Bishop John Shelby Spong is speaking in Columbus, Ohio this Saturday. He is controversial in part because of his support for gay rights within the church, and also for his liberal, nonliteral interpretation of the Bible. I just found an interview he did in Australia back in 2001, and learned something I had not known about his long history of risk taking in the name of equal rights for all people: David Weber asked Bishop Spong why the Ku Klux Klan once proclaimed him public enemy number one. JOHN SPONG: That was one of my greatest honours. I lived in North Carolina, it was in the days of the civil rights movement and school desegregation and I spoke out against them and I was probably the only one in that little farming community that dared to do that. I told the Sheriff that I planned to escort these little black children into the schools if he couldn't guarantee their safe delivery. He did guarantee their safe delivery. So the klan had a field rally and burned a cross and named me public enemy number one in Edgecombe County, and I was enormously proud of that.

I only found out about the walking prayer/meditation known as the labyrinth a couple years ago. I was fascinated to discover that labyrinths have been used in many different faith traditions for thousands of years. Dr. Lauren Artress, one of the leading experts on the labyrinth, came from Grace Cathedral to The Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum for an afternoon workshop about two years ago. Today, I just came across an interview with Dr. Atress, and wanted to share it with you, in case you have not yet learned about this method of prayer, meditation, and self-exploration. explore faith : One on One Interview with Lauren Artress "Walking the labyrinth really somehow turns the key and the lock for many people. Many people feel that we aren't living out what they're here for; that they haven't found their sealed orders. And, of course, sealed orders can change, too, as you move into a different phase of your life. I think this is part of the mystery, Kathy, of the labyrinth, because I can't exactly answer how that happens specifically. I do think it has to do with the sacredness of the design. It comes, I believe, from the School of Chartres, which is an esoteric or metaphysical or you might say mystical school from the Fifth Century to the Twelfth Century. It uses the metaphoric part of the brain. When you're walking the path, it is symbolic of your path in life. You realize that we're not only human beings on a spiritual path; we're spiritual beings on a human path. That beautiful inversion begins then as your spiritual self sees the bigger picture--[you realize] your presence here on earth is valuable, and you have something to contribute. " Click here to read the full interview. Visit this link to search for a labyrinth near you.

On the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., some of the wisdom he left as his legacy to us.. Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaks Out on War and Peace Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured. John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: "No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." And he goes on toward the end to say, "Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution. ... "I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love." ----Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957 Mark Belletini: Dr. Martin Luther King's Theology 1/14/2001 God, for Martin Luther King Jr. was not found in foot-noted texts, or in creeds, or in well-argued theologies. For that God, he was clear, would be a dead God. Instead, he insisted that the concrete actions of ethical human persons alone revealed the personhood of a living God. And, Dr.King insisted that his idea of God was "validated by his own experience." What experience? A voice? A burning bush? No, of course not. God was validated for him in his own experience of watching his father face constant racial harassment with grace. It was validated for him in his own struggle to dismantle unjust laws. God, King wrote quite plainly in the first reading, is that personal Strength which is able to make "a way out of no way." For Martin Luther King, Jr., God is a name given to the Strength that beats the odds. Not luck, said King. Not fate. Not randomness, although these surely effect things too. But God. A personal God. A partisan God. God is sheer worthiness, and thus, God is that which bends toward all those whose worth is denied and assures them they, too, are worthy.

An article in the Washington Post raises some good points about the way people in the media have been going after both Howard Dean and Wesley Clark for being "spiritually promiscuous". The Candidates' Spiritual Path (washingtonpost.com) To some extent this reflects a common tick of political reporters when facing almost any subject. Uncomfortable with making value judgments about the wisdom of someone's policy, they gravitate toward the measurable -- signs of inconsistency or hypocrisy. So it's no surprise that the same standard is now being applied to faith. Going from Catholicism to Episcopalianism is, in the lexicon of political reporting, a flip-flop. But if Dean and Clark are therefore spiritually promiscuous, they have excellent company. Twenty to 30 percent of Americans now practice a faith different from the one in which they were raised, according to sociologist Robert Wuthnow. And a much higher percentage have switched houses of worship. For 20 years now, sociologists have documented how Americans have become "consumers" of spirituality. Changing faiths or churches could mean someone is flighty, but more often it means that they take their spiritual journey seriously enough to reassess it constantly. This is what baby boomers do. They shop. And serious shoppers are often quite intense. Someone who carefully weighs the differences between Starbucks and Green Mountain and Seattle's Best may be obsessive, but you can't say he doesn't appreciate a good cup of joe. Another misconception that has crept into the media analysis of the candidates' religious statements is the idea that Americans approach religion with the mind-set of theologians. Thus, Dean and Clark were maligned not only because they shifted a lot but because they seemed to do so for superficial reasons. Dean, it's often been noted, switched churches because of a dispute over building a bike path. Clark left the Catholic Church in anger over the anti-military rhetoric of a priest. Such trivial matters! But again, this isn't unusual behavior. Americans often choose houses of worship, and denominations, based on a combination of both the doctrinal and the practical and emotional. Which church has the best choir? Which is closest to home? Whose preacher is the least boring? Where do my friends go? How does the service make me feel? "It's quite typical," says sociologist Wade Clark Roof, author of "Spiritual Marketplace." "People want to feel good about their institutional religious connections. If they don't, they switch or simply drop out." So becoming annoyed that a church isn't community-minded enough, or is insufficiently respectful of you and your peers, seems fairly reasonable.

