Weekly Recap for Tuesday, January 12, 2016 ProgressiveChristianity.org of Gig Harbor, Washington, United States "Is American Education in its "Death Valley"? This and more in our Free Weekly Recap of our most viewed and new resources from last week."
Last Week At ProgressiveChristianity.org ...
We delved into the topics of Education, Bible Errors, Church Dysfunction and Beginnings and Endings.
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How to Escape Education’s Death Valley
Ken Robinson
... how to get out of the educational “death valley” we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations ...
READ ON ...
Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish — and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational “death valley” we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.
Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate
---------------------
Inconsistent Scripture: Why the Bible’s Errors Are Actually Good News for Christians
... how to get out of the educational “death valley” we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations ...
READ ON ...
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.
Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate
---------------------
Inconsistent Scripture: Why the Bible’s Errors Are Actually Good News for Christians
David Henson
I still remember the first time I realized that not only were there two creation stories in Genesis, but also that they unequivocally contradicted each other.
READ ON ...
Decline and Dysfunction in the American Church
I still remember the first time I realized that not only were there two creation stories in Genesis, but also that they unequivocally contradicted each other.
READ ON ...
I still remember the first time I realized that not only were there two creation stories in Genesis, but also that they unequivocally contradicted each other. Part of my shock at discovering this was that I had read and re-read those stories so much but had never noticed the difference. The cognitive dissonance was so great that I actually took a sheet of paper and sketched a rough chart detailing what was created on each day in the two stories.
Of course, that biblical surprise paled in comparison to the night I read about God — in whom, according to Hebrews, there is no lie — actually blesses and encourages a spirit to deceive and lie to humans. See, I’d always been told deceitful, lying spirits were the realm of the devil, not the divine. After all, Jesus himself calls Satan a liar and the father of all lies.
And then there was the time a census was taken in Israel. According to one account, it was the kindled anger of the Lord that initiated the census. In another, the census had its genesis not in God, but was instead incited by Satan.
Like many former Biblical literalists who at one time insisted on the inerrancy of Scripture, discovering these stories left me disoriented and feeling betrayed by the very book on which I’d built my faith. For some Christians, pointing out these imperfections undermines their faith, as it did mine so many years ago. Some Christians spend entire careers and lifetimes creating complicated arguments to reconcile and explain away these irreconcilable inconsistencies in Scripture. Eventually, though, it’s hard to avoid the Bible’s undeniable historical inaccuracies and outright contradictions.
But those inaccuracies and contradictions are precisely why I still love Holy Scripture today.
In fact, were the Scriptures actually perfect, actually without error, actually meticulously accurate historical documents, I’m not sure I’d have much faith left, much less the desire to study, meditate, and preach on them.
The older and more experienced I get the more I realize that reality itself is fundamentally inconsistent, full of contradictions and irrational behavior. That the Bible, in a way, reflects that is downright reassuring.
Reality isn’t coherent. Neither is our experience of it. Only fiction and the most dedicated of partisans have the luxury of constructing worlds of rationality and coherency without blatant contradictions.
For example, a few years ago, I started reading Game of Thrones and was immediately immersed into George R.R. Martin’s fantastical and grim world. After the third book, however, several of the characters did things that I thought were so fundamentally out of character that it made the entire series completely unbelievable. But that’s fiction, of course. In real life, humans are constantly making out-of-character decisions, surprising their loved ones and at times themselves with their actions and decisions. Truth isn’t just stranger than fiction; it’s also more complicated, more contradictory, and more inconsistent than fiction.
Partisans might be worse, because they take the muddy, complicated reality of our world, and carefully divide it into two camps — right and wrong, ours and theirs — and work tirelessly to fit stories, issues, events, and people into pre-existing frameworks in such a way as to boost their own side and decry the other. They create fiction out of nonfiction, flattening our existence into a single story to shore up power and ego.
In general, popular fiction and partisans would have us believe that life can be relatively linear or consistent. But we are a jumble of rational and irrational behavior. We are a confusing mix of inconsistencies and steadfastness. At our worst, we are so full of certainty that we only have room for our own perspectives. At our best, we are so full of errors and inconsistencies that we finally make room for compassion and love — for ourselves and others.
I can’t find space for faith in biblical proof texts, but I can in biblical contradictions.
I can find faith in the inconsistent portrait humans paint of God in Scripture.
That God is absent and God is present.
That God has rescued us and God has abandoned us.
That we have betrayed God and God has betrayed us.
That grace is given freely, but work is required.
That God is generous and forgiving, and God is vindictive and petty.
That God acts like a devil, and the devil tells the truth.
That Jesus speaks in anger, with harsh insults and that Jesus teaches that if we speak in anger we are in danger of God’s judgement.
Paradox, inconsistency, and contradiction are a better signal of a life of faith than being without error, uniformity, and black-and-white thinking. In paradox, in inconsistency, in contradiction there is room for growth and for transformation.
