Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Weekly Recap for Monday, January 2, 2017 from ProgressiveChristianity.org of Gig Harbor, Washington, United States "Is it time for churches to step up their game? This and more in our Free Weekly Recap of our most viewed and new resources from last week."

 Weekly Recap for Monday, January 2, 2017 from ProgressiveChristianity.org of Gig Harbor, Washington, United States "Is it time for churches to step up their game? 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: Extraordinary Churches, Wisdom Does Not Change, Looking For, or Looking? and the Epiphany.
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Extraordinary times call for extraordinary churches
Tom Ehrich
In America and in much of Europe, right-wing politicians backed by screaming mobs of white nationalists are taking power. The anger, fear and hatred are so strong that democracy itself might not survive.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary churches.
In America and in much of Europe, right-wing politicians backed by screaming mobs of white nationalists are taking power. The anger, fear and hatred are so strong that democracy itself might not survive.
In America, life is about to get rocky for many. The elderly face cutbacks in Social Security and Medicare. Women face renewed pressure on reproductive rights and a prevailing attitude of misogyny. African-Americans face overt racism and police brutality. Immigrants face deportation and public assaults. Muslims face repression for their religion. Jews face overt anti-Semitism. Homosexuals face retribution for gains made in recent years. In moves that will surprise those who voted for the incoming president, working class whites will face loss of what few safety-net benefits they have, as well as unrealized promises on jobs.
That’s a lot of people heading into rocky times. Except for congregations serving the 1%, some of these people will be sitting in our pews, looking to us for hope. Many more are beyond our walls. They are our future.
In a time of extraordinary hurting, churches will need to get beyond “business as usual.” Here’s what would an extraordinary church should be doing in the years ahead:
1. Look radically outward. Stop trying to make everyone inside the walls happy. Stop focusing communications internally. Stop allocating resources to serve the membership. Instead, see people outside our walls, recognize their needs, and gear up to respond to them. Understand it as love in action, not as a membership strategy.
2. Move beyond noblesse oblige. Stop playing “Lord and Lady Bountiful.” Stop seeing other people as “problems” needing to be solved through handouts. Instead, see them as neighbors. See “them” as “us.” Stop the once-a-year charities. Invest in people and in relationships.
3. Ratchet down spending on self. Stop spending so much on Sunday worship and pastoral care. People need food, jobs, shelter, health care, safety, education – not better and better Sunday worship. To paraphrase JFK, ask not what your church can do for you, but ask what you and your church can do for a broken world.
4. Form action-based partnerships. Stop hanging out only with your own kind. Extraordinary times make for strange bedfellows. Cross the boundaries that separate us. God doesn’t care who gets the credit, only that the work gets done.
5. Strengthen faithful resolve for the resistance. Build up courage, build up determination, build up a faith that dares to be non-conformist in repressive times, build up voices that will speak when speaking becomes dangerous. Cut through doctrinal and denominational baggage, and form the oneness that has been God’s goal all along.
6. Provide practical help. Stop the public displays of right-opinion. Stop symbolic actions. If people need jobs, help them to find work. If seniors need medical care, help them to find it. If immigrants need sanctuary, provide it. If women need ways to escape abusive men, open a shelter.
7. Stop fighting. Just stop it.Stop worrying about who’s in charge. Stop pressuring your clergy to do your bidding. Stop settling old scores. Stop trying to hold on to power. Stop using church fights as a way to keep God small. God doesn’t need us to be right, God needs us to do kingdom work in a troubled world.
This is a lot to ask. Being an extraordinary church would stretch us in ways we have wanted to avoid being stretched. Faith is hard work.
About the Author
Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the publisher of A Fresh Day online magazine, author of On a Journey and two national newspaper columns.
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Wisdom Does Not Change: Sages, Saints and Science Share the Way
Part 1 of a 6-Part Series: We are not as in control of our lives as we assume
Richard Holdsworth There is no distinct ‘CEO of the mind’... Rather the mind is made up of competing mental modules, each with its distinct emphasis and agenda to take over.
We experience the sun differently each day; but its heat does not change. In the same way, we experience busy thoughts each day, but wisdom does not change. We use those thoughts to make sense of our various outlooks, but we need our quietude to find wisdom.
Part 1 of a 6-Part Series
We are not as in control of our lives as we assume
In the online course, “Buddhism and Modern Psychology”, Robert Wright examines what triggers the mind to become activated in certain ways—after a scary movie compared to after a romantic movie, for example. He also describes how neurological studies have verified that the triggers that activate contemporary minds emulate responses that developed for survival living. Modern-day compulsive behavior patterns such as say ‘retail therapy’, or addictive habits are ancestral drives that have become redirected. The drives that urge us to over-consume and accumulate are the same drives that once prompted us to gather fruits, fetch water and hunt. Additional extant urges include protecting ourselves, caring for others, finding mates and other essential functions. Each urge is for a particular situation, such as to run from a lion, challenge a rival, protect a child, etc. Neurologists describe what generates such intuitive urges and motivations as Modules. Whichever Module has most preeminence helps define how you activate the part of ‘you’ that you display.
Modules compete for control of consciousness, and thus affect behavior. But Wright claims that there is no distinct ‘CEO of the mind’: we do not exercise overriding control over indefatigable, unchanging perceptions, preferences, drives and habits. Rather the mind is made up of competing mental modules, each with its distinct emphasis and agenda to take over. Far from being regulated by our conscious decisions, modules function like a committee that has no Chair or Roberts Rules.
