Jesus, Buddha, & Grammatolatry at St. Mary’s Brisbane

After talking about the Buddhist statue controversy at St. Mary’s South Brisbane, we were reminded of just how many similar teachings and attitudes exist between Jesus and Buddha. One of the most prominent behaviors which these two prophets share is that neither one wrote anything down. By today’s standards (where everyone seems to be writing about every triviality under the sun, and then sharing it with millions of online strangers) the idea of possessing profound wisdom but then not writing it down sounds absurd.

Why in the world did Buddha and Jesus do that? After all, it certainly would have solved a lot of headaches and conflicts had they just put their thoughts down on paper (ok, parchment).

If we return to consider the “Buddha” incident at St. Mary’s, an answer to this conundrum actually emerges. As we mentioned in our earlier post, some Christians (including a few St. Mary’s parishioners) mistakenly confused the placement of Buddhist statue with idol worship. Idol worship is something that greatly concerned Jesus and Buddha.¹

Not so much the worship of golden calves or physical idols, but the far more insidious idolatry of the written word–because when words become canonized, codified, and literalized they quickly lose their transcendent, life-transforming, power. The living Word becomes dead letter scripture, which now petrified can be used to bludgeon all those who disagree.

During the 1870s, the American social reformer Robert Dale Owen eloquently stated that: “The worship of words is more pernicious than the worship of images. Grammatolatry is the worst species of idolatry. We have arrived at an era in which literalism is destroying faith “The letter killeth.”

If we were only arriving at Christianity’s destructive era in Owen’s time, then today we certainly have reached its denouement. The question that remains is whether or not from these ashes a new, brighter, Phoenix of faith will rise for Progressive Christians. If the goings-on at St. Mary’s South Brisbane are any indication, there is some reason for hope.

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Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

1. Do not believe in anything because it is rumored and spoken of by many; do not think it is proof of its truth. Do not believe merely because the written statement of some old sage is produced; do not be sure that the writing has never been revised by the sage, or can be relied on – Buddha – Wheel of the Law [↩]

Our Relationships With God

And the moon rose over an open field… So it goes in Simon & Garfunkel’s classic song “America”. These 8 simple words are perhaps the most eloquent turn of phrase in all popular music–and a lyric that should serve as a strong metaphor for Progressive Christians and all those who seek the pathway to God.

When the moon is close the horizon, hovering just above the open fields or cityscapes, it appears incredibly large, as though we could almost touch it. Yet as it rises in the sky it becomes smaller and feels beyond our grasp. It all comes down to a matter of perspective. When the moon is closer to the horizon and our world, we can better perceive its grandeur. But when it is above our heads, there is nothing to relate it to except the tiny distant stars and planets. The moon becomes just another heavenly body beyond our reach.

The same can be said of our relationship with God, the Father. The further away that we place him in a heavenly mansion in the sky, the less tangible and real he feels. But when we begin to see God and the Holy Spirit working today (in the living hour) all around us–in friends and strangers, neighbors and family, and in every living thing of this green Earth, the larger and more magnificent he becomes. This, of course, is why Jesus of Nazareth tells us the Kingdom of God is “at hand”¹ not in the heavens above.

Although he doesn’t realize it, Paul Simon’s traveler ultimately finds “America” while laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces, his traveling partner imagining the man in the gabardine suit was a spy. We are to find God the same way.

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Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

To read about Saadi, Barack Obama, the Gulistan, and Islam, please go to: For the Sake of God.

1. After John had been committed to prison, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God: “The time has come, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:14-16 [↩]

Kahlil Gibran & The Ass Loaded With Books of Wisdom

The Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran is best known for his elegant and moving book The Prophet. But Gibran produced many other works during his short life, which ended in 1931. Since his death, Gibran has inspired countless spiritual progressives, including artists like John Lennon who paraphrased Gibran’s famous verse, “Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you,” in the Beatle’s song Julia, from the White Album.