In other words, I don’t want a Bible without errors and historical inaccuracies, without contradictions and inconsistencies. Thank God for them! They are good news. They are the very things that make Scripture meaningful and compelling.
So, give me a Bible with inaccuracies, and I’ll show you Holy Scripture that inspires new life rather than dictates legislation to live by.
Give me a Bible with inconsistencies, and I’ll show you Holy Scripture that isn’t a dead document but a living and breathing story with room enough for you, me, and even God.
Give me a Bible with errors, and I’ll show you Holy Scripture that is actually believable.
____
David Henson is a priest in the Episcopal Church, and can be followed via his blog at Patheos.
---------------------Decline and Dysfunction in the American Church
Polk Culpepper
... the American church has, for many, become irrelevant to their lives due to the toxic influences of co-dependent patterns of behavior.
READ ON ...
Over the last 50 years, the U.S. has witnessed the decline of the American church in membership, financial resources, respect, cultural influence and ministry. Churches and judicatories struggle to identify causes for these ominous trends.
“The church most of us grew up with is dying, “ says Reverend Culpepper. That should be evident to even the most ardent skeptic. The cause of that decline, however, has, for the most part, remained hidden. Decline and Dysfunction in the American Church, addresses the unprecedented and devastating decrease in membership, financial resources, respect and ministry suffered by congregations and judicatories throughout the nation and offers an explanation that has not yet been considered. ”
Decline and Dysfunction in the American Church proposes an interdisciplinary explanation, one that converges at the intersection of Christianity and psychology. Based on his research of over 25 years of parish and diocesan ministry, Culpepper contends that the American church has, for many, become irrelevant to their lives due to the toxic influences of co-dependent patterns of behavior. The same co-dependent behaviors that devastate the efforts of human families to love and support one another effect church congregational and denominational “families” in similar ways.
According to the author, this book, therefore, is meant to be read with the bible in one hand and a psychology text in the other. If decline and irrelevance are to be reversed, the church must become aware of and acknowledge the negative influences of codependent relationships in American congregations. Refusing to accept the realities of its decline and dysfunction only insure that the slide into obsolescence will continue.
To order by check, please send $20.02 (includes NC sales tax + s/h) to:
Polk Culpepper
1301 Summit Avenue
Washington, NC 27889
Include your shipping address and telephone number. Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery.
(Sable Books, 2015)
---------------------
Weekly Liturgy
... the American church has, for many, become irrelevant to their lives due to the toxic influences of co-dependent patterns of behavior.
READ ON ...
Over the last 50 years, the U.S. has witnessed the decline of the American church in membership, financial resources, respect, cultural influence and ministry. Churches and judicatories struggle to identify causes for these ominous trends.
“The church most of us grew up with is dying, “ says Reverend Culpepper. That should be evident to even the most ardent skeptic. The cause of that decline, however, has, for the most part, remained hidden. Decline and Dysfunction in the American Church, addresses the unprecedented and devastating decrease in membership, financial resources, respect and ministry suffered by congregations and judicatories throughout the nation and offers an explanation that has not yet been considered. ”
Decline and Dysfunction in the American Church proposes an interdisciplinary explanation, one that converges at the intersection of Christianity and psychology. Based on his research of over 25 years of parish and diocesan ministry, Culpepper contends that the American church has, for many, become irrelevant to their lives due to the toxic influences of co-dependent patterns of behavior. The same co-dependent behaviors that devastate the efforts of human families to love and support one another effect church congregational and denominational “families” in similar ways.
According to the author, this book, therefore, is meant to be read with the bible in one hand and a psychology text in the other. If decline and irrelevance are to be reversed, the church must become aware of and acknowledge the negative influences of codependent relationships in American congregations. Refusing to accept the realities of its decline and dysfunction only insure that the slide into obsolescence will continue.
To order by check, please send $20.02 (includes NC sales tax + s/h) to:
Polk Culpepper
1301 Summit Avenue
Washington, NC 27889
Include your shipping address and telephone number. Please allow 1-2 weeks for delivery.
(Sable Books, 2015)
---------------------
Weekly Liturgy
Week of: January 3rd 2016
Beginnings and Endings
Beginnings and endings are so connected… every beginning will eventually have an ending, and every ending makes possible a new beginning. We see this expressed in every phenomenon, from the arc of a life to the evolution of a species. This week we focus on beginnings and endings in human relationships, something we have all experienced.
READ ON ...
Beginnings and Endings
Beginnings and endings are so connected… every beginning will eventually have an ending, and every ending makes possible a new beginning. We see this expressed in every phenomenon, from the arc of a life to the evolution of a species. This week we focus on beginnings and endings in human relationships, something we have all experienced.
READ ON ...
Worship Materials: Human Relationships, Endings
Nothing lasts forever in the same form.
To feel that one cannot let go of another person is to experience possessiveness rather than love.
