Weekly Recap for Thursday, 14 July 2015 from ProgressiveChristianity - Another war!? Hear Community Christian Church's Video Sermon for their thoughts. Thank you for your support and interest! 
Last Week At ProgressiveChristianity.org...
We delved into the topics of Anti-Gays, War, Same Sex Marriage, Dark and Light.
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Calvary Baptist Church on the Anti-Gay Naughty List - Eric Alexander
I question how in the year 2015 of the common era, people are still hateful against gays simply because they do not understand how to interpret an ancient collection of stories assembled into a holy book (which was commissioned by an LGBT King no less!)
READ ON ... Calvary Baptist Church on the Anti-Gay Naughty List by Eric Alexander
Some days it’s as though we are actually living in a dream. Or maybe it’s more like having gone through a time machine. I question how in the year 2015 of the common era, people are still hateful against gays simply because they do not understand how to interpret an ancient collection of stories assembled into a holy book (one which most anti-gay Christians favorite version was commissioned by an LGBT King no less!) Then I realize, no, I am not dreaming, this is reality. People are actually reading the stories of 5000 year old ancient tribal theocracies and believing that they are literally the verbatim dictation of the creator of all existence. And because of that they are discriminating, denying science, and ignoring the environment. Just, wow!
I was recently on vacation and came across that little gem of a sign above that I was able to snap a few pictures of. Like our recent story about the church in Texas that defiled Islam with their church sign, here was yet another case of an institution that enjoys government tax breaks using those financial benefits to preach hate against roughly 12 Million American citizens — while also publicly denouncing the decision of the American Supreme Court to make gay marriage legal nationwide.
Don’t get me wrong though, I am all for free speech – and keeping the government accountable. I’m just not a fan of it on church signs that are supported in part by government tax breaks (which are subsidized in part by gay citizens). And not that go against the the moral fabric of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which the government defends voraciously in many other arenas. …And not that are just plain rude and obnoxious.
Now a word about homosexuality as sin. A few years ago I wrote an article for another site that I strategically titled “Why do Christians Think Homosexuality is Wrong?” I titled it that way to trick Google into putting my article on the front page of their search results for a variety of searches of this type. I did this because at that time most of the results for a search like this were returning results primarily by right wing sites posting their clobber verses and reciting their condemnation script, so I wanted to be an alternative voice in the wilderness. It worked great, and I received so much hate mail from that article that it contributed in part to my decision to remove comments from that site. Now, that was just from posting an article as a gay ally. Imagine how it would feel to actually be gay and Christian in this society? Of course, many of you reading this do know that first hand. But the good news is that I also received lots of letters telling me how much that article helped. It turned out that some people, especially at that time a few years back, simply did not know the facts and were willing to change their opinions when they learned them. Others of course were not, because like today, they put their religious ideology above facts and reality.
To the issue of gay marriage, simply put, being LGBT is not a sin. It is not a sin because the Bible is not “God’s inerrant word.” Which brings us to the other side of Calvary Baptist’s sign shown to the left. It’s this idea that “God defined marriage.” I can’t help but ask where? When? How? Was it in the Law of Moses? Are there actually still people who believe God dictated those laws to a literal man named Moses on a stormy mountainside? Do they think this Moses figure actually etched these laws on stones in the Aramaic language when he was raised and educated to write and speak Egyptian? Do they not know that King Hammurabi, of a much earlier Mesopotamian civilization had written a very similar law code with some verbatim language to the law of Moses? (see here ).
Finally, if you haven’t seen our interview with Rev. Ken Schaefer (the United Methodist reverend who was defrocked after officiating his gay sons wedding) you should check it out. In the interview Ken dismantles any justification of hatred from the church on this issue. His responses were masterful, and they can be a helpful resource when discussing the issue with those who may disagree. It’s comforting that some pastors like Rev. Schaefer are seeing the light, but every now and then we see signs like this one at Calvary Baptist that remind us that we still have a long way to go. We must continue to hold rogue discriminatory pastors and politicians accountable for faulty logic and blatant prejudice.
Perhaps this can remind those of us who are educated and compassionate to speak out and stand up to churches like Calvary who preach hate on the open roads of our communities. We are dealing with an element of society who are still longing for ancient mesopotamian homophobic, patriarchal, theocratic tribal rule – and we have to help the world see that as only a fringe element that is not representative of most modern Christians.
I was recently on vacation and came across that little gem of a sign above that I was able to snap a few pictures of. Like our recent story about the church in Texas that defiled Islam with their church sign, here was yet another case of an institution that enjoys government tax breaks using those financial benefits to preach hate against roughly 12 Million American citizens — while also publicly denouncing the decision of the American Supreme Court to make gay marriage legal nationwide.
