What Am I Now?

In my previous piece, I shared a bit about my past. This piece turns to the present. I’ve just begun work on two books, the second of which is tentatively entitled, Do I Stay Christian? As I sketch out the shape and trajectory of the book, I’m thinking more deeply about why I still identify as Christian and what I think Christian can and in fact must come to mean in the decades ahead.

The Wild Christ

The wild calls. That which we associate with the wild are those ‘spontaneities’ found in ever form of existence in the natural world, that which is uncontrolled by human dominance. Wild is that feral autonomy of the more-than-human world with an agency and feathered intelligence of its own. The wild flares forth in the numinous powers of the psyche, mirroring the wild and raw powers of the universe. The wild is pure nature, that which is completely uncontrolled by human consciousness or dominance.

Time for a New American Dream

Now that we can just barely view the pomp and circumstance of Easter in our rearview mirrors, I’d like to talk a little about Easter. Not that Easter; not the Easter egg hunts, Easter hats, and shouts of “He is risen” kind of Easter; I want to talk about the whole of the Easter story, which reminds me that the American dream is a dream built on the back of a system of domination.

Shadow Work

Over the last few weeks I’ve had several ideas for articles. One of them felt so full of energy that I stayed awake until 3am writing. I’ …

Review of: Science and Spiritual Practices by Rupert Sheldrake

Science and Spirituality need each other. This has always been the case—from Aristotle (who concludes his classic work on Physics with positing an Unmoved Mover) to Aquinas (who fought the fundamentalists of his day about the value of bringing science, namely Aristotle, and the scientific method of his day, namely scholasticism, into the world of faith).

How I Got Here

Suddenly, I saw in a new light the violence of the modern era, from colonialism to Stalinism to Naziism to nuclear war to the environmental crisis. Smart people, armed with excessive and un-self-critical confidence derived from their absolutized ideologies, could commit unspeakable atrocities without having second thoughts.

Love, America and The Middle Way

A teenager in a red “Make America Great Again” hat, face-to-face with a drumming Native American elder on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial…

For all the coverage and commentary we now have of the Lincoln Memorial encounter, there are many moments we’re not shown. We will never see what was moving in the hearts of those two men as they faced one another, waiting for the other to back down, watching their expressions melt and change while feeling the heat and pressure of the mob at their back.

Super Natural Sacraments of Spring

The progressive Christian practice, I believe, is founded on my (our) willingness to listen for and co-create the new story. And let me be clear about this word, “new.” I don’t mean the next bright and shiny object that allows me to toss the frayed one into the landfill. I mean “new,” as in emerging, fertile, and arriving with a willingness to acknowledge what has been before now.

10 Ways to Help Church Services to Bring People to the Mystery of God:

The Church is dying. Specifically, Christianity in most Western countries is rapidly diminishing. Some 7-8,000 churches close their doors every year in the U.S. – about 150-200 every week. In 1966, there were 600 Catholic seminaries in America. 189 remain. 1000 Southern Baptist congregations close every year with half of them predicted to close by 2030.

Re-Wilding Christianity, an Interview with Rev. Matt Syrdal, Church of the Lost Walls

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Rev. Matt Syrdal about his theological journey and his quest to re-wild Christianity. Matt is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian church (USA), founder and lead guide of WilderSoul and Church of Lost Walls, and co-founder of Seminary of the Wild. Matt speaks at conferences and guides immersive nature-based experiences around the country. In his years of studying ancient Christian Rites of Initiation, world religions, anthropology, rites-of-passage and eco- psychology Matt seeks to re-wild what it means to be human. His work weaves in myth and ceremony in nature as a way for people to enter into conversation with the storied world of which they are a part.

Why Separation of Church & State Matters More Than Ever

We’re in the middle a major identity crisis in our country – and a lot of it has to do with our collective failure to remember (or in some cases outright deny) that most of our founders were highly suspicious of religion. As you read this, theologically conservative Christians are escalating their efforts to revise history and take concerted action in consolidating their political power and reinforcing their prejudices with the force of law.

Lost in Translation

For many progressive Christians, our ability to remain in the communities we love is dependent upon our willingness to translate what we hear, sing, and say on Sunday morning. Much of the “content” of a weekly service continues to use the language of traditional Christianity and privilege the very rituals and artifacts which progressives no longer accept literally.

Part III: Eucharistic Prayers Celebrating the Embodiment of Presence

Let me begin by restating my belief that a corporate liturgical text (be it a eucharistic prayer, a collect, or a hymn) needs to be a Wisdom text. This means it is a prayer with the capacity to foster the soul’s growth, helping her to realize that she is an utterly unique expression of Being that is present as Boundless Love.

The Spiritual Practice of Rewilding

The movement to rewild the environment emerged and evolved out of the conservation movement of the 1960s, and directly challenges conventional conservation methods. While ecological rewilding practices differ from region to region, they share a common goal and means: they seek to increase biodiversity and reduce negative human impacts within an ecosystem by restoring the keystone species of the area – large carnivorous or herbivorous animals that greatly influence how the ecosystem functions as a whole.

Salvation and Responsibility

When I first called myself a Christian I was in 7th grade. On my first visit to a small church I accepted Christ as my savior. I’m sure I had no idea what that meant, but it felt like the right thing to do in my 13 year old mind and heart. I spent the rest of middle school and high school so devoted to Jesus that I was at church almost as often as I was at school. I went to learn how to trust my new savior. I went to learn how to surrender successfully. I went to relinquish all sin, back sliding, laziness – parts of the genuine human experience I wanted to lay at the foot of the cross, walk away, and never have to pick them up again.

Liturgy As Corporate Spiritual Practice Of Embodiment: Part II

A Wisdom text has the capacity to foster the soul’s growth or unfolding, helping her to realize that she is an utterly unique expression of Being that is present as boundless love.

Some Resources for Hope in a Time of Doomsday Messaging

 
As we enter a new year amidst the dire warnings from the United Nations and even Trump’s own administration about the peril humans and the rest of …