Musings

Lying Has Consequences

 

Lying has consequences.  It might take a long time for them to manifest.  But manifest they will.
 
As we can see in Russia today.
 
Vladimir Putin became president of Russia in 1999.  He has subjected his people to a steady diet of baloney ever since.  In 2014, separatists armed by Russia fired a Russian missile and downed a Malaysian Airlines jet, killing 298 people.  Putin’s media machine said that the Ukrainians did it.  Most Russians believed him, or at least acquiesced. 
 
Shortly after the tragedy, I was at a party where I met a woman from Russia, about my age.  We had a lively conversation.  She was a highly cultured person, an engineer by training, well-to-do, and lived part-time in Britain.  The subject turned to the downing of the Malaysian Airlines jet.  “The Ukrainians did it,” she declared, haughtily.  I replied:  “You are the only people on earth who believe that, you know!”  After some back-and-forth, she finally admitted, in a very round-about manner, that it was hard to get accurate information in Russia.  But I was still boggled.  How could this person, who had easy access to Western media, have been so quick to repeat such a Big Lie? 
 
A question well worth asking about the millions of Big Lie believers here in the United States.
 
For two decades, Vladimir Putin’s lies have corroded Russian society even as the country seemed more or less intact, much like salt on winter roads rusts out the undersides of vehicles while their bodies look okay.  But finally Putin’s lies have caught up with him.  The wheels are falling off the Russian bus.
 
He lied, so – funny thing! - the people around him lied.  They told him that victory in Ukraine would be easy.  His military officers lied to their soldiers, who had no idea where they were going or what they were doing.  So it is little wonder that morale in the Russian military is abysmal.  So bad that the generals must get out in front of their soldiers in order to motivate them to fight – resulting in a remarkable number of generals being killed in battle.  Now the liar-in-chief is furious at the liars who work for him, so he is firing them right and left.  Whom can he possibly trust?  Can he even trust himself, since he has come to believe his own BS?
 
There is a lesson here.  A culture of lies and liars will, in time, cripple a country’s ability to function.  Covid is a case in point in Russia, where the excess death rate – an indicator of the impact of the disease - is well over twice that of the United States, and we’re hardly poster-children for success in dealing with it compared to other countries.  Why was it so bad in Russia?  Because of the culture of lies.  Russia’s government rolled out a vaccine fairly quickly, but people’s trust in their government is so low that an alarming number of Russians refused to take it.  They didn’t believe anything the government said about the epidemic – neither the good news nor the bad.  So a lot of people died. 

Just as hundreds of thousands of Fox-watching Trump-followers died, but would be alive today had they instead watched PBS and read the New York Times and taken Dr Fauci and Dr Birx seriously. 
 
They died of lies. 
 
Our country has not come to terms with this fact.  Those dead people, victims of willfully distributed misinformation, are buried in the mind-numbing statistic of 1,000,000 total Covid casualties in the US.
 
Nor has our country come to terms with the fact that Trump’s Big Lie has frightfully corroded the undercarriage of American democracy.  If people won’t accept the outcome of a free and fair election, then democracy is done.  Kaput.  Finished.  Most Republican leaders – if such they can be called – lack the spine to defend democracy against the Big Lie that is snuffing it out.  And once it is snuffed, what’s happening in Russia today will happen eventually in America.  Lies will multiply.  Liars will lie to the liars, making rational decision-making impossible.  Nobody will trust anybody or anything.  And the wheels will fall off the American bus.
 
Priority number one is commitment to truth, to facts, to reality.  And to the effective dissemination of facts.  And to voting out anyone who associates with the Republican party, which, sadly, has become the party of lies.  Liars must be called out, every time.

Priority number two is everything else:  dealing with climate change, fighting racism, ending inflation, extending medical care to everyone, etc, etc.  Without democracy, without a population believing in a common set of facts and agreeing to abide by the results of elections, priority number two is going nowhere.
 
What is happening in Russia ought to give Americans chills.  Because not only can it happen here, it is happening here.  An overwhelming percentage of American people believe that Ukraine's Zelenskyy is the good guy and Russia's Putin is the bad guy.  So this gives an opening to have a chat among ourselves about why this is the case… a conversation, across partisan divides, about how to prevent America from going down the road of lies that has led to Russia’s ruin.
 

Votivator: How I'm Voting in the June 7, 2022 CA Primary

 

Votivator – Jim Burklo – 5/18/22

My voting suggestions for the June 2022 primary in California

 

 

National:

 

Senate:  Alex Padilla, incumbent Democrat -- vote for him twice!  He's got to be voted in to finish out Kamala Harris' term, and then he must be voted in to complete his first full term.

