Dorian Gray was above it all, privileged and pampered and proud, without good promise or purpose. Wilde’s implication is that conscience is necessary for the soul to survive.“What does it profit a person if, in gaining the whole world, loses the soul?”

How to ‘be there’ for the people who need you most.

Join Pastor Tony Minear, Ph.D. as he explores how the words we use and the metaphors we devise to describe God can not only limit our perceptions of the divine but exclude a whole other dimension of the divine as mother.

Why do we seem inherently unable to be more responsive to the world’s needs; where instead we seem instinctually inclined to put ourselves and our own needs ahead of everything and everyone else? What might we do to be less inclined to reflect what seems to be so much a part of our human nature? If there is anything akin to a sacred spark within us, with the example of Jesus’ own way of the cross?

Mothers’ Day is not on the church’s liturgical calendar and yet the statisticians tell us that church attendance on Mothers’ Day is surpassed only by Christmas and Easter. Worship leaders who fail to mark the importance of this day do so at their peril; the same kind of peril that compels so many reluctant offspring to accompany their mothers to church. However, a simple liturgical nod in the direction of mothers or an over-the-top sentimental sermon all too often fails to capture the magnitude of the day’s significance in the history of women.

The 19th century English poet and mystic William Blake summed it up well when he said, “We are put on earth for a little space that we may learn to bear the beams of love.”
The spiritual teacher Henri Nouwen added that our time on earth is a brief span to say to God, “I love you too.”

The world is not short on hostile insults and senseless arguments, but the world is quite bereft of kindness. Much of the social hostility we encounter comes from the pain that people have experienced that we know nothing about. We are surrounded by the walking wounded who do not need to discover how quick we can be with an eviscerating retort. What they need from us is kindness . . . undeserved, perhaps, but we can help the world to become more deserving if we will scatter seeds of kindness.

I get the idea: thinking leads to judgment, and judgment leads to problems.

No one likes to eat alone; to approach a table filled with people, only to be told that despite the open chairs there isn’t room for you. The rejection stings. It leaves a mark. Yet this is exactly what the church has been saying to far too many people for far too long: “You’re not welcome here. Find someplace else to sit.” How can we extend unconditional welcome and acceptance in a world increasingly marked by bigotry, fear, and exclusion?

“Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstances whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.”

If there is any one message the Bible delivers, it is the message that God loves outcasts and that Jesus was born into the world an outcast to rescue and renew outcasts from religion gone bad. He was born poor and died poor, yet the legacy of love he left us, the legacy of inclusion and acceptance and understanding, will endure forever.

In Part 3 of our series featuring audio from Father Richard Rohr’s lecture “The Human Spirit,” Ann and Debo discuss Rohr’s next stage of human development: the realization that my thoughts and feelings are who I am.”

God’s grace is not defined as God being forgiving to us even though we sin. Grace is when God is a source of wholeness, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, and God’s grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word … it’s that God makes beautiful things out of even my own shit.

  Progressive Christian Spiritual Curriculum Compassionate, Intelligent, Inter-Spiritual, Non-Dogmatic   Group Curriculum with Teacher’s Handbook and 3 DVDs   Are you searching for a way to connect children with an authentic spiritual experience that is inter-spiritual, creative and …

  Progressive Christian Spiritual Curriculum Compassionate, Intelligent, Inter-Spiritual, Non-Dogmatic   Group Curriculum with Teacher’s Handbook and 2 DVDs   Are you searching for a way to connect children with an authentic spiritual experience that is inter-spiritual, creative and …

Imagine being turned away from a job you have your heart set on because your wardrobe is a little different or you need certain holidays off. When it comes to finding a job as a person of faith, it can be difficult to know where to look and what to expect. Even if you find an employer who’s supportive of your religion, you may feel that the company’s principles and goals don’t align with your beliefs. Stay strong — there are ways to overcome all of these barriers.

What might constitute an adequate improvement to the world order? This commentary constitutes an exploration of this pesky, perennial question about “a better world” from the vantage point of one faith tradition, and in contemporary context. Its intention is not to offer novelty or any new revelatory insight, but rather to remember and restore a perspective that lies at the heart of a biblical gospel tradition; based on the teachings of a pre-Easter human Jesus.

2002 returns with their 18th full-length album, A World Away. The six vocal and four instrumental songs are new and all original, and cover much of 2002’s vast sonic palette- from progressive and pop new age, to their neoclassical and ambient roots. Thematically, the album is a cosmic love story, of kindred spirits traveling together through many times and many worlds, becoming lost and separated from one another, and finally reunited.