Musings

Love Language for Worship

 

"God is love..."  1 John 4:8
 
These three words sum up progressive Christian theology. 
 
They represent a turning point in the evolution of human understanding of Ultimate Reality.  The Bible starts with Superman-In-The-Sky and ends with agape – unconditional love - as the identity of the Divine.
 
Love is the generative and creative force of the cosmos, so it is omnipresent.  But it makes room for unpredictable possibilities, so it is not omniscient.  Love is the essence of existence and of consciousness: it is powerfully attractive, but it is not omnipotent.  Love is personal, so we use personal terms to express it.  But we don't ask love to solve our problems for us.  Prayer is not about asking God to intervene on our behalf.  Rather, it is our cultivation of cosmic consciousness, a discipline of paying compassionate attention to ourselves and others.  It is the practice of de-centering our small-“s” selves and recognizing unconditional love - which is the Christ - as the core of our being.  In prayer, we let divine love guide us into action to meet the needs of ourselves and others. 
 
Christian worship is full immersion in this holy compassion.  If this is the core of our theology – if we’ve truly left the old paradigm of supernatural theism behind – then the words we use in worship will reflect it. 
 
But a lot of our progressive congregations have a great deal of catching-up to do.  Old habits die hard.  In worship, many churches are still “praying for” stuff instead of just “praying into” the mystical presence of divine love.  In music, most of our churches are still singing the top ten hits of 1750 with old-school supernaturalism baked into the lyrics.  The invocations, litanies, choral anthems, and benedictions often don’t reflect the theology expressed in the sermons. 
 
But we can maintain precious traditions while bringing the content of worship up to date with a language of love.  
 
When I lead prayer in worship, I use phrases like these:  "Let us draw near to God in prayer....  In prayer, let us be one with the love who is God...   Let us lift up our prayerful intentions for healing and wholeness for ourselves and others... Dear One, love divine, we turn to you in prayer... Such are our yearnings, such are our needs and hopes. May you guide our hearts and minds, hands and feet, to put your compassion into action in our lives and in our world...  So be it -- amen."
 
Progressive Christians get it that the stories in the Bible that look mythological are indeed myths.  They are powerful, transformative, life-changing stories that may not be historically factual, but are made sacred by the intentions of the people who created and recorded and remembered them.  The Bible is our treasure-trove of poetry and stories that we use to express our spirituality.  So we hold it and read it with reverence. But we don't read it as the once-and-for all, final, inerrant Word of God.  We bring our own ever-changing experience, our own light, to the reading of scripture, and in turn the scripture becomes a medium for expressing and enlightening our journeys.  That’s why I introduce Bible readings in worship this way:  "Let us prepare our souls to receive the sacred myth of scripture." And I close the reading with these words: “Through this scripture may the light shine that our souls need for today.”
 
For years, I’ve been writing new lyrics for old hymns.  The tunes still matter to many folks in progressive churches.  So my lyrics keep the sound and feel and some of the words of the hymns.  My alternative lyrics are poetic, evocative expressions of progressive Christian theology.  Jesus is portrayed as our pioneer of compassion – a radical, mystical rabbi, not a supernatural deity.  The word “God” is interchangeable with “love”.  Old-fashioned Christian triumphalism is absent and, in its place, religious pluralism is implied. 
 
The same is true for the invocations, benedictions, and litanies I have created.  They fit traditional forms of Protestant worship, incorporating a language of divine love.
 
Gender neutrality is woven into my worship words – but I strive to avoid the stilted linguistic work-arounds that characterized early attempts at removing sexist terminology from liberal Christian church life.
 
My worship words, and those of many colleagues in this quest, have found their way into churches around the world, and this keeps me in the game of producing more.  Have a look at ProgressiveChristianity.org and WorshipWords.org to access them.  But I yearn for much more radical change in the manner of our worship than my work might suggest.  My words are, in many cases, “new wine in old wineskins”.  This works up to a point, but let’s face it: the old wineskins of worship are breaking.
 
Our “orders of worship” need radical make-overs: more contemporary music, richer visual experiences, more creative and tasteful use of media technology, more participation by congregants, more focus on the eucharist and less focus on preaching, fewer litanies, more contemplative prayer, and less “insider” language that bewilders newcomers.  We need new tunes with words that ring true for our time.  Traditional Protestant choir music is out of touch with the sensibilities of many if not most parishioners.  It certainly has been out of synch with my own musical preferences ever since I entered the ministry.  In my days as a pastor, I noticed that relatively few members of the choir cared about the meaning of the words they sang.  They were there for the music, not for the religion.  (Notice the number of choir members who don't show up for worship when they’re not performing!)  It is very hard for churches to change their music programs.  Often, choir directors have more power in churches than pastors.  If choirs resist needed change, churches should consider having them do stand-alone performances just prior to worship services, so people will have more choice about whether or not to serve as the audience.
 
We don’t need to abandon tradition: we need to radically rediscover, re-interpret, and up-cyle it.  We ought to lift up precious Christian spiritual practices that have been long neglected, and let go of worship forms that are worn out.  Early Christians danced around the communion table.  They chanted prayers with soaring plainsong as preludes to silent contemplative union with divine love.  Progressive Protestants are too often locked into worship forms that are merely hundreds of years old.  It is time to go all the way back in Christian history, lift up the best from the deep well of our two-thousand-year-old tradition, and deploy it with contemporary interpretation. 
 
One congregation I admire greatly is St Gregory of Nyssa Church in San Francisco.  Its goal in worship is to bring fourth-century Christianity up to the twenty-first.  They write their own hauntingly beautiful troparions – meditative hymns in a minor key.  It is an early Christian musical form to which they have attached contemporary lyrics.  Their choir has no loft: its members, each in uniquely spectacular robes and caps, sit among the members of the congregation in order to bring everyone along in song.  The interior ceiling of the church has a cupola decorated with images of saints with halos, in the traditional style of eastern Christianity – but upon closer inspection one realizes that they include Martin Luther King, John Coltrane, Dorothy Day, and other contemporary figures.  Under that cupola is the altar, around which the congregants do a simple jig before the eucharist.  
 
On another end of the creative worship spectrum is a church called Thad’s in Culver City, CA, nicknamed after the least notable of Jesus’ disciples.  The worship service reflects this attitude of understatement.  The order of worship is stripped-down and accessible to newbies.  The church’s band plays its own original music with intriguing lyrics that tangentially touch on topics of faith, inviting contemplation: the songs would play well on secular radio.  The sermon - more of a reflection - is delivered from a barstool.  The look and feel of the worship are reminiscent of a contemporary megachurch, but with strikingly different content.  It's a community in which "exvangelicals" can feel welcome.
 
