With the restrictions of gathering because of COVID-19 what are your thoughts on other ways to worship?  Can you experience the same benefits by attending an online service or in an outdoor service where everyone is spread out safely?

Economists are predicting that one in six restaurants will be permanently closed as a result of the pandemic. Sadly, when progressive congregations emerge from our current sabbatical or at least our retreat to online only services, the casualty rate may be much higher than what has hit the restaurant business.

A womanist church has great power to transform church and society, primarily because womanist theology centers the experiences of Black women while working for the survival and wholeness of all people and all creation.

Be part of the change our country needs by voting to protect the rights of all.

For centuries the Church has battled to preserve its existence from threats to its dogma, creeds and influence. Those who dared to challenge its orthodoxy were sometimes treated with “extreme unction”. Ecclesiastical trials were often followed by burnings at the stake.

Covid-19 will also have a casualty count among congregations. Which churches will survive into the 21st century and, frankly, which ones really shouldn’t? If loneliness is the number one form of suffering in the western world, surely the connections made in a faith community should be a major solution to that isolation.

Houses of Worship all over the world are discerning how and when to open.

The fact of the matter is that although Luther turned to the Bible in order to attack church doctrine, he turned to it as he interpreted it. He never believed it to be inerrant.

I (try to) lead an hour or so Bible Study before each of my two-Sundays-a- month preaching gigs… and am amazed at (and grateful for) their participation, receptivity, and curiosity… about the coming Sunday’s texts. How can I offer a more systematic, “remedial,” wholistic approach to the great Biblical stories, promises and callings? 

During this time of unprecedented change, how can we create maintain and create greater financial sustainability?

It is extremely unfortunate that the coronavirus is negatively impacting so many (especially those who are elderly or living in poverty) and disrupting our day-to-day lives, however, one valuable insight that may result from this disastrous virus is congregational awareness about the necessity of technology.

PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc., is a Progressive Christian learning community seeking to empower transformative leadership for justice and peace within and beyond the church by engaging heart and mind to consider what it means to know, love and serve God in today’s changing world. 

“At the center of the Christmas story is hope…hope which comes to us in the form of a vulnerable, poor baby. A child, not a king, changes the world. God appears to us as a marginalized, Afro-Semitic, Jewish child from Nazareth in Palestine. A child who grows up to teach us to welcome the stranger. How would our world be different if we loved our neighbors as ourselves?” asks the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of Middle Collegiate Church.

My heart and passion is to see non-Christians come into a relationship with Christ and I believe that the most effective way for this to happen is to equip, encourage and empower our congregation members to be effective witnesses for Christ.

Have you ever paused to consider that dialogue between people of different Christian and non-Christian religious traditions is actually a way to respect life itself?

Sermon at Peace of Christ Church, September 9, 2018 – “God as She: Why it Matters” – Rev. Aurelia Davila Pratt

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. 

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.