Don’t get me wrong though, I am all for free speech – and keeping the government accountable. I’m just not a fan of it on church signs that are supported in part by government tax breaks (which are subsidized in part by gay citizens). And not that go against the the moral fabric of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which the government defends voraciously in many other arenas. …And not that are just plain rude and obnoxious.
Now a word about homosexuality as sin. A few years ago I wrote an article for another site that I strategically titled “Why do Christians Think Homosexuality is Wrong?” I titled it that way to trick Google into putting my article on the front page of their search results for a variety of searches of this type. I did this because at that time most of the results for a search like this were returning results primarily by right wing sites posting their clobber verses and reciting their condemnation script, so I wanted to be an alternative voice in the wilderness. It worked great, and I received so much hate mail from that article that it contributed in part to my decision to remove comments from that site. Now, that was just from posting an article as a gay ally. Imagine how it would feel to actually be gay and Christian in this society? Of course, many of you reading this do know that first hand. But the good news is that I also received lots of letters telling me how much that article helped. It turned out that some people, especially at that time a few years back, simply did not know the facts and were willing to change their opinions when they learned them. Others of course were not, because like today, they put their religious ideology above facts and reality.
To the issue of gay marriage, simply put, being LGBT is not a sin. It is not a sin because the Bible is not “God’s inerrant word.” Which brings us to the other side of Calvary Baptist’s sign shown to the left. It’s this idea that “God defined marriage.” I can’t help but ask where? When? How? Was it in the Law of Moses? Are there actually still people who believe God dictated those laws to a literal man named Moses on a stormy mountainside? Do they think this Moses figure actually etched these laws on stones in the Aramaic language when he was raised and educated to write and speak Egyptian? Do they not know that King Hammurabi, of a much earlier Mesopotamian civilization had written a very similar law code with some verbatim language to the law of Moses? (see here ).
Finally, if you haven’t seen our interview with Rev. Ken Schaefer (the United Methodist reverend who was defrocked after officiating his gay sons wedding) you should check it out. In the interview Ken dismantles any justification of hatred from the church on this issue. His responses were masterful, and they can be a helpful resource when discussing the issue with those who may disagree. It’s comforting that some pastors like Rev. Schaefer are seeing the light, but every now and then we see signs like this one at Calvary Baptist that remind us that we still have a long way to go. We must continue to hold rogue discriminatory pastors and politicians accountable for faulty logic and blatant prejudice.
Perhaps this can remind those of us who are educated and compassionate to speak out and stand up to churches like Calvary who preach hate on the open roads of our communities. We are dealing with an element of society who are still longing for ancient mesopotamian homophobic, patriarchal, theocratic tribal rule – and we have to help the world see that as only a fringe element that is not representative of most modern Christians.
Eric Alexander is an author, speaker, and the founder of ChristianEvolution.com >>Follow Eric on Facebook<<
Thinking about Another War - Community Christian Church
... our modern wars always make things worse. We have to find other ways to solve international crises. Our nation should be smarter and our communities of faith should be more conscientious.
READ ON ... Thinking about Another War by Community Christian Church
When we go to war, we put the children of the poor into uniforms, arm them, and ship them abroad to kill the children of the poor in a distant land. Sure, there are tyrants and illegitimate, violent governments all over the world (many of whom are our closest allies) but as Howard Zinn pointed out, our modern wars always make things worse. We have to find other ways to solve international crises. Our nation should be smarter and our communities of faith should be more conscientious. Being strong and rich does not mean that we are a great nation. Being morally good and diplomatically intelligent…. That would make us great!
Dearly Beloved: Celebrating Same-Sex MarriageJim Burklo
While we ought to celebrate this great victory, we should recognize that the struggle isn’t over. It’s a time for joy, but certainly not for gloating. I doubt that the right of same-sex marriage can be taken away; I predict it will gain more and more acceptance from the public.
READ ON ... Dearly Beloved: Celebrating Same-Sex Marriage by Jim Burklo
“If faith communities lead the way in honoring the reality of same-sex marriage, the law will eventually follow.” — Jim Burklo, BIRDLIKE AND BARNLESS, 2008
Oh happy day, Friday, June 26, 2015! — when our dearly beloved gay and lesbian friends celebrated the US Supreme Court’s decision to make same-sex marriage legal in all fifty states.
The day came because of the bravery of gay and lesbian people who made their private lives public, risking ridicule and hatred by claiming a right that was theirs as much as it ever belonged to heterosexual couples. It was their day, and with gusto they are still celebrating it. Roberta and I celebrated, too – hanging in front of our house an American flag next to a chalk drawing of a rainbow that our grandchildren made. It was day to feel great about being Americans!
