Change or Die

It was Episcopal Bishop, John Shelby Spong who, years ago, said that "Christianity must change or die" in response to the question of where the Church fit into modern society and the issues of racism, poverty, women's equality, and homosexuality. Those words would prove to be prophetic as today the Church finds itself in a crisis. With atheism and alternative spirituality on the rise in the United States, the Church finds her pews increasingly vacant. Young people who identify as Millennials are leaving the Church in droves and the Pew Research Poll indicates that the reason is because of the Church's stand against homosexuality and the harsh treatment of gays and their gay friends.

Waking up to this reality has been difficult for the Church. While some of the most extreme fundamentalists are holding on to the Phelps-style "God Hates Fags" dogma, the more progressive sects and denominations are beginning to realize that what Spong warned of years ago, has come to pass and they now seem willing to at least talk about the issues. Some of the change seems to be happening simply because more and more young people are willing to come out to their parents as being gay, and fewer parents, fearing chastisement for being hateful, abusive, bigots on social media, are willing to disown their children when they come out. PFLAG, which is an organization of parents with gay children is reporting a sharp increase in membership, and it was only yesterday that I found a link on Facebook to an article about a Southern Baptist minister in California who has led his church to leave the Southern Baptist Convention because his congregation has decided to openly welcome members of the LGBT community. This decision was primarily due to the fact that the pastor's son had recently revealed to his father that he was gay. It seems the more gays that people know, the less likely they are to judge or be afraid of them. All of a sudden, gays become real people--friends, family members, neighbors-- and not some sub-human abstract abomination from the Old Testament.

Yesterday I attended the Tulsa Pride event with a dear friend and one of the booths I encountered was from the College Hill Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. College Hill has been known as one of the most theologically and socially progressive churches in the entire state for decades and has been on the cutting edge of social issues such as racism, poverty, women's equality, and LGBT rights, throughout it's entire

history as a church. It was through my aunt, who is an elder there, that I first encountered the church and was taken in and sheltered by them after I divorced after 18 years of marriage and then partnered with a woman. Because of my family's and church's rejection, I had nowhere to turn for the support that I needed during a difficult and painful time in my life. The wonderful, loving, and caring people at College Hill embraced Steph and me and took us in as their own. In May of 2001, Steph and I were joined in Holy Union at the College Hill Presbyterian Church. We later removed our membership from there because the 60 mile drive there and back got to be too much to handle, but our hearts always remained with the people and our memories of their love and outreach to us will always be fond.

While watching the parade, I was also struck by the number of Tulsa churches of various denominations that were represented--Episcopal, Presbyterian, Unitarian, and even Methodist were all united in their love and support for the Tulsa LGBT community. Their voice was so loud that it served to drown out the hateful voice
of the crowd of anti-gay protesters carrying their ugly placards admonishing us to "REPENT" or face an eternity in hell. Apparently these Christians worship a different god than the one of the folks at College Hill.

Celebrating Music, Celebrating Humanity, Celebrating Life

Growing up Baptist, I missed so much of the incredibly beautiful and meaningful music associated with this season of the year because Baptists avoided anything that was too liturgical. It wasn't until I sang this piece with the Stillwater Chamber Singers several years ago did I realize how truly magnificent it is.

I no longer celebrate the religious aspect of this season, preferring to celebrate it in a fashion that reflects its pagan origins of fertility and rebirth, but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate its significance to others and to western history and culture. Happy Easter to all my friends, however you celebrate it, or not.


Pergolesi's magnificent Stabat Mater for Soprano & Alto

My Religion is Kindness

One of my most vivid early childhood memories took place when I was six years old. As I sat in the backseat of my parents car, riding home from church one Sunday, I asked them a question pertaining to something I had just witnessed during the service that morning.

 Mom and Dad were Southern Baptists; staunch Southern Baptists, and because of that, we were in church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. My parents both sang in the choir and I was active in Sunday School, GAs (girl's mission group), and our church's graded children's choir program. I liked going to church and I especially liked the music and following along in the hymnal while the lady I sat with every Sunday pointed to the words in each hymn as we sang. I credit my earliest musical education to our graded choir program, and between that and the private piano lessons that started when I was in the first grade, I was reading and singing along with the alto line of the hymns by the time I was in the second grade.