If God is love, and practicing it is what we’re about, then we’ll be serious about making our churches approachable for people who know little about the faith, or are in recovery from its toxic forms.  So let’s get serious about re-writing our worship with a language of love!

Healing Haunted Histories

It is one thing to explore your genealogy, tracing your family origins as far back as you can.  It is a fascinating endeavor that can become an obsession.

It is quite another thing to take seriously the current social responsibilities that your place on your family tree entails.

To that end, Elaine Enns, a restorative justice activist and teacher, and her husband, biblical theologian Ched Myers, offer profoundly challenging guidance in their new book:  Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization (Cascade Books, 2021). 

“Family trees” are one-dimensional images of one’s ancestors and relatives.  Elaine and Ched introduce a radically alternative three-dimensional structure for coming to terms with the present implications of our family histories:  “Landlines explore where our ancestors came from, the push and pull factors of their immigration, the places where they and we have settled and re-settled, and the stories of violence, displacement and struggles for justice on those lands.  Bloodlines are what we carry in our bones, that which has been passed down from our ancestors. It includes the trauma that our ancestors endured but also the privileges they acquired.  Bloodlines are about cultural loss, assimilation, false sense of innocence and moral injury. Songlines are our convictional traditions of faith, the things that remind us how to be human, the inspirations that help us to persevere in the hard work of forging justice.”   Ched and Elaine’s “songline” is Christianity - the background music of their lives and their book.  The primary illustration of their genealogical hermeneutic is Elaine’s family history in Saskatchewan.  She is descended from Mennonite farmers who “homesteaded” un-ceded Native American prairie land after fleeing persecution in Russia:  “Soil, soul and society are haunted by past and continuing violence. In the U.S. and Canada, systems and ideologies of settler colonialism inflicted genocide on Indigenous peoples. And the ghosts of that unresolved oppression haunt white settlers who participate in and benefit from that legacy.” 

The cover of the book is a painting of braided lines illustrating the Ventura River Watershed.  Ched and Elaine dwell in and with it – their home and garden are models of sustainable living.  It is a “braided” river, forking and re-joining forks as it flows onto the flats out of the mountains.  The book braids together their own haunted family histories, the haunting of the land they live on by the decimation and marginalization of the Chumash people who have survived there, and the consequences of that haunting in the present circumstances of Indigenous and marginalized peoples everywhere.

In this era of coming to terms with racism’s legacy, the publication of Elaine and Ched’s book is a watershed moment.  Its lines offer a template for us to consider seriously the ways our family histories convict us in the present, and to break the chains of haunting by mobilizing against the unjust social structures that perpetuate them.

 

Donkey Wisdom for Palm Sunday

(See my VIDEO of donkeys - with the reading of the Palm Sunday scripture - use freely!)

 

“Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  Matthew 21: 5 (Zechariah 9:9)

So reads the passage from the gospel about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. 

Jesus may have been humble.  But in the last couple of months, I’ve learned a thing or two about donkeys.  And I can say this:  Jesus wasn’t humble because he rode into town on a donkey.  A donkey is as noble an animal as any horse. 

For the past 27 years since meeting her, Roberta, my wife has wanted a donkey for a pet.  Whenever she brought up the subject, I just nodded and smiled.  I humored her by making artwork depicting donkeys and giving them to her.  Donkey paintings, donkey metal sculptures, etc.  Nice try.  But the donkey drumbeat didn’t subside:  it just grew more urgent with each passing year.  Last year we moved to a two-acre property in Ojai, just north of LA, and a few months ago, finally, we adopted two donkeys – Sespe and Sisar, Chumash Native American names for canyons above town.  They came from the Arizona desert, from the Bureau of Land Management – wild burros that have never been tamed or trained. 

Originally, Roberta wanted just one donkey.  But she was informed that you’ve got to have at least two, because otherwise they are miserable.  They are wary animals: they are always on the lookout for predators.  Which, by the way, a donkey can dispatch with a swift kick of both its hind legs.  All alone, a donkey will be on guard all the time, and become neurotic.  Together, a pair of donkeys can trade off being on guard, much to the relief of them both.

Does this explain that extremely peculiar detail of the Palm Sunday story – in which Jesus shows up in Jerusalem on the backs of two donkeys at the same time?  That would a feat of non-humble donkeymanship, for sure!  This passage from the Bible wonderfully illustrates the folly of taking the Bible literally.  The author or authors of Matthew, when they were assembling the gospel myth, looked for resonances of the story of Jesus in the Hebrew scriptures.  They used a passage from the prophet Zechariah about a king who showed up on a donkey, and on the colt of a donkey.  Doublets were a poetic convention in ancient Jewish literature.  The Bible has many examples of statements which are then immediately repeated in slightly different words.  A rhyme of meaning, if you will – as opposed to a rhyme of sound.  The writer of Zechariah was referring to one animal, not two, in that passage. 

So Christians who take the New Testament literally are double-saddled with the absurdity of believing that Jesus performed an equestrian miracle as he entered the gates of Jerusalem on two donkeys at once!  Forget walking on water, friends – as a co-owner of two frisky donkeys, I can attest to its near-impossibility. 

But if we read the Palm Sunday story as Hebrew poetry, we’ll find double donkey wisdom in it. 

We say that Jesus entered Jerusalem not as a prince of earthly, violent power – but as the prince of peace.  Maybe the donkey – or should I say the donkeys – had something to do with that peace.

If you cross a donkey with a horse, you get a mule.

A Spanish pilgrim in rough clothes rode on a mule toward Rome and Jerusalem in the year 1522.   Ignatius of Loyola was his name.  He was “to the manor born” but rejected his wealth and status to pursue spiritual enlightenment. 

Along the way he met a Muslim Moor, and the two of them conversed as they rode mules side by side down the dusty highway.  The conversation focused on the Virgin Mary.  The Moor agreed that she had conceived Jesus without a man, but he said that since she delivered Jesus vaginally, she was then no longer a virgin.  Ignatius vigorously defended the Catholic dogma that she was still a virgin.  What did they miss about the perennial advice to avoid talking about religion or politics with strangers? The Moor sped up on his mule and left Ignatius behind. 

Ignatius stewed about the conversation as the mule slowly carried him forward.  He was infuriated at what he perceived to be a mortally serious offense against the Holy Virgin.  As a proper caballero, insults against the integrity of a noble lady were not to be taken lightly.  Honor had to be defended, at sword-point if necessary.  What should he do?  The Moor had told him of his destination not far ahead.  Should he pursue the Moor and kill him for his disrespect?  Or should he let the matter go?  He tried to determine the moral basis for a decision, but came up with nothing.

