A Gospel Vision for the Church

The Session of Southminster Presbyterian Church of Beaverton, Oregon at its October 15th meeting approved the following overture to be sent to Cascades Presbytery.   Thanks to the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and my friend and justice-seeker, Aric Clark, for drafting this!

This is pretty much the opposite of an overture that was sent by Foothills Presbytery.   Check Gene TeSelle's column in the Fall Network News for an analysis of that overture (p. 8).

We need more action for social justice and more voices heard, not less.

A Gospel Vision for the Church

Overture on choosing to be a church committed to the gospel of Matthew 25

The Presbytery of  Cascades overtures the 222nd General Assembly (2016) of the PC (USA) to:

Recommit ourselves at the congregational, the mid-council governing bodies, and the national levels of our church to locate ourselves with the poor, to advocate with all of our voice for the poor, and to seek opportunities to take risks for and with the poor (in the soup kitchens and catholic worker houses, among the immigrants, with those working to end mass incarceration, and with those who seek to protect all of us, especially the poorest of the poor around the world, from the vagaries of climate change).

Call on our churches to commit to a year of bible study focused on issues of social justice. 

Call on our Presbyteries and Synods to examine their own practice, placing these commitments at the center of their concerns, and to streamline the way that issues of immediate significance can be forwarded to the General Assembly by adopting procedures so that overtures and proposals on peacemaking and social justice concerns from sessions and committees may be considered quickly. 

Facilitate the processes by which these concerns can be brought before us as a national body by resisting new barriers to overture submissions such as additional concurrences, tighter deadlines, or new overture topic restrictions at any General Assembly.

Commit to focusing a significant block of the time alloted for future General Assemblies on creating opportunities in consultation with the Committees on Local Arrangements to engage all of the commissioners, delegates, and observers in acts of service to and with communities at risk.

Assure that there are voices of those who are most at risk from within our church and outside of it (including interfaith voices), who are invited to share with and challenge the assembly, both in the plenary and committee sessions. 

Create a “cycle of social engagement” that will assure that concerns around confronting racism, environmental concerns, standing against violence and militarism, and advocating for the dispossessed come before the Assembly on a regular and consistent basis, soliciting overtures from presbyteries before each General Assembly on topics of the most immediate concern. 

                                                            

Rationale

This is a moment of great opportunity for our church. Momentum is building within our denomination and throughout our society to courageously confront the challenges of our time. A new Civil Rights movement, a new Peace movement, a new Economic Justice movement is on the rise and we are in a position to stand in solidarity with the poor in a uniquely powerful way. It is a time for us to define who we will be for decades to come. May we choose to be a church committed to the gospel of Matthew 25:

In the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids Jesus tells a story about the church waiting for the moment of the Lord’s arrival. Some of those who are waiting are prepared when the time comes, and some are not. The zeitgeist of our age is one of rapidly changing and endlessly creative activism exemplified by the Black Lives Matter movement. Let us be like the bridesmaids whose lamps are trimmed - ready to seize the moment.

In the Parable of the Talents Jesus tells a story about a bold slave who was punished for refusing to participate in the empire value of domination. Increasingly we see brave individuals and groups calling out the powerful and standing against the rampant exploitation in our marketplaces, in our prisons, and on our streets. Let us resist evil like that slave, and go stand on the margins of society - in the outer darkness.

In the Parable of the Judgment of the Nations Jesus tells a story about how he is encountered among “the least” - the poorest, the most isolated, the imprisoned, the sick, and the hungry. We hear with sober conviction Jesus declaring that a church which fails to serve with and for the poor does not know Him. We agree with Pope Francis who stated that a church that is not actively supporting and serving the needs of the poor has no right to call itself church at all and should be prepared to give up its tax-exempt status to operate as a church. Let us be counted among the sheep who met their King as a stranger.

We see the Spirit blowing through our society, bringing to fruition seeds of peace and justice long dormant. The harvest will be plentiful. Let us heed the call to service, and recommit ourselves to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in deeds as well as in words.

Does God Have A Future? Find Out at Southminster!

