Blog Moving Day

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Balance Returns from Hiatus

Sunday, September 18, 2011 5pm

Young couples, families, students, and professionals will gather for a potluck meal and fellowship this Sunday at 5pm. Discussion following the meal will revolve around what the group will study this semester.

Service Project: Preparation for Wesley Evening Food Pantry

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 (Gathering at 8:15pm)

Tuesday we will be creating number cards in preparation for Wesley Evening Food Pantry's food distribution on Thursday.

A proposal for an upcoming service project will also be presented.

A Suffering Cosmos, A Suffering God

The Observation

Real suffering exists in the world. Professor Bob Mesle often asks his students, "is there an act, event or reality that you would prevent from existing if you could?" The answer to that question is can be named as a source of suffering.

The Question and Presuppositions

How can a person of faith reconcile the following two statements?

1. Real suffering exists in the cosmos;
2. God is (1) omnibenevolent, (2) omnipotent, (3) omniscient (of past and future events), and (4) omnipresent.

To solve this question, many will give more emphasis to a quality of the divine. Typically this is born out of one's experience of God or tradition.

Causes of Suffering

• Suffering caused by natural events
• Suffering caused by moral evil

Terence Fretheim's 10 Theological Claims (based on the flood story in The Book of Genesis)

1. Creation is interrelated and God has chosen to be caught up in this web of relationships.
2. God chooses to use agents capable of violence. God does not perfect agents before working in and through them. a) God works through agents of storm and flood; b) creaturely violence has disastrous natural consequences; c) a fundamental goodness continues in a post-sin creation.
3. Affectability of God: God is deeply and personally moved by what happens in the flood story.
4. God regrets that God created humankind in the first place. (Also, God has temporality--a past, present, future.)
5. God did not know that humans would take this turn. There is a future that cannot be known, because it does not yet exist.
6. The post-flood regretful response by God witnesses to divine vulnerability and human resistance.
7. Judgmental direction changes. God changes God's mind. It does not change the character, being, or purposes of God.
8. God grieves over what happens in the world. God's heart is filled with pain. Grief is the God-ward side of judgment and wrath looks like. Judgment accompanied by weeping is not the same as judgment without tears.
9. Pain will be an ongoing reality for God. God decides to continue to live with resisting creatures. Suffering is God's chief way of being powerful in the world.
10. Divine self-limitation. God limits the divine options for dealing with morally and naturally caused suffering in the world. Self-limitation is guaranteed because God's faithfulness is a certainty. God gives up control, opening the world to all sorts of violence? How might we articulate God's association with painful natural events in a post-flood world?

Terence Fretheim on Natural Sources of Suffering

Luther Seminary 2009 Convocation: Part 1 (flv format) and Part 2 (flv format).

Questions

• Professor Bob Mesle states that suffering exists with or outside of love, but one is not the same as the other. How can you reach out to love others?
• Some suffering is preventable. How can you work to prevent suffering?
• Suffering can be met with a threefold process of identification, being in community with victims (partly by listening to their stories), and loving people through the suffering. How might do this for the people in your community?
• What is missing from this hurried initial consideration of theodicy?

An Introductory Bibliography

• Cobb, John, Jr. "Theodicy"
• Encountering Evil: Live Options in Theodicy. Stephen T. Davis, editor. Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.
• Fretheim, Terence E. God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation. Abingdon Press, 2005.
• Griffin, David Ray. God, Power, and Evil: A Process Theodicy. NY: UP of America, 1991.
• Hall, Douglas John. God and Human Suffering: An Exercise in the Theology of the Cross. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986.
• Hartshorne, Charles. Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes. State University of New York Press, 1984.
• “Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes”. Living the Questions.
• Kushner, Rabbi Harold. Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. Anchor, 2004.
• Suchocki, Marjorie Hewitt. God, Christ, Church. The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1992.
• Suchocki, Marjorie Hewitt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhVXFiHe4LQ
• Williams, Daniel Day. "Suffering and Being in Empirical Theology," The Future of Empirical Theology. ed. Bernard Meland. University of Chicago Press, 1969.
• ”Quarks and Creation”. Being.
• “Out of Tragedy, Questions about God”, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly.
• “Suffering and Meaning with Professor Bob Mesle (Part I and Part II)”. Homebrewed Christianity.
• “Theodicy”. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (Comic).

