#Borg and Crossan

[firstumcschenectady]

Protest or Revolt? based on Galatians 3:23-4:7 and Matthew 21:1-11

For many years, I have had the chance to work with a camper I'm going to call Penny today. (So, not her real name.) Penny is a woman who has Down's Syndrome, a huge personality, and a stubborn streak that can rival my own. She is also world class at engaging in passive protest.

In practice, at camp, this most often looks like a group getting ready to go somewhere, and Penny will sit down, and simply refuse to come along. Unless, that is, someone sings her favorite song and then slowly walks away from her, requiring her to follow in order to keep hearing the song.

The song, if you were wondering, is “This Little Light of Mine,” and it gets sung A LOT when Penny is at camp. Like, 50 times a day? Maybe more. Penny is very good at bending people to her will, and she really, really, REALLY likes that song.

A thing I respect about Penny is that she isn't going to do what she doesn't want to do. You can threaten her, bribe her, argue with her, or beg her. But she will simply hold up one finger, and dance it around a little, to let you know what she expects of you.

The thing is, that the camp I run is highly dependent on people being willing to function as a group and move as a group. We're stuck when one camper doesn't stay with the group, and it can force us out of adequate supervision! Refusing to get up is the PERFECT protest for our camp, because it puts the counselors and staff into a crisis. Truthfully, Penny gets what she wants because singing “This Little Light of Mine” all day every day is a lower price to pay than not being able to function or keep our campers safe. So she gets what she wants, we get what we want, and if there is a particular song stuck in one's head for years after, at least you eventually learn to smile about it.

Also, by most ways of looking at it, Penny doesn't have a lot of power in the world. So, God love her for using what she has well.

Penny at camp functions a lot like Jesus outside of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus used what power to bring the change he wanted. He was up against the Roman Empire, but he similarly managed to put pressure on a sensitive point and get his message across clearly. The Roman Empire, however, did not concede as gracefully as the camp staff does.

Passover in Jerusalem was a conundrum for the Roman Empire. On the one hand, they wanted to show respect to an ancient faith tradition, and maintain the narrative of the Emperor's power, might and goodness. On the other hand, Passover was a celebration of God's actions in freeing the people from the oppressive power of a mighty empire, and a whole lot of people gathered very close to each other to do so, and that... felt dangerous. Because while I'm sure the Roman Empire didn't think of itself as an oppressive overlord, they maybe had a bit of an awareness that some others did. So how do you respect this important religious festival while also keeping it under control?

The Empire came up with a good answer. The local leader Pilate, the “king of the Jews,” marched into the city with a full imperial processional. There were soldiers on gleaming horses, drumlines in union, glittering silver and gold on crests, golden eagles (the symbol of Rome) mounted on poles. It was a BIG time show of power and reminder of the Empire and its hold on Jerusalem. The people who came to watch would have shouted the things they were taught to shout: Hail Caesar, son of God; Praise be to the Savior who brought the Roman Peace; Caesar is Lord.

The Empire's plan was to remind the people of the POWER and MIGHT and THREAT of the empire's military while also being “present” for the rituals – and keeping an eye on the messages from their carefully selected high priests.

It seems Jesus saw through it.

And his processional, the one that came through the East gate, brought a lot of clarity to what was happening at the West gate. Instead of a tall shiny horse, Jesus rode in on an unbroken colt (or donkey. Or both ;)). Jesus came in his ordinary cloths, without the sparkle of gold or silver. Instead of being accompanied by soldiers with weapons, Jesus came with his disciples – ordinary men known for drinking a bit too much and the inability to keep their mouths shut when they should. Instead of banners declaring the power of Rome and displaying the golden eagle, the people shimmied up palm trees and cut off the branches to wave. Palm Branches were the national symbol of Ancient Israel, their flag. The people laid their cloaks on the road for Jesus' colt to walk on. That is, they used the very little power they had as a carpet for Jesus’ feet.

Zechariah 9:9 reads “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Did you hear it? Your KING comes riding on a colt. Jesus wasn't just borrowing a colt – and he wasn't just being humble. He was connecting himself to the expectations of what the Jewish Messiah would look like. In fact, he was more or less claiming the crown. And the people supported him. So Jesus comes on a colt – which declares kingship – and the people wave the national flag – celebrating a new king!

To bring this into focus, Jesus riding a donkey into the East gate raised some questions:

Who is King of the Jews?

From where do they derive their power?

Does power come from the capacity to inflict violence?

Does their power come from sharing power?

Is Pilate there to celebrate God or to stop God's work?

Which parade is God in?

Jesus found the weaknesses of the Empire – in the need they had to maintain power and control with violence and with the overarching narratives of their goodness. He gave people ways to question it all, just by riding on a donkey.

While I think the Palm Sunday processional was one of the greatest nonviolent direct actions in history, it came with a very steep price. Leading people to those questions undermined the Empire itself. The Empire read it as a revolt, in fact they decided to read it as a VIOLENT revolt, which probably means it shook them to their core. Which is both VERY IMPRESSIVE as protests go, and VERY DANGEROUS as protests go. The Empire killed Jesus for leading a violent revolt agains the Empire.

