"Weekly Recap" for Tuesday, January 5, 2016 ProgressiveChristianity.org of Gig Harbor, Washington, United StatesDo You Hate Hating People? This and more in our Free Weekly Recap of our most viewed and new resources from last week.
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“I Hated Hating People”
Rodney Wilson
If conservative Christians wish to remain culturally relevant, ... they must reconsider their positions on a host of issues.
READ ON ...
“I Hated Hating People” by Rodney Wilson
The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study is beginning to sound like a broken record. Each new report reveals that the portion of religiously unaffiliated Americans is growing and that young people are considerably less conventionally religious and more agnostically inclined than their elders. In 2014, Pew reported that 23 percent of all Americans fall into the no-religious-affiliation demographic (the “nones”). Among 18-33-year old Millennials, it’s 35 percent. Religion dropouts are everywhere these days.
Recently, I had the opportunity to engage with nearly 1,600 ex-Christians who completed an extensive survey about their Christian background and the whys behind their deconversion — rejection of faith for agnosticism or atheism. Five denominational dysfunctions were consistently cited: doctrines like inerrancy of Scripture; suspicion of science; failure to keep up with the culture; conservative politics; and anti-gay religious rhetoric flowing from conservative pulpits. That final matter is particularly relevant for LGBT Americans.
Conservative Christianity in America remains largely opposed to LGBT inclusion in matters of faith, doctrine and community, insisting as it does upon an interpretation of the Bible that excludes LGBT members from full participation in the life of the church. Pulpit-hammering sermons against gays still play well in these churches, and in certain political circles, but many congregants — LGBT, their allies and the under-40 faithful — aren’t going to take it anymore. Most of the deconverted ex-Christians who responded to my survey indicated that their liberal views about homosexuality vis a vis their church’s conservative teachings played a significant role in their decision to leave Christianity.
Unfortunately, the research shows, conservative Christianity is a repressive overlord for many LGBT believers. One respondent to my survey, a twentysomething bisexual woman, wrote that losing her religion was “a weight off my young shoulders.” A thirtysomething woman reported that “the single biggest issue in rejecting Christianity was knowing that in my natural state, I am bisexual. If I was created deliberately by god, why would he create someone he would hate?”
Heterosexual allies also suffer spiritual pain when segregated from their LGBT friends and family members by religious Jim Crowism: “I struggled with the way my faith was making me act like a jerk”; “[The issue of homosexuality] is another example where I found the Christian religion and the Bible to be immoral”; “If I had to pick a single cause for my deconversion, this would be it”; “I hated hating people.” One primarily heterosexual twentysomething female speaks for many LGBT-allied ex-Christians:
I sat in church one Sunday and the pastor called homosexuals an abomination in the eyes of God. It ripped my heart to shreds, as I saw the face of each and every one of my homosexual friends flash through my mind. I thought to myself, how dare you! How dare you sit in judgment of your fellow human beings! . . . I couldn’t justify aligning myself with his view of homosexuals, and this played a massive part in my deconversion.
Among the formerly conservative-fundamentalist ex-Christian heterosexuals I interviewed, 51 percent reported that their church’s conservative doctrines on homosexuality contributed to their deconversion, with 32 percent stating that this issue was “very important” or “somewhat important” in their decision to leave religion. Among formerly conservative-fundamentalist ex-Christians who are LGBT, 66 percent report that anti-homosexual theology contributed to their decision to deconvert, and 59 percent claim that it was a “very important” or “somewhat important” factor.
The writing is on the wall. Conservative Christianity is killing God for some LGBT Americans and their allies. There’s a choice to be made. If conservative Christians wish to remain culturally relevant, if they want a voice in the marketplace of ideas, if they desire to play a significant role in public life, they must reconsider their positions on a host of issues, not least of which is how they treat their LGBT neighbors whom Jesus taught them to love as much as they love themselves.
Rodney Wilson holds master’s degrees in history and religion and teaches both at a community college in Missouri. His book, Killing God: Christian Fundamentalism and The Rise of Atheism, is based on his graduate thesis and is available on Amazon.
Article Originally Published Here.
---------------------
3 Glimpses of Grace
If conservative Christians wish to remain culturally relevant, ... they must reconsider their positions on a host of issues.
READ ON ...
“I Hated Hating People” by Rodney Wilson
The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study is beginning to sound like a broken record. Each new report reveals that the portion of religiously unaffiliated Americans is growing and that young people are considerably less conventionally religious and more agnostically inclined than their elders. In 2014, Pew reported that 23 percent of all Americans fall into the no-religious-affiliation demographic (the “nones”). Among 18-33-year old Millennials, it’s 35 percent. Religion dropouts are everywhere these days.
Recently, I had the opportunity to engage with nearly 1,600 ex-Christians who completed an extensive survey about their Christian background and the whys behind their deconversion — rejection of faith for agnosticism or atheism. Five denominational dysfunctions were consistently cited: doctrines like inerrancy of Scripture; suspicion of science; failure to keep up with the culture; conservative politics; and anti-gay religious rhetoric flowing from conservative pulpits. That final matter is particularly relevant for LGBT Americans.