The day arrived because lesbian and gay couples came out of the closet all over the country, making it harder and harder for their neighbors to claim that there was any harm to anyone in accepting their relationships as marriages. When gay couples wanted to celebrate their marriages, despite their lack of legal status, progressive pastors and congregations welcomed them. I officiated at my first same-sex wedding nearly two decades ago at the church I was serving as pastor. Though I was fully committed to being part of the event, and the church was behind it, I did feel trepidation about how the people attending the wedding would react. My concerns evaporated once the ceremony began. Standing between the groom and the groom, sensing the overwhelming love they had for each other, it was all I could do to keep from weeping. And the crowd was deeply moved, as well. If they were not believers in the rightness of same-sex marriage before, they surely were after that ceremony. I watched hearts and minds change before my eyes. We knew that history was being made in front of us.
Many other Progressive Christian churches and pastors performed same-sex weddings long before those marriages had legal standing. We were engaged in what Jim Corbett called “civil initiative”. Corbett was the co-founder of the Sanctuary Movement, which smuggled undocumented Central American refugees into the US and sheltered them in churches and temples across the country in the 1980’s. (His books, GOATWALKING and SANCTUARY FOR ALL LIFE, had a great influence on me.) Corbett did not see the Sanctuary Movement as civil disobedience, in which one breaks an unjust law and takes the punishment for the sake of promoting social change. Rather, he saw it as civil initiative, in which one obeys what ought to be the law in order to hasten the day when that law is formally recognized.
We Progressive Christians faithfully did our part to change the culture of the United States, bringing closer the day when same-sex marriage would be legally honored everywhere. We didn’t know how long it would take. In 2008, when I wrote the quote that began this “Musing”, voters had just put Proposition 8 into law, banning same-sex marriage in California. It was a big setback. But every same-sex wedding we officiated in our congregations created new believers for the cause. We didn’t just advocate for it politically: we married our way into same-sex marriage!
While we ought to celebrate this great victory, we should recognize that the struggle isn’t over. It’s a time for joy, but certainly not for gloating. I doubt that the right of same-sex marriage can be taken away; I predict it will gain more and more acceptance from the public. But we can expect a fierce reaction from religious right-wingers. They are losing the “culture war”, and they are losing their grip on the Republican Party as a result. Their influence on voters is diminishing. Increasingly, they see themselves as victims of persecution who must rise up to claim their rightful leadership of a nation with no “wall” of separation from their versions of church and state. Will their frustration lead some of them to abandon the democratic process and embrace violence to reach what they believe are divinely-ordained ends? (Read what Rev. Barry Lynn, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has to say about this possibility.) The persecution the religious right claims to suffer is a fantasy: religious freedom is alive and very well in the U.S.. But the anger is real. This is a time for progressive religious people to wave American and rainbow flags, but also to reach out to those who still oppose same-sex marriage and draw them into dialogue wherever possible – for the sake of democracy and social peace.
JIM BURKLO
Website: JIMBURKLO.COM Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
See a video interview about my new novel, SOULJOURN
See the GUIDE to my articles and books
Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California
Weekly Liturgy
Thinking about Another War - Community Christian Church
... our modern wars always make things worse. We have to find other ways to solve international crises. Our nation should be smarter and our communities of faith should be more conscientious.
READ ON ... Thinking about Another War by Community Christian Church
Dearly Beloved: Celebrating Same-Sex MarriageJim Burklo
While we ought to celebrate this great victory, we should recognize that the struggle isn’t over. It’s a time for joy, but certainly not for gloating. I doubt that the right of same-sex marriage can be taken away; I predict it will gain more and more acceptance from the public.
READ ON ... Dearly Beloved: Celebrating Same-Sex Marriage by Jim Burklo
“If faith communities lead the way in honoring the reality of same-sex marriage, the law will eventually follow.” — Jim Burklo, BIRDLIKE AND BARNLESS, 2008
Oh happy day, Friday, June 26, 2015! — when our dearly beloved gay and lesbian friends celebrated the US Supreme Court’s decision to make same-sex marriage legal in all fifty states.
The day came because of the bravery of gay and lesbian people who made their private lives public, risking ridicule and hatred by claiming a right that was theirs as much as it ever belonged to heterosexual couples. It was their day, and with gusto they are still celebrating it. Roberta and I celebrated, too – hanging in front of our house an American flag next to a chalk drawing of a rainbow that our grandchildren made. It was day to feel great about being Americans!