And the only thing they got wrong was that it was nonviolent.

Actually, scratch that. They got two things wildly wrong. First it was nonviolent to its core. Secondly, they thought killing Jesus would kill his movement. You, listening to this sermon, right now are part of the proof of how wrong they got that one!

But to go back to the nonviolence for a moment... this is absolutely key to everything about Jesus, and it shouldn't be glossed over. The world tells us that the only power that matters is power over, and power over is enforced with violence. David Graeber in the book “Debt: A History of the First 5,000 Years” points out that only societies with inequality have police forces. And, only countries that are taking unfair shares of the world's resources spend extravagantly on their militaries. It turns out there is a direct correlation between inequality and violence, specifically state sponsored violence.

The Roman Empire was the military superpower of its day, and was also exemplary a taking wealth from the land and from the poor and syphoning it to the very, very wealthy. Who is exemplary at that today?

Anyway, Jesus didn't play by those rules. He didn't enact violence, or permit it, nor did he let the threat of it stop him. He engaged in power with, not power over. He lived nonviolence and by his very life taught its power. Paul, in the letter to the Galatians, says this as well as it has ever been said. “There is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, there is no male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

Well, that takes care of power over!! That simple sentence teaches us that as followers of Jesus, none of the coercive power of the world applies anymore. And once that power-over is gone, along with it goes the need for violence to enforce it. What is left is space for people to work together, collaborate, help meet each other's needs, and build connections and community. Which, to be honest, is a darn good reason to join that Jesus parade and choose his values instead of supporting the representative of the Empire on the other side.

But today, I'll admit, even this story that astounds me every time I approach it, and even this Galatians passage which has one of my two favorite verses in the New Testament, still fall flatter than usual.

Because here we are, 2000 years later, in a society that sanctifies violence rather than nonviolence. In a society with about the same income distribution as the Roman Empire. In a society that STILL functions as if some people matter and some don't. It is enough to make me wonder how well this Jesus movement is really doing after all. Furthermore, there is the “Christian Nationalist” thing that claims the name of Jesus while doing all the things of the Empire... power, violence, hierarchy, in groups and out groups, all of it.

And, this being the start of Holy Week, I'm going leave this here, in the discomfort. In the reminder that things are not OK, that people misuse the name of Jesus, that God is against violence but our country specializes in it, in the incredible power of the Palm Sunday parade that was a large part of why Jesus was killed. I'm going to leave us here in the brokenness. Spoiler alert: next week I have some good news to share. But for now, here we are.

May God hear our prayers. Amen

Rev. Sara E. Baron  First United Methodist Church of Schenectady  603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305  Pronouns: she/her/hers  http://fumcschenectady.org/  https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

April 2, 2023

[lowcountry-gothic]

Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30….One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mouth of Olives, cheered by his followers… On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea, and Samaria, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial calvary and soldiers. Jesus’s procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of empire.

Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week

[apilgrimsprogress]

I was tagged by @many-sparrows

Rules: Answer + tag 9 people you want to get to know better and/or catch up with.

Favorite color: most pastels! I'm between lavender and pastel pink rn

Last song: American Dreaming by Sierra Ferrell

Currently reading: I have a stack by my bed that only seems to get bigger but the two I'm working on are The Last Week by Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan and The Biggest Prison on Earth by Ilan Pappe

Currently watching: rewatching season 14 of Law & Order (peak cast imo)

Coffee or tea: unfortunately... I do have a coffee problem

Currently craving: a break lol

Tagging: I want to pass this game around the whole religio-sphere on tumblr lol -> @cruciform-solidarity @omnistpilgrim @holyskywalker @gaynglican @anchoressing @dandeyrain @classicalcarter @cath-lic @aqueerfriend

[apenitentialprayer]

Left: detail of an icon of Jesus's Palm Sunday Procession. Right: detail of a 1791 replication of a bas relief of the Triumph of Titus