Some thoughts about the true meaning of Christmas, as seen by a progressive Christian, from John Shelby Spong. Although this year's celebration of Christmas has just come to an end, Bishop Spong will soon be visiting Columbus to speak at St. Stephens, so for any locals or people within driving distance, I wanted to remind you of his upcoming visit and let you know a little more about how he views Christianity--in his own words. "The story of Christmas, as told by the gospel writers, has a meaning beyond the rational and a truth beyond the scientific. It points to a reality that no life touched by this Jesus could ever deny. The beauty of our Christmas story is bigger than our rational minds can embrace. For when this Jesus is known, when love, acceptance, and forgiveness are experienced, when we become whole, free and affirmed people, the heavens do sing "Glory to God in the Highest," and on earth there is "Peace and Good Will among Us All." Hence, we Christians rejoice in the transcendent beauty and wonder of this Christmas story. To those who have never stepped inside this experience we issue an invitation to come stand where we stand and look through our eyes at this babe of Bethlehem. Then perhaps they too will join those of us who read these Christmas stories year after year for one purpose only: to worship the Lord of life who still sets us free and who calls us to live, to love and to be all that we can be. That is why the Christmas invitation is so simple: Come, come, let us adore him. How do we adore him? In my mind the answer to that query is clear. I adore him not by becoming religious or by becoming a missionary who seeks to convert the world to my understanding of Jesus. I do it rather by dedicating my energies to the task of building a world where everyone in this world might have an opportunity to live more fully, love more wastefully and have the courage to be all that they were created to be. This is the only way I know how to acknowledge the Source of Life, the Source of Love and the Ground of Being that I believe that I have experienced in this Jesus. How can one adore the Source of Life except by living? How can one adore the Source of Love except by loving? How can one adore the Ground of all Being except by having the courage to be all that one can be. It is not possible to seek these gifts for oneself and then deny them to every other life. So our task as disciples of Jesus is to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that we can be while we seek to enable every other person, in the infinite variety of our humanity, to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that each person can be. That also means that we can brook no prejudice that would hurt or reject another based on any external characteristic, be it race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. It all seems so simple to me. God was in Christ. That is the essence of what I believe about this Jesus. "

I felt that something was missing, having posted, at least to some extent, about the various winter "holidays of light", and not posting about Kwanzaa. But, post Christmas, winding down from the holidays, I wasn't really thinking about it. And I wasn't really hearing anything about it. But I remembered again today my intention to post about Kwanzaa, so I will share some of the articles I found when searching for something current about the holiday: Southpinellas: Kwanzaa rites catching on: "Kenneth Roberts had never heard the word Kwanzaa before. But he got a quick education when he checked into Our Brother's Keeper, a halfway house for men where the seven principles of Kwanzaa have been woven into the daily routine. Roberts, 43, has spent the past couple of weeks learning about the African-American holiday, which starts Dec. 26 and runs to Jan. 1. The seven principles are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. And he has been keeping a journal about his first Kwanzaa celebration." Kwanzaa principle: Set personal goals to help community - battlecreekenquirer.com: "Nia: Looking out for others Day 5: Nia (nee-yah) Purpose. This principle of Kwanzaa encourages people to look within themselves and set personal goals that are beneficial to the community. It's what happens after Priscilla Barnes talks to people of the community that counts. The director of Minority Health Partnership dedicates herself to educating the African-American community on the importance of their health. She hosts a weekly talk show on WFPM radio that brings on professionals to give health tips and education. When she's off the clock, she visits organizations to talk about healthy living. She helps churches set up health corners in their lobbies with resource information and works in the Washington Heights Community House to educate children on the importance of their health at an early age. But talk is cheap. It's what happens after she meets with them that inspires her to utilize the years of training at the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health departments throughout the country. When she tells people how their life can be shortened by not eating right and not exercising and that their lives are important, she sees a difference. 'I see myself as a servant,' said Barnes. 'I tell people that God has a purpose for their lives, and if they die or get sick because of their lack of concern for their health, they can't fulfill their purpose for themselves and others.' " Kwanzaa celebrants call for multicultural unity: "To the pulse of beating drums, Sunday's celebration ranged from such somber notes to lighter moments, including a karate demonstration by Petaluma siblings Dominic Hebert, 11, and Destiny Williams, 5. By turns, performers of every age -- many clothed in colorful African robes, tunics and headdresses -- treated the crowd to folk tales, solo instrumental performances and inspiring poems. 'It's the community coming together -- not black, not white -- but the community,' said Vivian Coffee, as the participants enjoyed a post-celebration feast.