Ask Dr. Cobb!

Ask Dr. Cobb!

Did you know you can submit questions about process theology to the Dr. John Cobb at the Center for Process Studies?

I've mentioned, too often?, that John Cobb is one of my favorite theologians - and here's an illustration of why. I feel drawn to process theology in many ways - when I first was introduced to it in systematic theology in seminary
with this reader: Process Theology, I felt like I was finally reading something that answered, or at least addressed, a lot of questions that kept resurfacing in my faith journey. But process was like learning a whole new language, too, talking about God's 'lure', comparing eternity with everlastingness, simplicity/complexity, etc. What I like about John Cobb, though, is that despite what I perceive to be his great intellect, it seems so important to him that process theology does not get lost by becoming an inaccessible, unreadable essays and books. Keeping process theology a practical, applicable theology.

Another process thinker who does that: Marjorie Suchocki. I actually used a lot from her book God, Christ, Church in my interviews with the Board of Ordained Ministry for Probationary Membership.

Ok, I'll try to stop posting about process theology for a bit!
A side note - the more I've been blogging, the more overwhelmed I become about the huge culture that is associated with blogging. It's crazy, and frankly, a little addicting!

beliefnet: interview with william sloane coffin

Check out this story from beliefnet, an interview with William Sloane Coffin -I was drawn to it by a link from the textweek blog, and I really found it meaningful. Some excerpts:

"My own feeling is you have to be as pastoral as you can be without surrendering one single iota of ethical initiative. Nothing ever stops a minister from saying, in the middle of the sermon: 'What I now want to say it’s hard for me to say, so I can imagine how painful it’s going to be for some of you to hear. Let us remember that in the church, our unity is based not on agreement, but on mutual concern. So let me tell you what’s on my heart and mind and then you be good enough to tell me where you think I went wrong.'"

Yes! This is precisely the dilemma that I constantly have in ministry - prophetic/pastoral conflicts. How do I work for the social justice causes about which I am passionate without alienating the congregation I am serving, the congregation that trusts me but that is not at the same place I am on many issues like this?

Another: "The churches are a reflection of the truth of Plato’s statement, "What’s honored in the country will be cultivated there." When we got started as a country, we had no more than 3 million people--less than Los Angeles County today. Yet we turned out Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Hamilton--you can name a list as long as your arm. How many people on the public stage can you name today who are of the caliber of those first men? And why aren’t there more? Because what’s honored in the country will be cultivated there...we have mediocre politicians, and the clergy is pretty mediocre also. But what’s honored in a country will be cultivated there. The greatest recession in this country is not economic; it’s spiritual. And so the great biblical mandates of pursuing justice and seeking peace are shortchanged.

And:
Too many ministers, also, are dependent on the love of their congregation. A real friend is one who risks her friendship for the sake of her friend, rather than using the friend for the sake of her friendship. The clergy don’t speak out because they don’t want to risk the love of their congregation. It’s pathetic! If [a parishioner] says, "If you say anything like that again, you’ll never see me in this church again," you should say to him, "You know, I must have said something very important. It certainly got you all riled up." But most ministers would take the hand in both hands, "Oh, come on Joe. There must be some misunderstanding. I’ll call you. We’ll have a date over a cup of coffee."

If you’re shepherd of the flock, you’re supposed to keep the wolves out so more sheep can come in. And the hills are full of browsing sheep, wondering whether there’s room in the fold for them. But they look in and say, "There’s no Good Shepherd there, lots of wolves. I’ll stay browsing outside."

Here is another that hit the mark in me - the overwhelming desire to be liked, the overwhelming fear of making people mad, attempting to avoid conflicts at the cost of what should be, what is right. The wolf/sheep imagery - what kind of shepherd can I be?

Reflections on Luke 10:25-37 - Wesley White/Richard Fairchild quotes

On his site, Wesley White asks this question: "How many different ways can you speak about the importance of neighbors?"

He's talking about the Amos text for the lectionary on the 11th (7:7-17), but I think the question is more pervasive than that. How many times can Jesus speak about the importance of neighbors? How many times can God try to shake it into us that our concerns are few but overwhelming in their importance: love God, love neighbor.