Conservative Christianity in America remains largely opposed to LGBT inclusion in matters of faith, doctrine and community, insisting as it does upon an interpretation of the Bible that excludes LGBT members from full participation in the life of the church. Pulpit-hammering sermons against gays still play well in these churches, and in certain political circles, but many congregants — LGBT, their allies and the under-40 faithful — aren’t going to take it anymore. Most of the deconverted ex-Christians who responded to my survey indicated that their liberal views about homosexuality vis a vis their church’s conservative teachings played a significant role in their decision to leave Christianity.
Unfortunately, the research shows, conservative Christianity is a repressive overlord for many LGBT believers. One respondent to my survey, a twentysomething bisexual woman, wrote that losing her religion was “a weight off my young shoulders.” A thirtysomething woman reported that “the single biggest issue in rejecting Christianity was knowing that in my natural state, I am bisexual. If I was created deliberately by god, why would he create someone he would hate?”
Heterosexual allies also suffer spiritual pain when segregated from their LGBT friends and family members by religious Jim Crowism: “I struggled with the way my faith was making me act like a jerk”; “[The issue of homosexuality] is another example where I found the Christian religion and the Bible to be immoral”; “If I had to pick a single cause for my deconversion, this would be it”; “I hated hating people.” One primarily heterosexual twentysomething female speaks for many LGBT-allied ex-Christians:
I sat in church one Sunday and the pastor called homosexuals an abomination in the eyes of God. It ripped my heart to shreds, as I saw the face of each and every one of my homosexual friends flash through my mind. I thought to myself, how dare you! How dare you sit in judgment of your fellow human beings! . . . I couldn’t justify aligning myself with his view of homosexuals, and this played a massive part in my deconversion.
Among the formerly conservative-fundamentalist ex-Christian heterosexuals I interviewed, 51 percent reported that their church’s conservative doctrines on homosexuality contributed to their deconversion, with 32 percent stating that this issue was “very important” or “somewhat important” in their decision to leave religion. Among formerly conservative-fundamentalist ex-Christians who are LGBT, 66 percent report that anti-homosexual theology contributed to their decision to deconvert, and 59 percent claim that it was a “very important” or “somewhat important” factor.
The writing is on the wall. Conservative Christianity is killing God for some LGBT Americans and their allies. There’s a choice to be made. If conservative Christians wish to remain culturally relevant, if they want a voice in the marketplace of ideas, if they desire to play a significant role in public life, they must reconsider their positions on a host of issues, not least of which is how they treat their LGBT neighbors whom Jesus taught them to love as much as they love themselves.
Rodney Wilson holds master’s degrees in history and religion and teaches both at a community college in Missouri. His book, Killing God: Christian Fundamentalism and The Rise of Atheism, is based on his graduate thesis and is available on Amazon.
Article Originally Published Here.
---------------------
3 Glimpses of Grace
Tom Ehrich
Here are a few glimpses of grace at work in faith communities.
READ ON ...
3 Glimpses of Grace by Tom Ehrich
Here are a few glimpses of grace at work in faith communities.
Taking time for family
My pastor announced she and her family will be taking a 10-day vacation. I celebrate her decision to focus time on family. Too often, the pastor’s family takes a backseat during the Christmas holidays, and then the new year starts with a vengeance. Before long it’s Lent and Easter, and family is neglected once more.
Clergy can’t very well bail on Christmas, but they can put their families first in the days afterward.
Caring for the least of these
Many congregations distribute food and presents to the needy at Christmas time. Their seasonal generosity is hard to fault, though the tone of noblesse oblige can be cloying. But this year a Presbyterian congregation in Northern Virginia took caring for the “least of these” to a fresh and promising level.
They decided to sell their historic facility to a cooperative that is building affordable housing in an increasingly unaffordable area. The usual voices fought the move bitterly. But most congregants, after actually talking with their homeless and housing-challenged neighbors, decided to do the right thing.
Finding their political voice
Faith communities, especially in mainline traditions, tend to be diverse. They include people of all socioeconomic circumstances, all political persuasions, all cultural preferences, and all lifestyles. Church leaders who want to serve their larger communities have some difficult paths to walk.
It’s easier for right-wing churches, where homogeneity is highly valued and heterogeneity is seen as unhelpful. They can speak with one political voice, whereas mainline leaders need to consider their diversity. This has prevented progressive Christianity from having much of a voice in the political conflicts of recent years. Faith politics focus on charitable and advocacy efforts to help “them,” such as white progressives helping blacks living across town, but have rarely been about “us,” such as our bankers behaving like predators, our professionals enjoying extreme wealth, our parents demanding better schools for their own children. The exception has been advocacy for our constituents wanting professional breakthroughs.
The needs remain defiantly the same: the haves declaring war on the have-nots, whites fighting to retain privileged status in a diversifying society, and people wanting not only to live with their own kind, but to worship with their own kind.
