Celebrating the diversity of religious traditions. On the first Sunday in May- this year, May 5, 2013 (or other times during the year) – churches dedicate their worship to a celebration of our interfaith world.

Waiting… waiting… the images of waiting are everywhere just before Easter. Mary Magdalene at the tomb, the disciples wondering “what now?”, all of us in suspension after the events of Good Friday and before the release of Easter Sunday morning.

Thomas Berry, the Catholic priest and ecotheologian, wrote:
We must move beyond a spirituality focused simply on the divine and the human to a spirituality concerned with the survival of the natural world in its full splendor,

Who is my neighbor? We teach the Sunday School to sing Jan Wesson’s hymn:

The restless, curious, ever-questioning human mind… every new door we open leads to new explorations, new questions, new discoveries, and more doors.

Springtime is for planting, one of those everyday expressions of great faith. We plant seeds and water and weed them, and expect a harvest of zinnias or zucchini.

Are you perpetually preparing? Always looking ahead, getting ready for the next event, the next project, the next vacation, the next thing you think you need to do?

How astonished we are to discover how much of life is actually not under our control! We carefully maintain an illusion of control because it gives us comfort and security.

More music and more composers and lyricists! … Progressive Christian worship music is out there — but it does take a little searching. Singing together has its own rewards, and church is one of the few remaining venues where we do it regularly. So it’s worth the effort to find music that your particular congregation will find meaningful.

Solitude is becoming ever more precious in our overly-wired world. Lent is the perfect opportunity to give yourself the gift of time alone.

Progressive Christians are constantly challenged to claim the title of Christian — in the sense of being a follower of Jesus’ teachings — while letting go of most of the dogma that has been developed over the centuries by the human institution that is church.

“Less is more.” A carefully crafted poem leaves so much to the reader’s imagination, which makes it the perfect vehicle for spiritual insights.

We are all connected, not only across nations and cultures and religions, but across time. Even as we head into the future, we carry with us our ties to the past.

We search and strive and struggle all our lives, and in the end it always comes back to love. Boundless love.

“We take the Bible seriously, we just don’t take it literally.”

There is more than one kind of intelligence. The learning that we pursue with our intellect is one kind, but the wisdom we come to understand through our hearts is another.

Metanoia… change your thinking… see differently… Transforming visions can do that for us.

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

What must the months before the first Christmas have been like for the young Mary?

Humans are story-tellers. It’s how we remember important things.

Advent prayers remind us what a difficult time and place Jesus was born into. And yet… has there ever been a time when it was not difficult to be born with such gifts?

December brings us Advent, the winter solstice, and if we happen to live in the southern hemisphere, high summer. Rituals abound.

Giving thanks, expressing gratitude … it’s a foundational part of a happy life.

How we approach prayer says everything about who or what or if we think God is.

How do you experience the presence of God? Is it being out in nature, or hearing/singing/playing music, or finding selflessness in meditation… it’s a universal experience that is also intensely individual.

Our separateness is an illusion. We are inextricably connected to the web of all that is. Every action we take, even the energy of every thought, becomes part of that web of connection.

“What does communion signify to you?” If you ask that question in a safe-to-tell-my-truth group, it’s often surprising what variety comes forth.

Just as progressive Christians have found new symbolism for the bread and wine of communion, so too we look for new words with which to express the ancient ritual of baptism.

Gathering for worship is rather like a chance to recharge your batteries.

How many people do you suppose have had their eyes and hearts opened to progressive Christianity because of John Shelby Spong?

Where do you feel welcome? Where do you feel like you have “come home”?

Poetry and worship seem made for each other. There we are, gathered to share our understanding of a power-that-is-beyond-understanding, and we are convinced that more words will make it clearer.

It can be a challenge to compose a funeral or memorial service when you know the gathered group will have a range of religious persuasions.

Insight comes to each of us in its own time, when and as we are ready to absorb it. With each fresh “Aha!” we realize that this path of discovery we are on is very old, with well-worn footsteps that now bear our imprint as well.

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,


The ritual of communion can have many different symbolic interpretations in its role of remembrance of the life and teachings of Jesus. The same is true of the music we sing to accompany the ritual.