"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief...

 

Shifting the moral narrative in the United States

On June 18 in Washington, D.C., we will declare our commitment to:

- Shift the moral narrative

- Build power

- Demand policies that fully address the needs of 140 million poor and low-wealth people in America.

Join the Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 18.

RSVP or learn how you can get involved today!

On Memorial Day

I do wish that we had a day to recognize the sacrifices and courage of people who refused to fight in unjust wars and who were peacemakers and justicemakers. It's right to represent the sacrifices made in battles and to reflect on what "sacrifice" means and what actually was sacrificed and what has been lost. It is also right to include those people who resisted joining in unjust wars and tried to build an alternative and to reflect on how most of the time we can create alternatives to imperialist wars that also also create justice.

And always there are victims to remember.

I believe that there is a scene in the film "Matewan" where the main character is explaining to a young mine worker and preacher that he saw members of the Jehovah's Witnesses tortured in prison during the First World War for refusing to wear uniforms and how they refused to relent and how that taught him about solidarity. You don't have to be a pacifist or a JW to admire that or learn from that. And you can't say that anyone who experienced that was a coward. I knew some World War One vets; they were brave people, but the war they fought in was an extended family quarrel between European royalty that helped kick off a century of previously unimaginable brutality. The dead from that war and from the genocides of Indigenous peoples, of the Armenians, and in the Belgian Congo are still crying out to us.

I remember from my childhood a kind old woman who rented a tiny room in a house near us in the 1960s who was still mourning her brother who had been killed in France during the First World War. Grieving can take forever. But what has happened to grieving when Memorial Day means a holiday or a sale on barbecue grills?

Tony Herbert, whose book "Soldier" should be required reading, told the story of how he became a highly-decorated Marine by talking first about how he learned to think with a group by growing up in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region and having mine workers all around him. He recalled an incident that occurred when he was a child when a playmate fell into an icy pond and boys jumped in to save the child without giving it a second thought although it cost several of them their lives. Mine workers think like that. Coalfield kids think like that. Soldiers think like that. Healthcare workers think like that. Teachers are being expected to think like that. Appalachia, the Indian reservations, and Chicano communities give the U.S. more soldiers, and more dead war heroes, than other sections of the U.S. when measured against population numbers. Let's recognize heroism and sacrifice where we find it. Wherever we find it. We find heroism and sacrifice in battles. And sometimes we find them on a picketline or in a jail cell in Alabama or during a school shooting or at an antiwar event.

Through the sagas of the wars there are real stories of sacrifice that rightly touch us because of their humanism and because they force to consider our own virtues and shortcomings and what we gained because someone else gave their life for us. Shame on anyone who uses those stories to encourage more killing. Here is one such moving story from Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pa. And following that is a photo of a memorial to mine workers lest we forget other sacrifices as well.

And following that are two memes to bring us back to the beginning...

This Memorial Day as we in America gather for barbecues and fireworks, we pause to remember those who gave their lives in service to our country. In "Faith Walks and Talks--The 150-Year History of Grace Baptist Church," one chapter is dedicated to the remarkable story of The Four Chaplains, pictured here in a stained-glass depiction that hangs in the Pentagon today. In the 2nd worst sea disaster of WWII four chaplains of 3 different faiths helped men find lifeboats an lifejackets, ultimately giving up their own lifejackets to men who couldn't locate their own. Nearly 2/3 of the men aboard, including the 4 chaplains, perished in the icy Atlantic on February 3, 1943, after being hit by a torpedo from a German U-boat. One of the four chaplains was the son of our pastor at the time, Rev. Daniel Poling, and the church decided to build an interfaith memorial in the lower floor of the church, The #chapelofthefourchaplains Rev. Poling himself also served as a chaplain himself often traveling to war zones and bringing home news of members' sons. Faithful members over the years have written letters in support of servicemen. One Sunday after teaching an adult Sunday school class I noticed the tarnished urns on the shelves and decided to take them home, one by one, to polish. They were in remembrance of sons and loved ones lost in the war. Today, we pause to remember. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 #faith #remember

The most antiwar people who I have known were war veterans.

