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. Dr. 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 …
A New Reading With Apologies To Luke
Column by Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers on January, 6 2022Last year, at the height of the pandemic (or is this the height of the pandemic?), a clergy colleague asked me to write a new version of the birth of Jesus that might preserve the radical message of Luke but translate it into more contemporary metaphors.
Origins and Common Meanings to Hanukkah and Christmas
Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on December, 30 2021Hanukkah and Christmas are both stories of promise and hope in a time of darkness. And both speak to miracles or marvels.
Social Media: the Wizard Behind the Screen
Column by Dr. Carl Krieg on December, 23 2021The largest human psychological event/experiment in history is happening as you read, it involves everyone, and has momentous consequences. To learn the details, tune in and watch “Our Social Dilemma”, a Netflix documentary featuring young former top executives of social media companies such as Google, Facebook, and Instagram.
God and Metaphors
Column by Brian McLaren on December, 16 2021In my travels and speaking, people often ask me “what do we do with ______?” questions. The blank is most often filled in with a doctrinal issue like hell, creationism, original sin, inerrancy, atonement theory, and the like.
Sankofa
Column by Toni Reynolds on December, 9 2021The United Nations, in partnership with the West African country of Ghana, marked 2019 as “The Year of Return”. It was a year to honor the 400-year stint of resilience of the people of the African Diaspora. 400 years since the first stolen Africans arrived in the Americas as part of the system of chattel slavery.
Christianity: The Plain English Version
Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on December, 2 2021Like progressive Christians today, Simone Weil knew God as love. Not just as warm, fuzzy, romantic, or familial love. Rather as agape love, which embraces all beings and things – and all experiences, including suffering. Communion with the divine was, for her, manifested in attention
Celebrating Thanksgiving’s 400th anniversary of revisionist history
Column by Rev. Irene Monroe on November, 25 2021In the spirit of our connected struggles for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, this Thanksgiving, we should not solely focus on the story of Plymouth Rock. Instead, as Americans, we should focus on creating this nation as a solid rock that rests on a multicultural and democratic foundation.
Catching Flight on the Wings of Thought: The Legacy of Bishop John Shelby Spong
Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on November, 18 2021The number of people whose death would be felt around the world is limited. Bishop John Shelby Spong was surely one of them. It is impossible to determine how far or wide his influence has and will continue to be.
“White Too Long” – A Conversation with Robert P. Jones, Part 2
Column by Rev. David M. Felten on November, 11 2021The following is Part 2 of a series drawn from an interview with Robert P. Jones, author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity on September 9th, 2021. It has been edited for length and focus.
Walking In The Good Way
Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on November, 4 2021The most ancient path I know is the ecological one. Creation is an intricate living system that honors life, death and rebirth within Earth’s natural cycles; where reciprocity is honorable, and all life is sacred. We humans, who happen to be mammals (but also a bit of a virus), have trouble remembering the path of Creation.
Loving The Earth Is Essential
Column by Rev. Roger Wolsey on October, 28 2021Our planet is not well. That’s an understatement. The Earth is in a state of crisis. Human aggravated global warming/Climate Change is a real and present danger.
He Calls us to the Task of Loving
Column by Rev. Deshna Charron Shine on October, 21 2021Jack experienced God as the source of all life. There is no duality within God, there is only sacred oneness. And so he reminded us that if God is the source of all life, then the best way to worship God is to live fully.