"The Bishop and The Seeker"

Tough Questions, Humble Men at Emerging Christianity Meetup

2012-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

From left: Brian McLaren, Tim Kennedy, and Alex Bowen
share space on the stage at Busboys & Poets
with the overflow crowd of 150 Emerging Christianity Meetup fans
as portraits of the Dali Lama, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King look on.

Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren's call to a faith that is dynamically open to mystery kicked off a sizzling evening sponsored by Emerging Christianity Meetup at Busboys and Poets last night in DC. Brian is a hero of mine for boundary busting books like "A Generous Orthodoxy," and "A New Kind of Christianity." But tonight he was appearing along with two young documentary filmmakers on the topic of staying civil while asking tough questions.

The film makers, Alex Bowen and Tim Kennedy, are producing "Anything Less Would be Uncivilized" which tells peoples' stories of how asking questions shaped their faith. What impressed me most about these two earnest and sweet young men was the humility with which they approach their project. Besides starting off by acknowledging their wives with, "Behind every great man...stands a woman shaking her head," they both spoke of the need to stay humble by remembering that God loves the person you are debating with. I completely got from them that they are masters of walking that talk.

Get this man a PR agent. Alex Bowen
is much cuter than this photo.

Can you tell why bald Mclaren said he wants
some of Tim Kennedy's "hair karma"?

Questions from all over the map
Questions afterwards showed the range of people drawn to this event. One woman simply asked for an example of how it looks to ask a question in a constructive way. Tim replied with a sweet story about the first time he told his mother he wasn't going to church on Easter because he no longer believed everything the church taught. "It was hard because I wanted to say no in a way that showed respect for her." Alex broke in with his own story of needing to apologize after roughly grilling one interviewee in the film.

Our tablemate, the son of a pastor whose fresh-faced enthusiasm and openness caused me to flash on the Jesus character in the movie Godspell, asked how we can tell which kind of questions are good for the church. His quieter friend asked if listening to someone meant you had to agree with them: for example agree with a homosexual that homosexuality is not a sin. Another questioner set the record for most mixed wavelengths in one question: "I'm going to come right out and admit that I'm a born again Christian, so go ahead and throw rocks at me if you want. But clearly we all know anyone who believes homosexuals are sinners is following a degraded form of Christianity, just like those people who follow the Word-of-Faith movement. Is the reason we need to ask questions so that we can counter all those false Christianity movements?"

McLaren's answer to this question was a tour de force in more ways than I have room to recount--as was Alex's answer when asked about the line between encouraging questions and becoming a universalist (one who believes all are saved.) "You have to be willing to go wherever your questions lead and be willing to be called a heretic, if necessary, just as Jesus was," he said.

Practices to Support Each Other
Because of my interest in practice groups, I asked, "What practices can we support each other with to help maintain the humility it takes to be a good listener?" McLaren got a laugh by suggesting that apologizing when we've been a jerk is so painful that doing so often may help stop bad listening--and also that our spouses are in the best position to tell us when we need to do so. I'm exploring the possibility of building a practice group around McLaren's "Naked Spirituality: A Life With God in 12 Simple Words."

Turn that camera around!
My sense of the documentary clip Tim and Alex showed is that they've got it backwards. The experts and average people they interview have great ideas and stories to tell. But the film makers themselves seemed the best living role models for the thoughtful, good-humored, and respectful inquiry the film promotes. Their goal is very similar to that of my own book, The Bishop and the Seeker.which tells the story of my heart and mind-opening encounter with a Biblical literalist bishop. Join me in helping support the guys' project at Kickstart.

Follow ups
50 people were turned away from this event, so watch for followups at An Emerging Christianity Conversation in DC. This Meetup is run by Glen Zuber, an ex-pastor and professor of religion and founder of Iona Conversations. (Wilber fans: If you check it out, notice how its goals align with the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness.) I'm looking forward to more!

Practice Group for "Naked Spirituality"?

2012-01-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

I'm exploring the possibility of building a transformational practices group around the book by Brian McLaren, "Naked Spirituality: A Life with God in 12 Simple Words." The groups I've been experimenting with for a couple years are built around maturing through stages similar to the "seasons" of spiritual growth that "Naked" lays out. What I have in mind is part house church, part meditation sitting, and part tough-love support group--all designed to help us maintain our "awakening" or "Christ consciousness" as we interact with others in our normal day.

So far I've found rich community in groups based on a format by James Jones and inspired by the books "Essential Spirituality" by Roger Walsh and "Integral Life Practice" by Ken Wilber and Terry Patten. As a next step, I'm drawn to the idea of mixing "spiritual but not religious" people with the kind of open-hearted and open-minded Christians I'm meeting at the Emerging Christianity Meetup in DC. I think they have much to teach those of us who may have thrown out the baby with the bathwater of the restrictive religions we grew up with.

Watch for more info here, and please contact me if you're interested in helping to organize such a group.

Polairities: Religious Seekers and Finders both Right

2011-07-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Barry Johnson

More and more, I am seeing my experience as a spiritual seeker among those who believe they've found the Truth to be an uncovering of polarities. Barry Johnson, a leader in the hot field of polarity management, defines polarities as "situations in which both conflicting points of view are true." Polarities are unavoidable problems which cannot be solved, but can only be managed, he says.

Some of the polarities I run up against in my experiences recounted in The Bishop and the Seeker are

Self vs. Group
Action vs. Surrender
Intuition vs. Standards
Union vs Communion with God

I hope to be using the concept of polarities in the future as I seek to "manage" these conflicts in my own life and in my several spiritual communities.

Rural Virginia Blocks Interfaith Retreat: Evil or Polarities?

2011-07-09T04:32:00.000-07:00


WaPost photo of Laura George

The week after I met Laura George, the Washington Post ran a piece (7/8/11) on her suit against the rural Virginia county that blocked development of her interfaith center in the wake of opposition from Christian churches.

I had wanted to meet Laura because of the similarity of our missions to narrow the cultural tensions between those who might be labeled "spiritual" and "religious." Depending on your point of view, the quest of her Oracle Institute to reach out to Evangelicals has been beset by a run of very bad luck, by forces of darkenss, or by a case of polar value systems inflaming each other where they could have been enjoying the kind of party Bishop Thomas and I had in the encounter chronicled in our book, The Bishop and The Seeker.

Pentacle logo of Oracle Institute
represents five major religions

At the very least, the story is a case of really bad marketing. Laura's institute selected for itself a name, a logo, and a building ("the Peace Pentagon") guaranteed to raise red flags of "new age sorcery" in a conservative Christian environment.We discussed Oracle’s use of the Pentacle icon, which Laura says stands for spiritual unity among the five primary religions (Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam). I counseled her to consider focusing instead on the values she has in common with the local folk. She says she seeks to teach no particular beliefs, but only to focus on the centrality of love. What does the Bible have to say about that? And in her interest in sustainable communities, there is much she could learn from the locals, I suggested.

I met Laura on the 4th of July in her aptly named town of Independence. Just the day before I attended church in the nearby community of Pulaski. Their Bible Study discussion of whether our thoughts can be sins proceeded from much more literal interpretations of the Bible than my own. But I think some new thinking may have been provoked on all sides. Indeed, my own family--which includes agnostics and Buddhists--had a rich discussion of the topic afterwards at lunch. Values and beliefs that seem opposite can have connection points at many levels that are invisible when one is taking sides. My prayer for Laura George is that her institute will have an opportunity to expand on that dynamic--whatever name or shape her building finally takes.

Comments from those reading the book

2010-12-14T05:37:00.000-08:00

Please share here how the book is affecting you. Here's a starter comment from Julie Estep of Chico, CA, one of the first people to buy it.

"I suppose it need not be said that the book is a “bridge-building” tour de force, given its ambition and scope. It echoes and grounds conversations that, doubtlessly, innumerable New Agers, meta-philosophers, mystics, and non-traditionalists have been constructing in their heads for decades. Your book provides a succinct, precise, and unique mirror, which is one of the many things that make the piece so valuable. Readers will say: “OmiGod! Yes! Exactly! Thank you!”"

Highview Series 5: "My Intuition is Your Holy Spirit"

2010-10-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

Follow our hearts or follow the scriptures? This was one of the main themes throughout the dialogue in our book, so Bishop Thomas and I saved it for the last night of our discussion series at Highview Christian Fellowship.

