About the Author: Rabbi Brian
I walk to a wall made of 216 interconnected, 8 x 10 photos of “black lives taken by racial violence.” Memories of standing before a pile of shoes at Auschwitz come to mind. I try to imagine the full, robust life of each person whose life—whose infinite, valuable, beautiful life—was snuffed out because of racial violence.
Rabbi Brian & Devin Daugherty talk to people who are looking to become anti-racists. Enjoy.
JOIN RABBI BRIAN’S INCLUSIVE & FUN WEEKLY SERVICE. ALTHOUGH THE WORD “SERVICE” MAKES IT SEEM A LITTLE STIFF. I’D THINK ABOUT IT MORE LIKE SOME OF RABBI BRIAN’S FRIENDS ARE HANGING OUT AND TALKING ABOUT SPIRITUAL ISSUES.
“Social Distancing” doesn’t mean we can’t still come together. Join me every day of the week for an hour of discussion on various relevant spiritual topics.
To soothe souls in election year, Portland Rabbi seeks 10K+ meditators. This beautiful, full-color, 8.5" x 11" book of simple, enjoyable instructions
Patience is the amount of time you can remain in acceptance. With you in mind, figuratively, I created a 20-minute total over five days mini-course about patience and accepting reality as it is.
WE NEED TO STOP LETTING THE SMALL THINGS SLIDE. Stop putting yourself and your needs first. Stop blaming the world outside for your irritation. Stop making excuses for not treating this world as though your every action matters. Stop pretending that the occasional Chick-fil-A doesn't make a difference.
Complaining is like bad breath – you notice it when it comes out of someone else's mouth, but not when it out of your own. My words: Complaining gets in the way of our finding gratitude with what is.
Someone sent me a meme of Jesus bungee jumping from a crucifix. A month later, I read a book that took this meme to a whole other level – thatJesus suffering on a cross was only first used as a religious symbol around the year 960 c.e.
Is that a word? Tittynope? Really? Who says it is or not? And, this leads Rabbi Brian to wonder about the seat of our own spiritual authority. A light video. Fun with spiritual stuff. Enjoy.
Rabbi Brian reminds us that the point of Easter and Passover is that we are forgiven, liberated, free. We forget that, cause we know the story too well. Imagine if you didn't. And, imagine what you need freedom from?
I get the idea: thinking leads to judgment, and judgment leads to problems.
Welcome to The Resistance Bible Study Podcast Listen in. Engage. Resist. This week: Baptists are my friends I didn't think that I would be interviewing the acting dean of a Baptist seminary. But, you know, life... Learn along with me as I talk with Dr. Tracy Harman. Please listen to this.
So, how am I going to approach this task that is assigned to me to do? Am I going to approach the “work” ahead as something that I have to do, or am I going to approach it as something I get to do? All the tasks before me, when I look at them with the right set of lenses, are meditative, inner practices.
Friend and frequent contributor to ProgressiveChristianity.org, Rabbi Brian, has compiled conversations with 12 of his Biblically literate friends in a series of podcasts that both delight and educate. Join Rabbi Brian as he talks to Reverend Jim Burklo, Dr. Tracy Hartman, Rev. Irene Monroe, Pastor John Pavlovitz and more as he seeks to find out what the bible is and how to use it to fight oppression.
If you are not familiar with this audio-clip phenomenon, you might not believe that two people can listen to the same sound, yet hear different words. If you’ve not done it, here is a link so you can try it and learn more. Listening to the same clip, some people hear “Laurel” and some people hear “Yanny.”
When anti-Semitic violence occurs, Brian and I are surrounded by lots of love and support. Many non-Jewish friends are horrified and they tell us they have our backs as an interfaith/intercultural family. On Saturday afternoon, a neighbor with tears in his eyes handed me a piece of paper with a scratched out message on kitchen notepaper: “My heart is breaking for you.” Our wonderful, loving contractor from years ago sent me a text late last night: “I love you guys. I have your back.” Many clergy friends and newly made Baptist-identified friends called Brian when they heard. We heard over and over: We love you. We do not stand for this. We are so sorry. People feel so helpless in the face of tragedy. People want to have an impact; they want to help change what is so wrong. The love we have received is beautiful.
This article is lengthly. But, worth it. Take four minutes right now to read it. It is in three parts. The first two parts begin with scientific studies. The third part is more of a sermon. 1. It's real: what you can't see can still harm you 2. Taking it: you don't have as much will power as you thought 3. stand with the oppressed
A modern Portland, Oregon rabbi explains Jesus’s messages
An outside-the-box, modern rabbi from Portland, Oregon explains the Jewish messages of Jesus. Rabbi Brian’s style is approachable, warm, honest and quirky. He quotes Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy to help explain the intent of the phrase “I am the way the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me.”
When I officiate at funerals, I ask mourners to think about the characteristics of the deceased that they will miss most. After they have thought of those traits, I implore them to live those qualities into the world as a tribute.
When two people are kind to each other – when two people love each other – they don’t even need to speak to know the thoughts of the other. They can just be silent, and they can see each other, and their hearts feel each other, and they can communicate. But when our hearts grow distant from each other, we often raise our voices.
Perhaps the world wouldn’t be better if it conformed to our rules. Perhaps the world would be better if we were better able to accept reality as it is.