So he decided to let God direct his mule.  Perhaps Ignatius was remembering the biblical story of Balaam, whose donkey was more attuned to divine guidance than he was – his donkey saw an angel that Balaam could not see.

Ignatius let the reins go slack on the mule just before the fork in the road.  One way – the road in better condition – led to the village where the Moor was headed.  The other was the country bypass road to points east.  If God directed the mule to the village, he would defend the Virgin’s honor by slaying the Moor.  If God directed the mule to head in the other direction, he would know God intended the matter to be dropped.

The mule carried Ignatius away from that deadly encounter.  Ignatius was no prince of peace, that’s for sure.  A short-tempered hot-head.  But it appears that he was riding the mule of peace, whom Ignatius followed into founding the Jesuit order of priests, who have been the peace and justice activists of the Catholic Church ever since.

People say that donkeys are stubborn.  On the contrary, they are smart animals who don’t take direction from humans unless those directions make sense.  Heck no, Balaam, I’m not walking forward while there’s a scary angel standing in front of me with a big sword!  Why would I go down the barren cobbled road to town, when the other country road is verdant with delicious grass?  The gospel myth tells us that people laid branches down in front of Jesus’ path as he rode the donkey – donkeys? - into town.  Donkeys have a much broader concept of food than horses.  Jesus’ donkey probably had the good sense to nibble on the leaves of the branches as he delivered the Prince of Peace into the city.  Wisdom here:  if you want the Prince of Peace to enter your life, you better tempt his Donkey of Peace forward with good eats!

Since Sespe and Sisar came into our lives, I’ve had the great joy of watching my dear wife commune with them every morning when she feeds them a mix of hay and alfalfa.  She just sits on a stool in the corral, basking in the sun, as they chew their piles of food near her.  They’ve grown to trust her presence.  First she was able to stroke Sespe’s head a bit – then his face, then between his ears.  Sisar was much more skittish.  But now he’ll let her rub his head, as well.  Love is just this.  Presence.  Attention.  And the trust that flows from that deep attention.  Being there, being with – nothing more, nothing less.  When I go out into the corral, I stick out the back of my hand and let them sniff.  And just stand there with them, maybe walk and let them follow for a while.  Just be there with them.  They seem content to simply stand near each other, and near us.  Sespe and Sisar, donkeys of peace….  In this peace, in this love that is attention, let us process into the Jerusalems of our lives – our places of work, our communities, our wider world – and spread that peace and love through our personal relationships and our social and economic systems.

 

Light on 3:11 - A Pandemic Reflection

 

He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

On 3-11-2020, the World Health Organization declared that the Covid-19 outbreak had become a global pandemic.  Very shortly after that, draconian “lock-down” measures were taken in the United States. 

America took the Covid test.  And failed.  Half a million lives and a year later, the pandemic rages on – but with hope rising for its imminent abatement. 

It is a good time to shine a light on the lives lost, the misery inflicted, the lessons learned, and the lessons unlearned during this crisis.  And to this end, the Bible can help.

Some folks read the Bible as if it were the light - the divine Word of God in the form of a book, intended to guide our every choice and step. 

Progressive Christians view the Bible as the filament in the light bulb through which light-generating energy flows and glows.  The Bible is the mantle, the little bag made of ceramic thread placed over the gas aperture in an old-fashioned Coleman camping lantern.  The mantle isn’t the light itself: rather, it is where the fuel meets the flame.  The Bible gives us a treasure-trove of stories and poetry to express our spiritual experience and kindle our commitment to bring heaven to earth. 

Toward that end, let us consider chapters 3, verses 11 of a few of the books of the Bible – and see if our spiritual fuel is ignited when we come in contact with them.  (I learned this “algorithm” for reading the Bible from Don Knuth, the granddaddy of computer software, in my days as a campus minister at Stanford University.  Don is a gifted amateur theologian who wrote a book that only a software geek would write:  “3:16” – a brilliant study of chapters 3, verses 16 of all the books of the Bible that have them.)

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”  (Exodus 3: 11)   If ever there was a time when everyday people have been called to serve others in extraordinary ways, the Covid era is it….

God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word.”  (1 Kings 3:11-12)  If ever there was a time when disciplined discernment was needed from our leaders to do what is right for the people, the Covid era is it….

Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.   (Jesus, Luke 3:11)   If ever there was a time for a redistribution of wealth to those in need – both through personal charity and public policy – the Covid era is it….

 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness… (2 Peter 3:11)  If ever there was a time for putting in perspective that which really matters in life and that which does not, the Covid era is it….

But for me, this is the 3:11 passage that is the best filament or mantle for generating light on this pandemic experience:

Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  (John 3: 11-15)  

The people of Israel, in their 40-year desert exodus, suffered from snakebites and asked God for relief.  God told them to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and place it before the people for them to gaze upon it.  It is the symbol of medicine, which in ancient times was homeopathic:  a dose of that which ails you is the cure.  In the book of John, the cross is interpreted as the homeopathic remedy for the human condition of suffering – which has been particular intense since 3-11-2020.  By gazing at the suffering of the Christ, we confront the reality of the pain we suffer, and the pain we inflict on each other.  Through this confrontation we begin the process of transformation, healing, and reconciliation – both as individuals and as a society. 

By looking very clearly at the failures of our public health infrastructure, and the skewed priorities they represent, we catch fire with commitment to change these systems for the better, for everyone’s sake.  By gazing at the Coronavirus of thorns on the crucified Christ, we see that there is no such thing as “private health”.  There is only public health.  We’re all on this cross. 

Let us put the match to the mantel of scripture, turn on the fuel, and bring to light the changes we must make as a society in order to bring Covid to heel and to prevent future pandemics from spreading among our sisters and brothers around the globe…

The Hearth

 

Perched beneath a mountain's folds
On a little flat of land
There mid the scrubby chaparral
A lonesome fireplace stands.

What faces glowed around this hearth?
What stories told and heard?
As flames reflected from their eyes,
What thoughts and passions stirred?

What home was centered 'round this hearth?
What roof held back the rain?
What walls held back the wind and cold -
What warmth did they contain?

The house burned down so long ago
The mountain's burned twice since:
The hearth remains the only trace
Of love that glowed within.

The fire of love makes house a home
That flames can't burn away:
Gone the walls, the roof, the floor -
The hearth is here to stay.