At the beginning of our story, I'm all for "heart" or direct divine guidance, and he's all for the unchanging standard of the Bible. But as our story progresses--and as our discussion series progressed last month--you could see both sides expanding to include some of the other's conviction: me because I realized how susceptible we humans are to mistaking ego for revelation, and Bishop Thomas because my concession of that freed him to focus more on the mature spiritual stages in which we have wholly incorporated the scriptures into our way of being. Indeed, I came to see that most of my peers absorbed the Judeo-Christian ethic so thoroughly in childhood that they don't appreciate how much it still does serve as a "standard" against which they measure their intuitions.

"You call it Holy Spirit, we call it Spirit," said Rev. Trish Hall, minister of my other church, The Celebration Center for Spiritual Living."

One Standard, Two Answers
From Chapter 27 of "The Bishop and the Seeker," we read how I challenged Bishop T about a situation in which I seemed to be getting divine guidance that contradicted scripture. A friend was in the hospital, but I got a feeling that I didn't have to go visit her that day.

"Scripture tells us we should fulfill other responsibilities," he said.

"Ah. So you're saying a decision to go could be supported by scripture, and a decision not to go could also be supported by scripture?" I asked.

"Yes, it depends on the situation." he said.

"But suppose I didn't have other responsibilities that evening. I just had a feeling my friend didn't need me--perhaps because she had other visitors or was being discharged. Shouldn't Spirit be able to communicate to us new information like that that isn't in the scriptures?"

"You can take that attitude," he said. "But you may be wrong."

And THAT was a major "aha" for me. When I follow my inner knowing, I risk the possibility of being wrong. If I follow the pre-set standard and things don't work out, its not my responsibility. So how responsible am I willing to be?

Overcoming "the World"
"But what about the affect of the world on us?" asked one participant. And that made me realize that both our traditions, Christianity and New Thought metaphysics, share a passion to overcome the influence of "the world" of public opinion. Personally, I was lucky that my mother taught me, "Never follow the world, most people are boobs." But of course, that left me prone to judgment which may be just as difficult to overcome.

Following up
Several people asked at the end of the evening if we could continue the discussion informally, which I will be happy to do. Just let us know if you'd like to sit in.


All My Ministers My favorite photo of the series: Me between Rev. Trish Hall of Celebration Center, and my co-author Bishop Thomas.

Highview Series 4: Living for Heaven or Earth?

2010-10-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

For the fourth week of the book discussion series of The Bishop and The Seeker at Highview Christian Fellowship, Laurie from Celebration Center served as seeker of the week, reading from Chapter 20, "Living for Heaven or Earth." Laurie is featured in chapter 17, "Wicked and Evil Isn't That Bad," in which she spars with Bishop Thomas asserting everyone is basically good. She ends by saying, "I'm not going to say another word until I've gone to ministerial school to learn to express myself properly." And today, several years later, she returns half way through the ministerial program of One Spirit Interfaith Learning Alliance in New York.

Several times during the evening Bishop Thomas repeated his main theme of this series, "Telling Seekers the Truth about the Bible." "If Christians want to draw others to their faith, we need to focus on building relationships with them and using our lives as examples."

Highview Series 3: Seekers of the Week, Mark & Rev. Trish

2010-09-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

(Sept 15: Fairfax, VA) "Seeker of the week" Mark Gill didn't get far in his questions about how a loving God could send people to hell at last night's discussion at Highview Christian Fellowship of the book I've co-authored with Bishop Thomas, The Bishop and The Seeker. In my absence, Mark and Bishop Thomas read aloud from Chapter 8 in which Bishop tells me no Christian has any business worrying about who is going to hell, and each person is responsible for only as much light as they are given.

Mark is an ex-Pentecostal turned "spiritually homeless" by dogmatism, hypocrisy, and what he learned at divinity school. "I didn't backslide," he told the group, "I fled. And now I'm just interested in finding a higher level of truth." Reading as me, he got a laugh with the final line, "Wouldn't you be fired if anybody knew you believed these things?" he says to Bishop Thomas. "That's the first thing I thought as I read this book," Mark added on his own.

A young woman from Highview asked about atrocities in the Bible, and Bishop said he would answer some of those questions separately, but they generally arise from taking stories our of context.

Mark said that what attracts him to this series is the unusual opportunity to learn each others' views of God in a safe environment that welcomes questions.

Learning the truth
"But I come to learn the truth," said one participant.

Bishop Thomas said that worrying about conditions for salvation can distract Christians from the mission Jesus outlined in Luke 4:18: "To preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed."

Rev Trish on New Thought

Rev. Trish Hall joined the discussion. She's the senior minister at the other church I belong to, Celebration Center of Spiritual Living, an interfaith center in the New Thought movement. She shared her view of the need to continually honor our own divine nature within. She said that we could all get along in the world by realizing the commonalities among our beliefs rather than letting religion tear us apart.

Bishop Thomas responded that she might have an idealistic view because of her life circumstances.

"Since you brought up the subject ..." said Rev. Trish, and she shared some of her background of extensive childhood abuse. "I am not the victim of my past. Victimhood is a choice. I know I am free to choose how I experience my life. I choose to live life fully and to serve God and hopefully make a difference ..."

In the quiet that followed, Bishop Thomas skipped his customary wrapup comments."I can't add anything to that," he said. "Let's close with a prayer."

Because I had to teach that night, I am relying on reports from attendees. But several people told me how much they appreciated Rev. Trish's warm, engaging, funny, and personal stories in explaining her beliefs. The feeling was mutual and Rev. Trish declared her intention to return for the remaining two sessions. Folks also reported enjoying Mark's sincere quest for truth. "He was in his element," I heard.

Two more Wednesday nights

September 22: Laurie from Celebration Center takes my place as seeker of the week. Laurie is a ministerial student at the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York. They'll be reading from Chapter 20, Living for Heaven or Earth?

September 29: I return to discuss Chapter 9, "My Intuition is Your Holy Spirit"

Please join us for the series:
"Telling Seekers the Truth About the Bible"
Robert Frost Middle School, Cafeteria
4101 Pickett Rd, Fairfax, VA

Highview Series 1: Taking Off the Church Lady Hat

2010-09-06T03:40:00.000-07:00

The first night of our book series for Highview Christian Fellowship commingled so many roles, levels, and cross currents that I started off by putting on and then removing my "church lady hat" to symbolize our need to step out of usual ways of being.

Staying for the Ride

For starters, Bishop Thomas and I read from the chapter in "The Bishop and The Seeker" in which I tell him that the plan of salvation sounds like the plan of an insecure person without much imagination, and he asks me to come up with a better plan.

We asked people how the reading shows off things that do or do not encourage open communication. Several people noted that Bishop Thomas remained calm, listened, and did not take offense even though my comments were blunt enough to be potentially offensive.

"To do that, you have to have enough love for people to stay with them for the ride," Bishop Thomas said.

But what about "Truth"?
Min. Daryl Ladd said, all this exchange of ideas is fine, "But did you ever get to the Truth with a capital 'T'?"

This was a moment we knew we would face. Would it enhance the discussion or derail it?

Bishop T responded, "What you mean is, did Teri ever get saved, and that's an adventure in missing the point." (He was referencing the title of a book by Brian McLaren about how Christians miss opportunities to expand the Kingdom by focusing on salvation.)

Mother Venita, a senior member of the church with a lifetime of labor organizing behind her, said she was impressed by an idea in the book about "transcending and including" the good aspects of outside ideas. "I find I am attracted to some of the values in Buddhism, so I tell myself, the bottom line is whether its compatible with salvation through Jesus."

Surprised at who's in heaven

Ayub Kaddu

Visitor Ayub Kaddu is a Ugandan whose encounters with Christians in his gardening business has caused him to return to the cow worship of his ancestors. Ayub asked what would have happened if Teri had persuaded Bishop Thomas to her views. Bishop said there was no possibility of that since he is grounded in absolute truth.

But he also said that when all of us get to heaven, we may be surprised as we look around and see who's there and who's not.

At that point my friend Amy Roth, a Christian and ex-NBC reporter; chimed in that I am one of the most Christian people she knows--regardless of whether I call myself Christian or pass the official definition of salvation.

Why do this?
"You might be wondering why I did this and whether it was worth it for me," Bishop said. "I can tell you the time I spent getting to know Teri's point of view strengthened my own faith and made me a better Christian, a better man, and a better pastor."

Amy Roth

Amy interjected, "Teri, can we ask you the same question? Given that you don't seem to have persuaded Bishop to your views, was all the time you spent worth it to you?"