US Congress, 24^th district:  Salud Carbajal, incumbent Democrat

 

State:

Governor:  Gavin Newsom.  Let’s stay the course with Newsom!  He is a practical progressive…

Lieutenant Governor:  Eleni Kounalakis, incumbent Democrat

Secretary of State:  Shirley Weber, incumbent Democrat

Controller:  Steve Glazer, Democrat.  My pick is based on this LA times endorsement article:  https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-21/endorsement-lanhee-chen-for-california-controller  .  The article endorses Chen, but says that Glazer is the most independent-minded of the Democrats.  The article says that Chen acknowledges that Biden won the presidential election.  Duh!  But Chen refuses to say for whom he voted for in that election.  He can’t play it both ways.  The Republican Party is the party of Trump – Trump owns it.  The only honorable thing for an honorable Republican politician to do is to quit the party. 

Treasurer:  Fiona Ma, incumbent Democrat

Attorney General:  Rob Bonta, incumbent Democrat

 

Insurance Commissioner:  Ricardo Lara, incumbent Democrat

Board of Equalization, Dist. 2:  Michela Alioto-Pier – this editorial in the San Jose Mercury persuaded me to vote for her, and also to hope for the day when this useless board is eliminated: https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/05/10/editorial-eliminate-the-wasteful-california-board-of-equalization/

State Assembly, Dist. 38:  Steve Bennett, incumbent Democrat

Superintendent of Public Instruction:  Tony Thurmond, incumbent (Democrat)

Local:

Los Angeles:

I no longer live in LA, but I work for USC right downtown – so I still care a lot about what happens in our fair city!

Mayor:  Karen Bass.  I had the privilege of hosting her annually as a guest speaker in the public policy class I used to teach at the USC Social Work grad school:  every time, she blew away my students with her passion, her commitment to public service, and her thoughtfulness.  She’s kind and joyful - and practical.  She knows what is do-able, and how to make it happen.  Rick Caruso is good at curating fake “towns” like The Grove or The Americana, but he has neither the experience nor the mind-set needed to lead The Los Angeles – a real city with real problems that won’t be fixed with sound-bites.  He makes a big deal about how he turned USC around.   Baloney.  He was on the USC Board of Trustees for years, asleep at the wheel while scandalous stuff was going on – some of which I observed myself, and complained about, to no good end - and he only took action after it hit the front pages of the LA Times.

County Sheriff:  Robert Luna, highly respected former chief of police in Long Beach.  This is a very important race.  Alex Villanueva, the current Sheriff, has mired his term in scandal and incompetence – turning a blind eye to gangsterism among his deputies, resisting needed reforms in policing. 

Other LA races:  I don’t follow it completely, but I take the endorsement list of the LA Times very seriously.

Ventura County:

I live in Ojai now – so here are my picks for Ventura County:

Sheriff:  Bill Ayub, incumbent.  Seems the better of two unimpressive candidates.  I believe that a major issue in CA is how cops and firefighters are paid.  I’m not all-in for “defunding” the police.  But l am in for shifting resources in the direction of crime prevention, using social workers, etc, to deal with common situations that don’t really need cops to address.  I’m also in for sensible compensation for public safety workers.  The outrageous overtime pay they get, their ability to “spike” their pensions by getting raises at the end of their (short) careers, pensions which they can draw at an age that is inconceivable to people who don't work for the government… these are real problems.  Ayub faces a re-election challenge because he tried to reduce pension spiking in his department, raising the ire of his deputies, who are now supporting Fryhoff, who would make spiking, etc, easier.  Fryhoff’s candidacy is an example of workers choosing their boss:  an endemic problem in police and fire agencies everywhere.  So without particular enthusiasm, I’m voting for Ayub.  https://www.toacorn.com/articles/stance-of-rank-and-file-officers-weighs-heavy-on-sheriff-race/?fbclid=IwAR3U5f8xttU1FI-dk2-VS2AaDQtGjTfA9rUDbmXqNwmVVmF1p5Rmxzz5Alw

Superintendent of Schools:  Cesar Morales, incumbent, unopposed

Assessor:  Keith Taylor, deputy assessor

Auditor-Controller:  Jeff Burgh, unopposed

County Clerk-Recorder:  Michelle Ascencion, assistant clerk-recorder

District Attorney:  Erik Nasarenko, incumbent (Democrat).  I happen to be friendly with his mother and father, Mira and Walter, members of the Woodland Hills UCC Church – they were WW2 refugees from the Ukraine. Hence the blue and white campaign signs for their son Erik!

Treasurer-Tax Collector:  Sue Horgan, assistant treasurer

Measures A and B:  Yes.  This would correct antiquated oil leases that were issued long ago with no process for environmental review.  https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2022/05/22/oil-drilling-measures-june-primary-ventura-county/7168753001/ This editorial suggests that this would have only marginal impact both on the environment and on oil drilling in Ventura County, despite the huge amount of money the oil industry has poured into fighting against the measures....