[T]his demonstration harbored a dangerous message that would lead to Jesus's public execution by the end of the week. The way Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover week was a strategically organized demonstration. Jesus's entire ministry was headed toward Jerusalem. Every time he had to leave a large crowd of sick people begging to be healed, it was because his journey was aimed toward Jerusalem. Word of Jesus's message had already spread to Jews in Jerusalem, and they were prepared to participate in these planned demonstrations. Mark 11 tells us that when Jesus and his disciples were approaching Jerusalem, he told two of his disciples, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.'" We don't know who was assigned to tie up the colt at the entrance, but taking the colt communicated to the crowds waiting in Jerusalem that Jesus was about to arrive. From the Mount of Olives, Jesus entered through the east entrance of Jerusalem on the colt while a crowd surrounded him, preparing the road for Jesus by spreading their cloaks and "leafy branches that they had cut in the fields" on the ground. And they shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" This deliberate sequence of actions was a symbolic reenactment of the prophecy of Zechariah. Zechariah 9:9 says, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." Matthew even directly quotes the verse in his account. This was a purposefully timed demonstration that would also remind people of the next verse in Zechariah 9: "He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth." Although the gospel accounts do not report this detail, we know that the Roman governor Pontius Pilate arrived in Jerusalem at the beginning of the Passover Week as well. First-century Jewish historian Josephus wrote that during every Passover, Pontius Pilate and a legion of Roman soldiers spent the week in Jerusalem because of an increased chance of an uprising as Jews celebrated the event of the Exodus. The Romans wanted to make sure nobody got any dangerous ideas as they recounted God's attack on Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites. So as Jesus humbly entered Jerusalem from the east on a donkey, surrounded by a crowd of peasants and leafy branches, Pontius Pilate was likely entering Jerusalem from the west on a chariot led by a war horse, surrounded by a legion of Roman soldiers with armor and deadly weaponry. In their book on Jesus's last week in Jerusalem, John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg point out, "What we often call Jesus's triumphal entry was actually an anti-imperial, anti-triumphal one, a deliberate lampoon of the conquering emperor entering a city on horseback through gates open in abject submission. The symbolism is packed with meaning for the lives of those in the crowd surrounding Jesus. This demonstration exposed two warring kingdoms: the kingdom of Rome, with the power and weapons on their side, and the kingdom of God with the people on their side, desperate for liberation.

Damon Garcia (The God Who Riots: Taking Back the Radical Jesus, pages 146-148). Bolded emphases added.

[barbaramoorersm]

April 2, 2023

April 2, 2023

Palm Sunday

Isaiah 50: 4-7

The prophet shares one of the “Suffering Servant Songs.”

 Psalm 22

Part of this Psalm is stated by Jesus in Mark’s Gospel as he dies on the Cross.

Philippians 2: 6-11

Paul speaks about the suffering of Jesus.

Matthew 21: 1-11  

This text describes Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. On this Sunday, Matthew’s passion is also read.

 Because a Passion text is proclaimed on Good Friday, I have chosen to skip Matthew’s and focus this reflection on the event that has been called Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem,” Palm Sunday.  All four Gospels relate parts of this story.  And his procession today is followed by the “cleansing of the Temple.” The significance of the story may be lost, when we read the passion so close to the event itself.  

John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg in their book, “The Last Week,” offer us important information about this event we have come to call Psalm Sunday.  The context of this event is critical because the City of Jerusalem and the Temple were very crowded due to the upcoming Passover celebration.  Those who could financially or by status make the trip to the Holy city, tried their best to do so.  It was a hard and costly task for the poor in the community.

The above authors share a detail about this event that makes great sense. Because the city is crowded with pilgrims, agitators were probably present, and thus Rome makes every effort to prevent trouble or rebellion within the crowds. They were used to such opposition from the people.

 Thus, the authors believe we have two processions into Jerusalem. To forestall any difficulties, Pilate makes sure that his troops are alerted, and their entrance through one city gate is a show of force and color.  Their procession is set in sharp contrast to the rag tag group entering the gate on the other side of the city. Cloaks and branches pave the way for Jesus in contrast to the sounds and color of a powerful military.  To quote the authors, “Pilate’s procession displayed not only imperial power, but also Roman imperial theology.”   That theology called the emperor, “The Son of God.”  

How do the theologies of the Emperor and Jesus differ? Both figures are called, “The Son of God.”  That reality sets up the possibility of a conflict and division. Matthew tells us the procession of Jesus into the city caused it to be “shaken.” Imagine the fear that Pilate’s procession caused. The sounds of the trumpets and the drums of Pilate’s army now face the shouts of the people.  “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the Highest.”

This short reading confirms the fact that Matthew’s community saw in Jesus’ request for a transportation on “colt and an ass” a fulfillment of a prophecy by Zechariah. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout, O daughter Jerusalem!  Lo your King comes to you triumphant and victorious is he, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (9.9)  

The people seeing Jesus’ procession ask, “Who is this?”  That question about Rome is already answered by Pilate’s show of force. Cloaks and branches are nothing compared to cavalry, armor, helmets, gold, and metal toppings on weapons.  The city of Jerusalem represented the power of both the Roman occupiers and the religious elite.

What do these two processions have to say to us today?  Are Christian churches and political leaders speaking forcibly enough regarding decisions made by the Federal and State governments that threaten those least able to resist?  Are we speaking and acting in a way that condemns racism, brutality, violence, and antisemitism?

Political leaders and some religious leaders were wary of Jesus’ appeal to the least in society.  To make matters even more difficult for Jesus, this triumphal entry is followed by his “cleansing” of the Temple.  His desire to reaffirm that the Temple “was house of prayer” and many of its financial practices during the holy season took advantage of the lest affluent.

As we receive our blessed palms this Sunday, may the actions of Jesus remind us of the virtues we Christians value and thus make us deeply aware of those actions of his that turned many in power against him.  Palm Sunday moves quickly to Good Friday. In fact, last week’s story about Lazarus contains a quote that follows the Gospel.  One religious leader is so troubled by Jesus’ actions that he stated, “…is it not better, to have one man die for the people than for the nation to die?”  

