Being Known: Science & Faith at Emerging Christianity

A spacious openness to possibilities by both speakers marked another sizzling Meetup event for the Emerging Christianity Conversation in DC. About a hundred people packed the U Street Busboys & Poets on March 28th to hear Psychiatrist Curt Thompson and NPR religion reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty discuss their books on science and spirituality.

This is your brain on love, justice, and mercy

Thompson told us that neuroscience shows that the way we relate to each other, through our attention and the stories we share, rewires our brains.  Therefore the most important choice we make is which "biggest story of all" we tell ourselves and others. None of us can be absolutely certain how and why we're here. But all of us want a better world. Therefore we should consider adopting a story that takes into account everything we know and produces the most love, justice, and mercy in the world. "For me," he said, "that story is the story of Jesus as told in the Biblical narrative."

It's rare to hear this kind of spaciousness around our choice of beliefs. And when I do hear it, it's usually from peers who have decided that the "Biblical narrative" is the story least likely to make a better world. So I was on the edge of my seat for the perspective from this doctor who prescribes spiritual practices for his patients.

Thompson is author of "Anatomy of the Soul: surprising connections between neuroscience and spiritual practices that can transform your life and relationships." He is also the founder of Being Known, which seeks to help people "explore the integral relationship between deep, meaningful connections with God and others--being known--and the development of healthier minds, healthier communities and ultimately, a healthier world." Being Known posits that we most help others grow when we listen with interest and compassion to their stories. As one example, he told us that most sociopaths did not receive compassionate attention in their first 18 months of life, and thus their brains don't spark emotion centers when viewing images of harm to others.



Science and Faith

NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty started her remarks by following the brilliant instructions of Meetup coordinator Glen Zuber to tell the experience that led to her interest in science vs faith. She told of interviewing a cancer survivor whose illness became a spiritual journey. During that interview, both women suddenly felt a warm, moist, compassionate presence in the room. It was so startling, that it launched Hagerty on a career of interviewing scientists about transcendent experiences.

Her book, "Fingerprints of God: the Search for the Science of Spirituality," examines scientific findings on questions like why some people are more spiritual than others; whether our brains have receptors for spiritual communication;  and if is there any evidence for God at all. One scientist told her, "Neurons fire in you're brain when you feel love. But that doesn't mean love isn't a real thing."

Listening in a (tag) cloud
I experienced the evening as one of those "tag clouds" often seen in blogs, with the speakers' words ringing bells of crossover interest with my own passions and those of my Integral Emergence Meetup. For example, one of the regular SPIRITUAL PRACTICES that my INTEGRAL group engages in is Waking Down, a GROUP PRACTICE in which we simply LISTEN WITH COMPASSION to the STORIES each person tells. Also, my book tells MY STORY of encountering CHRISTIANS who do not believe in evolution, but who believe that the BIBLICAL NARRATIVE leads to the most LOVE, justice, and mercy in the world--an experience which birthed my interest in shifting focus from our BELIEFS ABOUT GOD to our SHARED EXPERIENCES OF GOD.


More grist for a practice group
I bought both Thompson and Hagerty's books. They're sure to provide grist for the project I'm considering of building a practice group around Brian McLaren's Naked Spirituality.

Rock Church Launches at State Theater

When the ushers offered earplugs to my grey-haired husband, I knew we were in for a ride at the first church service offered at the State Theater—the DC region's premier rock concert venue in Falls Church, Virginia. "The Surge" community church was launching an experiment in attracting the unchurched. My husband Andy—who loves anything new—was attracted by a high-class postcard we received in the mail.  

Beneath posters for Lez Zepplin and a Michael Jackson dance party, we were greeted warmly by people wearing the kind of T-shirts favored by rock band roadies. We served ourselves coffee and snacks at the bar, and brought them to our ringside table. I have always loved the State Theater's layout of multiple levels with tables, bars, and balconies surrounding a mosh pit area below the stage. Lights were low, and a media team manned the Star Trek-sized control deck. Clips from I Love Lucy played on a giant screen over the stage. Kids were led to their program in the mezzanine lobby by a woman in a Mad Hatter's hat.