 

 

Stations of the Cross - 2022

 

STATIONS of the CROSS - Via Dolorosa — Via Crucis — Way of the Cross
 A progressive Christian interpretation by Jim Burklo

For use by faith communities during Holy Week

The practice of contemplating the Stations of the Cross, depicting the final hours of Jesus’ life, is a very old one. Many Catholic 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 Roman cross was a sign of the Empire’s power to torture its subjects into submission, but its brutality contributed to its moral decay and eventual collapse.  The early Christians turned the Empire’s intended meaning of the cross upside down and inside out.
 
“…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up…” (John 3: 14)   In the gospel of John, the cross is described as the homeopathic remedy for the human condition of suffering. 
 
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 get relief from 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 into action for 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 it 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 image of the serpent on a pole, the caduceus, is the symbol of medicine.) The gospel of John says that likewise, Jesus was lifted up on the cross before us.  By squarely gazing at our brokenness, we can begin to resurrect into wholeness. 

These interpretations of the Stations invite you to contemplate the cross from both a personal and a social viewpoint.  What cross do you bear, and what cross bears you?  What social and economic and political structures have crucified us and others?  What resurrection awaits us, personally and collectively, on the other side of the cross?

Up to and during Holy Week, faith communities are invited to post 14 big sheets of paper on walls inside or outside their buildings, making pens or colored pencils available, and invite their members to write or draw their responses to the meditation questions at each station.  You can print this "musing" to post alongside the sheets of paper.  Share pictures of your stations by emailing them to Jim Burklo, who will share them on his blog and other sites…. [email protected] . 

 

The 14 Stations of the Cross

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. The cross is laid upon him
3. His first fall
4. He meets his mother Mary
5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross
6. Jesus’ face is wiped by Veronica
7. His second fall
8. He meets the women of Jerusalem
9. His third fall
10. He is stripped of his garments
11. He is crucified
12. He dies on the cross
13. His body is taken down from the cross
14. His body is laid in the tomb

1. Jesus is condemned to death

The Romans condemned Jesus to death on a cross as a rabble-rouser, a supposed threat to the “Pax Romana”.  The cross was a symbol of Roman state terror, meant to frighten its subjects into submission.  A few hundred years later, the Roman Empire was gone – but the cross still stood: no longer the symbol of Roman power, but rather as the sign of the death-defying love of Jesus the Christ.

MEDITATION: Whom do you blame for the ways in which you suffer?  What are the consequences of your blame and accusation?  In society, who are our scapegoats?  What would it be like to end this game of shame and blame?

1. The cross is laid upon him

“We each have our own cross to bear.”. Suffering is the universal condition of humankind. The Christian religion makes this point by making the cross its most central image. Buddhism, too, begins with this recognition. The Buddha’s first “station” on his path to enlightenment was to recognize that all life is suffering.

MEDITATION: What crosses do you carry through life? When have they become too heavy for you to bear?  Who or what can help you bear them?

1. His first fall

According to the Stations, Jesus stumbled and fell three times as he was marched to Golgotha to be crucified. Jesus said (Matthew 21:42-44) that the stone of stumbling would become the cornerstone — the most important stone in the building of the new kin-dom of heaven on earth.

MEDITATION: What is the “stone” that makes you stumble and fall? What is it like to be humbled? How can your stumbling stone become the foundation of a new and better life for you and others?

1. He meets his mother Mary

What was it like for them to encounter each other as he staggered to Golgotha?

MEDITATION: What unfinished business do you have with your parents and/or with your children?  If this was your last chance to communicate, what would you say to your parent or child?

1. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross

A man named Simon, who came to Jerusalem from his home in Cyrene, in North Africa, to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, was picked, apparently at random, to carry Jesus’ cross. It was a common practice of Roman soldiers to press people into service to carry loads for them. 

MEDITATION: What crosses are you asked to carry for others? Do you do so willingly or grudgingly? And who carries the cross for you?  What do we owe the Simons of our world today – the people who labor in our fields and factories, the people who empty bedpans and mop floors?

1. Jesus’ face is wiped by Veronica

This station is based on a medieval-era legend not found in the New Testament.  According to the tradition, Veronica was one of the women of Jerusalem who followed Jesus to the cross. She wiped his face to offer comfort, and his image remained on the cloth. The cloth became a sacred relic that had healing powers. The name “Veronica” means “true image” — the true image of the Christ, which can be found in every human being.  Veronica herself became the true image of the Christ through her act of compassion for Jesus.

MEDITATION: When you look in the mirror, do you see the true image of the Christ ? Do you see the suffering of the Christ, and also the one for whom the Christ is willing to suffer?  When have you witnessed the true image of the Christ in other people?

1. His second fall

Jesus, weakened by beatings, fell again on his way to Golgotha. When we are weakened by one disaster, we are made more vulnerable to others.

MEDITATION: What hurts have you experienced, both physically and emotionally, that leave you more vulnerable to more hurt? Have you chosen to hide or excessively protect yourself from further suffering, or have you chosen to keep on living and loving, and risk being hurt again?

1. He meets the women of Jerusalem

Jesus encountered a group of women who were his followers, wailing about his impending death. He told them to wail not for him, but instead for themselves and for Jerusalem, which he predicted would one day be destroyed. Indeed, about 70 years later, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the people of Israel were driven out of the country, not to return fully until this past century.