 On this particular Sunday morning, however, I was puzzled by something I witnessed that took place towards the end of the service. At the end of every Southern Baptist worship service is what they call an "invitation" or alter call. An "invitation hymn" is sung and during that time, people in the congregation are invited to come forward and make public declarations of faith, or renewal of their declarations of faith, or share decisions to go into mission service, etc. The people who went forward would register their decisions on a white card that they would hand to the pastor who was standing there to greet and counsel with them. Most of the time they had counseled with him previously, but sometimes the decision was spontaneous. After the invitation hymn was concluded, the pastor would invite the congregation to be seated while he shared the decisions that were made by the people who walked up front. Then, after the service was concluded, everyone in the congregation would file up front and hug and congratulate those who came forward during the invitation. It was all very warm and very welcoming. Sometimes people would cry, but they almost always smiled at the same time. Everyone seemed very happy when people went forward.

 That particular Sunday morning, we were beginning a revival service. The preacher that morning wasn't our pastor. I loved our pastor who had a gentle, soft-spoken, and kind way about him. Because I grew up in a college town, our church was filled with university professors who were educated and generally didn't prefer the country style fire-and-brimstone preacher that was found in the more rural churches and in smaller towns. Our pastor had a PhD in theology and he smiled a lot and spoke of Jesus' love. I thought Dr. Peterson was next to Jesus himself. This preacher, however, wasn't like Dr. Peterson. This preacher yelled from the pulpit.

He pointed his finger at people in the congregation and paced back-and-forth and shouted angry words like "hell" and "wrath" and called people "sinners". After he was done preaching, we stood to sing the invitation hymn and suddenly a man (I actually think he was a teenager, but to a six-year-old, he looked like a man), went running down the aisle weeping. He went up to the preacher (not Dr. Peterson) and leaned into his ear and spoke to him. I couldn't see what went on after that, because I was too small to see over all of the adults standing in front of me. After the hymn, Dr. Peterson stood in front of the congregation and introduced the young man and said that he had just asked Jesus into his heart. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I was more concerned that he had been crying so hard that his eyes were swollen and he didn't look happy at all. He looked sad. He looked very sad.

So I asked my parents about it. Why was that man crying? Did that angry preacher make him cry? And if so, why did he make him cry? Dr. Peterson never made people cry. Mom and Dad explained to me that the young man had just asked Jesus into his heart and that's why he cried.

"But I thought Jesus made people happy", I protested.

 "He was sad because of his sins and that Jesus had to die on the cross because of those sins," Mom replied.

I thought for a moment and then persisted in my line of questioning. "Do I sin?"

 "Yes, you do," she answered.

 More thought.

"But I don't have to go up the aisle, do I?"

"No," mother answered quietly. "You don't have to go up there."

Silence.

"Will Jesus be angry like that preacher and send me to hell if I don't?"

I don't remember my mother's reply. I only remember that on that very same Sunday night, I walked up the aisle and as I did, the angry preacher started moving towards me. But when I shied from him, Dr. Peterson, moved around in front of him and took me by the hand. He sat me down and spoke to me softly and asked me why I came. I told him that I wanted to ask Jesus into my heart and that I was sorry for my sins. What sins a six-year-old girl could commit, I wasn't sure, but they must have been very bad for Jesus to have to die on the cross so that I could be forgiven for them.

 I'm nearly 54 now and I am no longer a believer in that Jesus. Too many angry preacher-men and too many angry followers of Jesus have convinced me that love isn't something that is exclusive to Christianity, and that

having religion and "correct" doctrine is no guarantee that you know anything about love. I've met many loving and kind people who weren't Christians and many angry and unkind people who were. I still look back at that little six-year-old girl and believe in the Jesus that she believed in, and the Jesus that Dr. Peterson believed in, and I can be thankful that the Jesus we know loves everyone, no matter who they are or what they believe.

 My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. --The Dalai Lama

Looking for balance in the Age of Extremism

I'm having a really difficult time finding my place in this world, I admit it. It seems at every turn I'm hemmed in by the extremes.