The "show" began with a rock band playing several Christian songs that weren't familiar to me—the singer in tight jeans and high boots showing off a great voice. Because we're used to the roof-rocking decibels at Black churches, Andy didn't need the earplugs. I noticed that the only people rocking out to the music seemed to be me and the sharply dressed young black visitors at the next table. "We're not Baptists," joked pastor Dwaine Darrah. But the crowd loosened up as soon as the band switched to a familiar rock tune as the pre-sermon selection: Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care of Business."


If you ever get annoyed
Look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day


And I'll be...
Taking care of business every day...

Andy and I exchanged smiles; all our friends are—or want to be—self-employed. We'd never really listened to the lyrics before.

Expanding the Margin

Pastor Darrah speaks behind a stuffed penguin,
one of several light-hearted touches at the opening
service of the Surge

The song was a warmup to a sermon on "The Margin," which Darrah defined as the amount extra between what we have and what we need—in love, money, or our spiritual lives. He read from Luke 10:38, the story of Mary absorbing Jesus's every word while her sister, Martha, is distracted about getting the dinner served. "Why do we let so many things distract us?" the pastor asked. He ended the sermon by asking each person to consider spending five minutes in silence each day as our "homework" for the coming week.

Silence as a common theme
This theme spoke to me as a common one in several of the movements that I've been experimenting in. I belong to three spiritual communities: a predominately Black church in Fairfax with a traditional Christian message and stomping praise, a Spiritual Living Center in Falls Church with a message of oneness and empowerment for the spiritual but not religious (SBNRs), and an Integral Emergence group that meets in homes around the region to experiment with practices for developing mind, body, spirit, and emotions. Lately I've been checking out the local Emerging Christianity movement as well. All of these except the traditional Christian church emphasize regular silence as a key to spiritual maturation. So it was a delight for me to hear silence recommended alongside a Christian message.

Opportunity for Experiment

I learned from Surge member Greg Johnson that the Surge is the May-December love child of an aging, ecumenical, congregation in McLean and the youth-oriented, New Life Christian Church with campuses in Chantilly and Haymarket. The McLean core continue to host community activities at the red a-frame they call "the barn" at the corner of Westmorland and Kirby Road: offering day care,  language and exercise classes, monthly song-writers' concerts, etc. Johnson, whose recent post at the Surge blog says that holiness is most easily seen in people, called the State Theater venture, "a first fumbling attempt at a risky, radical demonstration of good stuff God has given."

The possibilities are endless in such an amazing venue—I visualized battles of the bands, performance art, small group discussions around tables, bust-out praise, speed praying, and even silent contemplation. If The Surge keeps pioneering, they could open boundaries not normally crossed.

photos by Greg Johnson

Urban Meditation: My First Lectio Divina with Emerging Christianity

I loved my first experience of lectio divina in the Urban Meditation series of the DC Emerging Christianity Meetup last night. It perfectly balanced a key polarity I wrestle with in The Bishop and the Seeker: Following our hearts vs. following scripture.

Divine Reading
Eight of us gathered in an architectural gem of an apartment building just off 16th street in Mount Pleasant. Coordinator Glenn Zuber started by reading from the work of Basil Pennington, a Cisterian monk who brings contemplative practices into the lives of spiritual seekers. Genn told us that we would hear a scripture four times, each time from a different perspective or level. We were not to analyze or figure out its meaning, but simply let the "living Word" speak to us directly--to experience "union or communion with God."

Glenn Zuber

Glenn did a masterful job of setting the tone by lighting a candle and guiding us through a visualization of releasing concerns to be fully present. Then he read Matthew 20: 20-27. In this New Testament scripture, the mother of James and John asks Jesus to make high places for her sons in his kingdom. After each reading of the story, we sat in silence, told our experience, or contemplated a piece of art depicting the story. Then we each wrote a brief prayer capturing our intention or request about what the reading illumined for us. We could choose for this prayer to be our "homework" for the week ahead.


