Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley revealed she has the autoimmune disorder “alopecia areata” that has rendered her hairless. Pressley revealing her bald head publicly opened the troubling conversation about black hair — especially for African American females.

The current Keynesian economic system is on its last legs. The consolidation of wealth of the industrial revolution brought on the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s New Deal and the resulting war manufacturing of WWII created the middle class.

Three questions need to be clearly explained to the American public. What is Progressive Christianity? Secondly, what does progressive mean in the context of this religious movement? And, why is Progressive Christianity especially needed in our time?

Paraphrasing St. Oscar Romero, “If a church is not publicly opposed to war, to murder, to political assassination, of what use is that church?” While we may hope that churches will avoid wading into partisan politics, we cannot be tricked into believing that ethics is the same thing as politics. As the USA inches closer to war with Iran and ignores even the executive order of Ronald Regan forbidding political assassination, the prophetic church must now do the one thing for which we exist: speak truth to power.

We must cultivate peace in our own hearts first, allowing the Peace of Christ to root there. This is our work as we pray for peace in the whole earth.

If we pay attention, the Christmas story is a mirror held up for us to see that we live in a country where the government locks thousands of migrant children into dog cages, sexually abusing some, torturing others, and allowing many to die while the church is largely compliant and silent. And we seriously wonder if this government might actually win election approval from poor church goers in a few months. Merry Christmas?

In these dark and dreary days each year, our world turns to celebrate another Christmas holiday. Some may do so out of the sheer need to escape, if only for a fleeting while; grasping, once again, at a thin belief in some divine intervention into the human story, with the birth of a savior king. Deeply powerful rituals and traditions are dragged out of the attic and observed; going through the motions for yet another year. Others, however, like myself, may repeat some of the rituals to simply reaffirm one’s belief in the rebirth of “hope”.

In Mystical Activism, we each hold the power to change the world right where we are. To call these “end times” is not hyperbole. We are in trouble and the signs are everywhere: extreme political divisions; xenophobic violence; enormous wealth inequity; poverty and homelessness; racism, sexism, and ageism; arms buildups and unending wars; and, most critical of all, terrifying climate disruption associated with man-made global warming.

Free speech is one of the cornerstones of American Democracy. However, what are the boundaries of free speech? In the current political milieu, the protection of free speech appears to have an amorphous and wide expanse when it comes to sexist, racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic rants on many social media platforms and college campuses.

The 29 minute film is meant to be used as a tool for discussion and a resource for knowledge and action. The impact of climate change is undeniable and catastrophic. The recent and ongoing fires in California are a heartbreaking demonstration of this.

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  (Paul, Ephesians 6:12, NRSV)

The weight of the status quo bears down on even the well intended and well informed so that we assume that all change comes by degrees, in small incremental moves. It persuades us to believe that only moderate progressives can ever win election and that most of what progressives want (universal health care, an end to racism, aggressive work to save the planet, a universal basic income, a compassionate immigration policy) is unobtainable.

For years, rumors dogged superstar Whitney Houston as being a closeted lesbian. Now in a moving memoir, “A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston,” by Robyn Crawford depicts their friendship and love story.

Sermon delivered June 17, 2018 by Rev. Elizabeth Durant

Imagine Bernie Sanders’ public policy prescriptions woven into a fundamentalist Christian religious tract.

Does that idea hurt your head?

Well, it’s not a new one.

This is what the Book of Revelation is really about. It’s not about the end of the world, as such. It’s about the destruction of the feudalistic, repressive, economic monolith which it calls “Babylon the Great”.

How is the Christian mandate to love your neighbor as yourself to be applied in business, economics, and politics? In what way does God want people to act within their jobs, their businesses, and their business transactions; treat tenants, other businesses, subordinates, and their employees; market their products and services and set prices; monitor the quality and safety of their products and services, and so on?

Greta Thunberg was at the UN for the UN Climate Summit. Every word of her presentation was prescient. Her year 2030 is scientific fact. Deadly irreversible tipping points are approaching us. They could lead to our extinction.