tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19415660341960386082024-03-08T01:11:24.381-08:00Bishop Dan's BlogRuminations of a retired bishop now making mischief in Colorado.
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.comBlogger385125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-63266359007738100232018-12-22T15:52:00.000-08:002018-12-22T16:40:13.495-08:00OPIOID SPIRITUALITY REWRITES THE BIBLE TO KEEP IT SAFE<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it trouble you – although if you can gain your freedom, do so. </span></i><i style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> 1 Cor. 7: 21 (New International Version)</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-large;">If a slave when called, do not accustom yourself to it; rather if you can indeed become free, make the most of it. </span></i><i style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> 1 Cor. 7: 21 (Hart translation)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Notice the difference. David Bentley Hart in the footnotes to his new translation of the New Testament offers a persuasive case that <span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>do not accustom yourself</i><i style="font-style: normal;"> </i></span>to slavery is a more accurate rendering of Paul’s Greek than the <i><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">grin and bear </span>it</i> translations that we have heard all our lives. The NIV prescription of passivity is far and away the norm and has been so since the Bible was translated into English. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">All translations reflect the cultural, political, and socio-economic context of the translators and those who pay them and adopt their translations for Church use. The King James Version is said by some to be slanted with a decidedly monarchist bias. But my questions are: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->What underlying assumptions would lead us to translate a verse as telling slaves to be content in their slavery when it is at least arguably possible to translate the verse to tell them to <i>resist</i>? The resistance translation makes more sense with the rest of the passage which says that Christ has turned all those power relationships on their head;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">and it better accords with Paul’s usual teachings which constitute him as the original liberation theologian. <i>For freedom Christ has set us free. </i>Galatians 5: 1. Would the author of those words tell a slave to just put up with it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Does the Bible, our sacred text, shape us into a domination system people – or has the denomination system shaped the Bible? Perhaps it is chicken and egg. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">We no longer use the Bible to defend slavery. 1 Corinthians 7: 1 has been an embarrassment for over a century. But we have continued to translate it <i>do not let (being enslaved) trouble you. </i>I think this prescription for passivity reflects something broader than the slavery issue. I find a ubiquitous assumption that religion – or more aptly <i>spirituality</i>– is about cultivating indifference, a calm acquiescence to life with all its<i>slings and arrows, </i>especially subservience to the domination system, what Paul called <i>the Principalities and Powers of this present age – </i>though Paul clearly called Christians to place Christ above those <i>Principalities and Powers; </i>and New Testament scholars from the liberal Walter Wink to the conservative N. T. Wright see Jesus as a lived rebellion against such worldly domination. But in popular religion, we shake our heads sadly at famines, epidemics, and atrocious violations of human rights saying such things as, <i>It’s God’s will. Everything happens for a reason. We’ll understand it all by and by. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">I see a consumer demand for an <i>opiate of the people </i>religion. Against that opioid spirituality, German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann<a href="applewebdata://7F38F062-C5B4-4344-A8AA-32F3402A2F90#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">[i]</span></span></span></a>proclaims a hope that sets us at odds with the status quo. <span style="line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Moltmann, says,</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">. . . (<i>E)xperience and hope stand in contradiction to each other . . . </i></span></span><i style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">with the result that . . . man is not brought into . . . agreement </span></span></i><i style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">with the given situation, but is drawn into the conflict </span></span></i><i style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">between experience and hope.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">In the Apostolic era, Christians were committed to transformation rather than passivity. <i>Do not be conformed to the ways for this world. Rather be transformed by the renewing of your minds. </i>Romans 12:2. In the Patristic Era, Christianity took a stand against Manichaeism, which saw evil as an active force in the cosmos while goodness was inherently passive and indifferent. Augustine rejected the Manichaeism of his youth in favor of Christianity and upheld a theology that participated in the world in a transformative way for the sake of God’s Kingdom Mission.<a href="applewebdata://7F38F062-C5B4-4344-A8AA-32F3402A2F90#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">[ii]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The orthodox tradition of Paul and Augustine insists on a tension between Christian hope and the worldly status quo. Against that orthodox tradition, there is decidedly a history of opioid spirituality and carrot and stick religion used to keep people in line. It is the Jurgen Moltmanns and the Leonardo Boffs, the so-called radicals, who are in line with the <i>ole time</i>religion of the Early Church. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">What do we expect from the Church in the face of wildfires, rising sea levels, genocide, and human trafficking? The <i>do not let it trouble you </i>translation, or <i>stand up, raise your heads, the kingdom is near<a href="applewebdata://7F38F062-C5B4-4344-A8AA-32F3402A2F90#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">[iii]</span></b></span></span></a></i> -- engage the world for Christ, engage the world with the transforming power of a love that shows mercy and demands justice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="applewebdata://7F38F062-C5B4-4344-A8AA-32F3402A2F90#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[i]</span></span></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Moltmann">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jürgen_Moltmann</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-71880231735527440852018-08-19T19:03:00.001-07:002018-08-19T19:03:18.260-07:00A WISE SONG<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Today’s lessons are about wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The idea of wisdom in the Bible<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">grew out of crafts like tent making and carpentry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Craftsmen learned that you can do things well or badly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">There is a right way to go about our work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">As time went by they came to see life itself as a craft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Life can be lived well or badly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Wisdom is simply the art of living well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Much of the Bible is about how to live well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Living well helps us sleep at night, get along with our friends,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> and make the world around us a better place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Many people have the notion that wisdom must <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> be something very solemn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">It must frown and look very serious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Wisdom is always wagging its finger at our foolishness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">But Paul paints a different picture of wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">He says, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> Do not get drunk . . . But be filled with the Spirit as you sing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> Psalms and spiritual hymns among yourselves, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> giving thanks to God . . . at all times and for everything<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The first thing to see here is that wisdom isn’t a solemn lecture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">It’s a song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Wisdom is pleasurable, like a melody in the heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Wisdom isn’t dour and judging. It’s playful like music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The second thing to notice about wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> is that it recognizes a basic truth about reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">It’s a gift. It’s all a gift. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The sunrise and the moonset are gifts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The friendship of another person is a gift. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Our very ability to breathe, to laugh, hear the rain on our roof –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> it’s all a gift.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">There is a wise way and a foolish way to handle wood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">It’s starts by recognizing it as wood and not copper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">There is a wise way and a foolish way to handle life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">To handle life wisely,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> we must first see it for what it is -- a gift.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Paul was writing in Greek and the Greek word for gift is <i>charis.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">What shall we do with this gift of life, this gift of everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Obviously, Paul says, we say “thank you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">In our lesson where Paul says “giving thanks,” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">he uses the Greek word <i>eucharistein. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">That’s where we get the word <i>Eucharist</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">But Eucharist in the Greek isn’t just <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">a thank you note on pretty stationery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Eucharist means a gift back, a return gift, a thank you gift.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">So what can we give God?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">God has given us our very selves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">In thanksgiving for God’s primal generosity,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> we give something to match God’s gift to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">We give God ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">This is the great gift exchange of the spiritual life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">God gives us our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">We give our lives back to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">We place ourselves on this altar <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> to be blessed, broken, and given back to us<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> enriched by love and grace and mercy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">St. Ignatius of Loyola prayed,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> “Accept O Lord my memory, my will, my imagination, my understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> All that I am and all that I have you have given me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> I give it all back to be disposed of according to your good pleasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> Grant me only the comfort of your presence and the joy of your love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> With these I shall be more than rich and shall ask for nothing more.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">That, my friends, is the core meaning of the Eucharist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">And it is the heart of wisdom.</span>Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-2075148961233542032018-08-16T13:11:00.000-07:002018-08-22T12:12:55.856-07:001st EPISTLE GENERAL OF DAN: Getting Our Needs Met<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Authentic Christian . . . spiritual practices are not just about getting in a zone or having an experience. They are about opening ourselves to God’s love flowing through us into the world. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">-- 18<sup>th</sup>Epistle to the Nevadans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">It goes without saying we live in a time of social disintegration. The Church seems pre-occupied with planning her own funeral while political extremists swirl into increasingly bizarre paranoid delusions and gun up. Democracy teeters on the brink. The left and the right both spin out increasingly fine-tuned rules to condemn each other in a Manichaean politics of mutual demonizing. That is the context in which we do – or do not do – our religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Looking to do my small part for civilization, I was recently at All Saints Church to be trained for a Get Out the Vote community walk. The IAF organizer built our training around a summary of Monsignor Philip Murnion’s <i>Forming Parish Community. <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Forming-parish-community-sociology-developments/dp/B0006WWHA8/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533839130&sr=1-9&keywords=Philip+Murnion" style="color: purple;">https://www.amazon.com/Forming-parish-community-sociology-developments/dp/B0006WWHA8/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1533839130&sr=1-9&keywords=Philip+Murnion</a></span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Murnion’s book is like a bucket of cold water dumped on my benumbed consciousness. He says, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Authentic parish life must enable people to enter into <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">public life and must offset temptations to retreat into<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">a privatized, pietistic religion. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Murnion raises basic questions about our project, starting with: what is the 21<sup>st </sup>century religious/spiritual consumer looking for? What does the market demand?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">We basically want to feel better. We want to relax and get happy. Secular life is often stressful, anxious, hostile, painful, and a whole array of feelings we’d obviously rather avoid. Alcohol, drugs, and diverting entertainment are our main ways of managing that unpleasantness. Religion is generally perceived as a competitor in the stress relief market. We are seen – and we see ourselves -- as a purveyor of spiritual opioids. Marx famously said, <i>Religion is the opiate of the people</i>, and we believed him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">One may, for example, learn to meditate in ways that calm the mind and lower the blood pressure. Or one may go to a charismatic religious weekend to sing happy songs and enjoy a psycho-socially manufactured high in which one is deliriously happy about something though it is not clear what that something is. It doesn’t matter. We feel better. Calmer mind. Lower blood pressure. Feeling happy. Those are not bad things. They are indisputably good as far as they go. It is the same with pain relief. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Many of us participate in regular church activity expecting a lower dose of the same opioid. The familiarity of ritual and music can help us escape the turmoil at work or home. But the crucial ingredient is harder to notice because it is colorless, odorless, and tasteless – church chit chat. There are unspoken, even unconscious, norms for our conversation at Church, things we routinely say, and other things we do not say. Church chit chat is crucial to <b>the conspiracy against consciousness.</b><i>Thou shalt not be aware.<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[i]</span></b></span></span></a></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">We are not aware of the unspeakable until someone speaks it. For example, there was recently an uproar about the government separating immigrant families at the border. It had happened under the administrations of both parties, though more aggressively under the current administration. Leaders of both political parties spoke out against it. Laura Bush condemned it. The President’s wife and daughter condemned it. The President reversed the policy. By this point, there really was no controversy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">After the issue had been basically resolved, one of our congregations had a Vacation Bible School. The following Sunday, a priest in the course of celebrating the successful VBS said seeing families brought closer together was a stark contrast to the separation of families that had gone on at the border. One member walked out in angry protest. Did he disagree with everyone about family separation? He did not say so.<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[ii]</span></span></span></a>The priest’s offense was mentioning something morally painful. He did not come to Church to hear about such things. Church is a place where nothing painful or difficult is to be spoken of or even remembered. This is our <i>happy place. </i>Pass the scotch and a tab of ethylmorphine, please. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Let us be fair. Life is hard. The First Noble Truth really is suffering. I have my own anxiety disorder. I get it. I do not blame anyone for wanting some relief. That brings us to the second big question: Does Christianity have that to offer? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The answer is: yes but not in the way we expect. The whole Marx quote is: <i>Religion is the opiate of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. </i><b>Their real happiness. <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Authentic Christianity is not the spiritual opioid churchianity that conspires against consciousness, artificially calms our minds, gets us happily <i>hooked on a feeling, </i>and makes sure no one says anything upsetting. <b>Christianity is not escapist.</b> If religion is as Marx described it – and churchianity is – then Christianity is ironically what Marx calls <i>the abolition of religion. </i>Remember what Monsignor Murnion said, <i>Authentic parish life must . . . offset temptations to retreat into a privatized, pietistic religion. </i>That <i>privatized pietistic religion </i>is what Marx called <i>the opiate of the people. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I don’t like Bonhoeffer’s term <i>religionless Christianity </i>because it sounds like spiritual but not religious individualistic piety. But that’s the very opposite of what Bonhoeffer meant. If you put it together with his classic <i>Life Together, </i>in which he argues that the Church is the essential meeting ground of Christianity, there is no way he was espousing private piety and spiritual individualism. His Christianity was religionless because it wasn’t a <i>quid pro quo </i>deal for a happy afterlife. It wasn’t an investment or fire insurance. It was not private palliative piety. It was Christian because it was a disciplined life of prayer and committed action in the world, the kind of action that led him to die for opposing fascism. Bonhoeffer explicitly rejects the spiritual anesthesia project in favor of infinite compassion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> <i>The human being is called upon to share in God’s suffering<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">at the hands of a godless world. Thus we must really live in that godless world and not try to cover up or transfigure its godlessness somehow with religion.<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[iii]</span></b></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">By <i>religion </i>he means the whole conspiracy against consciousness, the assurance it will all be alright and is already alright deep down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Here’s the problem for Christianity. We are striving for union with God, striving to become Godly. But this is a God who chooses to become human, <i>to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us. </i>Our journey to God loops back to the real world, to messy humanity, to <i>where we starte</i>d. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> <i>And the end of all our exploring <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Will be to arrive where we started <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">And to know the place for the first time.<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[iv]</span></b></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Paul invites us, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">have the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus. </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">That’s Christification right? How cool is that, to become like Jesus! But what is it like to have the same mind as Jesus </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>taking</i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> the form of a servant, being in human likeness?</i><a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="color: purple; font-style: italic;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[v]</span></b></span></span></a><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">J</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">esus invites us to follow him by taking up our cross</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">.<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[vi]</span></b></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">How does that brand of religion appeal to people who have problems enough already and just want to feel better? Feel-good religion, be it charismatic, contemplative, or whatever, is what the people demand. It sells, doesn’t it? It sells because it is what Bonhoeffer called <i>cheap grace. </i>Cheap grace is what Marx called <i>the illusion of happiness. </i>Where’s the beef? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Human beings are built to be channels. God’s love flows through us into the world. When we allow that love to flow, it gets us into all manner of trouble, it entangles our lives with humanity in all its chaos, it leads us not away from <i>this darkling plane<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[vii]</span></b></span></span></a></i>but deeper into it.<i></i>Now here’s the kicker. That is where true joy is to be found. It isn’t a shallow high. On the contrary, it breaks our hearts – open – to let the love in and out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">When a channel acts like a reservoir – as when we act like spiritual consumers instead of servants – all we get is a blockage. <i>Love isn’t love until you give it away.<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[viii]</span></b></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The irony in the spiritual life is that we all want to get our needs met, but we can never get our needs met until we forget about getting our needs met and lose ourselves in God – not God as an abstract idea or a reassuring fantasy – God in the fat lady in <i>Franny and Zooey,<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[ix]</span></b></span></span></a></i>God in the refugee, God in the hospital administrator, God in the street bum, God in the blackjack dealer, God not on a throne in heaven but commingled inextricably into our broken humanity. We may not want to go there. But that’s where the treasure is buried. And, guess what, we’re already there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">And the end of all our exploring <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Will be to arrive where we started <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">And to know the place for the first time.<a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">[x]</span></b></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[i]</span></span></span></a>Alice Miller, <i>Thou Shalt Not Be Aware<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[ii]</span></span></span></a>This walk out was not an isolated protest. Multiple preachers have told me that in the same time period they mentioned the separation of families at the border. Multiple laity walked out. None of them said they supported taking toddlers away from their parents. But they were quite angry the subject had been raised at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="applewebdata://88633BF7-CF6A-4DD0-8158-10962154C2DA#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="color: purple;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[iii]</span></span></span></a>Dietrich Bonhoeffer, <i>Letters from Prison.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-88184713230748788272018-07-23T14:06:00.003-07:002018-07-23T14:56:52.195-07:00WARNING: THIS SACRAMENT MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR DIVISIONS <br />
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">There is One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Paul said that – a lot – in different way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">His Epistles are all about the same thing:<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> how to be the Church, the Body of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">The first churches were always dividing up into factions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> over this issue here; over that issue there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">In Corinth, some folk spoke in tongues and some didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Some ate meat, and some didn’t. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">In Syria, next door to Israel,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">most of the Christians were ethnically Jewish<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> and still practiced Judaism.<br />For them, Christianity was another party within Judaism,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> like the Pharisees or Sadducees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But take things up to Western Turkey<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">and demographics shift.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Things were different around Ephesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">There were Jews and some of the Jews were Christian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But the majority of the Christians were gentiles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">So, the church division was still between Jew and gentile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">There had been a real blowout nearby in Galatia,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> over whether you could even be a Christian<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> if you didn’t convert to Judaism first,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> and for men that meant getting circumcised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">That’s the kind of division Paul was writing into.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We have all seen Christians divide up over all sorts of things:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> women’s ordination, dancing, drinking, movies on Sundays – <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> whether the born-again experience is essential to salvation,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">whether baptism in the spirit with tongue speaking <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> is essential to salvation; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> whether the promised millennium of peace and justice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> is to come before or after the rapture;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> whether there will be a rapture;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> whether the virgin birth is literal or symbolic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We have divided over incense, prayer book revision,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> abortion, gay marriage, background checks for gun buyers,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">and whether it is too Catholic to put candles on the altar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">You name it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">In Nevada, we divide up urban versus rural, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> North versus South, and East versus West. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Whenever we run out of issues to divide up over,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> we get busy inventing some new ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">What is true in the church is especially true in the wider society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">In his landmark book, <i>The Big Sort, </i>Bill Bishop lays out the facts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">America is more diverse than ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But we have divided ourselves up as never before <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">to ensure that we only interact people like ourselves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">--- people who look, think, and even eat like we do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We live in neighborhoods of people like us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We go to churches where we all think alike.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We watch news channels carefully programed to offer only facts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> that support whatever opinions we already hold. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Social media logarithms insure we see the posts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> that will pour gasoline on whatever fire<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> we have already have going. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">The social and political impact is obvious: division and discord.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We have redrawn the congressional districts into conservative<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> or liberal<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">so candidates do not have to campaign across ideological lines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">That’s why there are no longer any moderates to broker deals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">and Congress no longer works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Our divisions also have a personal impact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Philosopher Martha Nussbaum<i></i>says we are losing <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> our very ability to imagine how things look to someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">That makes our world smaller. It shrinks our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We can divide up Black versus white,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> English speaker versus Spanish speaker, liberal versus conservative. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">The categories don’t matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">What matters is the very act of dividing up <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> that isolates us and narrows our minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">It was into just such a division that <i>Ephesians</i>was written.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">You can substitute any of our contemporary divisions <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> for the division of Jew versus gentile in this letter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> and we’ll see how the message plays. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Paul said, <i>Now . . .you who once were far off <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> have been brought near by the blood of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">For he is our peace. //<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">In his flesh he has made both groups into one<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> and has broken down the dividing wall,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> that is the hostility between us.</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">My bishop in Georgia used to have a saying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">When people would ask him if he could work <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> with some person or group of people, he’d say,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> <i>I haven’t met anyone yet that Jesus didn’t die for his sins.</i>//<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">And that, my friends, is where it stands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">There may be somebody we don’t agree with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We may not even like him very much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But you know what: Jesus went to the cross for him too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Jesus shed his blood for him too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We drink that blood in Holy Communion to make us one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We lay down our grudges and animosities<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> in order to take Jesus into our hearts at the rail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">There are so many standards <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">by which we judge each other as right or wrong,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">wise or foolish, good or bad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Paul had a word for those standards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">He called them <i>the law.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">And we’ve got all kinds of law:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> we have liberal laws that judge conservatives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> and conservative laws that judge liberals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We got a law lurking around every corner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">The law is the standard of judgment we use to set ourselves apart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But Paul says,<i><br /> (Jesus) has abolished the law with its commandments . . .,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> that he might create in himself <b>one</b>new humanity;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">in place of the <b>two, </b>thus making peace,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> and might reconcile both groups into one body through the cross.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">One speaks Spanish; the other, English.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">One is black descended from slaves; the other, white,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">descended from slave owners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">One is straight; the other, gay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">And we all got a law to make us right and the other guy wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But the Bible says, <i>(Jesus) has abolished the law . . .<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> that he might create in himself <b>one</b>new humanity.</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">How did he do that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">He went to the cross for both sides<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> of every division we can invent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Paul says Jesus <i>. . . reconcile(d) both groups into one body <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">through the cross.</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">When Jesus brings us together in the Body of Christ,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> he doesn’t abolish our differences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">He doesn’t make us all alike. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">He leaves us different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But he gives us something in common<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">-- something that runs deeper than our differences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">He gives us grace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">He gives us salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">He gives us the love of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We may have religious differences or political differences<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> or different spiritual styles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">And that’s a good thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">How bland it would be if we were all alike!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">How dull life would be if we didn’t know people<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> who saw the world through different eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We get to enjoy each other’s differences<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> because we have something deep in common.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We act out that something in common at the communion rail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Here’s the thing with Communion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We can get the gluten out of the bread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">We can get the alcohol out of the wine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But we can’t strain the grace out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">When you receive the bread and wine and you receive <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> the grace that forgives your sins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">But here’s the catch: that <i>your </i>is plural.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">The grace that forgives your sins<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> forgives those other people too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">You are in the same boat – the Ark of Salvation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Remember how Noah loaded the Ark two by two.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">You enter the Ark of Salvation two by two,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> and that person beside you may not be<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"> anyone you would expect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">It’s <i>The gifts of God for the people of God.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you </span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">(plural)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">-- died to make all of us one body –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;">and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 37.33333206176758px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-20585422037704276932018-06-10T18:04:00.000-07:002018-06-22T08:28:18.812-07:00RANDOM THOUGHTS ON ART, ICONOCLASM, & PARADOX<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Griffins Without Faces</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">My 3-year-old grandson, Matthew, attends a pre-school in Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk in the lovely land of East Anglia. To get there, we walk along a few quiet residential streets till we get to a narrow driveway defined on either side by tall lush greenery. At the entrance to the driveway stand two brick pillars. Atop each pillar is a small stone griffin. The faces of the griffins have been hammered off. From the aging of the stone, I’d say the hammering took place a very long time ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">It is possible the griffins were defaced (literally) by random vandals, but is vandalism ever really random or does its very randomness express nihilism? Regardless, it was probably not random vandals but ideologically driven iconoclasts ridding the Emerald Isle of graven images. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">After our recent visit to Matthew’s pre-school, we went to Stratford Upon Avon. The schoolroom where William Shakespeare began his formal study of words – and we shall return to words e’er long as they play a major role in this drama – adjoins a chapel constructed by the Guild of the Holy Cross 1418-1420. Restoration of the chapel in recent years displays lovely medieval iconography on the wall behind the altar. It features Christ crucified, John and Mary at the foot of the cross, and most recently discovered, John the Baptist to the side. The images of Jesus and the saints were covered over by plaster, but before that, there had been a serious effort to eradicate them. This occurred on the orders of Elizabeth I carried out under the direction of a Stratford public official John Shakespeare, William’s Dad. John was probably Catholic in his personal piety, but Elizabeth was paying two shillings for the job and this was part of changing the purpose of the place from visual art to words, those words John’s son mastered so remarkably. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The present restoration of the chapel is uncovering the visual expressions of Medieval piety. But pause a minute. This restoration is peeling the paint and plaster spread by John Shakespeare’s minions, right? Might we now be defacing the piety of the 16<sup>th</sup>Century iconoclastic reformers? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">After our time in Stratford Upon Avon, we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. The display of Medieval art, on overwhelmingly Christian themes, was breathtaking – a profound expression of an idealized spiritual faith expressed through the genius of art. This is precisely the sort of thing that shocked the conscience of 16<sup>th</sup>Century iconoclasts. The Renaissance Art was equally exquisite. Renaissance Art too was rich in Christian themes, albeit an earthier more human faith. But Renaissance Art included themes from pagan Antiquity that would have been smashed and burned by Early Christians and utterly <i>verboten </i>throughout the Medieval era. Both aesthetic apprehensions of what we observe and what we imagine -- Antique Pagan and Medieval Christian -- would come under attack from the iconoclastic hammer and plaster brush in a short while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Whence cometh this seemingly irresistible impulse of our species to make meaning through art? What is it in us that is so threatened by such art that we react against it so violently? What is it that makes words less of a threat than paintings? Now in our time, words – logocentrism – come under attack from deconstructionists. Is the challenge to words and grammar the same as, similar to, or utterly different from the iconoclastic spirit that hammers away the faces of griffins? I suspect a connection but that the connection is more complex than I can sort. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The First Wave of Iconoclasm. