Spirituality Study Group notes:

 9 parishioners attended:  (Gudrun M. & H., Rose/Thorn, Rae, Ruthie, Judy/Harry, and Day)

(Day M.)    God is the (see links) Web of Life in nature. 

(Pete T.)    I relate the book to Turtle Island, how the Sky Woman falls, dancing the Earth into being.

(Rae S.)    I was struck by how grateful the Sky Woman was to creation.  She has seeds in her hand!  This is very different than Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden of Eden.

(Rose B.)    Looking at the Discussion Questions, I note positive interactions between humans and Earth nowadays:  For example, veganism and wildlife coming back.

(Gudrun M.)    The first religions were nature based.  Origin stories vary, e.g., deserts in the middle-east vs. the lush new world in USA.

(Ruthie H.)    I grew up in the midwest in Indiana, which had more extremes during seasons.

(Judy H.)     I've always seen myself as coming from immigrant stock and relate with pilgrims around the world, e.g., in the Middle East.

(Ruthie H.)    The roots of plants/trees are underground so communicating and interacting.  See the book - Witness Tree, by Linda V. Makes (writer for the Seattle Times).  

(Pete T.)    Please check out a splendid poem, 'Bless This Land', out of the book - An American Sunrise.

 

For next week:  Lets read 'Gifts of Strawberries' (p. 22 - >)  &  'An Offering' (p. 33 ->), 17 pages total.

 -- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

Our group read the introduction & chapter 1 of the book The Common Good, by Robert B. Reich.  (See a book description - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37506435-the-common-good)

        -- Our lively conversation was aided with a concise discussion guide, pp 191-193 --

Day M. - Conservatives make a rational argument against providing United States assistance towards the global common good:  "Let's instead prioritize care for our citizens.  We aren't the world and can't help everyone.  Our 'global leadership' is for our military budget, which tends to fuel American military contractors and maintains our edge."

Pete R. - Our primary obligation is to be informed citizens.  Free public libraries are a public good.  For example, one can post there to give away one's computer.

Judy H. - If more wealth recompensed necessary works we wouldn't need the wealthy to 'give'.

Harry H. - Scandinavian countries are social democracies.  Jesus propounded Agape.

Gudrun M. - Let's assist others to take responsibilities and obligations, a challenge in Scandinavia.

 Rose B. - Nowadays we have so much more wealth than our grandparents, which in Seattle causes a digital divide.

For next week, please read Chapters 2 & 3, which equals 30 pages.

The next book we'll read/discuss is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  The book explores reciprocal relationships between humans and the land, with a focus on the role of plants and botany in both Native American and Western traditions.  (Rose Bailey will group order the book this week.)

* See a book description - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braiding_Sweetgrass.

Spirituality Study Group notes

Day read out loud the following quote from the chapter, entitled "Envy: That Guy Goes Past Yet Again in His Mercedes-Benz":

We tend to compare ourselves to those who are in our social circle.  According to the happiness research, "upward comparisons" are particularly corrosive to our well-being.  Envy doesn't leave room for joy.  The Tibetan word for envy is trakdok, which means "heavy or constricted shoulders," and indeed the feeling of envy leaves one with a pinched feeling of discontent and resentment, tinged with guilt. (p. 137)

We reflected upon 5 powerful remedies for envy to be able to regain a full open heart in today's discussion.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu revealed his three remedies:

1. Gratitude -- by counting your blessings
2. Motivation -- by using one's envy as a spur to improve our situation
3. Re-framing -- by analyzing why I want to have something

Judy remarked following our group's contemplation period that this process of 4. centering helps us start anew with a tuned conscience, amidst clingy memories and associations. 

For ten years when growing up, Giselle studied at a school taught in French, held within a convent.  "We always went for 5. confession and asked forgiveness for our moral errors.  Openly describing our moral quandaries was useful to bring light to these subconscious feelings."
* Check out the following online video, "Busted Halo: Faith Shared Joyfully", describing the process of confession - https://bustedhalo.com/video/penance-why-we-confess.

For next week:  Please have read p. 145-168.

 -- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

Today, we examined the requirement for humans to cooperate to be able to together create more advanced societies:

 (Joan)  "It's not just surviving, but cooperating.  Cooperation is Christianity at its best.  We depend upon each other.  When we are grateful for the whole, we can thrive in civil society."