"Oh, God," escaped my lips. "This was one of the juiciest experiences of my life. I might still have a slightly different understanding of salvation--one I would like to share with the group--but I have more love for God, for all Christians and especially my Highview brethren, and a richer experience of life every day. Plus I've had a chance to become one of your best praise dancers" (which got me a laugh--if you check out the video, I'm the one on the end going left when everybody else goes right).

Visitor Mark introduced himself as an ex-Pentecostal turned atheist by his experiences in divinity school. He said he couldn't agree with either Teri or Bishop's views in the book, but he acknowledged how unusual and refreshing it is to have a discussion like this that is based in good will.

Warm welcome and connections
Afterward Sisters Reedis and Bridget served homemade refreshments while my husband Andy sold books. I noticed Mark in extended conversation with Daryl, visitor Chris in conversation with Mother Venita, and Ayub getting his picture taken with everyone. Chris is an agnostic foreign service officer who has served in countries where religion is often an excuse to kill. He told me later he was surprised by how warmly welcomed he felt by the Highview people. Ayub told me he didn't understand the points about "Truth," but he could tell there were good people at Highview, and especially Bishop Thomas.

Two questions were put in the "parking lot" for future sessions: How Teri experiences salvation, and--as a challenge to the seekers from Bishop Thomas--name any question that the Bible doesn't have an answer to.

Participate Virtually in Next Meetings
I encourage anyone reading this to participate virtually in the next meeting by posting here your response to Bishop's challenge. We will raise your questions in future sessions and post his answers here.

Meetings are all Wednesdays in September
7-8 pm
Robert Frost Middle School, Cafeteria
4101 Picket Road
Fairfax, VA

Also please check our list of Ten things you can do to help promote the book--which includes a survey of questions you'd like to see discussed.


Schmoozing: After the discussion, Ayub discusses the problem of land theft in his native Uganda with Amy, Public Affairs Director at International Justice Mission, which has an office in Uganda.

Christianity vs. Interfaith: Erring on the Side of Love

2010-08-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Will all be drawn to God eventually or are we free to choose?

Must we be guided by the scriptures or by our hearts?
Is Christianity the only path?

How can those who take different perspectives on these questions work together for good in a hurting world?

Opposites across the table?
At the table on my left, three strong, handsome, Black, Christian men, their bald heads seeming to emphasize their embodiment of the traditional virtues of piety, humility, and endurance: Bishop Phil Thomas of Highview Christian Fellowship flanked by his lieutenants Deacon Greg Coulter and Minister Eric Holder. On my right, two golden-haired women from the interfaith and New Thought movements: the older, Rev. Joyce Liechenstein who co-directs the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York (OSIS), and the other--dressed in the flowing ochre robes of an angel--Rev Trish Hall of the Celebration Center of Spiritual Living in Falls Church, Virginia (CCSL). Anchoring the other end of the table from me was the woman who brought us together for this meeting, Laurie Bolster, who is both a practitioner at CCSL and a ministerial student at One Spirit.

The amazing and electric meeting was arranged at the request of Rev. Joyce who came down from New York to meet me and Bishop Thomas after Laurie passed her our book. The Sunday afternoon meeting capped a weekend of activities with local graduates and faculty of OSIS, including a book discussion at the home of faculty member Barbara Kinney and a visit to the morning meditation at CCSL and to the Highview service at which I was dancing.

Following meditation at Celebration Center for Spiritual Living, from left:
Rev Joyce Liechenstein, Rev. Trish Hall, Rev. Rene Ragan, Barbara Kinney.
The three guests are faculty of the interspiritual counseling department of OSIS,
an arm of One Spirit Learning Alliance, OSLA

Me on the left dancing at Highview. Click for Youtube.

I can capture the essence of topics covered at this extraordinary meeting, but I can't capture the sparkling openness, humility, teasing, love, and spirit of cooperation that underpinned them.

Salvation vs. Enlightenment
I started the meeting by reading from page 89 of our book Bishop's surprising description of salvation.

In Buddhism and Hinduism and all those, you have to keep striving for perfection. You have to go through all those deaths and rebirths trying to learn lessons. But when you’re saved, you’re perfect now. There’s nothing else you have to do. So you have nothing to be afraid of. Your holiness is complete, right here, right now. And that is so magnificent, so freeing, so empowering, that if you really understood it, you’d never do anything to defile it.

In the silence that followed, Bishop Thomas got the first of many laughs saying, "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

I told the group I got so excited by how that definition echoes my understanding of "enlightenment," that I ran with it farther than Bishop T. is comfortable--to the place of knowing, as he himself said, that even the Ten Commandments no longer apply as I make my choices from love rather than from the law.

Scripture vs. Direct Revelation
This pulled Bishop T right back into our main dispute throughout the book: whether there is one standard we can rely on to know HOW to express love--the Bible as the "manufacturer's manual" on how best to run our lives. Rev. Trish jumped in to say indeed there is a standard, but the best way we can know it is through direct revelation.

Alexandria Hospital chaplain Ed Preston (who along with his wife Diane had opened their lovely home to us for the meeting) jumped in from the peanut gallery to remind us of the New Thought teaching that we all create our own realities.

"We can do that, but we'll have to take responsibility for the consequences of the realities we create," said Bishop T. Revs Trish, Joyce, and Ed echoed agreement.

Will All Return to the One or Can We Choose?
Rev Joyce, who at 75 and well under 5' makes me think of a diminutive medieval abbess crossed with a marketing CEO, flipped rapidly through her heavily marked Bible. She cited Saul, the prodigal son, and references in Ephesians and Colosians to God's "secret plan" to bring all creation together and make known that "Christ is in you." "These verse tells us that ALL will be returned to God," she said, "So who's going to mess with God's plan?"

"We are," said Bishop Thomas. "We mess up. 'Many are called, but few are chosen.'"

"I'm not so sure about that verse," said Rev Joyce. The Jesus seminar tells us we may have only a dozen accurate quotes from Jesus. So I like to pick and choose the verses that sound really good to me." (laughter)

"So do I," said Bishop Thomas (louder laughter). "Scripture says now we see darkly. But Christians believe we must choose to accept God's offer to return to Him. People are fee to choose not to return."

"Oh yes, we can refuse, but only for so long," said Rev. Joyce. She told of the book Testimony of Light, in which a deceased nun reports back to her friend that even in the shadowlands on the other side, angels come every day to continue bringing light. "Though I could be wrong," she said. The older I get, the more agnostic I am as I realize how much is mystery to us."

"Well I pray you're right, but the scripture tells me differently. This is where we'll have to agree to disagree."

Sermon Exchange!

As they plucked grapes from a bowl between them, Bishop Thomas said he doesn't like to get involved in theological discussions like this while people are hurting. "We pastors are like the fellows who cut a hole through the roof to get their paraplegic friend to Jesus for healing. We have to do whatever it takes; we have to cut a hole through the roof while everyone else is dallying."

Rev. Trish agreed heartily. "We need to learn how to move people into a better understanding of what we call enlightenment: getting our human selves out of the way so we can have that greater experience of God as light."

"Well I could let you preach that at my church," said Bishop Thomas.

"Sermon exchange!" exclaimed Laurie and I simultaneously.

"Well I could let Rev. Trish preach at my church," said Bishop T. Even with the people who are far out in New Thought, like Dale (referring to the top of page 130 in our book), the errors they make are erring on the side of love. My people would understand that. But I would have to be careful what I said in your church because folks are so sensitive about how things are said. I can sound a little rough sometimes because of my Pentecostal upbringing."

Marching in Iambic Pentameter

Bishop T said pastors must do like Sergeant Carter in the old TV comedy Gomer Pyle: While all the other marines are marching in order, someone must correct Gomer who's always out of step, "marching in iambic pentameter." (Bishop T. has a way of creating poetry on the fly like this, but the broad grin I withheld turned to awe when I later checked the definition of Iambic pentameter: a particular rhythm that groups of syllables called "feet" establish in a line of verse, a line made up of five pairs or "iambs" of short/long, or unstressed/stressed, syllables.

As the meeting came to a close, Bishop Thomas said, "We're not going to solve our differences. I hope discussions like this can help us find enough common ground that we are not bickering and can work together to impact the world in the way God wants it impacted, leading people to a life of abundance in Him."

I believe there was more love and trust in the world at the end of this meeting--and more clarity as well.

Abraham and Aristotle: What is Interfaith Metalogue?

2010-08-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

Carol Haave, Judith Latham, Amy Roth, Ed Preston, Teri Murphy,
Chris Sandrolini, Frances Eddy, Onley, Dr. Ahmad, Edie Russo

(Arlington, VA) Presenting Bishop and Seeker for an interfaith salon yesterday, I focused on how the book does or does not demonstrate the move from interfaith dialogue to interfaith metalogue. This approach was suggested to me by James Jones, Integral Institute co-founder and lay leader at Unity Fairfax.