I see signs that more and more church leaders are risking lost pledges by proclaiming the Gospel to constituents who have historically not wanted to hear it. The growing movement to hold wealth and power accountable for its behavior now finds echoes within the faith community. Not punitive, not harshly judgmental, and yet unmistakable in their message that bigger barns aren’t God’s way.
A stronger progressive voice is emerging. It is starting to push back against the determined and thus far successful efforts of right-wing Christians to claim the “Christian franchise.” Our nation needs a full array of voices speaking what they perceive to be God’s truth.
About the Author
Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the publisher of Fresh Day online magazine, author of On a Journey and two national newspaper columns. His website is Church Wellness – Morning Walk Media
---------------------
Worship Materials: Human Relationships, Beginnings
Here are a few glimpses of grace at work in faith communities.
READ ON ...
3 Glimpses of Grace by Tom Ehrich
Here are a few glimpses of grace at work in faith communities.
Taking time for family
My pastor announced she and her family will be taking a 10-day vacation. I celebrate her decision to focus time on family. Too often, the pastor’s family takes a backseat during the Christmas holidays, and then the new year starts with a vengeance. Before long it’s Lent and Easter, and family is neglected once more.
Clergy can’t very well bail on Christmas, but they can put their families first in the days afterward.
Caring for the least of these
Many congregations distribute food and presents to the needy at Christmas time. Their seasonal generosity is hard to fault, though the tone of noblesse oblige can be cloying. But this year a Presbyterian congregation in Northern Virginia took caring for the “least of these” to a fresh and promising level.
They decided to sell their historic facility to a cooperative that is building affordable housing in an increasingly unaffordable area. The usual voices fought the move bitterly. But most congregants, after actually talking with their homeless and housing-challenged neighbors, decided to do the right thing.
Finding their political voice
Faith communities, especially in mainline traditions, tend to be diverse. They include people of all socioeconomic circumstances, all political persuasions, all cultural preferences, and all lifestyles. Church leaders who want to serve their larger communities have some difficult paths to walk.
It’s easier for right-wing churches, where homogeneity is highly valued and heterogeneity is seen as unhelpful. They can speak with one political voice, whereas mainline leaders need to consider their diversity. This has prevented progressive Christianity from having much of a voice in the political conflicts of recent years. Faith politics focus on charitable and advocacy efforts to help “them,” such as white progressives helping blacks living across town, but have rarely been about “us,” such as our bankers behaving like predators, our professionals enjoying extreme wealth, our parents demanding better schools for their own children. The exception has been advocacy for our constituents wanting professional breakthroughs.
The needs remain defiantly the same: the haves declaring war on the have-nots, whites fighting to retain privileged status in a diversifying society, and people wanting not only to live with their own kind, but to worship with their own kind.
I see signs that more and more church leaders are risking lost pledges by proclaiming the Gospel to constituents who have historically not wanted to hear it. The growing movement to hold wealth and power accountable for its behavior now finds echoes within the faith community. Not punitive, not harshly judgmental, and yet unmistakable in their message that bigger barns aren’t God’s way.
A stronger progressive voice is emerging. It is starting to push back against the determined and thus far successful efforts of right-wing Christians to claim the “Christian franchise.” Our nation needs a full array of voices speaking what they perceive to be God’s truth.
About the Author
Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the publisher of Fresh Day online magazine, author of On a Journey and two national newspaper columns. His website is Church Wellness – Morning Walk Media
---------------------
Worship Materials: Human Relationships, Beginnings
William Wallace
Romance is only healthy within the context of our love for life, for the mystery, for the divine.
READ ON ...
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.
---------------------
Weekly Liturgy
Romance is only healthy within the context of our love for life, for the mystery, for the divine.
READ ON ...
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.
---------------------
Weekly Liturgy
Week of: December 27th, 2015
A New Day
“You are the new day.” One last fond look back to the year just finishing, and we turn and set our gaze forward to the new day, the new year. The lull between Christmas and New Year’s is the perfect time to ask, “Am I on a path that serves my highest good? If not, what changes can I make to bring that about?”
READ ON ...
Worship Materials: The Year
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. Wallace
THEME Time and the Timeless
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
O God, who is both beyond and within all time, as we evaluate this
past year, help us to assess what we should have left out of our
program as well as what we should have included that this coming year
may be a time of balance between the march of clock time and the
dance of spirit time.
HYMNS
You are the process God (BL)
Past and present.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Everything has its own season.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
SCATTERED TIME
My days
seem to be scattered
like the working sheets
of a book
prior to compilation.
So I ask myself
does my life need to be compiled
before I die,
all sorted into appropriate
mutually exclusive categories
or can I leave it
to God
to make sense
of all my
multifarious
activities
and goals?
NEW YEAR
At the appointed moment
the clock struck
and a seemingly premature year
left eternity’s womb
and rushed into the light of day.
