Gabrielle Chavez, Author at Christ the Healer UCC

Sin and Satan in Eden

May 12, 2022 | Biblical Knowledge & Wisdom

Author: Thomas Chavez

Sunday School Bible stories have confused us. Most of us are sure that the first appearance of Satan in the Bible took place in Genesis, in the story of the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. We all know that Satan dressed up as a serpent, tricked Eve into picking an apple and taking a bite. Almost nobody ever argues with this description. Only a careful reading of that text says otherwise.

First off, there is no apple. There never was. We know this for two reasons: that kind of fruit does not grow in the regions described in that story, and the fruit spoken about is obviously a metaphor – being named “The knowledge of Good and Evil.” In other words, the mental capacity for, and the habit of relying upon not just discernment, but preferential judgment.

Preferential judgment translates easily enough to separation, which in our last post we identified as the common thread running through all behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes identified in the Bible as “Sin.”

When you or I notice that a Rhododendron flower is not the same as a Rose, we have made a discernment. When I declare that the Rose flower is beautiful and the Rhododendron is ugly, fit only to be stomped on, and you declare the opposite, we have each made a yes/no, want/don’t want, good/bad judgment.

My preference is for what I judge a beautiful-yes-want-good flower. While you prefer the ugly-no-don’t want-bad flower. Meaning that our choices are not just differences in taste, but in existential allegiance. You will see your own allegiance as being given to what is right-good, and mine, to what is wrong-evil. While I will know that you are allied to what is wrong-evil, and I to what is right-good. This split in allegiance automatically forces us to see each other as enemies.

Interestingly enough we have a particular part of our brain structure where this kind of right/wrong, good/evil, black/white thinking takes place: in the parietal lobe. Also interesting is the experimentally demonstrated fact that this neurological facility is so strengthened by exercise that it can, and for many humans does, take over the way that the human brain sees and assesses the whole world. For people who have built up this facility to the exclusion of all else, everything is a contest between black and white, good and evil. Thus, this twist toward “Spiritual warfare” is not a spiritual gift, it is merely self-initiated brain development of a particular inclination.

For people who have strongly exercised other facilities – the capacity to love for instance – this appearance of a good/evil contest is not there at all. These latter folk don’t see it, because their brains don’t manufacture it.

In this biologically-based light, doesn’t it seem even more significant that what Christ-as-Jesus kept harping on was to increase and elaborate our human capacity for love?

Counterwise, it seems one of the most painful ironies of our theological history that the more ardently our ancestral Christian predecessors railed against Eve, the apple, and getting kicked out of the Garden, the more virulently did they commit the very sin against which they fulminated. Blaming as they did so, not their own tendencies, but a non-physical person called Satan who was not there at all.

Some will ask, what can I mean? What about the serpent? Isn’t it obvious that this character in the tale is just Satan in disguise? Who else but the fallen Prince among Angels would have the temerity to sabotage God’s most cherished relationships?

Given where these sincere questions are coming from, they bear a serious looking-into. So let’s do that in our next post.

Hell What, When, Why, How, and Who

Mar 14, 2022 | Biblical Knowledge & Wisdom

This article is based on a fascinating subject. It challenges the common notions of hell and addresses the source of associated with these terms which are the basis for misinterpretation.

We will invite a group discussion together once the final article on this subject has been published, and welcome you to the conversation.

Our mental image of Hell is pretty clear, relatively specific, generally agreed upon, and mostly wrong. All of these attributes of Hell are because there is a vast landscape of Christian thought that is covered over with horrifying thoughts about Hell. Most of this seared over territory is not Biblical, being a mental playground, the basic boundaries of which, were delineated by two Christian/political poets, Dante in 12th century Florence who had a beef with how his city-state was being abused especially by the Pope, and Milton of 17th century England who expressed the cultural atmosphere in that country when Puritan “Roundheads” generaled by Cromwell took over that nation and beheaded King Charles the first who was supported by Catholic aristocracy.

It was this pair, more than any others, who took specific images that actually are to be found in the Bible and imaginatively expanded them into the picture that millions of people see in their minds today, when Hell is used to threaten Christian believers. Certainly these two did not do every bit of the damage by themselves. Hundreds of visual artists and preachers certainly did their parts.

