How can I feel the presence of Jesus in my life? Every time I want to know Jesus, I suddenly start having doubts he ever existed. Thank you for reading this.

the church is failing its men—especially young men. There are a many young men who are aimless, uncertain and who feel something is lacking. They are looking for meaning and purpose in life. They may not even know they are searching. Doesn’t this describe each of us at some point in our lives?

The Free People Project offers a variety of products: Books, Tees, Programs, and Black Girl Christmas Products.

I’m just saying that if a politician decides to utilize Christianity for their own good, they need to be called out when they forget or misconstrue what Christianity is all about.

Ironically, though our present moment in history is in possession of amazing means of communication through the internet, social media, cell phones, and virtually free international calling, we are beset with unprecedented loneliness. Somehow, our emotional health has not kept up with our technological capability!

I wrote some thoughts down, recorded them and made a loop video with some amazing footage of Apsaalooke Jingle Dress dancer Monica Davis. Thank you Jihan Hafiz & Christiane Parrish for the amazing footage.

Roger Ray’s frank and thoughtful meditations are a welcome addition to the growing library of liturgical resources for those who no longer subscribe to the dogmas and superstitions of traditional religion.

At the age of thirty-four, I am less bothered by the fact that I have to move back in with my parents than by the circumstances leading to the change.

There’s no cookie-cutter answer to that question. There’s no one “secret sauce” to sprinkle on a church to bring it alive. But from each other, churches can discover ingredients for the recipes for vitality that will work for them. 

Dr. Joerg Rieger sits with Debo, David and Ann to delve into the differences between “malignant religion” and “life-giving religion.” What is the relationship Jesus had with materialism and to what extent is preaching the good news to the poor life-giving versus malignant?

The American flag, however, has not always been a fixture in American sanctuaries. When it was introduced, it came for reasons specific to historic moments.

I’ve mused to myself that my daily hikes are “God-walks”.  God holds an invisible leash attached to me, and I follow where God leads.   Understanding that I’m on a God-walk snaps me out of the small-“s” selfishness of thinking that my life is my own, that I make all my own decisions consciously, that I’m the master of my own fate and the captain of my own ship. 

Benedictine monk John Main has reminded me of something I first learned reading one of Gore Vidal’s historical novels. Reading to oneself became a thing only in recent centuries. “The spoken word is the essential medium for the communication of the gospel.”

“For the Love of Hussain (A.S.)” recounts the reflections and experiences of a Christian Pastor from America on the fifty-mile walk from Najaf to Karbala, Iraq for Arbaeen in October 2018.

For medical patients up against a dire prognosis, inmates locked in isolation, survivors of a natural disaster, college students facing an identity crisis and others in distress, the quiet profession of spiritual caregivers can provide an indispensable lifeline.

Just as the term “believer” means very different things to those who use it, so do to does the word “atheist” include a wide set of definitions.

I think these kind of stories are like haikus or koans that are meant to shake us up with paradox and make us realize and/or remember that words are very limiting and they cannot convey the multidimensional complex reality we live in.

Join us for a monthly conversation on CREATION IN CRISIS

I had always thought of myself as tough, like one of the people who could survive almost anything. I have a time or two wondered if I could be as tough and strong as someone like Elie Wiesel was, while in a Nazi concentration camp. But more often than not, I’m not so sure.

We must have the freedom to seek the truth and follow where it leads us, or we will lose our democracy and lose our faith.  Good religion is a foundation for democracy, and democracy is a foundation for the flourishing of good religion.

There are choral anthems, congregational hymns and songs and instrumental music for progressive faith settings. The website’s blog, “Resonate!” will offer thoughts on communal music and music-making.

Socialism” has become a political scare word used to frighten voters away from progressive programs intended to expand health care coverage, make higher education available to lower income families, and to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. Spiritual people should not allow their compassionate instincts to be corralled by political propaganda. Let’s get totally honest about what is being said when we debate capitalism and socialism.

The Peoples’ Bible highlights the role of cultures in shaping the Bible and the way people read the Bible today. Relying on the best insights of historical-critical, liberationist, postmodern, and postcolonial interpretation the contributors include the editors of the volume plus Kosuke Koyama, Randall C. Bailey, Fernando
F. Segovia, Elsa Tamez, Clarice Martin, Hee An Choi, Gale A. Yee, Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, and many more.

In a previous book, Science and Spiritual Practices, British biologist Rupert Sheldrake devoted a chapter to each of the following practices and demonstrated how our brains are affected by doing them: Meditation; Gratitude; Reconnecting with the more-than-human world; Plants; Rituals; Singing, Chants and the Power of Music; Pilgrimages and Holy Places.  

I’ve always heard that Jesus’ ministry was three years long. Now I hear that it was only one year. How does something like that change?

Toward Decentering the New Testament is the first introductory text to the New Testament written by an African American woman biblical scholar and an Asian-American male biblical scholar. This text privileges the voices, scholarship, and concerns of minoritized nonwhite peoples and communities.

I have months to live. I’m not too hooked into christian symbolism but I would like to communicate with a person.

Innovative songwriter and worship leader, John Lyzenga, is pleased to announce the release of IN TROUBLED TIMES, a collection of worship songs addressing issues of social justice including racism, privilege, gender, sexuality, and immigration combining the story of the Bible alongside current events.

Is resurrection just a story
Or is it the uncovering of our sight
Some of the greatest followers
Did not recognize the one they once knew

Faith and facts deal with differing realms of our reality. To think otherwise is to make a category mistake — one which diminishes both the depth and breadth of human life, and limits our understanding to the impoverishment that we refer to as narrow-mindedness.

Beauty is a trap. A trap set all around me, as I walk to and from the Metro Red Line Subway station at Hollywood and Vine on my daily commute. Huge electronic billboards depicting idealized, unrealistically beautiful people demand the attention of the little, actual humans scurrying around on the sidewalks below.

I am so disappointed; crushed is perhaps a better descriptor. I am so utterly defeated that it is more than physical and emotional, it has pierced jagged holes into my soul.  I thought he was the one. In fact, I knew he was the one. He was so authentic, so compassionate, so involved in helping those who were the unacceptable and the outcasts of the culture.

Jesus you’ve got to be kidding! “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and even life itself, cannot be my disciple?…None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions?”

Why are some Christian Churches growing in numbers and outreach? Is there any room to find agreement and move on with the work of Jesus Christ ? 

WE NEED TO STOP LETTING THE SMALL THINGS SLIDE. Stop putting yourself and your needs first. Stop blaming the world outside for your irritation. Stop making excuses for not treating this world as though your every action matters. Stop pretending that the occasional Chick-fil-A doesn’t make a difference. 

This 6 week study includes Lent 1 – Palm/Passion Sunday and follows the Revised Common Lectionary (YEAR A, B or C) text selections.