-- Jim Burklo
3-10-2021

City Lights

Homage to Ferlinghetti

February 2021

By Jim Burklo

 

 

At 6^th and Market

The Greyhounds turned tail

After discharging the human detritus

Of America’s hinterlands

At the Left Coast’s gate of gold:

Head-bent, westbound,

The leavers left the stickers

From Ohiowa to Omahidaho

To trudge, rucksacked,

Up the North Beach hill

For a tipple at Vesuvio

A goggle at the Condor Club,

And a browse of the banned books

At City Lights:

Ranting aloud from Kerouac

And howling from Ginsberg.

Stewarding the stacks of paperbacks:

Ferlinghetti, poet and patron saint of poets,

Publisher and seller

Of the un-publishable and un-sellable.

Ferlinghetti, guardian of the artesian spring

Of words burbling down Columbus Street

Irrigating the literary fields of America

Into First Amendment flowers. 

Neither beatnik nor hippie,

He tended an eddy of contemplation

Amid the tie-died swirl of the Summers of Love,

Through the frantic greed of the internet boom.

His City Lights on a hill would not be hid:

The spines of his books –

Some salacious, some outrageous -

Stayed straight through San Francisco’s thicks and thins.

To Ferlinghetti, stubborn original defender

Of the stubbornly original;

We lift up homage at the passing of your 101 years.

We Are All Stuck With This Poem

 

This poem is holding all of us hostage.

Over 400 parts per million of it

Are infused into the air you are breathing.

The only way to rid ourselves of this poem

Is to do what it demands.

So we might as well take a deep draft of it

And go with its flow.

 

This poem roars out of the tailpipe

Of your gasoline-powered automobile.

It billows out of the stacks

Looming above the gas-fired power plant

That generates the electricity

Illuminating my computer screen.

This poem farts out of the cows

Languishing in the feedlot

From which they are sent to be rendered

Into your dinner. 

This poem is being composed

By unclean coal

Burning ore into steel

That holds up my kitchen table.

 

This poem will melt Alaska

Till Texas freezes over,

And blast derechos across Iowa

Till palm trees grow in Oregon.

It will flood Nebraska

Till San Diego’s golf courses turn brown.

 

This poem isn’t going to go away by itself.

Upon reading, it insinuates into the brain

A prion of carbon driving us to madness

Or change.

 

But if we go where it leads,

This poem will install solar panels,

Windmills, wave-power generators.

This poem will demand payment for carbon emissions

Until they are ended.

It will divest from the fossil fuel industry.

It will press for a plant-based diet.

It will restore the health of the soil;

It will plant billions of trees.

This poem will put capitalism in its place,

Subsidiary to protection of the ecosystem

And provision for the common good.

 

This poem is insidious.

This poem is not debatable.

This poem out-foxes Fox.

It fries the liars

And drowns out its deniers.

We are all stuck with this poem

Until we finish it:

Not with more words,

But with decisive actions.

The Spiritual Discipline of Skepticism

 

"Trust the science."

It's a phrase on many lips these days, as the United States recovers from a presidency notorious for basing public policy and pandemic strategy on lies and hearsay.  It is a huge relief to have national leadership that takes science seriously again.  The health of Americans, of humanity as a whole, and of the planet depends on it.

The problem with the phrase is that science is not about trusting science.  On the contrary.

Science is the disciplined distrust of science. 

Theories arise to explain phenomena, based on evidence.  Scientists question the theories and the evidence, perhaps posing alternative theories.  Over time, in this process of organized skepticism, a scientific consensus often emerges - a theory that works, at least for the time being - providing a scaffold for further scientific inquiry and progress.  That progress may result in new evidence and insights that could undermine the consensus and lead to a new theory that accounts for a broader base of evidence, around which a new consensus can form. 

In contrast to this process, disorganized skepticism of science is a mounting threat.  Anti-vaxxers cling to disconnected shreds of evidence and discredited theories that confirm their convictions.  The same applies to climate-change deniers.  And to 6-day-creationists and "intelligent design" advocates. 

These are literally unhealthy forms of skepticism.  The healthy version is called science. 

There are many questions that mainstream science can't answer, at least at the moment.  Ethical and moral questions, such as: who should get the Covid vaccine first?  And how can such a prioritization be made understandable and acceptable to the public?  Science provides data upon which such judgments can be made, but ultimately we can't trust science itself to sort them out.  The scientific consensus is overwhelming that humans are causing catastrophic climate change with CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.  But scientists can't tell us exactly what to do about this reality.  Ethical and political calculations must be made that will rely on information from scientists, but are beyond their purview to decide. 

In this fuzzier realm of ethics and values and public decision-making, skepticism has its place as well.  In politics, questioning authority should not just be allowed, but required.  Democracy at its best is disciplined, organized skepticism.  Does this policy really distribute resources effectively and ethically?  Or is another one better?  Transparency is essential in government, in order to facilitate this kind of questioning. 

And disciplined skepticism is necessary in religion, too.  Not only to keep churches and their leaders honest, but to refine and deepen faith itself, examining doctrines and re-interpreting or releasing them if they no longer rise to the standard of Jesus' simple law of love.  Progressive Christianity is a form of the faith that never stops asking questions about the Christian tradition, because questioning is integral to our faith.

God is "agape" - unconditional love.  And unconditional love is open, opinion-free attention.  And open, opinion-free attention leads to questions.  Kind but unabashed and unfettered questions.  When we love others with such questions, we move deeper and deeper into the truth of each other's hearts.  This kind of love leads to transparency:  "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we shall see face to face..." (Paul, 1 Cor 13:12)  All is revealed: our crowning glories, our failings, our frustrations, our hopes, our emotions -- our highest yearnings, our greatest regrets.  Like science, love is an endless process that leaves no stone unturned, no assumption unquestioned.  Love is a disciplined, compassionate, gentle form of skepticism that always wants to see and know more.  Love may reveal painful things, but it also assuages that pain.  Thus love leads to spiritual and personal progress. 

So may this kind of healthy skepticism flourish -- in the realms of science and spirituality alike. 

JIM BURKLO

Blog: MUSINGS

Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, University of Southern California

 

 

"Trust the science."

It's a phrase on many lips these days, as the United States recovers from a presidency notorious for basing public policy and pandemic strategy on lies and hearsay.  It is a huge relief to have national leadership that takes science seriously again.  The health of Americans, of humanity as a whole, and of the planet depends on it.

The problem with the phrase is that science is not about trusting science.  On the contrary.

Science is the disciplined distrust of science. 