I am thrilled about our Jesus Seminar on the Road, November 6th and 7th at Southminster.  Southminster has been hosting JSORs each year for years.   This one could be the most interesting yet.  Here is what I sent to the media:

Southminster Presbyterian Church of Beaverton welcomes religious scholars Thomas Sheehan of Stanford University and Jeffrey Robbins of Lebanon Valley College to a “Jesus Seminar on the Road” November 6th and 7th. The weekend conference is called “God, Christianity, and the Human Future.” 

The supernatural, interventionist understanding of God is no longer credible in a modern understanding of the universe. Galileo put this god out of a home and Darwin put “God” out of a job. What do we mean by God today? Has God any value for humanity? What about Christianity? 

In a significant departure from traditional emphases on beliefs concerning Jesus and the confession of creeds, modern scholarship talks about Christianity as an attitude. What does that mean? And is religion an inevitable part of the human experience? In what ways does religion challenge and change humanity? 

Westar Institute - home of the Jesus Seminar - invites members of the general public into conversation with scholars of religion at national and regional events throughout the year. These events provide opportunities for scholars to discuss questions that matter about religion with people from diverse backgrounds and interests.

Here is the website to register!  Hope to see you and bring a friend!

Catch my interview with Jeffrey Robbins via podcast beginning Sunday October 25th!

Thomas Sheehan is Professor, Department of Religious Studies, at Stanford University, and the author of many books including Making Sense of Heidegger (2014), Becoming Heidegger (rev. 2011), and The First Coming (1986). Sheehan's interests in biblical history and exegesis include first-century Christianity and early Jewish and Christian apocalyptic.

Jeffrey W. Robbins is Chair and Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Lebanon Valley College, where he also serves as the director of the American Studies program and the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Awarded the Thomas Rhys Vickroy Award for Outstanding Teaching at LVC in 2005, Robbins is the author or editor of eight books, including the forthcoming Radical Theology: A Theological Method for Change.

Gifts of the Dark Wood, Worship Guide for Fall 2015

Here is the plan for worship for the Fall based on a new book by Eric Elnes, Gifts of the Darkwood:  Seven Blessings For Soulful Skeptics (And Other Wanderers).   An interview with Eric about his book is upcoming on Religion For Life!

Worship Guide for Autumn 2015, Via Negativa (the way of letting go and letting be)

October 11^th through December 20^th

Summer—      Path 1:  via positiva (the way of awe and wonder)

Fall—              Path 2:  via negativa (the way of letting go and letting be)

Winter—        Path 3:  via creativa (the way of creativity and imagination)

Spring—         Path 4:  via transformativa (the way of justice-making)

During Autumn we travel the spiritual path of the via negativa, the way of letting go and letting be.   This is the path, while often not chosen, that leads to self-awareness and spiritual growth.   It is the path of darkness, silence, pruning, and emptying.   It is the negation of images, the deconstruction of beliefs and truths, and the stripping away of certainties, so that we are vulnerable and open to a direction and calling. 

Our guide this season will be a book by Eric Elnes called Gifts of the Dark Wood:  Seven Blessings For Soulful Skeptics (And Other Wanderers).  Eric was a year ahead of me at Princeton and now is the pastor of Countryside Community Church (UCC) in Omaha, Nebraska.  In 2006, Eric walked 2,500 miles from Phoenix to Washington D.C. to promote awareness of progressive Christianity.   He hosts an interactive weekly webcast called Darkwood Brew.

He has just published his latest book in which he uses Dark Wood as a metaphor for the place of “awakening and discovery.”  The things that we find in the Dark Wood that we might judge as bad or unpleasant, are if we pay attention, gifts.   He writes about seven gifts or blessings of the Dark Wood:  uncertainty, emptiness, being thunderstruck, getting lost, temptation, disappearing, and misfits. 

I will spend a Sunday on each of these blessings or gifts—gifts of the Dark Wood.    Let’s enter the Dark Wood and see what we find. 

If you have a creative element (poem, song, children’s sermon, etc.) for one of the services, it will be most welcome!   Look up the readings and if something sparks your creativity, send an email to me.

