Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - June 27, 2018
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Original Sin, part 37
  2. The June Issue of “The Peaceable Table” Is Now Online
  3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

1. Original Sin, part 37

The human ideal to live in a “beloved community” has been hampered by the human tendency to participate in scapegoating. The Garden of Eden represented a beloved community, but Adam and Eve manifested the “original sin” of scapegoating that has undermined peaceful coexistence among humans and between humans and nonhumans. We want to live in a “realm of God” described by Jesus or a “Garden of Eden” as depicted in the Hebrew Scriptures, but this is impossible if we retain the human tendency to participate in the scapegoating process.

How can we overcome this tendency? The later Hebrew prophets called for righteous living, and they rejected sacrifice as a means to appease God.

Perhaps Micah said it best:

“Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and walk humbly with your God? (6:7-8)

For many Jewish people in the ancient world and today, this prescription inspires a life dedicated to compassion, justice, and service to God. However, Jesus saw that these teachings seemed to have little impact on the behavior of many of his contemporary Jewish people, particularly among those with religious or political authority. Jesus declared, “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17). Next week, we will start to consider how the life and teachings of Jesus demonstrated how to fulfill the law.

Stephen R. Kaufman, MD

2. The June Issue of “The Peaceable Table” Is Now Online

Contents include:

  • The Editor's Corner Guest Essay tells the appealing story of the rescue of an injured rooster, and in the process tells much about love in unlikely places, and the true cost of hen's eggs as food.
  • Philaret of Moscow, a nineteenth-century Orthodox Christian, reminds us in an Unset Gem that the walls we build on earth do not reach to heaven.
  • Robert Ellwood Reviews a short new book entitled Burger by seasoned activist Carol J. Adams that has much information both old and new for readers about the history of this iconic US-American sandwich. She treats of the unseen perils and evils behind and within it, and the promising development of plant-based and clean-meat burgers now in the works.
  • The June Pioneer is Geoffrey Hodson, a Theosophist, visionary, author and speaker who was not only vegetarian for the last fifty years of his long life, but promoted the practice as president of the New Zealand Vegetarian Society and in a number of his writings.
  • Try out the Recipe for Angie Cordeiro's Green Smoothie. It's easy to make, tasty, and a nutritional powerhouse.

To read this issue, go to http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/issue147.html.

Toward the Peaceable Kingdom,
Gracia Fay Ellwood, Editor

3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

Recognizing God Around Us

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