The day arrived because lesbian and gay couples came out of the closet all over the country, making it harder and harder for their neighbors to claim that there was any harm to anyone in accepting their relationships as marriages. When gay couples wanted to celebrate their marriages, despite their lack of legal status, progressive pastors and congregations welcomed them. I officiated at my first same-sex wedding nearly two decades ago at the church I was serving as pastor. Though I was fully committed to being part of the event, and the church was behind it, I did feel trepidation about how the people attending the wedding would react. My concerns evaporated once the ceremony began. Standing between the groom and the groom, sensing the overwhelming love they had for each other, it was all I could do to keep from weeping. And the crowd was deeply moved, as well. If they were not believers in the rightness of same-sex marriage before, they surely were after that ceremony. I watched hearts and minds change before my eyes. We knew that history was being made in front of us.
Many other Progressive Christian churches and pastors performed same-sex weddings long before those marriages had legal standing. We were engaged in what Jim Corbett called “civil initiative”. Corbett was the co-founder of the Sanctuary Movement, which smuggled undocumented Central American refugees into the US and sheltered them in churches and temples across the country in the 1980’s. (His books, GOATWALKING and SANCTUARY FOR ALL LIFE, had a great influence on me.) Corbett did not see the Sanctuary Movement as civil disobedience, in which one breaks an unjust law and takes the punishment for the sake of promoting social change. Rather, he saw it as civil initiative, in which one obeys what ought to be the law in order to hasten the day when that law is formally recognized.
We Progressive Christians faithfully did our part to change the culture of the United States, bringing closer the day when same-sex marriage would be legally honored everywhere. We didn’t know how long it would take. In 2008, when I wrote the quote that began this “Musing”, voters had just put Proposition 8 into law, banning same-sex marriage in California. It was a big setback. But every same-sex wedding we officiated in our congregations created new believers for the cause. We didn’t just advocate for it politically: we married our way into same-sex marriage!
While we ought to celebrate this great victory, we should recognize that the struggle isn’t over. It’s a time for joy, but certainly not for gloating. I doubt that the right of same-sex marriage can be taken away; I predict it will gain more and more acceptance from the public. But we can expect a fierce reaction from religious right-wingers. They are losing the “culture war”, and they are losing their grip on the Republican Party as a result. Their influence on voters is diminishing. Increasingly, they see themselves as victims of persecution who must rise up to claim their rightful leadership of a nation with no “wall” of separation from their versions of church and state. Will their frustration lead some of them to abandon the democratic process and embrace violence to reach what they believe are divinely-ordained ends? (Read what Rev. Barry Lynn, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has to say about this possibility.) The persecution the religious right claims to suffer is a fantasy: religious freedom is alive and very well in the U.S.. But the anger is real. This is a time for progressive religious people to wave American and rainbow flags, but also to reach out to those who still oppose same-sex marriage and draw them into dialogue wherever possible – for the sake of democracy and social peace.
JIM BURKLO
Website: JIMBURKLO.COM Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
See a video interview about my new novel, SOULJOURN
See the GUIDE to my articles and books
Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California
Weekly Liturgy
Week of: July 5th - 11th, 2015
Dark and Light
... the negative template — “we are not that” — works as a unifying principle only as long as “that” is present. When the opposing force is removed, what then are we?
READ ON ...
Events and Updates
Releasing the Contemplative in You with Joan Chittister
July 27th - August 21st, 2015
Contemporary spirituality includes multiple forms of devotion and meditation. In this e-course, Joan Chittister looks at the most fundamental of them all — reading and writing — and their relationship to the development of the spiritual life.
READ ON ...Releasing the Contemplative in You with Joan Chittister
Dark and Light
... the negative template — “we are not that” — works as a unifying principle only as long as “that” is present. When the opposing force is removed, what then are we?
READ ON ...
Dark and Light
Week of July 5, 2015
What would light be without darkness as its opposite? How does one feel joy without also having known what sorrow is? Can there be love without the existence of hate? And yet, the negative template — “we are not that” — works as a unifying principle only as long as “that” is present. When the opposing force is removed, what then are we?
Worship Materials: Darkness and Light
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William Wallace
THEME Two Faces of the One God – the One Life Force
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
Darkness is the womb of the light, nothingness the womb of all things. Darkness and nothingness are part of the primordial reality ‑ it is from darkness that light is born and it is from formlessness that form emerges. (see Genesis 1:1-5)
The “dark night of the soul” is a way to the treasure trove.
Our shadow is a mixture of amazing wisdom and destructive power. Do not underestimate the power of your shadow it is a wonderful helpmate but a terrible ruler.
The brighter the light, the clearer the shadow.
