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From: wondercafe.ca/blogs.  I attend St. David’s United Church in Woodstock, Ontario. Our minister was away on July 6th and I was asked to take the service. I jokingly said “I should preach on Progressive Christianity”, and she said “Go for it!”.

It seems to me there are two kinds of knowledge. The most common being a knowledge ‘about’, which comes from study whether scientific or personal experimentation. With it one can spend a life time studying religion or even birds for that matter and know all there is recorded to know about God through religion or birds through study and observation of birds without really ever truly knowing either.

The Christianity I knew had nothing to do with todays moral judging from the religious right.

That is why I’ve gone on at such length on the subject. It occurs to me that using religious language as a gloss to indicate moral seriousness doesn’t take faith seriously. For that matter, it doesn’t take seriously the idea that there are competing worldviews at work in our political discourse, let alone offer a meaningful alternative.

We began with determining what we aren’t. We are not fundamentals, we are not exclusive, we are not dogmatic, we are not bible thumpers, we are not ignorant, we are not brainwashed, we are not afraid, we are not haters, we are not closed minded. Slowly, we are letting go of the comparison and becoming, birthing, and re-birthing who we are separate from that negative association. We are compassionate, we are inclusive, we are educated, we are open, we are searchers, we are peaceful, we are earth friendly, we are social justice supporters, we are Jesus’ students, we are walkers…but NOT, at least not yet, talkers.

In my last column, I told briefly my story of being a progressive Christian by first describing why I am a Christian and why I continue to choose to be a Christian. The thing that has been my saving grace, that which has kept me from abandoning my faith, is that I have chosen to identify myself as a progressive Christian.

This short article was written as a post on the TCPC forum by Derek Ward who goes by the name Tariki on our discussion board concerning labels.

Labels are interesting things. They are attempts to define what something, or someone, is. More often than not, we put labels on others as a way of trying to define them, even though we will inevitably misrepresent …

According to the best scientists in the world, our universe is composed entirely of vibrating strings of energy. Everything from the smallest measurable particle to the largest star in our universe is made from the same kind of ingredient. Just like the strings of a cello or viola can make a multitude of sounds, quantum strings of energy create a multitude of forms. In ways we cannot understand, at least at this point, all of these strings are inter-related and interdependent. In other words, the great spiritual teachers, including Jesus, were right. We are all one interconnected whole. The universe is like one grand symphony orchestra playing beautiful music. And we are part of that music.

Since the fall of Secularization Theory, which claimed that belief in God would slowly recede in the face of science and technology, we still must ask: Is there a future for formal, organized, institutionalized religion as we presently recognize it in rapidly globalizing, postindustrial and postmodern world? Here's what religion will have to do for humans to survive and flourish.

Savour the moments. Appreciate the day. We don't know what life will bring us. Sometimes we will be called to courage and endurance. Sometimes we will have to bear our own and others' pain. Being with a loved one through illness and death can be a trying yet profound experience. It is our experience of living that shapes us and calls from us the best that is in us

Without an omnipotent God, and without a clear vision of an afterlife, what do I, as a progressive Christian, have for support when death draws near? The answer is simple: I find support in the same realities that have sustained me through life.

This is the book that progressives and liberals have been waiting for – a deeply researched history of Christianity that sheds new light on the under-reported personalities and movements of the faith. In the same spirit as Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking work The People’s History of the United States, Diana Butler Bass reveals the under-reported movements, personalities, and spiritual practices that continue to inform and ignite contemporary Christian worship, activism, and social justice reforms in the name of Jesus. The book will offer up a much-needed “other side of the story” for progressive Christians, drawing from examples of alternative practices in every period of Christian history

Humans are wondrous creatures. Even the very thought that we are conscious at all is enough to baffle the most intelligent of people. Yet it is even more amazing that this wondrous creature we call human, which has been mysteriously endowed with mind and reason, will voluntarily give up these faculties rather than use them. How? They give it up to have a book they can believe in that has all the answers spelled out for them. Then the attribute this book they know was written by humans, to the divine creator.

This is edited by John Cobb Jr.  It is the work of Progressive Christians Uniting which is based in the greater LA area.  It seeks to embody a progressive form of Christianity in statements, conferences and projects to encourage local churches and their members to think and act in more progressive ways and to show the wider community that there is a more authentic form of Christian faith that that projected by the religous right.  The differences between liberal and progressive Christians is well articulated in the introduction and in the articles that follow.  It is an excellent resource for study groups and for praxis. 

By: Dennis Bruce Dickey. SPIRITUALITY POEM. The realist poet falls down into a pit,And someone says, & compassion. That, Ohhh, conformity broken gift. Perversion of conscience hammered in. Exception.That, sixth, must be peeled away.

