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Let’s assume that a chance for peace still exists on the other side of the current Israeli/ Hamas war.  By no means a sure thing, but we have to hope. 

As the persona of Donald Trump continues to dominate our public lives, increasingly, we have become aware of the cult of personality that has risen up in his shadow.  To be sure, it has evolved over time, but its existence as a cult cannot be denied. 

  The luminous web.  What quantum physics suggests is that everything in life–molecules, particles, and sub-atomic particles–is inter-connected.  We are all caught up in an infinite web of relationships.  Indeed, as human beings–as inherently social people–each of …

The context for this article is the proposed new curriculum for the instruction of students on African American history.  Outrage over the proposal is mounting every day. 

As a nation, we must move toward a place where the ethics of consequences weigh more heavily in our mind, heart, and spirit.  In an ethics of consequences, the rightness and wrongness of our choices matter.  Morality matters. 

  The Easter experience is about the birth of a new consciousness.  It is a consciousness that burst upon the followers of Jesus through his suffering unto death on the cross.  In many ways, Jesus’ followers, and …

I want to share some reflections on process thought, known as process theology when applied to God and religion.

I cannot tell you how furious I am with the politicians in our country, in both chambers (mostly Republicans), who stubbornly (thinking only of themselves) refuse to enact significant gun reform legislation. 

As Christianity continues in search of a reformation adequate to our modern experience, it is amazing–through it all–how we continue to be fascinated by Jesus.

In these post-election days, there have been no reports of the violence many had forecast.  Certainly, this is most encouraging.  There is no place for violence in a civil society. 

Rather than embrace people of color and celebrate our racial and cultural diversity, regrettably, large numbers of white people are pursuing another path.  Thus, the recent rise in anti-democratic fervor and its serious threat to our democracy. 

Suffering love is the pinnacle value of Christianity.  It is rooted in the suffering of Jesus on the cross–a reality we can never fully fathom: the aching loneliness, the wrenching pain, the sense of total abandonment. 

Since the birth of self-consciousness (some 250,000 years ago), human beings have been part of an ongoing process of imagining and creating new conceptions of God.  In a very real sense, it is natural to our human situation. 

Traditionally, in our nation, when an election is over, we assume people will accept the results, even if they are not to their own liking. We do not have a history of fraudulent elections. However, regrettably, we are now at a time in our history where, in many states, if a democrat wins an election, republicans are going to claim “fraud.”

In John 8, Jesus observes that when you know the truth, “the truth will make you free.”  In the Bible, truth-telling is an important matter.  Indeed, the commandment truth of the ninth commandment spells this out for us: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”.

Like Jesus, Paul was a radical egalitarian.  He was also, it turns out, a first century feminist.  In all the churches he helped found and nurture, he insisted on gender equality. 

For Paul, baptism is the pre-condition for equality.  Simply put, when we are baptized into Christ, there is no inequality.  This is true for all relationships, both inside and outside the assembly.  For Paul, this was a non-negotiable affirmation that he expected his churches to adhere to.

Because the letters of Paul come after the gospels in the chronology of the New Testament canon, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that when Paul penned his letters, he had no knowledge of the gospel stories.  His letters/epistles were probably written around 51 to 62 CE (Common Era).  Meanwhile, the gospels were written from about 70-72 (Mark) to around the end of the first century (John).  Thus, to reiterate, Paul knew nothing of the gospels.

Both Jesus and Paul were mystics, as, indeed, were most of the prophets.  The insights and experiences of Christian mystics are important to any evolving understanding of Christian faith.  Mysticism (mystical experience) reveals the significance of imagination, feelings, and intuition in the human spirit as human beings continue to explore the wonder and mystery of relationship to the Spirit.

In his inspirational novel, A Man Called Jesus, author, Dr. Rick Herrick, presents a Jesus with irresistible compassion who is deeply infused with God’s love.

Given the amount of criticism of Paul over the centuries, if we can try to understand Paul in light of his authentic letters (the seven letters he, in fact, actually wrote), we soon discover that the radical Paul (the Paul of his authentic letters: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon) had a lot in common with the radical Jesus (the Jesus of history). Stated more accurately, the Jesus we learn of in the gospel stories had a lot in common with Paul.

