We must cultivate peace in our own hearts first, allowing the Peace of Christ to root there. This is our work as we pray for peace in the whole earth.
read moreThough most western religious traditions seem to promise some kind of afterlife, what if, as Martin Hägglund articulately argued, our limited mortal life is all there is? Our days, being limited in number, become more valuable, and our work becomes more meaningful. Without eternity, preserving the earth becomes more imperative. Though many spiritual teachers give assurances they cannot support with evidence, this sermon deals with morality in a matter-of-fact manner.
read moreLenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make all the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work–drawing a direct line between the church’s lack of diversity and the church’s lack of vitality.
read moreNegative messages about sex come from all corners of society: from the church, from the media, from our own families. As a result, countless people have suffered pain, guilt, and judgment. In this instant bestseller, Nadia …
read more“At the center of the Christmas story is hope…hope which comes to us in the form of a vulnerable, poor baby. A child, not a king, changes the world. God appears to us as a marginalized, Afro-Semitic, Jewish child from Nazareth in Palestine. A child who grows up to teach us to welcome the stranger. How would our world be different if we loved our neighbors as ourselves?” asks the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of Middle Collegiate Church.
read moreIf we pay attention, the Christmas story is a mirror held up for us to see that we live in a country where the government locks thousands of migrant children into dog cages, sexually abusing some, torturing others, and allowing many to die while the church is largely compliant and silent. And we seriously wonder if this government might actually win election approval from poor church goers in a few months. Merry Christmas?
read more“Jesus heals not only us as individuals but a savior has been born, one who will heal the world from all its ills.”
read moreRev. Lines names the immaculate conception as “bad theology” and discusses the power of choosing to love.
read moreI want to give some thought to one of the most often invoked rituals in Christian and secular circles, namely giving of thanks. Thanksgiving, depending on the bible translation, is used about thirty-five times in the bible. The word “thanks” counts over a hundred times. Thank, thanked, thanking, thankful, thankfulness and thankworthy, all are used in some translation of the bible.
read moreThe sacred myth of Christmas enchants us into life, birthing us as children of God. The gospel story of the conception and birth of Jesus comes alive for us again, in our own transformation from the mundane to the divine. The story is about us.
read moreQuestion & Answer Q: By Joyce “I’m curious where the idea came from that if a person commits suicide that person does not go to heaven. I don’t recall anything in the Bible saying that.” A: …
read moreIn Mystical Activism, we each hold the power to change the world right where we are. To call these “end times” is not hyperbole. We are in trouble and the signs are everywhere: extreme political divisions; xenophobic violence; enormous wealth inequity; poverty and homelessness; racism, sexism, and ageism; arms buildups and unending wars; and, most critical of all, terrifying climate disruption associated with man-made global warming.
read moreDecember 10 is Human Rights Day and to honour this important global occasion, we bring you a film sure to inspire the exploration of a common thread we all share: our humanity.
read moreHow can I be honest and share what I believe with the people I grew up with? Don’t think they will speak to me again. And some are my family members. How do I share my new beliefs when discussions come up?
read moreFree speech is one of the cornerstones of American Democracy. However, what are the boundaries of free speech? In the current political milieu, the protection of free speech appears to have an amorphous and wide expanse when it comes to sexist, racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic rants on many social media platforms and college campuses.
read moreThe story should be approached more carefully in order to capture its spirit, its “message,” and less doctrinally. Though we have come to celebrate this gem as a—perhaps the–Christmas story, I’d urge us progressives to put aside the story’s Christian provenance while still admiring its central, its deeply humane affirmation. And we should above all appreciate the profoundly secular arena in which it plays out.
read moreThe 29 minute film is meant to be used as a tool for discussion and a resource for knowledge and action. The impact of climate change is undeniable and catastrophic. The recent and ongoing fires in California are a heartbreaking demonstration of this.
read moreFor our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Paul, Ephesians 6:12, NRSV)
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