(Day)  "Trump Republicans hail to "make America great again" through private initiative and competition.  This is not the best way we together can bond to thrive as a diverse complex community, but rather a retrenchment towards reptilian survival instincts of fear and separateness from others.  I have found that cooperative democratic socialism in Sweden has been a wonderful way to rationally plan a thriving civil society."

(Harry)  "Part of our humanity is being enlarged and informed by our differences, not retrenchment into hate and delusion."

(Pete)  There have always been bad times, e.g., the 1965 murder of a Unitarian minister.  As  President Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."  Check out the following online article for inspiration, entitled "Rev. James Reeb died in Selma 50 years ago today. He should be remembered for how he lived!" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/03/11/james-reeb-died-in-selma-50-years-ago-today-he-should-be-remembered-for-how-he-lived/

For Next Week:  Please read p. 135-157.

 -- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

Today, our group of nine attendees strategized how to be joyful while sensitive and connected to the complex world that is full of tragedies and dysfunction:

(Rose) "Knowing what is going on in the world is of value because it helps you to reach out and relate with others.  When you read about history, there's always been strife, conflict, and disorder.  For example, in the 13th and 14th centuries there was the (URL) Black Death.  Some places lost most of their people from the Bubonic Plague!"
(Judy)  "During the Holocaust, people who gave up hope, turned over and died."

(Harry) "We can be depressed in times of depression or disaster, but hope lasts a longer time.  Reinhold Niebuhr wrote that joy and sorrow comes from the same source."
* Below is his famous prayer about "enjoying one moment at a time".  We together queried whether this is the best way to experience joy in this world:

The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.

For Next Week:  Please read up to p. 133.

 -- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

We relished Archbishop Tutu's group prayer as a way to open our important conversation:

"Let's be still for a moment.  Come, Holy Spirit.  Fill the hearts of thy faithful people and kindle in them the fire of thy love.  Send forth thy spirit and they shall be made new and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.  Amen."  (p. 29)

We threaded how "Fear, Stress, and Anxiety" are related and resolved in the Chapter, p. 93-108:
Harry clarified that fear has an object, whereas anxiety has no object.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act despite it.  Courage is indeed the triumph of our heart's love and commitment over our mind's reasonable murmurings to keep us safe." (p. 93)

Anxiety and stress often come from too much expectation and too much ambition.

"The Archbishop and the Dalai Lama encourage us to develop Stress Resilience.  This involves turning what is called "threat stress," or the perception that a stressful event is a threat that will harm us, into what is called "challenge stress," or the perception that a stressful event is a challenge that will help us grow.  The remedy they offer is quite straight forward.  One simply notices the flight-or-flight stress response in one's body--the beating heart, the pulsing blood or tingling feeling in our hands and face, the rapid breathing--then remembers that these are natural responses to stress and that our body is just preparing to rise to the challenge." (p. 99)

Comments on how being on a spiritual path can counter materialism:
(Joan)  "Christianity is counter culture, battling consumerism about stuff."
(Day)  "When we are striving for things, we get on this train.  We forget what we are now and being present to what we have."
(Rose)  "Recently, I was inspired by Alice Walker, who practices Buddhism.  "
* Please enjoy Bill Moyers' web interview, entitled Alice Walker on the Power of Meditation. 

For Next Week:  Please read "Sadness and Grief: The Hard Times Knit Us More Closely Together" & "Despair: The World is in Such Turmoil", p. 109-123.

 -- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

Our group's constructive spiritual remedy for countervailing forces is centering prayer at the start of our morning discussion.  This prayer helps collect, integrate, and recall all our varied mental/emotional situations during the previous week.   We groaned upon mention that a conservative evangelist had prayed, "God, let those who oppose Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court have confusion." 

The Soul provides an omnipresent heartful constructive response:
1.  (Day)  "Christian prayer is raising everyone's boat with your heart, getting buoyant above/outside of one's box."
2.  (Ruth) "Our synapses are opened up/benefited in Christian prayer by stepping back and not reacting."
3.  Check out the following comical dramatic sketch URL: "I'm not dead yet!" in the film, Monte Python and the Holy Grail.

The book clarifies one's experience of negativity in constructive prayer:

"Throughout the week of dialogues, the Archbishop said many times that we should not berate ourselves for our negative thoughts and emotions, that they are natural and unavoidable.  They are only made more intense, he argued, by the glue of guilt and shame when we think we should not have them.  The Dalai Lama agreed that human emotions are natural, but he did argue about whether they are unavoidable.  Mental immunity, he explained, is the way to avoid them.