Please click on it if you can't read it.

The Poor People's Campaign Is Moving Forward

 

"You have not been sleeping. You are troubled, as I am, walking to the window, searching for the moon, as if the moon had an answer..."

"I have sensed your spirit in the night. You have not been sleeping. You are troubled, as I am, walking to the window, searching for the moon, as if the moon had an answer. You want to enfold those who are hurting. You want to shelter those who suffer. But your arms are not wide enough and your heart alone is not able to carry the weight of worry for so many others hidden in the shadows. I will stay with you through the night. I will search with you for the moon, knowing that even a pale light is better than no light at all, taking comfort from knowing that we are awake together."
---The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Native American/Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church

 

If we just talk of thoughts and prayers...

If We Just Talk of Thoughts and Prayers by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Sterlin Bolen - The Place That I Call Home

 

Karen Clark-Sheard---Sunday Morning

 

"There is a great heaviness in truth..."

This is excerpted from a short post at the In Search of a New Eden blog. It assumes a level of belief that you might not share, but I know a few folks who can work with this. I don't share the dim views expressed here about what human beings can accomplish. This blog is about a hopeful universalism, In Search of a New Eden is different and more into mysticism. But it may help some folks to hear that their cries are being heard and that God actively engages in our sorrows. If it sounds like something that will help, give it a full read.

So, if you find yourself feeling a heaviness in your heart, don’t assume that means you are off track. If you find yourself mourning for the state of the world, then you are mourning with Christ. Do not fight the sadness, do not run from it. Be at peace with it. Be comfortable in it. And know that it is fleeting just like our meaningless lives. Learn to rest in the beauty of the Divine Sorrow. For not only are we empty in our being but God is just as much grief as love. If we are not tangibly soaked in the tears of Christ then we are not living in the truth. This is the sacred sorrow.

When it comes to sadness, as with all things, the presence of the sacred can be known by the presence of peace. Divine sadness is a peaceful sadness, a heavy sadness. If the sadness you are experiencing is accompanied by anxiety or anger then it is not the sadness of the Lord. There is something so pure about the sadness of Christ because it does not worry. After all, anxiety too is meaningless. Therefore the sorrow of God is peaceful and even beautiful. It is the reason the autumn colours which herald the season of death and bitter cold, captivate our hearts and eyes so well. It is a magnificent sadness worth relishing in!

It's not the government who wants to take your guns. It's Christ.

 

Pastor Alphonso Bowen---I'll Trust in the Lord

 

Two truths---two prayers.

 

Stanley Brothers, The Rank Stranger

 

Marz' Testimony

 

Pastor Anthony F Gadson---Just Another Day The Lord Has kept Me

 

A Nonviolent Atonement? - Sharon L. Baker Putt

 

Texas Poor People's Campaign Virtual Press Conference

 This is fundamental to everything we're doing and thinking.

The recording will start when you click on it here.

"How do we recover? How do we cope?..."

"Anger and anguish, it is hard to cope with the emotional overload. The sense of loss, the sense of frustration. War in the distance, tragedy close to home. How do we recover? How do we cope? I have no easy answers, but I can share one invitation to all who have a spiritual heart: don’t doubt the love that may be hidden but is always present in every sorrow. Behind the tears, despite the anger, love remains. Love endures. Love for the lives lost on the battlefield, love for the innocent taken without warning. One day even all of this will be redeemed in ways we cannot imagine. But for now, trust the power of love to do what we do not seem to be able to do for ourselves: end the madness and begin the healing."

--The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Native American/Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church

Some things to smile on #4

 

"Keeping Watch" from In Search of a New Eden

The following is taken from a highly recommended article "Keeping Watch" on the In Search of a New Eden blog. The article deal with the way thoughts come to us and how we understand our thoughts and handle them. At one points do we own them or they own us? Do we mistake what we think and how we think for our nature?