[surroundedbytheworld]

The Books I Read in 2022

La masonería. Historia e iniciación, por Christian Jacq (1975) [tr. Manuel Serrat Crespo, 2006]

La interculturalitat, per Joaquín Beltrán (2005)

No em deixis mai, per Kazuo Ishiguro (2005) [tr. Xavier Pàmies, 2005]

El Mundo Clásico. Por qué importa, por Neville Morley (2018) [tr. Antonio Guzmán Guerra, 2019]

Mis chistes, mi filosofía, por Slavoj Žižek (2014) [tr. Damià Alou, 2015]

Cómo ser un estoico. Utilizar la filosofía antigua para vivir una vida moderna, por Massimo Pigliucci (2017) [tr. Francisco García Lorenzana, 2018]

Filosofía: ¿Por qué importa?, por Helen Beebee y Michael Rush (2019) [tr. Irene Riaño de Hoz, 2021]

La nova innocència, per Raimon Panikkar (1998)

Silencio, por Shûsaku Endô (1966) [tr. Jaime Fernández y José Miguel Vara, 1988]

1984. La novela gráfica, por George Orwell [historia] y Fido Nesti [ilustración y adaptación] (2020) [tr. Miguel Temprano García, 2013]

Qué es el Tao, por Alan Watts (2000) [tr. David González Raga, 2010]

La autopista, Akira #1, por Katsuhiro Otomo (1984) [tr. E.S. Abulí]

La ciudad de los saqueadores, La leyenda demadre Sarah #1, por Katsuhiro Otomo y Takumi Nagayasu (1990) [tr. Olinda Cordukes, 2008]

La ciudad de los niños, La leyenda demadre Sarah #2, por Katsuhiro Otomo y Takumi Nagayasu (1991) [tr. Olinda Cordukes, 2008]

La ciudad de los ángeles, La leyenda de madre Sarah #3, por Katsuhiro Otomo y Takumi Nagayasu (1993) [tr. Olinda Cordukes, 2008]

La ciudad de la paz (Primera parte), La leyenda de madre Sarah #4, por Katsuhiro Otomo y Takumi Nagayasu (1997) [Olinda Cordukes, 2008]

La ciudad de la paz (Segunda parte), La leyenda de madre Sarah #5, por Katsuhiro Otomo y Takumi Nagayasu (1997) [Olinda Cordukes, 2008]

Blue Like Jazz. Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, by Donald Miller (2003)

La ciudad del futuro (Primera parte), La leyenda de madre Sarah #6, por Katsuhiro Otomo y Takumi Nagayasu (1998) [Olinda Cordukes, 2008]

La ciudad del futuro (Segunda parte), La leyenda de madre Sarah #6, por Katsuhiro Otomo y Takumi Nagayasu (1998) [Olinda Cordukes, 2008]

El despertar, Akira #2, por Katsuhiro Otomo (1985)  [tr. E.S. Abulí, 1999]

Revelaciones, Akira #3, por Katsuhiro Otomo (1985)  [tr. E.S. Abulí, 1999]

El emperador del caos, Akira #4, por Katsuhiro Otomo (1993)  [tr. E.S. Abulí, 2000]

Venganzas, Akira #5, por Katsuhiro Otomo (1990)  [tr. E.S. Abulí, 2000]

Reconstrucción, Akira #6, por Katsuhiro Otomo (1985)  [tr. E.S. Abulí, 2000]

Homo videns. La sociedad teledirigida, por Giovanni Sartori (1997) [tr. Ana Díaz Soler, 1998]

Gilgamesh (c. 2100 – 1200 bce), versión de Stephen Mitchell (2004) [tr. Javier Alonso López, 2008]

Hierba, por Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (2017) [tr. Joo Hasun, 2022]

La vida il·lustrada, per Lisa Aisato (2019) [tr. Anna Jolis Olivé, 2020]

El budisme, per Joan Leita (1991)

The Miseducation of Cameron Post, by Emily M. Danforth (2012)

Flip It Like This!, by David Hayward (2022)

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and Three Stories (‘The Happy Prince’, ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’, ‘Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime’), by Oscar Wilde (c. 1890) [eds. Gary Schmidgall & Peter Raby, 1995/2007]

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding (1954) [introduction by Stephen King, 2011]

The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach Us About Jesus’ Birth, by Marcus J. Borg & John Dominic Crossan (2007)

See other year’s reading lists.

Follow me on Goodreads.

[johnthevandal]

“Christ’s life was the incarnate revelation of a nonviolent God, and it was consummated by his death from the violent injustice he had opposed justly and nonviolently.”

-The First Paul, Marcus J Borg and John Dominic Crossan

[leonbloder]

Maundy Thursday

"When they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take this is my body." Then he took a cup and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it.  He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."  - Mark 14:22-24

Today is Maundy Thursday. We call it "Maundy" Thursday because the ancient church mothers and fathers connected it to Jesus' "mandate" to his disciples on this day of Holy Week: "Love one another as I have loved you."  