Somehow I wished
that the New Year’s birth
could have been delayed
if not aborted
for the clock of my life
does not seem to be synchronized
with the horologist’s certitudes.
Indeed it seems
to record
the hours and minutes
in another time zone.
I wonder what land of mind
my clock belongs to
since there is so much
of last year
still left to be completed?
Maybe time only makes sense
when without regret
we slow down
for it is not
the length
but the quality.
of time
that matters.
And what better quality
than that contained
within
the timeless world
of God’s
mystery.
BIBLICAL MONTAGE ON TIME
THE PREACHER SAID (Ecclesiastes 3:1) To everything there is a
season and a time for every purpose under the heaven.
JESUS SAID (John 7:6) My time has not yet come.
GOD SAID (Revelation 2:5) Behold I am making all things new.
THE PREACHER SAID (Ecclesiastes 7:10) Never ask “Oh, why were
things so much better in the old days? That is not an intelligent question.”
JESUS SAID (Matthew 5:17) I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.
A PARAPHRASE OF ECCLESIASTES 3:1-8
There is a right time for everything in creation
a time for light and a time for darkness,
a time for sound and a time for silence,
a time for action and a time for reflection,
a time for work and a time for play,
a time for waking and a time for sleeping,
a time for holding on and a time for letting go,
a time for dying and a time for new beginnings.
There is a time for negotiation and a time for confrontation
a time for advance and a time for retreat,
a time for laughter and a time for tears,
a time for intimacy and a time for solitude,
a time for others and a time for oneself
But all these times are God’s time
and now is the time to be aware.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
The march of time is clock time.
The dance of time is spirit time.
Spirit time is the space in which we can be still, gaze, wonder, delight in, rest, dance – a time when we can become one with the mountain, the sunset, another human being, with God.
How can I organize my life this coming year to ensure that I have
space for both?
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.
---------------------
The Wise Man’s Confession by Jim Burklo
What wisdom I have
Awakens me to my blindness.
I cannot see light itself:
What I know of light
Is only an alluring shadow
Of what it is and does.
From billions of years away in space-time,
Through darkness intervening,
At its inconceivable speed
The light of an exploding star passes
Through the dark seas of my eyes,
Illuminating the dark curves of their retinas.
But I cannot see the glow of their cells:
I can only perceive the messages they send
To my brain, and from there to my soul.
Thus Hope passes,
Unseen and undetected,
Through this dark world.
What retina receives and translates it
Into Joy and Wonder?
An eye comes into the world:
A retina I cannot perceive
That will see for me,
Beyond my dark despair.
A star in the East!
This eye tells me
To follow it
All the way to the Source
Of the truer Wisdom
That is Love.
A New Day
“You are the new day.” One last fond look back to the year just finishing, and we turn and set our gaze forward to the new day, the new year. The lull between Christmas and New Year’s is the perfect time to ask, “Am I on a path that serves my highest good? If not, what changes can I make to bring that about?”
READ ON ...
Worship Materials: The Year
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. Wallace
THEME Time and the Timeless
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
- Each day can be a life time.
- Time is the enemy only if we let it control our lives.
- Time is redeemed by timeless moments.
- When time flows it nurtures our spirit, when time marches on it becomes a prison in which the spirit languishes.
- The time of your life is now!
O God, who is both beyond and within all time, as we evaluate this
past year, help us to assess what we should have left out of our
program as well as what we should have included that this coming year
may be a time of balance between the march of clock time and the
dance of spirit time.
HYMNS
You are the process God (BL)
Past and present.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Everything has its own season.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
SCATTERED TIME
My days
seem to be scattered
like the working sheets
of a book
prior to compilation.
So I ask myself
does my life need to be compiled
before I die,
all sorted into appropriate
mutually exclusive categories
or can I leave it
to God
to make sense
of all my
multifarious
activities
and goals?
NEW YEAR
At the appointed moment
the clock struck
and a seemingly premature year
left eternity’s womb
and rushed into the light of day.
Somehow I wished
that the New Year’s birth
could have been delayed
if not aborted
for the clock of my life
does not seem to be synchronized
with the horologist’s certitudes.
Indeed it seems
to record
the hours and minutes
in another time zone.
I wonder what land of mind
my clock belongs to
since there is so much
of last year
still left to be completed?
Maybe time only makes sense
when without regret
we slow down
for it is not
the length
but the quality.
of time
that matters.
And what better quality
than that contained
within
the timeless world
of God’s
mystery.
BIBLICAL MONTAGE ON TIME
THE PREACHER SAID (Ecclesiastes 3:1) To everything there is a
season and a time for every purpose under the heaven.
JESUS SAID (John 7:6) My time has not yet come.
GOD SAID (Revelation 2:5) Behold I am making all things new.
THE PREACHER SAID (Ecclesiastes 7:10) Never ask “Oh, why were
things so much better in the old days? That is not an intelligent question.”
JESUS SAID (Matthew 5:17) I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.
