First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael Published on Oct 15, 2013 Rev. Sam Alexander is Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael. He is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, B.A., and Union Seminary in Virginia, …
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A discussion on pain and the impact it has on the way we live.
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Toward the end of 2013 many of us had a strong sense of shedding, releasing, and letting go. There was sickness, death, closing of chapters, ends, silence, and darkness… Now, as we begin this new year, we find our selves in a time of New Birth and New Ways. Join us on this journey into Newness and Co-Creation.
read moreSan Francisco Gate Published 6:37 pm, Sunday, January 12, 2014 At first glance, Quiet Time – a stress reduction strategy used in several San Francisco middle and high schools, as well as in scattered schools around the Bay …
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The mortality rate is 100%. If we are not promising eternal life in heaven, what sensible and sensitive response to we have to the issue of mortality? How do we navigate the big transitions of life at times of birth, coming of age, marriage, illness and death when the certainty of traditional church answers now seem to be either useless or entirely false.
We have exchanged false certainty for honest uncertainty, choosing to live meaningfully in the present moment, freed of anxiety about the future.
This Christmas, we invite you to re-connect with Source and the Oneness of All.
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Soren Kierkegaard has said that prayer does not change the One to Whom we pray but it changes the one who prays. If we accept that prayer is not asking a supernatural theistic god to grant us wishes, how then do we pray so that it changes us?
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All religions are the product of a culture’s attempt at expressing their most closely held beliefs, values and the morals they want to pass on to the coming generation. We should no more say that one religion is better than another than we would claim that one language is superior to another or that my favorite music is “right” any everyone else’s favorite music is “wrong.” There are healthy and unhealthy religious beliefs and practices but in the 21st century we need to learn from one another and challenge one another to repent of our prejudices, oppressive practices and out dated values so that we can all become the best Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. that we can be.
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Modern scholarship and religious practice have given us several different images of Jesus. Some insist that he never existed while others insist that he was God incarnate. This message attempts to take a scholarly approach to articulating a relevant, historically honest approach to the role of the Jesus tradition in the 21st century saying: the strata of the Jesus tradition that motivates progressives is the Jesus who stands as an alternative to the empire.
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There is one constant in this universe- and that is Change. Here at ProgressiveChristianity.org we are sure experiencing it! This monthly eBulletin is All About Change!
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During this time of intense transition, axial shifts, cultural evolution, darkness, and rebirth…may we all be born again into the light, into the healing, into the spirit, and into interconnected awareness. May the light of Jesus shine within all of us. May his birth be a reminder of the power of one human to change the world. May we be the midwives of this new birth. May the birthing pains be worth the new creation that we are being called to co-create. May we ever be in gratitude for this divine experience of being human during this holy shift.
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“The Dandelion Seed” is a story about a seed that is scared to let go, but the wind blows it away. It sees a lot of different things in the world and eventually lands, turns into a dandelion flower, and then casts its own seeds.This popular, simple book is beautiful and touching.
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“Inside all / Is a universe / Energy flowing.” So begins a journey at the outermost edge of everything. Inside the universe is a galaxy, milky and glowing, and inside the galaxy is a planet, blue and hopeful. The text moves from space to earth, from valley to village, and finally to a home where a child sleeps.
read moreA call to bring the world together…We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.
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Ian Lawton is pastor of C3/ Christ Community Church in Spring Lake,West Michigan and on the TCPC Executive Coucil. What does it mean to live as if I am surrounded by miracles, even though the kids are fighting, the mortgage is overdue, there seems no end to global conflict and my back hurts? Who should I be grateful to, and for what?
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