I’m just saying that if a politician decides to utilize Christianity for their own good, they need to be called out when they forget or misconstrue what Christianity is all about.

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. 

Dr. Joerg Rieger sits with Debo, David and Ann to delve into the differences between “malignant religion” and “life-giving religion.” What is the relationship Jesus had with materialism and to what extent is preaching the good news to the poor life-giving versus malignant?

The American flag, however, has not always been a fixture in American sanctuaries. When it was introduced, it came for reasons specific to historic moments.

Benedictine monk John Main has reminded me of something I first learned reading one of Gore Vidal’s historical novels. Reading to oneself became a thing only in recent centuries. “The spoken word is the essential medium for the communication of the gospel.”

I think these kind of stories are like haikus or koans that are meant to shake us up with paradox and make us realize and/or remember that words are very limiting and they cannot convey the multidimensional complex reality we live in.

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.

The Peoples’ Bible highlights the role of cultures in shaping the Bible and the way people read the Bible today. Relying on the best insights of historical-critical, liberationist, postmodern, and postcolonial interpretation the contributors include the editors of the volume plus Kosuke Koyama, Randall C. Bailey, Fernando
F. Segovia, Elsa Tamez, Clarice Martin, Hee An Choi, Gale A. Yee, Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, and many more.

In a previous book, Science and Spiritual Practices, British biologist Rupert Sheldrake devoted a chapter to each of the following practices and demonstrated how our brains are affected by doing them: Meditation; Gratitude; Reconnecting with the more-than-human world; Plants; Rituals; Singing, Chants and the Power of Music; Pilgrimages and Holy Places.  

I’ve always heard that Jesus’ ministry was three years long. Now I hear that it was only one year. How does something like that change?

Toward Decentering the New Testament is the first introductory text to the New Testament written by an African American woman biblical scholar and an Asian-American male biblical scholar. This text privileges the voices, scholarship, and concerns of minoritized nonwhite peoples and communities.

I have months to live. I’m not too hooked into christian symbolism but I would like to communicate with a person.

Innovative songwriter and worship leader, John Lyzenga, is pleased to announce the release of IN TROUBLED TIMES, a collection of worship songs addressing issues of social justice including racism, privilege, gender, sexuality, and immigration combining the story of the Bible alongside current events.

Is resurrection just a story
Or is it the uncovering of our sight
Some of the greatest followers
Did not recognize the one they once knew

I am so disappointed; crushed is perhaps a better descriptor. I am so utterly defeated that it is more than physical and emotional, it has pierced jagged holes into my soul.  I thought he was the one. In fact, I knew he was the one. He was so authentic, so compassionate, so involved in helping those who were the unacceptable and the outcasts of the culture.

Jesus you’ve got to be kidding! “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and even life itself, cannot be my disciple?…None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions?”

Why are some Christian Churches growing in numbers and outreach? Is there any room to find agreement and move on with the work of Jesus Christ ? 

This 6 week study includes Lent 1 – Palm/Passion Sunday and follows the Revised Common Lectionary (YEAR A, B or C) text selections.