Hurt, frightened, angry animals roar threats and show gleaming teeth and rending claw to threaten their enemies, and we humans do the same. Among our many peculiarities is that our physical teeth and claws are not quite so scary, even to other humans as might be a wolf, or lion’s. So, for as long as we have been language using creatures our weapons of threat have been words. For as long as there have been Christians our preferred words of threat have been culled from the Bible.

So, what are these images found in the Bible, and what do they look like when not being magnified by those historical poetic lenses mentioned above?

There are at least four, two of these being expressions of the same undesirable two-part fate as seen by Hebrew speakers, one an imaginative expansion of one of the elements involved in those first two, and one a memory of a different tradition.

In the Hebrew testament, the word pit is sometimes used as the fate of the unrighteous dead, sometimes this is translated into English as Hell. The same idea is made more explicit in the New Testament by citing the actual wadi (narrow canyon) Gehenna, which for centuries served as the city dump for Jerusalem where all the trash got burned. Twenty years gone by, I, myself walked up to the lip of that long, zigzagging crack in the Earth, and could see, and smell, smoke still rising, for its use as a dump still persisted.

Originally the Hebrew people envisioned no afterlife, God had breathed life into clay, and when life departed from the clay that was it. A person was an animated puppet, which meant no animation – no person. What was left was an empty puppet that would be honored with entombment in memory of the honorable person that was. Counterwise, the dishonorable would be thrown into a pit in memory of the disgrace (sinner) they had shown themselves to be.

Also in those days after the Northern Kingdom which we remember as Israel was wiped out, and the Southern kingdom called Judea was reestablished, the Classical Greek image of the afterlife took root among some of the people and was called in Hebrew Sheol. Sheol was pictured, just like the Greek Hades, as an eternity of blah. A forever of bare awareness beyond the living world where stuff was happening, without strength or substance. Think about it, awareness without any power to do anything, effect anything, be stimulated by any new thing? Sheol also is translated into English as Hell.

During the four hundred or so years between when the last books of the Hebrew Testament were committed to papyrus or parchment and the New Testament begins a large fragment of Jews had evolved their views to include the possibility of a resurrection at the end of days. Jesus was accused by his opponents of believing this, and some of our Biblical stories confirm this. But even for these latter day Hebrews the person was an animated puppet, and the other direction for that equation still bore true.

For Jews, no puppet – no re-animation – no resurrected person. So the original threat that your community would not bury a disgraced member, merely throw the body in a pit was elaborated into thrown into the dump and burned so that no resurrection would be possible for the sinner because there was no dead puppet to re-animate.

The last book included in our “Canonical,” which means agreed upon by all Christians, Bible, written more than a hundred years after the execution of Jesus, a new twist was emphasized. The threat of being burned was pictured by the author of Revelation,” as being thrown into a lake of fire, and the agony of being burnt “Alive” would go on forever. This of course was not the first image of fire being used in Christian scripture. We might remember mentions of wilted flowers, and vines that bear no fruit being consigned to the fire in Jesus’ parables. A perfectly common agricultural practice, but the presence of these other such references lends this particular passage weight beyond its own poetical impact.

We all know that The Book of Revelation is a hundred-ninety proof strong dose of poetry, and many is the would be scholar who has been intoxicated by crawling into its pages and forgetting to climb back out. This unfortunate condition has led to the promulgation of many otherwise unsupported proclamations and attempts at doctrine.

It was this vision of “Eternal damnation,” in agony that gave Dante license for his nine descending circles of ever intensifying sadistic torture, along with our common cartoons of red-suited Sater figures with pitchforks overseeing forever agony among the flames of God’s unrelenting displeasure contributed to our folklore by Milton.

So yes, there are images in the Bible that get lumped together and spoken of as “Hell,” but these did not, originally mean the same thing, nor were they all actual threats of punishment for the deserving. But to have a context for these points to be understood more completely, there are a number of other often cited Biblical words that need to be explored, starting with what we call “Sin,” the Devil or “Satan,” Evil, as well as our Biblical portrait of God.

If you have any questions or concerns, please fill out the Contact Form and we will get back in touch right away.

Look what’s Blooming! The Climate Cafe’

Mar 14, 2022 | Climate Justice, Local Events

We are excited to share this summary of actions and decisions that Christ the Healer has taken SO FAR, in the design and development of our new outward- facing mission known as the ‘Climate Café’.