A PARAPHRASE OF ECCLESIASTES 3:1-8
There is a right time for everything in creation
a time for light and a time for darkness,
a time for sound and a time for silence,
a time for action and a time for reflection,
a time for work and a time for play,
a time for waking and a time for sleeping,
a time for holding on and a time for letting go,
a time for dying and a time for new beginnings.
There is a time for negotiation and a time for confrontation
a time for advance and a time for retreat,
a time for laughter and a time for tears,
a time for intimacy and a time for solitude,
a time for others and a time for oneself
But all these times are God’s time
and now is the time to be aware.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
The march of time is clock time.
The dance of time is spirit time.
Spirit time is the space in which we can be still, gaze, wonder, delight in, rest, dance – a time when we can become one with the mountain, the sunset, another human being, with God.
How can I organize my life this coming year to ensure that I have
space for both?
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.
---------------------
The Wise Man’s Confession by Jim Burklo
What wisdom I have
Awakens me to my blindness.
I cannot see light itself:
What I know of light
Is only an alluring shadow
Of what it is and does.
From billions of years away in space-time,
Through darkness intervening,
At its inconceivable speed
The light of an exploding star passes
Through the dark seas of my eyes,
Illuminating the dark curves of their retinas.
But I cannot see the glow of their cells:
I can only perceive the messages they send
To my brain, and from there to my soul.
Thus Hope passes,
Unseen and undetected,
Through this dark world.
What retina receives and translates it
Into Joy and Wonder?
An eye comes into the world:
A retina I cannot perceive
That will see for me,
Beyond my dark despair.
A star in the East!
This eye tells me
To follow it
All the way to the Source
Of the truer Wisdom
That is Love.
---------------------
Our Eternal Life by Giles Pickford
Our eternal life which is in all creation
Holy, Holy, Holy is your name
Let your will be done in us and all creatures
Help us to be at peace with ourselves and all people
Help us forgive ourselves and others for our mistakes
For the Universe is yours in all its glory
Forever and ever, Amen
---------------------
Events and Updates
The Future is Calling Us to Greatness with Michael Dowd
This historic on-line series of 30-60 minute Skype interviews showcases the work of many of today’s leaders and luminaries ...
READ ON ...
The Future is Calling Us to Greatness with Michael Dowd
You can still view many of these sessions for free!
Watch them here
A worldwide movement is emerging at the nexus of science, inspiration, and sustainability. Beliefs are secondary. What unites us is a pool of shared values and commitments—and the vision of a just and healthy future for humanity and the larger body of life. This historic series of 30-60 minute Skype interviews showcases the work of many of today’s leaders and luminaries regarding what to expect in the decades ahead, what’s being done—what still needs to be done—and how to be in action despite enormous challenges. These 55 experts represent a veritable Who’s Who of prophetic inspiration.
Learn more about each speaker and their session!
Your Host – Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd is a bestselling evolutionary theologian and evangelist for an honorable relationship to the future. His bridge-building book, Thank God for Evolution, was endorsed by 6 Nobel Prize-winning scientists, notedskeptics, and by religious leadersacross the spectrum. His ministry has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Discover, and on CNN, ABC News, and Fox News. Michael and his science-writer wife, Connie Barlow, have spoken to nearly two thousand groups across North America since 2002. Their passion is showing how a deeply meaningful and fully evidence-based view of reality can inspire people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs to live in joyful integrity and cooperate in service of a just and thriving future for all. (Michael’s two TEDx talks and other video, audio, and text publications can be accessed here / His wikipedia page, here.)
By purchasing this event, you are also supporting ProgressiveChristianity.org!