In A Second Treasury of Kahlil Gibran there is one passage that is especially poignant and should be recalled frequently by Progressive Christians and all who are walking the path of spiritual progress:

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. If your knowledge doesn’t teach you the real value of things, nor frees you from the bondage of matter, you will never come near the altar of Truth. If your knowledge doesn’t teach you to rise above human weakness and misery to help lead others on the right path, you are indeed someone of little worth and will remain so until judgment day.¹

Learn the words of wisdom uttered by the wise and apply them to your own life. Live them, but do not make a grand show of reciting them in public–for someone who repeats what they do not fully understand is no better than an ass loaded with books. Remember that one person who is just gives the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers in God.

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Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

1. In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. This does not mean that we are to wring our hands over yesterday’s sins, so as to prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s final day of judgment. There is no singular last day. Our day of judgment is here with us always, and in a million different ways. It demands only that we make a decision, and make it on our own. – The Lord’s Prayer For Daily Life, pg. 27 [↩]

Peace, My Brother!

One thing that hippies, new agers, and evangelical Christians have in common is that they often are easy targets to make fun of. All their talk about peace, love, vibrations, Jesus, and the Lord (day in and day out) gets tiring and weirds more than a few people out. It makes many folks feel as though it all issues from an overwhelming sense of doubt; like these groups are trying to convince themselves that this stuff really exists.

One also feels some pity for the language itself, because when certain words are repeated over and over again their meanings become blurry and descend into gobbledygook. You know what I mean, kind sister. You get the drift, my brother. Thank the Lord that we understand each other. Let’s grab hands and feel the vibration.

Back in the 1960s, Lenny Bruce often used the most racially charged ethnic slurs in his performances. He said that by continually repeating these offensive words they would lose their taboo and power to harm. When it comes to the language of Progressive Christians and the Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR), we might take the advice of Lenny Bruce, but in reverse.

Let’s dial back the God talk, the Jesus speak, the hippie platitudes, and the new age jargon, so as to reinvigorate the language of the spirit, love, peace, and brotherhood, and to ensure that when we do use this language it has significance, power, sincerity, and real meaning.

All the things that we hold dear and wish to see more of on this earth don’t require so much that we invoke them out loud but that we act upon them in our daily lives. Peace out.

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The Living Hour’s SBNR motivational series combines history, literature, philosophy, psychology, and religion to help bring about new perspectives on Progressive Christianity and spirituality. Sign up by entering your email address into the “Opening the Small Gate” box in the right corner of this web page.

Progressive Christianity & SBNR Bookstore

Press Release (6.13.09) The LivingHour.org has announced the addition of an SBNR & Progressive Christian Bookstore to its online activities. The new online bookstore for spiritual progressives is in association with Amazon.com, and will include fiction, poetry and non-fiction on various subjects. “We are looking to include in our booklist more than just the usual suspects read by Progressive Christians and the SBNR,” says Pastor David, director of The Living Hour.

“Spiritual life in the 21st century should encompass everything: science, history, philosophy, pop culture, literature, etc., and (as Gandhi once said) we should all keep learning about these things as if we expected to live forever,” explains Pastor David.

The first listing of books for Progressive Christians and the SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious) include Jacques Barzun’s fascinating history survey From Dawn to Decadence; psychologist Carl Jung’s seminal work on the unconscious, The Undiscovered Self; theologian Paul Tillich’s classic call to vocation, The Courage to Be; Michael Talbot’s explosive unification of science and spirituality, The Holographic Universe; and Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write, a book on art, independence, and living joyfully.

According to Pastor David, all of the books are chosen with the aim to help readers better understand the world and our place in it. In addition, every selection has been read by LivingHour.org and was picked not just for its brilliance but for its clear, crisp, and entertaining writing style. All are highly accessible and will challenge readers’ perceptions in fesh and exciting ways. New books will be added weekly.

Video picks are also included at the bookstore, including cult director Hal Hartley’s Book of Life (a comic retelling of the apocalypse, where Jesus arrives at JFK airport), and Eliseo Subiela’s provocative Spanish film Man Facing Southeast (Hombre Mirando al Sudeste), about an enigmatic patient at a mental institution, who may or may not be from this world.

Also available from LivingHour.org is the website’s free e-book The Lord’s Prayer For Daily Life, with New Century Gospels, which provides new insight into Jesus’s beloved prayer, as well as his parables and teachings.

To view The Living Hour’s online bookstore please click the following link: SBNR & Progressive Christianity Bookstore.