-You can't be a liberal Christian, or even spiritual but not religious; it's either extreme fundamentalist Christianity or Atheism.
-You can't be a political moderate. You either have to be a right-wing tea-bag, nut job, or a pinko commie socialist.
-You can't be a mostly vegetarian who enjoys meat once in a great while; you have to be a vegan.
-You can't be middle class anymore; you're either poor and living off the government or you're a millionaire (or on the extreme fringe as a billionaire).
-You can't be for reasonable gun control laws; you're either with the NRA or you want to take away the right of every citizen to own any gun.
-You can't enjoy a glass or two of wine every evening; you're either a teatotaler or you're an alcoholic.
-You can't have a healthy, shapely body; you're either obese or you're a diet fanatic with washboard abs who spends every spare hour you have in the gym.

I think you get what I mean. It's hard finding your balance in a world that seems to be bent towards the extremes in life. Something can't just be good, it has to be excellent. I remember the day when a C average was just that, the average, and to graduate with a C average was no disgrace. As and even Bs were the exception and only the highly exceptional (the egg brains), graduated with better than a 3.5 gpa. So my question is, if everyone is suddenly outstanding, how are they standing out?

Balance. Harmony. Moderation. Those seem to be dirty words in our society, yet it seems that until we can make our way back to these concepts, we're going to continue to struggle with the polarization that invades every aspect of our lives and relationships. Even our poor planet has been subject to our extremes, and now struggles to bring her ecosystem back into balance so that she can survive. Hopefully that won't mean that she has to shed some of her creatures in order to do that--namely human beings. Or perhaps, if we don't get our shit together, and allow the extremists to continue to shape our dialogue, policy, and spirituality, we just might do the job for her. I really hope it won't come to that.

My Special Place

I think perhaps there is a place and time for all of us that caresses our spirit more than any other place and time in our lives. A memory, a hope, a dream...it's real or imagined - or both. ~Philip Erwin

I am a part of it all

I look all around me and I am always amazed at the things there are to learn. God reveals himself through his creation--through plants & animals, through people, through the cosmos, through the arts & sciences, and through reason & philosophy. To claim that truth can only be found in one source, in one belief, in one religion, in one philosophy is to deny the vastness and inconceivable nature of The Creator, and to me is the ultimate blasphemy. We cannot put God in a box. The more I know of the universe around me, the more I know myself, and the more I know God. What a comfort to know that I am not separate from creation, that I am a part of it, and because I am a part of it, no matter what religions tell me, I am not separated from God, nor have I ever been. No man-made doctrine will ever change that truth.

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God. ~Albert Einstein

Love thy neighbor

In the last several weeks I have joined the millions of other Americans working with President Obama in the effort to reform our broken health care system, and in the midst of the debate I am amazed and appalled by the lack of compassion exhibited by so many Americans for the plight of others, their friends and neighbors who lack health insurance, have insufficient health insurance, and those who don't have access to even the most basic health care because of a lack of insurance and/or the means to pay for it.  How could we have allowed this to happen in this great nation?  And why are so many so reluctant to do anything about it?

I found the following quote from a poster on YouTube last night and it pretty well sums up my feelings on this issue.

Incredible, absolutely incredible.  How can America ever be great again when it's people are so ready to let their fellow citizens perish?  If this is derailed under the auspices of cost, the U.S. as a world power is toast.  The U.S. dollars that so many of you are so greedily clenching to your chests will be about as good as toilet paper once the inflation from dealing with the economic effects of an unhealthy, uneducated populace really starts to set in. Human rights aren't negotiable.

A case for reincarnation

Nearly six decades ago, a 21-year-old Navy fighter pilot on a mission over the Pacific was shot down by Japanese artillery. His name might have been forgotten, were it not for 6-year-old James Leininger.

Quite a few people — including those who knew the fighter pilot — think James is the pilot, reincarnated. James' parents, Andrea and Bruce, a highly educated, modern couple, say they are "probably the people least likely to have a scenario like this pop up in their lives." But over time, they have become convinced their little son has had a former life.

From an early age, James would play with nothing else but planes, his parents say. But when he was 2, they said the planes their son loved began to give him regular nightmares. "I'd wake him up and he'd be screaming," Andrea told ABCNEWS' Chris Cuomo. She said when she asked her son what he was dreaming about, he would say, "Airplane crash on fire, little man can't get out."