Funds Needed to Help Rebuild Joplin Schools

Heather Gills, former Wesley member who now lives in Joplin, MO, is requesting gifts to rebuild schools in the aftermath of the tornado earlier this year. Checks may be made out to "Joplin Schools Tornado Fund". Wesley will pass along your gifts marked for the Joplin schools fund or you may pick up a pre-paid envelope in Wesley's Center Office.

Conversation on Faith and Suffering

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 8:30 (begin gathering at 8:15pm)
Wesley Movie Theater (2nd Floor above Etc Coffeehouse)

Theodicy is a compelling question for philosophers, pastors, and laypeople alike. Any person of faith who has experienced suffering in her or his life qualifies as a participant in the conversation. And so, let us ask, "What is the nature of God's existence and presence in a cosmos rife with real evil and real suffering?"

Film Screening: Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Illinois Public Media kicks off the 2011-2012 season of its monthly Community Cinema series this month with Pray the Devil Back to Hell, chronicling the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Thousands of women--both Christian and Muslim--came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about an agreement during the stalled peace talks. Inspiring, uplifting and motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.

A free screening of the film and discussion of the issues it raises will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 6th, in Robeson Rooms A & B of the Champaign Public Library, which is partnering with Illinois Public Media to present the 10-film Community Cinema Series. WILL-TV will also air the film in October.

Did you know... The Illinois Great Rivers Conference, of which Wesley is a part, has a continuing relationship and commitment to the country of Liberia? Wesley’s District, the Iroquois River District, partners with the Kakata/Farmington and Kokoya districts. There are four major initiatives: scholarships, pastor’s salaries, church reconstruction and bed nets to combat malaria.

You may donate directly to support our sister districts through the United Methodist Advance:

• Kakata/Farmington District Scholarships
• Kakata/Farmington District Pastor Salary
• Kakata/Farmington District Reconstruction Assistance
• Kokoyah District Scholarships
• Kokoyah District Pastor Salary
• Kokoyah District Reconstruction Assistance

Love Wins: The Questions

Rob Bell opens his book, Love Wins, with his understanding of Jesus' message, the Gospel (Good News): Jesus proclaimed "the love of God ... for everybody, everywhere."

One's understanding of the message of the Gospel makes a difference. It is a window into the missio dei (the work of God in creation). It makes a difference for the content and method of evangelism (communicating the message). It impacts discipleship (how one lives out following Jesus). And that's the beginning. With respect to redemption/salvation, is there any difference between the communion of saints and the ones saved? What does it mean to be "saved"? Is salvation the message of Jesus? Has afterlife evangelism become too anthropocentric?

Rob Bell explicates his purposes for writing the book:

• To reclaim the plot of the Jesus story;
• To embrace and wrestle with the big questions of faith;
• To bring forth the wide, diverse stream of voices and perspectives from Christian tradition to bear on the questions in this book.

The first chapter gives real world context to the questions posed by these theological concepts. The result is that he sets the stage for us to wrestle with developing what is called practical theologies of the mission of God in creation and all the questions involved in this work.

Fall 2011 Wesley Grad Forum

Grad Forum is an opportunity to discuss complex theological questions.

• Tuesday, September 6 8:15pm (Movie Theater) – Faith & Reason
• Tuesday, October 4 8:15pm (Movie Theater) – Faith & Suffering (Theodicy)
• Tuesday, November 1 8:15pm (Movie Theater) - Big Fish (Film)

Fall 2011 Study

This fall, Wesley Grad Study will explore our faithful understanding of who God is and the implications of our understanding of God for the meaning of salvation.