This is also the day we remember Jesus celebrating Passover with his closest friends--what Christians call "The Last Supper."  

Jesus loved a good party.   If you read through the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life, you will find that in every other chapter, he's sitting down to dinner with one group of people or another.  

As he gathered with the twelve disciples on Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus did something that he'd done before when he miraculously fed five thousand-plus people on the hills above Galilee: 

He took, blessed, broke, and gave.  

When he fed the multitude, he took the food already there among the people, blessed it, broke it, and gave it.  It was more than enough for everyone when it passed through his hands.  

This miracle was a sign and a symbol of what the world should be like and will be like when God's shalom is fully realized on earth—when there is enough food, drink, hope, peace, and life for all.  

Theologians Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan see the connection between the feeding of the multitude and the beautiful moment when Jesus broke bread and shared the cup with his disciples on Maundy Thursday.  

Like the feeding of the multitude, this new feast was enough for everyone... everywhere.  "Jesus Last Supper," they assert, "was to be the First Supper of the future."  

The bread... the wine... These are ordinary things that are given extraordinary meaning.  The earthiness of the elements matters to Jesus because he wanted to constantly remind his followers that he embraced earthiness for their sake.  

When those earthy elements passed through his hands—when he took, broke, blessed, and gave them —they became, through the faith of the outstretched hands who received them, his own earthiness, his own body.  

Miraculously, mystically, and beautifully, we receive Jesus himself by faith in the moments we share that meal again—Jesus who was taken, broken, blessed, and given, Jesus who continually comes to us to provide us with life in abundance.   The ordinary elements do not lose their "ordinary-ness," which is the beauty of the whole thing.  They serve as a sacrament, a way for us to know that we have received Christ, and carry Christ out into the world.  

And Beloved, there is enough of Jesus for everyone... everywhere.  

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

[riverdamien]

The Straight Cross

"Sloughing Towards Galilee-

"Practicing the Cross"!

THE CROSS AS A STAKE!

There are so many images of the cross, and today we wear silver and gold, the cross has become a part of our everyday lives. We fail so often, very often to seek to struggle with its meaning.

There is another Greek translation of the word cross, stauros. The word is used 74 times in the New Testament to describe the way Jesus died. Stauros simply means an upright pole or stake, like a fence post. It reminds me of the fence post upon which Matthew Shepherd died.

I want simply to reflect upon the stretched-out body of Jesus. This posture reveals to us the shock and brutality of the cross. It reminds me of the brutality of young and old I have seen lying on the street, waiting for the corner, after being knifed or beaten to death. Happens every day. The Latin words mean simply to torment or torture.

The word stauros in the New Testament, is a torture stake, an instrument of imperial power, a stake that marks the territory of empire.

We recoil in thinking about it, but throughout history, the "stauros"  has been applied over and over continually now applied daily, hourly, and every minute.

The whole structure of systematic injustice, the terror raised by oppressive states. Jesus wasn't killed by a mob. He was killed by a political state and religious tradition to carry out state-sanctioned torture. When we stare at the stauros the truth is clear. The thick black line of history is not subtle. It has been deployed over history as a form of torture by the state.

Ultimately stauros is the worst form of torture. It is about us. The stauros is the quest for power and control through state violence wherever that manifests itself. It marks the territory, the state. It marks the territory of abortion, race, creed, etc, it marks the territory of free speech for whatever side one is on.

We are surrounded by contemporary Calvaries we often justify, and we are tempted toward complicity with Calvary.

That is one of the great questions of our faith--on which side of the stauros are you standing? Will we look away? Will we witness grief and pain?

Or will we erect the stake, nail the victims, and light the pyre?

Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, remind us that:

In the first century of Christianity, the cross represented execution by the empire, only the empire crucified, and then for only one crime: denial of imperial authority. The cross had not become a generalized symbol for suffering as it sometimes is today when one's illness or other hardship can be spoken of as "the cross I've been given to bear." Rather it meant imperial  retribution."

So the question we ask is  do we stand with Jesus, the Crucified One, who opens his arms to everyone, who cares for each one of us, regardless of what state or country we belong to; our age; our ethnic background; our religious or non-religious preference; or will we march with "imperial retribution?"? Will we march to destroy or stand to heal? There is no neutrality, no standing around and theorizing but Jesus faces us and says: "Follow me!" or "Follow evil!" Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

------------------------------------

Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration

October 5, 2024

6:00 p.m.

Victor's Piazza pm Polk

----------------------------------

(Temenos and Fr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

www.temenos.org

snap chat: riodamien2

415-305-2124

---------------

We will be having our Annual Good Friday Remembrance of The Haunting!" on Good Friday, March 8, 2024 beginning at 11:30 a.m. If you would like to participate by reading one of the Stations please let me know!