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">There is a philosophical side to this question. But before the philosophy, let’s consider the story. My story comes down to an exegetical hypothesis on a piece of the Torah. It is somewhat interpretive, somewhat imaginative, but not an invention. It is within the realm of legitimate opinion, but it will be obviously shaped by the pastoral experience of an old cleric who has spent decades directing the sacred traffic of God’s very human people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The history of the issue long precedes Medieval Art and the Reformation. Art was expressing religion back in the hunter gatherer and even cave dwelling days of our species. When religion grew institutional with the agrarian revolution and the rise of hierarchical states, art abounded. Language was a Johnny Come Lately to religion. We were painting divine, human, and animal stories long before someone in Sumer invented writing <i>circa </i>3,000 BCE. Thereafter, words and images peacefully coexisted for nearly 2,000 years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Then came Moses who took a radical stand against images and words alike. Were his reasons theological or philosophical? Perhaps, but I suspect they were political – and by that, I mean no criticism. I posit Moses was trying to clear the way for collaborative moral relationships among people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">There is no archaeological evidence of a massive exodus of slaves from Egypt. There is no evidence of a massive invasion of Canaan in the era of Joshua. There is no historical evidence of such events apart from the Bible. There is evidence of class conflict in Northern Canaan, which was subjugated by the Egyptians. It would seem that Egypt as an agricultural domination system had extended its empire over the fertile valleys and plains of Northern Canaan and forced the indigenous people into field labor. Their rebellion is documented by letters from the Egyptian military to the royal court describing how the insurrection of the <i>apiru </i>(Hebrews – not an ethnic category but a class category – it means <i>the rabble</i>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">It appears as if a future uprising may have had some success, that a significant number of the indigenous people in Northern Canaan followed Moses away from the fields, swearing to hoe no more fields for the man, and fled into the hills to take up a different life -- a pastoral life, to be ordered by egalitarian norms of freedom, justice, and equality – in marked contrast to the domination system of agrarian society. They had not previously needed to create ways to order their common life. The Egyptians had been ordering it for them. To create a free and equal society, new forms of unity were necessary. A common religion was the heart of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">These people were not all of the same tribe. Tradition tells us there were 12 tribes. The idea that they shared a common ancestor and a common history before Egypt is a strained tale in Genesis, which would be written centuries later. It looks very much as if some tribes claimed ancestry from Abraham and others from Isaac. Genesis makes one the son of the other and both characters had at points similar stories. A narrative of common ancestry is part and parcel of weaving 12 tribes into one people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">It was a polytheistic world, but a tribe cold have a particular tie to one god who would look out for them if they were loyal to <i>him</i>(religion had become patriarchal in the Bronze Age). Naturally, the tribes worshiped different Gods. Some called their deity, <i>El </i>(translated in the Hebrew Scriptures as <i>God</i>). Others worshiped a god named <i>Yah </i>or <i>Yahweh </i>(whose name will be banned early in this story, so he will be referred to more obliquely as<i>Adonai </i>(generally translated as <i>the Lord</i>). The different tribes agreed to worship the same god but in an attempt to preserve their traditions, declared:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Shema ‘srael, Adonai Elohanyu Adonai echad. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">It is vitally important to parse the Great Commandment in its context. <i>Hear O Israel. </i>Listen up Israel. Hear – as summons together. Then God bestows on them a single name – Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, and the rest are subsumed under one name <i>Israel. </i>In Isaiah, it is said, <i>you who were not a people are now my people. </i>God through Moses forms a people by summoning them to hear and giving them a single name. Then God radically simplifies their theology: <i>Yah (Adonai)</i>and <i>El (Elohanyu) are one </i>(the same guy). Do not jump the gun. This is not monotheism. That is centuries away. The point here is to say that the different gods of these tribes are merged into a single god, Yahweh El, the Lord God, for a single people, Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">But – and surely you are not surprised – disputes over the name of God persisted. Why? I do not know. Is it that the one God manifests so variously in human hearts? I do not know. Differences persisted. Troubles continued – until it was decreed no name of God should not be spoken at all. We just won’t use words. That is from the days of the Hebrew Scriptures and is a silent shibboleth of Judaism, so that many orthodox Jews will not say any word referring to God but will point upward, or when writing omit the letter “o” and print “G_d” so that without a vowel no word can be pronounced. And yet as Judaism lives on, the Kabballah gives us Nine Names of God. Judaism has two traditions, one with emphatically no name for God and another that proliferates names. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">But I am ahead of myself. Let us return to the innocent days when Yah and El were the same, so that one said Yahweh El (the Lord God) or did not say the name of God at all, how shall we represent God in our holy places –. Some tribes had worshiped a bull-god; others, a god who looked like a griffin. Who gets to paint God to look like the God their grandparents worshiped? We can easily imagine the fight over that one. And anyone who can imagine that will all the more easily imagine an exasperated Moses banning all images of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">It didn’t work of course. The altar of the Ark of the Covenant had bull horns. Statuettes surmised to be of The Lord God have been found from various times of the Biblical era. But, in principle, the nameless, imageless God of Israel was sufficiently nameless and sufficiently imageless that other peoples called the Jews <i>atheists. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">We have no art from the brief period in which primitive Christianity was a Jewish sect. Quickly, the Christians became neither fish nor fowl – or part fish, part fowl – between Judaism and Hellenism. By the 2<sup>nd</sup>Century, paintings of Jesus as a young shepherd appear. At first there was no sacred text beyond the Hebrew Scriptures. But by the 2<sup>nd</sup>Century, a canon of Scriptures is forming from letters and the new literary genre of <i>evangelion</i>(gospel) written just decades before. It would be anybody’s guess whether the written words or the paintings came first. We can be sure, they were pretty much hand in hand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">It may (??) be important that in this formative era of Christian art and literature, Christianity was the faith of small collaborative communities reminiscent of Moses’ pastoral communitarian society. Then Christianity became the religious arm of the Empire, Constantine’s mother Monica discovered “the one true cross” and that which had not been a Christian symbol became the central Christian symbol erected in every place of worship. Cristian literature and Christian art went public together. Did the meaning attached to the art change when it became public art, the face of the Empire and its state religion, instead of the more personal art of small, marginal communities?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">In the 6<sup>th</sup>Century, the iconoclastic controversy arose – or not so much arose as went international. Syrian Christians had never warmed up to religious art. Iconography was all over Greece but not Syria. When Syrians surged in ecclesiastical influence, they launched a challenge to visual representations. It was a passionate fight. The more European sector of the Church regained control and decreed that icons are ok but attempted to smooth it over using words. Icons would not be <i>worshiped </i>but would be <i>venerated </i>-- meaning they are not gods but God can be encountered through them – which is not so different from how pagans had long understood the function of idols. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">What was actually going on in the iconoclast controversy? What was going on with the iconoclasm of the 16<sup>th</sup>Century? While it is often assumed that Henry VIII’s only purpose of a break from Rome was to secure and annulment of his marriage, he expeditiously banned votive images as such images were being destroyed in Protestant lands on the Continent. Edward VI launched an assault on all religious art, replacing it with Scriptural texts on Church walls. Yet there survived ample religious art to be destroyed by Cromwell in the 17<sup>th</sup>Century. What stirred their passions against paintings of the Holy Family or the saints? What thoughts motivated whoever took a hammer to the 19<sup>th</sup>or 20<sup>th</sup>Century griffins outside Matthew’s pre-school?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I know of strict Congregationalists who will brook no religious objects in the Church or elsewhere – meaning no cross. Other Protestants are perfectly comfortable with the polyvalent symbol of the cross, but nothing else. Then there are those who will endure a portrait of Jesus (preferably the one modelled on Pope Alexander VI’s dissolute son) but no one else. Others will accept other paintings of all manner of saints, but no statues of anyone. Then there are those who are ok with a sta e of Jesus only. Then some are ok with Jesus and other men, normally 4 evangelists; the quartet of Peter, Paul, Mosel, & Elijah; or the 12 apostles; and maybe more guys like Stephen or St. George. Interesting for our puzzlement about word and image, some will accept statutes of men referenced in the Bible but not saints from after 210 C.E. The foregoing are, as I say, comfortable with representations of men – but not women! No Blessed Virgin Mary for them – not in painting or statue but in the words of Matthew and Luke, she is acceptable. Then I have met a surprising to me number of people who are comfortable with Mary so long as she is white, but the Virgin of Guadalupe strikes them as idolatrous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Flashback to the 6thh Century. Were the icons of that day Eurocentric? Did that Hellenistic hegemony implicitly stir the iconoclasm of the Syrians who had been rather marginalized in the Church up to then? This is pure speculation on my part, but I do wonder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">How are we to understand the stirring of art in the human spirit, a stirring that virtually compels us to express our faith in word, image, and song, but which also horrifies others? Is their horror a simplistic fidelity to “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image” – how does that get to the ban on musical instruments (but not acapella singing) in some denominations? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I do not know. Truly, I do not know. But I wonder if it has to do with two things: the mystery of God and the continuing struggle to connect with each other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Iconoclasm is primarily a concern for the Abrahamic traditions – but not exclusively so. In Buddhism, images of the Buddha were forbidden in practice for several centuries, then became omnipresent objects of devotion. The iconography of Tibetan Buddhism is as rich as that of Rome. But Theravadan Buddhism is simpler and Zen Buddhism is starkly simple. Very simple drawings characterize Zen, but so does the adage, <i>if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him. </i>There is in Buddhism a concern that the sacred not be conflated with words, images, or even the person of the Buddha. I mention this because the universal ambivalence about artistic expression cannot be reduced to absolutizing a few Biblical texts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Being and Void/Other/Differance <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I preface all I say here with a deep thank you to Emanuel Levinas and Eberhard Jungel (and to David Ford for having struck them against each other like flint and steel). If I seem critical, it is as a gnat critiquing giants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Over the centuries, Christianity came to experience God not as a superbeing but as Being itself, the suchness of things, but with the empathic point that Being is not an abstraction, not a mere quality of existing; rather Being is personal and intentionally procreative of beings. God is the intimate suchness of Reality itself. The core of all that is is Love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">That way of talking about God has been subjected to searing critique in the latter 20<sup>th</sup>and early 21<sup>st</sup>Centuries. It has been challenged by atheists of course but more interestingly by deconstructionist philosophy, negative theology (Marion, Cupit), and – in a category all his own – Levinas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Post-Modern challenge is a kind of iconoclasm, or more aptly logoclasm, an attack on words as such and an attack on the concept of meaning that words convey, a challenge to the notion of such a thing as meaning, what Derrida calls <i>logocentrism. </i>Nietzsche famously said in the 19<sup>th</sup>Century,<i>the reason we have so much difficulty getting rid of God is that we still believe in grammar. </i>He meant we are beset with a sense of the order and purpose implicit in language. Post-Modernism challenges that sense of meaning and order. Marion notes that the whole scientific process rests on an implicit faith that there is an orderliness to reality. That is the implicit faith Post-Modernist philosophy smashes with the iconoclast’s hammer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I do not mean to paint all these philosophers with the same brush. Their concerns are different, but they have a common enemy, the notion of Being as the source, destiny, and purpose of reality. Contrary to popular assumptions, this repudiation of God as Being or the Ground of Being (as Tillich put it) isn’t science. The intellectual champion of Western atheism, Anthony Flew, was converted to theism by the Big Bang Theory because it proved the Universe has a Source beyond itself. John Polkinghorne, Wolfgang Pannenberg, and other leading theologians rely heavily on science while leading scientists debate the philosophical and theological implications of their discoveries. (I am no scientist and so cannot rightly judge but my sense is that the philosophers and theologians have a better grasp of the science than some of the scientists have of the philosophy and theology – Paul Davis being one of the exceptions). Nor does the challenge come from a boldly optimistic humanism. That naivete is under the same critique. It seems to be the horrors of world wars, the moral shock of genocide, the persistence of war often cloaked in ideology, the randomness of violence -- all in all, the moral failure of the world that has turned our minds to a logoclasm to match old fashioned iconoclasm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Moral protest certainly lies behind the philosophy of Levinas whose work is quite directly in response to the Shoah that so marked his life. Massive genocide led him to a radical critique of Western thought as such. As a Talmudic scholar employing the skeptical phenomenology of Husserl, he is adept at his critique. He rejects Western notions of Being, the Beautiful, the Good, the True, Aristotle’s virtues practiced in community, the whole tradition in favor of the discovery of morality when we encounter the shocking reality that we are not alone, but there are others. I am not prepared to replace the whole canon of Western intellectual history with Levinas, but his critique deserves to be taken seriously as he speaks in the tradition of Moses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I would like to add to the mix the thought of Levinas’s Asian contemporaries, the Kyoto School of Philosophy, most famously Keiji Nishitani, Kitaro Nishida, and Masao Abe. Form their experience of World War II in Japan, it was not only Western philosophy that was the problem. They searched Eastern thought wondering how it could have culminated in the militaristic nationalism that propelled Japan into the World War and led many Japanese to engage in such cruelty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">As Western thought had focused on Being as the core of Reality, Eastern thought had focused on the Void. WW II led the Kyoto philosophers to study Western philosophy for a corrective. They were drawn particularly to Karl Barth, a theologian whose language has some kinship with that of Levinas. They continued to believe a great Void, or Emptiness, or Spaciousness lies behind all our experience. But they discovered that the Void was procreative, freely proliferating the Cosmos. As they looked at the Cosmos spinning out of the Void, it told them something of the nature of the Void. Yes, a Void can have a nature. They discovered that the Void was personal!!! – an idea akin to a nameless, imageless God who is Love. The Kyoto philosophers too deserve our respect and attention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">So Where Are We?</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Short answer: I don’t know. The impulse to find or forge meaning through art and language is so essential to human nature, we cannot stop it. <i>But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. I am worn out by holding it in. Indeed, I cannot. </i>Jeremiah 20: 9. This is as true for the poet, the philosopher, the theologian, the painter, the sculptor, and the dancer as it is for the prophet. Art and language are as essential to our humanity as tools – maybe more so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">On the other hand, whatever we say, paint, sculpt, or in any way express of God is inadequate. We have such an urge to render God manageable, that we are apt to reduce the God of our imaginations to what we have expressed. We may worship our statues or our doctrines. It comes to the same thing. Stone and words alike are representations of God – essential because we cannot live without making meaning but dangerous because those stammering expressions of meaning are apt to shut down the ongoing process of feeling our way in the dark searching for God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Where does that leave us? Might it be that art and iconoclasm exist in a necessary tension? If so, how are we to manage it? I truly do not know. But if those who forge meaning make a discipline of paradox, there is an implicit iconoclasm in the meaning. It is when the image or idea is comprehensible rather than suggestive that it is apt to shut down the search prematurely. It is paradox that holds the mind open. that props open the door of our hearts. What do I mean by paradox? The personal Void. God who is one and three. Jesus who is fully human and fully divine. Our tradition abounds in paradox, though we often flatten it out and explain it way. That is when the hammer comes out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-55759763107757485582018-04-02T11:37:00.000-07:002018-04-02T11:41:52.911-07:0034th EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS; COMMUNITY TRUE AND FALSE<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Grace
and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I share
with you a blog I wrote last year because this Epistle is a variation on that
theme. You may want to check it either before or after reading the 34<sup>th</sup>
Epistle. The blog says our project as the Church is to be in relationship with
each other, and then together to be in relationship with the world outside on
behalf of Christ. It also says that is a hard project indeed and we often fail
chiefly because relationship costs us a piece of ourselves, and that’s a price
we are not willing to pay. </span><a href="http://bishopdansblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">http://bishopdansblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">If I
seem a bit obsessed with our relationships, permit me to list the basic
reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">1. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Our
understanding of God as Trinity means God is love, that godliness is a matter
of relationality. God is the source, the destiny, and the meaning of our lives
so to miss God (love/relationality) is to miss the heart of everything. Because
God is who God is, the only way to God is through relationship with each other.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">2.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">Whenever
God acts to draw us into relationship with him (apologies for the male
pronoun), God always – <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">always </span>–
establishes a covenant to create a human community with himself in the middle of
it. The Church is either a covenant community or we are a sham. It is in the
covenant community that we support each other and challenge each other (sometimes
by being flawed) to practice virtues and grow in grace.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">3. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When
asked “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus could not give just one. He had
to give two because they are equal and inseparable: love of God and love of
neighbor. (Mt 22: 36-40)</span><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">4. </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">The
entire theology of St. Paul is an elaboration on finding our salvation, our
wholeness, through being incorporated into the Body of Christ, an all too human
community. (e.g., I Cor. 12)<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> 5</span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">5. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">St. John
says it is impossible to love God without loving each other. A purported spiritual
bond to God absent a community of faith is, in John’s word, a “lie.” (1 Jn. 4:
20)<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">6. </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Catechism says the Church’s mission, our reason for being, the thing we get up
for each morning, is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to restore all
people to unity with God and each other in Christ.</i> (BCP 855)</span><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;">7.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">7. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal;">This
literary genre of the Epistle is, of course, an homage to the New Testament
Epistles, and they are overwhelmingly on a single theme: Be a covenant
community!<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Those
are some of the reasons I feel compelled like Jeremiah (Jer. 20: 9) to speak of
this. I do not mean to pressure you to connect with each other in a life
giving, inspiring, rooted, meaningful way. It is my job to pry the door open
but whether you choose to enter or not is up to you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I write
this Epistle to make two more points beyond what I said in the blog – the
first, faintly implicit in the attached blog; the second, not mentioned but it
is vitally important.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>1.</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>I. </i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Triumph of the Centrifugal Force. </span></i></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Usually,
we simply disconnect from each other. It is hard to draw people together in a
parish, harder still to draw parishes together into a diocese. There are
multiple practical pretexts for disconnection. But the underlying real reason
is that connection involves a kind of loss of self. To connect, we have to set
our thoughts and opinions aside to listen to each other, shelve our own agendas
to care about each other, to risk being changed by the relationship. It is a real
risk. The reason to do it is that we also discover ourselves in a whole new
light in the context of relationship. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He
who seeks to save his life will lose it but he who loses his life will find it.
</i>(Lk. 17: 33). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
centrifugal force in our culture is strong these days. Maybe it is because
institutions have a history of oppression and corruption. They are composed of people
and we know how people are. Or maybe it is because the first 6 decades of the
20<sup>th</sup> Century grew stiflingly conformist. Or maybe it is just a surge
the individualist isolationism that all the name brand religions see as an
inherent problem in human life. There are no doubt reasons we disconnect, but
the spiritual and emotional price we pay is high. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The new
point I offer about disconnection in the Church is that the parishes that are
most disconnected from the Diocese (their sister parishes and partners in
mission) turn out to be the ones whose members are disconnected from each
other. Sometimes a parish sets out to bond internally against the outside
threat of the Diocese, but invariably internal discord either precedes or
succeeds the isolation of the parish. Conversely, congregations with a healthy
connection to the wider Church have healthy internal dynamics as well. I have
no idea which comes first. It looks like chicken and egg. But the correlation of
internal and external cooperation shows up over and over and over. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>2.</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>II. </i></span></span></span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Triumph of the False Centripetal. <o:p></o:p></span></i></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">On the
other hand, we are hardwired to long for connection. We need some level of
human interaction to live. In this time of radical individualism, we are
lonelier and lonelier. So, we need to come together. But, we don’t want to lose
ourselves in that coming together. We are ambivalent. So, we tend to come
together on a shallow and oft-times pathological basis. The most common commonality
is that we unite <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">against </i>someone or
some other group. It is an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">us against them
</i>or, even better, an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">us against him. </i>Systems
psychologists call that a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">false bond </i>or
a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bogus relationship. </i>We are not
appreciating each other, caring for each other, risking that essential loss of
self in authentic relationship with each other. We are just getting together to
talk trash about someone who is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not our
sort dear </i>or against <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">those people. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I see
false bonding in the Church a lot – a whole lot – of the time. Our diocese has
its outcasts who serve as our scapegoats. We find our unity in condemning them.
I hear the clergy of one region of the diocese speaking contemptuously of our
Church in another region. I hear the persistence of some in believing that no
one cares about them even when others have labored long and spent resources to
support them, but they are bonded with each other in the conviction that no one
else cares. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
problem with false bonding is this: it inoculates us against authentic
relationship. It is a mirage of community. It will not slake the real thirst of
our souls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<h2>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>3.</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>III. </i></span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Getting Past Both Alienations To Find Wholeness. <o:p></o:p></span></i></h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is
entirely ok to stay isolated. I want to say the only ones we are hurting are
ourselves. That isn’t quite true. We are all essential members of the team. So,
if we don’t show up, the team is diminished. But the Church team has been
playing with 8 on the baseball field or 4 on the basketball court so long no
one is apt to notice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is
less ok to bond on a negative basis. That does hurt other people at the same
time that it corrupts us. But the Church has become so optional in a secular
society, people should not have too hard a time escaping us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The real
point is the missed opportunity not only for each of us individually but for
each other and for the wider world. We are invited to lose our (little) selves
in order to find our (larger) selves as the Body of Christ. Our mission is not
to form a mutual support group. It is to be the Body of Christ in the world.
The Catechism, remember, says our mission is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to restore all people to unity with God and each other <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">in Christ. </b></i>The basis of our unity
is all important. We take up our cross (on which our little selves are
crucified) in order to be raised into the meaningful life of Jesus’ Kingdom
Mission. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">What
does the Kingdom Mission look like? The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and
Luke) speak of little else. Good news for the poor, broken hearts mended, release
for the captive, liberty for the oppressed. (Lk 4: 18) God’s gracious will is
done on earth as it is in Heaven. (Mt. 6: 10) We carry out the mission as we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">worship and pray, proclaim the Gospel, and
promote justice, peace, and love. </i>(BCP 855) It’s a big, big mission. It is
fulfilled only at the end of the age, but the Kingdom happens, it breaks in
here and now all the time. It happens whenever we discern God’s will and do
God’s will together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">That
Mission is big enough to lift us up out of our lesser selves and are set free
to become our true selves. This is how we become whole. If we “come to the
garden alone when the dew is still on the roses,” and if Jesus shows up to walk
with us and talk with us, either he’ll eventually invite us out of the garden into
the mission field with our fellow Christians, or he’s an imposter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
point is coming together for a higher purpose. We have reached important
insights into human nature through research on PTSD among combat veterans. That
condition among veterans these days is proving harder to eradicate than other
trauma survivors. There are probably several contributing factors, but the main
one is what matters to us. Combat trauma survivors relive their combat
experience. The thing that keeps them stuck in the trauma is that they don’t
want to give up the rest of the experience. Other trauma survivors are not so
nostalgic. There is nothing positive for them to remember. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">So,
what’s so special about combat? Two things: First, for people in our
self-focused society, it is the one time in their lives they were serving
something more important than themselves, something they were willing to live
or die for. Second, they were bonded to their comrades in that cause, ready to
sacrifice themselves for each other’s good. That was their taste of real life.
No wonder, they don’t want to let it go even if it is laced with terror. The
point for us is that the reason combat PTSD is so stubborn is because in
civilian life, in civic life, we are not connecting for something vastly larger
than our own personal agendas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Covenant
community is a whole new way of being in the world. It would be boldly
countercultural in the West today. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You
may call me a dreamer </i>(ironic allusion), but I hope for some of us it is
still possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
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<br />Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-38298237266783458722018-01-17T16:47:00.001-08:002018-01-17T16:47:33.519-08:00CIVIC LIFE, DEMOCRACY, & HUMAN DESTINY<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Society
is torn. There is so much acrimony and division these days over political
ideologies, race, gender, religion, and most anything people can imagine to
divide up over. I would have thought that was clear, but in a recent social
media post by the Southern Poverty Law Center showing a photo of a toddler in a
KKK outfit, comments came back defensively denying that we are in significant conflict.
We are even in conflict over whether we are in conflict. One clear indicator of
our divisions, hate crime, is indisputably and dramatically on the rise.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When the
present day is all shouting and spin, it helps to draw wisdom from the past,
including the spiritual wisdom of folks like St. Paul. Much that is implicit in
Paul’s swirling metaphors and pleas for people to treat each other more kindly
is out front and explicit in Aristotle. That’s because Aristotle was a prosaic philosopher
while Paul was a poetic mystic. But they agreed on some basics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Aristotle
said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Humans are political animals. </i>He
didn’t mean we like jockeying for power in partisan contests. He meant we are
wired to live in relationship with a community.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is not good for the man to be alone. </i>Genesis
2: 18 Aristotle taught that we are all born with a destiny, not to do something
or acquire something, but to become someone. We are each on our way toward
becoming the person we were made to be – though whether we become that person
or not is up to us. It depends on how we live. We are all meant to become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fully human</i>. We become fully human
through the development of our characters. A <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">character </i>is a deeply engrained pattern of behavior. Aristotle
called a good pattern an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">arête </i>or
virtue. We form and strengthen virtue though life in community. Modern philosophers
like Emanuel Levinas, Jurgen Moltmann, and Martha Nussbaum and depth
psychologists like Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott agree that we become
ourselves through relationship and conversation. That is why the Bible is
consistent in saying we are called to live in covenant with one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Pause
here to notice the difference in how we understand our city, state, nation, and
world. They are not a necessary evil, not a regrettable infringement on our
individualistic liberty, but the field on which we exercise virtue and become
who God made us to be. Aristotle thought the city-state should be organized
precisely for the purpose of growing virtue – not maximizing wealth but growing
virtue.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The Pilgrims founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony to be a society where
Christian virtue could flourish. Calvin did the same in Geneva.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The forefathers forged American democracy with the notion that participation in
democratic processes – if we do it right – would grow our characters. There are
always people who want to withdraw from the fray and take refuge in the private
life of self, family, and friends. They deny any responsibility for what
happens in the public square and embrace passivity. </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIxScJ5rlY"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBIxScJ5rlY</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Similarly, many hope the
Church will be a sanctuary where we do not think about real life issues of
justice and mercy. But those escapist strategies deny our nature as wired for
community and the role of the Church in expressing the moral side of public
issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The 19<sup>th</sup>
Century French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville did a classic study of
American society, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Democracy In America. </i>He
examined the American character with the question: why does democracy work
there when it hasn’t fared well elsewhere?<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
He found that we were doing democracy quite well but that American culture had
a tragic flaw that would likely sooner or later spell the doom of democratic
society – individualism. Think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I Did It
My Way. </i></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6gBw-tK82E"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6gBw-tK82E</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My Life. </i></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JFEfdK_Ls"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JFEfdK_Ls</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Spiritually,
individualism denies our nature as wired for community and rejects the hard
task of becoming fully human through relationships. Politically, individualism
is the path to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everyman for himself </i>riot
that, according to Thomas Hobbes,<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
we establish government to overcome. The Biblical book of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Judges </i>recounts one disastrous story after another, explaining each
with this recurring one-liner explanation, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
those days there was no king in Israel and each man did what was right in his
own eyes.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[vii]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">But de
Tocqueville said there was one hope for us. He believed our participation in
voluntary associations, especially and above all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">churches, </i>would allow us to cultivate the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">civic virtues </i>necessary to live together in peace and govern
ourselves wisely. For Alexis de Tocqueville a church is a gymnasium in which we
strengthen the virtues without which civilization is impossible. I would agree
but say that cultivating those virtues is not just for a political purpose – it
how we grow into the likeness of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And we, who with unveiled
faces, contemplate the glory of our Lord, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">are
being transformed into his image</b> with ever increasing glory. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2 Corinthians 3: 18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">For those whom he foreknew,
he also predestined <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">to be conformed to
the image of His son</b> so that he might become the firstborn of many
brethren. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Romans
8: 29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Do not merely look after your
own interests, but also the interests of others. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Have this attitude in you that was in Christ Jesus. </b></span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Philippians 2: 4-5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The goal
of the Christian life is to become fully human as Christ is fully human, to
cultivate in ourselves the qualities of character that made Jesus the Christ.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">If de
Tocqueville is right that the virtues we learn especially in Church, but also
other voluntary associations, are necessary to democratic society, is it any
coincidence that the decline in Church attendance and membership in other
voluntary associations has occurred at the same time as the current dysfunction
of our political life?<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
If the departure from the Church produces this political disarray, then
political disarray is a symptom of an even more serious spiritual malaise in
society. That’s what Parker Palmer says in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Healing
the Heart of Democracy.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[x]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
</i>Palmer argues that we need to form groups to intentionally practice the
virtues that are essential to civic life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This
brings us back to St. Paul. It is often said that Paul junked the law in favor
of a libertine life in which all is forgiven so anything goes. Not so! Paul
shifted from the rule-based ethics of the Torah to a virtue-based ethics like that
taught by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and other great minds of the
Ancient World. Instead of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thou shalt do
this </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thou shalt not do that, </i>Paul
wrote, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such things there is no law. </i>Galatians 5: 22-23 Paul
rejected rule-following ethics in favor of growing a character with a skeleton
of strong virtues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Paul’s
virtue ethics became the basis for Christian morality to this very day.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The foundation of Christian moral life is The Three Theological Virtues (Faith,
Hope, & Love)<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
and The Four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude)<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
We grow more like Jesus through practicing these seven virtues intentionally in
our relationships with each other. Church is the best place to work on forming
our characters, but we spend most of our time in the secular world, so that is
where the virtues must be practiced day in and day out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Any understanding
of Christian morality begins with knowing and understanding the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Big Seven Virtues</b>. The words don’t
always mean exactly what we might expect from how they are used ordinarily. So,
we need a bit of vocabulary clarification. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Faith </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">is not holding the right
theological opinions. It is closer to what psychoanalyst Erik Erikson called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">basic trust. </i>It is the capacity to trust
others enough to be in relationship with them. At the psychological level, it
is the first step in psychosocial development. But theologically, it is even
more important. It is trust in God which amounts to trusting Reality itself to
be meaningful and good. Without trust, we live in fear and loathing. Faith set
us free from that misery and makes life possible. Faith in the coherence of the
world is the essential foundation for science. Faith in the meaningfulness of
words is the foundation of language. Without faith, we are lost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Hope </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">is believing in the good no
matter how hidden it may be. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is only
with the heart that one sees rightly. The things that are essential are
invisible to the eye. </i>Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Hope is the heart seeing
the invisible beauty of the world, and daring to believe that it will one day
flourish. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There is in all things visible
. . . a hidden wholeness, </i>wrote Thomas Merton. Hope is the antidote to
despair. Despair is suicide, mass violence, addiction, and cynicism. Hope is
the Man of La Mancha <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dreaming the
impossible dream. </i></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGsYrpejAYw"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGsYrpejAYw</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The
practice of all the virtues is rooted in the transcendent hope for our own
transformation into the likeness of Christ. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We
are God’s children now. It does not yet appear what we shall be. But when he
appears, we shall be like him. </i>I John 3: 2 Emily Dickinson said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hope
is the thing with feathers<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That perches in the soul<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And sings the tune without the words<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And never stops at all<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And sweetest in the Gale is heard<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And sore must be the storm<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That could abash the little bird<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That kept so many warm.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Love </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">in this sense is not romantic
or sentimental. It isn’t the special affection we feel for our lover, friend,
or child. It is appreciating and caring for another person just because they
are a person. It is loving their humanity. That applies to all people equally.