Philip Sudworth considers the different dimensions of faith and the implications for how we respond to the faith of others.

All religions started with mystical discovery and wonderment. Discovery and wonderment are the foundation of every spiritual experience. It is humans to search for that spiritual experience somewhere.

Today, it is very clear to me that “hope” is not wishful thinking for the weak. It is a positive action that will affect the course of our lives. It is for the strong who are willing to embrace change. For hope is a doorway to positive creative transformation.

The world needs love; so many hearts are hurting.

Prayer is choice; choice about where you direct your thoughts and intentions, choice about where you place your hopes and desires, choice to slow down and focus on compassion. www.sbnr.org

Unfortunately, many churches are slow to change and are out of sync with modern times. Often neither the theology nor the music speak to the souls of people of today.

In these quieter moments, may optimism's glow creep in and then pervade our spirits and countenance. May hope, possibility and inward smile (at least) abide side by side with any worries, fears and the rest of our human repertoire and jumble of thoughts and emotions

In response to the roundtable on Rev. Braxton’s abrupt departure from Riverside and the crisis in Progressive Christianity, Rita Brock sees little hope in the Church as it stands.

Short Poem "Current Present Task"  from the book, "Throwing Away God" by Joseph Mattioli 

Fiery Spirit of Love, Come, O Lover of the Poor…

America’s problems extend beyond these obvious structural weaknesses. An intellectual depravity that avoids lasting solutions has settled over large segments of the body politic. As a result, congress is often divided on critical issues between far right and left. Important legislation often turns into polarized partisan battle. Compromise to find passage demeans the rigor of clear hard fought thought leaving only a flaccid attempt to solve the problem at hand.

Destruction of nature, whether quick and immediate, like the slash-and-burn agricultural practices, or gradual, such as the destruction of the ozone layer, dulls our sensitivity to the presence of God in the natural world.

It is my task to speak on ecology, spirituality, and the evolution of consciousness. My intention is to describe the characteristics of an ecological spirituality be for the 21st century. Such a spirituality would transcend, yet include, all traditional religious expressions of spirituality. Each religious tradition, including my own – Christianity – is faced with the challenge of interpreting this ecological crisis through the lens of its tradition and mobilizing its constituency to take action. We either do this, or risk irrelevance. This is what I set out to do in my book, Darwin, Divinity, and the Dance of the Cosmos: An Ecological Christianity. Yet there is a need to broaden the definition of spirituality in a way that speaks to that growing demographic – especially in Cascadia – that define themselves as "spiritual, but not religious".

Will you love with a love so deep that you hold all suffering; your own and others,

I am fully aware that 2,000 years ago Jesus hadn't even heard of global warming and nuclear weapons. However, his teachings and his lifestyle were in direct opposition to all attempts in every age to exploit the weak, the poor, human life and nature itself.

As my eyes opened this day..and again awakened into a new morning, the thought arose in my mind: ”I am part of all of this”….and I smiled! My heart is most grateful…for every experience lived, I know Love and its living Source. I can walk, run, dance and hop,…I can breathe…I can breathe..not only that! I can smell and detect the exquisite fragrances and scents of flowers…my favorite magical children of the earth…they are children in disguises ..you know?

I have come to realize that it would be impossible for me to have a holistic spirituality that was not somehow connected and grounded in an awesome appreciation of our Mother Earth. We are of the earth and the earth is of us. The idea that the Universe was created by a theistic God outside of us, for our needs has perpetuated the duality myth that no longer fits our understanding of reality or the cosmos. It allows us to produce Christian spiritualities that function in a certain isolated context without regard for the larger society or the very earth that sustains us.

I invite you to think with me about how our notions of progressive Christianity fit within the larger context of a growing and changing human journey. The world in which we are living and working can no longer be viewed from within narrow or restricted perspectives. Let’s revisit the big picture of the history and evolution of the human Soul, that I introduced yesterday, thinking about how there has been a different DNA of Soul for each evolutionary epoch, specific values to facilitate humanity’s maturational journey.

In Chapter 4 of Luke’s gospel, Luke quotes Jesus as saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” And Jesus adds, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Note what is being described here: actions, not just thoughts or principles. And note also the kind of actions these are: actions that serve others. Thus the theme of this Memorial Day sermon: service.

Certainly the most influential and helpful reading I had done over the years was in the various Buddhist traditions. It is true that on the surface there are significant differences from the teachings of Jesus and the Buddha. And it seems important to note that the historical Jesus had only three or four years to formulate and articulate his teachings, while the Buddha’s teachings evolved over several decades. And certainly these two great teachers were coming out of very different cultures and social settings.