Christ the Healer, UCC is proposing to partner with Hillsdale Community Church, UCC in establishing space – and related activity – that welcomes both the local and the wider community into an exploration and an experience of a nutritious and delicious, low carbon footprint meal preparation and consumption. We’ll be serving locally-source, sustainably-grown raw foods, using a pay-as-you-can model.

This educational, nutritional mission entails a shared learning process about the environmental impact of our food choices. It also encourages collaboration that engages many others in a broader consciousness about what it means to “sit down at the table together” in an earth-friendly manner.

Where will the Climate Café be located?

We’re excited to be having conversations with Hillsdale Community Church, UCC in SW Portland about partnering with them on this project. HCC has a wonderful, historic church building on Capitol Hwy between Multnomah Village and Hillsdale. If we move forward in partnership with them, they will offer the use of their kitchen facilities. They also bring a congregation with a treasure trove of knowledge, skills and experience. A partnership with them raises wonderful communal possibilities.

The vision for Climate Café is that it will bring physical as well as spiritual benefits to all parties concerned. For CtH, it provides an opportunity to serve in a way that we are uniquely equipped. Our members share a love of conscious eating, conscious living and a deep concern for the environment. We have found ways to eat locally, sustainably and healthfully, and this is an opportunity to share our vision for a more holistic way of living, grounded in spiritual authenticity.

For HCC, it offers the opportunity for genuine renewal. Their church has a rich history in SW Portland and the greater metro area stretching back well over a century. Like many churches, they have found that the old way of “doing church” no longer serves them. The members of HCC church carry a shared vision of a more just, sustainable world, and a vibrant local community. They have recently decided to “repurpose” their building and grounds, opening the doors to mission partnerships that align with their vision.

They bring a wealth of shared knowledge and energy to this project. As a congregation consciously choosing to heed the call to bring Christ’s love to the world, they are in the unique position to help catalyze positive change in the community through this project. They stand to benefit tremendously from the new visitors, community members and connections coming through their doors.

Who else will be involved?

We’ve enrolled the services of Lakita and Moralie Butler, founders of Rawsoul in Harlem and Longevity Foods in Washington. Lakita and Moralie are phenomenal chefs who also possess expertise in the business of running restaurants. The Butlers have already done a walk through of the potential kitchen. They have approved its possibilities and have committed to provide their management expertise, a workable business plan, and oversight of food production. Their participation guarantees an unforgettable culinary experience for those dining at the Climate Café!

The intention is for the Climate Café to be primarily run by volunteers. Volunteers stand to gain wonderful benefits from this project! They will have the reward of providing a needed service by literally feeding the hungry. They will also have the opportunity to learn about low-carbon, locally-based eating. They will be connected to networks and communities of others doing the same.

The Climate Café will be set up with a pay-as-you-can model. It will provide an immersive experience in the concept. For many diners it will be their first chance to experience the blessings of a “gift economy”. So many people are looking around and finding that our dominant capital-driven, transactional culture is not meeting their needs. Not only is it not meeting their needs, but it is an instrument of active destruction to the natural environment and human welfare.

Here is an opportunity for those who are curious about better ways to live to try some of them out for themselves. We don’t claim to have all of the solutions, but we can share what we know, with the assurance that when it comes to positive change, everyone has a part to play! We hope to educate and inspire those who are looking to build a better world.

What will Christ the Healer contribute?

Christ the Healer will be offering our energy and effort – including already developed contacts and partnerships in the “greening world” – toward manifesting the financial means and meals that make this happen.

Finally, through the office of our own Thomas Chavez, here is a summary of the resources we’ve identified to help make this project a success.

Raw Berry Pie

Raw Broccoli Salad

Raw Salad with Mushrooms

Raw Cabbage Rolls

Staffing and Volunteers

As shared earlier in this article: We’ve enrolled the services of Lakita and Moralie Butler, founders of Rawsoul in Harlem and Longevity Foods in Washington. Lakita and Moralie are phenomenal chefs who also possess expertise in the business of running restaurants. The Butlers have already done a walk through of the potential kitchen. They have approved its possibilities and have committed to provide their management expertise, a workable business plan, and oversight of food production. Their participation guarantees an unforgettable culinary experience for those dining at the Climate Café!