These sessions are now available for purchase and preview:
Monday, Jan 26
11:00am PT
Inspiring ‘Green for All’ Justice
with Nikki Silvestri
12:00pm PT
The 350.org Message and Movement
with Bill McKibben
1:00pm PT
The Largest Social Movement in the World
with Paul Hawken
2:00pm PT
Integral Wisdom for Challenging Times
with Ken Wilber
Tuesday, Jan 27
11:00am PT
Bringing Climate Science to Evangelicals
with Katharine Hayhoe
12:00pm PT
Speaking Prophetically in the U.S. Senate
with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
1:00pm PT
Winning the Story Wars by Calling People to Greatness
with Jonah Sachs
2:00pm PT
Saving the Grandchildren of All Species
with James Hansen
Wednesday, Jan 28
11:00am PT
The Great Disruption and Realistic Hope
with Paul Gilding
12:00pm PT
Nature Means Business: A Positive Vision
with Amy Larkin
1:00pm PT
Peak Everything as a Blessing
with Richard Heinberg
2:00pm PT
The Future of God and Human Flourishing
with Deepak Chopra
Thursday, Jan 29
11:00am PT
Igniting a Generation of Young People
with Barbara Jefferson
12:00pm PT
Transition Culture, Transition Network
with Rob Hopkins
1:00pm PT
The Promise of Collective Intelligence
with Tom Atlee
2:00pm PT
Gracefully Navigating the Long Emergency
with James Howard Kunstler
Friday, Jan 30
11:00am PT
Giving Prophetic Voice to Climate Science
with Joe Romm
12:00pm PT
The Promise of Conscious Evolution
with Barbara Marx Hubbard
1:00pm PT
The Prophetic Political Role of Spiritual Progressives
with Rabbi Michael Lerner
2:00pm PT
Living Purposefully with Death in Mind
with Carolyn Baker
Saturday, Jan 31
11:00am PT
The Archdruid Report on the Big Picture
with John Michael Greer
12:00pm PT
Telling the Climate Story to Inspire Action
with Susan Joy Hassol
1:00pm PT
The Power of Social Change 2.0
with David Gershon
2:00pm PT
How Business Can Help Green the World
with Chris Henderson
Sunday, Feb 1
11:00am PT
Global Wisdom and the Pro-Future Mission of en*theos
with Brian Johnson
12:00pm PT
The Sacred Side of Science
with Nancy Ellen Abrams & Joel Primack
1:00pm PT
Sacred Economics and the Rebirth of a Beautiful World
with Charles Eisenstein
2:00pm PT
The Art of Planetizing the Movement
with Drew Dellinger
Monday, Feb 2
11:00am PT
Climate: The Greatest Moral Issue in History
with Kathleen Dean Moore
12:00pm PT
Why Science Literacy is Essential
with J. Marshall Shepherd
1:00pm PT
Re-Localizing What Matters Most
with Michael Brownlee
2:00pm PT
Change the Story, Change the Future
with David Korten
Tuesday, Feb 3
11:00am PT
Integral Practice as a Blessing to Future Generations
with Terry Patten
12:00pm PT
Generation Waking Up
with Joshua Gorman
1:00pm PT
The Only Thing Future Generations Care About
with Derrick Jensen
2:00pm PT
Resisting Violence to Women, the Planet, the Future
with Lierre Keith
Wednesday, Feb 4
11:00am PT
Evidential Mysticism: The Art of Creation Spirituality
with Matthew Fox
12:00pm PT
The Sacred Wild Within and Without
with Bill Pfeiffer
1:00pm PT
Evolutionary Lessons from a Living Planet
with Elisabet Sahtouris
2:00pm PT
The Climate Meme Project
with Joe Brewer
Thursday, Feb 5
11:00am PT
Breakthrough Communities, Breakthrough Possibilities
with Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel
12:00pm PT
Our Greatness is Expressed in Our Collective Conduct as a Species
with Duane Elgin
1:00pm PT
Evolving Wisdom in Service to a Healthy Future
with Craig Hamilton
2:00pm PT
Earth Honoring Faith
with Larry Rasmussen
Friday, Feb 6
11:00am PT
Project Drawdown
with Amanda Joy Ravenhill
12:00pm PT
Bidder 70, Peaceful Uprising, and Climate Justice
with Tim DeChristopher
1:00pm PT
The Shift Network: Promoting Personal and Planetary Transformation
with Stephen Dinan
2:00pm PT
Peak Prosperity, the Crash Course, and Helping Others Prepare
with Chris Martenson
Saturday, Feb 7
11:00am PT
How Chaos Catalyzes Emergence
with Peggy Holman
12:00pm PT
Emerging Faith for Emerging Challenges
with Brian McLaren
1:00pm PT
The ManKind Project and Gift Community
with Bill Kauth
2:00pm PT
Permaculture as Right Relationship to Reality
with Peter Bane
Sunday, Feb 8
11:00am PT
This Sacred Earth: Faith, Science, and the Future
with Philip Clayton
12:00pm PT
It’s Time for an Integral Islam
with Amir Ahmad Nasr
1:00pm PT
Global Dark Green Integrity
with Bron Taylor
2:00pm PT
Reality Is Lord! — Science, God, and Evil on a Rapidly Overheating Planet
with Michael Dowd
Symposium Overview
Now available for purchase individually or the complete set!
We each have experienced times of trouble that threaten to overwhelm our individual lives. In such times, a vision of possibility is essential. The same holds for the punctuations in history when whole societies face troubles of an immense and uncharted variety. Truly, we have arrived at such a time. Humans, unwittingly, have become a planetary force. We are changing irreversibly the very climate of our world. Henceforth, any actions we take as individuals and societies will be done in the new light of climate change. What vision will carry us forward and inspire us to work together? What vision will charge us with a sense of heroic purpose that the future is indeed calling us to greatness?
“How can we face the large-scale challenges of our time with hearts of gratitude, passion for life, and inspiration to be in action in service to the future?” This and related questions are explored in this Virtual Conference with some of the world’s most helpful voices regarding the challenges and opportunities we can expect in the coming decades, what is currently being done and what still needs to be done, and how, as individuals and groups, we all can participate in the Great Work of co-creating a just and healthy future for humanity and the larger body of life.
