Baptisms, naming ceremonies, rituals of thanksgiving for new life … all these attest to our desire to mark in some way our recognition of a new member of God’s family.

The din of our modern world works against staying calm and centered. Some days the best thing you can do for your state of mind is turn off your smartphone.

Pulled forward by hope, often pushed from behind by desperation, no immigrant leaves his or her home country without powerful emotions in play.

Long summer days and warm weather help us slow down, take time, find some moments to “do nothing,” allow our creativity to emerge, and generally give ourselves permission to relax.

Summer… memories of long, lazy days and the delicious feeling of having time for whatever comes along.

To celebrate the feast day of Mary Magdalene is to celebrate an archetypical strong female leader. Preacher, teacher, the one disciple who really understood Jesus’ message… she was truly “apostle to the apostles.”

The old adage to “count your blessings” is still good advice.

Gratitude is life-giving. It breaks down the walls that isolate us from each other and from our world.

Ecstatic sexual energy is celebrated as a pathway to transcendence in many religious traditions. Not usually, however, in Christianity!

Compassion is fundamental to every faith tradition. It’s why we find a version of the Golden Rule so often

What would light be without darkness as its opposite? How does one feel joy without also having known what sorrow is?

“If you want to have a life of prayer, then pray,” said Thomas Merton. Or in more modern adspeak, Just do it.

Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Spirit on the followers of Jesus. It is celebrated seven weeks (50 days) after Easter, and derives its name from that interval. (In ancient Greek Pentēkostē means “fiftieth.”)

To offer a benediction is to bless. To give and to receive a blessing is a small sacred moment that we could all use more of in our lives.

Lucky the bride with a poet or composer in the family! Nothing makes a wedding ceremony more personal than words written just for the occasion.

Everyone has doubts. Everyone has questions. It used to be a sign of “faith” to suppress one’s doubts and questions, but no more.

How bleak the world would be without mystery! Even as science daily moves the line between the known and the mysterious, there is always more mystery.

The human species is evolving. Along with the physical changes and the consciousness changes comes a natural evolution in our understanding of the Sacred.

Earth Day reminds us that “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” (Chief Seattle)

Christos Aneste! Christ is risen! The response is Alithos Aneste! He is risen indeed! Whether your interpretation of the resurrection is literal or metaphorical, Easter morning is always welcome.

One of the great contributions of progressive Christianity’s embrace of the quest for the historical Jesus is the renewed focus on the humanity of Jesus.

Palm Sunday is like a little glimpse of Easter, a bit of celebration after the somber tone of Lent.

The signs of Spring are everywhere… Lent has begun, Daylight Savings Time is back (that was quick), and the Spring equinox is imminent.

Sharing an understanding of that which is beyond description calls us to constantly find new images, new metaphors, yet another word for the wordless.

“We take the Bible seriously, we just don’t take it literally.”

Observance of Ash Wednesday in progressive communities marks the beginning of a time of introspection and turning back to our connection with the Sacred.

To be out in nature, re-confirming our connection to that which we did not make, is a form of worship for many people.

Memorial services or life celebrations offer an opportunity to share our grief, to remember treasured times, even to calm our own fears about what lies ahead. Despite the best efforts of every religion, what follows death is still a mystery.

Memorial services in progressive communities are often in need of new words to express the emotions surrounding death. The comfort of the 23rd Psalm is pretty universal, but after that it varies widely.

So many metaphors for describing the experience that there is more to us than just our bodies and our minds…

“Up from the waters into life.” However you interpret the sacrament of baptism in your tradition, the ritual almost always involves water.

In the traditional story of the Transfiguration, three disciples go with Jesus to the top of a mountain where they see a vision. Moses and Elijah appear and talk with Jesus, who appears radiant.

Light in the darkness. In every culture, in every religion, in every wisdom tradition, light is a metaphor for knowledge, sight, understanding, consciousness, awakening, birth and rebirth.

We make a new beginning every morning, indeed in every moment, but there is something about the yearly start in January that captures the imagination.

As Henry Van Dyke wrote nearly a century ago, “There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas…

No time during the year is more perilous for the progressive church musician than Advent and Christmas!