Other kinds of love single out people for preference. They are not wrong, but
this kind of love is the greatest love of all and is the foundation for doing
all other loves well.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn14" name="_ednref14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This love extends to everyone. It is what we mean by the Baptismal Vow <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to seek and serve Christ in all persons. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Prudence </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">is the “mother of all
virtues,” the virtue without which none of the others is possible. in day to
day speech prudence means being careful -- but not in moral theology. Prudence
is the wisdom to see things as they really are – not as we wish they were, not
as we are afraid they might be, but as they really are – not through the lens
of any ideology or prejudice. It is daring to look reality in the face. There
is a crude but apt illustration in the movie LBJ, when the President says to
his fellow Texan, Senator Ralph Yarborough, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ralph,
you’ve got a goooood heart, but s%$* for brains.</i> Faith, hope, and love
would all be a fantasy if they were just make believe, and not facing the world
as it is, people as they are. Prudence sees thing as they are and acts wisely
in the situation, like a gambler knowing when to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em,
etc. </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj4nJ1YEAp4"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj4nJ1YEAp4</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There
are two things we have to know first before any other prudence/knowledge is
possible. First, we have to know ourselves because everything else we see, we
see through the lens of our own psyches. The Ancient Egyptians and Ancient
Greeks inscribed the proverb everywhere <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know
yourself. </i>The Greeks had story after story of people who had been told true
prophesies, but rushed headlong into disaster because they did misread the
prophesies – misread them through the lens of their own selves. We have to know
ourselves to see rightly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The
second thing we have to know is how much we do not know. Certainty closes the
mind. Curiosity opens it. Wisdom is possible only if we are not too sure of
ourselves, only if we dare to turn to wonder. We are usually wiser when we
wondering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Temperance </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">in moral theology isn’t just
about how much you drink. It’s balance. Parker Palmer says that the big truths
of life are usually paradox, two conflicting propositions or attitudes. For
example, he talks about the wisdom of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chutzpah
</i>and the wisdom of humility. They are both essential to a well-lived life.
But they pull in opposite directions. It is hard to hold the tension, to live
in the tension; so, we tend to drop one half and live in the other. We may be
brash fools or timid shrinking violets. A virtuous life has both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chutzpah </i>and humility. That is just one
example. Life is full of paradox. It can only be lived fully if we are
disciplined and strong enough to hold the tension. </span><a href="https://onbeing.org/blog/autumn-a-season-of-paradox/"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">https://onbeing.org/blog/autumn-a-season-of-paradox/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> Political extremism of
either right or left, like religious fanaticism, is a flight from paradox and
therefore reality. Temperance is wise action, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">right action </i>the Buddhists call it, in the actual situation. It is
knowing what time it is. It is restraint when restraint is needed, boldness
when boldness is needed. Think of the Serenity Prayer. </span><a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/prayers/protestant/addiction/serenity-prayer.aspx"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">http://www.beliefnet.com/prayers/protestant/addiction/serenity-prayer.aspx</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> That is temperance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Fortitude </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">is strength and courage. It
is determination to live bravely. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For God
has not given us a spirit of fear but of power (</i>fortitude) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and of love and of a sound mind (</i>prudence).
2 Timothy 1: 7 This is a particular time of anxiety, a time when the spirit of
fear seizes so many and they lash out in anger against the people and the
forces they perceive as a threat. Fortitude is living boldly out of faith
instead of cringing or reacting in fear. Let us not be naïve. Practicing the
virtues isn’t easy. It will get us into all manner of trouble. But as Zorba the
Greek (Nikos Kazantzakis) said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trouble?
Life is trouble. Only in death is there no trouble. </i>Theologian Paul Tillich
called it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Courage To Be. </i>Life
takes courage. We grow in courage thorugh daring to take the risk to be
virtuous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The
imperative sentence Jesus spoke most often to his disciples was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do not be afraid. </i>Notice he did not say
do not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel </i>afraid. He said do not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">be </i>afraid. Do not live in fear. Do not
act out of fear. Do not let fear block the gate between you and your real life.
Scott Bader-Saye has written an excellent short book on how the fearless life
of a disciple sets us apart from the fear-based culture of our time, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Following Jesus In A Culture Of Fear. </i></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Following-Culture-Christian-Practice-Everyday/dp/1587431920"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">https://www.amazon.com/Following-Culture-Christian-Practice-Everyday/dp/1587431920</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When I
see all the racist, nationalist, nativist, religious and other forms of hatred
rampant today, I find that when we scrape the veneer of hatred just a little,
we almost always find cringing fear beneath it. Fortitude – strength and
courage – are essential to the fully human life. That’s why we pray over our
confirmands, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strengthen O Lord your
servant . . . ‘<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Justice</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> is a tricky word indeed. We
generally speak of four kinds of justice: distributive (a fair division of
resources); procedural (a level playing field process in which all voices are
heard); restorative (putting people back in the position they were in before
suffering a wrong), and retributive (punishment that fits the crime).<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Clearly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">justice </i>is at the core of
Biblical morality. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Let justice roll down
like the waters and righteousness like an overflowing stream. </i>Amos 5: 24; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Follow justice and justice alone that you
may live in peace . . . </i>Deuteronomy 16:20. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The four
kinds of justice listed above make sense in a society but what is justice as a
personal characteristic? What is a just person? We cannot hope to make a just
society without just people. Three sources help us understand how justice can
be part of who we are inside. First, the Bible links justice to right
relationship. Think of proper boundaries, such as an employer who does not
abuse power in relationship to employees. It involves promise keeping, but in
the Bible, it also means care for the needy. Their need constitutes a
relationship, makes a claim upon us. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Listen
to the weeping of my people. </i>Jeremiah 8: 19. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Second,
our old friend Aristotle sees justice as a kind of balance related to temperance.
A just person wants only what is fairly his own – in terms of wealth, fame,
attention, etc. The just person wants others to have their fair share.
Injustice is overreaching, greed if you will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Third,
the theologian who translated Aristotle into Christianity was St. Thomas
Aquinas. He said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Justice (is) . . . the
habit by which one renders to each his right or due with a constant and
perpetual will.<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[xvi]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
</i>But what is their right or due? Here’s the Christian spin: Jesus commands
us to love our neighbors as ourselves. And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who
is my neighbor? </i>the lawyer asked. Jesus answered with the story of the Good
Samaritan – wrong race, wrong religion, wrong nationality – but he showed love
across those lines of difference. The neighbor is anyone we have the
opportunity to help. Luke 10: 25-37 According to St. Thomas, the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> habit</i> of offering such help <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with a constant and perpetual will </i>is
the mark of a just person. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conclusion. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This is a challenging time. Challenging
times are the crucible in which character is formed. I invite you to imagine a
society, not a utopia, but a society in which the Big Seven Virtues prevailed
more often than not. We would not always agree, but we would manage our
disagreements according to the virtues. We would not avert our eyes from facts
that do not fit our ideology. We would not let fear override our natural
impulses of compassion We would practice loving others as ourselves instead of
putting ourselves first. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Now
imagine practicing for that kind of public life in our congregations. Imagine
treating each other according to the teachings of Christian morality. Church is
rightly said to be a hospital for sinners, not a resort for saints. We would be
foolish to expect congregations to be populated with people who have mastered
the virtues. But we might expect congregations to be populated by people who
are working on them. We might expect congregations to make striving for the
virtues a norm of church life. If we did that, parish life might become de
Tocqueville’s moral gymnasium.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Now
imagine yourself, growing day by day in each of these virtues. It would not
make us richer or more powerful, but it could not fail to make us wiser and
happier, kinder and more serene. That is the life to which Christ invites us.
May we have the wisdom to hear his invitation and follow his call. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Hate
crimes increased in 2016, especially religious based hate crimes, with violence
against Jews significantly higher than violence against Muslims. 2016’s
increase of 5% was considered significant. So, far cities of over 250,000
population are reporting a 20% increase in hate crimes for 2017!<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Literally he meant we were wired to live in a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">polis</i>, a self-governing city-state in which the people decided how
things should be done. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Marcus Aurelius said that these virtues were the true <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">goods </i>of life, as opposed to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wealth
or things that conduce to luxury or prestige.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Most of us would say the coercive approach of Massachusetts Bay Colony and
Geneva were not a good way to help people internalize virtue. But the point is
they worked from the premise that the name of the game is shaping the soul. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The French Revolution had seen a democracy movement collapse into a reign of
terror. Another wave of democratic revolutions would sweep Europe in 1848 but
all be beaten down. Democracy in Europe was still decades away in de
Tocqueville’s day. So, Americans were a curiosity. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
17<sup>th</sup> Century English political philosopher, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Leviathan<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Judges 17: 6; 18: 1; 19: 1; 21: 25.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The common notion that Christianity is all about going to Heaven and avoiding
Hell is unfortunate. Biblical Christianity, which is also traditional orthodox
Christianity, is a religion focused on who we become for the sake of our
relationship with God, and that relationship happens at least for now primarily
in our relationship with each other. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/healing-the-heart-of-democracy/id905669093?mt=11">https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/healing-the-heart-of-democracy/id905669093?mt=11</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
In the 18<sup>th</sup> Century, philosophers like Kant attempted to reconstruct
a rule-based ethics based on reason. That was not a total failure but it was
mostly a failure. Philosophy today has returned to virtue ethics. The leading
example is Alasdair Macintyre, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">After
Virtue. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
1 Corinthians 3: 13<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Wisdom of Solomon 8: 7; Plato, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Republic; </i>Aristotle, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rhetoric</i>;
Cicero, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">De Officiis</i>; Marcus Aurelius,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Meditations. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Four-Loves-C-S-Lewis/dp/0062565397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514758883&sr=8-1&keywords=cs+lewis+the+four+loves">https://www.amazon.com/Four-Loves-C-S-Lewis/dp/0062565397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514758883&sr=8-1&keywords=cs+lewis+the+four+loves</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="http://changingminds.org/explanations/trust/four_justice.htm">http://changingminds.org/explanations/trust/four_justice.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="applewebdata://2B6C4363-CD22-4F03-9B3C-27061C7E7056#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Tomas Aquinas, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Treatise On Justice, </i>Question
58<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-31803952904053033472017-11-04T22:22:00.002-07:002017-11-04T22:22:56.199-07:00THAT UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY: AN ALL SAINTS REFLECTION<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I know that my redeemer lives<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And at the last day he shall stand upon the earth. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And though this body be destroyed I shall see God<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I myself will see him, my own eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I, and not another. </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Job 19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recently in a St.
Louis airport café a widow asked me to explain my beliefs about the afterlife.
Since her husband’s death a bit over a year ago, she has felt cut off from her
Church. The shadow of death falls between her and the community of faith. Now
“it’s coming on Christmas” and she does not want to face another Feast of the
Nativity so alone. She wanted some way to reconcile faith with the hard fact of
death. I had 5 minutes to set out a theology on the nature and destiny of
humankind. It seemed to help. I hope so. But it left so much unsaid! This blog
post too will leave much unsaid, but I hope it will be a little more thoughtful.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A disclaimer: I can’t
prove what I say. If I could prove it, it wouldn’t be faith. None of us has a
photograph or a soil sample of “that undiscovered country from whose <i>bourne</i> no travelers return.” Death is a
mystery. What I hope to present is my faith, grounded in the Church’s
teachings, a “reasonable faith,” meaning a faith for which I can state a
reason. It isn’t a proven fact but it isn’t just wishful thinking either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The question matters.
It matters for how we live now. As the years pass, I am not too concerned yet
about my own mortality, but more and more of the people I love have died and I
do miss them. I want to know what I can
dare to believe about their present and their future. Their passing teaches me the
mortality of those I love who are still here. At a service following the recent
mass shooting in Las Vegas, a Jewish cantor sang these words to a distressing
modernist setting:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>It is a fearful thing to love<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> that which death can touch.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is it that death
cannot touch? Who is it safe to love? A life in which love is not possible, now
that scares me far more than my own death. But what faith, what hope makes love
possible in the face of death? Those are the questions that demand answers to
the mystery of “that undiscovered country.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our faith begins and ends in God.
We used to speak of logical “proofs of God” – ontological proofs, cosmological
proofs, moral proofs, etc. Now we speak more humbly of “warrants for belief in
God” – meaning reasons that support our belief. For now, let’s just say it is reasonable to
believe in God. The God in whom it is reasonable to believe is not a superbeing
on a distant star. The God in whom it is reasonable to believe is not a being
at all. Our God is the source of Being itself. Our God is the ultimate origin
and ultimate destiny of everything, us included. What’s more our God is infinitely
good, worthy of worship and devotion. So, we start with this Lord of Sea and
Sky, the Be-All and End-All of everything, us included. What then, if anything
does God have to do with us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Self. </span></b><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though
this body be destroyed I . . . .<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Job’s words open a
huge question. Who is this <i>I </i>who
shall do these things <i>though this body be
destroyed? </i>It is not a small slip of the tongue. It is his point. Job says,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And
though this body be destroyed I shall see God<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I myself will see him, my own eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I, and
not another. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I and not another. </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Job believes his
identity is not limited to his protoplasm. That is a good thing. Cells are
constantly dying and being replaced. It has been said that we roughly speaking
swap out our bodies once every 7 years. I would now be on my ninth body,
working on 10. Yet, I still feel myself to be the same person. I do not have
the same skin. Nor do I hold the same opinions. I do not look the same. And yet
I am somehow myself. There is a core to our being. We have all sorts of
subpersonalities with their quirks and idiosyncrasies. But at the center, I am
still me. What is that me, that core self, and where did it come from and where
is it going?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We come from God. It
is that simple. We come from the heart and mind of God. We say that without
hesitation because God is by definition the Source and Destiny of everything.
So, then, if we come from God, does God forget us? Does God cease to care for
his children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>Can
a mother forget the baby at her breast<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and have no
compassion on the child she has borne?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Though she
may forget, I will not forget you. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> See, I have
engraved you on the palms of my hands.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Isaiah 49: 15-16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we, in our mortal
frailty are capable of abiding love, how much more so is God who is infinite
and eternal, and whose very nature is Love! As long as God remembers us and
cares for us, we cannot fall out of existence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lady Julian of
Norwich, in the 14<sup>th</sup> Century, fell victim to the Plague. She was so
clearly dying that she received last rites. As the priest held the crucifix
before her dying eyes, she had 16 Visions of Divine Love, then recovered and
lived to describe those visions in the first book ever written in English by a
woman. One vision was of a hazelnut that seemed so small, so frail, so flimsy,
she wondered what keeps it from falling into nothingness. She asked what it
was, and God told her it was the entire universe. <i>How can it exist, it is so small? </i>she asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It exists, </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God answered, <i>because I love it. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In another vision,
Julian described the soul. Even in the spiritual Middle Ages, Julian did not describe
the soul as a ghostly wisp of spirit. Rather she saw it as our core self, our
true self, the thing we mean when we say <i>I.
</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And she said, that
our daily lives, our thoughts, feelings, and actions might well be severed from
Christ. But our soul, our core self, is never separate from Christ who is the
core self of the cosmos. The division is not between God and us. It is within
us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our true life is
already in God. It has always been in God. It will always be in God. Each day
there is a dying, a dying of the body and of the personality we were yesterday.
But our self, our core being, our life is in God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>You have died. Now your life is hid with Christ in God. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Colossians
3: 3<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If God is eternal – by
definition, God is eternal – and God is love as our faith holds, then our lives
are held eternally in God’s love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But shall we remain ourselves</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">?
The view of some Eastern religions is that our individual identity is a problem
to be overcome and eventually it is overcome as we fall like drops and dissolve
into the ocean of eternity. That is plausible. But we Christians have another
view arising from two paradoxical truths we hold in in tension:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, there is a
unity to all things, a Being underlying and uniting all beings. That is what we
mean when we say: God is one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second, this one God
is constantly proliferating diversity. The one God who is the essence of
Reality itself spins out the universe in all its multifarious complexity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and let birds fly above the earth and
across the vault of <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> the heavens.
So God created the great creatures of the sea <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and every
living thing . . .. And God saw that it was good. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> And God
blessed them and said be fruitful and increase<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> in number. . ..<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Genesis
1: 20-22<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God is procreative.
God’s nature is not to suck all things into Godself but to scatter Being out
into the Void making this wild menagerie of creation. God is procreative and
God is relational. God delights in relating with us as the unique individuals
that we are, that God created us to be. Theologian Karl Rahner said, <i>Each of us is a unique, irreplaceable word
of God.</i> Can a word of God be lost? Can a word of God be silenced? God does
not love humanity as an abstraction. God loves each of us in our individuality
and for our individuality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That means our image
of eternal life is not a drop dissolving into the ocean, but a dance or a
banquet, an occasion of mutual delight. We are <i>lost in wonder, love, and praise </i>but we are still ourselves wondering,
loving, praising, while God laughs in cosmic joy at our homecoming. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
I myself will see him, my own eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
I, and not another. </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reward and Punishment? </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What to
believe about reward and punishment in the afterlife is quite a quandary. On
the one hand, carrot and stick religion has been used to browbeat and
intimidate people for too long to endure. Such a religion is not the child of
mystic insight but rather is the tool of a domination system to keep people
compliant. See for example, <i>On The
Necessitie of a Publik Religion </i>by Benjamin Franklin. It portrays God not
as Love but as a vindictive Judge demanding our fear but unworthy of our love. It ratchets up spiritual ambition and dread to
make a selfish religion. I practice my religion to advance my own interests and
save my own hide. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The alternative,
universalism, gives us a considerably more appealing God. The doctrine that all
the cosmos will be redeemed has roots in Paul, was expressly taught by that
giant of Early Church theology, Origen, and has been proclaimed by greats in
the Anglican tradition like F. D. Maurice and Charles Gore. But this too has a
problem. Universalism denies or at least diminishes the significance of our
earthly lives. If we all end up the same, what difference does it make what we
do, think, or feel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">C. S. Lewis offers an
Anglican middle way. It is not about what God does to us. It’s about who we
become. Lewis observes our tendency over the years to become more and more the
way we are. We become more extreme versions of ourselves. A little virtue over
the course of a lifetime may grow but life is not long enough for it to become
too big. If the trend continues into eternity, however, one could become
beautifully holy. Conversely, a little vice will grow worse though the years.
But life is short so the worst it is apt to do is make us a disagreeable old
person. If that vice grows on through eternity, however, it could produce a
monster. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our happiness is
found in relationship with God. That relationship will be considerably more
harmonious for the holy than for the monstrous character. Indeed, Lewis
suggests elsewhere that heaven and hell may be the same reality experienced
very differently by people depending on the state of their souls. Do we want to
be <i>nearer my God to thee? <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But is the vice-ridden
person then lost forever? Not so. Only God and that which is of God are
eternal. Those things that are not of God are mortal. Over the course of
eternity, the vices lose their energy so that all will be redeemed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In one book from the <i>Chronicles of Narnia, </i>Aslan sends the
children on a mission sternly ordering them to stay on the path. Do not wander.
But, of course, they do wander and become lost in the forest. There they
encounter Aslan. Remorseful, they confess their disobedience and ask Aslan if
all is lost now that they cannot get to their destination. Aslan assures them
they will still make it to the destination, and they can achieve their mission,
but the road will now be much longer and much harder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are
consequences to our actions, our thoughts, our feelings, our practices, and our
habits. They can make our path shorter or longer, easier or harder. But we cannot
defeat the love of God which was and is and ever shall be. The love of God is
our destiny. In our freedom, we can resist it, but we cannot resist it forever.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Conclusion. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many have speculated
about <i>that undiscovered country. </i>I hope
I have added nothing new. I am just recounting teachings from the Church – not
universally agreed upon but teachings, nonetheless -- the wisdom of the ages as
I have received it. If God is God as we believe God to be – the Source and
Destiny of All, the Being and the Void, the Meaning of the cosmic story – and
if God is as we believe God to be – Infinite Love, procreative and relational,
holding the cosmos in being by loving it – then I trust this ancient teaching
is a reasonable belief. I will stake my life on it, and dare to love that which
death can touch because death touches us all but holds none of us forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-90126500993670788442017-10-26T12:22:00.000-07:002017-10-26T12:22:49.446-07:00WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE CROSS MAKE: JUSTIN, ABELARD, IRENAEUS AND ME<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All hail the power of Jesus’ name<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let angels prostrate fall . . ..<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ye <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ransomed</b> from
the Fall . . ..<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyPT3lVSpmo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyPT3lVSpmo</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A hymn sung out of
centuries of spiritual tradition can say so much with a single word. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ransomed</i></b>.
There is a whole doctrine of the Atonement in that familiar hymn, but it is a
doctrine that is not in the least familiar to modern people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Atonement </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">means how we are
saved. Jesus went to the cross. I say each Eucharist, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The gifts of God for the people of God. Take them in remembrance that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Christ died for you</b></i> and feed on him
in your hearts with thanksgiving. Jesus went to the cross for us. But how does
that work? Why should his suffering and death make any difference for the state
of our souls?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s an old question.
Since the 16h Century, one answer has prevailed in popular understanding. God
has rules. If they are broken, someone must be punished. That also is one of
God’s rules. Jesus suffered in our stead to satisfy his Father’s need for
retribution. Many cling to that interpretation of the Cross with love and
devotion. Others, myself included, are repelled by it. A God defined by
retribution is not who we want to worship or become like. I might go on at
length and in stronger language about why that atonement doctrine strikes me as
abhorrent and damaging to human souls, but I will leave it at that and go on to
other understandings that may be more helpful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Morna Hooker, one of
the best New Testament scholars today, wrote a book on the atonement doctrine
or doctrines in the New Testament. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Not-Ashamed-Gospel-Testament-Interpretations/dp/1592449352/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509043465&sr=1-1&keywords=Morna+Hooker">https://www.amazon.com/Not-Ashamed-Gospel-Testament-Interpretations/dp/1592449352/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509043465&sr=1-1&keywords=Morna+Hooker</a>
It was a bold step writing such a book, because it is routinely said that there
is no atonement doctrine in the New Testament. There are phrases here and there
that might be construed and elaborated into an atonement doctrine. I find phrases
suggesting eight quite different atonement doctrines on two pages of Romans. But
we cannot honestly say how any New Testament author understood the connection
between the Cross and our salvation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hooker argues that we
can’t see an atonement doctrine in the New Testament because the way we ask the
question, our basic assumptions about ourselves and the nature of the problem,
are all so different from the 1<sup>st</sup> Century worldview that the New Testament
isn’t answering the question we are asking. We assume that each of us is a free
moral agent who makes bad choices and should have to pay for those choices. We
want to know how Jesus’ death gets us off the hook. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the New Testament
is concerned with the salvation of communities, indeed the entire <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cosmos. </i>The notion that we are each an
individual moral agent making our own free choices, and we are saved by making
the right choice to embrace Christianity, was called the Arminian heresy as
late as the 18<sup>th</sup> Century. The New Testament is about Jesus shedding
his blood to form a covenant bond with humanity. That covenant connects us to
God and to each other. That connection is our eternal lifeline. But Hooker does
not claim this is a fully fleshed out atonement doctrine. It is the starting
point for Christian theology for centuries to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ransomed, </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in our hymn, evokes
the first developed atonement doctrine. Its author was the 2<sup>nd</sup>
Century saint, Justin Martyr. He saw sin as a power that holds us in bondage.
Paul had said much the same. Justin went on to say it was as if we had sold
ourselves into this bondage, made a pact with evil so to speak, like the man
who sells his soul for some momentary advantage. Something malevolent holds the
title to our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does that make sense?
It did to 2<sup>nd</sup> Century Justin and it is a recurring theme in
literature. We may personify the “something malevolent” as Satan, or we may
think of it as the system or the domination system or “the tears in the nature
of things” or the world “grinding on its axle.” Some like to take a happier
view of human nature. We are all good. We just need to celebrate our own
goodness. Meanwhile, the Myanmar Buddhists commit ruthless genocide against the
Rohingya Muslims. ISIS decapitates victims. A lone gunman slaughters 58 people
at a country concert in Las Vegas. The government proposes to cut off food and
medical care to the poor. Crime statisticians project over 1,000 forcible rapes
in Las Vegas in 2017. Freud, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, and countless great minds
have seen a darkness in humanity. We do not behave well. Belsen. Auschwitz.
Newtown. Hiroshima. Sand Creek. Wounded Knee. The gulags. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Against this damning
evidence stand countless acts of generosity. The lives of the saints, the love
of family members, and the kindness of strangers. Behind those outbursts of
decency is our sense that we are better than we often behave. Which of us has
no regrets? Which of us has not done things that could not have come from our
souls, our true selves?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Justin believed we
are intrinsically good but have fallen into a state of bondage to something
that exercises power over us. The way to free us from that power was to pay its
bloody price. God in Jesus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ransomed </i>us
because we were hostages to evil. God in Jesus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">redeemed </i>us, bought us back from the power that held us <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in sin’s dread sway </i>to quote another
familiar hymn. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JHV75MENqk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JHV75MENqk</a>
Yes, Jesus bled and died for us, but it wasn’t to satisfy God’s need for
vengeance. His sacrifice opens the possibility of freedom to come home to God. The
evil hates the good. The good one’s suffering and dying pays our debt to the
evil, and sets us free to be ourselves again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Various other
atonement theories were formed after St. Justyn Martyr. I don’t omit them
because they were bad but because, coming as they did from a different time and
place, I don’t think they will speak clearly to the hearts of people today. I fast
forward to the 13<sup>th</sup> Century. Peter Abelard was one of the first
academic theologians. He taught at the Sorbonne in Paris, and is chiefly famous
for his illicit love affair with his student, young Heloise. Her father had him
castrated. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the warmongering contemplative monk, who
wrote perhaps a bit too much about the sublimated eroticism of the Song of
Songs, was obsessed with castrating Abelard’s influence in theology. But
Abelard and Heloise continued their devotion from afar, and their letters are a
classic of Western literature. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Abelard-Heloise-Letters-Writings-Classics/dp/0872208753/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509044130&sr=1-1&keywords=abelard+and+heloise">https://www.amazon.com/Abelard-Heloise-Letters-Writings-Classics/dp/0872208753/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509044130&sr=1-1&keywords=abelard+and+heloise</a>
It is perhaps not surprising that Abelard would understand the Cross as an act
of love evoking a responsive act of love – and not surprising that powerful
voices in the Church repressed his interpretation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Abelard taught his
students a theory of attraction generally known as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the moral influence theory of the atonement</i>. Our problem is not
guilt in the sense of a liability for rule-breaking. It is that we have failed
to love God, who is the heart of Reality itself. That separates us from
everything. We cannot rightly love anyone or anything, not even ourselves. We
live at one step removed even from our own lives because God is the heart of
our own lives. This God is not a superpower on a distant star. This God is the
context of our experience, the one in whom “we live and move and have our
being” but we do not love God and so we are cut off (like castrated of course,
but also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cut off </i>is what it means to
be cursed). As Justin saw the problem as bondage, Abelard saw it as alienation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But God, not a
superpower on a star but the heart of Reality itself, still loved us, love us
enough to take on our troubled state and go to the cross to be there with us.