I recommend reading the entire article. It takes less than 10 minutes. I'm thinking about how most of us don't have a true or good view of human nature because we don't understand our own subjective nature. Really, we're better than we think we are.

Many thoughts come to us which are not our own. They may be the thoughts of the adults who raised us when we were children. They may be the thoughts of our culture and society. They may be the impulses of our animal nature. They may be all sorts of things. Pelagius referred to these thoughts as suggestions and counsels. We have an array of thoughts and feelings which present themselves to us at any given moment and make suggestions to our mind. It is our task to choose from among them and this choice can either be one of intentionality or one of habit. Choosing from among them is not always easy, however, as most of these thoughts come to us and are chosen by us without us even being aware. The choosing of thoughts becomes automatic in most people and we end up making choices without even realizing that we are making them. They happen so quickly and so automatically that we have no conscious awareness it is happening at all. When we are keeping watch over our thoughts and being intentional about what kind of world we create in our inner landscape, we are able to step back from these thoughts, realise that they are not actually ours, and choose which ones we wish to claim possession of.

"I am more determined than ever. I will continue to do all I can to help build a safe, sensible, and secure society for all of us to live in together..."

"I am more determined than ever. I will continue to do all I can to help build a safe, sensible, and secure society for all of us to live in together. I will not be discouraged by the news around me, but motivated by it. I have seen how bad it can get. I have seen where things break down. I know the lay of the land. Now I can see how to do a better job of focusing my resources, skills and energy to have the greatest positive impact I can. I refuse to accept the status quo. And I am more determined than ever."
The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Native American/Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church

"Many indigenous communities understand that we are living in one of many “worlds” that have existed here on Earth. There have been worlds before this one and there will be worlds after it. Each world, each span of human cultural evolution, has reshaped what we consider reality. Once we dwelt in caves, now in towers of glass. The great wheel turns. Many of us can feel that process of transformation happening right now. We are aware that we are on a threshold. Our work is to seed into the future all that we know that is loving, healing, and wise. We are already at work as ancestors, even before we become ancestors."

We have the power to stop the killing. Pray with arms that are healing the hurting.

 

For Uvalde today. For too many before.

 

"Stand firm against the forces of fear..."

"Stand firm against the forces of fear. Don’t give in to them for what they offer has no more substance than the shadows from which they are made. Fear seeks to lure you from the solid ground of wisdom and tempts you to get lost in the empty spaces of the human heart. Empty of love. Empty of hope. Stand firm so the bond between us may remain strong, a wall of light against the darkness. Let the calm resolve of our prayers work the mystery of transformation: a balanced center where fear like waves breaks against the rocks and disappears like spray into the brightening air."
---The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Native American/Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church

 

"Scripture is full of lamentations because it reflects real life, and real life has moments of deep sorrow and pain..."

“When the world looks to Christians for lament, this is an opportunity to embrace the suffering of others, to join in fellowship with those who are hurting. But too often Christians are silent, or apathetic, or even combative to the lament of others.

Scripture is full of laments. There’s an entire book of the Bible entitled Lamentations. Roughly a third of all of the Psalms are forms of lament. Psalm 9: 9 reflects the willingness of God to accept our laments, stating that “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” Matthew 5: 4 reiterates God’s desire for us to lament, when Jesus exclaims “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” And Psalm 34: 18 declares that “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

Scripture is full of lamentations because it reflects real life, and real life has moments of deep sorrow and pain. Social justice asks us to lament, because justice cannot be passionately pursued until injustice is fully understood, and known, and felt. When you feel, see, and know the pain and suffering of your neighbors, you will lament.