October 11^th                Entering the Dark Wood                               

Theme:                        The Dark Wood Is As Light To God                      

Scripture:                    Psalm 139:7-12

This Sunday will be an invitation to enter the Dark Wood.   What is that invitation?  What are we invited to do?  We are invited to recognize that where we are right now, with all of our bruises and faults, insecurities and broken dreams, is where we are.    And no matter where we flee we are still here, as the psalmist writes:  “If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.”  God’s presence is the Dark Wood.   The invitation is to discover its blessing.

           

October 18^th                Rev. Don Ludwig Leads Worship

October 25^th               

Theme:                        Uncertainty

Scripture:                    1 Corinthians 13:11-12

In Paul’s famous chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13, he admits that he “knows only in part; then I will know fully….”  Then.  It is a statement of trust and acceptance that we live in ambiguity and uncertainty.   We don’t know what will happen and for the most part, we can’t control it.  But uncertainty is a gift of the Dark Wood.   When we have as the Buddhists call it, a “beginner’s mind” we can be open to possibility, a gift denied us when we think we “know it all.”      

November 1^st              Nancy Ellen Abrams:  A God That Could Be Real

We stop at a rest area in the Dark Wood and welcome Nancy Ellen Abrams via Skype to worship.  She will engage with us about her book, A God That Could Be Real:  Spirituality, Science, and the Future of Our Planet.   This book was our summer “Southminister Reads” selection and we are thrilled to have the author share with us her insights and field your questions. 

November 8^th                        

Theme:                        Emptiness

Scripture:                    Thomas 97

Jesus tells a parable about a woman who is walking down the road with a jar full of meal.  She doesn’t realize it, but the jar breaks and the meal pours out.  She arrives home with an empty jar.  Jesus says the realm of God is like that.  Huh?  Emptiness is a gift of the Dark Wood.  

November 15^th           

Theme:                        Being Thunderstruck

Scripture:                    1 Kings 19:11-13

In the ancient world thunder and lightning were viewed as signs that the gods had something to say.  Today, we might call it a flash of insight.  One of the gifts of the Dark Wood is the moment of awareness, an “aha” moment.    Call it the voice of God, call it insight, call it as Ebeneezer Scrooge did, “bit of undigested beef,” but it could be calling you!

                         

November 22^nd           Reign of Christ           

Theme:                        Getting Lost

Scripture:                    Matthew 2:1-2

Wendell Berry is a wise man.  He said, “It may be that when we no longer know what to do,

we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.”  Being lost in the Dark Wood does not feel like a gift.   But like the wise men who came from the East looking for Jesus, sometimes you have ask directions. 

November 29^th           Advent One

Theme:                        Temptation

Scripture:                    Luke 4:1-13

Usually we begin Lent with the story of Jesus tempted in the wilderness.   Since we are lost in the Dark Wood, we’ll mix it up a bit and begin Advent with this story.   The Dark Wood is a place where “the adversary” wants to mess with us, to test us, to tempt us, not to do bad things, but as Eric Elnes points out in his book, to do the things that are not ours to do.    

December 6^th              Advent Two

Theme:                        Disappearing

Scripture:                    Luke 4:14-30

Eric Elnes writes in this chapter, “refuse to let any situation or circumstance mark you in a way that does not reflect your highest identity.  You must disappear.” P. 129.   We disappear to the allure of a false self.   That is a gift of the Dark Wood.   This is knowing when to let go and let be.

December 13^th            Advent Three

Theme:                       Misfits

Scripture:                   Luke 6:20-21

We need companions.  The best companions are those who have “spent a little longer in the Dark Wood than you have” writes Eric Elnes.  P. 157.    The Dark Wood is best travelled with another, with someone who has been there, who knows.    Sometimes we enter a club we would never want to enter, but it is what it is.  We take our place with the other broken misfits.  It is home. 

December 20^th            Advent Four

The children will present a program during worship. 

Interview An Atheist At Southminster

This Sunday I am thrilled to welcome Kile B. Jones to Southminster.  Kile is the founder of "Interview An Atheist At Church Day."

Why would we want to interview an atheist?  Here are Kile's thoughts on that: 

Interview an Atheist at Church Day is a project created by Kile Jones, a Ph.D student at Claremont Lincoln University, an inter-religious school to train ministers. Kile is an atheist who is interested in helping liberal religious people work together with unbelieving communities for the betterment of society. 