MEDITATION: What is your place in history? How do you, and how can you, make a difference in the unfolding of human destiny?  What is your part in preventing catastrophic climate change, and in advancing economic, social, and racial justice?

1. His third fall

Jesus fell a third time on his way to crucifixion, according to the Stations legends. He had lost his strength, his power, his reputation: many of his followers had abandoned him.

MEDITATION: What have you lost along life’s way? In what way are you cursed by these losses, and in what ways are you liberated? If you could have anything back that you have lost, what would it be, and what would you do with it if you had that second chance? What do you have to lose now — dignity, pride, position — and what would it be like to lose it?  

1. He is stripped of his garments

In Jesus’ time, it was extremely humiliating to be seen naked. His robe or cloak was taken by the Roman soldiers, who further humiliated him by drawing  lots to see which of them would get it.

MEDITATION: What part of your life do you want to keep “under cover”? When have you been painfully exposed?  In what ways have you made light, downplayed, or disrespected the sufferings of others?

1. He is crucified

His last words were “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This was the moment of Jesus’ worst suffering, but it was also the pivotal moment of the gospel myth.  The writers and the readers of the gospel would have recognized these words as the opening line of Psalm 22.  And they would have remembered the rest of the psalm, which says:  “Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.  In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.”

MEDITATION: What ideas or definitions or theologies about God have you forsaken, or have forsaken you?  What experience or understanding of God has taken their place? 

1. He dies on the cross

The sacred myth of the gospel says that Jesus died on the cross and three days later was resurrected.  The resurrected Jesus lived and breathed and walked and talked again, but he still had the wounds of the crucifixion on his hands and feet and torso.  After he died, he wasn’t the same. 

MEDITATION: What part of you is dying?  What part of you has died?  In what ways will you never be the same?   Do you embrace this change, or regret it?

1. His body is taken down from the cross

The gospels tell us that one of the rulers of Israel, a man named Joseph of Arimathea, secretly admired Jesus and asked to remove and bury his body after his crucifixion.  This surely must have exposed him to danger from the Romans as well as from the other members of the Jewish Sanhedrin. (According to medieval legends, Joseph later came to England to establish the Christian church there, and in England he placed the Holy Grail – the cup used by Jesus in the Last Supper – in a well at Glastonbury.)

MEDITATION: When have you been served profoundly by people who have helped you in secret, with no thought of reward or even thanks? What thankless, hard tasks are you asked to do for the sake of others? Are you willing to do them without recognition or reward? When is it appropriate to expect thanks and reward for your good work, and when does public acknowledgement just get in the way of being of service?

1. His body is laid in the tomb

Jesus’ death was shameful, but he was buried respectfully and honorably. Joseph of Arimathea wrapped his body in a shroud and placed it in a new tomb with herbs and spices, in the traditional manner.

The tomb was the cocoon, the womb, in which the story of Jesus the historical person of first-century Palestine gestated and transformed into the sacred myth of the universal Christ – the manifestation of God, who is unconditional love. Each of the three days in the tomb was a “trimester” in that gestation period…. ending with the resurrection we celebrate at Easter.

MEDITATION: What part of your life is entombed — on hold, unseen?  What kind of “gestation” or transformation is underway within?  What new life might await you when the stone is rolled away from your tomb?

Central Oregon, Winter 2022: a poem

 

Stumpy pyramid juniper trees,

With mossy bark, their twisted limbs,

Offer berries, dusty blue in dense bracts,

Casting shadows long in wide tracts.

 

Among and between them zig and zag;

Hop the rocks broken, bubbled, black:

Vestiges of blasts and flows volcanic.

 

Sun hangs low, shoots light in needles

Through clear cold bright blue high desert sky

To gild the tufts of grass - feathered, pale and dry.

 

The gaze averts beyond the trees

To distant heights adorned in snow,

And sets the consciousness aglow.

 

The soul reflects what it attends:

Into one brings near and far,

What were, will be, and are.

 

 

 

JIM BURKLO

Blog: MUSINGS

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

 

1/6 and the Soul of America

 

Who am I?
 
Who are you?
 
Am I my body?  -- which is very, very different than the body I had when I was born, when I was 6 years old, when I was 21 years old, when I was 41, when I was….
 
Am I my personality?  As a child, I was shy.  As a young adult, I was pretty uptight… but in my mid-twenties, I became free-spirited.  (Maybe too free-spirited.)  With age, I have gained equanimity.  What’s next for my personality?
 
Am I my opinions? My affiliations?  They’ve changed greatly over my lifespan.  I grew up with a conservative world-view.  That morphed into a politically progressive perspective over time. 
 
If I’m really serious about spiritual practice, I need to dissociate my true self from these transitory social and political and personal and physical identities.  My true self is divine, compassionate consciousness itself.  God, in other words.  And God is above and beyond any partisan loyalty.
 