Ayatollah Montazeri’s Letter Of Dissent

It is with great hope and interest that Progressive Christians are watching the current political protests in Iran. The recent public address by Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri to the Iranian people was striking in its honesty. In his letter Ayatollah Montazeri slams the regime for its astonishingly violent attempts to purge dissent, and its illegitimate arrests of intellectuals, political opponents, and scientists.

Montazeri warns the ruling hierarchy of Iran that a legitimate state must respect all points of view, and should not oppress critical views. He urges the government to take all measures to restore people’s confidence, further warning that a government not respecting the people’s vote has no religious or political legitimacy.

To the youth of Iran, Montazeri encourages them in their continued struggle to reclaim what is rightfully theirs, while warning the police and army personnel not to “sell their religion,” and be aware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God. Censorship and cutting telecommunication lines can’t hide the truth, says Grand Ayatollah Montazeri.

Progressive words indeed. Let us hope for the sake of the Iranian people that their country is on the brink of seeing true reform.

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Get The Living Hour’s free interfaith motivational series combining history, literature, philosophy, religion, and pop culture by entering your email address into the “Opening the Small Gate” box in the right corner of this web page. We bring new perspectives of Progressive Christianity and the spiritual life.

Why Progressive Christianity?

In the latest e-bulletin from The Center for Progressive Christianity, President Fred Plumer includes some letters sent by readers. One writer says that the members of his liberal community have “long ago opted out of the Christian cultural-linguistic game altogether and have become either Epicurean Gourmands, Secular Humanists, Process New Thought, Global Mystics, Unitarian Universalists, or else they define themselves as Unaffiliated Life-Long Learners and Spiritual Seekers who have turned from organized religion to an integral cultural creative lifestyle that synthesizes an interest in spirituality, philosophy, literature, history, arts, science, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, cosmology and ecology.”

He finishes off his letter by asking, “Do Progressive Christians really believe that secular and spiritual but not religious social liberals are going to be drawn back to ‘Christianity’ by holding radically immanent theological assumptions and progressive social views that secular folks already hold, but without any need or desire to identify these assumptions and values as distinctly or uniquely ‘Christian?’ If so, I can only say, Really?”

To the letter writer, our answer at The Living Hour is yes, we think they will. Not all of them. And not right away. But down the road those of us working within Progressive Christianity think it will happen because while all those belief systems are fine which your community members have embraced, they lack the archetypal power of the Christian religion. Christianity is filled with an abundance of iconography, rituals, and mythology that can fulfill the spiritual life of people in a way that Secular Humanism and other philosophies find hard to match.

It is thus the work of Progression Christian leaders and churches to refashion and reinterpret these rituals, symbols, and stories so that they can find a welcome home in the modern, educated, and multi-cultural mind. In addition, it is the “organized” function of Progressive Christian Churches not to organize theology (as it was in the past) but to provide an organizational base to strengthen the fabric of local communities, a place where citizens can partake in fellowship and coordinate good works for those in need. It would be a mistake to underestimate the great power of these religious aspects in helping us transform our lives, or the great yearning we have as human beings for them–regardless of whether we all acknowledge it.

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If you would like to read about a childhood prayer to replace “Now I lay me down to sleep…” please go to: The Lord’s Prayer for Kids.

Please sign up for The Living Hour’s free Progressive Christianity series. This SBNR Motivational series combines history, literature, philosophy, psychology, and religion to help bring about new perspectives for Progressive Christians and anyone who seeks a better understanding of “God” and life’s purpose. Sign up in the right corner of this web page to have these progressive Motivationals delivered to your e-mail box three times a week.

Jesus & The Wiz

On reading that Broadway was reproducing the classic 1970s musical The Wiz, we were reminded of one of its most memorable songs, Ease on Down the Road, sung by a spirited Diana Ross (Dorothy) and Michael Jackson (Scarecrow) while on their way to see The Wiz (Richard Pryor).

The song tells us don’t you carry nothing that might be a load, come on, ease on down, ease on down the road.

For Progressive Christians called by Jesus to repeatedly lay down our lives for others¹, this is good advice. We are not asked to carry the burdens of others, but to lift up the fallen. Jesus teaches this in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The charitable man from Samaria doesn’t fret over the fate and circumstances of his fallen brethren but lifts him up from the road, does what he can to tend to the man’s needs, then eases on down, eases on down the road..