[revjss]

Evening Prayer - 12 Jul 2023

Thank you, God, for the work of biblical scholars. After another “drinking out of the firehose” webinar, this one with Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, I find myself in awe of her work and the work of so many others—Butler Bass, Borg, Crossan, Schrader Polczer, Spong, to name a few—who continue to make me cherish my faith and grow in my relationship with you. Thank you for their work and how your Spirit flows through it, encouraging, beckoning, and lifting me. Amen.

[firstumcschenectady]

“Yes to Hope” Isaiah 49:1-13, John 20:1-18 Easter, April 9, 2023

I have heard it said that no one under 40 expects anything good to happen ever again. The traumas of the pandemic, the realities of climate change, the exploitative nature of how we practice capitalism, and the big money interests preventing our government from functioning have led people to conclude we're just doomed.

You might have gotten lost in my depressing list, so I'm going to remind you of the start of that idea. “No one under 40 expects anything good to happen ever again.” Here is the thing. I'm 41. So, I'm not under 40!! But I'm also not in a particularly distinct group from those under 40.

It is a little bit too easy for me to get pulled into “everything is broken and also impossible to fix.” Here is the really yucky part – being a preacher who focuses on the life and teaching of Jesus often makes this worse. I know it isn't supposed to work that way, and I really appreciate the chance to spend my life wrestling meaning out of parables and getting challenged out of complacency with the teachings by and of Jesus.

And yet, as you may have noticed if you've heard me preach before, I think it is important to understand Jesus and his teaching in the context of first century Galilee and Judah, in the realities of empire and exploitation, in the disenfranchisement of the masses, and the ways that power was used and abused. The problem is that there are differences in specifics between then and now, but not so many in overall structure. John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg refer to the economic and political system of the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus as a pre-industrial, agricultural domination system. They contrast that with the post-industrial, non-agricultural domination system of today and I find that they're horrifying similar.

Now, I love the Bible, I love the visions of God for a good society, and I am in love with the ways that Jesus cast God's vision in terms of non-violence, distributive justice, collaboration, and shared care for each other. I love it enough to devote my life to it.

But there is a little problem with the fact that there have been nearly 2000 years since Jesus, and there have been “followers of Jesus” in an extraordinary number of positions in of power and influence, and for a long time it was even fair to say a few continents were “Christian” and yet the only thing that changed was the DESCRIPTIONS of the domination systems.

This being Easter, I could feed you sweet stories of moments I see the kindom of God at hand, metaphors about flower bulbs that bring life, or even experiences of utter awe that might communicate how very good God is. But if it is true that no one under 40 expects anything good to ever happen again, and if it is true that people have been following Jesus for 2000 years and the overriding economic and political systems are largely the same, it seems to me that this moment calls for a larger response to what is actually a very large scale problem.

By the grace of God, I have one.

You see, I sat with God in prayer this week and raised up the concerns already mentioned, and laid out my angst about preaching Easter into those realities. As I sat in my own discomfort, I also slowed down enough to become attentive to the Divine Presence. And then I started to think about the book “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity” by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Because of my massive respect for David Graeber, I'd read “The Dawn of Everything” as soon as it came out, but it is now nearly 18 months later and I'm still processing it.

The book starts with sharing critiques of the European way of life from the perspective of Native Americans who'd were first exposed to it. There is universal horror at the idea of a society that allows anyone to be hungry, cold, or unhoused. A member of the Wendat Confederacy, Kandiaronick, offers a critique that could almost fit into the mouth of Jesus:

I have spent six years reflecting on the state of European society and I still can't think of a single way they act that's not inhuman, and I genuinely think this can only be the case, as long as you stick to your distinctions of 'mine' and 'thine.” I affirm that what you call money is the devil of devils; the tyrant of the French, the source of all evils; the bane of souls and slaughterhouse of the living. To imagine one can live in the country of money and preserve one's soul is like imagining one could preserve one's life at the bottom of a lake. Money is the father of luxury, lasciviousness, intrigues, trickery, lies, betrayal, insincerity, - of all the world's worst behavior. Fathers sell their children, husbands their wives, wives betray their husbands, brothers kill each other, friends are false, and all because of money. In the light of all this, tell me that we Wendat are not right in refusing to touch, or so much as look at silver?1

The authors preserve those critiques as a way of clarifying that the way of life that seems “normal” isn't the only option. Indeed, that is the point of the book! That there have been many, many ways that people have organized themselves into societies. The authors aimed to disrupt the common historical myth about the origins of agriculture and social inequality. Many of their examples feel downright weird, the decisions on what people valued as society and how they made decisions. Humans are quite quirky. They establish, that having an abundance of grain doesn't necessarily lead to being at peace with some people having warehouses of it and others having none.

For me, the overarching narrative of the book was: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. I suppose that's supposed to be obvious. There are examples of it! There were hundreds of years before King Saul when the Ancient Proto-Israelites lived an equalitarian communal existence. The very people quoted critiquing Europeans for letting people struggle lived in societies that took care of everyone!