I read three dialogues from the book, two with my favorite Muslim imam, Dr. Dean Ahmad of the Minaret of Freedom Institute who was at the salon, and one with my co-author, Bishop Phil Thomas of Highview who will attend the next salon.

We placed several themes on the table:

Dialogue is normally advocacy for one's own position. Metalogue seeks something beyond
Metalogue is a conversation about the conversation one is having--which is what Bishop Thomas and I shared during the period we were editing our own dialogues for the book.

Metalogue requires that at least one of the participants be aware of the context from which they are speaking: how are my beliefs about this question shaped by history, society, and my own personal upbringing and psychology? James used his favorite term "intersubjective context" here, creating a connection across the room with Barbara Kinney, a developmental psychologist and interspiritual counselor from One Spirit Learning Alliance in New York. Barbara added that in metalogue, one notices one's own shadow projections--the part of ourselves we deny and see exaggerated in others
I thought Barbara offered the best definition of metalogue as co-creating something fresh that transcends the participants' prior beliefs

But then Dr. Ahmad offered a definition that took my breath away, "Normally we dialogue about worship, but perhaps it becomes metalogue when we dialogue as worship."

And then Voice of America reporter Navbahor Imamova brought us back to reality saying, "I don't believe in interfaith dialogue. People from different religions have a nice discussion in a fancy roomy while outside members of their own religions are fighting. To do any good, we need to be talking about differences within our own religions."

Amy Roth of International Justice Mission offered that The Bishop and the Seeker does exactly that by modeling how to have the kind of dialogue that opens fresh possibilities. "Seek and ye shall find," she said--which also took my breath away, because it happened to be what I'd had inscribed on the cake we were just about to share.

The salon was a regular meeting of Abraham and Aristotle and All their Children, which is graciously hosted by retired Voice of America producer Judith Latham. In September we will meet for part 2 in which we'll look at the polarities in religious beliefs about materialism, literal translations of holy books, and the role of government in enforcing "God's law."

Incubator Day 5: Integral Christianity?

2010-06-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

Continued from Day 4

Co-creation vs Surrender

Ross Hostetter

As the tension between co-creation and surrender is one of the themes of my book, when we were given the chance to sign up for a second coaching appointment, I decided to let the Universe choose. Earlier in the week, I had scrambled to get the appointment I wanted, so this time--even though I had three top choices--I let the other participants sign up first. Which three slots were left open? Yep, the Universe threw the choice back at me. I picked Ross Hostetter, an attorney who runs the business end of Boulder Integral and is writing a book on Integral Christianity.

My project of dialoguing with orthodox Christians would appear to be outside the focus that most Integral Christianity work has taken. Most the focus has been on expanding states of consciousness with meditation and contemplative prayer. (A broader picture is explored in Aqal Journal Spring 2006 including this great chart showing how congregations live in all four quadrants. Buy the full issue here.) Ross did seem more interested, though, after I showed him the video clip of me and Bishop Thomas that I received the congratulatory note about from Ken Wilber. Ross recommended I contact the publicist used by Michael Dowd for his book Thank God for Evolution.

Transformational Practice Groups
I also took the opportunity to share with Ross my enthusiasm about bringing spirituality into our daily lives via the small group process for transformational practices developed by my mentor James Jones. That's my group in DC in the photo below.

My Transformational Practices Group in DC.
From left: Justin Frank, Anita Conner, Amy Roth, Marianne Josem, Teri Murphy, and Malcolm

Transformational Practice Groups

Closing Rituals--and a Surprise
Our final day brought lots of hugs and chances to circle up for assessment and appreciation. Several people mentioned how Rev. Karen Francis had changed their image of Christian pastors. "You made it safe to say 'Jesus' again," said one person as everybody laughed. (Rev. Karen told me privately that her own experience in the New Age movement made her aware of the need to reintegrate a direct divine connection back into Christianity.)

And then Nomali surprised us--and I think Jeff as well--by telling an idea for future Incubators--focusing them on interest areas: integral education, integral health, integral Christianity, etc. The mere idea of an Incubator focused on Integral Christianity set of an explosion of ideas in my head. Would it be for people who want to launch a project that promotes Integral Christianity or for people who want to launch any kind of project from an Integral Christianity flavored "Big Womb"? I had been thinking that an Integral Incubator is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But now I'm thinking ONE may not be enough.

more photos at Integral Incubator's Facebook

Integral Incubator Day 4: Email from Ken Wilber

2010-06-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

Continued from day 3.9

I rubbed my eyes a bit when I saw Ken Wilber's name on an email in my inbox. Two days earlier Jeff Salzman had suggested that I send Ken a link to this short video clip of my dialogue with Bishop Thomas. What I'm finding is, when I just tell people about my dialogue with orthodox Christians, most say, "That's nice, dear." But when I show them this clip they say, "Oooh. You've got something there." And so Ken's note, received after I spoke with him Wednesday, said simply

Jeez, just got this now, Teri. Love it! Thanks so much....

I was, of course, thrilled for this validation by the person whose work has provided so much of my inspiration for building bridges across religious conflict.

And now the good news
But that may not have been the most exciting thing that happened yesterday. I was curled up on a bench outside the meditation room in a scrumptious blue blanket Nomali had provided in response to my "special care request" for needing a daily nap. Through the closed door, I heard the most amazing video clip being taped. In the most professional and compelling voice you can imagine, I heard something like this (rough paraphrase).

Are you tired of an America torn by strife and mired in old approaches that aren't working for 21st century problems? This new show, America, Next Version, will showcase groundbreaking solutions to our technical, financial, and quality of life problems. New ideas from a broader perspective that show us how to transcend old problems while including the best of who we are. In each show, we start with a prayer:

We open ourselves to the Divine power that is always embracing us and enriching us with everything we need. Divine loving energy that knows all the solutions to our every need is pouring through us now, empowering each of us to step out and do our part to create a renewed America...

As soon as the voice stopped, I bust through the door and asked, "What was that!" A handsome young fellow in a sharp suit told me he was taping his application to be on the Oprah show, and I'd be able to see the clip and vote for it on the Internet in a day or two. "This guy is going places," I thought. So I gave him the postcard about my book and told him he had to interview me. "This looks teriffic," he said. "I'll reach you through Facebook."

Thank God Nomali, who seems to be a jack-of-all-trades, (she was designing and sewing her own clothes at age 9) has graciously agreed to help me figure out Facebook tomorrow.

Elevator Speeches
Our last activity of the day was the long-awaited "elevator speeches." After much coaching during the week, we were each given 60 seconds to tell about our project in the way we might do in a chance encounter, such as in an elevator. Being an old Toastmasters hand, this was a hugely fun challenge for me, and my turn got a great response. In fact everyone rose to the occasion, and I heard passionate, funny, and moving appeals that made me wish we could start the week over so I could spend more time with each person. Luckily, we've got one more day. Next>

Integral Incubator Day 3.9: Making New Friends

2010-06-18T02:34:00.000-07:00

Continued from day 3.5

If the Integral Incubator did nothing else than provide a comfortable work space for 30 fans of Integral from around the world to mingle for a week, it would be a fabulous deal. Even making a dedicated effort at it, I haven't been able to connect with everybody. When I meet someone I vibe with, do I spend more time with them, or keep mingling to discover other nuggets of either commonality or expansion of my interests? I've been trying to do both.

Pleasures of Pearl Street
After the trip to Denver to see Ken Wilber on Day 3, most of us went to Boulder's famous Pearl Street Mall to stroll and dine on a perfect summer evening. Although I started with a plan to join a large group for dinner, circumstances cooked up a better plan: a quiet beer and guacamole with my new friend Victoria Blackwood, followed by a lovely relaxed dinner of tapas and wine with world-renowned developmental expert Susanne Cook Greuter and her charming husband Craig.

Victoria lives in a Maine farmhouse with her new husband, child, and dog Wilber (yes!). On the surface we appear to have little in common--her job after a decade directing hospitality on cruise ships is running the continuing education program for an international maritime academy. Yet her vibe is of someone extremely grounded, competent, engaging, and at-home in the politics of a big organization or the tight quarters of a hierarchical male-run ship. (I don't believe her when she says she's been a bar maid but never a captain). It turns out our common interest is in churches seeking a new model of community. Her father was an Episcopal priest who designed intimate church buildings, and her mother studied theology with luminaries including Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Carl Yung. (Why am I meeting so many cool Episcopalians lately?). Needless to say, dinner among the f'our of us was not boring--especially with Victoria's penchant for breaking into jokes with a heavy Mainer accent. "Ya can't get there from here."