God plunged into the brokenness of human experience as a parent might plunge
into the ocean to save a drowning child. But God’s plunge was not an
instrumental act. It was not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">if I do this
it will achieve that. </i>It was a joining us in our suffering as an act of
loving solidarity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We see that. We turn
our eyes to the cross. We see God’s love and it evokes our love back. It is
loving God that restores our connection to everything. It is loving God that
heals us our core spiritual wound. God should not have had to die to prove his
love, but he did. He died to win our hearts, and winning our hearts, he makes
us whole. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since Peter Abelard
was laid to rest in Paris, and Heloise grieved his passing, many more atonement
doctrines have been articulated. It is ludicrous for me to offer my
explanations alongside those of giants like Justin and Abelard, and more wrong
that I should offer them instead of those from far wiser theologians. But I
will offer a few of my own thoughts, simply because I can explain myself better
than others – and I live in the faith that I have never had an original
thought, nor aspired to think one, so these surely come from someone whose name
I have just forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Much of the evil in
the world is a kind of violence. Sometimes it is literally violence. Other
times it is psychological aggression. It works in two ways: action and reaction
– I hurt you so you hurt me back, then I hurt you back and on it goes. Or more
commonly, it circulates in a kind of roundabout karma. A hurts B who passes on
the hurt to C who passes it to D then F and so on till it gets back to A. Then
the karmic circle repeats over and over. “What goes around comes around,” we
say. The circles of karmic violence enshroud the entire earth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But what if there
were a disruption? What if unspeakably unjust violence were inflicted on a
deeply good man, who in his incomprehensible goodness, did not pass it on. What
if from the Cross he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” The pattern would have a
significant hole in it – so significant that a few years later, that good man’s
disciple (Steven) would be dying as his persecutors pelted him with rocks and
he too would raise his eyes to heaven and pray for his persecutors, and so it
would go until Martin Luther King would absorb the violence perpetrated against
him in love. Note: it is not just that the first man taught non-violence. He
had to live it and die it to break the circle. That sets others free to do
likewise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But suppose the
problem is not violence. Suppose it is as John Bradford, Brene Brown, and
others have said: shame. There are things about us that we do not accept. We
pass judgment on ourselves either directly as conscious shame or more
pathologically as narcissism. What if a man who might have been so whole, so
complete, so fully human and divine at once, that he could have easily lived
shame free, chose – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">chose</b> – to join
us in disgrace, allowed himself to be condemned, mocked, stripped naked,
tortured, and hung on a cross for hours of taunting. Suppose he did this to
share our experience, to join us in it, and to accept us, to accept us all the
way, to accept all the things about us that we cannot accept in ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now here’s a slight
variation on Justin. If the notion of bondage to evil or pacts with the devil
sound too superstitious for you, might you allow that actions have
consequences, that evil actions have evil consequences. There are as the social
workers tell us “natural and logical consequences for our actions.” But when
you add them all up, all the wrongs we do, the end result is the destruction of
everyone and everything. The wrongs we commit – and I am one who commits them –
are mind boggling and heart wrenching. God of course is above the reach of
evil. We cannot hurt God, only each other and thereby ourselves. But what if God
chose to save us? What if God chose to become vulnerable so as to absorb enough
of the consequence of our sin to save us from destruction – not so completely
that we could not still learn and grow from experience but enough to preserve
our lives and our souls? That would be an atonement. This way of thinking is
not precisely what St. Athanasius said in the 4<sup>th</sup> Century, but it
seems to me to be in line with his thinking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or suppose it is
about conforming human life to God’s will. Suppose that matters because God’s
will for us leads to life and joy and blessing while our rebellion and arrogant
self-will cut us off first from God, then from each other, and finally from our
own true nature, which lies deeper than our will. Now imagine that this is not
just an individual choice – being that such a notion was first invented in the
17<sup>th</sup> Century and has not held up to the insights of psychology since
the 20<sup>th</sup> – no, not an individual choice to obey God or rebel against
God, but rather a positon all humanity makes. Suppose, as St. Irenaeus of Lyons
said in the 2<sup>nd</sup> Century, just as in business transactions, we have
an agent to cast our lot on our behalf. Someone, literarily represented by Adam
chose rebellion. So, the human race lives in rebellion against God for all of
history – until – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">until – </b>someone
becomes so fully human, so perfectly human, that he attains the status of agent
to make this decision for our species. And suppose that person, were in a
Garden, where obedience would lead to torture, disgrace, and a miserable death,
but disobedience could have led to quite a nice life on the Mediterranean, and
suppose that man, that agent for all humanity, chose obedience. Thereafter,
disobedience still happened. But the fundamental stance of humanity had
changed. Jews, Christians, Muslims and other faiths would credibly insist that
a good life is to be lived in obedience to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My point is not to
sell you on any single way of understanding what it means that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christ died for you</i>. It is to say it is
a holy mystery about which any explanation can at best be partial. At different
times in my life, I have been more at peace with one explanation only to find
another spoke more clearly to my heart a few years later. My appeal is that we
should look on the cross with sufficient humility to know that God’s
sacrificial love is beyond our understanding. But there are many ways the Cross
touches our lives for hope and healing. Even partial understandings can help,
but finally it is not ours to comprehend but rather to say, “thank you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-52176557277994491602017-10-13T11:56:00.001-07:002017-10-13T12:09:01.749-07:00THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS I DID NOT GIVE<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead of my giving a State of the
Church address at Convention this year, we used that time for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>table conversation. It was time well spent.
But I promised to publish the text of what I would have said. This is it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friends, thank you for being here
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
form relationships that are the nerve system<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of
the Church,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
learn how to invite the Sprit into your congregational life,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
to do the official business of the Diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am grateful for your service
and your good hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I doubt I will give a Bishop’s
address next year<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>since
you will be busy electing my successor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, this is my last chance <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">to
really address the Diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am grateful for the time I have
been privileged <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
serve you,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>grateful
for friendships, for support, and for guidance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am grateful for the opportunity
to travel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>around
our diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The one qualification I brought
to this position<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>was
a readiness to appreciate the whole diocese <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">–<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">not just part of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I hope my enjoyment of all of you
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">has
helped you enjoy each other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Being a Nevadan has been a pure blessing.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Being a bishop has been more
mixed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I never saw myself in this role.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I didn’t quit my job and move my
family to New York,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>spend
every dime I had, and cut my income by 50%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
I wanted a career in church administration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I wanted to teach the gospel,
pray with people,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>offer
spiritual guidance, and welcome newcomers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into
the family of faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bishops don’t do much of that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have missed parish life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I did not come to Nevada<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
I wanted to wear a purple shirt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">and a pointy hat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I came to Nevada because I wanted
to live in Nevada<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
I thought I could be of some service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know how much I’ve been
able to do,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
I have done what I could. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some good things have happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It will be for you to measure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have several hopes and a couple
of fears for your future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ll name the fears first. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We used to waste a lot of time
and energy <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on
conflicts and divisions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We don’t have the theological and
social left vs right<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>splits
that some places do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead we used to divide up
regionally,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>large
church vs small church, urban vs rural.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Or we would divide up parish vs
diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The social psychologist Wilfrid
Bion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>said
all groups have a mission, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
reason to exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They also have a shadow mission<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
is to defeat the official mission<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>through
various stratagems and diversionary tactics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Those endless wranglings were our
way<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
avoid our true mission. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the past decade, our diocese
has healed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">many
old wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People have formed Christian
bonds<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>across
the old divides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Choosing Standing Committee
members in Mission Districts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
assure geographical diversity has been part of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Keeping the administrative office
in the South<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
designating a Cathedral in the North is part of that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Standing Committee has been
bending over backward<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
avoid renewing old conflicts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We – not I – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">we</b> have all worked to knit the church back together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But recently I have seen some
resurgence <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of old
animosities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They aren’t full force.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But the old stuff is stirring a
bit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nevada is at the point of
deciding<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">whether
to venture forward into new mission<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">or regress into the old ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Second, I am concerned that you
may blame<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
next bishop for hard decisions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
just can’t be avoided.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some ministries including Latino
ministries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
due for cuts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hard decisions will have to be
made<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>over
properties that are unused or underused.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nevadans blamed Bishop Katharine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
funding cuts that Bishop Zabriske<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>had
already said privately would be unavoidable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let me say publicly, hard
decisions lie ahead<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
your next Bishop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If I were still here those hard
choices<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">would
still be necessary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That said, there is also room for
hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Institutionally and financially,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
are on track to be considerably stronger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
3 to 5 years than at any time since I’ve been here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nothing is guaranteed, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But the sacrifices of recent
years and today<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>have
planted the seeds for future growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Institutional success, however, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">is
neither sustainable nor meaningful <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">unless
there is missional success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unless we are doing something
important<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it doesn’t really matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have every hope that we will be
doing <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">dramatically
more important work in the future<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">than
we have done on my watch in three ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First, I am hopeful for Christian
formation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Without Christian formation, a
congregation may be<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
mutual support society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But it is not a Church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">St. Paul told us to study because
all that had been written<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>was
“for our instruction . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>encouragement
and hope.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Peter said we “long like newborn
babes for the milk of the word.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2<sup>nd</sup> Timothy says we
must study to be equipped <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“for
every good work.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We can’t do God’s work<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>unless
we are equipped by study. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christian formation is still a relatively
weak point for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But it is remarkably stronger
than it was 10 years ago<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">-- not my doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You will not find my fingerprints
on any of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But Christian formation has
sprung up all over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is gaining momentum because
more and more<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>people
want to know the Christian faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s a wild and wonderful gospel
we have to share,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>much
more interesting and true<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>than
the simplistic Pablum most people<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>take
to be Christianity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Second, I hope Nevada will become
a model of evangelism<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">sharing
authentic compassionate faith<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">with people who need it desperately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am not worried about
institutional survival.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Church in Nevada is resilient
as a sagebrush. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Evangelism isn’t for that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s for the unchurched people languishing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in our spiritual desert of loneliness and
despair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have lots and lots of people
out there <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who
need Jesus desperately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we don’t connect them with
Jesus, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it
won’t happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I care deeply about this but I
regret that I am not very good at it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other bishops are much better at
evangelism strategies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>than
I am. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some of our congregations are doing well anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the past decade only one
Episcopal Diocese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
the United States grew in attendance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That was Nevada. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our attendance grew by 18.4%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In some places, that’s thanks to
Latino ministries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But we have English-speaking
congregations growing too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If I had been better at this, we
would have done better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I apologize for my weakness at
this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But still, we have momentum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If just a few more of our
parishes undertook evangelism,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we’d
be a beacon for the whole Episcopal Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I hope that will happen in coming
years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My hope grows out of Christian
formation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we know what we have to offer
the world,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
are more likely to offer it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">Christian formation is the
catalyst</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">for
the hard but perfectly simple shift<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
makes evangelism possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s our barrier to evangelism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most of our churches readily say,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
need more people here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some will specify the demographic
kind of people<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they
need. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It quickly becomes clear </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt;">they
“need more people”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
pay the bills and do the work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our visitors get that right off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have heard it from one end of
the diocese to the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our visitors see that we want to
use them f</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">or
our own ends.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We don’t offer them anything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We want them to take care of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16pt;">Naturally they run away lickety
split.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Until we become Spirit-filled
churches,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>until
we know the love of Jesus,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>until
we float in the grace of God,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
have nothing to offer people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When our congregations embrace
real faith,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>evangelism
will not just be possible,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it
will be inevitable -- <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">inevitable
because loving God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
loving our neighbor are inseparable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You can’t do one without the
other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You know this: our neighbors are
hurting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our neighbors need Jesus in the
worst way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I won’t cite all the statistics <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">on
alienation and despair again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You’ve heard it from me often
enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You know this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our neighbors need the gospel
desperately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we truly have it, we cannot
help but share it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Third, I hope we might embrace a
spirituality <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of
gratitude, generosity and trust in God’s grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That happens when we teach
stewardship seriously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just a handful of our
congregations <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">have
taken up real stewardship practices<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">in
the past few years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I can see the difference in them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It isn’t just that they have more
money for mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They are happier, livelier, and
growing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s just a few parishes – but
that could be a start. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If our congregations remain in
relationship with each other,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">stewardship
might spread like a gracious virus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The reason I hope you do this in
coming years is not just <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">that
it would allow the Diocese to reduce your asking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">–<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">though it would do
that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is not just that it would fund
the mission <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">so,
our churches could be strong<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">and
do more good in their communities,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>though that is also true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The reason it matters is a
spiritual thing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Nevada ranks in the middle third
of the nation</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">for
per capita income.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But we are dead last in per
capita charitable giving. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We live a fear-based, scarcity-caged
life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I love this state but it can be
tight fisted and small hearted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Teaching stewardship sets our
people free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">to
trust God and enjoy his grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Without teaching stewardship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">we
are shortchanging our people on the gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whether these things – or
anything worth doing --<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">actually
comes to pass<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">will
depend on two things:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First, the relationship among the
parishes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just as disease can spread in the
physical body,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">health
spreads in the spiritual body.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If one congregation is doing
something spirit-filled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">and
gracious, it will spread to other congregations,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">if
those congregations are in relationship with each other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Second, it takes self-awareness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a Christian point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But a Hindu legend makes it
clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The story goes that humans were
originally<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>lower
level gods, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
we didn’t do a very good job of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, the higher gods took away our
divinity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That left them with the problem
of where to hide it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, the gods and their leader
Brahma<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>met
to discuss the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One proposed that they hide our
divinity <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on
top of a high mountain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But Brahma said people would
climb<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
highest mountain to reclaim their true nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another suggested they bury our
divinity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>deep
in the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But Brahma said people would dig<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
deep in the earth as necessary<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>to
mine this spiritual treasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another suggested they sink our
divinity <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
the depths of the ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But Brahma said people would
trawl<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
deepest ocean to retrieve their destiny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The council of gods threw up
their hands and asked,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where then can we hide human divinity?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Brahma answered, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I know where we can hide <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>humanity’s
divine nature.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We will put it inside them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They will never look there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Moses said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The word of God is very near you.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is in your
mouth and in your heart. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first adage of Classical
Greece, was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know thyself.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was inscribed on the Temple of
Delphi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
Socrates said it over and over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Ancient Greeks learned it
from the more Ancient Egyptians <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who’d
been saying it for centuries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All wisdom begins in
self-knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What is true of individuals is
also true of congregations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Congregations cannot function
without clarity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>about
their identity, their core values, and their calling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They have to know themselves and
know their communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Without that self-awareness,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they
cannot know what they have to offer the world<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
evangelism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Without that self-awareness,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they
cannot see a mission worthy <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of
funding through stewardship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are a variety of practices
that can initiate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
maintain self-awareness in a congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One is community organizing house
meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our congregations in Nevadans for
the Common Good<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
doing a house meetings campaign<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>starting
this very month. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know what will come out
of those meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But that’s the point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Whatever comes out of them will
be something we don’t know yet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s an exercise in self-discovery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Canon Catherine has been
facilitating <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">visioning
and mission discernment processes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for several of our congregations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All Saints, St. Christopher’s,
St. Matthew’s, St. Patrick’s,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>St.
John’s, and St. Timothy’s have all gained new insight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She can help you too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s why she’s here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Congregations have been doing SWEEP
analysis for years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are different models and
there are many people<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>trained
to facilitate those processes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are multiple opportunities
from vestry retreats<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
congregational Advent or Lenten programs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For Nevada, there is good news
and bad news<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>about
self-awareness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The bad news is that many of our
congregations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
unusually resistant to looking inward. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There appear to be conversations
we don’t intend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
get anywhere close to having. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As a result, while the
self-awareness of most churches<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is
kind of fuzzy, ours is a bit fuzzier than most.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s why we have such a hard
time<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
evangelism, stewardship, and new mission projects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We don’t know what we have to
offer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">because
we don’t know who we are<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">beneath superficial church chit chat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We don’t know what we care about
enough to pay for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But here’s the good news.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Resistance is a sign there’s a
treasure buried in there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Psychologists recognize resistance
when it manifests<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">as
shutting down, lashing out, denial, anger,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>distraction,
or confusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We see that in congregations all
the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When psychologists see
resistance, they know the clients<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
up against the insight that will make them whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s the treasure that makes
the metal detector start clicking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>as
resistance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The fact that we have so much
resistance<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>tells
me we are sitting on top of some real spiritual treasure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we have this treasure in earthen vessels.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our resistance shows there’s a
treasure in there,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>just
waiting for us to discover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The key to mining that treasure <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
opening our hearts to one another<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
create a space where people dare<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>to
open their hearts back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We cannot brow beat congregations
into self-awareness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>any
more than we can browbeat individuals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>into
self-awareness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The programs I have named
already,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>if
you do them right,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>are
safe place programs, not browbeating programs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But many of our congregations do
not yet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>trust
each other enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s probably reason for that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People have gotten hurt in the
past<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so,
they’ve grown cautious around each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The challenge will be to
establish and enforce<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>congregational
norms where little by little<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>people
can learn to trust each other again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christian faith is cruciform.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It has a vertical axis – we trust
in God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It also has a horizontal axis –
we trust each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As we practice trusting God,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
practice being trustworthy for each other,<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">which
takes a spiritual discipline of openness,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">curiosity, compassion, and “respect for the dignity <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">of every human being.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Only that trustworthiness, will
open the relational space<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
horizontal faith – the foundation for all we do together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My time with you has been a
delight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have learned and grown and had
fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I will always be grateful to
Nevada for this special time of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I look forward to making another
round of parish visits next year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There will be a lot of loose ends
left as I go,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
I am confident you and your next Bishop<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>will
deal with them faithfully to the glory of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-52242843785907334252017-10-10T12:18:00.002-07:002017-10-10T12:18:20.526-07:00STATEMENT ON THE LAS VEGAS MASSACRE<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Our hearts break yet again
over another mass shooting. This time it happened here in Nevada at a country
music festival. It feels more real to us. From children slaughtered in a
Colorado high school and a Connecticut elementary school to young adults at a
gay nightclub in Orlando to Black worshippers in a South Carolina church to
county music fans in Nevada, violence strikes any and all of us randomly. The
perpetrators sometimes clothe their crime in an ideology – sometimes religious,
sometimes political, sometimes racial, and sometimes not at all. The common
thread is the choice of violence as a response to the satisfactoriness of the
world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If we muster the will, there
are steps we could take to curb the gun violence. We do not need to interfere
with anyone’s hunting rifles or even their handguns to say that no one has a
legitimate need for such an arsenal of automatic weapons as Stephen Paddock
unleashed on his victims. In the Las Vegas shooting, bad as it was, it could
have been worse. Many were saved by hearing the shots and taking cover.
Congress is now considering legislation to make silencers more freely
available. Silencers will increase the number of fatalities and injuries. We
have before us ways to make things better or worse. The choice will be ours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But the weapons are just the
implements of three deeper forces at work in society today. First, is our
veneration of violence not only as a way to solve problems but as a way to
validate ourselves as people who matter. Movies, t v programs, video games,
comic books, popular music, and numerous consciousness-shaping voices are the
catechesis of a false religion New Testament scholar Walter Wink called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Myth of Redemptive Violence.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
</i>The bad guy oppresses the good guy until the good guy is justified in
violence against the bad guy. That violence sets everything right and everyone
lives happily ever after. History teaches us how false that myth is. Wink said
the whole Bible starting with the creation story in Genesis and culminating in
the teachings of Jesus was a repudiation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Myth of Redemptive Violence. </i>Yet, that myth is practically the established
religion of 21<sup>st</sup> Century America. If there is danger from Korea,
chaos in Venezuela, bullying in a school, or discord in a home, our
imaginations turn to violence as the response. We respect people for their
ability to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>kill, make heroes of them,
define them as our role models. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Second, and closely related,
is our addiction to discord. It doesn’t matter which side we are on. It doesn’t
matter what the issue is. We make up issues over which to get exercised.
Political leaders stir us up. The news media stirs us up. Social media stirs us
up. (It turns out many tweets on both sides of the “take a knee” controversy are
coming from Russia). The problem I point to is our practically prurient
attachment to hostility. It has become our drug of choice. Clearly, it is a
long way from ranting on Face Book to killing people at a concert. But the
hostility we habitually indulge helps form the breeding ground for mass
violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Finally, there is the
unravelling of community. Participation in churches and civic groups has been
declining through the same years that we have witnessed the rise of crazy mass
violence. We are retreating into smaller and smaller groups of like-minded
people, and many of us into solitary lives. Living this way, the qualities of
character it takes to be a human society are atrophying.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
When community is broken, people are isolated. Because changing our environment
is inherently a group project, isolated people are powerless and in despair.
Violence is always an act of despair. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If you are reading this
message you are probably a church person and you want to do something to turn
this around. That’s a good thing. We are in the business of community, faith,
hope, and love. Especially in this present darkness, we live by faith in
Isaiah’s prophesy of God’s peace when, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they
will beat their swords into ploughshares and their speaks into pruning hooks.
Nation will not rise up against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i>As
Jesus told Peter to put away, his weapon, we will no longer look to weapons for
safety, for we know that as Jesus said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all
who draw the sword will die by the sword.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></i>Our
way is not violence because our way is not despair. It is hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">God calls us to reach out
beyond our walls to the communities around us with an invitation to be cared
for – not conditioned on agreeing with us about anything. God calls us to
listen to the lonely. God calls us to participate in civic discourse, not by
joining in rancor and name-calling but by seeking deeper understanding of the
feelings driving those who speak so harshly. God calls us to care for the
victims, to reconcile with the perpetrators, and to offer faith and hope in the
God whose love created and sustains this world instead of the futility of
violence. Yes, God calls us to speak out for laws that will make our people
safer from the kind of mass shooting that happened in Las Vegas. God calls us to
speak for the protection of our people because we care for them. But the evil
we confront is too deep for laws address. It is a time for a resurgence of
faith, hope, and love as the antidote to distrust, despair, and violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lady Julian imagined the word
as a fragile hazelnut and asked God how it could sustain its existence at all,
it was so small and frail. God said, “It exists because I love it.” God still
loves this world. We rest in that love and we live into that love by loving
God’s world and all who live here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Walter Wink, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Engaging the Powers<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Parker Palmer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Healing the Heart of
Democracy<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Isaiah 2: 4<o:p></o:p></div>
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Matthew 26: 52<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-50441065679181178822017-08-10T09:31:00.000-07:002017-08-10T09:38:26.979-07:00DIOCESAN DISCORDS AND PARISH PYROTECHNICS<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hear that when you come together as church
there </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">are divisions </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">among you and to some extent I believe it.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 6;"> </span></i>1
Corinthians 11: 18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What is causing the quarrels and fights
among you? Do they not </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">come
from the evil desires within you</i>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>James 4: 1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Therefore,
as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">clothe
yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">gentleness,
and patience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bear with one another and
forgive </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">one
another if someone has a grievance, forgive as the Lord </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">forgave
you . . .. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">since
as members of one body you were called to peace.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Colossians 3: 12-15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Most of the New Testament was
written to implore people who have divided up over this or that thing to resume
relationship. Mutual respect and forbearance is a perennial issue in the Church,
but not just the Church. It is a human thing. Kurt Vonnegut coined the term “granfallooons”
meaning categories of people who actually have little in common but they
identify as a group in opposition to another group of people who also have very
little in common. He means to say that beneath the surface, our divisions are
not really about what they appear to be about. They are about our propensity to
divide for the sake of division. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the face of the worldly way of
division and discord, our central sacrament is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">communion – com = </i>with + <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">union.
</i>We commune with God only by communion with each other. “One bread. One
Body. One Lord of All.” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpe-B3VSOJ4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpe-B3VSOJ4</a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all have the same God, which means we
all come from the same Source, are all headed for the same Destiny, and all our
lives are guided by the same Meaning. In a society that celebrates the individual
misfit whose greatness is evidenced by his alienation from ordinary inferior people
-- how many movie heroes fit that model? – a sacrament of relationship is
counter-cultural. Religion – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">re-ligio</i>
(connect again) is countercultural. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not an easy thing to bring a
congregation into sufficient relationship to serve God together. Ask any
priest. Ask St. Paul. Ask Jesus. But imagine bringing multiple congregations
into sufficient relationship to support and inspire one another. If such a
thing were possible, we would call it a diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The old-timers in Nevada tell me
that we have a long history of divisions. Not everyone agrees. A minority tell
me there was a golden age of harmony. Others say it was not so. Perhaps, there
is a division between those who say there was division and those who say there
was not. But the consensus is that we have had our conflicts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In my decade among you, I have
noticed that a certain prickliness has existed among different categories of
parishes. Interestingly, we are not divided, as many dioceses are, over
liturgical style or such issues as women’s ordination and LGBTQ inclusion. We
may do things differently from parish to parish, but these differences are not
discords. We get along just fine regarding things over which other dioceses
spill blood. But that does not mean we are united. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We divide up differently. The most
obvious division is regional – North vs. South and East vs. West. (Those
focused on North vs. South don’t know about East vs. West; but I assure you it
is a real division). There is also urban vs. rural; big parish vs. small parish;
parish with stipendiary clergy vs parish with non-stipendiary clergy. We have
divisions along lines of race, ethnicity, and language – sometimes that is shamelessly
explicit; other times it is more subtle. We have divisions along lines of
socio-economic status. That is never stated directly, but those on the
receiving end of the disrespect feel it just the same. We also have tensions
between congregations where church A has a fight and some people leave church A
for church B, but remain angry over the old fight. Wherever we have two or more
congregations in driving distance of each other, that happens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The old timers also tell me some
good news. They say that we are more united as a diocese than ever before. I
don’t know whether that’s true or not. It feels to me as if we are more united,
as if we have more of a sense of ourselves as one team. But the moment I get a
little sanguine about the state of our diocesan communion, something will
happen in a committee or in an individual conversation, or a congregation will
push away from the rest of us, and that reminds me we are still human and
humans have a deeply engrained habit of dividing up into us vs. them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I do think we have experienced
some healing these past few years. Healing is a good thing. But the progress we
have made is still tentative, delicate, and fragile. It’s too soon to say
whether this is a lasting shift in our character or just a blip on the screen.
If we want to go back to the old wars, there are multiple and easy ways to get
there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, this may surprise you,
perhaps disappoint you. I am not going to implore you to remain united. True,
loving relationality is the nature of God. True, the Church exists to embody
that loving relationality and thereby constitute the living, breathing Body of
Christ in the world. But that is an opportunity – granted it is the basic core
opportunity of human life – but still an opportunity -- that you may take or
not, to whatever extent you choose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not implore you to remain united because
St. Paul did a better job of that than I can and it didn’t work for him. 1<sup>st</sup>
and 2<sup>nd</sup> Corinthians are actually 4 letters begging Corinth to get
its act together. But decades after Paul lost his head in Rome, St. Clement was
writing epistles, 1st Clement and 2nd Clement, to the Corinthians urging them
to get their act together. Paul had not persuaded them. Unity is a matter of
the heart. We can’t force it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All I will do is offer two points
to consider as opportunities for division arise:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 91.15pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Centrifugal
and Centripetal Forces – There is an urge for togetherness and an urge for
separation. This is not a case of good vs. evil. Too much togetherness fuses us
into a group think blob. Too much separation fragments us into cold and
alienated hermits, loveless and bored. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Scientists are
not sure whether the universe’s centrifugal force are too strong so that we
will break apart and freeze in frigid darkness; or the centripetal forces are too
strong and we will collapse into our fiery stars and be incinerated. Robert
Frost quipped:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Some say the
world will end in fire.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Some say in ice.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>From what I’ve
tasted of desire<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>I hold with
those who favor fire<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>But for
destruction ice is nice<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And will suffice.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 91.15pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>There is a third option. It all turns on the possible existence of dark matter, which makes an apt metaphor for Holy Mystery. If there is sufficient dark matter, the centrifugal and centripetal forces of the universe may be in balance. In that case, the universe will neither split apart nor collapse into a cosmic conflagration. It will pulsate like a great heart. What might it be like if a congregation or perhaps a diocese pulsates?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 91.15pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> We
Are All One In Mission – Wilfred Bion was the father of depth psychology of
groups. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He showed that
groups exist for a purpose, but for some reason – he did not know why – groups
resist their purpose. They sabotage it with several basic simple strategies.
One is fight/flight dramas. That much seems true in my experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I suggest a
reason we sabotage our missions. They call us out of ourselves. A kind of death
to self happens when we forget ourselves for the sake of a mission larger than
our ego-projects of self-protection and self-advancement. It is no coincidence
that the disciples erupted into conflict over who would be greatest as they
were on their way to Jerusalem and Jesus was inviting them to “take up your
cross and follow me.” A mission scares us, but it is the Cross that leads to
new life in Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If Bion is right,
our conflicts have historically been our way of avoiding our mission. The only
thing that will lead us through future conflicts will be our commitment (to the
point of sacrifice) to that mission. But what is it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What is God calling
the Church to be and to do in Nevada in this early 21<sup>st</sup> Century? I
have some opinions about that. I see desperate needs and exciting opportunities
screaming for our engagement. I see our capacity to engage those needs and
opportunities. But I will not name them. The moment I name them I claim them,
and the Diocese will nod, perhaps salute, and carry on as usual. If is for the
people, clergy and laity together, to ask what we’ve got to live for, what
we’ve got to die for. There is not a final answer we can type up as a slogan
(aka “mission statement”) paste on a bulletin and forget. A real mission is a
vital organic shifting thing we can never pin down precisely, but we can get
the feel of it and know when we’re engaging it and when we are betraying it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There is always
reluctance to look for our mission, precisely because if we find it, it could
cost us our lives. So, I will not push that project either. Who am I to goad
you toward such spiritual/ existential peril? Jesus said, “He who seeks to save
his life will lose it. But he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”
That’s what Jesus said, but it’s your life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="tab-stops: 91.15pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-17644267227698387532017-07-21T23:54:00.000-07:002017-08-15T14:11:54.722-07:0033rd EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS: FOR THE FAT LADY<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Prologue: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">One sunny July
morning in 2007, I woke up in one of my favorite cities, Buenos Aires,
Argentina. Being a church-going guy, I set out for a nearby old Roman Catholic
Church and took a seat near the back. During the first lesson, an elderly – or maybe
she had just had a hard life – homeless bag lady came in and sat beside me. During
the sermon she nodded off, slumped my way, and slept through the priest’s proclamation
with her head on my shoulder. She woke up around the Creed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I spoke even less Spanish then than I do now.