My Intuition is Your Holy Spirit
This is it, I thought. This is a perfect synthesis of the two points of view Bishop Thomas and I took in our book's chapter, "My Intuition is your Holy Spirit."  I start by arguing that no holy book can cover every modern scenario, we must each follow our hearts. He tapped into my own doubts by countering that we never have clear vision or motivations; we must rely on a "standard" that stays firm. And while I think of that standard as the world's wisdom traditions--including the Bible but also science, I came to realize the truth in what he said. We need an "all quadrant" perspective of sources, as Integral theory says (inner & outer, self & group). Bishop Thomas and I then had a great discussion about the Holy Spirit as the dynamic force that brings to life the static standard of the Bible. This practice is a beautiful way to integrate them, I thought.

The mother of the sons of Zebedee presents her boys to Jesus. My eye was captured by that
perfect sphere on the right. And what is that thing on the bottom right, anyway?

After the session, our hosts Ruth and Jose served us pasta, wine, and a loaf of whole grain bread. While casual, the meal retained a sacred glow. Lectio divina (divine reading) is definitely a practice I want to integrate in the Integral Life Practices group of my Intergal Emergence Meetup.

See more about Genn Zuber's work in this post: Networking with Emerging Christianity. Why isn't there a Meetup like this in every city?

Networking with Emerging Christianity

Glenn Zuber

The DC Emerging Christianity Meetup lets Christians ask questions and try out practices in a context bigger than their own churches.  I met yesterday  with coordinator Glenn Zuber to explore some parallels with my DC Integral Emergence Meetup. Our shared interests in practice groups, Brian McLaren, and a more integrated life sparked fresh ideas for both of us.

After only a year, Glenn has almost 400 members in his Meetup. He sponsors a creative array of activities--from book discussions, to labyrinth walks, to lectio divina, and even parties for Spirit, Art & Wine. His biggest turnouts feature his friend Brian McLaren, pioneer of the Emerging Christianity movement. (See my review of one such event at "Tough Questions, Humble Men.")

 
Bringing together Art, Science, and Social Justice

Can we bring them back together?

With background in both evangelical and mainline churches, Glenn has been an assistant minister and a teacher of religion, history, and philosophy (currently at Trinity and previously at Fordham, Manhattan College, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Emmanuel School of Religion in Tennessee). He's looking for ways to integrate art, science, and social justice in the way Christians live and worship. He has tried opening a soup kitchen, but not yet found enough volunteers with sufficient commitment. His wife Jennifer heads a non-profit that provides PR assistance to faith leaders who talk about justice issues in the public realm.

I gave Glenn a five-minute introduction to Ken Wilber's Integral Theory, He was especially interested in the perspective on truth, beauty, and goodness: that they were fused in Medieval times: art wasn't beautiful and science wasn't true unless the church said they were good. After the enlightenment, T B and G were burst apart and fragmented; Art could be about ugly things, and science could challenge notions of good. So now our job is to re-integrate them--voluntarily and at a higher level of awareness.


Spiritual Practices to the Rescue
Both of us believe that regular spiritual practices pave the way for this re-integration. I'm eager to try out Glenn's lectio divina group and to share ideas from my Integral Life Practices group. And some of the people in my Meetup who have left their Christianity behind may find Glenn's group a safe place to reconsider it. I'm also eager to explore the work of a postmodern Christian philosopher Glenn put me on to: Peter Rollins, who says:

If someone believes everything I believe I still have to ask “why?” I need to work out how the beliefs function for that person. Do they act as a security blanket preventing them from encountering the world, or do they function as a means of more fully entering into the world they inhabit?

