Planting Seeds in the Kin-dom

Column by Rev. Lauren Van Ham on May, 18 2023

Ahead of Pentecost, the month of May offers International Labor Day, Beltane, and Mother’s Day (United States).  Each one is ripe with spirituality, and combined, they invite us to choose one another, to look out for one another’s wellbeing, and to move continually toward the kin-dom of God.

Re-Creating Easter VIII: Conclusion – Easter Dawns

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 12 2015

Something happened! Lives were changed. God was redefined. Liturgies were reshaped. New holy days were born. Whatever Easter was, it constituted a transformative moment. It is easy to understand, …

Windsor, England – A Confrontation Over the Meaning of Resurrection

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 3 2015

On one stop near the end of my lecture tour of Europe during this summer, I confronted a person whose question drove me back to the series I had …

“Resurrection” A Reality or a Pious Dream? Part I

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 23 2015

On Easter Sunday, a couple of weeks ago now, I was in my parish church, St. Peter’s in Morristown, New Jersey. I was not alone. Into that church, at …

A Meditation on Patriotism in a Changing World

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on August, 7 2014

Patriotism is a powerful force that manifests itself in a variety of ways. One is extreme nationalism. We see that in the behavior of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, …

Introducing Jesus for the Non-Religious to France

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on July, 24 2014

(The following is the speech delivered in Paris at the launching of the French Translation of Jesus for the Non-Religious.)

How can those of us living in …

Part XVIII Matthew – Matthew’s Flashback to John the Baptist

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on April, 3 2014

We suggested last week that Mark, the author of the first gospel to be written, introduced his story of Jesus with a narrative appropriate to the Jewish New Year …

Part IV Matthew – The Sermon on the Mount

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 24 2013

Jesus never preached the Sermon on the Mount! Some of the content recorded in that well-known part of Matthew’s gospel may well stretch back to the literal words of …

The Birth of Jesus, Part II: Paul and the Virgin Birth

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on November, 15 2012

In the writings of Paul, there is not a single reference to a supernatural birth tradition, regarding Jesus of Nazareth.  That is a fact easily established.  Determining what that …

“Think Different–Accept Uncertainty” Part XVIII: The Resurrection of Jesus

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on October, 4 2012

The literal details are familiar: the third day, the empty tomb, the experience of seeing the risen Christ.  These details stand at the heart of the Christian story, forming …

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