So, the sermon did not stir my soul either. As an Episcopalian, I was not supposed
to receive the Sacrament; and I honored the boundaries of the Roman Church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">So, what was the point of my being in Church
that morning? One rarely knows the point of what one is going to do before one
does it or even while one is doing it. In retrospect, I believe I was there to
provide a shoulder for the bag lady’s head. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Maybe Americans are losing interest in going
to Church because they were going for the wrong reason in the first place. I have
often heard, “I used to go to St. Swithens, but I stopped because <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I wasn’t getting anything out of it.”</i>
That is the cry of the spiritual consumer. I want to ask, “What exactly were
you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">putting into it?</i>” To be
clear, I don’t mean “you have to put something into it to get something out of
it.” I don’t mean you have to hold up your end of the bargain in a spiritual/
commercial exchange. I mean the point of going may not be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to get something out of it. </i>We might go to support others, maybe
people we don’t know, maybe some bag lady who wanders in. Maybe we say the Creed
not to express our opinions but rather to give voice to the faith someone else
may need to keep them going in life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Community As
The Starting Point And the Destination. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">My last Epistle troubled some
people. It was meant to. It troubled them because I argued that individualistic
spirituality in which we practice our own private religion, standing alone is
not the way practice our faith. <a href="http://bishopdansblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/32nd-epistle-to-nevadans-ruth-reality.html">http://bishopdansblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/32nd-epistle-to-nevadans-ruth-reality.html</a>
Authentic spirituality has its roots in community. I said: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Ruth’s
religion began in a human relationship. Her God was not her own, not “the God
of her own understanding” but the God of someone she loved and the God of a
people to whom she had consented to belong. How utterly and shockingly foreign
to the individualism of our contemporary culture!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Ruth the
Moabite loved Naomi the Jew and chose to be a Jew. To be a Jew was not to make
up one’s own idea of God, but to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the God of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, the God of Naomi. That understanding
of God arose out of an older, larger horizontal flow of human relationship. There
were tribes. There was a tribe of Ephraim, a tribe of Zebulun, a tribe of Naphtali,
a tribe of Benjamin, a tribe of Judah, 12 tribes in all -- and they each had
their god. Some called their god El, some called their god, YHWH. Then Moses
drew them all together in a covenant law of freedom, justice, and equality. He convened
the 12 tribes, calling them all by a single name, “Schema’ Israel. Hear oh Israel.”
Then he continued, “Your God is one. You have the same God. YHWH and El are
One. Adonai elohanyu Adonai echad.” They agreed to worship one God, no longer
divided over whether god looked like a bull or winged lion but praying together
to an imageless nameless God whom they worshiped first and foremost not by
sacrifice but by treating each other justly.</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">In sum, I said authentic spirituality is a
group project. It takes the church, the synagogue, the mosque, the sangha, the
AA meeting. We need each other. Without each other “the god of our own personal
understanding” is a projection of our own psyches, an idol of our own making,
not the Wholly/Holy Other who can summon us beyond the prison of our little
selves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The objection to my argument is: what about
our own private spiritual practices. Is there no value in that? Is there no
point in going to the garden alone?</span> <span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RadBma-4P4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RadBma-4P4</a>
The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola are a solitary practice. Is faith just
group think? Can I love a God with whom I do not meet intimately in solitude?
My beloved Byron said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In solitude where we are least
alone.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span></span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Childe Harold’s
Pilgrimage<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Place Of
Personal Spiritual Practice. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Our technology and social
structure train us in linear thinking and that makes religion – any mystical religion:
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism – hard for us. Religious truths are
not linear. They come in paradox. The tension between community and individual spirituality
is such a paradox. We pray together our common prayers in order to be sent
forth to pray unique prayers privately out of the depths of our unique hearts.
We then bring the experience of those one on one meetings with God back into
the community, both in our worship and in our care for one another. When I lead
a congregation in the common prayers, I can feel without a shred of doubt how
much private prayer has gone on the previous week. Without the infusion of
spirit from those private encounters with God, our worship together falls flat.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Gospels recount multiple episodes of
Jesus in synagogues and in the Temple, places of common prayer. Jesus was a
good Jew and Jews show up. But Jesus also said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When you pray, go to your room, close the door,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and pray to your Father who is in secret
. . <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 5;"> </span></span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Matthew 6: 6<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">It takes both. Neither works alone. Common
prayer that does not draw together the vital private spiritualties of
individuals is drudgery. Private spirituality untethered from the community is
like a kite with a broken string. It doesn't soar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Real Point
Of Personal Spiritual Practice. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Lest I seem to have made an easy
peace with the privatized spirituality of our time, the one I challenged in the
Ruth and Reality epistle, I must offer this twist. Most of our private
spirituality still misses the mark.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Let me preface this by saying I am talking about
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my </i>private spirituality too – not just
yours. I started meditating to relieve my law school stress. I resumed it
awhile back to manage my anxiety. I pray regularly, mostly intercessions for
people facing troubles. But the most sincere prayer I ever pray is “Help!” I
pray hardest when I’m the one in trouble. That’s where I am and I do not criticize
you for not being better than I am. This self-focus is where we all start. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">But if our private prayer is stuck in private
agendas – like I want to get in a spiritual zone or I want to feel elated or I
need some peace – natural and legitimate as those things may be, they are not
enough. Private spiritual practice does not achieve its end unless it
transcends those consumerist goals of “getting something out of it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">St. Mary of Paris (thank you Bishop Matthew
Gunther for calling this to my attention) said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The way to God lies through love of other
people. At</i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: arial;"> <span style="font-size: large;">the Last Judgment, </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I shall not be asked how </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> successful
I was in my ascetical practices </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">nor how </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> many and prostrations I
made. Instead I shall be </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> asked: </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Did you feed
the hungry, clothe the naked, </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> visit the sick and the prisoners? . . . . I
always knew it</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> but now it has penetrated my very sinews. If fills me </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> with awe.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Our prayers do move God but only as God
already desires to be moved. They invite God into our lives. When God enters
our lives, we are changed – as St. Mary was changed. The change is not the sort
a spiritual consumer might choose. The change does not chill us out or put us
in a perpetual zone of comfort. The change leads us not out of this troubled
world but more deeply into it, just as God plunged into it and went to the
Cross with us and for us. Authentic spiritual practice should come with a
warning label. Actually, it does. The Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">So, here’s the point. I went to Church that
morning, not to understand the sermon – I didn’t – not to receive the Blessed
Sacrament – I didn’t. I was there to provide a shoulder where the bag lady
could rest her head. When I pray alone, it is no different. Even if I am
praying for myself or savoring God in nature or entering into wordless
imageless contemplation of the Ultimate Mystery, it isn’t about me. It’s about
the bag lady. It’s for her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">And who is the bag lady? My beloved mystics
and contemplatives, for the love of God, read, mark, and inwardly digest <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Franny and Zoey </i>by J. D. Salinger, the
greatest mystical novelist of our time. No one loved solitude more than
Salinger. But read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Franny and Zooey, </i>the
story of two young actors whose departed older brother Seymour was their guru. In
the novel, Franny has discovered the Jesus Prayer and given herself to it a bit
too whole heartedly in her brother Zooey’s opinion, At the end, Zooey reminds
Franny how when they were child actors their brother Seymour would admonish
them to shine their shoes, to be funny, to do their actor’s art “for The Fat
Lady.” The book ends with Zooey’s corrective to Franny’s private spiritual quest.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">(Seymour)
never told me who the Fat Lady was, but I shined my shoes for the Fat Lady
every time . . .. This terribly clear, clear picture of the Fat Lady formed in
my mind. I had her sitting on the porch all day, swatting flies, the radio
going full blast from morning till night. . .. (S)he probably had cancer. ….
Are you listening to me? There isn’t anyone out there who isn’t Seymour’s Fat
Lady. Don’t you know that yet? Don’t you know that g**d*** secret yet? And don’t
you know – listen to me now – don’t you know who that Fat Lady really is? . . .
. Ah buddy</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">. Ah, buddy. It’s Christ Himself. Christ
Himself, buddy.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Walk your labyrinths. Recite your mantras. Do
your lectio divina, your active imagination with Scriptures. Pray your own way
in your own time and place – but do it for the Fat Lady.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-62078184597602687712017-06-25T16:13:00.002-07:002017-06-25T16:13:32.464-07:0032nd EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS: RUTH & REALITY<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Whither thou goest I will go.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Thy people shall be my people,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">and thy god; my god. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Ruth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">No passage of Scripture is more central to the spiritual crisis of our time, the choice we each and all must make, the heart of our faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">I.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The horizontal floor beneath the pillar of faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">This is the wonky reflection on the Bible as literature leading into philosophy. So, if you want to get to the point, feel free to skip to section 2. But if you want to know where I get the point, this is it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Ruth did not go on a solitary vision quest, meet “the God of her own understanding” (necessarily the unique god-image residing inside each human skull as a result of our neurology and early childhood experiences), and work out “her own personal relationship” with that individual idea. Her way was quite the opposite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I mean no disrespect for individual vision quests. There is a place for “the hero’s journey.” Ancient cultures enshrined it. Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Black Elk, and Jesus all went on them. Even I have gone on a few. But the ancient heroes went out from a community and returned to a community. At the end of his quest Gilgamesh exclaimed, “Lo, the walls of Uruk!” and resumed his civic duties. Odysseus found his way home to his family and the kingdom of Ithaca. Black Elk became <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">heyokah </i>of the Lakota Sioux. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus returned from the desert because the Spirit of the Lord had anointed him, not “to go his own way” but to “proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captive, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” (Luke 4) It wasn’t about them. They went out for their people and returned for their people to serve and sometimes lead their people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Ruth’s religion began in a human relationship. Her God was not her own, not “the God of her own understanding” but the God of someone she loved and the God of a people to whom she had consented to belong. How utterly and shockingly foreign to the individualism of our contemporary culture!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Ruth the Moabite loved Naomi the Jew and chose to be a Jew. To be a Jew was not to make up one’s own idea of God, but to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, the God of Naomi. That understanding of God arose out of an older, larger horizontal flow of human relationship. There were tribes. There was a tribe of Ephraim, a tribe of Zebulun, a tribe of Naphtali, a tribe of Benjamin, a tribe of Judah, 12 tribes in all -- and they each had their god. Some called their god El, some called their god, YHWH. Then Moses drew them all together in a covenant law of freedom, justice, and equality. He convened the 12 tribes, calling them all by a single name, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schema’ Israel</i>. Hear oh Israel.” Then he continued, “Your God is one. You have the same God. YHWH and El are One. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adonai elohanyu Adonai echad</i>.” They agreed to worship one God, no longer divided over whether god looked like a bull or winged lion but praying together to an imageless nameless God whom they worshiped first and foremost not by sacrifice but by treating each other justly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">A different process produces a different result. Discovering the unique god-image residing inside our skull reveals one sort of deity, perhaps one we love, perhaps one we hate, but who he, she, or it is we can readily know as it is our own god. We own him because we made him up. The god arising from a network of human caring, on the other hand, is quite different – most fundamentally in that such a god is not the work of our own hands (idol) but rather something arising out of a wider, deeper, older reservoir of human relationship. The “god of our own understanding is smaller than us, because we created it and we can change it. The God arising out of a deep and wide sea of relationship is bigger than we are and just might change us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">What does “God” even mean when it comes about in such a way?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">“God” is the notion that we (not I – we) come from somewhere and that we are headed somewhere. “The whence and the whither,” Karl Rahner called it. To combine the “whence and the whither” in the single notion of “God” is to say that neither is random. They are connected. “My end is in my beginning.” (T. S. Eliot). “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” (Revelation) There is a pattern and course to each life and to the history of our world. This all means something, amounts to something. It is not “a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing” (Shakespeare) but a story with a coherent plot and even, God help us, a theme, perhaps a moral. The story of life is not assorted words randomly scattered on a page but a novel worth reading, even living. What that “whence, whither,” and meaning are is beyond our grasp – but we must believe they exist albeit mysteriously if we are to have any framework, any structure for our relationships – a floor on which to dance, a melody we can sing together. So, we agree there is a meaning of which we can apprehend only “hints and guesses” (Eliot), and we agree to stammer about it together in poems we have agreed to recite together. They are at best partly accurate. The importance is not as much in their accuracy as in the togetherness of our reciting them. The constraints on inaccuracy are measured by the togetherness. A “God is love” (1<sup>st</sup> John) divinity flows naturally from such a relational religion. A god of wrath and judgment would be quite another matter. Such a god is more apt to be the “god our own personal understanding” based on unfortunate early childhood experiences or a life in a traumatized and traumatizing culture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Our central Christian sacraments are Baptism and Communion. To be baptized is to be claimed, to belong, to be born anew into a family of faith. It is to say, “Thy people shall be my people; and thy God, my God.” Communion is to live into that bond. It is to place ourselves on a single altar, giving ourselves to one God, to receive our life back from that one God, eating from one loaf, drinking from one cup.” Those rites are not symbolic expressions of something each of us has individually experienced. They are rather an experience of one-ness with each other, out of which our faith in the One-ness (Coherence) of Reality is formed. With that bond to each other and that sense of our common source and common destiny, we say “Whither thou goest, I will go.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">2. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I Believe In One Reality<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">There are good reasons things are the way they are in our time. By “the way things are” I mean we are radically rebellious, passionately individualistic. We deify our own wills and worship them by asserting our wills against those of others. The result is loneliness, alienation, meaninglessness, cynicism, and despair – not to mention injustice and violence both random and systemic. But there are good reason things are the way they are in our time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">For centuries, we lived with rigid hierarchies constructed for the hoarding by elites of political power and economic wealth, and buttressed by religions corrupted by their political and economic context. (Karen Armstrong, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fields of Blood</i>). We began pushing off the weight of those hierarchical traditions in the 18<sup>th</sup> Century, only to have horrifically totalitarian regimes take their place in the 20<sup>th</sup> and 21<sup>st</sup>. “It is right, good, and a joyful thing” that we fight back against such oppression. The Abrahamic religions were born in just such a rebellion when YHWH said, “I have heard my people cry. Go tell Pharaoh, ‘let my people go.’” Jesus said the Spirit of the Lord was on him “to proclaim release to the captive . . . to let the oppressed go free.” Paul said, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The tragedy is that in rebelling against oppression, we have turned against one another. We have set our face against our neighbor. We have gone our own way. I know of a priest who died recently and wanted at his funeral, not “For all the saints who from their labors rest” – not a song of sweet reunion with “those angel faces . . . whom I have loved long since, and lost awhile” – but “I did it my way.” Your god is not my god. My god is my god. In truth if “god” is my highest value, my guiding principle, then I am my god as you are your god, which makes each of us an infidel to the other’s religion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">In those days, there was no king in Israel and each man did what was right in his own eyes. </span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">(Judges)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Hey, hey, you, you,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Get off of my cloud! (The Rolling Stones) <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Your god is not my god; nor your people, my people. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Whither thou goest, I shalt not go.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">We will each go our own way – alone!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">How would we expect such a cultural irreligiosity to play out politically? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously, in rancorous division and hostility. In the 19<sup>th</sup> Century, the French social scientist Alexis de Tocqueville wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Democracy in America</i>, exploring the question of whether our American experiment could possibly survive. He said, the worm in the American apple was individualism but the project might yet be saved by one thing – our churches! Worshiping together forged our bonds as a people. He did not mean that we all worshiped in the same way. It is not an agreement about theology. But it is that we come together, forge faith together, practice religion as a team sport that makes democracy possible. It is not the content of the beliefs but the network of relationship and the quality of character it forms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Today, three forces – each arising out of individualism -- sow the seeds of chaos: atheism, apathism, and privatized spirituality. Many new atheists treat Christians with contempt attributing all sorts of silly notions to us – chiefly that we think there is a Super Being dwelling on a distant planet from which he magically manipulates events here. I will not disrespect atheism in kind by saying it simply a denies that Super Being. Proper atheism (Hume, Nietzsche, Mackie, and Hecht) being heroic examples) denies that there is any coherent connection between our whence and our whither, that there is any meaning to this whole adventure. It is in fact “a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” There is no right and wrong (Kant equated God with the Moral Order so to be an atheist one denies that there such a thing as right and wrong), only personal preference. There is no Beauty, only what suits my fancy. And here’s the kicker, there is no Truth. I have heard for years, “That may be true for you but that doesn’t make it true for me.” Truth is just what I make up in my head. In our time, that subjectivism has come to a solipsistic crescendo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Apathism does not take the ultimate question of what matters in life seriously enough to pose an answer yay or nay. It is to say I am not sufficiently interested in other people to care about their deepest value. Privatized spirituality – the “spiritual but not religious” -- gives free reign to each of the gods “of our own personal understanding(s).” It is to sing, “I did it my way” as a Gospel hymn. All three reject shared faith <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se </i>regardless of its content. We choose to sing only solos, to live in private worlds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The result is: each of us creates our own set of facts. We each dwell in our own separate reality. Your sun may rise in the East if you like, but if I prefer to believe the sun rises in the North, then by (my) god, that’s where it rises. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whither thou goest, I shalt not go.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I have in recent years heard people seriously arguing that the earth is flat and that the round earth is propaganda used to manipulate us. I have likewise heard that the heliocentric solar system is a hoax. The overwhelming evidence that global warming is happening and that carbon emissions contribute to it is dismissed not just by random nutcases but by people to whom we have entrusted real power. I hear people believe the FBI bugged the President because he says so, but when the FBI explains that they were bugging a Russian gambling ring in Trump tower, that cannot be believed because the source is “the government.” People believe wild memes on social media if those memes fit the reality in which they chose to live, but refuse to believe news from reputable journalistic sources because they “don’t trust the press.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Political leaders confronted with “facts” that belie their claims do not argue the evidence but appeal to “alternative facts.” We believe reports that suit our agenda but regard all else as “fake news.” Reality is not a given to deal with. It is a fantasy we each construct in our own imaginations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">This flows from an implicit theological premise: If God is the ground of Reality, and if we each get to construct our own god, it follows as the night the day, we can each make up whatever facts we choose to believe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">No less skeptical a philosopher than Jacques Derrida says the very project of science itself rests on the faith that there is a coherence to be discovered through observation and experimentation. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Believing In Order To See) </i>The post-modern repudiation of God leads inexorably to the repudiation of science and the disbelief in any objective reality where we might live together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">3. So What’s The Question?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The question is secondarily about God. Primarily it’s about our relationship with each other. Is it still possible, are we still capable of saying one frail fallible mortal human being to another,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Whither thou goest I will go,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">and thy people shall be my people;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">and thy god; my god?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I can construct a pretty good rational argument for God – not a proof but an argument that shows belief on God (Rahner’s “whence and whither” – not the Super Being on a distant planet) is a reasonable and desirable conviction to hold. Much brighter people than I – philosophers, theologians, and yes, some scientists -- have made more convincing cases than I could ever attempt. But none of that does any good on the front end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">On the front end, faith is a matter of the heart. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Credo </i>– “I give my heart.” And the first movement of the heart is between people. It isn’t between me and a sunset. It’s between us, you and me. It is the horizontal human relationship which constitutes the floor on which the vertical pillar, our relationship with God, must rest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Social, political, and economic systems have oft-times been disillusioning. They have also sustained the human race through the millennia. I do not say that to defend them as good – only to say that some sort of system is essential to our survival. How are we to deal wi†h our natural ambivalence about the fact (if we are willing †o concede there are facts) that we are all in this together. We need each other. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there a way we can live together, not just materially but spiritually, can we discern meaning together? I do not mean utopian harmony. I just mean the mixed and muddled business of being a body politic instead of the dystopian chaos into which we seem to be sinking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">We often bandy about the term “social construct.” It applies to a norm, a custom, a way of doing things, or a belief that things are a certain way. A social construct means people have collectively made it up. We don’t usually mean anything good when we say such and such is “just a social construct” since it is neither scientifically proven (now even science is not being called “a social construct”) nor an expression of our individual creativity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">But the things humankind has made together can be impressive – languages, architecture, technology, democratic institutions. If we socially construct our ways of living and loving, our ways of sensing and expressing meaning, perhaps we might find a kinder way to regard what we have done together. Things we might call a social construct today have in years past been called such things as “the Mayflower Compact,” “the Magna Carta,” “the Covenant of Israel.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Do we dare risk our individual selves in the hope that we might find ourselves larger, deeper, kinder, lovelier, better in relationship with one another. Might we dare to inhabit a world not of our own making, even pray to a God we did not invent in our own solitary laboratory? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">If we choose to do so, we might swim in a very large sea of humanity. We might join with humanity around the world, in ages past, and in ages yet to come. What is the question? It is a question of courage. Ruth is the model of such courage. The courage to love. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Whither thou goest I will go.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Thy people shall be my people,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">and thy god; my god. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-70356423290076767432017-04-02T17:17:00.000-07:002017-04-02T17:19:10.534-07:0030TH EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS: WE LACK ONE THING<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">After wandering in our desert for nigh unto a
decade, my understanding of the challenge we face has distilled in the heat of
our sun. It has been a purgation as all sorts of ideas, feelings, and attitudes
have been burned away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The question I ask now may not be of
immediate or obvious interest to you. I tie my mind in knots over how to be the
Church. You are struggling with your daily lives of family, work, relationships,
finances, and all the stuff that makes up a life. What I am struggling with
matters to you only if two things are true:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1 1. </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The key to
living any aspect of our life is the Christian faith that defines the meaning
of everything we do. Religion is not a category apart from our other activities.
It is the core of all of them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">2.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: 9.333333015441895px;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"> 2. Christianity is a team sport. We are shaped Christoform through our participation in the
Body of Christ, the Church. Individualistic me-&-Jesus spirituality is a
modern – mostly American – invention. It is not the faith of the New Testament
or centuries of Christian tradition. To Jesus and the apostles, this faith can
only be practiced together. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">If either of those points is false, there is
no need to read further. But, if they both might be true, then this could be
important. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I have prayed for the Diocese of Nevada daily
for so many years now. At first I prayed for specific things until I came to
believe we needed absolutely everything. So, I prayed “God we need it all. We
need more people, more leadership, more vision, more passion, more money, more
buildings. We need it all. We’ll take anything you’ve got to offer.” And I
prayed it with a desperation worthy of the psalmist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">While I prayed, I offered and promoted
programs and assistance in various kinds of ministry. Most failed. Occasionally,
some met with moderate success. One of them has made significant in-roads for
some congregations. But we still live on the edge, just getting by. Why is
that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Two things have slapped me awake this year. They
have been happening all along. But they finally came together to bring me to the
ground zero of being the Church in Nevada. They have brought me on my knees to Mark
10: 17-21 <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A17-21&version=NIV">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A17-21&version=NIV</a>
and Luke 10: 38-42 <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A+38-42&version=NIV">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A+38-42&version=NIV</a>.
You may do well to read those texts before going on so you’ll know where we’re
headed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">The first wake up point was seeing how we
treat each other in our congregations. In those congregations that are
declining, the reason is plain as the nose on one’s face: People behave
deplorably toward one another. Insults fly. Plots thicken. Ultimatums are
thrown down. “If you don’t do x, I’m leaving.” The issues are usually of near comic
insignificance, but the passion invested is over “getting my way.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">But if you
bite and devour one another, watch out or you will be destroyed by one another.
</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">– Galatians 5: 15<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">It is no wonder contentious groups do not
attract or retain people. Self-preservation dictates keeping our distance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Such conduct is human nature as far as group
behavior is concerned. The psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion wrote about it in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Experiences In Groups. </i>We use
fight-flight to self-sabotage and defeat our real mission, the actual point
that brought us together. I do not judge or condemn. It is merely human
behavior. But that doesn’t make it Christian. The entire thrust of the New
Testament is that we are not bound to merely human behavior. For those of us
who are “in Christ,” it is possible to be an entirely different kind of community
-- a community that heals, empowers, and sanctifies us, transforming us from
glory unto glory into the likeness of Our Savior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> away. Behold the new has come. </span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">– 2 Corinthians
5: 17<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">We are “in Christ” if we are in the Body of
Christ, the Church, if we are baptized. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to
live in the way prescribed by the New Testament and not remain enslaved to the
world’s ways so well analyzed by Wilfred Bion. The Hymn to Love in 1
Corinthians 13 <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=NIV">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=NIV</a>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is not about marriage but how to be the
Church. The Epistles are all about the art of community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Yet even our congregations that are doing
well on the institutional vitality scale are riven by people treating each
other in sub-Christian ways. Nor is this limited to congregations. I sometimes see
our Diocese acting hurtfully, judgmentally, unkindly, shackled by pharisaic law
rather than flying free in the Spirit of love with joyful expectation for the Kingdom
Mission. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">In a word, we are not behaving like
Christians. Naturally, we welcome people who are not spiritually mature so
there are bound to be incidents we regret. But I am saying something more
fundamental. Our norms of behavior are not Christian. Why would that be? That question
leads to the second wake up call.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I have heard from several of our leaders and leadership
groups, sometimes reporting what they hear from congregations, about what we as
a Diocese care about, what deep down matters to us. I hear that our congregations
just want a building and a priest. Some value the camp’s enjoyment of wholesome
outdoor activities. Some value charitable activities which could well be tied
to the gospel, but I have not heard them tied to the gospel and they are the
same charitable activities secular groups offer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">What I hear about our mission is not at all
bad. It sounds as if we are lonely and want to connect with each other as
friends. Some of us want to do a bit of worthy community service. There is
nothing wrong with that. Indeed, it is good. If a secular service club named
these priorities, I’d say that’s just fine. But what rocks me is that I have
heard literally nothing – not virtually nothing, literally nothing -- about the
Christian faith. I get the sense that we are serving a secular cake with
Christian sprinkles. If that’s all we’re doing, I would still vote for it but I
wouldn’t campaign for it or contribute to support the cause. When I notice that
about myself, the reason most of our congregations cannot mount stewardship
campaigns or engage in evangelism suddenly becomes obvious. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">I feel that all the technical fixes for the
Church have finally been distilled away. We need one thing – except it is not a
thing – it is a person: Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">When the rich young man came to Jesus seeking
eternal life, Jesus gave him the to-do list of his time and place. We have our
to-do list of Church projects and some of us do them. But when the young man
said he had checked all the boxes, Jesus replied, “You lack one thing.” He told
him to sell all he had. But that is not the “one thing.” That is just clearing
the path of his many things so he can choose the one thing. “Come, follow me.” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o469PRLdbHU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o469PRLdbHU</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Martha of Bethany had her to-do list. She was
bustling about the house like priest and altar guild on Sunday morning while
Mary sat at the feet of the Master. When Martha demanded that Jesus shoo Mary
away, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are . . . upset about many things. Few things
are needed – indeed, only one. Mary has chosen the better part.” Mary chose a
relationship with Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;">Here’s what I believe. There are scores of congregational
development programs that would, in principle, help us do a better job of
Church. There are behavioral covenant models that, in principle, would lead to
us treating each other more civilly. There are stewardship methods that would
raise more money and evangelism programs that would swell our ranks – all in
principle. But there’s a problem. They are like a manual on better farming
practices. Back in the 40s, a young man was trying to sell an old farmer a
manual on farming but the old farmer replied, “Son, I’m not farming half as
good as I know how, as it is.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our challenge isn’t knowing churchmanship. It’s
knowing Jesus. It’s deciding to follow him heart and soul, not just as
individuals but as a community. It would mean living for the Kingdom Mission because
that’s the only thing that makes our lives count. If we fall in love with Our
Savior and follow where he leads we will, as the song says, “never be the same.”