We have 19 non-firm commitments, pending the onset of café operations, for direct, on-site, volunteer support with food prep, food service, as well as the teaching of related subjects.
We have a commitment from Acres of Grace Farm in Canby, Oregon to help supply locally-grown food – food grown using regenerative agriculture techniques. The founders of Acres of Grace, Jim and Alice Wallace, are members of CtH and possess a wealth of knowledge about regenerative agriculture. As well as contributing clean, delicious, healthful ingredients, they will help provide additional learning about growing food in a way that gives back to the earth.
We have an agreement with a grower of American Wild Rice in Mount Angel, Oregon for a discounted price in exchange for featuring their exceptionally delicious organic grain.
We’ve also identified a family from East Africa whose produce fits our parameters. They are growing vegetables currently unavailable in local markets, using seeds imported from home.
We’re in contact with a Native American couple in Yamhill County who grow native foods cooperatively with the land. They generate their produce from a climate-sensitive, Christian-centered philosophy, and they could become a source of prep ingredients for the café’.
We’ve also been in touch with a number of other small, organic growers who are already in commercial or semi- commercial operation (for example, selling at farmer’s markets around the area). We’re still determining who will be the best fit for this project, but are thrilled to live in a region with so many food producers committed to sustainability!

Funding and Marketing

Moving forward, we’ll need to secure more funding and put the word out about this work. Here are some resources we’ve gathered so far.

CtH has secured a website for ClimateCafe.com and another for EarthFriendlyFoods.com
We have a firm commitment from a volunteer who will create a Climate Café website, starting with a dedicated page on our CtHUCC.org website, as well as a crowdfunding website.
Yet another volunteer, with marketing expertise, has offered to make sure that both websites, when up and running, are optimized for SEO. Stay tuned for more information about this in upcoming emails! We’ll be asking for your help in putting the world out about the work we’re done.
We also have a volunteer investigating the possibility of incorporating one of our associated undertakings as an Oregon Benefits incorporated entity—with an eye toward attracting socially-responsible investments as well as donations. In line with this, another volunteer has agreed to join a local, Portland-centered Oregon B Corp investment club, where our opportunity can be pitched.
We have a firm commitment from a professional stain glass artist in Southern California for the donation for a “Love all Creation as yourself” lighted sign for the café. Yet another volunteer has committed to make the light box. Both volunteers are in contact with one another to coordinate the work.
We’ve already obtained a $1000 grant from the UCC Central Pacific Conference to reimburse Lakita and Moralie Butler for their production of a business plan for the Climate Café. In addition to the grant, we’ve set aside $150 as seed money for the café project and gotten a few pledges of monetary donation. With faith like a mustard seed, this can grow exponentially.

We greatly appreciate any donations and financial support for this effort, as these seed monies will help to move this mission forward. Please send checks to: CtH UCC, 772 Division, Oregon City, Oregon.

No Matter What Porch Concert at Hilldale UCC

Mar 13, 2022 | All, Local Events

By: Julie Gorham

When Hillsdale UCC asked me if I would like to perform a porch concert at Hillsdale for a community event in September, I was excited. And, I knew it was a huge effort.

With only three months to prepare, It was time to be creative. Could I of us pull it off with such little time? Probably, but playing alone felt a bit lackluster.

A bigger idea emerged.

After experiencing synergy with the CtH A.R.T.S Group, it became clear there were other shining stars in our group whom I asked to join – Musician and Vocalist Heather Dennis, and Vocalist & Cajon Player, Jill Crisci. All three of us have a deep passion for music, and were already writing music. That was pretty exciting!

We only had three months to pull together enough songs for a concert, so when both Heather and Jill had agreed, we met week after week to present new material to each other and see what would emerge. Trying to synthesize our voices and instruments to music that was essentially new for the three of us to play together was pretty fun, and a bit challenging at times. If there wasn’t a concert on the table, we could have relaxed a bit more, and just had fun. But, we knew the date was approaching fast and we are all naturally competitive. It would be difficult to not give it our all, and present a meaningful array of music that would inspire the young and the mature alike. What an ask!

All three of us had original songs, but the question was – Are we ready to share them with the world? Were they ready enough to present? Mostly not, but I knew we could do it. And we did.

Breath on Me was the first song that we practiced, followed by an original instrumental by Heather Dennis, called and an Irish tune, Come by the Hills. Julie had been working on completing quite a few instrumentals, but one in particular struck Heather and she said she had lyrics. This was a musical surprise, and quite a treat. Jill had inspiration for Breathe on me, with a beautiful chorus, and she was able to find nuances in that song that turned out to be quite lovely, and enhanced the song.

