A hopeful and Christ-centered devotional for Christians who know social justice to be a good and holy endeavor

I was blessed at birth
And have struggled to reclaim the blessing
In my innocence, I was loved unconditionally
Simply for being me,

Praying for others strengthens the bond of compassionate awareness. It may trigger other ways to help. Also, knowing that we are being prayed for or are in the thoughts of others while being wheeled into surgery does help, whether we believe in its causal power or not. We are not alone. Others are connecting with us, and we with them. Prayer is a form of participation.

In the shadow of COP26 we are meditating on the powerful role that Deep Ecumenism can and must play in the future of the planet.  To get the most out of individual humans and our diverse communities, we must include the spiritual dimension.  That is where the fire of excitement and passion, sacrifice and visions, is lit and stays lit.

This book is dedicated to the spirit of Jesus Christ, perhaps the first book that links a biblical/religious underpinning for compassion to animals with the ethos necessary to make that compassion universal: a reverence for life.

This is the most common question that I am asked when discussing non-theistic options for God.  If God is not a person who can listen and respond to my prayers, then what is the purpose of prayer? 

I keep hearing about “”Centering prayer” but I’m not sure what this is exactly. Can you give me a definition or where I can read about it?

The words of Amanda Gorman, Poet Laureate, from her moving poem during the inauguration of Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice-President of the United States of America.

Does God have to heal all the people who ask me to pray for them?

  A prayer without desire in it, a prayer without sincerity in it, a prayer without soul in it, a prayer without Spirit in it is a fruitless prayer. – Charles and Cora Fillmore, Teach Us to …

Human child of human mother,
see the Christ has come to birth,
demonstrating now in living
every person’s human worth.

“God works with the world as it is in order to bring it to where it can be. Prayer changes the way the world is, and therefore changes what the world can be. Prayer opens the world to its own transformation.”  

I would be interested to learn if you think people will return to church and prayer – in a time of chaos and crisis? Do you think people need something to “cling to?”

Preeminent German hymn writer Philipp Nicolai was a Lutheran pastor whose small town, Unna, was devastated by the plague during the winter of 1597-8 with over 1300 deaths.  He officiated at many funerals, as many as 30 a day.

Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations Secretary-General, was awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize.  After his death, many were surprised at the content of Markings, a kind of personal diary and notebook now recognized as a  twentieth century classic of Christian spirituality.

Dina Datsko de Sánchez wrote this new poem for the re-imagined Homecoming Sunday at First Congregational Church, Long Beach.

It is yet another Monday of what will most likely be a difficult week. There are many issues of concern, much to be worried about with both the pandemic and politics. In recent days, however, I’ve found myself less anxious than in the past, as I’ve leaned on these words from the late Marcus Borg’s final book, “Convictions”

Annually, for several years, I visited the monastery of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a beautiful compound north of downtown Tucson. I was amazed at the physical, mental, and spiritual liveliness of these mostly older women, and the level of their engagement with the world despite their mostly cloistered way of life.