Then and only then will all the programs make a whit of difference. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-26925758557865604272017-02-03T18:11:00.000-08:002017-02-03T18:11:27.929-08:00BOW UP<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The vanity license plate on a pickup truck here in Elko
reads, “Bowup.” For those unfamiliar with the expression, it is “Bow up.” It means
to assume a fighting posture. The neck and back curve defensively. The elbows
bend. The fists clench. You get the picture. I gather the license plate is an invitation
or an admonition to any and all to “bow up” to fight for anything that comes
along. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I learned the expression “bow up” from my father. He would
tell the story of some conversation at work or at a baseball game. At some point
in the story, one of the characters would “bow up.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Invariably, in my father’s telling of the story, the
character who bowed up would have demonstrated himself to be some kind of fool,
defensive, reactive, unable to keep his dignity. The bowed-up posture is not a
dignified one. By bowing up he had already lost regardless of whether a fight
ensued or who “won” it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But there’s another side to the equation. In my Texas
culture, there were also certain indignities that were not to be borne. Some
slurs or offenses had to be regarded as “walkin’ on the fightin’ side of me.”
The problem for the more thoughtful of us -- and a lot of us were more
thoughtful than we let on – was that we were not sure where that line was
drawn. We were most likely to bow up not because we were genuinely angry but
because we thought perhaps we ought to be angry and that our dignity would be
lost if we did not take a stand – though paradoxically, bowed up is not a stand
but a demeaning posture and by taking it we had forfeited our dignity. It was
lose-lose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our fragile self-esteem can be cloaked in all sorts of
things – righteousness whether political or old style puritanical, superiority
of our intellect, depth of our spirituality, fidelity to the institution with
which we have identified our pride – the list goes on. The cloak around our
self-esteem is the trigger for our reactivity. It is our point of vulnerability.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">As I look around these days, it seems a lot of us are bowed
up. It is a posture we have assumed. The various political or religious claims
and taunts of the day prompt the posture. But this license plate skipped all
that. It went straight to the point. No need for pretexts. Just a straight prescription
for an existential posture. It is as if the fear and the posture are connected
by the issue that exercises us. But this vanity plate cut out the middle man. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about postures. One
text is obvious. “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other.”
New Testament scholar Walter Wink read that teaching as more clever than it
seems. He treated the first blow as a backhand slap of a superior to a slave. If
you turn the other cheek, he can only strike you with the forehand slap that
challenges an equal to combat. It is actually a brilliant way to preserve
dignity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The other posture text is less obvious. It is translated as “do
not resist evil” or “return evil for evil.” Wink says this is actually a term
for military maneuver in which one army mirrors the formation of the other. Jesus
means there are more effective ways to combat an adversary than to mimic him. But
mimicry is out reflexive action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We encounter a lot of bowed up people these days. Our mirror
neurons respond automatically with an impulse to mimic them. Plus, we are apt
to feel threatened, and like a Texas teenage boy insecure about his virility,
we may fight out of fear of disgrace. There is a lot at work to make us speak
and act precipitously. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus did not generally recommend that approach. If he had a
vanity plate, I don’t know what it would say, but I seriously doubt it would be
“bow up.” It might be “bless” – not condone evil, not cooperate with wrong, not
agree with what is factually false. But it might very well be “bless.” It might
have a hint of a suggestion that we look past the outrageous thing someone else
is saying or even doing to find their subterranean human worth and say with
God, “That’s good,” and perhaps find a way to remind them who they are. It
might be a gesture toward healing their wound instead of jabbing at it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The basic function of blessing is not approval but
connection. The basic function of cursing is not passing judgment so much as
breaking relationship. We live by connection. We grow by connection. We are
transformed and we transform each other through connection. There is a dignity
in the resolute determination to bless this world and all who live therein. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-52555768893408202152017-01-16T14:28:00.002-08:002017-01-16T14:31:57.000-08:00WHAT WOULD ATTICUS DO?<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You never really understand a
person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb
into his skin and walk around in it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span></i>Harper
Lee, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To Kill A Mockingbird<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The current flap over whether our National Cathedral Choir should sing
at the Inauguration is the present arena in which a lot of passions are flowing
at cross-purposes. People are in very different places. For the record, I fully
support what Bishop Mariann Budde and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry have said
in defense of the choir singing, but my heart is stirred by the pain of those
who feel betrayed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am still trying to understand the feelings that have been unleashed,
manipulated, and magnified not just in the recent election but in the American
public square since roughly 1990. This is not an attempt to say anything
definitive, just to notice a piece of the puzzle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are very concrete fears and resentments stirring for people
threatened with the <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">loss of health insurance, people on the verge of retirement when Social
Security and Medicare are in jeopardy, people whose families may be divided by
deportation, people who may have to publicly register their religion at a time
when their religion makes them a target of abuse and violence. Others are
afraid of terrorism, the financial hardship to support those who cannot fully
support themselves, the loss of jobs and changes in culture caused by
immigration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But, perhaps because I am deep into Eric Fromm’s classic, The Anatomy
of Human Destructiveness, I cannot stop seeing the deeper processes at work in
people, the surging of so many painful dynamics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can’t ignore the psychological dynamics at
play, in individuals and in the collective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For whatever reason, the President-elect stirs our responses to
experiences with narcissistic sado-masochistic behavior. Anyone who has ever
been bullied, sexually abused, victimized by a domestic violence, harassed for
any reason, mocked, belittled, or ostracized is subject to having old feelings
brought up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How that plays out is not simple. There can be PTSD flashback
experiences, narcissistic abuse syndrome with feelings of fear, confusion,
inner turmoil, and all that goes with co-dependency; identification with one’s
status as victim claiming a kind of moral authority and exemption for Jesus’s
“love ethic” born of innocent suffering; or – and here’s where it gets really
complicated – variations on Stockholm Syndrome in which the victim identifies
with the abuser. That means – now ponder this – two victims of the same kind of
abuse may respond to a narcissistic personality (or someone perceived to be a
narcissistic personality) with opposite reactions. One will fear and loathe
him. The other will cling to him like a beloved parent or even savior. The two
people may be at each other’s throats, not despite but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because</i> they have suffered the same or similar wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Add to that tangled web a dynamic Fromm calls “group narcissism.” To
begin with narcissism isn’t just arrogance. It is an inflated view of one’s own
importance, being consumed by a deep need for the admiration of others, and an
incapacity for empathy. But the arrogance is all on the surface. The Mayo
clinic definition says, “Behind this façade of self-confidence lies a fragile
self-esteem that is vulnerable to the slightest criticism.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not a happy way to be in the world. So, what is “group narcissism?”
Fromm says, when individuals are belittled and scorned, they want to belong to
a group that is great, strong, powerful, commanding respect and instilling
fear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, where does this leave us as the Church? I don’t know. It definitely
would not help to go about pathologizing the political convictions of others.
But we might benefit from a touch of humility, curiosity, and compassion. Psychology does not answer the question. But it is one of the voices –
along with theology, Scripture, and traditional social justice teachings – that
informs our answer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One thing I do get from this psychology piece is that a lot of
people are hurting and our judgments of them will not help or heal. I am
sometimes taken aback by the emphatic repudiation of Christian norms, derived
from Scripture and enshrined in the Baptismal Covenant (e.g., to seek and serve
Christ in all people, to respect the dignity of every human being) by people
who are ostensibly Christians. I am mystified by hate-filled rants against
Mexico (not undocumented workers but the whole nation). This list goes on. We
are dividing up and fighting in ways that are hard to comprehend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most days I feel buffeted from the left and
the right alike in ways that seem utterly beyond the bounds of civil discourse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One thing I know: there are stories behind these impassioned
statements. Stories I have not heard. There are people with something at stake.
That something may be very tangible and clear at least in their imaginations.
But in most cases, there is a lot stirring of which even the person with the
forceful opinions is not aware. How can I know his or her experience? How can I
know what that person has at stake? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I can ask!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can inquire!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can ‘hold space’ for a human being to tell
the story lying behind the passions and the behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daryl Davis, whose story is told in the
documentary, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Accidental Courtesy</i>, is
a stellar example. A black man, he has converted 200 members of the KKK – not
by arguing with them, not by calling them names, but by listening to them. <a href="http://accidentalcourtesy.com/">http://accidentalcourtesy.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is a cardinal virtue to know the situation, to plug into the reality
at hand. If I am to have any hope of acting wisely and lovingly, I need to stop
and breathe long enough to realize I don’t know what I’m dealing with and
perhaps to ask a few questions that might help both of us find out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-29028810891551722572017-01-11T16:40:00.001-08:002017-01-11T16:40:31.137-08:0029th EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS: THE COLOR PURPLE & OUR PENCHANT FOR PICKINESS<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in
a field somewhere and don’t notice it.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alice
Walker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I am an old woman I will wear purple, with a red hat <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That doesn’t suit me . . . <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But maybe I ought to practice a little now<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jenny
Joseph<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We Episcopalians find
many details to fret over. I wonder if the fretting is a self-protecting device
to distract us from a big picture that might be too wonderful for us to bear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One thing we are
particularly prone to fretting over is colors. For example, there is the color
purple. Episcopal bishops wear purple clergy shirts. Some wear a darker shade
called blue-purple; others wear a lighter version called rose-purple. Some say
the two shades distinguish the high church from the low church. Others say they
label the liberals and the conservatives. I could never find a consensus, so I
wear both, alternately, mostly to assure that people will know I do in fact
change my shirt daily. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recently I have come
across a sartorial scruple that strikes me as unhelpful. I have encountered both
clergy and laity who feel that they cannot wear purple or that they cannot wear
purple in my presence. They are under the impression purple scarves, blouses,
skirts, socks, etc. are liturgically <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">verboten.
<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I want to go on
record, just for here in Nevada, that this Bishop does not see how God’s
Kingdom Mission is advanced by such fussiness over purple. Purple clerical
shirts help color code our clergy so we can tell the bishops from the priests
and deacons, but with regard to any other item of clothing, the episcopacy
cannot claim a monopoly on a band of the color spectrum. So, Nevada brothers
and sisters, please, in the spirit of Alice Walker and Jenny Joseph, wear
purple to your heart’s content. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While we are on the
subject of purple, let us speak of Advent. It used to be normative to use
purple appointments in churches during the Advent season. In recent years, some
churches have replaced the purple with blue. Strong opinions have arisen
dividing the Purple Party from the Blue Party over this difference. I wish to
say emphatically and with the deepest of convictions, it doesn’t matter. True,
there is no real precedent for this use of blue. Blue, I am told, was the color
used by the Medieval English Church EXCEPT during Advent and Lent. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saying that blue is somehow less penitential
than purple is as subjective as the interpretations of different shades of
bishop clergy shirts. The argument has been persuasively advanced that this use
of blue is a ploy by liturgical suppliers, “whose names must not be spoken,” to
sell more frontals. But, so what? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For a little
perspective, the practice of using liturgical colors to help set the spiritual
tone of the season – like the different opening acclamations, collects, proper
prefaces, and dismissals actually prescribed by the Prayer Book – goes all the
way back to the 4<sup>th</sup> Century. But different churches have used
different colors in different times. See, <a href="http://fullhomelydivinity.org/articles/colors%20full%20page.htm">http://fullhomelydivinity.org/articles/colors%20full%20page.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The liturgical color
scheme is written in water colors, not stone. Moreover, it is a matter of
custom and practice, not a rule guiding our liturgy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Blue is not “less
penitential.” Royal blue is associated with royalty so in Advent it suggests
the coming of the King. Bright blue is associated with the sky or Heaven where
the Angels proclaim the incarnation. It is also associated with Mary, the “Queen
of Heaven,” and so the Church waits with Mary for the birth. But the Purple
Party has a perspective too. Purple also represents royalty and the coming of
the King as well as penitence. So, there is truly no right or wrong about the choice
of color for Advent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another confusion arises
over the liturgical colors on the bishops visit or at baptism. The answer is
that the regular color of the day is appropriate. Galley, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ceremonies of the Eucharist, </i>p. 174. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But here’s my one
actual concern: Episcopalians would be shocked to hear themselves called “fanatics,”
but I once heard fanaticism defined as becoming so obsessed with the means that
one forgets the ends. I might use the word “idolatry,” worshiping the creature
instead of the Creator. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sometimes fret
too much over details – “getting it right” – without thinking of the meaning
the colors and other liturgical symbols are intended to express. The soul is
not expanded by fussiness over details but rather by immersion in the spirit of
the liturgy. True, in ignorance of the spirit of the liturgy, we are apt to get
the details wrong. But then the problem is not transgression of a rule of
etiquette to which the more scrupulous say “tsk tsk” but rather a deafness to
God’s call. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I hope our people
will learn the liturgy, not so they can be perfectionist and “get it right”
more often than others – but so they can soak it in and let the ancient symbols
of the faith grow their spirits and embolden their hearts for God’s mission in
our suffering world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-31772382468702941072017-01-06T14:59:00.000-08:002017-01-06T14:59:22.639-08:00A TIME OF PROGRESS/ A TIME OF CHALLENGE<br />
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Looking back on
2016</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">, there
is much to celebrate. In the Reno-Sparks-Tahoe area, our congregations work with
each other and ecumenical partners to sponsor Syrian refugees. This ministry is
exactly how Moses taught us to care for the alien and how Jesus taught us to
welcome the stranger. This is how Jesus comes to us today -- as the refugee. The
voices of fear shout that we should send these people back to the tender
mercies of the Assad regime just as we sent Jews back to Germany into the hands
of Hitler. Our churches have the courage to follow the voice of Jesus instead
of the voice of the mob.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Also in Northwest Nevada, the Empty Bowls Banquet which
supports the food pantry at St. Paul’s, Sparks outgrew its old venue and had to
move into The El Dorado. After Trinity’s exhibit of Russian icons made Reno sit
up and take notice, they began a Wednesday night education program that is well
attended by both adults and children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">In the Las Vegas Valley, our work with Nevadans For the
Common Good continues to change the face of our community. In the past, we won
an omnibus bill to fight the modern-day slavery of sex trafficking, played a
key role in increasing funding for public schools, and expanded home health
care to keep elderly and disabled people in their homes instead of
institutions. The list goes on. Today, every Episcopal Church in the Las Vegas
Valley is a dues-paying member of Nevadans For the Common Good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Last Fall, our Diocese and Nevadans For the Common Good co-hosted
a Regional Forum at All Saints on how to form and deepen partnerships with
public schools. We had workshops presented by the All Our Children Foundation
in Boston, Nevada Communities in Schools, the Clark County School District, and
Nevadans For the Common Good giving workshops. We had Episcopalians from Reno
and Ely as well as Clark County. Christ Church, Las Vegas is in the thick of
the fight to save Fremont Middle School. Grace in the Desert had an overflow
crowd for its Vacation Bible School this summer and Epiphany has a burgeoning
children’s ministry with 30 to 40 kids each Sunday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">To the East, St. Paul’s, Elko has taken on a new role in
Underdog Ministries serving the homeless; and St. Bart’s, Ely remained a
driving force in the Committee Against Child Hunger. Our largest congregation
in central Nevada is St. Thomas the Believer, which worships inside the
Lovelock Correctional Center. They are also the most Biblically literate and
theologically educated congregation in the diocese. Holy Trinity, Fallon
supports that ministry as well as our new church plant in Silver Springs/
Stagecoach, St. Hugh of Lincoln. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">All of that, and many ministries I have not mentioned, help
explain something. In 2015, the membership of The Episcopal Church throughout
the United States and several other nations went down by 2%. But our membership
went up just shy of 3%. That’s a 5% spread. Sunday attendance in the wider
church went down by 3.5%. Nevada’s attendance went up by 3.4%. That’s almost a
7% spread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Most of our larger congregations are growing at an
impressive rate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our smaller rural
congregations prove resilient as a sagebrush. Death and relocation deliver blows
that look fatal. But their attendance remains just as strong. While the wider
Church is getting older, our rural congregations are getting younger -- more
young adults, more children. We are growing because people can see we’re up to
something that looks like God’s Kingdom happening here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Looking forward
to 2017,</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"> I
see us beginning a time of challenge and opportunity such as we have not faced
before. The challenge and opportunity is not about survival or institutional
strength, but about rising to the occasion of God’s mission in a hard time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Never in our lifetimes has our community been so broken. The
shootings of unarmed Black suspects by police officers (102 in 2015) and the 21
ambush shootings of police officers are a bloody example (part of 56% increase
in shooting deaths of police last year). These tragedies are not inevitable.
While even one lost life is one too many, through intentional efforts to
change, incidents of police killings of unarmed Black people were reduced by
half last year. Still, the trust level is far from what we need in order to
keep our people of all races safe. Quite the opposite, racism, anti-Semitism,
Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia – the list goes on – have all erupted.
Political discourse has descended to character attack; and, in some cases, like
the menacing of National Review journalist David French’s family during the
presidential campaign, it has sunk to harassment and threats of violence. Fear
has become the driving force of our public life, breaking relationships and
splintering us into our multiple little fortresses of righteous indignation at
one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In the midst of this internecine strife, the Church’s
mission remains “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in
Christ.” Our Baptismal Vows remain “to seek and serve Christ in all people” and
“to strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of
every human being.” How do we seek and serve Christ in the person whose views
are morally reprehensible in our eyes? Would Christ really want us to befriend
a sinner? Even if the sinner sinned by corrupt political oppression (like St. Matthew)
or violent rebellion against society (like St. Simon Zealotes)? What is to be
gained by sullying our hands associating with such people? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I wonder what we might learn from Nelson Mandela. In prison,
they served sufficient food for the day, but they served it all at once. By
evening the supper was cold. Mandela wanted a hot plate but the racist Afrikaner
guards would not speak to him. So, he studied soccer (not a popular sport for
Black South Africans) to lure the soccer-fan guards into conversation. That got
him a hot plate. Then he asked them about their support of apartheid. Not by
arguing – but by listening – he converted them. And he went on converting
people in this way up the chain of power until apartheid was ended. He did not
accomplish this through prophesying out of his righteousness but by connecting
on the human level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In the coming year(s), our most urgent challenge will be the
art and spiritual discipline of mindful conversation. We can be the healing,
reconciling presence the world desperately needs today. We can draw on Anglican
practices, particularly from Africa, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">indaba
</i>groups and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ubuntu theology. </i>I
will devote two weeks this year to resuming my training with Parker Palmer’s
Center for Courage & Renewal to help me find better ways to minister to the
diocese in these times. A Courage & Renewal facilitator will train our
deacons in the art and spiritual discipline of mindful conversation. Our first
task is learning to listen deeply and speak authentically out of our own
personal experience, to tell our own stories from the heart – setting those
conversations in the context of our shared identity as the Body of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">We do not develop our relational spirituality at the expense
of working for justice – also a Baptismal vow. We can develop our relational
spirituality in the process of working for justice and the well-being of the
vulnerable at a time when they are apt to be thrown under the bus. Nevada ranks
51<sup>st</sup> in funding Meals On Wheels. Elderly and disabled people in Las
Vegas go on a six months waiting list for their first meal. That waiting list
typically has 600 people, plus 200 in Henderson. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Medicaid reimbursement for institutional care
increases each year, but home health care in Nevada has not had a cost of
living adjustment since 2002. Home health care agencies are closing and people
are being forced into nursing homes, that cost the state more money. Inmates
languish in prison though they are eligible for parole and the Department of
Corrections wants to release them – but we do not have sufficient half-way
houses to manage their re-entry. This keeps them in prison, again at greater
cost to the state. We are taking these issues on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To prepare our hearts so that we may better
serve God’s broken, bleeding, crucified world, we need prayer – lots and lots
of prayer. Canon Catherine and the Rev. Douglas Gregg will be traversing the
diocese this year sharing ways of praying that promise to enrich the spiritual
lives of our people. We will need this if we are going to sit in the center of
our saddle while riding through the times to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All in all, I have good hopes for our
Diocese in 2017 precisely because it will be hard. G. K. Chesterton famously
said, “It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting. It has
been found difficult and not tried.” As we face the challenges of the closing
years of this decade, it may be time to give it a try. And if we try, we will
grow strong – together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-27427575515363850402016-12-24T12:29:00.001-08:002017-01-06T14:55:39.651-08:00TWO TENTATIVE THOGUHTS ON CHRISTMAS<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Two things have puzzled me
about Christmas through the years. I’ll offer a view – by no means pretending
to be definitive – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a </b>view – on these
two puzzlements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">First, why are we making such
a big deal over the birth of Christ as if the birth alone had done something important?
I grew up in a penal substitution theology in which it was all about Good
Friday. The only point of Jesus’ birth was to set up his death. Resurrection
was a bit of an anti-climax. Salvation was all about the death. Without meaning
to deny the centrality of the Cross to our faith, there is more to the story.
Anglicans in particular have long emphasized that Incarnation itself is
salvific. One of our Eucharistic prayers, recounting the story of our
salvation, says, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He took on our human nature <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">that he might live and die as one of us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is a point of emphasis in
Anglicanism but seeing Incarnation as salvific in itself is core orthodox Christianity.
The Nicene Creed says,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For us and for our salvation,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and was made human . . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">St. Athanasius (a key player
in shaping the Nicene Creed) said, “He became what we are so that we might
become what he is.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Something happens in the
Incarnation. It is not just a necessary step toward the rest of the story. This
is one angle on it. Neuro-science demonstrates that we humans are hard-wired for
empathy. It’s built in through our mimetic neurons. When we watch a needle
plunged into the hand of another person, we wince. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Ah but we are also hardwired
for self-preservation. We sense that are vulnerable and mortal. The theological
word is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">contingent</i>, meaning not
necessary. The world was here before us. It will be here after us. It can get
along quite well without us, so we are at risk. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Through evolution, we learned
that we can increase our survival chances by teamwork with those who are like
us – family, clan, tribe, race, nation, religion, etc. Any criteria will work
to form a team with which we identify. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Now here’s the scary thing.
When we watch the needle plunged into the hand of one of our teammates, we
wince mightily. But if the needle is plunged into the hand of someone not of
our team, someone beyond the pale of our concern, we do not wince much if at
all. And if we think plunging the needle into the hand of the outsider will
make us and our team safer, we are right ready to do it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">That kind of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thinking— </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when it manifests as thinking at all – is primitive,
regressive, and dangerous. But that kind of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feeling
</i>goes with the turf of being human. We’ve all got it to some degree. It
divides us, traps us in groups, sets us against each other, and leads to war,
persecution, and genocide. In short, it may be natural (as in evolutionarily
ingrained) but it is a problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Now look what happens in the
Incarnation. Instead of clinging to his divinity, instead of resting secure in
a safe Heaven, God chooses to “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">take on
our human nature, to live and die as one of us”. </i>God, who is so far beyond
us as to be called by theologians <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Wholly Other, </i>becomes one of us precisely to share our vulnerability. God
who could be beyond the reach of any hardship assumes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">compassion </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- com-passio –
to suffer with – as his chief attribute. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">God is the source and destiny
of all things, including our lives. God is the meaning and purpose of all
things, including our lives. God in the Incarnation makes compassion overriding
self-preservation the be all and end all of existence itself, including our
existence. In the Incarnation, God decisively moves the goal posts. God in the ultimate
act of compassion “becomes what we are so that we might become what he is” –
compassionate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The second problem is that we
celebrate Christmas as if it has now made an end to hardship and all has been
set right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No more let sins or sorrows grow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nor thorns infest the ground<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Handel quotes Isaiah about
the lion and the lamb. Mary’s Magnificat says justice has finally arrived. The
angels sing. And Handel announces with exuberant joy:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah . . . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It sounds like as of that
night in the stable these, 2,100 years ago, all has been hunky dory. But then
there is history. Things got really bad right there in Bethlehem in 66 AD. It
isn’t that great today. We have had plague, holocaust, nuclear immolation of cities,
terrorism, torture, and all manner of horrors. This Christmas falls at a time
fraught with some grim foreboding. I sometimes see the religious celebration of
Christmas as if it means the Kingdom has come and I wonder, what are we
smoking?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Has Christmas brought peace
on earth or not? Has the Kingdom already come? Can we claim such a thing with a
straight face? This is a tentative thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There is a sense in which the
answer is clearly no. Just like our Jewish brothers and sisters, we are still
waiting for the messiah – in our faith, it is to come again in power and great
glory. Jesus taught us to pray “thy Kingdom come” because he knew the Kingdom
was and is still a-coming. The Christmas story is in a sense about something
yet to fully happen. We are living toward Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But there is also a sense in
which it happened once. Not as a vague theological abstraction, but as real as
a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, God joined us in this life and -- by
joining us in it -- made it different, infused it with hope when there had been
only violence and despair. We believe in our hearts the words of our sacred scripture.
It happened. So, we do remember Christmas at the same time we anticipate it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But there is another
encounter with Christmas, in some ways the most important one. Jesus told us to
pray “thy Kingdom come” because it is still a-coming. But he also said “the Kingdom
is (present tense) among you.” He told his followers to heal people and perform
acts of mercy and wherever there were acts of mercy to tell people “the Kingdom
has come near to you.” And whenever any kind of evil is vanquished, as it so
often is, it is because “the Kingdom has come upon you.” The Kingdom breaks in
whenever godliness happens, when love flowers, when peace breaks out, when we
dare to let our God-given compassion set us free from the constraints of our
fear-based self-preservation spasms. And that is Christmas. Christmas happens –
not just for a 12-day season but not all year round either – it happens at the strangest
times in the strangest places, like an unkempt stable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I wish you all Christmas. No
need to qualify it. Christmas to whatever extent it is Christmas is already the
most pyrotechnic of joy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-50262511595669893642016-12-20T15:36:00.000-08:002016-12-20T15:36:53.393-08:0028th EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS: A CATHEDRAL FOR NEVADA -- THE TIME HAS COME<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Grace to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I commence my 10<sup>th</sup>
year with you, I am convinced to a moral certainty that the time has come to
restore Trinity Church’s status as our Cathedral. Further, I hope and intend,
in due course, to designate a Pro-Cathedral<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
in the southern region of our Diocese. I have sought the advice of many along
the way, but this decision is mine to make and I take responsibility for it. I
will address the pros and cons of my decision, but first I want to tell you two
stories – one recent and one old. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Recent Story</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Three years ago,
our youth went to the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) in Philadelphia. They met
kids from Dioceses all over these United States, and those kids asked our
youth, “Where is your Cathedral?” The young Nevadans had to admit that we don’t
have one. The other kids were confused. They had been to diocesan youth events
at their Cathedrals. A Diocese has a Cathedral as surely as it has a Bishop,
doesn’t it?<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Our kids came back thinking we were somehow “not doing it right.” We were
“missing something.” They are too kind to put it this way, but I felt they were
embarrassed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This summer a
delegation of our youth will travel to Oklahoma for EYE. When others ask them
“where is your Cathedral?” I want our kids to have an answer, a clean simple
answer, without hem-hawing and making excuses. I want them to be able to hold
their heads up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Old Story. </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Despite our land having
originally been part of the Territory of Utah, as a Church we were born
separately. The Rt. Rev. Daniel Tuttle spread the gospel in Utah. But the Rt.
Rev. Ozzie Whittaker was the founding father of Episcopal Christianity in Nevada.
All of us were missionary Dioceses dependent on the largesse of the Eastern
Church, however, so the Eastern Church organized us as they saw fit. Although
our state was already independent, the folks back East merged our Church into the
Diocese of Utah. Nevadans<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>still had a
Bishop, but he was downgraded to a Suffragen (assisting) Bishop to the Bishop
of Utah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At one point, a
Bishop of Nevada, designated Trinity as our Cathedral in Nevada. To this day, the
cornerstone at Trinity says “Trinity Cathedral.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Bishop of Utah said that our lowly Suffragen
could not designate a Cathedral. He said that Nevada is not a real Diocese and
only a real Diocese can have a Cathedral. He said that Nevada’s Cathedral was
in Salt Lake City. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And so, things
remained until we became a free-standing Diocese in 1971. Due to conflicts not
helpful to recall, the Diocese did not designate a Cathedral then, and we have had
various bobbing-and-weaving reasons for not doing so for 46 years. The lack of a
Cathedral to this day represents a certain subservience and perhaps a feeling
of immaturity. It is as if we still feel we have not yet become “a real Diocese.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I believe that we
are a real Diocese and that the time has come to claim our status. States have
capitals and Dioceses have cathedrals. If we are going to be a Diocese, let’s
act like one. 46 years is long enough to wait. I grant the choice to establish
a Cathedral raises questions including possible objections. I will discuss them
here:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Size and Organizational Maturity of the Diocese. </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple
of small former missionary Dioceses have not yet matured to the point of having
a Cathedral. In the 1970s and 80s, that may have been true of us. But today,
our Diocese has come of age. We stand out as one of the few growing Dioceses in
the Episcopal Church. We are widely respected as leaders in Latino Ministries,
effective social justice advocacy, broad-based community organizing, and cyber-evangelism.
