Beyond Now

Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on June, 1 2023

If you’re on a quest for the afterlife, you’ve plenty of options. Heaven, Nirvana, Paradise; She’ol, Limbo, Purgatory; Jahannam, Hell, the Chinvat Bridge to Darkness.

The Lurking Evil of Christian Nationalism

Column by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz on May, 25 2023

Christian nationalists – who are overwhelmingly white – think they are privileged and that their privileged status comes from God.  Historically, they see the United States as the new Israel, a nation designated by God as a shining light on a hill to the rest of the world.  

Planting Seeds in the Kin-dom

Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on May, 18 2023

Ahead of Pentecost, the month of May offers International Labor Day, Beltane, and Mother’s Day (United States).  Each one is ripe with spirituality, and combined, they invite us to choose one another, to look out for one another’s wellbeing, and to move continually toward the kin-dom of God.

Blood and Bananas

Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on May, 11 2023

We live in a world defined by the cheapness of human life, indeed, all life. Migrants and refugees are treated no better than the Amazon rainforest. And yet, as entanglement shows us and as the tolling bell reminds us, all is One.

Progressive Christianity & Psychedelics

Column by Rev. Roger Wolsey on May, 4 2023

There. I said it. I know I’m not the first, and I surely won’t be the last. It’s time to embrace and promote. My way of proclaiming the good news of psychedelic plant medicines as part of our salvation and healing is writing.

The Divine Within

Column by Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin on April, 27 2023

Namasté: “The Divine in me honors the Divine in you.” In my way of seeing it, namasté includes the understanding that we all are one.

Becoming A Digital Evangelist: An Invitation For Progressive Christians

Column by Rev. Brandan Robertson on April, 20 2023

Progressive faith communities are rightfully skeptical of the language of “evangelism.” In modern history, the word has come to mean something like “forceful conversion” rather than a demonstration of and an invitation to the way of Jesus.

Retiring Atonement (preferably with extreme prejudice)

Column by Rev. David M. Felten on April, 13 2023

Christianity is the only major religion where many followers believe the death of their founder is more important than his life.

Conversation Therapy

Column by Rev. Matthew Syrdal on April, 6 2023

It has been said that words make worlds. And if this is true, that what we say and how we say it matters. If this is true, language is sacred. For in its origins language would be the Self-expression, not just of the human species—but of the world itself.

We are all wonderfully made

Column by Rev. Irene Monroe on March, 30 2023

The Bible is replete with stories of various gender identities in God’s people. These biblical stories affirm that we all are wonderfully made and affirm our God-given right to live them out loud.