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When Christmas Brings More Pain Than Joy: A Blue Christmas song

“Blue Christmas” services, which take place to support people struggling emotionally during the holiday season, are becoming more common. This song was written for such services. Ken Janzen sings and plays the instruments.

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Make of My Heart a Stable, 4 Video Hymns for Advent

4 Advent Video Hymns written for the Worship Design Studio, which created its own separate videos. Recordings and videos by Ken Janzen

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Sadly, The Bible is the Problem

There is no question that the voices of marginalized people are found in the Bible if you look carefully. The New Testament also presents a picture of a beautiful man who talked about a God of love and forgiveness and who urged his followers to create communities that practiced nonviolence, inclusion, and the pursuit of social and economic justice.

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You Are Incomparable!

So why do we persist in comparing ourselves to others? And suffering the frustration that results?

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First married and black gay couple to receive AARP award

When AARP Massachusetts was looking to honor the state’s top volunteer, Paul’s and Charles’s names rose to the top. They have made a difference in the lives around them, sharing their knowledge, experience, talent, and skills to enrich the lives of our community.

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Sophia Theological Seminary – A Re-imagined Community

Living and learning in harmony with creation and with one another

Imagine . . . you begin the day in the classroom of the earth, learning about God’s good creation by feeling it, working with it, helping coax its fruit to maturity.

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Why Christians Must Speak Out Against Christian Nationalism

I am deeply concerned about the rise of Christian nationalism in this country. I say this not just as a Christian but as the president of Pacific School of Religion (PSR), a progressive Christian seminary founded in 1866.

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kNOw Justice, kNOw Peace!

Does Jesus really mean we must love our neighbor? And who is our neighbor?

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Understanding Progressive Christianity with Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines

Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines sat down this week for an interview with Ciprian Khlud about the basics of Progressive Christianity.

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An Important Lesson in the Israel/ Hamas War:

You can't live with a spirit of revenge for past wrongs; you have to live with hope for the possibilities of the future

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. 

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For a Faith: A Hymn of Thanksgiving

An old hymn of mine, recently rewritten slightly. Recorded here by the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Choir.

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Jesus and Paul Woven Together

By Rick Fabian

Jesus’ words and Paul’s words have changed millions of lives, and will change yours. The Bible records their teachings separately, so we must join them afresh as one. This book will open your ears and your heart to their shared work.

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Flesh and Bones Forever: A History of Immortality

By Dag Øistein Endsjø

Learn about how people have sought physical immortality since the beginning of time, what means are employed to escape death, how various religions promise you eternal life, and about the men and women who are said to have already become immortal.

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Apocalypse Anytime: An Interspiritual Devotional for a World on Fire

By Carol Baker

This book offers a treasure-trove of practical tools for grounding ourselves emotionally and spiritually amid both the long-term crises and the related challenges that confront us moment to moment as we navigate unprecedented events and their invariable consequences. 

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Finding God in Fiction: A Review of “South of Broad” by Pat Conroy

The novel takes us through the racial struggles of the sixties, the horrible plague decimating gay men with AIDS in San Francisco in the ‘80s, and the devastating consequences of a Roman Catholic priest preying on a young boy.

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Pontiff’s synod is not with the times

The polarization we see in society is also reflected in the Church.

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The Power of Mystical Poetry

The mystic seeks direct experience of the divine to explore its perceptual, emotional, and metaphysical nature. For the mystic, the entire universe is conscious and alive, saturated by an all-encompassing eternal and loving Presence.

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My Robot, My Self

on AI, religion, and

What I am saying is that if we are not looking at the whole reality of being human, the good the bad and the embarrassing, then we simply will not have the wisdom to know how to make use of, them in, or regulate AI.

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The Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the Historical Jesus – Part 2

The second in the series that looks at the life of Jesus.

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The Way: Meaningful Spirituality for a Modern World

“The Way” integrates religion and science and reconciles Eastern and Western worldviews, confirming with the mystics and the scientists that everyone is related, and everything is connected.

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Falling into darkness … and, finding ourselves

    It has been so hard to watch the events unfolding in Gaza and not fall into the ease of a hardline approach on one side or the other of any one particular event before having …

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The Church Repressed Critical Teachings of Jesus

Some of the most important aspects of Jesus teachings were repressed from the beginning. The Hebrews started the repression. The Roman Catholic Church expanded it. And by and large the Protestants followed.

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The Making of a Messiah

What six hidden women can teach us about Jesus

Who is Jesus to you?
What informs and shapes your view of Jesus and his work?

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We Will Go Out in Love! A sending-out worship song

Suitable for progressive/inclusive/justice-focused Christian congregations. Written for The Fountains, a UMC congregation in Arizona.

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#Moonshine Jesus Show – October 16, 2023

Join Mark and Caleb for this live recording as they enjoy a themed drink (or two) and bring their high-octane progressive Christian perspectives in consideration of Season 1 of Disney+’s latest Star Wars show, “Ahsoka.”

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Who is The Current and Why Is It For Me?

The Current is a loving, learning community. While much of our focus is on Jesus as our spiritual Rabbi, we welcome all faiths, ethnicities, gender identities, and questions here. We mean it when we say, “Come as you are.

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Smile, You’re a Progressive Christian!

You get no racism, no sexism, no homophobia, no classism…no negative stuff at all from Progressive Christians. You get positive people doing positive things.

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Love’s Incarnation

In the mystical consciousness of divinity,
love saturates my being,

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Maker of All: A Sung Response to the Lord’s Prayer

Inspired by my March 2023 visit to The Fountains UMC in Arizona; written with a very simple melody and small range to maximize small congregations’ ability to learn and sing the piece.

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#Moonshine Jesus Show – October 9, 2023

Join Mark and Caleb for this live recording as they enjoy a themed drink (or two) and bring their high-octane progressive Christian perspectives in consideration of the first episode of Season 2 of Disney+’s “Loki.”

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Why Retired Clergy Lose Faith and Leave Church

I belong to a support group of seven retired mainline clergypersons. Six of the seven no longer affirm historic, creedal, orthodox, traditional theology.

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What Our Politics Tells Us About the Christian Religion

It is now possible to answer the question of why Christians should engage in politics. The answer is simple: God is calling on them to do so with the whisper thoughts that float through their awareness

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This is Torah

I’m currently sitting in the 10+-year-old chair, listening to the sounds of rain on the top of the tent, and writing the words that will turn into this very article you are currently reading. It is my tradition to spend the evening and the day of Yom Kippur in a tent.

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The Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the Historical Jesus – Part 1

Getting the Story Straight

This is the first in a series that looks at the life of Jesus and contrasts the story that has come down through the ages with what probably really happened.

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The Power of Evil and the Cult of Donald Trump

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. 

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Table of Unity, Bread of Community: a Communion hymn

This Communion hymn, commissioned by the First Congregational Church, Branford, CT, is appropriate for progressive/inclusive Christian churches.

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