Integral Flamenco and the Mob
No less fascinating was my lunch that day with a fellow who became Christian after the Mob put a contract on him. Barricaded in his house with guns, he saw a sign, "Jesus is Lord," looked in the phone book to find the "Jesus is Lord Church," and ran over to the place where the pastor called out to him on arrival, "The devil's trying to put you in a box, but you'll be safe if you become God's minister." So this fellow started and ran a passionate Pentecostal church until his view of God expanded to a point where his congregation threw him out for someone who still believed in the devil. Today his partner is a raven-haired Colombian artist and spiritual teacher who did a showstopping flamenco-style piece of performance art for us, high black boots stomping and black cape soaring. She teaches that the coming of Christ is the birth of Spirit within us, and once got rival churches in Nicaragua to come together. The two plan to start an Integral coffee house and spiritual center.

And then there's a young gay man who wants to shift gay culture such that young gays feel encouraged to develop their interiors instead of just their fighting stances in order to better shift the culture around them.

Can you see why I'm trying to spend some time with everyone?

More tomorrow: Day 4

Integral Incubator Day 3.5: Meeting Ken Wilber

2010-06-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

My polka dot elbow is bottom left. Click to enlarge.

(Continued from day 3) As our group from the Integral Incubator settled in to Ken's window-walled living room, his assistant suggested gifts be placed in a pile by Ken's empty chair, which bore a pillow with his face on it--so that seemed my best option for presenting my book. Ken walked in, sat down, and began teaching integral theory (i.e., taking the largest possible perspective on everything) with no introduction other than to get a laugh by saying, "I've said this many times before, but I love hearing myself say it."

He took us from hunter-gatherer through integral (with a long detour on the decline of slavery, which I knew would interest my friend Amy Roth who works for IJM fighting the rise of slavery worldwide). He ended by noting its lonely at the top, and encouraging us in our work to make practical applications of Integral in the world.

Our dozen or so brief questions generated long thoughtful answers--including a fullrecounting of the plot of "to Kill a Mocking Bird" in response to a question about his favorite movies. "I don't choose movies for the amount of truth in them, but for how well made they are," he said.

Historic exchange

My question didn't form in my head until just before I asked it. Here's what I recall of the historic exchange, which got both us us good laughs.

TERI: I'm Teri, and the passion you've ignited in my life is to bring Integral to Fundamentalists (laugh). I use David Zeitler's recommendation of horizontal identification--standing next to someone in a way that highlights our commonalities and then just glowing to raise the vibration. (laugh) I did that in a two year dialogue with a Christian pastor who takes the Bible literally as recounted in my book (I point to the book in the floor, but he doesn't look). And my question is if you know of anyone else who is taking this kind of approach that I can network with?

KEN: Well that's fascinating. Most of the work we've done with Integral Christianity is with the Catholic tradition of contemplative prayer. I was just beginning to tap into the movement to apply Integral within a Protestant context when I was hospitalized three years ago, and I lost track of that project. I do recall that some of the evangelical pastors involved had very large followings, five or six million. So its time I tap back into that. In fact, I have two manuscripts on my desk now that look at Integral from the Protestant Perspective. Where are you based out of?

TERI: I'm the coordinator of the Ken Wilber Meetup in Washington D.C., and my work has been with a pastor of a black church in Fairfax. Whenever I explain to him the benefits of Integral he says, "The Bible has all that and a bag of chips." (laugh)

KEN: I wish I'd known that (in the sense of "I wish I'd know that before I wasted my time writing 30 books." Very big laugh)

I was thrilled to pieces by the spontenaity of the exchange, wishing only I'd had a chance to actually see Ken receive the book.

Next, day 3.9

Integral Incubator Day 3: Meeting Ken Wilber

2010-06-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

Ken Wilber center back. Click to enlarge

continued from day 2

I am 99% THRILLED with my visit to Ken Wilber. We rode a bus to his loft apartment in downtown Denver after being briefed on the protocol of being a guest in his home (don't use his bathroom and don't present him with your book for comments). After five years of failed attempts to make Ken aware of my project, I told Jeff Salzman that he would have to "go to red" to prevent me from handing my book to Ken. Jeff took this good naturedly, saying he was visualizing tackling me.

I took a couple hours in the early morning to mark up in pink highlighter the dozen or so pages I thought Wilber would most get a kick out of. I cut up yellow Post-its to mark the pages and used a hot pink Post-it for my favorite quote from Bishop Thomas.

You say Christianity is fear-based because you’re comparing us to all those other world religions. In Buddhism and Hinduism and all those, you have to keep striving for perfection. You have to go through all those deaths and rebirths trying to learn lessons. But when you’re saved, you’re perfect now. There’s nothing else you have to do. So you have nothing to be afraid of. Your holiness is complete, right here, right now. And that is so magnificent, so freeing, so empowering, that if you really understood it, you’d never do anything to defile it. …Now your eyes are really bulging. What? Tell me.

(I reply) That's not salvation; that's enlightenment!

Integrating First Person and Second Person God
The hour's ride from Boulder took us through prairie made brilliantly green by recent rains. I sat with Presbyterian pastor Karen Francis to learn about an epiphany she had the prior day. She let go of the project she arrived with: to learn to better communicate with people at all developmental levels in her congregation. When we were given a chance to summarize our project on a sheet of poster paper, she was surprised by what filled the void: a drawing of a chalice into which divine love was falling from above and spilling over, and poetically arranged words in colors of the developmental levels of Spiral Dynamics:

Love

Forgive

Grow

In Jesus Christ

Karen's gentle radiance as she told me this SO reminded me of Rev Harriet Hawkins, the person who turned me on the Ken Wilber, that I had the impression I had chanted up Rev. Harriet to accompany me at this Incubator.

[IMPORTANT NOTE: For anybody considering the Incubator, obviously I am filtering this report through my own interest in religious bridge building, and making no effort to give "equal time" to other topics. So please don't get the impression religion is a focus of the Incubator. ]

A swank high rise

When we arrived in Denver, I was surprised to debark in front of a swank highrise smack downtown. We bought lattes at the ground-level coffee shop, used its bathroom, and rode up the lobby elevator in batches.

Ken's gleaming, modern apartment has a magnificent view across the city to snow-capped mountains...

Whoops, I don't want to be late to meditation again this morning, so I'll break off here and resume this report in a few hours. See day 3.5

Integral Incubator Day 2: The Three Faces of God and Cosmic Nipples

2010-06-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

Continued from Day 1

Boulder Integral

1,000 golden cords dangled from the ceiling as the day began with a light, fun movement exercise and a lovely meditation on the Three Faces of God. Three Faces is Ken Wilber's concept for integrating one of the main themes I explore in my book--the tension of holding God as an impersonal force we can find union with or a personal force we can have communion with. The meditation was taped, and I'll be using it for the series of Meetups I plan to lead in DC on related themes. (As I talk with people here about Meetup I find many are not aware of this amazing online resource for finding people with your interests in your geographic area--and they are thrilled when I tell them about it.)

Planning vs Visioning
Next up was an opportunity to do a four-quadrant analysis of our projects. Mine showed me something I knew but was galvanized to do something about: the fact that my "upper left" (individual interior) is engaged round-the-clock in PLANNING how to get my book into the right hands, but I lag behind in visioning and prayer to support that intention. And perhaps the solution is in my lower left (collective interior), asking for help among my support network. Here's my start, in a form of prayer we call a "spiritual mind treatment" in my Spiritual Living community:

I know there is only one promotion project,
and that is the Divine promotion of ever-expanding love and consciousness in the Kosmic Kingdom.

I align myself with this unquenchable flow,
riding its wave to find the perfect hands to receive my book--those who can use it to heal religious tension in their families and communities while moving closer to their own spiritual Source.

I am so grateful to be a part of this creative shower of milk and honey,

And I release results, knowing the perfect outcome is already done
in the Mind of God.

Lunch with a Publisher
For lunch I hooked up with Jim Ward, a fellow here from Charlottesville, Virginia, who edits a stably successful alternative newspaper that's distributed throughout conservative southern Virginia. His project at the Incubator is expanding the reach of "The Echo" and perhaps finding partners. He asked for a review copy of The Bishop and the Seeker, and I told him I couldn't imagine a better way to tap the solidly Christian market than by featuring a series of debates by me and my co-author Bishop Thomas.

