I was wondering what the Progressive Christian attitude to the spiritual/philosophical text “A Course in Miracles” is?

Since the dawning of creation, God continues to be the great conundrum, the great mystery, the great unknown, the great challenge of human existence.  This God is not only the God of Christianity, but also the God of Judaism and Islam and other world religions who call on God’s name.

Thesis #14 – There is power in numbers for sustaining the transcending plausibility and viability of any particular dominant cultural narrative. The more you rub shoulders only with people who believe the same cultural narrative you do, the more plausible that narrative becomes.

White liberal Americans want the world to look different and sound different, but do they really want things to be different?” Nathan Malin, who plays Charlie, told the Boston Globe. “The play asks the left to take a look at how committed you really are to this cause.”

At the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions hosted in Toronto, Canada in November of last year, the Parliament announced the official addition of a fifth directive to the foundational document Towards a Global Ethic (An Initial Declaration)

Imagine Bernie Sanders’ public policy prescriptions woven into a fundamentalist Christian religious tract.

Does that idea hurt your head?

Well, it’s not a new one.

Prayer invites us to quiet our spirits,
to quell the distractions that otherwise avert our attention
from virtues to banalities of existence.

Shortly after I met the Satanists, I told a Christian friend about their social advocacy.“How do you know it’s not a trap, though?” Her brow furrowed. “Maybe they just act progressive to lure people in, then trick you into worshipping the Devil.”

An aged man reached up to the top of his heirloom walnut bookcase
His venous arm grabbed a book of teachable stories his Dad had told

To say that something “only” has a placebo effect does not have to be seen as a criticism. In fact, the placebo effect is proof that we can heal ourselves. But just as our minds can help us to be healthy, even to control pain, our minds can similarly make us sick, even to hasten our death.

Looking for a spiritual retreat to tide you over in quiet contemplation during the holy days leading up to Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Day, and Epiphany? Here are many choices — some Christian and inclusive, others multifaith — from which you can find a perfect match for your needs.

What happens when a former Zen Buddhist monk and his feminist wife experience an apparition of the Virgin Mary?

“This book could not have come at a more auspicious time, and the message is mystical perfection, not to mention a courageous one. I adore this book.”—Caroline Myss, author of “Anatomy of the Spirit”

This is what the Book of Revelation is really about. It’s not about the end of the world, as such. It’s about the destruction of the feudalistic, repressive, economic monolith which it calls “Babylon the Great”.

We have a very difficult time admitting it. But in order to be healthy and whole and to become the people we want to be (and think we are), it is necessary to come to terms with this. The truth will set us free.

William Irwin has written a very clear and articulate argument in support of the special value of doubt. Both modest and yet far-ranging, the book gets into both epistemological and theological matters. Irwin proposes a new and challenging way to approach a Being whom we have grown up thinking of as Almighty, as an Absolute.

Every day, millions of people lament the loss of civility, respect, and hope, and they wonder if it’s possible to cultivate a love big enough to overthrow hate and heal our hurts. With courage, authenticity, and relevance, Jacqueline A. Bussie proclaims, “Yes! It’s possible!” and urges readers to widen love’s wingspan and to love as God loves–without limits or exceptions.

Most congregational leaders find it difficult to resist the dominant cultural expectation that different cultural and ethnic groups should stick to themselves–especially when it comes to church.

How is the Christian mandate to love your neighbor as yourself to be applied in business, economics, and politics? In what way does God want people to act within their jobs, their businesses, and their business transactions; treat tenants, other businesses, subordinates, and their employees; market their products and services and set prices; monitor the quality and safety of their products and services, and so on?

Greta Thunberg was at the UN for the UN Climate Summit. Every word of her presentation was prescient. Her year 2030 is scientific fact. Deadly irreversible tipping points are approaching us. They could lead to our extinction.

A people’s spirituality derives, slowly, in association with their daily perceptions, feelings, reflections, occupations and actions. And from time to time we assess who we are in this process.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 

A neighbor who looks every bit the part of a Hindu sage suggested humbly that expecting life to be eternal is “a bit greedy, don’t you think?”

WE’RE BACK for SEASON TWO…. IT’S DONE FOR!
The show that’s all about two basic questions: 1) What leads to a good death? – and 2) What does that tell us about how to live a good life?

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Janet Parker
First Congregational UCC, Portland, OR

This sermon was presented on Sunday June 18th 2017 by Rev. Elizabeth Durant at First congregational United Church of Christ, Portland Oregon.

Halloween is one of America’s favorite yearly activities. Unfortunately, Halloween can be America’s scariest, too – especially for those of us seen as costumes you wear rather than the human beings that we are.

Black Lives Matter. It’s a vibrant, grassroots movement in the United States that grew out of the unspeakable killings of black men, women, children, genderqueer folk, by state and government sanctioned police officers. Black people—and people of colour—gathering to say, “Enough! Don’t kill us. We matter too.”

Damon Garcia is a progressive Christian mystic with years of youth and young adults ministry experience in churches, schools, and wherever people are talking about spirituality and culture.

So let’s start with listing the reasons why LGBTQ+ individuals might not want to go to church at all.

These liturgical prayers feed my heart and my spirit. Grounded in the theology of baptism, and rooted in the ancient Christian and the Anglican-Episcopal traditions, Forrester’s liturgical texts will appeal to the weary pilgrim and the faithful church-goer, as well as all those seeking a deeper experience of the Beloved.

The acclaimed modern translation of St. Teresa of Avila’s classic book on spiritual awareness and guidance

Wild Mercy is essential reading for anyone ready to awaken the feminine mystic within and birth her loving, creative, and untamed power into the world.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s recent comments to Notre Dame law students Law are spot on. But in raising concerns about the “forces of secularization,” he and other religious conservatives need self-reflection. They have done more to secularize America than the combined efforts of liberals, atheists, and card-carrying members of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

. So much attention is paid in churches and in Christian organizations to catechisms and creeds that faith is often equated with a set of religious beliefs. Many Christian organizations define themselves by what they believe and only accept those who sign up to their set of beliefs. In the creeds there’s no mention of love, of feelings of hope or of joy, or of actually doing anything, and very little attention given to any of these in most lists of beliefs.

Access to healthcare is a spiritual issue, deeply rooted in a compassionate world view. Currently, in America, more than 40 million people are uninsured and millions more have insurance with such a high deductible that they cannot afford to use it. It is estimated that 22,000 Americans die prematurely every year because of a lack of access to healthcare.

A present day view on Jesus’s parable that’s more important today than ever.