• Tuesday, August 30 8:15 pm - Introduction & Chapter 1
• Tuesday, September 20 8:15 pm - Chapter 2
• Tuesday, September 27 8:15 pm - Chapter 3
• Tuesday, October 18 8:15 pm - Chapter 4
• Tuesday, October 25 8:15 pm - Chapter 5
• Tuesday, November 15 8:15 pm - Chapter 6
• Tuesday, November 29 8:15 pm - Chapter 7
• Tuesday, December 6 8:15 pm - Chapter 8 & Conclusion

Reading the Bible in a Year

Bishop Palmer of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference invites you to join him in reading the Bible in the coming year, beginning August 1, 2011 and ending in late July 2012.

Reading the Bible has long been a core spiritual discipline of United Methodists. The conference has published a daily lectionary (calendar) in pdf to guide you throughout the year. The calendar is also available in iCal (ics) format. The iCal file can be imported into Apple calendar software, Google Calendar, and Microsoft Outlook.

If you would like to opt for a lectionary that includes the apocrypha, a lectionary is available in iCal format.

This web site's calendar page includes both daily lectionaries for your convenience.

If you are in the market for a new Bible and would like to try out the newest English translation, the Common English Bible, then the introductory prices at Cokesbury may interest you.

May God inspire both the reading and the hearing of the Word.

Summer 2011 Study

This summer, we are studying the thought of Paul Tillich through his sermons. All sermons will be available online. Since we will not have access to a copier, please bring with you a copy in print or on a tablet/laptop.

• Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 8:15 pm
  Sermon: "To Whom Much Is Forgiven..."
• Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 8:15 pm
  Sermon: The New Being
• Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 8:15 pm
  Sermons: The Power of Love and The Golden Rule
• Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 8:15 pm
  Sermon: "Is there any word from the Lord?"
• Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 8:15 pm
  Sermon: Theology of Creation
• Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 6:45 pm
  All-Star Break; we will watch the game at Caci's house
• Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 8:15 pm
  Sermon: Knowledge through Love
• Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 8:15 pm
  Sermon: Universal Salvation

Contemplating Jesus the Christ, Crucified and Risen

"... Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 1.23-24

Wesley has provided questions for reflection, which have also been posted to our facebook page, throughout Lent. As we move through the heart of the Christian witness, let us hear reflections on the cross from Christian theologians.

• An Eastern Orthodox Palm Sunday
• John Cobb on Jesus' message (The Commonwealth of God)
• Douglas Otatti ("the right nightmares")
• Elizabeth Johnson (redemption of creation)
• Jürgen Moltmann (The Crucified God)
• Andrew Sung Park (Triune Atonment)
• Kathryn Tanner (Christ the Key)
• A Sermon for Passion Week
• James Cone, "Strange Fruit: The Cross and the Lynching Tree"

Some Easter Reflections

• The Disabled God
• Katy Hawker, "Easter is"
• Restoring the Senses: Orthodox Easter (On Being from American Public Media)
• Stephen Colbert: Easter Under Attack
• Easter Message from Palestinian Christians
• God of Movement
• "Meanings of the Resurrection "
• "The tomb’s empty, and it’s a scandal"
• "Easter Shouldn't Be Good News"
• "He Shouldn't Have Done it"

How do you think about Jesus' message? About Jesus' relationship to God and the world? About the meaning of the crucifixion and the resurrection? About the relevance of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection for your life and the life of the creation?

This Weekend at Wesley

As Lent winds down and spring (slowly) heats up, Wesley is offering several service opportunities this weekend. You can find more news, including Easter breakfast and worship information, in this week's Spire newsletter.

Wesley Spring Clean-up!

Saturday, April 16 9:00am-Noon
Wesley Church and Foundation

We would greatly appreciate your help with our outdoor cleanup! Bring your work gloves if you have some.

Green Service Project

Saturday, April 16 1:00-2:30pm
Center for Women in Transition

We won't be planting our tomato or pepper plants but we will plant some seeds Brian has, among other gardening tasks.