Love is not ownership. Seek to capture love and all you catch is the cold of manipulation.
read moreTo feel that one cannot let go of another person is to experience possessiveness rather than love.
Love is not ownership. Seek to capture love and all you catch is the cold of manipulation.
Worship Materials: Human Relationships, Beginnings
Romance is only healthy within the context of our love for life, for the mystery, for the divine. Without it romance will be a vain pursuit of a total oneness which it cannot provide.
read moreWorship Materials: Beginnings and Endings
1. Buried in every beginning is an ending.
2. The exit from one world is the entry into another.
3. To attempt to hold on to what has already gone is to live in a world of unreality.
read more2. The exit from one world is the entry into another.
3. To attempt to hold on to what has already gone is to live in a world of unreality.
---------------------
Worship Materials: Human Relationships, Endings
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. Wallace
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
O God, the alpha and the omega, help us to see beyond the pain of separation to the wider vision of all things holding together in your love. May we not become obsessed by grief but instead use it to allow the process of letting go be accomplished in a life-giving manner.
God of love, in whom there is no guilt or resentment, may we take time to nurture our self esteem and thus be able to let go of all guilt and resentment which may arise within the process of separation.
HYMNS
Is love a grand illusion? (BL)
When we feel all weighed down with guilt. (BL)
At each journey’s ending point. (BL)
All will be well.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
No one takes my life away.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
How many times must I forgive? (STS2)
Through the love of God our Father. (STS2)
If my heart grows icy cold. (STS2)
Singing the Sacred Vol 2 2014 World Library Publications
REFRAIN
In the letting go. (BL)
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
SEPARATION
Now that memories occupy
the place
where people
so recently lived
and the house
stands
silently inactive
my mind is full
of failure and remorse,
rejection and grieving
at the parting
and breaking
of relationships and
of familiar
patterns
of peace and anxiety,
despair and hope –
patterns
which sometimes
enabled
and sometimes
irritated
but all of which
constituted
that familiar world of belonging
without which
I am
desolate.
Yet
in the tear-drenched solitude
I find a unity
with the living and the dead,
and reaching out
touch the hands
of the One
who grieves
for me
even more
than I grieve
for myself,
the crucified One
who holds together
all that is.
PARKED MEMORIES
As if to reincarnate
youth
I returned
to that park
where
the crush of memories
almost immobilized
and allowed
my mind
to fondle
every tree
gazed at in wonder,
sheltered beneath with
thankfulness
and lain under in ecstacy.
Here I had watched
young lovers
and been watched by joy’s
vicarious
prospectors.
Here, miraculously,
love’s delight
expanded
to fill eternity.
But soon
and for long after,
remembered heaven
was immersed in brokenness
of unfulfilled love
and the trees
with sadness
looked down
on the place
where romance
died.
Now,
through the alchemy
of forgiveness
and the medication of time
those dazzling memories
evoke hope
of transformed futures
illuminated
by new visions
of God’s
costly
embodied
love.
BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES
Once I was uncertain
what to do
with memories
of beautiful love.
I tried to keep them
in the past
but they were timeless
and kept rushing
into my present.
Now I have given up
attempting to exorcise them.
Instead I celebrate
and make them part
of the ageless now
that is the presence
of God.
MISTAKE?
Someone
must have made
a mistake
when they made
my heart
for it is
too easily broken
and this time
I cannot find
all the pieces –
so it will never be
the same shape
again.
WE HAVE CLIMBED THE SAME MOUNTAIN
We have climbed the same mountain,
touched the same tree,
followed the same river,
danced the same dance,
sung the same song,
shared the same agonies
and the same ecstasies.
Each of us will always carry
something of the other
in our own heart
for we are part
of each other.
IN A PERFECT WORLD.
In a perfect world
Things would always get better
Instead of worse –
We would all let go of
Past animosities,
Past hurts,
Past failures
And move on.
Sadly, that is not the way of the world.
Some are never willing to forgive
Burying their hatred
And letting it eat away at
Their bodies and spirits.
Some will not allow themselves
To change gears
From romance
Or animosity
To friendship.
Some, for better or for worse,
Have just moved to a different
Geographical, psychological or spiritual space
And the connectedness withers.
O God help me to let people walk the path of their own choosing.
Then, instead of dwelling in the illusory world of my own longing,
I will seek to nurture all that you graciously
Present to me
In this pregnant, present moment.
THE TREE MAY HAVE TOPPLED
The tree may have toppled
But the stump remains
As mute evidence
Of family history’s
Existence
And that stump shall
Persist
As long as
Genetic identity
And the oneness of life
Is honored.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
Do I have someone in my life who is ‘dearer to me than life itself’? If I have then perhaps I need to remind myself that no human being is greater than life. What measures could I take to love life more and expand my life outside of that relationship?
The ending of a relationship provides a wonderful, if painful, opportunity to affirm that we are greater than our thoughts and our emotions. Asserting the supremacy of the “I AM” within us we can center our mind and begin to practice new ways of thinking.