Interview an Atheist at Church Day is a community project aimed at bettering the understanding between atheists and religious persons. We hope to connect atheists who are willing to be interviewed with congregations in their area that are interested in developing ties with atheists in their area. The “day” represents our desire to grow into something far-reaching and beneficial to atheists and churchgoers alike. 

As unbelieving populations around the world continue to rise, dialogue and understanding between atheists and people of faith is more important than ever. We live and work in the same world: understanding better what both unites and divides religious and non-religious people can only help us make this world a better place.

I interviewed Kile about this project a couple of years ago.  You can hear that podcast.   Kile has posted a number of the interviews on the website.   

On Sunday, I will ask him about the project, his experience of being an atheist in America, and why it is important for liberal religious people and atheists to develop ties.   We will open up questions to the congregation as well.   He'll stay after church for a while for further conversation and dialogue.

If you are near our evergreen, join us at ten a.m. and share the Interview an Atheist Facebook event with your friends!

Also, this Sunday is the beginning of Sunday Starter, our adult education hour.  I am presenting the first four weeks on "The Evolution of God."   Get up a little earlier and join us in Room Seven at nine a.m!

Southminster is Purchasing the New Hymnal

Southminster will be singing from a new hymnbook.

We need 175 of them.  We are asking everyone who worships with us to purchase at least one.  You can dedicate each one you purchase in memory or in honor of a person or organization even Planet Earth. Be creative!  (We will probably dedicate one in memory of Zach, another for my mom and one in honor of Katy and Amber and another to all the wonderful folks at Southminster).  We will make a very attractive book dedication plate for each one. Each hymnal is $25 and this includes shipping.   Forms are in Mary's blue folder, narthex, and in bulletins.   Fill out a form for each dedication.

Or, you can email your request to Mary.

Here is what you need to include:

Name of Donor (as you want it in the book dedication plate).

Choose:  In Memory or In Honor

Name of person, place or thing to be memorialized or honored (again as you want it in the book dedication plate).

Gretta Vosper: Can't We Talk About It?

My conversation with Gretta Vosper airs this week on Religion For Life.   She is being reviewed as to whether she can continue as a United Church of Canada minister.   With her public statements can she  still affirm her ordination questions?  She tells her story on the radio program that airs on stations beginning tonight and then via podcast on Sunday.

I wrote a letter of support for her and for her church to church officials.  I am posting it below.

Here is my issue.  It isn't about believing stuff or not believing stuff.  It isn't about vows and other means of control.  It is about actually engaging the world as it is.   It is about asking the questions and being straightforward about what we see, hear, and think.

More than that, it is about conversation with one another about what we see, hear, and think.   Can we not talk about the challenge the modern world brings to the concept of God?   Why must our conversation devolve into identity politics?   Gretta and her church invite the conversation.

Will the United Church of Canada have a conversation or close down all discussion through disciplinary means?  Everyone loses with the latter approach.   With the former, there is hope for growth and understanding.

If you are just catching up with her story, go here for background.

*My apologies to West Hill United Church.  In my letter I called the congregation, West Hills United Church.  I corrected it.*

August 21, 2015

The Right Reverend Jordan Cantwell
Moderator, UCC
3250 Bloor St. West, Suite 300
Toronto, ON M8X 2Y4

Nora Sanders
General Secretary, UCC
3250 Bloor St. West, Suite 300
Toronto, ON M8X 2Y4 Canada

David Allen
Executive Secretary – Toronto Conference
65 Mayall Avenue, Toronto, ON M3L 1E7

The Reverend Bryan Ransom
President – Toronto Conference
65 Mayall Avenue, Toronto, ON M3L 1E7

Dear Esteemed Colleagues in the United Church of Canada,

I am writing on behalf of Rev. Gretta Vosper. Gretta is a friend and colleague. I am a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). I host a radio program, Religion For Life, and Gretta has been a guest twice.