However, being born and raised in the United States starting in the 1980s, I've only ever seen exploitative capitalism as the way society functions. Additionally, I've been taught to look at socialism and see the pragmatic ways it is also exploitative. And then I look at the life of Jesus and his critiques of the exploitative domination systems of his day, and at the prophets pointing the exploitative domination systems of their day, and the last 3000 years or so just seems pretty bad and maybe we're stuck.

But we aren't.

The exploitative domination system of Jesus' day wanted to silence him and his movement so they wouldn't be threatened. And so they killed him. And whatever happened on that first Easter, the impact was that the movement of Jesus simply continued without him. Jesus could be killed. God's work in Jesus could not.

And, fine, here we are 2000 years later and it hasn't all worked out yet. That IS depressing, no kidding. But, it DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY, and God is at work in the world to bring change, and I tend to think God has laid a whole lot of invisible groundwork to bring change that will one day break free.

It is POSSIBLE to be people who take care of each other. It is possible to have great healthcare available to all people without burning out the care-givers or sacrificing the care receivers. It is possible to have healthy, delicious food available to all the people of the earth, without poisoning the food with chemicals, copyrighting the seeds, impoverishing the local farmers, or pricing the poor out of food. It is possible to house all people, in safe housing without mold or other dangers, without making people choose between housing and medicine. It is possible.

It is POSSIBLE to take care of each other. It is possible to allow parents to care for and savor their babies, and to have well-educated and loving caregivers take over when it is time, and to care for the ill and aging with humanity without undercutting the needs of caregivers OR care receivers.

Isn't it funny? What simple things I'm saying are POSSIBLE? And how far away they seem? And how it takes faith in a God who can bring life out of death to even consider these possibilities?

Now, dear ones, you may want me to lay out the road map from here to there. I can't. I don't see it. But I am reminded that I am a PART of the Body of Christ, and I am called to do my work and no one else's. My job, today, is to remind you that things don't have to be like this. Because until we remember that God dreams of justice, and joy, and abundant live for EVERYONE, we can't even start to move towards it. Because the story of Easter is the story that life can emerge even when it seems it can't. And today is Easter. Things look pretty rough out there. But God isn't done with us yet.

I believe in the LIVING Body of Christ. If I can name it, and you can dream it, and God is with us, we're gonna get from oppressive domination systems into life abundant for everyone. I fear it may yet take some time. The powers that are, are pretty significant. But, it is worth working towards anyway. Especially with God.

We work with a God who brings life out of death. God isn't done with us yet, and God isn't about to make peace with domination, or exploitation. God is a God of life abundant!

There is plenty of death around us, Holy One. We are willing to work with you on life. Guide the way! Amen

1David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (New York: Picador | Farrar, Straus, and Girouz, 2021), p. 55.

April 9, 2023

Rev. Sara E. Baron  First United Methodist Church of Schenectady  603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305  Pronouns: she/her/hers  http://fumcschenectady.org/  https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

[digitaldion]

“The first passion of Jesus was the kingdom of God, namely, to incarnate the justice of God by demanding for all a fair share of a world belonging to and ruled by the covenantal God of Israel. It was that first passion for God’s distributive justice that led inevitably to the second passion by Pilate’s punitive justice. Before Jesus, after Jesus, and, for Christians, archetypically in Jesus, those who live for nonviolent justice die all too often from violent injustice.” - Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, “The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus's Final Week in Jerusalem”. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpMbYiDtVlc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[apilgrimpassingby]

You might notice those names - Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. They, along with Robert Funk, were the instigators of and intellectual heavyweights behind the Jesus Seminar. You may remember it (or have read about it in The Case for Christ) as the group that argued that Jesus was a liberal hippie social reformer - y'know, someone like the Jesus Seminar.

And the thing is, outside of their circle, this isn't even a respectable scholarly position! The majority view of non-Christian scholars is that Jesus was a faith-healing doomsday prophet whose enlightened teachings were all given with the premise that the apocalypse could come any day now. Not exactly the Jesus of Borg and Crossan.

“The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon ”

Is this one of those books that tries to subvert Christianity by saying “the church is evil and was wrong about everything and was taken over by evil old men and God is actually (insert modern political/culture war term here)”

Lol, he’s so silenced that his writings make up a sizable portion of the New Testament!

[silenceandpsalms]

Humanity's universal sin is far, far worse than those traditional vice lists cited for Greeks and Jews by Paul in Romans 1-3. It is this: we have accepted violence as civilization's drug of choice, and our addiction now threatens creation itself. Christ's life was the incarnate revelation of a nonviolent God, and it was consummated by his death from the violent injustice he had opposed justly and nonviolently. His death was a sacrifice, was something "made sacred," as we saw above, because it was the ultimate witness to the character of his God and the ultimate invitation for us to participate with him. And we participate by dying - metaphorically and really - to civilization's violent normalcy or by dying - literally and really (unfortunately often still necessary) - from the same dominational evil we oppose.

John Dominic Crossan & Marcus J. Borg, The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon

[queertheology]

A Subversive Christmas

Today is a reflection on “Song of the Magi” by Anais Mitchell.