At the ending of a relationship there could be a joint act of letting go, of sharing of grief and of acknowledging the points of real value within it.
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.---------------------
Worship Materials: Human Relationships, Beginnings
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. WallaceTHOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
In the wonder of love. (BL)
Is love a grand illusion. (BL)
Not in grasping or in holding. (BL)
We sing of human loving’s starting point. (BL)
All will be well.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Rise O my heart.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Between our thoughts.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
In the wonder found in loving.
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011 World Library Publications
PRAYER
MY PRAYER
May our love be
as deep as the ocean,
as expansive as space,
as tender as the sunrise,
as passionate as the sunset,
as whole as the circle,
as wonderfilled as the mystery.
May it flower as a thousand orchids,
wrapped in sparkling gossamer,
and may it reflect the splendor of divinity
as the dewdrops prism the
technicolor sun.
This is my prayer, my love,
may it be so.
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
FRIENDSHIP
Like two tributaries
rushing and tumbling
from differing origins
to unexpected confluence
we create
calm meandering waters
where silted flats
originate fresh life
and lovers
hiding in the long grass
tease each other
with heaven-sent
humor.
CONNECTION
In the space of connection
between two previously
distanced worlds
and vastly divergent stories
a moment of miraculous meeting occurred!
Then the doors of heaven rolled back
and the oneness of all living
became visibly incarnate
in the one whose eyes
smiled with
the twinkle of
divinity.
AT THE BEGINNING
Like our relationship
the luminous rays of the moon
shone from behind
the jet black cloud
and I had no way of knowing
whether they would diminish
or flower into
overwhelming brightness.
So I put to one side
all the whys and why nots,
all the hows and wherefores
and simply allowed myself
to be immersed
in the wonder and whiteness
the darkness and mystery
of that moment
of awesomeness.
I shall no longer query our relationship
but rather delight
in its reality,
not detracting from its grandeur
by succumbing to past calculations
or hope’s ambiguous messages
but instead
let wonder
work its charm
in stillness
for therein lies
the essence
of love and life.
RELATIONSHIP
LOVE is seeing beauty amidst ugliness,
discovering miracles amongst the mundane,
pursuing justice when injustice prevails,
keeping your heart tender in the face of rejection,
offering forgiveness to those who have wronged you.
LOVE is determination to make improbable dreams come true,
seeking to hold together the disparate elements of life,
finding one’s identity in the lives of others,
serving others beyond the limits of
reasonableness, obligation or deserving.
LOVE is the nonsense of the heart that gives
meaning to all that is sensible, practical,
logical and scientific.
KNOWN
You and I only know what Heaven
of flesh and blood,
of intertwining bodies and coupled lips
our togetherness brought,
but there was more.
There was two dispirit spirits
cautiously exploring possibilities of union,
dancing hand in hand
down the walkway of the reservoir
of our soul’s infinity.
There was the tenderness
such as neither had experienced before,
the softness and caring,
the enfolding and nurturing
of the fetal depths
of each other’s spirit.
LATE LOVE
Before my sunset
I will love you with the tenderness of the dawn
the passion of the noontide
and the quietude of the cool
of the evening.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
Love and friendship need nurturing. Would it be possible to regularly set aside time to share with my partner and/or best friend(s) those things which I like best about them? Could we jointly devise some ceremony that regularly celebrated our relationship?
How can I become more open to compromise, more liberated from my desire to control and also to change my dependency into inter-dependency?
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.
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
- Nothing lasts forever in the same form.
- To feel that one cannot let go of another person is to experience possessiveness rather than love.
- Love is not ownership. Seek to capture love and all you catch is the cold of manipulation.
- Relationships cannot be preprogrammed.
- Rather than apportioning blame for the collapse of a relationship it is better to concentrate on what we can learn from it.
- Because one relationship has collapsed it does not mean that I am unlovable.
- To search for love outside ourselves without having found it within, is a sure recipe for a continuing sequence of failed relationships.
- Beware of attraction to your opposite, unless you have come to terms with that same opposite within your own personality. That which we fear can so easily become that which we hate.
- Either we learn to control our fears, guilt and resentment or they will control us.
- If we are not careful, the ending of a relationship can lead to enormous guilt and resentment.
O God, the alpha and the omega, help us to see beyond the pain of separation to the wider vision of all things holding together in your love. May we not become obsessed by grief but instead use it to allow the process of letting go be accomplished in a life-giving manner.
God of love, in whom there is no guilt or resentment, may we take time to nurture our self esteem and thus be able to let go of all guilt and resentment which may arise within the process of separation.