A related goal of this Skype interview series is to lift up a worldwide movement that has been emerging for decades at the nexus of science, inspiration, justice, and sustainability. Beliefs are secondary. What unites tens of millions of the religious and non-religious alike is a pool of common values, priorities, and commitments for living in right relationship to reality and working together to foster a thriving future for all. We feel our moment in the arc of history, such that, “The past is rooting for us and the future is calling us to greatness.”
Images
---------------------
Start:
January 26, 2015
End:
February 8, 2015
Location:
wherever you are!
online
virtual conference
Contact:
Contact Our Support Team
Website:
https://www.entheos.com/The-Future-is-Calling-Us-to-Greatness/?c=progressive-christianity
Email:
support@progressivechristianity.org
Our Eternal Life by Giles Pickford
Our eternal life which is in all creation
Holy, Holy, Holy is your name
Let your will be done in us and all creatures
Help us to be at peace with ourselves and all people
Help us forgive ourselves and others for our mistakes
For the Universe is yours in all its glory
Forever and ever, Amen
---------------------
Events and Updates
The Future is Calling Us to Greatness with Michael Dowd
This historic on-line series of 30-60 minute Skype interviews showcases the work of many of today’s leaders and luminaries ...
READ ON ...
The Future is Calling Us to Greatness with Michael Dowd
You can still view many of these sessions for free!
Watch them here
A worldwide movement is emerging at the nexus of science, inspiration, and sustainability. Beliefs are secondary. What unites us is a pool of shared values and commitments—and the vision of a just and healthy future for humanity and the larger body of life. This historic series of 30-60 minute Skype interviews showcases the work of many of today’s leaders and luminaries regarding what to expect in the decades ahead, what’s being done—what still needs to be done—and how to be in action despite enormous challenges. These 55 experts represent a veritable Who’s Who of prophetic inspiration.
Learn more about each speaker and their session!
Your Host – Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd is a bestselling evolutionary theologian and evangelist for an honorable relationship to the future. His bridge-building book, Thank God for Evolution, was endorsed by 6 Nobel Prize-winning scientists, notedskeptics, and by religious leadersacross the spectrum. His ministry has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Discover, and on CNN, ABC News, and Fox News. Michael and his science-writer wife, Connie Barlow, have spoken to nearly two thousand groups across North America since 2002. Their passion is showing how a deeply meaningful and fully evidence-based view of reality can inspire people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs to live in joyful integrity and cooperate in service of a just and thriving future for all. (Michael’s two TEDx talks and other video, audio, and text publications can be accessed here / His wikipedia page, here.)
By purchasing this event, you are also supporting ProgressiveChristianity.org!
These sessions are now available for purchase and preview:
Monday, Jan 26
11:00am PT
Inspiring ‘Green for All’ Justice
with Nikki Silvestri
12:00pm PT
The 350.org Message and Movement
with Bill McKibben
1:00pm PT
The Largest Social Movement in the World
with Paul Hawken
2:00pm PT
Integral Wisdom for Challenging Times
with Ken Wilber
Tuesday, Jan 27
11:00am PT
Bringing Climate Science to Evangelicals
with Katharine Hayhoe
12:00pm PT
Speaking Prophetically in the U.S. Senate
with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
1:00pm PT
Winning the Story Wars by Calling People to Greatness
with Jonah Sachs
2:00pm PT
Saving the Grandchildren of All Species
with James Hansen
Wednesday, Jan 28
11:00am PT
The Great Disruption and Realistic Hope
with Paul Gilding
12:00pm PT
Nature Means Business: A Positive Vision
with Amy Larkin
1:00pm PT
Peak Everything as a Blessing
with Richard Heinberg
2:00pm PT
The Future of God and Human Flourishing
with Deepak Chopra
Thursday, Jan 29
11:00am PT
Igniting a Generation of Young People
with Barbara Jefferson
12:00pm PT
Transition Culture, Transition Network
with Rob Hopkins
1:00pm PT
The Promise of Collective Intelligence
with Tom Atlee
2:00pm PT
Gracefully Navigating the Long Emergency
with James Howard Kunstler
Friday, Jan 30
11:00am PT
Giving Prophetic Voice to Climate Science
with Joe Romm
12:00pm PT
The Promise of Conscious Evolution
with Barbara Marx Hubbard
1:00pm PT
The Prophetic Political Role of Spiritual Progressives
with Rabbi Michael Lerner
2:00pm PT
Living Purposefully with Death in Mind
with Carolyn Baker
Saturday, Jan 31
11:00am PT
The Archdruid Report on the Big Picture
with John Michael Greer
12:00pm PT
Telling the Climate Story to Inspire Action
with Susan Joy Hassol
1:00pm PT
The Power of Social Change 2.0
with David Gershon
2:00pm PT
How Business Can Help Green the World
with Chris Henderson
Sunday, Feb 1
11:00am PT
Global Wisdom and the Pro-Future Mission of en*theos
with Brian Johnson
12:00pm PT
The Sacred Side of Science