Catbird seat
In the afternoon I passed on a presentation by Sue Briteman on how to craft the "elevator speech" for our projects, putting in some work time on my own project: planning promotion of my book. In our "study hall," I've found myself "the catbird seat;" in the photo below that's me in the far corner of the room sitting atop a barstool and high-top table that's feeling like my office away from home.

Big Ideas: Big Womb
Later I attended an informal talk by one of Integral's top theorists on human development: Swiss-born Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter, who is here as a participant to work on her book. (Her husband is here working on his novel.) She has sensed something missing in the Buddhist concept of Big Mind and Big Heart as essential features/sources of reality. She explored with us how our projects might be inspired by metaphors around the idea of "Big Womb" as the force that creates. Metaphors flew thick and fast as she told us that breastfed babies receive milk not in a single stream, but in a shower of many tingling streams that stimulate their mouths in many places. Creativity as "cosmic nipple in the sky," she said. Do you think that talk influenced my prayer above?

And more!
There is so much more to tell. Dinner with Tim Wertz of South Carolina who wants to help build Integral Families, dancing and drawing our projects, and more. but I'm feeling like a kid who's had too much cotton candy. Don't tell anyone, but I think I'll skip meditation this morning and just sit gazing at the view of red rock buttes from my hotel room window. This afternooon, we're off to visit Ken Wilber.

A hotel with a mountain view and a Whole Foods across the street. Is that Boulder or what?

Next day 3

Integral Incubator Day 1: Without Words

2010-06-15T04:28:00.000-07:00

See preface piece "On Arrival"
My hotel here in Boulder is directly across the street from a Whole Foods, so I got to start my day with their granola bar (berries, coconut, almonds & 3 kinds of honey--but no sugar) and the short bus ride to Boulder Integral, shown at right.

Our morning session was about introducing ourselves in various fun ways in the high-ceilinged room that used to be a church. Then we heard intros from the coaches we have access to while here: Sue Brightman, Bert Parlee, Nomali Perera, leader Jeff Salzman himself, and several others. Being of clear intention, I dove under the legs of people scrambling to the signup board and got myself one of the slots with Jeff. (A couple of the other coaches are good matches for me as well, and I'm hoping to meet with them later in the week.)

Meeting with Jeff

Jeff Salzman

Jeff asked good questions about my plans for sharing my book with Christians, seekers, and Integralists and offered several good tips for the plan, including that I might be able to do an interview with Ken Wilber. I told him what I really valued from him is his thoughts on the potential awkwardness of talking about the book in a mixed audience--being able to share my honoring of each group's contributions. He said being able to do that is the essence of Integral. He laughed when I asked for his blessing.

Rev. Karen and Breathing Room
I "accidently" ended up having lunch with Rev. Karen Francis, a petite young English woman who says she left the new age to become a Presbyterian pastor. Her congregation outside Boise, Idaho, includes ultraconservative ranchers and liberal city folk. "How do they keep from splitting up?" I asked. "They believe God assigned them to this parish and so they have to work things out," she said.

Rev Karen Francis

Rev. Karen is using ideas from Integral to bridge the gap. "Instead of implying that my amber (roles and rules) folks are wrong, I encourage them to go deeper into their own beliefs and learn to express them better. And that seems to give some breathing room for growth all around," she said. "In fact, instead of attacking him in friendly debate, liberals in the congregation began rethinking their positions as well." Rev. Karen regrets not having anyone to talk with about integral (or as she says, "inTEGral") ideas. I suggested she'd enjoy communicating with Rev. Harriet Quigley, the Spiritual Living minister who first turned me on to Ken Wilber. (Which reminds me, yes, my other hotel mate from Vancouver does know Rev. Sophia who I've done some work with on "Three Faces of God".) Most surprising fact about soft-spoken Rev Karen? She met her husband playing Dungeons and Dragons.

An "unplanned" performance
In the afternoon we had a work session that felt like the most focused study hall you ever sat in. Then in the evening we each did what I'll call a performance art piece. I won't give away the details except that we were instructed NOT to plan anything in advance. This, of course, is impossible for me. So I made a deal with Spirit: I planned the first part and let it take over the rest. The result was something quite magnificent, transformational, that moved me as deeply as it apparently did the audience. I told the essence of my book without words in 60 seconds. The glorious feeling of freedom and connection with God it left me with will probably be my most lasting memory--and powerful result--of my week here.

Fascinating People
"Kid in a candy shop" is how one participant described the feeling of the opportunities available to us here. Here are examples of some people I am meeting--or hope to meet, because it already seems the time is going very quickly.

Costa Rican Jose Fernandez has played piano at the White House, been a radio talk show host, and university professor who is on his way to DC for a Doctorate in Public Policy. He's a sweetie and eager to join the DC Ken Wilber Meetup. I already want him in our Transformational Practice Group as well.
A couple of integral artists including Jolen Monheim whose project is "Swimming in the Ocean of Becoming" - photographing dancers underwater and manipulating the images in Photoshop.
A couple of people working on integral novels.
Several people interested in socially responsible investing or forms of capitalism that refocus on quality of life.
Several life coaches, meditation instructors, or yoga instructors seeking to broaden their practices and their businesses.
A couple people in life transition whose project is to figure out what their project is

More tomorrow: Day 2

Integral Incubator Diary: Arrival in Boulder

2010-06-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

Jeff Salzman

This week I'm at Integral Incubator in Boulder, Colorado, to create the marketing plan for my book. The Incubator is a working retreat for those who want an intense jumpstart on a personal project. It is led by Jeff Salzman, a founder of Ken Wilber's Integral Institute, and will include one afternoon with Wilber.

Nomali Perera

My flight from DC arrived in time for me to catch just the last hour of an optional Introduction to Integral. I missed four of the five aspects: quadrants, lines, types, and states--arriving for half the final piece on levels of development. Naomi Perera of Boulder Integral co-led, making big-screen presentations from YouTube of songs typifying each level. Jeff ended by saying the "second tier" levels permit us to re-integrate values we may have left behind, including magic from the "magenta" level. "In a sense, miracles once again become possible," he said.

Adorning the wall of the Boulder Integral meeting room were pictures and bios of the 20-some people I'll be sharing my week with. I went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory on Pearl Street with three of them:

A personal coach from Vancouver
JackieBergman: a Swedish engineer whose wife runs a Wilber Meetup in Stockholm and who focuses on the choice between love and fear in leadership training that he does for engineers. He says the problem in the Scandinavian countries is that everyone is a philosopher but no one wants to walk the talk, and thus he is interested in the Transformational Practice Group I belong to.
Victoria Blackwood from Maine here to develop a strategic plan for developing leadership in a multicultural context at the Maritime university she works for. She's an Episcopalian-turned-Buddhist who seeks to express Christ Consciousness in her daily life.

I can't wait to meet the rest of my new friends tomorrow: Day 1

Book Patio Party Celebrates "Hard" Interfaith Dialogue

2010-06-11T05:37:00.000-07:00

My call for a new kind of inter-religious dialogue sparked lots of good ideas and enthusiasm at my first book party held on the leafy patio of my corner Pasha Cafe. 15 of us enjoyed a lovely spread of Middle Eastern Appetizers while supporters and I re-enacted scenes from my book "The Bishop and The Seeker." Although my co-author Bishop Phil Thomas couldn't be there, Dietra Jones from his staff did a great job of reading his part in our dialogues. Laurie Bolster from my New Thought church played herself, and my husband Andy played my intefaith chaplain friend Ed Preston. (more photos below)

Here are some highlights:

Laurie, who helped edit the book, said she was amazed upon reading the finished product to see how much it surpassed the individual chapters she had worked on. "Makes complex concepts easy-to-read, accessible while drawing a vivid portrait of Pastor Thomas that makes his openness and integrity jump off the page."
Amy Roth said what she loves about the book is the "humanness" with which I drew the characters and the concepts, bringing down to earth a debate that is usually about extractions.

