Let’s stop assuming that a collection of individuals constitutes community. It doesn’t. In fact, it usually makes for disaster, as evidenced by the number of conflict resolution experts who are making their living off congregational members who are at each other’s throats. It’s not the fault of congregational members. We need to be teaching what it means to be in community, and that includes practices that are going to make us fit for community. Most of us got our training for community life in dysfunctional families. The moment anything approximating intimacy breaks out in congregations most people simply re-enact largely the unexamined history of our family of origin.
read moreSo what do I mean by a sacred community or spiritual community, or as Peck would call it a true community? I refer here to an intentional community with an identifiable common purpose. Maybe that purpose is simple to grow spiritually as individuals. It is a community where one can transcend oneself and experience a sense of the interconnectedness of life. It is a community in which each member seeks to see and relate to the divine or the sacred in the other.
read more“Where is the Door to God? In the sound of a dog barking. In the ring of a hammer, In a drop of rain, In the face of Everyone I see.”
~Hafiz
Inspired by the Occupy movement and the Arab Spring, it is an echo of these and a call for something larger.
Come on- brothers and sisters West to East
Don’t let these corporate suit and ties disrespect the streets
Lets be more than outsiders with an angry speech
It’s time to occupy, speak your peace, let’s go!
Published on Dec 26, 2013 Inspired Grammy Winning Singers and Performers, Luminary Musicians and Thought Leaders unite in the 2013 Project Peace On Earth World Forgiveness Concert for Bethlehem on Christmas Day. PPOE Picasso Peace Dove …
read moreI Stand For Peace is a thought-provoking pre-promotional campaign for Project-Peace On Earth, a global concert event that will broadcast spiritually-inspired music from some of the earth’s most sacred sites.
read morePeter Joseph of Zeitgeist and Steve Roberson of Project Peace On Earth join to write and produce (produced/directed by Peter) the inner connected message of love inherent to all major religious teachings.
read moreIs the lingering importance of “Good Samaritan Jesus” for the religiously unaffiliated a yearning for a more ethically engaged, prophetic Christianity?
read moreSince 9/11 Americans have largely accepted the idea that national security requires a trade-off between government power and freedom. However, recent revelations about the extent of government surveillance have raised serious questions about overreach, abuse of power, and the limits of democracy. How should people of faith respond to these revelations? Amid wide-spread public apathy over drone warfare, surveillance, and open-ended wars on “terror,” how can faith leaders provide stronger moral leadership? Do our faith traditions have anything distinctive to say in relation to alleged government overreach, whether by the NSA or the CIA? And how do we assess the ethics of those who expose secret government operations in the name of preventing abuse?
read moreWhen Paul talks about the wisdom of the world he is not talking about Greek philosophical wisdom. The wisdom of the world that Paul has particularly in mind is the wisdom that crucified Jesus. The wisdom of the world Paul is referring to is the kind of wisdom expressed in domination systems. In our context it would be powerful governments and corporations who wield enormous power and wealth to shape society in view of their own self-interests.
read moreSheppard’s commitment to the gospel of nonviolence made him slightly disreputable within the Church of England but earned him a lasting place among twentieth-century champions of pacifism. This new edition of We Say NO!, completely annotated and prefaced with an introduction that provides detailed information about Sheppard and the peace movement he launched, aims to present his case for Christian pacifism to a new generation.
read moreIt’s important to understand that the change I believe must occur is not related to style, but substance. I’m sure most of you remember the abundance of church growth literature accessible at the height of that movement. Almost all of it related to style and methodology, which is not to say that such issues are not important, but my greater concerns relate to substance and message. So, what needs to happen?
read moreThe one thing that almost all theologians, biblical scholars, and historians agree on when it comes to Jesus is that the kingdom of God was foundational to his mission and ministry. It is front and center, it is at the heart and core of his life and work.
read more“We are not diminished when we ensure basic needs and human rights are extended to all; rather, we are ennobled.” ~Gretta Vosper
read more“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.”
read moreTed Talks- Oxford. Weeks from the Charter for Compassion launch, Karen Armstrong looks at religion’s role in the 21st century: Will its dogmas divide us? Or will it unite us for common good? She reviews the catalysts that can drive the world’s faiths to rediscover the Golden Rule.
read moreHere’s how many progressive Christians approach, discern, and interpret the Bible…
read moreAs she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about how the Abrahamic religions — Islam, Judaism, Christianity — have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. People want to be religious, she says; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion — to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine.
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