with Nancy Ellen Abrams & Joel Primack
1:00pm PT
Sacred Economics and the Rebirth of a Beautiful World
with Charles Eisenstein
2:00pm PT
The Art of Planetizing the Movement
with Drew Dellinger
Monday, Feb 2
11:00am PT
Climate: The Greatest Moral Issue in History
with Kathleen Dean Moore
12:00pm PT
Why Science Literacy is Essential
with J. Marshall Shepherd
1:00pm PT
Re-Localizing What Matters Most
with Michael Brownlee
2:00pm PT
Change the Story, Change the Future
with David Korten
Tuesday, Feb 3
11:00am PT
Integral Practice as a Blessing to Future Generations
with Terry Patten
12:00pm PT
Generation Waking Up
with Joshua Gorman
1:00pm PT
The Only Thing Future Generations Care About
with Derrick Jensen
2:00pm PT
Resisting Violence to Women, the Planet, the Future
with Lierre Keith
Wednesday, Feb 4
11:00am PT
Evidential Mysticism: The Art of Creation Spirituality
with Matthew Fox
12:00pm PT
The Sacred Wild Within and Without
with Bill Pfeiffer
1:00pm PT
Evolutionary Lessons from a Living Planet
with Elisabet Sahtouris
2:00pm PT
The Climate Meme Project
with Joe Brewer
Thursday, Feb 5
11:00am PT
Breakthrough Communities, Breakthrough Possibilities
with Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel
12:00pm PT
Our Greatness is Expressed in Our Collective Conduct as a Species
with Duane Elgin
1:00pm PT
Evolving Wisdom in Service to a Healthy Future
with Craig Hamilton
2:00pm PT
Earth Honoring Faith
with Larry Rasmussen
Friday, Feb 6
11:00am PT
Project Drawdown
with Amanda Joy Ravenhill
12:00pm PT
Bidder 70, Peaceful Uprising, and Climate Justice
with Tim DeChristopher
1:00pm PT
The Shift Network: Promoting Personal and Planetary Transformation
with Stephen Dinan
2:00pm PT
Peak Prosperity, the Crash Course, and Helping Others Prepare
with Chris Martenson
Saturday, Feb 7
11:00am PT
How Chaos Catalyzes Emergence
with Peggy Holman
12:00pm PT
Emerging Faith for Emerging Challenges
with Brian McLaren
1:00pm PT
The ManKind Project and Gift Community
with Bill Kauth
2:00pm PT
Permaculture as Right Relationship to Reality
with Peter Bane
Sunday, Feb 8
11:00am PT
This Sacred Earth: Faith, Science, and the Future
with Philip Clayton
12:00pm PT
It’s Time for an Integral Islam
with Amir Ahmad Nasr
1:00pm PT
Global Dark Green Integrity
with Bron Taylor
2:00pm PT
Reality Is Lord! — Science, God, and Evil on a Rapidly Overheating Planet
with Michael Dowd
Symposium Overview
Now available for purchase individually or the complete set!
We each have experienced times of trouble that threaten to overwhelm our individual lives. In such times, a vision of possibility is essential. The same holds for the punctuations in history when whole societies face troubles of an immense and uncharted variety. Truly, we have arrived at such a time. Humans, unwittingly, have become a planetary force. We are changing irreversibly the very climate of our world. Henceforth, any actions we take as individuals and societies will be done in the new light of climate change. What vision will carry us forward and inspire us to work together? What vision will charge us with a sense of heroic purpose that the future is indeed calling us to greatness?
“How can we face the large-scale challenges of our time with hearts of gratitude, passion for life, and inspiration to be in action in service to the future?” This and related questions are explored in this Virtual Conference with some of the world’s most helpful voices regarding the challenges and opportunities we can expect in the coming decades, what is currently being done and what still needs to be done, and how, as individuals and groups, we all can participate in the Great Work of co-creating a just and healthy future for humanity and the larger body of life.
A related goal of this Skype interview series is to lift up a worldwide movement that has been emerging for decades at the nexus of science, inspiration, justice, and sustainability. Beliefs are secondary. What unites tens of millions of the religious and non-religious alike is a pool of common values, priorities, and commitments for living in right relationship to reality and working together to foster a thriving future for all. We feel our moment in the arc of history, such that, “The past is rooting for us and the future is calling us to greatness.”
Images
---------------------
Start:
January 26, 2015
End:
February 8, 2015
Location:
wherever you are!
online
virtual conference
Contact:
Contact Our Support Team
Website:
https://www.entheos.com/The-Future-is-Calling-Us-to-Greatness/?c=progressive-christianity
Email:
support@progressivechristianity.org
---------------------
View all upcoming events here!
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Job Listings
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Twitter
Website
Email
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Our mailing address is:
ProgressiveChristianity.org
4810 Point Fosdick Dr. NW#80
View all upcoming events here!
News
Job Listings
FacebookTwitterWebsiteEmailYouTubeOur mailing address is:
ProgressiveChristianity.org
4810 Point Fosdick Dr. NW#80
Gig Harbor, Washington 98335, United States
---------------------
---------------------
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