HYMNS
Is love a grand illusion? (BL)
When we feel all weighed down with guilt. (BL)
At each journey’s ending point. (BL)
All will be well.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
No one takes my life away.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
How many times must I forgive? (STS2)
Through the love of God our Father. (STS2)
If my heart grows icy cold. (STS2)
Singing the Sacred Vol 2 2014 World Library Publications
REFRAIN
In the letting go. (BL)
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
SEPARATION
Now that memories occupy
the place
where people
so recently lived
and the house
stands
silently inactive
my mind is full
of failure and remorse,
rejection and grieving
at the parting
and breaking
of relationships and
of familiar
patterns
of peace and anxiety,
despair and hope –
patterns
which sometimes
enabled
and sometimes
irritated
but all of which
constituted
that familiar world of belonging
without which
I am
desolate.
Yet
in the tear-drenched solitude
I find a unity
with the living and the dead,
and reaching out
touch the hands
of the One
who grieves
for me
even more
than I grieve
for myself,
the crucified One
who holds together
all that is.
PARKED MEMORIES
As if to reincarnate
youth
I returned
to that park
where
the crush of memories
almost immobilized
and allowed
my mind
to fondle
every tree
gazed at in wonder,
sheltered beneath with
thankfulness
and lain under in ecstacy.
Here I had watched
young lovers
and been watched by joy’s
vicarious
prospectors.
Here, miraculously,
love’s delight
expanded
to fill eternity.
But soon
and for long after,
remembered heaven
was immersed in brokenness
of unfulfilled love
and the trees
with sadness
looked down
on the place
where romance
died.
Now,
through the alchemy
of forgiveness
and the medication of time
those dazzling memories
evoke hope
of transformed futures
illuminated
by new visions
of God’s
costly
embodied
love.
BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES
Once I was uncertain
what to do
with memories
of beautiful love.
I tried to keep them
in the past
but they were timeless
and kept rushing
into my present.
Now I have given up
attempting to exorcise them.
Instead I celebrate
and make them part
of the ageless now
that is the presence
of God.
MISTAKE?
Someone
must have made
a mistake
when they made
my heart
for it is
too easily broken
and this time
I cannot find
all the pieces –
so it will never be
the same shape
again.
WE HAVE CLIMBED THE SAME MOUNTAIN
We have climbed the same mountain,
touched the same tree,
followed the same river,
danced the same dance,
sung the same song,
shared the same agonies
and the same ecstasies.
Each of us will always carry
something of the other
in our own heart
for we are part
of each other.
IN A PERFECT WORLD.
In a perfect world
Things would always get better
Instead of worse –
We would all let go of
Past animosities,
Past hurts,
Past failures
And move on.
Sadly, that is not the way of the world.
Some are never willing to forgive
Burying their hatred
And letting it eat away at
Their bodies and spirits.
Some will not allow themselves
To change gears
From romance
Or animosity
To friendship.
Some, for better or for worse,
Have just moved to a different
Geographical, psychological or spiritual space
And the connectedness withers.
O God help me to let people walk the path of their own choosing.
Then, instead of dwelling in the illusory world of my own longing,
I will seek to nurture all that you graciously
Present to me
In this pregnant, present moment.
THE TREE MAY HAVE TOPPLED
The tree may have toppled
But the stump remains
As mute evidence
Of family history’s
Existence
And that stump shall
Persist
As long as
Genetic identity
And the oneness of life
Is honored.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
Do I have someone in my life who is ‘dearer to me than life itself’? If I have then perhaps I need to remind myself that no human being is greater than life. What measures could I take to love life more and expand my life outside of that relationship?
The ending of a relationship provides a wonderful, if painful, opportunity to affirm that we are greater than our thoughts and our emotions. Asserting the supremacy of the “I AM” within us we can center our mind and begin to practice new ways of thinking.
At the ending of a relationship there could be a joint act of letting go, of sharing of grief and of acknowledging the points of real value within it.
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.---------------------
Worship Materials: Human Relationships, Beginnings
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. WallaceTHOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
- Romance is only healthy within the context of our love for life, for the mystery, for the divine. Without it romance will be a vain pursuit of a total oneness which it cannot provide.
- When I stop looking for perfection, I can delight in what is.
- Look in the mirror and you see yourself. Look into your heart and you see your neighbor (your lover).
- Love is a form of entrainment where two oscillating systems come into phase i.e. are ‘on the same wave length.’
- Marriages are not made in Heaven but love is the doorway into Heaven.
- Infatuation is the illusion that two people completely become one. Love is the bridge that links two people’s solitude without destroying their separate identities.
- I met your mystery before I met your information.
- The illusion that there is only one person that could possibly be one’s partner is a denial of the complexity of the human psyche.
- Dependent love is a contradiction in terms. It may be dependency, or co-dependency but never the fullness of love, for love does not seek to possess or to manipulate.
- If love only has one focus, then it becomes transformed into possessiveness for love is the intimate dialogue between the many and the one.
- Love is not a cold exchange of ideas, but a firing by two people of each other’s passion for life: where there is no passion, love dies.
- The desire to possess is the enemy of all true love.
