Creating Community from the Stuff of Ecclesial Practices?

Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on October, 27 2022

As I write this, 2022 is in its final quarter providing an opportunity to reflect on the tenth anniversary of the worst year of my life. And one of the best. Reviewing our lives is always complicated, isn’t it? Let me share with you.

Even in 2020, Gratitude is my Religion

Column by Rev. Fran Pratt on July, 2 2020

It seems to me that, now, in the fourth month of the pandemic, we need to reach down deep for spiritual, emotional, and contemplative resources. The best one I know is gratitude.

The Spiritual Practice of Rewilding

Column by Jennifer Berit and Skylar Wilson on February, 7 2019

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.

Jack on Prayer

Column by Rev. Gretta Vosper on August, 23 2018

It was a delight to be at Chautauqua Institution in June to hear Bishop John Shelby Spong (Jack) explore the theses presented in his latest and last, last book Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today. Over the course of four days, he shared his perspectives on Christianity in a style that is exquisitely his own. Taking questions from dedicated “Women” and “Men” microphones, the integrity with which he approaches his work and those intent on wrestling with it was, as always, apparent. He would not let his audience off the hook. He would not allow them to be content with the easy, well-trod paths up the mountain. His cajoling impatience is his invitation to us to raise our own rallying cry, even if we don’t quite know what to rally around yet. He is content to shake the bejeezus out of our preconceptions and then get out of the way so that we might find our own path.

A New Template for Religion: A Conversation with Michael Morwood, Part 3 – Worship, Prayer, & the Other Side of the Story

Column by Rev. David M. Felten on November, 9 2017

What follows in interview form is the final installment of three columns inspired by a presentation Michael Morwood offered at the Common Dreams Conference in Brisbane, Queensland, in 2016. In this final segment, Morwood offers a new perspective on worship and prayer – along with some concluding thoughts on religion in general and recommendations on a way forward.

Making Friends with Silence

Column by Rev. Roger Wolsey on June, 29 2017

Most of my attempts to connect and relate to God – involve silence.

And most frequently, not much more than that.

I sometimes wonder if there’s really much difference between seeking to connect to God – and not seeking to. Similar experience and results.

A New Christianity, a New Prayer Bishop Spong Style

Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on November, 24 2016

“My goal in life is to pray without ceasing”.
Bishop John Shelby Spong

In his book A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How A New Faith is Being Born, Bishop Spong addresses multiple issues worthy of further consideration especially because the coming year 2017, marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and Spong is rightly calling for a Reformation today.(1) I suppose it is worth mentioning that I have been doing the same as in my book A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity which contains the 95 theses that I pounded at Luther’s church in Wittenberg at Pentecost season in 2006 in response to Cardinal Ratzinger making himself pope, a practice I repeated five years later at Cardinal Law’s Basilica of Maria Maggiore in Rome on a Sunday morning in protest of his cover-up for pedophile clergy in his previous assignment as archbishop of Boston.

Responding to Bishop Spong’s 12 Principles and the Future of Religion

Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on October, 6 2016

Responding to Bishop Spong’s 12 Principles and the Future of Religion
Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 6 October 2016 18 Comments
0

Dear Faithful Readers: Bishop Spong is now home in New Jersey and continues to recuperate from his stroke. Until he is back to his writing we will continue to publish Weekly Essays, some from his treasure trove of past essays and some from guest authors. This week we are pleased to offer you this article from the Rev. Matthew Fox. Responding to Bishop Spong’s 12 Principles and the Future of Religion

Charting a New Reformation, Part XXXVII – Thesis #11, Life After Death (continued), Survival is the Essence of Life

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 29 2016

It was in the Amazon rain forest that I first discovered just how deeply survival dominates every living thing. Sunlight and water are the prizes which guarantee the survival …

Charting a New Reformation, Part XXXV – Thesis #10, Prayer (concluded)

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on September, 15 2016

Before prayer can be made real our understanding of God, coupled with our understanding of how the world works, must be newly defined. Before prayer can have meaning, it …