But our minds aren’t designed only for personal responses; we are socially engineered. Our module-directed responses translate into ego-driven social behavior. In this respect, competing modules act like clamoring reporters who demand the attention of a celebrity. Imagine the celebrity as our conscious mind and the reporters our modules. For a while a predominant module commands the attention of conscious thinking. While it does so, the conscious mind deals with it in much the same way as a celebrity fields questions—with good PR. And like a celebrity’s bravado, the job of the ego-driven consciousness is to present a predominant module as if it were a whole person. Persistent, familiar and rewarding modules that help sustain us favorably (for better or worse) become predominant. Also modules that respond to urgent environmental factors such as danger leap to the fore. Dominant modules, however are let go willingly if satisfied. I might feel bad about how I treated someone, for example and make amends; this relinquishes my guilt-carrying module and its behavioral outcome.
After an unconscious process of multifaceted neural selections, the conscious mind gets delivery of our limited rational choices. But in “Buddhism and Modern Psychology” Wright explains that there is another way of functioning. Using Buddhist precepts he asks “Can meditation make us not just happier, but better people?” Wright describes how our self-willed, conscious mind need not be the sole commanding operator. We can also utilize an influential Quiet Mind that promotes inner equanimity with less self-directed thinking. Contemplative quietude releases egotistical willfulness and allows us, for example to become more truthful about ourselves. In a contemplative state we can become more disposed to change and open to fulfilling adjustments. To achieve this we can utilize some simple, proven undertakings to reveal how conscious effort alone does not fulfill us. And this theme will be explored in the next essay.
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Looking For, or Looking?
Jim Burklo
... to discover the difference between looking for and just looking. When I’m just looking, I see things I miss when I’m looking for... like incarnations of God.
Atop the mantel of our fireplace is a creche made of tin by our granddaughter, Rumi, and myself a few years ago. There it will stay through Epiphany, January 6, the day set aside to remember the visit of the three wise men from the east who were the first Gentiles to witness the incarnation of the Christ.
The primary activity of all the figures, and maybe even for the baby, can be summed up in one word: looking. Not just “looking”, but “just looking”.
My daily mindful prayer practice aims at the same experience.
And it’s easier said than done. Because most of the time, I’m not just looking. If I’m looking at all, I’m looking for something. Looking up something. Looking into something. Most of my looking has preconditions, prejudices, assumptions. There’s something I want, and I’m using my senses to find it.
Looking without preconditions, looking without the intention of seeing any particular thing, looking for the sake of looking and nothing else – that’s a very different thing.
In the Hollywood hills on weekdays, and out in the wilderness on weekends, I walk with the intention of being as mindful as possible, aiming to take a God’s-eye-view of all that is present within and around me. In a recent hike up the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains, I looked at my way of looking. I love rocks, fossils, native plants, grand vistas. I find myself looking for these things. And that quest has its own charms and satisfactions. But far greater and deeper is the satisfaction of observing this impulse to “look for”, letting it go, and then focusing on “just looking”. Looking without any purpose or goal or aim. Just observing what is, as it is, in the moment that it is, then moving on and just looking at what is next, as it is, in the moment that it is. Without naming or describing or presuming anything about what is. And then being aware that the One within me who looks is beyond observation, liberated from temporality and judgment and opinion and evaluation and description. This kind of looking leads to awe and wonder and discovery: it’s the wellspring of creativity.
Such is the looking of the figures in the creche scene at the birth of Jesus. It is a window into the eternal quality of the now, an icon of the divine point of view. It is slack-jawed, timeless, aimless, free, worshipful Awe that is Love that is God. Maybe the wise men came to Bethlehem looking for the newborn King. But when they got there, and laid down their gifts, I like to think that they ended that quest and just looked at a little baby lying in the hay. Without believing anything about him, without assuming anything about him, without defining him. Just looking with full attention, total presence, pure love.
So, too, the shepherds looked. They had been “keeping watch” over their sheep. Then they were “keeping watch” over Jesus, just looking.
So it was with the angels who were present in the myth of Christmas. The biblical Greek word for angel means “messenger”. Somebody who reports on what is, as it is. Not on what’s supposed to be. Not on what we wish it was. Angels “watch over”. They just look, and then report what they see. The Greek word for “gospel” is related: “euangelion” or “good message”. The gospel is what we see when we just look at what is, as it is, when it is, without filters or interpretations or preconceptions.
It’s an epiphany – the biblical Greek word for a sudden appearance or manifestation – to discover the difference between looking for and just looking. When I’m just looking, I see things I miss when I’m looking for.. like incarnations of God.
ABOUT JIM BURKLO
Website: JIMBURKLO.COM Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
See the GUIDE to my articles and books
Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California
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Liturgy Selection
Epiphany
Week of January 1, 2017
January 6 is traditionally celebrated as Twelfth Night, or the Feast of the Epiphany. It’s one of the oldest celebrations of the Christian Church...
January 6 is traditionally celebrated as Twelfth Night, or the Feast of the Epiphany. It’s one of the oldest celebrations of the Christian Church, but over the years the particular traditions associated with it have diverged, just as the strands of the church have diverged. In Western Christianity, Epiphany is associated with the visit of the Magi; in Eastern Christianity, with Jesus’ baptism. In some denominations, it is celebrated as the end of the Christmas season; in others, it is hardly noticed at all! Traditions are like that, and we hold on to the ones that, for whatever reason, are meaningful to us.
May Love Divine Fill All Our Hearts
May Love Divine fill all our hearts, our bodies, minds and souls.

