"You should become a UU," Rev. John Shelby Spong's friends tell him; but he insists that his calling is to change the Christian church, not to leave it. "I am not willing to let Jerry Fallwell capture the Bible," he says.

Rev. John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Bishop of Newark, has written many books to explain his views of the Bible. These views are well known to UUs, as evidenced by the standing-room-only crowd that gathered to listen to and meet him.

He has ordained an openly gay priest and favors the ordination of women. "Women and men are 99% the same," he says, "and I have yet to discover anything especially God-like about the other 1%."

Sponsored jointly by the UU Christian Fellowship and UUs for Jewish Awareness, Rev. Spong reminded us that the earliest Christians were Jews and the earliest Christian stories were told in synagogues. He urged us to view the Gospel of Mark through Jewish eyes. "It is liturgy, not biography," he told us.

Rev. Spong described how the Gospel of Mark grew out of stories told in the synagogue. Each story is woven into the background of the Jewish Torah, which is read in an annual cycle. Mark's Gospel consists of stories to accompany the cycle of Torah readings, beginning with John the Baptist at the time of Rosh Hashanah and leading up to the passion story at the time of Passover. The passion story itself is liturgy for a 24-hour vigil, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday and continuing in eight three-hour blocks until Jesus is laid to rest at 6 p.m. Friday.

Rev. Spong's believes that the same spiritual groundwater feeds every religious well. Jerusalem is home to three great religions, and that is where he wants to focus his efforts, to go through the particular to the universal. "My role is to break open the tradition," he said. "I fight with my tradition. But as a UU I wouldn't know what to fight. It would be too easy to be a UU!"

Reported by Mike McNaughton; formatted for the web by Kasey Melski.