Money, wealth, financial power, economic power, call it what you will, extreme wealth disparity destroys societies from within, eating away at the bond between people and the fabric of society.

We are considering how Courage, like Joy, is one of the signs of holiness in our time.  In yesterday’s meditation, Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us that we “must love something more than the fear of death” if we are to live. 

Understanding the distinctive nature of man and woman as consciousness is quite important in defining the uniqueness of human life beyond our biology or psychology. This distinction becomes paramount when faced with critical moral issues, such as abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia.   

The one thing that enraged most people about Jesus of Nazareth was that he had the gall to tell people that their sins were
forgiven when clearly there were systems of civic and religious power that were set up to make sure people got what they deserved.

How are we supposed to cope with the despair that sets in when our known world is stolen and an invading, oppressive regime steps in?

I have a caveat: never read the Bible without some sort of reliable scholarly information by your side.

  The Easter experience is about the birth of a new consciousness.  It is a consciousness that burst upon the followers of Jesus through his suffering unto death on the cross.  In many ways, Jesus’ followers, and …

When, if ever, is anger appropriate? If we want to be good actors in the world, and become the peace we’d like to see in the world, can we allow anger to exist? How do we know when anger is ok and how much anger is ok?

Justin James Sinclair is a young man on a mission.  He made retreats at the St Andrew’s Abbey and New Camaldoli monasteries in California, where, to his astonishment, he discovered a strand of Christianity that no one in the evangelical churches he attended, nor at Biola University where he studied, had revealed to him before. 

It would be refreshing for churches to boldly proclaim a countercultural message that love, compassion, community, service, and justice matter more than institutional survival.

The Bible is a very human book with differing positions on who Jesus was and what he said. The result is you can find a passage in the Bible to support any political position you choose to take.

Throughout my ministerial service, numerous people have expressed to me their discomfort and disagreement with the language of the “Lord’s Prayer.” For years I didn’t ‘get it,’ and I used the “traditional” version (which, of course, is not Jesus’ words as he did not speak English).

If the sacredness of a person is not acknowledged, or is mistreated, the child or Spirit within will go into hiding until it may be safe again to emerge, to be healed, become whole/holy.

Among the more pervasive stereotypes of God is the use of the male pronoun” He” that anthropomorphizes God in our image. Over the years, this paternalistic depiction of God has done more harm than good.

“People will see through who’s behind it. They’ll see what their real agenda is, set that aside, and we can have a deeper  conversation about who Jesus was, what he was about and what we’re about as his followers today,” Burklo said. 

When all is said and done, what then are we to make of the mythic tale of Jesus’ death and resurrection, metaphorically told to convey what all of us might like to assert to be the “gospel truth?”

At no time in modern American history has conservative leadership shown such little regard for following how the scriptures tell us Christ wants us to live our lives and for whom he wants us to show love, care and compassion.

When I look at the writers who examine the relation between religion and politics, most take their cues from the Bible. There are two problems with this approach.