- Touch my hands and I meet your spirit. Touch my lips and I share your mystery.
- The mystery of the meeting is but part of description-less divinity and the knowing and unknowing two polarities equally contributing to relationship.
- God is the process of evolving connectedness i.e. love.
- Love for other people seldom occurs at any depth or with any lasting quality unless we first respect, enjoy and yes love being ourselves.
- Love comes in many guises but they all come from and to a greater or lesser degree all reflect God, the model for all our loving.
In the wonder of love. (BL)
Is love a grand illusion. (BL)
Not in grasping or in holding. (BL)
We sing of human loving’s starting point. (BL)
All will be well.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Rise O my heart.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Between our thoughts.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
In the wonder found in loving.
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011 World Library Publications
PRAYER
MY PRAYER
May our love be
as deep as the ocean,
as expansive as space,
as tender as the sunrise,
as passionate as the sunset,
as whole as the circle,
as wonderfilled as the mystery.
May it flower as a thousand orchids,
wrapped in sparkling gossamer,
and may it reflect the splendor of divinity
as the dewdrops prism the
technicolor sun.
This is my prayer, my love,
may it be so.
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
FRIENDSHIP
Like two tributaries
rushing and tumbling
from differing origins
to unexpected confluence
we create
calm meandering waters
where silted flats
originate fresh life
and lovers
hiding in the long grass
tease each other
with heaven-sent
humor.
CONNECTION
In the space of connection
between two previously
distanced worlds
and vastly divergent stories
a moment of miraculous meeting occurred!
Then the doors of heaven rolled back
and the oneness of all living
became visibly incarnate
in the one whose eyes
smiled with
the twinkle of
divinity.
AT THE BEGINNING
Like our relationship
the luminous rays of the moon
shone from behind
the jet black cloud
and I had no way of knowing
whether they would diminish
or flower into
overwhelming brightness.
So I put to one side
all the whys and why nots,
all the hows and wherefores
and simply allowed myself
to be immersed
in the wonder and whiteness
the darkness and mystery
of that moment
of awesomeness.
I shall no longer query our relationship
but rather delight
in its reality,
not detracting from its grandeur
by succumbing to past calculations
or hope’s ambiguous messages
but instead
let wonder
work its charm
in stillness
for therein lies
the essence
of love and life.
RELATIONSHIP
LOVE is seeing beauty amidst ugliness,
discovering miracles amongst the mundane,
pursuing justice when injustice prevails,
keeping your heart tender in the face of rejection,
offering forgiveness to those who have wronged you.
LOVE is determination to make improbable dreams come true,
seeking to hold together the disparate elements of life,
finding one’s identity in the lives of others,
serving others beyond the limits of
reasonableness, obligation or deserving.
LOVE is the nonsense of the heart that gives
meaning to all that is sensible, practical,
logical and scientific.
KNOWN
You and I only know what Heaven
of flesh and blood,
of intertwining bodies and coupled lips
our togetherness brought,
but there was more.
There was two dispirit spirits
cautiously exploring possibilities of union,
dancing hand in hand
down the walkway of the reservoir
of our soul’s infinity.
There was the tenderness
such as neither had experienced before,
the softness and caring,
the enfolding and nurturing
of the fetal depths
of each other’s spirit.
LATE LOVE
Before my sunset
I will love you with the tenderness of the dawn
the passion of the noontide
and the quietude of the cool
of the evening.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
Love and friendship need nurturing. Would it be possible to regularly set aside time to share with my partner and/or best friend(s) those things which I like best about them? Could we jointly devise some ceremony that regularly celebrated our relationship?
How can I become more open to compromise, more liberated from my desire to control and also to change my dependency into inter-dependency?
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.
----------------------
Worship Materials: Beginnings and Endings
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. Wallace
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
O beginning and ending God, the process by which all things are made new, enable us to let go of the past with grief and thankfulness, and to embrace the future’s possibilities with hope, with a sense of adventure and with the openness of love.
HYMNS
We sing of human loving’s starting point. (BL)
You are the process, God. (BL)
There shall be life and love.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
Everything has its own season.(Ecclesiastes 3/1-8)
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Past and Present.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
God molds the shapes of life.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
As we give we shall receive.
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011 World Library Publications
REFRAIN
In the letting go. (BL)
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
A CELEBRATION OF LOVE
I have had
many beautiful encounters with love
in my life –
Sometimes it has been the love of nature – the soft lines,
strong trunks
and the mossy smell of bush.
Sometimes has been
the tenderness of another person – a oneness in relationship,
shared silence,
the mingling of tears,
the fragile flower of romance.
Sometimes love has been
a passion for justice,
the fight for equality,
a concern for others,
grief at the Church’s divisions, anger at its petty-mindedness.
Sometimes love has been parenting
of child and adult, of others and self, of nature and ideas.
Sometimes love has been creating
words and music, color and form, line and texture, buildings and gardens,
one’s own kind
and one’s own life.