We are developing contemplative spirituality. In every respect, we look like a Diocese,
we walk like a Diocese, and we quack like a Diocese. In the Year of Our Lord 2016,
Nevada is a Diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Low Church Theology. </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of historic Dioceses do not have a
Cathedral. Their resistance to a Cathedral is a Low Church Anti-Catholic
objection to anything that smacks of the Pre-Reformation Christian Tradition.
That has never been our theology in the Diocese of Nevada. We have never had a
Bishop or a significant number of clergy of that stripe. That simply is not an
expression of who we are. We value and live into the Episcopal tradition and
its ancient roots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Geographic Barriers</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. True enough, our Diocese
is geographically vast with urban centers at opposite ends of the state. But in
this we are not unique. Other Dioceses have faced that challenge and resolved
it in this way: Put a Cathedral in one urban center and a Pro-Cathedral in the
other. That way you have two centers for Diocesan events. John and Antoinette
Lilly wrote a delightful pop psych book in the 70’s called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dyadic Cyclone. </i>A dyadic cyclone is meteorological metaphor,
referring to a cyclone with two eyes.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The book </i>was about the synergy in a
marriage of two creative people. It can be the same in a Diocese with two
centers acting collaboratively. They do not compete. Instead they partner for
the common mission. While we need to set up our Cathedral first before establishing
the Pro-Cathedral, that dyadic cyclone is what we are working toward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Envy</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. If we make one church our
Cathedral, will other churches be jealous? This concern assumes that our
congregations are proud, jealous, competitive, and somewhat hostile to each
other. It assumes that what is true of congregations in general is especially
true between the North and the South, which are natural enemies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I flatly reject that
dark view of our Church. I don’t care how long we’ve been saying it or how
commonly held that assumption is. It just isn’t true today. There was some jealousy
and competiveness nine years ago, but that’s over and done with. I can think of
only a couple of people who have expressed such sentiments in the past six or
seven years. Nevada Episcopalians today care for and support one another. They
positively like one another. They are focused on God’s mission in Nevada, not on
parish pride or regional status. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The reasons for
political competition between North and South are diminishing in secular life,
and they have never, ever had anything to do with the Church. To the extent we
have in bygone years bought into those divisions, we have been “conformed to
the world,”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
letting secular – frankly sinful – attitudes shape us instead of being agents
of transformation, healing, and reconciliation. We Nevadans have our quirks,
but this assumption that we are petulant and childish is an insult to our
characters. We are better than that. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. We
cannot allow our progress as a diocese to be constrained by a deadly sin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover, the idea
that being a Cathedral is an honor that one church lords over another is a
fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be a Cathedral. I will explain
below more about what a Cathedral actually is and does, but the point here is
that being our Cathedral does <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not </b>signal
most-favored parish status. Instead, it is taking on a mission of service to
other congregations. It is a humble ministry, not an accolade. It does not give
that church more power. On the contrary, it entails surrendering some of its own
autonomy in exchange for the privilege of serving the rest of us. A Cathedral
is a gathering place, a unifying presence. A Cathedral is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">for </i>us --- not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">over</i> us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cathedrals Are a Thorn in The Bishop’s Side. </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Several
fellow bishops have cautioned me against taking on the aggravation of a
Cathedral because they say that Deans are apt to play Brutus to the Bishop’s
Caesar. I hear that and know there may be troubles in the future. But as Zorba
the Greek said, “Trouble? Life is trouble. Only in death is there no trouble.”
We can handle it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, we don’t need
Bishops who play Caesar, and without a Caesar, there is little point to playing
Brutus. I have served with two rectors of Trinity and am happy to call both my
friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover, in my
research, I have found that some Dioceses have structured their relationship
with their Cathedrals in haphazard ways that invite conflict. I am not saying that
my lawyer background means I can insure no future conflict, but I may be a bit
less naïve in setting up the structure. That will help. But the main thing is the
advice given by the Cathedral Dean in Northern California: You have to choose
Bishops and Deans who play well with others. I have faith in Nevada. We can do
that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What Is a Cathedral?</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> A Cathedral is not
administrative. It is not necessarily the Bishop’s office. We will keep our
offices in Las Vegas. It is instead a center of common worship, formation, and
fellowship, where a Diocese gathers for a common purpose. My sister Bishop,
Audrey Scanlan, refers to her Cathedral as “the mother-ship.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Cathedral has a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">parish mission. </i>A Cathedral is also a
parish and has the same sort of ministry as any parish --the Dean functioning
like a rector and the Vestry oversee that ministry.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
But a Cathedral covenants to take on additional missions: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Cathedral has a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">special mission to its city and region. </i>Cathedrals
are cultural, civic, and spiritual centers where all sorts of people of various
faiths and no faith gather. They gather for enrichment events including art,
music, poetry, drama, and presentations by visiting teachers. Designating
Trinity as our Cathedral will help them take on this role. That is a good thing
in itself. It is a ministry in itself. But by performing this role, we show a
broader minded, more enlightened form of Christianity to Nevada than Nevada
commonly assumes. This is not a “you come join us” kind of evangelism. It isn’t
proselytizing. But it is an evangelism that shows a more appealing version of
the gospel to our largely unchurched populace. It is bound to open their minds
a bit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Particularly, a
Cathedral invites people of widely different viewpoints to gather, perhaps to
discuss and understand each other’s ways, but more importantly to form personal
relationships that transcend ideological differences. Thanks to the leadership
of the Rev. Jim Jeffery, Trinity has been a leader in interfaith dialogue for
decades. To become this kind of safe place for difference is an extension of a
long-standing mission there. Now, when our nation is more intensely divided
than it has been in recent memory, this distinctive ministry of a Cathedral is
especially needed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Third, a Cathedral
has a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">special mission to the Diocese.</i>
Cathedrals are resource congregations who can help smaller congregations in any
number of ways. Already, when the foundation at the old St. Stephen’s property
cracks, I call an engineer from Trinity to check it out. When we need fund
raising expertise for the Western Missionary Museum where St. Paul’s, Virginia
City worships, fundraisers from Trinity do the work. All our churches have
resources we can share with one another. A Cathedral has particular resources
it shares, setting an example to all congregations. The 2014 Connecticut Task
Force On Cathedral Ministry states, “</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Cathedrals do not exist for
themselves. They exist for the benefit of the entire church within a diocesan .
. . as it seeks to follow Christ Jesus.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Every member of the Diocese
is a member of the Cathedral insofar as it is the common ground of the Diocese.
Each of us has a piece of this new pie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the resources a
Cathedral shares is space. It must be a space that can accommodate major
diocesan events – choir festivals, acolyte festivals, congregational
development conferences, etc. It is a place where diocesan worship services can
be held. There is a distinctive liturgical style called “Cathedral Worship.” It
is not the gold standard that other churches should imitate. It is not better.
Each congregation has and should have its own worship style. But Cathedral
worship is distinctive. A Cathedral makes this kind of worship available to all
the other congregations so they can experience it from time to time. The
liturgical style of a Cathedral is designed to express its distinctive
missions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To off-set the
jealousy factor, one Diocese designated a Cathedral that was not one of its
largest, oldest, or strongest. That Cathedral ran out of money and had to be
closed. The Diocese now sorely misses having a Cathedral. It is not an easy
task to be Cathedral, and it is a task a church takes on for the good of other
churches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cathedrals help us <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">connect with the wider Church. </i>One way
the Diocese is knitted into the network of Dioceses that constitute The
Episcopal Church is that the Bishops meet. Another way is that our Cathedral
Deans meet. Those meetings are happening each year – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">without Nevada</i>. Designating a Cathedral will enable us to show up. The
Dean in turn has a pastoral connection to all our congregations, an obligation
to learn who they are so the Cathedral can serve them well. That makes the Dean
another line of connection from the parishes to the wider Church.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have offered the
briefest summary of Cathedral ministry. The Diocese of Connecticut listed
multiple purposes to that distinctive ministry including the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Embody and enhance our common identity as Anglicans
within a particular geographic region <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Preserve a house of prayer and devotion open to all
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Maintain excellence in the quality of worship <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Assist the bishops in their role as the public face
and voice of the Episcopal Church <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Provide sanctuary and serve as a meeting ground <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Engage with other faiths, religions, and wisdom
traditions <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Embody and extend the bishops’ apostolic call to
make Christ Jesus known and manifest in the world <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.65pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Collaborate as a center for theological learning
and spiritual growth <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cathedral ministry
will be new to us. It may take us awhile to grow into it. Since we’ve never had
it, we haven’t missed it, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t needed it or that we
will not be richly blessed by it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Vestry and
members of the congregation will continue to have the day-to-day responsibility
for its parish life, but our Cathedral’s Diocesan mission will be overseen by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chapter, </i>a governing body that will
include the Bishop, the Dean, and representatives from several congregations.
Thus, Trinity is sacrificing some of its autonomy in order to take on a mission
of service to the rest of us. The challenge and the opportunity will be to
build collaborative relationships between Vestry and Chapter as well as between
Bishop and Dean. I know we can do that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why Start in Reno? </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, Trinity is our
historic Cathedral. The decision of the Bishop of another Diocese to downgrade
our Cathedral is an insult that we should no longer endure. I want to set that
right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second, Trinity has
established a healthy constructive relationship with our Diocesan Office in the
past decade. Through their transition processes and our work together on
diocesan projects, we have developed a trusting collaborative relationship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Third, the fact that
the diocesan offices are and will remain in the South creates a certain balance
if we have a diocesan center in the North. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fourth, Trinity is already
engaged in Cathedral-like service to the broader community and Diocese. Designating
Trinity as our Cathedral will help us expand those ministries, and that
expansion will help congregations throughout Nevada.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fifth, Trinity is
functioning very well and flourishing these days, modeling excellent
stewardship, formation, and other programs, so it makes for a healthy energetic
center for a healthy energetic Diocese. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sixth, Trinity is
close to Camp Galilee, which makes for easier collaboration between those two
very important and very different diocesan ministries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Again, I have every
hope and intention that we can move in due course to establish a Pro-Cathedral
in the South. But getting a Cathedral up and running is a big job. We need to take
this one step at a time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have made two
drives specifically to work on this project of designating a cathedral – one
from Las Vegas to Reno, the other from Reno to Sacramento. I don’t know what
this means, but for whatever God might be saying, there were bold double
rainbows in the sky both times. If that means anything, it means something
good. And Trinity is located, after all, on Rainbow Street. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I expect some of you
will want to share your thoughts on this development. I will be happy to hear
them. But I want you to know that no one at Trinity approached me about
becoming the Cathedral. It is my idea. It is my idea because I have gotten to
know the Diocese of Nevada pretty well in the past 9 years, and I am convinced of
two things: 1. We have grown up and are ready to do this. 2. We need to take
this step to further our growth into a coherent, missional, world-changing
force in Nevada. Because we are doing this now, we will grow faster, deeper,
and stronger into a coherent, missional, world-changing force for the gospel in
a place that is spiritually dying of thirst for Christ. There can be no greater
mission for us all to share. For the sake of that mission, it is with warm
affection, we give the Diocese of Nevada a Cathedral for Christmas, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
<br /></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> A Pro-Cathedral serves the same function as a
Cathedral but is in another part of the Diocese in order to make diocesan
events more available in all areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> There are rare exceptions we will discuss later,
but the common assumption the youth had was that a Diocese has a Cathedral.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> I am reliably informed by an Episcopal Nevada
meteorologist that this is called the Fujiwara Effect. It happens when two
separate cyclones come together and swirl around each other. That is what we
have in mind here – a coming together, not geographically but missionally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif";">A conformity Paul warns us
against. Romans 12: 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Actually, some Cathedrals
historically have not had congregations at all. But these days most do.</span><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif";"> “</span><span style="font-family: "new times roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Just as cathedrals exist
for the benefit of the whole Diocese, cathedral deans serve the entire Diocese.
If a cathedral maintains and supports a worshiping congregation, the Dean of
the Cathedral also functions as the congregation’s de facto rector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While these roles are compatible, they
sometimes exist in tension with one another. For example, a cathedral
congregation’s preferences regarding the use of space may not mesh perfectly
with the cathedral’s overall needs. Likewise, a congregation’s preferences
regarding the liturgy may not admit of the variety that is appropriate for a
cathedral. When such tensions arise, the Dean of the Cathedral must prayerfully
navigate them, seeking win/win solutions whenever possible, and fostering
within the congregation an appreciation for the unique opportunities afforded
it to nurture the cathedral ideal.” – 2014 Connecticut Task Force Report on
Cathedral Ministry <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-43479978830786576072016-12-17T11:54:00.000-08:002016-12-17T11:55:08.860-08:00BISHOPS BEHAVING BADLY: A CANDID ACCOUNT<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 408.75pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Last week I read a Facebook
post about a bishop’s resignation, calling the event “another in a long line of
bishops behaving badly.” The thread of comments pursued a theme of multiple bishops
beset by lechery and larceny. I reacted, perhaps overreacted, because it was an
attack on a dear friend at a vulnerable time. But I did not address the basic theme
that the church is suffering from “a long line of bishops behaving badly.”
Here, I hope to assess that premise, not reactively as I did on FB, but sticking
to the facts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I say this first so
you know my perspective. As a lay person and a priest, I never had the
experience of a bishop engaged in misconduct. As a bishop, I have had two
experiences leading in opposite directions. On the one hand, I have heard
stories of bishop misconduct in the 80s and 90s that were a real eye-opener to
the dark side of the church. On the other hand, I have never in my life worked
with a more sincere, good-hearted, and supportive family of colleagues than the
House of Bishops. It was that way when I arrived and has just gotten better as the
years go by. I suspect the change may result from better search and screening
processes in this century, the work of the College for Bishops, and a generally
healthier Church producing generally healthier bishops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I have been in the
House of Bishops for 9 years now. Here’s what I know: I am aware of one case of
bishop misconduct of the financial variety that happened in this century but before
I was elected. It happened in Ecuador. A new bishop was chosen, but later
driven out. It was not because of any misconduct on his part. Really, quite the
opposite. Some of the clergy who were used to the old ways, found him too
rigorous and upright. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In my near-decade
among the Bishops there have been four cases, to my knowledge and recollection,
actually prosecuted. There are many investigations. It is not because bishops
are inherently corrupt but because we have to make hard decisions, and hard decisions
make enemies. Enemies tend to make Title IV accusations to get even or to get
their way. When bishops are being oriented, they tell us to brace ourselves for
the Title IV complaint. It’s part of the job. I haven’t had one yet, and I
attribute that to praying ardently each day for the peace and happiness of my
enemies. We all feel the bull’s eye on our backs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But as I say there
have been only 4 cases that I recall in this near-decade, as opposed to
hundreds of cases involving priests. We cannot say about the laity because the
proposal to apply standards of conduct to the laity was soundly voted down (and
a good thing too). So, let’s look at these 4 cases that constitute the “long
line of bishops behaving badly” in the fields of lechery and larceny:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">One bishop was
prosecuted but ultimately not disciplined on a charge. The charge was not any sexual
misconduct of his own. 20 year earlier, when he was the rector of a
congregation, his brother was a youth leader on staff, and was accused of inappropriate
relations with a teenager. The youth director denied it. The rector fired his
brother but did not take the case to the police. His restraint was at the request
of the teenager’s family. Decades later, when he was a bishop, the charges were
brought against him. The other bishops pressured him to resign but he was not formally
disciplined. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A bishop was charged and
renounced her orders after a DUI-related fatal car accident. I do not mean to
mitigate the seriousness of that at all. But it does not fit the mold of
lechery and larceny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A priest had an
extra-marital affair. Over a decade later, after he had become a bishop, the
old affair came to light. He was suspended and subsequently resigned from his
position. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There is currently a high-profile
case about the Bishop of Los Angeles. I do not intend to argue the merits of
that case here and I hope commentators will keep the case in the ecclesiastical
court and not on my page. But the basic facts are: he closed and sold a church
to recoup expenses incurred in litigation to save multiple other churches that
ACNA secessionists were trying to take away from the diocese. No lechery or
larceny involved. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">As far as I know,
that is it. That is the “long line of bishops behaving badly.” So, here’s my
question: Why do we think the episcopacy is scandal-ridden? Does the cloud of
old misconduct from the 80s and 90s hang over us? Or do we actually want to
imagine that our bishops are corrupt? Do we have an inner Presbyterian? It
makes me wonder about depth psychology dynamics like projection and transference.
And does this have anything in common with the widespread assumption this year
that democracy is a scam, elections are fixed, and scientists are telling us
carbon emissions contribute to global warming because such a hoax will somehow
enable them to take our money? What are tabloids, expose documentaries, and
pseudo-Reality TV doing to the way we look at each other, especially our spiritual
leaders?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-68713635281057171862016-10-08T18:18:00.004-07:002016-10-08T18:18:56.728-07:00BISHOP'S ADDRESS TO DIOCESAN CONVENTION 2016<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Looking back on 2016, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
need to acknowledge it has been a hard year <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
the diocesan office with a complete turnover<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
the support staff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are all grateful to Michelle
and Wendy <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
their efforts to orient their replacements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Wendy’s case, that’s 3
replacements<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
the first two didn’t work out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is a silver lining in all
that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It has given us a chance to begin
building<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
staff morale that we’ve never had,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
kind of spirit that will make us <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">more
of a heart center for the diocese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>--
not just an administrative center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Also, financial constraints did
not drive the staff turnover,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>but
the staff turnover gave us an opportunity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
significantly reduce our operating expenses<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
pass that savings on to parishes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But for us in the office it has
been a hard time,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
vulnerable time –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
it will remain so for about a year <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>while
we rebuild our staff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The diocesan office does a lot
more than we used to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It will take time for us to get
all this working the way we want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So that’s vulnerable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In times of hardship,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it’s
human nature for other people to take advantage <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">or
kick people while we’re down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But the gracious power of Christ
Jesus <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">working
in his human body, the Church,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">responds
the opposite way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God’s mercy offers support and
encouragement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am enormously grateful to the
Standing Committee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
almost all of our parishes who have been patient, caring, and encouraging
through this whole ordeal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Out in the field, there’s a whole
lot of good news.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my 9 years here, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have never seen so many green buds on the bough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ll highlight just a few
examples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the Reno-Sparks-Tahoe area,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">our
congregations are working together <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with
each other and ecumenical partners<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to sponsor refugees from the war in
Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some folks are not here today
because they are <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
Reno welcoming refugees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s good news in two ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, these churches are working
together<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-- that’s
good news no matter what they’re doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second what they are doing together
is right<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s right because it’s exactly
how Moses told us <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
care for the alien<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
how Jesus told us to welcome the stranger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
this is how Jesus comes to us today<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-- as the refugee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s especially right because
this ministry takes some gumption. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The voices of fear and
politicized bigotry <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">are
shouting that we should<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>turn
these people from our shores<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
way we sent Jews back to Germany<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into the hands of Hitler.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But our churches have the courage
to follow the voice of Jesus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>instead
of the voice of a frightened angry mob.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the Las Vegas Valley,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
think you are familiar with our work<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
Nevadans For the Common Good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We won an omnibus bill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
fight the modern day slavery of sex trafficking,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>helped
increase funding for public schools,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>expanded
home health care to keep elderly <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and disabled people in their homes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">instead of institutions,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>advocated
for funding Meals on Wheels --<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The list goes on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What you don’t know – because this is breaking
news –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
that every single Episcopal Church <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
the Las Vegas Valley is now a dues paying member<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of Nevadans For the Common
Good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We are the only denomination with
more than one congregation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>at
has a 100% participation rate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And let me tell you: the other
denominations have noticed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We do by our own good work, but
we also inspire others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The end of this month, our
Diocese <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
Nevadans For the Common Good<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">will
co-host a Regional Forum on how to form partnerships <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with public schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only a few of us have such
partnerships at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only one or two have actual
interpersonal partnerships<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>which
is where the best stuff happens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And none of our partnerships have
yet flourished <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into
advocacy work for education equity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We will have trainers from
Boston, Communities in Schools,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
Clark County School District , <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
Nevadans For the Common Good giving workshops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This Regional Forum will be a
game changer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>for
the relationship between our churches<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
public schools in Nevada.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I hope many of our congregations
– not just those in the South –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>will
send people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back in Reno, the Empty Bowls
Banquet which supports <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
food pantry at St. Paul’s, Sparks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>outgrew
its old venue and had to move into The El Dorado.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To the East, St. Paul’s, Elko has
taken on a new role <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
Underdog Ministries serving the homeless;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and St. Bart’s, Ely is a driving
force <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
the Committee Against Child Hunger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Grace in the Desert had an overflow
crowd<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">for
its Vacation Bible School this summer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and Epiphany has a burgeoning
children’s ministry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with
30 to 40 kids each Sunday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After Trinity Church’s exhibit of
Russian icons <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>made
Reno sit up and take notice,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>they
began a Wednesday night education program<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
is well attended by both adults and children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our largest congregation in
central Nevada doesn’t <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>have
anyone at this Convention<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>because
Probation and Parole wouldn’t let them out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our largest congregation in
central Nevada is <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>St.
Thomas the Believer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>worship inside<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
Lovelock Correctional Center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They are also the most Biblically
literate <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
theologically educated congregation in the diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last time I was there with their
priest, the Rev. Trudy Erquiaga, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>who
serves them regularly,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
met a young man who was in absolute despair,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">unable to go on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some folks are built better for
prison than others,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
this young man just wasn’t cut out for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We baptized him, and now he’s
finding new hope <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">in
the Body of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All of that, and many ministries
I have not mentioned,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>help
explain something. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In 2015, the membership of The
Episcopal Church <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>throughout
the United States and 7 other nations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>went
down by 2%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But our membership went up just
shy of 3%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s a 5% spread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sunday attendance in the wider
church went down by 3.5%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nevada’s attendance went up by
3.4.%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s almost a 7% spread.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t know the 2016 numbers yet.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But just as I eyeball our churches
going around Nevada,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
expect the growth trend will continue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most of our larger urban congregations
are growing <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">at
an impressive rate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our rural congregations continue
to amaze me <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>with
their resilience comparable to that of a sagebrush.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Death and relocation deliver blows
that look crippling,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>maybe
fatal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But their attendance remains just
as strong, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>sometimes
stronger,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and while the wider Church is getting older,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">our rural congregations are getting younger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I see more young adults and more
children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s no accounting for it but
the love of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are of course two or three
soft spots<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>where
congregations are going through one thing or another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But most of us are vital,
energetic, and growing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s because people can see <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we’re
up to something that looks <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">like
God’s Kingdom happening here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s the good news. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But wherever the gospel advances <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>there
is a always a backlash and we do have one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While our growth in membership
and attendance is strong,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>our
average pledge is the lowest in Province 8.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our pledge & plate giving per
church attender<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
the second lowest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So on the stewardship front, we
are already doing badly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That makes the parish’s projections
for 2017 especially troubling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we prepare our budget, we ask
the parishes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
predict their income for the next year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Despite the growing number of
people in the pews, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>our
parishes are forecasting for 2017 declines in giving<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>by
20%, 24%, 16%, 24%, 18%, 20%, 46%, 100%<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are widespread predictions
of catastrophe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am mostly confused about that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I do know a few things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a former missionary diocese,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we
have a habit of expecting the Church back East <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to
pay our way – but that stream has done run dry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Also the social norms of our
state work against us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nevada ranks 27<sup>th</sup> in
personal income but dead last<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>in
charitable giving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then there’s the decision whether
to teach stewardship or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of our churches have gone to
stewardship trainings<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
put what they learned into practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They are having remarkable
success increasing giving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But many of our churches have
chosen not to do the trainings<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
are doing minimal stewardship programs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It sounds like that might mean
the answer is just go to training<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
do a stewardship program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A few years ago, I’d have said
that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I know believe that’s a
technical fix tot an adaptive problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My sense is that there is
something deeper going on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-- a
spiritual thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It comes down to the basic
question <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">of
whether we want our congregations to live or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Being church takes a heart felt sense
of mission<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>born
of spiritual discernment and self-awareness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If a congregation knows itself <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
knows the community beyond its wall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--
if a congregation knows people and cares about them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-- that congregation has the
lifeblood pumping through its veins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A congregation that has a reason
to live and a will to live<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>will
do stewardship, evangelism, and all that is necessary<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>to
flourish for the sake of its mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For a long time St. John’s,
Glenbrook wasn’t clear<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on
what it was doing,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>so
they slogged along and had their troubles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It all blew up in a fight over
bylaws.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That left them on the verge of
folding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So Chuck McCray, Sue Smith
Kinney, and I<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>had
a series of talks with them <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
they settled on a mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It wasn’t a grandiose mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It wasn’t a politically hip
mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They didn’t engage the street
gangs of Glenbrook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But it was a real mission that
fit them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
the community where they lived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They embraced that mission and
grew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Five years later, their giving
has more than doubled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But there are strong forces in
human communities<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
distract us from our real purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We wind up obsessed with trivia, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>sometimes
fighting over who gets their way<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>on
issues that are completely insignificant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When we become distracted from
what we<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>deep
down care about,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
congregation loses its heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then we slog on just keeping the
doors open as a duty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Something subtly grudging slips
into how we do church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It feels like a burden instead of
something that surprises us,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>inspires
us, and wakes us up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we should discover one morning
that our church is gone,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>it
would be like “one less bell to answer, one less egg to fry.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If that’s what a congregation
chooses,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>there
isn’t much anyone from the outside can do about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I recently read a biography of
the mathematical genius, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kurt
Godel, who chose to starve himself to death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was a painful read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Watching a church without a
purpose starve itself<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>is
like that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But it doesn’t have to be that
way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That isn’t the spirit of the Holy
Doubt group <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">at
Grace in the Desert,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or
the Pelagian Book Club at Epiphany, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>or
the Refugee Resettlement program <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>of
our Reno congregations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those folks have some fire in
their belly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That fire is available to any
congregation that wants it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don’t mean a church should look
at another church<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
think, “We ought to be doing what they do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It isn’t about copying someone
else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As St. Paul said, we are all
different. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each congregation’s mission is
unique.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am saying that each church, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">if
it wants to come fully alive, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>needs
to look around at its community<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
look inward to the hearts of its own people<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>to
find what God is calling you to do and to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s like Miracle Max in The
Princess Bride<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>shouting
at the almost dead Wesley,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hey,
you in there, what you got to live for?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Real life takes self-awareness
that happens only when<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
congregation has an honest conversation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>about
what it is and what it wants to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16pt;">Canon Catherine can facilitate
those conversations.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I can facilitate them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We have others who can do it too.
Just ask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you want an expert from across
the state line,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we’ll
help you pay for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If even a small congregation does
a Jairus’s daughter number,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>we’ll
get the money back in no time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The idea isn’t to write one of
those slogans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
paste it on your worship bulletin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We’ve been there and done that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The mission is broader, more
fluid, more organic than that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s an ongoing conversation as
the congregation <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">feels
its way into serving each other and its neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is a step two -- sharing
the vision<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
inviting people to fund the mission<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-- what we call a stewardship program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But here’s what I’ve learned the
hard way<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
last few years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If a congregation doesn’t have a
sense of its unique mission,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>its
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">raison d’etre</i> as the French say,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>its
purpose in life,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a
Bishop going on about stewardship <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>is
wasting his breath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A diocese paying for stewardship
training <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> i</span>s
wasting its money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But if you do the first step,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">if
you do the hard work of self awareness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and find your calling,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">you will do the second step<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">as
naturally as an outbreath follows an inbreath. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After these nine years, it is
still a joy and an adventure <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to
serve Nevada.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I continue to be grateful for a
great Standing Committee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and
the advisory committees who help them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">make
wise decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We have always been blessed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with
great Standing Committees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am glad that today it is structured
to insure <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>representation
from all over the Diocese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am grateful for the staff we
had before<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>and
for the staff we have today<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">---those staffs bringing very different gifts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am grateful for the clergy and
lay leaders <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">who
call our congregations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>into
vital spirit-filled life-giving ministries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, I am grateful for the
prayers and words of encouragement<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>from
all sorts of people in the pews that keep me afloat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So thank you and God bless you
all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-26727915964448639232016-09-29T17:05:00.003-07:002016-09-30T11:29:36.917-07:0027TH EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS: WHAT MUST WE DO TO BE "SAVED"?<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus
Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">“What must I do to be saved?” The question was posed to Paul by a
jailer in Acts after an earthquake had freed Paul and Silas.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The question was asked of Jesus by a
rich young ruler. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are two ways of doing religion. There’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the subjective way</b>: I do it because I like the way it makes me feel.
