Opening Paul's Letters: Wednesdays 6 p.m

Beginning Wednesday, May 13, at 6 p.m., we'll be beginning to open some of Paul's letters: Specifically the Prison Letters.

We'll meet May 13 and May 20 - "Introduction to Paul: Historical/Cultural Context" and also
"Introduction to the Prison Letters"

Then we'll take a bit of a hiatus (while I'm on vacation) and reconvene June 17, meeting through early August as we open these letters, look at Paul through new lenses, and examine the relevance of Paul's letters for us today.

In addition to the Holy Bible, we'll be referring to Tom Wright's Book: Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. From amazon.com: "Review [The For Everyone series] is probably the most exciting thing to have happened in Christian education in Britain for many years.Expository Times --Expository Times Product Description Making use of his true scholar's understanding, yet writing in an approachable and anecdotal style, N.T. Wright captures the dauntless power of these letters. They were written by Paul while in prison facing the possibility of imminent death, yet burn with undimmed passion. Paul seeks to help direct the growing faith where his influence might prove crucial, and writes a very personal letter to a slave-owner on behalf of a runaway."

WEEK TWO: Blogging!

Dear Lent Study Folk

I hope you are finding this "Three Simple Rules for Christian Living" study as provocative as I am finding it. Since I am also reading and reflecting in light of the scriptures for each Sunday, I'm feeling extra-challenged, I guess, by what the "gospel" has to do with how I live my life, in relation to God and relation to each of you, the church, the community, and the world.

My hope with this blog was that it would provide something of a forum for dialog, discussion, questions, reflections, and sharing of prayers between our class meetings. Also, as a way for those who miss a class to touch base with the rest of us.

So, I see this blog functioning in two ways:
(1) building a community of learners - learning is at the core of what it means to be a disciple (student), and even Psalm 1 holds up the benefits of learning, studying, etc. As an educator, I'm pretty convinced (along with Jesus, Jean Piaget, John Dewey, Paulo Freire, Amy and Miles Horton, and tons of other educators) that learning and meaning making best take place in community and in dialogue). So that is one function I hope this blog serves.
(2) resource sharing - i hope also that we can use this blog as a place to share resources.

To participate in this blog, you can click on "comments" under any post and add your own thoughts or comments. If you create an account (through g-mail) then you can also create your own posts. I don't "own" this, it's our "community" blog!

I hope you find this helpful.

Your sister on the journey, Desi

WEEK TWO: Do No Harm: Practicing the Rule

So what can we each do, in our own lives and in our own realms of influence, to practice the rule "Do No Harm"?

The prayer that Finley invites us to pray can open us to the Holy Spirit, helping us to discern:
God of love and grace, when our anger, indignation, indifference, or greed cause us to want to do harm, give us strength and courage to resist. When we think you are asking the impossible of us, give us the mindfulness and strength to do no harm. Amen. (p. 17)

Health care is in a crisis here in the US. It is heartening to know that Vanessa Sylvester is going to a White House forum on Health Care in Burlington VT on Tuesday to support Universal Single Payer Healthcare Reform. Her actions and the actions of others like her, may contribute to "sanctifying" the state of health care in the US.

In his book, God the Economist, M. Douglas Meeks notes that, "whereas most of the (liberal) tradition has assumed health care as a right, health is now widely regarded as a commodity to be bought and sold." (pp. 5-6). This is an "economy" in stark contrast to God's economy where healing is a basic assumption, "And the people, when they knew [where Jesus was going], followed him: and Jesus received them, and spoke to them of the kingdom of God (God's household, God's economy), and healed them that had need of healing." (Luke 9:11).

Although John Wesley did not work on the front lines of the abolition movement, he helped William Wilberforce learn about the kingdom/economy of God, and it was from this basic assumption (not working from the economy of the world around him, that "depended" on slavery) that Wilberforce spearheaded the abolition movement. Read more here in Wesley's letter to Wilberforce, http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/wilber.stm

Personally, I know that I, on my own, am not capable of doing "no harm." As Paul writes in Romans 7:15 and 1, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." It is only through our complete reliance upon and our surrender to God's will (God's kingdom, God's economy) and the power of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ who reconciled us to God through his crucifixion and resurrection - only through relying on God can I begin to "do no harm."

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind....and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39). In doing these things, in praying to be empowered to love God and our neighbor, we are open to being ministers (servants) for God: healing, loving, releasing the prisoners, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked... unconditionally and abundantly, even wastefully. The economy of the world, right now, is an economy marked by scarcity, fear, and idolatrous reliance on money. It is an economy that benefits a few and truly oppresses the many. Perhaps one way we can begin to "do no harm" is to pray about the impact we allow the economy of the world to have on our souls, our relationship with God, and our relationship with others. If fear consumes us, it's hard to "do no harm". One way to "do no harm" is to refuse to buy into the fear induced by headlines, and to commit ourselves to believing God's promises. When Jesus gave the sermon on the mount, he urged us not to spend time in anxiety and fear, but to "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." (Matt. 6:28-29) This isn't Pollyanna-ish. Rather, it subverts the dominate paradigm of greed and fear that drive our current economy. (Do you agree, or disagree?)