CROP Walk Volunteers

Palm Sunday, April 17

For those who cannot walk, but would like to be involved, the CROP Walk committee still needs volunteers for these important jobs on Sunday, April 17:

• putting up signs along the route in the morning, anytime before noon.
• registrars (1:30-2:30) before the walk (at St. Matthew Church on Philo Rd.) - receive donor sheets, add numbers of walkers and total pledges
• greeters at the rest stops, either Bahai Center (2:30-4:00) or Twin City Bible Church (3:00-4:30), to give out chocolates, direct walkers to water and rest rooms
• crossing guards at Vine & Illinois (probably 2:45-3:45), or Florida & Philo (probably 3:30-4:30)
• someone to drive a van around the route to pick up tired or stranded walkers

Please contact Jean (359-4642) if you can help with any of these tasks. We will credit you as a "Wesley Walker"! Thanks, on behalf of CROP.

Melchizedek

According to Robinson, Melchizedek is a Greek text translated into Coptic and dates from the late second to early third century. It was likely favored by Egyptian Sethian Gnostics with a fascination for Melchizedek. (page 598)

The text has three parts: "(1) a revelation mediated by the angel Gamaliel (1,1-14,15); (2) a liturgy performed by the priest Melchizedek on behalf of his community (14,15-18,bottom); and (3) a revelatory vision to Melchizedek by unnamed heavenly 'brethren,' probably including Gamaliel (18,bottom-27,10). (page 595)

Highlights:

• An unusual (for a gnostic source) polemic against docetism:
  "Furthermore, they will say of him,
  'He was not born,' though he was born;
  'he does not eat,' though he does eat;
  'he does not drink,' though he does drink;
  'he is not circumcized,' though he was circumcized;
  'he is without real flesh,' though he did endure suffering;
  'he did not rise from the dead,' though he did rise from the dead."
• "O essence of [every aeon, A]BA[BA AI]AIAI ABABA (read: Primal Father)
  O divine Autogenes of ...,
  O movement of every nature, Mother of the aeons, Barbelo
  O firstborn of the aeons, Aithops Doxomedon Domedon,
  O possessor of lives, Jesus Christ,
  O commandeers in chief, luminaries, power--Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithe, Eleleth,
  And you, luminons immortal aeon, Pigeradamas,
  And you, good God of the virtuous worlds, Mirocheirothetou,
  I call upon all of you through Jesus Christ, Son of God. (page 600)
• "When he came he caused me to be raised up from ignorance and the fructification from death to life. (page 603)"

Spring 2011 Grad Study: Nag Hammadi Library

Graduate students and friends will study the Nag Hammadi codices this spring. The primary text for the study will be The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts, edited by Marvin Meyer. A sketch of the semester's study follows.

• January 18 - Meet & Greet
• January 25 - Preface (p xi-xiii), Introduction (p1-13)
• February 1 - Snow Day
• February 8 - Thomas Christianity (777-783), Book of Thomas (p235-246)
• February 15 - Gospel of Thomas (p133-156)
• February 22 - Dialogue of the Savior (p297-312)
• March 1 - The Sethian School of Gnostic Thought (p784-789), Gospel of Judas (p755-770)
• March 8 - Mardi Gras Break
• March 15 - Secret Book of John (p103-132)
• March 22 - Spring Break
• March 29 - Melchizedek (p595-606)
• April 5 - The Valentinian School of Gnostic Thought (p790-794), Tripartite Tractate part 1 (p57-77)
• April 12 - Tripartite Tractate part 2 (p77-102)
• April 19 - Gospel of Philip (p157-186)
• April 26 - Hermetic Religion (p795-798), Prayer of Thanksgiving (p419-424)
• May 3 - Gospel of Mary (p737-748)
• May 10 - Meet at Jarlings

Session 8: Methodism

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

It is said that Methodism is holds the "extreme center". This may sound like Methodists are the great fence-sitters in the landscape of Christian tradition. However, as we will discover, Methodists tread a path of balance that embraces heart and intellect, "high church" and "low church" worship, salvation of individuals and of the world, and grace and holiness.

1. What does it mean to you to be part of a Christian movement rooted in the "extreme center"?
2. How do you approach faith with passion and intellect?
3. How is/can God working through you, your congregation, and the ecumenical community to change lives, transform the world, and reform/revitalize the church?

I hope you'll join us in this final session of Christianity's Family Tree, in which we will examine Methodism, including its roots, beliefs, and practices.

