Jesus' Family Values: From Clan to Cosmos

What are the real values of the unmarried, radical social reformer who urges us to "hate father and mother" (Gospel of Luke) and "love parents as I do" (Gospel of Thomas)? An odd poster-boy for right-wing "family values," Jesus challenges the narrow confines of clan and tribe in the name of a larger humanity. In this interactive class led by Interweave Director Robert Corin Morris and guests, we'll look at different manifestations of family in the Bible (polygamy, monogamy, and monasticism among them), and explore the shifts in "family" in our own day.



Jesus' Family Values: From Clan to Cosmos

4 Wednesdays beg. June 4, 9:30-11:30 a.m.

$60 ($50 Interweave Members)

Christ Church, 66 Highland Ave., Short Hills

Register at 908-277-2120 or online at www.interweave.org

Memorial to GLBTQ killed in WWII

Der Spiegel reports on a memorial in Berlin to murdered GLBTQ people in WWII. Meantime, the NY Times reports that Gov. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada. And (barring legal action) June 17th is D-Day in California.

Lady's slipper orchids

On the Maine state list of threatened plants...

James MacMillan's "Seven Last Words from the Cross"

The May 25th program last Sunday of BBC Radio 3's The Choir has a rare interview with the Scottish composer James MacMillan with excerpts from some of his pieces including the third movement of his "Seven Last Words from the Cross," namely, "Verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in Paradise." The program is available for a week. Its theme is the influence of plainsong on modern music.

Prayer as Showing Up (and other things)

Speaking of Faith this week with Krista Tippett is on Approaching Prayer in different traditions with Roberta Bondi (now emeritus professor of Emory University--when did that happen???), Stephen Mitchell (translator) and Anoushka Shankar (musician and singer of Sanskrit chants).

At the outset, Anoushka Shankar links prayer and music and gives useful tips on the OMMMMMMMMMM chant and cleansing vibrations. Sanskrit prayers often end with OM and Shanti (peace).

Stephen Mitchell speaks of non-religious prayer (prayer as concentration and intense activity) and Roberta Bondi talks of praying with the desert fathers and mothers. She points out that there is no right way to pray: you have to find your own way. She tells a wonderful story about studying the Ammas and Abbas as an academic BEFORE praying with them at a point when she was worrying about her husband.

Prayer is our end of a relationship with God so showing up for prayer is important. In another story she relates how she came home from teaching at the end of the day to be met by crises of the family: this is showing up every day, not turning away.

The focus of the program is individual prayer. One commentator pointed out that the program doesn't mention corporate prayer in any religious tradition. The music is however chant.

Visions of the Virgin Mary in California

From the San Francisco Chronicle comes a report of visions of the Virgin Mary. On the 13th of every month, they say, the Virgin Mary appears and speaks to a woman named Maria Paula Acuna. Crowds have gathered here, about 10 miles north of California City, for nearly 20 years.

Scholars who have studied the phenomenon see a pattern: Publicity draws the curious and faithful, but the excitement quickly fizzles. Rarely is a lasting community forged, said Lisa Bitel, a professor of history and religion at the University of Southern California who is co-writing a book on Our Lady of the Rock.

That the BVM would appear in California is a notion I find strangely warming...

Black Clergy supporting same-sex marriage

From the LA Times' Jasmine Cannick:-

Nationally, the list of prominent black clergy supporting the right of lesbians and gays to marry has grown exponentially over the last several years to include Sharpton; Unitarian Universalist Assn. President William Sinkford; Harvard University chaplain Peter J. Gomes; Georgetown University's Michael Eric Dyson; his wife, Rev. Marcia L. Dyson; and Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.

Yes, that's right. The pastor whose comments were inaccurately portrayed by the media as being unpatriotic --and then were used by presidential candidate Barack Obama's opponents to distract voters -- is and has been a supporter for equal rights of lesbian and gay couples. The media somehow missed that in all its criticism of Wright.

Something to think about...

Jesus' wife, Anastasia?

Acts 17:18 reports the reaction of philosophers in Athens to Paul's preaching of Jesus and the resurrection: "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities." Since "divinities" is plural, Jesus and the resurrection must be the subject. The Greek word "anastasis" is feminine, hence Jesus and "anastasis" or Anastasia must be the "divinities." All of which indicates that one is responsible for what is perceived as well as what is preached.

Orioles!

Jesus and the Family

I'm conducting a two day class on Jesus and Family Values today and tomorrow and will be able to include mention of Jeff Sharlet's new book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Especially when I will have read it tomorrow.

We are fortunate enough to have generations of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks on our feeders in Maine. (The link gives you a recording of their song).
Here's the new generation this Spring whom we try to identify (perhaps erroneously) by the rose breast markings. In the background you can see a hairy woodpecker (?) at the suet.

UPDATE: here's a visitor this afternoon! A pileated woodpecker!