Theories arise to explain phenomena, based on evidence.  Scientists question the theories and the evidence, perhaps posing alternative theories.  Over time, in this process of organized skepticism, a scientific consensus often emerges - a theory that works, at least for the time being - providing a scaffold for further scientific inquiry and progress.  That progress may result in new evidence and insights that could undermine the consensus and lead to a new theory that accounts for a broader base of evidence, around which a new consensus can form. 

In contrast to this process, disorganized skepticism of science is a mounting threat.  Anti-vaxxers cling to disconnected shreds of evidence and discredited theories that confirm their convictions.  The same applies to climate-change deniers.  And to 6-day-creationists and "intelligent design" advocates. 

These are literally unhealthy forms of skepticism.  The healthy version is called science. 

There are many questions that mainstream science can't answer, at least at the moment.  Ethical and moral questions, such as: who should get the Covid vaccine first?  And how can such a prioritization be made understandable and acceptable to the public?  Science provides data upon which such judgments can be made, but ultimately we can't trust science itself to sort them out.  The scientific consensus is overwhelming that humans are causing catastrophic climate change with CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.  But scientists can't tell us exactly what to do about this reality.  Ethical and political calculations must be made that will rely on information from scientists, but are beyond their purview to decide. 

In this fuzzier realm of ethics and values and public decision-making, skepticism has its place as well.  In politics, questioning authority should not just be allowed, but required.  Democracy at its best is disciplined, organized skepticism.  Does this policy really distribute resources effectively and ethically?  Or is another one better?  Transparency is essential in government, in order to facilitate this kind of questioning. 

And disciplined skepticism is necessary in religion, too.  Not only to keep churches and their leaders honest, but to refine and deepen faith itself, examining doctrines and re-interpreting or releasing them if they no longer rise to the standard of Jesus' simple law of love.  Progressive Christianity is a form of the faith that never stops asking questions about the Christian tradition, because questioning is integral to our faith.

God is "agape" - unconditional love.  And unconditional love is open, opinion-free attention.  And open, opinion-free attention leads to questions.  Kind but unabashed and unfettered questions.  When we love others with such questions, we move deeper and deeper into the truth of each other's hearts.  This kind of love leads to transparency:  "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we shall see face to face..." (Paul, 1 Cor 13:12)  All is revealed: our crowning glories, our failings, our frustrations, our hopes, our emotions -- our highest yearnings, our greatest regrets.  Like science, love is an endless process that leaves no stone unturned, no assumption unquestioned.  Love is a disciplined, compassionate, gentle form of skepticism that always wants to see and know more.  Love may reveal painful things, but it also assuages that pain.  Thus love leads to spiritual and personal progress. 

So may this kind of healthy skepticism flourish -- in the realms of science and spirituality alike. 

Blog: MUSINGS

Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, University of Southern California

What Is Salvation?

 

Are we "saved" together, or "saved" separately?

It is certainly a living question for Christians to ponder, but it is worth asking in the context of other religions - or in that of no religion at all.  Are we "all in the same boat", or not? 

If there is any lesson to draw from the Covid pandemic, it is this:  there's no such thing as private health.  There is only public health.  I wear a mask in public to protect you.  You wear a mask in public to protect me.  The virus makes no distinction between my nasal passages and yours, between my breath and yours.  It's a public disease, and public health measures must be taken to defeat it.  And the same is true for most other health conditions. 

And Covid is but one illustration of the wider fact of our inter-relatedness with each other and the condition of the planet.  The air we breathe is public.  The water we drink is public.  There are very public consequences of private suffering:  just walk down the streets of any big city and you will find yourself walking over and around the tents and belongings of homeless people.  You'll have a private experience of public smells and sounds. 

The venerable process theologian, John Cobb, has just published a book entitled "Salvation".  In it he writes:  "...Jesus' message of salvation was about the basilea theou [kingdom of God or heaven]. For Jesus, the good news was that the basilea theou was at hand... the [Lord's] prayer is emphatically not about one's personal needs.  One does not pray to one's personal Abba.  One does not pray for one's individual food or forgiveness. We pray to Abba, and we ask for our bread and our forgiveness.  We might think that "we" are only believers, but the prayer is about global transformation.  We address the Abba of all."

Years ago, I had a conversation with a young friend who had just spent her summer working at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, an ongoing re-enactment of life in the 1620's Pilgrim colony.  Her job was to play the part of the preacher's daughter.  She found herself frustrated in this role, because evangelical Christian tourists constantly asked her if she had accepted Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior.  Her scripted answer had to be this:  "Of whatever do you speak?  We are the elect of God."  The first Protestants to people America's shores had no concept of "personal salvation".  They did not ask each other the "evangelical question".  They believed in a collective, communal salvation that they, as a faith community, had been predestined to receive by the grace of God.  Evangelical visitors to Plymouth Plantation could not grasp the fact that their religion was not the same as that of their Pilgrim forebearers.

Of course, each of us as individuals must take responsibility for our own lives, make our own choices, and deal forthrightly with our circumstances - whether or not those circumstances were self-inflicted. But indivisible from personal responsibility is social responsibility.  I have a personal responsibility to engage in public life, to strive for social and economic justice and peace and for preserving the planet.  Likewise, maintaining a discipline of spiritual practice is my personal responsibility - in the service of my social responsibility.

Right now, the United States is recovering from the hangover that followed our long binge of privatizing the consequences of public policy failure.  A long "personal responsibility crusade", promoted by right-wing propaganda, crippled our ability to address problems that can only be rectified by collective action.  Climate change, health care, poverty, extreme income inequality, and weakened democratic institutions cannot be fixed by individuals acting on their own.  As in our prayers we address the Abba of all, so we must all work together in order for "thy kingdom" to come. 

"I won't be full till all are fed."  This line in my communion song, Deeper Love, expresses a theology of communal salvation through collective action.  Jesus' kingdom of heaven is not going to drop from the sky, nor are we going to be "raptured" upwards into it.  Salvation will come because, filled with the Spirit of divine Love, we will build a beloved community on earth - a sustainable, equitable way of life that integrates humanity with nature. 

Stations of the Cross: Climate Change

 

Confronting and Contemplating

Catastrophic Climate Change

A spiritual practice for Lent

You can “walk” these stations by practicing one station per day, from March 20 through Good Friday, April 2 – or at any other time or manner during Lent (Ash Wednesday, February 17, until Easter Sunday, April 4).  These Stations and the accompanying graphic can be used by churches to set up a Stations walk, facing the public – posted on outside-facing windows or walls.  Churches are urged to be creative – do your own versions of these Stations!  Please send images of your Stations to me, to spread to the progressive Christian network.  And of course post them on your social media, as well.