I also really like Rev. Richard Fairchild's take on this Luke text in one of his sermons. He writes:

"It has been suggested - and I think rightly so given some of the teachings of the time and the reality of human nature at all times, that the lawyer
is really asking Jesus:

"Who is NOT my neighbour? Who is that I am allowed to ignore or to neglect? Perhaps even to hate? What is the minimal thing that I need to do to keep God's law of love - and what can I safely get away with not doing...

That is a horrifying approach to keeping the law of God isn't it? Who must I love - and who can I get away with not loving...

It is a horrifying approach to keeping the law of God - but it makes sense when you think about it; it makes sense when you look at the world and consider the problems within it."

atom feed link

I've been getting a lot of errors with people trying to get my blog feed for atom - I use feedburner so I can provide atom and RSS, but if you want the feed directly, please note that the url is:
http://www.bethquick.com/blogger/atom.xml - an extra directory in there.

SojoNet - Claiming Religion Again for the Democrats

Check out this article from Sojourner's editor, Jim Wallis. In it, he urges Democrats to stop leaving religion, morals, and values, to the claim of Republicans.
I think this is a great and essentail issue for the elections. Why are the only 'morals' conservative morals? Why are the only values those that of the Republican party and the Bush administration? Here's a quote from the article:
"Some of us feel that our faith has been stolen; and it is time to take it back. In particular, an enormous misrepresentation of my Christian tradition has taken place. And because of an almost uniform media misperception, many people think Christian faith stands for political commitments that are almost the opposite of its true meaning. How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as pro-rich, pro-war, and only pro-American? It's time for a rescue operation-to get back to the historic, biblical, and a genuinely evangelical faith rescued from contemporary distortions. The good news is that the rescue operation has begun-in a time where the social crisis we face literally cries out for more progressive and prophetic religion."

new bible translation?

Check out this article about a new bible translation, from a group of British Christians called The One.
The group, whose site I only briefly checked out, looks pretty interesting. Their members, says their site:
(1) Promote harmony between Christians.
(2) Participate with others in prayerful activity to establish peace, justice, dignity and rights for all.
(3) Live in a manner that supports sustainable use of the earth's resources.
(4) Challenge oppression, injustice, exclusion and discrimination.
(5) Accept one another, valuing their diversity and experience.

Seem like good value to me.

Anyway, their bible translation aims to make the text accessible for the unchurched. Obviously, liberties are taken with the text (aren't all translations this way?) Predictably, many Christians groups have already condemned it saying it "promotes fornication," which doesn't exactly seem to be the case from the quotes I've read! But definitely some fun and a good discussion piece - I want a copy!

Here are some of the new passages, as quoted in the news article I linked above:


"DIPPING INTO A NEW TRANSLATION (as reported in the Times)

Mark 1:4

Authorised version: 'John did baptise in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.'


New: 'John, nicknamed 'The Dipper', was 'The Voice'. He was in the desert, inviting people to be dipped, to show they were determined to change their ways and wanted to be forgiven.'


Mark 1:10-11

Authorised version: 'And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from the heaven saying, Thou are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'


New: As he was climbing up the bank again, the sun shone through a gap in the clouds. At the same time a pigeon flew down and perched on him. Jesus took this as a sign that God's spirit was with him. A voice from overhead was heard saying, 'That's my boy! You're doing fine!''

Matthew 23:25

Authorised version: 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!'

New version: 'Take a running jump, Holy Joes, humbugs!'

Matthew 26:69-70

Authorised version: 'Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, 'Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.' But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest'.


New: Meanwhile Rocky was still sitting in the courtyard. A woman came up to him and said: 'Haven't I seen you with Jesus, the hero from Galilee?' Rocky shook his head and said: 'I don't know what the hell you're talking about!' "

thoughts on Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 from Preaching Peace

Found this at one of my favorite sites, Preaching Peace, by Michael Hardin and Jeff Krantz:

"This [sermon time] is one of those moments when we might be most effective modeling for our congregations the behavior commended by Jesus to his disciples, giving our hearers something to imitate rather than speaking to them of their mission."

Yes! Truthfully, in fact, we are probably always most effective when we model instead of just preaching. The adage that actions speak louder than words is certainly one that holds true. In fact, isn't that why Jesus' message is so powerful? He did as well as taught.