Where Have All the Prophets Gone?
Column by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers on November, 21 2024We are living in a post-truth, post-trust, post-rational world divided by fear and deception. How did we get here? By incremental acceptance of the unacceptable until it seems normal.
Gustavo Guttieriez, Liberation Theology and Creation Spirituality: An Appreciation
Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on November, 14 2024In honor of Gustavo Guttieriez’s recent death, I found myself thumbing through some of his works in my home library and my eyes especially fell on his Conclusion to his fine study On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent.
Embracing Apocalypse
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on November, 6 2024In Hebrew scriptures and repeated in New Testament teachings, G-d assumes all authority in the practice of vengeance. If, after thousands of years, we truly trusted this to G-d, how might we face this moment we have co-constructed? The wars, the biodiversity loss, the assault weapons, the changed climate.
It’s Kamala’s Time!
Column by Rev. Irene Monroe on October, 31 2024When I heard the news of Harris running for President, I immediately thought about how my deceased Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm would be proud of this moment. Chisholm was the first African American woman to campaign for the presidential nomination in 1972 on the Democratic ticket.
Founded on Love
Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on October, 24 2024It is much worse to wreck the law’s foundation, which is perfectly legal to do, than it is to break the law, which can land you in jail. Unless Americans understand this, and vote accordingly, we’ll lose our democracy on November 5.
Politics, Religion, & You
Column by Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines on October, 17 2024American Christians often wonder exactly how their faith and politics ought to intersect. It’s an understandable confusion, especially for those who value freedom of belief and religious diversity. I often hear that we should “keep politics out of the pulpit,” but doing so is a theological impossibility for those who take Jesus’ teachings seriously because Christianity is inherently political.
Dying As An Invitation To Intimacy
Column by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. on October, 10 2024Our ego approaches life as if there were too little time to overcome the breach of space that separates us from one another. The fuel propelling our drive is the thoughts littered like kindling across the landscape of our mind as we have struggled to construct a seamless forever bridge from our heart to another’s.
Filling the Void with White Pseudo Christian Nationalism – Election 2024
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on October, 3 2024White, Christian, and nationalism are three words not to be taken lightly, three kairotic words that demand explanation and understanding. So here is our question: why does a movement describe itself as white, Christian, and nationalist?
The Dystopian Vision of Project 2025
Column by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz on September, 26 2024At the heart of Project 2025 is an aggressive and ambitious policy agenda for a vast expansion of presidential power. In spite of Donald Trump’s endless denials that he knows anything about the project, the leaders of the project are virtually all close associates of the former president.
The Problem of Silos, and Building a Field Beyond Them
Column by Brian McLaren on September, 19 2024In my years as a pastor, I frequently lamented the religious and denominational silos that inhibited collaboration among faith communities and leaders in a neighborhood, city, or region. It seemed that intra-religious and intra-denominational demands were so great that multi-religious and trans-denominational collaborations were relegated to the margins.
Reproductive Rights and the Bible
Column by Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin on September, 12 2024First of all, the New Testament doesn’t directly deal with the issue of abortion or even when life begins. And, the Old Testament or the Jewish Bible turns out to not be anti-abortion at all.
For Such A Time As This
Column by Rev. Brandan Robertson on September, 5 2024We all know the damage the Religious Right has done to the reputation of Christianity around the world, and now it is our time to reclaim the moral power of our Christian tradition, using our faith to inspire and motivate the millions of people of faith across the country who are longing for a message of hope, a vision for a better tomorrow, and a way to connect that vision to the faith that forms the foundations of their lives.
John’s Pickle, Paradox, and Promise for Progressive Christians
Column by Rev. Roger Wolsey on August, 29 2024The Gospel, known as John, is a paradox for progressive Christians. On the one hand, it seems to offer much egalitarian goodness and spiritual depth and insight. On the other hand, it is the gospel that’s been weaponized the most by conservative evangelicals and wielded to serve as a gate for who is in and who is out of the Christian faith – and salvation.
The kingdom of heaven (happiness) is within and among us
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on August, 22 2024Happiness is an elusive… Trickster. We catch wisps of it in our peripheral vision. We taste sips of it in moments of presence and authentic joy. It’s the carrot dangling that keeps us moving forward when we feel empty or like giving up.
Jesus DEI-ed For Us
Column by Rev. David M. Felten on August, 15 2024Some conservatives think they’ve got a winning strategy in disparaging Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris as a “DEI hire.” Because she’s a woman and racial minority, she can’t possibly be qualified — just like all those other non-white, non-straight, non-male people who’ve unfairly been “given” straight, white, male jobs.
Mission Impossible
Column by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers on August, 8 2024By now almost everyone has heard the news that Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Education Ryan Walters is requiring that the Bible be taught in every public school from grades 5-12.
Time to Change the Republican Party’s Nickname?
Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on August, 1 2024The Republican Party, since the 1870s, has been nicknamed the GOP—the “Grand Old Party.” This was to emphasize its role in preserving the Union during the Civil War. I wonder if, in light of its current cult-like status, it ought to re-brand itself. Maybe GOP should stand for the “Grotesque Old Party.”
Infinitely Intimate
Column by Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. on July, 25 2024In the life of the soul there is no substitute for direct knowledge. The spiritual journey unfolds in and through our direct personal experiences that is fueled by the soul’s longing. As human beings our longing both to know and to be known is infinite. A challenge for us is the discovery that even if we know ourselves or another directly, the longing remains.
An Alpine Reverie
Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on July, 18 2024And as you adore the people adoring the blessed sacrament around you, you ponder how very many different circumstances brought them here and how many very different experiences they may be having right now.
What is Law?
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on July, 11 2024The laws we have are products of a particular group, not universal truths. The question then becomes: who gets to say what? White land-owning founding fathers? Hateful white nationalist? The majority? A greasy wheel minority? In a sense, every rule or law arises out of a specific context, a given historical situation.
United Methodist Church now open to LGBTQ+ Methodists
Column by Rev. Irene Monroe on July, 4 2024In June, United Methodist Church delegates voted to repeal its church’s long-held exclusionary stance of its LGBTQ+ Methodists- in church doctrine, polity, and social standing. The news was received with mixed feelings – cheers and tears.
Rescuing Christianity from the Church
Column by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz on June, 27 2024Whenever churches focus too much time and energy on church membership, attendance, budget, and endowment, over time, they lose their way. Churches would be better off focusing on the realization of the church’s mission statement, which has to do with their sense of identity and purpose as communities of faith.
What Does Progressive Christianity Mean to Me?
Column by Brian McLaren on June, 20 2024After growing up in a Fundamentalist/Evangelical Christian tradition, I have come to identify as a Progressive Christian. I’ve noticed that the term has a lot of different meanings to different people, which makes sense given that relatively few of us started as Progressive Christians. For many of us, Progressive Christianity is like the place we we came to as we escaped from somewhere else. The word “camp” is fitting:. I don’t think of Progressive Christianity as a destination, but rather an ongoing process.
Christians Caring for Creation
Column by Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin on June, 13 2024There is not much in this world that I would call a miracle, but the world itself definitely is. It’s existence and ability to support and sustain the life that it has is simply improbable. How dare humanity so go about to indifferently as we are destroying a miracle.
Making Room for the Unimaginable
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on June, 6 2024For our entire existence, humans have lived with two realities: the religion of empire and the religion of creation. The religion of empire is a kingdom, ruled through the lens of Individualism and fueled by the fear of scarcity. The religion of creation is a kin-dom, ruled through the lens of relatedness and fueled by the generosity that is love.