At the same time, my experience of divine compassion in Christian contemplation moves me to engage with the world accordingly.  And that leads me, inexorably, toward defending democracy in this time of unprecedented threats against it.  There’s no way to make compassion real in the structures of society without just governance.  And there’s no just governance without the rule of law, determined by the will of the majority of citizens expressed in free and fair elections.
 
Without democracy, there’s little hope of extending decent health care to all.  Little chance of attenuating severe economic inequality and the corrosion of democracy that results from it.  Little chance of meaningful action to prevent catastrophic climate change.  Little chance of making further progress against racism and sexism and homophobia. 
 
Today we face existential threats to democracy from Republican-dominated states, which are passing voter suppression laws and enabling themselves to cancel the results of free and fair elections, all on the basis of outrageously spurious claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.  And we face the prospect of massive civil unrest, or even civil war, should the next presidential election turn out the way the last one did.
 
What happened on 1/6/2021 is the consequence of a long-term spiritual malaise, centered on the "who am I?" question.  It is the direct consequence of decades of right-wing extremist propaganda convincing millions of people that their precious identities are threatened. 
 
People would rather die physically than suffer the death of their sense of self, which for millions of people consists of being "real" Americans who are under assault from "leftist traitors". That’s the only way to explain why so many Republican voters have refused to be vaccinated, and have maintained their objection even as they lie on their Covid deathbeds.  It’s the only way to explain why so many working-class people voted for Trump even though his policies went directly against their economic interests.  And it is the way to explain why so many Americans are now willing to settle their political scores with violence.
 
To save democracy, and to save the Republic on which it stands, we must address this malaise for what it is: a spiritual crisis.  We must separate our true selves from any political affiliation or orientation.  We must counter the relentless propaganda that has divided America into us and them, real Americans versus the Marxists, wokeists, and the godless.
 
We must separate patriotism from right-wing extremism.
 
And the way to do that is to reclaim a healthy patriotism for everybody.  
 
Political progressives have abandoned the symbols and language of patriotism – for the same fundamental reason that right-wingers have embraced them.  We identify overt expressions of American patriotism with right-wingers.  Therefore, to protect our precious identities as progressives, we shun such symbols and language.  Evidence?  The enormous Women’s Marches of a few years back.  I went to the ones in Los Angeles, and was one of but a handful of folks who waved the US flag.  People looked at me funny until they saw the “pro-choice” sign I carried under it.  At those demonstrations and others after them, I have handed out flags to people who at first were reticent to accept them - but with just a bit of encouragement and explanation, they nodded and started to wave them with me.
 
If we were spiritually mature, we’d understand that our true selves are one with the Ultimate Reality of pure love.  We’d wear all other identities very lightly. 
 
And in that spirit, I pray that we of the progressive political persuasion let go of our hang-ups about waving the flag and singing the national anthem, and wear our American patriotism visibly, happily, often – and with humility.  We’re patriots because we are joining with heroes throughout our nation’s history in working to right America’s wrongs.  We’re patriots because we defend majority rule through free and fair elections.  We’re patriots because we work to extend opportunity and choice and security to all.  We’re patriots because we believe in a humble America that works with other nations to protect the planet. 
 
Our folks need to out-flag the flaggy folks until we’re all united in flagful fellowship.  If progressives become unabashedly patriotic, that will make it much harder for people of the right-wing persuasion to claim that their patriotic identities are under attack.  And if they begin to lose their anger and fear, then real dialogue through democracy can resume. 
 
Progressive patriots, arise! 


#progressivepatriots

 

 

Christmas Conception

A cool clear dawn in early spring:

She stepped outside to fill her jug

With water from the village well.

 

“What is happening to my feet?”

She whispered as she walked along.

They’d never felt so full of life…

 

They seemed to float above the ground.

And up her legs and through her thighs

A tingling rush arose and swelled.

 

The inner glow lit up her groin

And moved into her chest and head;

She had no words for what she felt.

 

The earth stays round by gravity

Pulling things toward itself,

But earth’s a seed that yearns to bloom.

 

The force that pulls in turn rebounds

With lava bursting out from deeps

And water bubbling up in springs

 

And love divine that percolates

Up every break in everything

To find and fill an open heart.

 

A power Mary could not name

Pushed through the earth and up her frame

Into her heart, into her womb.

 

She welcomed it and let it glow,

Encouraged it to dwell and grow;

Make her more human and divine.

 

She passed that love into her son,

Who offered it to everyone;

May it rise through us, each and all,

At Christmas.

My Resources for Churches, Individuals, Families

 

Every so often, I list the progressive Christian resources I've produced, offering them to my colleagues and friends.   As 2021 rolls up, consider using them in 2022...   All I ask is attribution!