Psalm 1:1-2 looses a little in translation from Hebrew to English. In Hebrew, Torah translated here as "law" means the whole teachings of God (God's kingdom and economy), and those who delight in the law (teachings) of God are those who meditate (or a better translation of the Hebrew word hagah might be study, or recite, murmer). (How can meditating on God's word give us delight, today? Can it?)

Finley asks us to "Reflect on Psalm 1:1-2 in terms of the admonition to do no harm." What are your insights from this reflection?

We pray this week for "the power and courage to do no harm and to intercede for the victims of harm.

Those who do no harm "are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither." Psalm 1:3a

Books and resources I am finding useful include:
Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How it Can Renew America. 2008. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. NYTimes Review
Jennings, Theodore W. Good News to the Poor: John Wesley's Evangelical Economics. 1990. Abingdon Press. Mixed Reviews at Amazon.com
Meeks, M. Douglas. God The Economist: The Doctrine of God and Political Economy. 1989. Fortress Press. Review from Theology Today

I hope these are useful for you, and please share others with us! To help this blog be more of a conversation, you can respond to the questions I've posted, or post your own, using the "Comments" function.

Week ONE: "Wielding the Sword" Questions

Under our resources I have posted a paper that is referenced in the 1st chapter of "Three Simple Rules." The paper is by Sondra Wheeler and is titled, "Wielding the Sword: John Wesley's Biblical Hermeneutics on Wealth." In this article she characterizes John Wesley as understanding the meaning of Scripture through its bearing on the people and communities with which he had direct interactions. She points out that his sermons and writings reflect the very real issues that people where presented with at the time he was writing, a time of profound economic change and crisis (see page 5). She discusses his attack on the rampant consumption that drives capitalist society (pp 5-6). Much of the anxiety and fear that people around the world are facing right now may have roots in placing trust in money instead of God (see p 11 in Wheelers' article, and Wesley's sermon 87 "On Riches". So, Wheeler asks some pretty compelling questions (pp 17-18):
* What resources does the thought and practice of our faith bring to the runaway train of rising consumption in the West?
* Given the "world of continuous distraction" in which we live, Do we even recognize an inner life? Have we rendered ourselves effectively deaf to...the inward promptings of the Holy Spirit?
* Are we prepared to read the Bible to and for our own society (as Wesley did for his), prepared to reclaim its insistence that the one who loses his/her life will save it? This also is relevant to this Sunday (March 8's) lectionary Gospel reading, Mark 8:31-38.

Week One: Prayers and Meditation

During this week let's work through Chapter One in our "Three Simple Rules" book. We'll discuss insights and questions on this blog and when we meet next Thursday, March 12, 6 p.m.
Let's commit to the meditation and prayer on page 16
* Reflecting on Psalm 19:7-8, 12-13a
* Praying daily:
Loving God, we pray for seeing the potential harm and for forgiveness for harm done. We pray prayers of intercession for those who have suffered harm, and we pray for strength and wisdom to do no harm. Amen

Week One: Questions/"Good news to the Poor"

Here are some questions to ponder (and respond to if you feel so moved):

(1) Regarding Wesley's "Rules": What rules are still relevant for us today? What "rules" would we add?

(2) "Do No Harm" has global implications. Our choices impact others in ways we might not even imagine (see the example in our book about the ill-constructed stairway).

(3) Social Holiness/Justice fits into the "Do No Harm" category: In that we can participate or subvert cultural injustices depending on choices we make?

Yesterday I had a discussion with Peaks Island resident Margo regarding the plight of the Oglala Souix Indians on reservations in South Dakota, many of whom must make the decision between heat and food. Pine Ridge Reservation residents experience among the lowest life expectancy in the US (50 years).

• Recent reports vary but many point out that the median income on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
  
  
• The unemployment rate on Pine Ridge is said to be approximately 83-85% and can be higher during the winter months when travel is difficult or often impossible.
  
  
• According to 2006 resources, about 97% of the population lives below Federal poverty levels.
  

(From "Life and Conditions on the Pine Ridge Reservation" http://www.linkcenterfoundation.org/id24.html)

Early in his ministry, Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me to tell the good news to the poor. He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set oppressed people free" Luke 4:18.

"Do no harm" includes seeking to NOT participate in systems that promote poverty and oppress. How can we do this (and how are we doing this) as individuals and as a church community (followers/disciples/students of Christ)?

Week One - Do No Harm: Understanding the Rule

This week we are meditating on and reflecting on being intentional around the Christian practice "Do No Harm." When we met last Thursday evening, we
* Reviewed the overview for the next 6 weeks [handout]
* Reviewed the 10 Commandments and discussed which ones are implicitly and explicitly about "Do no harm"
* Discussed John Wesley's "General Rules" -