Parenting the Church

Parents 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

This 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”

Modern 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

Of 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 

 
“New personality types are created during social and spiritual crises of religious, political, or economic origin.” ~Otto Rank 

One hundred years ago, as the world was …

Christian Imagination and the Return to Myth

As 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?

You 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

 
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

Churchianity 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

Today, 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

I 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!

Last 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.

The Power of Liminal Spaces In Changing Times

Many of us who grew up in fundamental spaces were taught to live in dualities: black and white, in and out, saved and unsaved. In those spaces, there isn’t liminality. There aren’t many safe spaces to ask really hard questions, to show anger toward injustice, or even to grieve when we need to grieve. We are taught to brush it off, smile, move on, trust God, and believe.

Why do we use Christ as a synonym for Jesus?

Janet – thanks so much for this question. I’ve been pondering this question too … for decades!

Let’s start by saying the obvious: Christ isn’t Jesus’s last name. It’s a title, like doctor, reverend, president, or governor.

How Progressive Christianity Can Save the World

Christianity is inherently political. The faithful path taught and demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth was arguably just as much a political vision for the future of the Jewish people as much as it was a path to spiritual salvation.

The Courage to See

What an existential conundrum it is for us human beings as we long for someone to see us for the truth of what we are, while at the same time fearing to be seen for the truth of what we think we are and that others might perceive. A very tiring dance.

A New State Religion Called Love

The Christmas story is the greatest story ever told. It’s why we’re still telling it two millennia later. We’re telling it all around the world. The story of God who loves the world enough to come all the way down to be present in the world, not as a soldier, but as a teeny, tiny, vulnerable infant.

Why The Church Must Die – Part 1

The church isn’t just dying. In many parts of the United States, it is already dead. At least, its impact is. The pews are still warm, the offering plates clanking with coins, and the bodies are present. However the church itself is wasting away and has become irrelevant.

Love Water

Everything that God called forth comes from the Water, everything we know in our world today was created except for the Water, it was already here. Even among scientists there is continued debate about where Water came from, how it got here. No matter the angle, Water’s presence in our reality is a precious, life-giving mystery.

How much should we teach our children about the Bible?

Some of the most egregious acts in civilization find their justification in Scripture, from genocide to slavery to deadly homophobia. History proves that the Bible, read with nefarious hermeneutics, in the hands of powerful figures can cause catastrophe.