Light does not dispose of our shadow. Love alone can unlock our shadow’s treasures, transform its energies and put us in touch with our inner strength.
When we are confronted with our potential for manipulation of other people, for cruelty, for intolerance of other people’s beliefs, life styles, sexual orientation, personality type and ultimately our potential to destroy other people and the Earth itself, we can either move into a denial mode or let love use these insights as a catalyst for a new stage in the development of our spirituality.
All human beings have a shadow but not all are prepared to acknowledge its existence.
A fear named is a fear diminished.
Fear develops wings when the tearful stories of our neglected inner child are listened to, empathized with and transformed by love.
(see 1 John 4/18)
The darkness and the light are one in God.
When I accept my darkness, I begin to blossom. This in part is what happens at conversion.
Perhaps the deepest fear is the fear of absorption, the fear of at-oneness.
In the temple of light the Cross is dark and forbidding. In the temple of darkness the Cross shines in mystic radiance.
The fire fanned gently brings life,
the fire fanned with anxiety destroys.
We cannot win a war against our shadow but we find life when we ask our shadow to bless us.
PRAYER
O God of both the light and the darkness, help us to be unafraid of our inner darkness, our shadow side, that we may cease to attempt to repress our wounds, our grief and all else that disturbs our false image of what constitutes wholeness. Instead, may we embrace with compassionate affirmation all that appears in the guise of separation, division, destruction, chaos and disorder till we glimpse within and beneath it that lake of golden peace which is your presence within our psyche.
HYMNS
The darkness and the light. (BL)
Within the shadows of our thinking. (BL)
When we feel all weighed down with guilt. (BL)
We sing of the darkness. (BL)
In the darkness of my spirit. (BL)
If passion urges us. (BL)
When we have moved. (BL)
When love flies on the wings of sacrifice
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
Darkness is my mother.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Deep in our minds.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Between our thoughts.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
That of God within us all.
Singing the Sacred Vol 2 2014 World Library Publications
POEMS/REFLECTIONS
WHEN I AM TEMPTED
O God when I am tempted to bemoan
the time wasted
in lifeless meetings
where infantile games were played,
inconsequential issues boringly explored
and the spirit ground down into submission
under the sheer weight of institutional minutia;
Help me to be aware that I also was partly dead
not making,
not taking,
time enough
to be in the delight of mystery,
not allowing its over-powering
and all nurturing love
to consume me
until apparent irrelevancy
and half alive deadness
was gathered up into
and consumed by
the blazing light
of my small portion of divinity
which connects me
with the fiery elemental whole.
INTO THE DARKNESS
I go into the darkness bearing
My joys, my sorrows, my loving and hating,
My achievements, my failures.
Yet I go unafraid as a whole
And not as a fragment.
For the fire that burns is also the fire that warms,
And the water that drowns is also the water that births life.
And all are one in the mystery from which I came
And to which I return.
OUR SHADOW
Commentary
Healing of the wounded human psyche does not occur until we have made our peace with the shadow side of our personality and the fears associated with it. The shadow of our psyche is the opposite of what we commonly call ‘myself’. It includes those aspects which we are least comfortable with and would prefer to pretend do not exist. The acceptance by ordered people of having an untidy side and visa versa can help us not to be obsessive since our greatest strength can also become our greatest weakness if taken to extremes. It is also the place that houses our greatest wounds such as suppressed memories of hurtful events around which fear and anger have gathered. These emotions rise to the surface when something puts us in touch with that initial pain. As the association is not obvious to our rational mind, fear and anger often appear to be triggered by seemingly innocuous comments or actions. To be healed the memory of these painful events needs to be brought to the surface so that our battered child can be nurtured through transforming fear into love, for as the writer of 1 John 4:18 points out “perfect love casts out fear”. It also involves acknowledging our manipulations, our desire to hurt and our carefully crafted defenses.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
The traditional Christmas celebration arises out of adding a Christian festival to the celebration of the mid-winter solstice. Consequently, the festival of the Christ Child and the festival of Darkness and Light are almost inextricably bound together in the northern hemisphere. However, this Euro-centric model runs into major difficulties in the southern hemisphere where Christmas occurs in the middle of summer and Easter in autumn. Perhaps the whole Christian Church, whether northern or southern, should reassess its attitude to nature and view it not as an add-on to Christian festivals but a sacred entity in its own right of which human beings are an integral part. It would then become a part of all liturgies and all Christian celebrations but in addition, would have its own special festivals. By abandoning an anthropocentric approach to reality we would be able to celebrate the seasons in their own right. Both northern and southern hemispheres could have their own Mid-Winter Festivals. What could I do in my own church or group to initiate such a festival?
