The peace that we share when we turn and shake hands
Is simply the peace that our Savior commands.

Neil Douglas-Klotz offers a radical new translation of the words of Jesus Christ with Prayers of the Cosmos. Reinterpreting the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes from the vantage of Middle Eastern mysticism.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Where fear can make us believe that we aren’t worthy or relevant, there is inherent value in facing your fears and doing things that take you out of your comfort zone.

    It was almost five years ago now, and I can still see her smile. It was a beautiful smile; a smile which I often return to in my mind’s-eye. I have long-since forgotten her name. …

The world will now be faced with a time of moral testing as Covid 19 spreads from pole to pole. The early response of hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer is not an encouraging sign predicting whether our better angels will be revealed or our fearful, selfish demons.

O Christ, we remember the things that you did,
The lessons you taught us, the way that you lived.

Despite the colloquialism about the “patience of Job”, in the majority of the biblical book, Job was not patient. In fact, he was angry with God, shaking his fist at the heavens, and demanding an answer from the Almighty to a most troubling question: Why, O God, is there innocent suffering in this world?? 

In the desperate final days of Bonhoeffer’s life, he wrote from prison about the futility of trying to talk to stupid people about facts, as many of his neighbors and fellow church folk simply rolled along with the Nazi movement. M. Scott Peck defined evil as a kind of “militant ignorance,” a refusal to deal with the known facts of reality.

A fully scripted Good Friday enactment courtesy of The Fountains, UMC.

Bishop Yvette Flunder preaches at The City of Refuge, 8400 Enterprise Way, Oakland, CA.

Let’s face it—the bad news just keeps on coming.  An impeachment trial as divided as the country; wars and rumors of wars; rising nationalism around the world; an ever-growing gap between rich and poor; and our species headed for extinction as we destroy the planet. 

If God is the source of Love, let us worship God by loving. If God is the ground of being, let us worship God by having the courage to be more fully human; the embodiment of the Divine.

Sometimes, in the midst of a crowd we experience the kind of temptations that bring our demons to the surface and we have to take a long hard look at where our desires might lead us. It is not always easy to choose LOVE over fear.

I am a Christian.
Actually, it’s more accurate lately to say that I am still a Christian.

PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc., is a Progressive Christian learning community seeking to empower transformative leadership for justice and peace within and beyond the church by engaging heart and mind to consider what it means to know, love and serve God in today’s changing world. 

“Unbinding Christianity” is a book that will be good news for some readers while stretching others in uncomfortable ways. It begins with the premise that traditional Christian teaching is focused on right beliefs while the life and teachings of Jesus was all about right living.

“What do you mean when you say, ‘progressive christianity?'” I am often asked this question and so rather than a sermon, this Sunday’s reflection explores the contours of our journey as we wrestle with the MYSTERY that is our SOURCE.

Thurber Lectures
Thurber Conversation & Guest Preacher — Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis at The American Church in Paris