My BOOKS on Amazon -- the latest:  TENDERLY CALLING: An Invitation to the Way of Jesus (2021) - an introduction to progressive Christian faith for beginners - great for confirmation and new member groups.  My previous books are still available: MINDFUL CHRISTIANITY (2018) - how mindfulness is woven into the contemplative tradition of Christianity - a great resource for church prayer/study groups.  Mindful Christianity - a video intro to the book . DEEPER LOVE: Faithful Rhetoric for Progressive Social Change (2016) - a handbook for activists and candidates.   HITCHHIKING TO ALASKA: The Way of Soulful Service (2013) - the spirituality of service and social activism.  SOULJOURN (2013) - a novel exploring religious diversity in America.    BIRDLIKE AND BARNLESS (2008) - a progressive "book of common prayer" for use in churches.  OPEN CHRISTIANITY (2000) - an introduction to progressive Christianity.

 

Email me if you'd like to be on the list for these weekly "MUSINGS" blog posts on the practice of progressive faith --

 

LITURGICAL RESOURCES:

 

Jim Burklo's Book of Common Prayer - liturgical resources including invocations, benedictions, litanies, prayers, poetry, etc - reflecting progressive, post-supernaturalist theology.  These are used in congregations around the world.

 

New Words to Old Hymns   - reflecting progressive, post-supernatural theology.   Deeper Love- a social justice song for communion

SKITS - for worship - Against or Through? With or For? But or And?

 

RESOURCES FOR STUDY/PRAYER GROUPS:

 

How to Read the Bible- some basics for progressive Christians, good for study groups.

 

The Varieties of God   An outline of different understandings of God, within and beyond Christianity - a great conversation-starter in study groups.

Contemplative Christian Practices - my series of 3 half-hour videos introducing the mystical tradition of the faith.  Good for study/prayer groups.  Each video introduces practices that take about 30-40 minutes, so devote an hour to each one - and add time for discussion, etc.  Contemplatio - The Questions of Jesus - practices for study/prayer groups - Ten Ways to Meet God - more practices

Mindfulness Practice - five short videos that cover the basic content of the classes I teach at USC for Mindful.USC.edu - good for prayer/study groups:  Mindfulness: an Introduction - Mindfulness of the Body - Mindfulness of Emotions - Mindfulness of Thoughts  - Mindfulness and Compassion  - Mindful Habits 

Resistance Bible Study   What the Bible has to say about resisting tyranny in all its forms.

Samaritan Care: Health Care in America 

 

SEASONS AND SPECIAL SUNDAYS:

 

Fearless Sunday- 2nd Sunday in Sept (or any other Sunday) - a time for pastors and members of churches to "come out of the closet" about their real theological beliefs (or unbeliefs)

 

Election Day:  Blessing the Hands That Cast Ballots - Voting Rituals - How to Be a VOTIVATOR (sharing with each other how we vote)

 

Christmas Poems by Jim Burklo

 

Stations of the Cross: Confronting and Contemplating Climate Change  (a Lent practice for churches and individuals)

 

LENT:  Mindful Christianity Practices  - WORD JAZZ for Fat Tuesday and Lent

 

Tax Day: Blessing of the Taxes (in worship) - Prayer for Tax Day - Progressive Taxation and Christian Faith -

Pluralism Sunday (first Sun in May, or other Sunday of your choice) - celebrating in worship the religions of the world - and the principle that other religions may be as good for others as ours is for us!  Religious Pluralism and the Bible - A Song for Pluralism Sunday - Seven Principles for Interfaith Engagement

St. Buddha's Day (Aug 26 - or whatever day you choose to celebrate it)  - Buddha was once accidentally canonized as a Christian saint... let's revive that tradition as a way of celebrating religious pluralism, and of the striking parallels in the teachings of the Buddha and the Christ!

 

PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN IDENTITY - "messaging" for progressive congregations:

SIGNAGE for progressive churches  - "elevator speeches" - one-liners that set your church apart

QUESTIONS for "church shoppers" to ask - progressive churches' answers are "yes" to all!

A SHORT HISTORY OF PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY - good for new members groups, etc

THE FOUR SPIRITUAL AWES - a short "tract" that expresses the essence of progressive Christianity - print freely!

 

 

RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES AND YOUNG PEOPLE: 

 

See my new website - SOULJOURNING - Nurturing Natural Spirituality in Young People

 

 

Jim Burklo's Stories for Young People:

 

Elephant Eggs (fun - for ages 4-12)

From Seeds and Stardust (an awesome "genesis" story for ages 4-12)

The Clay Bird (a Muslim/Christian story for ages 12 and over)

The Tumbleweeds (fun - for ages 4-12)

Breaking Free (for ages 4-12)

 

Jim Burklo's Interfaith Novel, SOULJOURN (for teens/young adults): Souljourn (e-book)

 

Spiritual Practices for Families:

 

Interfaith Prayer Beads

Make a Sand Mandala

Hold a "Campfire"

Ask People Big Questions

Commit Microaffections

Make Magic Mudballs

Sanctify Your Smartphones

Retell Your Story

Convene a Clearness Campfire

Convene a Dream Campfire

By Heart: Memorizing Scripture Treasures (Jewish/Christian)