Sometimes love has been pain and sorrow,
sometimes dream and fulfillment,
sometimes tearful ecstasy,
sometimes common sense practicality,
But at all times
love has nurtured me,
enlivened me,
fulfilled me,
wooed me
and drawn me on into the oneness of God,
divine lover,
creator,
liberator,
never-dying life,
the source of all our loving.
And now
in the knowledge
that no love is ever wasted
and that all love
becomes part of God’s love,
I thankfully celebrate
all the loving that God
has graciously allowed me to partake,
create,
or enhance.
IN THE PAST
In the past
I struggled unsuccessfully
To pattern life’s diverse pieces.
Now I find coherence
In the mystery
Of encounter.
REFLECTION ON 1 CORINTHIANS 13:8-13
Love is eternal, the life-force is eternal and the life-force is God. There
are temporary manifestations of the life-force but they
will pass away. Three things however, will last for ever ‑
faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Believe in the loving life-force ‑
Dream of the loving life-force ‑
But beyond our believing and dreaming there is the life-force itself.
Trust that life-force ‑
Connect with that life-force ‑
Live out that life-force.
‘For the life we live is fire
And the way is wonder-filled
For those who gently dance
Within the sphere of love.’
REBIRTH
In love
as in life lie the seeds
of death;
yet to be a person
I must not fear
death,
for out of death
springs
new life.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
If there is a right time to do any particular action as suggested in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and it is laid down in stone in a set of absolute metaphysical principles how is one supposed to act in a situation in which two principles such as those contained in the ten commandments appear to conflict? For example, ‘thou shalt not kill’ and also ‘thou shalt not bear false witness’ are in conflict when telling the truth endangers someone else’s life. The determination of what is the right time should, I believe, be governed by the golden rule of Jesus to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. What is required is a situational ethic in which compassion is the primary motivation. With the death of the ‘Mythic God’ and the demise of absolute ‘metaphysical laws in the sky’ perhaps it is time to seek to be guided by the laws of the Cosmic Processes in the most advanced manifestation of them within the evolutionary process. (see the hymn “We sing of human loving’s starting point”) What is your reaction to all this?
Note: Also see the paraphrase of the ten commandments in “Which code can assist us?”
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.
Worship Materials: Beginnings and Endings
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. Wallace
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
- Buried in every beginning is an ending.
- The exit from one world is the entry into another.
- To attempt to hold on to what has already gone is to live in a world of unreality.
- To be able to discern what can and what cannot be changed is an essential skill for achieving a manageable life style.
- All life-giving relationship is a form of love.
- Love is a mingling of life forces with a person, a cat, a dog, a tree, the land and supremely with God.
- Christ’s commandment to love your neighbor as yourself may be paraphrased ‘as you see and respect the divine in yourself, you will be able to see and respect the divine in other people’. Divinity is always undivided – you are in your neighbor and your neighbor is in you.
- Relationship gives us entry into a fuller reality than individuality can ever provide.
- When I look into your eyes I see the cosmic mists of divinity and the smile of Spring’s resurrection. When I look into your eyes I meet the deep places of my own spirit.
- None of us are only attached to life through the umbilical cord of one relationship no matter how special it may be.
O beginning and ending God, the process by which all things are made new, enable us to let go of the past with grief and thankfulness, and to embrace the future’s possibilities with hope, with a sense of adventure and with the openness of love.
HYMNS
We sing of human loving’s starting point. (BL)
You are the process, God. (BL)
There shall be life and love.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
Everything has its own season.(Ecclesiastes 3/1-8)
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Past and Present.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
God molds the shapes of life.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
As we give we shall receive.
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011 World Library Publications
REFRAIN
In the letting go. (BL)
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
A CELEBRATION OF LOVE
I have had
many beautiful encounters with love
in my life –
Sometimes it has been the love of nature – the soft lines,
strong trunks
and the mossy smell of bush.
Sometimes has been
the tenderness of another person – a oneness in relationship,
shared silence,
the mingling of tears,
the fragile flower of romance.
Sometimes love has been
a passion for justice,
the fight for equality,
a concern for others,
grief at the Church’s divisions, anger at its petty-mindedness.
Sometimes love has been parenting
of child and adult, of others and self, of nature and ideas.
Sometimes love has been creating
words and music, color and form, line and texture, buildings and gardens,
one’s own kind
and one’s own life.
Sometimes love has been pain and sorrow,
sometimes dream and fulfillment,
sometimes tearful ecstasy,
sometimes common sense practicality,
But at all times
love has nurtured me,
enlivened me,
fulfilled me,
wooed me
and drawn me on into the oneness of God,
divine lover,
creator,
liberator,
never-dying life,
the source of all our loving.
And now
in the knowledge
that no love is ever wasted
and that all love
becomes part of God’s love,
I thankfully celebrate
all the loving that God
has graciously allowed me to partake,
create,
or enhance.