When we Christians feel compelled to carry the burdens of others, more often than not, it reveals a compulsion to martyrdom: a strong desire to identify ourselves with Jesus on the Cross. But it was through life and joy that Jesus sought to teach us about the kingdom of God (The Wiz), not through suffering and death.

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The Living Hour’s SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious) motivational series combines history, literature, philosophy, religion, and popular culture to help bring about new perspectives for Progressive Christians and anyone who seeks a better understanding of “God” and life’s purpose. Sign up to have these progressive Motivationals delivered to your e-mail box three times a week.

1. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life to receive it again. No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father. – John 10:17-18 [↩]

Talking of Eternal Things

In St. Pauls second Epistle to the Corinthians, he tells the community to remember that “the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” When this idea is delivered from the pulpit of Christian churches today, preachers usually discuss how it refers to God’s grace, the Holy Spirit, or the kingdom of Heaven.

The problem is that we tend to think of all these things as God’s alone or God’s gifts to us. They come from the outside and thus we don’t consider ourselves as co-creators of eternal things, along with the Father.

But as Sons and Daughters of God, we are all inheritors and builders of His kingdom, grace, and spirit of eternal things that are more magical than Harry Potter’s wand. India’s Mahatma Gandhi once delivered an adage that is probably as well known as St. Paul’s, and that is: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

It is by living intensely and learning joyfully that we grab the reigns of our eternal natures in Christ. Human experience and knowledge are not temporal: we cannot truly see the feelings associated with a beautiful sunrise, a first kiss, or the birth of a child, any more than we can see the thoughts connected with learning a new language, tying a slip knot, or mastering differential equations–they are eternal.

This life will one day end. But the harvest of the heart and mind is with you always.

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The Living Hour’s motivational series combines history, literature, philosophy, psychology, religion, and popular culture to help bring about new perspectives for Progressive Christians and anyone who seeks a better understanding of “God” and life’s purpose. Sign up to have these progressive Motivationals delivered to your e-mail box three times a week.

For the Sake of God

The Gulistan (Rose Garden) is the masterwork of 13th century Persian writer Sa’di (Saadi), a celebrated poet who recently was quoted by President Barack Obama in his 2009 address to the people of Iran. In the Gulistan, Saadi tells a story that goes like this:

A person with a harsh voice was reciting loudly the Koran. A good and holy man went up to him and asked, “How much are you getting paid for that?” The person answered, “Nothing.”

“If that is so,” asked the other, “why give yourself so much trouble?” He answered, “I am reading for the sake of God!” The good and holy man replied, “For God’s sake do not read, for if you chant the Koran in this manner, you are casting a shade over the glory of Islam.

Saadi’s story is an instructive one for Muslims and Progressive Christians alike. All too often we attribute to God human characteristics like jealousy and neediness, which in turn makes us think that God demands that we glorify Him and do things for His sake. By doing so, we paint God in a rather poor light, as if he were akin to an insecure earthly father who demands allegiance and obedience from his adult children.

God (the good heavenly Father) wants us to read scripture and poetry not for His sake, but for our own sake, for the benefit of the Christ seed in us, so that we might grow in our love for one another and the living world around us. It is by realizing our potential as Sons and Daughters of God, and loving our neighbors as ourselves, that we honor Islam and Mohammed, Christianity and Jesus, and God the Father, not by appealing to Jehovah’s or Allah’s non-existent vanity.

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Please subscribe to The Living Hour’s free Daily SBNR Motivationals by entering your email address into the “Opening the Small Gate” box in the right corner of this web page. This Progressive Christianity series is written for Unitarians, Agnostics, and all who seek a richer life.

To read about Joseph Campbell, Carlos Castaneda, and the Power of Myth, please go to: Bliss Path & Heart Road.

Progressive Christian Resolutions

When Progressive Christians look toward their lineage, few find sympathy with the old Calvinists of 18th century New England. Jonathan Edwards� sermon �Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God� is one of the last things we equate with the tenants of Progressive Christianity. And yet Jonathan Edwards, like all of us, is a complicated individual. While going off the rails at times (okay, a lot of the time), at other junctures he sets his wheels on a path worth admiring. Edwards was one who believed in laying down resolutions, and following them diligently. The following resolutions are taken from his famous list of 70, and ones which all Progressive Christians could benefit from:

1) Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.