The Work in Networking
Managing the Meetup has taken a lot of hard work and conflict management, Glenn says. In fact he is thinking of writing a book on the possibilities and challenges of Meetups.

UP Next: I'll report my experience of Glenn's Lectio Divina

Whitney Houston Funeral Brings World to Black Church

Whitney Houston's funeral shows off
passion and authenticity of Black church

Watching Whitney Houston's funeral with fellow guests in the lounge of New York's Manhattan Club doubled my enthusiasm for visiting Harlem's oldest Black church the following day.  I figured that CNN anchor Piers Morgan’s amazement at the music, passion, laughter, and authenticity of a Black service would double the crowds at Abyssinian Baptist Church, which normally has strict crowd control for "tourists."

Inside Abyssinian

Passing
We passed 500 tourists in line, put a knowing look on our faces, and slipped in a side door--led by my husband's intrepid ex-wife Chan, who is Black and had attended Abyssinian occasionally when she lived in New York.

I am used to being the only white face in a Black church because of my life-changing encounter with the pastor of Highview Christian Fellowship, as told in The Bishop and the Seeker. But my family got more than we bargained for as we found ourselves down a rabbit hole of winding hallways that led first into the children's program, then into the kitchen, and then into the line for the handicapped elevator. I kept trying to blend in behind Chan, but the wheelchairs just kept coming. So we slipped around one more hallway to find an alcove where members appeared to be waiting for the early service to let out. As the doors finally opened, the choir came out,  making me suddenly afraid we were about to walk out into the choir box. In fact it was the main floor of the church, and the usher led Chan down to the third row center--probably a VIP row, surrounded by the white-hatted deaconesses. The Rev. Calvin Butts asked visitors to stand, and several of the deaconesses turned and greeted us warmly. But I think I was still blushing when the service ended two hours later. Here's what the famous Reverend said about the Whitney Houston funeral.

One funeral among many

Rev. Calvin Butts

"I caught as much of the funeral as I could in between the chores my wife had for me... I haven't called Cissy yet; I'll wait till all the attention dies down, that's when people really need to hear from a friend." Then he sai that sad as Whitney's loss was, another death was just as sad last week. An 18 year-old chased into his home by police who shot him in front of his grandmother, supposedly while dumping marijuana into the toilet unarmed.  "I have calls in to both the mayor and the police commissioner about that, but they haven't returned them yet," he said. "They sure are eager to talk to me around election time though."

The REAL contribution of the Black Church?
After polished traditional hymns, the sermon itself was on "narrow is the gate," with calls for social justice via both  personal and political action.

Tara Murphy's
sacred African dance

My family's conversation afterwards showed off the whole Spiral Dynamics of values about church. Over smothered chicken and collards at Spoonbread 2, I said that much as I loved the polished elegance of the Abyssinian service, the unique contribution of the Black church is the more raw passion at churches like Highview. Chan, who came of age in the sixties, disagreed. That rawness fuels stereotypes and is an obstacle to development of the Black community, she said, while Abyinnian's polish--along with its social action and community building under adverse circumstances--is the real contribution of the Black church.

Her daughter Tara Murphy, who leads a troupe for sacred African dance, said that ecstatic expression is key for all of us to connect with the Divine. (Tara had an ecstatic moment herself when one of her heroes, Judith Jamison of Alvin Ailey Dance Company, was presented as a new member during the service.) Tara's husband Chris said that modern life seduces us to believe that "progress" can solve everything. But humans need the meditative, mind clearing effect of ecstatic states--and if we don't get it in a context of sacred community, we'll seek it via intoxication with drugs, power, or possessions. "All of you are right," I said. These values are polarities; they appear to be opposites, but each can be served in its time and place.


Go Ahead, Visit a Black Church

Me at
Abyssinian's
front door

My hope is that the funeral of Whitney Houston will encourage many people to visit a Black church to experience for themselves the transcendent states possible in passionate praise.  And with luck, you'll also stumble upon a church equally eager to encourage you to love ALL your neighbors with acts of service. But take it from me--come in the church by whatever door they hold open. For the gate may be narrow, but the path is straight.

