Christianity

Homodoxuals and Heterodoxuals in the Church

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Can homodoxuals and heterodoxuals find a way to get along, sit in the same pew, or is schism the only answer? My friend, the Rev. Jim Burklo, just sent me his latest “Musings” post from the Center for Progressive Christianity, and I immediately knew I had to share it (with his permission of course), with all of you! Musings by Jim Burklo
www.tcpc.blogs.com/musings for this and previous articles
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jtburklo
5/19/10
Homodoxuals and Heterodoxuals in the Church
(Lately I’ve seen many uses of the term “heterodoxy” in my reading about current trends in religion in America, referring to people who mix a variety of religious traditions and beliefs in their spirituality. That got me to thinking about what its opposite would be: “homodoxy”. This struck me as an ironic twist in language, since so many “homodoxual” people oppose homosexuality, and so many “heterodoxual” people are open and affirming towards gays and lesbians.

Culture

Who Is Responsible?

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I’ve been watching the nightmare of thousands of barrels of oil and gas pouring into the ocean and the spectacle of pundits and lawmakers trying to decide whom to blame for the mess. In the midst of that, I happened to pick up a book of poetry by Abraham Joshua Heschel, written before he was 26 years old in 1933. This particular poem, Forgiveness,  struck me as one of the ways that I am different from many other people. I resonated with it strongly and I would guess that others, who think quite differently from me, would think it utterly absurd. Read on and let’s discuss it!

Empathy

Dialogue Across the Divide? How Can Liberals and Conservatives Start Talking?

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Cross-posted on The Fearless Heart. Since I started writing about empathy between liberals and conservatives, (April 5; April 10) I have been thinking about facilitating dialogues between the two groups. As a first step I wanted to meet people who identify as conservative. This past Monday I had the good fortune of meeting Peeter, who identifies as a “dye in the wool” conservative, and who is a sympathizer of the Tea Party movement. Whether or not this meeting will lead to the dialogue I am wishing to establish, I learned a lot, I was surprised, and my heart was touched.

Empathy

After the Attack on Rabbi Lerner's Home: What You Can Do to Help

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Many people have expressed their concern for Rabbi Lerner after the recent vandalism of his home and have wondered if there’s anything they can do to help. Tikkun has released a statement asking readers to contact the media and ask them to publicize this incident in meaningful and thoughtful ways. Below I’ve taken some excerpts from the full statement, which you can read on Current Thinking. So what can you do? You can help us demand of the media that they publicize this incident and, equally importantly, the meaning of the incident for Americans and for American Jews.

Empathy

Bay Area Jewish Agencies Jointly Condemn Criminal Acts Against Rabbi Lerner’s Home

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I am gratified to share this announcement with all of you, sent by the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Community Relations Council, The Jewish Federation of the East Bay and the Northern California Board of Rabbis on May 4, 2010. We appreciate their swift condemnation of the attack on Rabbi Michael Lerner and Rabbi Debora Kohn Lerner’s home in Berkeley, California yesterday. Obviously, many people on all sides of the political spectrum are deeply affected by what happened. “We unequivocally condemn criminal acts perpetrated against Rabbi Lerner’s home. Political disagreements must be resolved in a civil manner, and not by resorting to violence.

Culture

Adolf Hitler, Michael Lerner, and I

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This is a story I have always known, a story I grew up with. It is the story of how in Germany on Kristallnacht, Nov 9th, 1938 the mob which was destroying the houses of all the Jews in Mainz came to the house in which my Jewish grandparents lived. There they were met by Maria, my family’s Catholic cook, who faced the mob and said, “Why are you here? You know these people and you know they have done nothing to harm you.” And the people left the house untouched.

Empathy

Immigration Reform and Families

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I’m a total supporter of immigration reform that recognizes the impracticality of deporting nearly 12 million people who are in our country without proper documentation. Let’s find a way to bring them out of the shadows. But, I also look at the immigrants who are here WITH proper documentation, who have been working for years – separated from their families, and I implore Congress to consider and honor those people with reform legislation that helps reunite them with those they love. I’m half Gypsy – half Russian. My grandparents immigrated to this country a very long time ago.

Culture

We Were Never Meant to Survive

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“For to survive in this dragon we call America, we have had to learn this first and most vital lesson – that we were never meant to survive. Not as human beings.” –Audre Lorde, in “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”
The first time I read Audre Lorde’s words, above, they exploded my understanding of my relationship to this life. At some level, I had known for a while that I HAD NOT survived, not intact, not as a fully alive person. Although I probably couldn’t have articulated all this back then, I knew that somewhere along the way, I had lost my connection to my body, my ability to connect at the deepest levels with other people, my sense of awe and wonder, my ability to hear constructive feedback from others without my world disintegrating, and much of my ability to feel.

Empathy

Taking Action in the Face of Despair and Helplessness

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“I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.” Dawna Markova
Penny Spawforth asked me in a comment: “I would love to hear how you transform the despair you feel about where the world is heading and your helplessness about contributing sufficiently as I daily experience and feel a sense of helplessness that creates despair and minimal action (‘no action seems large enough to be of use’). What I see as my tiny contribution to the world I want to help create just doesn’t feel ‘enough.'”
Before discovering my current passion for Nonviolent Communication, I was in exactly the kind of place that Penny describes. I saw no way that I could support movement towards what I wanted to see in the world. Then, while talking with my friend Tom Atlee, we came to realize that having a calling, knowing what you are to do in your life, is a form of privilege.

Empathy

Pursuing Personal And Structural Transformation Simultaneously

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So here’s another long post. I keep trying to work out how to express this adequately. I wrote about the difficulty of reclaiming hopefulness on the Left, had an exchange with Peter Gabel about two kinds of transformative experiences, and asked how necessary it is to walk the talk. This one feels to me to get to the heart of my own philosophy about what’s needed, but some time soon I will no doubt try again. Miki Kashtan referred me to a post called “A world where everyone’s needs matter” at the delightfully named blog The Implicit & Experiential Rantings of a Person.