Let It Fall: Collapse and Ecological Metanoia
Column by Rev. Matthew Syrdal on May, 28 2020For us faith leaders the problem is much deeper than simply ‘green-washing’ Christianity. Our habits of inattention and self-survival stand trial. The “cultural self” has become really good at shutting off the valve to feeling, that organ of perception connecting our own hearts with the heartbeat of a living World.
The Strangeness of Jesus, Equality, and Voting in the U.S.
Column by Rev. Mark Sandlin on May, 21 2020It is difficult to read the teachings of Jesus and come away thinking that some people deserve to have more privileges than others. We are not only suppose to love our neighbors, but we are also suppose to love our enemies – equally.
We Will Never Be The Same – A COVID-19 Reality
Column by Rev. Dr. Velda Love on May, 14 2020How will people of faith show up? Will the knee jerk reactions of shock and awe at the news that African Americans are dying at alarming rates elicit advocacy and activism for long-term strategies to correct structural and systemic injustices? Will people who claim to be Christians consider themselves “woke” because they write a check in support of a food pantry?
Why The Church Must Die – Part 3
Column by Rev. Jessica Shine on May, 7 2020In two previous articles I’ve shared why the church must die, and why I believe it is or has been dying. Some of my fellow readers (People of Color, LGBTQ, differently-abled) have seen what I’ve seen, felt what I’ve felt. Others have been offended or triggered, mostly well-meaning folks of privilege who don’t want things to change. That’s just it – don’t confuse the Church with the church you’re familiar with.
May Our Sins be Washed Away: Why we must continue to remove judgment and dogma from progressive Christian theology.
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on April, 30 2020To be a progressive, one must have the ability to think for oneself, to examine what they have been told and what they read. To be a progressive Christian means we find the courage to both question and to find our own authentic answer. And that takes bravery. Let’s celebrate our bravery together!
Befriending an Intruder
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on April, 23 2020Since early March, a poem[i] by Kristin Flyntz has been circulating widely wherein she imagines what the Covid-19 virus might be saying. More than once it says, “Just stop. Be still. Listen. Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well. We will help you, if you listen.”
What Should We Be Learning in the Time of COVID-19?
Column by Brian McLaren on April, 16 2020In the new normal that we can create together, we can lean into a truth that we are all learning in our bones thanks to this crisis: we are all connected, participants in local, regional, and global societies, living in an ecosystem that requires us to seek the common good with one another and with all our fellow creatures.
Fishing to Friending
Column by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. on April, 9 2020Metaphors are powerful, because they describe and prescribe our relationships with one another with so few words. Their power lies in their awesome capacity to evoke a world. Metaphors can manifest and deepen our sense of the Holy Mystery, or they can mask and distort. Oftentimes it is a mixture. But the difference is real, and it matters.
A Grown-Up God for Times Like These
Column by Rev. Jaqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D. on April, 2 2020I was a Christian; I am a Christian. But it became clear to me that God speaks more than one language. Because God wants to be known, I came to believe, by any means necessary, God speaks to the hearts of humans in the ways they can hear, inviting us to come close to be seen, known and loved.
COVID-19 And The World Community
Column by Rev. Irene Monroe on March, 26 2020In a responsible response to the coronavirus outbreak, also known as COVID-19, church and worship services across the globe are canceled. Traditional Bible study has gone online. Sermons are watched on Zoom, and old videos of singing church choirs have popped up in my inbox. Our global engagement with one another right now is social distancing while staying connected, revealing our acts of spiritual communion.
Faith and Fate
Column by Toni Reynolds on March, 19 2020The below offering was inspired by a conversation with my favorite Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer and the late, great Peter Tosh. Thanks for inviting the Selah, Rabbi. Rest in Power, Peter.
Breaking Free From Supremacy Theology, Part One
Column by Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt on March, 12 2020Even though my context is theologically progressive, I am entangled in supremacy theology. I need to break free. I define supremacy theology as any theological framework that is propped up by systems of oppression.
Parenting the Church
Column by Rev. Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft on March, 5 2020Parents and caregivers, you are on the frontlines of the revolution. You are raising humans that will perpetuate white supremacy, or be actively anti-racist. You are raising humans that can break down walls rather than build them. So stop thinking your praying has ended, or your activism decreased.
10 Things Smart Progressive Churches Know About Worship, Part 2
Column by Rev. Fran Pratt on February, 27 2020This article is a continuation of : 10 Things Smart Progressive Churches Know About Worship, Part 1.
To Be and Not To Be: Wrestling with the Christian “I Am” and the Buddhist “I Am Not”
Column by Joran Slane Oppelt on February, 20 2020Modern scientists have discovered what the mystics have known to be true for centuries. Reality is an illusion. Atoms are primarily made of vast regions of empty space, objects are fundamentally non-objects but rather waves and shadow, and there is a continuous energetic exchange happening between you and those around you at all times.
Queen’s Dream
Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on February, 13 2020Of course, it is not just a racial issue that hammers at the foundations of our social order. Or a gender identity or sexuality issue. Or political, social, or familial. It is an issue that is experienced by all of us and that undermines our self-confidence, and our willingness to be vulnerable, our ability to see what is really before us
Holding Space for Spiritual Transformation
Column by Skylar Wilson on February, 6 2020
“New personality types are created during social and spiritual crises of religious, political, or economic origin.” ~Otto RankOne hundred years ago, as the world was …
Progressive Christianity, Earth Survival and the Wisdom of Thomas Aquinas
Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on January, 30 2020Many people, if they hear the name Thomas Aquinas at all, may not feel that he has anything to say to today’s “progressive” religious and post-religious movement. They would be wrong; dead wrong.
Christian Imagination and the Return to Myth
Column by Rev. Matthew Syrdal on January, 23 2020As an indigenous Messiah, Jesus was one who listened deeply to the song of Creation, to the living dialogue that is in the beginning, the heartbeat of the universe itself. In this sense, Jesus was the mythteller of the community he was forming around his own ministry of power, healing, and renewal.
Just War?
Column by Rev. Mark Sandlin on January, 16 2020You simply can’t fully follow Jesus if you aren’t willing to be political and stick out your own neck, challenging the hypocritical power structures and leaders on behalf of the oppressed.”
Jesus’ Women Disciples
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on January, 9 2020
Ever since human beings began to relate their experience to one another, it has proven difficult to differentiate the facts of the story from the teller’s interpretation …
Why The Church Must Die – Part 2
Column by Rev. Jessica Shine on January, 2 2020Churchianity must die and it is dying. I know, that probably hurt a little to read. If it makes you feel better, it hurt to write it too. However, the sooner we accept that death is part of the cycle, we can shift into midwifing a new movement of the Jesus story.
Feeling Compassionate
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on December, 26 2019Today, as I write this, I am feeling compassion for the white fragility out there. There’s a lot of grief connected to it. Yes, something is dying, friends. Because it must. White supremacy must die so we can all be transformed, so we can all be resurrected.
10 Things Smart Progressive Churches Know About Worship, Part 1
Column by Rev. Fran Pratt on December, 19 2019I have been a worship leader, liturgist, and musician in various church contexts for nearly 20 years, and I have ideas about how we, who are re-imagining faith and church, can proceed.
Imagine That!
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on December, 12 2019Last Spring, Greta Thunberg’s statement to the European Parliament included the phrase, “Everyone and everything needs to change.” It’s become a mantra for me: Everyone, Everything, Me, Changing.