I am writing in hopes that you will be an advocate for Rev. Vosper. I have nothing to say about polity and process within the United Church of Canada, of course. What I wish to write to you about is larger than Gretta, you or I, or our respective denominations. I wish to write about the intellectual future of Christianity and the importance of ministers like Gretta Vosper as they fearlessly present to us the issues we face.

What are these issues?

We live in a universe that is 13.75 billion years old. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. It is a pale blue dot in the suburbs of a galaxy that is one of billions. Humans have evolved through a process of natural selection. We share a common ancestor with all of life going to back to single-celled organisms from perhaps three billion years ago. It is an incredible universe that science is unfolding before our eyes. Yet religion with its ancient creeds and symbols is still in a pre-modern era.

All of the symbols and doctrines of faith from creation to eschatology including “God” are products of a pre-modern era in which humanity was “created” around 6000 years ago in a garden in the midst of a geocentric universe over which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost could be imagined as real entities existing in real time and space. These doctrinal formulations are little more than poetry today.

As one wag put it: Galileo put God out of a home and Darwin put God out of a job.

A supernatural interventionist deity, a god called God, is no more credible than a hammer-wielding Thor scaring humanity with his thunderbolts. By virtue of living in a modern world, we are all a-theists whether we want to admit it or not. No one expects a divine being to send rain, heal diseases, stop the sun in the sky, spin the planets, or cause my team to win in battle or in football, except perhaps fundamentalists.

What we do with our symbols of faith, how we approach them, what we keep, what we reject, what we redefine and reimagine is the responsibility of our generation of ministers and theologians. “God” must be on the table for dissection. That is our task. The one thing that will cripple our work is the silencing of our most creative minister-theologians. This is from American biblical scholar, Roy Hoover:

“Those who insist upon the unaltered retention of traditional forms of religious understanding and language and who retreat from the challenge posed by the actual world after Galileo want to direct the Christian community into the confines of a sacred grotto, an enclosed, religiously defined world that is brought completely under the control of scripture and tradition; and they want to turn the ordained clergy into antiquities dealers.” The Fourth R, Jan. – Feb. 2004

Gretta Vosper and courageous clergy who tell the truth are our last hope for a faith that will have any integrity. You may not agree with the approach that Gretta and West Hill United Church are taking. We will not agree on one clear approach to theology in this time. Agreement isn’t the point. The point is not to punish voices and force people to mouth a wooden formula created in a pre-modern world.

We need ministers and theologians to experiment and to try out new ways of being church. We need ministers and theologians to articulate new ways of doing good in our world. Both our denominations have strong commitments to social justice and ethics. That is the heart of the church. Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion quotes Harvey Cox:

“Faith is resurgent while dogma is dying. The spiritual, communal, and justice-seeking dimensions of Christianity are now its leading edge….A religion based on subscribing to mandatory beliefs is no longer viable.” p. 109-110.

West Hill United Church and Rev. Gretta Vosper are Christianity’s leading edge. I hope you will consider the larger picture as you reflect on this particular situation. Once we start down the road of silencing creative clergy, then all clergy begin to run scared. Once we do ministry from a context of fear, the love vanishes.

This is an exciting time. The world is watching The United Church of Canada, a denomination that Rev. Gretta Vosper loves and serves. May your church be a leader in exploring a faith for a 21st century mind.

Sincerely,

Rev. John Shuck


I received this reply:


Hello Mr. Shuck,

I’m responding on behalf of Moderator Jordan Cantwell, General Secretary Nora Sanders and Toronto Conference President Bryan Ransom. Thank you for sending your letter regarding Rev. Gretta Vosper.

You raise many good points in your letter, not least of which is your regard for Gretta as a friend and colleague. I experience her in both of those ways too, and am glad of it.

The process we are going through does not have a predetermined endpoint. Our Executive heard many people asking how a minister can say the things Gretta says and still be a minister. Others, like you, have written eloquently in her support. My hope is that at the end of the process, we’ll have a good reason for maintaining her as a minister – or we’ll have a good reason for saying she is not to continue in that role. What we have not done is to pre-judge the outcome and we, like many others, await the recommendations that will eventually come to us.

Again, thank you for writing, and for being a good friend to Gretta.

David W. Allen (Rev.)
Executive Secretary, Toronto Conference
The United Church of Canada

Number One In Abomination!

