Mary Magdalene was the first person, male or female, to witness the empty tomb…the first to see angels who reported the resurrection…the
What does the Doctrine of the Trinity look like if we reject the idea that it describes a permanent unchanging God? It describes a God as close as your breath, a God whose creative power continues to create, a God who we can see incarnate all around us.
Progressives are less interested in teaching the beliefs of our or any other religion. We are much more interested in teaching ethics, behavior, justice and compassion. We can demonstrate what it means to be a person of faith by telling the stories of modern prophets and saints: Gandhi, Dorothy Day, King, Mandela, Romero, Mother Teresa and others who have lived as examples of what it means to be people of faith. We must "preach the church to the church" telling the stories of those who are within our own community who have given of themselves in remarkable ways. If we want to raise a generation of leaders and heroes we must accept that we must set the example in the way that we practice our faith.
This is Bishop Spong's first lecture in the "Future of the Progressive Church" conference held on August 3, 2013 at the Community Christian Church in Springfield, MO
I simply do not believe that at this point in time the distinctiveness of our different churches is more important than the values and common understandings of Scripture that unite us.