I once considered myself an atheist. However I now consider myself an ‘a-theist’ vs an ‘atheist’. This to me means I have abandoned the Biblical personal God. However, I cannot pull away from ‘Universal Mystery’

I was reading a book this morning entitled, “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”, by John Paul II, the copyright was 1994. I went to bed early and woke at 5am, so decided to read before getting up. This was a “sort of” question and answer book. The book dealt with specific questions asked of John Paul by the compiler, Vittorio Messori

This book analyzes Luther’s treatise On Christian Freedom and its revolutionary re-definition of what it means to be Christian as one freed by Christ from sin, the accusation of God’s law, and death in order to be bound or bonded to the neighbor.

In this controversial and thought-provoking book, McLaren explores the questions that will determine the shape of Christianity for the next 500 years.

So much of popular religion is simply a collection of ancient superstitions and old campfire stories. Even Pope Francis has told the Church that God is not a ‘wizard.’ God is not our ever-present nanny or ‘fairy godmother’ whose task it is to comfort and protect us, and to shield us from any danger, discomfort, or disappointment.

That’s not a typing error – the lower case for ‘church’ is deliberate. As I’ll explain…

Let’s face it—the bad news just keeps on coming.  An impeachment trial as divided as the country; wars and rumors of wars; rising nationalism around the world; an ever-growing gap between rich and poor; and our species headed for extinction as we destroy the planet. 

In his speech, Mr. Barr perpetuates long held inaccuracies now resembling truth.  Using a broad brush to call the Founding Fathers, Christians (and let’s not forget Founding Mothers), is inappropriate. 

I am a Christian.
Actually, it’s more accurate lately to say that I am still a Christian.

It seems like falling in love and staying in love should be easy. However, clearly, it is one of the most difficult things that almost everyone wants to do. At least a part of the problem rests with an out of date conception of what marriage must or should be, coupled with fears rooted in our earliest years and our connection to our parents.

“Unbinding Christianity” is a book that will be good news for some readers while stretching others in uncomfortable ways. It begins with the premise that traditional Christian teaching is focused on right beliefs while the life and teachings of Jesus was all about right living.

“What do you mean when you say, ‘progressive christianity?'” I am often asked this question and so rather than a sermon, this Sunday’s reflection explores the contours of our journey as we wrestle with the MYSTERY that is our SOURCE.

Thurber Lectures
Thurber Conversation & Guest Preacher — Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis at The American Church in Paris

Thinking religious words have become widely separated from any meaning in religious practice isn’t that new. It’s mostly fundamentalists, including atheist ones, who are still sticking to either/or, black/white concepts.

In 2018, the evangelical scholar Walter Brueggemann boldly departed from the twin evils of American Christian Evangelicals – fawning approval and cowardly silence about the evils of privilege and oppression that have resulted in “our socio-political circumstance.”

One of the struggles many millennials have with organized religion in general is the inability of the older generations to adapt, change, or entertain new ideas and new ways of thinking. This is an issue each generation bumps up against, but this generation and this subject don’t seem to be finding a middle ground.

Watch this video as the United Church of Christ’s quarterly medical debt forgiveness campaign continued in St Louis over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Twelve St. Louis and Missouri Mid-South Conference congregations and the Deaconess Foundation joined forces to come up with over $100,000 in donations.

Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive. In fact, faith based on rational evidence has been a part of the study of theology for hundreds of years. This sermon discusses the use of logic in philosophy in the study of probability, and references Bayes’ Theorem, (Thomas Bayes was a Presbyterian minister!) as we apply critical thinking to our religious beliefs.