It replicates the false dualism of “spirit versus matter ” that crept into and overwhelmed the Jewish faith and practice of Jesus as his followers spread out through the Greco-Roman world.

A truer practice is to “affirm the body,” to affirm it as a mortal yet sacred part of the divine whole.

When I allow myself to suffer the large or small sufferings of my body,

…

The horrible cost of the peace testimony

Tags civilian deaths, Quaker peace testimony, war03/07/20229 Comments

Mike Shell

Today I am greatly conflicted about the Quake peace testimony. Not giving it up, but struggling with the horrendous cost in lives entailed in staying true to it.

As of March 7, 2022, the Russian military is surrounding Kyiv, Ukraine, and it continues its deliberate targeting residential neighborhoods and blocking of escape by war refugees. The suffering, death, and destruction are escalating rapidly.

I long to see something done at once to save the people of Ukraine from Russia’s violence.

…

Identities or intersectionalities – Mark Jordan’s review of Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics

Tags boundaries, communitas, identity, intersectionality, queer, theology01/08/20222 Comments

Mike Shell

"Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad," July 6, 1969, Daily News article about the June 28th police raid on the Stonewall Inn

“Waiting for Queer Theology,” Mark D. Jordan’s review of Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics, by Linn Marie Tonstad (Wipf and Stock, 2018), in Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Autumn/Winter 2021.

Queer theologies as processes, not products

The key concern for Mark D. Jordan

…

Yyyyhhhwwwwhhhh – Interbreath of Life

Tags God, Judaism, Rabbi Walter Ocean Waskow, YHWH01/06/20221 Comment

Mike Shell

The Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew (10th century BCE to 135 CE), by Manuela Ideacrea. [Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)]

“YHWH is the bearer of consequence, not punishment or rewards.”

Excerpts from Dancing in God’s Earthquake: The Coming Transformation of Religion, by Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow (Orbis Books, 2020)

Dancing in God's Earthquake: The Coming Transformation of Religion, by Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow (Orbis Books, 2020) …

Moment

Tags miksang, poetry, practice12/21/2021

Mike Shell

"First tracks," by Mike Shell (12/9.2021)

Opening the doors
+++I see
+++that the landscape
+++is
ever-changing.

One moment becomes
+++another,
+++not
in a sequence or
+++progression,

But

…

Sustaining the real presence of community on Zoom

Tags communitas, practice, Zoom12/18/20212 Comments

Mike Shell

Excerpts from “A Jewel in the Lotus: Buddhist chaplaincy includes compassion and ‘skillful means,'” by Chris Berlin, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Autumn/Winter 2020

Chris Berlin, is an instructor in ministry and spiritual counseling and the denominational counselor to Buddhist students at Harvard Divinity School. With his colleague Cheryl Giles, he teaches the course Compassionate Care of the Dying: Buddhist Trainings and Techniques.