2) To live with all my might, while I do live.

3) To be endeavoring to find fit objects of charity and liberality.

4) That I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

5) Never to speak evil of anyone�

6) To do, always, what I can towards making, maintaining, and preserving peace.

7) To ask myself, at the end of every day, week, month, and year, wherein I could possibly, in any respect, have done better.

8) Not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness, and benignity.

9) To improve every opportunity, when I am in the best and happiest frame of mind.

10) Let there be something of benevolence in all that I speak.

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To read about the renegade progressive Christians at St. Mary’s Brisbane, please go to: Support St. Mary�s Brisbane & Fr. Peter Kennedy

Buddha At St. Mary’s?

In an earlier posting, we lent our moral support to the progressive ministry of St. Marys Church, South Brisbane in their dispute with the Roman Catholic Church. The issue that seems to be receiving the most debate (and disagreement) among Progressive Christians is Fr. Peter Kennedy’s placing of a Buddhist statue inside the church.

A few have stated that this is the equivalent of promoting idolatry, something which no Christian can tolerate. First, we should set the record straight and recognize that the statue in question was not of Buddha but a Buddhist monk praying. But even if it were of Buddha, this shouldn’t really matter. Gautama Buddha did not profess to be God but a man, and he is not deified by Buddhists.

If having iconography or statues within a place of worship is equivalent to idol worship, then we Christians are (as they say) guiltier than sin. Statues of Jesus, Mary, and the Saints fill thousands of churches, and cross jewelry adorns the bodies of millions. Yet most Christians are no guiltier of idol worship than most Buddhists.

In our meditation on How We Worship, we mentioned how rituals only point towards divine truths. They are not spiritual canisters that contain power in and of themselves. The same goes for religious iconography like statues: be they statues of Jesus Christ or Gautama Buddha. Religious followers are expected to use them as visual reference points to help them turn inward toward a communion with their own inner divinity.

In other words, when the Buddhist monk kneels down in prayer, he (like the Christian) is seeking God’s Kingdom with reverence and humility. And that is something Progressive Christians should not only support but welcome into our churches–recalling Jesus’s words that those who are not against us are with us (Mark 9:40).

When Will Christ Come? The Second Coming Is Now

When will the Second Coming occur? This seems to be a question of utmost importance to many Christians today, as we struggle through seemingly endless economic and environmental crises. The question of the Second Coming though has been front and center in the minds of Christians ever since Jesus shuffled off his mortal coil. John didn’t help matters much in penning Revelations, the New Testament book that causes the literal Bible reader to suddenly have a change of heart and see hidden metaphors and signs in every turn of phrase.

What exactly is a sign of Christ’s Second Coming? For the great Irish poet William Butler Yeats it was when “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.” Even though Jesus warned us against looking for signs, Yeats seems to be on the right track. What better way to describe our politics, media, and the overall coarsening of American life than by saying the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. The Second Coming must surely be at hand.

And in fact it is. The Second Coming is now. It has always been now. From Jesus’s day through Yeats’s time to today, the best (more often than not) have always lacked conviction, while the worst have continued to behave like the Pharisees and Sadducees: full of passionate intensity. The real question for Christians is whether or not we are ready to answer the call of the Holy Spirit, accept our divinity in Christ, and begin that journey down the road less traveled, yet which makes all the difference.

Challenge your perceptions on the Kingdom of Heaven, the Gospel of Christ, and the spiritual life of Jesus by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. All proceeds go to support our progressive ministry.

Please subscribe to The Living Hour’s free Daily Motivationals by entering your email address into the box in the right corner of this web page.

Progressive Christians: The Question of Ministry

There have been discussions recently among Progressive Christians about what does (or should) ministry include. The question is being posed a bit incorrectly. The question should be, “What does ministry NOT include?” Because when we begin to think about it from this vantage point, we start to realize that there are no good works, no vocations, and no discussions that are beyond the province of Progressive Christian Ministry.

