exercised and how its misuse can lead to tragic consequences in the future. Both the prophet and the mystic have the ability to unmask the unreal, laugh at the pretentious and expose the manipulations of the oppressors. The only action that the establishment understands as a way of coping with this threat is to either physically or psychologically marginalize the prophets and mystics, failing to realize that the real action is everywhere since divinity can never be confined to one time or place.
LIBERATION
Liberation comes through
Awareness of the Heroes and Monsters who live within us and outside us,
Loving transformation of the destructive powers within us,
Combining with others to transform or dismantle unjust structures in society,
Being empowered by appropriate celebration and sharing of our stories. (Through listening and articulation we receive confirmation of the common spirituality that lies behind the plethora of religious experiences and expressions.)
REPETITION?
When we look back long enough
Or out wide enough
We see our eyes, our shape of head,
Our facial asymmetry etc, etc
Repeated
In ancestors long dead
Or relatives far removed.
There is not much we can do about this
Unless we have a large bank balance and
A good cosmetic surgeon!
However, patterns of behavior are another matter.
Reluctant as we are to admit it
We are to some extent psychological clones
Of our parents and their approvals and condemnations,
Their ‘do this’ ‘don’t do that’,
‘naughty boy’, ‘naughty girl’,
‘good boy’, ‘good girl’.
But more than that we have learnt their mind games,
Their masks,
Their hates and fears,
Their ways of affirming or denying life.
Whether we copy or react they will continue to control our lives
Unless we dare –
Dare to compare
Our behavior with theirs,
Our deviousness, our forthrightness,
Our depression and elation.
Unless we dare
To say ‘I am in control of my own mind,
I don’t want to be a clone,
I want to be the most mature me that I can be.’
This road is not easy
But it is the only way
To fullness of life,
To the mind that was in Christ,
And to honor our ancestors
Rather than blindly reenacting their lives.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Dependence – You are my shepherd, I can’t live without you.
Independence – I do not need a shepherd or anyone else.
Inter-dependence – We are all shepherds for each other, we need to share.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
We treat people as victims when we attempt to modify their behavior, especially when we remind them of all their imperfections.
In so doing we increase their sense of guilt.
We empower people when we share with them in the process of gaining liberation from guilt, from perfectionism and from low self-esteem. In so doing we empower them to change their behavior of their own volition. This process also involves tackling our alienation from our own spirituality, our own bodies and from Creation as a whole.
It is therefore appropriate to ask the following questions:
Of all the people I know who is most in need of being affirmed?
Is there any way to draw their attention to their strengths?
Another way of describing the victim mentality is to speak of the Colonizer and the Nurturer.
The Colonizer operates with a superior/inferior mindset.
In a one way effort to change other people they attempt to bring morality to the immoral, civilization to the uncivilized, culture to the uncultured, wisdom to the ignorant, God to the godless, Christianity to the heathen, spirituality to the unspiritual.
The Colonizer worships God the colonizer and breaks in the land.
The Nurturer operates within two way relationships, a relationship between equals, a relationship of power sharing.
The nurturing relationship involves sharing riches of culture, morality and spirituality. It is peaceful and leads to both nurturing and being nurtured by the land. It is the relationship of unity.
The Nurturer worships God the nurturer.
In each of us there is both a colonizer and a nurturer.
Can I identify which is predominantly operating in the different relationships in my life?
Do you agree with the statement that to the extent the Church depends upon people being dependent, it is unable to liberate them from dependency?
The second temptation of Christ (Matthew 4:5) was to rely on divine intervention rather than using his own power of common sense.
Are there occasions when we pray for divine intervention instead of using our own power?
LOGO NOTE: At the heart of the mystery all the separate boxes disappear and all is one, all is love
Text and graphic © William Livingstone Wallace but available for free use.
Events and Updates
John Philip Newell
June 26th - 28th in Henderson, NC
LECTURES: Friday 7:00pm
Saturday 10:00am & 1:00pm
(Lunch at 12 Noon)
RECEPTION: Saturday 6:00pm
CONCERT WITH FRAN MCKENDREE and friends: Saturday 7:00pm
Internationally acclaimed for his work in the field of Celtic Spirituality, including his best known title, Listening for the Heartbeat of God, John Philip Newell is a Church of Scotland minister and lives in Edinburgh. He plays a leading role on both sides of the Atlantic in the re-birthing of creation spirituality for today.Live Fully by George Stuart
To live as fully as we can
In every human way
Is to fulfil our sacred right
Each moment of each day.
We live as fully as we can
When, in community,
We join, as one, to fill each soul
With joy and dignity.
In loving wastefully we find
Our hearts reside in peace;
In gen’rous giving of ourselves
Life’s pressures find release.
To strive to be all we can be
In face of change and chance
Is to embrace the whole of life
And through it all, advance.
So live life fully with intent;
And be all we can be;
Love wastefully and thus possess
An inner harmony.
Tune: Salzburg (or any 8.6.8.6)
George Stuart has several self-published volumes of new lyrics to well-known hymn tunes. Check out his website at sites.google.com/site/george007site or email him atgeorge.stuart@exemail.com.au
READ ON ...
O God of Peace by Kurt Struckmeyer
O God of peace, be with us now.
Stand here beside us; bring hope this day.
Transform this world of greed and strife,
From domination to your new way.
Teach us to make an end to war,
An end to bloodshed, an end to hate.
May hearts and hands in your new reign
End earth’s oppression and liberate.
Empower us so we can build
A world of justice where all can share.
Providing food to all in need
With your compassion and loving care.
The poor, the lame, the sick, the blind,
Are brothers, sisters, the whole world round.
You now invite them far and near
To your great banquet of love unbound.
You send us forth to find the lost,
Abandoned, lonely, and homeless ones.
You welcome all in your embrace
Forgiving freely as daughters, sons.
You set before our hungry eyes
A feast of plenty with wine and song.
We gather round as family,
A loving circle, where all belong.
You bless all those who work for peace
And cry for justice across the land.
You give us strength to speak your word.
Against all powers, you help us stand.
You teach us how to turn the cheek,
Resisting evil, with peaceful force.
You teach us love for enemies.
Gracious, forgiving, you are love’s source.
O God of love, be with us now.
Stir up your power, transform the earth.
Renew our minds, refresh our hearts,
Send peace and justice, give hope new birth.
Establish your reign here and now,
And help us live a more loving way,
That peace may flourish in our world
And streams of justice cascade today.
Music: “Wexford Carol” (Carul Loch Garman) — Traditional
© 2002
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