Do I need to do more exploration of the shadow side of my personality? How could I bring these insights into the services of worship in which I am involved?
RESOURCES FOR A MIDWINTER CELEBRATION
INTRODUCTORY PRAYER
Sisters and brothers in Christ, now that we have passed the Winter solstice let us celebrate the lengthening of the daylight, looking forward with hope to the coming of Spring and the season of Easter (northern hemisphere) or Advent (southern hemisphere).
Let us again reawaken our sense of wonder at God’s greatness which far exceeds even the warmth, beauty, light, life and health radiated by the sun. With saints, mystics, artists, prophets, scholars and all humble servants of God may we exalt the One who is the origin and creator of all light.
But first let us remember all who are afraid of darkness, all who have lost their physical sight, all who are blinded by prejudice and misconception, all whose hearts are frozen, all who can only see bleakness ahead of them, all who do not know the warmth that comes from accepting their own God-given worth.
SCRIPTURE READINGS (on the theme of darkness and light)
God creates both the darkness and the light.
It is out of the darkness that light is born. (Genesis 1:1-5)
God is present in the darkness (Exodus 20:21)
God speaks from the darkness (Deuteronomy 5:23-24)
Darkness and light are the same to God (Psalm 139:12)
God comes in darkness (Amos 5:18)
A light is promised to those who walk in darkness (Isaiah 9:2)
God’s light shines in the darkness (John 1:1-9)
Christ is the light of the world (John 8:12)
The children of the light have many lessons to learn (Luke 16:8)
Living in the light produces good relationships (1 John 1:5-7)
Both night and day are superseded by the brilliance of God’s presence (Rev 21:22-25)
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.
“For the Darkness” Litany
Adapted from an Anglican litany by Polly Moore
For the darkness of waiting
Of not knowing what is to come
Of staying ready and quiet and attentive,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of staying silent
For the terror of having nothing to say
And for the greater terror
Of needing to say nothing,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of loving
In which it is safe to surrender
To let go of our self-protection
And to stop holding back our desire,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of choosing
when you give us the moment
to speak, and act, and change,
and we cannot know what we have set in motion,
but we still have to take the risk,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of hoping
In a world which longs for you,
For the wrestling and laboring of all creation
For wholeness and justice and freedom,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
Adapted from an Anglican Litany prayed in Canterbury Cathedral on April 18, 1986
Reprinted in “Womanprayers” by Mary Ford-Grabowsky
The Garden of Grace by Alice Smith
If the shadow
is not seen
when the light
is shining
half of what is shown
goes missing.
Oh how damaging
the exclusionary instinct!
For in the garden of grace
both perfect rose and pesky weed
are welcome to share equal space.
Thus everything must be included –
the light and the dark,
the desired and despised.
Try to encompass it all
for there is no whole
without the other half.
Worship Materials: Darkness and Light
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William Wallace
THEME Two Faces of the One God – the One Life Force
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
Darkness is the womb of the light, nothingness the womb of all things. Darkness and nothingness are part of the primordial reality ‑ it is from darkness that light is born and it is from formlessness that form emerges. (see Genesis 1:1-5)
The “dark night of the soul” is a way to the treasure trove.
Our shadow is a mixture of amazing wisdom and destructive power. Do not underestimate the power of your shadow it is a wonderful helpmate but a terrible ruler.
The brighter the light, the clearer the shadow.
Light does not dispose of our shadow. Love alone can unlock our shadow’s treasures, transform its energies and put us in touch with our inner strength.
When we are confronted with our potential for manipulation of other people, for cruelty, for intolerance of other people’s beliefs, life styles, sexual orientation, personality type and ultimately our potential to destroy other people and the Earth itself, we can either move into a denial mode or let love use these insights as a catalyst for a new stage in the development of our spirituality.
All human beings have a shadow but not all are prepared to acknowledge its existence.
A fear named is a fear diminished.
Fear develops wings when the tearful stories of our neglected inner child are listened to, empathized with and transformed by love.
(see 1 John 4/18)
The darkness and the light are one in God.
When I accept my darkness, I begin to blossom. This in part is what happens at conversion.
Perhaps the deepest fear is the fear of absorption, the fear of at-oneness.
In the temple of light the Cross is dark and forbidding. In the temple of darkness the Cross shines in mystic radiance.
The fire fanned gently brings life,
the fire fanned with anxiety destroys.
We cannot win a war against our shadow but we find life when we ask our shadow to bless us.