Jim Burklo's videos: Introduction to Mindfulness

Ten Ways to Meet God (or Ultimate Reality)

Awexercise - how to cultivate awe

God's Dye: immersing ourselves in spiritual practice

Contemplatio: an interfaith version of a Christian practice

On Creating Rituals

The Ladder of Souls

Good Questions (Can Change the World)

Write Your Own Ten Commandments

Periodic Table of Prayer

Dream Analysis

Cultivating Attention

Looking at Your Unknowns

 

For Parents and Older Youth:

 

The Four Spiritual Awes

The Science of Natural Spirituality

An Invitation to the Quest

Seven Principles of Interfaith Engagement

Holy Jealousy: how other faiths can inspire us

What Muslims Do When They Lose Their Keys: a meditation on interfaith relationships

Interfaith Etiquette

The Varieties of God: how Ultimate Reality is seen from different viewpoints

The Power of Religious Myth

 

ABOUT MYSELF:

SHORT BIO

QUOTATIONS

 

 

 

JIM BURKLO

Blog: MUSINGS

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

Willing to Be Wrong: Rachel Held Evans

A review of Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans

(Harper One, 2021)

I grieved when I finished reading “Wholehearted Faith”.  Not just that a good book had come to an end, but that the source of its words had passed from this world too soon.  Rachel Held Evans died in 2019 at the age of 37, leaving behind her husband, two young children, and a devoted and growing readership of recovering evangelical Christians.  This book was assembled by her friend Jeff Chu from fragments of her unpublished writings. 

It ends with this sentence:  “Even on the days when I’m not sure I can believe it wholeheartedly, this is the story I’m willing to be wrong about.”

And that humility suffuses the whole book.  There was nothing strident nor flashy about Rachel Held Evans.  She turned away from the dogma and politics of her southern Baptist upbringing, but never against the people who raised her in it.  She adored her fundamentalist parents before, during, and after her break with evangelical Christianity.  She wrote that they held their beliefs “carefully and tenderly, with compassion and humility.”  And so in turn she did the same, as her faith evolved away from the dominant paradigm in her hometown of Dayton, Tennessee, where William Jennings Bryan defended six-day creationism in the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925.  Rachel Held Evans became a careful and tender progressive Christian, loving the way of Jesus while leaving behind the toxic religion that hijacked his name. 

The lack of drama is the charm in her story of exodus from evangelicalism.  Her wholehearted faith as a fundamentalist child and teenager led her to take Christianity seriously enough to question, one by one, the doctrines she had been taught.  The overwhelming kindness of her parents brought her cognitive dissonance in the face of the unkindness inherent in evangelical beliefs and culture.  Step by step, her faithfulness itself led her out of one version of Christianity and into another.  One good book at a time, she studied her way out of a spiritual backwater.  “Wholehearted Faith” reveals the erudition she gained along the way: lyrically, she wove profundities from philosophers and theologians into her homespun insights from her everyday life.  The reader can’t help wishing that she or he had been her next-door neighbor.   

So it is no wonder that she appealed so strongly to evangelicals, especially women, who grew frustrated with the misogyny, homophobia, and anti-intellectualism pervading that Christian subculture.  Like her, they loved Jesus, but were disgusted with what was said and done in his name.  Like her, they yearned to cling to what was good in their evangelical upbringing, not wanting to throw out the baby Jesus with the bathwater of bad religion.  They appreciated that she was not a radical, not a rebel, but a lovely, kind person like themselves, seeking a better way to walk the way of Jesus.  “That’s the alluring and mystical beauty of grace:  people are drawn to it, even when they aren’t supposed to be and even when they don’t know why.” 

I could not help wondering, as I read the book, how her theology would have evolved further had her life not been cut so short.  She was well on her way to being a formidable intellectual.  In the book, she admitted that as far as she’d gone in her embrace of progressive theology and practice, she was far from having all the answers to her still-burning questions about the faith.  What to make of the creeds?  Just who or what are we talking about when we talk about God?  For someone who came so far so fast, it is alluring to consider just how much farther she could have gone - and we with her. 

So it is up to us, Rachel’s readers and admirers, to take those next steps.  To extrapolate from her life and her witness – just as her friend Jeff Chu has done so well in assembling this book.  To be so willing to follow Jesus that we’re always willing to be wrong about how we do it… as she was.

