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Good Friday, with its graphic images of death and despair, is endurable every year because we already know that Easter is coming, soon. But what if we didn’t know that?

The symbols we choose to focus on become planted deep within us. In the liturgical season of Lent, and especially during Holy Week, we think primarily of the cross and crown of thorns… outward evidence of a humiliating and painful death. But other symbols appear during this time, like the towel and basin of water on Maundy Thursday.

When we read words written by others, we often don’t know the context in which the words were written. Sometimes the story behind the words is the best part.

One reason we search for new language, especially at this time of year, is that for many Christians, the traditional words have lost their ability to touch us. Repetition can bring the joy of the familiar, but it can also cause us to glaze right over….

Traditionally Lent is a time during which we “give up” something, but more recently many people have moved to “taking on” something during the Lenten season.

Of all the symbols we encounter during Lent, none is more recognizable than the cross.

Lent comes early this year. It seems like we just put away the last of the Christmas decorations and turned to face the new year, and here comes Ash Wednesday (Feb. 13).

For many people, music is a source of experiences of the sacred. That makes the choice of music for worship services both important and challenging.

There is a story that connects the Lord’s Prayer with the six-petaled rose at the center of an eleven-circuit labyrinth, such as the famous one found at Chartres Cathedral. Each of the petals corresponds to part of the Lord’s Prayer,

The milestones in our lives — births and baptisms, marriages, funerals and life celebrations — need new words to fit our new understandings.

January 6 is traditionally celebrated as Twelfth Night, or the Feast of the Epiphany. It’s one of the oldest celebrations of the Christian Church

Advent… a time of anticipation, of waiting and watching as the darkness deepens. There are many ways to mark the passing of this time…

Humans are relentless in their efforts to understand God. We can change the language (some say “God” is an over-used word), we can find new metaphors (poets are especially good at this),

Finding new words to express ancient wisdom is an essential part of progressive Christianity. Not only does such an effort put the fundamental ideas into modern language, but the very act of searching for the new words is part of coming to understand what you believe and how you want to share it with others.

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they do not belong to you.” (Khalil Gibran)

Autumn feels different depending on which cycle you respond to most strongly. Underneath, we are all still tied to the land, metaphorical farmers if not literal ones.

The struggle for justice is never-ending, and it belongs to all of us. Joining forces in a fight for justice is often the most reliable common ground we have with people of very different creeds and cultures.

Every time we lose someone we love, someone who inspired us and now has left us to carry on without them, someone whose presence was a part of our daily happiness, we must re-map our world.

Faith communities can be a “safe place for uncomfortable conversations.”

Guidance comes to us in so many ways. But in our modern world of scientific, left-brain analytic information, it takes a deliberate effort to rediscover the ancient ways of wisdom guidance.

It’s fair to say the world changed for most of us on September 11, 2001. So each year, as that date rolls around again, we are given an opportunity to remember and reflect and recommit ourselves to a world where the children of Abraham can live side by side in peace.

Many progressive Christian communities have stopped saying the traditional creeds together, because they no longer represent what the congregants believe to be true.

One common response to the question “What religion are you?” is to simply say: ”I don’t follow any religion. I’m a seeker.”

  Healing prayers and rituals are among the oldest traditions of humankind.  Even today, many congregations offer special healing services, often reclaiming the ancient practices of anointing and laying on of hands.  We are only beginning to …

  Saying grace before a meal offers us all a chance to pause for a moment of gratitude in our busy days.  Grace can be as simple as a silent blessing or as participative as going around …

In finding the version of the Lord’s Prayer that works for you or your church, there are many possibilities. You

Perhaps no prayer is more beloved of Christians everywhere than the Lord’s Prayer, sometimes called the Prayer of Jesus. While many of us still use the words as found in Matthew 6:9-13, it is an irresistible urge to recreate this most fundamental of prayers in modern language.

  Compassion is the cornerstone of every faith tradition.  The movement out of yourself, to the point of being concerned with the sufferings of another, is the beginning of the movement toward God.  As the Dalai Lama …

  We celebrate the Fourth of July and we say God Bless America and we struggle to guide our nation to act responsibly towards its citizens and towards the other nations of the world.   But remembering …

  Midsummer… summer solstice… longest day of the year… our celebration of the earth, abundance and light at this time of year has ancient origins in many cultures’ spirituality.  We reaffirm our connection to the earth and …

Weddings have become in many cases amazingly elaborate productions.

“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.” Gandhi

In this season of graduations, we celebrate the learning that continues on past school…

  Once something we took for granted, created in our towns or schools or churches, community is becoming increasingly precious.  Social media give us new forms of community but without the in-person element.  My computer has yet …

“Diversity is inevitable. Pluralism is an achievement.” We sometimes use these words — diversity and pluralism — as if they meant the same thing.

How strange and wonderful is our home, our earth, with its swirling vaporous atmosphere, its flowing and frozen liquids, its trembling plants, its creeping, crawling, climbing creatures