Diana Butler Bass on Lent & Dying To Self from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

It was carved with hand tools on a rough slab of native red rock: “Marcelito L. Baca – murio a la edad de 17 dias (died at the age of 17 days) – 1919”. It was planted …

This Study Guide is for the third edition (2011) of the “8 Points” that have both identified and guided ProgressiveChristianity.org (formerly The Center for Progressive Christianity) since the organization’s founding in 1994.

On a stony trail through the Sinai wastes
A little family headed south
Father, mother, little babe
A burdened donkey, head drooped down

Christmas trees and tinsel
Yule logs and holly
Turkey and Christmas pudding

December 12, 2012 Yesterday, I passed a church sign that proclaimed Christmas was the story of a baby born to die. It seemed a macabre, odd way to wish passersby a merry Christmas. Apparently, though, quite a few …

this is for you

this is also for the people who wake early to watch flowers bloom
who notice the moon at noon on a day when the world
has slapped them in the face with its lack of light
for the mothers who feed their children first
and thirst for nothing when they’re full

A few minutes of perfection. Maybe instead of racing around last minute to find gifts, we can give more than a little love…especially to those who don’t expect it or require it of you. “Love your neighbor …

This past Saturday night, my wife Roberta and I stood with a group of people on Hollywood Boulevard, holding flickering candles. Passers-by might have assumed we were Christmas caroling. But we were holding a vigil for the …

(From a sermon I gave at Mt Hollywood Congregational Church on 12/2, the first Sunday of Advent.) On one seemingly ordinary day over 2000 years ago, a seemingly ordinary girl had an extraordinary rebirth. Mary abruptly experienced …

May we be enraptured
By overshadowing Love;
May our souls magnify the Lord
Through our widening eyes,

THIS VIDEO BELONGS TO MAX LUCADO, RANDY FRANZEE, AND FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI To purchase or download this video: http://www.olivebranchcreative.com/the-story-downloads Lyrics: Everything inside me cries for order Everything inside me wants to hide Is this shadow an angel or …

“Drawing from the personal experiences of a seasoned pastor, a team of modern liberal scholars, and the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, Teacher, Guide, Companion challenges readers to reexamine their own relationship with …

Drawing from the wisdom of the world’s religions, Simply Pray offers readers an easy-to-use modern prayer practice free from any particular theological orientation. Wikstrom identifies and defines the four major types of prayer that are practiced by …

Advent comes again
time for watching and waiting
fill your days with hope

My soul sings in gratitude.

I’m dancing in the mystery of God.

The light of the Holy One is within me

and I am blessed, so truly blessed.

Awakened World 2012, http://www.agnt.org/awakened2012.html was recently convened and hosted in Italy by three American organizations. I learned about the conference through the Association of Global New Thought, one of the sponsoring organizations, http://www.agnt.org/charter/conveners.html.  240 participants came from more than 15 …

“I think that people who are leaving church, or people who call themselves spiritual but not religious, are raising really significant questions about faith, about community life and about the future of religion that religious leaders should pay more attention to,” says religion scholar Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening. Watch more of our interview with her about the religious implications of the rise of the religiously unaffiliated.