 
Lent is a time to see, pray, and act.
 
Lent is a time to see the cross of Christ – in its very real forms today.  To see the ways that we crucify, and are crucified.  To see the harm we to the planet and to others by our actions and by our inaction.  Lent is a time to face the cross.  Because the only way beyond it is through it.
 
Lent is a time to pray… to bring what we see before God.  God is divine, unconditional agape love.  And we practice that agape love by paying attention so deeply that our prejudices and assumptions about what we see are stripped away, so we can see what is as it is, in itself.  So that we can see others as they really are, in themselves.  “Do you have eyes, and fail to see?” asked Jesus.  Prayer opens our eyes wider, and opens our hearts more fully to receive what we see.
 
Lent is a time to act.  Having seen, having prayed, we know what needs to be done and we have the heart to do it.  We are spiritually prepared to be agents of resurrection and reconciliation for peace, justice, and human and environmental flourishing in the real world around us.
 
The Stations of the Cross

The practice of contemplating the Stations of the Cross, depicting the final hours of Jesus’ life, is a very old one. To this day, many churches have gardens or sanctuaries in which the stations are situated.  Each of the 14 stations marks a point along the way to Jesus’ death.

The crucifixion of our time is catastrophic human-caused climate change.  This depiction of the Stations confronts us with the ways we have nailed our planet to this cross, and the choices we can make to turn away from this destruction. 

By squarely facing what we have done, we begin to experience the life on the other side of the cross.

Because the cross is suffering, and also its cure.

“…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up…” (John 3: 14)

The Romans used the cross as a symbol of their power to torture their subjects into submission, but their brutality contributed to the moral decay and eventual collapse of their Empire.  The early Christians turned the empire’s intended meaning of the cross upside down and inside out, and made it a sign of liberation into life.
 
In the gospel of John (3:14), the cross is described as the homeopathic remedy for the human condition. 
 
In ancient times, homeopathy – the principle that “a dose of that which ails you is the cure” – was the dominant form of medicine. The cross is the central symbol of the Christian religion; it confronts its viewers with suffering, and it is through this homeopathic encounter that suffering is transcended.  Buddha’s first step on his path to enlightenment, known as the First Noble Truth, is that life is suffering.  Only by facing this truth can one begin to relieve it.  The first and most deeply paradoxical of the Twelve Steps toward recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous is to admit that one is powerless over alcohol.  It is by facing what crucifies us that we begin the process of resurrection toward healing, recovery, forgiveness, reconciliation, repentance, and renewal.
 
The passage from John refers to a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures (Numbers 21:9): “ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”  The people of Israel, wandering in their desert exodus, began to despair and were then punished for their complaints with a plague of snakes that bit them and killed some of them.  Moses cried out to God for help, and God told him to put up a bronze serpent on a pole and have the people gaze at it, and thus be healed of the snakebites. The gospel of John says that as the serpent was lifted on the pole to save the people of Israel, so would Jesus have to be lifted up in order to save humanity.  The image of serpents on a pole, the caduceus, is the symbol of medicine.

The bronze serpent was spiritual homeopathy for snakebites.
The cross is spiritual homeopathy for the ways we bring suffering on ourselves and others.
To get to the other side of the cross, we are called to see, pray, and act – to reverse catastrophic human-caused climate change.

1.  Jesus is condemned to death

SEE:  Climate Change - THE BIG PICTURE
The world’s scientists confirmed in the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that at the current rate, the world could cross 1.5˚C hotter as soon as 2030. That’s only a decade from now, well within the lifespan of most people alive today.
Earth has always had natural cycles of warming and cooling, but not like we’re seeing now. The top five hottest years on record are 2016, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2014.
Human beings are causing climate change, largely by burning fossil fuels.
Rising temperatures correlate almost exactly with the release of greenhouse gases.
Before the 18^th century, when humans in the industrial west began to burn coal, oil and gas, our atmosphere typically contained about 280 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Those are the conditions “on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.”
Now, as the use of fossil fuels spreads through the world, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is skyrocketing — we’re now well over 415 parts per million of CO₂ in the atmosphere. 
At the same time, the rapid growth in demand for animal-based agriculture by wealthier countries has seen other greenhouse gasses like methane and nitrous oxide rapidly rise. The contribution of agriculture causes about 15% of global emissions. Burning fossil fuels remains by far the biggest single contributor to the problem: in 2017, close to 70% of annual emissions came from fossil fuel use and other industrial processes. This is compounded by the fact that carbon dioxide stays active in the atmosphere much longer than methane and other greenhouse gasses.
In 2019, CO2 concentrations crossed 415 ppm in the atmosphere for the first time in at least 2.5 million years.
An overwhelming 97% of scientists agree that climate change is being caused by human greenhouse gas emissions. There is no meaningful debate about the basic science of climate change.
1˚C of warming has already resulted in devastating impacts across the planet.
Global grain yields have declined by 10% from heatwaves and floods connected to climate change, unleashing hunger and displacement. Over 1 million people living near coasts have been forced from their homes due to rising seas and stronger storms, and millions more are expected to flee in the coming years.
The IPCC states the difference between 1.5˚C and 2˚C of global temperature rise could mean well over 10 million more migrants from sea-level rise.
Climate change science leaves no room for doubt. The 2018 IPCC report has confirmed what we’ve known for decades: increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events is a result of climate change.
(Source: 350.org)

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
    the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas,
    and established it on the rivers.  (Psalm 24: 1-2)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the global movement to reverse climate change through 350.org

 

2.  The cross is laid upon him

SEE:  Climate Change and RACISM
Climate change has a disproportionately negative effect on people of color. 

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the movement to end environmental racism through the Poor People’s Campaign 

 

3.  His first fall

SEE:  Climate Change and POVERTY
Climate change has a disproportionately negative effect on poor people.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the movement for economic justice through the Poor People’s Campaign

 

4.  He meets his mother Mary

SEE:  Climate Change and SPECIES EXTINCTION
More and more of Mother Earth’s creatures are endangered with climate change-caused extinction.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  “ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” (Jesus, Luke 12:27)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Reduce your consumption of meat, because animal agriculture is a major source of methane emissions which contribute to global warming.

 

5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross

SEE:  Climate Change and MIGRATION
Refugees from drought and flooding caused by climate change are increasingly the cause of mass migration within and across borders.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  “The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33-34).
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the movement for immigrant justice through the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.  Press your elected representatives to pass comprehensive, humane immigration reform.
 

