COFFEE BREAK 166

+ Shuck and Jive offers "The Code" by John Shuck. Excerpt: "I feel like I am outing my colleagues or telling temple secrets. I have deep empathy for my fellow clergy. I also realize that am incredibly fortunate and privileged to be where I am. We are all in different places and have varying resources. I also know what it is like to get your butt kicked. There is no better cure for being afraid of a butt kickin' then to have experienced a butt kickin'. You survive. But we need to stick up for each other and encourage each other. More than anything, we need to change church culture from one that thinks it needs to defend its creed to one that sees its task as seeking and working for what is good and true."

To see my response, scroll down to Comment 2 at "The Code." 

+ Shuck and Jive offers "Of Bullies and Squirrels" by John Shuck. Excerpt: "We need as a church to create and protect a culture of free inquiry. Laity need to be courageous in creating space for clergy to teach and preach what they learn even if (especially if) the ideas they are learning are dangerous (such as evolution). Truth is dangerous. It shall also set you free. Clergy in turn, need to be courageous in demanding and using that space for the free exploration of ideas. If our denomination is going to have anything of significance to contribute to the commonwealth of ideas and to goodness in general we must affirm freedom of the pulpit. We need to stick up for each other and defend one another from the bullies and tyrants whether they are trustees of seminaries or publishers of magazines."