"Through self-inquiry and meditation, we can discover the nature of the mind and learn to soothe our emotional reactivity.  This will leave us less vulnerable to the destructive emotions and thought patterns that cause us so much suffering.  This is the process of developing mental immunity."

For Next Week:  Please read "Fear, Stress, and Anxiety:  I would Be Very Nervous", p. 93-108.

-- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

One thread of thoughts reflecting upon current events stood out from today's group discussion:
(Harry) - Radical narcissism is the root of evil, when you make yourself the center - God, e.g., the America First Trump policy of separating refugee immigrant parents from their children.
(Rose) - There was strong and compelling research that we come factory equipped for cooperation, compassion, and generosity." (p. 57)
(Judy) - We're also wired to survive, beyond compassion.
(Day) - It's good to take short breaks during the day to hold wonder, to ask "Where is God?"  and 'What is the whole?"  Strategic use of empathy and compassion can help us to get out of our crafty private strategic perceptual boxes looking at parts.
(Harry) - Other questions to contemplate are, "What is our strategy leading to?  Why does all I'm doing matter?"

For next week, please read chapter, "You Are a Masterpiece in the Making" (p. 78-92).

-- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

I was the first to arrive at 8:43am for our Sunday meeting!  Ten total participants gradually coalesced.  We discussed further into The Book of Joy:

SUFFERING AND PAIN!

Judy reflected about how to see God's will in the universal problem of life suffering and pain, e.g., if one had a 45 year old brother acquiring Parkinson's Disease, or the difficulty of adjusting from being an intellectual snob to take care of a mentally retarded child.  

Shock red Carolyn decided that it'll take a long time to understand The Book of Joy's message. She didn't buy into the idea of Nelson Mandela's 27 years long suffering in jail having spiritual value for him to become South Africa's first black president.  Rather, his tribulations were not necessary to learn and grow in God.

Day vividly agreed!  An existential atheist (like Jean Paul Sartre) would problem solve more convergently towards a solution for suffering, unlike trans-rational Christians.  (Please see the article -> How Christians approach the problem of evil)  

KIND AND GENEROUS!

Rose questioned, how do we make those small choices to be kind and generous?  

Carla noted that the Dalai Lama winced when being kissed by Desmond Tutu on both cheeks.  Raised in the Tibetan monk tradition, he wasn't used to being touched.  Rather, physical touch is natural in relating with another human.  Joy comes from our interconnectedness and relationships, opposite of narcissistic self-care.  Right now, we have so many individualistic media channels that cater to one's own vantage that the skill of relating to another is being lost.

 

  For Next Week:  Read up through page 78.

-- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

10 Sunday morning members started discussing a new book, entitled

The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World (URLs are underlined.) by Dalai Lama XIV & Desmond Tutu

On the cover is written,

"Two great spiritual masters share their own hard-won wisdom about living with joy even in the face of adversity.

The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet.

From the beginning the book was envisioned as a three-layer birthday cake: their own stories and teachings about joy, the most recent findings in the science of deep happiness, and the daily practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu have been tested by great personal and national adversity, and here they share their personal stories of struggle and renewal. Now that they are both in their eighties, they especially want to spread the core message that to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others.

Most of all, during that landmark week in Dharamsala, they demonstrated by their own exuberance, compassion, and humor how joy can be transformed from a fleeting emotion into an enduring way of life."

Both Nobel Peace Prize winners have extraordinarily rich and complex personal histories. The complexity seemed untangled though.  These 'holy' leaders exuded simple honesty.

Highlights of our discussion:  
Kay saw the Dalai Lama at Safeco Field, in Seattle.  We all welcomed Carla who downloads the Father God universe through contemplation.  Joan noted that little children are just being in life, which can be relearned through contemplation.  Harry mentioned the importance of compassion in the Buddhist 8-fold path. Christian theologian Reinhold Neibuhr wrote that sorrow and joy comes from the same source.  Rose added that when we realize others suffering, our pain is lessened.

For next week, please read to page 64, "Lunch"!
  

-- Thanks for your comments below --

Spirituality Study Group notes

Though I'm not reading the 8:45am Sunday Spirituality Study Group's current book, I appreciate to occasionally drop in to check out the valuable exchange.  (YOU'RE WELCOME TO ALSO DROP IN.)  We're now discussing a book entitled Grateful Living (see URL at https://www.amazon.com/Grateful-Living-Dale-Turner/dp/0965374483 ).  More than 60 of the most enlightened and beloved articles by the late Rev. Dr. Dale Turner, Seattle Times columnist and Congregational minister.  Essays on love, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, and more.