Let’s return again to Henry David Thoreau. The famous 19th century transcendentalist once wrote: That which we are, we are all the while teaching. This sounds like something Jesus might say. For when we are in Christ, and following the path of love, patience, and diligence, it does not matter the work we are doing (be it carpentry, teaching, chemistry, or waiting tables), we are performing a ministry through the example of who we are. But when we lash out in anger, rush through jobs impatiently, or judge those around us harshly, our Christian ministry stops dead in its tracks.

For the Progressive Christian, there should be no division between ministers and lay people. In Christ, the reverend and the software developer are both ministers. We are all meant to be ministers and stewards of each other’s divinity, as well as the unique skills and talents that God grants us. Finding and developing those skills is a ministry in itself, a ministry to the Christ in us. Applying those skills through good works, and in a loving manner, is another ministry, one offered to the world at large. But these are not the only ministries. Ministry does not stop when “the work” stops. It continues on through each and every aspect of our lives: from the ways we deal with friends and family to the ways we play and express our joy. So to paraphrase Thoreau, That which we are, is a ministry we are all the while teaching.

To read about the suggested role of the Progressive Christian Pastor in today’s church, please go to: The New Reverend’s Role.

Support St. Mary’s Brisbane & Fr. Peter Kennedy

The Living Hour fully supports the parishioners of St. Mary’s Brisbane (Australia) and their priest Fr. Peter Kennedy in their dispute with the Roman Catholic Church. In brief, the Bishop wrote to Fr. Kennedy threatening to close down the church if the priest and congregation did not return to a more orthodox version of the faith. This is the second occasion on which the Bishop had chastised Fr. Kennedy and his “errant” parishioners. You can show your support to these Progressive Christians who, like Jesus, are speaking truth to “power” run amuck by becoming a member of their website at:

http://www.stmaryssouthbrisbane.com/

What follows is recent correspondence between the Bishop and Fr. Kennedy, and between the parish community and the Bishop. The letter from the Bishop is filled with tricky rhetorical flourishes to try to bring Fr. Kennedy and the parish in line. But they ultimately are empty arguments, such as when the Bishop says:

“The separation of Christians is contrary to all that Christ prayed for. Nor does such division promote the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus of course never prayed for the unity of “Christians” but the unity of ALL people. In The Lord’s Prayer he taught his disciples to pray “Thy (Father’s) Kingdom Come, Thy will be done.” That WILL being the recognition and fulfillment of our identities as Sons and Daughters of God: something that the parish of St. Mary’s is working towards by following the Holy Spirit’s call within them–the call that trumps all others, including the dictates of an Archdiocese. The Bishop and the Roman Catholic Church (in not recognizing that their own actions are the ones creating the division of God’s Kingdom) should recall Luke 6:42:

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you don’t see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you’ll see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

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Dear Peter,

Thank you for your letter of 12 January with its invitation to further discuss the situation of St Mary’s South Brisbane. I see no reason to do so. I have repeatedly asked for changes but you and the community have not budged an inch. Moreover South Brisbane’s instant disclosure of my letters and comments in the media gives me no reason to enter into discussion. By all means consult the people of St Mary’s as you wish but ultimately you yourself are the shepherd and leader of its decisions. Time and time again I have spelt out a request for changes at St Mary’s Parish if it is to remain in communion with the Archdiocese of Brisbane and the Roman Catholic Church. However time and time again St Mary’s has chosen to go its own way. Therefore reluctantly I make the following decisions.

1. I will terminate your appointment as Administrator of St Mary’s Parish effective Saturday, 21 February 2009 unless you were to resign beforehand.

I would like to add, without trying to exert pressure, that if you wish to retire from active service as a priest, the Archdiocese will assist you as it does with other Archdiocesan priests who retire.

2. From the 21st February 2009 I will appoint Dean Ken Howell, of St Stephen’s Cathedral, as Administrator of St Mary’s, until a new Administrator is appointed.

From Sunday, 22 February 2009 regular Masses at 7am and 9am will be celebrated at St Mary’s Church until the matter is reviewed. Other sacraments of the Church will be available and can be arranged with Dean Ken Howell. Church goers attached to St Mary’s are most welcome to continue, as well as those who wish to return to the parish or those who wish to become new parishioners.

3. I sincerely hope that St Mary�s emphasis on social justice will remain. However such matters should be discussed with the new Administrator.