By Heart: Scripture Treasures for Children

Certain passages from sacred texts can live in your heart and nourish you from within for a lifetime, giving your soul a voice in times of joy and of crisis. You can make it a family affair! Pick out passages to memorize together, reciting them at mealtime or bedtime.  This is a list of special biblical treasures that are well worth committing to memory. I most recommend using the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament):

Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1-4,7-8,12-17

The Aaronic Benediction: Numbers 6:24-26

Ruth's Promise: Ruth 1:16-17

Elihu's Speech: Job 37:14-24

Psalms: 8, 23, 46:1-2a, 10, 92:1, 95:1-2, 100 or 100:1-2, 118:24, 121 or 121:2

Proverbs: Proverbs ch. 8

Prophecy: Isaiah 2:2-4, 11:1-3a, 11:6-9, 40:1-11,27-31, 61:1-2, Amos 5:21-24, Micah 6:8

 

New Testament:

Beatitudes of Jesus: Matthew 5:3-10

Jesus - Light: Matthew 5:16

Jesus - Love Enemies: Matthew 5:43-48

Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus- Do Not Be Anxious: Matthew 7:25-34

Jesus - Asking: Matthew 7:7-12

Jesus - With You Always: Matthew 28:20

Jesus - Children: Mark 10:13-16

Jesus - Communion: Mark 14:22-25

Magnificat: Luke 1:46-55

Simeon's Blessing: Luke 2:29-32

Jesus - Golden Rule: Luke 6:27-31

Jesus - Law of Love: Luke 10:27

Jesus - Parables of Mustard and Leaven: Luke13:18-21

The Word: John 1:1-5

For God So Loved the World: John 3:16

Jesus - Love One Another: John 13:34-35

Jesus - Lay Down His Life: John 15:12-13

Hope: Romans 8:18-28

Hold Fast to the Good: Romans 12:9-12

God of Hope: Romans 15:13

The Body of Christ: 1 Corinthians 12

The Love Chapter: 1 Corinthians 13

Be Kind: Ephesians 4:25-32

Armor of God: Ephesians 6:10-17

Put on Compassion: Colossians 3:12-17

Doers of the Word: James 1:19-25

God Is Love: 1 John 4:7-12

He First Loved Us: 1 John 4:19-21

River of Life: Revelation 22:1-5

God Can't

If God is love, then suffering and evil aren’t God’s fault.  Love attracts but doesn’t force, doesn’t compel.  If God is love, then God is omnipresent, but is neither omnipotent nor omniscient.  Because, if God is love, we have choices – and that makes our behavior unpredictable.  We might follow the light of divine love and do right, or we might ignore it and do wrong.

Thomas Jay Oord, professor at the new online Northwind Theological Seminary, expands on this view of the divine in “GOD CAN’T:  How to Believe in God and Love After Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils” (SacraSage, 2019).  He is steeped in process theology, having received his PhD from Claremont School of Theology.  In this book, Tom Oord makes the essentials of process thought accessible to lay readers who wrestle with the failure of evangelical theology to make sense of theodicy, otherwise known as the problem of evil: how can a loving God allow terrible suffering to exist?    

Oord used to teach at a Nazarene seminary in Idaho, so he is fluent in “evangelicalese”, as is evident in his writing.  His book provides a sturdy footbridge for evangelicals to make the crossing, step by careful step, into progressive Christian theology.  The title of the book may be jarring to a conservative Christian, but if she or he screws up the fortitude to open it, whether out of curiosity or out of desperation, inside will appear reassurance that the God who can’t prevent evil is still the God of the Christian faith.  Even the layout of the book is redolent of evangelical culture: there are cursive inserts in the text with “teasers” about that section’s content, and there are study questions at the end of each chapter. 

Tom Oord gets it that the problem of evil is the tipping point for a lot of people in their relationship with Christianity.  Most pastors blow bad theological sunshine at good church members when bad things happen to them.  And lots of folks head for the exits as a result.  Oord systematically debunks each of the common religious nostrums used to sweep away the problem of evil, and the defunct concepts of God that go with them.  Along the way he paints a fresh picture of the divine.  God works alongside us toward the good.  God joins us in making the best out of bad situations.  God feels our pain and stands with us in doing our best to alleviate it.  God needs us to work God’s will of love in the world.  There are things God can’t do, but not because God chose not to do them.  While God is limitless, God’s nature – and the nature of Nature itself – allow for all entities in the universe to make choices that cannot be predicted, and that may result in tragic consequences.  Oord’s portrait of God reflects closely the concept of the divine in Whiteheadian process theology, without burdening the reader with its arcana.

Tom Oord has walked where he invites his readers to follow:  “God was once the source of my greatest fears… I considered myself a sinner in the hands of an angry God… I no longer fear God.  It took a while for me to arrive where I am today… The key to overcoming my fear was realizing God always loves me.  God’s perfect love cast out my fear of God!” 

This is a very useful book – one I’d recommend to an evangelical Christian struggling with the inherent absurdities of that interpretation of the faith.  My only critique of it is that he uses the language of God as a supernatural personality without the content that goes with it.  So the reader might well be left with a God who is a hollow shell of what the reader used to think of as the divine.  While Oord explicitly disavows the "clockwork God" of deism – standing at a remove from the world and letting it run - that might be the kind of God that the reader is left with.  The cure for traditional supernatural theism is contemplative practice rooted in monastic Christianity, leading us into the palpable experience of the God who is love.