PRAYER
O God of both the light and the darkness, help us to be unafraid of our inner darkness, our shadow side, that we may cease to attempt to repress our wounds, our grief and all else that disturbs our false image of what constitutes wholeness. Instead, may we embrace with compassionate affirmation all that appears in the guise of separation, division, destruction, chaos and disorder till we glimpse within and beneath it that lake of golden peace which is your presence within our psyche.
HYMNS
The darkness and the light. (BL)
Within the shadows of our thinking. (BL)
When we feel all weighed down with guilt. (BL)
We sing of the darkness. (BL)
In the darkness of my spirit. (BL)
If passion urges us. (BL)
When we have moved. (BL)
When love flies on the wings of sacrifice
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
Darkness is my mother.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Deep in our minds.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Between our thoughts.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
That of God within us all.
Singing the Sacred Vol 2 2014 World Library Publications
POEMS/REFLECTIONS
WHEN I AM TEMPTED
O God when I am tempted to bemoan
the time wasted
in lifeless meetings
where infantile games were played,
inconsequential issues boringly explored
and the spirit ground down into submission
under the sheer weight of institutional minutia;
Help me to be aware that I also was partly dead
not making,
not taking,
time enough
to be in the delight of mystery,
not allowing its over-powering
and all nurturing love
to consume me
until apparent irrelevancy
and half alive deadness
was gathered up into
and consumed by
the blazing light
of my small portion of divinity
which connects me
with the fiery elemental whole.
INTO THE DARKNESS
I go into the darkness bearing
My joys, my sorrows, my loving and hating,
My achievements, my failures.
Yet I go unafraid as a whole
And not as a fragment.
For the fire that burns is also the fire that warms,
And the water that drowns is also the water that births life.
And all are one in the mystery from which I came
And to which I return.
OUR SHADOW
Commentary
Healing of the wounded human psyche does not occur until we have made our peace with the shadow side of our personality and the fears associated with it. The shadow of our psyche is the opposite of what we commonly call ‘myself’. It includes those aspects which we are least comfortable with and would prefer to pretend do not exist. The acceptance by ordered people of having an untidy side and visa versa can help us not to be obsessive since our greatest strength can also become our greatest weakness if taken to extremes. It is also the place that houses our greatest wounds such as suppressed memories of hurtful events around which fear and anger have gathered. These emotions rise to the surface when something puts us in touch with that initial pain. As the association is not obvious to our rational mind, fear and anger often appear to be triggered by seemingly innocuous comments or actions. To be healed the memory of these painful events needs to be brought to the surface so that our battered child can be nurtured through transforming fear into love, for as the writer of 1 John 4:18 points out “perfect love casts out fear”. It also involves acknowledging our manipulations, our desire to hurt and our carefully crafted defenses.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
The traditional Christmas celebration arises out of adding a Christian festival to the celebration of the mid-winter solstice. Consequently, the festival of the Christ Child and the festival of Darkness and Light are almost inextricably bound together in the northern hemisphere. However, this Euro-centric model runs into major difficulties in the southern hemisphere where Christmas occurs in the middle of summer and Easter in autumn. Perhaps the whole Christian Church, whether northern or southern, should reassess its attitude to nature and view it not as an add-on to Christian festivals but a sacred entity in its own right of which human beings are an integral part. It would then become a part of all liturgies and all Christian celebrations but in addition, would have its own special festivals. By abandoning an anthropocentric approach to reality we would be able to celebrate the seasons in their own right. Both northern and southern hemispheres could have their own Mid-Winter Festivals. What could I do in my own church or group to initiate such a festival?
Do I need to do more exploration of the shadow side of my personality? How could I bring these insights into the services of worship in which I am involved?
RESOURCES FOR A MIDWINTER CELEBRATION
INTRODUCTORY PRAYER
Sisters and brothers in Christ, now that we have passed the Winter solstice let us celebrate the lengthening of the daylight, looking forward with hope to the coming of Spring and the season of Easter (northern hemisphere) or Advent (southern hemisphere).
Let us again reawaken our sense of wonder at God’s greatness which far exceeds even the warmth, beauty, light, life and health radiated by the sun. With saints, mystics, artists, prophets, scholars and all humble servants of God may we exalt the One who is the origin and creator of all light.
But first let us remember all who are afraid of darkness, all who have lost their physical sight, all who are blinded by prejudice and misconception, all whose hearts are frozen, all who can only see bleakness ahead of them, all who do not know the warmth that comes from accepting their own God-given worth.
SCRIPTURE READINGS (on the theme of darkness and light)
God creates both the darkness and the light.