Neighbor Jason Powell and his transformational coach friend Chris didn't say anything during the presentation, but afterwards I overheard them scheming, "Every congregation has one person who would fully appreciate the power of this approach and be lit on fire to share it. How do we get it into the hands of that person?"
Jason, who is a member of a Meetup for Polymaths (people interested in everything) suggested I start a Meetup devoted solely to my book. Hey, there's a thought, eh?
Matthew and Wendy from Memorial Baptist bought a copy for themselves and one for their pastor. "Most of my friends are New Age and can't imagine why I would choose to be Christian. I've been waiting for a book like this to help me explain it to them," Wendy said.
Wendy also told of having mixed feelings reading Stephen Prothero's new book "God is not One." Because my Wilber Meetup buddy Ron Walkow (in blue shirt below) keeps me abreast of blogs like Rod Dreher's at Beliefnet, I was able to quote Dreher espousing hard-edged interfaith dialogue showing how all religions could be describing the same high truths from mushy interfaith dialogue that assumes everyone in all religions already does.
Belinda from Clarendon Baptist came on the prior night, when rain forced us indoors, and bought a book to get ideas for the public series they hold annually on "Blunt Questions for God and Christians."
Nurse Lynn, who remained a Catholic while her mother left Catholicism for a Black protestant church, bought two copies--one for her mom so they can begin a fresh conversation.
Also on the prior night, Nell Minow, who writes the "Movie Mom" blog on Belief.net, recommended Guestfinder radio placement service as the best use of my advertising dollars. She also responded to my discussion of balancing humility with self esteem by telling the Jewish advice, "In one pocket you must keep a note to remind you that you are so important God created the entire world for you, and in the other pocket you must keep another note reminding you that you are so unimportant he created you last."

More info about the book is at BishopandSeeker.com.

Many thanks to Pasha Cafe which gave us a great deal on the evening and splendid service from our favorite waiter Alex. Some gorgeous additional photos posted by Dietra.

It's a Book! Celebrating Delivery with my Cherrydale neighborhood

2010-05-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

I welcomed the truck delivering my book with a sign on the front porch saying,"It's a Book!" Neighbors dropped by to congratulate me, and we got a copy of this photo in the local Cherrydale newsletter. Watch for a signing party at the local Pasha Cafe.

Then I'm off to Boulder for a working retreat at the Integral Incubator to plan how this project can make the most difference in the world.

In the OTHER Land of Believers

2010-05-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

I am knocked out by a new book that does for White evangelicals and secularists what my book does for Black fundamentalists and those in "alternative religion." Young writer Gina Welch, a secular Jew who believes, "when you die, you just die," went undercover for two years to Jerry Falwell's church in an attempt to understand this alien culture and build bridges to it. To do so, she fakes being saved and even baptized--except its not completely faking; some unexplained pull she calls "the X factor" overtakes her in the worship music and draws her ineluctably forward to make the fateful declaration.

From there it's one harrowing moment after another as she makes friends, becomes integrated in the community, and comes to admire and even take on some of the best aspects of its culture--all the while abhorring the politics and uncomprehending of the emphasis on a literalist interpretation of salvation. "Awkward" doesn't begin to describe some of the situations she gets herself in: like being offered a shot at a job at Evangelical hotbed Liberty University or finding herself encouraging the others as a salvation mission goes bad. She shows tenacity, compassion, and courage as well as transparency to her own gnawing doubts about her "disguise."

Along the way, Welch comes to many of the same conclusions I do in "The Bishop and The Seeker." Homophobia can only be cured by intimate relationships with homosexuals; much evangelism is offered as a sacrificial form of social action, and the happiness of many Biblical literalists is real. Like me, she seeks to create bridges. (Luckily, my adventure in a Black church precluded even the possibility of my "going undercover"). We do disagree on one thing though--the "emotionalism" of evangelical culture. While she sees it as trumping reason, I see it, along with emerging church activist Brian Mclaren, as perhaps too reason-bound in its wariness of direct revelation. But that difference can be explained by the different orientations Welch and I bring to the topic. When you die, I don't know what happens to you, but I don't believe you don't just die. Not the part of you that matters.

Chico Signing 2: Fabulous Connections*

2010-04-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

with Christina Wong at Mondo Cafe

See also Part 1
The day after my first book signing for The Bishop and the Seeker, we went to Sunday service at Trinity Methodist, the church responsible for the service-in-the park in the book's closing scene. After a Native American-themed service, we shook hands with the short and stout pastor who was dressed for the day in colorful native garb and shell necklaces, barefoot. (A congregant later told me they lovingly call this new pastor Friar Tuck.) I had written him ahead about the book's inclusion of his church and of my desire to meet the young Asian woman whose gift of song had created my transformational experience. I hadn't heard back, and he didn't show interest in following up. But he did introduce me to the singer, Christina Wong.

She was thrilled to tears to hear our story, saying that only the day before she had asked God for evidence that she was making a difference in the world.

The next day, I made appointments to have coffee that week with both
Christina and with Nann, the Black Religious Scientist who had signed my contact list.

The Age of Grace
When I met Nann, she was having coffee with her friend, a retired woman
who heads the local Abraham group for Christians, Muslims, and Jews and
who recommends books to the Chico Womens Club. The friend was more
interested in the book than was Nann. Like a good Religious Scientist,
Nann said, "I'm not interested in 'wrestling' with anyone. I just stand
in my truth and let the Law of Attraction draw compatible people to me."

Nann was raised in the Black Christian church, and relations with her parents are strained because she is no longer comfortable saying she accepts Jesus as her lord and savior. Currently she is studying a form of healing touch that addresses prenatal trauma. She showed no interest in my book until I told her that the view of salvation Bishop Thomas conveyed to me echoes the radical freedom and responsibility I find in Religious Science. She seemed almost angry at the implausibility of that--especially when I told her that Bishop T says the ten commandments no longer apply: Jesus fulfilled the law such that we are now in the age of grace under which saved persons make choices purely from their love of God. "I have studied many forms of Christianity, and I've never heard that," she said. "I want to read that book."

My prayer is that sharing the book may open the possibility of a fresh start for Nann and her family.

Connecting via Facebook
On Friday I noticed a comment on my blog post about the book signing from another local Methodist, Gary Estep. Apparently Christina had Facebooked about my book without mentioning its name. Someone replied, prodding for the name, and when Christina provided it, Gary saw it on Facebook and looked it up, finding my blog. He said he is the head of the Methodist social action ministry, and his wife, Julie, has ties with New Age. So I invited him to the coffee date with Christina. My childhood Catholic friend wanted to come, too.

HEART-HEAD-ACTION
Our coffee Friday in at the quaint Mondo Coffee House was one of the richest and most passionate three-hour conversations I've ever had. I realized in retrospect we had a heart, a head, and an action type person--plus heady me! The heart was Christina, the Chinese woman whose song closes my book. Her Christian father escaped the cultural revolution in China by walking hundreds of miles and swimming a shark-infested bay to Hong Kong, where he found a bowl of hot noodles awaiting him on a deserted beach. Other members of Christina's family are traditional Buddhists dismayed at her reluctance to perform traditional ancestor worship--although she has since been able to place that in a cultural context that makes it work for her. She was bubbly and outgoing making jokes about how "two Wongs don't make a white," and telling us of her love of singing and the moment-to-moment satisfactions of her work as a social worker with dysfunctional families.

Gary has retired as a middle school teacher and now devotes himeslf to
organizing people to feed the hungry and visit the imprisoned. He never
wanted to do prison work, but when his wife Julie volunteered, he
insisted on accompanying her. He got hooked when he found a 6-foot, 200
lb prisoner hugging him and tearfully saying it was the first time he
ever felt someone cared if he made it. "My direct experience of God is in the people I serve," he said when I asked how he balances faith and works.

Gary and Julie both empathized with my being a "recovering libertarian" who idealizes a society in which every family, church, and neighborhood takes care of its own, but
who realizes we don't have the infrastructure or discipline in place to
do that with no government help. Julie, who was raised a Mormon, says
Mormons DO have the discipline in place to take care of their own. She
said she admires Highview's vision of a "Total Man Ministry." Julie also
told me that Mormons are frequently writers; they believe God gives
fresh revelation to each individual, and it is each person's job to
share what they are shown.

With Julie and Gary Esteps at Mondo Cafe

Treatment of gays is another concern Gary and Julie share. She was
impressed by my noting that Bishop Thomas sees the Bible condemning
homosexual acts but does not believe it is the job of government to
enforce laws against them--judgment being God's job.

Like me, Julie is very much a lover of ideas. She has Masters degrees in
both Literature and Social Psychology, as well as a PhD in Rhetoric and
Communications Technology. When you add to that her "intensive" studies
with Ramtha, the channeled entity featured in "The Secret" (e.g., melting snow with their minds on outdoor retreats), and her current activity as a Methodist, you get an ideal one-person focus group for licking up
every little thought crumb in my book. Indeed, in the course of our
conversation, she brought up the salvation theology of C.S. Lewis, the
moral development stages of Kohlberg, and the views on self-esteem of
Nathaniel Branden. Of course, for each of those I was able to say, "I've
got a chapter on that." She hadn't heard of Ken Wilber, but I'll bet you
she'll be a dog on a bone when she reads about his Integral Theory in my
book. (And just wait till she reads about the Integral Mormon.)
Also, she was ideally positioned to give me tips on uses of social
media for promoting the book.