Chapter 5: Anglicanism

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Tuesday night we will explore the context and gifts of Anglicanism as it emerged from western Christianity. Our study will include the history of British reformation, Anglicanism's contribution of the via media, and the valuable emphasis on a rich devotional life.

Join us tonight at 8:15 pm in the Wesley Student Lounge (located in the room across from Etc. Coffeehouse in the Wesley Foundation).

Yoga

The Hindu practice of yoga has been in the news recently. Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler denounced the Hindu practice of yoga as incompatible with a Christian pathway to God. He has received many reactions--for instance, a Huffington Post opinion piece and a post on the EmergingUMC blog). Mohler has continued the dialogue, such as it is, with his response to criticisms.

According to Paul Laughlin's book Getting Oriented: What Every Christian Should Know about Eastern Religions, but Probably Doesn't, yoga--a Sanskrit word literally translated as "to yoke"--is defined as:

"(1) any one of a number (usually three, four, or countless) of spiritual disciplines recognized in Hinduism as effective in making the crucial (and inevitable) connection between one's atman and Brahman--also sometimes called a marga (path); or (2) a specifically physical practice or technique associated with hatha (i.e., bodily exertion) yoga.(290)"

"The purpose of hatha yoga is to release [energies from their concentrated centers throughout the body--centers that affect organs in their immediate vicinity--] and bring them into alignment, thereby facilitating the journey toward realizing true, mystical raja yoga [spiritual discipline aimed at mystical insight], which links atman (one's individual spiritual essence) to Brahman (the Absolute Spirit). Ideally the kundalini [a coiled spring of energy thought by some yogis to be at the base of the spine] would also be uncoiled, thus releasing its power to flow up the spine and connect the chakras [energy centers] from bottom to top. (96)"

You can learn more about yoga from two interviews on The Body's Grace and Meditation in Action from Speaking of Faith.

From what I have read about the controversy, I would characterize Mohler's statements as

1. not denying the physical fitness of yogic exercises;
2. not denying the spiritual value of yoga for Hindus;
3. believing yoga ceases to be yoga when its exercises are divorced from its spiritual dimension; and
4. denying the spiritual value of yoga for Christians.

What is your response?

• Is yoga still "yoga" when stripped of its spiritual dimension?
• What are the challenges in porting a Hindu practice into a Christian way of life? Is it still truly yoga once the adaptations are made?
• Is there value for Christians in the practice of yoga that maintains its spiritual dimension? Is there danger?
• Are there spiritual practices you feel are uniquely Christian?

Spiritual Disciplines

John Wesley believed in the power of frequently practiced spiritual disciplines. The Balance Group has recently visited this Wesleyan emphasis. I have appreciated the challenging conversations wherein we struggle with how to practice these disciplines amidst the busi-ness of school, work, and homemaking.

My parents recently asked me what I thought of the fringe "church" in Florida with designs on burning a copy of the Quran, Muslims' primary sacred text. Any assumption about the intent of the group's leader is unfair, but I responded quickly with the speculation that the group's leader got what he wanted--media attention. The conversation moved on to questions about Islam. I shared what I knew about the five pillars of Islam. Impressed by the frequency and regularity of spiritual disciplines at the core of Islam, my mom responded (and I'll paraphrase) "Muslims are very good at faithfulness."

Surely embedded in this statement could be a mix of emotions, including guilt and awe.

The grad study recently discussed the eastern Orthodox appreciation for the "cloud of witnesses" who accompany Christians on their journey. I noted that my great grandmother remains one of those witnesses to me for her radical trust in God and the practice of spiritual disciplines as second-nature, even as she struggled with Alzheimers disease.

As we struggle to improve our practice of spiritual disciplines, I see a vision of practice that focuses on awe rather than guilt. Awe of God. Awe inspired by the faithful cloud of witnesses. Then, also, I am encouraged by a recent blog post on Experimental Theology that relates a personal story of how one person has experienced joy in sharing the Book of Common Prayer (a valuable Anglican resource for anyone interested in spiritual practices) to his children.

Who are the witnesses who inspire you? What are the meaningful, effective ways you practice spiritual disciplines?