My two favorite quotes about coping-->

"God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try."  (Mother Teresa, recently anointed a saint by Pope Francis)

"Grief is our deepest most difficult emotion.  Integrate loss into your life."  (Sharon Wilbourn, Broadview UCC member)

Adult Spirituality Group notes

For our first Sunday morning gathering to open and discover our new book, some of the five participants had read the Introduction and Chapter 1, entitled "From Atheism to Belief".  We thought through concepts of atheistic, agnostic, and belief/faith in a higher power/God.   (Please check out a related online article book review of "Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto".)

The author synopsized his entry into faith:

"I had started this journey of intellectual exploration to confirm my atheism.  That now lay in ruins as the argument from the Moral Law "the law of right behavior" (and many other issues) forced me to admit the plausibility of the God hypothesis.  Agnosticism, which had seemed like a safe second-place haven, now loomed like the great cop-out it often is.  Faith now seemed more rational than disbelief."  

"It also became clear to me that science, despite its unquestioned powers in unraveling the mysteries of the natural world, would get me no further in resolving the question of God.  If God exists, than He must be outside the natural world, and therefore the tools of science are not the right ones to learn about Him.  Instead, as I was beginning to understand from looking into my own heart, the evidence of God's existence would have to come from other directions, and the ultimate decision would be based on faith, not proof.  Still beset by rolling uncertainties of what path I had started down, I had to admit that I had reached the threshold of accepting the possibility of a spiritual worldview, including the existence of God."

For next week:  Please read Chapter 2 (pp. 33-54) to discuss.

Adult Spirituality Group notes

It's a perfect time to join us next week!  We'll begin discussion of our new book, entitled The Language of God - A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief (URL), by Francis S. Collins.

On the book is written the following:

     "Collins's argument that science and faith are compatible deserves a wide hearing.  It lets non-church goers consider spiritual questions without feeling awkward."  - The New York Times Book Review
     "The Language of God is a powerful confession of belief from one of the world's leading scientists.  Refuting the tired stereotypes of hostility between science and religion, Francis Collins challenges his readers to find a unity of knowledge that encompasses both faith and reason."  --Kenneth Miller, Brwon University, author of Finding Darwin's God
     "What an elegantly written book.  In it Francis Collins, the eminent scientist, tells why he is also a devout believer....A real godsend for those with questioning minds but who are also attracted to things spiritual."  --Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists.  He works at the cutting edge of the study of DNA, the code of life.  Yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God and scripture.

Dr. Collins believes that faith in God and faith in science can coexist within a person and be harmonious.  In The Language of God, he makes his case for God and for science.  He has heard every argument against faith from scientists, and he can refute them.  He has also heard the needless rejection of scientific truths by some people of faith, and he can counter that, too.  He explains his own journey from atheism to faith, and then takes readers for a stunning tour of modern science to show that physics, chemistry, and biology can all fit together with belief in God and the Bible.  The Language of God is essential reading for anyone who wonders about the deepest questions of faith:  Why are we here?  How did we get here?  What does life mean?

Adult Spirituality Group notes

At the start of each meeting, we all ask around, "Where and how did you see God in your life this week?"  For instance, we reconnect with wisdom and perspective via (73 year old) Joan Baez' songs about God, overnight at 3am when all our cells are open, and Sunday morning bright sunrises.

For this week, we read Chapter 7, "The Practice of Living with Purpose -- Vocation" (An Altar in the World , by Barbara Brown Taylor.)

The author summarizes that no matter what we're doing, it's up to us to decide what that purpose is.  "The point is to find something that feeds your sense of purpose, and to be willing to look low for that purpose as well as high.  It may be chopping wood and it may be running a corporation.  Whatever it is, perhaps you will hold open the possibility that doing it is one way to learn what it means to become more fully human, as you press beyond being good to being good for something, in a world with the perfect job for someone like you." 

Day discussed the idea of karma yoga, which is the notion of approaching work as a spiritual practice.  The author writes, "Work connects us to other people....  Every human interaction offers you the chance to make things better or to make things worse.  To decide to make things better can cost you bundles of self-interest."  (p. 114)
--Pete added that all work must involve personal investment (ego) and have tolerable conditions.