Let’s love our neighbours as ourselves as Spirit makes us whole.
May Love Divine Fill All Our Hearts
Words by Lyndon Hutchinson-Hounsell by Polly Moore

May Love Divine fill all our hearts, our bodies, minds and souls.
Let’s love our neighbours as ourselves as Spirit makes us whole.
In hope and life and peace and love we join with rock and flower.
Let’s love and live and fully be with grace and humble power.
Christ brought to mind the way to be, we’re called to love and peace.
In Spirit may we know afresh we live among the least.
We humbly share the earth with all, so simply may we live.
We know the joy that fills our soul when wastefully we give.
Congratulations, all the poor, we’re children of the One.
Congratulations, all who mourn, joy flows from Love Divine.
Congratulations, all who starve, we’ll eat and drink with mirth.
Congratulations, all judged wrong, Divine lives with the earth.
In tree and bird we find Shalom, Great Spirit make us whole.
We long for balance on the earth, we feel it in our soul.
Christ left us with one parting word, that love may bring us home;
Christ’ greatest wish for all who live is Love’s Divine Shalom.
Tune: Kingsfold
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Stony Trail
On a stony trail through the Sinai wastes
A little family headed south
Father, mother, little babe
A burdened donkey, head drooped down
Stony Trail by James Burklo
On a stony trail through the Sinai wastes
A little family headed south
Father, mother, little babe
A burdened donkey, head drooped down
Leaving home, might never come back
Might not return on the northbound track
Off to college, off to war
Off to travel or explore
Or kicked out of the house in a bad divorce
Or run out of town on a rail, or worse
Or just an urge to get out of Dodge
To find some other place to lodge
Some other way to live and be
Some other kinds of sights to see
The soul stirs and cannot rest
Until it makes another next
For even should the exile end
Home will never be the same again
When it’s time to leave, my soul will know
Will I follow? Can I let go?
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Doxology for the Christmas Season
Praise God for gifts of hope and peace
Praise God for gifts of joy and love
Praise God for sending Christ to dwell
On earth for us – Emmanuel. Amen.