Glenn Beck gave Portland a boost.   He named the "top 15 cities to avoid like the plague" and Portland earned the number one spot!    Southminster member, Jennie, in response to Glenn Beck, came up with the perfect Portland slogan:

#1 In Abomination

Why does Portland receive such an honor?  According to his website:

“This is the list of the top 15 least religious cities in America,” Glenn said. “These are the cities to avoid like the plague. And if you look at that list, these are the cities that already having trouble. We haven’t even hit the road bump.”

I like Portland.  Where else do you find this?

And this?

Portland is hosting the PCUSA General Assembly, June 18-25, 2016.   Portland is the perfect place for the apostate Presbyterian Church (USA) and I am sure the LayMAN would agree.   I am even on the Committee on Local Arrangements.  Gotta love that.  Check out our (COLA) Facebook page.  

Here is the COLA Logo based on the PCUSA theme:  

As you can tell, I wasn't on the PCUSA slogan making committee.   I wouldn't have picked a scripture verse from pseudo-Paul.  Be that as it may.  

After Glenn Beck's endorsement, I think Isaiah 41:24 would be the perfect text for the match made in nirvana between Portland and the PCUSA:

You, indeed, are nothing
and your work is nothing at all;
whoever chooses you is an abomination.

I wonder if it is too late to change the slogan and logo?

Portland and the PCUSA: Together Number One in Abomination!

 or

Portland and the PCUSA:  A Plague On Both Your Houses!

or

Portland and the PCUSA:  Still Sinning After All these Years!

or

Portland and the PCUSA:  Where Heretics Go to Retire!

or

Portland and the PCUSA:  Lovin' the Canaanite Goddess!

or

Portland and the PCUSA:  A Glenn Beck Free Zone!

Hey, I'm here all week!

God?

My summer series Bring Your Own Sermon (BYOS) is going even better than expected!  We are having a good turnout for worship and for the discussion following the service.   Here are the questions I have grouped together for this week:

• If God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and all powerful and needs nothing then why does "He" need 8+ billion of these little critters here on earth to worship "Him" to feel complete?
• What phraseology do you use to speak of God? How do you internalize it or find meaning in it (the phraseology)?
• What do you mean when you say you don’t believe in God? (or a supernatural God)

This Fall I am doing a four week class on "The Evolution of God" for our Sunday Starter Adult Class.  Then on November 6-7 we are hosting our annual Jesus Seminar on the Road on the topic of God.

You will get your God fix at Southminster!

For this Sunday I will probably start with Daniel Dennett's theory on how gods then God came to be. Then I will offer a quick and dirty history of Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and the Ptolemaic cosmology and how "God" fit into that.

What happens to God after Galileo put him out of a home and Darwin put him out of a job?  In other words, what difference does God make or what does God really do?   Those are questions many of us ask.   The existence of a supernatural being who intervenes in the natural flow of life is improbable at best.  This is not news.  Theologians have been saying this for centuries.  Most mainstream seminaries at least present this as a problem.

What do we do about that?  We can call ourselves non-theists or post-theists or a-theists and declare game over, there is no reality to which theism points and thus no need for religion or Christianity.  Some of us do that.  Others of us say, no, there is a place for religion and Christianity even as a supernatural interventionist god is superfluous.   Some redefine God as everything or everything plus  extra or creativity or evolution or process or human aspirations, or you name it.  Some say the term God is too confusing, let's drop it.   I don't think there has to be a final answer at least just yet.

This brings me to my friend, Gretta Vosper.  She goes with the option of God as too confusing, let's drop it.   I think that is a great option.  Christianity needs her voice.   I believe or don't believe as she does and as many do even as they may be less vociferous about it.  I still play around with the symbol God as I wrote in my post in the Friendly Atheist.    I could change tomorrow.  I really like the imaginative work that Nancy Ellen Abrams is doing with A God That Could Be Real.

What I don't like and what I will resist is the attempt to silence creative voices such as Gretta's voice by inquisitions.   Don't like doubts?  Questions scare you?  Silence the doubter and the questioner. That is bad faith.