6. Jesus’ face is wiped by Veronica

SEE:  Climate Change and DISEASE
Climate change leads directly and indirectly to the spread of infectious diseases and risks to health.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’  (Matthew 25: 34-36)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Press your elected representatives to preserve and extend legislation to assure that all people have access to health care regardless of their income.

 

7.  His second fall

SEE:  Climate Change and HUNGER
Climate change, on the whole, will damage the key crops upon which our food supply depends.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   ^“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  (Matthew 5:6)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Sign a letter to your congressional representative about food security today- through
Bread for the World – and donate to your local Food Bank.
 

 

8. He meets the women of Jerusalem

SEE:  Climate Change and CONFLICT
Climate change is a major indirect cause of violent upheavals and wars, as people are displaced and lose their livelihoods.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more.  (Isaiah 2:4)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the global peace movement through American Friends Service Committee.

 

9. His third fall

SEE:  Climate Change and the OCEANS
Global climate change results in loss of habitat and death of sea life.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.  (John 21: 5-6)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.

ACT:  Turn down your heater setting and turn up your cooling system setting to reduce energy consumption in your home.


10. He is stripped of his garments

SEE:  Climate Change and EXTREME HEAT
Greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are causing catastrophic heat waves resulting in unprecedented wildfires and threats to health.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God,
   for the living God. (Psalm 42: 1-2)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Press your elected officials at the local, state, and federal level to legislate against fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy sources.


11.  He is crucified

SEE:  Climate Change and STORMS
The frequency and intensity of devastating storms is increasing due to human-caused climate change.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.  (Mark 4: 37-39)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Consolidate errands so that you make fewer trips in your car, to reduce CO2 emissions.


12.  He dies on the cross

SEE:  Climate Change and SEA LEVEL RISE
Huge areas of the world, many of them heavily populated, are being inundated as sea levels rise due to human-caused climate change.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;  the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.  And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.  (Genesis 7: 19-22)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Do an energy audit of your home to find ways to reduce energy consumption.


13.  His body is taken down from the cross

SEE:  Climate Change and INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Indigenous populations are disproportionately threatened by human-caused climate change.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
    help me when you deliver them;
that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
    that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
    that I may glory in your heritage.  (Psalm 106: 4-5)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Plant trees appropriate for your local ecosystem in your neighborhood, to absorb CO2.  


14.  His body is laid in the tomb

SEE:  Climate Change and the EARTH
Our actions have put the Earth’s natural processes out of balance, with catastrophic results for all life on the planet.  It is up to us to restore the balance.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;  they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.  (Revelation 22: 1-5)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times) “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Invite your friends, family, and community to join you in the movement to reverse climate change.

MORE at ProgressiveChristiansUniting.org . 

JIM BURKLO

Blog: MUSINGS

Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, University of Southern California

 

 

 

You can “walk” these stations by practicing one station per day, from March 20 through Good Friday, April 2 – or at any other time or manner during Lent (Ash Wednesday, February 17, until Easter Sunday, April 4).  These Stations and the accompanying graphic can be used by churches to set up a Stations walk, facing the public – posted on outside-facing windows or walls.  Churches are urged to be creative – do your own versions of these Stations!  Please send images of your Stations to me, to spread to the progressive Christian network.  And of course post them on your social media, as well.

 
Lent is a time to see, pray, and act.
 
Lent is a time to see the cross of Christ – in its very real forms today.  To see the ways that we crucify, and are crucified.  To see the harm we to the planet and to others by our actions and by our inaction.  Lent is a time to face the cross.  Because the only way beyond it is through it.
 
Lent is a time to pray… to bring what we see before God.  God is divine, unconditional agape love.  And we practice that agape love by paying attention so deeply that our prejudices and assumptions about what we see are stripped away, so we can see what is as it is, in itself.  So that we can see others as they really are, in themselves.  “Do you have eyes, and fail to see?” asked Jesus.  Prayer opens our eyes wider, and opens our hearts more fully to receive what we see.
 
Lent is a time to act.  Having seen, having prayed, we know what needs to be done and we have the heart to do it.  We are spiritually prepared to be agents of resurrection and reconciliation for peace, justice, and human and environmental flourishing in the real world around us.
 
The Stations of the Cross

The practice of contemplating the Stations of the Cross, depicting the final hours of Jesus’ life, is a very old one. To this day, many churches have gardens or sanctuaries in which the stations are situated.  Each of the 14 stations marks a point along the way to Jesus’ death.

The crucifixion of our time is catastrophic human-caused climate change.  This depiction of the Stations confronts us with the ways we have nailed our planet to this cross, and the choices we can make to turn away from this destruction. 

By squarely facing what we have done, we begin to experience the life on the other side of the cross.

Because the cross is suffering, and also its cure.

“…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up…” (John 3: 14)

The Romans used the cross as a symbol of their power to torture their subjects into submission, but their brutality contributed to the moral decay and eventual collapse of their Empire.  The early Christians turned the empire’s intended meaning of the cross upside down and inside out, and made it a sign of liberation into life.
 
In the gospel of John (3:14), the cross is described as the homeopathic remedy for the human condition. 
 
In ancient times, homeopathy – the principle that “a dose of that which ails you is the cure” – was the dominant form of medicine. The cross is the central symbol of the Christian religion; it confronts its viewers with suffering, and it is through this homeopathic encounter that suffering is transcended.  Buddha’s first step on his path to enlightenment, known as the First Noble Truth, is that life is suffering.  Only by facing this truth can one begin to relieve it.  The first and most deeply paradoxical of the Twelve Steps toward recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous is to admit that one is powerless over alcohol.  It is by facing what crucifies us that we begin the process of resurrection toward healing, recovery, forgiveness, reconciliation, repentance, and renewal.
 
The passage from John refers to a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures (Numbers 21:9): “ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”  The people of Israel, wandering in their desert exodus, began to despair and were then punished for their complaints with a plague of snakes that bit them and killed some of them.  Moses cried out to God for help, and God told him to put up a bronze serpent on a pole and have the people gaze at it, and thus be healed of the snakebites. The gospel of John says that as the serpent was lifted on the pole to save the people of Israel, so would Jesus have to be lifted up in order to save humanity.  The image of serpents on a pole, the caduceus, is the symbol of medicine.

The bronze serpent was spiritual homeopathy for snakebites.
The cross is spiritual homeopathy for the ways we bring suffering on ourselves and others.
To get to the other side of the cross, we are called to see, pray, and act – to reverse catastrophic human-caused climate change.