4. Because of its name, chosen originally in 1864, I also hope that sound Marian devotion will be promoted at St Mary’s as was normal in the past. I will do whatever I can to facilitate and encourage this devotion.

5. Because there is doubt about the validity of the many baptisms performed at St Mary’s, I will nominate a special day in the near future when baptisms can be performed at St Stephen’s Cathedral and certificates issued to parents concerned about validity, or those who are adult converts. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made it clear in March 2008 that invalid baptisms cannot be dismissed and forgotten. They must be corrected.

6. Peter you have already claimed in the media that you may lead people who desire to follow you into a breakaway Christian community elsewhere in South Brisbane. I cannot stop you from doing so. However those who follow you should realise that they will not be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

Peter, making these decisions gives me no satisfaction whatsoever. The separation of Christians is contrary to all that Christ prayed for. Nor does such division promote the Kingdom of God. You have had ample time to make a considered decision. Please God the division that exists at the present time will be healed in the future, probably not in my time. I ask the priests, deacons, religious and people of the Archdiocese of Brisbane to pray for me and for all who belong to the Archdiocese, especially the community of St Mary’s in its present situation. In this matter I pray also that Mary the mother of Jesus will be our inspiration and guide as we seek her prayerful support for the healing of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, and St Mary�s Parish.

The response from the Parish Council to Archbishop Bathersby:

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Your Grace,

The members of St Mary�s Community remain in shock regarding your decision to terminate Peter Kennedy as Administrator of our faith community.

As a community we have sought to engage respectfully with you over the past six months and we continue to feel ignored by your refusal to meet with us. At no time in our communication have you acknowledged the input and the role of the laity of St Mary�s Community.

As Catholics we fully understand your position and authority within the Roman Catholic Church. It is with much dismay that we have witnessed the Canonical process unfold in a manner in which we feel there to be a grave misuse of power. You have acted on the belief that St Mary�s Community is out of communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

We as a community testify that:

1. Peter Kennedy is a man of faith who leads this community with integrity and honesty. We reject the claim that Peter�s ministry has caused harm to ecclesiastical communion as stated in your decree to remove him. St Mary�s Community is testament to just how many people have found their rightful place within the church through Peter�s actions and faith. Our claim, in fact, is that Peter�s ministry has delivered immense benefit to ecclesiastical communion at St Mary�s;

2. Peter Kennedy has not been given fair or due process according to natural justice or Canon law. Any openness to receiving evidence in relation to the allegations made by Richard Stokes in a formal manner involving the community would, we feel, have provided you with an enormous amount of testament to just how ill-founded the allegations concerning the community and Peter Kennedy are. We strongly believe that Peter has not been given procedural fairness in accordance with Canon Law.

3. St Mary�s laity have been considered insignificant and ignored, as not being capable of entering into dialogue with you or having any constructive role to play in this conflict. This community has been denied it�s baptismal rights and it�s right to be treated with dignity and respect as part of a Catholic faith community by your refusal to see us as equal stakeholders alongside yourself and Peter Kennedy.

4. Tuesday�s events of publically presenting, via the media, an invitation to Peter Kennedy for mediation appears to be a process which has absolutely nothing to do with actual mediation and further dismays us. The invitation appears to be an attempt to intimidate and position Peter publically as being non-cooperative. There has been no attempt to enter into genuine discussion through a mutually agreed upon process. It would appear that both in the choice of the mediator (appointed without any negotiation) and the refusal for mutually agreed terms of reference for mediation that the imbalance of power underpins all actions in relation to the resolution of the issues.

Your Grace, whatever the outcome, we consider that you may have missed the opportunity to engage with us the community, a community of people who aspire to the equality and dignity of each of us and not simply a community of followers of a priest named Peter Kennedy.

We are people of faith and community, built on the solid ground of our Catholic traditions and the lived realities of our lives, a faith grounded in the world in which we live. We are proud of who we are despite your apparent misconceptions. We are glad to have experienced a Vatican II vision of church that allows spirituality and justice to exist hand in hand in all that we do as a community and as individuals.

We urge you to revoke the decree of Peter�s termination as Administrator and enter into formal and authentic mediation with representatives from the community and Peter Kennedy.