Frozen Latte and Mystical Experiences

Gary and Christina each bought copies of the book, taking cell phone photos of me signing it. Then Christina had to go, just as we were joined by my childhood friend from Catholic school. About this time the server brought us free samples of Mondo's house drink: a frozen chai latte with a shot of espresso in little white coffee cups--surprising and delicious.

My Catholic friend had read the first few chapters of the book. And because of current Catholic issues with clergy, I expected her to be struck by the authentic way Bishop Thomas interacted with me. But instead she keyed in on two things: the way Andy and I worked together to decide how to handle our initial crisis at Highview, and my description of my mystical experiences. She animatedly told us her own story of being strangely overcome by weeping each time she visited the cathedral at Chartres. I guess there will be no predicting who will be to touched by any given portion of "The Bishop and the Seeker."

The richness of these conversations was worth the trip in itself. I am reminded of the advice by Rick Warren in "Purpose Driven Life" (or was it Eckhart Tolle in "New Heaven, New Earth"?) who said, don't align with a purpose about achieving some specific goal, rather with one that will continually place you in relationships with people that bring possibilities for growth. In that regard, I've started out with a home run.

*Names are changed except where I was given express permission to use them

Launching My Book in Chico: Part 1

2010-04-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

After seven years of preparation, we launched our book in my hometown of Chico, California, Saturday with a table at the farmer's market and a signing at an independent bookstore. While we sold only three books, I made some valuable contacts and got a better sense of who will most eagerly welcome "The Bishop and the Seeker." We had interest from a devout but disillusioned Catholic, a Black Religious Scientist, a Methodist interested in building bridges, and a delightful young woman with some Hispanic heritage dealing with strict Catholic parents--as well as from a couple folks interested generally in interfaith relations.

Preparing
Driving to Chico from the Sacramento airport, I stopped at the Staples in the county seat of Oroville to pick up a snazzy, retractable sign I had ordered ahead--the slight detour taking me through green rolling hills and flat-topped buttes covered in wild flowers.
My sister Tina showed no interest in the book itself, but she purposefully helped get a review in the local paper, make signs for my book table, and insisted I change from my carefully-chosen multi-colored sweater to her more Chico-like earth-tone one shown below. I rehearsed the 40 second introduction the bookstore owner had suggested I prepare:

"After 20 years benefiting from an interfaith, New Thought approach to God, I was attracted to a Black church for the passionate praise. My dialogue with this man (pointing to the photo of Bishop Thomas on the book cover) showed me how to integrate the best of both approaches to God. And along the way I learned how to build relationships with people whose beliefs are different from my own." (In retrospect, this needs work.)

Chico Farmer's Market
The farmer's market bustles with sales of local strawberries, tomatoes, pies, crafts and petition promoters. The market organizer waffled over the last several weeks about whether there would be a space for me, but in the end she gave us a prime location without charging us the usual fee--because we could be there only a short time. You can see me and my blue sign circled in the photo below.

Despite mt eight-foot tall sign, most of the throng passed by Andy and me without a glance. Our first interested party was an older Asian woman with a heavy accent who stood reading from the book for several minutes. This struck me because I had been handing my post card to all the merchants I dealt with in town--except for an older Asian woman from whom I had bought Chinese food; I told myself cultural factors put her outside the target market. The Universe bonked me on the head for that presumption.

The Black Religious Scientist glanced at the book for only a moment before picking up a pen to sign the mailing list. "I can't buy the book now, but I want to be in touch with you," she said. "These are the two forces I am always balancing."

The first-ever sale was also to a woman who seemed to be attracted to the book instantly, pulling out a $20 bill before I said a word. So imagine my surprise--and hers--when she told me she belongs to Chico Trinity Methodist and I told her that church is featured in the closing scene of the book. She became very enthusiastic and said her pastor is interested in bridge building of all sorts.

Two groups of women into Yoga or "Course in Miracles" congratulated me on building bridges. One fellow picked up the book and then dropped it saying, "oh, no, Christian."

The Book Store
After two hours we packed up our card table and retractable sign to head over to Lyon Books on the town plaza a few blocks away. The owner and sales person were cordial and had a table set up for us. A lovely young woman who looked as if she may have both black and Hispanic heritage seemed to be waiting for us with her male friend. I was still unpacking my postcards and sign as she started asking questions about how to deal with her strict Catholic parents. The two of them helped me unpack, and I joked they could be my "roadies." But several things were happening at once, and I hadn't answered all their questons before they were wishing me well on their way out the door.

Quickly on their heels, a 19-year old fellow in baggy pants and earing picked up the book while his two friends stood at the counter. I spoke my prepared intro, and he seemed to loose interest on the phrase, "the more expansive spirituality of my adulthood." Just then I overheard his companion tell the bookstore clerk they wanted to display their book, "How Not to Talk About Jesus." Perhaps they were with the "Jesus Feeds the Hungry" rally gathering in the plaza across the street.

And alas, of the dozen or so customers who came in during the remainder of my two-hour stay, all the others made a bee-line for the children's section or some other errand. So my other two sales were to people I know--my aunt and a long-lost childhood friend I'll call Sherry. We were friends in Catholic grade school and then in high school, but had crossed paths only once since. Now she is living in the mountains above Chico, so I got her email address from a mutual friend and sent ahead a note saying that I was comming. Her response was immediate and enthusiastic. The topic of the book was timely for her, so she'd come down to see me and buy it. Sherry and I chatted for an hour about her love for Catholicism but disillusionment with the church. We made plans to see each other later in the week.

So while it wasn't much of a success in sales, my kickoff gave me a chance to complete my preparations, connect with interesting people, and practice my promotion skills. I'll use the rest of the week here in Chico to build my markteing plan for the year ahead and to mediate on releasing results while inviting Spirit to use me.

FOLLOWUP: I had some great meetings with people during the week. See part 2.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra: How I lived out this Star Trek episode

2009-08-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

Recently I saw again one of the most famous episodes of Star Trek Next Generation, "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra." I sat riveted, seeing with new eyes how this story reflects my adventure with Bishop Thomas and the biblical literalists at Highview.

In the show, Captain Picard confronts an alien race that communicates only via metaphor from its ancient myths--just as my new friends at Highview attempt to solve all problems with stories from the Bible. Struggling to communicate, the alien captain beams himself and Picard to a planet where a beast is loose, and he repeatedly says to Picard, "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra!" Picard is confused and shivering in the cold until the alien captain offers him fire saying, "Temba, his arms wide!" Suddenly Picard understands how metaphor is being used. "Temba, his arms wide" is a metaphor for giving and receiving. Then Picard recalls Gilgamesh, one of earth's most ancient legends, a story of how two enemies became became friends through hardship. He realizes that "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" must be a similar story, and that the alien captain has risked his own life to open communication between their peoples by fighting the beast together with Picard. Alas, the alien, Dathon, is mortally wounded by the beast. As Dathon dies, Picard shares with him the story of "Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk." Dathon dies knowing he has succeeded in opening communication with Picard. Picard returns to his ship with enough knowledge to halt the war that is brewing with Dathon's people.

And that is the story in my book, "The Bishop and the Seeker: Wrestling for the Soul of the 21st Century." As a postmodern Integralist and follower of New Thought, I am beamed into the office of a fundamentalist bishop for a year of dialogue where we discover our common enemy: the excesses of postmodernism and alternative religion in which there is no right and wrong. We tell each other stories and learn each others' language. The bishop's equivalent of "Temba, his arms wide" is to offer me the openness to be genuinely interested in learning about my world. In fact, he risks his reputation among some of his own hardliners by telling me he believes I am saved, even though I do not call myself Christian.

I return to my ship to bring the message. We can work with these people, they can be friends. Instead of focusing on our differences, look at the good work we can do by focusing on our common aims to bring truth, beauty, and goodness to the world.

Black Pastor's take on Obama Confounds Party Lines

2009-01-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

A bracing sermon given by my book's co-author, Bishop Phil Thomas, on the Sunday before the inauguration of President Obama.

Bishop Thomas has never been one for the niceties of political correctness, but I love the sweet & sour way he mixes in-your-face truth with calls for peacemaking dialogue. My blogging buddy Karl argues that a true transpartisan is one who is willing to make both sides mad. This might fit the bill.