1.  Jesus is condemned to death

SEE:  Climate Change - THE BIG PICTURE
The world’s scientists confirmed in the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that at the current rate, the world could cross 1.5˚C hotter as soon as 2030. That’s only a decade from now, well within the lifespan of most people alive today.
Earth has always had natural cycles of warming and cooling, but not like we’re seeing now. The top five hottest years on record are 2016, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2014.
Human beings are causing climate change, largely by burning fossil fuels.
Rising temperatures correlate almost exactly with the release of greenhouse gases.
Before the 18^th century, when humans in the industrial west began to burn coal, oil and gas, our atmosphere typically contained about 280 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Those are the conditions “on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.”
Now, as the use of fossil fuels spreads through the world, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is skyrocketing — we’re now well over 415 parts per million of CO₂ in the atmosphere. 
At the same time, the rapid growth in demand for animal-based agriculture by wealthier countries has seen other greenhouse gasses like methane and nitrous oxide rapidly rise. The contribution of agriculture causes about 15% of global emissions. Burning fossil fuels remains by far the biggest single contributor to the problem: in 2017, close to 70% of annual emissions came from fossil fuel use and other industrial processes. This is compounded by the fact that carbon dioxide stays active in the atmosphere much longer than methane and other greenhouse gasses.
In 2019, CO2 concentrations crossed 415 ppm in the atmosphere for the first time in at least 2.5 million years.
An overwhelming 97% of scientists agree that climate change is being caused by human greenhouse gas emissions. There is no meaningful debate about the basic science of climate change.
1˚C of warming has already resulted in devastating impacts across the planet.
Global grain yields have declined by 10% from heatwaves and floods connected to climate change, unleashing hunger and displacement. Over 1 million people living near coasts have been forced from their homes due to rising seas and stronger storms, and millions more are expected to flee in the coming years.
The IPCC states the difference between 1.5˚C and 2˚C of global temperature rise could mean well over 10 million more migrants from sea-level rise.
Climate change science leaves no room for doubt. The 2018 IPCC report has confirmed what we’ve known for decades: increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events is a result of climate change.
(Source: 350.org)

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
    the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas,
    and established it on the rivers.  (Psalm 24: 1-2)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the global movement to reverse climate change through 350.org

 

2.  The cross is laid upon him

SEE:  Climate Change and RACISM
Climate change has a disproportionately negative effect on people of color. 

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the movement to end environmental racism through the Poor People’s Campaign 

 

3.  His first fall

SEE:  Climate Change and POVERTY
Climate change has a disproportionately negative effect on poor people.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the movement for economic justice through the Poor People’s Campaign

 

4.  He meets his mother Mary

SEE:  Climate Change and SPECIES EXTINCTION
More and more of Mother Earth’s creatures are endangered with climate change-caused extinction.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  “ Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” (Jesus, Luke 12:27)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Reduce your consumption of meat, because animal agriculture is a major source of methane emissions which contribute to global warming.

 

5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross

SEE:  Climate Change and MIGRATION
Refugees from drought and flooding caused by climate change are increasingly the cause of mass migration within and across borders.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  “The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33-34).
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the movement for immigrant justice through the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.  Press your elected representatives to pass comprehensive, humane immigration reform.
 

6. Jesus’ face is wiped by Veronica

SEE:  Climate Change and DISEASE
Climate change leads directly and indirectly to the spread of infectious diseases and risks to health.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’  (Matthew 25: 34-36)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Press your elected representatives to preserve and extend legislation to assure that all people have access to health care regardless of their income.

 

7.  His second fall

SEE:  Climate Change and HUNGER
Climate change, on the whole, will damage the key crops upon which our food supply depends.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   ^“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  (Matthew 5:6)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Sign a letter to your congressional representative about food security today- through
Bread for the World – and donate to your local Food Bank.
 

 

8. He meets the women of Jerusalem

SEE:  Climate Change and CONFLICT
Climate change is a major indirect cause of violent upheavals and wars, as people are displaced and lose their livelihoods.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more.  (Isaiah 2:4)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Join the global peace movement through American Friends Service Committee.

 

9. His third fall

SEE:  Climate Change and the OCEANS
Global climate change results in loss of habitat and death of sea life.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.  (John 21: 5-6)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.

ACT:  Turn down your heater setting and turn up your cooling system setting to reduce energy consumption in your home.


10. He is stripped of his garments

SEE:  Climate Change and EXTREME HEAT
Greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are causing catastrophic heat waves resulting in unprecedented wildfires and threats to health.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God,
   for the living God. (Psalm 42: 1-2)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Press your elected officials at the local, state, and federal level to legislate against fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy sources.


11.  He is crucified

SEE:  Climate Change and STORMS
The frequency and intensity of devastating storms is increasing due to human-caused climate change.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.  (Mark 4: 37-39)
Mediatio :  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio :  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Consolidate errands so that you make fewer trips in your car, to reduce CO2 emissions.


12.  He dies on the cross

SEE:  Climate Change and SEA LEVEL RISE
Huge areas of the world, many of them heavily populated, are being inundated as sea levels rise due to human-caused climate change.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;  the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.  And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.  (Genesis 7: 19-22)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Do an energy audit of your home to find ways to reduce energy consumption.


13.  His body is taken down from the cross

SEE:  Climate Change and INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Indigenous populations are disproportionately threatened by human-caused climate change.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):   Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
    help me when you deliver them;
that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
    that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
    that I may glory in your heritage.  (Psalm 106: 4-5)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times)  “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Plant trees appropriate for your local ecosystem in your neighborhood, to absorb CO2.  


14.  His body is laid in the tomb

SEE:  Climate Change and the EARTH
Our actions have put the Earth’s natural processes out of balance, with catastrophic results for all life on the planet.  It is up to us to restore the balance.

PRAY:  Lectio Divina
Lectio (read aloud):  Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;  they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.  (Revelation 22: 1-5)
Mediatio:  In silence, receive the scripture into your heart, letting go of any preconceptions or assumptions about its meaning.  Let the scripture “sink in” to your soul.
Oratio (chant the Prayer of Jesus aloud, four times) “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me…”
Contemplatio:  In silence, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, urges, and sensations that arise out of your time of meditatio.  Center yourself in the divine love of God and wait faithfully for the energy and inspiration to act.
 
ACT:  Invite your friends, family, and community to join you in the movement to reverse climate change.

MORE at ProgressiveChristiansUniting.org . 

Blog: MUSINGS

Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, University of Southern California