IN THE PAST
In the past
I struggled unsuccessfully
To pattern life’s diverse pieces.
Now I find coherence
In the mystery
Of encounter.
REFLECTION ON 1 CORINTHIANS 13:8-13
Love is eternal, the life-force is eternal and the life-force is God. There
are temporary manifestations of the life-force but they
will pass away. Three things however, will last for ever ‑
faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Believe in the loving life-force ‑
Dream of the loving life-force ‑
But beyond our believing and dreaming there is the life-force itself.
Trust that life-force ‑
Connect with that life-force ‑
Live out that life-force.
‘For the life we live is fire
And the way is wonder-filled
For those who gently dance
Within the sphere of love.’
REBIRTH
In love
as in life lie the seeds
of death;
yet to be a person
I must not fear
death,
for out of death
springs
new life.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
If there is a right time to do any particular action as suggested in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and it is laid down in stone in a set of absolute metaphysical principles how is one supposed to act in a situation in which two principles such as those contained in the ten commandments appear to conflict? For example, ‘thou shalt not kill’ and also ‘thou shalt not bear false witness’ are in conflict when telling the truth endangers someone else’s life. The determination of what is the right time should, I believe, be governed by the golden rule of Jesus to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. What is required is a situational ethic in which compassion is the primary motivation. With the death of the ‘Mythic God’ and the demise of absolute ‘metaphysical laws in the sky’ perhaps it is time to seek to be guided by the laws of the Cosmic Processes in the most advanced manifestation of them within the evolutionary process. (see the hymn “We sing of human loving’s starting point”) What is your reaction to all this?
Note: Also see the paraphrase of the ten commandments in “Which code can assist us?”
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“Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice”
Trinity Institute’s 45th National Theological Conference - Speakers include Nicholas Kristof, Anna Deavere Smith and Michael Curry - January 21-23, 2016
READ ON ...
“Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice”
Trinity Institute’s 45th National Theological Conference Presents
“Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice”
Speakers include Nicholas Kristof, Anna Deavere Smith and Michael Curry
Charleston, SC., cause many across the United States to question whether our nation can ever achieve racial equality within our institutions and social interactions.
Trinity Institute 2016 (TI2016) recognizes that many of us avoid conversations about race because they’re difficult, uncomfortable, or could risk being perceived as prejudiced. The dialogues at “Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice” from January 21-23 at Trinity Wall Street will be learning opportunities: chances to talk skillfully about charged issues with people who might have differing perspectives, with less apprehension. These life-giving conversations will teach about the racial issues of our time, including structural racism, mass incarceration, and policy change.
“As a society, we cannot stay silent and tacitly accept the status quo of systemic racism that supports inequalities, creates suffering, denies human dignity and is too often invisible to its beneficiaries,” said the Rev. Dr. William Lupfer, rector of Trinity Wall Street. “Participants at the 2016 Trinity Institute will have the chance to speak frankly about underpinnings of discrimination and develop the skills to create change within troubled systems.”
TI2016 will bring action-oriented theologians and thought leaders together to provide better understanding, inspiration, and ideas to make a positive impact. This year’s presenters include leading activists, scholars, authors, artists and experts on racial inequality including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof, actress and author Anna Deavere Smith, Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop-Elect of the Episcopal Church, Emilie Townes, Michele Norris, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Victor Rios, Kelly Brown Douglas, Gary Dorrien, Netsayi, and Melanie DeMore.
The conference will be held at Trinity Church (Broadway at Wall Street, New York City); registration is open now for on-site participants and video-linked partner sites. Partner sites—including churches, cathedrals, seminaries, and other organizations—are located throughout the United States and abroad and offer all aspects of the conference, either in real time via webcast or via video at a later time. Participants attending the conference in real time onsite or via partner site can submit questions for speakers during the live Q&A. Onsite reflection groups are coordinated using materials prepared and provided by Trinity Institute.
“TI2016 is for anyone who is interested in a theological perspective on racial justice and a fuller understanding of present realities and ways to transform them. It’s not just for clergy – anyone interested is invited to attend,” said Bob Scott, director of Trinity Institute. “TI is also perfect for seminarians, students, activists, and young church leaders looking for new insights from thought leaders and change agents and all who are dedicated to or interested in striving for racial justice.”
Attendees may qualify for Continuing Education Units (CEUs).
Images
Start:
January 21, 2016
End:
January 23, 2016
Location:
Trinity Church
75 Broadway
New York NY
Organization:
Trinity Institute
Email:
institute@trinitywallstreet.org
---------------------
View all upcoming events here!
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ProgressiveChristianity.org
4810 Point Fosdick Drive NW#80
View all upcoming events here!
News
Job Listings
FacebookTwitterWebsiteEmailYouTubeOur mailing address is:
ProgressiveChristianity.org
4810 Point Fosdick Drive NW#80
Gig Harbor, Washington 98335, United States
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