Doxology for the Christmas Season
Sung to the traditional tune by Rev. Roger LynnPraise God for gifts of hope and peace
Praise God for gifts of joy and love
Praise God for sending Christ to dwell
On earth for us – Emmanuel. Amen.
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People from all over the world will gather to share knowledge and wisdom, learn from each other, celebrate, be inspired, and find the tools needed to create and enliven local movements within our communities. Together we will explore sacred oneness, Christ consciousness, eco-spirituality, social justice and the way of universal and personal transformation that honors the Divine in all.
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Events and Updates
The Practice of Compassion – A Multifaith Guide
This is a six-week e-course, and it is truly a “multifaith guide” to this spiritual practice.

The Practice of Compassion – A Multifaith Guide
Compassion is a feeling deep within ourselves, a “quivering of the heart,” when we find ourselves affected by the suffering of others. Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are the most well known exemplars of compassion, which is the central ethical virtue in the religions which sprang from their teachings. It is also a core value for other great religions of the world.
Compassion is more than a feeling. Compassion is a spiritual practice, and you can get better at it over time. The world’s religious and spiritual traditions offer us specific ways to do this. This e-course will teach you how you can be a compassionate, caring presence to those suffering in your community and the wider world and even to yourself. It will give you antidotes to attitudes that hinder compassion — all those “isms” like racism, sexism, ageism, classism, and nationalism.
This is a six-week e-course, and it is truly a “multifaith guide” to this spiritual practice. Our six presenters are each deeply rooted in their respective religions; they are highly regarded as knowledgeable and caring spiritual leaders. Each of them will cover one week of the course, showing how compassion is a core value in their tradition and providing practices for you to incorporate into your life. We are honored to have with us:
Week 1: Frank Rogers for Christianity.
Frank is the Muriel Bernice Roberts Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy and the co-director of the Center for Engaged Compassion at the Claremont School of Theology.
Week 2: Sally Taylor for Buddhism. Sally is a contemplative guide and practitioner within the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism who offers spiritual direction that reaches across faith traditions.
Week 3: Ted Falcon for Judaism. Rabbi Ted is a Reform rabbi with a doctorate in clinical psychology, co-founder with his wife of Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue and one of the Interfaith Amigos.
Week 4: Jamal Rahman for Islam and Sufism. Imam Jamal is a popular workshop leader, the co-founder and Muslim Sufi minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary in Seattle and one of the Interfaith Amigos.
Week 5: Philip Goldberg for Hinduism. Phil is an Interfaith Minister, author, public speaker, and meditation teacher who co-hosts the podcast Spirit Matters and leads American Veda tours to North and South India.
Week 6: Thomas Moore for Spirituality Independent. Thomas is a psychotherapist, former monk, and bestselling author who writes and lectures in the fields of archetypal psychology, mythology, care of the soul, and creating a religion of your own.
From January 16 – February 23, 2017, you will receive:
Two emails per week for six weeks (12 total) in which our presenters reflect on compassion in their traditions and share practice suggestions with us.
The opportunity to participate in the Practice Circle, a community forum open 24/7 to share with others in this e-course and to receive guidance from each presenters during his/her week of the course.
If you have been sorrowing for the world or for those near to you; if you are in a caring profession like nursing, teaching, counseling, or ministry; if you have a hard time being kind to yourself; or if your vision for a more compassionate world exceeds the reality of what you see expressed around you, then this e-course is for you.
4 CEHs for chaplains available.

Images

Start:
January 16, 2017
End:
February 23, 2017
Location:
Online eCourse
Register:
$59.95
Contact:
Mary Ann Brussat
Organization:
Spirituality & Practice
Website:
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/course/view/10190/the-practice-of-compassion/key/tcpc
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