Christianity before Paul.  In order to explore the question of Paul distorting the message of Jesus, we need to ask the question, What was Christianity like before Paul, which would be in the early decades after Jesus’ death?  Paul wrote his letters from approximately 51-62 CE (Common Era).  Therefore, in the thirties and forties CE, what was the Jesus movement like?

Paul and Jesus.  The life, mission, and writings of the Apostle Paul loom large over the Christian Church.  Whatever our personal opinion of Paul, after Jesus, he remains the major personality in the growth and shaping of the early church.  His contribution to Christianity is immeasurable by virtually any standard.

The pre-Easter Jesus is the historical Jesus, the Jesus before his crucifixion and the experience of Easter Sunday.  He is the Jesus of history, the Jesus who grew up in the peasant village of Nazareth and who, around the age of thirty, launched a public ministry that changed the world.  However, trying to unpack who this Jesus was as an historical person is a daunting task. 

A close reading of the gospels, particularly the crucifixion and resurrection accounts, suggests that Mary Magdalene had a prominent role in the ministry of Jesus.  Indeed, she was often referred to as “the apostle to the apostles.”

In our thinking about God, God has great size. However, it is a size that can never be fully grasped because it is always enlarging–eventually becoming more than anything we can conceptualize or imagine. 

The inaugural poem of Amanda Gorman – at 22, the youngest inaugural poet laureate in U.S. history – lifted our spirits as it dazzled our imagination.  Indeed, as her lofty words filled the air at our nation’s capitol, hope was given a new face. 

Believing in God–or not believing–is not always as straight forward as we might think.

I do not pray to the God of supernatural theism. This is the God in the sky, the God of antiquity–the three-tiered universe–with heaven above, hell down below, and the earth in between.

In grappling with Isabel Wilkerson’s best-selling, new book, Caste (subtitle: The Origins of Our Discontents), we are reminded how Jesus was himself–in his life, his teachings, and his ministry–a leader who broke with the entrenched caste system of his time.  In every era of human history, caste is a stumbling block; and for Christians, it is a stumbling block to the advent of the Kingdom of God, announced by Jesus.  This Kingdom ushers in a new ordering of the world, a reprioritizing of social, economic, and political values. 

The Bible is a human creation.  The Bible is a human product and creation.  It was not written by God.  God is the great MORE of the universe–more than anything we can say, think, imagine, or conceptualize about God.  Indeed, God is Spirit, infinite love and energy, abiding presence, and endless mystery.  Still, God doesn’t write things.  While I do believe God was a source of tremendous inspiration to the biblical writers (and editors), I do not believe God authored the Bible.

Why all the suffering? In conversations on belief in God, perhaps the greatest conundrum is the timeless problem of human suffering. Forever, this has been a weighty problem. Now and then, in religious circles, we hear that a minister, theologian, or biblical scholar has decided they are an atheist. When asked why, the answer usually has something to do with the problem of human suffering.

Who was Jesus?  This simple question continues to fascinate both Christians and non-Christians.  Beyond being an utterly remarkable human being, the pre-Easter Jesus (the historical Jesus) was a spirit person and mystic, a healer, a sage and teacher of wisdom, a social-justice prophet, and a movement initiator.

As this book affirms, God continues to be the great conundrum, the great mystery, the great challenge of human existence. Paradoxically, while people have long claimed to doubt the existence of God, God is still the most important reality in the world.

As a fully human person, what was Jesus like?  I confess I am forever fascinated by this question.  What was it like to be Jesus of Nazareth, to have what I call this God presence in him?  And as this God presence thrived in his spirit, when did he first become aware of it? 

Let’s tell the truth about these times!  On the bright side, the recent Black Lives Matter movement continues to build and will hopefully carry us to long-overdue progress in race relations.  On the darker side, however, we live in the grip of one of the worst pandemics in the recent history of our planet.  Added to this, our nation is saddled with the what is arguably most incompetent and corrupt presidency in our 244 years as a democratic republic.