A Different Kind of Optimism
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on June, 30 2022Recently, I was in consultation with a colleague who is First Nation Cree. Throughout the conversation, there was a steady stream of confidence, curiosity, and hope. Really smiling at one point, my colleague said, “I’m an eternal optimist who comes from a history of despair.”
Christ Heart: Discovery of Holy Mystery
Column by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. on June, 23 2022What is a heart alive with compassion and joy and spontaneity? A heart not continually weighed down by drivenness, anger, and fear? A heart at rest?
Transitions
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on June, 16 2022The Mystery of Life only allows us to move forward. No matter how much we cling to what was or how much we resist, change is inevitable.
Jesus – Queer Theology Incarnate
Column by Rev. Mark Sandlin on June, 9 2022In his book “Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology”. The Rev. Dr. Patrick Cheng says, “God is the very manifestation of a love that is so extreme that it dissolves existing boundaries.” So, it seems to me, living a life that dismantles existing boundaries is the very definition of being in relationship with God.
When Progressive Christianity Runs Dry
Column by Rev. Brandan Robertson on June, 2 2022I, along with many other progressive Christian ministers I know, have grown increasingly cynical about our faith. We no longer feel that the faith that we’ve evolved to embrace has much of a bearing on our daily lives or an impact on the world.
“Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” at 100
Column by Rev. David M. Felten on May, 26 2022When I first read Harry Emerson Fosdick’s Shall the Fundamentalists Win?, it changed my life. In disbelief, I read portions of it over and over again and looked at the date. I read it AGAIN and thought, “What?” How in the world could he have preached this in 1922 and it STILL be controversial?!
Requiem For Roe V. Wade
Column by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers on May, 19 2022Let’s be honest about the fear that is now driving the culture wars and have brought us to the precipice of losing our democracy. White men on the right fear they are losing everything to the brown and black barbarians at the gate.
What the Disciples Believed About The Resurrection of Jesus
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on May, 12 2022We don’t know when Jesus was born, but we do know when he died. His birth was linked to existing pagan festivals celebrating the winter solstice, but his death can be dated relatively specifically, and occurred during the Passover Festival, Jerusalem, early April in year 30.
Be Opened: A Post-Easter Reflection
Column by Rev. Matthew Syrdal on May, 5 2022I walked out of our church in ritual silence with the procession at twilight and was met—stunned—by the radiant face of the nearly full moon. I started to weep. Especially tired this particular Maundy Thursday, I was hit by the welling up of unprocessed emotion from a particularly hard year.
“Do you Create or do you Destroy?” Evil at Our Doors
Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on April, 28 2022Not only does our species do great evil with our vast creativity and intelligence, we also do amazing positive things as well. We are capable of the Awesome as well as the Awful.
The Religious Question — and the Human Question
Column by Brian McLaren on April, 21 2022If Jesus was right when he said, in his inaugural address (as found in Luke 4), that the Spirit of God’s agenda is to help the oppressed, the weak, the broken-hearted, those with (in Thurman’s words) their backs against the wall, then no wonder many people are struggling with their religious identity.
The Banjo – A Symbol of Endurance in the Midst of Great Suffering
Column by Toni Reynolds on April, 14 2022
Over the last four years I’ve fallen in love with the banjo. It has been an interesting journey to take up this instrument. I’ …
Walking Points: How to Respond to Evangelical Christians
Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on April, 7 2022All of us at some point will be approached by evangelical Christians attempting to convince us to become their kind of Christians. What’s the most Christian way we can respond to them? — whether we are Christians or not?
“Move Over Genesis”
Column by Rev. David M. Felten on March, 31 2022As if we don’t already have enough problems in this country, the last few years have seen us slipping closer and closer to becoming a “post-truth society.” Facts just don’t seem to matter anymore.
Journaling to Ourselves
Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on March, 24 2022We evolve through the work we do in the course of our too-short and too-harried days. Embracing that for which we are grateful is our evolution toward joy. Witnessing to that which went well is our evolution toward self-worth. Acknowledging that which we regret is an evolution toward wholeness. These are the things that our faith traditions have offered us.
Confusion about the Holocaust confuses understanding antisemitism
Column by Rev. Irene Monroe on March, 17 2022Race is a social construct and not a biological fact. However, the deleterious effects of America’s dominant black/white racial paradigm excludes other racial groups whose skin color and phenotype complicate the racist model.
Anchoring Peace
Column by Rev. Fran Pratt on March, 10 2022
I write this to you, my Progressive Christian siblings, on a Monday morning during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I had written an entirely different …
Ukraine
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on March, 3 2022Although the intelligence indicated a Russian invasion was imminent, most of the people of the world, including Ukraine, continued on with life as usual. Then, in an instant, Russian tanks started rolling into a peaceful, non-threatening neighboring country, triggering the first such move of its kind in Europe since WW2.
Intimacy with all of Life*
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on February, 24 2022There is so much humility, discipline, curiosity and vitality in what the Creator asks of us – anything but monotonous! In the Abrahamic origin story, there are some similarities as it centers Creation first and begins in a garden.
Hope For The Future
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on February, 17 2022“We belong to each other,” as indigenous teachers have said. So, how do we create a bigger table with every voice in mind and make sure every one is there when we start to wrestle with solutions?
A Time of Theological Déjà vu?
Column by Rev. Roger Wolsey on February, 10 2022There are certain dynamics taking place today that may remind us of dynamics that took place early in the last century. I suggest that pondering such similarities is not only warranted – but needed.
American Christianity as a Cover for Racism
Column by Rev. Mark Sandlin on February, 3 2022
Race plays a profound role in all aspects of life in the United States. When you stop to think about it, that is absolutely astounding …
My G🌎 D, What Have We Done?
Column by Michael Dowd on January, 27 2022My thesis is simply this: A comet actually is heading our way. We ourselves set it in motion millennia ago. But only recently have scientists, echoing longstanding indigenous warnings, charted its course and voiced the alarm. Its name is Anthropocentrism and these are the End Times because human-centeredness will prove to be nearly as devastating as the comet in the movie.
Why You Need to Be a Progressive Evangelist
Column by Rev. Brandan Robertson on January, 20 2022When fragile hope is on the line, people will do anything to maintain it- even revolt against the very democracy they claimed to love.
Liturgy: Corporate Practice of Presence
Column by Support - Progressing Spirit on January, 13 2022
When Christians gather for liturgy; when we assemble for saying prayers, singing songs, hearing sermons; when we come together for Eucharist, it is simply assumed …