Random Comments on the Bible

Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" and Religion Who knew  Anna Sewell's Black Beauty had so much to say about religion? There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham […] I have heard the commandments read a great many times, and I never noticed that any of them said, 'Thou shalt be rich.' And there are a good many curious things said in the New Testament about rich men that I think would make me feel rather queer if I was one of them." (35.43) "Real religion is the best and truest thing in the world and the only thing that can make a man really happy, or make the world any better." (36.24) "[…] I don't see that your religious people are any better than the rest."  "If they are not better... it is because they are not religious. You might as well say that our country...

From Richard Rohr:  https://cac.org/loving-fully-2017-12-13/ Jesus told us, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). He called us to a presence that is a broader and deeper kind of knowing than just cognitive thinking. Thinking knows things by objectifying them, capturing them as an object of knowledge. But presence knows things by refusing to objectify them; instead it shares in their very subjectivity. Presence allows full give and take, what Martin Buber (1878-1965) called the “I/Thou” relationship with things as opposed to the mere “I/it” relationship. Buber summed it up in his often-quoted phrase: “All real living is meeting.” [4]

(from https://cac.org/returning-to-essentials-2017-11-30/) Quaker pastor Philip Gulley superbly summarizes how we must rebuild spirituality from the bottom up in his book,  If the Church Were Christian.  [2] Here I take the liberty of using my own words to restate his message, which offers a rather excellent description of Emerging Christianity: Jesus is a model for living more than an object of worship. Affirming people’s potential is more important than reminding them of their brokenness. The work of reconciliation should be valued over making judgments. Gracious behavior is more important than right belief. Inviting questions is more valuable than supplying answers. Encouraging the personal search is more important than group uniformity. Meeting actual needs is more important than maintaining institutions. Peacemaking is more important than power. We should care more about love and less about sex. Life in this world is more important than the afterlife (e...

"Love" by Alexandr Milov (2015 Burning Man ) Forgiveness demands three new simultaneous “seeings”: I must see God in the other; I must access God in myself; and I must experience God in a new way that is larger than an “Enforcer.” Richard Rohr

Lately I've seen a couple of things on Facebook to which I've had a predictable reaction given my worldview. http://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/144819/sexual-assault-mugging-video-parody-viral The above parody: a man comes into the police station after being mugged at knife point. The female officers intimate that maybe he was asking for it because he was dressed so well and he didn't scream. My thoughts/reaction: funny but a profoundly true comment of gender discrimination.  And then there was this floating around a few days ago: Short version of the above : a male employee accidentally -- then intentionally -- swaps email signatures with a female employee. Both are shocked at the worse/better treatment they receive based purely on gender. My thoughts/reaction. Wow. Sexism strikes in 2017. I recall a female co-worker's story of being bullied by a male boss. I remember thinking at the time,  he did what? He said what? He never treats me like that. Respon...

For those of you interested in church growth and change theory. How does this -- Richard Rohr on systems of this world -- fit into your paradigm? https://cac.org/the-body-of-christ-2017-03-09/ Trinity: Week 2 The Body of Christ Thursday, March 9, 2017 A Trinitarian person in formation is someone being freed of narcissism’s chains. A partner in the divine dance is someone who agrees to stand in the mutual relationship that  God is —the relationship that God has already and gratuitously drawn us into. As Lay Cistercian and teacher Carl McColman puts it: God is in us, because we are in Christ. As members of the mystical body, Christians actually partake in the divine nature of the Trinity. We do not merely  watch  the dance, we  dance  the dance. We join hands with Christ and the Spirit flows through us and between us and our feet move always in the loving embrace of the Father. In that we are members of the mystical body of Christ, we see the joyful...