Your Grace, together we could demonstrate true reconciliation and faith as testament to that which we believe in as a Catholic community.

We implore you to accept this invitation.

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To explore some resources on Progressive Christianity, please go to: Top Liberal-Progressive Christian Websites

Progressive Christians & The New Reverend’s Role

Having put forward the idea that as Progressive Christians we are all ministers, albeit in various forms, the question now follows, just what is the role of the Reverend, the Minister of the bricks and mortar church? Like other Pastors, Progressive Reverends guide religious ceremonies (such as weddings and funerals), as well as serve as spiritual counselors and community organizers of good works aimed towards those in need. But what separates them from Pastors of the religious right is the way they manage the pulpit.

In our current age of dumbing down and superficiality (where even elected officials are so self-absorbed that they feel compelled to “Twitter” their trivial thoughts and actions to the world), we need more than ever the Reverend who possesses both great erudition and an expansive soul: Pastors who are well-versed in scripture, the humanities, and the sciences, and who serve their congregations as daily conduits within which the wisdom of God and Man merges and re-emerges with strength and vitality.

Progressive Christian Reverends therefore must speak from the pulpit with more than just the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other–an image which strikes much too close to the Bible-pounding preacher of old. Instead, they should be able to move effortlessly from the Gospels, to the Talmud, to Shakespeare, to Carl Jung, to Einstein, to the Newspaper, and back again: so that the teachings of Jesus Christ are re-imagined, refashioned, and retold in ways that can inspire and challenge the mind and spirit of the contemporary parishioner: the individual upon whose shoulders the revitalization of our communities, neighborhoods, families, and sense of purpose rests.

To read our suggestions for how Progressive Christians should think about worship, please go to: How We Worship.

PCA Encourages Life-Positive World View

The Progressive Christian Alliance has published the following statement challenging all to adopt a “life-positive” worldview toward the issues of poverty, wars, hunger, injustice, and reproductive health:

For many decades much of the Christian conversation in the political arena has centered on the issues of abortion and homosexuality. This has limited the ability of the church to engage in social action, political-spiritual discourse, and a deeper exploration of its own spirituality and identity. The PCA affirms, along with the Biblical witness, that life is Sacred and it is of value as the place in which the Divine becomes manifest, as seen in the idea of the Incarnation.

Incarnation, to say that God becomes manifest and an Immanuel � God With Us � in the human condition and the message of Christ to see him in the lives of the poor, hungry etc names human life as beloved to God. Christians are called to be active in their affirmation of the goodness of life, of witnessing the Incarnation of God in the human condition and of seeing Christ in the �least of these�.

The Problem:

A). By focusing solely on Abortion as a limited number of criteria for Christian political engagement Christians have supported candidates, policies and practices that have pillaged the earth and created war and injustice. It is a LIMITED definition of life, and thus overlooks the other ways in which Life is not treated with reverence and as a seat of the holiness of God.

B) By holding onto a limited understanding of the sacredness of life Christians have relinquished their prophetic voice to speak to the dangers and sin of war, gaiacide, poverty, hunger, and societal injustice. In this way we are prevented from making Christ fully manifest in the world.

Solution:

A). Christian political engagement should be based on an Incarnation approach. Recognizing that God experiences humanity as good and entered into humanity to share in our story we understand that the sacredness of Life is in the multiplicity of ways it flourishes. Likewise the biblical witness affirms that God is both Transcendent of the human condition � outside and separate, the father from whom creation emerges, and is Immanent � the God who fills all creation, whose body is creation itself and who is made manifest in the unfolding of life across time. This is a God from whom life and creation are the form in which God is made manifest to us.

B). In order to do this we must explore a movement from Pro-Life to Life-Positive. A life positive ethic understands the sacredness of life to be evident in our commitment to the end of war, injustice, poverty, human rights abuses, and an understanding of life that supports the value of the unborn while recognizing a woman�s right to control her own reproduction, the social/health/economic considerations that women with unexpected pregnancies may expect, as well as the concerns around birth defect, rape and incest.

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The Progressive Christian Alliance is a post-denominational organization of Progressive Christians seeking to reclaim the authentic gospel of Christ and serve those around them.

The Living Hour & Lord’s Prayer is an affiliate ministry of the PCA.