Lamentations are happening all around us. The sorrows of the oppressed are being communicated, but are we listening?…

…To not lament is to not understand, to not empathize, to not have compassion, to not care, and to not love. When we lament with our neighbor we offer them our purest form of comfort, which doesn’t rationalize, excuse, or shy away from the pain, but rather wholly embraces the reality of their being.
There are countless opportunities to lament, to love our neighbors: Bombings. Wars. Shooting. Murders. Racism. Bigotry. Today, lament with those who lament.”

-On Love and Mercy: A Social Justice Devotional

On Dogs, Religion & Salvation, Rigidity & Beauty

Introduction

This is a two-part post with the common thread of how our experiences with animals can connect us to the divine and how our experiences with animals can lead to a universalism and a rejection of certain kinds of dogmatic rigidity.

The first post was written by Chuck F. Queen and was taken from the Progressive Methodists Facebook page with Chuck's permission.

The second post comes from me.

I do not share the view that rigid and conservative people, including Christians, can't or shouldn't change. I don't think that their refusal to change in the face of facts and Scripture and outstanding human needs and planetary crises is okay. More needs to be said here about organizing and solidarity. But I do appreciate the universalism and humanism expressed here and the insight into how anxiety drives rigidity and conservatism and the conservative appropriation of religion.

First Part---Chuck F. Queen

Julie, our Down Syndrome adult daughter who lives in our home, has a little dog named Cuma, part Yorkie and part Chiwawa. Cuma has been a means God has used to teach me about God’s love. Cuma needs to be loved, and you see her cry for love and affection in her eyes and face. She is up in age now and there are days when it is obvious she is hurting, because her face reflects it. I can see the suffering of creation in her eyes. When she was young and full of life and energy, she would bark continuously at people or animals she saw outside, which would sometimes drive us crazy. Now, with her health failing and loss of energy, there are days we will place her in front of the open front door to encourage her to bark. Sometimes that works. What always seems to work, however, is the prospect of table food, and I’m the easy pick. She can no longer jump down from the couch, so if she sees me pull up to the table she starts yelping to be lifted down to the floor so she can come over and get some food. She has always been a highly anxious dog and that hasn’t changed. If someone she is unfamiliar with enters our house, she barks and barks and barks. I pick her up, hold her, pet her head which she loves, and say, “Cuma, this is a good person; she is not going to hurt you.” But no matter what I do, she is going to keep barking. She cannot see what is through her anxiety.

There are many, many religious people, Christian people just like Cuma. They are blind to the oneness of creation and to the universality of the indwelling Spirit. They think their faith is the right, correct faith; that only through their Jesus can a person know their God. Their ego will not allow them to believe that we are all children of God, that we are all one people, that we all belong, that we all live within the force field of God’s unconditional love regardless of what stage we are in along the path of moral and spiritual evolution. Their ego insists that others must be “saved” in the same way they think they are saved, not realizing that “salvation” is a process of becoming. They make scripture bend to their programmed beliefs to justify their faith in a tribal God. And no matter how much we try to shake their foundation, no matter how excellent and often we reason with them using the best logic and common sense available, all our efforts tend to be futile. Like Julie’s little dog, Cuma, they are not going to change. And God will speak softly to them and draw then close like I do for Cuma, and keep loving them, and they will go to their grave believing and worshiping and serving a little, tribal god. And God will welcome them and love them and enlighten them as they are able to receive it.

And that is what we must do. We don’t need to yield to them or bend to their will or in any way cater to their exclusive Christian beliefs and practices. If we are living within the flow of God’s Spirit, we will keep on loving them, accepting that in all likelihood they are not going to change (at least not in this lifetime). And that is okay. I was as dogmatic and exclusive in my Christian faith as anyone at one time, but then a crack opened in my ego and the light burst forth. It does happen. Not often, but there are breakthroughs. God needs a few people who will keep at it, praying, sharing, teaching, reasoning, writing, talking, arguing, and all the while loving and hoping a crack will appear that will let the light in. And when it does, when it happens, like the shepherd who found the one lost sheep, there is much joy and gratitude.