Video is here, lyrics are below:

when we came we came through the cold we came bearing gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh and there were trumpets playing there were angels looking down on a west bank town and he so loved the world!

wore we then our warmest capes wore we then our walking shoes opened wide the city gates and let us through

a child is born born in Bethlehem born in a cattle pen a child is born on the killing floor and still he no crying makes still as the air is he lying so prayerfully there waiting for the war welcome home, my child your home is a checkpoint now your home is a border town welcome to the brawl life ain’t fair, my child put your hands in the air, my child slowly now, single file, now up against the wall

wear we now our warmest coats wear we now our walking shoes open wide the gates of hope and let us through

when we came we came through the cold we came bearing gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh and there were shepherds praying there were lions laying down with the lambs in a west bank town and he so loved the world!

I’ve been enthralled by this song since the first time I heard it. It takes a familiar Christmas story (the journey of the Magi) and fuses it with contemporary cultural issues to create a chilling picture of Jesus’ birth. The juxtaposition of the Magi coming through the cold bearing gifts (the quintessential starlit Christmas card) with Jesus’ birthplace currently being a checkpoint and a borderland is a striking image.

One of my favorite books about Christmas is The First Christmas by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. Their book focuses on A: highlighting the differences between the Matthew and Luke accounts of Jesus’ birth and B: putting those stories back into their Roman, imperial context. Throughout this study, I have been reminded again about how subversive this Christmas story is and how relevant it remains if we are willing to look past the commercialized and sanitized versions that we get so often these days.

Read the entire article here.

[barbaramoorersm]

March 29, 2021

March 28, 2021

Palm Sunday

Mark 11: 1-10

Read after the blessing of palms

Isaiah 50: 4-7

The prophet’s descriptions for many, point to Jesus.

Philippians 2: 6-11

Paul speaks of Jesus “emptying” himself.

Mark 14: 1-15:47

This is Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion and death.

On this Palm Sunday, we recall two noisy processions.  Jesus Christ on a colt with ordinary men and women greeting him with cries, branches and praise. Some even linking him to the figure of King David.  On the opposite side of the city of Jerusalem another procession of Roman troops comes into the city with all their color, noise, numbers and power alerted to any disturbance the Passover crowd might incite. Order was their constant goal and Jerusalem, during Passover, was crowded with pilgrims. Two Kings, two power systems meet each other in what would be an inevitable clash; the coming arrest and execution of Jesus Christ.   Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan in their book, “The Last Week” write, “The two processions embody the central conflict of the week which led to Jesus’ crucifixion”. (2)

But the words that keep returning to me this Palm Sunday are used by the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading. “The Lord God is my help; therefore, I am not disgraced, I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”   The early church sees Jesus in these words.  Flint is a hard quartz or an alloy like iron.  It can produce a spark when it is in contact with steel.   Flint conveys power, strength, purpose and the capacity through sparks, to start a fire.

The phrase seems to identify Jesus’ life, mission and teachings.  He set his face like flint as he reached out to the poor and sick who came to him.  He continued to call his listeners and the religious authorities of his day, to return to the deeper meanings in their holy books. He did not retreat from his message of love and compassion even when faced with opposition and threats. He held on to the basics of his Jewish faith even as he was called a “blasphemer”.   He remained loyal to his followers who betrayed him, denied him and fled when he was arrested.  What a life! His was a life that even before the events of Holy Week and the Resurrection, had a spark to it like the sparks that occur when flint is faced and struck by steel.

Jesus was faced with the rigid steel of religious traditions, customs and economic and political systems that were in his day, harming the very poor and marginalized of his community. And yet so many saw a spark in him that reflected the best of their faith tradition, and the promises of their holy books.  A spark that revealed his concern for the overlooked and the ones carrying so many burdens.  A spark that led to followers, new communities, and the growth of a faith tradition that took his name, Christian.

This past year, as a nation and as local communities, we have faced our own “holy weeks” through deaths, isolation and job losses caused by Covid. Divisions over politics, vaccines and masks have made their mark and caused sorrow among us.  We have seen violence, lies, threats to our democratic system, and ever-present racism that spreads now to our Asian brothers and sisters.   And alongside those facts, we have seen kindness, love, heroism and service that has brought new life and healing.

How, we might ask, are we to respond to our own Holy Weeks?  How might positive sparks happen when we “set our faces like flint” to try and follow the message of Jesus each day?  For the majority of us it happens when we try to do the “ordinary extraordinarily well”.  When we make efforts to learn the truth and to see in each of our brothers and sisters the image of God.  It can happen when we become aware of the “Good Fridays” those around us suffer.  When we reflect on the abuse and pain Jesus suffered as he tried to serve and how betrayed he must have felt as Palm Sunday unfolded into Holy Week. This week also reminds us that we too have the capacity to hurt, abuse and betray others.    

We have the capacity to bring “small resurrections” to others on a daily basis. May this coming week strengthen us as we make our own personal efforts to walk with Jesus and our brothers and sisters through these painful days of Holy Week, and the current painful times that all of us experience.