Source: Reverse Spins, Proof of Reincarnation

In Memory of Grandma Goss: The aroma of percolating coffee

I've never been much of a coffee drinker. I'm not particularly fond of it, and if I drink too much of it, it gives me a headache. However, I've always been rather partial to the aroma. I love to walk by coffee shops and/or cafes and take in the delicious aroma of all the various brews. I most especially like the smell of coffee when mingled with the aroma of eggs and bacon frying in a skillet. It always triggers something in me that leaves me feeling warm and content. One day I sat down and tried to figure out what it was about these aromas that were so appealing to me and it quickly came to me that they brought back some very pleasant childhood memories.

My maternal grandparents lived on a large farm near Bowden, a small rural community just between Tulsa and Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Their house was a large Victorian, built a few years before statehood, (that was in 1907). It was two storied with a creaky wooden stairway, a front parlor, a dining room, and kitchen in the back, with a squeaky wooden screen door that locked with a metal hook. It had a huge wrap-around porch with a gigantic oak tree in the front. Grandpa hung a tire swing from one of the branches for us to swing on. I'm not sure how many acres he had, but it was quite a lot. He had cattle & chickens, two large ponds that he kept stocked with catfish, a big wooden barn with cats, a huge vegetable garden laden with lettuce, tomatoes, squash, peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, and corn, fruit orchards with peaches and pears, red & green peppers of several varieties, blackberry & raspberry bushes, and a flower garden. There were streams and meadows, and lots of places to run and play. It was a childhood dreamland.

One of my fondest memories is waking up early in the mornings to the smells of bacon and eggs frying in Grandma's cast iron skillet, and freshly ground coffee perking in the percolator, (this was before automatic drip coffee makers). I would try to sneak down the creaky wooden stairs in my footie pajamas, down the hallway, through the dining room, past the huge gas stove, to the kitchen doorway. I'd hide for just a second and then I'd jump out, shouting, "BOO!". Grandma would always jump and pretend to be startled. "You SCARED me!", she would exclaim, although I knew she was kidding because there was no way that she couldn't have known I was coming, between the squeaky stairway and creaking floorboards.

Years later, the aromas of bacon frying and coffee brewing always bring these happy memories forward and I am reminded of how very blessed I was to have grown up with such experiences. As a child I didn't understand that it wasn't like this for every child, and that one day I would cherish these memories, and even long for those early mornings at Grandpa and Grandma's farm.

My father just called about an hour ago and informed me that Grandma passed away. She's home now, with Grandpa and Mother. I'm sure that both of them are happy to see her.

Thank you

Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality. ~Alfred Painter

Spirituality vs. Religion

Someone posted this in a web forum to which I belong and I thought it was so good that I wanted to share it with you.

SPIRITUALITY says that God/Goddess is within us and that we don't need anyone else to make that divine connection for us.

RELIGION says that we are separated from God and that we need "Them" to make that divine connection.

SPIRITUALITY says that we are free to make choices on our own and that we must take personal responsibility for our actions.

RELIGION says we must make their choices and act their way.

The theme of SPIRITUALITY is unconditional love.

The theme of RELIGION is fear and guilt.

SPIRITUALITY does not require us to make monitary donations.

RELIGION is big buisness.

SPIRITUALITY doesn't teach hell, judgment, no angry god or goddess...we are loved uncondtionally.

RELIGION says there is a hell, God is angry and judgmental ...we are not loved unconditionally.

SPIRITUALITY says we are free to choose our own path to god.

RELIGION commands us to do it their way.

SPIRITUALITY says we go to god to lighten our burdens.

RELIGION teaches us to fear god.

SPIRITUALITY says we shouldn't be ashamed of our sexuality... that it's a sacred expression of love.

RELIGION teaches us to feel ashamed, dirty, and guilty about our sexuality.

SPIRITUALITY teaches us to honor and respect the planet.

RELIGION tells us to be "fruitful and multiply" and "subdue" the planet.

SPIRITUALITY reminds us that we are one with god and with one another.

RELIGION teaches separation from god and from one another, creating disunity.

SPIRITUALITY says we are born in innocence and purity.

RELIGION says we are born in sin.

SPIRITUALITY teaches that we are on a long spiritual journey which will ultimately end by reuniting us with our source.

RELIGION says we have only one life to get it right and that our ultimate destination is heaven or hell.