I’m not sure why we can be so idealistic about human love when human love is profoundly imperfect and so often unreliable.

But as I leave you, I want you to know that you have taught me well, you’ve LOVED off some of my rough edges, and even though I may be worn, I am also excited and hopeful.

Pour yourself a drink and join us for good times as we talk about pop culture, theology, and politics from progressive Christian perspective. 

A progressive Christian encounter with the Easter story that situates it within the longer story of sacred love and within our lives today.

When we care enough to listen to others, not so much as to give them advice, but to understand them...not so much to solve their problems but to be their confidante...not so much to inspire them but to be there for them, we become to them a trustworthy friend.

It seems like falling in love and staying in love should be easy. However, clearly, it is one of the most difficult things that almost everyone wants to do. At least a part of the problem rests with an out of date conception of what marriage must or should be, coupled with fears rooted in our earliest years and our connection to our parents.

“At the center of the Christmas story is hope…hope which comes to us in the form of a vulnerable, poor baby. A child, not a king, changes the world. God appears to us as a marginalized, Afro-Semitic, Jewish child from Nazareth in Palestine. A child who grows up to teach us to welcome the stranger. How would our world be different if we loved our neighbors as ourselves?” asks the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of Middle Collegiate Church.

An exercise in self-love.

Have you ever paused to consider that dialogue between people of different Christian and non-Christian religious traditions is actually a way to respect life itself?

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.

Frida Kahlo wrote the ultimate lovers' poem that concludes with this assurance, "You deserve a lover who takes away the lies and brings you hope, coffee, and poetry.” In this age when couples typically no longer stay married out of economic necessity or for mere survival, what is it that keeps people together. Even more, what inspires a couple who are already past child bearing years or even career concerns, to sacrifice independence and freedom in order to share a common life? I think that it is meaning we seek even more than a mere surcease of loneliness. What we really want is not just someone with whom to share our morning coffee but also someone who will read poetry to us. Is that too much to ask, or do we, as Kahlo suggests, what we deserve?

To help kick off Black History Month, here are two bite-sized pieces of wisdom from the late, great literary genius, Maya Angelou. Like gems, these are ideas you can put in your pocket, and take them out whenever you need them :)

If God is love, then God is something we do, rather than somebody or something we try to believe in. If God is love, then God is a relationship, and not a Guy in the Sky or some other kind of supernatural entity. If God is love, God is nothing to fear. If God is love, when we really love someone - even of another religion, or of no religion at all - God is in that relationship, blessing it. So these three words wipe away all the theological debates about science and common sense versus religion. These three words sweep away the problem of evil, the perennial conundrum of how an all-powerful God could love people while allowing horrible things to happen to them. If God is love, then God is not in charge of the universe. Love is extremely powerful, but it is not directive. Love does not force anybody to do anything, nor to force anything to do anything to anybody. If God is love, then God is omni-attractive, not omni-potent.

  And [Jesus] said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist

This article about messaging is in three parts: • Part One: Michelangelo’s Biblical Errancy • Part Two: Meaning and Message Are Intertwined • Part Three: Asking You to Choose to Believe in Awe

Watch as singer/songwriter India.Arie performs the song 'I Am Light' from her new album, 'Songversation'

John Legend is a nine-time Grammy Award winning recording artist, critically-acclaimed concert performer, philanthropist/social activist, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

John Legend is a nine-time Grammy Award winning recording artist, critically-acclaimed concert performer, philanthropist/social activist, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.

What good is “God?” We know well how much violence is committed in the name of “God.” If we were to delete both our traditional Western word and notion of “god” from both our speech and thinking, what are the implications for such things we ourselves know and experience to be true in our own human experience? I’m talking about conceiving of such things as love, compassion, mercy, grace, reconciliation, forgiveness, even absolution, redemption, and salvation. Part one in this series considers a scripture text considered sacred, but noticeably absent is the presence of any deity.

Jesus rises up whenever the conspiracy of love rises up, whenever compassionate and courageous acts of the kingdom of God are present, whenever the reign of love is made manifest in this life. Following Jesus is a response to his call to establish justice and peace in the world.

Instead, we should be providing sanctuary for these refugees and immigrants who are fleeing persecution. Whether in our nation, churches, or our homes, we are to show loving-kindness, respect, and care for the well-being of all of our siblings. Isn't this what we would want others to do for us if the circumstances were reversed? Honestly, isn't this what Jesus would have us do?

Reinhold Niebuhr's brother, H. Richard, argued for faithfulness to the example of Jesus's nonviolence, while Reinhold believed this was naive and unrealistic in an imperfect world. H. Richard was the purist to the Christian faith, believing that following the Golden Rule, no matter the consequences, is what Jesus and God called us to do -- the success of the mission being in God's hands rather than our own. Reinhold, however, looked at the more practical side of things, substituting his or the world's idea of what was possible and changing his ethics accordingly. H. Richard thus trusted more in the providential moral arc of history as M.L. King, Jr. , would call it rather than a realist's version of what humans believe is attainable given their corrupt nature. In essence, H. Richard focused on the power of God's grace to transform our spirits and the world for the better, while Reinhold accepted a more cynical view of our ability to be radically changed as a specie.

When Jesus said, "The last shall be first and the first shall be last," I highly doubt He meant that the first and Greatest Commandment should be the last thing on our list of things to do.

Back when I was 12, there was no preventative or after-care treatment for survivors of human trafficking. January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and it does my heart good to be a survivor leader helping to make that change today. My greatest strengths are the closeness I have with my survivor sisters and, honestly, my husband. They always told me, “I believe in you. I think you can do this. You are worthy.” My proudest moment was walking across the stage to receive my master’s. I was able to say, “Fuck everyone who said I wasn’t worth it. I did this. Not my body — me.”

"Sensuality may turn into a feverish hunt for rebirth... the sexual partner turns into a stand-in for various dream figures, phantasms in a stage-managed resurrection. These figures are all agents of immortality to be conquered or succumbed to many times over." - Alan Harrington

Sometimes our greatest breach with Scripture is not when we outright contradict it--it's what we choose to prioritize, diminish or outright ignore. There is a time for everything under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). We need to put first things first and second things second. Much of Christianity focuses on salvation plans and doctrinal ideas.

In May 2017, people from all over the world will gather in Portland, Oregon to share knowledge and wisdom, learn from each other, celebrate, be inspired, and find the tools needed to create and enliven local movements within our communities. Together we will explore sacred oneness, Christ consciousness, eco-spirituality, social justice and the way of universal and personal transformation that honors the Divine in all.

Thich Nhat Hanh explains the Four Qualities of Love that can bring deep meaning to our lives.

The story of Indubious is not for the faint of heart. Like a Phoenix rising from the flames, Indubious was forged in the fires of pain and destruction. It is through overcoming adversity that Evton and Skip, both brothers and band mates, have emerged as a powerful forces for change, and voices for the future of conscious music.

When it comes to doctrine, we progressive Christians have nothing for which to apologize. We don't believe the old dogma that gets in the way of kindness, inclusion, science, and common sense. No wonder, then, that few of us know much about "apologetics", a major preoccupation of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians who memorize answers to the dozens of common objections to their doctrines.