Rose became enthusiastic to find out more about having a church social game night, perhaps at the Chili Cook-off next Saturday, or near the Winter Solstice at 6:30 PM, 12/20/14.

Looking forward to next week, please read Chapter 8, "The Practice of Saying No -- Sabbath" (p. 121).  Thank you.

Adult Spirituality Group notes

This Sunday, we traveled in Chapter 6 & 7 to explore the concepts of land ownership two thousand years ago in Jesus' age.  It was very different than today.  For example:
• Every 50 years, the land went back to the "original owner".   Check out the concept of (See URL->) "Jubilee".
• In China, every 99 years the land goes back to the state.  This recently happened in Hong Kong, e.g.
• Native Americans didn't have a concept for land ownership.  Nobody could "own" anything.  Things were commonly held.

Member Jan van Pelt brought several suggestions for the next book we should read.  Group members were most interested in two books written by Barbara Brown Taylor.  You're welcome to take a look at the following online book descriptions: 
(See URL->)  Altar In The World  (Two months ago she was on the cover of Time magazine.)  This book is about finding God outside of church.
(See URL->)  Learning To Walk In the Dark  (Her newest work!)  This book is about how it is out of the dark that new epiphanies happen.

For next Sunday:  (8/25)
Please have read Chapter 8 (p. 90->) and Chapter 9 (p. 103->).  Thanks!

Adult Spirituality Group notes

1.  This week, we entertained a question surmised from our reading about Jewish self-identity and their erroneous concept from old times that Israel was given to them.  (They first killed all people's on the land in Israel.) 
- Jews need to figure out how they're going to get beyond the victim/oppressor mentality.  For example, Jews have often taken unfavorable jobs, e.g., money changers.
- Jews have been out of Covenant repeatedly and been brought back.


2.  Ok, we're at the height/depth of the summer!  You should know our schedule.
For next week:  Let's read Chapter 6 (p. 46+), Prologue (p. 73+), & Chapter 7 (p. 80).

While members Rose & Pete will be on vacation, we need leaders for four Sundays:
8/24/14 - Charlotte will lead our book discussion.
8/31/14 - Our class is cancelled for Labor Day.r
9/7/14   - Charlotte will lead our book discussion.
9/13/14 - It is unclear who will lead the week's discussion.  Any volunteers?

P.S. - Charlotte made an Activist Plug -> Don't let the FCC allow a merger of telecommunication companies!  Please read the article by Bill Moyers
"Don’t Let Net Neutrality Become Another Broken Promise".

Adult Spirituality Group notes

Hearts aglow, we began by congratulating ourselves for our nuanced study of history and doing what is pointed out in an issue, entitled (see URL->) "Wade Deep: Bible Study as a Remedy for Shallow Faith" (Circuit Rider magazine May/June/July 2004). 

We soon lathered into discussion:

Chapter 3: You Know Where I Come From

The early Christian community appears not to have been particularly concerned about any aspect of Jesus' life before the launch of his ministry.  This later on became more important.  Reza Aslan, author of our book Zealot, spells out how Jesus was born in the tiny hillside village of Nazareth, not Bethlehem.  Mathew and Luke, in the New Testament, both tried to make Jesus fit into the Jewish myths and prophecies about the coming Messiah.  For example, "The Jewish Messiah is the descendant of King David; he comes to restore Israel, to free the Jews from the yoke of Roman occupation, and to establish God's rule in Jerusalem." (p. 28)

--This chapter reminded Pete Bailey of Joseph Campbell's book, (see URL->) The Power of Myth. 

Chapter 4: The Fourth Philosophy

This chapter discussed the philosophy that was context to Jesus in Palestine.  Jesus toiled as a tecton, a woodworker or builder, six days a week, from sunup to sundown, to build palatial houses for Jewish aristocracy, returning to his crumbling mud-brick home at night.  He would have witnessed for himself the rapidly expanding divide between the absurdly rich and the indebted poor.

--Check out the article, (see URL->) Sunday Homily: Pope Francis on Wealth Redistribution that tackles the chasmic wealth gap today!

