Even and especially in these difficult times, the Lenten journey can be an encouraging, enlightening path to hope, resilience, and new life.

I wanted to share a teaser about what makes real men , and it’s not being a marine or cowboy or smoking a certain brand of cancer-sticks.

May blessings abound for you where they are not expected.

For believers, understanding our relationship with God is essential.

Where is all this going? What can we ultimately hope for, for both the universe as a whole and our own individual life as part of that same whole?

Years ago, my dear wife, Roberta Maran, came up with an idea at Christmas that enchanted me.  “In addition to other presents, let’s give people Christmas boxes that have nothing inside of them – except messages that are deep and pithy!”

New for our Community of Spiritual Life

It isn’t just Jesus’ birthday. The whole of creation is reborn.

Today there are Bethlehems all over the world as families are forced to leave home environments, travel to places unprepared for them, and find a way to survive on their own.

Christmas is a season of lights… And a season to become enlightened…. To notice and amplify the light that shines within us all, revealing inner wisdom and guidance for our lives. 

Why not at least integrate working on gratitude as our routine attitude during “the season” this and each year —and continue our practice into each new day of the fresh year?

Do you desire more from your faith than what you learned in Sunday School? Do you find yourself asking questions about Christianity and feeling unsatisfied with the answers?

How could a church that has been plagued by anti-Semitism, the killing of the Crusades, and the violence of the Inquisition (to name a few) be redeemed of these evils? Quite simply, it has always returned to Jesus.

As the years moved along, this answer seemed less and less adequate in the face of undeserved suffering in the world, the epitome of which is the baby born into the world, experiences extreme pain, and dies after one day.

Join Mark and Caleb as they enjoy a themed drink (or two) and bring their high-octane progressive Christian perspectives in consideration of the “Mary’s War on Christmas”.

Don’t try so hard.

Be ok being a bit disappointing.

A true religious renewal, according to Fox, can arise only through the mystical dimension of faith.

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