God has always been a human construction.  Is there anything real to which the symbol God points?  I think that is a great question and a worthy one to ask in the context of parish ministry.

Some have asked. "Why stay in the church?"  Why not become a Unitarian Universalist where apparently these questions are more welcome?   I love the UUA and I think in many ways they are a model.  However, I am a Presbyterian.  Denominations are not fixed entities.  They change.  in my view, all of the Christian denominations need an upgrade.

Gretta's denomination is the United Church of Canada.  This is probably the most liberal denomination in North America. If that denomination can't move into the 18th century let alone the 21st then who can? In my view, Gretta is not on trial, Christianity is. Can it move ahead or is it stuck forever in a pre-modern world?  The United Church of Canada and the PCUSA have great social justice commitments. That is important work. These denominations are home for many even as many have outgrown the stale theological formulations.

Christianity is never static, always evolving. Now the evolution needs to take seriously modern historical criticism of the Bible, comparative religious mythology (i.e. Jesus mythology) and the meaning of the symbol God in a modern understanding of cosmology. Gretta is saying what many have been scared to say. She needs applause and support.

I don't know if I will go into all of that in my sermon on Sunday, but it should be fun!

See you then!

In Support of Gretta Vosper

United Church of Canada minister, Gretta Vosper, is in a bit of hot water with her denomination.  She is an atheist and calls herself that.  The denomination is doing something unprecedented.  They are investigating her to see if she should be removed from the ministry.  

Here is the story in MetroNews.

TORONTO – An ordained United Church of Canada minister who believes in neither God nor Bible said Wednesday she is prepared to fight an unprecedented attempt to boot her from the pulpit for her beliefs. 

In an interview at her West Hill church, Rev. Gretta Vosper said congregants support her view that how you live is more important than what you believe in. 

“I don’t believe in…the god called God,” Vosper said. “Using the word gets in the way of sharing what I want to share.” 

Vosper, 57, who was ordained in 1993 and joined her east-end church in 1997, said the idea of an interventionist, supernatural being on which so much church doctrine is based belongs to an outdated world view. 

What’s important, she says, is that her views hearken to Christianity’s beginnings, before the focus shifted from how one lived to doctrinal belief in God, Jesus and the Bible.
“Is the Bible really the word of God? Was Jesus a person?” she said. 

“It’s mythology. We build a faith tradition upon it which shifted to find belief more important than how we lived.”  Read More

The legalists are trying to get her on violating her "vows."  If you don't have an argument, crack open the old vow chestnut.

In response, Nora Sanders, general secretary of the church’s General Council, issued a ruling in May laying out a review process that could ultimately lead to Vosper’s defrocking.

Essentially, Sanders said, the review should determine whether she was being faithful to her ordination vows, which included affirming a belief in “God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Gretta and her congregation (as well as growing number of people within and without the church) know that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost have caught the last train for the coast.   We are talking about symbols and myths that have long lost any real referent.  The language has been poured out into humanitarian ethics.   As to the church and her boatswain?  To quote Don Cupitt:

The churches have not yet decided what they think about cultural Christianity, probably because so many of those who after realism continue to get aesthetic consolation from Christian culture are prominent amongst their own members--and leaders, too.  Such people know that the old apologetic arguments have all failed, but they do not wish to come out into the open about their own personal lack of strong, or 'literal', dogmatic-realist faith.  Nor do they wish to face up to the Death of God and the looming spectre of nihilism.  So it is generally more comfortable to stay where one is, as a theologian, a bishop or whatever:  to be quietly ironical and not 'come out'.  The old ship can sail on for a little longer yet.  It is not time to take to the lifeboats.   

I am not sure about that, though; for there are may indications that the old ship is rotten and is foundering.  (Creative Faith, p. 48)

In the meantime, they try to pretend that the ship is solid and sure and they do so by throwing the mouthy "heretics" overboard.

If we get rid of that pesky Gretta Vosper everything will be just fine.   Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are still there!  See!  In the clouds playing lawn darts and answering prayers (sort of)!  Just close your eyes and believe!  

Gretta has chosen another way, a more courageous, authentic path.  She knows it is up to each us to find our way and to make our worlds, with or without God.

May her tribe increase.