 

Does Mature Prayer get Better Results?

Jehovah's Witnesses get their prayers answered more often than members of any other religion, according to a Pew study that Lynne Feldman called to my attention to via the Facebook page for Integral Spirituality Nexus. This intriguing fact made me smile because of my adventure with a family of Witnesses recounted in my book. And it provided grist for an all-too-brief exchange about prayer among some Integral buddies of mine.

New Thought Practitioner:  Affirmative prayer gets results by raising our level of consciousness around circumstance.

Interfaith Celebrant:  That may be possible for people who have achieved the level of "Christ consciousness," but not everyone should expect those results.

Me:  Ah, but a Pew study says the people in  religions that are least focused on consciousness report getting the most frequent answers to prayer--with Jehovah's Witnesses at the top reporting one answered prayer a week.

Senior Integral Guy:  Of course we know from postmodernism that our experience (of the results of our prayers) is shaped by our conditioned beliefs about it.

This rich exchange could be mined for weeks. But only a few hours later I found a transcendent response in  Brian McLaren's latest book, "Naked Spirituality: A Life With God in 12 Simple Words." In it he lays out four seasons of spiritual growth with spiritual practices appropriate to each one:

• Springtime of Simplicity (when answers about God are black and white, and  worship is the best prayer)
• Summer of Complexity (time for confession, petition, and intercession)
• Autumn of Perplexity
• Winter of Harmony

McLaren provides spacious definitions of confession, petition, and intercession, casting them in a mature and radiant light (with confession sounding a lot like shadow work). But then in his Complexity chapter he asks the big question:

Will our prayers do the trick, get the job done, flip the switch, close the deal, guarantee results, be effective? Will prayer change things? You may have already noticed that until now I've largely left these questions unasked, much less answered...

Here's why. I'm writing about the summer season of complexity in the spiritual life as someone who has already passed through it a time or two; I've gone on to survive some autumn and winter seasons as well. These experiences have changed me...Back then I would have had a lot more to say than I do now about "praying effectively," "claiming your miracle." and so on.

But from where I am now, with some autumns and winters under my belt, I actually think a better way to deal with these questions is to say, "Yes, think about these questions... But don't pretend you have solved them once and for all. Because later on you'll be seeing things from a different perspective, and from that perspective much will change. What seems like a problem now won't be so much of a problem then. The important thing both now and then is to keep praying, whatever answers come or don't come... Because however much or little prayer changes THINGS, prayer certainly changes YOU, and you need to be changed. Remember that you still have a long way to grow, and the best way to grow is to keep praying, to keep strengthening the sacred connection."

McLaren continues:

In life's summerlike season of Complexity, if we do not practice confession, petition, and intercession, we will not keep growing in the sacred connection.

• If we do wrong, then denial, pride, or shame will cause us to disconnect. [hence, confession]
• if we're in need or pain, then exhaustion, anxiety or disappointment will cause us to disconnect. [hence, petition]
• and if we're faced with the suffering of others, then we'll succumb to the temptations to disconnect through apathy, despair, self-distancing. [hence, intercession]

As a result our hearts will contract, not expand. And as a further result, the world, deprived of stronger compassion in people like us, will inevitably grow worse and suffering will increase.

But if through confession, petition,and intercession, you and I strengthen the sacred connection in the midst of life's complexities, what will happen then? Won't we become--habitually, radically, truly--more aligned with God's compassion, more empowered by it, more resonant with its holy frequency? And won't more of us who are more filled with God's compassion help make a better world?

I absolutely love his perspective. There's still a few loose ends I'd like to tie up in that discussion among my friends. But for me, McLaren's answer transcends the questions. And McLaren's prayers for the seasons of Perplexity and Harmony are simply stunning as well. I am more and more intrigued about the possibilities for a practice group built around "Naked Spirituality."

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.