It is out of the darkness that light is born. (Genesis 1:1-5)
God is present in the darkness (Exodus 20:21)
God speaks from the darkness (Deuteronomy 5:23-24)
Darkness and light are the same to God (Psalm 139:12)
God comes in darkness (Amos 5:18)
A light is promised to those who walk in darkness (Isaiah 9:2)
God’s light shines in the darkness (John 1:1-9)
Christ is the light of the world (John 8:12)
The children of the light have many lessons to learn (Luke 16:8)
Living in the light produces good relationships (1 John 1:5-7)
Both night and day are superseded by the brilliance of God’s presence (Rev 21:22-25)
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.
“For the Darkness” Litany
Adapted from an Anglican litany by Polly Moore
For the darkness of waiting
Of not knowing what is to come
Of staying ready and quiet and attentive,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of staying silent
For the terror of having nothing to say
And for the greater terror
Of needing to say nothing,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of loving
In which it is safe to surrender
To let go of our self-protection
And to stop holding back our desire,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of choosing
when you give us the moment
to speak, and act, and change,
and we cannot know what we have set in motion,
but we still have to take the risk,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
For the darkness of hoping
In a world which longs for you,
For the wrestling and laboring of all creation
For wholeness and justice and freedom,
We praise you, o God.
For the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
Adapted from an Anglican Litany prayed in Canterbury Cathedral on April 18, 1986
Reprinted in “Womanprayers” by Mary Ford-Grabowsky
The Garden of Grace by Alice Smith
If the shadow
is not seen
when the light
is shining
half of what is shown
goes missing.
Oh how damaging
the exclusionary instinct!
For in the garden of grace
both perfect rose and pesky weed
are welcome to share equal space.
Thus everything must be included –
the light and the dark,
the desired and despised.
Try to encompass it all
for there is no whole
without the other half.
Events and Updates
Releasing the Contemplative in You with Joan Chittister
July 27th - August 21st, 2015
Contemporary spirituality includes multiple forms of devotion and meditation. In this e-course, Joan Chittister looks at the most fundamental of them all — reading and writing — and their relationship to the development of the spiritual life.
READ ON ...Releasing the Contemplative in You with Joan Chittister
Contemporary spirituality includes multiple forms of devotion and meditation. In this e-course, Joan Chittister looks at the most fundamental of them all — reading and writing — and their relationship to the development of the spiritual life.
“Contemplation is coming to see the world as God sees the world, of learning to put on the mind of Christ,” explains Sr. Joan. “That takes a stripping away of old thoughts, the old assumptions, the old world view. For me, reading and writing is a necessary part of that exchange.”
For this exclusive one-month online retreat, delivered via email on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Sr. Joan looks at how reading can be a starting point for a spiritual journey and writing can be a further expression of it.
“Contemplation is coming to see the world as God sees the world, of learning to put on the mind of Christ,” explains Sr. Joan. “That takes a stripping away of old thoughts, the old assumptions, the old world view. For me, reading and writing is a necessary part of that exchange.”
For this exclusive one-month online retreat, delivered via email on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Sr. Joan looks at how reading can be a starting point for a spiritual journey and writing can be a further expression of it.
On Mondays and Fridays, you will receive short videos in which Sr. Joan examines poetry, the personal reflection, and journaling as special avenues for the growth of the soul. She will also share her own journey as a writer and be available to answer questions for you.
On Wednesdays, you will receive a brief literature selection to reflect upon and be given optional writing prompts to pursue.
In our online Practice Circle, a forum open 24/7, you will be invited to share your questions and insights as well as short excerpts from your own work.
We invite you to release the contemplative in you through this combination of spiritual wisdom and practice.
Images
Start:
July 27, 2015
End:
August 21, 2015
Location:
Online Course
Registration:
$49.95
Contact:
Mary Ann Brussat
Organization:
Spirituality & Practice
Website:
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/course/view/10149/releasing-the-contemplative-in-you
Email:
brussat@spiritualityandpractice.com
Telephone:
212-691-5240
View all upcoming events here!
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progressivechristianity.org
Our mailing address is:
ProgressiveChristianity.org
4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. NW#80
We invite you to release the contemplative in you through this combination of spiritual wisdom and practice.
Images
Start:
July 27, 2015
End:
August 21, 2015
Location:
Online Course
Registration:
$49.95
Contact:
Mary Ann Brussat
Organization:
Spirituality & Practice
Website:
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/course/view/10149/releasing-the-contemplative-in-you
Email:
brussat@spiritualityandpractice.com
Telephone:
212-691-5240
News
Job Listings
Website
YouTube
progressivechristianity.org
Our mailing address is:
ProgressiveChristianity.org
4810 Pt. Fosdick Dr. NW#80
Gig Harbor, Washington 98335 United States
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