An Alpine Reverie

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on July, 18 2024

And 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. 

Progressive Christian Visibility Day

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on April, 25 2024

That great defender of the faith, Don Trump, responding in faux outrage to the fact that Trans Visibility Day happened to coincide with Easter this year, declared that Election Day 2024 should be “Christian Visibility Day.” As if Christians have a visibility problem in America today.

You and I and AI

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on December, 14 2023

Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both dangers and benefits and when viewed from a progressive Christian perspective, it prompts ethical and moral considerations.

Jesus in Eden

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on September, 7 2023

The Bible is a mirror.  In it, we see the structure of our psyches.  We see the scaffolding of our spirituality.  What makes the Bible holy is not that it is the “word of God”, but rather that so many of its passages offer such breathtakingly vivid reflections of the journeys of our souls.

East Illuminates West

Column by Support - Progressing Spirit on June, 8 2023

The East-West spiritual encounter has been profoundly formative for progressive Christianity.  Experiencing the meditative practices of the East has inspired us to explore the previously neglected contemplative tradition of our faith. 

Flipping the “He Gets Us” Script

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on February, 23 2023

The people behind HeGetsUs don’t get him.  But that doesn’t prevent us from using their campaign to help folks get who Jesus really was – and making his compassionate personality the welcoming face of our progressive faith communities. 

When Progressive Christianity Runs Wet

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on July, 21 2022

Now, more than ever, is the time to express our faith forthrightly, publicly, and invitationally.

Christianity: The Plain English Version

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on December, 2 2021

Like 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

Otherdoxy: A Questionable of Faith

Column by Rev. Jim Burklo on April, 1 2021

There are many questions that mainstream science can’t answer, at least at the moment.  Ethical and moral questions, such as: who should get the Covid vaccine first?  And how can such a prioritization be made understandable and acceptable to the public?  Science provides data upon which such judgments can be made, but ultimately we can’t trust science itself to sort them out.