Tough Questions, Humble Men at Emerging Christianity Meetup

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"?

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

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?

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

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"

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?

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

(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

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

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?

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?

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

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

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