It was quite a collaboration in such a short time, and I’m deeply grateful for Jill and Heather’s participation, especially in light of schedule demands. We learned a lot, laughed a lot, and made quite a few mistakes at the live concert… but nobody noticed, only us. I look forward to a time we can get back together and pick up where we left off, and maybe even with more collaboration. We shall see! Special thanks to Mark Mcreevey for his help with amps and mics. What a fun learning experience!

Free Yourself – Instrumental on guitar, drums & keys
Waterfall – Instrumental on guitar, drum & keys
Holy Holy Holy – Sung by Jill, accompanied by guitar & keys
Hello – Sung by Jill, accompanied by guitar
Say My Name – Sung by Jill, accompanied by guitar
When We Walk Together – accompanied by guitar, keys and drum
Come By the Hills – Sung by Heather, accompanied by guitar & drum
The Subtle Chase – Sung by Heather accompanied by guitar & drum
Rainbow Connection – Sung by Jill, accompanied by guitar
Mama Tree – Piano by Heather
Music Box Dancer – Piano by Heather
Venus By Tuesday – Poem by Heather
Breathe on Me – Sung by all with guitar and piano

What if ‘True’ Christianity Is More Than We Have Ever Known?

Feb 21, 2022 | All, Biblical Knowledge & Wisdom, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Practice

By: Thomas Chavez, Heather Dennis & Julie Gorham

“We don’t want anybody telling us what to do, what to think, or what to believe!” This was the first thing out of anyone’s mouth at the inaugural gathering of what was to become Christ the Healer, United Church of Christ. This focus group had been called together by Gabrielle and I, and we got our fundamental marching orders from its participants: in twenty-four years there has never once been a preaching service at CtH, UCC. And in these twenty-four years of existence, we can honestly affirm that no two meetings of our group have been carbon copies of each other.

That is not to say that preaching has never happened among us. When new folk discover that we are a group that has practiced the art of listening to one another (Friends in Grace), many take this as their big chance. When this happens pontification, glittering generalities, and personal opinion are likely to flow over us like glop from an overheated glue pot. But, what is most valuable is to hear the visitor’s personal experience, unvarnished efforts at self-evolvement, and interactions with spirit (however achieved). We are not so interested in their conclusions, surmises, doctrines, and declarations of “You damned well should.” In this manner, through group exploration, shared and individual study, hard-won experience, and practice, we all learn. And in learning, we teach one another. Eventually everyone figures this out, or moves on.

For those who stick around, this process has been both satisfying and extraordinarily enlightening. But nobody gets the benefit who did not invest in their evolution by making the commitment to heal, and allowing the necessary time to grow. This requires being willing to lovingly face the deeper realities within, together.

Spiritual growth is not a cookie-cutter process, and the old methods often leave people feeling dissatisfied and stuck in life. This journey has demanded that we examine the long and somewhat tortured history of our Christian heritage. Here, we are sharing with you our most valuable treasures from this close examination which apply to us today. This will be more complicated than it sounds because everything about our Christian “thought world” affects everything else in that ecosystem of belief.

Christianity is like a single tapestry of understanding, every thread pulling upon every other. When we come to understand any one thing about scripture or tradition more completely, everything else that we believe naturally shifts to make room for this change in our understanding. One of the greatest challenges Christian truth-seekers face is that there are so many varied interpretations of Biblical wisdom and instruction. How do we interpret teachings of a God who appears in parts jealous, angry, and vengeful, and yet claims to be loving? How do we make sense of the iconoclastic Rabbi – Jesus Christ – we meet in the pages of the New Testament? Because there are so many seeming contradictions within scripture, it seems almost inevitable for there to be divisions, and regrettably, conflicts arising from them.

Most of us learned what we know about Christianity from Sunday school, sermons, and regular Bible studies, but there is a rich world of knowledge beyond this. The teachings we encounter through such devotions are often valuable, but may be incomplete and in need of closer examination.

If you are feeling incomplete in your understanding of Christianity, and searching for a more unified, compassionate perspective, then we hope that you find the reflections shared in our blogs riveting, delightful, and illuminating.

What if The genius exhibited by Jesus through his commandments, parables and living example, and thus the “true” Christianity that grows from that genius is way, way more than we have ever known? Come, help us find out!

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