Lent is a season for Christians who choose to observe it in some manner leading up to Easter. Its origin also provides an excellent model for everyone. For me, Lent is about periodic self-examination, reflection, and a deep look at life with intention and commitment to live forward with greater meaning.

As I read more in Christian theology, I’ve been surprised to learn that while many organizations don’t have an official position on other creatures in the afterlife, quite a few notable figures have argued animals go to heaven.

The more I learn about the Bible, the more I understand it as a messy text. The Bible was written by many different people at many different times. As a result, it’s filled with conflicting ideologies and values.

Maybe, just maybe this parable has more to it than the Samaritan was good so we should be good in order to inherit eternal life. Because if anyone was saved in this story it was not the one who managed to do the right thing. The one who was actually saved in this parable was the one who couldn’t manage to do ANYTHING because he was half dead in a ditch.

For years, I thought Christian ethics were based on the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule. Most Christians feel the same. That presents a couple of huge problems.

Today—and it seems like for forever—the geopolitical dynamics in Palestine/Israel/Gaza are complicated, mired in conflict about land, identity, and belonging. The West didn’t help. Christianity has not helped.

The story of Christmas has yet to end, and continues in the goodness and goodwill of our everyday lives. It may be that there are others such as he in different times and places, in distant galaxies or on the other side of earth, but for us, right here and right now, we are given a light, and a hope-certainty that loving-kindness is our truth and our destiny.

Thanksgiving is coming, and we better get spiritually prepared for some potentially tough conversations.  Bring along peanut M and M's! 

Acclaimed by leaders, teachers, and grassroots justice-seekers from multiple faith traditions, Justice-Love invites us to probe our own thoughts and emotions on the way to more loving and healing connections with others.

To a certain extent, being a perennialist implies a cafeteria approach to all religions. Ideally, one tries to pick and choose what is universally true while ignoring what is culturally specific.

Rabbi Brian’s Highly Unorthodox Gospel is a modern guide to compassion, kindness, and love for others (and self).

Anyone who has even a small measure of gratitude for the extraordinary gift of life, and awe for the magnificent beauty, complexity and wonder of our cosmos, cannot help but sense an overwhelming feeling of spirituality and the presence of a Creative Force beyond human comprehension. A Force of Love, in my mind.

First, Jesus was a charismatic human being with a great big heart. Second, he practiced what he preached, he lived his teachings. The question posed in this essay is why it was so easy for him to live the love behind his teachings while so many of us struggle today to achieve a similar goal.

Christian Economics promotes justice, fairness, balance, cooperation, and mutual respect within business, economics, and politics, and is based on three principles: good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be avoided; love your neighbor as yourself; and treat each and every human being with absolute dignity.

Father Greg built his church by practicing unconditional love to people society had rejected and provided the opportunity for them to transform their Good Friday lives into Easters. Some did, and some didn’t. (In 2024, Father Greg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor for his work.)

I’m bone tired of being told why I should fear the other guy. Not because I’m not afraid—Lord help me, I’m terrified—but because fear will never move hearts and minds like an appeal to who could become.

We do not have to see malice in the actions of Satan or “the Devil”. Satan is, in fact, a charming character, quite well-intentioned. As you’ll see, the Church tried its hardest to give the guy a bum rap.

Since Michaelmas falls on a Sunday this year I propose that it be revived, partially to address the ancient duty to feed the poor, as Soup Kitchen Sunday, with churches throughout the land offering bounteous meals to all who would come. 

What if the shooter whose bullet grazed Donald Trump's ear had no motive but the urge to have fun?

In honor of Independence Day 2024, we should celebrate the dedication of the deep bench of public employees who serve everyone competently and without partisanship, representing in person the values of human equality and compassion. Without specific religious motivation, these public servants exemplify key principles of the Beloved Community.

Joy doesn’t exist when we are in shame or guilt. Joy exists only when we feel light, forgiven. Open.

Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of slavery, a day to honor the survival and resilience of Black people throughout 400 years of sheer inhumanity: from the profound sadism of slavery, through the Jim Crow laws, lynchings, and segregation, to the racism of today. 

Have you ever spent time watching dog owners in action? They only notice goodness. They ignore or forgive most, if not all, of their dog’s annoying behavior.

Paul Levy is one of our greatest evolutionary mystics and someone whom I believe understands deeply and precisely our current extreme situation.

The issues I’ve uncovered are not the same. They are more subtle, but the result is the same. These defensive parts of my ego cloud my awareness with self-centered concerns.

Meister Eckhart asks, "How can anyone be compassionate toward her neighbor who is not compassionate toward herself?" This is why Jesus says: ‘Be compassionate!'

Abundant Lives: A Progressive Christian Ethic of Flourishing invites sociologically informed engagement in human well-being based on Jesus’ command to love God, our neighbors, ourselves, and our enemies.

Watch Episode  20 of The Awakened Collective with Rick Gregory as he interviews Special Guest Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines, author of The Great Digital Commission.

Sermon: Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin Presbyterian Church of the Covenant

Jesus was not crucified for telling people to love God and our neighbors. He was killed for challenging the authorities of that time. He challenged the Jewish authorities, and he challenged the Roman authorities.