Second Part---Bob Rossi

Many years ago when I lived in West Virginia I heard about a woman in a community pretty far out of the way who had some hounds for sale. Hounds are my favorite breeds and I went out to find her and take a look. She showed me to the barn and yard where the dogs lived. It was feeding time so she set out some trays of food and a litter of puppies and their mama came running out of the barn.

One dog in particular, the only male of the litter, made it out first by pushing, bumping, and jumping ahead. But he didn't eat the food. Instead, he grabbed the main tray in his mouth and dragged it going backwards as the other puppies charged. He backed up with the tray in his mouth all of the way to the fence, or about six feet. And then he tried to push his sisters away. 

Now, I knew right then that I wanted that dog. Any of those others would have made great companions and hunting dogs, but I liked that little guy's spirit and sense of humor. I bought him and we had a pretty good time together.

I think about that adventure quite often these days. You can focus on something that is good or functional or smart and you will be okay. And I do understand that you need to look at everything from many different angles in order to understand what you're looking at, know history, and understand context and development. But, you know, I used to look in that dog's eyes and watch it pick up and follow a scent or watch it running through the brush with what I'm sure was a smile and know that that dog was part of a history that I did not share. There were times when I knew that that dog had an entirely different intelligence and had sense that I lacked. There is a great beauty in that, and beauty has to figure in to this.

What's my point? Well, when I hear someone talking about religion or politics or organizing and solidarity these days I think more often about whether or not beauty and history intersects in what they're talking about. I say this after almost 30 years spent as a union organizer: every project that we embark on in order to find salvation or make change should be a work of beauty, following its indigenous directions and intelligence with spirit and a sense of humor. And you should be able to hear the echo of what we're doing as if you were there with us in the dark night in an abandoned strip mine full of Jerusalem Artichokes us much as we could hear the hounds miles ahead when we went hunting. And we would pause, look up at the sky and follow the stars and the dogs leading us up far ahead in the darkness and know that we were never really going to get lost. Our movement and our salvation needs to work like that.

I think about the bad things going on in the world today. I fight back---not as hard as I should, though. But I also know that I'm in this for as long as I draw breath, and in order to stay in the fight I have to look at things sometimes as if there is a pack of hounds there in front of me and I get to take one home and into my heart. I watch for that one thing that crosses my path every day that has spirit and humor, history and strength, to it and I try to hold on to that and let the rest go on.       

""Hear the holy voice, hear what it is trying to say, even as louder voices command the stage, even as they seek to control the message of our time..."

"Hear the holy voice, hear what it is trying to say, even as louder voices command the stage, even as they seek to control the message of our time. Hear the holy voice within you, not the partisan voice that shouts at you, not the fearful voice that whispers in your ear, but the holy voice that you recognize. You know what it is and you know from where it comes. It is steady and confident. It is encouraging and healing. It is wise and kind. It is your personal connection to the Spirit, the one you have had since you were born. It is older than politics and more reliable than news. It is the holy voice of timeless truth and endless vision. Listen: it is the holy voice speaking directly to you."
The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Native American/Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church

 

Some music for the soul

We The Kingdom & Tasha Cobbs Leonard – Holy Water (Church Sessions)

Sterlin Bolen - How Wide Is The River Of Jordan

Rev Anthony Fitzgerald Gadson Singing, Walk With Me Lord

Rev Anthony Fitzgerald Gadson Singing, Bow Down and Worship

Ralph Stanley---A Mother's Prayer

June18th Mobilization Tour In Memphis, TN---The Poor People's Campaign Is On The Move

 

The Great Work Done By The Witness: A Black Christian Collective And A Needed Discussion On The Healthy Church

The other day I posted Notes To The Church At A Time Of Difficulty And Promise and Random Notes
To Believers & People Who Struggle To Believe as steps towards addressing what works and doesn't work between people and churches and between people who struggle to believe in God and others. 