The fourth philosophy was centered about the notion of zeal, after which our book Zealot is named.  Zeal implied a strict adherence to the Jewish Torah and the Law, a refusal to serve any foreign master--to serve any human master at all--and an uncompromising devotion to the sovereignty of God.  Many Jews in first-century Palestine strove to live a life of zeal in his or her own way.  During Jesus' lifetime, zealotry did not signify a firm sectarian or a political party.  It was an idea, an inspiration, a model of piety inextricably linked to the widespread sense of apocalyptic expectation that had seized the Jews in the wake of the Roman occupation. (p. 41)

For Next Week:
We should definitely read both Chapter 5 (p. 46+) Where is Your Fleet to Sweep the Roman Seas and the notes (p. 233+).  The notes will enrich our understanding of author Reza Aslan's research.

Adult Spirituality Group notes

This week: 
The Chapter 1 & 2 history helped paint a picture of the tumultuous revolutionary social/political context that Jesus was immersed in and communicated about, e.g.,

"As for the towns of these people that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance," God told the Israelites, "you must not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall annihilate them all--the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canannites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jubusites--just as the Lord your God has commanded" (Deuteronomy 20:17-18).

Knowing the context helps one sift his 2,000 year message to our present day context.  (Some expressed interest in the book, (see URL) The Sins of Scripture:  Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love, by John Shelby Spong.) 

Jesus was Jewish and quoted old testament scriptures in his talks.  Rose Bailey mentioned that our church should invite (see URL) Rabbi Ted Falcon, who is a member of the Interfaith Amigos, for a sermon about: 
• How renewal of the covenant/10 commandments occurs several times in the Bible to supersede violence.
• How should we interpret the Old Testament today?

For next week:
Please be ready to discuss chapter 3, p. 25+ "You Know Where I Am From" and chapter 4, p. 34+ "The Fourth Philosophy".   Thanks!

Adult Spirituality Group notes

Right now is a great time to join our Adult Spirituality Group.  We're just beginning the book, Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan.

(from cover slip)  "From the internationally bestselling author of No God But God comes a fascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth. 

"Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the "Kingdom of God".  The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was captured, tortured, and executed as a state criminal.

"Within decades after his shameful death, his followers would call him God.

"Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Azlan sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor.  Scores of Jewish prophets, preachers, and would be messiahs wandered through the Holy Land, bearing messages from God.  This was the age of zealotry--a fervent nationalism that made resistance to the Roman occupation a sacred duty incumbent on all Jews.  And few figures better exemplified this principle than the charismatic Galilean who defied both the imperial authorities and their allies in the Jewish religious hierarchy.

"Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction; a man of peace who exhorts his followers to arm themselves with swords; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity a secret; and ultimately the seditious "King of the Jews" whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his brief lifetime.  Aslan explores the reasons why the early Christian church preferred to promulgate the image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary.  And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity.

"Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical nature of Jesus of Nazareth's life and mission.  The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written brilliant portrait of a man, a time, and the birth of a religion." 

We should read the notes in the back of the book along with the extensive bibliography.  They are interesting for Rose because there is more detail and depth.

For next week:  Please read chapter 1 & 2 and be ready to discuss quotes that most engage you.  Thanks!

Adult Spirituality Group notes

Our discussion of Chapter 8 "Myths and Traditions" explored different churches communion rules & structures.  We were curious to learn how the wider community has authentic personal communion experiences:

The author cautioned "that once you decide that there are rules around who takes communion and who doesn't, you can get to the point where taking communion boils down to making sure a soul is freshly laundered and squeaky-clean before its body can take the bread and wine into its mouth. This gets very close to manipulating God.  And once you begin to make rules, there is no end to the rule-making."  (p. 89)

(interim pastor)  "When young and I attended a Lutheran church, I dressed up for God."
(Gudrun Murti)  "To dress up for God is good because we aren't most authentic if only base.  Our ideals are important, not just putting out our laundry for God."
(Day Murti)  "To be truly present in the moment is to not just bring one version of yourself, but all levels."

For next week, please read chapter 9, "A History In Brief" (p. 97+).
- As Nora recalls the history of the sacred meal--and how food and celebration have long been a part of our faith communities--she reminds us that Jesus used simple everyday routines "to bring us to our senses."  In what ways does sharing food with friends and family compare with the sacred meal of communion?
- Jesus washed his disciples' feet possibly as a way of showing them vulnerability.  Are there times we should be as humble and vulnerable before our friends and family?

The next book we plan to read is called Zealot - The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth.  Please check out the online review at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/books/reza-aslans-zealot-the-life-and-times-of-jesus-of-nazareth.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 .