I enjoy it. It relaxes me and helps me cheer up. That approach to religion
began in the psychologically obsessed 20<sup>th</sup> Century, reflecting what
Philip Rieff called “the Triumph of the Therapeutic”.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Liturgical Christians didn’t discover it until the 70s, but we then swallowed
it hook, line, and sinker. Then there’s the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">objective way.</b> Religion is about something that really, seriously
matters, and not just to us, but also to the world around us. That was the
dominant if not only approach to Christianity for centuries. When we Christians
talk about that real deal, something is actually at stake here, this actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matters </i>kind of religion, we use the
language of being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saved</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">eternal life. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But Paul and Jesus gave quite different answers – or at least
answers that at first glance seem very different -- to questions that look a
lot alike. Paul said we are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saved</i> by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believing in </i>Jesus. Jesus said we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">inherit eternal life</i> by acting morally
and achieve <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">perfection</i> by giving up
our possessions and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">following</i> him.
Different answers are ok if this is all a matter of what makes us feel good.
But if something more important is riding on our religion, we need to get it
right and different answers make us nervous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Christians all agree that Christianity is first, foremost, and
essentially a way to be saved. But the denominations differ as to how that
works. That is nothing new. The Early Church offered different answers.
According to Pelagius we have complete free will so we can choose to be perfect
and are therefore required to be so. We are saved by our moral conduct, which
is vindicated by a just God. Augustine said our free will was compromised by
the power of sin dominating us, that our will is freed up somewhat by God’s
grace, and that we are saved by the mercy of a loving God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Roman Catholicism, especially in its medieval form, said salvation
depends on membership in the Church and mediation by the Church.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Lutherans rejected such mediation, saying salvation was an individual thing
achieved through believing the right doctrines. Hence, Mozart’s quip: “The
problem with Protestantism is that it’s all in the head.” We are apt to say far
less witty and decidedly unkind things about each other’s ways of salvation. We
Christians are prone to vituperative judgments of each other’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how to be saved</i> doctrines and to cling
tenaciously to our own as we suspect we have a lot riding on getting it right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But most of us don’t give enough thought to what it actually means
to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saved. </i>We assume rather quickly
that being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saved</i> is as opposed to
being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">damned</i>. The saved are the ones
whose sins are forgiven so they go to Heaven when they die. Those who are not
saved are condemned for their sins (which may include theological mistakes like
being of the wrong religion or even the wrong Christian denomination) and are therefore
condemned to eternal torment in Hell upon their deaths. The Scriptural case for
this assumption is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not</b> strong. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In none of the Gospels does Jesus say very much about being saved
in the sense of not being damned. In the three synoptic Gospels, he does not
seem much interested in our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beliefs</i>
about him or anything else.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
His concern is the Kingdom of God, not a place we go when we die but God
breaking into the world to overthrow the powers who are now in charge, so that
there will be good news for the poor, release for the captive, freedom for the
oppressed. Where he does speak of reward and punishment, as in the parable of
the sheep and the goats or the story of Lazarus and Dives<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
believing in Jesus is irrelevant. Salvation turns on kindness to the poor, precisely
the kind of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">good works</i> some
Protestant theology abhors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">John does not have much of a sense of Hell and punishment, but he
does make <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">eternal life</i> depend on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believing in</i> Jesus.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Until the Farewell Discourse, John shows markedly little interest in morality
at all, but then (and in his Epistles) makes everything turn on love of Christ
but it is Christ in each other we have to love.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Paul is, as Peter said, “sometimes hard to understand.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
He speaks of the coming redemption of the whole cosmos from corruption caused
by sin. He sees sin and death as partners in oppressing life. Sin is not so
much wrong choices freely made as enslavement, more an addiction than
malevolence, and salvation is liberation through the power of the resurrection granted
to the elect. Yet, he certainly spent his life urging people to believe “Jesus
is Lord” and wrote endlessly about how to be transformed by the power of love
actively practiced in a community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What Does It Mean To Be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saved</i>? </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Most people start with these assumptions about
Christianity:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 88.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -52.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
world is divided into the saved who will go to Heaven on death and the damned
who will go to Hell on death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 88.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -52.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
purpose of religion is to get oneself in the saved group and stay out of the
damned group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">That kind of religion inherently makes God coercive. If “God” means
the greatest Good, the deepest Truth, the most sublime Beauty, our Source and
our Destiny,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
the Meaning and the Purpose of all reality, do we actually believe those things
about coercion? Do we worship coercion? I hope not. I hope God is better than
that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If this is what religion is about, then any of the methods of
salvation is problematic. In the right belief model, God who supposedly loves
us makes our eternal bliss or eternal torment depend on our getting the right
answer on a tricky multiple choice test which the overwhelming majority of us
fail. If it turns on election/ predestination, then God is arbitrary and
capricious (saving or damning us on his own whim without regard to who we are
or what we do) while making our choices and the actions that constitute our lives
meaningless. Would the Meaning of reality render our mortal lives meaningless?
If salvation turns on our good behavior, how good must the behavior be since
none of us is perfect -- and what handicaps are figured in? Some of us have the
advantage of loving healthy homes while others grow up battered then are shuffled
into the school to prison pipeline. Is that also the pipeline to Hell? More
fundamentally, placing the Heaven carrot and Hell stick over our heads corrupts
us, turns our good deeds into self-serving transactions to buy our way into Heaven
while our brothers and sisters are off to Hell. How loving is that? The better
the person’s actions, the more corrupt his motives. Salvation through good
works is indeed incoherent.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
None of these models work!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Thank God, such a religion is not the best reading of our Bible. Luke
the Physician is the main source of the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saved</i> in the New Testament. His Greek word is not a legal term for
pardon. I am not saying we do not need to be pardoned. God knows I do. But that
is not what the word means. It is a medical word, the root of salve. It means
to heal, but that does not quite get it. It does not mean just to patch up but
to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">make whole</i>. It suggests we have
come apart somehow and need to be put back together. Salvation is wholeness – of
body, mind, and spirit – a wholeness to our lives that are apt to be so divided
and scattered. It means <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">getting it
together </i>and having our brokenness set right. In the New Testament, this
happens in various contexts and various ways. In Luke, Jesus heals 10 lepers,
one returns to give thanks and Jesus tells him his faith has made him whole.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Note the other 9 had their leprosy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cured</i>
– they were patched up -- but this one was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">made
whole</i>. Likewise, a woman with a hemorrhage is told, “your faith has made
you whole.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But just verses later, look what happens: Jairus’s daughter is
dying and Jesus says “Do not fear but believe and she will be made whole.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn14" name="_ednref14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The problem is: what about the daughter’s faith or lack thereof. It doesn’t matter.
Someone else’s faith can make her whole. Faith seems to be the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sine qua non</i> of wholeness – no faith no
wholeness as faith is the missing spiritual glue -- but what faith means and
even who has to have the faith seem variable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What, if anything, does this healing, this wholeness, this
salvation have to do with “eternal life?” These sound like completely different
categories. But there’s a clue in the story of our rich young ruler who asked
how to achieve eternal life. Jesus told him to live according to the law, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halacha, </i>which means “the way of life,”
then went on to say if he would be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">perfect,
</i>to sell his goods and become a disciple. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Perfect
</i>in our minds connotes spotless, without a fault, and is pretty
intimidating. But the word Jesus used that we translate as perfect means
complete, like a circle. It means <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whole. </i>And
to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saved </i>is to be made <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">whole. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Remember Jesus’ message wasn’t about earning our way into paradise
or avoiding perdition. It was about the Kingdom of God. He had seen the Father’s
dream for our world -- the dream of good news for the poor, healing for the
afflicted, freedom for the captive – and he loved that dream. His first
petition in the simplest of prayers is “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on
earth as it is in Heaven.” He invites us to participate in the Kingdom by doing
God’s will. God’s will is the way of eternity. It is the cosmic order. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A life outside of God’s will is fractured and futile. That isn’t a
punishment. It’s just how it is. A life lived for some other purpose – for
example to amass a fortune which we will lose when we die<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn15" name="_ednref15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
and someone else will waste it as it says in Ecclesiastes – is simply a wasted
life. But to live in God’s will is to live in eternity. Eternal life by
definition does not begin when we die. It happens now, and now, and now again.
Eternal life is in each moment when we are doing the will of the Father. The
trick is we don’t do it for what we can get out of it, because that isn’t doing
the will of the Father. It’s ingratiating ourselves to get an advantage. That’s
why the rich young ruler had to give away his precious possessions. We do the
Father’s will because we have seen his dream for the world as Jesus did, love
it as Jesus did, and lose ourselves in that loving. “Whoever tries to save his
life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the
gospel will save it.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn16" name="_ednref16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
It is when we lose ourselves (our egos which are the dividers, the fracturers
of our souls) that we fall into the wholeness of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The notion of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">salvation, </i>as
we have said is a comprehensive wholeness. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eternal
life, </i>I believe, is a part of that, a subset if you will. It is not about
the fate of our souls but the meaning of our actions, the value of our life by
which I mean the things we do. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Salvation </i>comprehends
our lives by making our actions meaningful, a part of God’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">eternity. </i>That happens when we “walk in
love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn17" name="_ednref17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">How Are We Saved? </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">How then does God graciously act to restore
wholeness to our broken hearts, minds, spirits, and lives? Our greatest
Anglican theologian, Richard Hooker, used <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">salvation
</i>as a comprehensive term to include three processes that occur at different
times. God and we have different roles in each of these processes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Justification </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">comes first. It means forgiveness and
reconciliation, restoring us to our status as God’s beloved children, washing
away the stain of sin, redeeming us from the powers of this world that would
corrupt and destroy us. God does this as a solo act. It does not depend on our
actions, our beliefs, our membership in any community, or even our sacraments.
Baptism according to Hooker is a seal placed on what God has already done. God
did it in Jesus on the cross before you and I were born. It’s a done deal. The
victory is won.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
question is did God do this for all or for only a chosen few. There are two
opinions about that. Great theologians have said God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">elected</i> some for salvation and others for perdition. But others
like Origen and Frederick Dennison Maurice have taken the Universalist view,
which I find far more consonant with the God I worship. That means we have all
been redeemed whether we like it or not. There is no deserving about it – not
even believing the right religion or belonging to the right Church. I find a
key in the words Jesus used at the Last Supper. “This is my blood which is shed
for you and for (here the word is dicey) for the forgiveness of sins.” We
usually translate that word as “many” but it is really not a restrictive. It is
an inclusive word that would be better translated as “all.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn18" name="_ednref18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">St
John said, “We are God’s children now (that’s the justification part); it does
not yet appear what we shall be but when he appears, we shall be like him. (That’s
the sanctification part).<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn19" name="_ednref19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is where we come in as active participants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Sanctification </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">means transformation into holiness. The adage
goes: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God loves us the way we are. But
because God loves us, he doesn’t leave us this way. </i>The New Testament is
rife with instruction and inspiration for our being “transformed from glory
unto glory.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn20" name="_ednref20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
“We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn21" name="_ednref21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
“Do not be conformed to the ways of this world but be transformed by the
renewing of your minds.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn22" name="_ednref22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
“We are God’s children now. It does not yet appear what we shall be. But when
he appears we shall be like him.” In some Christian traditions, we speak of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christification</i>, which means to become
Christ-like, and of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theosis, </i>which
means to grow in godliness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So
who does this work of sanctification? Hooker says it is a joint project, a
partnership with God. God will justify us whether we like it or not. We do not
get to choose whether God loves and forgives us. But God will not coerce and
dominate us into holiness, will not destroy our personhood (which is his image
in us) by overriding our wills. The metaphor for that would be God pulling our
strings like marionettes. But the metaphor for sanctification is not a
marionette show. It is a dance. In fact the ancient image of God from the 4<sup>th</sup>
Century Cappadocian Fathers is of the Cosmic Dance. We do not become godlike by
becoming puppets. We become godlike by becoming dancers with divinity. He
leads. We follow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">When
does this process happen? Now. This is what the mortal life is for. I will come
back to the ongoing salvation process in a bit more depth soon but first let’s
see where this is all leading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Unification. </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The state of mystical union with God is our destiny. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
monistic religions, the goal is to obliterate the self in the whole, like a
drop of water falling into the ocean. That is a beautiful and compelling image.
But the Christian image of God is as the unity of all things (the Whole) but a
unity that delights in proliferating diversity. God loves us in our diversity,
our personhood, and our individuality. In unification, God does not obliterate
our separate consciousness but integrates is into a cosmic harmony. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">When
does unification happen? Not in this life. In the Resurrection. Who does it?
After a life of praying each day “Thy Kingdom come, they will be done” – week
after week lifting our hearts (meaning our wills, not our feelings<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn23" name="_ednref23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>)
– our wills are so joined to God’s that the distinction has fallen away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Stages
Of The Salvation Process In This Life.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> Back when I lived in the evangelical South, people would
occasionally ask my former Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Frank Allen, “Are you saved?”
He would answer, “Yes. I have been saved. I am being saved. I hope someday to
be saved.” He had read his Hooker. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">being
saved </i>is the process that is ongoing during this mortal life. I give this
special attention for two reasons: 1. It’s breaking news, what’s happening now.
2. It’s the part we can do something about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since the 6<sup>th</sup> Century, we have thought of the
spiritual life as consisting of three ways – purgation, illumination, and
unification.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn24" name="_ednref24" style="mso-endnote-id: edn24;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">[xxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Purgation is the reorientation of our hearts and minds toward love.
Illumination is insight into the grace of God. Unification is the mystical
union that was also stage three for Hooker. Some have written of these as three
successive stages (as Hooker’s process of salvation is three stages). I think
that is wrong. It seems to me purgation and illumination go hand in hand and
proceed together. Glimpses of unification happen at moments along the way but
come to flower only in the Resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The way of illumination is through study, reflection on
experience, and much prayer. The way of purgation is where the faith community
comes into the picture. Paul’s letters are overwhelmingly about the challenging
spiritual art of relationships in a faith community. The famous Hymn to Love in
1 Corinthians 13 is not about marriage, but being a congregation. It is lofty
and hard. It will knock off our rough edges if we let it. This is the soul-shaping
character-forming wisdom-teaching process of purgation, the purification of the
heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Church exists for the purpose of this process, but the
Church does not have a monopoly on it. Family life, work life, social life,
public life, and – yes even this, perhaps especially this – politics all form
the crucible for our purgation. Charles Mathewes in his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Theology Of The Public Life</i> reads Augustine as saying life in “the
earthly city” is to be engaged and oft-times endured for the sake of preparing
our souls “to bear the weight of glory.”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What then must we do to be saved? In one sense
nothing, in another, a great deal – a great deal indeed, a lifetime’s worth of sometimes
joyful but other times arduous loving. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Acts
16: 25-31<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Matthew 19:
16-21</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Therapeutic-Background-Essential-Conservative/dp/1932236805">https://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Therapeutic-Background-Essential-Conservative/dp/1932236805</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
That is of course a huge over-simplification. Thomas Aquinas taught that God’s
grace empowers us to do good and the good we do “merits” salvation. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> In
Mark 8, Jesus’ mind turns to, “Who do people say that I am?” There are various
answers. But when Peter says, “You are the messiah, the Son of the Living God,”
Jesus does not say, “Right Peter. You win the jackpot of eternal salvation.”
The answer leads to a prophesy of his suffering and a call to “take up your
cross and follow me.” Belief is just the precursor to action. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is the story of the rich man who ignored the plight of the beggar Lazarus
then in the afterlife the rich man suffered thirst and longed for Lazarus to
bring him water. It’s actually an older Egyptian story that the gospel writer
may have picked up somehow. But it may also lend credence to Matthew’s account
of Jesus having grown up in Egypt. He could have heard the story there. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
There has been much ado in recent years about how wrong it was of the Early
Church to exclude from our canon of sacred texts the Gnostic gospels, which
make salvation turn on an intuitive grasp of a truth others are too dense to
see. John was actually excluded from the canon at first because it was seen as
a Gnostic gospel, making salvation turn on recognizing Jesus as God and the
ability to see that is simply given to some but not to others. St. Irenaeus
made the case to include John and was able to get John in the canon in part
because John finally turns from an exclusive focus on belief to love in the
farewell discourse. Irenaeus was trying to broaden the Church so that we might
appeal to Gnostics by including John. But lest we be too hard on John, remember
that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believing in </i>does not mean just
holding an opinion in ones head. It is placing one’s trust. My doctor for
example <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believes in </i>a plant-based
diet. I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe that </i>the world is
round but when Columbus sailed toward what (if he was wrong) would have been
the edge of it, Columbus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believed in </i>a
round world.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
1. John 4: 7-21<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> 2
Peter 3: 16<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
“The whence and the whither” as Karl Rahner famously put it.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This is the double bind that triggered Martin Luther’s spiritual crisis.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn12;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Luke 17: 19<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn13;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Luke 8: 48<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref14" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn14;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Luke 8: 50<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref15" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn15;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
My friend Anna Marion Howell recently quipped in a sermon, “You’re never gonna
see a hearse pulling a U-Haul.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref16" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn16;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Mark 8: 35<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref17" name="_edn17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn17;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ephesians 5<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref18" name="_edn18" style="mso-endnote-id: edn18;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Morna Hooker, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not Ashamed Of The Gospel, </i>p.
55<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref19" name="_edn19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
1 John 3: 2<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref20" name="_edn20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn20;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> 2
Corinthians 3: 18<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref21" name="_edn21" style="mso-endnote-id: edn21;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
1 Corinthians 15: 51. Two things to note about this. First, it would appear
that the change happens in this life, not after death. Second, the change is in
the passive voice. This emphasizes that we don’t change ourselves by the power
of our own free will as Pelagius said, but rather the change is done to us or
in us by another – but I will argue, not without our assent and active
cooperation. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref22" name="_edn22" style="mso-endnote-id: edn22;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Romans 12: 2<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref23" name="_edn23" style="mso-endnote-id: edn23;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
In Antiquity, when this prayer began, the heart was understood as the center of
the will. Feelings came from the liver.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn24" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref24" name="_edn24" style="mso-endnote-id: edn24;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[xxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<a href="http://carmelnet.org/larkin/larkin092.pdf">http://carmelnet.org/larkin/larkin092.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1941566034196038608.post-43860142767089499292016-09-08T22:06:00.003-07:002016-09-08T22:06:39.582-07:0025TH EPISTLE TO THE NEVADANS: TALKING WITH OUR NEIGHBORS OF OTHER FAITHS<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord
Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Faith</i>” is placing
our trust in someone or something. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Faiths</i>”
are different persons or things where people place their trust. We live in a
time of religious pluralism that brings people of different faiths into daily contact
with each other. In the hope of better understanding, compassion, and
cooperation, we engage in “interfaith dialogue” or conversations to bridge
division. At least in Christian theology, the presence of multiple faiths in
the world is something we have to interpret. What does the persistence of
religious diversity say about God, about us, about our particular faith? It is
hard to even think about that question without some personal encounter with
other (competing?) worldviews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Interfaith conversation makes the religious world
considerably more interesting and can be a rich blessing. But there are better
and worse ways to go about it. It can lead us deeper – or it can lead us
shallower. It can bring us into relationship or it can break relationship or it
can inoculate us against real relationship by coating over our differences with
a false veneer of sameness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">This epistle aims to offer some modest guidance for how to
think about other faiths and how to relate to people of those faiths. I for one
have no interest in engaging in such a dialogue in the context of a secular
nationalism (John Dewey) for the sake of making us all better secular
nationalists despite our regrettable religiosity, which we hope to minimize. I
approach interfaith dialogue first and foremost as an unabashed (“not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ”) Christian. Why would a Christian – because he or she
is a Christian – value this conversation?<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Christian Starting
Point. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">We begin
with our understanding of God as Trinity. The Trinity is not a structural
diagram of God. It is a metaphorical image of God that suggests multiple things
about the fundamental nature of reality (God) without presuming to pin God down
with a precise definition, that is to say, without pretending to know more
about God than anyone can possibly know.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
One truth about God we express in this image is that there is an essential
unity to all things – but that unity eternally proliferates diversity – a diversity
that manifests as the Cosmic Dance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">As applied to religions, that means the religions are really,
truly, not just superficially, different. Nirvana and Heaven are not the same
thing and to tell a Buddhist his spiritual practice will get him into the
Christian Heaven is an insult. But their difference does not deny or disprove
the essential unity and coherence of reality. It means reality looks rather
like a rainbow, like pure light that de-lights in refracting. That makes a
difference for how we talk with each other. The objective is a unity made up of
mutual respect and compassion. But it is not uniformity. Uniformity would
flatten the religious landscape of the world. It would deny the genuine
diversity that makes the world so fascinating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Two ways of relating across religious
lines miss the diversity boat we Christians value. The first is to engage in
conversation with the attempt to bring the other person over to our side.
Authentic interfaith dialogue is not proselytizing. It is not proving the
superiority of our faith over that of the other person. I will argue later that
interfaith dialogue should be a process of mutual conversion – but not usually
the sort of conversion that leads a person away from her faith tradition to
follow another. The goal isn’t to turn “them” into “us” – thereby erasing the
tension of difference. We like difference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second unfortunate way is to replace the
different faith traditions, each of which is a distinctive coherent system,
with an interfaith salad bar in which each of us picks whichever beliefs and
practices strike our fancy. Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that I am
advocating a narrow-minded Christianity, let me tell you I was converted from
the interfaith salad bar by my late Tibetan Buddhist teacher,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
the Ven. Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. Rinpoche used to say, “You must sit on one
pillow.” He was comparing our tendency to pick this and that from one tradition
or another to trying to meditate sitting on several <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">zafus</i> (meditation pillows) at the same time. He explained that if
we pick this and that from various traditions, we must ask, “who is doing the
picking?” He said it was invariably the ego – or in Christian parlance, the
prideful self – and it will pick only the pieces that fit it, that support it, not
the pieces that challenge it – and the whole point of spiritual practice is to
transcend that ego (prideful self) to reach the Truth (which we Christians call
“God.”)<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Rinpoche saw our cherry picking the world religions as a kind of spiritual
dilettantism, at odds with any serious spiritual discipline. It is an
expropriation of the gems from other faiths for our self-deification, akin to
what sociologist Robert Bellah identified as “Shelia-sim.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the great scholars of world
religions, and along with Joseph Campbell one of the greatest popularizers of
interfaith dialogue in our time, was the late Huston Smith. When asked about
mixing and matching pieces of various religions to form one’s own particular
brand of faith, he said that we need a basic diet. As for his basic diet,
Huston Smith said, he was a Methodist. Indeed he worshiped faithfully with his
UMC congregation in Berkeley. But he said he also took nutritional supplements.
The world religions provided the supplements. Do you see the difference? Other
traditions can supplement, but not displace inconvenient parts of, our own
faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conversion.
</b>In order to have a good interfaith dialogue, we start with two things:
first, enough respect for the other person and their faith tradition to listen
with an open mind; second, enough respect for and knowledge of our own faith
tradition so that we will have something to bring to the table. When all
parties to the conversation approach it in that spirit, we will find some of
our beliefs challenged – not attacked but challenged. That is a good thing because
it pushes us deeper. It makes us refine our faith. For example, there is
language in John’s gospel that makes “everlasting life” depend on believing in
Jesus. But there is also language in Paul that prophesies the redemption of the
whole cosmos – “for God so loved the world” even John said – and would God
decide the fate of those he loved based on their getting the right answer on a
religious multiple choice test? I do not propose to answer that here. It is
just an example of how interfaith dialogue pushes us to question our faith –
and if we value our faith, we must take it seriously enough to question it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If we have a good interfaith
conversation, there is always the risk that we will find ourselves changed. And
if we are changed there is no guarantee what we will become. But a Christian
talking with a Jew should hope to become a better Christian and to help the Jew
become a better Jew; the Muslim, a better Muslim, etc. Then both diversity and
unity will be served. That is the kind of conversion we hope for – a conversion
not from one belief system to another but a conversion from a shallower form of
faith to a deeper one, and a conversion of our hearts to one another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The “good Samaritan” did not become a
neighbor to the Jew by becoming a Jew himself. He became a neighbor by lending
a hand. Jesus had no interest in the Samaritan becoming a Jew; nor in the Jew
becoming a Christian. He invited us to become neighbors across our lines of
difference. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Theology
Of The Hammer. </b>We are blessed to be in conversation with each other. We can
learn more about each other’s faiths and about our own from such conversation.
But that conversation will be so much mind gaming unless it is rooted in an earthly,
real world context. Another of my former teachers summed up this earthy context
beautifully. This teacher came much later in my life. He was a South Georgia
Baptist named Millard Fuller. As director of Habitat for Humanity, Millard
Fuller called it “the theology of the hammer.” He meant that we can believe
what we want on Sunday morning or Friday night, whenever we meet for worship.
But what counts is coming together to saw planks and drive nails to build
houses for poor people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have treasured this past decade spent
with the Episcopal flock in Nevada. But to be candid, living in our little Anglo-ghetto
might have been less enlightening, less of a growth opportunity – even in colorful
Nevada, even with the flowering of ethnic diversity in some of our churches
thanks to Latino ministries -- it would have been less memorable had it not
been in the interfaith context of our work with Nevadans For the Common Good,
where Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Jews have joined hands to combat
child sex trafficking, support public education funding, provide home health
care to the disabled, and expand Meals On Wheels. We have talked about our
different faiths. We have not pretended we all believe in the same thing.
Finding common ground is all the more precious because we have our differences.
We look past the differences for the common good, and in the course of working
for the common good, we have become friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Good
And Bad Religion. </b>Now lest I seem too sanguine – you know me better than
that – let me also add a note of judgment. Respect for each other’s faith
traditions does not smooth over – in fact it casts in sharp relief – the
distinction between good religion and bad religion. We cannot prove our faiths
by science or logic, so you may well ask: how does one judge between good
religion and bad religion. The test is moral. We can discover morality from
reason (Kant) and from the common sentiments of human hearts (Scottish moral
philosophy). Morality is our plumb line.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Some religion makes us kinder, more honest, more compassionate, more respectful
of each other, more reverent for the mystery, more at harmony with the earth.
Other religion is bigoted, hateful, violent, cruel, arrogant, and crude. We
disregard the distinction between good and evil at our peril – especially the
distinction between good and evil religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But the distinction between good and
evil does not correspond to the boundary lines between the world religions. It
is a fault line (pun intended) running through each of our traditions. There is
a good Christianity and an evil one; a good Judaism and an evil one, a good
Islam and an evil one, a good Buddhism and an evil one; etc. There is no
religion with clean hands and I have not yet studied a religion without its
share of virtue. So – and here’s the uncomfortable part –how good is our
religion? It is rather hard to tell from the inside. The challenges to our
religion we need most to hear are the moral challenges. And we are not likely
to hear those from our co-religionists. We are likely to hear such challenges
from people of another faith. That is what can push us deeper, call us to
conversion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> As
for why a devotee of another faith would value the conversation, that is for
the members of each faith to say. But it will be a far better more interesting
conversation if we each approach it from our own distinct perspectives rather than
a bland “aren’t we all Americans” bland commonality.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Some have, rightly I think, defined “irreverence” as just such a presumption.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
This was a long time ago in a state some distance away.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
St. Augustine and the architects of the orthodox Christian faith would readily
concur.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> In
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Habits of the Heart, </i>Bellah related
an interview with a young woman who identified her religion as “Shelia-ism”
meaning believing in and practicing whatever fit for her. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Amos<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bishop Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00677552161067636954noreply@blogger.com1