But here is a better approach to these questions by looking at what makes a healthy church. This is a Black perspective on some of the questions that I'm struggling with. It is a stronger perspective than I have, better thought out and more focused. 

I connected with this through The Witness: A Black Christian Collective on Facebook. The explain themselves in these words: "The Witness is a black Christian collective that engages issues of religion, race, justice, and culture from a biblical perspective. We are changing the way Christians engage the church and the world by challenging them to think and act according to the holistic message of Christ. We consciously draw on the expansive black church tradition to address matters of personal faith while also speaking to issues of public righteousness. We believe that the Christian message applies not only to our eternity but also to our present-day circumstances and lived reality."

You can connect with them here as well.

Have a great week!

 

Five Gospel Songs To Revive Your Spirit

Sonya Williams---Walk With Me, Lord

The Gospel Upsetters  - Wait on Him

The Marshall Family---When I Wake Up To Sleep No More

 

Trey McLaughlin and SOZ "Worship Medley" Paul Morton/Stephen Hurd (cover)

Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys---

I've Just Seen The Rock Of Ages

Bosnian Meatballs Recipe---A family favorite

Heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Mix one pound of beef, about one-quarter of a cup of minced onion, pepper and salt to taste, about one-half of a cup of bread crumbs, one-quarter cup of milk, and one or two eggs in a large mixing bowl. A pinch of Vegeta works well if you can find it.

Knead the mix and knead it again. You want to mix things up really well.

Make small meatballs from the mix. A tablespoon is a good measurement. Don't go for large meatballs. You want about one dozen meatballs from this recipe.

Put them in a baking dish. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the stove and drain the fat. Get the fat and any liquid out of the dish.

Turn the oven down to 325 degrees.

Beat 3 eggs in a bowl, add nutmeg to taste and about one-and-one-half cups of yogurt. Greek yogurt works okay. You want a stiff natural yogurt for this.

Pour that over the meatballs in the baking dish.

Return the baking dish to the stove. Watch it carefully. You want it to harden or bake until you can stick a knife in and bring it out clean.

Bake for awhile---until you can stick a knife in and pull it out clean.

Serve in the baking dish. This goes well with rice on the side and pita bread.

 

Understanding John 14:5-7 with Jim Palmer

The following comes from Jim Palmer's Facebook page and has been lifted without permission. I hope that readers will find Jim Palmer's Facebook page and engage with him.

Question: Jim, there's the verse where Jesus says, "No one comes to the Father except through me." I don't believe that verse anymore, but I don't know what to do with it.

Response: The entire statement attributed to Jesus in the Book of John reads, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

The message of Jesus to the world was that there is no separation between ourselves and the ultimate reality that is at the heart of all things, which we most experience as love, peace, happiness and belonging.

When Jesus said, "I AM the truth", he was saying that he was a human expression of this ultimate truth and reality. Jesus wanted humankind to know that we are not separated, divided, or in conflict with this transcendent reality we touch and feel deep within our hearts.

When Jesus said "no one comes to the Father except through me," Jesus was saying that the entire paradigm of separation - separation from love, separation from belonging, separation from worth, separation from hope, separation from wholeness - is a farce. We will never know these realities fully in that paradigm of separation, which requires striving to achieve them. The only way of knowing them is through the truth that Jesus demonstrated, namely that these realities are knit into the very nature and essence of our being.

The Christian religion often makes it difficult to understand verses like these because it built a religion based upon the separation paradigm, which was largely constructed by the teachings of Paul, who shoehorned Jesus into it.

The way the Christian religion interprets John 14:6 typically comes off sounding like this: "Listen up everyone! You know all those other religions and religious leaders and their teachings about God? Well, guess what? They are all deluded and wrong! It's me and my way or the highway to hell. You can only be right with God if [insert Paul's elaborate theology or denominational requirements for salvation]." That interpretation couldn't be any further from the truth of what was meant by these words of Jesus.
Jesus was basically saying, "You strive to be right with God, yet I have shown you that you and God are not separated but one. There is no other truth to invent or scheme up. Even if you tried, you could not ever come up with anything better than the way it already is."

Jesus said, “I AM the truth.”

He didn’t say “I KNOW the truth,” as if truth is a piece of knowledge held by the mind. Neither did he say, “I HAVE the truth,” as if truth is a possession you can pass along to another. Jesus said, “I AM the truth.”

Truth is a reality at the level of being.

Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is an actuality inside to be realized. What is this actuality? Oneness with God. This is your true Self.

Jesus is the Truth that God and humankind are one. This is the Truth that sets you free.

Hope that helps.
Jim

P.S.: The relevant verses from are here:

5 Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth* and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.

12 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.

13 And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

Feminist and liberation theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether has died

From National Public Radio:

One of the founding mothers of feminist theology has died. Rosemary Radford Ruether was among the first scholars to think deeply about the role of women in Christianity, shaking up old patriarchies and pushing for change.

Ruether died in California on Saturday at the age of 85 after battling a long illness, according to the theologian Mary Hunt, who announced the death in a statement on behalf of Ruether's family.

"Dr. Ruether was a scholar activist par excellence. She was respected and beloved by students, colleagues, and collaborators around the world for her work on ecofeminist and liberation theologies, anti-racism, Middle East complexities, women-church, and many other topics," the statement said.

"Her legacy, both intellectual and personal, is rich beyond imagining. The scope and depth of her work, and the witness of her life as a committed feminist justice-seeker will shine forever with a luster that time will only enhance."

Read the entire story here.

This came from the National Catholic Reporter:

Feminist and liberation theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether influenced generations of men and women in the causes of justice for women, the poor, people of color, the Middle East and the Earth. The scholar, teacher, activist, author and former NCR columnist died May 21. She was 85.

Theologian Mary Hunt, a long-time friend and colleague of Reuther's, announced the death on behalf of the family.

"Dr. Ruether was a scholar activist par excellence. She was respected and beloved by students, colleagues, and collaborators around the world," said Hunt, cofounder and codirector of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER).

"Her legacy, both intellectual and personal, is rich beyond imagining," Hunt said in an email announcement. "The scope and depth of her work, and the witness of her life as a committed feminist justice-seeker will shine forever with a luster that time will only enhance."

A classicist by training, Ruether was outspoken in her liberal views on everything from women's ordination to the Palestinian state. She wrote hundreds of articles and 36 books, including the systematic Sexism and God-Talk in 1983 and the ecofeminist primer Gaia and God in 1992.

In more than 50 years of teaching, Ruether influenced thousands of students, first at the historically black Howard University from 1965 to 1975, then at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary as the Georgia Harkness Professor of Applied Theology from 1976 to 2002. She was a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School and Sir George Williams University in Montreal.

Read the NCR story here.

The Liberation Theologies Online Library and Reference Center entry on Rosemary Radford Ruether is here.

The Problem With Hell...

The Word "Hell" and the Book of Revelation - Brian Zahnd

I know that many people come to this blog and leave unhappy or angry with my Universalism. I'll admit that I'm often unfocused and that the blog posts are often kind of random and not original. But I think that that Universalism gives us something to talk about from many angles and has a Scriptural basis and that it provides an opening for many people who struggle to believe.

What does Islam Say About Trendy Fashion?---Encouragement for our Muslim sisters and brothers (and others)

 

Social Justice Sunday Service LIVE from Memphis, TN with Dr. Alvin O'Neal Jackson

Click on the screen and you will get the video.

 

Guest Speaker Dr. Glenda Glover with a Special Message and Join The Poor People's Campaign in D.C. on June 18

 Just click on the link and you will get the recording.

Random Notes To Believers & People Who Struggle To Believe